RWBY/K 10

Disclaimer, I don't own Naruto or RWBY.

Glynda walked briskly through Beacon's hall towards Ozpin's office. The rings around her eyes contrasted with her pale face, making her look even more exhausted than she felt. With a firm look on her face, she fingered quickly through a manila folder of files documenting the incident. She hadn't been in the best of moods since she received the call from Kakashi; she also hadn't slept since. As she neared Ozpin's office, she saw Team RWBY solemnly walk through its doors. She wondered what happened in there to put them in such a mood. Putting her curiosity on hold, she entered. She would know soon enough if it was important.

Professor Ozpin sat behind his desk writing a letter and sipping from the mug in his left hand. He looked just as tired as her, not from any lack of sleep, but from the emotional exhaustion that naturally came with a five hour meeting with the Council leaders.

"Ozpin," she said politely while taking a seat.

"Glynda," he greeted with a nod. He took a sip of his tea and sighed. He lowered his head sadly, "So many things are out of order."

"Yes, but things could have been worse," said Glynda as she handed him the yellow folder, "What's important is we work together and prevent any further criminal activities against Vale."

"Easier said than done," rebuffed Ozpin touching his forehead to ease a growing migraine. "I advise the council to use our military forces discreetly, and Ironwood urges them to do the exact opposite!"

Glynda's eyes narrowed sharply. She bit her lips, taking several seconds to process what she heard, and huffed angrily.

Ozpin put down his cup of tea and clasped both hands under his chin. He looked down at the letter he had written with a saddened expression, which was quickly replaced with resolve. "General Ironwood doesn't realize he's doing exactly what our enemies want." he said breathing in, "...and I need to do damage control."

Glynda lowered her head in disappointment. "What made him so vocal, and arrogant? He was not like this before."

"It doesn't matter anymore," said Ozpin with a frown. He opened the folder, glancing through it before putting it aside. "He was discredited due to the Atlesian Paladins being in the hands of the White Fang, his words no longer carry the weight they once had."

"Serves him right," mocked Glynda.

"His plan involved bringing the entire Atlesian army into the city," said Ozpin informing her of what Ironwood had proposed in the meeting. "He believed the citizens would feel safer if a military force was present inside the city. Although a military presence is good, it does not mean excessive force is. There must be a balance which we should tread carefully inbetween, what we have now is good.

Glynda shook her head disappointingly. "It seems Ironwood does not understand people as well as he think he does."

"Putting those depressing matters aside, let's focus on our new friend," said Ozpin, changing the subject. He was especially curious about their new friend. Normally he was the suspicious one, but their new friend didn't give off a hostile presence, he didn't cause him any unease, but that didn't mean he was simply going to leave said friend alone. Good friends were hard to find, and he liked having friends.

Glynda nodded, happy to change topic. "We are fortunate he accepted your request when he did."

"Over 70 White Fang members arrested in that raid," said Ozpin with a small smirk on his face.

"The Police Force was happy to help apprehend them all," added Glynda, remembering how happy the Captain was to finally have something to give to his superiors. Those White Fang members had been causing problems in Vale for months now.

"I'm sure they were," replied Ozpin with a pleased nod. As happy as he was for the Police Force getting some recognition, it was all thanks to Kakashi in the first place. "Let's get back to topic shall we?"

"Of course," said Glynda with a quick nod.

Ozpin nodded and typed on his computer. A hologram appeared in the center of the room showing three students. "It seems he knew more about the White Fang than we believed."

Glynda looked at the faces recognizing them. "Those are students from Haven. They came early for the Vytal Festival."

"All this time our enemies had been right under our nose," said Ozpin. His voice hardened, "Those three are suspected to be leaders of the White Fang."

"Those three?" said Glynda very confused. "Why would the White Fang follow them?"

"That, I don't know," muttered Ozpin with a shake of his head. He leaned back onto his chair. "Kakashi has known about those three for quite some time now."

"What?" asked Glynda raising her voice slightly in surprise. She tried to understand why he hadn't shared such crucial information sooner. "Why didn't he tell us this?"

"Maybe because we weren't allies yet," said Ozpin unbothered. "Or maybe," he looked at the three faces, "it was hard to believe these three teenagers could be behind all this."

"So these three are leaders of the White Fang," said Glynda with disbelief, saddened to see such potential wasted.

