Naruto found himself in a pitch-black space. When he tried to think about where he was, he found himself getting a massive headache for his troubles. It took a moment for the initial pain of the headache to die down to a constant throb. The last that he remembered, he and Kurama had fought a massive Omnic by using their Nine Tailed Mode which had been epic, but it had also felt weird and Alien due to how for that moment, his and Kurama's minds had merged in way. Their thoughts belonged to one another along with their actions and feelings.
"Hey, Naruto. You doing fine?" Kurama asked as his body materialized from the darkness.
"Ah luttle shore." Naruto replied before he realized that his speech was off. "Wuh is wit mah speech?" Naruto asked with some fear. Kurama walked up to Naruto before putting his red furred hand onto Naruto's shoulder.
"Just calm down. The massive influx of power that you received fried your body, and with it, your braincells." Kurama responded which calmed Naruto down slightly, "Now for any normal person, losing that many braincells would be a permanent disaster, you are not normal though which means that as we're speaking, your nanobots are repairing and regenerating all the damage to your body, including that of your braincells. You just need to relax and try to not think for a bit and all the repairs will be done eventually."
Naruto nodded and calmed himself before sitting down. Kurama eventually changed shape to that of a much larger fox before circling behind Naruto and sitting down. Naruto leaned his back into Kurama's body and the two just sat there enjoying one another's company in silence.
After what felt like ages, Kurama finally spoke, "You've been a very popular subject for the past twenty-four hours." Naruto turned to look at his friend with confusion, "Your face along with our Nine Tailed Form has been all over the news, ranging from South Korea all the way to back home. You're all over the internet which basically means our cover has been blown. The again, that's pretty normal for us." Naruto nodded his head in agreement at this.
"But, it also means one other thing. Lena has been calling at basically all times of the day. I've got about fifty voice-messages from her. Do you want me to bring them up?" Kurama asked. Naruto nodded at this. A screen with a list of messages and dates glowed before Naruto's face. He reached his hand out and pressed the oldest one first.
"Naruto, I just saw everything that happened on the news, love. Are you okay? Call me back when you can." The voice of Lena said in a quick and excitable tone. Naruto pressed on the next one.
"Hey, Naruto, just calling again since you didn't get my call. Is everything alright? Just call me as soon as you can." Lena said with a slightly less excited tone.
The next one began to devolve at this point, "Please tell me if you're alright. I'm getting really worried. Please, call me." Lena pleaded. Naruto at this point began clicking and listening to each of the messages which showed the worried state of Lena's. She sounded less happy in each message and gained a scared tone due to it. With that, Naruto brought up the last message and pressed on it.
"Naruto, I really am scared about what happened to you. I saw all over the internet how you fought that massive Omnic and how you shrunk down and were captured by the South Korean government. I'm absolutely terrified about what has happened to you that is making you unable to talk. I'm begging you to please call back, I love you, Naruto, and I don't want anything bad to happen to you." The message ended and both Naruto and Kurama looked at each other.
"That girl has been completely worried for you. I would recommend that you talk to her when your repairs are done, and by done, I mean immediately. Though it does explain a bit about her action a few years ago." Kurama mused with a large grin on his muzzle. Naruto didn't think about that. He just thought about what Lena had said at the end.
Before he could continue with his thought process, someone began to call the two. The two looked at each other before Naruto pressed the answer button. "Hey, Naruto, this is Jack. I'm calling to tell you that we're dealing with everything that the South Korean government is doing to keep you on their soil. They apparently have the idea of studying you in order to make more beings like you, or at least that is what we think. We've nearly finished talking over negotiations with the South Koran Government. Are you doing okay?" Jack Morrison asked with concern.
"Sorry, Jack, Naruto is unable to speak as of this exact moment due to some damage during the fight. This is, Kurama, speaking." Kurama replied which slightly threw Jack off before he continued the call.
"How are you two boys doing over there? We haven't gotten much information from the Koreans on how you're doing?"
"Naruto and I are fine. Naruto is the one that took most of the damage from our little stunt, but he's nearly fixed up. As soon as I have him fixed up, I'll try to take a look around where we are." Kurama said.
