If you're having a hard time picturing how Naruto looks like, a good example would be something like Obito's skin colour and body shape (though not yet the same size as he's in his early teens, around fourteen-ish give or take) in his Sage Mode without all the extra stuff.

Apologies if this chapter seems slightly rushed or jerky. This is because I tend to write in different parts. In this chapter, I began with the middle two parts of the chapter as the start of the chapter before I changed my mind and decided to write a new start as the continuation from the last chapter.

I'll be sure not to make the same mistake again.

Lastly, a huge thank you to all those who reviewed, reviews mean a lot to me!

Now, on with the chapter!

A few hours before the end of chapter one.

Between the two buildings, two groups of men dressed in similar fedoras, suits and trench coats, each holding onto sub-machine guns such as the Thompson 1928 and handguns, the Smith and Wesson Model 19 revolver and the semi-automatic Colt M1911A1.

Killer Croc watched as the men he was hired to fight for take cover from the hail of bullets headed towards them. Croc grunted as he hid behind a thick concrete wall, growling as he heard the bullets pinging off the walls or cracking and damaging them. He was sure that it wouldn't be too long before his protection was shredded down to nothing but pieces of concrete and bent sticks of rebar. He was fairly certain that he wouldn't be able to take on so many bullets at once either. He was capable of taking multiple shotgun blasts to the chest as his dense muscles and thick hide ensured that he was fairly protected from bullets, but it wasn't exactly… healthy to do so.

"Falcone's, give me some covering fire!" Croc shouted over the loud bangs to one of the members of the mafia who nodded. He did duck his head, cringing as one of the bullets ricocheted off the hood of the empty car –one they had previously abandoned upon arrival as the shooting began- he was using as cover, narrowly missing his head. He bravely raised his hands after mustering his courage, lifting his Thompson 1928 up onto the hood of the car to give Killer Croc the distraction.

They heard a Maroni scream, warning his fellow gang members to move it or lose it.

"Scram!" The Thompson went off with a rat-a-tat-tat, spraying Falcone bullets at the Maroni mobsters.

Unfortunately for some of the enemy gang members, they were a tad bit too slow in moving their feet and were gunned down. Many were shot in areas they would mostly be able to recover from such as their arms or legs. Those who took a bullet to those areas managed to crawl or scramble away while shouting in pain, but a handful were fatally shot, dropping to the ground as their vision went black either slowly or instantaneously.

Thankful for the covering fire, Croc moved fast and headed towards the man who had provided him the distraction. The man watched in horror, thinking that Croc was about to crush him, rolling aside, only to see that Croc had charged straight into the car.

"Hwah!" Croc grunted with a downwards snout as he shoulder-bashed the door of the car with the force put behind his understandably heavy weight, denting the metal with ease. As everyone expected, the car was sent skidding towards the Maroni's. Those who had been shot in the leg from the earlier bout of bullets were unfortunately crushed between the steps of the building and the car that slammed into their bodies.

"Fuck! We should have gotten some baddies to back us up!" Croc heard one of the Maroni's yell to his friends, apparently displeased that the Falcone's had the brains to hire Croc as muscle for their turf war. Grinning savagely, Croc wrapped his clawed hand around the area of the door where the window once was, while the other grabbed the bottom of the door. With a pull, Croc easily dismembered the car's door, raising it in front of himself as a Maroni unloaded all of his revolver's bullets into his makeshift shield.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Six shots rang out, and Croc smirked from behind the shield as he heard the next sound as well as the horror in the man's voice.

Click.

"FUCK!" Once more, Croc raised his arms high up, lifting the car door up before he chucked it forwards at the horrified man. The door frisbe'd towards the man and slammed into his stomach, taking him down to the ground. Croc gave a loud roar before scaling the car, denting its damaged body with his feet with each step he placed onto it.

The man pinned beneath the ground was unable to scream, partially from the pain of having a car door slammed into his stomach, as well as the fact that Crocodile had wrapped his monstrous hand around his head, picking him off the ground with just one hand.

