Greetings everyone,

Welcome back to the official amalgamation of Chapters 25, 26, 27 of "The Master Huntsman".

So, first allow me to give my thanks to everyone who has been so understanding of why I had to do what I did in order to keep my passion for writing alive. It was a tough decision but in the end I still believe that it was for the best and regardless of how much a pain it was to get to this point it's something that had to happen in order for me to see my limit.

As a result... TIME SKIP! I LITERALLY couldn't write this chapter to save my life and thus I just decided to say "fuck it" and do another time skip so I can just get this show back on the road. I am too tired from working multiple sleepless nights due to this merger and I swear if I have to deal with another idiotic customer who, for some Herculean leap in logic, thinks that I, a damn desk jockey, can fix a problem that THEY caused I WILL go on a murderous rampage.

If anyone has a problem with me doing a time skip well then suck it up and deal with it.

I decided to re-read "Gun X Clover" so that I can re-learn why I loved Morito's character and I will incorporating more of his original personality instead of slowly changing him into Jaune. Even though I like Jaune as a character, in the end I still prefer the sadistic child-like master rank to the tall, blonde, and scraggly.

Nevertheless, this chapter has been very time consuming and life always finds a way to mess with whatever little free time I somehow manage to obtain.

In other news, I've decided that I'll be taking a break from writing after I release the next chapter of my other story, "The Arcful Dodger". I won't be gone for long but with the way work has been going and how swamped we are with this merger, I just can't find the time to write and when I do I end up getting writer's block because of all the stress. So, I'll be taking the entire month of April off after which I will be keeping this story on hold while I work on "The Arcful Dodger" the third entry in my Operation Series, "Operation: Jaune's Future Fiancée".

Anyway, make sure to Favorite, Follow, and leave a Review.

Till next time.

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Chapter Twenty-Five (Rewrite)

It had been a harsh few weeks since Jaune took his teammates to the island to train in preparation for his master, Sayuri's, attack. But through all the pain, they all persevered and came out on top. Hell, he'd go so far as to say that they far exceeded his expectations of what he thought they were all capable of. Ruby quickly proved to be an excellent tactician when it came to combat and her ability to come up with battle tactics on the fly were second to none. He'd also managed to teach her a style of martial arts that capitalized on her short stature and agile nature that she could use should she ever find herself without her weapon. Though the odds of this occurring were small, at best, it was better to have it and not need than to need it and not have it. He'd also done the same for Weiss, though the style of martial arts he'd chosen for her was more or less a combative version of pressure point pushing, mainly due to her keen perception to find chinks in an opponent's armor. With Ren, he decided to teach him the very same technique he'd taught Saalim when he lost the use of his eyes but still wanted to fight on the frontlines alongside his comrades in the rebellion, the Echo-Location Skill, or E-L-S. The skill wasn't much to scoff at but when in the possession of one who can best utilize it's true purpose, it's a force to be reckoned with. As for the enigma that was Nora Valkyrie, Jaune figured the best way to help someone that uses the tried and true method of beating the hell out of someone with a giant hammer was to play to their strengths. And thus Jaune, with the assistance of his older sister, Verde, he created the Thunder Bands, a set of wrist cuffs that utilized Lightning-based Dust to essentially power up Nora's Semblance, thus granting her a seemingly endless pool to enhance her already-monstrous strength.

May God have mercy on Ren's soul the night he and Nora get... BUSY.

Of course, he also made sure teach Yang, who had repeatedly made his days on that island a living hell through the use of her "assets". But then again she wasn't the only female that was pinning for his heart. Both Pyrrha and Blake had also taken considerable measures to ensure that the former mercenary's time on that island was... Let's say SPIRITUALLY taxing.

But as much as Jaune wanted to admit that he held out, unfortunately, he soon began to realize that unlike his previous life as Morito Hayama, the life of Jaune Arc was one that he could use to better himself. And so, at the end of the day, he, a grown man, was now dating three girls at the same time. Of course, he made absolutely sure that they all knew that under no circumstances would they, as Yang would put it, "do the horizontal tango". He may have relented to their feelings and agreed to be with them but that did NOT mean that he was going to become a lolicon. He didn't care if he was physically that of a teenage boy, he was still that of a man in his 40s and that was reason enough to not try anything with any of them.

Or at least that how it should be if not for the fact that Yang had apparently made it her mission to try to break his resolve.

And unfortunately for her, Jaune had literally YEARS of dealing with hormornal teenagers and he swiftly made sure that she and the others knew that when Jaune Arc made a promise then he was goddamned sure that he would keep it no matter what.

Plus the last thing he wanted to deal with was several angry papa bears wanted to end his life. He already had enough on his plate as is.

