Same disclaimers and italics as before.

Chapter 10: Bereft

Naruto groaned and opened his eyes only to close them again. The sun was high in the sky and it glared down on him with painful rays. "Ooh," he moaned as he brought a hand to his head. It was pounding in agony and his skull throbbed. "I swear, if this is one of Kent's pranks, I'm going to kill him." Slowly, he pushed himself to his feet and opened his eyes again. For a moment, he panicked when he couldn't see out of his left eye, but quickly soothed himself when he realized he was wearing some kind of patch over it.

He pulled off his mask, which he was wearing for some reason, and ripped off the black cloth that covered his most precious gift. He blinked as his Sharingan adjusted to the extreme light, but his dizziness soon passed and he looked around. He appeared to be in some kind of desert, sand underfoot with boulders and plateaus as far as the eye could see. Naruto bent down and felt the sand. It was soft and silky, just like the sand in Suna.

"Kent?" he said softly, "Did you do it? Did you find a way to return me home?" Naruto stood up with a slight frown and looked down at himself. He was wearing grey ANBU armor over his usual orange outfit. He checked his back pocket and felt his ninja tool kit. He withdrew a kunai and blinked in surprise. It was one based on his father's design, tri-pronged with a Hiraishin formula wrapped around the hilt. With a grunt, he put it back in his pocket.

Naruto closed his right eye and slowly spun in a circle, analyzing the terrain with his Sharingan. He couldn't detect any chakra signatures on the horizon and eventually sighed and gave up.

Kurama, do you know where we are? There was no reply and Naruto sat down with a scowl as he retreated into his mindscape. Before him, Kurama stood stock still, frozen in place with an expression of surprise and fear on his ferocious maw. Kurama? Naruto reached out and patted his friend's furry left flank. Furball! Naruto tried to access some of Kurama's chakra, but he couldn't squeeze out a single droplet.

Naruto left his mindscape and stood up. "Okay," he said with a growl, "What exactly is going on?" He stepped forwards and slid down the dune he was standing on. He looked over the horizon and bent down. With a grunt, he ran forwards with his arms flailing behind him. His feet hit the sand like a flat rock skimming over water.

"Hello?" Naruto tripped over his feet and skimmed several dozen yards with a series of grunts and groans. He slammed into a boulder with a cry and slid to the ground.

"Ow," he muttered, "I'm used to voices in my head, but that was unexpected."

"Hi!" Naruto spun around, drawing a kunai and flipping it around expertly. Behind him, the most adorable, lovely girl he had ever seen was floating a foot off the ground. She had red hair with a streak of blonde in it. Her skin was green and a splash of freckles decorated her nose. She wore a black uniform with a red 'X' over her chest and a blue cloak around her shoulders. "I'm M'gann! I-is this Earth?"

Naruto slowly backed away. "Evidently," he said slowly, "What are you?"

"I'm a Martian! Have you heard of my Uncle J'onn? The Martian Manhunter?"

Naruto rocked on the balls of his feet. "I've heard of him. Never seen him before, though. Do all Martian's have green skin?"

M'gann blinked and folded her arms in front of her. "Um, no, some of them are white."

"Uh-huh," muttered Naruto, "So, ah, where are we exactly?"

"It looks like a desert."

"Very astute of you. So, now that we've established we're in a desert, we should probably find some kind of civilization."

"Sounds good."

"So, I'm going to put away my kunai, okay?"

"Why are you telling me?"

Naruto hesitated and sighed, his shoulders slumping. "Okay, nevermind, you're clearly not a threat."

He pocketed the kunai and M'gann stared at him. "What's wrong with your eye?"

Naruto blinked in confusion before he remembered just how he was looking at her. "You mean this?" he said, indicating to his left eye, "It's my Sharingan. It was a parting gift from a friend of mine."

"Oh," she said slowly, "Cool."

"So, do you know which way the nearest village is?"

"No, but I don't think that's an issue."

"Why's that?"

M'gann pointed into the distance. "I think civilization is coming to us." Naruto looked and saw a dust cloud in the distance. He narrowed his Sharingan and peered at the cloud. He saw three massive machines moving towards them, each piloted by men in green uniforms.

