A young man walked on the sidewalk towards an empty lot in an abandoned part of Salem. He had a book in hand and a backpack strapped to his shoulders.
The teen was dressed in black cargo pants with a large brown pouch sitting on his backside. He wore a white t-shirt with a small red fire kanji on the left breast and a black hoodie that covered his arms. On top of his head fell a mop of spiky blonde hair and on each cheek were three whisker marks. He had sky blue eyes and wore a green crystal around his neck.
This was Naruto Uzumaki, or the Magician from the East as the civilians of the world would call him frequently. That was one of many names that he had been given since he started saving the masses of Japan but the Majestic Fox was another name that he liked more.
He was on his way to meet with his mentor, Kent Nelson, otherwise known as Dr. Fate. He had been under his tutelage for three years now and even with his unique circumstances, he excelled at the branches of magic he had chosen.
He was interrupted from his thoughts when he arrived at his destination but was surprised when he saw a group of teens loitering right in front of the Tower of Fate.
Looking over the teens, they didn't look like much besides the bulky guy with black hair—who looked remarkably similar to Superman—and an African American teen with blonde hair and green eyes is pretty rare also.
The next person took the cake, a redhead with green skin was something he had only seen from the Martian Manhunter which led him to believe that she was from Martian descent. The other two were pretty average a redhead Caucasian teenage boy of average build and a blonde girl with a lithe frame maybe of Caucasian decent.
Naruto frowned as he continued to stare at them, 'I can't get into the tower with these guys around but I don't feel the old man in there. He feels like he's over there.'
He looked over to an abandoned movie theater and narrowed his eyes.
-Break-
Wally West, otherwise known as Kid Flash, was currently underwhelmed that the location of the 'magical' Tower of Fate in the slums of Salem.
He was further disappointed when they landed down in front of an abandoned lot, he wanted to say this was the wrong place but this is where Red Tornado told them to go.
Artemis Crook, a girl with a light olive skin tone and thick blonde hair done in a ponytail tail that went to her waist, walked over to him as they both scrutinized the lot.
She said something about phase shifters and it surprised the yellow speedster about her knowledge of science. He noticed a certain green skinned girl coming in from behind them and that she could possibly overhear their conversation.
"No, you're wrong! There are clearly mystic arts at work here!" He declared loudly. Artemis just scoffed and looked away from the annoying redhead and noticed a blonde haired boy standing at the corner of the street just watching them.
"Um, guys, I think we may stand out too much. This kid is just staring at us." The archer said as she nodded over to the corner. The other members of the team looked over and saw the same blonde boy.
Aqualad was about to call out to him when suddenly he vanished into thin air, which shocked the teens.
"Um, where did that guy go?" Wally asked as he looked around to find some kind of sign of his whereabouts. The whole team looked around for the vanishing boy only to be surprised when said boy appear right in front of the speedster's face.
Sky blue eyes stared at striking green eyes for a moment before Wally got very uncomfortable with the invasion of personal space. The team continued to stare and vice versa for what seemed like hours until Naruto broke the silence.
"So why are you guys standing in front of this empty lot, you know loitering is a crime around these parts." He said trying to gauge why they were standing right in front of the Tower of Fate.
"Why are you out past your bedtime, little man?" Artemis said and she smirked when she noticed his twitching brow.
"I'll have you know that I am 5'6"." He said as he glared at the blonde archer, who just smirked back.
"And that still doesn't answer my question, why are you here?" As he looked to brown skinned teen that stepped in front the rest of the group.
"We are looking to see what we could do to revitalize this neighborhood for a class project." Kaldur said trying to convince the young blonde so they could continue looking for the tower.
"Yeah so why don't you run along, little guy? We have work to do." Wally said as he made a shooing motion with his hand. That earned him an elbow to his ribs by a certain green archer and frown from a green martian.
"You are lying but that's fine. I have one more question, what's with this key?" He said as he held up the key that was given to them by Red Tornado earlier that day. Naruto already knew what it was for, having one himself, but decided to ask anyways.
Kaldur's eyes widened as he searched his pockets for the key. It was Megan that voiced the concerns of the group.
"H-How do you get that?" She asked, she had been quiet the whole interaction so not to draw attention to herself and her..unique appearance.
Naruto looked at her with an amused expression, "It's one of the many skills I've acquired while train with my sensei."
"Well, we'll be taking it back!" Wally exclaimed as he snatched the golden key out of the blonde's hand.
