AN: Hey there, been a while, huh? Well, between studying for exams and looking for a job, I haven't exactly had much time to write, but now that both of those are taken care of, I present you the fifth chapter of this fic. It started out as more of a build-up chapter, as you can tell from the title, but I ended up adding a lot of action, which fit in rather nicely, if I do say so myself.

Now, before I spoil anything, please enjoy the next chapter of Naruto: Remnants of the Past.

Chapter five: The Cat and the Fox

"Please, take a seat," Ozpin said as he entered his office, with Naruto following close behind.

Night had already fallen over Beacon, and the whole office was cast in an inky darkness, the exception being the headmaster's desk, which was illuminated by the lone light hanging above. Whether that was due to not paying the electricity bills or just to set the mood was beyond Naruto.

Either way, the whole room seemed to be set up for an interrogation, which, truth be told, wasn't exactly beyond the realm of possibilities.

Nonetheless, the blonde Uzumaki did as told, and got seated in the chair in front of Ozpin's desk, while the professor took his own across him, propping his elbows on the surface and folding his hands. Before he could address whatever it was he called him for though, Naruto spoke, just a hint of annoyance leaking into his voice, "Ozpin, if this is about that again, you might as well dismiss me."

Ozpin cocked an eyebrow in amusement; while most would consider the way Naruto spoke to the older man disrespectful, the headmaster actually quite welcomed it, mainly due to the fact that the two viewed each other as more of equals, rather than student and teacher.

After all, Ozpin was well aware of the blonde Uzumaki's level of maturity and prowess in combat. Likewise, Naruto knew of Ozpin's decades of experience as a Huntsman, and while he had never seen him in action, he didn't doubt that the headmaster was more than capable of holding his own in combat.

Back in the present, Naruto was waved off by Ozpin, "Relax, this is not about your past. However, before we proceed to why I have called you here," he gave him a small smile, "I feel it's appropriate to congratulate you on your performance during the initiation."

Visibly relaxed by the fact that the conversation wasn't heading in that direction, Naruto allowed a foxy grin to slip on his face as he stated, "You seem surprised."

"Not at all. You met and exceeded all my expectations."

"I did say I'd put up a show," he shrugged.

"And that you did; I have to admit I was rather impressed by how you handled the Nevermore with your team." He chuckled, "And the resulting...snowfall, was quite the sight as well."

"It was, wasn't it?," Naruto asked, before deciding to cut the lighthearted conversation short.

"Now, can we get to why you've called me here? I've got a good idea already, but I'd rather hear it from you, just to be sure."

"Of course. Well, consider it a little something to help along with your studies," the professor replied before reaching to his left and searching through a drawer.

Naruto cocked his head to the side; he obviously didn't mean the subjects he would be studying at Beacon, as that would be a rather blatant case of favouritism.

No, what he probably meant was the possible connection between Aura and chakra Naruto had taken to studying; not anything too serious, mind you, but it was a topic he had discussed with Ozpin occasionally.

Before he could continue pondering on those thoughts, the headmaster produced a folder from the drawer and placed it on the desk, actually causing a small tremor to shake it.

The folder itself was fairly simple, yellow in colour and seemed to be a couple sheets short of bursting. Naruto stared at it curiously; it didn't have any visible label or anything else that would hint to its contents. He gave Ozpin an inquisitive look and received a nod from the man, after which he grabbed the folder and began sifting through the various documents.

It didn't take long to find out that it was a collection of information on Aura, though not the kind one would find in a public library. The majority were detailed reports from research conducted by labs in Remnant, apparently to find out more about the origins of the energy.

A few minutes later, the blonde teen snapped the folder shut, and directed his attention back at the smiling man sitting across him, "Not that I'm complaining, but why are you giving me this?"

Ozpin, a smile still resting on his face, replied, "I am just as interested in the possible relation between the energy of your world and that of Remnant as you are." He shrugged, "And it's not as if these documents are highly classified." A slightly mischievous smirk appeared on his face, "Still, while this giving you this isn't blatantly illegal, I would appreciate if you could keep this matter...discreet."

"Must be at least a little illegal then."

'Looks like it.'

Naruto allowed a small chuckle to escape his lips, "I understand, thank you." With that, he produced a scroll from his jacket, unraveled it and placed it on the desk, revealing the bold writing sprawled across the parchment.

To Ozpin, it looked like little more than unintelligible characters aligned in various patterns across the inside of the scroll. Still, he watched in mild curiosity as Naruto placed the folder on top of the scroll and, with a small puff of smoke, sealed it away.

The blonde teen then rolled it back up and stowed it away in his jacket, addressing the headmaster after, "I'll inform you if I find anything interesting."

Ozpin nodded, and Naruto continued, "If that is all, then I wish you good night."

Naruto turned on his heel and made for the elevator, but barely two steps later, he heard Ozpin's voice from behind him once again, "Actually, there is one more thing I would like to speak about."