Ozpin pressed another button on his keyboard, and a fourth face appeared. "After finding out about the three I realized they were a team. Team RWBY confirmed to have seen this one on the train..."

The hologram displayed a girl with black hair, and green eyes. She smiled mischievously in the picture. Her smile looked innocent at first, but once examined it looked like it was taunting them.

"Mercury Black, Cinder Fall, Emerald Sustrai, and Neopolitan," listed Ozpin. He brought up their information for Glynda to read. "With Team RWBY confirming this information, there is no doubt that they are members of the White Fang."

"What we have on them could all be a fabrication," said Glynda with a speculative tone as she read the information on display. She gripped her crop angrily. "How do you plan on dealing with them?"

Ozpin stayed silent for several seconds before replying. "I've already sent for Oobleck and Port."

"Here?" asked Glynda in disbelief, realizing what this would mean. "We have students here! We can't risk casualties."

Ozpin shook his head. "The dorm they were provided with is mostly isolated. I've already messaged all students to evacuate. As far as the students know this is a training exercise that they will be graded on."

"This is madness," stated Glynda. She took a deep breath to stop herself from exploding at Ozpin, this wasn't the time or place to do that. She could scream at him all she needed to later. Their priority were those students, no, not students, criminals. "Then we need to go now!"

"Correct," said Ozpin with a nod. He stood up with with a sigh, resigning himself. He held no delusions of this being easy if those three were the ones behind everything. "Let's hope everything goes well."

Ozpin walked out with Glynda behind him. They met Professor Oobleck and Port at the entrance. They both greeted him with a silent nod, and gestured for him to lead them. Ozpin felt the burden on his shoulder lighten as he passed his friends. He had friends to help him lift what he couldn't, and this was exactly that.

-/

Cinder stood leaning against the door of their room. In her hand, she held her phone. She shut it off after checking the time. She glanced at Emerald and Mercury. They both sat next to each other on her bed. They were ready to confront Ozpin who was no doubt on his way to confront them. She would have liked to subtly work towards her objective, but with their identities revealed that would no longer be an option.

"How did he find out?" questioned Mercury from where he sat, doing a maintenance check on his legs.

Cinder looked back at her scroll. "It doesn't matter. We've already been discovered for quite sometime now by that librarian. We have a new objective, in any case."

"We still don't know how defeat him," said Emerald with a frown on her face.

Cinder clicked her phone off. "Focus on one problem at a time. Ozpin is on his way."

"That's how I always deal with my problems," replied Mercury with a cocky smile on his face.

Emerald took a calming breath as she looked to Mercury. "Ozpin is a Master Huntsman, there's no way we can beat him without preparation."

Cinder's stoic face slowly and ever so slightly morphed into a mask of displeasure upon hearing that. "Let me worry about that. Just follow my orders and there won't be any problems."

Emerald nodded. She glanced back at Mercury who sat on the bed playing a game on his scroll, leaning back against the headboard.

Cinder noticed her subordinate's doubt filled eyes and looked over at Emerald, making eye contact. "Just be ready."

"I'm ready." Said Emerald with a nod, her shoulders locking further into her back.

Cinder took a deep breath, mentally preparing herself for what was to come. Her power rose, and a wave of heat spread throughout the room. Her two subordinates tensed, their trained sense caution arising at the gesture. She gave them another glance to make sure they weren't having second thoughts, readying herself to kill them if they showed weakness. They were always aiming to please her, and that was exactly what she hated about them. She preferred soldiers who followed orders, not desperate pining for her approval at every turn.

/

Team RWBY walked together through the halls of the school.

Weiss held her scroll skimming through her messages. She looked back at her team, and then the message. "Guys we're suppose to be evacuating the school... Ten minutes ago."

Ruby innocently turned her head over to look at Weiss skeptically. "Leave school?"

Blake voiced her thoughts. "Silent drill."

Yang smiled. "Something I can get behind, right after we go pick up Zwei."

Ruby's eyes widened. "Oh no!" as she and the rest of team RWBY turned toward their dorm.

"Just think of all the great fighters from the other Kingdoms, though!" exclaimed Ruby excitedly as she turned to walk backwards in front of her team. Her eyes starry as she imagined their weapons and fighting styles. "They'll have guns! They all do, but maybe someone will have something completely mind blowing!"

She practically squealed the last sentence.