"All right. You two stay safe over there, we'll see you soon."
"See you soon, Jack." With that the call ended and Naruto and Kurama looked at each other. "Aren't we just popular today? I've got you fixed up, try and speak."
"Wow, my headache is finally gone. That is really helpful, still, we need to make a plan of escape if Jack can't get us out in time. How does it look out there?" Naruto asked. Kurama closed his eyes for a minute and then opened them.
"Yeah, we are in a base. Jiraiya and a few of the leaders of the soldiers are speaking to Jack and a few others. Do you want me to bring up the security feed?" Kurama asked.
"Do it. Let's see what's happening." Naruto replied. Kurama nodded and a screen flickered into life in front of the duo's faces. In it, seven men stood speaking to one another. Three of them were familiar, they were Jiraiya, Reinhardt, and surprisingly Torbjorn. They were standing across a room from four unfamiliar men. Three were wearing highly decorated uniforms while the fourth wore a navy-blue suit.
"-understand that while we would like to release the boy, he also presents both a danger to the world as well as a benefit to society. Just let us study him for a while, and after we understand what gives him these abilities, we'll release him." The man in the suit said in a placating manner.
"Oh, you'll have a danger alright. You're keeping an American citizen locked up for no apparent reason besides obvious heroism that let me remind you, the world has found out about." Jiraiya said in an even tone, his face a façade of calm.
"Can't you see what I'm talking about. If we found out what made the boy tick, then we could make soldiers that could counter the Omnic threat that we face every year." The man replied.
"You may be right about the boy being completely dangerous, I won't lie about that, or the fact that if you decided to study him, then there could be scientific discoveries made that could benefit all of society." Torbjorn said which didn't surprise Naruto in the slightest. Torbjorn was always wary of both him and Kurama. "But that boy is a member of Overwatch, and if you try to hold him, then you will have hell to pay." Torbjorn replied while fingering the hammer on his belt.
Naruto and Kurama were completely speechless about what Torbjorn just said. Guess the old man's mind wasn't completely made of iron and unchangeable. It could at least be changed after enough hammering. As Torbjorn said this, one of the heavily decorated men walked forward with a growl.
"That boy is a weapon that should be utilized. You Americans just wouldn't understand at all with your calm lives. We have to worry every year if it will be the last! All of you should just back off and leave us the weapon!" The man shouted. As he said this, the door of the room opened and Jack Morrison walked in with a look of determination on his face.
"I have just finished calling a few people, General Chang. I will alert all of you that if you keep Naruto under your lock and key, then you will start a massive international incident." Jack kept walking forward until his nose almost touched Chang's. "I don't think any of us would want that now, would we?" Jack looked at the man in the suit as he said this question. Chang was about to retort when the man in the suit held his hand up.
"Chang, enough." He sighed before looking at Jack. "Mr. Morrison. You may have the boy back, but understand that we are desperate as it is for help." Jack sighed at this.
"I'll talk to some people about it, but after today, there are not many that will look fondly upon South Korea for imprisoning someone who saved them. Now where is Naruto?" Jack asked with a neutral tone. It was at that point that Kurama cut the feed and the duo sighed in relief. At least their friends had their back during all of this.
"You should probably wake up since there are people coming to where you are." Kurama stated. Naruto agreed with this statement. In a flash of light, Naruto found himself opening his eyes to what looked like a lab. There were machines surrounding him along with monitors and a myriad of other objects which he couldn't put a name to. He saw one scientist typing into a computer with his back turned to him.
Naruto ignored the man and looked at his own body which had multiple wires on it. With a small tug, he pulled the wires off his body which caused the machines around him to start beeping, alerting the scientist in front of him.
The man turned and revealed a face with a pair of black rimmed glasses and short dark hair. "What are you doing awake?! You have to go back to sleep!" The scientist grabbed a syringe on the table and strode over to Naruto with a determined expression of putting Naruto back to sleep.
