Hey there my amazing readers, great to see that you've returned for the next chapter of the Red Fox. Sorry that it ended up having to be Friday morning that I posted, but like I said, it's been hectic. This one is gonna focus on Naruto once again, and we'll even have some visitors from the Hidden Sand. By the way, part of this will involve Gaara's early childhood, and if something in his timeline regarding his age is off, it's just part of the fanfic. We'll also be getting a little look into why Batman choose the the symbol that he did. To top it all off, this all being taking place at a party with a guest who intends to ruin the whole thing! Who is that guest? Read so that you can find out! Thank for you reading and be sure to review.

Chapter Soundtrack-America:Horse With No Name


A month and a half had passed after the the Scarecrow incident, and there had been no further action from the villain after that. He must have been trying to lay low after making such a big play at the university. Jiraiya stuck around for about a week, during which time he laid out the perfect plan for Naruto's training. In an amazing short amount of time, Naruto was speaking near fluent English, was smart enough to get into just about any academy in Gotham, and could fight better than half criminals in the city as well. By the time his three month adjustment period was over, he was going to be a force to be reckoned with.

However, today wasn't one in which people planned to fight. Today Bruce had to throw a party in Wayne Manor, one in which he would appear to actually to care about the politics in the city. A small part of him did care about who became Mayor in the next four months, as they'd be Mayor for the next four years. This was the time of year that candidates begged for money, and someone as rich as Bruce had to choose somebody to back. Crane was beyond untrustworthy, and the Penguin was someone that Batman had been fighting for years. The only person left was Quincy Sharp, a foolish man who simply liked the power that came with being Mayor, but was essentially harmless. Sad as it was, he was the lesser of three evils. Bruce would be backing him in the campaign, as much as it pained him to do it. That was why he and the rest of his family were setting up for a party this very instant.

"Dad, why do we have to throw this guy a stupid party," Naruto groaned in English, trying to speak it as often as he could to improve himself, "You don't even like the person."

Bruce corrected his broken English first, "The way you said it is okay Naruto, but don't even like this guy would've been better. And it doesn't matter if I don't like him, that's how politics work. Don't ask me why either, because I don't know. Being involved in politics in this country that I really hate."

Naruto and Bruce were setting up a snack table in the main dance hall of the manor. It was lined with various punches, liquors, and assorted sweets. It was a very big drag, but it had to be done. In the meantime, Naruto decided to talk about something productive, "Hey dad, you said that you chose a bat for your symbol because they scared you, right?"

"Correct, I wanted to use what I was afraid of to scare the criminals I was chasing. It's worked out very well for me," Bruce said, placing some cups on the end of the table.

Naruto had been thinking for over a month what he wanted his superhero name to be, and he wanted one like his dad. It was hard to think of what exactly scared him the most, but he was eventually able to come up with something, "I think that I want my name to be The Fox Red."

Bruce knew that his son wanted that to be a dramatic name, but his grammar made it a little comical, "I think that you mean The Red Fox Naruto. Actually, that has a nice ring to it."

"The Red Fox huh? That does sound better," Naruto said, trying it out the proper way, "I tried to think of something that made me scared, and the nothing scares me more than this thing called the Kyuubi back home. He's like a giant red fox with nine tails who could destroy cities and stuff, and Fourth Hokage had to die just to kill it. That's scary! So, I went with The Red Fox."

It seemed like a perfect choice, at least to Bruce. Of course Naruto had no idea just how perfect, with Kyuubi being sealed inside of him and all "Hm, I like it. We'll start going over designs for your suit tomorrow. Oh, and by the way, I am gonna try and make sure that you can enjoy this party too."

Naruto was skeptical at that, "How do you plan to do that?"

"I've invited some people from a place called the Hidden Sand to the party. The hidden Leaf wanted me to get to know some ninjas from other nations for public relations and what not, so I found a family that had some kids your age and invited them. The Kazekage, the hidden Sand's leader, is coming tonight and he's bringing his children," Bruce said, happy his son would have someone to play with and get to be a kid with tonight.

