Naruto exhaled. Night had fallen, and as he used the new key, he and his team were given to their dorm room—the room they would spend the next four years with one another.
Thankfully, he was correct on how the picked teams and by having the same relics, Ruby and Yang were on his team. What he wasn't expecting was to be named team leader of their new team, Newberry, or NBRY. It was a stretch for a name, but he supposed that it would work.
He could make out berry with the initials. And considering a newberry was a type of blackberry, and their new teammate's last name was a type of berry found on nightshades...
"This is... Quiant." Blake mused, gazing upon the room before nodding.
"Could use a little more room. The beds take up a lot of space." Yang commented, placing down her suitcase and frowning.
"They probably don't expect us to spend a lot of time staying in the dorms with classes, training, and taking low-ranking jobs," Naruto responded, running his hand through his locks before shaking his head.
"Yeah, but I can still complain about it." Yang glowered, hopping onto the bed to the far right. With a sour glare, she stared at Ruby and then at Naruto. "You ain't sleeping beside him again. You're by me. Naruto, on the other side."
"Excuse me? Nothing happened last night." Ruby pouted, noticing Blake take the second bed in the middle by laying her suitcase on it, picking up a uniform that had been laid neatly on it.
"I would be worried if it did," Yang squinted before glaring at her sister. "And it's going to stay that way at least until you both turn sixteen next October. If you want to fight about it, pick it up with Dad. We might be out of the house, but I'm still enforcing that rule. And before you argue about last night, we were surrounded by dozens of people we didn't know, and I let it slide."
"You both are that close in age?" Blake mused, pursing her lips, setting down the uniform while Ruby pouted. "I think they may have already assigned beds. Our uniforms are on the beds."
"Really?" Yang raised her brow, moving her suitcase to find a uniform under it, and glanced at it. "Heh, this is mine. What do you know? ...Wait, did your mom do this?"
"I wouldn't be surprised," Naruto responded, approaching the bed on the far left, seeing that the bed had the only male uniform placed on it. Placing his pack next to the bed, he flashed a smile at Blake while he started to unpack. "And yeah. I'm only older than Ruby by three weeks."
"Hm, didn't know you were that young... You give off a more mature air." Blake momentarily frowned before shaking her head.
"Ha! Hardly! We were just out defacing bars and strip joints by graffitiing their property last week! We do stuff like that all the time for fun!" Yang snorted, Naruto throwing a shaded glare in her direction.
"And?" Blake raised her eyebrow before shrugging. "I've done far worse within the last year... Much worse."
"Okay, that sounds like a story I want to hear." Yang's features perked up, and she gleamed at Blake.
"...I'd rather not." Blake frowned, shrinking into herself as the focus was drawn onto her.
Naruto frowned as well, observing Blake's reaction. She had volunteered the information that she had done worse, but when asked about it, she retreated into herself?
...Something bad had to have happened.
"We probably should make some ground rules as we unpack. We're gonna be spending a lot of time with each other for a while and going to get to know one another, and having some boundaries will help, ya know?" Naruto announced, stopping his unpacking as he addressed his team.
No one answered, but upon looking at Blake, Ruby, and Yang, they understood. With a simple look, they could realize she didn't like talking about her past.
"Got it. We'll try not to ask about your past until you're more comfortable." Yang softly smiled in Blake's direction. She then shifted her gaze to Naruto and quirked her brow. "And who are you, and what have you done to Naruto?"
"What? I'm team leader now... Gotta act somewhat responsibly, ya know?" Naruto nervously chuckled, combing his hand through his spiky locks.
"It's still weird," Ruby stated, her lips quivering in amusement at Naruto, watching him smolder.
"Like you wouldn't do the same!" Naruto snapped, glaring at snickering Ruby and Yang.
"Yeah, you're probably right. I'll stop." Ruby beamed, her tone chipper as she dragged her backpack and suitcase to her bed, stopping at the foot.
Everyone's attention shifted to a light laughter resonating from Blake. She frowned momentarily as attention was brought back toward her, but shook her head.