"Today just isn't your day, is it?" With a squeeze, the man's head popped like a grape, and his headless body was dropped to the ground by the reptilian man with a thud. Throwing his elongated snout up into the air, Croc gave another roar, warning the shivering Maroni's of what was to come as he and many of the Falcone's stormed their building.

A massacre was left behind in their wake as the surviving Falcone's and Croc left the building, each grim, but glad to have survived the turf war. It would be an important lesson to the Maroni's not to fuck with the Falcone's.

At least, not to fuck with them for a while.

Everyone from both gangs knew that whoever got the upper hand today would soon be in for a treat as the loser would have their revenge, whether it be tomorrow or next year. It was a never ending cycle of violence, death and mayhem in Gotham, fuelled by money and power, but mostly pride.

Croc stepped out onto the pavement between both buildings, behind him the car he had shoved and the man he killed laying at the entrance of the building he had just left. They'd probably need a really good janitor to get rid of the bloodstains and bodies. He was sure some of it had gotten to the ceiling as he smashed and killed brave, but screaming, mobsters.

Unfortunately, he had taken quite a few shots to the arm and thighs. Thankfully, they were superficial wounds, and were mere hindrances. Nothing to worry about. Though, to leave them in his body would be a problem, so he'd have to visit his first and good friend, Naruto, for the removal of bullets.

But first, he had to get his pay from the Falcone's.

With Naruto

"I need your help." Croc muttered, and Naruto raised an eyebrow, glancing at the bullet holes in his arms and legs. The blonde nodded, not saying a thing while gesturing for Croc to follow him.

They settled outside of Naruto's home, where Naruto entered temporarily to retrieve the items he had made for Croc whenever the crocodilian man came over to get his wounds patched up. In Naruto's hands were a large roll of thick gauze and a bowl containing a mashed up green paste.

Gesturing downwards with his head for Croc, an indication for him to sit down, Naruto squatted down next to the wall of muscle with a neutral look. "Alright. Let's get you fixed up… Again."

"Heh, sorry kid. I owe you one." Croc gave Naruto a grin as he held his arm out, allowing Naruto to access the limb easily. He watched as Naruto performed what he always did whenever Croc came to him with bullet holes. From the middle of his palm, his skin seemed to vibrate slightly before a pair of tweezers slowly emerged, pushing apart his skin without causing any form of damage to him. They were smooth and brown, showing that it was made of wood.

"It seems you have gotten senile, Croc. You owe me many." Naruto emphasised the last word, but his voice was as calm as ever and held zero rancour. It could've been misconstrued by anyone else as a threat promising grievous bodily harm, but considering that Croc had known Naruto for a few years, he knew the boy well enough to know that he was joking in his own special way.

Croc found the blonde child's cold and cynical humour refreshing.

Silently using the tweezers, Naruto dug it into the first would he found and used the tip of the tweezers to pinch the bullet that resided on the surface of Killer Croc's skin. While Naruto was working on Croc's injuries, Croc seemed to pick up the unasked question of how he got the wounds. Honestly, the boy was like a little brother to him and yet the child was so worrisome about his health, something Croc greatly appreciated.

"Eh, I was working for the Falcone gang. They got me as hired muscle to get rid of some of the Maroni's in a nearby building. Soon it turned into a turf war and shit kicked off. We won, but with many casualties." Croc 'hmped' uncaringly since they meant nothing to him.

His end goal was to become the leader of the criminal underworld and he didn't particularly mind taking out most of his competition while he climbed his way to the top. "Doesn't matter. All I got were superficial wounds. I just wanted to get paid." Croc finished.

Naruto paused as he pulled out yet another bullet, dropping it to the rough concrete they were currently occupying for their makeshift operation. "Speaking of money, shouldn't you be paying me for being your personal doctor and medic?"