"What are those things?" he asked.

"I think they're tanks," said M'gann, "I saw them on a news feed once."

"Are they dangerous?"

"Only if they're driven by bad people." The engines of the tanks roared as they circled around Naruto and M'gann.

"Hands up!" shouted a soldier that popped out of one them, "The Queen wants you alive!" He spoke in a strange language, but Kent's multilingual spell translated it for Naruto.

He scowled. "I don't like people ordering me around."

The long guns of the tanks swiveled to face Naruto. "I said hands up!"

Naruto backed up so he was back to back with M'gann. "What do you think? I can take these guys if you want me to."

"I don't know," she whispered back, "I still don't know how I got to Earth in the first place."

Naruto closed his left eye and began to amass chakra in his Sharingan. "Stay behind me," he intoned quietly, "Until we know what's going on, I say we avoid being taken places."

M'gann nodded. "Sounds good to me. What are you going to do?"

"Turn them to ash with my Amaterasu. Just stay out of my sightline and you'll be fine. In fact, take my hands," M'gann quickly laced her fingers with Naruto's, "When I turn, you turn. Got it?"

M'gann nodded. "I got your back."

"On three then. One, two," there was a whistling sound as something flew through the air and landed with a craterous crash in front of Naruto, veiled by a thick cloud of sand that had burst up when it landed. As the dust settled, a muscular teen boy with a ripped black shirt stood up and glared angrily at the tanks. The soldier timidly retreated into his tank as a round was shot point blank into the teen boy's chest. Naruto winced at the smoke and fire that erupted around the strange teen, but it cleared to reveal that the teen boy was totally unaffected. Well, perhaps not completely unaffected, he was now much angrier.

With an animalistic roar, the teen launched himself at the tank and ripped it in half with his bare hands. Naruto's eye widened and he opened his Sharingan as he stared at the boy. M'gann stood next to him and watched in awe as he turned what was left of the tank into scrap mental. The other tanks swiveled their guns to face the new threat and the boy screamed in fury as more shots were loosed on him. He jumped in front of one of them and grabbed it by the barrel of its massive gun. With a grunt, he picked up the tank and swung it into the distance. Everyone watched as the tank exploded as it landed in the desert.

The mystery boy launched himself after it, the rest of the tanks following him and pelting him with pesky mortar shells that he brushed off like bugs. Naruto and M'gann stood frozen in place for a while as the tanks and the boy vanished into the depths of the desert. "Well," sighed Naruto in surrender, "That's all good then. Now, if someone could just tell me WHAT THE HECK JUST HAPPENED?!"

"I," started M'gann, "I have no idea."

Naruto fell back on his haunches and rubbed his aching head. "Okay," he muttered angrily, "Let's start at square a. I fell asleep in my room in the Tower of Fate last night and I woke up in the middle of the desert with no recollection of how I got there. I try to talk with Kurama, but the furball is frozen for some reason. Then, I run into an alien girl. Then, said alien girl and I are attacked by a group of soldiers in tanks who are in turn attacked by a kid who could be the love child of Sasuke and Tsunade."

"Same here," said M'gann grimly, "Except I have no idea who Kurama, Sasuke, or Tsunade are. I fell asleep on Mars and just woke up here out of the blue."

Naruto grunted as he stood up. "Let's move."

"Why?"

"Because those tanks know we're here and so does crazy mcstrongboy. When they're done playing with each other, they'll want to find us again."

M'gann chewed her thumb nervously. "Oh. I didn't think of that."

"It's cool," said Naruto as he began to walk.

"Do you know where you're going?" M'gann asked as she floated behind him.

"Haven't the foggiest."

"Oh," she said quietly, "Okay then."

After a few minutes of walking, the martian was sweating profusely. Naruto glanced over at her. "You okay?"

"Yeah," she said, wiping her brow, "Just…my physiology is used to…colder climates." Naruto hesitated for a moment before snapping off the latches of his armor. As it fell off his chest, he unzipped his jacket and took it off, leaving him in nothing but his sandels, pants, and mesh undershirt.

"Here," he handed the jacket to M'gann as he latched his armor back up, "Martians are telekinetic, right? Just hold it up and you'll get some shade."