That wasn't in his plans and so when the scientist tried to inject him with the syringe, Naruto grabbed the man's hand and twisted the syringe out of his hand and then he stomped on it when it hit the ground. "Where are my clothes?" Naruto calmly demanded.
"But you're not supposed to leave." The man replied.
"Change of orders, where are my clothes?" Naruto demanded once more, he even let his eyes turn red in order to intimidate the man. The scientist became very quiet at this and pointed to a closet in the room. Naruto let the man's hand go and headed to the closet which he opened and found his clothes. He quickly discarded the hospital gown that he was wearing and put his clothes on before turning to the door.
The door opened and in strode the Overwatch members along with the man in the blue suit. Naruto cheerfully waved at the men. "Hey, guys! When are we leaving?" He asked. Jiraiya and Reinhardt openly laughed at this while Torbjorn and Jack let a smile grace their faces. The man in the suit looked at the scientist who had an apologetic look on his face.
"We are leaving now. Plans have changed as we are being recalled back to Europe for a while." Jiraiya replied.
"Why?" Naruto asked.
"Personal reasons which we will discuss later." Jiraiya replied with a slightly darker tone while motioning to the man in the suit that was standing next to him. Naruto got the hint and remained quiet.
It would be an hour later when the group of five had left the building that they were in and now were on their way to the airport. That was when Naruto popped the big question, "Why are we heading back to Europe?" Naruto asked with some disappointment in his voice. He really wanted to continue his journey around the globe with Jiraiya.
Jiraiya looked out the window of the car that they were in before he replied. "Naruto, yesterday while you were out of commission, we got multiple calls from the folks in Washington that were telling us to bring you back state-side. Luckily Gabrielle has been talking those politicians down from locking you up and throwing away the key, or worse…" Jiraiya trailed off. Jack was the one who picked up the slack for him.
"Since going state-side would be a terrible option as it would give people a larger incentive to lock you up, we've decided that you and Jiraiya will be watching over a new base that is being set up in Europe until this blows over." Jack said.
This made Naruto curious, "Where in Europe is this base?" He asked.
"London." Jack said with a smile, "We heard from Jiraiya about how much you like London, so we decided that you and Jiraiya would be crashing there for a while." Naruto looked over at Jiraiya and smiled. Jiraiya just nodded back. Maybe taking a break from their trip around the world wouldn't be that bad.
Naruto then closed his eyes and was brought into his mindscape with Kurama. "Can you call up Lena's cellphone?" Naruto asked. The red fox grinned at this. With a flick of the fox's tail, a screen popped up with Lena's phone number on it. A ringing could be heard from it until after the third consecutive ring, the phone was picked up.
"Naruto, is that you? Please tell me that it's you." Lena asked.
"Yeah, it's me. I'm still alive." Naruto replied which gained a sigh of relief from Lena. "Just had to rest up for a bit since that fight with the Omnic really tired me out. What about you though? How have you been these past two weeks?"
"Well, I have to tell you something, remember how I said that my da would let me get my pilot's license at sixteen?" Naruto affirmed this, "I managed to convince him to let me try for it at fifteen. And I finally got it!" Lena stated with pride.
"Then I have some news for you, Lena. I'm coming back to London this week." Naruto winced at the shout of excitement.
"This is going to be wicked! You're finally coming back! How long?" Lena quickly asked.
"For a long while." Naruto replied.
"Yeah, until the whole mess with the US gets covered. We are basically grounded in London. Not that bad if you ask me." Kurama interjected.
"Hey, Kurama! How are you today?"
"Keeping our favorite knucklehead alive, the same as usual. Though that fight against the Omnic was amazing. I've never actually experienced being outside of Naruto's body like that before." Kurama replied with a toothy grin. Naruto just punched the fox playfully in the side.
"Then I hope that I'll see you boys back here in England. We'll be able to do so much together like we used to! Though you might get mobbed by some of the people here. Apparently, you're a riot all over online. I've got a few friends that would be dying to meet you." Lena replied.
"Then I'll try to not disappoint them." With that, the two friends, along with Kurama, talked for the next thirty minutes just catching up and enjoying one another's company. As they spoke in Naruto's mind, outside of it, Jiraiya and the others were discussing details on the new base in London.
