Updated 02/05/2016: Spelling and Grammar corrections

The air was buzzing with apprehension and excitement as the first year students began to congregate in the locker room, preparing themselves for their initiation into Beacon.

Some were spending the morning chatting with old and new-found friends, others were trying to burn off nervous energy by obsessively checking their equipment and undergoing last minute maintenance. The general nervousness had only been made worse by the older students who had been gleefully tight-lipped when asked for information about the task ahead of them, only sharing vague warnings about how dangerous it was.

One Naruto Uzumaki was preparing himself for the day with an almost-scalding hot shower. Even in the isolation of the shower cubicle and with the shrieking of the hot water system all around him, he could still hear the nervous thrum of the other students. Luckily, calming themselves down before a mission was something that any ninja had down to an art by the time they had reached Naruto's age, and he was no exception.

Despite the bracing environment he was in, Naruto couldn't quite hold back a yawn that forced its way out of his mouth. It was plain to see that despite his calm, the ninja wasn't in the best of conditions. His eyes were framed by dark bags and there was a trance-like edge to his movements that the warm water of the shower was only just starting to wash away.

Naruto's dreams had been troubled that night, the faces of his old team haunting his dreams like spectres. That had been fairly standard fare the past few weeks, but something had been… off about this one. The half formed fragments of memory felt alien somehow, like they didn't belong in his mind. It was a disquieting feeling, and had left Naruto feeling off balance ever since he had woken up early in the morning.

With a sigh and a shake of his head Naruto forced his thoughts back to the present, switching the water off and wrapping a towel around himself. There was far too much to do today to let himself get caught up in moping and pondering over bad dreams, that could wait until later.

The rest of the bathroom was deserted as Naruto emerged from the stall, giving Naruto the chance to stop at the mirrors as he passed them. He began to look over the tattoos that covered his chest and upper arms, making odd probing motions with two fingers. The way he was examining himself might seem narcissistic to an observer; but a ninja would recognise the motions he was making as chakra pulses sent into his own skin, and the tattoos as fūinjutsu arrays cleverly hidden within the swirling patterns.

Piece by piece Naruto began to send pulses of chakra through his arrays, making sure that everything was working properly. Fūinjutsu arrays tattooed straight into the skin like his required less maintenance than those drawn on paper or sewn into clothing, but could still fail if not looked after.

The chakra reservoir stretching back across his shoulder-blades was almost full, the emergency storage seal on his right shoulder was fully stocked and the battle-seal on his left arm that helped focus his chakra chains glowed a comforting orange as he activated it. Seal by seal Naruto worked through the seals he had made and designed himself - checking everything from the master seal that coordinated everything to the tiny seal behind his ear that counteracted motion sickness - before his eyes dropped to a less welcome piece of sealing resting on his stomach.

The spiral seal that held the Kyuubi trapped within Naruto's body appeared on cue as he cycled a small amount of chakra through it, a familiar spiral framed by eight 'arms' of esoteric script. Naruto frowned and winced faintly as he drew his fingers over the seal. The flesh beneath the ink was still tender to the touch and half-burned from the sheer force of the energy that had flowed through it, even over a month later. The Kyuubi's power was not a thing to be used lightly.

Satisfied that everything was working, Naruto quickly began to dress and check over the more physical elements of his equipment. Equipment maintenance was something drilled into every ninja and there was almost no point going through every single kunai and shuriken - of which he had many secreted around his body - as he did now.

Each and every piece of metal he owned was sharpened and oiled on at least a weekly basis, but going through and double checking everything like this was almost a ritual by this point. Another way for Naruto to calm and centre himself before the coming violence. He kept moving through the motions until the loudspeakers set into the wall crackled to life, Professor Goodwitch's voice calling the first year students to assemble atop the Beacon Cliffs.

The nervous air that had infected the locker rooms was even more potent as the students stood lined up before the cliffs, looking down on the Grimm filled forest that stretched out below them. The forest looked deceptively peaceful from up here, but the assembled trainees knew better than to trust the outwards appearance of the landscape.

