Down time was consistently the bane of Naruto's existence. By his own admission his attention span was short at best when he wasn't receiving financial compensation to remain focused. As such, he found himself in his assigned room in the cave, counting and recounting the many kunai he kept in his kunai scroll, with a pile of bundled money sitting to his left. It was American, and Naruto liked American.

Because it's value was a little higher, he didn't have to have as much of it as he would need yen to get the same value, a concept that had intrigued him when he first arrived in this world. To be frank, the Elemental Nations/Countries were no where near as advanced as this world was, even economically. The yen of that place had been universal, which was of benefit, but not having monetary values changing for hundreds of years at a time had left the world stagnant.

Here, money was constantly being reborn, its value increasing or decreasing. Like the world's most complicated board game.

Finally finishing his fourth recount on his kunai supply (he currently had three hundred and fifty nine kunai out of the four hundred he originally brought with him) Naruto decided that he could not (would not) spend a second more time locked up in the room when there was money to be made.

Putting on his mask and attire, Naruto made the walk towards the zeta tubes. His plan was simple: go to one of the cities kept on the zeta tubes "speed dial" (there were well over a hundred tubes around the world, so to make things convenient there was always a running list of the top ten most used zeta tubes over the last month to choose from), pick up a bounty, bring said bounty in, receive the money, spend it elsewhere.

And so Naruto stepped into the zetatubes and beamed himself to the city on the top of the list: Gotham.

Stepping out of the "telephone booth", Naruto could understand how a city like this could produce Batman. The atmosphere was oppressive, and the city seemed to reject the warmth and life from the early morning sun. All around him, all he could find were tall buildings that seemed to grow from the concrete like trees.

"Almost feels like the Training Ground 44 out here, "Naruto mumbled under his breath as he began to scale the side of the nearest building, hoping to get a better look at his surroundings. The city sprawled endlessly in all directions except for to the east, where he could see a greying harbor.

"Damn this shit is depressing, "Naruto snarked, before hopping off towards the police station. It would have been hard to miss it, with it being a looming building with 'GCPD' In giant letters towards the top.

Landing in an alleyway across the street from the building, Naruto weighed the pros and cons of walking into the building in full costume. Sure, he could probably walk in with a henge, grab a bounty off the stereotypical bulletin board most police stations had, but that was a lot of work. He would have to answer a bunch of questions, seeing as most regular people didn't just come in taking bounties off the board.

The problem with walking in in costume was that Naruto would have to still answer a bunch of questions, and he might be arrested for being a vigilante, which was indeed still a crime.

'Fuck it, 'Naruto walked up the steps and into the GCPD's foyer. For a police station that dealt with a lot of metahuman activity, it had a surprisingly lacks atmosphere, what with the clerk napping behind the desk (behind a veritable wall of plexiglass). 'Maybe he hasn't had his coffee yet.'

Naruto walked up to the board containing bounties, which was kept to the left of the clerks desk. There were a few other officers standing around chatting in the lobby, and he could feel them tense when he walked in.

As Naruto read over the potential targets, noting a few low level meta humans, he mulled over how much time he had to get this done, 'I'm assuming that there might be a mission tonight considering how long we've been down, so I might as well get this done quickly. I'd want to arrive to the cave around the same time everyone else got there… so that gives me about… nine hours? If I use minimum effort on some drug dealers, that's usually two hours per raid… so that's at most four bounties. The metahuman's pay more though. Hmm, decisions decisions.'

"I didn't know the bat kid's took bounties." Naruto looked to his right. An older man with greying hair and glasses with a bushy mustache and a clean chin studied Naruto with a cautious eye, as if to judge his reaction. The badge on his duster coat suggested he was a bit higher up than the chain of command than your average cop.

"Well, Commissioner Gordon," Naruto read off his badge before turning his attention back to the board, "having met them I can say they don't seem like the type."

The Commissioner nodded, watching Naruto still, "So… you are?"

"I go by Kitsune, and I guess I'm technically a hero? Right now I'm just doing some side jobs, you know how it goes."