That actually did perk Naruto up a bit, "Awesome! What do you know about them?"

Bruce visibly tensed at this, "Well, Temari is ten and is training to be a ninja like you. Kankuro is nine and wants to learn how to use some kind of battle puppet things. And Gaara has a sort of...burden, inside of him. There's a creature that resides inside of him that gives him powers that he can't always control."

"Is he going to be safe to come here then?" Naruto asked, a very legitimate question.

That was something that Bruce had been worried about as well, but had a plan to take care of it, "As long as we don't scare him too much, it'll be fine. He's only a danger when he gets really scared."

"So we shouldn't have the Scarecrow come then?" Naruto joked, trying to show that he was okay with the situation.

Bruce rolled his eyes, but found the joke pretty funny, "No, but he's not invited, so that should be fine. Come on, let's see how Alfred and the others are doing. We've only got an hour before the party and we still need to get dressed."


In the hidden Leaf, the normal attire for an important event was a dress kimono. Apparently in America, it was this thing called a tux. The moment that Naruto put on his first tux, he decided that it was an evil, evil piece of clothing and wanted to rip it off of himself as soon as possible. Only his brother stopped him.

"Oh come on Naruto, they're not that bad. They make the girls go crazy," Dick said, straightening Naruto tie as they stood in his room.

Naruto could've cared less about girls, "I'm eight! I don't give a crap about what girls think!"

Dick noticed that he went back to Japanese when he got angry, "It's just for a few hours Naruto. You don't have to wear one that much, so just get yourself through this one, okay?"

Naruto pouted, but nodded as well, "Fine, but they better have some good food down there."

"Actually, Alfred made some ramen just for you. They should be serving it right about now," Dick said, knowing exactly what was coming next.

Naruto didn't even say a word, just zoomed down to the dining hall. Dick put on his own tux and then followed him down, only he actually walked there. Inside the dining hall, Dick could see just about every person in Gotham with a large bank account had showed up for the party. Bruce was at a table in the center of the room, Quincy was sitting right across from him with a drink in his hand, and Naruto was next to him, eating all the ramen that his stomach would hold. People were all around Quincy, chatting up the man for information on his champaign.

Dick started to walk towards them when a man with reddish hair stopped him, "Excuse me young man, would you happen to know where Bruce Wayne is? My name is Rasa, and my children and I were supposed to be meeting with him."

"Oh, you're the Kazekage," Dick said in a low whisper, making sure that no heard the title so that they wouldn't ask questions, "I'm actually one of his son's. Follow me, I'll take you to him. Gotta admit, you speak excellent English sir."

They all walked behind Dick, the Kazekage feeling a little uncomfortable as they did, "I must say, going by my first name while I'm here feels bizarre. It's been a very long time since anyone called me by it."

Dick could understand why, after going by his title of Kazekage for so long, "Just try and enjoy it I suppose. There isn't really any pressure on you tonight. We just wanted someone for Naruto to spend some time with."

"Ah yes, Naruto. He's a demon child as well, correct?" Rasa asked, glancing at a boy behind him with blood red hair, who seemed a tiny bit hurt at the words.

Dick found the term 'demon' a little offensive, "He's just a container for that Kyuubi thing, nothing more. I'd ask that you not tell him about it, as Naruto still doesn't know about his burden."

Rasa found it silly not to tell a weapon just how powerful it was, but didn't object, "As you wish. I hope you've got some strong alcohol here. I can't ever seem to get my assistants to bring my something decent to drink."

Rasa went and sat down at table, quickly looking over the drinks that the party had to offer. He'd never even said a word to his kids, which was more than a little sad. Dick decided that it was time to introduce them to Naruto, "Hey Naruto, come over here for a second. I wanna introduce you to some people."

