Man and Machine

Human speech/ thoughts

Robot speech/ thoughts

'Audio log' and 'Notes/books'

AN: With the release of this chapter the poll is over, the winner being Raven Branwen, and with that decision made, Naruto will walk in the moral gray zone. Enough with that, onto to chapter!

Chapter start!

Chapter 3: Building Up

Naruto was awakened when his uncle Hei gently shook his shoulders, the bearded man's head shook in slight amusement. He wasn't really surprised to find Naruto asleep at the drafting table, he figured that Naruto would work himself to sleep. As the blond teen rubbed his eyes, Junior glanced at the designs Naruto made the night prior.

"Well these look like they could kick some ass." Junior commented, and drew Naruto's delayed attention.

"Oh… Thanks…" Yawned the young genius, obviously still mostly asleep. The older male placed a folded pair of gray sweatpants, underwear, and a dark blue shirt on top of the drawn plans. Junior wore a similar outfit, except his shirt was white, and the sweatpants were black.

"Change into those. Breakfast is almost ready." Hei instructed Naruto, who sleepily nodded as his uncle exited the room. When the door shut, Naruto slowly began to change into the casual clothes his uncle laid out for him. When finished, Naruto gazed down at the blueprints below with pride, and a bit of disappointment that he couldn't actually build it.

"The AiRazor Smart-Drone would be a terror for ground forces." Last night, Naruto poured his anger into designing the drone, and was pleased with what he come up with, but again, with no resources to produce it, Naruto couldn't help but feel a tad down. If he had access to the materials and equipment then Junior would've walked onto Naruto constructing the drone he designed.

"Can't worry about that now." Naruto decided as he put the shirt on, and exited his room. At first, Naruto started down the right of the hallway, to where the stairs and lift that exited the bunker-like basement of Junior's club but, he changed direction to the left, specifically, he went to the bay next to his dwelling. Before Naruto could knock, the bay door was lifted by Ash, the Spectre's optics glowed blue when they focused on her creator's offspring.

"It is good to see you awake, Naruto." Ash greeted. Naruto nodded in return.

"Good morning."

Ash turned to the side as Naruto walked in, and examined the large but empty space Ash shared with Naruto's guardian/partner, IS-3.

"Pilot, how are you feeling?" Inquired the Titan, it's large form drew closer to Naruto, the massive footfalls shook the ground.

"I still can't fall asleep easily, but aside from that, I guess I'm fine." Naruto looked up at his Titan as he spoke. The Titan, and Spectre paid rapt attention, both aware how important sleep was for the human body and mind.

"It may go away with time. Anyways, I just wanted to say hi." Naruto received a nod from Ash in return while IS-3 searched for ways to help humans fall asleep on the internet, wirelessly linking himself to the web. After he exited the machines' 'Room' Naruto proceeded down the right of the hallway, he choose to take the stairs instead of the lift to exit the bunker.

The two-story building where Hei Xiong run his club was also his home, multiple rooms set in an apartment style were available for employees to use if they needed it were on the first floor behind the actual club with the second story being Junior's private suite. He had a spacious bedroom with a master bathroom, a large kitchen openly connected to a good-sized dining area, and a recreation room. Naruto found his uncle in the kitchen, the smell of bacon, eggs, and frying potatoes filled the room. Junior already had made Naruto's plate, two over-medium eggs with seven thick strips of bacon, and two potato pancakes steamed lightly on the dinner plate with a big cup of what looked like sweet tea, and ice inside.

"Figured you like something homemade." Junior stated while he made his own plate. Naruto nodded in thanks before he began to eat, the eggs gone first. Junior sat down as Naruto stopped to take a drink of what was in the glass next to his plate. There was a pause before be swallowed with a more relaxed expression.

"Texas Sweet Tea?" Naruto asked with a bit of uncertainty.

"Eight ounces of lemonade, two-and-half ounces of Firefly Sweet Tea vodka, an ounce of regular vodka, another ounce of amaretto, and some ice." Junior confirmed with a grin as he brought a strip of bacon to his mouth.

"It's on the guest favorites list."

Naruto nodded his approval as he now took a gulp of the alcoholic beverage. The two ate in a comfortable silence until Junior broke it after finishing his meal first, Naruto fed himself much slower. Junior frowned internally when he saw that, but he understood why. Minato was a good man, and a great father.

"And I need to be the best uncle I can. For Naruto's sake."

"After you're done eating, let's go online, and look for some clothes for you. Doubt you'll want to wear those everyday." Suggested Junior, before he added.

"Some of the guys left early to get some stuff that I think you'll like."

Naruto raised a curious brow at his uncle's tone.

"What kind of stuff?"

"Nothing special." Junior said off-handedly.

"Just some tools, someone said they're buying welding equipment, and a few are getting stuff for a forge."

Naruto stopped eating as his eyes turned misty. He looked at Hei with unshed tears when he felt the older man's arm on his shoulder.

