AN: Damn. It's been a while. Thank each and every one of you who have reviewed, followed or favorited, It means everything to me and keeps me going. Alright, I'll keep this short, The Heist DLC was okay, BO4 is pretty great, and Red Dead Redemption 2 is such a masterpiece I want to make a fic about it. On with the show!

"So… are we going to talk about what happened?" Spider-Man did his best to ignore his girlfriend while he swung the two of them home. Having recovered enough to be able to stand, Naruto allowed Cindy to go make a statement to the police as the only witness, who had shown up minutes after Mr. Negative left.

"No. I'm taking you home."

"Oh, okay then… " Cindy tried not to show her disappointment in his answer, instead, resigning to holding onto his back tighter. He landed on her balcony and motioned for her to get off, stoic as the black haired beauty shivered in the cold weather.

"Naruto I want to talk to you, we can't just go on like this never…" he was already gone because of course, he would be. Cindy huffed in annoyance, holding back tears she watched the person she thought she knew everything about swing away into the night. Taking a shuddered breath, the Korean woman walked into her apartment, ready for her shitty night to be over.

"I haven't talked to him since Halloween Gwen…" Cindy sat in the dining hall and poked her burger. It had been almost a month since Cindy had even talked to Naruto, outside of the pleasantries of everyday conversation around the group. At school, there was nothing wrong with him. The blond had his normal smile on his face, his big, bright blue eyes shining like they did every day. But the former ninja's female friends could tell that there was something wrong. The smile was a mask, hiding the fact that there was no longer any fire in his eyes. Blond stubble had started to appear on his face, and anybody could see the bags that lingered under his eyes.

"Well I don't know what to say, Cid, maybe he just needs time?" Cindy gave Gwen a look that made the blonde chemistry student retreat into her chair.

"You don't have to sugar coat it Gwen, anything we had is more than likely over, I just want to know that he's okay. It's just… on Halloween he…" the words died in Cindy's mouth as Naruto walked past their table to occupy an empty one. Just watching him filled the older woman's chest with dread, not being helped by the redhead who had already sauntered over to his side. "It was nice talking to you Gwen, I'll text you later." picking up her trash, the Korean journalism major excused herself as fast as she could.

"Did you manage to get the information about the Demons I sent you?"

"I'm en route now, thanks, Gwen."

"It's no problem Naruto, but you can't keep avoiding me and Cindy like you have been. Johnny and Bobby might not have noticed but you know we sure as hell have. She was telling me about Halloween, which you still haven't explained by the way. I don't know if I can keep lying to her."

"I've told you this a thousand times these past weeks, the farther you girls are the better." Naruto could almost see Gwen's sarcastic smirk as he said that.

"Is that why you're using me as an informant for everything the NYPD has on Mr. Negative and the Demons?" the web-slinger frowned, shooting another web line to continue his movement through the night sky.

"Trust me, Gwen, if your dad wasn't the Commissioner, you'd be as far away from this as possible."

"Whatever you say Spider-Boy, I'll keep saying it, you need me as much as I need you. So stop being moody." rolling his eyes, the hero's lenses narrowed as he passed a nearby jewelry store. He had been doing the same routine since his fight with Negative, find a base of operations, beat everyone up, and go to the next one. It was practically therapeutic since his initial run-in with Negative and his Demons, but the downside was that it was costly on his costume and armor. He had replaced his lenses at least six times last week, and his armor four times. Back to the matter at hand, however, Spider-Man watched as a black and white figure on top of the store began to cut a hole in the glass skylight.

"I'm gonna have to call you back Gwen." hanging up with a tap on his ear, Spider-Man decided to introduce himself. "Look I know that the economy is kicking everyone's ass right now, but you don't have to steal, what happened to the American Dream?" Naruto watched the would-be thief jumped in surprise at the unexpected voice, slowly turning her head up to face him.

"So you're the Spider-Man everyone's been talking about? You almost put me out of a job mister, almost no one would hire me because they're all scared of you." Naruto couldn't help but take in the woman's form. It was clearly athletic, barely restrained and hidden by the black catsuit she was wearing. White plumes of fur went down the back of her calves, a collar of fur around her neck. The zipper to the suit was pulled down, just enough to reveal her cleavage, something that had taken his eyes for a bit too long. More fur was on her forearm, distracting from the armored white gauntlets she was wearing. To top it all off, a black domino mask hid her identity, only revealing cyan blue eyes that were framed by her stark white hair. The cat burglar (quite a literal one if the cat on her silver belt buckle was anything to go by) let a sly smile grace her face as Spider-Man stared at her.

"Do you like what you see honey?"

"You'd like it if I did wouldn't you?" Spider-Man jumped down from his perched position and narrowed his lenses. "If all the big wigs in the criminal underworld are scared that must mean I'm doing my job right."