Naruto was wowed by the speed the redhead had just shown. Either the teen was a master at sleight of hand or he was some kind of freak of nature like himself, he would have placed his money on the latter.
"Whoa, you're fast..." He said with amazement slipping out unconsciously.
Wally puffed his chest out with pride while spinning the key to the tower on his pointer finger, "Someone finally recognizes my awesomeness!"
"Let's see if you can keep up with this." the young blonde said, confusing the group of sidekicks. Their confusion grew when the boy disappeared again, along with the key in Wally's hand.
This, of course, put the group of side kicks on edge as they took defensive stances but were rendered ineffective as they were lifted in the air against their wills. They looked over to their resident telepath in shock but she too was floating without her own powers.
"You guys are obviously not a school group with intentions of rebuilding this neighborhood. Now, tell me why you are here or else." The blonde magician said with hardened eyes as he reappeared behind the group. He slowly started to spin his hand and the sidekicks started to spin around in a circle at an outstanding speed that made the kid speedster green in the face.
"We are here to see Dr. Fate, we are true believers of the mystic arts and wanted to see if he could teach us!" Wally yelled out. Running around at the speed of sound was nothing to him but being spun at such speeds against his will was something his stomach was not prepared for.
Naruto seemed to accept this answer as the spinning stopped and they were dropped on their butts without grace. It took about two minutes for them to get their stomachs and heads from spinning but after they did turned to the one responsible more on guard.
"Why didn't you say so?!" Naruto exclaimed with a giant smile on his face as he walked past the supowered teens and placed the key into seemingly nothing, something Wally was going to call out until a door phased into existence. The appearance of the door was followed with the rest of the Tower of Fate, which was built almost entirely out of red and brown bricks. The tower's shape was very similar to a rook piece from the game of chess.
"Just knowing where the location of the tower isn't enough so there is a test of faith that allows "true" believers to see the tower in all of its glory." Naruto said as he waved them into the mystic tower. The archer and speedster duo were left in awe at the building appearing out of thin air while the rest of the group looked unaffected.
Aqualad took the lead and followed the mysterious teen. Seeing that their leader trusted the blonde, the rest of the team fell in line and followed suit. They were led into a stone room with a multitude of torches along the walls and the door slammed shut and shimmered out of existence, leaving the Team and the young magician alone in a room with no exits.
"Uh, where did the door go?" Superboy asked while looking around for the vanishing entrance. He was ignored in favor for looking at a yellow hologram appearing before Aqualad and showed the picture of the man they were looking for, Kent Nelson.
"Welcome back, Naruto. I noticed you have used a key I gave to the Justice League and that you have let some people in that the Tower doesn't recognize." The hologram of Kent said as he looked from Naruto over to the Team.
"You know this guy?" Artemis asked her fellow blonde with a quirked eyebrow. It was an unlikely friendship between the old man and the thirteen year old, if she could call their relationship that.
Naruto just rolled his eyes at the question,"Yes, Kent Nelson is the person that has been teaching me magic for about four years."
"Please state your purpose and intent." The hologram said.
"Go ahead and tell him what you told me, speedy." Naruto said to the redhead. Said redhead glance back to the Martian of the team and smiled as he stepped forward.
"We are true believers, here to find Doctor Fate!" Wally declared with arms out wide. The smile of Kent Nelson thinned into a line as he faded away and the sidekicks heard creaking of wood under their feet. The bricks under them suddenly fell away and caused the group of five to drop into a pit that contained certain doom at the bottom in the form of lava.
Artemis quickly pulled out a grappling gun and fired the hook into the the side of the pit and swung over to grab Kaldur while Megan flew over grab Wally. Superboy clawed into the side of the hole with his fingertips but he was falling too fast and dig his feet into the wall to slow him down. He came to a stop a bit too late as his feet took a plunge into the molten rock and he let loose a cry of pain before he pulled his feet up a bit while still clinging to the wall.
"Those were my favorite boots. This Nelson guy better be worth it." The clone said and he glared up at the whiskered blonde staring down at them from above with intruigued eyes.
The blonde's eyes snapped straight above him when he felt someone else enter the tower.
-Break-
Kent Nelson wasn't really having a good day. His day had started off fine with him taking one of his usual walks around and finding one of the scammers that claim they know of the mystic arts, he always got a kick out of exposing the frauds around the country.