Ozpin and Goodwitch both stood before the assembled students, the former holding his ever-present coffee cup and the latter one of the large scrolls that the Beacon staff used. Ozpin was giving the students one of those long, piercing looks that made the hairs on the back of Naruto's neck stand up before he began speaking. "For years, you have trained to become warriors. Today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest."

Goodwitch stepped forwards, "Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumours about the assignment of teams," she began, "Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates. Today." From a few places to his left Naruto heard a small groan from Ruby, though he kept his face straight and didn't look.

As Goodwitch stepped back Ozpin took up where she left off. "These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. So, it is in your best interest to be paired with someone else whom you can work well." The groaning from Ruby grew even louder and Naruto just managed to hold his grin in. Several others were less successful and earned a sharp glance from Goodwitch alongside Ruby.

Ozpin had one last blow to land. "That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years."

This time Ruby actually cried out in distress and Naruto couldn't help flicking his eyes over to look at her. The younger girl looked like her life had just fallen apart before her eyes, and was casting a desperate look over at Yang. Ozpin cleared his throat to bring everyone's attention back to him. "After you've partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path, or you will die."

Naruto was sure that between Ruby and the over-dramatic speech - not to mention the entirely too serious reactions from many of the students - Ozpin had to be laughing internally. The man gave no sign of it though, inscrutable as always. "You will be monitored and graded through the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene," he continued, "You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path, containing several relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. You will guard that item, as well as your standing, and we will grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?"

Aside from Ruby's quiet, shell-shocked murmuring the cliff was silent. "Good! Now, take your positions."

One by one the silver panels beneath their feet began to spring violently forwards, flinging them into the air. As one of the last to be sprung Naruto watched down the line as his turn slowly approached. Most of the students took being flung off a cliff towards a monster filled forest rather lightly; Yang slipping on a pair of sunglasses and disappearing into the air with a loud whoop while Ruby recovered enough to give him a grin and a quick wave before she too disappeared.

And then Naruto's turn sneaked up on him and with sudden, gut-wrenching motion he was thrown into the air. Naruto laughed as he watched the forest fly past below him, enjoying the feeling of weightlessness for a few seconds before getting down to business.

Naruto began to seep his chakra out into the air around him, using his wind element to create small wind currents to guide his path. He aimed himself for one of the largest trees he could see, sprouting a sturdy looking branch that wouldn't have been out of place in the titanic forests around Konoha. He span in the air as he approached and began focusing chakra into his legs, saturating bone and muscle with more chakra than a normal human had at all.

There was a sharp crack as Naruto hit the tree, splinters of wood flying out as his landing carved a small crater into the wood. The chakra had done its job though and after a second Naruto rose from his landing crouch, a grin on his face. The fact that he was standing at a ninety degree angle to the trunk, gravity dragging his hair and clothes straight forwards from his perspective, barely fazed him as all.

While the sounds of gunfire and explosions rang out as the other students continued to fall, the actual forest itself was deathly silent. Naruto took a moment to calm himself, scanning his surroundings. It didn't take long for him to spot the signs of something moving through the forest, unnaturally large footprints moving through a trail of broken branches and bushes.

A splash of trepidation entered Naruto's mind, but it was tempered by a growing excitement and he quickly moved to begin stalking along the tracks. Over the past few weeks the blond-haired ninja had been itching to exact some revenge against the monsters who had taken his team away from him. It seemed he would have plenty of chance for that today.

In another section of the forest, a busty blonde had just finished her somewhat more flashy - not to mention explosive - but equally effective landing strategy. Throwing explosive rounds at random until the recoil had slowed her down enough to land safely wasn't exactly subtle, but then subtle had never really been Yang's thing.

As soon as she hit the ground Yang tucked her aviators into her jacket and started jogging through the forest, craning her head to look around for the red clad form of her sister. "Rubes? Where you at sis?" she called out as she went, frowning when her sister failed to suddenly appear in a cloud of rose petals.