Naruto finished up his fourth bowl of ramen, lord knew where the kid put it all, and walked over to his brother. He saw three kids standing behind him. One of them was a blonde girl with four ponytails in her hair who looked very interested in what was going on around her. The next was a boy with brown hair who looked a little annoyed to be at the party. Lastly, there was a little boy with red hair and strange tattoo on his forehead, who looked incredibly nervous. There was no need for Naruto to ask who they were.

"You're the kids from the hidden Sand," Naruto said in his natural Japanese dialect, "It's really nice to meet you guys. My name is Naruto Uzumaki-Wayne. What about you guys?"

All three of them seemed scared to answer, but finally the blonde girl said, "I'm Temari and these are my brothers, Kankuro and Gaara. Are you from a hidden village too?"

Naruto was happy to answer the question, "I'm from the hidden Leaf, but I moved to Gotham when my dad adopted me. I'm still totally gonna be an awesome ninja though!"

"Cool, I'm gonna be a ninja too, and I think that's what my brothers are planning to do as well," Temari said, starting to to warm up to the boy.

Kankuro seemed interested in Naruto too, "What kind of stuff have you learned to do?"

"I can make shadow clones, but so far that's about it. Well, I am working on one other thing right now, but haven't gotten to use it much," Naruto told him honestly, but Kankuro still seemed to find it interesting.

Gaara still remained silent, which made everyone nervous. Naruto decided to break the tension, wanting to know about the boy who was closest to his age, "So Gaara, do you really plan on being a ninja too?"

The other two siblings seemed interested in his response, as Gaara quietly said, "I want to be a ninja... I have lots of powers, and I want to learn how to control them. My uncle says that he'll help me if I really want to do it."

Both Temari and Kankuro seemed relieved by the answer, although Naruto didn't know why. He was just happy to have the kid talking, "Awesome. So, you guys wanna go and get something to eat? We've got some really awesome food here and tons of stuff to drink! We can go and play in my room later if you want."

All of them smiled and let Naruto lead them to the food table, Dick grinning the whole time. It was really nice to see him making some friend his own age. He noticed from the corner of his eye that Barbara had come to the dinner too, likely roped into by her father. Commissioner Gordon was talking with his daughter, who was happily talking back. It wasn't often that they got to spend time together, so they enjoyed it whenever they could. Beside them was Ellen Yin, a detective of asian descent who was the toughest woman in the precinct, and Harvey Bullock, a tall, stocky man who had redeemed himself after becoming a dirty cop.

Dick knew them all, so he decided to walk over and say hello, "Commissioner, Barbara, it's nice to see that both of you could make it out tonight. Nice to see you too detectives."

"Dick, I was hoping to run into you. How's Naruto adjusting?" Barbara asked, making sure not to seem too chumming with Dick.

Commissioner Gordon had heard about the whole adoption thing and was interested too, "Oh that's right, you just got a brother. How's he doing?"

Dick gave them a brief rundown of how Naruto had been doing, leaving out of course the parts about him eventually joining the Batman family. Everyone seemed very happy, especially Yin, "That's wonderful. I'll have to meet this Naruto at some point. What about you Bullock?"

Bullock had been stuffing his face, so he had to stop between bites. Once he was ready he said in his thick city accent, "Maybe, but I don't know when I'd have time to meet the brat. Bruce seems like an alright guy, so I'm sure his kids alright too."

"What about me," Dick asked with his trademark grin, "Aren't I an alright guy?"

Bullock played along, as he had a soft spot for the boy, "You Dickie? You're not just an alright guy, you're a friggin' saint! You're a hero, like the crazy guy in a flying rat suit!"

"Calling Batman a hero?" Yin said, a little bit shocked, "Never thought that I'd hear you admit that."

Bullock shrugged, getting up to get more food, "I'm warming up to the nutjob. Good talkin' to ya Dickie."

Bullock walked off and Dick said goodbye to the others at the table. Now he had to go off and socialize with the snobs. It sucked, but you kind of had to do it. Hopefully Naruto was having a good time, because Dick knew he wouldn't.