Regardless, they were all just about to disembark from the transport ship that brought them all back to Beacon when Jaune noticed that both Ozpin and Glynda were standing just outside on the tarmac.

As the door's opened and the group made their way off of the ship, Jaune's eyes immediately landed on Ozpin, who had begun to walk towards them with Glynda in tow.

"Welcome back, Teams RNBW and JYPR." said Ozpin with a smile as he held his coffee mug in his right hand and his cane in the other. "I trust that you all had an enjoyable break?" he asked, causing Jaune to smirk as the looks on all of his f fiends shifted from happy to downright terrified. They looked as if they'd just been through hell.

And considering who it was that decided to train them during the break, it didn't take a genius to figure out why.

But before anyone could answer the headmaster's question, the sound of the academy's bell rang across the way, most likely as a testing of the school's basic systems before the students came back from their vacations.

"I believe I've kept you all waiting long enough. Please, return to your dorms and unpack. In the meantime, Mr. Arc, may I have a word with you in my office?" asked Ozpin, his eyes trained on Jaune, who looked back to see the questioning expressions on his friends' faces before he nodded in silence, signaling to them that he would be okay without them.

As soon as the others were out of earshot, the three individuals made their way back to Ozpin's office where Jaune took a seat in front of Ozpin's desk while Glynda stood off to the side with a clipboard in hand.

"What is that you wanted to talk about, Ozpin?" asked Jaune, when Ozpin suddenly placed a small manila envelope down in front of him. After looking at it for a quick second, the former mercenary opened the envelope and pulled out a series of papers, each one with varying degree of medical and scientific data and all of it involving Roman Torchwick. "What is this?" he asked, looking back up from the papers.

"After what happened with Mr. Torchwick at the docks, I had General Ironwood send a team of researchers to collect data and what they've found raised some concerns." said Ozpin as he turned his head to look out his window to sea the peak of the same gigantic Dust crystal that housed Roman's body. "It appears that what Mr. Torchwick was not the first to undergo this "Dust Infusion" experiment as we've found numerous cases of other individuals that experienced the same result, albeit to lesser degrees. But what made it worse was that each of them had said the same thing before they were encased in what we're now calling their "cocoons"." said Ozpin, turning back to look at Jaune with serious expression. ""That she would bring about the truth of the world"."

"The truth?" asked Jaune as he looked back down at the papers in his hands before looking back up. "Could she be referring to the Maidens and the Relics?"

"As of yet, we have no answers." said Glynda as she looked at the young mercenary. "Our best hypothesis is that Ms. Hibachi is planning on acquiring the power of the Maidens for herself. How she will go about it is beyond our knowledge. It is why we have taken measures to ensure that Amber, the current Fall Maiden, is moved to a secure location in Atlas, where General Ironwood and his team will keep watch over her."

"Any idea on when she'll be moved?" asked Jaune as he placed the papers back on the desk.

"We plan on moving Ms. Autumn after the Vytal Festival. She'll be transferred to Atlas under the guise of technical equipment brought here by the Atlesian Military. But until then, we plan on keeping a watchful eye over Ms. Autumn twenty-fours/seven. While we are doing this, we will be leaving on site detail to you and your team. You are notify us of any suspicious activity no matter how minuscule, do you understand Mr. Hayama?" asked Ozpin.

"Understood." he replied.

"And one more thing, Mr. Hayama." said Ozpin as Glynda looked down at her tablet-scroll with a scowl. "Have you thought more about our... Discussion at all?"

"I have and I believe I already gave you my answer, Ozpin." said Jaune as he glared at the bespectacled man sitting in front of him, his blue eyes now replaced by red as he activated his semblance in a show of intimidation when suddenly the two men's glaring contest was ended by a loud exhausted sigh from Glynda, causing the two men to look back at her as she turned her own glare away from her tablet.

"What is it, Glynda?" asked Ozpin as Glynda slowly began to make her way towards the elevator. "It appears that I have some troublemakers to deal with... Again." she said as Jaune's mind flashedback to the time his parents had left Glynda in charged of his seven older sisters.

"Those idiots better pray that they're not the problem." said Jaune as he and Ozpin both followed after Glynda's retreating form as she made her way towards the academy's mess hall.

And as the three of them made their way towards the mess hall, a loud crash took the three's attention away from the entrance as a familiar blonde-haired girl crashed through the roof of the mess hall before rocketing upwards several hundred feet in the air. Seeing this, Jaune immediately activated his semblance, causing his blonde hair to shift to bleached white, his blues to red, his pale white skin to darken, and several dark red marking to appear on his body. The marking then began to twist and move around his body before jutting outward from his back and taking the form of wings. And with a powerful push of his blood-red wings, the former mercenary took off upward like a rocket towards the now rapidly falling yellow blur. And as he got closer and closer, he began to notice why the yellow blur had looked so familiar and also why he'd been SLIGHTLY tempted to just let her continue falling to her supposed death... With a sigh of annoyance, Jaune flew towards the falling girl an accelerated speed before heroically catching her in his muscular arms. To which she promptly threw her arms around his neck and smirked at him.

