Roman cracked his neck and shifted around as best he could. Being chained to a chair and the floor made it somewhat tricky. The bright overhead light was doing him no favors either. The blood running down the side of his head and the sweat soaking his clothes were a testament to how long this had been going on. However long that's been...

The hunched man, who was concealing himself in the shadows, scoffed. "Gods above, you are the worst thief I've ever heard of."

Roman gave him a cheeky grin. "Ah, but you've heard of me."

He ate fist for that one.

Occasionally, they brought him meager amounts of food or water. Let him shit in an actual bathroom. It had all fallen into a rhythm: they ask questions, he gives them an answer, Hunchback punches him.

Hunchback was the bad cop in this routine of theirs. But they needed information, so of course, they needed a good cop. He looked over at the second man in the room, the one sitting across the stereotypical metal desk they seated him at.

Ozpin offered him a cigarette. He wrinkled his nose in disgust but opened his mouth for one regardless. The nicotine would be a nice pick-me-up. Ozpin compiled and placed it in his mouth without a word. At the offer of a lighter, he leaned forward to let Ozpin light it.

Ozpin let him take a drag of it before he steepled his fingers on the table in between them. "Let's try this again. What were you doing with Cinder Fall?"

He grinned, cigarette hanging from the corner of his mouth. "Ah well you know, it was two-for-one night, and I was trampolining her and Glynda."

Hunchback smashed a fist into the back of his head.

His face crashed against the table, crushing the cigarette. He spat it out along with a globule of blood and phlegm.

Ozpin frowned. "You're a real comedian aren't you, Torchwick."

He chuckled. "I guess that's why they call it the punchline then."

Hunchback cracked him across the face again.

Roman shook himself. Oof, he punches hard.

Ozpin took a deep breath and sighed. "You don't like me do you, Torchwick?"

He couldn't help it, he snorted. "Don't flatter yourself. I don't like anyone."

"Mmm, with that attitude I can see why no one likes you."

He rolled his eyes. Too easy. "Oh please, people love me." He smirked. "Just ask Glynda."

He felt the punch long after he heard it. His concentration had faltered for just a moment, letting Aura-powered fist strike flesh. That one would've sent him off the chair if not for the bolted down chains. He dragged himself back up.

"What were you doing for the White Fang?"

Roman shook himself and looked around, dazed. "W-what was the question?"

That earned him another punch.

His head spun. Hunchback is getting better with the haymaker. His wits were harder to gather each time.

His head lolled.

Ozpin leaned in, his face a rictus of anger. "What. Did. You. Do."

A House Divided - Arc II: I

Chapter 6: Off the rails on this Crazy Train

Naruto shared a bright grin with Neo as the two walked down the street. Other pedestrians looked on in amusement and respectfully got out of their way, being that Naruto was walking backward, with his hands resting behind his head. It's incredible what allowances people give you when you 'save' a city.

In his defense, he did need to do that to prevent another crick in his neck talking to Neo. "So, lemme get this straight, Roman wanted you to clean up this mess… made by the Fang?"

Neo cycled through several expression before settling on an indifferent face with a gesture of so-so.

"Ah." He nodded in understanding. "So it was a loose end that Cinder wanted to be cleaned up, one she dumped on Roman." He paused and looked at her. "Who dumped it on you." She smirked at him. "Which you ignored, because…?"

She stopped walking to give him a deadpan glare, and he followed suit.

He nodded in understanding. "Because it's not your problem if some no-name gets away. Even if he escapes, if you trash the place after it will look like you did your job."

She beamed at him and skipped ahead.

With a roll of his eyes, he turned around and walked after her. Naruto was not concerned that she would run off. After all, she had proven herself reasonably loyal to him since she had been out and about. Betraying someone who saved you from Vacuan Slavers helped, or at least helped him.

He meandered his way down the bustling streets of Vale, looking for the store Neo had described. The store ended up being easily spotted because Neo stood outside the entrance in her iconic outfit, rocking back and forth on her feet. For an assassin she was quite hard to miss.

Once he opened the door, she darted under his arm and inside to bask in the air conditioning.

The tinkling of bells alerted Tukson, who seemed to have been about to enter the back of the shop. Turning around, he greeted them warmly.

"Welcome to Tukson's Book Trade! Home to every book under the sun."

Naruto smiled back at the man. Awfully friendly for a terrorist. "Aight Neo, two comics max."

She nodded and darted off to the section Tukson had for them. As he approached the counter, Tukson leaned on it with both arms.

"So." Tukson cast a quick glance at Neo to see that she was, in fact, reading a comic from the shelf. "Not every day someone like you walks into my place. What can I do you for?"

Naruto waved him off. "Don't worry about that anymore. You can thank Roman's incompetence at handling people for being alive. I'm just here to squeeze for some info then we'll all be on our separate ways."

Tukson relaxed a fraction at that.

Really, he had not even planned on doing that in the first place, but the two of them were bored. "So, what can you tell me about the White Fang?"

Tukson gave him a mildly insulted glare. "Even if I disagree with their current methods, I won't sell out my brother and sisters."

He groaned internally. Of course, I get the non-violent fanatic. Externally, he kept a straight face and gave a sympathetic nod. "Understandable, however you—"

The tinkling of bells interrupted them.

"The sign says closed, you nitwits," Naruto commented.

He would know, considering he had flipped the sign as he walked in. Three pairs of footsteps, each footfall measured? No, whoever had just stepped in were no ordinary shoppers making a mistake. He turned around and faced his would-be opponents.

They had walked in with utter confidence, but from the hitch in their steps the second he turned around that confidence had seemingly abandoned them. And why wouldn't it?

"Oh, we're sorry. We just came to pick up a book we'd pre-ordered. Should we come back later?" The lazy drawl of a teenager greeted him.

Two teens and a woman whose age he could not place. Sure, they could be strong, they could be amazing, but they did not have an impenetrable shield of popularity. They were not the ones whose abilities were exaggerated to godlike proportions by the media. Sure, they likely assume the media exaggerates, but the real question then becomes how much.

They had no reason to pick a fight with him, and he did not want to fight them in the closed confines of this bookshop. Too much collateral, and Tukson might end up dead anyway. Maybe they would just pick up the damn book and leave, perhaps they would come back later and find Tukson gone.

"We don't do book pre-orders," Tukson monotoned.

"Fuck you Tukson, seriously." Naruto shifted a few centimeters to the right, just in time for a leg to occupy the space that belonged to his head mere milliseconds ago. "When a group of wanna-be assassins walk into your store," he shifted back to dodge the follow-up spin, "and then make an excuse to leave it because they realize they are in over their heads, you let them." He rolled his eyes. "I'm starting to notice a trend between being a White Fang member and having zero social savviness."

"Also, fuck you kid. Who preorders books in today's day and age?" He swung at the grey-haired teen. In a show of dexterity that would surprise a second-year student, the teen bent backward, dodging the blow and returning with a flip-kick that Naruto was forced to block. He paid for it instantly as his arms were jarred by the impact. He was sure he felt metal.

"Joke's on you, blondie. I don't even know how to read." The boy continued, trying to capitalize on Naruto's shock. It would not happen though, as Naruto moved closer to him, caught his incoming foot with his hand and rotated. The boy's momentum, coupled with Naruto's redirection, was enough to send the boy careening into the elder girl.