"You know those guys care about you. You're not alone." Naruto let a single tear fall when Hei removed his hand. He wiped his eyes, and resumed his meal, though he ate a bit faster. A few hours later, some of Junior's employees began to arrive, condolences given, and Naruto received the 'gifts' they bought for him. Included were books on how to weld, forge and shape metal along with numerous tools. In addition, Naruto also received a sizeable amount of raw materials, and Junior told Naruto that they would be converting a room into a forge he could use. Naruto was used to laser-cut parts so forging his own materials would be a new skill to learn.

"You can't keep a Namikaze from building, that's worse than death for them." Junior had stated after he gave Naruto a hearty slap on the back, the small group shared a laugh together before they separated to begin prep for tonight's guests. It was Friday, so they usually touched up the place a bit. That included bringing Naruto's welcome gifts to his room.

The past month had been rather progressive in Naruto's opinion. The forge that he was promised had been built in the bay across from the one that was his personal living space, and he had begun to teach himself the ways of blacksmithing, his first creations being crude knives that easily broke. One even shattered when he tried to quench it. Despite the failure, Naruto kept at it, and was quickly starting to get the basics down, but he still had a long way to go before he could even attempt to forge guns for himself, and IS-3, his main reason for bothering to learn that trade at all.

Speaking of IS-3, thanks to his uncle's connections, Naruto was able to his hands on some very advanced computers that he repurposed for checking his Titan's diagnostics as well as Ash's. Another computer was for Naruto's personal use, one that he had made to be untraceable since he found a new hobby in hacking into Vale's government, and military databases for any news about new technologies. Nothing really caught his interest, the march of progress had slowed quite noticeably following his father's death.

Another way Naruto had busied himself was by training with IS-3, actually learning how to pilot the Titan, something that was rather easy after the simulations. Naruto still had to admit that the real thing was much better. Ash had also taken the initiative to resume Naruto's training, the Spectre had requested that foam mats be bought so that Naruto had a soft landing when he hit the ground during their spars. Naruto commented that he would modify Ash's chassis so that she could move more fluidly when he was experienced enough with metal-working to do so. The wiring, and software part was easy, but creating a more human-like body was definitely the hard part.

Currently, Naruto was reading the notes of one of his ancestors, Stein Namikaze, who had pioneered medicine, the standards of modern times set by him. In addition to studying how to save human lives, he had strived to figure out to improve the human body. Unknown to the world was that Stein used both humans and Faunus in his endeavors. In fact, the reason why he knew so much about the body was because of those experiments, and the bodies he carved open. Yet, through his actions, many more lives were saved by what he had discovered. Stein had also discovered that there was no difference between human and Faunus but didn't bother to publish it because he knew that the stigma in his day would've caused those in charge to bury it. At least his fox Faunus wife showed her appreciation for it.

Naruto however, wasn't interested in the vast medical knowledge of his forefather right now, it was one of his body-enhancing experiments that held Naruto's gaze. Naruto read slowly with building interest as Stein's notes described a formula that would give a person a massive boost in physical ability. Unfortunately, while the ingredients, and procedure were written down, Stein was never able to test it. Naruto had read in the notes of one of Stein's sons that he had been killed before he could, which struck Naruto as odd. Stein was one of the few people in his time that had his aura unlocked AND he had discovered his semblance which had helped with his research. Stein could create scalpels of aura that didn't need to pierce the skin to cut, rather they cut underneath the skin. Naruto also recalled that Stein had created a combat-style that focused on his scalpels, and had used it quite a bit to cover up his activities in case he was ever suspected which was a rare occurrence.

"Can't let that distract me. Now, where is… ah! Found it." Naruto was looking for the effects the formula was supposed to have in his ancestors notes. It read that the serum was supposed 'To stimulate muscle growth, and trigger the body to start increasing it's rate of physical development. At first, the effects will appear minor, but that is due to the serum being designed to accelerate the body's natural growth rate. If combined with exercise, and a healthy, active lifestyle, or military- style training, the subject can expect to be much stronger, faster, and possess sharper senses than their peers. I dare say that this serum could turn a wimp into a super-solider within a year or two.'

The notes pretty much ended there save for a few other theories that were unrelated to the formula. There were only a few things Naruto didn't like about it, it was untested, the ingredients would be a pain to gather, Naruto didn't have the equipment to develop the serum, and that it had to be injected into his body. Two needles stuck into deep muscle centers in the neck, and a single needle that would go into the center of the spinal column, the latter made Naruto cringe. A needle… in the spine.

"….I can feel my body squirming."

Thankfully, a knock on the bay door drew Naruto's attention. He closed the book, and told whoever was on the other side to come in. The door opened to reveal Junior in his usual black vest, pants, and biker gloves with a red tie and white shirt.

"Hey, you got a minute? We got new employees."

Naruto nodded as he got up, and went to find the roll of medical bandages he kept in his room. While he did trust the employees of the club, Naruto thought it best to hide his whiskers in case new people were hired. The last Namikaze had garnered much media attention for his mechanical and technological genius when he was young, and his face had been shown numerous times on the television. Given that his 'death' was relatively recent, hiding Naruto's whiskered face was a good idea. The blond found the roll on the wooden desk that housed his personal computer. Naruto begun to unravel the bandages, wrapping his lower face up the bridge of his nose.

