AN: I know this one took a while to get out. My life has been crazy lately between work, taking care of my grandma, then losing said grandma, having to prep and have the funeral, and now having to get things ready to sell the house. I hope the next one won't take me as long to get out. Don't worry about me cancelling again, I still like writing this too much to just throw it away.

Chapter 15 – Tournament Preparations

It is five days after the attack on Vale. Team RWBY have the day off and are currently lounging around their room. Ruby specifically is petting Zwei as the next day he needs to go home.

"Aw, I'm sure going to miss the little guy" Weiss states affectionately.

"Don't worry, we'll get to see him again soon enough" Yang tells her.

"No, you and Ruby will" Weiss corrects Yang.

"Thankfully…" Blake mutters.

"Oh, come on. He's not even a big dog" Yang responds to her partner. Zwei just looks confused at the conversation. Then the girls hear a knock at the door.

Blake opens the door and sees Qrow standing there as she announces to Ruby and Yang, "Uh, your uncle's here."

"Hey Uncle Qrow!" Ruby shouts excitedly.

"We were wondering when you were gonna come see us" Yang tells him. Zwei then scampers up to Qrow.

Qrow kneels down to pet Zwei before asking, "So how did Tai manage to get Zwei here?"

"Through the mail" Ruby answers nonchalantly.

Qrow looks at Zwei and says, "Must have been quite the journey."

"So…what have you been up to?" Yang asks her uncle.

"Just some stuff for Oz" Qrow answers. "But the reason I'm here right now is because of what you've been up to."

"What uh…what could you be talking about?" Ruby says, trying to feign ignorance. The rest of her team either face palm or shake their heads.

After shaking his own head, Qrow tells them, "You need to stop investigating that Dust."

"What?!" Ruby shouts indignantly.

"You can't be serious!" Yang shouts with similar levels of indignance.

"Why on Earth should we?" Weiss asks.

"Because you've seen how dangerous it makes the Grimm. Each time you've faced them you've barely made it out alive" Qrow responds.

"Yeah, but that's the life of a Huntress" Weiss argues in turn.

"You're not Huntresses. You're just students, and if you wanna life long enough to become Huntresses you'll back off" Qrow tells them in a very serious tone.

As they are coming to terms with that harsh truth, Blake asks, "So, is Naruto getting this lecture too?"

Qrow looks at Blake with a perplexed look and asks, "Who?"

"The guy you helped take down the Super Nevermore" Blake informs him.

"Oh, that reckless kid" Qrow states now knowing who she is talking about.

"He's currently stuck in the hospital, so we don't have to deal with him" Weiss comments.

Blake's eyes narrow as she says to Weiss, "I remember you being just as distraught as the rest of us were."

A little flustered, Weiss responds, "T-that was different!"

Ruby laughs as she teasingly says, "It's okay Weiss. You can admit you were worried about him just like Yang can admit she's totally into him."

Qrow raises a brow at this revelation as he then says in a snarky tone, "Really now? Oh, Tai's gonna love hearing about this."

Yang's eye twitches as she tells her sister, "Ruby, you're taking the knowledge that I won't hit you a little too far…"

"Sorry…" Ruby tells her sister.

"You know, I'm surprised you're this thrown off by people bringing it up" Blake tells her partner.

"Look, we're just friends right now and that's how I want it to stay until I figure things out" Yang tells them. She then looks directly at Qrow and says, "So don't you say anything to dad!"

Qrow lets out a chuckle before saying, "It'll be hard since I really wanna see the look on his face. But I won't say anything."

Now relieved, Yang decides to get off the subject by asking Qrow, "So, were you told to come lecture us?"

After a few seconds of silence, Qrow responds, "It was…suggested."

"By Ozpin?" Ruby asks.

"Ironwood actually" Qrow answers.

"Why would he ask you to come lecture us?" Weiss asks.

Qrow smirks as he responds, "Because he knew that my two nieces and their team have been troublemakers." He then looks at Ruby and Yang and says, "Doing me proud kiddos."

Blake gets confused and says, "I'm getting conflicting messages here…"

"Don't worry about it" Yang tells her.

Once again changing the subject, Qrow asks Team RWBY, "You all going to participate in the tournament?"

Ruby scoffs as she responds, "How is that even a question?!"

"There was always the possibility that after what you've all been through, you'd want a longer break" Qrow answers.

"Absolutely not" Weiss retorts with a confident expression. Ruby, Blake, and Yang share the same sentiment.

With a smile, Qrow says, "Then I'll have something to look forward too while I'm here."

"Wait, so then you're sticking around?" Yang asks with excitement.

"For now" Qrow tells them. Ruby and Yang are now thrilled hearing this. Qrow then says, "I'll get out of your hair for now. I gotta go see Ironwood." He then heads out.

"Bye Uncle Qrow!" Ruby shouts as she closes the door.

After about ten seconds, Blake asks, "We're not really going to stop investigating, right?"

"Pfft, of course not" Ruby responds dismissively.

"Exactly. Although, with everything going on, we probably won't be doing any more investigating until after the festival" Weiss adds.

"Well, what do you guys wanna do today then?" Ruby asks the team.

"We could go visit Naruto and then figure it out from there?" Blake suggests.

Weiss lets out a sigh before saying, "Fine…"

"I'm not sure what we can figure out at a hospital" Yang comments.

"It gets us out of the room which is the first step" Blake answers.

"I guess that's a good point" Ruby says as they leave.

Team RWBY have arrived at the hospital and upon arriving they spot Team JNPR heading into the elevator. Ruby shouts out to them, "Hey guys!"

Nora holds the elevator for them and shouts back, "Heya!"

Team RWBY get in the elevator as Ruby asks, "How's it going?"

"Doing pretty good" Jaune answers.

"So, did you guys get the call too?" Pyrrha asks.

Team RWBY all look confused as Ruby responds, "What call?"

"We got a call to come help "deal" with Naruto" Pyrrha tells them.

"We just came to visit" Blake informs JNPR. As the elevator doors open and they enter the hallway, they see Naruto being held back by multiple hospital staff, but they cannot overpower him. Yang facepalms but then starts to uncontrollably snicker and the feeling spreads to all eight of them.

"I've been here five days! I can't stay in this place another second!" Naruto shouts to the hospital staff.

Weiss then walks up and says in a scolding fashion, "Two of those days you were in a coma, so it's only been three days."

"That's actually a good point…but I still want out of here!" Naruto exclaims. He then takes a second to notice all his friends are here and says, "Oh hey guys!"

One of the hospital staff notices them and says, "Oh thank god you're all here!"

"Until all the tests come back negative, we can't release him" The doctor tells the group.

"You heard him, back in your room!" Nora shouts to Naruto. Naruto's eyes narrow as Nora looks ready to pounce. Due to his focus on Nora, he does not notice Jaune slowly walk past and put him in a full nelson.

"What the…?!" Naruto shouts in shock and indignance. Naruto starts breaking Jaune's grip when Nora tackles him down and then throws him back in his hospital room. Pyrrha then shuts the door and uses her Semblance to keep the door locked. Naruto then shouts from the other side of the door, "I thought you guys were my friends!"

"I feel kind of bad…" Ruby admits.

"It's for his own good" Pyrrha tells her.

"Someone is watching the window, right?" Weiss asks. Team JNPR all look embarrassed as they open the door only to see the window open and Naruto gone. This causes Weiss to comment, "I did not sign up for this today." She then starts to head back to the first floor, but not before stopping next to Blake and saying to her, "I blame you."

Blake looks confused and as they are all heading down to track Naruto, she asks Weiss, "How is this my fault?"

"Because coming here was your idea" Weiss informs her. They then start searching the hospital grounds. One of the ambulance drivers tells them that they saw a blonde guy in a hospital gown heading west.

"That's not towards Beacon" Ruby states in confusion.

"Where is the knucklehead going?" Weiss asks thinking out loud.

As the group collectively shrugs, Blake says, "Well, we were looking for something to do." They then head into town to search for Naruto.

Naruto is heading through downtown Vale looking at all the damaged buildings from the attack. Most of them are still in need of repair but a few of the most important buildings have been fixed up. He is getting strange looks from the townspeople and thinks, "Why is everyone looking at me like that?"

"You're walking around in a hospital gown" Kurama informs Naruto.

"Oh yeah…but it's not like I have much choice, ya know" Naruto responds to the fox. As Naruto continues looking around, he spots Hesta's prosthetics shop which is still in decent condition, but is closed for repairs. He says out loud, "It still looks pretty good." He then tries to open the front door, but it is locked and he says, "Damn…oh wait a minute!" He then remembers that the window lock to his old room was broken. He then heads to the back of the building, jumps up to the window, opens it, and hops inside before saying, "Glad he never got that fixed."

"He might once the repairs start" Kurama comments.

Naruto is now looking around what used to be his room before he went to Beacon. He notices that it has clearly been cleaned. He then heads downstairs into the shop and sees what he thinks are new models of prosthetic arms, but it is hard to tell with the lights off. He then sits down and reminisces about the two months he spent living here. About ten minutes go by when he hears the door unlock. He looks over and sees a man he does not recognize and decides to hide before the man turns on the lights.

After looking around a bit, the man says to himself, "There isn't much damage so the boss should be happy."

"Boss?" Naruto questions in his head. Just then Hesta walks in.

"The shop is mostly intact" The man informs Hesta.

"Good! We can open again soon" Hesta says in excitement. A rat then scurries across the floor into where Naruto is hiding. Seeing the rat, Hesta says, "Must be some holes lettin' the critters in. Go take care of the rat while I check the workshop." Hesta then heads to the back.