"Can't say I do, but as long as you're not here to cause trouble in the city I don't mind."

"Well you'll be glad to hear that the only people I intend to cause trouble for today are," picking up a few loose pieces of paper that were hanging from the board, Naruto showed them to the Commissioner, "these four gentleman and their employees."

Gordon raised an eyebrow, "Son those are four known drug dealers, who are known to run with very well armed gangs."

"I know I know, I would pick up another one but I only have eight hours and forty two minutes before I have to do something."

"You intend to do all four of those today?"

"Yes sir, "Naruto stuffed the flyers in his pocket and turned and began to walk away,"see you in a bit commissioner, have my money ready for me."

Naruto exited the station, and as Commissioner Gordon started to walk away, he heard a nearby officer whisper to his friends, "I've got fifty that says he doesn't make it back and we find him in the harbor in the morning."

Unfortunately for him, Naruto returned seven hours and fifteen minutes later with all four men hefted over his two shoulders, whistling a jaunty toon, with a slip of paper noting the addresses of the men's hide outs and a note to bring extra wagons for the mountains of unconscious thugs.

Needless to say, Naruto got his money and that cop was out fifty dollars.

Mount Justice, August 19, 19:39 EDT

The automated voice of the cave computer filled the room as Aqualad and Superboy squared off on the illuminated floor, "Initiating combat training in three, two, one."

A loud beep signaled the start of the spar, with Aqualad rushing the shirtless Superboy, attempting to catch him off guard, and the young clone blocking the oncoming punch.

Off to the side, M'gann stood with Artemis as they watched the boys go at it, Wally standing a few steps away as he awaited his turn.

"Kaldur's nice, don't you think?"Artemis asked M'gann somewhat rhetorically, "Handsome, commanding, you should totally ask him out."

"He's like a big brother to me,"M'gann denied, "But you know who would make the cutest couple? You and Wally," the girls turned and looked at the kid speedster, who was currently stuffing his face with a burrito.

"I mean your so full of life and passion, and he's so full of…,"M'gann struggled to find the word.

"It?" Artemis suggested, and the girls burst into chuckles.

In the practice ring, Aqualad stepped into a grappling exchange with Superboy, in which Connor turned and hip tossed him, sending him crashing to the floor and prompting the computer to signal Superboy's victory.

Dusting off his hands, Superboy smiled triumphantly, "Black Canary taught me that."

The ceiling above them opened, allowing Red Tornado to lower himself to the floor before the assembled members of the team.

He turned to go about his business, but Wally was almost instantly in front of him, "Do you have a mission for us?"

"Mission delegation is the Batman's responsibility, "was Tornado's response.

"Well yeah but the Batman is with the Robin doing the whole dynamic duo thing up in Gotham," Kid Flash pointed out. "But you're headed somewhere right? Hot date or a-amission?"

"If we can be of help,"Aqualad added, hoping to clean up Wally's discourse just a bit.

Turning his back to the Team, Red Tornado pulled up a holoscreen, which displayed a picture of an older man in a suit holding a cane, "This is Kent Nelson, a friend. He's currently one hundred and six years old."

Wally cracked, "Doesn't look a day over ninety." No one laughed.

"And he has been missing for twenty three days, "Red Tornado continued. "Kent was a charter member of the Justice Society, the precursor to your mentor's Justice League, as Doctor Fate."

"Of course, Kent Nelson was Earth's Sorcery Supreme,"Aqualad realized.

"More like Doctor Fake, guy knows a little advanced science and Dumbledoore's it up,"Wally joked to Artemis.

"Kent may simply be on one of his walk abouts, but he is caretaker to the helmet of fate, the source of the doctor's mystic might. It is unwise to leave such power unguarded."

"He's like the great sorcerer priests and priestess back on Mars," M'gann marveled." I would be honored to help find him."

Now, Wally by no means believed in magic, anything spiritual, or any form of hocus pocus. But what he did believe was that he had a chance to snag a hot alien girlfriend, even if it meant suspending (read: hiding) his disbelief.

So with that in mind, he threw his hand high into the air, with a call of, "me too!"