M'gann lifted the jacket into the air and unfolded it so it cast a long shadow over both her and Naruto. She sighed contentedly as her skin cooled in the nice shade. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it."

M'gann sighed contentedly and gazed around. "I still can't believe I'm on Earth! I've always wanted to come here. It's not exactly as I imagined, but it's still really cool. I just wish I could remember how I got here."

Naruto shrugged. "Aren't Martians telepathic? Can't you kind of, I don't know, look inside your own mind, or something?"

M'gann's eyes widened. "Oh! That's a great idea! Hang on!" M'gann folded her legs and floated in mid air. Her face scrunched up in concentration as her eyes glossed over and began to glow. "I remember," she whispered, "The boy we saw…his name is Superboy…I made cookies for our team."

Naruto stopped and stared at her. "Team?"

"Yes," she murmured, "We're one a team with Superboy…a boy called Wally…Artemis…Robin." Her eyes burst open and she practically tackled Naruto with a hug. "I'm on a team!" she squealed excitedly, "I have friends!"

For a moment, Naruto stood still letting her embrace him. She realized what she was doing and pulled back with a deep blush that contrasted beautifully with her green skin. "It's a start," said Naruto, "Do you think you can find the other members of our team? That might be the key to restoring our memories."

M'gann nodded and focused again. "Hello?" her voice rang in Naruto's head, "Um, Team? Can anybody hear me?" After a few seconds, there was still no response and M'gann grunted. "They must be out of my telepathic range."

Naruto groaned and rubbed his forehead. "Do you think you can carry me?"

"What?"

"We need to find our team. You can fly and I can't. Can you carry me while you fly so we can track them down from the air?"

M'gann lifted her hand and Naruto cried out as he became weightless and tumbled into the air. "I think I can manage," M'gann grinned as she lifted herself into the air. Naruto gulped as they flew higher and higher together. As they soared out over the desert, he tried to stabilize his heartbeat and looked out over the landscape. His Sharingan picked up everything from lizards poking their heads out of their small dens to a few desert eagles fighting over a dead mouse a few miles away.

"You getting anything?" he asked hesitantly.

"Nothing yet," said M'gann as she twirled around a small plateau.

Naruto sighed and looked to the west. The sun was slowly setting casting a red hue over the desert sky. "Beautiful," he mumbled to himself.

"I know, right?" M'gann flew up next to him.

He offered her a small smile. "It's not the only thing." M'gann blushed and tucked a hair behind her ear. It reminded him of Hinata and how she'd acted around him. Suddenly, an image flashed in his mind of a tall man with long black hair and three eyes, the third one poking out vertically from his forehead. His face was marred by an ugly sneer as he rose up into the sky, silhouetted against a bloody moon that reflected a giant Rinnegan.

"Naruto?"

He shook his head and the image faded. "Sorry, I had a flashback."

"Anything that could help?"

"No, just ancient history," he narrowed his eyes, "But I did just find our missing team."

M'gann blinked. "How? Where?"

Naruto smirked and tapped under his left eye. "There are few things my Sharingan can't see. That way. The kid we ran into earlier is there with a couple others and some tanks."

M'gann immediately swiveled and launched in the direction Naruto had indicated. Sure enough, a smoke cloud soon appeared on the skyline. As they grew closer, Naruto saw the boy from before ripping into more tanks while a red-headed boy in a black, streamlined suit ran in the opposite direction so fast that even the Sharingan had a hard time keeping up with him. When he did get a fix on him, Naruto saw he was carrying a girl in a green uniform who wielded a bow. As he watched, the speedster tripped over a rock and fell across the sand, skidding slightly from the momentum. As he and the girl rolled to a stop, twin drones flew overhead.

M'gann dropped Naruto to the sand and he dashed forwards. "Down!" he grunted, grabbing both of the teens by their collars and forcing them to the sand as bullets rained down above them.

"Who're you?!" shouted the speedster as the drones flew past.

"A friend, I think!" As the drones began to circle around, the archer drew an arrow and took aim.

"Don't worry! We're here!" M'gann shouted telepathically. The archer's shot swung wide as she stumbled in surprise.