The man grabs a broom and heads to where the rat and Naruto are hiding. As the man opens the curtain the rat gets scared and hides behind Naruto. The man spots Naruto and yells out, "Boss!" He then swings the broom at Naruto. Naruto catches the broom, spins the guys around, and restrains him.

Hesta then comes running out of the back with a gun and aims it at Naruto before seeing who it is and says, "Naruto?"

"Hey Hesta!" Naruto happily greets his old friend.

"Ha! Naruto it's been too long!" Hesta exclaims as he and Naruto shake hands. Hesta then gets a better look at him and asks, "Why you in a hospital gown?"

"I kinda ran away from there. I couldn't stand another day in that place, ya know?" Naruto informs him.

Hesta laughs and says, "That's just like you! So, what were you in there for anyways?"

"I was one of the people fending off the Grimm during the attack" Naruto informs him.

"Ha! I knew you'd be great!" Hesta exclaims with pride in his voice.

"Uh, boss?" The new guy asks who is now back on his feet.

"Oh, right. Naruto, meet my assistant, Brone Taprenpice" Hesta tells Naruto.

"Sorry about taking you down earlier…I'm Naruto Uzumaki!" Naruto says introducing himself to Brone.

"I'm confused, who is this guy?" Brone asks not knowing Hesta's relationship to Naruto.

"Naruto here's a friend of mine and my first assistant" Hesta informs him.

"So, when did you get a new assistant?" Naruto asks Hesta.

"A few months ago" Hesta tells Naruto. "I gotta have someone that can run the store when I do contract work in Atlas" Hesta tells Naruto.

Naruto gets a big smile on his face as he says, "Sounds like things worked out on that trip!"

"Oh boy did it! And thanks to my new connections I got access to better supplies to make these new models!" Hesta informs him.

Naruto looks at the new models and then holds his own prosthetic arm up while asking, "How do they compare to your old masterpiece?"

"They're the finest pieces I've made since then, but I'm not sure I'll ever make anything that'll measure up to her" Hesta responds. "Speaking of, how's our girl doing?" Naruto reluctantly takes off his false arm and lets Hesta inspect it. It has multiple has multiple scuffs, tears, and damaged wires. In shock, Hesta exclaims, "What did you do to our girl?!"

Naruto rubs the back of his head in embarrassment as he answers, "Several large Grimm encounters…"

"Don't you worry girl, I'll fix you right up!" Hesta says. He then looks at Brone and says, "Meet me in the back! You're about to see me at my best!" Brone heads to the back as Hesta tells Naruto, "There's still some of your clothes upstairs. Go put 'em on! The gown is weird!" Naruto smiles and does just that. As Naruto heads upstairs, Ren spots him going up the stairs from the street. Naruto finds a pair of dark gray sweats and a white t-shirt he used to lounge around in. He then heads back downstairs and sees Hesta dragging out his tools. He then grabs a chair to watch the master at work. As Hesta is doing the repairs on Naruto's arm, he goes into painstaking detail when explaining things to Brone. Hesta then finishes the repairs and even adds some fresh paint. He then tells Naruto, "Come try her out."

Naruto puts the arm back on and starts throwing some punches before transitioning to fighting Grimm in his head. Then on instinct, he hears a voice in his head say, "Hey, loser." Naruto then turns around and pictures Sasuke looking at him. Naruto has a smirk but then the image of Sasuke vanishes with high speed before he then appears under Naruto and does a rising kick. Naruto dodges back but the image of Sasuke trips Naruto and Naruto's body falls back as if was real before Naruto does a kip up.

Hesta is watching this with a smile thinking, "I knew he had to be strong." Naruto continues shadow boxing the image of Sasuke until Hesta tells him, "Okay stop! I don't need you breaking any of my stuff!"

Naruto then approaches Hesta while looking at his arm and says, "Hesta, it feels great!"

"Glad to hear it!" Hesta says. He then has a realization and asks, "Naruto, how'd you get in here?"

"You never got the window lock fixed" Naruto informs him.

"Aw, damn it! I'll definitely get it fixed this time…" Hesta states angry at himself. He then tosses Naruto a key to the shop, much to the surprise of Brone. Hesta tells Naruto, "Don't you be a stranger, got it?"

"I'll try not to be. Thanks for the repairs, Hesta!" Naruto tells his friend. He the looks at Brone and says, "It was nice meeting ya Brone." Brone just nods response.

"Make sure to lock the door when ya leave" Hesta tells Naruto.

"Sure thing. I'll see you guys around!" Naruto responds as he heads out the door. After locking the door, he turns around to see Teams RWBY and JNPR waiting there as he says, "Uh oh…"

"You gave us the slip, but we have you now!" Ruby tells him.

"How did you guys even find me?" Naruto asks in shock.

"Ren seen someone in a hospital gown going up the stairs in that building" Pyrrha informs him.

Naruto knows he is stuck. He cannot get away from all eight of them like this, so he sighs and tells them, "I'll go back to the hospital…"

"Tough luck, Whiskers" Yang tells him. Then then start escorting him back to the hospital with Team JNPR in front of him and Team RWBY behind. The whole time Naruto is looking for openings to escape. He almost finds one as Nora stumbles on a crack in the ground.

However, before Naruto can get away Weiss grabs him by the back of the shirt and tells him, "Don't even think about it." Naruto then lets out another sigh as they continue on.

Once they walk back into the hospital, one of the nurses hands Naruto another gown. Naruto then says, "You can't be serious." The nurses give him a stern look, so he relents and starts putting the gown on.

Then the doctor walks up and says, "There you are Mr. Uzumaki. Your tests came back negative, you're free to go."

"Wait, what? Then what was the point of all that?!" Weiss shouts in frustration.

"Sorry Weiss, but sometimes there is no point" Yang tells her. Weiss has a look of absolute defeat causing Blake to laugh.

"At least things can start getting back to normal now" Ruby states.

"You mean whatever counts as normal for us" Jaune adds. The rest of the group gets a slight chuckle out of that.

As Naruto hands the gown back to the nurse he says, "I need to hurry back to Beacon!"

"Hm? What for?" Pyrrha asks.

"I gotta ask Ozpin if I can be in the tournament!" Naruto answers.

"Oh, well I certainly hope so!" Pyrrha comments.

"I hope you get in too!" Ruby states.

"It wouldn't be the same without you Whiskers" Yang adds.

"Yeah! I don't wanna get bored when it's not my turn to fight!" Nora comments.

Naruto smiles and says, "I'll see ya guys later!" He then heads off to Beacon.

Roman Torchwick is being held prisoner abord the Atlas command ship. He is currently handcuffed in a small room with a single intense bright light. He says while dripping with sarcasm, "Wow guys, I'm really intimidated. You've shown me just how scary you all are!" Ironwood then walks in holding a scroll that had Roman's rap sheet on the display. Seeing Ironwood, Roman says, "The general himself is visiting little old me? I'm honored!"

"Robbery, assault, illegal black-market sales…" Ironwood says listing off Roman's crimes.

"I don't wanna brag" Roman states while doing a playful wave.

"And now we can add terrorism to those charges" Ironwood finishes.

"What did you think for my first time? I really wanted to make an impact, ya know?" Roman responds continuing to not take Ironwood seriously.

"People are dead and lives have been ruined!" Ironwood shouts.

"Oh, I'm so sorry" Roman says feigning an apology. He then asks, "Hey, that annoying blonde kid with the metal arm dead?"

Ironwood forces himself to calm down before responding, "Mr. Uzumaki is expected to make a full recovery." Roman's face shows genuine disappointment after hearing this. Now that Roman does not seem in as playful of a mood, Ironwood asks, "Where did you get the Dust?"

"What do you mean? I found it" Roman replies.

"Then where did you find it?" Ironwood further inquires.

"Oh, here and there" Roman replies sarcastically but with less enjoyment.

"There is no way you just found that Dust. Who is your supplier?" Ironwood asks.

"I don't have a supplier. Ask a different question" Roman responds.

Getting irritated, Ironwood asks, "Do you think this is a game?"

Noticing the annoyance in Ironwood's voice, Roman starts getting enjoyment out of this again as he says, "Yes! I do think this is a game and I'm winning!"

"You're winning?" Ironwood questions. "You do realize you're imprisoned?"

"I may be the one in chains, but you're the one who's desperate!" Roman answers. "I can see it in your eyes, those Super Grimm have you shook!" Outside the interrogation room Qrow has arrived and started watching.

Ironwood gets closer to Roman's face and tells him, "I can make your life a living hell." Roman then starts laughing in Ironwood's face causing Ironwood to say, "I don't see what's so funny."

Roman stops laughing and says, "Okay, for argument's sake, let's say there is a supplier. There's no world where I would be more afraid of Atlas than them." Then after the tension builds some more Roman says, "But there is no supplier! So that was pointless!" Roman then continues laughing. This causes Ironwood to get irritated and leave the room.

As the door shuts behind Ironwood, Qrow sarcastically comments, "Well that went well."

"I don't want to hear it" Ironwood responds clearly in a bad mood.

Still staring at Roman, Qrow says, "If his supplier is Salem and her people, then he's right. There's nothing we can do to make him more afraid of us than her."

Ironwood takes a deep breath to calm down as he says, "We have to find a way."

Trying to work a different angle, Qrow states, "According to the first report, it does exist in its raw state out there."

"You mean the Forever Fall incident?" Ironwood asks to which Qrow nods. "I already had my men scour the area. If only we could find a sample, then we might be able to track it."

Seeing that they cannot get anywhere with Roman, Qrow starts to leave and says, "I'll find us another lead."