'Should've just used a Shunshin,' he thought, resisting the urge to sigh as he already knew what he wanted to speak about.

"What do you feel about Ruby's assignment as the leader of team RWBYN?"

He knew the professor would bring that up sooner or later. It wasn't like he was upset about not being granted the position of leader, but anyone who didn't know that would naturally assume so, given his outstanding performance during the initiation.

"You saw her as fit for the position, and acted accordingly. There isn't anything else to it."

Ozpin smiled slightly, "You needn't be so pragmatic. I'm asking what you feel about it."

Naruto blinked a few times, 'Well...that's new.' Noticing that Ozpin was still waiting for an answer, the blonde replied, "I'm not upset about it, if that's what you're asking. Ruby has the potential to be a good leader, but she's young and inexperienced. Though if you think about it that way, the responsibility that comes with that position is exactly what she needs."

"How so?" He asked, his smile widening ever so slightly.

"Ruby relies on her own strength far too much, which has brought her this far, but she's in a team now, and needs to realize that it's not just her and Crescent Rose anymore. If she really does want to become a Huntress, she'll have to work with and lead us."

"And you're not afraid that she'll fail in that role?"

Naruto shrugged, "I've only known you for a few months, but I know that you don't do anything without good reason, so it should be okay...but, if you really were wrong in your choice..."

Suddenly, the whole room was permeated by a malicious, almost dreadful feeling, along with an ever so slight temperature drop and increase in pressure. Ozpin didn't seem to be affected by that, raising his eyebrow as the light above his desk began to flicker. He turned to look out the window, where the wind had picked up speed and was slamming angrily against the window panes.

A dark chuckling brought his attention back to Naruto, the source of it all.

A faint, blue aura was enveloping his body, and even his voice was slightly, almost demonically, distorted as he spoke, "Well, let's just say I don't plan on letting her fail."

Ozpin sweat-dropped at that, suddenly feeling sorry for a certain scythe-wielding teen, 'Who knew he had a sadistic side?'

"...I see, well, it's...good to see that you're getting along with your new teammates." His sweat-drop increased substantially in size as he noticed Naruto not paying him any attention, apparently still busy with his evil chuckling. With a cough, the professor managed to snap him out of it and bring his attention back to him, "Well, that is all then. I suggest you return to you dorm to get some rest, classes start tomorrow."

Just like that, the wind stopped rattling the windows, the weird atmosphere subsided, and Naruto was back to normal. Well, relatively speaking, of course. The blonde teen gave Ozpin a small bow of respect, turned on his heel and left via the elevator.

Beacon Cliffs, 11:26pm

"What to do..." Naruto thought out aloud as he sat on the edge of the Beacon Cliffs, staring out into the vast Emerald Forest which seemed even more breathtaking under the faint light of the moon.

It was already past curfew, but Naruto didn't really feel like returning to his dorm, seeing as he wasn't tired at all. Well, that, and he wasn't exactly keen on the interrogation that was likely awaiting him in his dorm. From what he knew of his newly assigned teammates, they'd probably smother him with questions regarding the abilities which he had pretty much showcased during the initiation.

Given, Blake and Weiss probably wouldn't pester him for too long. Ruby and Yang, however, were a completely different story.

Truth be told, he wasn't exactly averse to telling them about said abilities, seeing as they were on the same team, and thus would end up seeing even more of them at some point. But telling them about his abilities would inadvertently bring them to the question of why he had them in the first place, seeing as they were all but unique in this world.

That, in turn, would link to his past and the fact that he housed a demon within his body; in short, the two things he absolutely didn't want to talk about.

His train of thought was interrupted by Kurama, who, judging from the drawl of his voice, had either just woken up or was on the verge of falling asleep, "Stop complaining, brat, it's your fault. I told you not to overdo it, didn't I?"

'If that was really the case, I don't think you would still be able to call this place a forest.'

Kurama huffed in annoyance, "How about you stop stroking your ego and use this chance to train? I've come up with an interesting new...exercise for you."

Now that caught Naruto's attention, 'Oh? Do tell.'

Having trained under the demon fox for the past three years, Naruto was confident in the fact that he could handle anything the mighty Bijū threw at him. Well, almost anything.

There was that one time Kurama had him try and run up a waterfall for nearly twelve hours, though that exercise was really more of a punishment for annoying the demon fox for a good two days straight.

Said fox snapped him out of his reminiscing, "I'll explain it on the way, so get going. There shouldn't be any interruptions by the humans here, especially at this hour."

'Wouldn't be so sure about that,' he replied with a shrug, before pushing himself off the cliff and descending into the forest below.

With Naruto gone, the cliff returned to relative silence, which didn't last too long however as it was broken by the rustling of leaves, followed by a figure emerging from behind a couple bushes. As if sensing the fact that the person didn't want to be seen, clouds lazily drifted in front of the moon, which served to hide the figure's features from sight.

Said figure slowly made their way to the edge of the cliff, and looked down just in time to see a blonde dot vanish into the forest.