It was at that point that Naruto realized the second girl was gone. He felt a brief pang of danger before the familiar feeling of one of Neo's illusions overtook it. Before he could respond, Neo appeared between him and the edge of her illusion, where the dark-skinned girl had suddenly appeared.

"Another illusionist, huh?" Naruto asked. Neo gave him a determined nod as her smile started to spread. "You calling dibs on her, huh?"

Neo grinned as her illusion broke, courtesy of the teenage girl's shotel-guns. Her face contorted in surprise when she found Neo in her personal space.

"Illusionist, meet illusion sadist!" Naruto spoke as he dodged another barrage of kicks from the grey-haired teen. He had to give it to the kid, he was both stronger and faster than most Beacon students.

He was also incredibly predictable, and Naruto finally realized why.

"Wait for a second, kid," Naruto spoke, effortlessly dodging another kick. "You won't happen to be related to Marcus Black, would you?"

The fact that the kid faltered mid-kick was answer enough for him.

Naruto took the opportunity to jab a palm into his face, sending him reeling back. "Oh, so you are related. I'd say you fight exactly like he did, without his experience or unpredictability, of course." The kid did not rise to the bait, neither did he confirm anything. His facial expression did all that for him.

"I don't think I like you very much." He spoke, his tone devoid of all its initial humor. Naruto smiled back, that trademark scary smile the news made him 'famous' for.

"I created a technique to deal with 'ol Marcus' kicks, you know? I was quite disappointed when I learned he'd gone and died before I got the chance to test it on him." Naruto mused as he widened his stance, shifting his center of gravity lower. He shifted the majority of his weight towards his heels, as opposed to his toes. He leapt forward and saw the kid's face contort into a smirk.

Just like Marcus' had, two years ago.

The kid shot forth with a leg-sweep. Had Naruto not been ready, this would have completely floored him, essentially ending the fight. It was too bad for Marcus' son that Naruto was more than ready for this. As their legs met, Naruto dug his other heel into the ground. The kid's leg connected with Naruto's own and stopped dead in its tracks. The smirk on his face disappeared as shock and fear flashed on his face. By the time he realized the error he'd made, Naruto had already pushed forward.

"Mr. Black, meet the Up Smash." He spoke as he used the momentum from his back leg, twisting his body to deliver his right fist into the teen's jaw from below. He felt something crack under his fist - likely the teen's Aura shielding - as the teen was deposited into the ceiling.

"Huh, that does sound better than calling it the 'Shoryuken'." Naruto commented as he turned his attention to the fight of the illusionists. He'd scarcely turned his face when he realized that the third woman was missing. His worries were reinforced when his hand shot out and - by pure instinct - caught an arrow right out of the air. He gave it a look-over, it was simple arrow painted black with one significant factor that differentiated it from other arrows.

The arrowhead was made out of chiseled, high-quality fire dust crystal.

It was then that he noticed the missing kid who he'd just punched into the ceiling, and that's when it dawned on him.

Both Neo and him were under the impression that they'd been fighting two opponents, that the third woman wasn't doing anything while they fought Lil' Black and the Illusionist.

Meanwhile, the second woman had escaped.

She had, but she'd taken Marcus Black's kid with her. How?

Shit, Neo was fighting an illusion. None of their three enemies were in the shop.

Another arrow whizzed past, sparking and radiating heat, too late for Naruto to intercept. So Naruto did the best he could. He grabbed Neo and shot through the drywall as the shop behind him went up in a ball of flames.

He was flung away from the shop as he felt his back burn up. He landed on the ground, Neo still in his arms. Behind him, he heard Tukson shout something that sounded vaguely like 'My life savings!' but he couldn't care less.

That bitch had somehow almost ended up taking him and Neo out. She was dangerous.

Looks like we found out what she's been using some of that dust for.

Roman worked his jaw as blood dripped from his temple and sweat ran down his face.

He was glad for Aura because otherwise his jaw would have been broken from the abuse. Jeesh, Hunchback has some anger issues.

He had to wonder. How long has it been? How long have we kept up this routine? Where was Neo? These are the sort of questions Roman asked himself as he spouted the first witty thing that came to mind.

Ozpin leaned forward. "Who's your accomplice?"

Roman nodded along and smirked. "Ah, her name is Fuc Yu."

Ozpin gave him a dead stare. "Really?"

He hummed in agreement. "Of course, she's from Patch."

Hunchback punched him.

Ozpin frowned and shook his head, "I don't like hurting you, Roman. Why can't you work with us?"

He snorted. "Right, so is that why you're having him do it?" He jerked his head at Hunchback. "Because your arguments haven't been overly convincing."

Ozpin gave him a pitying look. "I can have Rupert bludgeon you all night. Why can't you just give us a straight answer?"

Roman choked on air, "I'm-I'm sorry, I'm being beaten up by a guy named 'Rupert'?" He turned to try and get a better look at the guy. Unfortunately for him, the shadows cast by the overhead light did a fair job of hiding Rupert.

Ozpin rubbed his temples in frustration. "What did you do with the dust?"

As Rupert approached him, he couldn't help but laugh.

Naruto lay spread-eagled on the ground as he stared blankly at the ceiling to training room seven. It wasn't comfortable, it wasn't meant to be, but he wouldn't be here for lon- Voices echoed into the room as someone from the group opened the door. Ah, there they are.

He continued to lay there as they all filed in and eventually took notice of him.

The door shut and locked, which meant it was showtime. With a flex and a crunch, he righted himself, and if the looks on some of their faces were anything to go by, suitably impressed the group and gave him a leg up on what was to come.

He took a moment to scan the crowd he had invited into his personal training room: Coco, Velvet, Ren, Pyrrha, Weiss, Blake, and Yang...

His clap echoed through the chamber, and their attention turned to him. "Right, thank you for all coming. Take a seat, this is basically going to be a class anyway." He had to hold back a snicker at some of their faces. They complied anyway. "Okay so, I called you all here because some of you have been training with, or have had your teammates train with me-"

"Yeah, speaking of training why are you so singed, Bro? Looks like you had a bad mix of some fire dust." Yang called out.

He gave her a dull glare for interrupting, but it was true, he hadn't had the time or motivation to change. After all, the state of my clothes matters far less than how they were able to get the drop on me. "Because, Miss Xiao Long, I was dealing with someone's mess." He looked right at Blake this time, "Someone's mess that if you had gotten involved in might've ended with four dead Beacon students."

Blake at least had the self-awareness to cringe and look down, having realized what he was talking about.

Clearly, that had not been the answer Yang expected.

He continued. "Like I was saying, we've been at it for a while, so I figure it's about time I sit you all down and explain what we've been up to, and I guess to explain the system to you." Now that he thought about it. How much do they know about this? It hadn't been something he considered when he lured them into it.

He coughed into his fist. "But I suppose I should find out what you kids know first."

He nodded to himself as he scanned the group in front of him, they seemed more or less paying attention. "Weiss, why don't you start us off with Atlas Specialists?"

