Chapter 1 – Orange Trailer

"Wake up, Naruto-san. We've almost arrived."

Yawning loudly, Naruto shook his head and scratched the back of his neck with his bandaged hand as he arched his back. Audible pops echoed inside the bullhead, the sound ricocheting along the metallic plates which formed the small aircraft, followed by a deep, satisfied groan. Smacking his lips a couple of times, Naruto rubbed his eyes with one hand and straightened his black uniform jacket with the other before giving a sleepy smile to the person who had just woken him up.

"Thank you for the heads up, Samui-chan! I really needed that nap, dattebayo. These seats are surprisingly comfortable," Naruto chirped happily as he stretched his arms high above his head, removing the last few muscle knots. In that exact moment, his stomach decided to make his presence known growling rowdily. Naruto slumped in his seat, his good mood all at once gone as he pouted while patting his rumbling stomach, "I know buddy, I miss ramen too. Just hang in there. You heard Samui-chan, wait for a couple of minutes and then we're going to have all the ramen that we want."

A shadow of doubt flickered across his face as Naruto tried to remember if he had ever asked during the various mission debriefings if there was actually ramen where he was going. Usually he kept that question for last, since apparently it wasn't really professional for a jōnin to ask something like that, but Naruto needed to know. His eyes widened slightly and beads of sweat began to pour down his temples as his memory failed him to make him recollect a moment when he had asked that particular, vital question.

How could he have possibly forgotten?!

"Winter?" gulping slightly, Naruto called the Atlesian soldier who was regally sitting in front of him, his tone one of hopeful and pleading. "There is going to be some ramen at this Beacon Academy, right?"

A perfectly trimmed eyebrow gently arched at the query. Just a few short months ago, Winter Schnee, specialist in the Atlesian Military's Special Operatives unit, would have been utterly confused and speechless to hear such a question. Especially since it came out of the mouth of a shinobi. When the new continent west of Vacuo had first been discovered, several people, herself included, were wary of these shinobi that inhabited those lands.

Knowing that their culture was based around mercenaries who were willing to do anything for the right price – from gathering secret information to carrying out assassinations – wasn't really that reassuring. After spending several months in the presence of Naruto, her opinion drastically changed on the matter.

Crossing her legs, Winter hummed in thought as she softly drummed her fingers on her knee. "I'm certain of the presence of several ramen shops in Vale. However," she quickly added, the blond shinobi's initial enthusiastic expression dimming somewhat in response, "You and your teammates, as the representatives of the Shinobi Union assigned to the kingdom of Vale, won't be allowed to leave the premises of Beacon Academy. At least for the first few months. Until then, I highly doubt that ramen is going to be served to the huntsmen and huntresses in training. Well, that's how it was when I attended Atlas Academy."

"Months?" Naruto whispered with dread as he slowly curled into a fetal position. "No ramen… for months?"

Seeing the desperation etched on the jinchūriki's face, Samui's typical aloof expression and the fidgeting Chōjūrō seating next to her, Maki realised that if she didn't reassure Naruto, no one was going to do it. And she really wanted to avoid introducing herself to the staff of Beacon Academy with an overpowered ramen addict freaking out for the absence of his favourite food item in tow. It probably wouldn't give them the best first impression.

"Didn't you bring with you several scrolls with ramen sealed into them?" the jōnin from Suna gently reminded him as she leaned forward in her seat. "I do remember seeing you eating quite a few bowls while we were staying in Vytal and there wasn't any ramen there."

"I finished it all, dattebayo!" Naruto blurted out, waving his hands dramatically in the air, "I thought I would restock my supply here in Vale. I had no idea that there wouldn't be any ramen! How could someone live without it?! This is bad. This is really, really bad. I can't stay without ramen for so long!" With that last desperate shout, Naruto jumped to his feet and began to walk nervously up and down the bullhead.

While the two other Atlesian soldiers present in the airship tensed their muscles and moved their hands toward their weapons in response to the blond shinobi's sudden movement, Winter could only watch the scene with a bemused expression on her face. A small nod of her head was enough to reassure her subordinates who slowly, and begrudgingly, pulled back their hands from their rifles, but kept their eyes still fixed on the distraught form of the jinchūriki, ready to intervene if needed.

Dropping to his knees in front of Samui, Naruto looked up at his team captain with his hands clasped together in a pleading gesture. "Please, Samui-chan. Can I go back to Konoha to take some ramen? I don't need any bullhead. I'll simply fly there on my own! You won't even notice that I'm gone, I promise. I'll be back here in just a minute."