Inevitably, the clouds continued drifting across the night sky, letting the moon once again bathe the cliff in its light and reveal the identity of the the mystery person.

Blake's calculating, amber eyes scanned the forest below, her raven-black hair blowing in the summer breeze. She watched as a number of trees began to shake slightly, no doubt due to her blonde teammate traversing the forest. With that, the raven-haired teen descended into the forest as well, expertly scaling down the cliff-face.

Bravery or stupidity.

Those were two of the most prominent reasons as to why anyone would enter the Emerald Forest at night, alone, and without any proper weapon on hand.

The exception to that case was one Naruto Uzumaki. For him, the forest just represented a perfect place to train in, as humans rarely entered it, much less so at night. Thus, he would have no one walking in on him and interrupting his training.

The blonde was currently located in a clearing within the forest, his jacket and cloak discarded and hanging over the branch of one of the many trees surrounding him.

'Barring the waterfall climbing, this must be the most ridiculous exercise you've ever come up with,' Naruto said to his inner demon, already getting used to the unnatural position he was in. '...You've really outdone yourself this time.'

"If you're enjoying this, it's clearly not difficult enough."

Normally, Kurama's training regimens were fairly straightforward, containing things such as several kilometer long runs, calisthenics, chakra control and Jutsu practice, or spars with his clones.

The Bijū's newest exercise was basically a combination of several of the above, mainly containing chakra control and balance, paired with sparring.

'It's plenty difficult, but considering you've been training me the past three years, I'm sure you could come up with something worse. Maybe a spar against a thousand clones with, I don't know, all my senses blocked out? Definitely wouldn't put that beyond you.'

"You should be careful of what you wish for, kit," the Bijū said, a vicious smirk spreading across his face as he made a mental note to actually have him undergo that at one point.

'Sure, whatever. Anyway, are you sure this'll work?'

"Do you doubt the great Kyūbi no Yōko?"

'Of course not, sensei,' he chuckled.

"Good. Begin."

With that, the blonde Uzumaki brought his right hand down to just below his chest, and formed a half-ram seal. His face a mask of pure concentration, Naruto began to feel for his chakra, willing it out of his coils and into his pathways. Warmth began to spread through his body as his chakra flowed through him, starting from the abdomen and following the intricately woven pathways, before he allowed it to flow back into his coils.

Relaxing his body, as far as that was possible in his current position, he began to tap into the vast, ocean like reserves of chakra he had, feeling for the other chakra that resided in his body.

It didn't take long for him to find what he was looking for; dotting the clear ocean were several maelstroms, swirling around in a chaotic manner and dragging small amounts of his own chakra down. Similarly to before, he began to tug on the chakra, but whereas his chakra had calmly flowed into his coils, this one rushed into them like someone had opened a dam.

That wasn't the only difference though; while his own chakra felt warm, this chakra, a burning crimson in colour, felt blazing hot as he allowed a small amount to enter his pathways. Even the consistency was different than that of his chakra; it was almost viscous, as opposed to his own, more fluid one.

With the dense chakra now running through his pathways, the blonde took a deep breath, and expelled it. It appeared as little more than a faint, red haze as it surged into the forest around him, but that was more than enough if what Kurama had explained was anything to go by.

And so, the blonde waited, using the time to get a feel for his surroundings with his remaining senses.

With Blake

'What is he doing here?' Blake asked herself with a small frown marring her face; following Naruto had proven to be more difficult than she had thought, seeing as she had lost him a couple minutes ago.

Still, she knew the general direction in which her blonde teammate had been heading, and so continued traversing the dense forest. Eventually, she happened upon a small clearing beyond the trees and bushes in front of her. Treading carefully, she crept up behind a few bushes and peered into the clearing.

What she saw within had her amber eyes widening in amazement. After all, it wasn't every day one saw a person balanced over what looked like a small needle...with one finger. And as if that in and of itself wasn't insane enough, he was wearing a blindfold over his eyes. His jacket and cloak hung over the branch of a tree, likely because they would hinder his...well, whatever it was he was doing.

The only viable explanation for his unusual position was probably the fact that it was an exercise for the blonde teen. A ridiculous one, but considering the speed, reflexes and strength he displayed during the initiation prior, it wasn't exactly beyond the realm of possibilities that he was indeed simply training.

Blake, for her part, remained hidden, her gaze still locked on her teammate; somehow she knew that interrupting him right now wouldn't sit too well with him.

As such, she continued watching him, before a somewhat irritating sound made its way to her sensitive ears. It was a low rumble, which grew continuously louder with each second, until it was just loud enough for Blake to discern its direction, which was right behind her.

She whirled around to see a small pack of three Beowolves racing towards her. Oddly enough, as mindless as they were, Blake never recalled them being this...uncoordinated. They were tripping over their own feet repeatedly as they raced towards her, and slammed into more than a few trees on their way.

The raven-haired teen shook her head free of those thoughts and unsheathed Gambol Shroud, intent on taking them out swiftly and silently. After all, she didn't want to be found out just yet.