That is where the good times ended as he was transported away against his will and into the awaiting clutches of a Lord of Chaos, no less. Since then, he had been beaten for the location of Tower of Fate by some hack that used advanced technology to simulate magic. He stayed silent but his student unintentionally let the villains know where the tower was.
'So much left to teach that boy.' The elderly man thought to himself as he was led to the construct that he called home. A door appeared and a golden 'ankh' symbol appeared as the door opened. He was pushed through the door and it disappeared as the trio entered the building. They appeared in a long hallway decorated with purple and blue carpets and yellow windows.
'I can sense Naruto and those other kids, meaning the tower hasn't killed them yet. That's always good but I doubt Naruto would just let them die.' Kent thought to himself.
"You know, the tower might not appreciate intruders."
A tall man with an open white dress shirt and a gold chain stood behind Kent. He raised up a black stick and pointed it at the old man, "Mute." He said and a black collar with a red light appeared and wrapped around the elderly man's neck, causing him to groan in pain.
He walked forward as a wall seemingly split to allow them passage into a study and over the fireplace was a portrait of Kent's deceased wife, Inza.
A hologram of Kent reappeared in front of the trio,"Hello, Kent. How unlike you to bring guest into the tower especially one with such potent mystic power. The only other time that happens was when you brought a younger Naruto back, I doubt this is the same circumstances."
Abra Kadabra put his hand on Kent's shoulder and smirked. The light on Kent's collar lit up, "My friends have come to help me." The collar projected a strained copy of Nelson's voice.
The hologram only gave a nod before the fireplace behind opened up and showed a labyrinth of stairways and the trio walked through.
-Back with Naruto-
Naruto frowned when he felt the magical signatures disappear farther into the tower. He wanted to go find the old man but he had to make sure these teens didn't die first. They were arguing while literally feet above certain death!
He heard the Martian figure out what they needed to tell the the tower and he saw the platform come out over the lava to allow them a safe landing spot and stopped the Martian and the African American from dying of the heat. He was guessing that he wasn't exactly a normal human because even in that heat it shouldn't have affected him as such.
He floated down to the group and saw that redhead didn't quite believe in magic, he wasn't one to judge. When he first met Kent, Naruto had just thought he was some crazy old man before he showed him some proof.
"You shouldn't be so quick to just throw out the possibility of magic. Isn't there some kind of science out there that states there is an infinite amount of universes and within those universes anything can happen?" Naruto said as he floated above the Atlantean of the group.
"You! Why did you let that thing almost barbecue us?!" Artemis yelled towards the floating blonde.
Naruto just looked down at her with dull eyes, "You guys lied to me twice outside so I figured if I brought you in you might tell the truth. It's his fault for lying in the first place." He finished by pointing at the green eyed speedster, who just crossed his arms and looked away from his teammates.
Naruto then looked to Kaldur, "You said you studied at Atlantis?" Kaldur nods. "What is that like, is it more theoretical or more hands on? Could show me the markings that you mentioned earlier? Also what are water bearers and can I see them in action?"
Kaldur looked overwhelmed at the rapid fire questioning of the youth in front of him, luckily Artemis came to his rescue.
"Enough, we don't have time for you to get a magical lesson we need to find this Nelson guy and see if the helmet is safe." Artemis exclaimed poking the blonde boy in the chest. She was very irritated with the teen on front of her.
Naruto just blinked, "So if I help you find sensei and the helmet then I can ask more questions?"
Artemis looked over to her leader for an answer and she received a hesitant nod, "Yes."
"Yosh! Let's go then!" He pointed to Aqualad, "Hey, pull open that hatch on the floor."
Aqualad the noticed the handle sticking out of the floor and went to grab it and Wally spoke up.
"Wait don't listen the kid! The backdraft from the lava will roast is alive!"
Kaldur went through with opening the hatch anyways and—instead of intense heat like Wally predicted— they were treated with a flurry of snow.
Megan grabbed at the frozen flakes that surrounded them, "It's snow."
The archer of the group turned to the speedster and smirked, "Do you ever get tired of being wrong?"
They all jumped into the opening one by one and soon came out into a snowy mountain range and the portal closed behind them.
"Well, how do you explain this?" Artemis said.
"Ever heard of string theory? We're in a pocket dimension." Wally fired back and Artemis just groaned in annoyance.
Megan turned and saw a floating cane and voiced her concern, "Hey, what's that?"