"You're the only one who would be excited about weapons," said Weiss. Her tone changed, however, and she swooned as she changed the subject. "But think of the Festival! Everything so perfectly made, just for this festival, the dedication, the passion that drives everyone together to create such a beautiful event!"

Blake quickly picked off where Weiss finished. "and faunus and humans celebrating our union. It's beautiful to see what we can do together!."

"Ugh!" shouted Yang in mock disgust as she paced ahead.

She bumped her fist together as if getting ready for a fight. "Shut it nerds! Did you forget the tournament is about fighting!"

She faced her team with a smirk. "We're gonna be the bes-"

BOOOOOOOM!

Yang felt the white hot shrapnel dig through her back. A large flake of stone shot past her, taking a chunk of flesh from the side of her neck. She was slammed suddenly into the rest of team rwby, finding themselves slammed headfirst into the nearby walls and floor.

Yang slowly and tenderly braced herself on her forearms, hissing in pain and nearly throwing up as the dust plastered itself into her open wounds.

The rest of team RWBY rushed to her, shocked to see the wet sand that covered her skinned forearms in a red slurry.

Yang breathed in painfully, coughing in blood through her damaged neck and turning slowly to lay on her unmangled arm as she tried to make sense of the dizzying array of colours and sounds around her. She stood up blindly and in a rage, already to find someone responsible. She turned and started to march towards the source of the explosion, light headed as her aura focused around the blood spurting down her neck and back.

"I'm good," she shouted in response to her team mates pleading calls to her, stumbling forward to fight, only stopping when she realized she was pushing forward alone. She glanced back to see what was holding them back, upon seeing her teammates she, in a brief moment of lucidity, voiced her thoughts.

"You guys look like shit."

Ruby stood, patching her hand over the blood running down her forehead. Weiss's outfit was vivid with the blood splotches running over it. Blake looked to be in the best shape of them all that, probably due to all of the black she wore.

"Let's go!" shouted Yang stumbling forward through hole in the wall. She fell flat on her face upon stepping out to see a burnt clearing. Large rocks, and pieces of concrete strewn all over. "I think I might need to sit this one out" she moaned, curling in on herself in pain.

Ruby was there to pick her up. Yang put a hand over her sister's neck to better stand up, and noticed blood dripping down her sister's mouth.

Blake took her other side helping Ruby lift her up with a grimace on her face. Blake looked back at Weiss to see her holding her stomach, and putting most of her weight on one leg while leaning against a still standing wall.

Yang looked back to the newly made clearing to see Oobleck and Port lying unconscious. They must have been at the center of the explosion. Further ahead they saw Ozpin, and Glynda facing those who were assuredly responsible for the explosion.

"We have to get those two and go," said Ruby.

"I can walk," said Yang pushing Blake and Ruby away. "Get those two, I can crawl if I have to."

Yang began slowly trudging away from the impending fight. Weiss joined her, putting an arm over her shoulder. She returned the gesture and they helped to carry each other's weight as they stumbled away. Ruby, and Blake right behind them, with the professors over their shoulders.

Tears streaked through Weiss's soot covered face as they walked. Yang felt the arm gripping her shoulder, shaking, raging against the emotions of Weiss.

Yang slid her arm across her back slowly. She knew what Weiss was feeling, not just Weiss, but Ruby and Blake as well. They were bystanders, walking away from what they had prepared for and invested in all year. They were going to leave things to others again. It was at moments like this she felt her training as a huntress hadn't let her grow away from being that scared little girl running away with a wagon.

/

Ozpin stood with a hand covering his face, which slowly lowered itself to reveal his unscathed form. The explosion would have definitely left him in a state similar to his colleagues had he not been protected. He had covered his body in aura at the last moment to protect himself, but it proved unnecessary as Glynda's paranoia had saved him. Oobleck, and Port had been at the forefront, unfortunately out of her range. A shining purple glyph slowly spun in front of himself and Glynda. All around him, everything within a 6 room radius was turned into rubbles of concrete dust, glass, and wood. This was beyond his prediction, he could only hope there weren't any lingering students nearby.

He grimaced when he spotted Oobleck and Port lying unconscious at the outer edge of the clearing, but he felt weight in his heart lift in relief when he saw their breathing.