Weiss hesitated for a second. "Well, I don't know any more about them than the layman, but Atlas promotes them quite heavily. " Naruto gave her an encouraging smile, so she continued. "The specialists are an anti-terrorist cell within the Atlesian army. They specialize in taking down Human and Faunus threats with great prejudice. They're the best of the best, hence the name."

Naruto nodded. "Couldn't have put it better myself. You won't happen to know what most of these specialists are currently working on, right?"

Weiss nodded. "Well, their feats are advertised quite heavily in local media. They've been cracking down on the White Fang for the better part of the last decade."

Naruto's smile widened. "Do tell us what the specialists are most well known for."

Weiss gulped. "They only have one directive. Elimination. Specialists are only mobilized against well-known and documented terrorist bases. If they're dispatched, people die."

He nodded, satisfied with what she knew. "More or less yes. Atlas did the opposite of what the other three nations have done, and they propagandized the Specialists into a respected position." He chuckled and shook his head, "However, they are far more active than Atlas lets people believe. Specialists are the most well-funded division of anti-human Huntsmen that also boast the lowest casualty and second lowest turncoat count."

He sighed and looked to Pyrrha. "Which brings me to the other Huntsman division that's officially part of a country's military." They turned to Pyrrha to see her face morph into disgust. "Yes, Mistral's own semi-kept secret. The Defaecrum."

Yang's face wasn't the only one confused by the word, but she was the one who voiced the question. "The Dafe-what now?"

Before he could say anything, Pyrrha spoke up, "The Defaecrum, or The Purifiers. Mistral's Secret Police." He could see it all click in their heads as to why Pyrrha showed such disgust for it. Being mostly Vale-born themselves, it went against the idea of Vale for such a thing to exist.

She looked to him for permission, and he nodded for her to continue. "The Defaecrum are taken, sorry, given the Honor, of serving the State at a young age where they are put through harsh training and brainwashed to serve."

She stopped and looked at him, he picked up where she stopped. "Like Pyrrha says, they have quite the reputation and are heavily frowned upon by the rest of the world. While unconfirmed, there are quite a few cases where entire towns appear to have been purged by them."

He gave them a moment while they showed various displays of shock and disgust. "Yeah, Mistral never exactly denied the allegations either, they simply act like the towns never existed, and the propaganda network is strong enough that most of the citizens are unaware…"

He saw the looks Blake and Weiss were throwing each other. Interesting, I wonder what happened between the two? His scan of the rest showed they were continuing their initial vein of disgust, disbelief, disapproval, etc. Interestingly enough, Pyrrha was the least shocked, followed by Velvet and Coco. Hrm, I bet there's a story behind that.

However, he was supri- "What the fuck!" - Ah, there it is. Yang shot up with her eyes turned blood red, "And people just get away with this? You said they killed whole towns!" Yang was obviously, and righteously, agitated by the information.

Again, when he went to answer, Pyrrha beat him to it. "Allegedly. The Defaecrum are very good at what they do, and with the full backing of the Mistral government they can edit history to make the town to have never existed in the first place." Naruto could very quickly tell there was a story there, not that it was all that hard with the sour look Pyrrha had. Seems my crop of students are little more worldly than I thought.

He cleared his throat to regain their attention. "As Pyrrha said. Their connection with the government leads them to be the second best funded and the lowest turncoat count. However, because of how the government treats them...well, let's just say the government views them as replaceable and leave it at that."

He motioned for Neo to come out while they all looked like they had been force-fed a lemon. "Now, we talk about Vacuo." He could see they were all eager to move on and were confused as to where Neo had come from and why she was there. Hate to break it to you kids, but it only gets worse from here.

He clapped Neo on the shoulder as she smirked at the gathered group. "Now Neo here is one of Vacuo's finest. Their response to the criminal element is very…" He wasn't sure the best word to summarize it, "...Vacuian."

He nodded to Neo, this had been the agreed on cover story in case anyone recognized her. Best sort of story is usually the simplest after all. Thank you Vacuo for making it so easy. She swiped her hand over her face to 'reveal' the brand, a capital M with a line through it, on her cheek. They, Yang especially, recoiled from the gnarled scar the brand was.

"As you can see, Vacuo likes to mark its special Huntsmen, who are oh so creatively called...The Marked." He got several deadpan stares from that. "Hey I didn't make the name," he shrugged, "But don't feel too bad for them. Every Marked is a convicted murderer or thief of significance."

And cue the worried glances at Neo. "Relax, Neo is ah…" he glanced at Neo, she looked at him.

She smiled beatifically.

"...loyal. To me." And cue the concerned looks from Yang.

He cleared his throat and continued, aware of the awkward atmosphere."Right, well it works for them. Sort of. The branding thing was supposed to be something about making sure there are no second offenders or something?" He shook his head, "it doesn't matter why. It's how they do it there, Vacuo has the bar none, highest casualty rate among the four. Being that they give no support to the Marked, treat them like fodder, and because they are all criminals they have a high level of distrust for each other."

He snorted and shook his head in disappointment. "In fact, the most common target a Marked is set after is another Marked who went AWOL."

"And now…" Naruto trailed off, unsure how accurately to frame it to them. He wanted to recruit them after all, but lying was the best way to self-destruct.

Coco, however, had no problem picking up for him. "And all that is left is Vale's Illustrious Hunters."

"Ye-"

She continued. "Who operate on a Master and Apprentice system to replenish their numbers. Volunteers only. Recruited from the top of the class, specifically due to their Semblances, or…" she glanced over to Yang, "from inside the family."

"Well-"

Coco interrupted him again. "On to of that, Hunters are expected to create and maintain their own information and supply network with minimal help from the government."

"Tha-"

Pressing forward she continued. "And while the casualty and turncoat rates tend to be greatly exaggerated. When it does happen, it tends to be a massive loss for the community. Due to their comparatively low numbers and separate and independent nature. Because they are left to their own devices one of the most common reasons for someone to abandon their position is a death in the network, especially if it was someone they were close to."

He didn't even bother trying to speak. Instead, he glanced at Yang who was now paying close attention.

Coco shot him a look of minor disapproval. "And while Hunters might occupy the position of some the most known skilled Huntsman they are little better than glorified mercenaries and assassins more often than not."

Naruto huffed. "You done?" At her nod of acquiescence, he continued, "I can't deny anything you've said. And it is true that we take...off the books jobs to earn money." He sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "But it's like you said, we don't have any help, and we have to maintain our own network...which includes making sure everyone stays happy with you."

He paced a bit, Coco's informational dump took control of the conversation out of his hands. "I called you here so you knew what exactly you'd be getting into. Technically, you aren't allowed to even start the path of the Hunter until you graduate." He caught Yang's eye. "'Cept Old Ozpin made a special case for me."

Yang grunted. "He seems to be doing that a lot for our family."

He hummed in agreement then turned his attention back to the group. "So, yeah. That's all. Just wanted to let you in on what your team members have been getting up and into...so you can help cover for them." At the flat looks, he got from Ren and Coco he shrugged. "Sorry, if you were expecting anything else."

He motioned at the door. "If you hurry you can probably get to the cafeteria for lunch." As they all got up to leave he called out to three of them, "Yang, Velvet, Pyrrha, let's go. I want to see if you got rusty over the break or not." The three groaned but went to get their weapons anyway.