"Now, how many people will be working inside of the base?" Jiraiya asked. He knew that the base was going to be small, more of a pit-stop for any Overwatch member to rest and resupply for a mission, he just wanted to know what number of people he would be dealing with.
"There will be five people working in this base. We'll be giving you the file for the base when we arrive at the airport. You can study it there." Jack replied. While he and Jiraiya spoke, both Torbjorn and Reinhardt looked at Naruto who had his eyes closed, and yet, he didn't appear to be asleep. More like he was meditating.
"Is there a reason that Naruto is like that?" Reinhardt asked.
"He's probably talking to Kurama or doing something else in his head. He'll be fine." Jiraiya replied having seen this hundreds of times before.
"Alright. Just a little worried is all." Reinhardt replied. Torbjorn chuckled at this and patted Reinhardt's arm with his robotic clawed arm.
"Careful there, you're starting to sound like a dithering old man. Wouldn't want that now, would we?" Torbjorn playfully asked.
"Careful there, small man. Big words may not be your strong suit." Reinhardt replied. Both men playfully glared at one another before smiles broke out on their faces.
"I'll admit, your wordplay is getting better, old man." Torbjorn commended.
"By now, both of us could be considered old men." Reinhardt replied.
"And yet, I still look pretty young for my age." Torbjorn bragged to the larger man.
"If I grew a beard like yours, then I would feel old." The two vitriolic friends then began to trade continuous banter back and forth, both thoroughly enjoying each other's wordplay. Jack and Jiraiya found moments like these to be few and far between, but when they did happen, it was quite the spectacle. Which explained why the two were trying to stop themselves from laughing.
Back in Naruto's mind, the conversation between the two friends was slowly coming to a close. It was about to end when Naruto asked one final question. "Hey, Lena," He began, there was a slight nervousness in his voice which Kurama easily picked up on.
"What is it, love?" Lena asked.
"Well, I was listening to all the messages that you sent me, and there was one that caught my attention." Lena was quiet at this and let Naruto proceed. "And in it…y-you said that you," Naruto gulped before finally taking a breath and finishing, "that you loved me. C-could you tell me why you said that?" Naruto finished.
"H-how about I answer you when you get back here, alright, love?" Lena quickly replied. If only Lena could see the bright red of Naruto's face at this moment.
"S-sure. Let's do that. I'll see you by tomorrow, then we'll t-talk." Naruto stated.
"Yeah. See you soon!" Lena said before ending the call. With that, Naruto fell onto his back and looked up at Kurama who locked eyes with him.
"I know what you're going to say, so shut it." Naruto replied as he held his face in his hands. "That was just embarrassing. I probably looked like a complete idiot to Lena!" Kurama started to chuckle before breaking out into a full-on laugh. This caused Naruto to moan some more.
"Don't worry, you and Lena are still friends, so it's fine. Though you are starting to sound like more…" Kurama whispered at the end. Naruto looked at his friend.
"What did you say at the end?" Naruto asked.
"Nothing important. Now, I think that you should probably leave the mindscape. We are probably at the airport by now. Enjoy your flight." With that, Naruto left Kurama alone to laugh some more.
It had been a few hours on the airplane ride for Naruto and Jiraiya. For the first few hours of riding on the plane, Naruto entertained himself by playing some Hearthstone but he soon grew bored after playing to, and losing to, the guy Smartest Kong. After this, Naruto grew bored of playing games and so opted to go to sleep. Jiraiya quickly followed due to the length of time that it had taken as they made their way quickly back to Europe. With them were Jack, Torbjorn, and Reinhardt. Both Reinhardt and Torbjorn would be staying with the two Namikazes for the day as they wished to visit their homes. Jack on the other hand would be leaving back for the United States in order to deal with, as he like to call it, issues.
It was several hours later when five people walked off the plane together and into the terminal in London. Jack was already leaving for his next flight at this point of time. "Take care everyone, and please, try not to break anything." Jack said with a smile to his teammates.