Artemis started to walk over to it before Naruto spoke up, "That's sensei's magic wand."
Wally looked hardly convinced, "I'm sure it is." He said sarcastically as he sped over to it and grabbed the cane at the same time Artemis did.
"I got it." They both declared at each other and tried to pull out of the other's grasp but found it harder than usual, "I can't let go!" They exclaimed before they were lifted up into the air at high speeds with the wand and the vanished in flash of yellow light.
The three remaining sidekicks looked towards the young blonde, who shrugged his shoulders, "Don't look at me, sensei always told me not to touch his cane."
He turned and looked around before walked over to the closest mountain, he channeled some magic to his hand and touched the side of the mountain and a dark blue circle expanded from his palm, much to the awe of the spectators.
"I don't have much control over the tower as sensei but doesn't mean I couldn't learn something that gave me some type of control." Naruto said as he motioned for them to entire the portal.
Seeing as they didn't have much choice, they decided to follow the blonde yet again. They entered the portal and when they came out their other side, they were kind of shocked. They were occupying a large white tiled room that had stacks of books all over the place.
Naruto ignored the reactions and went over and grabbed something from behind a pile of books. He walked back over and stood in front of Superboy, who raised an eyebrow. Naruto pulled out a pair of black boots that looked like the ones Superboy had previously lost on the lava.
"Sorry about your boots. It can't be comfortable walking around barefoot especially in the snow." Naruto said with a sheepish smile.
Superboy took the boots with a small smile on his face and didn't tell the teen that the cold didn't really affect him. The boots felt a bit strange on his feet without socks but he wasn't about to complain after he got some replacements.
"I don't understand Wally. It's almost like he needs the impossible not to be able to happen." Megan voiced her thoughts.
"Wally uses his understanding of science to control what he can't comprehend, acknowledging the existence of magic is to relinquish that control." Aqualad explained and Megan just looked away in thought.
"Well, I hate to interrupt but we need to get out here and help your friends. I'm not entirely sure but I have a good idea that the wand took them to sensei and he was being held prisoner by someone with a lot of magic power so he's probably heading for the Helmet." Naruto stated as he waved them over to a door and he pulled out a key and opened it revealing a black portal.
"So let's go save the old man and your friends!" He exclaimed as he hopped through the portal with the others, while not quite sharing his enthusiasm, followed after him leaving nothing but a bunch of books in the white room.
They were dumped out above Wally, Artemis and Kent. Naruto landed softly on his feet but was pushed down when Aqualad and Superboy landed on him while Megan floated down gracefully.
"Ack! You guys weigh a ton! Get off!" Naruto struggled under the clone and Atlantean's combined weight. They slowly got off and dusted themselves and both extended a hand to the downed blonde, who took the help gratefully.
"Friends of yours?" Kent said in amusement.
A blast of lightning went over their heads, they looked to see where it came from and saw Abra Kadabra and Klarion the Witch Boy standing upside down on the adjacent stairway.
Kent went up to a giant bell in the middle of the platform and struck it with his cane causing it to glow yellow and he and Wally walked into it along with Klarion the Witch Boy slipping in as well. Before the elderly man went, he left Naruto with some parting words.
"Naruto, take care of yourself and these youngsters down here. I won't forgive you if you lose to this charlatan." The man known as Dr. Fate said as he vanished into the bell with the teen known as Kid Flash.
"Stupid sensei, well I guess we better get this over with." Naruto said as he started to stretch. He held out his hand a glowing blue circle appeared and surround the platform they were on as Abra Kadabra landed in front of them. They allowed around as they were all encased in a translucent light blue dome.
"So what's the plan to taking this guy down? Not to be a downer but I don't have my arrows and I don't think Aqualad has his water bearers." Artemis said aloud as they stared down the fake magician.
Naruto walked forward in front of everyone, "No worries, I can take him out by myself."
"Are you sure about that, my friend?" Aqualad asked. Even if the man before them was a magical fraud, he still could pull off impressive feats.
Naruto turned and gave a giant grin and a thumbs up, "Of course, there's no way I'll lose to faker!"
A bolt of lightning was sent his way from Abra's wand but it never reached the blonde as he lifted his finger and a slab of earth rose in front of him to deflect the lightning. He noticed other streaks of lightning heading towards the others and he managed to put up earth barriers up in front of Artemis and Megan but Kaldur and Superboy were struck and placed into cages made of electricity.