"The way you three act reminds me of some friends back home when I was younger. ...It's... Comforting." Blake forced a thin smile, quite noticeably withdrawn despite opening up slightly.
"Heh, that's good to hear. I would like to hear about them sometime. They sound awesome." Naruto grinned.
"Maybe someday." Blake's smile became slightly more genuine before she picked up her suitcase, spilling the slight contents of books and a few articles of clothing onto her bed. "And I'm unpacked."
"Seriously? That's all you have?" Yang blinked as she had begun to unpack her filled bag. Upon receiving a simple nod from Blake, Yang tilted her head oddly. "Okay, when we get a day off and make some lien from a few jobs, we're gonna go shopping!"
"I... Wouldn't mind that. I don't know Vale very well." Blake's dour mood had brightened considerably as she nodded again.
"Well, we'll show you around too! You got some of the best guides around since we've lived here all our lives!" Ruby gleamed before she turned back to her bed as she started to unpack her apparel. "Ugh... There isn't a lot of room for all four of us... Wait! We should do bunk beds. It would give us more room."
"Let's take care of that tomorrow after classes, Rose. We've got a full schedule and need some rest. It's pretty late, ya know." Naruto yawned, agreeing with the idea, but thought better of it after glancing at his scroll.
"It's that late already? Where has the time gone?" Ruby frowned, reaching for her scroll to see the time.
"Being lost in the forest for most of the day," Yang chirped, earning a snicker and a quiet laughter from Naruto and Blake and Ruby's ire.
"We weren't that lost!"
[ X ]
Grimm Studies was not what Naruto had expected at all.
Lectures were expected. It was a class discussing how Grimm survived, identifying their weaknesses, and exploring how to exploit them. All of that was par for the course. It was what Mr. Xiao Long did at Signal.
The difference here was that there was a live Grimm captured in a cage before Professor Port while he made his lecture! A wild Boartusk, striking the cage repeatedly!
Naruto remembered reading in his old textbooks that, for Grimm Studies was one of the few subjects he paid attention to in class, that capturing and containing Grimm was nearly impossible. That after a certain amount of time, they would die without provocation. There were many theories about why, but no concrete answer for the reason.
That meant he had to just capture this Boartusk!
And Professor Port had no intent on keeping it long-term as he observed the room. "Now, a demonstration! Who would like to volunteer!"
"I would!" Naruto loudly proclaimed, jumping to his feet with a broad grin. If he got a chance to show off to everyone...
"Excellent! It seems we have two volunteers!" Port announced, catching Naruto off guard and narrowing his gaze.
He hadn't heard anyone else volunteer, but his gaze focused upon one single hand raised.
And it happened to be the leader of team Weaponry, WPNR, Weiss. She had raised her hand with dignity while dutifully staying seated, waiting to be called upon.
Naruto scowled. Why did he have a feeling he was not going to get along with his new neighbor?
"Hm, since I only need one volunteer to demonstrate our lesson today, let's decide this with a coin flip." Professor Port announced, reaching into his coat pocket and retrieving a simple coin.
"I call heads!" Naruto boisterously announced, earning a cold stare from Weiss.
Professor Port let out a portly chuckle before he flipped the coin into the air. It flipped vigorously in the air before landing on the floor beneath. "Head it is! Alright, Mr. Goodwitch, let's begin the demonstration."
"Yes!" Naruto excitedly leapt down the stairs and into the open classroom below with the Professor, ignoring the whispers of the other students in the room.
However, he could feel a deathly gaze upon him as he stood before the Professor, standing beside the rocking cage and the agitated Boartusk within. And from above, a cold gaze withered and seethed above.
"Now, remember what we discussed, or you may have very well bit off more than you can chew!" Professor Port reminded Naruto as he released the latch.
The Boartusk rolled through and landed on four legs, snorting as its demonic gaze zeroed in on a confident Naruto, lowering his stance as a single hand slipped into his hip pouch.
If there was one thing Naruto paid attention to, it was exploiting weaknesses. Boartusk Grimm had heavy armor on their front half and along their spine to facilitate their rolling motion. And the spines were razor sharp and could cut through flesh easily when they reached maximum velocity. They were quite deadly in a frontal encounter.