"Can't promise you anything, Jack." Jiraiya replied. Jack gave Jiraiya a knowing smile and began walking away, his blue coat billowing as he did so which Naruto thought was completely awesome. This left the foursome alone and so they headed to the pick-up area of the terminal for their ride which was supposed to waiting for them.
"So, Reiny, where are you going when you leave for Germany?" Naruto asked as they walked together.
"Heading back home, Naruto. It has been a while since I've seen any of my family there, so I'm just going to visit for a bit before heading off on more missions." Reinhardt replied.
"Then I wish you luck with that, Reiny." Naruto said. Reinhardt nodded and patted Naruto on the back. Naruto then looked at Torbjorn before asking, "Where are you going?"
"On vacation away from most of you lot." Torbjorn quickly replied in his normally brusque manner. The others just shrugged at Torbjorn and eventually then made it to the main lobby of the terminal where they found a man blonde man in a red floral pattern shirt with a pair of beige shorts holding up a sign with their names on it. The group of four looked at one another before continuing the stride to the blonde man.
"You must be Jerry, right?" Jiraiya asked. He had studied up on the files that Jack had given him on the plane ride to London.
"Sure am. I'm to drive you guys to the base." Jerry said in a thick Scottish accent. Jerry looked around as if suspicious of someone overhearing them, "Personally though, I drew the short straw which is why I'm here." Jerry then turned around be began walking away, "Come on, I parked the car outside." Jerry stated. The group followed after him and found their ride waiting for them outside.
It was a large silver van that looked fairly new. Torbjorn nodded in approval at the design as the van hovered in place. Then the four dropped their bags off in the trunk of the van before hopping in it themselves. Reinhardt was forced to sit in to passenger's seat of the van as he was too big to be able to fit in the back, much to the laughter of everyone near him. Jiraiya, Torbjorn, and Naruto sat in the back and each did something to occupy their time as they were driven into London.
Jiraiya looked at the files in his hands which he had reread four separate times. Torbjorn tinkered with a small device in his hands which caused some small sparking that had originally worried both Naruto and Jiraiya. They were quickly reassured by Torbjorn in his words, "It's not going to explode…probably."
Both Namikazes were not calmed in the slightest at this reassurance. So, while they tried to ignore the possible improvised explosive in the bearded man's hands, Naruto just stared out the window and took in all the sights of London. It certainly had changed since he had left. Everything seemed…bigger, more or less. It was twenty minutes later after dealing with a bit of traffic that the group made it to a squat gray building with the Overwatch symbol proudly on display on the front of the building.
The van pulled into a parking space next to two cars, one was a gray jeep while the other was a black sports car. Jerry pulled the parking break and killed the engine. "Home sweet home, fellas. Now, would you like me to give you a tour of the base or would you just like to rest?" Jerry asked.
Most replied with an affirmation for rest except for Jiraiya who wished to know about this new base. So, as the group was taken inside, they were met with an older woman with gray hair and rich dark skin that was covered in a myriad of wrinkles, most notable around her eyes and mouth. "Hello there! You must be the new arrivals, welcome!" The woman greeted with a friendly face. As the group walked up to her, they noticed that she was almost as tall as Jiraiya. The woman spoke with an accent that sounded suspiciously Irish mixed with some Scottish.
"Hey, you must be Minerva, right?" Jiraiya replied and held his hand out to the woman who shook it with her own.
"That's correct. It is quite the pleasure to meet you Mr. Jiraiya, your books are absolutely wonderful." Jiraiya gained an excited look on his face at this. He always loved to bask in the attention of his fans when he could. And besides Minerva's age, the woman was still quite a looker which Jiraiya could appreciate.
"Why thank you very much, I must tell you of how I came to the inspiration to write them!" Jiraiya replied enthusiastically. Naruto and Kurama both sighed at this. That line had been used by Jiraiya so many times that by now it had been ingrained into the heads of the two on how this speech would play out.
First it would be followed up by the person in question if they were a woman to ask when he could do so. "That would be wonderful Mr. Jiraiya." Minerva said.