After he made sure that the make-shift mask wouldn't come undone, Naruto left his room, and followed his uncle out of the basement to the ground level of Junior's club. The interior of the dance club was primarily black accented with red, but the strobing lights often switched the color to white before alternating between the three colors. There were four columns of glass on the edges of the square-shaped dancefloor that was divided into smaller squares that flashed red, black or white. There were multiple tables that had cushioned booths around them, and near the back of the club was the bar that had tall shelves filled with different liquors. There was also an interior boardwalk that wrapped around three sides of the club barring the side above the bar.

"So where's the new employees?" Naruto asked his uncle.

"Over there," Junior pointed to a table on the other side away from the bar. Naruto saw two females of similar height seated at a table. Once more, Naruto followed his uncle as Hei led Naruto to where the girls were.

"They're our new bouncers. Said they have some hunter training, but decided they'd rather work privately." Junior explained to his nephew, who now stood at his side. The blond nodded as they drew close, the girls stood up when they recognized their new boss walking towards them with a person wearing bandages around his mouth. The girls bowed their heads when Junior stopped a few feet in front of them, Naruto stopped about the same distance. Naruto noticed that the two were obviously twins, given that they had exactly the same physical appearances. Both possessed rather captivating pale green eyes, had creamy, pale skin, soft facial features that were in stoic expressions, and had black hair that they wore down. They were very easy on the eyes in Naruto's opinion. They were also around his age, about a year older. They were also shorter than him by a few inches.

"Alright, Naruto this is Melanie." Junior introduced the one on the left to Naruto first.

Melanie wore a short, white strapless dress that had a bow between her moderately sized bust, the dress also had cyan lining that went with her eyes that also had heavy cyan makeup that flared to the sides. Above her left ear was large hairpin shaped as a white flower, and there was also a tri-layered pad on her left shoulder. She wore a metal belt that had a oval stone of a mineral that Naruto recognized as malachite with two chains that loosely hung below it around her waist. She had two white gloves that stopped a third away from the elbow with a bracer on her left wrist. Naruto also noticed cyan wings attached lower on her dress, and her outfit was finished by upper thigh-length boots with red laces that went down her legs until they ended on top of tri-layered pads that were placed diagonally between the top of the feet, and the lower part of her shins. Naruto couldn't see it but her stiletto heels were bladed on the back. Melanie gave Naruto a nod in greeting which he returned.

"And this is Miltiades." Junior now pointed to the one the right.

Unlike her sister, Miltiades wore a red dress with black lining that was the same type as her sisters that also seemed to have faded newspaper headlines, quite interesting, and unique. Above her left ear were large white-and-red feathers, and she had black fur that hanged off her shoulders connected by a dark gray chocker with two chains below, similar to her twin sister's belt. Around her waist was a black bow that faced to the left. She wore the same boots as Melanie but the primary color was red with white laces. She also had gloves, and Naruto saw that she had dual-bladed gauntlets. Finally, she had heavy red eyeshadow in the same style as her sister, the color clashed nicely with her pale green orbs. Her hair was shoulder-length, which differed from her sister's mid-back length hair.

"It's nice to meet you, please call me Miltia." The red twin spoke softly with a slightly lowered head, yet she kept eye contact with Naruto. She seemed a bit shy, or was just the type that didn't talk much.

"Nice to meet you too." Naruto said in reply.

"These are the Malachite twins." Junior told Naruto their last name, fitting given their eye color that resembled the ore rather strongly. He then indicated to Naruto.

"This is my nephew, Naruto Xiong. I'm taking care of him." Junior spoke with a tone that was a bit sad, and Naruto's eyes dimmed. The twins could tell that something must've happened to Naruto's parents recently.

"We're sorry for your loss." They spoke in perfect synchronization. Naruto immediately recovered, as did Junior.

"Anyway, I wanted to introduce you three to each other because Naruto doesn't come out during business hours, and you'll primarily see him if you go down to the basement incase I need you to get something from down there." Junior explained to his new employees, they both nodded in perfect synchronicity.

"Unlike you two, who'll live in the employee apartments" Naruto spoke up, shifting their attention to him.

"I live in the basement since it's close to my forge, and the utilities of which maintenance of is my responsibility." Naruto finished. The twins lifted a brow at the same time which made Naruto groan internally. Great they must think he's some sort of grease monkey. Didn't help that he was in sweat pants, and a t-shirt, his casual clothes.

"If only they knew who I really was."

"Now that that's done, let me show you girls to your room." Junior announced with a clap of his hands before he turned around, the three followed him.

"Naruto, I need you to check on the heating system." Junior looked back at his nephew, who nodded.

"A few of the boys think something's up with it, and I'd rather you look at it before something bad happens.

"Yeah, I'll do it when I get back down, was just doing some reading." Naruto replied. He saw the twins give a curious glance, but they remained silent. The last Namikaze figured that sooner or later he'd talk to them more. When their paths separated at the stairs, Naruto gave a friendly wave before he descended, the twins both nodded simultaneously before they ascended with Junior.