"Did-did you just here a girl in your head?!" she gasped.

"Girls are always on my mind," quipped the speedster as he caught his breath, "But they're not usually talking."

"Classy," grunted Naruto. Suddenly, the two drones spun into each other with a fiery explosion that rocked the dunes. M'gann became visible and flew down in front of the fire, casting a warm shadow over her body. Naruto almost felt obligated to whistle. "Has anyone ever told you you're beautiful when you're blowing stuff up?"

M'gann smiled sheepishly as she landed. "Sorry, Naruto, I think your jacket just burned up."

Naruto grimaced. His jacket had been one of the few things he had managed to keep from his own world, and on top of that, it had been a gift from Jiraiy. Still, it was just a jacket. The speedster sighed in relief and stepped forwards. "Well, J'onn, the costume looks familiar, but I'm not sure the new bod really screams 'Manhunter'."

M'gann's eyes widened. "You know my Uncle J'onn?" She abruptly slapped herself on the forehead. "Hello Megan! Of course you do! You're Kid Flash! Wally!" She turned to the archer. "And you're Artemis!"

"And this guy is?" the archer, Artemis, asked, jerking her thumb at Naruto.

"Naruto," he said simply, "I'm with her."

"Wait, wait!" sputtered the speedster, apparently named Wally, in confusion, "Martian Manhunter's your uncle? Is that how you know my name?"

Artemis turned. "Your name's really-Yowza! What's up with your eye?!" She cried as she saw Naruto's left eye.

"Dude!" shouted Wally as he saw what had surprised Artemis, "That can't be natural."

Naruto shrugged. "It's my Sharingan. I use it to see secrets and sometimes I use the powers it gives me."

"You can see secrets?" said Artemis, subconsciously covering her chest with her bow.

"It's okay!" insisted M'gann, "We're teammates! Friends! I made you cookies!"

Artemis looked past Naruto at Wally, trying not to stare at the Sharingan. "You know her?"

Wally raised his hands in defense. "No! I swear beautiful! Never seen her before in my life!"

M'gann sighed in disappointment. "You both lost your memories too, huh?"

Naruto looked in the distance. "We should move. It looks like things are getting messy out there." The others looked where he inticated and nodded in agreement when they saw the dozens of smoke plumes and wreaked tanks that the feral boy had left in his wake.

"I'll fill you in as we go," said M'gann, "Robin and Superboy need our help."

Wally sighed as Artemis began to follow Naruto and M'gann. "Of course. Robin and Super-what now?"

As they walked along, M'gann told Wally and Artemis about the tanks and what she'd managed to remember. By the time she was finished, the red sky was turning black and a silver moon was rising.

"So what now?" asked Artemis.

Naruto grunted and cracked his neck. "We keep walking. Eventually we'll hit civilization and we can work things out from there." Suddenly, he stopped and Artemis bumped into him.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "There's a boy dressed like a traffic light a few dunes over that way," he said quietly, "He's moving east."

M'gann gasped. "That must be Robin!"

"Let's move!" The team ran after Naruto as he led them through a maze of sand dunes. The sand was fairly loose, which made it possible for Naruto to see straight through the dunes with the Sharingan. "He's under attack!" he hissed, "An ambush! Wally! Go ahead and help him!" Wally nodded and shot forwards past Naruto. "Artemis! Up on that dune! M'gann! Go invisible and get a bird's eye view! Move!" The two girls nodded and split up as Naruto rounded a dune.

A large group of soldiers were attacking the oddly dressed boy who Naruto guessed must be Robin. Wally had run between several of them and laid their guns in a pile while Robin demonstrated exemplary hand-to-hand combat with the soldiers. In the middle of the action was a large machine.

Naruto darted forwards and made six clones. Two of them stayed with him and made a Rasengan in each hand. Naruto hit two soldiers from behind with the attack and they went flying with twin cries of surprise and pain. He spun and landed a round-house kick on a third soldier and swept the legs out from under a fourth as he rammed his elbow in the fallen soldier's face, knocking him out hard.