Naruto and Sand Siblings were having just as much fun as Dick hoped they were. After eating as much at their little bellies could hold, Naruto brought them to his room to show off some things from his new western culture. There had been lots of intresting things, but the coolest had to be the video games. For people who barely even had a tv back home, it was pretty freaking cool. After that, Naruto took them to the room where Dcik did all of his tricks that he learned back at the circus. Once that was done, they went back to the party and just went on bugging the adults. Temari and Kankuro were having a blast, and even Gaara seemed like he was having fun. It was great! Although playing tag in a crowded room wasn't always the best idea.

"Haha, Naruto, slow down! You're gonna knock someone over," Temari yelled, as they weaved their way through the crowd.

Gaara was right next to Naruto, laughing just as hard as the rest of them, "Haha, this is great! No one's looking at me like I'm bad or something."

Naruto never cared much when people looked at him, having gotten used to it back at the Leaf, "Let them look, it's not our problem if they wanna be all snobby!"

Kankuro was really starting to like this kid, "You got it Naruto! Screw those jerks!"

They kept running and laughing, until Naruto finally ran into someone, knocking himself on the ground. The man who he'd hit turned around, and boy was Naruto shocked at the man's appearance. It was a man who was as short as Naruto was, portly, had a long pointy nose, beady little eyes, greasy black hair, and slightly sharpened teeth. He was dressed in a fine suit, had strange looking black umbrella, and had a monical of all things.

Seeing such a nasty looking man in such nice clothes was a bit of shock, but Naruto still forced himself to apologize to him, "Sorry about that sir. We were just playing."

It threw the Sand Siblings off that he spoke english, but the man had seemed very happy to meet the boy, "Oh that's alright lad, no harm done. My name's Oswald Cobblepot. Now don't tell me, you must be Wayne's new son, Naruto, right?"

"Um, yeah, that's me," Naruto said noting his British/Cockney accent, "How do you know my dad?"

Cobblepot gave a terrifying smile at the boy, "We used to be friends back in our younger days. I was hoping that Bruce would fund my campaign for Mayor because of that, but I guess he had to stick to his bloody principals."

Naruto could tell that he said that last part bitterly, and decided he wanted to get out of here, "Well, I'm sure he wasn't trying to be mean. I'm gonna go play with my friends now. It was nice to meet you...I guess."

Naruto around and ran away. Both he and the Sand Siblings found the man to be incredibly creepy. Gaara in particular, "And people in the sand say I'm creepy."

Kankuro was actually laughing, "Dude, he looked like some kind of freaky penguin!"

"Don't call people names Kankuro, even if they are fitting," Temari scolded, trying not to laugh.

Once they were out of sight, Cobblepot began to scowell. He hated dealing with kids. They were annoying, sticky, and loud. Those three things did not mix well. The fact that Bruce Wayne had two of them was just even more of a reason to hate him.

Walking away from the rest of the guests, Cobblepot began to look for what he'd comer to this party for in the first place. He walked out of the dining hall and looked around until he found the garden of Wayne Manor. This was exactly what he wanted to see, "Now, let's get this party really started."

Cobblepot quickly found a sewer grate tucked away in the corner of the garden. It was clearly meant to guide all of the Wayne's used water to city's waste disposal system. The manor was massive, so Wayne's had more elaborate pipes, hence the grate. Bruce had been smart enough to make it steel plated and keypad locked so that no one could use it to sneak in.

"A cute little lock, but let's see how it handles this," Cobblepot said, putting his umbrella over the lock. Once he was sure he wasn't in the direct line of sight of any video cameras, he twisted the umbrella, causing it's head to pop off. A strange acid poured from the umbrella and onto the keypad, hissing as it did so. Clinking metal was heard as acid worked, and finally loud 'Clunk' was heard. The grate popped open, finishing up Cobblepot's part of the plan.