When everyone turned to him, Wally decided to run with his lie, "So honored, in fact, that I can barely stand it. Magic rocks!"

Not even bothering to deal with the obvious lie, or perhaps not even noticing it, Red Tornado raised an ornate key, "Take will allow you access to the Tower of Fate."

Wally, seeing this as an opportunity to make a move on M'gann, slid alongside her in a method not too unlike a snake,"What are the chances we both so admire the mystic arts?"

M'gann could only smile.

"Be ready in ten, we're going as soon as possible,"Aqualad ordered.

Mount Justice, August 19, 20:04 EDT

Red Tornado was as surprised as his processor would allow him to be when the zeta tubes fired behind him as he typed away on the cave computer. He heard the whistling as he turned to see Kistune walking out of the tubes, a black backpack over one shoulder and what appeared to be a pink box of some kind in the other.

The masked hero for hire acknowledged the mechanized man with a nod,"Yo, I brought back pie."

"The team has disembarked on a mission to New Orleans," Red Tornado stated. Then, a moment later," And I am incapable of eating pie."

"Well shit, looks like I didn't have time to wait for a fresh one, "Naruto hunched his shoulders." That's good money I'm missing out on."

"Perhaps if you take the zetatube to their location, you can join them."

"Honestly, at this point. I've made some good money today, I think I'll just stay in and finish this pie off before the rest of the circus gets back," with that Kitsune walked away, and Red Tornado, not quite sure what to say to the young hero, turned back to his work.

"So how exactly does this thing work?" If Red Tornado could blink, he would blink owlishly in surprise. Turning to his right, he saw Kitsune, three quarters of a pie in hand, head turned towards the screen in front of him.

Deciding to ignore the fact that the teen had some how snuck up on him, Red Tornado turned back to his typing, "The cave computer is designed to work as any other computer would. It's comprised of a series of projected holographic screens and keyboards that, when pressed, simulate contact with a physical object."

"Ah, make sense." Kitsune nodded.

Seeing as there were no more inquiries, Red Tornado continued his task, not noticing that while he was talking, the rest of Naruto's pie had disappeared.

Mount Justice, August 20, 03:48 EDT

The trophy room in the cave was nothing spectacular: carved straight into the cave like every other room, with a lot of empty space. A shelf took up most of the space on one wall, while a waist high bar wrapped around all the others.

Wally walked morosely through the room, the helmet of Dr. Fate held firmly in his palms. He placed it on the shelf, and could only stare at it. 'I'll get you out one day soon Kent, I promise.'

The loss of Kent Nelson had hit the whole team hard, especially Wally, who couldn't help feel somewhat responsible for the mans passing, despite knowing that, given the circumstances, there was little he could have done. 'If we didn't fall into that trap maybe we could've made it in time.'

"A-hem." Wally turned to the doorway, where Artemis was leaning. The blond girl gave him a small, tired smile, and Wally could only return it, "You never told us what happened to you when you put on the helmet."

"Energy from the thing rewrote my beta waves. I was bio-scripted into becoming Doctor Fate for a few minutes… no big."

"Wait, so you're still claiming there's no such thing as magic?" Artemis asked, almost flabbergasted. She scoffed, "If that's how you feel, why even keep it at all?"

Wally smiled, "Souvenir."

Artemis walked away, calling over her shoulder,"Geek!"

Wally smiled at her retreating form, before turning back to the helmet. He could almost here Kent Nelson's final words to him, 'Find your own little spitfire, one who won't let you get away with nothing.'

Wally stared at the helmet for a second. It wasn't the first time someone had died on a mission he was on. Heck, he had seen situations go sideways during his work with the flash at least four times, and each time he had been unable to sleep for weeks. But for some reason, this one stung a little.

"It's called survivor's guilt."

Wally's head almost hit the ceiling as he jumped away from the source of the voice.

"How did you-"

"Shhhh,"Kitsune raised a finger to his mask," I'm a ninja."

Wally looked at the resident enigma oddly, before turning back to face the mask. They stood their in oddly comfortable silence, as though paying their respects.

