AN: I swear I enjoy writing this... despite the update speed. Whatever, enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or RWBY.

Chapter 7: First Battle of Many

"So did you do well?" Penny happily asked.

Naruto shrugged as he took a sip of water. Setting his bottle down, he said, "Well enough, I guess. Pretty sure I got most of it so I'm not too worried."

"That's good," she replied with a gentle smile.

"Mhmm. Oh, and Penny?"

"Yes?"

"Why is ice queen sitting with us?" he asked with a gesture of his head to the side.

Winter eyed the blond with little emotion from her own space at the round outdoor table. She gripped her coffee cup as she said, "You do realize I can hear you?"

"I'd be worried if you couldn't," he replied easily before taking a bite of his sandwich, ignoring the small roll of her eyes as she sipped her beverage.

"Well," Penny started, "even though there's not going to be any punishment for my negligence yesterday, I will be watched more closely."

"I thought that wasn't going to happen?" Naruto retorted.

"She won't be constantly escorted around like I threatened, but keeping an eye on her when I can spare the time is a reasonable compromise," Winter answered.

"So you didn't just want to enjoy my company again?" Naruto whined at the older woman in fake disappointment. Penny giggled while the soldier didn't waver from her neutral demeanor.

"As enjoyable as it has been, no," she monotonously jabbed back.

"Eh, you'll learn to love me."

"I'm sure."

Finishing off his food, Naruto wiped his hands, leaned back into his seat, and pointed a thumb to the only other occupied seat at the table. "What about her?" he asked bluntly.

Three sets of eyes turned to the young woman also under the shade of the lunch table umbrella. Dark skin, blue eyes, short navy blue hair and a golden marking on her forehead were the most eye-catching features on her. Similar to Penny, her apparel was a bit modest with a blue skirt above her white leggings, a buttoned down grayish-white blouse, elbow-length fingerless black gloves, and a blue beret to top it off.

Feeling multiple gazes on her, the girl calmly met them in kind after turning her eyes away from the watch on her left wrist. "Do you require something from me?" she asked the three in a professional and near-monotone voice.

"Yeah, who are you?" Naruto replied, earning a flick to his ear from Winter.

"Learn some tact," she ordered as Naruto rubbed the reddening area while looking at the older woman accusingly.

"Not my fault there weren't any introductions, dattebayo."

The girl cleared her throat and got Naruto's attention again. "If you must know, my name is Ciel Soleil," she stated politely with a tip of her head.

Naruto nodded back. "Alright then, I'm-"

"Naruto Uzumaki. Seventeen. Hails from Vale. Status: Under assessment," she listed off.

With jaw still ajar, Naruto looked at her with near emotionless confusion. After a few seconds of silence, he quickly shook his head and got his facial features under control. "Yeah, well, what's my favorite food?" he challenged.

"Ramen," she answered quickly, maintaining solid eye contact.

"Huh…" he eerily muttered in reply while leaning back into his chair. He looked at Penny and Winter before asking, "Okay, should I be scared or something right now? Am I on some super secret watchlist or whatever?"

"Classified," was Winter's calm reply as she contently took another sip of her coffee, the briefest hint of amusement glinting in her eyes.

"Don't read too much into it," the blue-eyed girl stated, regaining his attention. "Finding that last piece of information wasn't difficult. A simple search of your name online, specifically from news sources around Vale, had an article featuring a ramen restaurant with you in one of the pictures. Coming to the conclusion of linking their main dish to your preference wasn't an unreasonable guess."

Naruto slowly blinked at the explanation. Oh yeah, a local paper did do a little story on them involving some sort of food critic, though that was a few years ago. "Why were you researching me?" he questioned skeptically.

"Given your recent and possible future interactions with Penny, I deemed it necessary to determine if you posed any sort of threat."

Naruto paused, his mind still wary. "Again, why?"

"Classified," she mirrored Winter's response.

Naruto rolled his eyes before placing his elbow on the table and casually resting his chin on his hand. "And? Did you find anything to cause concern for sweet little Penny here?"

"Like I said before, that's still under assessment, but the likelihood of you being a danger is currently quite low."

Naruto looked at Penny exasperatedly with a large raise of his brow. Her only response was to smile at him encouragingly, as if Ciel's words were supposed to be some sort of great news.

The blond turned his attention on everyone. "Seriously, can anyone please tell me about this weird military secrecy crap?"

Penny looked like she was going to gladly say something until Winter motioned her to stop. "Don't," the woman stated simply.

Penny blinked innocently. "But he said please," she countered.

As if such a response has been routine before, Winter replied with, "Saying please doesn't mean you're obligated to follow through with someone's request. You have to take multiple things into account such as the topic involved and the context in which it's in."

"Oh, I see. My mistake."

Naruto observed the interaction with minor incredulity, his curiosity still not satisfied. He sighed and crossed his arms. "Whatever, as long as I'm not suddenly tied up and thrown in the back of an unmarked van, I don't really care that much, dattebayo."

"That specific consequence remains to be seen, but maintaining your current risk level shouldn't be difficult," Cien said.

The blond looked at her weirdly. He honestly couldn't tell if that was supposed to be meant in a humorous way or not. "Okay, really, who talks like that? That's even worse than ice queen. Are you a brainwashed sleeper agent or something?"

Penny tried to ease her friend. "Naruto, she-"

"What is your prime directive?!" the blond dramatically exclaimed with a pointed finger at the beret-wearing girl.

"Classified," she said once again without wavering, causing the blond to groan and suddenly plant his head onto the table with an audible thud.

"Ow…" they heard him say silently.

He probably should've made sure his headband was actually on his head and not around his neck.

Penny giggled while Winter did let some amusement show as she gently shook her head. Even Ciel, not once breaking her no-nonsense expression, had the barest upturning at the corners of her mouth, though that disappeared when she took a peek at her wristwatch.

Looking at Winter, she said, "Ma'am, the lunch hour is near its end."

"Very well." Standing from her seat with the other two following her example, she glanced at Naruto and said, "You should get going to the next testing area." The proceeding clicks of her heels on the pavement were already putting distance between him and her as she continued. "Remember, I and the others will be watching closely so please don't disappoint."

Naruto sat back up while tenderly rubbing his forehead. "Yeah, I know," he replied nonchalantly.

"Good luck, Naruto!" Penny called out to him as she followed Winter, Ciel giving him a simple nod as she diligently did the same.

"Don't need luck!" he exclaimed back confidently.

Facing forward, Penny smiled and cheerfully locked her arms behind her back as she walked. "Are you looking forward to watching Naruto fight?" she asked Winter.

"I'll admit I'm interested in seeing the full scope of his abilities." Having Qrow as his teacher would do that, especially given the history between the two hunters.

"So you'll give him an invitation if he does well, right?" Penny replied eagerly.

"Of course, but that's if he shows the necessary degree of skill. Anyone fortunate enough to be considered for Atlas Academy must be held to the right standard with potential to grow."

Penny eyed Ciel. "What about you? Don't you think it would be fun to have him on our team?"

Just the thought of teaming up with her new friend was filling her with giddiness! In the back of her mind there was also the glaring fact she hadn't seen him fight yet and this was all under the assumption she could get him on her team, but that's neither here nor there. In her view, failure wasn't an option for the whiskered teen and everything was smooth sailing once all was said and done.