He leaned down into the sewer, despite the foul smell, and called, "It's done people, get your asses up here! I payed good money for you bastards!"

Three men popped out from the grate. Two of them were just normal guys, but one of them stood nearly 7 feet tall and was wearing a heavy trench coat. You couldn't see his face, but he had a gruff voice, "Thanks for the entrance Cobblepot. I've always wanted to hit this place, but I couldn't find a way in. This is gonna be perfect."

"Well I didn't do it for free," Cobblepot snapped, "You know the deal. I want that place torn to shreds! Everything you can destroy, get's destroyed! Wayne's gonna be paying millions in repairs for not siding with the right bird. Bloody hell man, does loyalty mean a damn thing to that prick!"

The man in the trench coat shed the coat, letting the moonlight hit his his slimy, scaled skin. He had piercing red eyes and a muscular frame. His teeth were long and sharpened, matching his fingernails. His whole body seemed to be covered in skin just like that of a crocodiles, "Well he'll learn loyalty alright, or my name ain't Killer Croc."

Cobblepot took out a cigarette and lit it, trying to make himself seemed relaxed in the presence of this disgusting man, "You come highly recommended when it comes to scaring the piss out of someone. Do you really take a bite out of people sometimes?"

"Oh yes, human flesh is real tasty," Killer Croc said, licking his lips, "I might take a little chomp out of the people here actually! I wanna see how rich people taste!"

Cobblepot shuddered, unable to hide it, "Well, isn't that pleasant?"

Killer Croc and his men walked past Cobblepot, laughing at his fear, "Calm yourself down Penguin, it's just a little hobby of mine. Think of it like wine tasting. I don't take enough to empty the bottle, just enough to get a little bit of the flavor."

Cobblepot just shook his head, partially at his horrible nickname. Of all the villain names to get, he had to get that one. Oh well, at least he could afford the terrifying Killer Croc to do his dirty work for him. This was the kind of thing he didn't like to do himself.


Back at the party, the adults were drinking, the kids were playing, the cops were eating, everyone in general was just having an amazing time. That was until a loud crash erupted from the entrance of the room, getting everyone's attention. Loud screams filled people's eardrums when they saw the large, scaly man who was standing in the doorway.

Killer Croc actually enjoyed the outburst, deciding to play it up, "Ladies and gentlemen, for those of you who don't know who I am, my name is Killer Croc, a regular foe of the Batman. The name givin' to me at birth was Waylon Jones, right before I killed my own mother during birth. My looks hurt me bad in my life, people were very quick to judge. This world took a real big bite out of me. Now, I'm gonna take a bite out of the world right back. If you fight this, it'll only make it worse. Just sit back and give us your valuables, and no one gets hurt. We're just gonna tear up Wayne's place a little bit before that."

"The hell you will," the booming voice of Commissioner Gordon yelled, as he pulled out his handgun and pointed it at the men. Four other officers had stood up as well, all pointing their guns at the criminals.

Killer Croc found the guns to humorous, "Just as brave as always Commissioner. Always trying to find the most righteous path that you can. Put those useless toys down. They might kill my friends here, but my skin's too thick for that shit. It'll just sting me a bit."

While this mexican standoff was beginning, Naruto was quietly talking to his new friends, "We've gotta make sure that these guys are distracted until the big guns get here. The police can't beat this guy, but I think that someone else's who's coming can. Will you guys help me?"

Temari and Kankuro nodded, but Gaara wasn't paying any attention. He seemed like he'd seen a ghost or something, "...It's almost like looking into a mirror…"

Naruto had no clue what he was talking about, but Temari and Kankuro seemed to get it. There was a lot of parallels that could be drawn between what all Gaara had been through at the hidden Sand and what Killer Croc had been through in Gotham. Gaara had killed his mother during birth, been labeled as a monster because he had a tailed beast sealed inside of him, and just had everything horrible that could happen to a person happen to him. Much like the Croc.

