Bruce picked up his cup and took a small sip of his green tea. It was soothing and relaxing, which was something he needed after his stressful week. Japan was a wonderful country to visit for a holiday. Though he always came here for business. It was Justice League business which brought him to this country.
For the past two weeks, he had been searching to find a certain teenage hero who had recently build a name for herself in Tokyo. The girl's face had never been shown to the Japanese media but Bruce had read the news reports about the teen's deeds. The girl's first deed in Tokyo was beating up any criminals who tried to steal money from the bank. Although the girl's face was hidden during the footage, it had been quite clear to see she had used some technique which allowed her to make copies of herself. They also say the teen was around seventeen or eighteen years old, who had the strength to break buildings with her fists. It was a great thing for a teen to try to protect the city however, he could not be certain if the teen truly cared about the world. He grimaced. The footage of her creating a huge gust of wind from her palms in order to defeat some villains showed him just how dangerous the girl could be to the world. The victims of the incident stated the girl was a golden-haired girl, who wore a neon orange hoodie and black pants.
It did not take long for the child to be considered Japan's hero.
The teen had been given many names by the Internet, some of which were completely ridiculous if you asked Bruce. These people did not seem to have spent so much time trying to give her a name. He rubbed his chin and pulled out the photo of the blurred out picture from the footage. It was a good thing he had been able to unblur the photo or else it would make finding the girl even harder. Staring at it closely, Bruce could make out three black lines on either side of the girl's cheeks. Birthmarks, he concluded, noting the lack of paint in her cheeks. From the picture, Bruce would indeed conclude the girl was around the age of seventeen, perhaps slightly older. He pulled the picture away and took another sip of his greentea.
Despite the girl's appearance, it had been quite difficult to locate the teen. For someone who had an appearance which stood out, the girl knew how to hide. Bruce rubbed his temple. He could have sent another member of Justice League to search for the teen but, not many people in the league could speak Japanese. It would make things easier if he sent them to find the girl. However, the girl appeared whenever there was crime. Unless someone commit a crime soon, it would be a very long time before he grabbed her attention.
"You're back again, Naruto? I haven't seen you in the past few weeks! What have you been doing, child?"
Bruce blinked his eyes and glanced at the restaurant owner, who had a bright smile on her face as she chatted to a smiling blond-haired teen, who looked no older than seventeen. The girl was a petite girl with sunkissed hair and had cerulean eyes, which just twinkled with mischief. From the tone in her arms, Bruce could tell the girl had some form of training. He frowned when he caught sight of a headband around her head.
"Y'know the same old, same old," the girl replied as she pulled a seat beside him. "I have been trying to find a part-time job but it is really hard to find one which actually pays the bills. But don't worry, I will be able to pay my rent to you."
"I told you that you don't need to worry about the rent, Naru-chan," the owner smiled brightly. "After all, if it weren't for you then I won't be standing here and serving food to everyone here. If you really wish to pay me then you should go to school child. A kind child like you should make something of yourself, don't you?"
The girl shrugged her shoulder. "I will think about it Abe-obaachan but I won't make any promises. Now can I please have my ramen? Out of every restaurant I tried in this country, you definitely make the best ramen."
The restaurant owner belted out a laugh and nodded her head at the teenage girl. The young woman smiled brightly before twisting her head to look at her surroundings. When the girl's eyes landed on him, Bruce felt his breath hitched. This girl was definitely the person he was looking for. She had the same whisker marks as the girl in the photo, the same cerulean eyes. This was definitely the young woman who had gained the attention from the media.
Bruce smiled at the girl, who just raised her thin eyebrows before letting out a snort. The restaurant owner shook her head and gave him a look that he should try harder with the girl. Bruce grimaced. His assessment about the girl being charmed by looks was wrong. It displeased him to see this but it just meant he needed to work harder with her. If she refused his offer then he would still need to keep an eye on her.