"He seems interesting." Miltia lowly said next to her sister as they walked up the stairs behind Junior.

"A bit low for our standards." Melanie stated before she gave another comment .

"He does have nice eyes though, they look like they were carved from glaciers." Miltia nodded at her sister's observation as Junior opened the door to the floor that housed his employees, neither noticed the light smile he had.

"Don't know why, but I got a feeling that Naruto will get along with these girls."

Over the following month, Junior's hunch started to be confirmed as the twins began to grow curious of Naruto. From a distance they observed that he was very intelligent, often reading high-level textbooks in the mechanical, engineering, and advanced robotics fields with easy comprehension. They also saw that he possessed an unnatural charisma that drew people to him, mainly their fellow co-workers but the twins were sure it would work on most people. Currently, Junior watched as he momentarily paused from cleaning dirty shot glasses from behind the bar counter as the twins approached Naruto during closed hours, the only time Naruto was safely able to be in the actual club. Hei was glad when he saw the three begin to converse, he believed that it would be good for Naruto to have associates his age. It also helped that they didn't know who Naruto actually was.

Junior knew that Naruto would guard his true identity, but having conversions with people that didn't know his circumstances could help improve Naruto's mental stability. Hei had noticed that while Naruto was grateful for the other employees' concern, his nephew would rather them not worry about it. Naruto was the type of person that used his work to deal with internal issues, but whenever he talked to a club employee that knew his identity, Naruto saw the pity in their eyes, and was reminded of what he lost. It made Naruto remember the feelings, and took away from his progress. It didn't help that Ash confirmed that Naruto had insomnia, which made him lay awake at night, his mind racing, and that voice demanding vengeance. Naruto didn't hate the White Fang as a whole entity, he knew that they were tipped off, but there were loathing emotions he felt for them.

Speaking of Naruto's feelings on people, the headmaster and his drunk pal practically destroyed any chance of Naruto trusting them when IS-3 scanned Naruto's room, and detected multiple listening, and surveillance devices. One was a listening device inside of his pillow, they had bugged a scroll that was given to him, and he had dismantled the TV inside his room to find eight different bug in just the screen. On total, Junior mailed around 49 different bugs to Ozpin's office that included a particularly nasty letter typed by Naruto detailing his feelings towards a bug that was found in the toilet along with sticky note on the bag that had "Screw you!" written on it.

Qrow was shocked when Ozpin's jaw dropped as he read the letter when they received the bag of surveillance devices. They hadn't found out much even with how many they had placed, just that Naruto had designed some kind of drone he called "AiRazor", and that he wanted equipment to manufacture his own ammunition, and ammo for his Titan. Fortunately, Ozpin prepared in case this happened, and had put bugs in place that were inside the walls that were made from steel, and cement thus blocking any type of scan from detecting them, however all of the bugs in the bathroom had been discovered.

Another month went by, and Naruto saw much progress. His forging ability had finally risen to the point where he was decent at crafting pistols, specifically revolvers. Junior had also managed to procure the proper equipment that enabled Naruto to make his own ammo. Naruto would have to improve his skill further before he could produce shells the caliber of IS-3's weapons. With his new crafting skill, Naruto designed, and built a double-action, six-shot revolver that he called the B3 Wingman. It was made to be accurate with a high stopping power, but the trade off was a low rate of fire, something that Naruto soon solved when he created another smaller, but quicker firing machine-pistol christened the RE-45. The 45 in the name came from the twenty .45 caliber rounds that it fired automatically. Both performed excellently, Naruto soon discovered that if used with one in each hand, the two guns covered each others weaknesses.

Naruto further modified the RE-45 with a suppressor, and an under-barrel laser-mount that he modified his helmet to track. To increase the Wingman's already superb range, Naruto added a Red-dot sight, satisfied with the work of his hands. Of course, to balance the progress, something potentially disastrous had to happen, though that was Naruto's opinion about what happened. Junior saw it as a great thing.

The twins' curiosity about Naruto had kept growing until finally they decided to see him in private. However, this visit occurred at the worst possible time, during Naruto's pilot-training when he was inside of IS-3's dome-like cockpit. When Melanie and Miltia lifted up the bay door on the left of Naruto's room, Miltia almost fell over from shock but her white-themed twin instinctively moved to hold her up. They had stared at the massive mech that also stared back at them, a smaller machine that went unnoticed by the girls shook it's head. When the hatch opened, Naruto leapt out with his armor on, but his helmet was removed when he landed, and he didn't have bandages hiding his lower face. That allowed the girls were able to see his face without obstruction, and once they did, Naruto immediately saw the amazed looks of recognition.

When Naruto texted his uncle to come down to help explain everything, Junior giggled a little. He had predicted something like this would happen, and had looked forward to it. While Naruto was friendly with the twins, Junior knew that his nephew couldn't properly bond with them as long as he withheld his secret. Sooner or later the Malachite twins would find out, be it from himself, Naruto, or a third party. It was better that they heard it from Naruto's own mouth. That led to the current situation.