"Someone I once respected had survivor's guilt, maybe PTSD too. He would spend hours staring at the graves of his old friends, wishing he could have saved them. Years later, it was still consuming him," reaching over, Kitsune used two fingers to raise Kid Flash's chin, much to his confusion." Don't dwell on it. Move past the dead and dying."

Kid Flash looked at Kitsune, giving a slow nod, before looking back to the helmet. When he turned back to where Kitsune was standing, he was gone.

PART 2

Bialya, September 4, 11:02 EEST

"Hey beautiful… hey, can you hear me?" Artemis' eyes opened in a flurry, the world around her a dizzying array of color. Whatever the hell had happened to her had probably left her concussed at best.

"Hello? Earth to blonde babe?" Her eyes finally focused, and she was startled by a half covered face with rusty red hair. The boy smiled,"Hey."

Now Artemis hadn't found herself in alot of situations where she woke up concussed with a mask man standing over her, but very few of them were good. Quickly, she scrambled backwards, preparing to use the bow in her hand as a very effective melee weapon.

"Hold on, hold on,"the boy raised his hands in a universal sign of peace," I'm not gonna hurt you. I'm one of the good guys. See," he thumbed the insignia on his chest,"I'm Kid Flash."

Artemis reached into the depths of her murky memory," I've seen Kid Flash on TV, and he doesn't where black."

"Yeah well, jury's still out on that one," the (hopefully) Kid Flash conceded." So what are you? Some sort of Green Arrow enthusiast?"

Artemis was momentarily confused, until she looked down at her attire. 'I'm dressed like Ollie!' "How the hell did this get on me?"

"I'm not touching that one with a ten foot...ah, so, do you know how to use that bow?"

Artemis nodded,"Yeah, my dad taught me." A realization came to Artemis, and she glowered,"Dad, he must have done this. Another of his stupid tests."

"What kind of tests?"

"He probably wants me to kill you."

Kid Flash blanched, and was about to reply, before a whistling sound filled the air. 'Sounds like…'

Before Artemis could finish her thought, the second fastest man alive grabbed her wrist and pulled her behind them out the door, saving her a grizzly demise but not getting her far enough away to avoid the ensuing explosion.

Groaning, the teens turned to see what exactly had caused the explosion, only to see a small caravan of cars and tanks coming towards them. The pair took off, running deeper into the canyon their hut had apparently been situated in.

The car was quicker to give chase, a mounted machine gun allowing its passengers to open fire on the archer speedster duo. As she rounded a bend, Artemis rolled forward, notching a specialty arrow and firing it beneath the car. The small payload contained in the arrowhead went off, sending the humvee and its inhabitants careening over Artemis' head. She prepared to notch another arrow to launch at the tanks, when she found herself lifted into a bridal carry and sped away from the tanks in question. A moment later, the spot where she had kneeled was displaced by some very heavy enemy fire.

"Sorry, they have bigger arrows,"Kid Flash explained as he sped forward.

Holding on for dear life, Artemis nodded, "Thanks."

"No problem, told you, good guy. Now, not to pry, but what's your name? Oh, and what's this about you killing me?"

A solid three minutes of running later, Kid Flash came to a halt, allowing Artemis to stand on her own two feet while he panted, "Sorry, don't think I've eaten in a while, running on empty." He opened a secret compartment in his forearm guard, "Must've been out here over twenty four hours. My cupboards are empty."

Before Artemis could say so much as a word, a feral scream sounded. Landing between them in a crouch, a shirtless boy turned and backhanded Kid Flash so hard that he turned in the air before colliding with a nearby canyon wall. Artemis back flipped away, firing three explosive arrows at the feral menace, who simply kept charging forward.

He lunged for Artemis, who dodged out of the way. Before the boy could attack again, however, he found himself the target of a tank shell, the explosion from which left Artemis dazed on the ground.

Seeing a bigger threat, the enraged youth leapt forward, covering the distance between him and the two advancing tanks with uncanny speed and quickness. Landing on one, he tore the barrel off of the tank. The top hatch opened, and a masked man opened fire from a small arms rifle. The bullets bounced off of the maniacs skin, and he surged forward, crumpling the mans gun beneath his grip before bodily launching the man from his position.