"I'm of the same stance as the Specialist, though having met him personally will naturally make me focus on his performance more than the others," she replied in a matter-of-fact tone, completely ignoring Penny's inquiry about fun.

"Great!" She apparently didn't mind her answer.

To Penny, that might as well have been a resounding yes.

"This is so awesome!" Naruto excitedly whispered to himself from his seat. Around him the other competitors intently watched the fight taking place, everyone guarded by the protective glass set up in the small stadium.

Looking around he saw that almost all of the seats were occupied by prospective students itching for the chance to prove their worth. With his best guesstimation he'd say there were a few hundred spaces in the dome-like building in total, a reasonable amount for the expected attendees every year, he supposed. He did, however, also take notice of what looked like a private viewing box overlooking the arena from a better vantage point, having been set up around five meters higher than the last row of seats at his back. He had even spotted Winter and Penny when he looked at its viewing windows so he guessed that's where all the representatives were at.

Hearing the people around him suddenly sound a collective 'oooh', followed by a buzzer and automated words, he turned his attention back to the current fight. From the looks of things, one of the guys had knocked the other out of bounds, eliminating him and ending the bout. It seemed like a pretty rough ending since the loser was slow to get up and was also leaning against the wall with obvious cracks in it above him.

The blond saw the larger male that won the fight sheath a short ax before saying something to himself and thumping his chest a couple of times in celebration, obviously excited at his victory before walking back to the tunnel he first emerged from. While the other competitor was being helped to his own exit by a couple of staff members, a robotic female voice rang out from the speaker system.

"With the conclusion of the 8th exhibition match, will the following examinees please make their way to the designated waiting areas as shown on screen: Lilac Chevalier, Gris Cultro, Naruto Uzumaki, and Blake Belladonna."

"Blake?" Naruto excitedly said, ignoring the voice repeating itself as he saw pictures of himself, Blake, and two others he didn't recognize pop up onto the four-screened jumbotron above the arena.

Seeing the letter 'B' under his and Blake's picture, Naruto quickly walked down the steps to the front and followed the sign pointing to where he needed to go. Walking through one of the entrances they all entered from and into a large hallway, he started to ponder about the type of fight they were going to be in. He'd been watching people battle for a couple of hours or so already and they were all random. Some were singles fights like the one that just took place, others a free-for-all with three to five participants, and the rest being team fights with two or three people on each side. Though with the current set up, he'd wager he was about to team up with the black-haired girl.

Sweet.

He was hoping to see how the girl fought since their interaction on the ship, but being able to fight alongside her was even better. While he really hoped they'd come out on top, he was absolutely excited for what was about to go down, no matter the outcome. Witnessing others like him freely duking it out had gotten his blood pumping and he was raring to prove himself as well.

Reaching the door to his destination, Naruto entered and found himself in a rather plain room. The only things of any significance at all were the simple table and chairs in the middle, a digital clock and speaker built into the wall, and the set of large double doors that he assumed led to the battlefield.

The sound of the door clicking behind him made him turn around to see Blake arrive, looking just like he last saw her except for her weapon's grip peeking over her shoulder like him.

"What are the chances, right?" Naruto greeted cheerily.

Door closing as she walked in, she met his lively visage and shrugged. "Pretty low, I guess." Ah, her naturally disinterested tone seemed to have remained.

"Really, that's it?" he asked dully. "No, 'wow, it's great to see you again', or, 'let's go kick some ass!'? C'mon, most of the people I've talked to in person lately are either full or borderline robots. Show some emotion!"

She blinked once in confusion. "What?"

"Will all competitors please make their way to the arena. This will be a two versus two battle," the same voice from earlier spoke through the room's speaker.

"No time to plan, huh?" Naruto asked himself as he stared at the other door. Guess they had to really get things rolling to fit the schedule. Shrugging, Naruto marched to and dramatically kicked the push bar on the door to expose the tunnel. "Let's go kick some ass!" he exclaimed, unnoticeably quoting himself, with a fist in the air.

Blake stood in place for a second as she watched him proudly carry on. Breaking her light stupor, Blake weaved through the closing door and quickly caught up to the blond. "We only have a few moments before getting out there. Weapon?" she asked with a sense of urgency, though the naturally dry tone accompanied it.

Taking a second to catch on, Naruto replied with, "Pretty much a machete tanto. Can use dust to increase its sharpness and do some other cool stuff. Semi-auto rifle."

"Katana and sheath I can wield simultaneously if necessary. Pistol," she said quickly, seeing the light at the end of the tunnel approaching. "Semblance?"

"Uh," he started, "some sort of aura manipulation. I can make an explosive shield, stick to stuff, and form it into chains. You, uh, kinda need to see to understand better," he added after seeing her curious look.

Getting her mind back on track, she continued. "Shadow clones. Good for mobility, with enhanced offensive and defensive capabilities if I choose to combine them with dust."

Well, it wasn't quite the amazing pre-battle strategy plan they were hoping for, but at least having a basic understanding of each other's abilities will help. At the very least they can use this information to not get in each other's way.

Exiting the tunnel and feeling so many sets of eyes on them, Naruto let out an impressed hum alongside a tiny smirk. "Shadow clones, huh? Don't know why, but I really like the sound of that. Must be badass."

"You'll see," she replied, a serious glint in her eyes as she and her whiskered partner got into position and faced their opponents on the other side of the battlefield.

Unwavering olive green eyes bore into both Naruto and Blake as they arrived, the right one partially hidden by lavender bangs that extended into the rest of the woman's shoulder-length hair. While most of it was straight, the ends lightly grazing their owner's shoulders had some curl to them, with the only other significant part being a single, small braid hanging at the left side of her fair-skinned face, two white beads dangling near the bottom.

Naruto and Blake's eyes trailed downward to take in the shiny form-fitting metal armor covering her torso and shoulders. While sturdy-looking, they assumed mobility wasn't going to be a problem. Similarly colored silver gauntlets also protected everything from her elbows to fingertips, the hands also covered by some flexible yet sturdy cloth. Covering her lower half was a rather simple, dark knee-length combat skirt made with vertical sections of hardy leather with pointed ends, along with durable black boots that reached just below her knees.

The last, and rather eye-catching, thing the teens noticed was the massive silver lance stabbed into the dirt next to her, her gauntlet-covered hand casually brought up at level with the top of her head to grip and steady it. Upon closer inspection, besides the bulkiness at both ends of the lance's main body, there seemed to be a wide gun barrel resting above the large bayonet-like blade. Though considering its size, perhaps cannon was a more apt description.

"That must be Lilac," Blake quietly said, her amber gaze firmly meeting her female counterpart's.

"Is this not enough…?" her sensitive hearing picked up. Looking at her temporary partner, Blake saw Naruto self-consciously tugging at his orange sleeve, his eyes repeatedly flicking between his own clothes and Lilac's armor.

"Really? That's what you're concerned with?" she replied with the barest hint of mirth as they then eyed the violet-haired girl's teammate.

Right off the bat, to put it simply, the guy had bedhead. It wasn't even the kind that looked like it was done on purpose. The neck-length black strands going in every direction possible really did look messy from slumber. Blake and Naruto could've also sworn there were some indented sleep lines on his pale face like he had just finished a lengthy nap. Half-lidded gray eyes looked in their general direction but weren't really focused on them, at least not as much as his partner. His upper body was covered by a plain and wrinkled gray t-shirt with an open and tattered black jacket, while his lower half was only made up of a combination of sneakers and jeans with a few tears in them. As for his weapon—a silver butterfly sword with a metal hand guard and wooden handle—he was lazily weighing it in his hand next to its leather sheath on his belt.