"Gaara? Hello, Gaara?" Naruto said, trying to get the boy's attention, "You're gonna help me with this, right?"

Gaara finally shook himself back into reality, realizing that if didn't wanna end up down the road Killer Croc was on, he had to at least try to help, "What do you need me to do?"

Naruto tried to think logically like his dad had been teaching him, "If they attack the croc guy, he's gonna attack them back. We need to try to keep the cops from shooting at him."

Temari could feel the tension in the room, "How are we gonna do that? Sooner or later that croc thing is gonna attack and then they'll use those gun things on him."

"Unless Croc thinks that it's too hard to attack," Naruto said, getting an idea, "I'll be right back, I'm gonna try out a new trick that I just learned!"

Kankuro watched him run off, a little frustrated, "What the heck? He's asks for our help and then runs away!"

Gaara wasn't paying a whole lot of attention, "He goes anywhere near them, I'm going to attack to have mama tear him apart!"

Temari was creeped out by her brother's words, but figured that it was good that she had someone to defend them, "Let's just wait and see what Naruto has planned first."

All of the sudden, a dozen extra footsteps entered the room. They belonged to a dozen more police officers who'd just arrived on the scene. They all pointed their guns at Croc, increasing the pressure on him. Gordon had no idea where they'd come from, but he was happy to have them, "What do you say now Croc? I don't think even you could take seventeen clips worth of bullets being emptied into you!"

Killer Croc had to admit, it would at least hurt like hell to get hit that hard, and Batman was still more than likely going to show up. What was he to do now? "Well, this situation just got a little stickier, didn't it?"

Bruce and Dick watched the situation unfold, rather confused. Dick puzzled, "Wait a minute, we didn't invite that many cops to this place."

"They're not cops," Bruce said, figuring out what was going on, "I think that Naruto is trying to give you and I a distraction to get ourselves a little better dressed. Let's go, we're not gonna waste it."

It hit Dick that they'd just finished teaching Naruto the transformation jutsu, which let him change his appearance to look like just about anyone. He must have made the clones and changed them into cops to make Killer Croc a little more nervous. This was indeed the time for them to go and get ready for a fight. Croc was a tough person to fight, as he was about twice as strong as a normal man, and had teeth and nails as sharp as knives. They were just hoping that Croc wouldn't cause too much damage before they got him out.

Being the bright girl that she was and having seen the transformation technique before, Temari soon figured out what was going on, "Good plan, but how is he making that many clones?"

Before she could get an answer, something occurred to Killer Croc, "Wait a second. How did this many cops get here so fast? If they'd already been here, they would've stood up the first time you pigs did. You're not trying to pull a fast one on ol' Killer Croc, now are ya?"

It was then that Gordon realized that only five cops had even been invited, so he had no idea who these other guys were. Yet, he had to act calm, "...Look scumbag,"

"Got ya," Killer Croc muttered, as he saw the fear forming in Gordon's eyes. He charged at the man, causing the five real officers to fire. Croc was hit with seven bullets total, and they hardly even left a mark in his thick hide.

Killer Croc lowered his shoulder and hit Gordon with it, sending him reeling. The other officers he just swatted away like flies, expect Yin, who dodged it, and Bullock, who was too big for that. Naruto had forced his clones to fade back into the crowd and disperse. He'd changed back to normal while no one was looking, but that soon made him catch the eye of Killer Croc, "Ah, a rich little brat. I wonder how someone like you would taste!"

Naruto ran as Killer Croc began to chase him. The massive monster of a man soon began to gain on the boy, until he stopped in his tracks. Something hit him in the chest like a ton of bricks. Well, more accurately, like a ton of sand. Some kind of massive bullet made of sand hit him with such force that it knocked him on his back. Everyone stared in awe, unaware the Gaara had just tapped into the power to control sand that was given to him by the demonic tanuki sealed inside of him.