Brandishing both parts of her weapon, Blake surged forward, ready to engage the pack of Grimm. Both weapons ready, she decided to take out two of them at the same time, and push back the last one with a well-placed kick to the chest.

The plan, were it any other situation, would've been relatively flawless. In this case, however, Blake was left dumbstruck as, instead of attacking her, the Beowolves simply dodged her attacks and rushed into the clearing behind her.

She quickly got up and directed her gaze to the clearing the three had just entered, her eyes widening at the thought of her blonde teammate.

Now, she was well aware that Naruto could handle himself just fine, but considering the fact that the teen was currently blindfolded and balanced over a needle, Blake did feel a small amount of worry creep up her back.

With that thought in mind, she darted into the clearing, only to be stopped dead in her tracks, her hair blowing and eyes widening even more as the body of a Beowolf flew straight past her. It proceeded to slam into a tree behind the raven-haired teen, leaving a cracked indentation on the trunk as its body slid down to the ground.

'One down...six to go,' Naruto thought, feeling the small amounts of vibration through the needle, along with the sound of their feet slamming into the ground as they advanced towards him.

The two which had entered the clearing before the others were the first one's to engage him in battle, apparently none-too-happy about their companion's demise, if their furious roars were anything to go by.

For Naruto, that just made it all the easier discerning their positions.

The one nearest to the blonde, once close enough, took a leap at him, only to have the wind knocked out of its lungs as it found two feet firmly planted into its torso. Using the creature's momentum against it, Naruto twisted his body back, stretched his bent legs and launched the creature into the air.

With that one out of the way for the moment, the blonde teen focused on the position of the second Grimm, getting a good approximate on it a second later.

'...Eight o'clock.'

The second Beowolf, mindless as it was, didn't pay any mind to the ever growing shadow just in front of its prey, instead opting to continue its assault.

Imagine its surprise when the Grimm Naruto had launched into the air inevitably obeyed the laws of gravity and fell back down to the earth, receiving a spinning kick from the blonde Uzumaki that sent it flying, this time horizontally, right into its companion.

Without time to even voice their pain, the two sailed through the air and slammed into a tree, smashing right through it and continuing on beyond the clearing for a good four or five more trees.

Concentration written over his face, Naruto returned his attention back to the remaining Grimm, one of which was now directly upon him. In a great display of agility, the blonde teen twisted his body in time to dodge the Beowolves swipes, while reaching back to the pouch on his hip.

He retrieved two kunai from said pouch, quickly throwing one up into the air while catching the other in a reverse grip.

The Beowolf, intrigued by the shiny piece of metal sailing up into the air, left its guard down long enough for Naruto to trap its head in a headlock with his legs. Staying in motion, the blonde channeled wind-natured chakra into the kunai he had in his right hand, proceeding to ram it into the Beowolf's right arm.

He didn't bother pulling the chakra enhanced kunai out of the spiny limb, instead using his now free hand to get an iron grip on the creature's still functional arm.

The two remained locked together in that position, until, moments later, Naruto suddenly released the holds on its body.

The Beowolf, surprised by the sudden action, didn't notice the kunai Naruto had sent flying into the air prior begin to sail back down.

Time seemed to slow down as the sharp piece of metal descended just next to the Beowolf's head, and Naruto swung his right leg around just in time to slam his heel into the ring beneath the handle of the kunai.

The Beowolf didn't even get a chance to roar in pain as the cold metal embedded itself deeply into its head, instantly killing the creature. The body then fell to the ground, unmoving as the remaining Grimm took the place of their deceased brethren.

What the two parties didn't know, was that the whole battle was being followed by a certain raven-haired teen. Blake's normally stoic face, not revealing much of her emotional state, was now sporting a look of disbelief and astonishment. She knew that her blonde teammate was strong, more so than most of the students at Beacon, clearly, but the way he dispatched one Grimm after another, in the position he was in and without the ability to see...it was almost mesmerizing.

Time flowed by as she continued watching the battle, and before she knew it, another two Beowolves were taken care of, leaving only more, currently in the process of charging at Naruto; a bad idea, as far as she was concerned.

Well, not like the Beowolf was aware of her thoughts.

As such, it simply continued charging towards its prey, preparing to tear the human to shreds with its sharps claws and fangs. As he was about to do just that though, the blonde teen disappeared in a blur of motion, causing the Beowolf to sail right past the spot he had been occupying not even a second prior.

As quickly as he had disappeared, Naruto reappeared over the still airborne Grimm, Rasengan already forming in his hand.

The roar of pain the creature let out was almost deafening as the Jutsu drilled into its flesh, tearing through it like wet paper. It was silenced a moment later as the force of the jutsu slammed him into the ground, creating a small crater and throwing up a cloud of dust.

As the cloud settled, Naruto was revealed standing next to the unmoving body, already in the process of removing the blindfold wrapped around his eyes. A small smirk of satisfaction spread across his face as he allowed his gaze to wander around the clearing, taking in the carnage he had caused.