"Nah," Croc gave a hearty chuckle from his elongated snout, ignoring the two globes of blue that rolled around in Naruto's head. "Your prices are insane, kiddo."

Naruto stared blankly at Croc, "I don't charge you anything."

"Exactly, insane. Any reasonable man would've been draining me dry for all the medical service you've been giving me." Naruto nodded, not seeming to care in the first place. He had no need for money. He was sure that Croc could find better use of it than he.

"Nevertheless, I hope you visit soon. Ivy misses her godfather, and it'd be nice of you to drop by every once in a while without the reason for it involving me fixing your wounds." Wrapping up the injured parts with the thick gauze which was coated in his special healing paste made from various plants, Naruto tied them in knots to secure them.

"Thanks Naruto, and don't worry. The next time I visit I'll bring gift, alright? I see you later, and don't forget to say hi to Ivy and give her a big hug for me." Naruto nodded to Croc's request and both stood up. Thanking him one more time, Croc turned and began to vanish down the sewers.

Naruto sniffed and looked downwards before he offhandedly asked as Croc was leaving, "Say, before you leave… You wouldn't happen to know where to get the most convincing fake identification cards and unofficial papers from…" There was a brief pause before Naruto looked back at Croc with an emotionless face. But the look in Naruto's eyes was one of questioning, "Would you?"

The large criminal gently ran his clawed fingers over his recently patched wounds. "Why?" Croc asked with an unseen eyebrow raised, "You thinking of going up to the surface?"

Naruto's blue eyes looked down momentarily. "It's better to be safe than sorry."

Croc stared at Naruto for a moment before nodding. "Fine. You give me what you want as your info, basic stuff, and I'll come by tomorrow to visit Ivy and to collect it. I may know some guys who have connections to black market identity thieves. I'll pay for it. Consider it a quarter of my debts paid, huh?"

A few months later.

Cars sped about the wet streets of Gotham, each full of different passengers going about their daily routines. However, the gloominess of the grey city was elevated from the appearance of abnormally grey clouds that prevented sunlight from reaching the city's surface. Alongside that was the addition of the massive rainstorm that currently poured out from the clouds, making the whole city's vibe even more drab and dreary that it originally was. The streets were flooded as the water desperately searched for a way to escape, finding passage to escape from the surface in the form of the hundreds upon thousands of entrances to the sewers that lined the edges of sidewalks.

They poured into the cloaca that had been dug out for them, bringing rainwater and forcing the previously slow pace of the sewage system to speed up dramatically, visibly pushing garbage that floated along the surface of the disgusting sewer water.

Naruto waved his hand and a tree grew quickly along the entrance, covering it and preventing any water from flowing into their home. He huffed in relief that he had prevented his and Ivy's little oasis from being flooded with the filth from above.

Speaking of Ivy… Naruto turned back to the smiling face of a seven year old child, whose amazing green eyes paralleled that of her smile, showing uncontrolled mischief and boundless energy ready to be released. Her shoulder-length hair had been bunched up to both sides of her head, making her resemble a rose (Ivy's hair can be seen in the animated show 'The Batman'). Her cheeks had lost most of her baby fat naturally, causing her sharp nose and cheekbones to stand out, making her look very beautiful.

Dressed in a tube dress made in the same materials of vines and leaves that hid her nudity well, it was clear that Ivy had grown exponentially over the course of a few months, something she had to thank her plant heritage for as Naruto had taken the part of the bamboo that caused it to grow faster than ever other plant and placed it inside of Ivy's seed before she was born. He had made sure to alter it so that the human DNA inside of her would cull the bamboo's enhanced growth capabilities when she was around his age.

Her chest had yet to grow yet as she had yet to hit puberty, but Ivy didn't really care due to her one track mind.

She leapt into his arms and looked upwards, giving him a blinding grin that showed her perfectly lined teeth. "Narutooo~! I'm bored. Let's play!"