"And that's Gris," Naruto stated, thinking up multiple scenarios of how the fight would go.

"Are all participants ready?" the automated voice asked, followed by an audible 'beep'.

Remembering how the other fights went, Naruto looked up and saw that the sound indicated all of their aura levels suddenly appearing next to their pictures. That was still a really cool feature in his opinion. Apparently, in official places of combat such as this stadium, there were various unseen sensors lined around the battlefield's walls that somehow consistently measured how much energy they had left. They could even track the same information on their scrolls if given clearance. It was definitely the handiest tool to keep injuries to a minimum; just another example of the technological marvels to come out of Atlas.

Once deemed ready, everyone started hearing a series of beeps acting as a countdown. Bringing his headband up around his forehead and unsheathing Hien with Blake following suit—though her weapon was still technically sheathed—Naruto lifted his blade towards the black-haired girl. Noticing her questionable gaze, he said, "C'mon. For good luck."

Relenting after a moment, Blake lifted her sword and tapped Naruto's with a small 'ting' only heard by them. After that they only had to wait for the signal to start.

BEEP

And they were off, Naruto not wasting time as Hien turned into its rifle variant with a short-range sight emerging at the top. "Let's see what they got," he said giddily, before firing several shots at Gris, something the other male obviously didn't appreciate from the annoyed look on his face as he was forced to dodge to the side.

Following Naruto's lead for now, Blake quickly unsheathed her katana and had it transform into a pistol before shooting at Lilac.

The armored young woman was much calmer than her partner, not batting an eye as she simply stepped behind the large lance still stabbed into the ground. The bullets were easily blocked by the weapon—some pinging off of the stylized lily emblem—but that wasn't surprising to Blake. She'd honestly be disappointed if her opponent couldn't manage something that simple.

The short pause from her target being suppressed let Blake see that Gris had ran halfway to their position. That isn't to say it was going smoothly, though, as gunshots kept sounding off. Naruto had quickly gotten a feel for his movements and had grazed him a few times as he tried to move up, his grayish aura becoming visible with every successful hit. She could only imagine how quickly the fight would've ended if he didn't have his aura to protect him. Still, a look up at the screen showed that he wasn't doing well at all. A few hits from Naruto's bullets had taken over a quarter of his energy. Given that Gris's weapon didn't look like any sort of gun, it seemed rushing was his only option, which put him at a disadvantage from the get-go. His obviously rocky start, however, made it apparent he didn't expect the quick kickoff from the blond either, so he had to do as much as he could with what he had before it was too late. It wouldn't do him any good to be eliminated right off the bat.

A heavy clunking sound brought Blake's attention back to Lilac, and not a moment too soon as, despite the lance's size, Lilac had quickly brought it up to point at her as a purple glow started to emerge from its barrel.

Taking an easy guess of what was coming, Blake nimbly rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding the small explosion that impacted where she was standing. Now on her knee and observing her opponent critically, she saw Lilac stare right back as her lance's barrel glowed once more.

Blake was mentally counting down when to dodge again but was surprised as Lilac suddenly averted her gaze to the other half of the battlefield as her weapon was charged up to fire. It only took a small moment to see what she was planning as the purple-haired woman shifted her weapon's aim.

"Naruto!" Blake shouted.

The blond ceased his shooting as he turned to face the violet glow.

"Oh shit!" he cursed to himself before jumping to the side, a sizable crater forming in his prior spot. Quickly making his way back to his feet, he breathed a sigh of relief until he saw Gris suddenly emerge in front of him, fully taking advantage of the distraction his partner gifted him with. Naruto had to step out of the way of the first slash as Hien went back to a sword before making a slashing attack of his own. The swing made contact but it was with the small sword in Gris's grasp, locking them in place as they both began to push against each other.

"Not gonna last long with that!" Naruto grunted as he felt himself easily begin to overpower the shaggy-haired teen.

His arm wobbling as he fought back, Gris lazily smirked. "Don't get too cocky." The next thing Naruto felt was Hien and his arm twitching rapidly. For a second he had no idea what was happening until he saw Gris's arm and sword vibrate even more violently, enough for various afterimages to appear.

The blond wasn't sure how to react until he suddenly saw a few metal chips flick into the air above the swords. His eyes grew wide as he realized Hien was breaking apart. Some panic settling into his mind, Naruto stopped resisting and stepped to the side, letting Gris lurch forward unbalanced before taking a strong punch to his left cheek from his metal-covered glove.

He could practically feel Yang cheering on the simple attack.

Naruto's adversary grunted from the blow and staggered. The Uzumaki tried to take advantage and get in close while he could but his opponent saw it coming. Gris was quick to swing his blade at Naruto when he was too close to dodge, forcing the whiskered teen to block with Hien. Once again Gris's small sword began to rapidly shake as it met Hien head on, digging into and chipping away at the blade like a chainsaw to wood.

Naruto glared at the smug gray eyes that stared back and dared him to do something about his apparent semblance.

Damn it! Naruto mentally shouted as he jumped back while Gris gladly stayed put, making sure he was still near enough to close the distance in case Naruto tried shooting him again. Eying some of the small cracks on his blade, the blond winced. "Ruby's gonna kill me…" It wasn't exactly his fault for not knowing his foe's abilities, but he knew the weapon loving Rose wasn't going to care.

Looking back up to meet his opponent's eyes, Naruto figured he might as well show off some of his own tricks. If he was lucky, he'd be able to do more than enough damage to end the fight.

The blond began to charge forward with blade drawn, Gris holding his ground and fully prepared to shatter Hien in their next exchange. Ignoring the sounds of the, for now, steady back and forth between Blake and Lilac in the background, Naruto willed his aura to surround his entirety as he got within striking distance.

For a split-second Gris found it odd to see the spontaneous glistening of orange around Naruto. He knew it didn't spark from damage so he absentmindedly figured the Uzumaki was calling upon his reserves to lessen the upcoming damage. Even so, with his semblance it wouldn't take long to slice through his aura. For Naruto's sake, the tired-looking teen hoped he could take a nasty hit.

While readying to once again lock blades with his opponent, what Gris didn't expect was for Naruto to suddenly lower his weapon and rush in with a shoulder tackle. Surprising, yes, but not one to neglect such an opening, Gris swung his small blade at Naruto's exposed torso.

A short and blinding orange flash obscured Gris's vision the moment his vibrating blade made contact. He didn't know the cause of it, but he did know he felt himself flying backward through the air, a dull pain radiating up his arm.

With his mind in a daze, Gris gasped in pain as he landed on his back roughly slid across the battlefield floor. The dust from the impact was still fresh in the air around him as he shakily got back up to his feet. It was then that, as the pain in his arm receded, he realized his sword was absent from his grip.

With the most emotion he'd shown since the start of the match, he frantically looked around in alarm. The short search ended as he faced the direction of the female fighters as their melee bout started edging closer to his own, his missing weapon stabbed into the ground a few meters away from them.

He was never the most impressive physically, but it became apparent to him long ago that he didn't have to worry much once he got the hang of his semblance. Why fret about how strong you were if you could simply take an easily manageable—yet very durable—blade and cut through anything like a hot knife to butter?