Naruto has returned to Beacon and is heading to Ozpin's office. He knocks on the door and Ozpin tells him, "Come in." As Naruto heads in Ozpin continues, "It is good to see you out of the hospital Mr. Uzumaki. You gave everyone quite the scare."

Naruto rubs the back of his head as he says, "I didn't mean to worry everyone…"

"Well then, how can I help you?" Ozpin asks.

"I was wondering if I could be in the tournament" Naruto informs him.

Ozpin sighs as he says, "I was dreading this conversation…I'm afraid you can't."

"Oh come on! There's gotta be a way!" Naruto exclaims.

"You need a team to get past the first two rounds and I can't justify letting you skip them" Ozpin informs him.

"I can beat a team by myself!" Naruto counters.

"I do not doubt that Naruto" Ozpin responds. "But if I allowed you to do that then I would have to allow it for everyone, and that would be an unmitigated mess. I know you want to prove your skill, but there is simply nothing I can do." This causes Naruto to sigh and get depressed. Seeing this, Ozpin says, "I am sorry, Naruto. I really do wish I could let you enter. Then one of my students would be all but guaranteed to win."

Naruto then gets an idea and says, "Then that's my way to contribute!"

Ozpin raises a brow as Naruto leaves. He then takes a sip from his mug and says, "I'm glad that ended well."

Naruto starts heading back to his dorm room when he is spotted by Team RWBY in the courtyard. Ruby calls out to him saying, "Hey! Naruto!" Naruto stops moving when he hears Ruby. She and her team walk up as she asks, "So how'd it go?"

"Well…I can't participate" Naruto tells them in a somber tone.

"What?!" Ruby shouts in shock.

"Aw come on!" Yang responds in a similar tone. "That really sucks, I wish we could do something to change it."

"It really isn't fair considering how good of a fighter Naruto is" Blake comments.

"It's like they're trying to make the tournament more dull" Weiss further comments. They all look at Weiss surprised making her say, "What? I'm not THAT mean." The rest of the group smile at her remark. She's getting there.

Naruto gets back on topic as he says, "So, I'll have two personal jobs for the tournament."

"And what are those?" Blake asks.

"One is making sure the crowd cheers as loud as they can for you!" Naruto answers.

Weiss grins and says, "Oh you'll make a fantastic cheerleader." Team RWBY gets a kick out of that remark, but Naruto does not as he does not know what a cheerleader is.

"So, my second job is making sure you're as prepared for the tournament as possible, so you won't lose to anyone!" Naruto explains.

"Hold on, we don't need any help" Weiss states in objection.

"Really? Did you forget that Yang's the only one on your team that beat all the Grimm during the midterms?" Naruto questions Weiss.

"I've gotten better since then. We all have." Weiss explains.

"Okay, how about this? If you can beat me, I'll believe you" Naruto says laying out the challenge.

"Oh, you're on. I've been waiting for the chance to show I can beat you" Weiss states full of confidence.

"Hold on a sec" Ruby interrupts. "Is this a match to see if Naruto can be our coach?"

After some silence, Yang answers, "I think it is…"

"So then, did you give Team JNPR this same offer?" Blake asks.

"Not yet" Naruto answer. "I already helped them train before, but I'll probably help them again if I can."

"Hey, I'm up for it!" Yang exclaims.

"I have no objections" Blake informs them.

"Okay, but only if he beats Weiss" Ruby states.

"That won't happen" Weiss comments.

"Pick a time and place" Naruto tells her.

"Okay, how about in 2 hours?" Weiss answers. She then tries to think of a place.

"How about where Naruto and I had our duel?" Ruby suggests.

"That should work" Weiss answers. Ruby then gets out her scroll.

Seeing this Blake asks, "What are you doing?"

Blake's question is answered as she hears Jaune pick up on the other end saying, "Hey Ruby. What's going on?"

"Come to this location just outside of the campus. Naruto and Weiss are gonna throw down!" Ruby tells them with excitement.

Nora can be heard on the other end shouting. "We cannot miss that!"

"We'll be there" Jaune tells them.

"Good thinking sis" Yang tells Ruby. "Now if only we could sell tickets."

Naruto snickers and tells them, "I'll meet you guys there." He then returns to his dorm room to get his gear.

Naruto and Team JNPR have already arrived at the location of the fight. As Team RWBY are making their way over, Sun and Neptune spot them and make their way over. Sun speaks first saying, "Hey! Wait up!" Team RWBY stop and look over now noticing Sun and Neptune as well as two other teenage boys following them. One is Scarlet David, who has red hair coming down over his right eye and has several red markings around his left eye. He wears a multi-colored feather earring on his left ear and has a red military pelisse-like jacket draped over the left side and a gray bandanna around his neck. He also wears a white sleeveless shirt and light gray pants as well as a pair of long brown laced boots. Finally, he has a brown belt and a slightly slanted gray belt that his weapon holster is attached to. The other is Sage Ayana, who has sage green hair, dark skin, and gold eyes. He has tattoos of wings on his chest as well as tattoos of Roman numerals around his neck. The same numerals are also on his sword. He is wearing a white long coat with asymmetrical sleeves and a green wing design similar to his tattoos. Like Sun, he has no shirt under his jacket. Finally, he also wears a pair of black pants fastened by a white belt with a yellow buckle.

"Oh, hi Sun" Blake says greeting her friend.

"I'm glad we managed to catch you" Sun tells them. "I wanted to introduce you all to the rest of my team. The one with the red hair is Scarlet and the other one is Sage."

"Nice to meet you guys, I'm Ruby!" Ruby says introducing herself to Scarlet and Sage.

"I'm Yang!" Yang follows up.

"My name is Weiss Schnee" Weiss continues.

"I'm Bl—" Blake starts to say.

Scarlet cuts her off saying, "You don't need to introduce yourself. Sun told us enough about you to where you're easy to spot."

Blake then looks at Sun with a suspicious look and asks, "How much did you tell them?"

"Oh uh, ya know just…normal stuff" Sun nervously responds. He then gets close to Blake to whispers to her, "I didn't mention anything about you being a Faunus, okay?" Blake then gives him a nod, making him less nervous. Sun then asks Team RWBY, "So where were you guys heading?"

"Weiss is going to fight Naruto" Blake answers.

"Now that sounds like a show!" Sun expresses, clearly excited by the prospect.

"So, why are you going to fight Naruto?" Neptune asks Weiss.

"Because he thinks he is good enough to prepare us for the tournament and I say we don't need help. Especially from him" Weiss answers.

"This Naruto sounds like a lot to deal with" Scarlet comments.

Weiss pauses before saying, "Only sometimes." The rest of Weiss' team have a slight smile. Back when they first met Weiss would not pass up any chance to trash Naruto.

"Dude, Naruto's cool" Sun states sticking up for his friend. He then recalls Naruto was in the hospital and asks, "Is he really in any condition to fight?"

"Don't worry, he's fine" Ruby answers.

"Whoever looses won't have an excuse like that" Yang adds.

Sun then turns to his team and asks, "You guys wanna go check it out?"

"We don't really have anything better to do" Scarlet answers. Sage simply nods.

Yang then whispers to Blake, "That Sage doesn't say much, does he?"

"To be fair, he is on a team with Sun" Blake whispers back.

"That's a pretty good point" Yang acknowledges.

The two teams then start heading towards the designated spot. On the way Neptune tells Weiss, "I'll be rooting for you." This makes Weiss smile and further boosts her confidence. When they arrive, they see Naruto and Team JNPR are already there chatting.

"And so when she sent those three guys flying, the rest of them started to back up scared of her" Naruto says recounting to Team JNPR about his and Ruby's time in the tunnel.

Ruby walks up and chimes in saying, "And I didn't have Crescent Rose at the time."

"Hey guys!" Nora exclaims greeting Team RWBY.

"How are you all doing?" Ren asks.

"Pretty good!" Ruby answers.

"What took you so long?" Naruto asks.

"We picked up some stragglers" Yang answers as she motions to the approaching Team SSSN.

"Hey dude" Sun says as he and Naruto fist bump. "So, this is my team. You already know Neptune. And next to him is Sage and the other one is Scarlet."

"Hey! I'm Naruto Uzumaki, ya know!" Naruto exclaims introducing himself.

Scarlet is inspecting Naruto trying to figure out why Naruto thinks he is good enough to coach people his own age. He does not see anything impressive and says, "I don't see what is so special."

Naruto looks at Sun and says, "Does everyone on your team have a snippy attitude?"

"Why am I included?" Neptune asks, taking offense at that remark.

"Dude, you basically said the same thing when you met Naruto" Sun states reminding Neptune. Neptune cannot argue that.

Naruto then gets up and walks over to Weiss asking her, "You ready?"

Weiss draws her weapon and responds, "Absolutely."

Naruto then takes out Orange Spark and the spectators get some distance. Weiss wastes no time and thrusts forward with her blade. Naruto side steps it and spins his staff before trying to his Weiss in the head with it. She bends back to dodge the swing and counters with a fire Dust enhanced slash causing Naruto to hop back and configure Orange Spark into dual staff mode. Naruto then jumps back into the fight with a double swing from his staffs. Weiss hops back and tries to stab Naruto, but he jumps while spinning and kicks Weiss back. Weiss manages to guard up against the kick but then she holds the arm she guarded with as it starts to throb in pain. She did not realize Naruto hit so hard.

"You hanging in there Weiss?" Ruby asks her teammate.

"No one's ever prepared for how hard Naruto can hit when they face him for the first time" Jaune comments.