Team RWBY appeared, stumbling out of a broken wall not far from him. His mind festered at the sight in its unconscionable paranoia as he saw his injured students within sight of the enemy. He steeled himself, putting away those worries to focus. He ignored Team RWBY, trusting they would know better than to become involved. He couldn't be distracted in battle.

The girl with black hair stood in the middle looking at him. If her file was untampered, then she would be Cinder. Her dark eyes glowed with a fiery light as she smirked at him. He took a deep breath calming himself as he felt anger start to swell up within him. He needed a calm mind now more than ever, he couldn't afford to let his guard down against her.

Her two associates stayed at her side, eyeing him warily.

Emerald stood to her left. 'Green hair with green eyes, a fitting name,' he thought. She was looking to be the weakest one of the three, but probably had a lethal semblance if her combat skills were lacking.

The last one was the boy. The angry, little boy glaring at him intensely. Ozpin couldn't help, but see him as a lost child. It saddened him to see such promising teens walk such a dark path.

"I'm disappointed you didn't fall for our little trap," said Cinder with a cocky grin. Her grin slowly turned into a sneer. "But you will fall, and when you do I will be there to watch you die. I'll make you watch as I burn down everything you've built." She laughed, glaring at him in a rage.

Ozpin didn't reply to her taunt; instead gripping his cane in front of him, readying it for battle.

Cinder slowly stopped laughing and quickly raised her right hand, revealing a small black sphere. "You don't really expect me to fight you, do you?."

In a flash, she tossed it in the space between them, and in the blink of an eye, it dissolved in mid flight, shedding thick clouds of black fume.

"Watch out!" warned Glynda when she saw and heard the hissing steam rising from the violently bubbling marble and wood within the quickly expanding cloud. She could only imagine what it would do to flesh.

Ozpin immediately placed his forearm over his mouth and retreated from the gas. He searched for Port and Oobleck's bodies in the cloud, sighing in relief when he noticed their absence. He recalled team RWBY being near the two professors. His gaze moved to Glynda who stood still and on edge, her body coiled and watchful for any surprise attacks...but none came. Cinder had escaped him along with her followers.

He examined the ground where the small ball detonated. The ground and surrounding area were partially melted. He had planned to capture Cinder and her two accomplices, but he had greatly underestimated her. He had not accounted for how deep she had put her roots into his school. His arrogance had allowed her to escape, had he brought an army as was within his power she would be in custody.

"Next time," he muttered. His grip on his cane tightened then loosened as he suppressed the burning anger he felt. He sighed and left Glynda to repair the damages. He needed to check on his colleagues.

/

"Oh my god. I don't know what to do!" Cried out Ruby, frantically flipping through the first aid pamphlet left in the room.

"Calm down, the best thing to do in such a situation is to remain calm," said Weiss. She snatched the first aid kit from Ruby, and skimmed through it before throwing it away. "He didn't drown! We don't even have a pool!"

"What do you do when a bomb blows up in your Teacher's face?" groaned Yang sarcastically. Her voice muffled as she limply lay face down on one of the beds.

"Where's the nurse when you need her?" Blake huffed with a scowl.

Team RWBY had arrived with Professors Port and Oobleck in tow into the nurse's office. Port had already awoken and was sitting on one of the white, paper covered, beds of the emergency room. He groaned in pain as he swallowed two painkillers, nearly falling off of his bed as he lurched for the glass of water placed on his desk in order to wash down the quickly dissolving and very bitter pills. Team RWBY put Oobleck on the next of the beds and fumbled about him, trying to admit first aid to the unconscious man.

Port sat up with a grimace and leaned over in his bed, drawing silence and attention from team RWBY. He braced his weight on his arm and held his head out over the floor to better see the bed next to him. After a tense minute, when his arm shook from the exertion, he collapsed back into his own bed and breathed a sigh of relief. Oobleck was bruised, but none of his injuries were life threatening. The girls looked worse off compared to Oobleck.

"You girls take care of your own injuries. Oobleck is fine," he said removing their worries. He stood up with a grimace. "You girls stay here, I need to go-"

Creak!

The office door slowly opened. Ozpin stood in the hallway in his pressed suit, looking in on them with a clinical aura that was only enhanced by the fluorescent lights he stood under.

"Professor Ozpin!" Exclaimed team RWBY as one, with looks of relief on their face.

"Did you stop them?" asked Blake. The rest of the room held its breath, searching his face for any hint of an answer.