When Junior walked inside the open bay, he could feel an uncomfortable tension. Naruto stood close to his Titan while the twins stood around several feet away from them. Miltia looked downwards to the side, her arm held onto the other while Melanie just stared at Naruto with confusion. Junior sighed internally as he walked over to where his nephew stoically stood, no doubt his mind going through multiple scenarios. Hei stood at Naruto's side, the Malachite twins both looked at him before back to Naruto, his stoic gaze did nothing but bring them more unease. Junior decided to open the conversation, but Naruto spoke before his uncle could open his mouth.

"Before anything else is said, I am Naruto Namikaze, the supposedly 'dead' son of the recently deceased Minato Namikaze." Naruto told the twins across from him, their mouths opened a bit from shock, but more from the bluntness of the way Naruto admitted it. The blond across from them blinked before he turned to his uncle.

"Was that too blunt?" Asked the blond. Now the twins blinked. Junior gave a nervous chuckle.

"Sorry about that," Junior apologized for the brash delivery of his nephew's opening statement.

"He's never had to introduce himself before, everyone's always known his name beforehand." Junior explained, a hand on the back of his head. Coming from the Namikaze line, if somebody DIDN'T know Naruto's name, that person was considered uninformed in other continents while in Atlas it was an unofficial crime, if not an insult to the northern kingdom's culture, and history. Naruto massaged his forehead with his hand.

"Look, what we're going to tell you is important so please listen, and then ask questions. My life is on the line, and now by proxy, so are yours." Naruto stated, his last sentence quickly garnered Melanie and Miltia's attention.

"I'm going to give it to you straight. The night my dad died wasn't because of an accident, the White Fang were told where we lived, and were bribed to either kidnap or kill us." Naruto paused to clear his throat, it still hurt him to think about it. Now he had to talk about it, even if it was just a summary. Naruto felt his uncle's hand on his shoulder, and IS-3's presence soothed his emotions. The twins saw his eyes turn slightly misty when he continued to speak, the moistness built as he spoke.

"My father refused to let our family's research fall into their hands so after he ensured my survival, he caused the destruction of a nuclear reactor that was the source of the explosion seen." Naruto stopped again, and gave his back to the twins. The last words of his father played in his head.

"You'll always have me with you, just look into my notes, and you'll feel me there."

"Damn it…" Naruto internally cursed as he quickly recomposed himself, the tears that threatened to fall were wiped away with his arm. When he turned back around, he continued, the worried gazes of the twins ignored for the moment.

"I survived because before my dad sealed a bulkhead above us, I was transported to an underground bunker outside of the affected area by my father's latest creation, the Ogre-Class Heavy Titan designated IS-3," Naruto used his hand to indicate the massive mech that stood next to him. The girls dumbly nodded, still struck by the size of the robot.

"And an earlier design that was meant to replace the knight line of robotic infantry, the prototype Spectre that calls herself Ash."

Said machine stepped into the Malachite twins view, and greeted them.

"Good evening."

Once more, the twins nodded, this time with slight hesitance. Naruto resumed speaking.

"Once inside the bunker, Ash contacted General Ironwood to inform him of my status, and our location. The General was already on his way to investigate, so it didn't take long for the ship to reach us." Naruto paused for air, Junior continued for him.

"When they were onboard, Ironwood and IS-3 figured out that there was leak somewhere in the council, and from there it was decided that since it wasn't known that I'm Naruto's uncle on his mother's side, it would be best if Naruto was brought here for his safety." Junior ended the explanation, his hands clasped together.

"Any questions?"

"Why would the White Fang accept a job from someone in the Atlesian council?" Asked Melanie. The White Fang was Faunus revolutionary league, they weren't mercenaries. And why the Namikazes? It was public knowledge that they were part Faunus, and the most charitable to the species. The Namikazes hired Faunus for equal pay, and even entrusted high positions in their company to them.

"Did you know that when the White Fang first formed, my family funded them?" Naruto answered with a question. The twins shook their heads negatively, understanding were he was going with that inquiry.

"Either their assault was some form of payback for a perceived betrayal when my father stopped funding them, or whoever employed them made an offer they couldn't refuse." Naruto explained with a scowl, and narrowed eyes. Greedy bastards.

"Also," Naruto began to go further, his scowl gone but his eyes still narrow. The twins saw Naruto's pupils thinned to slits.

"The only crime of the council is that they couldn't keep their mouths shut." Naruto stated with disdain.

"The more likely candidates are the leaders of industry in Atlas, my father's rivals." Naruto finished with his arms crossed, and his eyes closed. His eyes opened again when he asked them if they had any other questions.

"Why are we in danger? Aren't you considered dead?" Miltia spoke up. Melanie nodded in agreement to her sister's inquiry. As far as the world knew, Naruto had died the same night his father did. The answer came immediately.