However, that single-minded focus and frontal strike pattern left them with a fatal flaw...
The Boartusk snorted one last time before it began its rapid spin, charging toward him at a high velocity. Naruto retrieved two kunai from his pouch and tossed them on opposite sides, firmly hilted them in the concrete. A shimmer was left in the air as a taunt wire shone in the air as the Boartusk rolled toward a waiting Naruto.
And he waited until the last possible moment to leap over the Grimm, flipping over it as tusks entangled with the wire. The wire held firm, being made of sturdy tech made in Atlas, and the kunai barely budged.
The Boartusk vaulted, flipping and crashing hard into the concrete as Naruto landed from his flip, his wrist flicked over his shoulder. An object landed onto the Grimm's exposed underbelly, and it made one last screech.
And it was bathed in a fiery explosion.
It writhed for several moments, trying to roll back to its feet, but its movements halted after a few moments. A ghastly smoke rose, indicating the Grimm had been terminated.
"Excellent work!" Professor Port clapped as the class looked on at the burning corpse in the middle of the classroom in horror. Naruto simply grinned as he went and collected his kunai and plucked his wire off the smoldering corpse as the Professor turned to face the class and continue the lecture. "Simply marvelous strategy. Everyone, take note! This is a perfect example of how to handle a Boartusk. While I would advise of other methods more comfortable to you, if the situation arises and you find yourself in combat with a Boartusk, you should always look to exploit its momentum to get behind it and expose its softer underbelly!"
By the time Professor Port had finished his statement, Naruto had already made it up the stairs and back to the row his team was sitting at. He frowned, noticing the heated glare Weiss was giving him, but there was something more serious he had to attend to.
Blake was giving him a concerned and hesitant glance.
"You use Firebombs?" Blake whispered as Naruto sat down.
"Yeah. I'm training to become a Huntsman. The best Huntsman uses all available tools at their disposal." Naruto responded, head tilted queerly at Blake. "Is something wrong... You look pale."
"No... It's fine." Blake vaguely winced before she shook her head, visibly paler than usual.
Naruto's frown deepened. He observed his teammate out of the corner of his eye as he returned his attention to Professor Port's lecture.
He didn't believe a word she had said. Something was wrong.
And it had to deal with his usage of a Firebomb.
[ X ]
The cafeteria was packed with other students enjoying their lunch. The energy of the returning students and those spending their first day here was palpable.
It was very reminiscent of the lunches at Signal if Naruto was being honest. The older students were more subdued, which wasn't a surprise. They had been here for several years now and knew what was expected of them.
But none of that mattered to Naruto. He had blocked everything else out. What mattered was what sat on his tray before him.
A hot, steaming bowl of ramen waiting to be devoured.
Naruto didn't hesitate. With a click of his chopsticks, he dug in with ravenous haste.
"The more that changes, the more that stays the same..." Ruby rolled her eyes before letting out a short guffaw.
If there was one thing that was Naruto's one true love, it was ramen.
It was why she kept a few cups on hand. Never knew when she might need to apologize or bribe him...
Ruby was human. She made mistakes. She had upset Naruto before... Not as many times as Yang, but her sister purposely tried to rile him up sometimes...
She didn't get why they liked to fight. It was so... Demanding and exhausting!
"Right? At least someone knows how to start the year off with a Yang... Ow!" Yang chirped before a grape was thrown into her face by Ruby.
"No! Bad!" Ruby gave Yang a disapproving glare.
"What? Can't take the heat? Well, get out... Hey! Hey!" Yang tossed the grape back before recoiling as she was being sprayed by a water bottle from Ruby. "Why do you even have that?!"
"To stop you!" Ruby glowered, squirting Yang several more times for good measure.
"Okay! I'll quit! I'll quit!" Yang hissed as she put her hands up to protect her face from the spray.
Blake simply watched this interaction with a curious head tilt. Her attention shifted to Naruto upon hearing the rattling of Naruto's ramen bowl, and she raised her brow. "That was fast..."