The smirk he was sporting grew just a fraction larger as he heard an almost inaudible shuffle, coming from the treeline.

Instead of walking over to the direction the sound originated from, the blonde opted to retrieve his discarded jacket first, before calling out with amusement lacing his voice, "Did you enjoy the show, then?"

For a moment, it seemed like he was speaking to himself, but soon enough, a female voice answered his question.

"It was impressive," Blake stated, sauntering into the clearing with a small frown marring her features at being found out.

Naruto, for his part, didn't seem to be satisfied with her answer; in his humble opinion, his performance would warrant way more than a simple 'impressive'. Well, not like it mattered too much.

His previously amused demeanor took a sudden one-eighty, his tone turning completely serious as he addressed his teammate, "I'm sure watching me train isn't what you came here for. Mind telling me why you've been following me ever since I left Ozpin's office?"

If Blake was surprised by that, it didn't show; after all, given what little she knew about her blonde teammate's abilities, she might as well have guessed as much.

"I needed to talk to you."

Naruto, who, by now, knew what all this was about, relaxed a bit, "I take it this is about how you were 'shadowing' me back in Vale for the past month?"

Blake, who, once again, didn't seem surprised by that, proceeded to answer his question, "Do you know about the rumors concerning you that surfaced around month ago?"

"Rumors?" Naruto cocked his head to the side, an unnoticeably small grin stretching across his face; he wasn't normally one to toy with people, but considering how she had been more or less stalking him, instead of just coming clear, he felt a little...punishment, wouldn't hurt.

His musings were cut short as she answered his previous question, "A black-clad human suddenly appearing in Vale and aiding Faunus without any reason. You didn't think any rumors would spread?"

Naruto shrugged in response, "Considering I was only helping out a little, no, I didn't think there would be too many."

Finally, Blake allowed some emotion to break through her mask, her gaze turning pensive, almost sad as she replied, "You might not think much of it, but to those people, it was a lot." As quickly as those emotions came, they were gone again, replaced by a deadpan look, "Besides, you painted five shops in different shades of pink and orange; I wouldn't consider that 'a little'."

Just as Naruto was about to reply, Kurama decided to butt into the conversation, whistling as he said, "That girl that used to stalk you back in Konoha could a learn a thing or two from her."

A drop of sweat appeared on the side of his forehead, which he quickly shook away as he turned his attention back to the conversation.

"That's all fine and good, but you still haven't told me just why you've been following me."

"Because I want to know why," she replied without missing a beat.

"Why I help the Faunus, huh?"

Blake nodded; it wasn't unheard of for humans to stand up for the Faunus. But in Naruto's case, it was a lot more than simply that, especially seeing as he had no apparent reason to do so.

Naruto, oblivious to his teammate's thoughts, stared up at the shattered moon, his face expressionless for the most part, "My reasons are my own, but, if you really want to know, it's because I can't stand for the treatment they receive...though I suppose neither can you, being a Faunus yourself."

Finally, the emotionless mask the raven-haired teen was wearing began to shatter, revealing the surprised and shocked expression written across her face. She took a step back, trying to say something, anything, but her mouth suddenly felt too dry to do so.

She considered lying about it, but the idea was quickly shot down; something told her that lying to this person would be an unwise thing to do, never mind the question of whether he would believe her or not.

Naruto regarded the raven-haired teen with compassion present in his deep-blue eyes; it was painful seeing someone have such a reaction at having their true self revealed. Still, the blonde Uzumaki understood it well enough, like her, knowing the feeling of being labeled a freak and an abomination by society.

"Since...when do you know?" Blake managed to ask, having recomposed herself enough to do so.

"I had my suspicions back when you followed me in the city, though I found out for sure the day before the initiation."

A slight widening of her eyes was all he got before she averted her gaze, "...I see."

Naruto ran a hand through his blonde locks before closing the distance between himself and his raven-haired teammate, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"Relax, I'm not going to tell anybody. While hiding your true self is something nobody should be forced to do, I understand that it's necessary. I have secrets of my own that I'd rather not reveal, so I'm hardly one to tell you that you should broadcast this through all of Beacon. As for our team..."

Naruto turned his head to look in the direction of the academy, "Whether you wish to tell them about this or not is up to you."

From what the blonde Uzumaki knew about his teammates, he could tell with a good amount of certainty that Ruby and Yang wouldn't care about Blake's being a Faunus. The heiress to the Schnee Company, Weiss, however, was a different matter; her family had been in conflict with the Faunus organisation, the White Fang, for many years. As such, he doubted that she would have the most positive attitude towards them, member of the White Fang or not.

Deciding the push those thoughts aside for the time being, Naruto waited for an answer from Blake, which she provided a few moments later.

"I...can't. Not yet, " she answered, her gaze still directed at her feet.