He gave her a smirk as he sat backwards. As he succumbed to gravity, a small tree formed the behind him in the shape of a loveseat. "Didn't we just play Hide and Seek? Wasn't that enough for you, Ivy, darling?"

Ivy placed her hands at the side of her hips despite being in his lap, leaning her head upwards in which she pouted in an upset manner at Naruto's face. "No we didn't, that was yesterday!" Naruto smiled softly at her distraught outburst.

"You know I distinctly remember reading books for fun when I was your age." They were books that Croc, his good friend and Ivy's godfather, had stolen specially for him while the reptilian was on the surface working for the Mafia. Over the years that Croc had been gifting him the random books, he had amassed a small library's worth of books that covered an array of subjects. His favourites were definitely the ones about the human body and styles of fighting.

Admittedly, he wasn't very good at the last one, but he was getting somewhere with his training. He was thankful that he had already trained up his body, which spared him the time to gain muscles.

"Well, that's 'cos you're a nerd, Naruto!" She, very much like Naruto, disregarded the fact that she was partially his daughter. Not enough to full be his daughter, but she had enough DNA to be a second cousin at most. Thus, also disregarding the fact that he had also been the one to have created her from just a mere seed, she always made fun of Naruto for his high intelligence. That was ironic as she herself was a genius, inheriting knowledge over plants naturally from Naruto.

"Alright, let's play then." Ivy gave a cheer, jumping out of Naruto's grasp and onto the grassy floor. With athleticism, she leaned backwards, bending her back at an incredible angle and placing her palms onto the ground before kicking her legs up into the air and landing perfectly on her feet.

Ah, right. Croc had brought back books for gymnastics and yoga as well, which Ivy had taken quite the liking to as it allowed her to perform such stunts. It was a pity the calm and relaxing yoga failed to reign in her inexhaustible energy.

"Okay, I'll be the seeker, now go hide!" She commanded Naruto, who stood up. Instantly, the tree he was using as a seat began to grow in reverse, vanishing back into the dirt as if it had never been there in the first place. Ivy ran to the wall, covering her eyes as she began counting down from twenty.

"Twenty… One!" Turning around after counting down, Ivy's face sported a large grin in excitement, only for it drop when she saw that Naruto was still standing at the same place he was standing at twenty seconds ago.

"Oh, you caught me!" Naruto's voice was one of surprise, but his face was still straight, "That was fun-"

"No! Naruto, you always do this!" She growled, punching him as hard as she could –very weakly- at Naruto's muscular abdomen. "I just want to play with you!"

"But we've already played this…" Naruto's voice slowly died out as noticed that Ivy's lower lip was trembling and her eyes were going watery. Was this what was known as crying? He hadn't seen this in person before as Ivy had always been a well-behaved, if not mischievous, child and even as a baby, she hadn't cried once. Her childhood basically consisted of giggles, cheers and unintelligible baby speech.

Sniffing, she began to swipe her eyes with the back of her hand and Naruto felt a twinge in his chest that caught him off-guard. Was that the feeling of guilt? He never was good with emotions, having abandoned them long ago. He didn't want to experience the pain he had felt in the past, nor did he want to remember those people again.

"Oh, Ivy… I-I apologise …" He spoke sadly, a very rare emotion that he allowed to surface. He hadn't used it since all those years ago…

"I-I… Ju-Just wanna spe-spend more ti-time… wi-with Naru-Naruto…" She sobbed softly, hiccupping after every few words. Naruto furrowed his eyebrows in worry and felt that the best course of action to take was to give her a hug. That's what people did when they wanted to show that they cared for their loved one right?

So, Naruto quickly swooped forwards and kneeled down in order to get to her height, and wrapped his arms around her waist. Ivy responded quickly to the physical affection, hugging back with double his intensity, creaking his ribs slightly from her force.

She definitely inherited his strength.

As they connected, placing their bodies against one another, Naruto failed to see the devious and pleased smile on Ivy's face as she snuggled into his shoulder, secretly enjoying his warmth. What a sly little vixen!