Unfortunately, that led to an overreliance on his semblance, making his other fighting skills suffer because of it. Couple that with a naturally lazy personality and an unfavorable scenario like the one Gris now found himself in was a very real possibility. With that in mind, he did the only thing he could think of.

He desperately ran towards his sword.

"How long can you keep this up?" Lilac calmly questioned as she used a gauntlet to block a strike from Blake's katana.

"Long enough," was the similarly calm reply. After her words were uttered Blake used a shadow clone to swiftly jump out of the way of a fierce kick, Lilac vaulting off of her grounded lance to add more power to the strike.

Once they landed, both girls heard rapid footsteps approach from the side. Both cautiously witnessed Gris heading towards them and quickly realized his goal was his weapon in the ground.

Using the short pause in their fight, Blake tried to take advantage by transforming her blade back to a pistol and started opening fire at the defenseless teen. A couple of rounds impacted Gris's aura and made him stagger, his energy level now dipping into dangerous territory.

"Do something!" Gris yelled at Lilac, all of his lethargic attitude thrown out the window. Despite his plea, the purple-haired girl was already ahead of him as she hastily lifted her lance to thrust at Blake.

The Belladonna was fully prepared to make another escape with her semblance but she didn't need it.

"Tag me in!" Naruto yelled as he started firing his rifle at Lilac. With the sudden change in the flow of battle, Gris wasn't paying any attention to the blond at all since his landing while Lilac didn't have him in her immediate line of sight to act appropriately.

Absorbing the impact of several bullets against her torso and arm, Lilac was forced to go on the defensive by jumping back and shielding herself with her large weapon, her purple aura crackling for them to see.

His partner occupied and himself taking more damage by the second, all Gris could think of as he reached for his sword was to desperately use his semblance on Blake's weapon. He felt he was pretty much screwed at this point so all he could hope for was somehow showing the judges how much damage he could deal when given the opportunity.

However, his plan quickly collapsed as Blake threw her pistol at his blade, the black ribbon attached to it snagging the handle before pulling it away and immediately tossing it at the wall behind her.

"No!" Gris yelled while reaching out futility, feeling all hope of making a lasting impact fade away from his mind.

"Yep!" Naruto shouted from behind.

Gris turned around to face the blond running right at him, his arm drawn back and Hien's fierce looking knuckledusters glinting from the stadium's light. Getting up close to punch the pale teen would be a satisfying trade-off for the damage Hien suffered in the blond's opinion.

However, an explosion between the two young men stopped Naruto's advance, sending a lasting cloud of dirt into the air after the brief purple flash. It was easy to figure Lilac was responsible, but Naruto thought she would still be on guard for a little longer. A quick look at the armored girl as she was charging up another shot showed her unflinchingly weathering Blake's bullets in an effort to buy her partner more time. It was a small sacrifice, he supposed, since her aura was still at a surprisingly decent level, just below Blake's.

He couldn't dwell on that for much longer as she then shot the ground between him and her, now blocking his vision of all three of the other fighters as the new dust cloud rose and merged with the first. A second later he heard the familiar mechanical sounds of reloading and it sure as hell wasn't Blake's pistol, so he immediately prepared himself for what was to come.

He didn't have to wait long to once again see the violet glow but it was blended in with the dust still wavering in front of him. He was waiting for the audible hum he had gotten used to from her weapon before it fired but he heard no such thing this time. He was even more confused when the light from her aura suddenly died out.

Had Blake swooped in for a swift ninja-like knockout or something? He didn't hear anything of the sort but if she did then he was impressed.

Suddenly he heard the light clanking of metal footsteps as they got closer, revealing Lilac once again as she ran around the wavering dust cloud.

Why she decided to attack this way he didn't know, but he might as well get back into it while she wasn't close enough to hit him or preparing to fire that damn cannon.

As he turned to face her he was startled by Blake's shout. "Naruto, there's a-"

A neighing cry interrupted her warning, causing Naruto to shoot his head toward the sound coming from within the dust cloud. Just as he was done craning his head he barely managed to glimpse some sort of glimmering, violet appendages shoot through the dust and violently crash into his chest.

His breath left him as he flew through the air before slamming hard into the ground. Grumbling at the growing pain blossoming in his chest, Naruto slowly raised his head to see the newest entrant in the fight.

Really? A magical glowing horse? he mentally groaned in disbelief as he saw the impressive purple stallion standing on its hind legs and proudly neighing again, bits of sparkling light shimmering around its mane and large body.

Alright, he had to admit that was pretty cool. Even its voice had some sort of distortion that made it more mesmerizing than it already was. At least now he knew why he felt like he got kicked by a horse.

After getting over his own surprise at his partner's save, Gris let a smirk of satisfaction emerge on his face. "Ha! That's what you- huh?" he stopped as he noticed Blake's pistol start to spin around his body.

Blake pulled the ribbon as soon as her pistol locked around her distracted opponent's body, the blade of the katana expertly placed to not dig into his midsection. She didn't have to worry about damaging him any further now anyway, not with what she was about to do.

With a small cry of exertion, the girl used the versatility of Gambol Shroud in conjunction with her own strength to easily swing Gris off of his feet and become airborne.

He really should've trained to add more mass to his skinny physique.

The next thing Gris knew was his body being once again roughly introduced to the battleground. While it was just as 'fun' as last time he noticed one small difference. He now found himself outside of the battlefield's boundaries.

A short and loud buzz from the arena's intercom signified his elimination, making him groan in both pain and disappointment. Seeing his aura now in the red to match how he felt, all he did was rest his head and lightly punch the ground in frustration.

Pleased with the result, Blake smoothly returned the rest of Gambol Shroud to herself after detaching from the throw.

"Woo! Nice one, Blake!" Naruto yelled in excitement from a sitting position.

Blake gave her attention back to his side of the arena, seeing the blond giving her a thumbs up with a wide and whiskered smile.

Unwillingly, she felt a small grin forming but her attention was once again drawn to Lilac behind him. She pointed at her for Naruto's sake since the armored fighter was closer to him.

Still sitting, Naruto casually turned his torso enough to see Lilac now charging towards him, lance pointed forward to joust as she gracefully rode on her summoned steed.

"When the hell did she do that?" He barely spared any time to watch Gris take flight, after all.

Jumping to his feet, Naruto ignored the pain in his ribs as he emptied the rest of his current magazine into the front of the horse. Blake followed suit behind him but neither did much damage to the mass of aura, or at least damage that was obvious from the spectral creature as it shook the attacks off easily.

Nothing stopping her, Lilac and her new partner fiercely picked up the pace once they were near Naruto, surprising and forcing him to roll out of the way.

Once they passed him, Lilac willed the horse to suddenly stop and used her momentum to launch into the air. Once she reached a satisfying height, the armored woman charged up her lance and pointed it down at Blake. At the same time the horse followed the mental commands of its master and turned around to charge at Naruto. Now using its impressive speed to the fullest, Lilac's summon ran with the intent to bulldoze over the bewildered blond. Meanwhile Blake used her clones to dodge the explosive ordinance and once again rushed to meet the rapidly descending Lilac with her sword drawn.