With a grunt, Naruto ran forwards. Four clones had positioned themselves quarterly around the last soldier. As one, they charged him and slid on the sand. They kicked him into the air and Naruto jumped forwards, using one of his clone's back as a launch board. "Uzumaki Barrage!" he hissed with a satisfied grin as he slammed his foot into the soldier's stomach, sending him back to the earth with enough force to break a cinderblock. Luckily, the only thing the soldier could land on was sand, but it was still enough force to knock him out. As Naruto landed, his clones dispersed and he turned to face the group.

Robin shook hands with Wally. "KF! Good to see a familiar face!"

"Memory loss?" said Wally sympathetically.

"Six months! Let's hog tie these creeps and compare notes." Naruto made a dozen clones that ran out to personally tie up each of the soldiers as M'gann enlightened Robin.

"So, we're a team," he mused eventually.

"Yes, the five of us and Superboy," M'gann confirmed.

"Superboy, huh? This must be his," Robin drew out a ripped, black cloth with a red 'S' emblem on it.

"Yes!" said M'gann, "Did you see him?"

"Was it feral boy?" asked Wally with a grunt, "Some teammate. He attacked us!"

"He didn't know who we are," defended Artemis, "I don't know who we are!"

"I remember Batman ordering Radio silence," offered Robin, "Our team must work for him!"

Wally raised an eyebrow. "Oh yeah? How do you know our team doesn't work for my mentor?" He poked himself on the chest and his outfit suddenly morphed to a red and yellow variant. "Whoa!" he said in surprise as he pressed his chest again and his uniform turned back to black. The others quickly tried to press their emblems, but nothing happened. Artemis swatted at Wally's hand as he kept pressing his chest.

"We need our memories back!" she complained. M'gann looked around guiltily and focused her mind. There was a flash and Naruto stumbled forwards. He looked around and saw he was surrounded by darkness. His teammates stood by him, all equally confused. From the darkness, M'gann emerged, brining with her a small dome of purple crystals that flashed brief images.

"Where are we?" he asked.

M'gann stepped forwards, each step illuminating the space. "I brought you into my mind," she said nervously, "To share what I've remembered so far."

"This is your mind?" Naruto looked around in awe, "What do you know? Beautiful inside and out."

"I need your help," said M'gann, trying desperately not to blush in front of the others, "Together, our broken memories can form a whole, if you allow me into your minds."

Artemis folded her arms. "You want to paw through our private thoughts?"

"No! No!" cried M'gann, "I don't want to intrude, but-"

"You need to hack our minds to rock what happened to us," interrupted Robin lazily, "Got it. Go."

Wally grinned. "My brain's all yours! Try not to be overwhelmed by its brilliance."

Robin snorted. "Or underwhelmed. Hey, why isn't anybody just whelmed?"

Naruto shuddered and shook his head. "Déjà vu," he muttered.

M'gann looked over. "You okay, Naruto?"

Naruto was about to nod in ascension, but he suddenly remembered Kurama, frozen and silent in his mind with no explanation as to why. "I don't know if that's such a good idea."

"Why not?" said Robin, "Got something to hide?"

Naruto clenched and unclenched his fists, his mind racing for an excuse. "I-I'm having some…trouble with my mind right now. I don't know exactly what's happening and until I figure it out, I don't know if it'll be safe for anyone in there."

Wally folded his arms. "So wait, we have a loony on our team? Something doesn't smell right here."

Naruto growled angrily. "Fine. But be careful, okay? I don't want anyone getting hurt."

Artemis still looked hesitant, but Wally saw her expression and gently took her hand to reassure her. "Just the last six months," she said with a sigh, "And only what you need." M'gann nodded and psychic hands grew from her head and grabbed each of their minds. With a flash of blinding light, Naruto remembered everything.

He remembered being Shinobi with the team. He remembered the Shadow Possession Jutsu, the Hiraishin, and the Fang over Fang. He remembered Kent's death and how the cubs had been kidnapped and rescued. He remembered walking into the Cave where Batman was giving a debriefing.

. . .

"The Watchtower detected an immense power surge in the Bialyan desert," said Batman, "Spectral analysis revealed elements non terrestrial in origin. Find out what happened at that site, what landed there." Naruto glanced around at his team, all in costume and itching to leave. "Bialya is a rogue state," continued Batman, "Ruled by Queen Bee, it is not a member of the League's U.N. charter. All communications are subject to interception. Maintain radio silence at all times."