"Ah ah ah, not all of them Spider, otherwise I would be enjoying a nice bath and watching my shows right now."

"And I imagine that you won't just give up your employer willingly?" The cat cooed at him and ran a finger down her chest.

"All information has a price, how about a trade? My employer for a little peek under that mask? What do you say?"

Spider-Man threw out his hand and webbed the white-haired woman's hand to the skylight. "I'd rather not, how about this deal, you tell me who you're working for and I won't have to get rough."

"Aw darling," the woman extended her hidden claws and slashed away his webs, "Momma was made for rough."

Dodging a few quick swipes, Spider-Man began to throw punches, ones that were easily blocked or evaded. 'Well she's faster than the average cat.' Going in for a quick leg sweep, the vigilante couldn't contain his surprise when the black-clad woman jumped over the move and went to pounce on top of him. The wallcrawler dropped to his back and used his legs to redirect her into the adjacent wall behind him.

"Ooh, looks like the spider can put up a fight." Spider-Man did a kip up and recovered, lenses narrowing at the thief.

"And it looks like the cat can take a hit."

"You work at this game long enough you learn a few tricks. But don't be afraid, I wouldn't want to hurt my little Spidey-Man."

"Really, and why's that?"

"Cats don't eat spiders," his spider-sense went off immediately, but not quick enough to avoid the blinding flash of light that hit him. "We just bat 'em around!" her high heel connected to his chest, pushing the two through the skylight and into the large jewelry store. Spider-Man reacted quickly, shooting two web lines and stopping himself from hitting the ground.

'The ground is a big no-no, one misstep and I'll have the police on my ass.' Naruto thought to himself before attaching to the ceiling. For a seemingly small storefront, the place was quite wide and spacious.

"I'm not done with you yet Spider!" Spider-Man moved his head to the left, narrowly avoiding the clawed hand that was now stuck in the ceiling where his head had been.

"As much as I like this song and dance, I think you've outstayed your welcome." Spider-Man took his chance and threw a quick, but strong, gut punch, making his white-haired assailant fall to the ground. His lenses widened as he watched her go limp while she fell.

"Damnit!"

Dropping from the ceiling, the superhero shot a web line at the falling criminal, pulling himself closer. Managing to grab hold, Naruto prayed he would be able to safely land. Flipping over feet first, the masked blond landed smoothly, ignoring the silent alarm that had just gone off, instead choosing to focus on the unconscious woman in his arms

"Hey, cat lady, you okay?" no response, exactly what he wasn't hoping for.

'Shit.' Naruto thought in annoyance before he rolled the bottom of his mask up. Taking hold of her nose with his left hand, the blond began to give CPR to the would-be cat burglar. Moving his hands to her chest, Spider-Man pressed a few times, to no avail.

"Come on, I didn't hit you that hard." the hero went back up to try again but was caught off guard when said woman immediately took hold of his face, smashing his lips against hers and shoving her tongue down his throat. Breaking the kiss, she quickly whispered into his ear.

"Oh don't worry baby, I bet you can hit a lot harder. I'll see you later darling." too fast for his spider-sense to register, she popped another flashbang.

"God damn it, note to self, polarize lenses." Getting off the ground, Spider-Man was unsurprisingly greeted with an empty store. "And now she's gone too, at least I stopped whatever she was here for." Spider-Man walked out of the front doors, greeting the cops that were stationed outside. Checking the time, Naruto decided to continue with his mission, which was tearing down as many Demon bases he could before the night was over.

"Naruto, it's me, I just wanted to call again and check in on you. It's been hours since you hung up, please call me back." Gwen sighed and placed her head up against her dorm window. Why did she accept being dragged into this? Oh yeah, because she thought it'd be fun and exciting. And it was, at least until the evening, when she'd wait hours wondering if Naruto would make it back alive or not. She opened her eyes and looked at her reflection. "Do I need a haircut?" she asked herself, fiddling with strands of her hair, trying imaginary styles. The blonde was taken out of her thoughts by a knocking on her window. Doing her best to see, Gwen cursed and quickly went to open her window. Why you may ask? Well, a certain 20-year old superhero had decided to make a visit to her dorm of all places.

"What're you doing here Naruto?" she received no answer, only a blank stare as he continued to sit on her fire escape. "Uzumaki, you okay?" her fellow blond grunted in return, instead, slipping through the window feet first, stumbling onto her floor, somehow managing to stand. It was in the light that Gwen finally noticed how disheveled Naruto looked. There were rips and tears all over his suit, portions of the black cloth wet with blood. His mask was about the only thing that made it, okay, a few scuffs here and there.