Naruto, of course, understood her decision. After all, he himself was hiding the fact that he was a Jinchūriki; a human sacrificed to be the container of a demon able to level mountain ranges with a flick of its tail.

"I understand," he began, prompting the raven-haired teen to look up at him, "I'll keep this to myself then."

Naruto was pleasantly surprised as Blake gave him an honest smile; not a stoic smirk or anything like that, just a smile which, while small, conveyed her gratitude to him.

"Thank you."

Naruto, having returned back to his usual self, returned the smile with a foxy grin, "As I said, I have things of my own that I'd rather not talk about, so I understand how you feel."

With that out of the way, Naruto noticed how late it actually was; around half past twelve in the morning going by his internal clock. "Come on, let's get back to dorm," he said, receiving a nod from Blake.

Before either of them could even take a step out of the clearing though, a familiar roar rumbled through the air, followed by the tell-tale sound of trees being smashed to bits. Naruto and Blake, both already aware of just what was causing all that ruckus, turned around.

Half a dozen Ursa Major, accompanied by regular Ursai and Beowolves, stormed into the clearing, their burning eyes fixed on the two teens standing across them.

For a few moments, both parties just stared at each other, until Naruto called, "A little too late to late to the party, don't you think, boys?"

Much to their surprise, (not really), the creatures answered with a round of low growls, which turned into full-blown roars and howls as the horde of Grimm began to charge at them, causing a miniature earthquake to shake the ground in the clearing.

"Doesn't seem like they care about that," Blake remarked, a faint smirk resting on her face as she returned to her usual, stoic self, complete with the dry sense of humour. "Think you can keep up?" She asked, referring to his 'training' earlier.

"Is that a challenge I hear?" Naruto inquired, a devilish smirk stretching across his face as he spun a kunai around his finger before catching it in a reverse grip.

"Have anything particular in mind?" Blake asked coolly while retrieving Gambol Shroud from behind her back.

"The one with the most kills wins?"

A small widening of her smirk was all Naruto got in response before the teen shot off, brandishing Gambol Shroud and its sheathe in either hand as she engaged the veritable tsunami of Grimm.

The blonde Uzumaki blinked a couple times before laughing out, "So that's how you want to play it, huh?"

Blood dripped down and stained the grass crimson as Blake slashed a Beowolf across the chest, already aware of the Ursa approaching from her right. Before she could even prepare for an attack though, a black and blonde blur shot past her, surging forward into the ranks of the Grimm before settling at the treeline.

The blur, revealed to be none other than Naruto, nonchalantly leaned against a tree, arms crossed over his chest as several Grimm, including the Ursa Blake had been targeting, fell to the ground with dull, meaty thuds.

The raven-haired teen turned to level a glare at her blonde teammate, before quickly stepping to the side just in time for an Ursa Major's paw to crash down into the space she had been occupying.

Naruto, thoroughly amused by his usually calm teammate's irritation, chuckled before jumping back into the fray.

Fifteen minutes later

In a fluid motion, Gambol Shroud's blade collapsed, switching into its secondary form and allowing Blake to fire a few rounds into the crowd of Grimm surrounding her, keeping them at a distance.

Using the brief pause to gather her bearings, she noticed just how many of the creatures had actually gathered in the clearing; for all anyone knew, the last fifteen minutes might as well have been nonexistent, seeing as the fight had only served to attract more of the beasts.

Really not that surprising, given the amount of noise they were generating.

The approaching claws of a Beowolf snapped her out of her thoughts, prompting her to dodge the strike before cutting the appendage off and quickly silencing the creature by stabbing her katana through its throat.

With that taken care of, she began looking around for Naruto, which was easier said than done considering the amount of Grimm around her. Eventually though she managed to find him surrounded by a good dozen Ursai and Beowolves. Blake watched as he threw an Ursa Major into the air with a brutal kick, and continued to form a weird sign with his hands.

"Fūton: Kazekiri no Jutsu!" (1)

The raven-haired teen watched with wide eyes as the Ursai and Beowolves in front of her blonde teammate were cut into pieces by seemingly invisible blades, allowing Naruto to direct his attention back to the Ursa Major which was falling back down into the clearing.

The blonde Uzumaki produced one of those blue, spiraling orbs in each hand and raised his arms, allowing the Ursa Major to fall right on top of said orbs.

Blake was left profusely sweat-dropping as she witnessed the blonde's unnecessarily flashy kill; the two orbs, spiraling in opposite directions, slowly began to tear the creature apart, sending the two halves along with a good amount of blood flying into the crowd.

Leave it to Naruto to come up with the most creative way to kill a Grimm.

The blonde teen, for his part, seemed to be having the time of his life as he tore into the creatures around him.

Blake silently shook her head at her teammate's...enthusiasm, and slowly began to fight her way through to him. The past fifteen minutes of non-stop battling had left her winded though, and due to that she failed to notice the Ursa getting ready to slam its paw into her from behind.

Still, her alert senses picked it up just in time for her to block the brunt of the attack with the cleaver-like sheath of Gambol Shroud. The force of the strike sent her skidding back a few feet though, until she met resistance in form of Naruto's back.