"It isn't anything I can't handle!" Weiss shouts. Her rapier turns switching Dust elements. At the same time Naruto reaches into his back pocket. Weiss then does a dashing thrust into a spinning slash combo; both of which are enhanced by lightning Dust. Naruto side steps the thrust and clashes his staffs with Weiss' spinning slash. Despite the lightning enhancement, Naruto is able to overpower Weiss and throw her off balance before kicking Weiss into a tree causing her Aura to flicker.

"Weiss, are you okay?" Blake asks.

"I'm fine" Weiss answers. Her eyes then widen when she sees Naruto raise his staff and unleash a wind Dust overdrive. As the shockwave comes for her, she braces for impact as this time she goes right through the tree. Naruto runs after to follow up his attack, but Weiss fights through the pain as she gets back up and thrusts at the incoming Naruto. Naruto starts dodging but then Weiss, thinking quickly, uses the last of her lightning Dust to strike the ground making a small electrical burst. On instinct, Naruto jumps back to avoid it. However, Weiss was counting on this as she dashes forward thrusting her weapon into Naruto dead center knocking him into a tree.

"Whoa, way to go Weiss!" Ruby shouts.

"I was getting worried that this was too one-sided" Yang comments.

"Wooo! Kick his butt Weiss!" Nora encourages.

Naruto has gotten back on his feet and says, "Now that's more like it!" He then puts Orange Spark into Spear mode before jumping into the air and drops down on Weiss spearhead first. She jumps back to avoid it but then Naruto takes a page out of Weiss' book and does a dashing thrust. Weiss is caught off guard but managed to sidestep just in time. She then makes some glyphs to increase her speed and she does multiple dashing thrusts. Naruto spins his spear and starts parrying the thrusts. However, since he is not as experienced with a spear, Weiss managed to overwhelm and disarm him.

"Uh oh, he might be in trouble!" Ruby comments. This causes the whole of Team JNPR to laugh. Confused, Ruby asks, "What did I say?"

"You thinking Whiskers will be in trouble without his weapon" Yang explains to her.

Weiss strikes at Naruto, but he blocks with his metal arm, grabs her weapon with that same arm, and pulls her forward before punching her right in the face and making her hit the ground hard. Her Aura flickers again and is still up, but she is bleeding from the mouth.

"You must have gotten stronger because that would have shattered your Aura before" Naruto tells Weiss. Weiss then gets back up with her weapon and fully focused.

"It's looking like we'll be getting a coach" Blake states.

"Seems like it" Yang comments.

Hearing this, Weiss comments to herself, "They'll regret counting me out…"

"Come on Weiss! You can beat him!" Nora shouts, still encouraging Weiss. Jaune, Ren, and Pyrrha all shake their heads but do so with a smile.

Naruto walks over and reclaims his Orange Spark before configuring it back into dual staff mode and says, "Time for this match to come to an end!" He then puts his kunai in his mouth and activates his Semblance entering Aura Sage Mode. Seeing this, Weiss has become a little worried but will not let herself show it. She rushes in and does a quad-slash into a thrust combo. Naruto dodges each slash and parries the Thrust with Orange Spark before swinging one of his staffs which Weiss just managed to dodge. However, Weiss was not prepared for the follow up attack of Naruto throwing one of his staffs which hits her in the head and makes her stumble back; just shy of falling over. Then in one smooth motion, Naruto throws his other staff, catches the one that hit Weiss in the head, and grabs the kunai from his mouth. Weiss manages to deflect the second thrown staff but Naruto then throws a roundhouse kick that knocks Weiss' weapon out of her hands. He then swings his other staff, but Weiss dodge rolls past him, grabs the staff on the ground, and then uses her glyphs taxing her Aura to the very limit as she runs up a tree. Naruto looks up that tree and says, "Where are you going?"

"This is definitely new" Ruby comments.

"I think she's getting desperate" Blake further comments.

Weiss then jumps out of the tree and comes down at Naruto with his own staff. Naruto goes to block the attack, but while still in the air Weiss throws the staff at him. Naruto catches the staff which gives Weiss the time she needed to land and reclaim her weapon.

"Whoa, I'm impressed!" Naruto tells Weiss.

"Way to go Weiss!" Ruby shouts in amazement.

"Yeah, but she doesn't have anything left…" Blake states.

"You wouldn't know it by the look in her eyes" Pyrrha points out. Despite having very little left to fight with, Weiss' eyes are still burning with determination.

Seeing this, Naruto smiles and shouts, "Come on, Weiss!" Ruby, Blake, and Yang look a little surprised by this.

Team JNPR look confused as Jaune asks, "Why do you look surprised?"

"We were expecting him to mockingly call her princess" Blake answers.

"Guess Weiss isn't the only one coming along in their friendship" Ruby states.

Weiss runs in throws three sword swings. Naruto blocks the first two and dodges the third before he does a backswing with one of his staffs and follows up with a leaping axe kick. Weiss manages to block the staff swing and hops back from the axe kick before dashing back in with a downward slash and a follow up thrust enhanced by fire Dust. Naruto blocks the slash but is thrown off by the fire enhanced thrust and stumbles back. Weiss knows this is her last chance so she does a dashing thrust before Naruto can balance himself properly, so he gets hit. The hit does not do much to Naruto's Aura, but Weiss then unleashes a relentless assault knowing she has to end this now. Naruto blocks, dodges, and parries each strike, Weiss tries to do the same with each of Naruto's counterstrikes, but she slows down. Naruto then kicks out Weiss' legs and smashes her down with a swing from one of his staffs right to her sternum. Weiss Aura shatters and she has a coughing fit.

Sun looks at Scarlet and asks, "Still not impressed?" Scarlet does not respond which gives his answer.

Team JNPR along with Ruby, Blake, and Yang run over to check on Weiss. Ruby asks, "Weiss are you okay? The looked really painful…"

Yang helps Weiss sit up as Weiss says, "I'm okay…"

"That was a hell of a fight Weiss! You did really good" Naruto says complimenting her.

"Not good enough…coach" Weiss responds.

"Huh?" Nora expresses.

"What do you mean coach?" Pyrrha asks.

"This whole fight was to prove to Weiss that Naruto is good enough to make sure we're ready for the tournament" Blake explains.

"Okay, but why?" Jaune further inquires.

"Because I can't participate" Naruto answers.

"Wait, what?! That's dumb!" Nora exclaims.

"I agree with Nora" Ren comments.

"That really stinks to hear…" Jaune comments as well.

"So much for our rubber match…" Pyrrha complains.

"Wait, what are you talking about?" Yang asks.

"Naruto and I have faced each other twice. I won one match, and he won the other" Pyrrha informs them.

"Are you serious?" Weiss asks, shocked at what she just heard.

"Weiss, how are you still surprised at this point?" Ruby asks her teammate.

"Yeah, how many times does Whiskers have to prove himself before you realize how awesome he is?" Yang further asks.

"Especially considering you just lost to him" Blake adds.

"I know he's capable!" Weiss shouts to make them stop. "But…it's Pyrrha."

"So uh, any chance our team could get some coaching too?" Jaune asks Naruto.

"Sure!" Naruto replies.

"But we get priority!" Ruby interjects.

Naruto smiles and says, "It's true, they do."

"Sure is a bummer you can't participate" Sun comments to Naruto.

Neptune then whispers to Scarlet, "Now we have a better chance." Sage does not like the implication of that.

Yang overhears Neptune and says, "Oh, of course you would say that." Neptune gets embarrassed causing Blake and Ruby to giggle. Even Weiss cracks a smile.

"So, what are you girls' plans tomorrow?" Naruto asks.

"Not much" Yang answers.

"Just helping out townspeople like everyone else" Ruby adds.

"Then after helping the people out, we can have your first tournament prep session" Naruto informs them.

"I can't wait!" Ruby exclaims.

"It's about time we finally got to spar!" Yang comments.

"Is that really all want you to do?" Weiss teasingly asks Yang. Yang gives Weiss a glare making her shut up but she keeps a smirk.

"So then can our team get the next day?" Jaune asks.

Ruby checks with her team and says, "That works."

"Then that settles it!" Naruto exclaims as they start heading back to their dorms.

It is the next day and Naruto is heading to Team RWBY's room. He knocks on the door and Blake answers the door before he says, "Hey Blake. Everybody ready?"

"Sure are, especially Ruby. Come on in" Blake tells him. She then moves out of his way so he can enter the room.

Yang sees him and says, "Hey, what's going on Whiskers?"

"Hey Naruto!" Ruby says greeting him. "Oh wait, are we supposed to call you coach now?"

"No, it's still just Naruto" Naruto answers.

"That's good. I don't think I could make myself do it" Weiss adds.

Ruby looks confused and asks Weiss, "Wait, didn't you call him coach yesterday?"

"Yeah, and it felt wrong when I did" Weiss responds.

Naruto smirks at Weiss' remark and then says, "Blake says you're all ready to go!"

"That's right!" Ruby says excitedly.

Naruto dawns his signature grin and says, "Then follow me!" They then leave the room.

On the way to their destination, Weiss asks, "So what exactly do you plan on having us do today?"

"Well, I need to spar with Yang and Blake to figure out how to help them. But I already know what you and Ruby gotta do" Naruto answers.

After a slight pause, Weiss responds, "I hope you're not implying that Ruby and I have the same weakness."

"That is NOT what I said" Naruto states in clarification.

"I hope you don't take it too personally when I flatten you" Yang comments. This causes Naruto to look at her and smirk.

Blake looks at them and says, "That's a weird way to flirt."

Naruto and Yang both look at Blake and say, "We're not flirting!" This causes the rest of the group to chuckle.