"Thanks for the save, Noodle Boy, and sorry for DROPPING in." said Yang, smiling as Jaune sighed in annoyance. "I guess you could say I'm really FALLING for you, huh?"

"I swear, Xiao Long, I WILL drop you." said Jaune, as he and Yang slowly made their descent back towards the mess hall's destroyed roof.

As the two of them floated down through the same hole where Yang had been launched through, the mes hall, which was once destroyed was now slowly being fixed by Glynda's telekinetic semblance and soon enough the mess hall was now as good as new. But considering the glare that Glynda was now giving them all, sans Jaune, it was safe to assume that their punishment would be FAR worse that what his older sisters had to deal with. And as Jaune's semblance deactivated and he released Yang from his hold, he looked back to see that all four members of Team RNBW was now literally covered in strangely colored substances while Ruby and Pyrrha remaind unharmed by what was most likely an all-out food war.

In short, everything was fucked.

And so after Glynda thoroughly subdued everyone, minus Jaune, with her covenant "Goodwitch Glare" the rest of the day went off about as normally as to be expected.

That is until literally SEVERAL high-class Atlesian Military fighter ships came soaring overhead. And while many of the students were busy being awestruck by the sight of advanced military technology, all Jaune could do was sigh as he felt his scroll vibrate as a another message from Ozpin called him back to the office under guise of yet another "grooming" of the future headmaster of Beacon.

As Jaune disembarked from the evelator, he quickly found himself in the presence of a third party as his eyes fell upon General James Ironwood. And even as Glynda moves past him to enter the elevator he still kept his eyes trained on the military man. It wasn't until he saw Ozpin gesturing him forward that he began to move towards the two men.

"Ah, it appears our guest has arrived." said Ozpin, smiling at Jaune as he made his way towards the two.

"You must the infamous Morito Hayama, correct?" asked General Ironwood when Jaune's expression shifted into seriousness as his form shifted before reappearing behind the General with the barrel of his rifle aimed directly at his head, leaving the General in a state of shock and awe over such an action. Even Ozpin seemed surprised before regaining his composure enough to stop Jaune from putting a bullet in his colleague's skull.

"Calm yourself, Mr. Hayam." instructed Ozpin, causing Jaune to turn his heated glare onto him instead of General Ironwood. "James is a close friend and ally, he is already well aware of your true identity and has been sworn to secrecy."

"I don't believe I ever gave you permission to tell others about my identity, did I Ozpin?" asked Jaune, keeping his rifle trained on General Ironwood's head while maintaining his heated glare on the headmaster.

"You are right to be upset, Mr. Hayama." General Ironwood interjected when he felt the barrel of Jaune's rifle nudge the back of his head.

"Oh, I'm FAR beyond upset." said Jaune.

"But you can rest assure that your secret as well as any information spoken in this room will be kept safe." said General Ironwood, inwardly sighing with relief as he felt the barrel pull away from his head.

"And why should I trust anything you say, General?" asked Jaune.

"Because much like you, I, too, have a score to settle with Ms. Hibachi. And I refuse to let her drag anymore innocent lives into her games." said General Ironwood as he clenched his fist tightly together with a snarl before somehow finding the willpower to calm himself. "But more than that, you may consider my secrecy a just reward to a man who singlehanded year brought the end the Faunus Slave Trade in northern Sanus."

"And let me guess, a little bird told you that?" asked Jaune, glaring as he imagined Qrow's drunken face.

"No, in this case, I was informed by, as you so playfully called, a frigid crybaby." said General Ironwood, smiling as Jaune's eyes widened at the familiar nickname before his lips began to spread into a smirk.

"Guess she took my advice, huh?" he asked with a smile as he pulled his weapon away from General Ironwood. "Good thing too, I was REALLY close to just beating her into a pulp for being such an idiot."

"Hmm, yes, she tends to be a handful but I wouldn't have anyone else as my right hand." said General Ironwood, smiling as Jaune holstered his rifle.

"Ah, see? We're all allies in these troublesome times." said Ozpin before shutting his mouth at the sight of Jaune's glare.

"Don't test me, Ozpin." commanded Jaune before sighing as he released his anger for the headmaster. "Now, what is it that you wanted to speak with me about?"

"Please, take a seat, Mr. Hayama." said Ozpin, gesturing towards the chair sitting in front of his desk. "We have MUCH to discuss."