"How're you holding up?" The blonde teen asked, seemingly not concerned about the ring of Grimm that began to close around them, if his clearly amused tone was any indication.

"I'm beginning to think this was a bad idea," she called, very much aware of the fact that they were pinned to the middle of the clearing; not the ideal place to be given their current situation.

"How so?" Naruto called back over the deafening roars and growls, blocking an Ursa's swipe with his forearm before countering with a chakra enhanced fist to its gut. Like a bowling ball, the Grimm was sent barreling back, knocking several others to the ground.

"If you haven't noticed already, we're completely surrounded," she deadpanned, stabbing Gambol Shroud through a Beowolf's head.

"And how exactly is that bad?"

"I don't have the amount of stamina you do," she called back.

"Giving up then?" he grinned, ducking down and allowing the raven-haired teen to roll over his back, using the momentum to deliver a brutal, yet graceful axe-kick to a Beowolf, "You wish."

"That's the spirit," he laughed, prompting Blake to roll her eyes.

While it didn't exactly show, Naruto was impressed with his teammate; Blake was keeping up with him nicely, considering she didn't have a drop of chakra at her disposal, which was, for the most part, the source of Naruto's insane amounts of stamina.

Her fighting style wasn't quite unlike his own either, relying on speed and agility to swiftly take opponents down without the use of excess energy. However, chakra once again came into play here, allowing Naruto to put a lot more force into his blows, whereas Blake had to be mindful of how much energy she used.

'Can't remember the last time I've had this much fun,' the blonde mused before continuing the fight, which had turned into a one-sided massacre at that point.

The battle raged on for another fifteen minutes, and the amount of Grimm had dwindled down to less than a dozen, with the last Beowolf and Ursa falling a few minutes later. In the middle of all the corpses, were Blake and Naruto, leaning against each other's backs.

Blake was breathing heavily by now, but otherwise didn't look any worse for wear, while Naruto only had a sheen of perspiration covering his skin.

"Shall we compare scores then?" Naruto asked, much to the annoyance of his teammate; it was clear as day that she had lost, but apparently her blonde teammate really wanted to rub it in, didn't he?

"...Twenty-eight," she stated after a few moments of silence.

She didn't even need to look at his face to know that he was sporting a wide, foxy grin as he stated his score, "Sixty-five."

Yup, he really did want to rub it in.

"I would've had more if you didn't keep taking my kills," she accused, having caught her breath by now.

"May I remind you that you were the one who started to play dirty right off the bat? Don't go complaining on me now."

"Jerk."

"Sore loser."

The two teens turned to look at each other over their shoulders, suddenly beginning to laugh at the somewhat childish argument. The sound filled the air in the clearing before slowly subsiding into silence a minute later.

"Come on, let's head back to the academy...unless you're up for another round?"

To answer his question, Blake started walking towards the academy, prompting a smiling Naruto to quickly join her.

With that, the two teens began to make their way back to the academy, leaving the corpses of the many Grimm they had killed to slowly disintegrate in the clearing.

Beacon campus, 1:12am

The trek back to the academy was fairly eventless, mostly due to a somewhat tense silence having descended upon the two teens. Naruto knew why that was the case, running a hand through his golden locks as he decided on whether or not what he was about to say next was a good idea.

In the end, he decided for it; after all, he had given this enough thought during the past weeks, and keeping it to himself would only do more harm than good in the long run.

"Just go ahead and ask."

Snapped out of her thoughts, Blake directed an inquisitive gaze at her blonde teammate, which he answered with a shrug, "I know you have some questions regarding me, and seeing as I know a little about you now, the other way around would only be fair. Keep in mind however that I can't guarantee to answer all your questions."

Blake nodded, and took a moment to sort out the questions on her mind. In the end, she decided for the one that was on the forefront of her mind, "I want to know about your abilities. During the initiation, you said chains were your semblance, but since then you've shown other abilities that have no relation to 'chains' whatsoever."

Naruto sighed in response; he could answer that, but it would have to be a very brief explanation, seeing as they were about to arrive at their dorm. 'Well, no backing out now.'

"Do you remember how I told that I'm not from here?"

Blake nodded, recalling their first conversation in which he had told her that. Still, she didn't see how that connected; 'not from here' probably meant that he was from Vacuo, Mistral or Atlas, and as far as she knew, the people there didn't have the kind of powers he did.

"Well, with that, I meant that I'm not from Remnant."

Later...

Having woken up that morning, Blake definitely didn't expect the multitude of surprises the new day held in store for her.

One of her teammates had found out that she was a Faunus, and had essentially been stalking him for the better part of a month. The next big surprise had taken place about ten minutes ago, and left Blake rather speechless.

Naruto had only given her a brief description regarding his strange abilities, but even then it was a lot to take in. Not only was he from somewhere outside of Remnant, but he didn't have an Aura either, instead possessing chakra, an energy much stronger and far more versatile than Aura if his short explanation was anything to go by.