"Simple. If It's found out that I'm still alive, what's to stop someone from hiring a group of mercenaries to shoot this place up, and kill everyone inside? Including you, if not before they make use of your bodies." Naruto bluntly informed them, pleased when he saw his point click inside the twins heads.

"O-ok… We get it." Melanie shook her head to get the thought out of her head, Miltia looked a bit pale, both disturbed by the very real possibility of what could happen if Naruto was found out. Junior made a note to talk to Naruto about subtlety. Especially when it came to that particular subject.

"I'm not trying to scare you, but I won't sugarcoat what could happen." Naruto tried to assure the twins that he was just trying to stress the severity of the consequences if the wrong people found out Naruto was still breathing.

Melanie and Miltia nodded in understanding, though the males could tell they were still unnerved. Naruto saw that they had no other questions so he decided to get to the main reason why he explained everything in the first place.

"Now that you know my circumstances, I need to ask." Naruto stared the two dead in their eyes, they felt as if his glacial orbs pierced into their own malachite ones.

"Will you keep quiet? Will you help me?" The twins detected something in his voice that pleaded with them to agree. The girls then thought about their interactions with the newly revealed Namikaze over these past months. He was kind to them, he never saw them as pieces of meat like most of the boys in their age group usually do. Naruto was fun to talk to, yet he also knew how to stop and listen. Naruto never tried to score with them either, he saw them as Melanie and Miltia Malachite, not as twins to have a threesome with. Now, Naruto further showed his respect for them by coming clean about who he really was. Melanie turned to Miltia and saw her red counterpart nod an affirmative.

So it was settled then. Miltia turned to Naruto and gave their answer, the twins had slight smiles.

"We'll stay quiet."

Naruto, and his uncle both became visibly relieved. Naruto then saw the girls walk up to him, both put a hand on the opposite shoulder, his armor cold to the touch.

"You will still chats with us though right? We rather like talking with you." Melanie requested, and got a chuckle along with a nod. Junior started to leave, the bouncers followed him, but looked back at Naruto and gave small waves before the door was brought down.

Naruto took a slow breath, happy that his worries were laid to rest. His scrolls screen lit up, and when Naruto picked it up he saw a message on it that was from his Titan. The message further increased Naruto's relief.

Apparently IS-3 took it upon himself to listen in, and analyze the voice patterns of the twins while they spoke. The Titan reported that their words were truthful.

While Naruto was glad that he could rely on the Malachite twins, his uncle was more than giddy at how that reveal brought the three closer. Neither Naruto nor the Malachite twin knew it, but Junior definitely saw a spark between them!

What was now needed was for that spark to become an attraction, with some time, and watering a relationship to bloom . Junior rubbed his hands as he took his place behind the bar with a grin. How Naruto's relationship with the twins would develop was something he looked forward to observing, and nudging if needed, knowing how inexperienced Naruto was with the opposite sex, Hei foresaw that he had a bit of work cut out.

Of course, after something good happens, something bad usually follows though this was overdue. Thanks to the remaining bugs, Qrow and Ozpin were able to find out that Naruto had taken an interest in the activities of the members of Vale's council, digging through rather sensitive information. While both men knew Naruto was too tech savvy to be caught, the concern over what he planned to do with his finding warranted a visit. That, and Ozpin saw an opportunity to see how Naruto had adjusted so far.

Once more, since Ozpin going to a club would attract unneeded attention, Qrow was dispatched again. The alcoholic wasn't too bothered by where he was going, in fact, the hunter welcomed the environment, especially given that he was visiting during closed hours which meant no waiting for drinks. Granted, as Qrow left Ozpin's office and exited the elevator, he was stopped by another member of Beacon staff, the stern Glynda Goodwitch. It was a few minutes later that Qrow found himself with a partner. One that guaranteed he wouldn't be allowed to drink.

At least she was already up to date on all the information they had on Naruto, and what their checkup on him was about. Qrow hoped that Naruto wouldn't push Glynda's buttons while he prayed the same woman wouldn't hit a sore spot on Naruto which may piss off that giant mech of his.

Qrow didn't want to be beaten into a paste on the ground, enough said.

During the drive, Qrow insisted that Goodwitch to treat Naruto as an equal.

"He's not only smart, but very perceptive. This kid is definitely Minato's son." Qrow told his companion for this trip. Glynda nodded.

"Is there anything else I should be made aware of?"

"Yeah," Qrow responded with a bit of a smirk as he parked.

"Don't be a hardass. That walking tank of his might not take kindly to it." Qrow teasingly advised after he exited the car, his snickers aggravated the teacher. Glynda breathed in, and composed herself. Glynda was just glad that Qrow parked in the back, and had called ahead. Hei Xiong, the owner of the establishment, told them that if they came in through the front then other people might think he extended his hours to include the day. She was also thankful that the possibility of someone seeing her enter this kind of place was minimized.

Once inside, Goodwitch was rather surprised to see that the interior had a sense of sophistication, it wasn't fancy by any means, but it wasn't your typical nightclub either. Currently, the strobe, and blacklights were off, regular lights illuminated the room, and their objective sat across from two girls-twins by their identical appearances- with individual color schemes, one red with the other being white. Qrow raised an eyebrow when he saw that the three were engaged in what seemed to be a good conversation.

