Glynda Goodwitch looked up at the assembled class of students, both of Beacon and of other schools. She noticed several who were talking with their friends and teammates. It wasn't hard to guess why; it was the same every year. Gossiping about students from other schools. But that could wait, "Attention, class." Immediately, all the Beacon students shut up, turning their full attentions' to Professor Goodwitch. The rest of the schools were slower to do so. "I'd like to welcome our transfer students," Goodwitch began, after the class finally quieted, "By giving them a demonstration of what you all have learned in your time here at Beacon. Are there any volunteers for a combat exercise?"

Around the class, multiple hands shot up, three of which were from Team RUBY. Naruto, Yang, and Ruby each wanted to finally get up and stretch after several hours of Port and Oobleck. Pyrrha Nikos and Weiss Schnee of Team PRWN (Prune) also raised their hands, and a few other people Naruto hadn't even met. That Cardin boy hadn't raised his hand since their first day, Naruto noticed.

Looking at the crowd, Glynda's eyes rested on Naruto for a moment, an eyebrow raised at him. She seemed to think for a moment, before sighing. "How about Naruto Uzumaki and Pyrrha Nikos?"

Ozpin may have told Naruto to never fight during class, but he was so bored with just watching all the time. Especially after talking to that one mute girl. He wanted to actually fight! So, with a spark of his childhood, rule-breaking self, he had raised his hand eagerly. And since he'd never volunteered to fight before, he had no doubt that he would get picked.

He and Pyrrha made their way down to the prep room, where they shed their school uniforms in exchange for more practical outfits for fighting. Besides, Naruto thought, you really couldn't beat a good, bright orange jumpsuit.

Soon enough, he and Pyrrha stood at opposite ends of the stage, waiting. Goodwitch approached Naruto, "May I see your scroll, Mr. Uzumaki? It seems to be having trouble detecting your Aura." She pointed up at the overhead display, where, true enough, Naruto's aura was displaying zero. Naruto handed over his scroll. After a moment of looking through it, Goodwitch raised an eyebrow, "It seems to be set up correctly. Perhaps it is malfunctioning. In that case, for the purposes of this exercise, you will both instead stop when I say to. Understood?" She looked sternly from Pyrrha to Naruto, both of whom nodded. "Very good." She stepped off the stage. "You may begin!"

Naruto took off like a bullet, whipping out a kunai as he ran and chucking it right at Pyrrha. Pyrrha raised her shield just in time to block it, only for Naruto to use her shield as a springboard to jump up in the air, knocking her to her knees in the process. She rolled forward as Naruto came down with a powerful knee into the ground where she had just kneeled. It even cracked the stage beneath it. Pyrrha whipped around with a swipe from her sword, only for Naruto to narrowly duck the attack, responding in kind with a sweep from his leg underneath her, knocking her over. She took the fall with grace, using her shield to regain her balance just in time to flip backwards out of the way of a punch.

As she flipped, Pyrrha fired three shots from her gun, which Naruto deflected with another kunai, although the poor knife chipped and broke after the third. Aiming at where she was going to land, Naruto chucking the broken hilt. Pyrrha landed on it, slipping backwards, just long enough for Naruto to drive his elbow into her gut. She wheezed. On her retaliatory sword strike, Naruto noticed that her movements were suddenly much less refined, as if he injured something on the inside.

Nevertheless, he blocked the sword with a kunai. Pushing the sword away, he went for a slash at Pyrrha's leg, but he felt the kunai suddenly get heavier. He jumped backwards, landing in a crouch. Pyrrha regained her footing, her breath, and her composure. A quick glance at his knife revealed nothing out of the ordinary, so whatever just happened was probably the result of something Pyrrha did. Probably, if Naruto had learned anything in his time here, a result of her semblance. Maybe something with gravity? No, why wouldn't she have stopped him before then? It had to be something about his kunai then. Whatever the specifics were, he could worry about later.

Pyrrha rushed in, lance at the ready, prepared to jab at him from a distance. On the first jab, Naruto grabbed the lance and yanked, pulling Pyrrha into his knee. She clutched her gut and stumbled back, and as she did Naruto heard Goodwitch call out, "Stop!" The professor stepped between the two, giving each of them an approving nod. "That was very good, both of you. Mr. Uzumaki, perhaps you should participate in class more often." Naruto rubbed the back of his head, grinning. "Ms. Nikos, are you alright?"