She watched as he began to take a step to sit on her bed, only to collapse on the floor. "Naruto…" Gwen rushed to his side and propped him against the bed frame. Removing his mask, Gwen could barely hold back the gasp that left her mouth. He was bruised and beaten, a swollen eye here, a busted lip there, it looked like he had gone 10 rounds with King Kong until TKO.

"I'm sorry, I should've thought about coming here, where are the other girls."

"They went to a party, they'll stay there for a while." Gwen wiped a tear from her face and sighed. "I can't do this Naruto."

"What why?" Gwen glared and wiped at her eyes.

"I'm not going to sit here and let you get yourself killed. I mean look at us, we're supposed to be college kids, I shouldn't be having to nurse my best friend back to health at midnight because he's too busy being a vigilante!" she let out a hampered breath, doing her best to reign in her emotions. "I don't even know how you know about these 'Demons' Naruto. You haven't told me anything since I found out you were Spider-Man on Halloween. Not how you got your powers, why you're hunting them down, or even how Cindy knows. I need answers."

Naruto nodded his head, taking a breath before exhaling. It was almost comical how both Gwen and Cindy found out on the same night. He should've known that she would follow up his abrupt leave, then again, he wasn't really thinking straight. Seeing your friend crawl through his bedroom window and take off his mask would connect the dots for anyone.

"Okay, I'll tell you everything, Gwen. If you're going to help me, you need to trust me, like I trust you. I just need you to promise me that you won't freak out." the former ninja got a grim nod in return.

"Alright then, well I should probably start with the basics… I'm not from this dimension."

They had talked for hours now, Naruto recalling his life as a ninja up to the point they had met, constantly stopping to make sure Gwen wasn't confused. He watched as she gradually relaxed, understanding more and more about her new "partner".

"So you've told me about how you got your powers, but not about what made you want to do," she comically gestured to his costume, "this?" Naruto shifted in his spot on the floor, knowing she would ask eventually.

"So you remember Uncle Ben right? I'm sure you've heard the story from Cindy." she nodded. "Well the way I told it isn't the way it happened, it was different…"

"Peter we've been over this, I'm not going to become some reality TV star." a younger Naruto responded to his lab partner. A few days ago he had been bitten by that stupid spider at the demonstration. He had very reasonably freaked out and decided to confide with his only real friend, Peter Parker. The kid was an ESU freshman, transferring in the same time Naruto had. Apparently, he was so smart he was able to go to college, at the ripe old age of 16 too. They were both new, but no one really knew or talked to Peter like people seemed to gravitate toward Naruto.

"But think about it, we could be rich! We could pay for school, get with girls, I could finally help my parents out with bills, maybe even…"

"Peter." the younger boy stopped and saw his friend's seriousness. "Power isn't a joke, trust me, abilities like mine shouldn't be toyed with." The older man ran a hand through his long hair and beard. "My Uncle Ben fought in World War II, and he used to say that with great power, there must also come great responsibility. Now even though he may have been talking about world superpowers, it still applies." Naruto gave his friend one last look before leaving.

"Think on it for a bit Pete."

One Month Later: May 2017

Peter looked at the news in disgust. There were constant reports of some kind of vigilante running around, one who was using webs to swing from building to building like Tarzan, a "Spider-Man" if you would.

"I was the one who helped him with that formula! It was me, I'm the real Spider-Man!" Peter yelled at the screen, no concern for his suitemates in the other room. It had been this way since Naruto and himself had that "great power" conversation. "Great power, it's all a lie. He could help me, help us! But instead, he wastes it on fighting minuscule crime. We could go big but no."

Peter quickly pulled out a lock box from under his bed, opening it to reveal a simple 9mm pistol. The boy pocketed the weapon before rushing out of his dorm. "I'll change it, I'll get powers just like him, I'll be the real hero."

Breaking into the genetics lab in the Science Hall, Peter rummaged around, looking for the super spiders. "Where are they?!" he yelled, throwing out his arms and knocking down a display case behind him. "What?" the young boy turned and was delighted to see a large spider, a tarantula, in fact, crawling on top of the now broken case. "Come to me, come to me and give me the power!" thrusting his hand out the spider did as told, crawling up his arm up to his neck, before sinking its fangs deep into his veins. 'I feel it, I'm already changing.' Peter thought to himself, making his way to his next destination, Chinatown.

Elsewhere

"I'm telling you, Uncle Ben, I can't just sit around and do nothing! You know that better than anyone." Ben Reilly looked upon his "nephew" in skepticism. Another night of fighting, another night of Naruto putting himself in harm's way.

"Listen to yourself Naruto, you're a grown man. Running around in that hoodie, like you're some kind of superhero. You don't have to dance with death anymore. You can live a normal life, I know I don't have much time left but…"

"It doesn't matter old man, I'm going to make my own way. I told you, that spider god said I was destined for something, maybe I'm here for a reason. I need to leave, I'm sorry Uncle Ben." in seconds Naruto was gone, leaving his uncle alone in their home.