They arrive at the same section of forest they were at yesterday and Ruby says, "We should probably claim this spot since we keep coming here."

"Then try to think of a name for it" Yang tells her sister. Ruby then starts contemplating what to call this spot.

"Okay, we're gonna start with Weiss" Naruto states. Weiss is a little nervous to find out what she needs work on. Naruto then further announces, "We need to increase your overall Aura levels but that'll obviously take too long. So instead, we're just going to be integrating more overall melee combat into your fighting style."

"What in the world for?" Weiss justifiably asks. "I already use plenty."

"You remember why you weren't able to beat all the Grimm during the midterms?" Naruto asks trying to get her to figure out the answer.

Weiss thinks back and responds, "I exhausted myself…"

"You got a strong and very effective Semblance. But, like all Semblances, it burns through your Aura levels, ya know" Naruto reminds her.

Weiss takes this information surprisingly well and says, "I can't refute anything you just said."

Naruto then looks at Ruby and says, "Your weakness is the most glaring." Ruby is taken aback by this. Naruto then walks up to her and tells her, "I need you to hand over Crescent Rose."

"Why?" Ruby asks defensively as she takes a step back.

"Just do it!" Naruto shouts.

Ruby takes her weapon out and is about to hand it over, but she hesitates. Naruto then snatches it out of her hands causing her to indignantly shout, "Hey!" Naruto then tosses Crescent Rose away and as Ruby goes to retrieve it, Naruto grabs Ruby by the hood and pulls her back. Ruby then tries to pull herself free as she lets out, "What are you…?!"

Naruto then throws her down and says, "You're completely helpless without your weapon." As soon as Naruto said that Ruby stopped struggling. Naruto squats down by her and asks her, "What would have happened if I wasn't there when you fell into the tunnels?"

After a brief silence, Ruby admits, "I would have been captured…"

"Your training is less about the tournament and more about survival" Naruto informs her. "If something happened to you, I don't know what I…hell, any of us would do." Ruby looks at Naruto and her team and now understands. She nods and is fully committed. Naruto then walks over to a tree and draws a very crude looking Beowolf on it.

"What are you doing?" Weiss asks.

"For the next ten minutes I want you to attack this with only melee strikes" Naruto tells her.

Weiss shrugs and says "Alright." She then takes out her rapier and starts.

Naruto heads back to Ruby and says, "Now you have my full attention."

"So, what are we doing?" Ruby asks.

"Come at me with everything you got" Naruto tells her.

"You got it!" Ruby exclaims as she proceeds to attack Naruto with one of the worst punches he has ever seen, and this causes his face to reflect that. Yang facepalms and Blake tried to look away.

"It looks like we gotta start at the very beginning" Naruto states.

"Sorry…" Ruby apologizes in embarrassment.

"Don't worry about it. Now I need you to take a basic practice stance" Naruto tells her. Ruby does so and Naruto then tells her, "Now watch me." He then slowly demonstrates a proper punch. Ruby then tries to duplicate the movement. Naruto then walks over and physically corrects her as her shoulders were low. Ruby then slowly does it again, but she does it right this time. Naruto then tells her, "Good! Now do it again." She does so and Naruto finally tells her, "Now keep doing that for the next ten minutes."

"This is so dull..." Ruby complains.

"Oh, I know" Naruto says with a smirk as he heads over to Blake and Yang. He then asks them, "Who wants to go first?"

Blake and Yang look at each other and Yang asks Blake, "You wanna go?"

"I would like to get it out of the way" Blake states. Yang then motions to Blake to go for it, so Blake steps forward. Naruto gets out Orange Spark and Blake readies her sword.

Naruto jumps at Blake and slams one of the ends of his staff at her. Blake spins back and then slashes at Naruto. Naruto blocks the slash before spinning his staff and tries to sweep her legs with it. Blake, to Naruto's surprise, hops forward instead of back to avoid the sweep. She swings her Blade at Naruto and he has to put his arm up to block it.

Yang is surprised by what she just seen and shouts, "Way to go Blake!"

Blake keeps on attacking Naruto as she knows you do not get many opportune moments like this against him. As Blake attempts another slash, Naruto takes a step back and drops his staff. Normally, someone dropping their weapon would be a sign to lower your defenses and focus only on attacking them. However, Blake knows better. She has seen Naruto punch a Super Ursa hard enough to send it flying back. So, she keeps her guard up as she attacks, which was the right call as instead of retreating, Naruto does a punch into a leaping roundhouse kick and finishes the combo with a right palm strike. Blake manages to sidestep and push Naruto's first punch to the side and then she blocks the kick, although it puts her off balance and is forced to do a basic guard against the palm strike. Unfortunately, she is knocked back and off of her feet. She quickly gets back to a knee, but Naruto has retrieved Orange Spark and swings it at her. Blake uses her Semblance to take the hit and gain some distance.

Naruto looks at Blake and says, "It was dumb of me to use regular staff mode on you when you hang out with Sun so much."

"Oh, that makes a lot of sense…" Yang comments.

"Well, so much for that advantage…" Blake states.

"Tough luck" Naruto responds with a smirk.

Naruto configures Orange Spark into rifle mode and empties the clip before switching to dual staff mode. Yang sees this and makes an observation she plans to ask Naruto about. Blake dodges and deflects the bullets as she starts getting closer. Naruto swings one of his staffs which Blake manages to dodge. She tries to stab him, but Naruto parries the attempt before doing three rapid staff strikes and an extended side kick. Blake is able to block the first two staff strikes and ducks the third. She just manages to block the kick, but Naruto continues the assault with a double swing that makes Blake struggle to stay on her feet as she blocks it. Naruto then does a rising knee strike at her sternum which she just manages to back up and avoid it in time.

Naruto then quickly follows up with a scissor kick that hits Blake dead on knocking her back. He then dashes to her with a burst of speed and a spinning aerial summersault with his staffs, straight out of Killer Bee's playbook. Blake is overwhelmed and once again uses her Semblance to get away. She switches her weapon into its kusarigama state and hooks it onto a tree. She holds onto her weapon's ribbon and does a swinging kick at Naruto. Naruto dodge rolls out of the way and says, "That's a hell of a way to use your weapon!"

Blake then swings herself into the air and then strikes down at Naruto from above. Naruto jumps out of the way and upon her landing, Blake opens fire. Naruto blocks the shots and then charges back in and unleashes a relentless series of strikes. As he does this, Naruto also taunts her saying, "What's wrong Blake? Trouble keeping up?" Blake is trying her best, but she once again gets overwhelmed and has to use her Semblance to make a break for it.

Naruto then shouts, "Not this time!" He then throws one of his staffs to the right of where she was, which is where she ran to. She is caught off guard and hit in the back causing her to stumble. Naruto catches his thrown staff before kicking Blake in the back knocking her down. He then kicks her towards a tree. Luckily Blake regains her bearings and lands on the tree instead of crashing into it. She then tries to swing herself from the tree again, but Naruto throws his kunai at the ribbon causing her to drop. He then hits her in the back of the head with his staff causing her to fall forward and hit her forehead on the tree.

"Her Aura's in the red!" Yang announces so the match can end before Blake gets injured worse.

Blake is holding both the back and front of her head and says, "That hurt…"

"It sure looked like it!" Ruby exclaims.

Naruto looks over at Yang and asks, "Has it been ten minutes yet?"

"Nope" Yang answers.

"Hey Ruby! Your time's not up yet so you don't get to be a spectator, ya know!" Naruto shouts to her.

"Oh, uh, sorry!" Ruby shouts back as she gets back to her practice. This causes Yang to giggle. Blake now sits down to rest.

"You're pretty tricky to fight" Naruto tells Blake complimenting her. "As a fellow trickster I can appreciate that, but there's a problem."

"What kind of problem?" Blake asks.

"Against an opponent that knows what they're doing, any trick is only gonna work once; maybe twice if you're lucky" Naruto informs her.

Blake then recalls how back at the Warehouse incident the Super Ursa learned how to deal with her Semblance, and now Naruto completely cornered her. She then asks him, "Then from one trickster to another, any suggestions?"

Naruto smiles and says, "You usually use your Semblance to get away from your opponent, but you should try using it for counter attacks more often." Blake has genuinely not really thought about it, but there is no reason she couldn't besides her own instincts. The ten minutes have now passed so Ruby and Weiss have now rejoined the group. Naruto asks then, "How do you two feel?"

"I don't feel any different" Ruby answers.

"Pretty much the same" Weiss answers as well.

"Yeah, unfortunately right now we're training your instincts and that can only be done with repetition" Naruto comments.

Weiss lets out a sigh and says, "That's true."

"Are we really gonna be doing the same thing all day?" Ruby asks.

"For the most part. But remember, it's only the first day" Naruto tells her.

"Yeah okay…" Ruby relents.

"Welp, I'm ready when you are!" Yang tells Naruto.

Naruto grabs his kunai and puts it back in his pouch before responding, "I'm good to go!" Yang gets excited as her and Naruto have never sparred before.

Naruto and Yang are squaring off with each other. Naruto has Orange Spark in rifle mode and adds wind Dust to it.

Seeing this, Yang decides to ask about what she noticed earlier as she says, "How come you don't use the pistol mechanisms in your dual staffs anymore?"

"Those had to go in order to fit the modifications for Spear Mode" Naruto answers. "And that's way more useful."

Yang nods and says, "It better be."