Her blank light blue eyes met his begging cerulean blue and she blinked once. "No."

Before Naruto could began an interminable tirade on why denying him the chance to have his necessary daily ramen could bring the end of the world as they know it – a speech that, unfortunately, they wouldn't hear for the first time – a faint voice interrupted him.

"N-Naruto-san," Chōjūrō stuttered and fidgeted even more in his seat once he realised everyone present in the bullhead was now looking at him. "I think that you could ask to the staff of Beacon Academy if they could serve some ramen in the canteen on some days."

His cheeks dusted pink and a sense of heightened confidence filled him as he remembered the words of his Kage. "Mei-sama and the other Kage were quite clear on the fact that the reason why a team of shinobi was sent to each one of the four Academies of Remnant was not only to make us understand better their culture, but also to show them ours. We are their guests, not prisoners. Cooking some ramen shouldn't be too hard for them to do. It's a pretty simple meal."

"Really? They're going to make me some ramen?" Naruto asked in confirmation turning his head toward the Schnee as his eyes sparkled with joy while his hands were now clasped under his chin.

Holding back the giggle that bubbled in her throat – she was Winter Schnee! She didn't giggle – she nodded her head once. "Chōjūrō's reasoning is sound. If you have a request, which is nothing too outlandish, I can't see why it couldn't be fulfilled. This agreement between the four kingdoms and the Shinobi Union was made in order to improve the relationship between huntsmen and huntresses, and shinobi and kunoichi. It would be incredibly counterproductive if we are not willing to cooperate with each other, even on something as simple as giving you some ramen."

"Yatta!" Elated knowing that his stay at Beacon Academy would include some godly noodles, Naruto raised his hands high above his head and happily bounced around the bullhead. The poor pilot tried unsuccessfully to calm him down and make him take a seat, since they were about to land, but once he saw the blond shinobi make a goofy, happy celebration dance in the middle of the airship, he lost every hope of being heard by him. Thankfully for him, one of his teammates, the woman with red markings on her cheeks and a white bandana knotted around her head, gently but firmly tugged him on his arm, guiding the exuberant shinobi back to his seat.

Silently chuckling to himself, he shook his head as he began the landing manoeuvre. These were the infamous shinobi so many people were afraid of?

x-x-x-x-x

As the four shinobi and kunoichi walked along the main venue leading to the Academy, the first thing they did was scanning their surroundings. Their eyes quickly darted left and right, diligently taking in every detail of their new home for the next few couple of years, leaving nothing untouched by their senses. While this action was mostly made out of habit, considering their chosen profession, between identifying escape routes and advantage points they couldn't help but admire what they were seeing.

Tall, elaborate buildings were a rarity back home in the Shinobi Countries. After all, a tall building was simply an easier target for your enemies to hit, and it was quite useless to decorate it since a well-placed jutsu could easily destroy it. Only the Kage Towers and the occasional Daimyō residence were the few exceptions to this unwritten rule, but even in those cases they've never reached the same amount of complexity and extravagance present in the building in front of them.

Regardless, the flag-drapes light poles, fountains and archways which decorated the street – while pretty to look at – weren't distracting enough to not make them notice the lonely figure waiting for them in front of the Academy's entrance. The man took a couple of steps forward, his right hand bringing a white mug of coffee with Beacon's emblem printed on it to his lips while his left held a cane, the tip of it firmly planted on the ground next to his feet.

"Winter," Ozpin pleasantly greeted the Atlesian soldier after taking a sip of coffee, "It's very nice to see you. Are you going to stay here and follow us to my office or you have to immediately return to Atlas?"

Straightening her posture, Winter clasped her hands behind her back and cleared her throat before relaying her orders to the headmaster, "Good to see you too, Ozpin. Unfortunately, I must depart straightaway. General Ironwood ordered me to escort the shinobi team to you and, once left it in your care, return to Atlas at once."

After letting out a wistful sigh, the headmaster of Beacon took another sip of coffee, "I imagined so. It's been almost two years since we had the first contact with the shinobi and James hasn't relaxed once since then. While I do understand his desire to protect Remnant, I think that sometimes he may carry out his duty with a little bit too much devotion. Perhaps we'll talk another time then. Have a safe trip back to Atlas."

After exchanging a nod of goodbye with the specialist, his gaze swept over the four ninja. His brown eyes carefully studied each one of them, however they lingered longer on Naruto, only by a fraction of second though. The four guests present were sure that they managed to notice it only thanks to their shinobi training, otherwise they would have completely missed it.