'That boy, reminds me so much of myself.' the Army veteran sighed and went to take a seat in his favorite chair. Before he could finally sit down, however, three loud knocks on the door sounded out.

"Hello?" silence prevailed. The man narrowed his eyes, and walked over to the fireplace, taking the M1911 off the mantle above. "Hello, who is it?" still nothing. The Japanese man pointed his pistol at the door, ready and willing to do what was necessary, as he had done so many times before.

"I'm Naruto's friend, is this where he lives?"

"Yes, why?"

"He said he had something I had to pick up? Don't worry I can probably find it in a few minutes. My name's Peter by the way."

With Naruto Soon After

'I'm such a fool. Stupid, stupid, stupid.' the blond did his best to swing back home, trying to go as fast as he could. 'Of course when I leave something bad happens, God please let him be okay.' barely 10 minutes after he had left, his uncle had called. What he thought would be a lecture turned into a ransom over the phone. Someone had his uncle hostage, and that someone knew he was the vigilante. Landing in front of the ramen shop, Naruto jumped over the counter and ran to the back, kicking down the door to their living room, only to dodge a bullet that was fired in his direction.

"Alright, you son of a bitch, what do you… Peter?" to the former ninja's horror, standing with the barrel pressed against his uncle's head, was Peter Parker. "Peter what are you doing here?"

"I'm here to show you who's the better Spider-Man Naruto, I'm going to make everything right again." the former ninja did his best to keep his hands visible, but couldn't help but be unnerved by the crazed look in Peter's eyes. "I tried to save a woman before I came here, I killed the two men who were assaulting her. I told her I was Spider-Man, that I was a famous hero, she only ran away from me. So I killed her too." Peter pointed the gun in his direction. "You've taken it all away from me Naruto, I can see clearly now. I can see it all. The spider, it showed me, it showed me that I'm Spider-Man and that you stole that from me!" Peter gestured to his neck, letting Naruto see the large bite mark on his neck.

'Dear god… you've gone insane Peter…'

"It doesn't have to end this way Parker, just let him go, then I'll give you my powers and you can be Spider-Man." Slowly, Peter complied, letting go of Ben and his hold on him.

"The spider showed me something else too…" Naruto's spider-sense blared. "That you would lie to me!" Peter pulled the trigger, hoping for it to go through Naruto's chest. Instead, it went through another's.

"UNCLE BEN!" Naruto pounced on top of Peter, pure rage flowing through him. He wrapped his hands around his neck and began to squeeze. It felt like forever until the teen went limp, the blond finally letting go of the now dead body. The tired hero looked at Peter's body, seeing the marks on the boy's neck, as well as the venomous veins and sickly pale skin that was now his face. "What have I done…" running into the bathroom, the bearded blond threw up and looked at his reflection, shocked to see familiar red eyes. However, with a blink, they were gone. Rushing to his uncle's side Naruto let out tears of frustration and anger.

"I'm sorry Uncle Ben…"

"Don't worry Naruto, it was going to happen soon. Quick, get the box under my bed and bring the contents to me." in seconds Naruto returned, an old-school camera in his hands. "This camera means a lot to me, helped me through the war… I want you to have it, son…" Naruto watched as Ben took his last breath, doing his best to hold back more tears, but to no avail.

"I'm so sorry Uncle Ben, I should've been here. With great power, there must also come, great responsibility. I'll remember that. I love you… dad."

"The police arrived and I gave them the version I told Cindy. They said that the venom was spreading so fast they couldn't tell if I had killed him or if he died before. Either way, it didn't matter, I promised myself I'd never let myself get that low again." looking over to Gwen, he saw her wipe her eyes with a tissue, doing her best to stay strong and nod. The blond slowly made his way to his feet and made his way towards the window.

"It's like 3 am, I probably won't be at school tomorrow." Gwen laughed at his attempt at a joke before blowing her nose.

"I don't doubt it… thank you for being honest with me Naruto."

"If we're working together we need to trust each other. I trust you with my life Gwen." his fellow blonde smiled and turned to walk away.

"I trust you with mine as well, Naruto."

AN: Wow, that was a doozy. I hope you guys aren't upset or annoyed at what I did with Peter. I wasn't originally planning it to go that way but I'm happy with how it worked out. I want to know if you guys prefer monthly/bi-monthly updates of 3,000 - 4,000-word chapters, or more often but shorter 1,500 to 2,000-word chapters? Just a thought. I should have the first chapter of my Naruto/Green Lantern Crossover out soon. Unless RDR2 decides to stop that. Either way, please read, review, and as always, have a great day.