"Well, that is unfortunate. Don't worry guys, I'll get you out in a second!" He told the trapped teens and he looked around and spotted he could use to defeat the man.
"How do you expect to do that? All you can do is hide behind walls but even those will crumble before me." He said as he sent more bolts of lightning towards the trio.
"Hey, can I borrow that?" Naruto yelled at Artemis and pointed towards her grappling gun. She looked at him with confusion on her face before she nodded slowly and threw it over to him but it was zapped out of the air.
"A grappling gun?! Haha that's how you plan to defeat me, you naive brat!" He exclaimed as he finally broke through Naruto's rock wall, which caused multiple pieces of rubble to collapse onto the boy and buried him.
"Now to take care of the rest of your little friends and then I can help Klarion." He said as he advanced towards the two remaining combatants.
He stopped walking when he heard a loud chirping sound coming from lightning prison he created earlier when he struck the two boys. He turned and was surprised to see the boy he buried in rubble instead of the black haired boy. He was further surprised when he saw the boy cut through his prison with a fist of yellow lightning.
"Ah, that was close." Naruto said as he stretched, that lightning prison was cramped! The blonde walked over to Aqualad and cut him free and helped the teen up, receiving a thanks in response.
Abra Kadabra was at a loss of words, "H-How did you escape? I buried you behind that wall!"
Naruto just smirked, "Did you? Or was it an illusion?" He said stretching the word 'illusion' and waving his arms.
The man just grew a tick mark on his forehead and stomped his foot, "Enough! I will not be bested by you!" He said as he sent another bolt of lightning towards the magical duo. Naruto allowed his lightning to spark back to life as he cut through the attack again.
"I'm not the one who is going to best you, I'm just the distraction." Naruto pointed behind him just to emphasize his point.
Abra turned around and saw a teenager that looked somewhat like Superman before he was punched in the chin with Superman like strength and his eyes rolled to the back of his head and he fell like a sack of potatoes.
"Well that worked better than expected. You okay?" Naruto asked Aqualad as he dusted his hands off.
The leader of the Team looked at him gratefully and nodded his head, "Yes, thank you again."
The girls of the Team walked over to the group as Naruto opened up another portal, much to the surprise of Artemis.
"W-What is that?!" She exclaimed. The trio of Superboy, Aqualad and Miss Martian looked to the blonde for an answer as well.
Naruto looked at them with a tilted head, seemingly trying to think of his answer, "This is one of my magics. I call it Hide and Seek, it let's me teleport kind of." Naruto dropped the fake magician into the portal and then dropped in himself. The portal didn't close but the group didn't approach it and Naruto poked his head back out.
"Hey, are you guys coming? I have to go check on the old man and your friend went with him too right?"
Kaldur seemed to mull this over and decided to go back into the strange room with Megan and Superboy joining him. Artemis looked at the portal with a critical eye. While teleportation was nothing new to her, it was hard to believe that someone younger than her had the ability that took massive machines to perform.
She slowly walked into the portal and was surprised when she entered an all white room, she saw her teammates and the still unconscious Abra Kadabra but what caught her eye was the weapons that lined the walls of the room. Everything from European longswords to Japanese katanas, there were firearms of varying makes and sizes but Naruto seemingly ignored all of these as he went pass it all to get a bundle of rope.
He went over to Abra and began to tie the villain up, couldn't have him waking up in his weapon room.
"This isn't the same place you took us to before." Megan said as she too noticed the abundance of weapons but the lack of books that littered the floor earlier.
"Oh, this isn't the same room as before, that room was for some research of mine and this is my weapon room!" The blonde proclaimed as he gestured with his arms wide and a giant grin. He looked at the reactions of his company and was let down at their dull looks.
"Ahem, if we could get back to the task at hand. Wally and Mr. Kent disappeared into the bell. Do you know where they have gone?" Aqualad asked.
"Yeah, the bell only reacts to sensei's cane and it teleports him to the top of the tower where he keeps the helmet. Sensei's only let me see it once but I had placed an exit portal there without him knowing."
Naruto looked pensive for a moment, "Please don't tell him, he would kill me if he knew that!"
The other teens in the room looked on with wide eyes at the outburst but nodded their heads none the less. Naruto breathed out a sigh of relief and walked over to a weapon rack that had only one sword on display. It was short sword with a curved blade, it had a green handle that continued up the back of the sword and the blade itself had five holes cut out of it.