Then Jiraiya would name a time and/or place for them to talk, "How about we discuss this over a drink at a nice pub I know." Jiraiya replied while sidling up closer to Minerva.
And finally, if the woman in question said yes, then Jiraiya would get a slightly straighter back along with more of his body becoming taunt. "That would be wonderful. We should definitely meet up together in the lobby at eight tonight, if that would be alright with you." Just as timed, Jiraiya did as predicted.
"It is a date." Jiraiya concluded. Naruto, by now used to this had decided to walk away and find where his room was on his own without listening to his grandfather hit on women. It took a few minutes but he eventually found a set of empty bedrooms and so he entered the first room.
It was slightly Spartan in its design, a bed with a desk and chair next to it, a lamp on top of the desk, and finally a closet off to the side. Naruto decided to drop his bags off to the side of the room and jump into the bed where he took a small snooze before deciding on what his next course of action would be.
United States: Washington D.C. – 200 Feet Below Surface Level
It was a room that was lit by fluorescent lights where a man in a navy-blue suit and red tie walked in. He had a nervousness about him that was displayed by the sweat dripping from his brow. His dark eyes looked back and forth in the room that only had two chairs and a desk. In one of the chairs across the table, a man in a hazmat suit sat with what looked to be a cup filled with blended food, possibly meat and vegetables. Sticking out of the cup was a straw which the man with the hazmat suit had stuck into a hole in his suit and slurped from.
"Hello, Mr. Trask. It is quite a nice day, wouldn't you agree?" The doctor asked with a humorous tone in his voice. Trask nodded in reply and remained silent. His fear of the man in front of him prevented him from speaking. "Mr. Trask, you look a little pale. I do hope that you've been able to get out of that office of yours. Why don't you have a seat?" The doctor asked while motioning to the chair across from himself. Trask quickly moved to the chair and sat down in it. He was absolutely terrified as to why the doctor wanted him here.
"Now, Mr. Trask, I've been hearing all about how Naruto Namikaze had battled that giant Omnic in South Korea in the form of one giant golden fox. What I wish to know is why you haven't managed to convince Congress to drag the boy back here to the United States. Could you please tell me why that is?" Trask could just feel the frown coming from the man in front of him.
I-I have b-been trying, sir. I-it's just that the woman from O-overwatch has been stopping me." Trask replied. As he said this, the doctor sipped on his straw some more.
"Yes, Gabrielle Adawe has been causing some issues. My question is, why haven't you been able to shut the woman up? Do we really need to get involved? Do you know what we do to those who fail our organization?" The doctor asked this all in a calm, if not pleasant tone.
"S-sir, please, just give me another chance!" Trask begged.
"Oh, yes, another chance. All these chances that I have given you over the years, and yet, we can easily replace you. So," The doctor sipped on his drink once more, which caused Trask's heart to beat even faster in the anticipation on what the doctor's answer would be. It seemed that the doctor had finally finished his drink and set it down. "We are going to dispose of you, but not before we pull every single extra nugget of information in that little brain of yours. Then, we will have someone take your place." Trask tried to run away from the man and out of the room, but the door opened and two men in black body armor and helmets with glowing red eyes stopped and grabbed him.
"Did you think that your position in office would protect you from us? We are the ones that gave you that position in the first place. It has been a pleasure working with you, Anthony Trask, but our business is concluded." The men dragged Trask kicking and screaming out of the room as another person entered. "I hope that you don't end up disappointing me like Mr. Trask has done."
"I wouldn't dream of it." Was the only reply.
"Excellent. I hope that you do well. I will be checking up on you after I come back from Canada, so in the simplest way that I can say this…Don't fuck up. Understood?"
"Yes, sir. I'll get Namikaze back into the States and into our hands as soon as possible."
Certainly has been a while, huh? And I leave everything on a cliffhanger because I like doing that. Who could this new player be? When will Naruto and Lena finally meet up? Will Jiraiya ever be able to hook up with another woman and not be rejected due to his perverted tendencies? Find out next time. Stay frosty my friends.