"Nah, I savored that bowl." Naruto grinned as he wiped a small amount of broth from his lips.
"...Okay then." Blake could only blink, unable to suppress her disgusted surprise.
Blake shook her head, glancing around the cafeteria, uneasily taking in the atmosphere. Observing the other students as she tried to adjust.
Her gaze narrowed upon seeing several sets of cold eyes glance in her direction. No, not her direction. They were looking past her.
They were aimed at Naruto.
Blake already had an idea about Naruto's relationship with Team CRDL. They had been antagonistic toward Naruto and his friends for a while, but they didn't really care too much about them.
They could handle them.
However, Blake was intrigued by the other glare that was being sent in Naruto's direction. Why was she annoyed with him? Was she that agitated by what happened in Grimm Studies?
Blake scowled, her gaze crossing Weiss's. Weiss huffed and turned her attention away, and started to chat with Pyrrha. Her gaze narrowed. This could be a problem...
"So, what class is after lunch? Do we need to change into our gear?" Naruto asked, stretching his arms above his head, his shoulders audibly popping.
"Did you not read the schedule?" Ruby sighed in exasperation, reaching down and into her blazer coat pocket.
"I know I didn't!" Yang chirped, causing Ruby to smolder and glare at her sister and then back at Naruto.
"I did, but it's not like I know our schedule yet. That takes going to class to remember." Naruto rolled his eyes at Ruby's disapproving glare.
"It's Combat Studies and the Stealth Application. I think they want all our skills and base courses on opposite days." Blake answered before Ruby could withdraw the schedule.
However, her intrigue perked as Naruto's features dropped. Even his tail stilled at the announcement of what class they had next. Curious. She thought he would have been more...
"Oh, your mom's class! Cool! Gonna get ready for that!" Yang smirked, picking up her trey as she stood up to head out.
Blake blinked several times before her gaze fell back to Naruto. She hadn't forgotten that his mother was one of the Professors here... But the fact that she was in charge of Combat Studies?
She understood his hesitance about that class. Having your mother as your teacher?
...It was awkward when your mother was your teacher.
[ X ]
Naruto was anxious. He had seen this room many times when he was younger. He had been in it when his mother taught and watched many cool fights between students before.
Combat Studies was the one class he had excelled in, far more than Grimm Studies. He had been around it all his life. He enjoyed the thrill of the fight, testing his mettle. Showing off what he was capable of.
He had trained from a young age for the one goal in mind when he first saw the students in his mother's class spar with one another. To become the best Huntsman and show everyone that he, and all other Faunus, were not to be looked down upon. That there was no difference between them.
They all wanted the same things.
But to be in the student rafters, sitting and looking down upon the arena that was called a classroom, Naruto felt a sense of elation and nerves he struggled to calm. He knew what to expect, but there was an exhilaration to be on this side of the experience.
Watching his mother enter the classroom with her typical, stern scowl adorning her features as she marched and stopped before the class.
"Time is short. This may be your first year out of four you will be attending classes here, but you will soon realize that amount of time is hardly enough to prepare you for what lies in wait." Glynda began her speech, her sharp gaze piercing into the students as she met the gaze of everyone before continuing. "The life of Huntsmen and Huntresses is not an easy life. It is a hardship only the best can endure. A never-ending struggle to keep the populace of Vale, Atlas, Mistral, and Vacuo safe from the Grimm... And itself... For sometimes humanity—and Faunuskind—are their greatest enemies."
A pindrop could have been heard after Glynda's simple but effective speech. This was a side Naruto rarely got to witness. The raw intensity and urgency in her voice...
It gave Naruto the chills.
His mother was a badass when she wanted to be!
However, the silence was broken by what sounded like a stifled snort. Glynda's intense gaze shifted and focused solely on the perpetrator of the chuckle.
One Cardin Winchester.
"He dead," Naruto whispered and shrank into his seat. He had only seen that look once on his mother before.
He couldn't sit for weeks after!