"I will have the bill," he called out to the restaurant owner, who tore her head away from the young teen. The old woman nodded, pulled out the bill from her apron before handing it to him. It was a good thing he was in disguise, Bruce thought as he took out his wallet, because he doubt he would have this much peace if people knew who he was.
After slipping a couple of hundred yen to the elderly woman, Bruce slid off of his seat. He gave one final glance at the young teen who now tilted her head at him. Her bright blue eyes bored into his dark eyes. Loneliness, pain and warmth. Those were the three emotions which shined through the girl's eyes. Just like him, Bruce could see the girl did not have an easy life.
As he walked away from the table, Bruce lightly bumped into the young woman. "Sorry," he muttered as he slipped a tracker into the girl's shirt. The blue-eyed girl gave him a smile, nodded her head before turning her attention back to the old woman.
If things went well then he would have a new addition to the team he was building.
"Missing home, Naruto? It has barely been six months since you left for your so-called journey!" Kurama pointed out as Naruto weaved through the crowded streets of Tokyo. It had been six months since she left Konoha to see the outside world. Not once in these six months did she forget the green leaves of her village or the smiling faces of her friends. There was not one night where Naruto did not dream to hug her friends and tell them of her journey.
The nine-tailed fox scowled. "Why did you ask to have temporary leave of the village when you have made no attempt to see the world? There is more to this world then just Japan!"
"I didn't leave Konoha to see the world," Naruto pointed out to the grumpy nine-tailed fox. She furrowed her eyebrows and looked up at the clear night sky. "I left Konoha so I could deal with everything which happened for the two years. Kakashi-sensei and Tsunade understood that hence why they agreed for me to come here. Anyways, I never once said I wanted to see the countries outside of Japan. Japan is so similar to the Elemental Countries when it comes to culture so it doesn't exactly feel like I am out of place. It probably doesn't help that the people here worship me but they don't know who the hell I am. If I go to America, I won't have that."
It would cost quite a lot of money for her to go to America anyways. While Naruto had no problem spending money on travelling, she did not want to take the risk of going to a country that she probably wouldn't like. She shrugged her shoulders and pulled her hoodie over her head. America might seem to be her type of place with its loud and colourful cities but she did not want to go to a place, where she might not belong.
"We could show the Justice League what it means to be a real hero," Kurama said as she made a turn into the alley way. Naruto mentally furrowed her eyebrows at the fox, who let out an irritated sigh. "You are my jailor. I am the most powerful tail beast that anyone has ever seen! And no jailor of mine has ever been weak."
"Doesn't mean I want so much attention," Naruto wrinkled her nose. "I loved the attention but after a couple of weeks, it just gets annoying as hell. I don't mind being a hero in Japan since no one knows who I am, which means I don't have any annoying fans to deal with."
"You are starting to sound like the Uchiha." Kurama said with a scowl that Naruto knew was plastered on his face. Even though she fought a war with Sasuke, the nine-tailed fox detested her best-friend. It should make her angry to see both of her closest friends hating each other but she did understand Kurama's disliked for anything to do with the Uchiha.
Naruto stopped walking when she heard footsteps heading towards her. Was some idiot going to attack her again? She wondered, pulling out a kunai from her pocket. The footsteps were getting louder as each second passed. The teenage girl twisted her head around, scanning the alley for the source of the footsteps. There was no one in the alley except for a couple of white cats scavenging through the trash can. Was she imagining things? Naruto wondered as she looked closely at the shadows. No, she could feel someone lurking in the shadows. Life would be easier for her if the people of this country had chakra. It would make the detection part easier.
Closing her eyes, Naruto strained her ears to pick up the noise. There was a slight rattle in the escape ladders. A small bump to one of the boxes in her right. She glanced at the knocked over boxes before licking her dried lips. She twirled the kunai in her finger as she scanned through the alley. One wrong move and she might hurt an innocent person.
"I don't know who the hell you are but I know you are watching me," said Naruto as she continued to twirl the kunai in her hands. She could see the shadows to her right flickering and for a brief moment, she thought she saw a standstill of a man. "If you think you can intimidate me and get my money then buddy you got another thing coming! I might look small but I throw one hell of a punch."