Yang then dashes at Naruto and throws a right hook. Naruto dodge rolls and fires multiple times at her. Yang dodges each one and gets in closer before throwing 4 punches and a leaping punch. Naruto blocks the initial punches and dodges the leaping punch before configuring Orange Spark back into staff mode and spins it to try and throw Yang off as he swings the staff three times at her. She blocks each one and then fires her Ember Celica's projectiles. Naruto vaults over the projectiles with his staff and in midair configures his staff into dual staff mode before swinging them down on Yang. Yang sidesteps and goes to punch Naruto in the jaw, but he rolls away and has a face that clearly shows he's thinking about something.

"What's on your mind?" Yang asks.

"A kick would have been better in that situation" Naruto tells her.

"Yeah, but I thought you were off guard. Guess that was a mistake" Yang responds.

"No way! I've seen you hit people way too hard to not be on guard against you!" Naruto exclaims.

Yang smiles before leaping forward with a punch. Naruto dodges it and configures his weapon into spear mode as Yang rearms her Ember Celica. Naruto thrusts his spear a few times at Yang who dodges each one before she does a three punch into a high kick combo and then she launches four shots at Naruto. He blocks the punches and the kick before he dodge rolls to escape the projectiles. However, Yang leads a fifth shot that hits Naruto dead on. Yang goes to press the attack, but Naruto brushes off the hit and does three kicks followed by Naruto switching to dual staff mode and doing a double swing. Yang blocks the kicks but not very well and gets knocked back from the staff hits. Naruto then takes note of her not blocking the kicks well.

"That isn't her only weakness" Kurama tells Naruto.

As Naruto tries to figure out what it is, Yang starts attacking again. As Naruto is blocking and dodging her attacks, Yang winks at him. This causes Naruto to lose focus allowing Yang to land a clean punch to his face and she follows up with two Ember Celica enhanced combos and a roundhouse kick knocking him over.

"Did that just happen?" Blake asks in shock. They are all in shock, but Blake even more so as she was not able to knock Naruto off his feet.

"What happened Whiskers? I thought you said you wouldn't be off guard against me" Yang said teasing Naruto.

As Kurama shakes his head in disappointment, Naruto gets up having activated his Semblance and says, "That was a dirty trick..." Yang has a cheeky smile as she stances back up.

Naruto rushes to Yang with increased speed and when she tries to punch him, he parries her punch with one staff and hooks that arm with that same staff before hitting her in the jaw with his other staff and kicks her back. Yang is stunned by this and is then caught off guard by the staff thrown at her head which makes her stagger back once again making her vulnerable. Naruto then lands a dashing punch that knocks Yang through a tree.

"That turned around quickly" Weiss comments.

"Yang's not gonna take that well" Ruby further comments.

Yang jumps back at Naruto laying in punches and kicks. Naruto dodges and blocks them until he catches both of her fists and headbutts her in the nose before over-the-shoulder throwing her to the ground. He goes to kick her, but she rolls out of the way and gets back to her feet. Yang closes the distance with a step-in side kick which Naruto blocks and then he throws a punch which she barely manages to avoid, but she is then sent back with an impact anyway. This allows Naruto to reclaim Orange Spark as Yang's Aura explodes due to her getting annoyed. Due to the hits she has taken, her strength has increased as well. She starts rapidly firing punches, all of which Naruto dodges and blocks until he lands a hit with Orange Spark to her side and follows it up with one to her leg. Yang reels back from this but she then throws a haymaker. Naruto meets it with his own resulting in a shockwave.

Weiss is shocked and is a little intimidated at what she just seen. Blake seeing the same thing says, "I'm glad I'm not fighting them right now."

"This is awesome! Keep going you guys!" Ruby exclaims, excited by the fight.

As Yang continues to press the attack, Naruto internally comments to Kurama, "I think I see the weakness you were talking about."

Yang throws three more punches that Naruto blocks. Yang then throws a low kick, but Naruto meets it with his own and then he follows it up with an elbow strike and a swing from Orange Spark. Yang manages to block them, but he then sends her back with a kick to her sternum and then starts rapidly striking with Orange Spark. Yang is guarding up but that is all she can do. She then gets frustrated and lashes out.

"That's what I was waiting for" Naruto says as he gets past the range of her punch. Yang now knows she is in trouble, but she cannot do anything about it. Naruto lands his thunderous left uppercut right under her chin sending her flying into the air and knocking her into a complete daze. As she falls Naruto catches her before setting her down. He then sits down and starts catching his breath.

Yang's teammates come over to check on her. Ruby tries shaking Yang out of her daze. This surprisingly works as Yang starts to come to and asks, "What happened?" She then feels a pain in her jaw and remembers. She then looks at Naruto and says, "That really hurt…but I'll get you next time!"

"If it makes you feel any better, I'm still feeling that combo you landed earlier" Naruto tells her. This causes Yang to smirk.

"So, what does Yang need to work on?" Blake asks.

"Okay, so while you have no trouble using kicks, you're not that good at defending from them" Naruto tells Yang.

Hearing this makes Yang recall when she fought the twins at the nightclub. Melanie's kicks were the only thing that gave her trouble. She then also realizes that Mercury is in the tournament, and she knows that he is a kicking expert. She needs to deal with that weakness quickly. She then asks, "Anything else?"

"Well…" Naruto lets out as he hesitates to answer. "Your temper makes you kinda reckless and abandon all defense…"

Embarrassed, Yang says, "I'll work on that…"

"So now what?" Ruby asks.

"Lunch break!" Naruto exclaims.

"Please tell me it isn't ramen" Weiss states. Naruto falls silent.

"I mean, at least it's something easy to bring" Ruby comments. This makes Naruto smile as he brings out five ramen cups and a water filled kettle out of his bag. He then starts boiling water before tossing Blake the one in the middle. Blake looks at it and sees it is shrimp flavor causing her to smile.

"What's the plan after lunch?" Ruby asks.

"More practice. I'll be checking to see where you all need help" Naruto answers.

"I'm not exactly sure how I can practice" Yang brings up.

"I'm gonna have to focus more on you since you need practice defending against kicks and not getting reckless during fights" Naruto responds.

"Are you really a good coach for that with how reckless you can get in a fight?" Weiss asks.

Naruto pauses before responding, "You have a good point, but we don't have many options."

"That's fair" Weiss admits. The rest of them agree.

"I'll be helping Team JNPR with their practice tomorrow, so you'll all be on your own" Naruto reminds them.

"But I've barely learned anything!" Ruby indignantly responds.

"Look, learning a proper punch is that important!" Naruto explains. "Besides, you have an ass kicking sister that can help you with your hand-to-hand skills too."

"Don't worry sis, I got you covered" Yang tells Ruby.

Blake then notices Weiss has a slight sour look on her face and asks, "What's with that face? Are you okay?"

"Look, I acknowledge Naruto is the best fighter among us. But it still feels weird being taught by someone our own age" Weiss admits.

"It does feel a little weird…" Blake also admits.

"I'm not really a teacher…more like a tutor! Ya know, like Pyrrha is for Jaune" Naruto tells them. He then sees Weiss start to look offended.

"He didn't mean to that degree!" Yang tells Weiss, trying to fix the situation. Naruto hangs his head due to putting his foot in his mouth causing the group to laugh.

"I'm glad we still have days like this" Ruby states.

"What do you mean?" Blake asks in confusion.

"After the attack, I didn't know how things were gonna go" Ruby admits. "But here we are! Sitting together, laughing, getting ready for a school tournament."

"I hadn't thought of it like that, but you're right" Blake tells Ruby.

"No kidding. Way to keep things in perspective sis" Yang tells her.

"I couldn't agree more" Weiss states. Naruto starts thinking to himself about how his last life got out of control once Pain attacked.

"Because you know how things can go, you need to appreciate all the moments like this" Kurama tells Naruto.

"Yeah, you're right Kurama" Naruto tells his old friend with a smile.

"What are you smiling about?" Yang asks him.

"Nothing in particular. Ruby's right" Naruto answers.

"I bet you appreciate it even more now that you're out of the hospital" Ruby tells Naruto.

"Oh I am!" Naruto exclaims. He then looks at Ruby and asks, "So did you come up with a name for this spot yet?"

"RWBYN's Roost? I know it's not the best but it's all I got" Ruby answers.

They all look at each other as Weiss says, "It could have been a worse name."

"Then RWBYN's Roost it is!" Naruto announces. The kettle then goes off and they prepare their cup ramen. After lunch they practice for another hour.

It is now the following day; the day for Team JNPR's tournament prep session. Naruto arrives at their door and knocks. Ren opens the door saying, "Hello Naruto. Come right in." Naruto steps in the door.

"Hey there!" Nora exclaims as she sees Naruto. Pyrrha waves at him as she is making sure her weapons are ready to go.

"How's it going?" Jaune asks.

"Pretty good!" Naruto answers. "What about you guys?"

"We're all doing well" Pyrrha answers.

"I take it you guys are ready?" Naruto asks.

"Heck yeah we are!" Nora exclaims.

Naruto smiles at her enthusiasm and asks, "You guys got a spot picked out?"

"We thought the spot we used to prepare for the midterms would work" Jaune answers.

"Oh, that's a good spot! It seems each team has a spot for themselves" Naruto responds.

"What are you talking about?" Ren inquires.

"You know the spot I fought Weiss? That's also where I fought Ruby last semester and where we had the prep session yesterday" Naruto informs him. "Ruby named it RWBYN's Roost."

"Huh…I wonder if we should name our spot" Jaune contemplates.

"We totally should!" Nora exclaims.

"Good luck with that. Now come on!" Naruto exclaims as they head to the spot for their training. After walking for roughly a half hour, they are in the clearing they used to prep for the midterms. As Team JNPR are waiting for their instructions, Naruto looks at Pyrrha and tells her, "You're gonna help me coach."