Pyrrha, after several moments, managed to stand back up to her full height and nod her head, "Yes, professor."

Goodwitch looked back up at the students above, almost all of which had been enthralled by the fight, "In just a few months since they started here, these students have developed their existing talents to such a degree. I hope that you will all eagerly participate in the future as well. Dismissed!"

Naruto met up with his teammates out in the hallway, where Yang gave him a firm pat of the back. "It's about time you do a little fighting!" she exclaimed. "Nice work!" Some of the students walking by gave passing glances, especially the ones from Mistral, Pyrrha's home country. "You really should do that more!"

Naruto rubbed the back of his head, grinning. Ruby gave him an exaggerated thumbs-up, "Nice job!"

"Thanks, guys," Naruto returned.

"It was pretty cool," Blake admitted.

"Hey, Naruto, can we work on that Sage Mode thing again later?" Ruby asked. "I swear, this time I'll find a way to sense that nature energy stuff."

"Sure, but ten lien says you can't do it," Naruto joked.

Ruby narrowed her eyes, "But you don't even have any money."

"Wait, you don't have any money?" Blake asked.

Ruby nodded in his place, "Yeah. I found out when I wanted to go down to Vale and commission him a weapon, but he said he couldn't pay."

Yang gave her sister a sideways glance, "Ruby… You didn't do what I think you did, did you?"

Ruby suddenly seemed to find the walls and ceiling much more interesting than her sister, whistling all the while. Naruto and Blake glanced from Yang to Ruby, confused.

"Ruby…" Yang said sweetly. "Why don't you tell Naruto what you did for him?"

"Uh… Whatever do you mean, Yang?" Ruby began backing away slowly.

"We'll be right back, you two," Yang told her teammates. No sooner had she said it than Ruby took off like a bullet down the hall, with Yang hot on her heels.

"What was that about?" Naruto asked.

"I think I have an idea," Blake answered. "So, what kind of weapon did you two design anyway?"

Naruto shrugged, "It was these gauntlets with blades in them. I kinda forgot about them."

Blake nodded, "And how come you have no money?"

"Where I come from, we use a different kind of money called ryu," Naruto told her as they walked back to their dorm. "I've been meaning to ask, any luck with chakra?" Blake had taken to practicing on her own.

She shook her head, "No luck. Every time I think I finally find it, it's something else. Usually my aura."

"Usually?"

"Well, there was one time when I was really hungry."

Naruto chuckled, "Well, maybe you can use your hunger for jutsus."

Blake shook her head as she laughed, "The mighty stomach grumbling technique! Despair as you face it."

"Legend says none can survive it."

Blake grinned, "I have to admit, you surprised me when you volunteered to fight. I thought you were just really lazy."

Naruto shook his head, "I just really wanted to fight today. I've gotten to watch everyone else go down there a dozen times."

"What, you couldn't?" Blake said, half joking.

"Ozpin said not to. Something about not showing off chakra, I think," Naruto explained. He actually couldn't remember why Ozpin didn't want him to fight during class.

"I guess that makes some sense. But how come Ozpin knows about chakra? I thought it was something your village used."

"I told him about it when I first came here. It's a really long story."

"Maybe you could tell me sometime," Blake said. "So anyway, what was that thing Ruby mentioned? Sage Mode?"

"It's another technique of mine. Ruby thought it was really cool, and I told her I'd teach her. She hasn't had any luck with it yet though." Now that Naruto thought about it, Ozpin hadn't said anything about it recently, either. Maybe it really was beyond people from this world.

"Was that why she was learning to sit still?"

"Yeah. You've got to be completely still in order to sense nature energy. It has something to do with emulating nature, I think." It had been several months since Naruto had first heard about how Sage Mode worked from the toads.

"So, what is nature energy, then?" Blake asked.

"It's sort of like a kind of chakra given off by nature. I think it actually comes from the world itself. That's why it's a lot easier to sense and use in natural places," Naruto explained.

"So it's a kind of chakra then?" Blake asked. "Is that why Ruby can't sense or use it?"

Naruto shrugged, "Maybe." He looked down the hallway behind them, making sure they were alone. "The truth is, Blake, I don't know that anyone here actually has chakra. Ozpin said I shouldn't say anything about this, but I don't want to lie to my friends anymore. Ozpin and I think that I'm from a different world. Back there, no one has any Aura or Semblances. Everyone uses chakra to fight."

Blake raised her eyebrow, "You're from a different world? Like another planet?"