"I know...Wind Girl."
Did he just call her by the stupid name given to her by the Internet? Naruto thought as a man appeared out of the shadows. After the incident with one of the villains attacking the bank, Naruto had been dubbed by the whole of Japan as Wind Girl. It was flattering in one way while just plain stupid in another way. How the hell was the name Wind Girl badass? Why couldn't they call her Maelstrom? The meaning of her first name would be such a badass nickname.
She shook her head and stared at the man who managed to find out her identity. The man in front of her looked familiar with her. It must be the costume, Naruto decided, flickering her eyes to his chest where a bat symbol was stitched. The bat symbol looked very familiar to her. Did she seen it in T.V? Or was it in newspaper? Either way, she might have seen it before but knowing herself, Naruto probably didn't pay much attention to it.
"Who the hell are you?" Naruto demanded to the older male. "Unless you want this kunai shoved down your throat, you will answer my question.
He stared at her for a good couple of seconds, eyed the kunai before finally answering, "I'm Batman."
"My name is Uzumaki Naruto, Batman." Naruto said as her mind tried to process the news presented to her. Batman? Wasn't he suppose to be in America? She wondered as she pulled the kunai closer to her body. If it weren't for the bat symbol on his chest and his appearances on the media, Naruto would have called him a liar. It might have been months since she came here but she did have a general idea of what some members of the Justice League looked like. Did it mean she would immediately recognise them? Hell no. But it did help in spotting a person cosplaying as Batman from the real thing.
"Why is a member of the Justice League here in Japan?" Naruto asked, keeping her eyes fixed on the older male as she slipped the kunai back into her pockets. The teen folded her arms against her chest and leaned against her foot before, continuing on. "Not that it isn't an honour to meet a famous person like you but...last time I checked, Batman doesn't randomly come into a country without there being trouble. Also, aren't you suppose to be the brooding bastard of the team?"
"I came here as a representative of the Justice League. We wish to offer you the chance to join the League," the teen blinked her eyes, rubbed it and even pinched herself in the arm when she heard this. "We have seen and heard of your abilities."
Naruto arched her eyebrows at the brooding hero. Had she gain so much attention that she even had the Justice League wanting her to join them? No, wait why should she join them? They knew nothing about her. Unless they had someone from the Elemental Countries working with them, she was not someone they would usually ask to join. This was just plain old weird. Was this a trick? She gazed at the man's eyes, noticing the lack of guilt in his eyes. Was this a publicity stunt? No, if this was the case then they wouldn't be doing it in the shadows.
"What's the catch?" She asked, relaxing her shoulders. "I might be young, Batman but I am not a complete idiot. You don't know a damn thing about me and the same goes for me. Now if I was thirteen again, I would have jumped on the chance but something tells me, you are not asking me to join the Justice League."
"You are indeed right," Naruto quirked her lips into a smile at hearing these words while, Batman stared at her bright blue eyes. "You won't be joining the Justice League, instead you will be joining a team of young heroes. This young hero team is being created in order to help prepare them for their future as full-fledged members of the League."
Does she want to continue working as a hero? She did like being a hero but, she also had responsibilities to her village. Even though Kakashi-sensei said she could take a time, Naruto knew there was just so much freedom her former teacher could give her. But then again, this was a chance she would never ever get again. What was she supposed to decide? Where was Sakura when she needed her? The pink-haired girl would give her a good advice when it came to these type of things.
But it also had been so long since she worked on a team. It had been months since she had contact with kids her own age. They might not be her Team Seven or the Rookie Nine but they might become another form of family to her.
"Alright I will work with them," Naruto answered, smiling widely at Batman. "But I still want to visit Tokyo in my offtime."
"You are free to do as you wish." He informed her as she walked towards him. "Follow me Wind Girl."
"Maelstrom."