. . .

They landed in Qurac, on Bialya's border. "All clear," said Naruto as Kurama felt the surrounding area for hostility. Superboy was lugging a heavy machine on his back as they walked out into the desert. M'gann turned invisible and flew off into the night.

A few minutes later, she returned and became visible. "The Bialyan control sight is just over those dunes," she whispered.

"Set up here," ordered Naruto. Superboy dropped the machine he carried and Robin immediately turned it on and began scanning the area.

"Jackpot!" he whispered, "The whole area's lousy with Zeta Beam radiation!"

Wally peered over his shoulder. "There are extra terrestrial elements in the tent."

Naruto nodded. "Ms. M, check it out in camouflage mode."

Superboy glanced over. "Be careful," he warned.

"And maintain telepathic contact," said Kaldur.

"I will, Aqualad."

. . .

As one, their eyes snapped open and the black world of M'gann's mind faded from around them. "Aqualad!" they exclaimed as one.

"Where is he?" urged Robin, "What happened next?"

"I don't know!" M'gann whispered fearfully, "That's all I-we remember!"

Naruto entered his mindscape and sighed in both relief and frustration when he saw that Kurama was still frozen. He left the recesses of his mind and turned to Robin. "Can you find him on GPS?"

"Now that I know to look for him," said Robin, opening up his wrist computer, "He's close! But he's not moving!"

"Lead the way!" Robin ran forwards into the desert and the others followed. Kaldur was only two dunes over, lying on the ground and mumbling in Atlantean.

Robin slid next to him. "He's drying out!" he hissed as he felt Kaldur's arm.

M'gann rested his head on her lap. "I can't restore his memories in this condition! He needs immediate rehydration!"

"Call the Bioship! Which I just remembered we had!" said Artemis.

M'gann shook her head. "It's out of range! Wally, can you get him there?"

"He's too heavy," grimaced Wally, "And I'm low on fuel."

Naruto nodded. "Right. Wally, take off your uniform."

If there were crickets around, their chirping would have been the only thing heard for several seconds. Even Kaldur's rambling seemed to diminish in those few seconds. Finally, Wally cleared his throat. "Ah, come again?"

Naruto glared at him. "Did I stutter?"

"Um, no?"

"Then what are you waiting for?"

"A valid reason as to why I should strip down to my undies in the middle of the desert surrounded by my team?"

Naruto rubbed his forehead. "Take off your uniform and run in place. When you start to sweat, try and drip it over Kaldur. It won't be pretty, but it'll keep him alive."

Artemis rubbed her chin. "As revolting as the image of Wally in his underwear is, that's actually a pretty good idea."

"Hey!" the speedster protested.

"Dude, that would actually work," said Robin thoughtfully, "The salt in your sweat would be close enough to the salt water his body's used to that it might actually revive him."

"But…but!" Wally protested. Eventually, he slouched his shoulders. "Do I have too?"

Naruto spun and grabbed him by the shoulders, looking directly into his eyes. "Wally, your teammate is dying. If it is in your power to save his life, then there is no excuse as to why you shouldn't do it."

"Right," gulped Wally, "Got it."

"If it's any consolation," said Naruto as he released Wally, "M'gann and I won't be around to see it."

M'gann blinked. "Why?"

Naruto cracked his knuckles. "We're going after Superboy. You're the only one who can restore his memories, and I'm the only one who can bring him down long enough for you to enter his mind."

"I don't know," said M'gann as she stood, "Six months ago, he didn't exist. He has no real memories for me to restore, I don't know if I can."

"We have to try," said Naruto grimly, "Come on." He ran back towards the machine with M'gann floating behind me.

"Naruto," she whispered when the others were out of earshot, "Are you mad at me?" Naruto stopped and glanced back. "I didn't read your mind, I swear," she said quickly, "But anger is coming off of you in, like, waves almost."

Naruto turned away from M'gann. "In my world, those who break the rules are considered trash," he said softly, "But those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash."

M'gann stared at his back and felt ashamed. "I-I'm sorry," she whispered.