At first she had been tempted to purposely avoid being Ruby's partner - she loved her sister, she really did, but she really needed to learn to socialise with other people more - but after hearing how the partners were chosen and seeing Ruby's desperate look, she had reconsidered. Yang was terrible at resisting Ruby's puppy-dog eyes if she let herself be caught in their gaze.

Besides, there were plenty of strange and dangerous looking people in their class and that was just the ones that Yang had seen so far. And the boys. Though nice to look at, Yang didn't like the idea of one of the boys she had been ogling last night sleeping in the same room as her sweet, innocent, younger sister. Nope. Finding Ruby, claiming her as her partner and then resigning her right foot to giving the redhead many kicks up the arse to go socialise with people definitely seemed like the safest choice at the moment.

A bush near her rustled and she perked up, sauntering over and poking her head through the leaves. "Ruby, is that y-"

She was cut off as a pair of enormous jaws snapped shut an inch away from her face, the putrid breath of a Grimm washing over her. Yang jumped back nimbly as a large Ursa lumbered out of the bush after her, growling threateningly.

"Wow Rubes, you've really let yourself go," the blonde quipped, sporting a carefree grin as she watched a second Ursa emerged to join the first. With a twist of her wrists she activated Ember Celia and brought her fists up into a loose boxer's stance. The golden bracelets she wore clicked and morphed into their gauntlet form, revealing the loops of shotgun shells feeding around them and the barrels emerging just above her fists.

For a moment Yang and the Ursai squared off against each other, until she snorted and made a come-hither gesture. "Bring it."

As though they understood her, the Ursai began charging wildly towards her. Yang simply grinned and charged right back at them, at the last minute firing an explosive shot at the ground that sent her sailing over their heads. She landed in a crouch and quickly spun around, peppering the Urasi's backsides with shotgun slugs as she sent some quick shadow punches their way.

Ursai were easy to deal with. Yeah they were big as a car, as fast as one and hit like a truck, but even by Grimm standards they were dumb as a pile of bricks and their speed vanished when they tried to do pretty much anything except run in a straight line. For a regular soldier, Ursai were terrifying. For a more mobile fighter like a huntress, less so. If you were quick on your feet and had a ranged weapon to pick away at them they were pretty easy to deal with, only the incredibly old ones were capable of anything more tactical than a frontal charge.

Sure enough the two Ursai began to charge straight at her, roaring in pain and anger. Yang's grin became feral and she stood her ground until the last minute when she danced to one side, delivering a devastating shotgun-enhanced punch straight to the side of the lead Ursa's head and sending it to the ground. The other tried to swipe at her but she deflected the blow with one gauntlet and back-flipped away with the other hand, slamming her boot into the underside of the Ursa's jaw as she went.

Yang linked her arms behind her head casually and watched the pair roll around on the ground, showing absolutely no care for the angry snarls directed her way. "So-" she began casually, as though just chatting to a couple of her friends. "-I'm pretty busy right now. I'm looking for my sister - short girl with a red hood if you've seen her - so how about I let you two off with a warn-" She was cut off when the Ursa she had kicked lunged at her again with a clumsy swipe of its paws. Yang tilted her head to one side and let the claws sail past her before sending the Ursa stumbling back with a quick punch to the snout.

"When Ozpin said this place was dangerous," Yang snorted, racking fresh shells into Ember Celia, "he sure as hell wasn't talking about you tw-" Yang stopped dead as a small curl of blonde hair drifted past her vision, torn free by the Ursa's claws. She closed her eyes and gritted her teeth, trying and failing to contain her building rage at this desecration of her precious locks.

Yang's eyes opened red and the Ursai had a split second to realise just how badly they had messed up before she let out a war cry and charged them, aiming first for the Ursa that had caught her hair. An uppercut sent it rearing backwards and Yang darted in to deliver a blistering rain of blows to its soft underbelly, shotgun blasts sounding and ribs shattering with every blow. The Ursa fell forwards limply and Yang caught it with both arms above her head, sending it flying upwards with one final blast from both gauntlets.