He then proceeded to rip the top half off of the tank. If he had been thinking clearly, he might have remembered the second tank, but because he was not, he ended up taking a shell straight to the spine which left him stunned in a nearby sand dune. Quickly recovering, he stood and threw himself back into battle with a primal roar.

By then, Artemis and Kid Flash recovered, both sore.

Watching him fight their aggressors, Artemis couldn't help but question, "Who's side is he on?"

"Wanna stick around and find out?" Kid Flash questioned. Artemis most certainly did not, and so she allowed herself to be scooped into Artemis' arms and whisked away.

The managed to cover enough distance that an indestructible hormonally unbalanced teen was the least of their concerns before Wally tripped, sending the pair careening down a dune, as though they were apart of the famous Jack and Jill nursery rhyme.

As they stood to their feet, the sound of jet engines caught their attention.

"Get down!" The pair hit the sand as a pair of drones flew over head strafing the ground with light machine gun fire.

Artemis got to her knees, notching an arrow in preparation to shoot them down, when a voice entered her mind,'Don't worry, I'm on the way!'

Before either of the teens could react, the beheld a flying girl with green skin fly behind the drones and clap, seemingly causing the drones to smash into each other in a fiery explosion.

The girl descended before the duo like a destructive angel.

"Well J'onn, the costume looks familiar but I'm not sure the new looks screams 'manhunter'." Kid Flash greeted.

"You know my Uncle J'onn? Hello M'gann of course you do! Your Kid Flash, Wally! And you're Artemis-"

"Wait, wait, wait, wait. Martian Manhunter's your uncle?" Wally questioned." Is that how you know my name?"

"Your name is really Wally?" Artemis was a bit disappointed by the reveal. Kid Flash could only sigh.

"Its okay! We're team mates, friends! I made you cookies!"

"You know her?"Artemis leveled her stare on Wally, who panicked, waving his hand's side to side.

"No, I swear beautiful! Never seen her before in my life, unless…"

M'gann side, "You've both lost your memories too. Come on, I'll fill you in as we go. Robin and Superboy need our help!"

"Not gonna lie, half those names are coming from nowhere, "regardless, Wally followed.

Finding Robin turned out to be a multi hour activity, and when they did finally find him, he was evading gunfire from four soldiers. Rushing in, Kid Flash yoinked the guns of the now confused men, before diving into the melee with Robin. A soldier attempted to strike the boy wonder's back, but he was saved when Megan used her psychic ability to throw the man end over end into the sands.

A single soldier saw the futility of combat and attempted to run for reinforcements, when an arrow was launched at his back, which exploded into a bola.

With all the foes around them apparently defeated, KF and Robin had a small reunion, locking hands.

"KF! Good to see a familiar face, "the boy wondered.

"Hey Rob! Memory loss?"

"Six months,"Robin confirmed. "Let's hog tie these creeps and compare notes."

After tying up the apparent villains, the teens huddled together to try to piece together what was left of their collective memories.

"So we're a team?"

"Yes! Us and Superboy!" M'gann replied, glad that she was finally piecing the team together.

"So this must be his,"Robin produced a scrap of cloth bearing the crest of the house of El.

"Yes! Did you see him?"

"I think we did,"Artemis drawled.

"Feral boy? Some team mate, he attacked us,"Kid Flash replied sourly.

"He didn't know who we are,"Artemis reasoned. "I don't know who we are."

"I don't know who you are either, and that's a problem."

"What the-,"before even Kid Flash could react, a hooded man seemingly appeared in the middle of the four teens, elbowing Wally in the face with enough force to stun him, then grabbing him by the front of his uniform and chucking him at Robin, sending the two boys tumbling into the cooling night time sand.