"Son of a bitch, that hurt!" Croc yelled, noticing the sand slowly pulling away from him. He had no idea what was going here.

It only got worse for the man as a voice came from the ceiling, "To bad for you, it's about to get much more painful."

Batman and Robin dropped down right in front of the human crocodile. Killer Croc jumped back up, very unhappy, "As if things couldn't get any worse with you. What, are you controlling sand now or something?"

Batman had no idea what he was talking about, and he did really care to find out, "The only thing that you need to know about me is that I'm about to kick back into the sewer you crawled out of!"

Croc wasn't one to back down from a fight, even against the Batman. He opened his mouth as wide as he could, bearing his sharpened teeth. Batman threw his hands out in front of him and caught Croc mouth to keep him from snapping down and tearing his head clean off. Robin saw his opening, and got out his bo staff. With one big swing, Robin took the staff and hit Croc in the abs.

Croc pushed Batman away from him, holding his side, "Nice shot shithead, but lets see ya do it again!"

With his massive hand, Killer Croc grabbed Robin by the throat and pulled him into the air, squeezing the boy so that no air could get to his lungs, "I...can't...breath…"

"Put him down before I break you in two," Batman growled in his most intimidating voice.

Killer Croc scoffed and squeezed the boy's neck harder, "Come here and try, I'm beggin' you!"

Batman took the challenge, getting a special pair of brass knuckles from his utility belt. Croc took his sharpened nails and slashed at the dark knight, who ducked and rolled under it. Once he was behind him, Batman hit Croc in the back with the brass knuckles. While it did add a little extra power to Batman's strike, it was actually unique because it would send a large shock through whoever it struck. In this case, that unlucky person was Killer Croc.

"AAAAAHHHHHHH," Croc screamed out in pain. He fell to his hands and knees, a little steam coming off from his as he did. The shock would evaporate that sweat on a person, so that was where the steam had been coming from.

Batman was happy to see that Croc couldn't do much to them. Robin decided this was the best time to taunt him, "You know, we could just skip the butt kicking this time and take you right to Arkham. It would save everyone a lot of time and hassle."

Killer Croc hated being teased like that. Yet, he'd battle against these guys on enough occasions to know he would likely get beaten here. There was only one other option if he was gonna win this thing. He jumped up and grabbed a young man, putting one of his sharpened nails to the man's throat, "You guys better throw your weapons on the ground now! If you don't, I'm gonna give this place a new paint job! Blood red, my favorite color!"

Batman and Robin didn't know what they were going to do. They were sure that Killer Croc meant it, and might even enjoy doing it. Luckily, Batman had a plan for just this occasion. He looked at Naruto and for a millisecond and flashed him a wink. Naruto knew just what his dad wanted him to do. He disappeared back into the crowd to get ready.

"Alright Croc, let's just stay calm now. We're putting everything down. No need to hurt an innocent man," Batman said, taking off his belt and various other gadgets. Robin soon followed suit, making them just about emptied handed.

This is just what Killer Croc wanted to see, "Ah, good ol' hand to hand combat. Let's see just how strong you are without all your little toys."

Croc started to walk towards them, wondering whether or not he might try a little taste of these guys. If he was being honest, he didn't really like the taste of human flesh. Real food tasted far better, but eating people put far more fear into the hearts of men. This little distraction would cost Killer Croc dearly, as he completely failed to notice someone moving through the crowd. A small ball hit the ground in front of him and sent off a blinding light. It was one of Batman's flash grenades, which had been thrown by Naruto. He'd gotten it early from his fathers stash just in case something bad happened.

"What the hell? I can't see a damn thing," Killer Croc proclaimed, covering his face with his hands to block out the light.

Batman and Robin's masks were designed to let them see in conditions like this, so they were unaffected. The duo sprange right into action, planning their finishing blows. Robin took his bo staff smacked the end right into Killer Croc's chin. Cursing, Croc's head sprung backwards and he began to take a few steps back. With his grappling hook, Batman fired a stream of wire around Croc's legs and pulled it tight.