Weighing his options, Naruto wiped some sweat from his brow. "Screw this," he said to himself. He didn't want to showcase everything until tomorrow, but since he didn't know what the next test was he might as well go all out now. He got a good enough feel at this point to realize Gris wasn't that tough to fight besides those stupid vibrations, so letting it play out wasn't a big deal. His partner, on the other hand, seemed to be way more capable of holding her own in a fight. Being able to now occupy both his and Blake's attention with such sudden ferocity was a testament to that.

Besides, if he purposely dragged the fight on longer than necessary, he would definitely feel Qrow's reprimanding slap to the back of the head if he found out. 'That isn't what a real huntsman would do' he'd say, or something else along those lines.

With that in mind, Naruto welcomed the horse closing the distance as he stared it down. Keeping Hien at the ready, along with swiftly loading a capsule of wind dust from his belt into the pommel, two of Naruto's orange chains emerged from his back and struck forward to meet the glowing animal. The horse cried out when the spikes stabbed into its neck and shoulder, throwing it off balance and knocking it over in a heap.

Hearing the painful cries of her summon, Lilac blocked Blake's katana with her metal-covered arm again before looking towards Naruto. Her eyes narrowed at the sight of her restrained partner, but her anger quickly turned to confusion as she felt her aura suddenly start to fluctuate until it steadily grew weaker.

Her first thought was to dismiss the immobile horse, but logically couldn't as it still served as a momentary distraction for the blond with the curious semblance. Besides, the aura she used to summon it was already spent and still being siphoned, so she couldn't just waste it. Still, seeing her partner in pain was never an enjoyable thing to witness, even with as little as it had happened over the years. Nevertheless, she felt a rising sense of urgency as the chains continued to retract and stab the stallion. Seeing a third chain emerge from Naruto's person to join the others, she realized she had to act quickly.

Freeing herself from the grounded lance, Lilac opted to surprise her dual wielding adversary by catching the katana in one hand and the sheath in the other. The sheath was no problem but she did feel the blade partly cut through her aura and glove. Taking the new opening, the violet-haired woman thrust her knee into Blake's gut, making her cough from the impact. She didn't have much time to dwell on the hit as Lilac immediately pulled Blake in to add a headbutt for good measure.

Though reeling from the attacks, Blake was still focused enough to swing her body with the momentum as she fell back, ripping herself from Lilac's grip, her blade slicing deep enough to draw blood from the armored girl's palm.

Lilac mentally cursed as Blake then used a shadow clone to move between her and the lance. Now separated from her weapon and trying her best to ignore the wound on her palm, she went on the defensive as Blake started to use her clones in tandem to strike all around her.

To her credit, Lilac was able to keep up with most of it as she hastily blocked the blade and sheath with her gauntlets when she couldn't dodge. Even so, a few hard hits managed to sneak in and keep her from properly countering.

"Yep, her semblance is badass," Naruto said to himself as he witnessed Blake flying around Lilac, her shadow clones following in the wake of her movements. Looking down at the grounded horse, Naruto brought his third chain up one more time before stabbing it into the horse's head, making it erupt in a rather entertaining show of purple glitter and light. Gaining proper control of his third chain as well as the first two was definitely a big help. At the back of his mind he was reminded that getting a fourth to even form properly was still somehow a challenge, but that was something to worry about later.

"And now that that's over with…" he muttered quietly to himself before taking notice of Lilac's aura taking a big hit. It was a healthy yellow before but after getting rid of the horse it was now steadily getting deeper into orange territory, with red not that far off.

Ah, well he might as well help end this as soon as he could.

Dispersing the chains, he started to run towards the last two combatants.

Lilac grit her teeth as she spared a moment to look at the fallen steed, before being forced to once again deflect a powerful slash from the bow wearing girl. She was running out of options fast, and her opponent wasn't relenting in the slightest. What she needed was an opening, and if Blake wasn't going to give her one, she'd just have to create one herself. Centering herself, Lilac continued parrying Blake's strikes until she finally saw what she was looking for: a heavy yet reckless downward swing of Blake's sheath. Shifting her body ever so slightly to the side, she let the blade harmlessly deflect off her sturdy pauldron before launching a devastating right hook, catching her unbalanced assailant right in the jaw. Ignoring the now downed girl, Lilac ran straight towards her lance. When she got close enough she slid on the ground and jumped up to desperately grab its large handle. Ripping it from the ground, Lilac brought the lance around and fired a volley of blasts at the rapidly approaching Naruto.

Seeing the sudden barrage coming his way, Naruto quickly broke off his advance and was once again forced to nimbly dodge the miniature explosions erupting around him. "How is this gun even tournament legal?" he lamented as the sheer concussive force of the nearby blasts was enough to knock the air out of his lungs. "Gah, hope Blake's doing better than I am."

Snapping out of her daze, Blake staggered to her feet rubbing her aching jaw. Luckily for her, her mind was quick to forget the pain at the sight of her partner getting bombarded by the lavender-haired girl… who's back was currently turned. She smirked.

Payback time.

Quickly retrieving her weapons, Blake dashed towards her opponent and jumped into the air before diving back down and swinging her katana with all the strength she could muster. Yet, as another testament to her skill, Lilac saw right through the stealthy assault and used the recoil from her cannon to viciously swing her lance back through the air to catch Blake on the side.

This time, however, Blake was prepared and ready to end the fight as well. When the point of the lance was about to touch her, she used one last clone infused with ice dust to catch it as she flew back. Blake's cat-like landing let her witness the shock on Lilac's face as her weapon got stuck in a perfect icy replica of the black-haired girl.

Lilac was about to try and pull her lance from its frozen prison but quickly abandoned that idea as she noticed Naruto close in from her peripheral vision. Deciding to go in a last stand of sorts, she faced the blond and got in a stance ready to take him head on.

Sadly, for the silver-armored testee, Naruto's sword started to glow white before he swung towards her with the flat of his blade.

She stared curiously as her opponent seemingly struck at thin air, but didn't have much time to dwell on it as a burst of harsh wind slammed into her. With the power behind it, she couldn't ground herself before she was forcefully pushed backward with a cry of surprise.

Luckily for her, she didn't gain much altitude and after a couple of seconds of air time managed to right herself by reaching down and digging into the ground. She felt the dirt break apart from her fingers and boots after she managed to get herself into a kneeling position, the crunching sounds receding as her sliding finally came to a halt a mere moment later.

Standing back up tiredly to face her opponents again, she felt herself jump as a familiar buzzing sound echoed around the arena. Sweat and dirt was apparent on her face as she looked down, unfortunately discovering that she was standing right on the white boundary line.

"Both members of team 'A' have been eliminated, therefore victory goes to team 'B'."

Lilac sighed in disappointment as she closed her eyes and relaxed her posture.

"Hey, you alright?" Her head came back up to see Naruto and Blake walking towards her, their weapons put away. The blond, having spoken, continued. "Didn't look too bad there, but still." He shrugged. "Everything where it should be?"

Lilac nodded, pushing away a few strands of matted hair from her face. She cleared her throat when they stopped in front of her. "All is well," she calmly said with a low yet feminine tone. She lightly bowed her head. "You both fought valiantly. Thank you for the experience."

Blake nodded back silently in response. Naruto was more verbal, however.

"You were good out there too, y'know." He tapped his noticeably sore chest with his free hand. His face scrunched up in discomfort despite the smile he tried to convey. "Gotta admit, didn't expect a magical horse to knock me on my ass like that. It was actually pretty cool."