Artemis raised her bow and fired an arrow, but the man moved, using inhuman reaction time, to spin around the arrow, along her outstretched arm. M'gann managed to stop the arrow, but was distracted long enough for the masked assailant to pin Artemis' arm behind her back with one hand and hold a sword to her throat with the other. By this point, Kid Flash and Robin recovered, but the masked man kept Artemis' body between them.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is a stickup, which means hands directly in the air and turn away from me, "the atmosphere suddenly got a lot colder than it should be even for night time in the dessert, but for some reason the sweat began to pour down their faces. They were too stunned to move, and Artemis couldn't even squirm. The world around them seemed to fade away, and all they could focus on was the mans mask. It looked to be Japanese in origin, in the design of a ferociously smiling cat with extra pointy ears, maybe a dog?

"Now, lady and gentleman, and no sudden movements, otherwise the blonde here loses about four years of height in two seconds," they were quick to comply, turning away.

"Now, I recognize you two, Robin, Kid Flash, from cable but I don't recognize these two or our surroundings. So someone's going to explain to me right now where we are, or,"he pressed his sword closer to Artemis' throat," I start losing my patience and she starts losing parts."

"Our guess is as good as yours, we can't remember anything,"Kid Flash answered quickly.

"We were trying to figure out where we are and how we ended up here when you attacked us," Robin added.

The man 'hmed',"How far back does your memory loss span?"

"We can't remember anything from the last six months," M'gann answered.

"Interesting… you all are going to count to seven, staying exactly how you are. If you so much as bend a pinkie, the girl here is paralyzed for life via knife between her lower vertebrae." If the masked attacker noticed the way Artemis bristled when he mentioned paralyzation, he didn't show it.

The pressure was alleviated from her neck, and Artemis was tempted to turn and attempt to fight, but something kept her fixed to her spot. After a count of seven, the tenseness in the atmosphere suddenly seemed to disappear. The teens all looked around, trying to catch sight of their attacker, but he seemed to have returned to the night from which he came.

"Who the heck was that?" Artemis asked, rolling out her shoulder.

"I don't know, maybe he was also on the team?"M'gann suggested.

"We were teammates with a sword wielding psychopath? Yeah right."Kid snorted.

Robin frowned," We need to figure out what's going on here."

"No, what we need to do is get out memories back," Artemis suggested.

Suddenly, the terrain around them seemed to shift, until Artemis, Kid Flash, and Robin stood on a platform under a dome of what appeared to be shards of glass, each one displaying them doing … something. Whether it was talking or eating, they were all committing actions that they could not for the life of them remember.

"I've brought you all into my mind. I can take the pieces of our memories and put them together to help us figure out what happened,"M'gann shied away, as if she was about to admit to some crime or tabboo,"but only if you open your minds to me."

"You want to finger through our private thoughts?" Artemis ignored Kid Flash's whispered 'thats what she said'.

"I have no wish to intrude, but-"

"You need to hack our minds to figure out what happened to us, got it, go, "Robin nodded his consent.

"My brains all yours," Wally smiled," try not to let it's brilliance overwhelm you."

"Or underwhelm you,"Robin snarked.

"Why isn't anyone ever just whelmed?"Kid Flash questioned.

Artemis pondered deeply for a second, but Kid Flash broke her from her thoughts, grabbing her hand in a reassuring manner and giving her a smile.

Finally, she relented," Last six months only… and only what you need!"

Artemis nodded, and the world around the shimmered for a second. And then suddenly, they remembered everything. Speedy, Superboy, the missions, Kitsune, and of course…

"Aqualad!" They all started in unison, breaking their mind meld and finding themselves back in the desert.

"Where is he? What happened after that?" Robin questioned the resident alien, causing M'gann to shake her head.

"I don't know! That's the last thing any of us remember!"

It was at this point that Kid Flash and Artemis realized they were still holding hands, prompting them to break their grip and look away from each other.

"We landed over twenty four hours ago,"Kid Flash pointed out."If Kaldur's been walking out in the dessert for that long, well, that's not good for a guy with gills."

"Now that I know to look for him…"Robin pulled up his wrist com, showing Kaldur's location relative to their own,"He's close, but he's not moving!"

They found Kaldur laying behind a nearby sand dune, deathly dehydrated, mumbling to himself.