"You guys take too long to get ready. I've seen entire armies get ready for battle in less time." Naruto spoke, jumping down from what was once their training room's information display panel. He really needed to get this place repaired. It wasn't a necessity by any means, but would still be nice to have the room's equipment working as intended.

"Yeah, but we aren't part of an army yet," Yang spoke as she gave both Pyrrha and Velvet a look that to Naruto was definitely new. Naruto couldn't help but smirk, seeing through her childish excuse. They had something planned for him today, he could feel it.

"Bad excuses aside, I hope you're ready," Naruto spoke as he waited for Yang to pounce. To his surprise, she didn't.

It was Pyrrha who did. She used the steelworks under the flooring to accelerate herself. A product of Naruto having instructed her to learn new ways of movement with her Semblance. This let her levitate off the ground -mildly- and accelerate dependant on the amount of metal she had to work with. Sure, it wasn't a technique she could use out in nature, but that was just one more reason for her to become a Hunter.

Naruto intercepted her as he always did, with his legs. He knew well enough that if Pyrrha was able to touch his gauntlets, things would only get harder. Naruto kicked the flat of Pyrrha's sword with his right leg, disarming her. He followed up with a sweeping left kick which Pyrrha barely blocked with her shield. As she did so, her disarmed weapon shot out towards Naruto's head. If he'd been an ordinary fourth-year student, this would have been the end for him.

Too bad for Pyrrha that he was anything but a typical student.

He shifted his head and let the blade pass by. He was about to turn and kick it out of the air when Yang joined the fray with a devastating punch. Naruto was able to block it, but barely. Months ago, he would have never believed Yang to be capable of stealth, but here she was. She was using the chaos Pyrrha created to find openings. Once she found them, it was a simple hit and run.

There was only one problem with that.

Naruto jumped and planted a fist into Yang's abdomen. Yang's face contorted in confusion. She wasn't expecting Naruto to be able to counter, and he knew that. That was the fatal flaw in Yang's reasoning. Her tactics only worked on those who went down in one hit. An attack that couldn't even stagger Naruto was worth nothing more than a diversion. She was smart enough to know that…

"Oh, cheeky."

Naruto turned and deposited a kick into Pyrrha, who was trying to create some distance between the two of them. She got her wish, and then some as the kick sent her skidding back, knocking her shield out of her hands.

"Trying to protect Velvet so she can overpower me, huh?" Naruto spoke as he noticed Velvet fiddling with her camera. "Found something big over the weekend? A cannon or something?" He spoke as he lunged at her. Her weapon manifesting took time depending on the complexity of the gun, and he wasn't gonna give her that time.

It wasn't until he was almost face-to-face with her that he realized that she didn't come into contact with weapons of mass destruction on a daily basis. Plus, the uncharacteristic smile on her face gave her away.

"Oh shit." Naruto raised his guard as Velvet swung out with an exact replica of Nora's hammer. He felt the force of the blow, jarring his hands. The concussion grenade's blast wave followed, sending him flying back, right into Yang and Pyrrha, victorious grins on their faces, their bodies poised to strike.

So assured in victory, huh?

Naruto channeled chakra to his fingertips and struck the ground with enough force to make his body bounce upwards. The energy was enough to not only shatter the earth but send him soaring over Yang and Pyrrha. The two girls had to take cover from the debris, and that was all the time Naruto needed to spring off a wall and dash up behind them.

Before they could react, they found his hands around their throats.

With a quick spin, he flung Pyrrha, and an unprepared Yang followed shortly, into the unprepared Velvet.

He acted like he was dusting off his hands and the girls groaned and rolled their way out of the tangle of limbs he turned them into. "Good plan girls, if I'd been your average Fourth Year - hell, average Vytal Tournament qualifier- I'd have been done in."

He began to walk over to them, continuing his lecture. "Just remember, Human opponents are less predictable than Grimm and while strategy and tactics can give you the edge or boost you need to pull off a win…" he shrugged, "sometimes people will just be punching way above your weight class."

As he approached the girls finally disentangled themselves and had arranged themselves in various states of disarray. Pyrrha had that burning determination in her eyes she always got when he pulled another trick out of his bag. Velvet seemed to be channeling him again to mitigate her feelings of loss. Yang… Yang was glaring at him, red eyes and all.

"You've been going easy on us."

Naruto gave her an easy smile, "'Course I've been going easy on you, Sis. Unlike you, I kept up my workouts," he ticked one finger, "and excessive sparring with people stronger than me," he ticked another finger, "and going through life and death missions…" he ticked a third one and gave Yang a flat stare.

Yang squired under his gaze. "Y-yeah, I get it. I just thought you were being a battle maniac." She looked away and mumbled. "Didn't think it'd make that much a difference…"

He snorted and even Pyrrha looked affronted at Yang's attitude. "Yang, I've only been training with Naruto for a short while but I know he's got me on the same escalating workout he does himself. I could probably beat myself at the peak of my tournament days now in a straight one on one."

She sighed. "I know, I was kinda worried that he was going to throw Rubes and me out of bed at 5am and tell us to hup-to."

He cut in there. "And when I didn't you relaxed. Until you stalked Pyrrha, then you trained with Blake and sparred with Pyrrha often right?"

"I-Wha-How did you…" She sighed, "Yeah, she's a sneaky one. Helped me with the ambushing thing." She looked away, smoldering embers of anger were clear in her voice when she talked about Blake. "Didn't know why she was so good at it back then."

He offered his hands to Yang and Pyrrha, ones they gladly took and pulled them upright. "Off you go you two, tell the cooks I told them to give you some extra helpings."

Tired and hungry they scurried off without much complaint. Leaving the quiet Velvet looking resolutely at Naruto. He sighed.

"You know you shouldn't channel me so much." He narrowed his eyes, "And how long have you been doing it anyway? Since Coco left? ...before?"

She shrugged. "Does it matter?" She narrowed her eyes at him. "And why not? It's a good stance. Confidence, both to bait others and center yourself? Protectiveness mixed with Reactive?"

"And deception."

"There's nothing wrong with deception." She shot back.

"That-" He ran his hand through his hair, "-that's not-" He sighed.

"Isn't that how you brought me in?"

He didn't have an answer for that. Despite it's technically simplicity Carrot-and-Stick is still a very effective method.

She stood up and stared him down. "You aren't a bad person Naruto. I was afraid and scared at first but," she sniggered, "Yatsuhashi spoke his attempts at wise words. Some of it even made sense." She smiled at him, "Crossing blades and walking a mile in someone shoes are a good way to understand a person, I've done both with you."

"I'll tell-"

She cut him off. "You won't tell Coco. You want my help, Coco would put a stop to it. Besides, we both know my 'innocence' is a sacrifice you're willing to make in the end. Coco did a lot of research, the Hunters haven't been too good the past decade or so and their numbers have dropped hard."

Redirection. Bait and switch. Carrot and stick. He blew air out of his mouth. Gods be damned is her Semblance scary. Is this what it's like talking to me?

Ind the end nothing she said was refutable, in fact it had been something Naruto was keenly interested in finding out why. "You've made your point Vel, neither of us will say shit about this to anyone."

She smirked and turned to saunter off. "Later, Naruto."

He shook his head in disbelief and called out to her. "You know I'm upping your training for this!"