Before anyone could ask him something, Ozpin's gaze once more shifted toward the blond jōnin from Kumo. "You must be Samui, the team captain. The Raikage spoke very highly of you. I'm looking forward seeing what you're capable of." Looking up at the large central tower of the Academy, he mused aloud to himself, "Well, there's no reason to talk here outside. Let's go to my office. Please, follow me."

Turning around, Ozpin moved toward the large wooden door which, almost magically, opened by itself once the silver haired professor approached it. Just when the four ninja where about to follow him, Winter stopped one of them, "Naruto, stay here for a moment, if you please."

Uncertain on what to do, Naruto shot a questioning glance at Samui who, just like the rest of the team, turned around the moment Winter voiced her request. His first instinct was to simply stop dead in his tracks and listen to whatever Winter wanted to say to him. However, right now they were on a mission and Samui was his team captain. He had to follow her orders.

Who knew, those lessons Iruka-sensei gave to him after the war to help him to get to jōnin rank were actually useful for something. For a while he thought that his sensei simply wanted to get him back for all the pranks he pulled during the times he spent at the Academy with him.

Ending the Fourth Shinobi World War just to be stuck inside of a classroom and listen to Iruka-sensei talking for hours and hours on end as reward wasn't exactly what he had expected.

Once Samui gave him an imperceptible nod in response, Maki and Chōjūrō followed their captain as she entered the Academy leaving the jinchūriki behind. Now alone with Winter, as the other Atlesian soldiers present were preparing the bullhead for take-off, Naruto tilted his head and, giving her an easy smile, asked her, "What do you need?"

Shifting her weight from one foot to the other, the Schnee took a deep breath and fixed her eyes on him for just a second before bending her head slightly toward the ground. Her posture somehow was even stiffer than before, something that Naruto honestly didn't thought it was possible.

"I beseech you to safeguard the wellbeing of my sister in her future endeavours while attending Beacon Academy."

Naruto blinked once. Twice. Humming in thought, his eyebrows furrowed and his eyes narrowed. "I didn't understand a single word of what you've just said," he confessed her, grinning sheepishly as his bandaged hand nervously scratched the back of his head, "I'm still kind of… new to all this different language thingy. Clones have been really useful to learn it, but I still don't know the big words. So… could you please repeat what you've said using easier words?"

Her posture relaxed as she let out a sigh, "Could you please keep an eye on my sister while she's here at Beacon? Weiss is incredibly talented and I have no doubts of her abilities. However, I can't help but worry about her. Sparring with your instructor in a controlled environment is one thing, finding yourself surrounded by Grimm miles away from the nearest human settlement is another."

Smiling broadly, Naruto gave her the 'nice guy pose' as he confidently declared, "Sure, you can count on me! I'll watch over her. Nothing is going to happen to Weiss. It's a promise, dattebayo!"

"No, I don't want you to protect her always. She needs to face some challenges to develop as a huntress and I don't want to coddle her too much. That's the reason why she decided to go to Beacon and not Atlas, after all. Just help her when she may need it." Looking into thin air, she tapped her chin in thought as she began to walk back and forth in front of him. "If it's a Beowolf, a Boarbatusk, a Creep or a Ursa then she shouldn't have any problem. Of course, it all depends on the number of them, but the largest packs usually don't roam in the vicinities of the capitals. So, she should be fine on that front. Death Stalker, Nevermore and King Taijitu are slightly different. If there's only one, then stay near to her but don't intervene unless it's absolutely necessary. If there are more of them then take care of the rest and leave one for her. A Goliath is probably the only type of Grimm that she could encounter that I don't want her to fight. Not yet, at least. They always travel in packs and they live long enough to develop a greater intelligent than the usual mindless Grimm. In that case, be ready to grab her and drag her out of there. Got it?"

Naruto opened and closed his jaw wordlessly as a look of total and utter confusion swept across his face. "Could you write me that down?" he asked her while scratching the top of his head.

Smiling at him, she raised onto her tiptoes and gently patted his confused, adorable, little head. "I'm sure that you'll manage to remember. Thank you so much for doing this for me, Naruto. We'll probably seeing each other at the Vytal Festival. Bye for now. Take care."

The blond Uzumaki dumbly waved goodbye to her as she walked away toward the bullhead. Once the airship disappeared among the clouds, his hands moved to his head. His fingers curling desperately into the short strands of his hair as he tried to understand what just happened. In the end, did he or did he not have to protect her sister? The first answer that it came to his mind was, of course, yes. But apparently it wasn't that simple. She'd said something about staying hidden, or grabbing Weiss and jumping away according to numbers...