"Are you sure?" Pyrrha asks surprised.

"Well yeah! Look, you're already pretty much the perfect fighter" Naruto points out. "The only thing I can offer you is some light sparring to keep you sharp."

No one on the team is able to dispute that. Jaune even says, "You've basically been my coach this whole time already."

"I suppose you're right" Pyrrha says now having agreed.

Naruto then looks at Ren and says, "Today we're gonna start working on your stamina problems." Ren simply nods as he already knew he needed to address them. Naruto then looks to Pyrrha and asks, "Any suggestions for Nora?"

Pyrrha takes a moment to think before answering, "She is lacking in terms of defense."

"Wait, what do you mean?" Nora asks, having not expected that answer.

"You're far more likely to try and overpower your opponent's attack than avoid it" Pyrrha clarifies.

"So? It usually works" Nora points out.

"You weren't able to overpower that Super Beowolf and it sent your weapon flying away" Naruto reminds her.

"Oh…I forgot about that…" Nora admits.

"You need to learn to figure out when you can afford to stick to your usual strategy and when you can't" Pyrrha tells her.

"So, what about me then?" Jaune asks.

Naruto and Pyrrha both say, "Experience."

"Huh?" Jaune responds in confusion.

"Thanks to Pyrrha you've already improved a lot. The one thing that will really improve your ability at this point is experience" Naruto explains.

"Okay, so then what's the plan?" Jaune further questions.

"You remember what we did to prep for the midterms?" Naruto asks him.

"We all took a turn sparring with you" Jaune answers.

Naruto points to Jaune and says, "Your turn."

"…What?" Is Jaune's only response.

"I agree with Naruto" Pyrrha states. Jaune is clearly not looking forward to this. Pyrrha then further states, "We still need to figure out the order of the gauntlet."

"I think Ren should go first so after his spar I can break off with him to do some strength training" Naruto suggests.

"Then I will go right after so I will have a little time to rest while he spars with Nora. Then I can focus on her training" Pyrrha adds.

"And then I'll fight Jaune after I finish with Ren" Naruto further adds. Jaune starts getting more nervous by the second. Naruto looks at Jaune and says, "The matches will be timed intervals instead of first to red."

"That's a bit of a relief" Jaune responds.

"Okay, everyone's got a few minutes to stretch out before Jaune and Ren go!" Naruto announces. He then looks directly at Pyrrha and says, "And no holding back."

"I understand" Pyrrha responds. She knows Jaune will only improve if she fights him seriously.

In a few minutes Jaune and Ren had finished getting ready. Naruto sets the timer for five minutes and Ren initiates the match with an extended side kick and quickly follows up by trying to hook Jaune's shield with his blades. Jaune braces against the kick but gets pulled forward by Ren before Ren spins around and slashes Jaune with his blade before opening fire on him. Jaune then rolls out of the way before he takes too much damage.

"Get him Ren!" Nora cheers on.

"Ren must have thought about the last time he and Jaune faced off" Pyrrha comments.

This time Jaune takes the fight to Ren with several sword swings. Ren dodges the first two and then clashes against Jaune's sword with his own blades. Despite Ren using both his blades, he can't overpower Jaune's sword which is only be held with one hand. Ren then decides to stick to his agility and back off before opening fire on Jaune again. One advantage just about every fighter has over Jaune is that they can attack from a distance.

As Jaune hides behind his shield, he starts thinking about how to close the distance. "Ren's weapon is rapid fire so it can't cover the same distance as Pyrrha's rifle" Jaune thinks to himself as he starts running away. Ren then gives chase only for Jaune to turn around and run back at Ren. Ren starts to raise his guns and fire, but Jaune has gotten close enough to jump forward with a shield tackle right out of Pyrrha's playbook; and it succeeds in knocking Ren over. This causes a big smile to appear across Pyrrha's face.

Ren gets back up and sees Jaune continuing to press the attack. Ren does a spinning slash, but Jaune parried it with his shield before thrusting his blade. Ren manages to weave to the side of the thrust, but Jaune wastes no time and follows Ren's movement with his sword making Ren have to duck at the last second to avoid it. Ren then backs up before doing a leaping spinning roundhouse kick which Jaune guards against. Ren then hooks Jaune's shield with his blade again. Instead of pulling it forward like before, he uses one blade to keep the shield in place as he vaults above the shield and opens fire with his other pistol landing multiple hits on Jaune. However, Jaune lands a slash on Ren's shoulder at the same time causing Ren to stumble back clutching that same shoulder. The timer then goes off.

"Wow! That got intense quick!" Naruto exclaims.

"Now I'm itching to fight!" Nora further exclaims.

"Try to have patience Nora" Pyrrha tells her.

Naruto walks up to Ren and tells him, "We'll have to save the pushups for later thanks to the shoulder. So, we'll start with a run."

"Alright" Ren says in agreement. He and Naruto then start running around the area.

Pyrrha starts setting a timer on her scroll and asks Jaune, "Are you ready?"

"As I'll ever be" Jaune responds.

Pyrrha readies her weapons and tells Jaune, "Remember, there's no holding back."

Jaune nods and takes a stance as he thinks, "I'm pretty sure he only said that for you. There was never any chance of me holding back and not getting destroyed."

Pyrrha leaps forward with her weapon in spear mode and thrusts it forward. Jaune parries the thrust and tries to counter it with his own, but Pyrrha weaves her head out of the way before she drops down and does a leg sweep kick and at the same time switching her spear to sword mode and follows up her sweep with a multislash. Jaune manages to avoid the sweep but not the multislash which staggers him allowing Pyrrha to slash Jaune in the leg and gut check him with her shield. Pyrrha then also goes to hit Jaune in the jaw with her shield, but Jaune finally managed to guard up and reduce the damage. However, wasting no motion Pyrrha configures her weapon to rifle mode and fires it right at Jaune's face. Jaune manages to drop down just in time to avoid the shot and rolls away before raising his shield in front of him to try and collect himself.

Jaune thinks to himself, "So this is what facing a serious Pyrrha is like…it's terrifying!"

"Come on Jaune! Hang in there!" Nora shouts, trying to encourage him.

Naruto who is running with Ren peaks over and mutters, "Show us what we know you have inside, Jaune."

Jaune takes a breath before approaching Pyrrha again. She fires twice at Jaune before she leaps forward with a shield bash and changing her weapon back to spear mode. Jaune manages to dodge the bullets and meets Pyrrha's shield bash with his own. She then does three thrusts with her spear: one towards Jaune's lower right side, one on his upper right side, and one to the side of his head. All of these spots are unarmored. Jaune manages to block the first two thrusts with his sword and bends back to avoid the third before he does a turning horizontal slash. Pyrrha parries the slash and kicks Jaune before she throws her spear at him. Jaune manages to knock the spear back with his shield, but Pyrrha catches it and does spinning slash into a leg sweep kick combo. Jaune manages to step back from the slash and slam his shield down on the leg she was trying to sweep him. This makes Pyrrha unable to avoid the slash Jaune follows up with making her have to guard up with her shield. Then, remembering Pyrrha's last spar with Naruto, Jaune kicks Pyrrha and sends her rolling back and then he makes sure not to waste the opportunity as he slashes at her again. Pyrrha then uses her Semblance to stop the sword. This is the first time Pyrrha has ever used her Semblance against Jaune, and the timer then goes off. Jaune drops to a knee panting.

"Jaune, that was very impressive!" Pyrrha exclaims.

"I can't believe you were about to land a hit on Pyrrha!" Nora shouts in shock.

"My mind is going in overdrive right now" Jaune tells them. "I remembered how Naruto made Pyrrha vulnerable by kicking her when she was down low with her shield."

Pyrrha is proud Jaune has learned so much and says, "This is why giving you more experience is the best asset for you."

"I get it now…but I don't know how much I have left" Jaune admits.

"Oh no. You don't get to back down now that it's my turn!" Nora tells Jaune. This causes him to sigh and Pyrrha to laugh.

Naruto runs up to them with Ren who is out of breath and tells Jaune, "Hey man, congrats! You almost got a hit on Pyrrha!" Naruto then turns back to Ren and tells him, "Time for pushups!" Ren gives an exasperated sigh before he gets down and starts doing pushups.

As Jaune and Nora get ready to face off, Pyrrha asks Naruto, "How are things going with Ren?"

"I don't think he's gonna make it to the sit ups" Naruto responds.

Pyrrha looks at Ren struggling to keep his pace with the pushups and says, "You're probably right."

"Time to flatten the leader!" Nora shouts as she rushes Jaune.

Jaune takes a defensive stance and responds, "We'll see about that!"

As Nora is rushing Jaune she does a horizontal swing with her hammer. Jaune tries to block it with his shield but quickly realizes that was a massive mistake as he gets sent flying back. Nora then jumps at him with a downward swing, but this time Jaune rolls away from it. He then remembers Pyrrha mentioning that Nora needed work on her defenses. As Nora runs at Jaune again, he surprises her by running at her as well. Jaune slashes twice at Nora and she dodges both slashes but is thrown off. Jaune follows with a downward swing of his sword and Nora holds up her hammer to block. As Nora is overpowering him, he remembers his match with Cardin and then knees Nora in the gut, catching her off guard. Seizing the opportunity, Jaune bashes Nora in the head with his shield which disorients her and then he lands a thrust with his blade and knocks Nora down. Seeing this, Pyrrha stands there both amazed and proud.

"Hell yeah Jaune! Keep it up!" Naruto shouts. Ren has collapsed next to him after getting 10% through his sit ups.