Naruto breathed deeply and turned back to her. He walked to her and embraced her tightly. She gasped in surprise at the sudden move, but found the comfort of his arms far too inviting and warm to leave too soon. "I won't allow my comrades to die," Naruto whispered in her ear, "I'll protect you, Superboy, and everyone else, with my life."

He pulled back and held M'gann at arm's length. "I…I think I can feel him," she said, "This way." She flew forwards and Naruto followed. A few dunes later, they came across a large tent surrounded by soldiers. "He's in pain," she whispered. Immediately, there was a wretched cry of pain from within the tent and a burst of light that cast a shadow over the desert.

"No time for sneaking around then," Naruto grunted, "I'll make a distraction. Get in there and free him." He concentrated for a few seconds and orange pigmentation appeared around his eyes as he balanced the natural energy around him with the chakra in his body. He made two shadow clones and they began forming a Rasenshuriken in his hand. M'gann shot down in camouflage mode and dipped into a fold in the tent as Naruto jumped off the dune.

"Wind Style!" he shouted, getting the attention of the soldiers below, "Rasenshuriken!" It was a very low-powered attack, so when it hit the sand it only formed a small hurricane. Several soldiers were flung back as reinforcements ran out from the tent. Naruto bit his thumb as he landed and flipped through well-practiced hand seals. "Summoning Jutsu!" he intoned as he slapped his hand against the sand, invoking the summoning contract. With a puff of smoke and a roar, Shukaku bounced into existence, his one tail swinging like a pendulum over his head.

"Well now," he said sleepily, "This looks like fun. Lots of ammo for me to play around with."

Naruto grinned. "I thought you might like it. Go crazy, man. I got business to attend to." The soldiers opened fire at the strange sand beast before them, but their bullets shattered against a wall of densely packed sand that rose up faster than their guns could fire. Shukaku growled and lunged at the soldiers as Naruto ran to the tent.

As he yanked back the flaps, the first thing he saw was what looked like a caged ball that was rolling on its own. Scientific equipment lined the tent walls while a man with what appeared to be an exposed skull stared at nothing in particular with a cruel smile across his face. Superboy was standing still and shirtless in the middle of the room, his hand outstretched and touching something.

"Uh, Superboy?" said Naruto walking forwards, "You okay?" he lay a hand on Superboy's shoulder and gasped as his mind was yanked out of his body once again. He was in a negative world now, floating in empty space. Nearby, astral projections of Superboy and M'gann were fighting an image of the skull man in vain.

"Naruto!" shouted M'gann, "He's the one who wiped our memories!"

Naruto glared at the figure, who blocked an attack from Superboy with a flick of his finger. "You don't say," he grumbled. Deep within his psyche, there was a quacking sensation and a deep roar. A slow smile crept across his face. "Ms. M! Can you draw him into my mind?"

M'gann winced as she shielded herself from a mental bolt from the skull man. "Um, I think so!"

"Do it!" M'gann spun and grabbed Superboy as she dodged another attack. She harnessed his mental energy and combined it with what was left of her own, making one last ditch attack. It hit the man squarely in his shoulder and made him tumble backwards. With a grunt of effort, M'gann opened a black portal under his feet and he stumbled through. There was a flash and Naruto was looking down the sewer of his mindscape. M'gann and Superboy fell into the water on either side of him, exhausted.

"Well," the skull man said, stepping out of the shadows of the sewer, "That was rather pointless. She used the last of her psychic power to send me into your mind. She must have immense faith that you will have the power to break Psimon."

Naruto chuckled to himself. "Only a supervillain refers to himself in the third person."

"It is a bad habit, I'll admit," said Psimon with a shrug, "But rest assured, you'll be too brain dead to hear another third-person reference again."

"Don't count your chickens before they hatch," said Naruto, "Right now, I could send you through a three-day torture fest, burn your mind to ashes, or even teleport to inside your head. That would be a sight to see. But I think I have a better idea than all of those."

Psimon laughed heartily. "You seem to think I don't know a bluff when I see one."

Naruto shrugged. "Alright, I'll give you that I'm not sure if any of those powers would work on a mental plane, but that fact of the matter is, you're in my head, and I've already won."