"I love you, Naruto." Naruto's eyes widened slightly, showing his surprise at her words. She had always said that, but this time he felt an even stranger twinge in his heart. It was probably just the way she had spoken it, with so much assurance.

Perhaps it wouldn't be too bad to show his emotions, this was Ivy after all. And Ivy would never hurt him like that. The girl was practically incapable of doing it. "…I love you too, Ivy." He said with equal conviction in his voice, and Ivy blushed.

Ah! This was exactly how the scene played out in that princess book Godpa Croc gave to her as a present. Absolutely romantic!

Pulling away with reluctance, Ivy poked a finger into Naruto's chest, jabbing at his heart softly like an upset loved one would. "Now c'mon, we still have a game of Hide and Seek to play, and don't think that you'll get away with doing nothing this time, mister!"

"Fine, fine… I'll be the seeker this time, alright darling?" Ivy grinned before rushing off after Naruto turned around, skipping away to another part of their home –which had been expended drastically since the last time- to hide.

And thus, as the rainclouds on the surface parted, allowing for sunshine to hit the gloomy Gotham City, an unknown bud was also placed into Naruto's walled-up heart by Ivy, of which would only grow larger and larger as time went on.

Ivy concentrated with her visibly eyes clenched shut, taking slow and deep breaths as Naruto watched her progress in front of her. Part of her skin had turned to around the same colour his was whenever he chose to rid himself of his green tint, which was a pale white, with Naruto's being slightly tanner for whatever reason.

Her legs now differed from her upper torso, with them being the pale white skin that lacked chloroplasts. They still contained toxins, but it was now very difficult to absorb sunlight through their skin as they effectively, to put it in simpler terms, 'shut off' the chloroplasts in their skin. This would allow them to blend in plain sight when the need would undoubtedly arise, and considering Ivy's urge to escape from their home for adventure, he knew that one day she would leave the nest whether he wanted her to or not.

And what then? Would he replace her with another? No, that wouldn't be nice at all and would send a bad message to Ivy, thinking that she was easily replaceable. But if Ivy were to leave, Naruto would be plunged back into that endless pit of boredom and loneliness she –and Croc- had saved him from.

Choosing to ignore those thoughts, Naruto nodded at the progress she had made. Her shoulders were now the same colour of her legs, with only her neck and face left to convert. Sooner or later, with practise, she would be able to do it as fast as he could.

"Good job Ivy, you're almost there." Since that day, Naruto had tried to be more expressive when with Ivy as he didn't want another repeat of that horrible guilt trip.

Ivy didn't respond to Naruto's words of encouragement out of the fear that she would lose all of her progress. As she continued, the pale skin marched upwards to her neck, swallowing her previously green skin and replacing it.

It seemed as though she was starting to have a hard time as Ivy began to perspire furiously, very much like how plants lost water from the underside of their leaves in other to respire, though it wasn't alike in anyway. It was simply her overexerting herself from the training. Despite it looking like an easy task, it certainly wasn't as it finally caused Ivy to suddenly break concentration. Her eyes shot open in surprise and her skin seemed to morph like that of an octopus camouflaging itself, turning back to its green tint from top to bottom.

Breathing heavily, Ivy looked up with a frown on her face. "Damn it, I nearly got it! Let me try again."

"No, Ivy, you're taking a break." Naruto placed his hand onto her shoulder. His eyes were slightly narrowed, the hair above them furrowed to show his worry.

"But-" Ivy attempted to protest, only to find Naruto placing a finger on her lips.

A massive burst of red formed beneath her green cheeks, matching the colour of her hair. Thankfully, the green of her cheeks subdued most of the brightness, giving her to slightest tinge of red on her cheeks. "No, buts," He shushed her while removing his finger in the process, "Take a break, now."

Ivy would've argued even more, but upon seeing the silent look of distress on Naruto's face she decided to settle for a small sigh and a smile.