"So, nothing to say about all this?" Naruto asked amusedly, once again snapping Blake out of her thoughts.

"It's...a lot to take in," she said, though the fact that she had already witnessed a lot of his abilities did make it a little easier.

Soon enough, the two teens arrived at the door to their dorm, and with a quick exchange of glances, silently agreed to drop the conversation for now.

Using his scroll, Naruto disengaged the lock next to the door, and allowed both of them to enter the room and get a look at its interior, which was far from impressive. Still, it was much better than anything Naruto was used to.

It was a quaint room which, while rather spacious, wasn't exactly large enough to comfortably accommodate five people. The interior consisted of a circular carpet in the middle of the room, and five beds that were lined up next to the wall, in the middle of which was a large window.

Having finished examining their living quarters for the next four years, the two teens began to decide on beds, which was also when they noticed that only two of said five beds were occupied.

Almost immediately after making that observation, the door behind them was shut with a small click, and turning around, they found none other than Yang leaning against it. The second blonde member of their team had a wide grin splitting her face as she regarded the two, "And just where have you two been the whole night?"

Naruto, deciding to go for a half-truth, answered, "We were training."

Blake agreed with a nod, "Yeah."

"Training, eh?" Yang asked, grin still on her face as she sauntered towards them.

Finally, realization began to dawn on Blake; she and Naruto had been gone for the last couple hours, and returned at nearly two o'clock in the morning.

With that thought in mind, her eyes widened as she immediately blurted out, "Yang, th-this isn't what it looks like!"

Like a predator eyeing its prey, Yang directed her gaze towards her raven-haired teammate, "And what does it look like?"

Naruto, being naturally dense when it came to this subject, couldn't have been more confused; he did say they were training, which was the truth...well, a half-truth. Still, he doubted she could actually read through it, so what was she getting at?

"Ignorance is bliss."

'Huh? Did you say something?'

"No."

Meanwhile, Yang had wrapped an arm around her raven-haired teammate's shoulder, who continued denying her rather obscene accusations.

"Come on, how could you not do anything with him?"

Blake, sporting a small blush by now, pushed Yang away, "I'm telling you, we didn't do anything like that."

"So...you did something else?"

"What? No!"

Seeing no other option, Blake turned to Naruto for help, "Naruto, tell her we didn't do anything!"

Silence descended upon the room as both of them waited for the blonde Uzumaki's decisive answer.

...

Deciding to find out what was taking so long, both she and Yang turned around to see Naruto peacefully asleep in one of the beds, having left the two to what he had deemed some kind of 'women's conversation.'

"Wow, you completely tired him out," Yang guffawed loudly.

Blake, having resigned herself to the fact that there was no way out of this, simply face-palmed, trying her damnedest to shut out her partner's voice.

Yang, for her part, simply continued laughing at her partner's cost, so hard in fact that she collapsed onto the floor.

Unfortunately for them, the level of noise they were generating was anything but little, so it came as little surprise when a certain heiress woke up.

"What is wrong with you people?!" Weiss screamed, glaring at the two people stupid enough to cause such a ruckus at two in the morning. Her scream, in turn, woke the remaining member of team RWBYN up.

"Is it already time for class...?" The young scythe-wielder asked groggily, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

Ruby's question would forever stay unanswered as a knock brought their attention to the door. With a glance to her team, Yang slowly walked over to the door and opened it, revealing Jaune along with the rest of team JNPR standing outside, whom they had probably just woken up as well, going by the exhaustion in their faces.

"We heard shouting, is everything okay?" The blonde team-leader asked with a yawn, dressed in his unflattering full-body pajamas, of course complete with bunny slippers.

Yang, foregoing anything logical at this point, merely waved him off, "Everything's fine, we were just talking about how Blake and Na-" Before she could finish the sentence, she was tackled to the ground by Blake, who none-too-gently pressed her hand over her mouth.

Everyone present stared at the two struggling teens with looks of surprise and curiosity on their faces. That was until their attention was once again diverted.

Apparently, the racket they had been causing didn't just wake team JNPR up, evident by the shouting coming from outside the room.

"SHUT THE HELL UP!" A male voice called.

"You shut the hell up!" Another answered.

"Both of you shut your damn mouths before I make you!" Came the third one.

"Big talk, tough guy, how about you come back it up?"

"Like your mother did last night?"

...

"YOU'LL EAT THOSE WORDS THROUGH A STRAW ONCE I'M FINISHED WITH YOU!"

The drops of sweat hanging down the heads of both team RWBYN and JNPR grew even larger as more and more of the student body was woken up, resulting in a gigantic fiasco that was sure to reach even the teachers on the other side of the campus. At that thought, the two teams silently agreed to return to their respective rooms and never talk about this incident again.

AN:

(1): Wind Release: Wind Cutter Technique

That's it for this chapter. As always, looking forward to reading the reviews.

Haine out.