She gave a backhanded wave as she left.

Roman leaned back in his chair, glad his wrists were finally uncuffed. "And that's when your pet Hunter showed up and kicked my ass."

Ozpin raised a brow. "Hrm. You know Roman, we had you under surveillance. We know you have been robbing and selling the dust to one specific buyer."

"Really? Is that what they told you?"

"It's a reliable source, Roman."

He snorted. "Yeah, well, I can tell you that isn't what happened."

"Really? So you weren't working with the White Fang?" Ozpin was skeptical of everything he had said when he started 'cooperating' - not without reason, half of it was pure bullshit - but even that didn't stop Hunchback from beating his face in. "We have video footage of it."

Roman stared at the aging man, then at his brutish thug. "So that's what going on here? Going to paint me as some terrorist?" And more importantly, where is Neo? If she was working with them against me shouldn't they have half the answers already?

Rupert chuckled darkly. "Oh? A problem, Roman? Running out of jokes now?"

"Why does this feel like a setup suddenly?" His eyes darted between the two, something wasn't adding up to him.

Ozpin leaned forward calmly, apparently thinking he could capitalize on Roman's sudden nervousness. "It's simple: Tell us where the Dust is."

Roman licked his now dry lips. "And now I feel like not telling you is going to be the only thing keeping me alive." He saw the door open as Rupert's fist met his face.

"Hey! Hey hey hey." Naruto was looking down as he strode into the room carrying a cup of coffee. "I leave him in your care, and I come back to some domestic abuse."

Ozpin turned toward him and frowned. "Why are you here Naruto? I thought you said you would let me handle this."

Roman watched as Naruto walked over to his side to place the cup of coffee in front of him. He reached out to pick it up and smell it. Cappuccino, three cream, no sugar. Neo told him my preference?

Naruto paid no mind and grinned at Ozpin. "Well, a birdy told me some interesting information. Of course, I wanted to check up on Roman here too." He pat Roman on the shoulder.

Roman took the lull in the conversation to drink his cappuccino. Ah, that hit the spot.

Ozpin frowned. "And why could this not wait till later? Don't you see I'm busy interviewing him?"

Naruto rolled his eyes and shrugged. "Oh you know, heard a nice little rumor. Apparently, Vacuo heard about how Wonder Thief here got captured."

They looked questioningly at Naruto. Roman fought to keep a grin off his face. So that's how he's going to play it?

"Turns out," Naruto reported with a straight face, "Candlestick here pissed off the wrong person and now has a Mark out for his body."

Which is absolute bullshit, I paid my 'debts' to all the right people. Roman glanced to the suddenly one that had been unsuccessfully interrogating him this whole time. But these two idiots don't know it and what happened to Hunchback?

Naruto turned to him, and he made sure to act appropriately fearful for the audience. "So how 'bout it Roman? You tell me where the Dust is, I help keep that little head of yours off a pike."

So, that's how this is being played. They don't know because Neo told Naruto...and the pet Hunter isn't as much on the leash as he lets them think...and yet, the other guy just ups and vanishes the second Naruto strolls in. He knew a good deal when he saw it. "Sure, we've been holding the Dust at warehouse 12 on dock 19 down in the factory district. Paid off a couple fellas to forget the paperwork for it, you know, the usual stuff." Internally, he shook his head. Somehow the 'good guys' seem to be less trusting of each other than 'bad guys'.

Naruto shook his head. "Wow Oz, are you getting senile? You had Candlestick here for a whole fifteen days."

He turned the back and forth of the headmaster and Naruto out, because the one person he wanted to see was here. Neo peeked her head through the door.

When she was sure, she caught his eye she gave him a thumbs up.

Huh, guess I'm backin' the champ now.

"Yang…" Naruto's voice trailed off.

Jaune didn't want to overhear their private conversation, but Nora was asleep, and the rest of Team RWBY was hunched over looking guilty while they played their board game silently. But on the other hand, Jaune kinda did want to listen in, as Yang - and the rest of Team RWBY - were being scolded over the food fight that happened a few days ago.

The one where Yang punched us all through the walls of the Mess Hall. So maybe he was bitter about. Perhaps he went a bit overboard Amping Pyrrha up, forcing Yang into a Rage to keep up with her…

Yang's voice interrupted his thoughts. "Look, Big Bro, I get it. We shouldn't have gotten into the food fight."

"Yang, I couldn't give a flying fuck about the food fight, it happens at least once a year. I care about the fact that you punched Coco Adel so hard she only just got out of the hospital."

"But!"

"And the fact that your fight with Pyrrha nearly compromised the structural integrity of the entire building."

"She!"

"Yang…" Naruto trailed off again. Jaune couldn't help but feel -Uh, what was that Atlas word for it? Shandfraud?- about it all. Her punches hurt

"She shouldn't have touched my hair!"

"Yang, we've been over this hundreds of times, you can't just break the bones of people that touch your hair! I understand you are proud of it, but you entered a profession where dismemberment is common, there is going to be a day when your hair is going to end up ripped out, shredded, burnt or any other number of things."

And suddenly, Jaune wasn't enjoying overhearing the conversation anymore. He glanced at his partner to reveal she had much the same face as him. They really should be studying for the upcoming review test but…

"Yang look, just...Glynda's been on my ass about this. Even if she was able to repair everything in the end and there weren't any permanent injuries… between you and me I think she's on the rag right now and won't be satisfied unless she sees something being done on our end. Just find Coco later today and apologize."

"...Fine."

Pyrrha had blushed, and Jaune looked away embarrassed and mildly horrified. Things I never needed to know.

"And Yang? You promised to put more effort in. I do have a say in allowing Team RWBY to compete in tournaments, and I certainly will reject entry attempts unless I see effort from ALL OF YOU!" He shouted the last part, causing Nora to snort awake and the rest of them to cringe.

Yeah, I think he knows we were all eavesdropping. He subtly shuffled to a random page in the book he was supposed to be studying, with Pyrrha mimicking him.

"So…" He began, "Pyrrha…" She looked at him in that way again. Making his brain fire all cylinders with a suddenly empty tank. It used to be Weiss doing it but after his - rough - start, and lack of backing from his team, most of his false confidence had collapsed in on him. His attempts at courting her shifted to justify holding himself together.

Then the Forever Fall happened.

They say getting into a life-or-death scenario changes your perspective on life. If that was true then getting into a certain death instance had changed all their outlooks. Nora had become clingier and more protective, of all of them, and Ren hadn't stopped keeping watch. He always positioned himself in a direction the rest of them weren't.

he had only recently convinced Ren they didn't need to having a rotating night watch in Beacon, and that was mostly because Ren's grades had started slipping.

Pyrrha, she had handled it poorly. Whatever she was doing in her sessions with Naruto had gone a long way to settling her down but… Well, he had woken up to her modifying a pair of steel capped boots to fit a boot-knife into each. Specifically, a pair of boots for him. He didn't mind, not really, but they did take some time to get used to and were a bit uncomfortable. But Ren had punched holes in any argument of why he shouldn't wear the boots so here he was.

The less said about the various knives he had found on or near Pyrrha these days, the better.

Here I am thinking of things that happened weeks ago instead of actually talking to Pyrrha. Who is now staring at me with concern.