Ozpin shook his head softly and lowered himself steadily into an empty chair. "They escaped, unfortunately."

"I'm sorry," said Port sitting up rigidly.

Team RWBY became quiet, and tried to look away as their Professor showed a weakness they never imagined him having.

Port stood up , and silently waited for Ozpin to speak. His still figure shook with his eyes closed.

"Please sit down, you're injured," said Ozpin standing up to help him get seated. Ozpin took a deep breath, and moved to assist Port. "Things can't always go the way you expect them to, and although things didn't go as I had expected, I'm also glad they didn't go as the enemy expected."

"If I had been more careful," continued Port in regret. He started to tear up when Ozpin put a comforting hand over his shoulder.

"The fault was mine, and mine alone," interrupted Ozpin, placing a hand on Port's shoulder. "I was careless. I did not take the measures I would have had they been adults, I did not treat them like the threat that they are."

Port remained silent, and instead sat back down with some groaning. It was rare for Ozpin to admit a mistake, but maybe this meant that Ozpin viewed everything that had taken place as his own failure.

"Rest up," said Ozpin bidding the injured huntress, and hunter farewell. He left, but not before clearly being heard. "Thank you for your help today, team RWBY."

-/

Kakashi strolled through the chaos of Beacon, sidestepping medical personnel carrying bloodied students on bright white stretchers, and weaving his way through the village of manila medical tents that had been erected in the school's charred courtyard.

He was dressed in a white t-shirt that had a picture of a stick man killing an army of Grimm with a gigantic stick sword. He wore black pants and a steel toed boot. His scarf still draped over his shoulders and obscuring his face, flapping about behind him in the wind that blew over the school grounds. On his hands he wore a black pair of fingerless glove that had a metal guard on the back of its palm.

The soldiers of Atlas ignored him as he walked past them, instead focused on pointlessly guiding the stretchers away from the rubble. 'Green recruits looking to feel useful when they're powerless to help,' he observed, noting the confused faces of the guards. He wondered how seriously they took the motto "the enemy is always near."

Atlas was the military police force that handled all serious threats to the safety of Vale. They were supposed to be the elites of law enforcement, and Kakashi knew Atlas forces were incompetent, but it appeared he had given them too much credit.

They were all over the school grounds investigating the bomb that had exploded, and yet he hadn't even been asked to present an I.D. He chuckled to himself with a shake of his head. Then again, perhaps they were expecting him and knew not to get in his way. Ozpin is a lot smarter than one would expect for a man in power. It seemed, if his hunches were right, that Ozpin was controlling more of this worlds establishment than a single man should. If not controlling, then at least keeping an eye on it if the beacon agent "Qrow" he stalked walking through atlas earlier meant anything.

It was times like this, realizing a single person even had the opportunity to instantly keep tabs on everything important to them, the alien nature of this computerized world bore down on Kakashi.

...At the same time, however, the need for spies like Qrow...Ninjas, allowed him brief moments of levity to reflect on how human nature seemed to never change, even in this alien world.

Kakashi was halfway to reaching the elevator that would take him to Ozpin's office before he saw a familiar face. She wasn't the type of person to greet guest warmly, much less if the guest was named Kakashi. If he remembered correctly, she still thought of him as a pervert.

"You," she said warily. She readjusted her glasses, and typed something in her scroll before staring him down. She clicked her tongue at him with a frown, as if she were thinking about asking him to leave.

"Professor Goodwitch," greeted Kakashi with a small wave of his hand and a smile on his face. He peeked over her shoulder, searching for Ozpin.

"Come, Ozpin has been expecting you," she stated sternly and about faced, leading him toward the elevator.

As they walked to the office, she said, "Ozpin doesn't see you as a threat and maybe you aren't, but just because you aren't a threat now doesn't mean I'm unprepared to deal with you should you ever become one."

"Ohh?" muttered Kakashi feigning interest. It was her second warning, a reminder that she didn't want him as an enemy. It was a mutual thing, thus he was able to dismiss it with ease.

Glynda's frown grew when he so nonchalantly dismissed her warnings. She subconsciously reached for her crop, resisting the urge to smack him with it.

He then spoke as if he were reassuring a child with low self esteem. "I'll try not to step any toes, then."

Glynda's finger turned white with how hard she was gripping the crop.