"He's alive! But I can't restore his memory like this,"M'gann explained.

"Call the bio ship."

"I can't, it's out of range,"M'gann rebuffed the boy wonder.

"I'd run him there but I'm out of fuel, I couldn't even carry her, "Wally thumbed to Artemis, who slapped his hand.

"Why don't you just levitate him there M'gann?" Artemis suggested.

"I can't, I need to find Superboy. Six months ago he didn't exist! He has no memories, just animal impulses. I'm the only one who can help him."

"Superboy's indestructible, just ask those tanks,"Kid Flash pointed out." It's Aqualad who needs your help the most right now."

"Not to mention we have Kitsune running around the desert like some sort of stupid ninja highwayman," Artemis pointed out.

Before M'gann replied, she clutched the sides of her head. Her mentally link with Superboy allowed her to sense his extreme distress.

"No! I have to go help Superboy!" M'gann flew off into the distance.

Following the mental link and flying as fast as she could, she found Superboy's location rather quickly. She expected heavy resistance, but as she landed and decloaked herself, she found a tent surrounded by bodies that were hopefully only unconscious, but judging by the blood covering the sand, heavily injured.

The area was littered with misfired rounds of ammunition, and as M'gann entered the tent to the site the team had surveyed, all she could find were more and more bodies, some guards, some scientists.

She ignored the large spherical machine that seemed to be contained by the apparatus around it, instead focusing on finding Superboy. He was locked down to a vertically raised platform towards the back of the tent, and seemed to be struggling to regain consciousness. She began to move towards him, when a dark shape moved down from above her in the tent's rigging. Suddenly, standing between her and Superboy, was Kitsune, one sword pointing at her, and one pointing at the groaning Superboy.

"Kitsune! You have to-"

"How do you know that designation? "Kitsune questioned, almost growling. The sensation from earlier returned, and M'gann felt very… small, almost insignificant in front of her teammate come enemy. "You're the mind walker the other guy was talking about, eh? Sorry to tell you but, he's out cold, and he'll be coming with me."

Kitsune gestured with his head, and Ms. Martian followed the indication, and could only gulp as she caught sight of an unconscious Psimon sprawled out on the ground, the labored rise and fall of his chest the only indication he was alive.

"So, mind walker, what exactly are you here to do?"

M'gann tried to break out of her shock, but as she didn't answer, the pressure on her shoulders got heavier, "Don't wanna talk? That's fine, I was always more of a fighter anyway."

Unbeknownst to either of them, the suspended Superboy had woken up during their confrontation, and almost instantly zoned in on the source of the tense atmosphere: Kitsune.

His growl got Kitsune's attention, but what forced the ninja to move was the sphere, the source of the radiation that prompted the mission in the first place. It broke through its entrapment and flung itself towards Superboy, destroying his binds. With a roar, the clone launched himself at Naruto, carrying him clear out of the side of the tent. M'gann made to give chase, however she and the (apparently) sentient sphere had to take cover as a new wave of soldiers entered the tent and began to open fire.

Out on the sand dune, Naruto had been forced to drop his swords when he was tackled by Superboy, but managed to dislodge the boy by planting his feet (thank Kami for great chakra control because otherwise planting his feet on dirt would be impossible), wrapping his arms around the boys upper body, and bodily throwing him a good ten feet, using the shock of the action to dislodge him.

Naruto rolled over and quickly pushed himself to his feet, dropping into a low stance. As Superboy stood to his feet Naruto sprung forward, catching him with a jab that would have knocked any lesser man unconscious. Superboy, being Superboy, simply ignored the punch, swinging wildly with a punch of his own that Naruto ducked under, locking his arm around the boy's neck from behind, only to be flung off. Landing, Naruto quickly rolled out of the way as Superboy attempted to stomp on him.

'Looks like I can use some of the heavier stuff on this one, 'Naruto made a few quick handsigns, before aiming his right palm at the now airborne superboy, who had attempted an over head hammerfist,"Fuuton : Gale Force Palm Jutsu."