Lilac eyed him strangely. "You enjoyed getting kicked?" Well, that was a first out of anyone she'd ever sparred with.

"Not that, dattebayo," he replied, both girls looking at him strangely.

"What does that mean?" Lilac asked.

"Not important." He hastily brushed past her question while waving his hand. "Anyway, I mean seeing a semblance like that was really cool. I knew there would be some variety here but being up close to something like that was awesome, especially when you rode it!" He chuckled and bashfully rubbed the back of his head. "Even though I was sorta on the wrong end of it," he added.

Lilac's green eyes gained some life as she gently shook her head in amusement. "Thank you." Well, he certainly was a lively one.

"Oh, and yours!" Naruto exclaimed, surprising Blake as he turned to her. "I knew shadow clones sounded badass!"

"You really like being loud, don't you?" a bored voice cut in. All three saw Gris taking his time walking over with his sword back in his possession. Joining them, he slowly sighed and looked up at their aura levels with half-lidded eyes. "Guess all that energy has to go somewhere..." he drawled.

While his and Lilac's were low, more so in his case, they were slowly recovering. Blake was barely dipping into orange, mainly due to the repeated use of her semblance and that rather nasty punch.

Naruto on the other hand…

"Is a large aura pool part of your semblance?" Lilac asked intriguingly, seeing he had still had about 75% left.

"How did you barely lose any?" Blake added with a tilt of her head.

Naruto hummed an 'I don't know'. "Vitamins, maybe?" he answered halfheartedly. He really had no idea why he had the amount of aura he did. Still, it was one thing knowing he could continuously throw out attacks with his semblance and tank attacks like he has before, but actually seeing his level measured out was something else.

Rolling his neck uncaringly, Gris said, "Whatever." He turned to Naruto and Blake. "Good fight, I guess. Good luck tomorrow." And just like that, with hands in his pockets, he turned to leave towards his entrance tunnel with a tired limp in his step.

"He's a passionate guy, isn't he?" Naruto sarcastically remarked.

Lilac placed her hands on her hips as she watched her teammate walk away with an annoyed glare. "Barely said a word before we exited. Didn't even wake up enough to tell me his semblance after I told him mine."

"Tough luck," Naruto said, Blake lightly nodding next to him.

Lilac shook her head and looked at them. "Despite the circumstances, I'd say we all put on a better performance than most." She looked at them and gave a polite smile. "I hope all goes well for you both. If what showed today is any indication, you both have bright futures ahead of you. Maybe we can test ourselves against each other again someday."

Naruto smiled back. "That'd be awesome. Look forward to it." He reached a hand out which was firmly grasped by Lilac's before they shook.

Lilac looked at Blake but paused as she noticed a rather wicked bruise blooming on her left cheek. "Oh, are you alright?" she asked the dark-haired girl.

Noticing her concerned gaze, Blake indifferently shrugged. "It's nothing. I've had worse," she assured.

That punch must've been harder than she thought.

"Eh, could be serious. Should probably check with the infirmary," Naruto said before he lowered his headband back to his neck and turned to walk to their tunnel.

"It's not," Blake replied dismissively.

"Too late, c'mon."

"My aura will take care of it. It barely even hurts anymore," she argued sparsely.

With his back facing both women as he continued to walk, he nonchalantly said, "Nope, gotta be safe, and you have to be ready for tomorrow."

"He's right. Better to be safe than sorry," Lilac said to an unmoving Blake.

"See, she gets it! Now hurry up!" Naruto exclaimed.

"I can take care of myself," Blake called back.

"Not saying you can't, but we're still technically partners until we leave the building, so there's still some responsibility. Besides, I can have a fractured rib because of that horse for all I know, and I know I'd feel bad if I left my partner hanging like that." He raised his hand to wave. "Again, cool semblance, Lilac! Hope you kick ass tomorrow too!"

The violet-haired knight nodded her thanks again, even if he didn't see it, while Blake sighed.

Three chains emerged from Naruto's retreating back and lazily began to move around. "We can do this the easy way or hard way, Blake! Your choice!"

With a shake of her head and a roll of her eyes, Blake finally began to follow the whiskered blond as Lilac moved to grab her weapon.

Knowing he won, Naruto let the chains disperse before walking with more pep in his step as he finally let their victory sink in. The smile he wore as he pumped his fist to himself was quickly broken by the pulse of pain still throbbing in his chest.

"Yeah, I'm the one that needs checking," Blake commented when she caught up.

"Don't need any sass, hair bow…"

"Um, is this the place?" Blake asked with a questioning gaze.

"I, uh, think so?" The blond eyed the wooden sign haphazardly nailed into the formerly blemishless wall above a door. "'Mama Bear's Den'?" he skeptically drawled, eying the colorfully painted pictures of flowers, forestry, and a single happy and cartoonish face with rounded ears of some sort sticking out on top. Right at the edge of the wood he could make out what looked like the second 'C' in 'Clinic' hiding behind it.

The door then opened with a click, revealing the young man who lost in the match before theirs with a few bandages on his arms and a lollipop hanging out his mouth.

"This is the place," he stated as he walked away, having figured they had the same reaction as him when he was led here.

"Okaaay…" Naruto said before he and Blake entered through the door and into the infirmary.

It was as one would suspect a medical center to be, what with the various beds, IV stands, diagrams, and a bunch of equipment Naruto didn't bother to understand. A quick once-over of the large area showed that some examinees were still resting on a bed from their earlier injuries, a doctor or nurse periodically checking in with them. Naruto briefly hoped that wouldn't interfere with their participation for the next day.

To their confusion they even saw Gris taking a nap in one of the beds and looking happier than they thought he was physically capable of. However, the tranquil ambiance of his restful state was tainted by the nurse staring at his sleeping form in annoyance, a clipboard in her hand that she knew listed he wasn't seriously hurt and was cleared to leave.

"I'm free over here, you two!" a feminine voice cheerfully called to them.

Both teens turned to see a woman waving at them from the far side of the room, her black stocking-covered legs happily swaying as she swirled her office chair from side to side. With black dress shoes covering her excited feet, along with the dark business skirt and the pale pink sweater under an open white lab coat, they assumed she was one of the doctors.

"Don't be shy!" she continued in a singsong voice.

After a moment both teens made their way to the seated woman, more details like her long and wavy light orange hair, half-framed rectangular glasses over lively dark pink eyes, and the two bear-like ears the same color as her hair sticking out the top of her head becoming more prominent.

The woman stopped her swaying and stood to her short stature and faced the teens when they arrived in her little area. "So! What's the damage?" she asked peppily.

"Ever been kicked in the chest by a horse? Turns out it isn't as fun as people say if you can believe that," Naruto said good-naturedly while tapping said afflicted area.

"Okie dokie then," she said and directed him to sit on the medical bed. Once he was seated she stood in front of him and lifted a hand that began to glow a peachy orange. Naruto and Blake paid rapt attention as she ran her hand over the blond's chest while absentmindedly humming a catchy tune.

"Huh, that feels weird. What're you doing?" Naruto asked.

She stopped her song. "Hm? Oh, just a little scan to feel out any abnormalities and just a general diagnosis. Let's see here- ah!" She pulled her hand back in surprise, looking like she was zapped by a heavy dose of static electricity.

"What's wrong?" Naruto asked nervously, suddenly thinking of a million things that could be messed up with him.