He worked his jaw and tried again. "So I was thinking Pyr, maybe we should do some team training?" Brain, why?

He tried not to think of the look in Pyrrha's eyes when he said that. Reading into it too much would either make him lock up or jam his mouth full of foot again. "Sure, Jaune, I think we would all be happy to do that, what kind of training were you thinking of doing?"

What kind of training? He thought in a panic, Brain! Ideas! Now! Then it hit him. "I was thinking countering swarm tactics? And maybe some uh...more semblance training?" He said the last part weakly, remembering how-

"I thought you said you wanted to work on that on your own." Ren cut in.

Jaune rubbed the back of his head and gave a weak laugh. "Yeah, about that… I uh... Turns out I can't really use it on myself. Heh." Even Nora was giving him a flat look for that.

Pyrrha coughed into her hand. "Right, well I don't believe any of us have a problem with that," she turned to the other two, and they both nodded, "Why don't we do it on the weekends? Maybe Naruto will let us even enter the Vytal Festival."

He smiled. "Sure that sounds gre-"

"Sup Losers!" A well-muscled, bare-chested monkey Faunus shouted as he walked up to Team RWB.

Jaune looked to his team, jerking his head towards the guy. The unvoiced question was answered by a shake of heads, none of them knew the jerk either.

Ruby had looked up frustrated from her hand of cards. "Oh, hey...uh...you."

Sun blinked, taken back by the mild glare he was getting both tables. "Oh. Right. Heh, sorry." He thumbed at himself and puffed out his chest. "I'm Sun Wukong of Team SSSN, pronounced Sun, and this is my partner, Neptune Vasilias." He thumbed at the wannabe-cool guy standing behind him.

Ruby nodded, a bit more energetic now. "Hi! I'm Ruby Rose, leader of Team RWBY, pronounced Ruby."

"Weiss Schnee, her partner. Greetings."

"Blake Belladonna."

Neptune took that moment to slide up next to Weiss. "Hello, Beautiful. You mind if call you Snow Angel?"

Oh come on, there is no way she's going to let you-

"Sure"

What?!

"Seriously?" Jaune looked at Pyrrha and motioned at the light flirting Neptune and Weiss were doing.

Pyrrha looked at him questioningly. "Hrmm?" She looked up from her book and over to the duo. "Oh," she smirked, her tone light and teasing, "well you were sorta a big dork when you said that to her."

Don't read into it to much. He smiled."Y-yeah? And what am I now?"

She leaned in and poked his nose with one hand. "My dork."

He went cross-eyed looking where her finger had been. "O-oh?"

She smiled at him again, amused by something. "If it will make you feel better we can do some light flirting too."

has crashed due to overheating.

"Wow." A suddenly distant voice said. "Velvet and Yang were right, that is fun."

"Ten ships huh? Ironwood, you sure know how to make an entrance."

Ironwood turned around, surprised that someone knew the exact number of Atlesian battleships in Vale airspace, even though only three were currently within city limits. Once he saw the owner of the voice, he realized why.

"Well informed as ever, Naruto. Mind telling me why you know this?" He asked.

Naruto shrugged. "Well, I make friends fast and the people out on the RADAR deck looked like they needed a friend." He answered with that infuriating, taunting smile of his.

"I know that Ozpin isn't going to like it," Ironwood spoke. He already knew that his friend had issues with shows of military might. He could paraphrase the speech he'd be getting from Ozpin in mere minutes to 'Army bad, scare people.' Such simplicity had kept Vale going for years, but things were in motion.

They both knew that simplicity was no longer safety.

"Let him. You're a General. If nothing, you can claim that the military detail is here to protect you." Naruto answered as he started walking towards Ozpin's office. Ironwood relaxed a bit. While he and Naruto had different ways of going about the same thing, their end goals aligned: the safety of the peoples of Remnant. It was a lesson that Ozpin himself had taught them, yet had seemed to forget himself.

"You know well enough that no one would buy that," Ironwood grunted. "I didn't just become a General because of my good looks, you know?"

Naruto chuckled. "Morningwood, I know you really like posturing, but I've told you this before. You're mixed metal, and not all that good."

Ironwood grimaced. "That sounds rich coming from a fourth-year student without Aura."

Naruto smiled. "And yet neither you nor Glynda were able to injure me last year. Not for lack of trying, of course."

Ironwood glared at Naruto. "Naruto, we made a pact to never bring that night up in public."

A shit-eating grin appeared on Naruto's face. "We're not in public, Ironwood. They cleared up the corridors for you, our guest of honor." He motioned towards the empty corridor. "Before you enter Ozpin's room, Glynda will give you a flower necklace and a pair of sunglasses. Maybe, if you ask nicely, she'll even take care of your tourist-ey ass."

Ironwood's metal arm shot out on a reflex as his mind filled up with very mixed feelings of both arousal and absolute loathing. The punch he launched was enough to send a Grimm through a couple of brick walls. Yet, Naruto caught it without missing a step.

"You're too easy, Metaldick." Naruto chided as he hit the elevator button. Ironwood blinked. Surely he hasn't' grown that much stronger already? He shook his head, the boy knew his history, his affiliations, where to hit him the hardest and how to get under his skin. He shook his head ruefully, It was his specialty.

The fact that he could physically, without any seeming flare of power, keep up with Ironwood's top-of-the-line, cutting-edge military funded, prototype, augmented prosthetics, on the other hand, was Naruto's braggadocio way of showing that he'd grown since they last met. It wasn't the growth that surprised him, that honor belonged to the fact that the increase had happened over the last few months itself.

The speed of growth was far scarier than the growth itself.

"I'd like to see how your cute techniques of manipulation will help you against Grimm," Ironwood grumbled with no lack of vitriol in his tone.

"We have your tin cans to fight the Grimm, Robocop," Naruto spoke, leaning on an elevator wall as the doors closed behind them. " I hunt tougher prey and unfortunately smarter prey."

Ironwood sighed. "Glad to see that your opinion of our mechanical soldiers has yet to change," he spoke. "I expected Penny to change that outlook of yours, I was clearly mistaken."

Naruto was silent for a few seconds, possibly trying to give coherence to his thoughts. "... while I cannot discount that the mere concept of Penny is praiseworthy, the final product… Is a bit lacking."

Ironwood was stunned. "I beg your pardon?" He asked. Penny was a fully combat-oriented android that could rival graduated Huntsmen, and she wasn't even complete yet! How could Naruto not find that impressive? Penny was the ultimate counter-terrorist weapon!

"She's too predictable." Naruto began. Ironwood was about to launch into an explanation about algorithms and self-learning but was stopped as Naruto raised his hand.

"I know that she's smart. I know that she can learn concepts from scratch almost instantly. I know that she can analyze and counter an opponent's moves in a second." He answered, and Ironwood's confusion rose with each statement.

"Yet - in the end - she's still a machine… and a machine is always efficient."

Ironwood was dazed for a second. "Naruto, that sounds incredibly stupid."

Naruto shook his head. "I know it isn't the easiest concept to wrap your head around, so listen up." He locked eyes with Ironwood, no mirth present on his face.