"Oh, that is it!" Nora shouts in annoyance. She quickly gets up and starts relentlessly attacking Jaune. Jaune is defending well but Nora manages to kick Jaune and then jumps in the air as Jaune is trying to recover and she slams her hammer down. Jaune has to put his shield up to guard and gets planted into the ground. Nora goes for a follow up, but Jaune rolls away and gets back up to his feet before bracing himself from another hit from Nora. She smashes her hammer into Jaune's shield and he slides but manages to stop himself. As another clash is about to happen the timer goes off. Jaune drops to his knees trying his best to catch his breath.

"That was a rush!" Nora exclaims.

Pyrrha helps Jaune to his feet and tells him, "You've doing very well."

"Yeah, and your instincts are getting sharper!" Naruto tells Jaune. "Your memory from previous fights is coming through too. I seen that knee attack."

Now clearly seeing that this gauntlet of sorts is providing results, Jaune looks right at Naruto and says, "I'm ready."

Naruto slams his fist into his hand and shouts, "Glad to hear it!"

Pyrrha sets the timer again as Jaune takes a deep breath before taking a defensive stance and telling Naruto, "Come at me!"

Naruto readies Orange Spark and leaps at Jaune swinging his staff down. Jaune blocks with his shield and pushes Naruto off balance before doing a follow up swing with his sword. Naruto blocks the sword swing with his staff and goes for a sweep with his staff and then a smack to the head before condensing Orange Spark back down and going hand-to-hand. Jaune is able to hop over the sweep and back up from the swing to the head. Naruto then leaps and does a reverse roundhouse kick and upon landing punches rapidly at Jaune five times before finishing the combo with an axe kick. Jaune guards against the roundhouse kick and the punches but starts getting overwhelmed before the axe kick makes Jaune stumble.

Naruto then takes Orange Spark back out and puts it in dual staff mode before thrusting one of his staffs at Jaune. Jaune parries the thrust with his shield and then does a downward slash before following up with a rising slash and shield bash. Naruto side steps the first slash and then hooks Jaune's arm with one of his staffs when Jaune attempts the rising slash. When Jaune attempts the shield bash, Naruto knees him in the gut and then smacks him hard in the head with the other staff. As Jaune stumbles from dizziness, Naruto throws one of his staffs at Jaune's head. Jaune parries it with his shield. However, Naruto then punches Jaune's now exposed shield arm before disarming Jaune's shield from him. As Jaune goes to retrieve his shield, Naruto hits him in the back of the head with Orange Spark making Jaune fall over. Once Jaune is down, Naruto kicks the shield further away. Jaune then gets up still a little dizzy and double grips his sword.

"Naruto said no holding back, but I wasn't expecting him to be this brutal…" Jaune thinks to himself. "But, this means he's respecting me as an opponent. I have to give everything I got!"

Naruto starts rapidly attacking Jaune and Jaune defends the best he can. After taking a few hits, Jaune manages to parry two of Naruto's strikes and comes very close to hitting Naruto. However, Naruto was not caught off guard, so he managed to move his head back in time. Jaune further presses the attack with three sword swings. Naruto dodges the first two and blocks the third with one of his staffs before hitting Jaune in the side with his other staff while shouting, "U!" Naruto then sweeps Jaune's legs and kicks him into the air shouting. "ZU! MA!"

Pyrrha and Nora, who were practicing with each other, hear this and look over saying, "Oh no…"

"KI!" Naruto yells as he uppercuts Jaune in the back shattering his Aura and sending him in further into the air.

In a weakened voice Jaune yells as loud as he can, "I give…!" Naruto hears this and lets Jaune drop as opposed to finishing the combo.

Upon landing, Jaune says in a very weakened voice, "I don't think I can move…" Then Ren, who has caught his breath, sits Jaune up. The timer then goes off. Jaune then looks very disappointed that he did not make it to the timer.

"Jaune, you have nothing to be ashamed of" Pyrrha tells him.

"Naruto was able to last a lot longer during our prep for the midterms" Jaune points out.

"Jaune, I've been training to fight since I learned to read" Naruto informs him. "You got a lot less training and look how far you've come!" They all look at Naruto as none of them had known that Naruto has been a warrior for so long.

Jaune then looks at Pyrrha and asks, "Is it the same for you?"

"I doubt I've been training as long as Naruto, but I started at a young age as well" Pyrrha answers. Hearing this gives Jaune a new apparition for Naruto and Pyrrha's strength now that he knows it is not raw talent.

"It's finally lunch time!" Nora exclaims in delight. Team JNPR brought their own lunches.

"That's good, I got complaints for bringing ramen yesterday…" Naruto mentions causing Team JNPR to laugh. Naruto waits for the laughter to die down before asking, "So, you guys got any team attacks?"

"What do you mean?" Jaune asks for clarification.

"Well, Team RWBY has all kinds of team attacks and even call outs for their team attacks" Naruto explains. "They even have one for me and Yang called Bombshell!"

Jaune then starts pondering to himself, "Maybe we could to that." After that they have their lunches and get back to their individual training.

It has now been four days since the preparations for the tournament began. Today was a joint training session between Team's RWBY and JNPR. It was agreed on by all parties that it would be beneficial for all involved. Team RWBY gave Jaune another gauntlet, although this time only three-minute intervals. He really struggled against Weiss and Ruby because of their Semblances as his own team tends not to fight with theirs. Ruby herself, thanks to the teachings of Naruto and Yang, has learned to throw a decent punch. The others have progressed a little bit in their training but still need a lot of work. They are currently taking a break.

"So, I heard from Naruto that your team has these special names for your team attacks" Jaune mentions to Ruby.

"Yup! And they're really effective!" Ruby responds.

"So how do you come up with the names?" Jaune asks.

"It tends to be a combination of our themes and colors" Ruby answers. "Weiss and Blake are Checkmate, Blake and Yang are Bumblebee, me and Weiss are Ice Flower, yada yada."

"So then how did you come up with Bombshell?" Jaune further inquires.

Ruby has a face that shows she is glad he asked as she says, "Oh! Well attractive blondes are often called bombshells which obviously describes Yang. Naruto's blonde too so it can kinda describe him. Then add on the fact Yang has an explosive personality and Semblance, and Naruto is also explosive especially with those special Dust attacks. All together…Bombshell!" Ruby says waving her hands.

Naruto and Yang then look at each other and Naruto shrugs as Yang says, "Makes sense to me."

Jaune thinks to himself, "I got to come up with some stuff for my own team!"

Yang continues her conversation with Naruto saying, "Where was I? Oh right! So, while you were stuck in the hospital, we got told to stop looking for the special Dust. Did anyone come and give you the same lecture?"

"The only ones I seen while I was there besides the doctors and nurses were you guys" Naruto answers.

"The one who gave us our lecture was our uncle" Ruby chimes in.

"Huh, he didn't seem like the lecturing type. Then again, my only interaction with him was during the attack" Naruto comments.

"I thought the same thing before he stopped at our dorm room" Blake comments.

"To be fair, it was "suggested" to him" Yang responds putting "suggested" in air quotes.

Naruto chuckles a bit before saying, "That sounds accurate. So, do you guys actually plan to stop looking?"

"There's no chance we're stopping!" Ruby exclaims. The rest of her team agrees.

Nora, changing the subject says, "I heard from one of the teachers that most students are going to go home next week before the tournament. So, is anybody staying?"

"I'll be staying. I can't really go back to the White Fang" Blake answers.

"Wait, why can't you go back to your ACTUAL home?" Yang asks her partner.

"It's…complicated…" Blake responds.

"I can't go home so I'll be staying too" Naruto states.

"Why can't you go home?" Pyrrha asks.

Naruto chokes up a bit before saying, "My village isn't around anymore. I was actually homeless when I got to Vale" Naruto responds giving a half truth. This takes everyone by surprise.

"That's awful…" Nora says now reflecting on her own past.

"Nora and I know how it feels to lose your home" Ren tells them. The rest of the group continue to be surprised at how much their friends have been through.

Ruby looks at Naruto and says, "Now I know why you looked so panicked when it looked like you were getting kicked out." Naruto nods.

"Jeez, I'm really glad you didn't get kicked out now" Yang comments.

Naruto smiles and then asks Yang, "You and Ruby heading home?"

"Yeah. Our dad would get really worried otherwise" Yang answers.

"We'll make sure to call when dad's not looking" Ruby further comments.

Confused, Naruto asks, "Why can't your dad know?"

"Our dad would absolutely freak out if he knew we were talking to a boy over the phone" Yang answers.

"Even if it's just a friend?" Naruto further asks.

"Yup" Ruby answers matter-of-factly.

Weiss then mutters, "At least her cares…"

"What was that?" Jaune asks.

"I said nothing" Weiss answers.

"So, hold on, the ones staying are me, Blake, Ren, and Nora?" Naruto asks. "That's an odd group."

"Odd can be fun!" Nora exclaims.

"Odd sounds more like Nora and Naruto raising a ruckus while Ren and I stand to the side apologizing" Blake comments. Naruto and Nora go quiet while the others laugh.

Jaune then looks at the time and announces, "Break time's over guys!"

Naruto then stands up and says, "This is the last day before most of you go home so we gotta make today's practice count!"

"Right!" Ruby exclaims. They all agree and get back to practice. The Vital Festival is in a little over a week. They all intend to be ready.

Chapter End

AN: For the few of you that might be curious, Brone is based on Brontes, one of the cyclopes that worked in Hephestus' forge. His last name, Taprenpice, is an anagram for apprentice.