The doctor stared at him in slight wonder but shook it off. "Dunno. There was just a weird feeling for a second. Never had that before..." She called her aura to do another quick test over his chest. "Huh, nothing that time. Anyway, you're fine from what I could tell. There's some deep bruising but your aura is already making some strides to help you out, buuut I'm assuming you want to be completely good to go tomorrow so here." Smiling, she let an orange orb of aura build in her hand and reached forward to tap Naruto's chest with it.

As Naruto felt a warmth start to spread within him, he looked down to see that the glowing ball stuck to his chest as the woman pulled her hand back. Upon closer inspection he noticed that as the seconds ticked on by the orb's size began to shrink, coinciding with the fact that the soreness began to vanish as his aura started to glow on its own in response.

He chuckled at the sight of yet another impressive semblance, and a really useful one at that. "This is pretty cool."

"I know, right? Good thing I really like this line of work, huh?" the woman cheerfully replied. She let Naruto continue to stare at and even try poking the healing ball before thinking to the strange jolt in his aura. What was that?

Moving on, she turned her attention to Blake who was patiently waiting. "What about you, sweetheart?"

"Nothing's wrong. Only had a small bruise on the cheek but it's gone now." Blake really didn't know why she ended up actually following the blond here. She was sure she could've left without any fuss, but she probably wanted to avoid a headache from his pushback. Okay, maybe that sounded a little harsh towards someone only looking out for her, but it's been quite a while since she's had this kind of social interaction. Now that she thought about it, Naruto's been the first person to actively try to befriend her at all since she ventured out on her own.

"Oh well, doesn't hurt to check." Like before, the medical professional brought her aura-encased hand to Blake's face and even scanned her head for good measure. After a moment she pulled back. "Yep, you're perfectly fine. Nothing really worth noting." Very subtly the bear faunus reached up to lightly scratch one of her furry ears as she gave Blake a knowing wink.

The dark-haired girl only responded by averting her eyes.

Noticing that the orb attached to Naruto was fully absorbed, the woman gleefully clapped a couple of times. "There, all done! Now then…" she bent over to grab a large jar she hid behind her desk. "Why don't you both take a parting gift for the road!"

Naruto and Blake curiously looked at the large collection of red lollipops that were proudly presented to them.

"Go ahead, I made them myself," she happily added while giving the jar a shake.

Not seeing a reason not to, Naruto grabbed one and took off the wrapper before licking the candy.

"Not bad," he commented with Blake nodding next to him as she quietly did the same. "Can't really name the flavor, though."

The woman grinned cheekily. "Most people don't. They're mainly made with sap from Forever Fall." She started to practically vibrate where she stood. "I just love the stuff! Besides being an ingredient for these and other treats, they even have some medicinal purposes too! It's always a happy day when the students bring me a fresh supply!"

"Students?" Blake questioned.

Blinking a couple of times, the doctor's eyes widened and covered her mouth with a hand. "Oh! Sorry, I forgot to introduce myself." Standing straighter and locking her arms behind her back, she proudly stated, "I'm Panacea Peach, head of nursing and professor at Beacon Academy!"

The teen's eyes showed surprise. "Really?" Naruto asked.

"Yep!" Peach responded. "Maybe I'll even end up teaching you two if things go well! I already know Naruto but what's your name?" she addressed the young woman, not paying attention to Naruto's exasperated stare.

First Ciel, now her? What the hell? he thought.

"Um, Blake Belladonna," she answered while looking at the blond curiously.

Noticing their faces, the peppy professor said, "Oh, don't be so surprised, Naruto. Can't really expect to train like you have without all of us knowing. The videos are fun to watch by the way. I especially like the one where you clotheslined yourself on a tree branch trying to do a sneak attack a few years back!"

A red hue emerged onto Naruto's cheeks. "I wasn't good yet…" he weakly defended.

Peach supportively tapped his shoulder. "Don't worry about it. Look at you now! I'll admit that your way wasn't the smartest thing to do in terms of safety, but I like your spirit! Sure, prudes like Glynda usually disapprove and demand punishment, but how can she mad at this face!" Peach proceeded to rub her hands up and down on Naruto's cheeks.

Blake watched with even more confusion and some light amusement while Naruto simply let it happen, subconsciously reliving some of his 'pinching' memories as a kid. "Uh, who's Glynda?" he asked, his words jumbled from his cheeks being played with.

"Oh, just another professor, the headmaster's second hand, headmistress or whatever people call her," Peach replied as she finally let the blond free from her hands.

"Oh." Someone like that at the school he wanted to go to already didn't like what he was doing?

Lovely.

"Excuse me, but what are you two talking about?" The curiosity was simply too much for Blake to stay quiet.

"In short, long-term trespassing," was Naruto's reply.

"Okay?"

Seeing a couple of other testees enter the room with their own minor injuries, Peach began to push Naruto and Blake towards the door. "Now off you go! Mama bear has a job to do and she can't lead the others if you distract her!"

Wasn't she talking the most? the two teens thought, idly noticing that they passed a bewildered Lilac who was having her cut palm bandaged at one of the other beds.

Once they made it out with the door clicking behind them, Naruto pointed to Hien over his shoulder and said, "I have to go get my weapon checked out. Want to tag along?"

"Sorry, but I was planning on doing something once we were free," she declined politely.

Naruto was disappointed but that didn't trouble him too badly. He gathered from the few interactions they've had that even just accompanying him to the clinic like she did was probably out of her comfort zone. If she wanted to be alone then he couldn't force her to do anything else.

"Alright, no big deal. Maybe I'll see you around then?"

"Maybe," she answered with a small nod and turned to leave down the hall.

"Good luck tomorrow!" Naruto exclaimed as he followed her example and went the other way.

Blake hesitated but answered back. "You too." Turning her head to glance at his retreating back, she once again found herself curious about the blond.

Besides her interest about his facial marks from the previous day, she also began to wonder about his supposed connection with Beacon. Plus, he knew Tukson, and that alone was enough to keep her attention on him longer than most people she bumped into.

Shaking her thoughts, she quickened her stride in order to accomplish what she set out to do today besides the test.

There was a new edition of Ninjas of Love that just came out, and one was at a nearby bookstore with her name all over it.

"Yeah, it's not happening, kid."

"Are you serious…?"

The soot-covered man gestured to the cracked Hien resting on the counter, a myriad of blacksmiths tirelessly working on other weapons behind him in the forge. "We can't magically repair damages like this in an instant, and while this won't take too long, I can't recommend using it for the last part of the exam, whatever it is."

Naruto sighed in disappointment and rubbed the back of his neck. "Does that disqualify me or anything?"

The burly man shook his head. "This kind of thing has happened before so don't worry. You'll just have to make do with whatever skills or other equipment you have. Tests change all the time so you can never fully be prepared anyway. Just like how certain weapons give you an advantage, so do your other talents, semblances and the like, so I hope you got something that'll take care of ya out there." The man moved to get started on repairing Naruto's sword. "She'll be all ready before you leave. Good luck, kid."

As he watched Hien get carried away, Naruto felt his mind racing over the thoughts of tomorrow. While he was sure he left a good enough impression from his fight, he knew it wasn't perfect. Still, if he wanted to guarantee his name being on everyone's radar, Hien or not he had to live up to the expectations set not only by himself but by everyone that helped him get here for the final exam.

"Oh, that reminds me…" he muttered before he walked into the hallway and pulled out his scroll.