"And I thought he was going to be one of those revenge-driven dickhead types that ignored girls."

Qrow heard a scoff come from behind, when he and his temporary partner turned their bodies around, they saw Junior standing there with an annoyed expression.

"Please don't make my nephew out to be some emo brat that only cares about revenge. He's not some second rate anime antagonist." Junior stated to Qrow before he turned to the woman with Branwen.

"So who're you?"

The woman was rather tall with a height of six feet and 5 inches with her heeled boots on. She wore thin glasses over her light-green eyes, and seemed to be in her middle ages with very light-blond hair in a bun. Glynda wore a white long-sleeved shirt that had a wide keyhole above her well-sized breasts that a bit of skin, and above that was a teal, tear-shaped pendant that matched her earrings. Her midsection down to the upper thigh was covered by a black pencil skirt with bronze buttons, and black-brown stockings hugged her legs. Lastly, a tattered cape that was purple on the inside but black on the outside was draped around her shoulders.

"My name is Glynda Goodwitch, I am an associate of Professor Ozpin and General Ironwood." Glynda introduced herself calmly. She understood that Hei was not expecting her, and was right to be cautious. He was hiding his nephew after all.

"Alright, you guys know where he's at. Feel free to talk to him out here." Junior told them, before he walked away, his heading was behind the bar to check the liquor counter. The two turned back towards Naruto, and saw that he had noticed them, his mood dropped while the girls with him sighed before they got up, and left with small amounts of disappointment in their eyes. It went unseen by Naruto since he was more focused on Qrow and the woman with him. Naruto guessed based on what his father had told him of Ozpin's group that this might have been Glynda Goodwitch, a teacher at Beacon that was a no-nonsense type.

"Lovely…" Naruto internally groaned when the two made their way towards him. Qrow was the first to say something when he and Glynda sat across from Naruto.

"Well you seem to have made some friends since we last met." Qrow observed as he placed his legs up on the table and lean back which got him more than few narrowed eyes, from both his temporary partner, and the workers of The Club.

"Let's just get down to your purpose here." Naruto requested. He crossed his arms as his gaze kept moving between the two adults across from him.

"It's either my hacking or that I've made weapons for myself." Naruto guessed.

"Ozpin wants to know why your looking into the activities of Vale's council." Goodwitch answered with a disapproving tone. Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"That's it?" He asked, surprised that it wasn't an order that he stop. The adults were also caught off-guard. They both assumed to different levels that Naruto planned to use whatever he had found.

"I'm just looking for blackmail material should I need it. Every politician has skeletons in their closet, and let me tell you," Naruto leaned closer.

"You guys seriously need a new council." Finished the Namikaze before he leaned back with closed eyes. Qrow and Glynda looked at each other before they stared back at Naruto who had reopened his eyes.

"… What did you find?" Qrow cautiously asked. He had no doubt that the members of Vale's council had done some unsavory things, but for a Namikaze to say what he did, then it must be a big issue. Glynda's brows furrowed, and she wanted to stop the conversation from going further off track, but like Qrow, what Naruto had just told them raised multiple red flags. Of course, what came out of Naruto's mouth made them roll their eyes. Glynda felt a headache start to form.

"They have no plans for any exponential growth! No drive for progress!" Naruto grimaced. It was abhorrent to him.

"Those idiots are completely content with stagnation." Naruto hissed in disgust. Stagnation. A word that was hated by his family. Vale's leaders were completely fine with the way things were. In a way it made sense given how grandiose Vale's past leaders were.

"Ugh, I don't even want to think about that."

"Is that it?" Glynda asked with a blank face.

"Well, there's also the massive drug ring that one runs, and the cover ups of every members sex scandals, but other than that, nothing out of the ordinary, typical bureaucratic carp your leaders love to use so they can line their own pockets while weakening Vale, such as replacing Ozpin. " Naruto causally answered while he uncrossed his arms and leaned back with his hands behind his head. Glynda's jaw dropped when those words came out of Naruto's mouth, specifically the bit about Ozpin. Naruto raised An eyebrow.

"This surprises you?" He asked the blond woman across from.

"It shouldn't. Ozpin has massive sway because of his position, both in Vale and across Remnant." Naruto clicked his tongue.

"These idiots obviously feel a nonexistent threat to their own status, or are just that jealous of his influence." Naruto rolled his eyes. Typical political B.S. always halts progress. The council of Vale was definitely why they were so far behind Atlas in everything.

"Is that all you wanted to talk about or is there any other reason Ozpin sent you?" Naruto asked, trying to move the conversation elsewhere. Qrow wanted to ask what Naruto was building weapons, and ammo for, but Glynda had other concerns.

"You didn't think to tell us of these thing so that the justice system could remove these individuals or at least investigate them?!" Glynda hotly asked with narrowed eyes. Qrow silently put a palm on his face. Here we go…

"Ever heard of bribing judges or paying off jurors?" Naruto shot back, and unleashed a verbal barrage against the female teacher across from him.