The other one wasted no time rearing up onto two legs and charging forwards at her. Just as Yang turned to face it two gunshots rang out from the forest behind it, each one taking out one of its knees. The Ursa stumbled down and just had time to let out a confused growl before a blade burst out of its throat. The Grimm fell to the ground and Yang was treated to the sight of an amber eyed girl with monochrome clothing, a black bow sat atop wavy hair of the same colour. The girl gave Yang a small smirk as she yanked on the ribbon leading to the pistol/sword hybrid currently sticking through the Ursa, bringing it back to her hand.

"I could've taken him," Yang said after a beat of silence, returning the smirk as she looked her new partner in the eyes. Sorry Rubes, looks like I'm taken. Good luck.

Back in another section of the forest a small pack of eight Beowolves lumbered along peacefully, sniffing at the forest around them as they slowly went about whatever business Grimm had when they weren't killing humans.

Perched in a tree above the pack, Naruto Uzumaki surveyed his prey with eager eyes. He was itching to dive into the fight but managed to hold himself back as the Beowolves approached the branch he was perched on, taking a moment to look them over. All the Beowolves below him bore white masks of bone covering their face like the ones he had encountered in Hikomi, but they were much smaller. Only one, heading up the group as though a leader, even began to approach the size of the beasts that had previously brought Naruto and his team low.

Naruto's eyes were fixed on the largest as he watched the Beowolves unknowingly approach him, taking out the leader was always a good start. The blond ninja raised one hand and began to focus and spin his chakra, quickly forming it up into a swirling blue ball that hovered just over the palm of his hand. Taking one last breath Naruto loosened the chakra in his feet, letting himself slide upside down on the branch and jumping directly down.

"Rasengan!" The largest Beowolf looked up into the air as he yelled out, mouth opening briefly in surprise before the rasengan drilled straight through the mask covering its face. Naruto landed in a crouch and the remaining Beowolves quickly moved to encircle him, but at the last minute he formed a seal and substituted himself with a rock that he had placed earlier, which fizzled for a moment before exploding as the explosive tags plastered to it detonated.

When the smoke cleared two more Beowolves had joined their leader, motionless on the ground. The remaining wolves charged towards Naruto with fearsome snarls and he treated them to a barrage of kunai before rushing to meet them eagerly, wakizashi glowing white with wind chakra the second it left its sheath. He lopped the arm off one Beowolf and span into the middle of the pack, slashing at two more before flipping neatly upwards over their heads, grinning as two of the beasts collided mid-charge.

The Beowolves were on him as soon as he landed, but without the overwhelming numbers they had held at the village they just weren't quick enough to contend with a ninja, and it was fairly easy for Naruto to control the fight. He danced nimbly around and through the Beowolves, handing out cuts and slashes like candy as he struck at limbs to weaken the rampaging beasts. At one point he took a minor wound - Beowolf claws deflecting off his bracer and cutting lightly into his upper arm - in order to get in close to one of them. The offending Beowolf lost the arm it had struck him with, and shortly after its head.

Soon enough there were only three wolves left, panting and bleeding heavily as they snarled at him. Naruto gave them a cocky grin before charging in once more, neatly beheading one of the beasts with a blurred slash. For a split second though he had underestimated them, and in that momentary lapse of concentration they had struck. The remaining two were now attacking from either side of him, too close to jump out of the way.

Naruto's wakizashi blurred out of existence, becoming little more than a glint of light as he unleashed a rapid combination of attacks that left one of his attackers literally falling apart. The one behind him was close though, a mouth filled with teeth the size of daggers snapping at his head. All Naruto had time to do was steel himself for the blow and flip his wakizashi close to his body, bracing the hilt against his chest so that the Beowolf would impale itself as it lunged towards him.

Suddenly a deafening boom echoed through the clearing and, inches from Naruto's face, the Beowolf's head dissolved into a fine red mist. Shocked by the sharp crack of the round Naruto span to face its source, eyes meeting the familiar rifle-wielding figure of a certain red-cloaked girl.

"Hey there, partner," Ruby grinned, lightly patting Crescent Rose's still smoking barrel.

AN: Thanks a bunch to everyone who's been following, favouriting and reviewing this! Really happy with the response I've been getting so far considering that this is my first fic.