Why didn't she simply write it down just as he had asked her to?

"Are you going to stay here all day while foolishly staring into nothingness, Mr. Uzumaki?"

Yelping, Naruto jumped to his feet as he suddenly noticed the person standing next to him. A very annoyed Glynda Goodwitch was staring at him with her arms crossed over her chest, her foot tapping in an impatient way, and a blond sceptical eyebrow raised. She reminded him of an angry Tsunade-baachan and he wasn't willing to test if also their behaviours while enraged were similar. He was quite certain that she didn't have any sort of inhuman strength, but she could easily have another ability just as terrifying.

When he realised that she was actually waiting for an answer from him and that she had not asked him a rhetorical question, he immediately straightened his posture and diligently responded, "No, ma'am."

"I heard about you, Mr. Uzumaki. Both about your good deeds and your less… savoury one." The tip of a riding crop suddenly smacked him in the middle of his chest. "You weren't thinking about pulling one of your infamous pranks, were you?" she questioned him as her green eyes narrowed suspiciously behind her thin glasses.

"No, ma'am."

Straightening her black high-waisted pencil skirt, she cleared her throat, choosing her next words with care. "My name is Glynda Goodwitch. I'm one of the teacher of Beacon Academy but, most importantly for you, the professor usually appointed to clean the chaos left behind by one of those students who wrongly believes that an act of vandalism equals a fun time. You are not going to be one of those troubling students, are you?"

"No, ma'am."

After giving him one last scrutinizing glance she nodded her head, glad of the answers she got from the blond shinobi. "Very well, Mr. Uzumaki. I'm sure that if you remember this conversation we won't have any problem during your stay here at Beacon Academy." As she removed her riding crop from his chest, Glynda slightly moved to the side and pointed with her hand at the central tower of the Academy, "Professor Ozpin and the rest of your team are waiting for you. His office is located at the top of the tower. You can't miss it. You may go now."

The moment she finished talking, Naruto was enveloped in a bright, golden light before seemingly disappear into thin air. Pulling her glasses higher up her nose, Glynda attentively examined her surroundings and, once she focused hard enough, she could faintly distinguish a luminous trail starting from the entrance of the Academy and continuing toward the top of tower.

Absently tapping her riding crop on the palm of her hand, she entered the building as her mind pondered over the conversation she just had with the shinobi. Maybe she could have been a little bit gentler with him, but every time she heard someone talk about Uzumaki they either described his great, honourable actions or his notorious shenanigans.

She really didn't want to constantly fix the Academy with her telekinesis for the next four years.

x-x-x-x-x

Barging into Ozpin's office, Naruto positioned himself next to Samui and dispersed his Rikudō Sennin Mōdo. Sensing Professor Goodwitch's presence walking further and further away from his position, his entire posture relaxed considerably and an easy smile formed on his lips as he breathed out a relieved sigh.

While the three other ninja present were confused by his weirder than normal behaviour, Ozpin regarded him with a bemused look, "It seems that you've met Glynda."

At the jinchūriki's hesitant nod and the puzzled expression on the faces of his teammates – a faintly raised eyebrow in Samui's case – the silver-haired huntsmen leaned back on his chair before explaining the situation, "Glynda Goodwitch is one of the professors here at Beacon and from the first moment she had heard about Naruto's exploits during his younger years, especially those coming from his own teachers, she hadn't been thrilled by the prospect of accepting a prankster into our Academy."

Naruto's eyebrow twitched as his beloved teammates exchanged knowing looks with one another. "Oi! I'm not that terrible, dattebayo."

Finding his reaction incredibly entertaining, Ozpin couldn't help but tease him a little bit more, "Looking at the night sky, I can honestly understand Glynda's preoccupation. You certainly are prone to destruction. The moon is quite the proof of that. I hope you're not going to reduce my Academy in the same state."

"For the hundredth time, I didn't break the moon. Toneri was the one who did it!" Naruto defended himself as he sulked. Why did everyone believe he was the one who shattered the moon?

"Oh," Ozpin exclaimed sounding honestly surprised. The mischievous glint in his eyes, however, ruined that innocent image. "So you weren't that bright golden figure who pulverized several spots on the moon surface with… luminous gold spheres in his hands?"

As he opened his mouth to disprove his involvement in the destruction of the satellite, Naruto realised that what the headmaster was saying was, regrettably, the truth. "Well, that was me. But I was fighting against Toneri to, you know, save the world and protect everybody. I couldn't exactly pull my punches during that fight."