Batman arched his eyebrow at her and the blue-eyed teen grinned. "If I am going to be a hero for your young team of heroes then I am going to go by Maelstrom. Wind Girl doesn't sound as badass as Maelstrom."
For a brief moment, Naruto thought she saw the man's lips twitched upwards at her declaration.
"You're free to look over the lair while I attend to my business." Batman informed her as the two of them appeared inside a mountain. Naruto nodded and watched as the older male walked towards the computer terminal. The teen twisted her body around to look at the place where they just appeared. It was cool how they just needed to walk through a phone booth to get to a cave inside a mountain. This was probably the most coolest piece of technology she had ever seen when it comes to this world. Maybe, she should tell Kakashi-sensei to invest in the technology of this world. It would make everyone's lives easier if there was technology which allowed them to travel to the next village in an instant.
Naruto leaned against her foot as she began to examine the cave. It was probably one of the coolest caves she had ever been into. Not that she always took the time and trouble to look at caves but it was perhaps liveable. In fact, it was surprising warm. The teen had imagined it to be cold just like Orochimaru's lairs but, it was nearly as warm as Konoha in its summer. She frowned as a wave of anger hit her. The teen turned her body around and blinked her eyes when she caught sight of a slightly younger boy walking towards her. Didn't he kind of look like Superman? If she didn't watch the news, she would think Superman was just a teenager.
He might be his cousin or something.
She smiled brightly at the teen, who eyed her clothes for a good five minutes before finally turning away from her. Well someone wasn't very friendly, Naruto thought, stuffing her hands into her hoodie pockets. Maybe he would become friendly as time passed. It would be so difficult for the team if they didn't get along with each other.
The blue-eyed teen twisted her body around when a bright flash of light appeared right behind her. To her surprise, three teens appeared. Looking at their costumes, she concluded that the three of them were sidekicks to the members of the Justice League. The pipsqueak with the red and yellow costume was Batman's sidekick if she remembered correctly. The red-haired boy with the lightning insignia in his chest must be the sidekick of the Flash.
If he was as fast as the Flash then she wanted to have a race against him.
"Oh yeah, we are finally going to do a mission!" The redhead boy said. Naruto frowned and furrowed her eyebrows at him. What the hell was he saying to them? Maybe, she should have learnt English during these past six months. It would make her life easier if she understood what these people were saying to each other. The English language was in no way similar to Japanese, which meant communicating with the team more difficult. Once she was done with the introduction with this team then it was time for her to use the Shadow Clones to learn the language.
The brown-skinned teen turned his attention to her and offered his hand to her. "I'm Aqualad, what's your name?" Naruto frowned and tilted her head at him, which earned furrowed eyebrows from everyone. From her limited understanding of English, she figured out the boy had introduced himself as Aqualad. The only thing she didn't understand was what did he ask of her.
She frowned even harder when the redhead teen rushed towards her. He held his hand out to her and said with a smile, which must be his flirty smile. "I'm Kid Flash, beautiful. The guy who just introduced himself is Aqualad and that's Robin," he pointed at the pipsqueak before finally pointing to the Superman look alike, "and that's Superboy. What's your name, beautiful?"
I might not understand English but I can tell from his body language that he's trying to flirt with me. If I didn't want to make a bad impression then I would laugh at him for his sad attempts of flirting with me. Still, it was nice for him to tell me everyone's else name, Naruto thought as she gazed into the boy's bright green eyes. Wouldn't it be polite of her to introduce herself? But she didn't know what were the exact words needed to introduce herself to them. It wasn't like they spoke Japanese.
"You aren't very friendly are you?" Kid Flash asked, frowning at her. "Is she even a sidekick?"
"If she is, I have never met her," Robin answered.
Batman stepped forward, drawing everyone's attention towards him. Behind him, a small screen opened up and to Naruto's delight and joy, there were familiar characters appearing in the screen. She didn't know what the hell was going on but the blue-eyed teen hoped it would make communication between her and her new teammates better.