A powerful gust of wind emanated from his palm, catching the falling Superboy off guard and sending him toppling end over end into a nearby dune. Naruto stood up, surveying his opponent, who seemed to be standing up with little trouble, if groggy. 'No recovery time for you.'

With that thought in mind, Naruto charged forward, channeling chakra towards his fist as he did so. As soon as Superboy's head raised to look at him, Naruto performed a substitution with the boy, the resulting disorientation giving Naruto a free punch to Superboy's lower spin, causing the boy to arch his back and turn wildly. Naruto followed his turn, staying behind him and sliding left arm under Superboy's left and hooking behind his neck.

Using inhuman strength, Naruto lifted himself off of the ground using his single arm and delivered a swinging knee to the boys face, causing him to roar and stagger. Pushing away from the boy, Naruto delivered a spinning back kick to the bridge of his opponent's nose. Planting his kicking leg, Naruto jumped forward and began to pepper the young kryptonian with punches and kicks, slowly ascending to blurring speeds as he did so.

As the boys fought, M'gann finally approached from the tent, having defeated the soldiers, only to see what looked like Naruto attempting to beat the life out of Superboy while the youngest of the kryptonians swung wildly in attempts to hit his opponent back.

"Stop it!" M'gann called, but whether the boys heard her, didn't understand her, or were just more concerned with their battle to the death, they continued to fight. Well, Kitsune continued to fight, Superboy continued to get hit.

"Stop it!" M'gann yelled again, but the brawl still didn't cease. Superboy got lucky, his hand managing to loop through Naruto's hood and catch him, allowing him to ragdoll the boy away.

As Superboy jumped to press his advantage, Naruto rose to his feet, gathering chakra into the palm of his right hand. A bright purple ball of energy formed, the size of a large grapefruit.

"Come get it mother fucker," Naruto roared, diving forward to intercept Superboy's leap.

"STOP!" Normally, M'gann's powers would only be capable of restoring the memories of the two if they were close too or in direct contact with her. However, empowered by her emotion, M'gann poured all the information she could into the mental link she shared with the team, flooding their empty minds.

Elsewhere, Aqualad sat up with a gasp as Artemis tended to him.

Superboy and Naruto then found themselves in a predicament, remembering who they were. Superboy panned out his arms, hoping to use air drag to prevent him from colliding with Naruto. Naruto, hoping not to be sent to jail for any of the crimes he may or may not have committed in the desert (and not wanting to potentially have Superboy's death on his conscious) turnt the shoulder of the arm bearing the rasengan downward, allowing the ball of gather energy to dispel.

The result? Superboy belly flopping into the sand as Naruto gracefully one arm somersaulted before stumbling up to his feet, killing his momentum.

As the resident Martian flew to the aid of Superboy, who was groggily pulling himself out of the small sand crater he created, Naruto placed a hand to the side of his head with a groan,"That was not fun."

Turning, he looked to the now hugging M'gann and Superboy, giving them a moment to have their moment. It actually appeared for a moment that they were about to lock lips, but before they could the strangely sentient sphere that freed Superboy rolled up to the duo. It made a beeping noise to Superboy, who smiled to M'gann.

"Can we keep him?"

The Martian girl smiled and gave a small laugh, and was going to reply when a throat clear from Kitsune drew their attention.

"Hate to interrupt, and sorry for almost killing you guys… multiple times for you M'gann,"the casual way in which he said it earned him two deadpan stares, "But I'd really like to get the fuck out of the dessert."

DISCORD SERVER IN BIO. I keep losing members because I'm not active enough, but I'm going to start spending time in the common rooms so people can ask questions about the story and what not so please join lol.

Sorry it took so long to produce. This is two days of writing but I needed to get HBO max just to watch the got damn show.

Anyway, Probably one of the other two stories getting an update next. People have been complaining (read: bitching and calling me a shitty writer) because they feel there hasn't been enough participation by Naruto in the storyline. So the actions in this chapter that he committed with (and against) the team will have long lasting consequences to the story line.

More of Naruto's origins will be explained in the next chapter.

Kishi, out.