"There's also crooked cops, and since I know Ozpin wouldn't want the media to cause chaos, it would be a simple move of hiring assassins to keep this quiet. What else?" Naruto tapped his chin in mock thought, Glynda grit her teeth at his body language. A game! He was treating this like a game!

"Oh yeah, this is the one that really matters." A serious expression covered his face, all mirth lost.

"What happens if it's discovered you got this information from me, then whoever killed my father knows I'm alive, and now I've got a target on the back of my head."

Ok, Naruto had a point there. Namikazes only took risks they considered worth it for the continuation of progress. Qrow realized that right now, Naruto cared more about his own life than about Vale's political status. It must've clicked with Goodwitch too, as she backed down. Naruto nodded as he saw that they understood.

"It's nothing personal but I refuse to tip off my father's murder just to remove a few old corrupt idiots so younger corrupt idiots can make a bigger mess." Naruto let his smirk come back.

" I already have to clean up Atlas when Ironwood says I'm ready, a goal that you've already seen me working on since you know of my hacking." Both adults nodded, they figured that they might as well know more about it.

"You seem to have taken quickly to blacksmithing if that revolver and machine pistol are anything to go by." Qrow commented. Naruto nodded as he pulled out the B3 Wingman from the back of his pants and paid it across the table before he slid the revolver to Qrow. The veteran hunter picked it up and whistled with approval at the craftsmanship of the gun. The adult man had to admit that Naruto had some talent, though the fact that he was related to the inventor of mecha-shift probably had some influence.

"The design is a bit odd but I've never been one for normal." Naruto stated as Qrow examined the hexagonal chamber of the Wingman. Glynda was a bit interested, but moved the conversation back to Naruto's plans.

"How else are you training yourself so that you can return? The General must have placed the bar high." She asked, her full attention on Naruto. Qrow took the hint and gave the gun back to Naruto. After he slipped the revolver back into previous place, Naruto gave a small shrug before he answered rather plainly.

"Without a proper mentor there's not much I can do except rely on Ash to help me in hand to hand, and try to improve my accuracy and precision with my weapons." Naruto stated with a sigh.

"I can't run around and improve my ability to move around with my jump kit, there's not enough room for that." Naruto ceased to speak, rather annoyed at his current situation. The hunters across didn't fault the Namikaze for the way he felt, they knew they would too if their opportunities to improve themselves were as limited as his.

"Yeah, that sucks kid." Qrow agreed as he leaned back and looked up at the rafters. Glynda felt that at the moment, Naruto was just something that should continue being monitored. There were few more questions she wanted to ask to get a better feel of Naruto's moral guidelines, but Qrow stood up rather abruptly.

"Well, it was nice talking to ya again, but that's all the time we have, but we'll be back."

Naruto nodded, glad that the pseudo- investigation was over. Glynda got up and gave a short farewell before she left the building with Qrow. She was going to rip him a new one when they got back in the car.

Naruto waited for them to leave before he began to massage his temples. Damn it! There were still devices set in place to watch him. Maybe it was time to use a more through way of looking for those remaining bugs.

"Hey…"

"What was that about?"

Naruto looked to his right to see Militia, and from there he knew Melanie was on the left. They both had concerned expressions as they sat at his sides instead of across from him.

"Just Ozpin checking on me." Naruto answered, his hands folded with his head against them while his elbows were the table.

"I still have some cleaning to do it seems."

Qrow and Goodwitch had just entered the car, and right before Glynda could commence giving Qrow a verbal lashing, he spoke.

"Raven was up in the rafters. She most likely heard everything." The chronically drunk hunter shook his head in a self-chastising manner.

"Of course she's watching him. She's always watching someone."

Whatever feelings of frustration and indignation Glynda felt was replaced by dread. If Raven heard everything…

"When do you think she'll approach him?" Glynda asked with a sigh. Raven knew Naruto was looking for a mentor. What's to stop her from offering to be that person? Qrow had the same thoughts in his head but there was a small chance that Raven would stay away. At least until those bugs were removed, and of course for one other reason.

"Naruto knows we're still watching him but even if he does remove the bugs, Raven might still hesitate because of IS-3."

The blond teacher nodded. She had seen the campus footage of when the Titan was on Beacon's grounds, it's impressive size and intimidating form would make even insane people think twice.

The drive back to Beacon would be silent, both hunters were deep in thought at the possibilities of what would happen when- not if- Raven Branwen introduced herself to Naruto Namikaze.

CUT!

CHAPTER OVER!

OK, I have to cut this chapter short. This Sunday, as those of you who live in the US know, Hurricane Irma is about to slam into Florida. I don't live on the coast but the entire state is going to be covered as my family and I will be riding it out. As soon as I can, I'll let all of you know if I'm OK.

To get off that subject, Raven won the poll. Next chapter will have the IS-3 action, and other exciting developments. Please keep us in Florida, Georgia, and Carolina in mind in the coming week.

Later! Greyblueflames needs to finish last minute supply gathering!