Naruto picked it up and inspected it, he started walk towards the only door after he was content with his inspection of the sword. He stopped himself from opening the door and turned and looked at the clone of Superman.
"You're kryptonian, aren't you?" He asked. The boy looked too much like the Man of Steel it was uncanny, maybe he was his son or a younger brother. A hesistant nod from the teen confirmed what his thoughts on his origins.
"Are you going to be okay? You weren't hurt too bad against Abra because his 'magic' is fake but the guy upstairs is the real deal. Krytonians are weak to magic, right?"
"So Kent wasn't lying about that guy, he's a Lord of Chaos?" Artemis asked. She didn't vocalize her disbelief when Kent had told her earlier,unlike Wally, but she did have her doubts about it.
"Yup. He's a big boss in the magic world only matched by few and one of those people is Dr. Fate. That's why that guy is here, he wants to take the Helmet and get rid of Fate from this world." Naruto explained and he looked at the clone again.
"Are you sure that you going to be fine up there? I don't want you dying because you got hit by a stray blast or something."
"I'll be fine, okay?!" Superboy replied hotly. He didn't want a kid younger than him being so worried and protective of him. He was impervious to almost everything and could literally punch holes in to concrete and warp steel with his bare hands, he didn't need some kid to protect him.
Naruto just raised an eyebrow but nodded, "Alright, let's go then." He said as he took out a key and unlocked the door revealing a portal. Before he could walk through he was stopped by Aqualad.
"Hold on, my friend. I believe we should link up together before we go out and make a plan." He said as he looked to Megan and she nodded.
Naruto was confused at what he meant by link up but he felt something in his head. It wasn't harmful but it felt strange.
'Is everyone online?' He heard a voice in his head that sounded a lot like Megan. He turned to her and looked at her in shock but was stopped from replying by Aqualad.
'Megan is a Martian and they are telepathic, we use that to our advantage to communicate silently and without the possibility of being hacked.' He explained through the mental link.
Naruto nodded slowly, 'So all of my thoughts are being shared to you guys? That's weird..and kind of invasive.' He added as an afterthought.
Naruto noticed the downcast look that Megan gained and quickly went to cheer up, 'I mean..this could be great for stealth and sharing information privately. I didn't mean to offend you, it's just been a while since I've had a voice in my head.'
Megan beamed at him but the other three were concerned about the end of the boy's comment. They shared a look between each other but decided not to talk about it...for now.
'Megan, can you get us linked with Wally to get an idea of what we are going into?' Artemis asked and Megan nodded and reached out but she could sense Wally's mind like there was something blocking her.
'I-I can't sense Wally.' She stammered out. This raised alarms for everyone and—before they knew it—Naruto ran out the door.
-Break-
It was chaos at the top of the Tower of Fate, Klarion the Witchboy was firing of blast of magical energy and a protective dome that Kent Nelson had erected. It was the last spell Kent Nelson would ever cast as just mere seconds before the barrier was completed, he was struck in the chest by a blast from the childish wizard.
He had died in the arms of Wally West but not before giving him the instruction to put on the Helmet of Fate. Wally looked torn between putting in on but that changed when he felt an immense pressure settle on his shoulders. He looked around with wide eyes looking for the thing that was making him feel very small, he found the source behind him.
The source of the pressure was none other than Naruto Uzumaki, who was staring at the dead body of Kent Nelson.
"That useless Abra couldn't even dispatch of some kids?!" Klarion screeched. He stopped his assault on the dome that Kent had erected and sent a red blast of magic towards the blonde. The blonde didn't take his eyes off of the body of his mentor but he still raised the shortsword and slashed the air in front of him diagonally from his left hip to his right shoulder.
The effect was instantaneous but it happened in slow motion to Wally, the magical blast was sent right back at the Witch Boy. Klarion was not one to just take the attack head on floated above the blast that took a huge chunk of the ground out of existence. He looked back to the blonde and noticed that he had walked into the dome Nelson erected along with the other super brats that Kadabra was supposed to take care of.
Naruto looked at the body of his mentor and was unconsciously projecting his thoughts through the mental link as memories of his time with Kent flooded through the Team's minds.
They saw when the man found the young Naruto on the streets, when he took in the young blonde and slowly the boy started to warm up to the magician.