"Yes, of course, and we are all extremely grateful to you for that," conceding the point to the shinobi, he brought his mug of coffee to his lips and took a sip before saying one last thing on the subject, "Either way, if you destroyed the Academy you'll have to face Glynda's wrath and I have the feeling the you'll try your utmost best to avoid it."

Smiling at Naruto's pale face, Ozpin stood up from his chair and grabbed his cane holding it firmly by the handle. "I've just finished to debrief your teammates on what you're going to do for the next four years here at Beacon but it was mostly a repetition of what you've already heard during your stay at Vytal. I'm sure that they'll be more than happy to clarify any doubt you may have. In the meantime, I should introduce myself to you. I'm Ozpin, headmaster of Beacon Academy and let me say that it's a real pleasure to finally met you, Naruto Uzumaki."

"You know of me?"

Ozpin let out a chuckle at the question. "I think there isn't a single person who doesn't know of you, Naruto. While your fight against Toneri happened only two years ago and the world of the shinobi was first introduced to Remnant because of it, you are already considered a legend by several citizens of the four kingdoms. The tales of what happened during the Fourth Shinobi War reached also our ears and, even if we weren't directly involved, a large portion of the population is grateful for your efforts in defending our free will."

Grinning bashfully, Naruto nervously scratched the back of his neck, "I simply wanted to protect my friends. I wasn't expecting any kind of reward. I'm just happy to hear that my action actually saved a lot more people than I first imagined."

"Anyway, we'll have more time in the future to discuss your actions of the past. As of now, I should leave the four of you to settle into your room." Ozpin walked around the desk and stood in front of it. His eyes once more studied briefly the blond shinobi, just like he had done previously while they were at the Academy's entrance, before continuing addressing the entire team, "The school year will start in a week. Until then, feel free to explore the Academy and talk with our professors. Considering that you'll assist each one of them during their respective lessons, I'm expecting all of you to work nicely with one another."

After finishing his speech, Ozpin offered his hand and Naruto was the first ready to grasp it and shake it. The moment his bandaged hand touched Ozpin's naked one a shiver went down his spine. What Naruto felt wasn't unpleasant, quite the opposite. It almost seemed familiar somehow. Unfortunately, he didn't have time to ponder on that thought because that strange feeling quickly faded away and what remained was the headmaster of Beacon greeting him with a small smile.

"Welcome to Beacon Academy."

x-x-x-x-x

Author note: Finally done! I wrote all of this today. I really, really, really wanted to post my Naruto X RWBY crossover today to celebrate the release of the Volume 4. Considering that I wrote it quickly, I'll probably check it once more in the future. Right now, I'm really tired though.

I want to tell you just a couple of info you may want to know. The story is set two years after the event of "Naruto: The Last" and a single week before the beginning of RWBY. The world of RWBY and Naruto's one are on the same planet, the 'broken moon of Remnant' is broken because (apparently) Naruto's fight against Toneri shattered it. In future chapters I will explain everything that happened during the Infinite Tsukuyomi for the Remnant's continents, don't you worry. For now, you'll have to wait.

Something that I want to clarify immediately is that there hasn't been any sort of war between huntsmen and shinobi. Both of these two cultures were actually quite stable when they first contacted each other – the four kingdoms of Remnant cooperate with each other and the Shinobi Union is an alliance between the greater villages – so they didn't immediately attack each other but, instead, tried to collaborate. While Remnant is interested in chakra and in the absence of Grimm from the shinobi land, the shinobi are instead intrigued by their huge technological development, and I'm referring to the ones not related to the military – transportation, communication, etc...

Each one of them wants something from the other and they are willing to reach a peaceful understanding to obtain it. After all, both of them went through a war – Remnant 80 years ago while the Shinobi 4 measly years ago – so they are not so eager to start another one.

This sort of exchange program is a consequent of this improving relationship. I want to make something quite clear: Naruto, Samui, Chōjūrō and Maki are NOT students of Beacon Academy. They are guest who will observe how huntsmen and huntresses are trained by assisting the teachers during their lessons. I think that the Academies are the perfect places where inviting shinobi. They are quite isolated from the main cities and full of trained huntsmen and huntresses ready to attack them if needed. On the other hand, shinobi are warriors basically since birth so they could definitely give great hindsight to the students while, in the meantime, learn more about the world of Remnant.

See you all next chapter. Bye.

Posted: 10/22/16

Last Updated: 04/26/17