"Is something funny about that, Mr. Winchester?" Glynda called out Cardin, a snarl barely restrained upon seeing his cocky and confident demeanor. "I can tell you there is nothing funny about the life you have chosen to try and obtain. ...Tell me, Mr. Winchester, what was your Combat Record at Signal?"
"Forty-nine to ten." Cardin cockily grinned, bursting with confidence as he boasted about his record.
Glynda did not find it amusing.
"And that is... Impressive?" Glynda drolled, her sharp gaze turning bland as she motioned to the rest of the class. "What if I were to tell you, most of your classmates who have attended primary Academies have similar records? ...Better records... Some who have never lost. And then realize that almost most Huntsman and Huntress registered could beat them without breaking a sweat."
Naruto felt a small amount of satisfaction as he watched the confidence drain from Cardin's expression as his mother continued.
"Now, hypothetically, what if one of them became jaded. Disenfranchised with society and turned to a life of crime. And now you are face-to-face with someone who has that level of skill or above who is willing to do whatever it takes to escape... Including killing you." Glynda's tone started as if she were asking a question until it sharpened, and she made her point.
And as Cardin paled and withered, Glynda went for the throat.
"That is the reality of the life of all Huntsmen and Huntresses. Not only must we fend off the Grimm, we must deal with the seedy underbelly of society when the police aren't able to. We might be paid handsomely for our services and can be treated as celebrities and heroes by the populace, but this is not a luxurious profession. Death is around every corner... Just look at the news and see how many of us are being targeted and murdered in Mistral currently." Glynda's voice filled with venom as she finished cutting the last legs of confidence from underneath Cardin.
He had firmly sat back in his chair, horror evident in his expression.
Glynda simply clicked her tongue in annoyance, finally breaking her gaze from him and back to the class. "Now that everyone understands the severity of our mission, let's get to work. Every time class is in session, one member from every team will be selected to spar against someone else from another team. After each match, we will discuss what each student needs to improve... And since you so willingly volunteered, Mr. Winchester, you may be the first to participate."
"Your first opponent will be Ms. Nikos."
[ X ]
In a dimly lit warehouse stuffed with Dust and weapons, a young woman with burning amber eyes hissed in her throat.
It had been over a week since the incident, yet she still hadn't gotten over being embarrassed in such a manner. Forced to unveil her powers to some brats and alert that damn Huntsman they were here!
And what was with that brat's damn power! How could he absorb her flames in such a manner? Use them against her!
She was barely capable of sending it back at him! If she couldn't, they would have been roasted by her damn magic! Been caught and thrown into whatever cells that bastard had!
Cells that couldn't contain what she had become...
"Dammit!" Cinder snarled, her balled fist cracking the concrete wall as she lashed out in frustration.
"Something bothering you, dear?" A voice Cinder had not expected to hear caused a shiver to crawl down her spine.
Her amber gaze snapped behind her while she slowly turned to see a Grimm floating ominously behind her, its tentacles limply hanging beneath it. However, it wasn't the Grimm that bothered her.
It was the presence within that caused her worry.
"Mistresses Salem, what is it that you need?" Cinder respectfully bowed, obscuring her visage so the witch could not see her snarl.
...One day...
"I came to check up on you, my dear Maiden. To see how your infiltration has gone. I am quite impressed. You have accomplished quite a lot in a short amount of time." Salem's seductive voice resonated from the Grimm.
"Thank you. Our plan is proceeding as planned. By the end of the year, Vale will fall, and the relic will be ours." Cinder accepted Salem's praise with a sly smirk before she batted her hair back into place as she stood straight.
"You have my confidence that you will succeed," Salem responded before her octave dropped. "However... I heard you ran into some difficulty recently? Something about a child who absorbed your elemental magic?"
"Well, yes... But we have everything under control." Cinder stuttered in alarm before trying to alleviate Salem's worries.
"And I believe that. I am simply interested in this child. I want to know more about them." Salem addressed her subordinates' concerns before continuing. "You have plans to infiltrate his school, correct? I would simply ask to learn more about him. And if the opportunity presents itself..."
"Bring him to me. A child with that ability is special, and I cannot allow him to have it."