They saw their history and how Naruto looked to the man as a grandfather and then... they felt his rage. The pressure Wally had felt before was nothing compared to what he felt now, it was like his body was screaming for him to get away from this kid but he couldn't move.
Naruto slowly stood up with his hair hiding his eyes from view and lightning sparked across his body but this lightning was different from the one he had used previously as it was pitch black.
He looked at the spiky haired magic user with dull eyes and then he vanished in a shower of black sparks. The Team looked around for the blonde but couldn't see eye or hair of him until they heard a yell of pain from across the rooftop. They looked and were horrified by what they saw, Klarion the Witch Boy was bisected from his right shoulder to his left hip by Naruto's short sword covered in lightning.
The villain had a face of shock before both parts of him turned into red energy and sped over to his cat, Teekl. When he reformed, it looked as if he had not just been cut in half and he was glaring at the teen.
"How do you know that magic?!" He cried out in a nasally voice.
"..." Naruto said nothing as he disappeared in another black streak of lightning but this time Klarion was prepared and sent a blast of red magic towards the lightning. Naruto's torso appeared from the lightning and he held his sword in front of him and swiped it across his chest. Just like last time, the magical blast was sent flying right back towards the original user, said user dodged but his cat wasn't agile enough and was caught in the explosion.
While meows of pain were heard, they saw that Klarion had started to faded out of existence only to return a second later.
'It seems that the cat had some significance to his power, we should apprehend it.' Aqualad thought through the mental link. He, as well as the rest of the Team, were in shock at the ability this younger teen showed and his brutality was something to question as well. You can't just go bisecting people and they happen to turn out to be able to put themselves back together.
The rest of the Team slowly nodded and made their way over to the downed cat while the Witch Boy yelled at Naruto like a scorned child.
"Bully! Killjoy! Brat!" He yelled out. He heard rapid footsteps behind him and saw the rest of the brats heading towards his familiar and growled and opened a red portal under the cat. The cat fell through and into the awaiting arms of Klarion.
"We're out of here!" He said as he gripped the cat close and he separated into tendrils of red and black energy that flew off the roof of the Tower of Fate.
With the threat gone, the Team breathed a sigh of relief but Megan was still on edge as Naruto's mind was still not back in the right place. Looking towards the boy, she saw him glaring at the spot Klarion last occupied and his lightning was angrily sparking across his body. He yelled to the sky while charging a 10 meter ball of lightning above his head. He threw it down towards the tower's rooftop frustrated that he could not take out the entity that robbed him of his grandfather figure.
The Team was quite scared as that ball of energy didn't look too promising for their health but it was destroyed by a golden blast of energy. Megan looked back and gasped as the shield dome was gone and Wally was as well and in his placed stood Dr. Fate, who was staring at Naruto.
"Naruto, stop this." He commanded in a deep voice that overlapped with Wally's own.
Naruto's head snapped towards Fate and he growled.
"I'm sorry about what happened to Kent Nelson, I truly am but I will not allow you to run amok." He said and summoned a golden ahnk to shield him from a blast of electricity. He was not expecting Naruto to appear behind him and roundhouse him down to the ground. He put up another dome around him to stop himself from being impaled by a downward sword strike as well.
Naruto was pushed away from Fate when the hook of a grapple gun hit him in the face. He turned towards the culprit and prepared to deal with them before he was tackled down to the ground by Superboy. He was then punched right in the chin, this usually would have been a knock out if it had just been a regular human. Superboy may have pulled his punch a lot but it was still enough to subdue normal humans, imagine his surprised when he not only took the punch but also gave one back that knocked the Boy of Steel off of him and a few yards back.
Aqualad was in front of Naruto when he got up with his arms in a placating gesture, "Please, we are not your enemies. I understand your pain but you must snap out of this rage."
Naruto made no gesture that he heard him as he slowly stalked towards him but was stopped when he felt something in his mind.
'Please, Naruto. This is not what Kent wanted.' He heard Megan in his mind and as if to prove her point an memory popped into his head.
-Flashback-
"Naruto, explain to me the purpose of your magical abilities." Kent Nelson asked his pupil of two years.
Naruto looked at his teacher and nodded, "Well, Operation is for helping the sick and poor. Many people can't afford the medical bills so I'm going to help them for free!" He exclaimed.
Kent nodded, "An admirable goal but that is illegal , you know?"
Naruto scowled, "What should be illegal is having people on the streets because they couldn't afford an operation for their young child!"