"What differentiates her from a human is that she's not just liable, but assured to take the most efficient approach in battle. Every one of her swings is calculated, ever defense measured by force and time, every counter calculated before the enemy's attack is ever launched." He sighed, crossing his arms over his chest. "Hence, I decided to spar with her daily till you decided to show up."

Now, Ironwood was intrigued. "And you'd have me believe that she was not able to beat you over multiple duels?"

Naruto shook his head. "No, that would imply that she was ever able to give me a fight worth calling a spar."

Ironwood retorted instantly. "That is bullshit. Penny can recreate entire fight-styles through observation. One's chances of defeating her fall incrementally over the course of a fight. All the testing huntsmen she was pitted against barely lasted ten minutes."

Naruto shook his head. "I don't think you understand, Metal-knob. The fact that she can recreate fight styled through observation and pattern recognition isn't a strength, it's a weakness."

Ironwood rose an eyebrow. "How so? Do tell."

"She tries to associate fighting styles with martial arts that already exist. Hence, she's likely to follow up any move I've taken from an established martial art with a counter what she believes to be a follow-up move to it." Naruto motioned with a hand. "For someone who knows and mixes multiple martial arts, basically anyone who has informal combat training, this makes more openings than it closes."

Ironwood grunted. "That's all well and fine, but how many people do you know out there who fight like that?"

Naruto put a finger on his chin. "Well, considering most capable warriors I've fought over my missions, I'd say around nine out of ten of them used a mixture of more than two fighting styles." He then gave Ironwood a disdainful glare. "You do realize that criminals don't generally come from backgrounds that afford them the luxury of professional huntsmen training, right?"

Ironwood was silent for a few seconds. Naruto was insinuating something, and he understood it all too well. The only people Penny had been tested against were second and third years from Atlas academy, and almost all of them followed established martial arts.

What he had created was the ultimate anti-huntsman android, something that was virtually worthless against the criminals she was meant to fight.

"Plus, she isn't all that strong either." Naruto shrugged. "Though that might be because she's a prototype, as she has repeatedly told me."

Ironwood chose to not comment on that. Naruto was a friend, but Project Coinage was an Atlesian secret… for the most part.

"She's a nice girl though. Might wanna tone down how chirpy she is, though." Naruto finished as the elevator opened up, revealing Ozpin's office.

"For now, good luck explaining to Ozpin why there are Atlesian warships docked in Vale." He spoke as he ushered Ironwood out, much to the General's confusion.

"Wait, aren't you coming with me?" Ironwood asked. Immediately, Naruto's face soured.

"Did you actually expect me to stand with you and explain the sudden and peaceful appearance of three heavily-armed warships to a man who believes that peace can be maintained by being an elusive, cryptic piece of shit? Get real." He then looked at Glynda. "So, you want a ride down, Glynda? Leave the old men to plot their nefarious schemes in a creepy clocktower?"

Glynda shook her head. "For the sake of my sanity, I'll take the next lift."

Naruto shrugged. "More space for me then. See you later, suckers!"

"Ozpin, can I just snap the elevator's cord?" Glynda asked with a straight face that could give the most professional of executioners an inferiority complex. Ozpin too made a show of swirling the coffee in his mug, at least pretending to think the offer over… hopefully.

"He's too useful, plus there's a high likeliness that he'd survive." Ozpin finally decided. "Plus, I think that was just him getting back at us for saddling him with the current terrorist trouble going on."

Ironwood finally spoke up. "Terrorist trouble? You mean what happened on the docks?"

Ozpin finally realized that Ironwood was in the room. "Yes, the trouble at the docks. Docks which are currently serving as a garrison for your troops, or so I'm led to believe?"

Ironwood's face paled as Ozpin moved closer to him. "Now, why don't you take a seat, James, and maybe try to explain why there's an army at my front door?"

Ironwood cursed Naruto one last time under his breath before realizing that this was most definitely going to be a long and tedious Vytal festival.

Blake's nerves had been fraying for several days now. It certainly wasn't helped at the moment by the occasionally skittish look from Sun or his occasional glances of interest. Or her teammates having nagged her to play whatever ridiculous game they were supposed to be playing.

But frankly? The flirting between Weiss and Neptune, with the background teasing from Pyrrha at Jaune, was where her endurance ended.

"Right, well. If anyone needs me, I'm going to go take a walk. A long one." Before anyone could say otherwise she - in a feat of athletic prowess - leaned back, reached over her head to grab the railing behind her, flipped out of her chair, and over the railing to drop down to the first floor.

After sticking her three-point landing, she stretched out and wandered off.

Naruto's words had been eating at her.

"Do you really think the White Fang was right?"

She had only just entered his room, and that was what she was greeted with. She hadn't known what to expect when she took up his offer to try and help her turn away from the path she walked but this had not been that.

"What?" She was about to turn around and leave when she felt it. That cold, dark, sickening feeling that froze her body.

"You're going to sit down, . You are going to answer my question. You are going to try to answer every question I pose to you.

"Or?" She regretted asking for the feeling redoubled.

"Or I make sure that a terroristic assassin stops being a security concern." She finally looked at him and regretted it, his eyes burned cold.

"O-okay." and so she sat on the only armchair in the room while Naruto occupied the couch.

The pressure abated immediately, and she was able to relax into the comfortable chair. Naruto did as well, sprawling out on the couch and resting his head on the other end. He made a vague gesture in the air. "So?"

Do I really think the White Fang was right? She pondered it like she was asked and came to the same answer she always did. "Of course."

She flinched at the retaliation that never came. Instead, she was treated to a long-suffering sigh. "Of course you do. Alright, so then what's the purpose of the White Fang?"

The answer was automatic. "To bring equality to Faunus."

He hummed. "And how do they go about this?"

That was an awkward question for her. Not because it was hard to answer but because Adam's way of answering it would only strengthen whatever point Naruto was going to make. They sat in silence as she thought of the best way to work it, eventually settling on, "...Peace through Power."

He actually raised his head, and his eyebrow, at that and I blushed. "That is far more flowery than what I've heard." He lowered his head back to the couch's armrest. "Peace through Power only works when the public is sympathetic."

"Do you know why that is?"

She was getting irritated by this. "What does this have to do with killing Grimm or retiring from assassinations?"

Naruto waved her off. "Nothing, everything. You tell me, what does justification have to do with terror bombings?"

She didn't have an answer for that. After all, she had argued with Adam on it.

"That's what I thought. So, what about for assassinations?"

She shifted in her seat. If it had been even a few months ago, she would have jumped up to justify them as 'getting back at their oppressors' but now… "I… don't know anymore."

He hummed. "Talked with Weiss, did you? Put some backstory, some humanity, back into your targets?"

She slumped in her seat. Her talks with Weiss had indeed done that. While a small part of her still wanted to justify each kill with fire and fury, she also knew that the people she killed didn't have much to do with actual Faunus oppression. More so they were just easy targets that would hurt the people they thought were responsible, or to instill fear in the communities of 'oppressors'.

She recalled the meeting that he had earlier with there team. "Earlier today… Coco accused you of being a glorified Hitman, and you didn't deny it." It had confused her slightly. Here he was lecturing her on morality, but he did the same as she did but for money…?