Psimon raised an eyebrow. "And how do you figure that, I wonder?"

"The last time you were in my mind," said Naruto, "You left a psychic imprint that matched the frequency of your brain waves. When you wiped my memory, it reflected exponentially on a friend of mine, but when he came into contact with your mental frequency…Well, let's just say he's not happy." The sewer quaked and fell away. Naruto grabbed M'gann and Superboy while Psimon floated in space.

"Am I supposed to be impressed?" he asked, checking his nails, "You can melt away the physical structures of your psyche. Good for you."

Naruto sighed. "I'm getting real tired of this guy."

There was a grunt that made the entire mindscape shake. "What took you so long?" Psimon froze as he felt hot air on the back of his neck. He slowly turned and gasped at the hundred-story tall giant fox that sat on its haunches behind him. "Hey there," boomed Kurama, his red eyes blazing with inner fury, "You know, I have bad memories of mind control from when I was younger. So when someone messes with my head these days," he leaned down close so he massive maw was directly in front of Psimon, "I get really, really, upset." He opened his jaws and lunged forward with a roar. Psimon just avoided being eaten and flew towards Kurama's neck, shooting psychic beams. Kurama laughed, making every bone in Naruto's body shake.

"Hey furball, mind wrapping this up?"

Kurama groaned as he grabbed Psimon's projection in his paw. "You give me no joy."

"It's basic manners, Kurama," said Naruto, "We don't play with out food."

"Fine," said Kurama, "But you owe me." Kurama opened his mouth and his tongue wrapped around Psimon's shrieking form.

"Hey Psimon!" called Naruto as the psychic was retracted into Kurama's mouth, "Word of advice! Don't mess with what you don't understand!" Kurama's giant jaws slammed shut and Psimon's cries became overwhelming. The mindscape shattered and Naruto found himself in the center of a tornado of dust and sand, M'gann and Superboy leaning on his shoulders. The real Psimon was standing across from them, griping his head in pain as he was flung away by the high force winds. Naruto latched his chakra firmly into the ground as the storm settled down.

Naruto fell to the ground in exhaustion, his friends by his side. The ball that had been caged before was rolling free and spun right up to Superboy. It beeped incessantly until he woke up. "Oh, ball," said the clone sleepily, "Can I keep it?"

"Sure, buddy," Naruto panted. There was a grunt and Shukaku poked his head up from the sand.

"Wowie!" he crowed as he climbed out of the desert, "You see that sand tornado? How cool was that?!"

"Good work, Shukaku," said Naruto, draping an arm over his face, "The soldiers?"

"I tied 'em up with sand rope. Strong as steel cables. They're over that dune there."

"Great. You're dismissed."

"Wait'll Chomei hears about this!" bragged Shukaku as he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

M'gann rolled over and cuddled into Naruto's side. "You guys wanna get out of here? We should probably head back to the Cave."

Naruto breathed in deep, letting the cool night air blow through his nostrils. "Nah."

. . .

Several hours later, Naruto was lying on his bed, rubbing his left eye. His new eye patch was made of an uncomfortable fabric, but it was all he had on standby. Robin had questioned why he needed it now that they new his secret and the source of some of his powers. Besides, Naruto knew full well that Robin would report the Sharingan to Batman. Naruto just said the patch made him look cool, but that was a lie. The patch served as a reminder, a symbol of how there were no simple solutions or easy ways out. It was a sign that no matter how powerful he was, he had to be responsible with his powers and use them sparingly.

Aqualad had been taken to the med bay immediately upon returning to the Cave, he was expected to make a full recovery, but was very disappointed that he'd missed the sight of Wally running in place in Flash briefs.

In the meantime, M'gann had promised to sow him a new jacket. He had insisted that he didn't need one, but she insisted right back that she needed to repay him for burning his old one.

He sighed and stood up. Taking the Hokage Scroll, he opened it until he found what he was looking for.

"You sure you're ready for that one, kit? It's a toughie."

If this last mission has proven anything, it's that I can't rely on you to protect me from mental attacks all the time. I need to have some kind of defense myself

"The Mind Transfer Jutsu it is then."

. . .

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