"Ok, but you're going to have to entertain me while we're on my break!" Naruto couldn't do anything but accept, knowing that Ivy wouldn't settle for less. He didn't mind though, as time with Ivy was something he wanted to get the most out of before she grew up.

Recently, after a second fight between both mafias.

"So you're sayin' some of our boys got offed by the Falcone's? Again?" There was a slight Italian accent to the burly figure's voice. He sat in the chair and removed the large cigar from his mouth with his index finger and thumb, leaning forwards as he breathed smoke out from his nose, "And some giant alligator chump killed 'em?" The two muscular men, apparent from their large silhouettes, shifted slightly and the snivelling man the Don was talking to flinched slightly before regaining his composure and clearing his throat.

"Yeah, boss…" The low ranking henchmen scratched his head awkwardly. He was one of those who had turned tail and ran upon seeing the fearsome Killer Croc in the flesh. "It was Killer Croc, yeah. We would've gotten the Falcone's if that freak hadn't gotten in the way!" He tried to push the blame off himself for abandoning his fellow gang members, to which the Don nodded in a sagely manner.

"And, uh, who started this little fight with the Falcone's, eh?" The Don asked in a questioning tone.

The ratty man gulped deeply before spitting out a random name, one of a deceased friend. "It was, um, Gotti, boss. He started it." The burly figure nodded again, returning his cigar to his mouth. Taking a deep inhalation of his cigar, the boss of the Maroni allowed the pungent smoke to fill his lungs. He tilted his head up before slowly blowing it into the face of his subordinate, who closed his eyes and batted at the smoke.

Opening his eyes after the smoke was cleared, a large fist slammed into the centre of his face, knocking him backwards off of his chair and to the ground.

"Agh!" Giving a yelp, he clutched at his nose, which was bleeding profusely. It was definitely broken from the powerful punch, and the man began to crawl away as his boss made his way over to him. His expensive dress shoes stepped quietly across the expensive carpet that lined his floor, each step making the man on the ground whimper.

"You think I don't know the fuck happened? You little shit! You think you can fuckin' lie to me?! I know you were involved in both, you fuckin' rat!" Another fist slammed into the side of his head, bouncing his skull off of the floor. With his head rattled and concussed, the man was unable to do anything as a painful beat down was laid down upon him by his –former- boss.

Finally done punching the twitching man, the leader of the Maroni's, a man with a receding hairline, stood back up and wiped his wet forehead with a handkerchief he pulled from his pocket. A snap of his fingers made the two men behind him stand straight, awaiting their boss's orders.

"Felix, hurt him then get rid of him." One of the guards that was standing behind him moved up and dragged the body out of the office with haste, bringing him to who knows where. "Harry, I want this Killer Crocs' head on my desk. I don't care who the fuck kills him, but I want his fuckin' head. Capiche?"

The man nodded before leaving the room and with that said, the cigar was removed from the Don's mouth harshly before it was grinded into the ash tray head first, snuffing the embers of the brown stick out.

Salvatore Maroni wasn't a man you wanted on your bad side.

Chapter End.

Uh-oh! I wonder who will be hired to hunt Croc's head?

Rest assured, it's no one from the Naruto-verse. I have a few ideas in mind, but I'm still mulling over who to send because this unselected character will play a fairly important role in this story, so I don't want to rush it.

I hope I did a good job on the chapter. Some of the characters may seem OOC, but only by a little as Naruto had influenced them.

Croc is a better person due to being good friends with -pretty much an older brother to- Naruto and is Ivy's godfather. Since he never received friendship as a child, Croc obviously treasures his family very much, thus he is nicer.

Ivy isn't as seductive (for obvious reasons. But she will be, just not yet at least) as she is when she's an adult. As shown during Naruto's hug, she had a Naruto-complex and loves him very much. She will be experiencing more of the feelings when she grows to Naruto's age, which is in the next few chapters.

Please review and tell me what you think!