"Welcome to the original headquarters of the Justice League," Batman said. "We are calling it in service again. Since the four of you are determined to stay together and fight the good fight, you will do it in League terms," Naruto raised her eyebrows at the four teens, who still had their eyes fixed on Batman. "Red Tornado volunteered to live here and be your supervisor." He subtly gestured towards the red robot and then to a blond-haired woman before continuing, "Black Canary is in charge of training. I will deploy you for missions."
"Is it the fun kind of missions?" Naruto asked, drawing everyone's attention to her. "Cuz if you are telling me I am going to be babysitting a couple of brats or god helped me, find a cat then I am outta here."
If Batman was confused by her words then he didn't show it. Instead he just stared blankly at her, which was quite annoying if you asked her. There was just not one emotion being emitted by her temporary boss. She straightened her back when he answered, "No, Naruto, you will be doing real missions..covert mission. The Justice League will be handing the obvious stuff."
The Flash smirked. "There's a reason we have big targets on our chest."
I thought it was because you guys like being very flashy, Naruto thought as the blond-haired man took over the explanation. There was nothing wrong with being flashy but it just made things harder in the long run. She had to learn that the hard way. As a superhero, it was not a problem but as a Kunoichi, it was a pain in the neck. Unlike superheroes, it was not like her identity was a secret to anyone. If someone in Konoha had seen the footage in Tokyo then it would have been obvious who the hell Wind Girl was.
"The six of you will be a team," Batman gestured at her. "Her name is Naruto Uzumaki and she will be the sixth member of your team. Naruto here speaks Japanese but she will be having English lessons with Canary and Red Tornado."
"Nice to meet ya," Naruto said, bowing down at them. "You guys can call me Naru! I hope we will all get along but if you guys try to diss ramen then you're dead to me."
Everyone just blinked their eyes at her.
Robin shook his head and glanced around the cave. "Who's the fifth member of this team?"
Batman looked behind them. All five of them turned around to see a tall green-skinned man and a pretty green-skin girl. The both of them wore blue capes but that was where the similarities ended in terms of clothes. Her fellow female had long red hair which fell past her shoulders and wore a white top and blue skirt. Wasn't she afraid of people seeing her panties when she fought? Naruto wondered, smiling brightly at the girl.
"This is the Martian Manhunter's niece, Miss Martian," Batman introduced.
"Hi," Miss Martian said, waving her hand at them. She had a shy smile on her lips and Naruto knew that just like her, Miss Martian probably also missed her home. They could bond over them missing their homes...as soon as she mastered the language. Why couldn't these people speak Japanese? She wondered as the three boys walked towards the girl.
"Hey Superboy, Naruto, come and meet Miss M," Robin said, gesturing for her and Superboy to follow them. The blue-eyed teen grinned and walked over to the group. She stuck her hand out to the green-skinned girl, who eagerly grabbed her hand and started to shake it. Once Miss Martian stopped shaking her hand, Naruto twisted her head to look at Batman. The man had the presence which demanded respect but she could tell that just like her and Sasuke, he did not have an easy life.
"Where will I stay?" Naruto asked Batman as the other members of her team started to get to know Miss Martian . "I don't mind staying in Tokyo but it will be hard for me to journey here and back there."
"There are plenty of rooms in the mountain," Batman informed her. "You will be staying here with Superboy and Miss Martian."
Naruto nodded. "I should inform you of this since you look like a controlling bastard but I have no desire to go to school."
"You are old enough to make your own decision on the matter," he informed her with a blank expression. "The English lessons are compulsory. As long as you live here, you must learn the language."
"I ain't arguing about the language class...if I want to find a part-time job in this country then I have to learn English," Naruto said to him. He stared at her for a good couple of seconds before finally nodding his head at her. She grinned before heading further inside into the cave. It would probably be a good idea of her to pick the best room in this cave before anyone snatched it from her.
She needed a room filled with the most amount of space.
A/N: Please review and tell me what you think of this chapter.