"I don't know. But one day, I was suddenly somewhere that I didn't know, and pretty soon I came across an animal I didn't recognize. That was my first Grimm encounter."

"You didn't have Grimm where you came from?" Blake seemed taken aback. Naruto nodded. "I didn't believe you before, but if you're telling the truth…" The pair arrived back at the dorm. On the other side of the door, they could here yelling, running sounds, and the occasional gun shot. Blake's hand paused an inch from the handle. "Do we want to interrupt this?"

"Will we survive?" Naruto asked.

"Probably, I think."

"Why not then?" Naruto opened the door, to reveal Ruby crouched on the far right bed like a cat ready to bolt, while a glowing Yang stood on the other side of the room.

"It was just a few lien!" Ruby shouted. Naruto shut the door behind himself and Blake. The sisters turned to face them. Both of them immediately stood straight up, acting as if nothing was out of the ordinary. Yang even stopped glowing.

"Hey guys!" Yang said with a seemingly forced smile.

"Uh… Are we getting in the way?" Naruto asked, joking. "We could leave if you-"

"NO!" Ruby blurted out. "I mean, um, no, it's fine, we were just talking about some stuff."

Yang shot her a look, "See, Ruby here thought that since Naruto couldn't pay for his own weapon to be made, she would do him a favor and pay herself. An arm and a leg, I might add."

"It wasn't that much money," Ruby defended.

Naruto frowned at her, "You bought me a weapon?" She nodded. "You didn't have to do that, Ruby. I can fight without one."

"I just really wanted you to have a special weapon. And after watching you fight Pyrrha today, I'm sure of that. The way you just throw those knives carelessly…" Her voice trailed off.

Yang sighed. Naruto stifled a laugh, "It's fine. They're just kunai, they're meant to be expendable."

Ruby huffed, "Why would you use a weapon you don't care about, though?"

"Well we don't exactly use weapons a lot where I'm from."

Ozpin had too much to worry about for Naruto to start breaking his rules. Especially when all the students from other countries were here. But that could be dealt with later.

For now, he needed to address the man before him. Qrow had come back from his trip to Atlas early, although not of his own accord. Ironwood had brought him to Vale when he himself had come. But Qrow hadn't sauntered off of the airship cockily drinking like normal.

He had been carried off on a stretcher, brought up to the infirmary.

Ironwood had told Ozpin that Qrow had sent him a distress signal weeks prior, and that a few hours later, his search parties had found Qrow bleeding profusely, covered in burns, and half buried in snow. He'd been placed in intensive surgery immediately at Atlas's top medical facility. While his life had been saved, he had yet to wake up. But more disturbing was that he wasn't regenerating his Aura. Or rather, it was all being used up just keeping him alive. It seemed that Qrow's insides were in just as bad shape as his outsides.

That brought Ozpin to the infirmary of Beacon, to see Qrow for himself. Despite his initial vision of Qrow as a useful asset and little more, for Ozpin to call Qrow anything but a friend nowadays would be a lie.

True enough, Qrow was in terrible shape. Bandages covered more of his skin than they didn't, and he looked even paler than usual. It was a wonder he was even alive. If it had been anyone else…

And to that point, Ozpin was bewildered. Qrow was one of the best fighters he'd ever met. Who could have done something like this to him? The burns had to mean either dust or magic, but Salem wouldn't have gone after Qrow specifically, right? And Qrow could probably take a maiden in a fight, if needed. So it couldn't be magic. But Dust made no sense either, since Qrow could probably take most dust users in a fight as well. Even Salem's highest subordinates shouldn't have been able to do something like this to him without getting off just as badly themselves.

Ironwood hadn't been able to find anyone in the area, either, and tracking them would have been impossible with all the snow. So they had absolutely no leads on the mystery attacker, at least until Qrow awoke.

Ozpin had learned a long time ago to not blame himself when his subordinates were wounded, or worse, killed in the field. But seeing Qrow lying broken before him, he couldn't help but wonder if he could have prevented this.

Perhaps, though, he could at least prevent more casualties. Qrow had been investigating those mysterious lights, so his current condition was probably related. He stood to leave, praying that Qrow would heal soon.

Ozpin had work to do.

So it's been a hot minute since the last update. Interestingly, I apparently had this chapter finished months ago, and just never posted it. Anyway, I've been busy with some life stuff, moving up in the world and all.

Hope you all enjoy this chapter, because I can't remember if I did!

Until next time, which should hopefully be very soon