The Dark Knight smiled as Killer Croc went right to the floor, setting Batman up to end it all, "Game over, you slimy little reptile!"

Batman jumped on top of him with his electric brass knuckles on and hit Croc right in the head. The shock it sent through him put Killer Croc out cold, finishing up the battle. Everyone cheered as the two henchmen began to run away.

"Don't worry, I've got them," Robin said, then jumped off to make sure they didn't get away.

Batman finished tying up the big baddie as Gordon came up to thank him, "We've been chasing this guy for months. Seems like you're the only one who can ever bring him in. Thanks Batman, we appreciate it."

Batman was a man of few words, so he said shortly, "Not a problem. You might wanna leave the party. It seems to be getting a bit crowded to me."

With that, Batman raised up his grappling hook and shot towards the ceiling. He soon disappeared into the shadows, out of everyone's sight. Everyone knew that he wouldn't be seen for the rest of the night, he never was once his job was done. Once the criminals were taken away, all of the guests went back home. Quincy Sharpe had actually been very happy about the whole thing, because it drew a lot of attention to his campaign. Bruce wasn't nearly as happy, since he had to help clean the entire mansion. No one had been hurt though, and that made the day a win for the good guys.


"I really wish they didn't have to go home," Naruto pouted, sad that his newfound friends had left.

The two of them, Naruto and Bruce, were sitting in the living room, unwinding from the long week that followed the party. Bruce had something that he was pretty sure would cheer Naruto up, "Don't worry son, you'll get to talk to them all the time."

Being certain that that was impossible, Naruto gave him a strange look, "They live in the hidden Sand, how would I ever get to talk to them?"

"With this," Bruce said, tossing him a cellphone, "It's a phone. I gave your new friends one just like it before they left. If you ever get lonely, just find their name on there and call them. Simple."

Naruto marveled at the little miracle that sat in his hand, "Woah, that's awesome. Can I go and call them right now?"

Bruce could feel how eager he was, "Sure, and you can call the Hokage with that too. Be sure to call him when you're done with the others."

Naruto nodded very happily and ran off. Once he was gone, Dick entered the room, "So, did you figure out how Killer Croc got in here?"

Bruce leaned back in his chair and rubbed his temples, "Yes I did. Someone melted out the lock on the sewer grate. Take a wild guess who that could be."

"Cobblepot," Dick spat out, knowing that he was the only one who had a bone to pick with Bruce at the moment.

Bruce nodded his head, "Hard to believe he thought that was somehow a good idea. Too bad he did leave enough evidence to prove it. I would love to finally nail him."

Dick knew the feeling, "What can you do? Someday he'll slip up and then we'll get him."

"We can hope that'll happen one day," Bruce said, not so sure that fate was certain.

Naruto came running back into the room, very excited about something, "The phone works! I talked to Gaara and those guys. He was doing really good too! He said that he tried just ignoring what the people said like I told him too, and it's kind of working. He plays with his brother and sister more too!"

Bruce had no idea Naruto would have such a positive effect on these guys lives, "Good job Naruto, you're really making a difference."

Naruto shot off his foxy grin, "Yup, and Gaara's gonna learn how to control his powers better too. He can move sand and stuff."

"So he was the one who knocked Croc down before," Dick noted, "We'll have to thank him for that."

Bruce was still thinking about other things, "We will, but first, Naruto needs to go and call the Hokage to tell him he's alright, don't you Naruto?"

Naruto gave a mock salute and went off to make the call, "Okay dad, be back in a couple minutes."

"We're going to start designing his costume tomorrow," Bruce said, rather randomly.

Dick still felt it was a good idea, "Sure thing. Hard to believe he's almost combat ready now."

Bruce agreed that it was amazing, and it needed to be done. Naruto was gonna face some dangerous people in Gotham, and he needed to be prepared for them. Weather he liked it or not.