Old Friends

Spider-Man is owned by Marvel, and Naruto is owned by Masashi Kishimoto.

"Talking"

"Thoughts"

"Demon/deity speech"

Line Break

Peter was having a…well in all honesty this day was par for the course. After coping surprisingly well with the fact that he now had the body of a 13/14 year-old, things took a downward turn when he saw the state of the nearby village. He found out from Tazuna that a businessman, Gato, had taken over the town with his silver-tongue and false promises. Tazuna's family was affected more than most due to the fact the Kaiza (his son-in-law) was brutally tortured and killed for speaking out against Gato. It really crushed both the town and his family. His grandson, Inari, had said that it would have been better for Peter if he had drowned in the river, and before he turned in for the night Peter could swear he heard Tsunami, the boy's mother, crying.

Peter had seen similar situations many times back in New York. The only difference here being that he had no way to combat this. Sure, if he were younger (career-wise) and more headstrong, he would have gone in webs spinning and taken down Gato's business one thug at a time.

Unfortunately, that would only lead to more problems than solutions, as Gato could simply hire some of those ninjas with magical powers that apparently inhabit this world. Not to mention that, as far as he could tell, there was no centralized law enforcement he could go to once he found sufficient evidence. So, for now, his best bet was to bide his time.

Line Break

Peter's dreams, in which he sometimes found solace during hard times, were not doing so now. He was forced to watch himself and Mary Jane make the deal with Mephistopheles over and over again. He could not turn away, could not shut his eyes, he could only watch as anguish washed over him in waves.

"…an"

Peter felt as if he would die from the sheer weight of his unearthed memories.

"…der-Man"

As he thought about it, death seemed like a nice option.

"PETER!"

"Wah!" Peter cried out, the dream fading. His surroundings had changed drastically. He was now in a black room with spider webs lining the walls. He turned towards the voice that yelled out his name, and recoiled in shock at the sight.

"M-Madame Web?"

Sitting in her specialized chair, wearing a red, full body dress with a white spider emblem on her chest was the deceased Cassandra Webb, the first Madame Web.

"Hello, Peter. It is nice to see you again."

Peter was nonplussed, "Hu-bu-wait. Your dead, Julia took over for you. Why are you here?"

She gave a small smirk at Peter's response, "The Great Weaver decided that I would help guide you its place."

Peter crossed his arms and bitterly replied, "What, can't bother to help me out after putting me in this situation."

"Watch your tongue" Cassandra admonished, "Just because the Great Weaver is not here does not mean that it is blind to what you do and say."

Peter just shook his head, "Moving on, shouldn't you be enjoying the after-life?"

"I was."

"Then why are you here?"

"It's hard to deny the wishes of a deity."

"Yeah but, weren't you ripped away from your family?"

She gave a small, warm smile at that, "Peter, I have waited a long-time to reunite with my loved ones, I can stand to wait a few more years."

Peter gulped, "Years?"

"Or more."

"Great" he sardonically remarked, "just fantastic! I'm going to be gone for a few years?" he scoffed, "Well when I get back things are sure going to be bad."

Cassandra titled her head at that, "Surely you are exaggerating."

Peter gave a harsh laugh, "HA! Please, with me gone, most of New York will go straight down the crapper."

"Come now, you are giving yourself to much credit, and others too little."

"Please. Of all the heroes based in New York, only a handful actually patrols the streets. With me gone, the only ones that do a reliable job are Daredevil, Moon Night, Punisher and Cage. Cage has a family, which cut down his time. Moon Night is a nut, even by my standards. Daredevil has that whole thing with the Hand. And don't even get me started on Frank By the time any of the 'big time' heroes notice any thing is wrong, New York will be at DEFCON 1!" Peter was heaving by the end of his rant, then fell to his knees "Oh god…I completely forgot about Aunt May," his voice grew soft, tears welling up in his eyes, "This is going to kill her".

Cassandra frowned at the sight before her. She had seen many of Peter's bleak episodes, but this seemed to be one of the worst. "Peter" he perked up at hearing his name, "If it eases your worry, this world is out of synch with our own."

"…What do you mean?"

"I mean, that time here moves slower than in our world. A month here could be a minute there."

"…Really."

"I believe so. Furthermore you cannot let yourself fall into a depressive slump".

"…Yeah," he sighed, "I'm not giving those guys enough credit. Besides, with Hobbie, Miles, Cindy, Jessica, and Gwen around, its not like New York will have a spider shortage".

Madame Web nodded, "There you go. Now, there is still the matter of the task you have to complete".

Peter snorted indignantly, "Right, given to me by our 'Lord and Master'."

"The Great Weaver, whether you believe it or not, does care about you Peter. It would not just thrust this upon you if you were not able to do it."

"Whatever," he got to his feet, "Speaking of, why pick me? This world is full of magical psycho ninjas, I think Kaine, or one of my more violent counterparts, would be more at home here."

"And that is precisely the point."

Peter just gave Cassandra a blank stare "…You lost me there."

"Peter, your entire goal is to strengthen the Web of Life in this world. You do that by making strong bonds with others. Kaine, and those like him, that are willing to kill would provide more harm than good."

"I'm still confused."

She gave a sigh, "There are multiple bonds that make up the Web of Life. While they can be made from love, compassion, and companionship, negative emotions can make a strong bond as well. You have antagonized a great many people, people that you refuse to kill. By keeping them alive, the Web is greater for it. Kill them, and the Web weakens."

Peter nodded in understanding, "And people like Kaine would effectively tear the Web apart with their ruthlessness," Peter nodded his head back and forth, "Except, I know for a fact that Kaine has gotten better with his violent urges. Plus, he could easily make the tougher decisions when they need to be made, and I know they will need to be made".

Madame Web crossed her hands on her lap, "Yes, Kaine is a viable choice, but this is a delicate situation. In a world with a strong Web, a few dead foes here or there would not be a problem; but because this world's Web is so underdeveloped, any lost threads could unravel it. A single felled foe could be the thread that sends all others too oblivion".

Peter gave a heavy sigh, "…I guess that makes sense. By the way, why is this world's Web so weak?"

"You know how this world was formed, no?"

"Some crazy lady ate a mystical tree fruit, and gave birth to kids with magical ninja powers. They fought, she lost, and the kids populated this world. Human beings created ninja villages, and do ninja stuff."

Cassandra blinked, "…That is…an abridged version."

"Yeah well, didn't really have much to sift through, after that the knowledge kind of stops."

"Yes, well, when this world first formed, the Great Weaver tasked some of its subjects to tie this world to the Web. They soon forgot this mission, however, when they entered into a summoning contract some humans. The Great Weaver than gave the 'gift of the spider' to the humans that contracted with its agents, so that they could, albeit unknowingly, strengthen the Web."

"But they started dying."

"Correct. There is one living member of that family left, but he has been tainted, and is unable to provide strong threads to the Web."

"Fun. What was this I heard about a 'summoning contract'?"

"That will come later, when you have better grasped you new abilities with Chakra."

Peter looked at his hands, "Right, magic ninja juice."

"It is called-"

"Oh I know, doesn't mean I'm going to call it that."

Cassandra gave a small huff, before smirking, "Glad to see your doing better."

"Meh. I'm sure I'll breakdown at least one more time before we head home." He looked up and gave Cassandra a warm smile, "Thanks for the talk MW."

"Anytime Spider-Man. We shall meet again." And with that, the darkness closed in on Peter, sending him to the waking world.

A/N: Hope this answered any lingering questions as to why Kaine wasn't picked as the story's protagonist. Be sure to leave a review. Later.

(P.S. Added some things)