"No, Melanie, Naruto still isn't back," Ayame said while her scroll was being held to her ear by her shoulder. "Well, if Miltia is getting cranky without her dumplings then just send one of those guys with the sunglasses to pick something up." The brunette rolled her eyes as she finished chopping some chicken and grabbed the scroll with her hand. "Well, it's not our fault if they can't carry it right. Tell them to be careful so everything doesn't fly around in the box. You do realize that you'll have to get used to Naruto being unavailable all the time once he goes to an academy, right? See, you'll have to get used to- no, giving him bigger tips isn't going to stop him from leaving. Wait, how much?"

Teuchi chuckled as he watched his daughter work. Leaning on the counter, he looked at the sisters having desert. "Think you two can last another couple of days without Naruto around?"

Yang rolled her eyes as she ate the last of her ice cream. "Yeah, yeah, we'll be fine. Good to take a 'dattebayo' break every now and then," she replied jokingly.

Ruby couldn't add her input due to the mouth full of cake Ayame was nice enough to offer.

"Uh-huh, you know it's cute when he lets it slip," Ayame happily retorted once she ended the phone call.

Yang conceded with a shrug while wiping her mouth with a napkin.

Ayame's scroll started to suddenly ring, making the woman sigh as she pulled it out again so soon. However, her eyes lit up when she saw who it was.

Optioning to make it a video call Ayame tapped the screen and held it to her face. "You're alive, Naruto! How did you do?" she excitingly asked, garnering attention from the other three.

"I think I did good enough on the written part, but I also won my fight today! It was awesome to test myself, but also seeing a bunch of semblances in person was so cool, dattebayo!" they heard him exclaim, Yang smiling as she shook her head in the background with Ruby giggling beside her.

"So what are you doing now?" Ayame asked.

"Just got done talking with the blacksmith about something, but now I'm not sure. I'll probably get something to eat and then-"

Naruto's face suddenly disappeared from Ayame's view and she found herself now staring at her empty hand. Crimson petals began to fall around her, causing her to turn around to see Ruby staring at her stolen scroll's screen with fierce intensity.

"What. Were you doing. At the blacksmith…?" Ruby eerily asked with the least amount of emotion that anyone had seen her express, sending a small chill down their spines.

Naruto was the worst off as a nervous sweat broke out onto his face. "H-hey, Ruby! H-how was your day?"

"Fine. Having cake. Blacksmith. Answer now…"

Naruto coughed in dread to clear his throat and averted his gaze from Ruby's silver eyes. "Well… um… y'see… Hien sorta… kinda... had a little accident..."

"What. Kind. Of accident…?" she asked, her eyes hidden in the shadow of her bangs.

"Um… y'know, the most important thing to focus on is that everything is going to be okay."

"Naruto, if you don't tell me what happened to Hien…" She let the threat dangerously hang in the air.

The other three, including a few weary eavesdropping customers, watched the interaction with anticipation.

"Oooh…" Yang excitedly whispered to herself, clearly entertained.

"Naruto! I'm so happy you won!" a different voice cried from Naruto's side of the conversation, confusing everyone at the ramen stand.

Ruby saw Naruto turn his head in surprise. "Penny, when did you- wait, hold o- gah!"

The call was suddenly cut, the words 'Call Ended' left blinking on the screen before it completely went blank. All that Ruby managed to see before she was hung up on was a blur of orange hair on some freckle-faced girl apparently named Penny as she jumped to tackle the blond.

"Naruto…?" Ruby muttered hollowly. Her normally innocent face suddenly scrunched up in all the anger she could muster, or what Yang would label as a very angry puppy. "NARUTO! Who was that girl?! Why did you hang up?! What happened to my daughter?!"

As they all watched Ruby pointlessly and hysterically yell at a blank screen, Yang looked at the Ichirakus and jokingly asked, "Think you can handle a custody battle?"

The father raised his hands and walked away into the kitchen as if to say 'I'm not touching this'.

Ayame shook her head and continued to stare at the troubled Rose in amusement. "Never thought he'd even get close to this kind of problem, or at least not as a teenager," she said in fake disappointment.

Yang then expertly revealed the cherry she saved from her ice cream sundae for Ayame to see. "Yes, I'm sure it'll be a cherry interesting time. It should teach Naruto to treat everything he cares about cherry carefully. I think it-"

THWAP

Yang lowered the cherry as her mind slowly registered that Ayame threw and smacked her in the face with her rag to silence her.

"Rude…" she murmured under the cloth.

(Omake - What is Good in the Hood?)

"Why am I doing this again?" Naruto asked.

"Because you promised to help me with a favor after training, and from what you've said, you don't break promises, remember?" Ruby replied.

As Naruto lay on Ruby's bed, he stared up and read through the script in his hands with Little Red Riding Hood on the cover. "Yeah, but I was thinking more along the lines of helping search for something weapon-related online, going into town to pick out a comic, or helping bake again."

"What's life without a little variety? Anyway, stop stalling and tell me what you think!" she exclaimed resolutely from her cross-legged spot at the bed's corner.

He hummed as he skimmed through previous pages for the play. "Quick question?"

"Yeah?"

"Why is Red loved by many?"

"Because she's adorable, pure, and has a heart of gold. Lots of stories have main characters like that."

"And why is she also a trained warrior with a mechanical scythe… that is also a gun?"

"That… that's just how the world is. It's plenty relatable that way."

Naruto sat up. "This is supposed to be a children's fairy tale but alright…" he said to himself and continued to read through more pages. He then looked at Ruby impassively. "I'm listed as playing the wolf if you can't find anyone better?"

"Your whisker marks practically make you perfect, though!"

"Uh-huh… also why is there a little footnote that the woodsman is Red's father's long lost twin brother who went missing in the war? What war are we even talking about? There's literally no mention of it in anyone's lines. How is this- mmf!"

With impressive speed, Ruby lunged forward, grabbed one of her pillows, and proceeded to smother Naruto with it.

"You don't understand art!" she proclaimed, cutting off his precious oxygen and ignoring any muffled sounds as Naruto tried to speak.

The door to the room clicked and in walked Yang who came to investigate the noise. She stood still as she emotionlessly stared at a pajama-clad Ruby apparently trying to murder their friend with an ironically heart-shaped pillow.

Taking a few steps in, she noticed the discarded script that fell to the ground in the struggle and picked it up.

"Possible titles for second play: Little Red Riding Hood 2: Tokyo Drift," she read aloud from the last page before flipping through the others. "What is this? Ruby, did you put yourself in a story as a mary sue character or something?"

"You're already planning a sequel?" Naruto managed to mumble through the cushion.

Ruby redoubled her efforts to push the pillow on his face.

"You're both ruining my vision!"

AN: Heeey, how're y'all doin'? I think the usual 'lack of update' apology goes without saying so I'll just move on.

Quality assurance and creation of Lilac and Gris are credited to Fan-Of-FictionX01 (surprise, surprise).

Hope you all enjoyed this, and please let me know what you guys think. Like always, I'm open to criticism, suggestions, and whatever else you guys feel like expressing.

Next chapter should be the last before canon starts up so I'm looking forward to that. I also wonder if anyone has caught references from another series in this and last chapter? Perhaps this series is giving me other ideas for the future? *hint hint*

Anyway, thanks for checking this out. I'll try to get the next one out faster.

Later!