"Yeah." He didn't even try to deny it. "But I'm not part of a violent cult that indoctrinated its members to believe that violence against specific groups of people was okay because it 'advanced' the cults 'objectives' of 'freeing' the Faunus." He even did the air quotes, she cringed. When he put it like that it made the White Fang sound far more nefarious.

He pushed himself up so he could look at her. "You know the kind of people I go after Blake? Murders, rapists, kidnappers, drug lords, slavers...true scum of the society we live in. And as much as I hate politicians and their honeypots, killing them isn't how you change people's opinions for the better."

What did any of this have to do with killing Grimm? She thought again how this could possibly relate to what she asked for when she came to him for help.

He sighed. "All right, clearly you aren't picking up what I'm putting down. You aren't going to have cohesiveness with your team until you drop the sympathy for a Terror Group look, I understand they used to be peaceful and that they actually did quite a bit for getting the public's attention on the treatment of Faunus after the war."

He blew air out and ran a hand through his hair. "You can't let your past affiliations cloud your judgment. What happens, Blake, if your team is sent out on a mission to clear an area of Grimm and you find White Fang planning some sorta terror attack? Or storing supplies they raided? Or holding hostages? Are you just going to blow your stealth and confront them openly? Put your teammates at risk to satisfy your nostalgia?"

"I…" She didn't know how to answer that. Naturally, she wouldn't put her team at risk… is what she would have liked to believe but, couldn't the others see the Truth like she had and put an end to whatever madness Adam had concocted that time?

Naruto sighed and flopped back to laying down on the couch. "This won't be something solved in a day, Blake. Or a week. Or a month. It's harder to deprogram yourself than it is to program yourself. Harder by miles." He murmured the last bit. "...why do you think Hunters have such a high turncoat and death count…"

It left an awkward silence between the two.

"Blake, do me this would you? Look this stuff up. Talk to Weiss about the actual conditions of the SDC mines and their Faunus workforce. Look up the public perceptions over time of Faunus and how it's shifted year by year. Governments love keeping census data of this stuff."

Blake nodded, That...that is reasonable.

Naruto sighed again. "We're done here for today Blake. Just… try to work with your team more alright? Before you or they end up as another statistic taught in class."

Blake stared at the Memorial Wall of the last four generations of Huntsman. I must have wandered here while I was thinking.

She couldn't help but notice just how many Teams were listed as full KIA. You have to be a little off to pick this profession. Just how many of these were because of baggage a team member never dealt with that came back to bite them?

She dragged her hand across the memorial eventually reaching the Teams that didn't graduate yet.

The O in Team ORNJ was filled in.

She hitched at that. Naruto had always been overly aggressive with her, she initially thought it was because he was just overprotective of Ruby, but now… Maybe he's speaking from experience. Perhaps it was his baggage that he couldn't let go of. She couldn't know for sure, it could have been anyone on his team.

It could have even been O. A part of her brain whispered.

She tapped on the screen to highlight Team ORNJ, then again to highlight the only profile provided.

Name: Ochre Neul

Nickname: Huntress of Flames

Age: 21

Country: Atlas

Weapon: Fire-Dust Whip

Semblance: Rising Flames

End of Hunt: Agustine 5th, 2071

Cause: White Fang Ambush

Oh. Blake backed away from the profile, even if she hadn't been connected to it it still felt accusatory. O-or maybe we weren't like his team at all.

"She's smiling. She can't possibly be happy about this, can she?"

It was a simple question, and Mercury had a simple reason to ask it. Emerald had known Cinder far longer than him, yet her current behavior came as a surprise to her oldest supporter.

"I'm just as confused as you are, Merc." She spoke, trying to keep her eyes away from the turban of bandages that was his head. The last thing she wanted to do right now was burst into laughter.

Primarily when they'd just been outclassed by a variable they didn't even know existed.

"Oh my dears," Cinder spoke, walking up to her two 'partners' "I'm smiling because of Naruto Xiao Long!"

"Why though? He isn't that good looking, plus there's also the fact that he tried to outright kill us." Mercury countered, still noticeably sore about his loss to the blonde champion.

"Oh Mercury, if he wanted to kill you, we wouldn't be having this conversation," she spoke, that strange smile still ghosting over her features. "He was testing you, probably wanted to capture you. Of course, I wouldn't allow that."

"Plus, we can now say with utmost certainty that Roman and his pet are no longer loyal to us." She finished, taking a seat.

Mercury put a hand on his chin reflexively and winced. "And I don't see how any of that would make you smile. Sure, Roman didn't know the extent of our plan, but he did know enough to make sure we can't do what we originally planned to." He sighed. "Plus, we've lost two people who were a damned sight better at what they did than these dime-a-dozen White Fang mooks."

Cinder chuckled, confusing Mercury further. "Mercury, dear Mercury. When we came to this city, we came with the certainty that Vale would fall by Fall." Her smile grew as she held the injured boy's gaze.

"That fact does not change."

She leaned back in her chair and the pressure that had built up collapsed. Emerald let go of a breath she didn't even know she was holding. She saw Mercury do the same. Such was Cinder's presence.

… Even though it paled in front of Naruto's.

"What will change is our method of approach." Cinder spoke, her smile disappearing. "We will not have a man on the inside anymore, nor do we have an illusionist who excels at physical illusions."

She then sighed. "Our identities are known, and we have no chance of infiltrating the Vytal festival. As much as I trust in my abilities in combat, I'd rather not fight Naruto or Ozpin head-on…" She smirked, "At least not yet."

She motioned around them, gesturing to the many containers of dust that surrounded them. "What we do have is a few hundred tons of dust and a city with a bustling underworld."

"Our approach changes, our end goal does not."

Cue the return of her smile. Finally, Emerald had enough. "Why are you so happy about it? Isn't this just harder for us?" she asked.

"She told me that Ozpin was much too naive, She told me that Ironwood was much too paranoid. She told me that this would be a guaranteed success." She spoke, her smile growing with each statement.

"Naruto, though, has suddenly made this game interesting again. That's what makes me so happy."

Emerald was silent for a while. To see the ordinarily efficient and pragmatic Cinder be reduced to an ecstatic youth at the mere promise of a challenge was new to her.

Yet, the feeling was contagious, and she couldn't help but feel it. Beacon was going down hard, and Naruto would go down with it… eventually.

Till that time, things now promised to be a lot more interesting, and while a part of her was scared, another was ecstatic. She didn't know which one to listen to…

… and that was fine with her.

Chapter END

Sneaky A/N: Back at it again with my incompetence to bring you a new chapter. No this story isn't dead, sometimes life punches you in the dick, and all you can do is say "another round please!"

Anyway, more related to the story I'm sure you've noticed we are diverging from canon. Yeah, from here on out canon will be meaning less and less, and consequently, that means we will need to pace the story waaay slower. The pacing from the previous Arc was a joint decision between CruelRuin and me where there weren't enough butterfly effects really building up to directly affect canon(yet), and we didn't want the fic dying a slow death of canonical rehashing.

I don't typically ask for this, but I would like some opinions on how it handles things from here on out. Would you guys like to see more of Naruto past as interlude chapters? Or a full out flashback arc? Do you want the omakes as separate chapters? Posted elsewhere? Or eliminated?

And most importantly: What's your opinion on the steps of divergence present?