"That is also true but I didn't ask about laws and politics, I asked about your magic."
Naruto still looked irked at the state of the world but moved on, "Hide and Seek is a sneaky type of magic and it allows me to essentially teleport to places that I have placed exits at. I still don't know why you had me learn that one, sensei." Naruto said as he looked to the old man for an answer.
Nelson just smiled, "I just think that it could be useful for the future. Do you doubt my teachings? Oh, how you wound me, my boy." He said as he grabbed at his heart.
Naruto ignored his theatrics and continued, "My last main magic is only used to protect and in dire situations." Naruto said as his palm lit up with dark lightning. He was hit over the head with handle of Kent's cane. He grabbed his head and glared at the elederly man.
"That is correct. That magic there could be very dangerous if used the wrong way or in the wrong hands and should only be used when needed."
"If I was right then why did you hit me in the head?!" The young blonde snapped.
"You used it in the wrong situation." Kent said referring to when he allowed the black lightning to surround his palm just a moment ago. Naruto growled and yelled at the old man, who just smiled.
"Come on, kid, I'll buy you some ramen for a good job today." Kent said as he started to to walk into the labyrinth of stairways.
Naruto forgot about his anger and pain as soon as he heard about his favorite food and grinned from ear to ear, "You better be ready to pay up, sensei." He called out as he ran to catch up.
-Flashback End-
The lightning that covered Naruto slowly dissipated until it fizzled from existence. He looked around and saw the Team staring at him tensed and ready to attack if he should turn hostile again.
"Don't worry, I'm not going to flip out again. Sorry about that by the way." Naruto said as he walked over to the body of Kent Nelson. It was silent on the rooftop as nobody knew what to say, Naruto opened a portal to his dimension and picked up his mentor. He walked into the portal and placed the man on his bed for his resting place for now, he'd have to bury him next to his wife in the next few days or the old man would probably haunt him.
He walked back to the portal doorway and took one last gaze at the man that groomed him for the last few years and walked away.
He was brought back to the rooftop and saw the Team looking at him with sad eyes but tensed muscles if he would to go wild again.
Wally walked over to the young blonde with the Helmet of Fate under his right arm. He looked a bit uncomfortable as he wasn't looking at the blonde.
"Kent...wanted me to tell you that he was sorry for biting the dust. I met with him when the Helmet interfaced with my mind and he told me that he would like it if you kept the Tower safe until we find the next Dr. Fate." Wally said slowly. He was unsure what had happened when Dr. Fate had taken over his body. It was strange out of body experience that he could probably never rationalize.
Naruto just gave a small smile and a nod. Aqualad then walked up to the blonde wizard and rolled up the sleeve of his track jacket on his right arm and showed his arm with his eel tattoos.
"I believe we had a deal and I will answer any question you have about my magic, if you don't mind me asking my own as well." Kaldur said with a small smile.
Naruto just grinned back and started to ask all the questions he had earlier while the rest of the Team relaxed as they saw the duo talk about various magics.
-Break-
"No."
The Dark Knight's response was short and to the point. Robin just looked at the Team with a raised eyebrow. Zatara and Black Canary looked at a computer screen that had Naruto exploring the entertainment room.
"But the kid just lost the only person who cared for him in the world." Wally shot back.
"His skills, from what I've seen, could be a huge plus to the Team." Artemis chimed in.
Batman expression didn't change, "He is untested, in your own reports, he went berserk went he learned Kent Nelson passed away. Aiming to kill is not something we support even if the enemy can survive."
"So if we tell him to tone it down, he can join?" The yellow speedster asked, making Artemis palm her forehead at the simplification.
"I believe he could be a huge addition to the Team. His magical abilities could help on missions and he has shown himself to be able to take on an enemy that was on par with Dr. Fate if what I'm told is true." Kaldur said as he stepped forward and tried to explain his decision to try and bring the blonde onto the Team.
Batman looked down towards the Atlantean with no expression visible on his face, after what seemed like hours he spoke.
"Black Canary and Zatara will have a spar with the boy to evaluate both his physical and magical prowess. Then, and only then, will I consider him for a spot on the Team."
The Team had varying reactions from shit eating grins and small smirks. The only team member that lacked a reaction was the Boy Wonder, he had no interaction with the blonde so didn't know what to think of the teen.
Miss Martian was the first one out of the room to inform Naruto of the good news while everyone else went to the training room.