To dance with stars

by ScarletAesir058

During an expedition into the wilds of Krypton Zor-El discovers a mysterious boy surviving on his own, and takes him in as his ward. Years later, after Krypton's destruction, Naruto arrived on Earth in the same ship as Kara Zor-El. His only mission to protect the members of the House of El from danger. A bit complicated when they keep sticking their nose in every criminal's busines

Pairing: Naruto/Kara/Diana/?/?/?

Rating: M

Summary: During an expedition into the wilds of Krypton Zor-El discovers a mysterious boy surviving on his own, and takes him in as his ward. Years later, after Krypton's destruction, Naruto arrived on Earth in the same ship as Kara Zor-El. His only mission to protect the members of the House of El from danger. A bit complicated when they keep sticking their nose in every criminal's business. AU

Disclaimer: I do not own the Naruto or DC comic franchises. The only thing I make are cool fanfics.

A/N: Surprise! I got a new fic for you guys, but first I just want to say that I am really glad to hear that so many of you guys are safe and indoors during this Coronavirus crisis, and Holy Cow, your response to Sage of War has me floored. I got so many reviews and PM's this last chapter, thank you guys really. I really appreciate all the well-wishes, support and inspiration you guys have given me both as a writer and in my private life. You're so awesome!

Anyway, I created something new for you, to keep you busy while I finish up Sage of War Chapter 6 and start working on AUH chapter 6 as well. I've really left Marvel my marvel crossover fic untouched for far too long.

I also wanted to give special thanks to Taurus Frederick, for being my first patron on pa treon dot com. He along with a few others helped inspire this fic, wonderful person with lots of interesting ideas. So yeah, decided to publish this because of you Taurus.

Now for this fic, I wanted to try something a little different than Sage of War. This will be a crossover with New Earth rather than New52. This first chapter and arc as a whole are based on the Supergirl from Krypton story arc, first introduced in Superman/Batman#8 (2003-2011) written by Jeph Loeb. I also borrowed some inspiration from the movie Batman/Superman Apocalypse, which is based on the same story.

I remember that when I initially started Sage of War, some of you guys mentioned that you prefer New Earth over New52 and Rebirth, I kept that in mind, and this is for you. With that said, I will warn you right now that I don't know as much about the New Earth comics in general as I do the New 52 comics. There is a lot of material that was released between Crisis on Infinite Earths and Flashpoint, so I haven't exactly had time to read it all and I have lots of glaring holes in my knowledge. I largely followed a lot of specific characters and a few major storylines from New Earth and then skipped around for whatever else interested me, so I got a lot of gaps in my knowledge compared to everything after Flashpoint. Just wanted to make that clear in case some uber-fan points out that I missed some super obscure detail from way back when, that I really would've had no way of knowing. Hell I might have even missed some rather obvious details due to how much jumping from comic to comic I did when I was not reading major New Earth storylines.

Anyway, this isn't a story with a focus on the Justice League, JLA, JSA, Justice League international or any incarnation of those organizations, but rather a crossover with the DC universe in general. Naruto really has one concern and that is keeping Kara and Kal-El who despite being older than him, Naruto still views as a little brother figure, safe. He isn't particularly interested in joining any groups or anything, though that will change in time and he might even form his own team.

He came to Earth with Kara in the same rocket she used and was meant to be her and Kal-El protector, but things obviously went wrong. He also has his own stuff going on in the background, and the Elemental Nations are part of the DC universe in this fic, so there are Otsutsuki running around here and there, but that wont come until later. I will ask those few of you who I know will be irritated with what I did, to bear with me on the matter of Naruto's name. For 95% of this chapter he is called Naru-To as in Naru of the House of To, if you understand Kryptonian naming conventions. There is a reason for this and like I said, he isn't actually Kryptonian.

At the end of the chapter he will revert to using Naruto Uzumaki, so don't worry about that. As for pairings, Naruto and Kara are the primary pairing, but he will end up with a few additional girls later on, not many, though that might change. I'm thinking five girls, and yeah, I am being selfish in choosing both Kara and Diana like in Sage of War. New Earth Kara and Diana are bit different from their New52 counterparts and I wanna see how things develop, deal with it. Also Kara is about 17-18 in this fic rather than 15-16 like in the comics, slight change based on my preferences. You can suggest the other three girls and if I can swing it I will write them into the harem, but keep in mind it won't happen right away.

Now, I don't want to keep you waiting so let's get into the story, and please leave a review at the end. They are so very helpful to me as writer. I hope you enjoy this.

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Chapter 1: Blessed by the stars!

"I was just a child when Zor-El first found me. An alien on the world of Krypton, in possession of strange and fantastical abilities. I was haunted by my people's genetic memory, manifesting in the form of dreams every night, and I was all alone in the world, without anyone to care for me. Yet Zor-El took me in, shared his knowledge, his food, his home and his family with me. He hid me from Krypton's High Council and with the aid of his brother Jor-El, manufactured the false identity of Naru-To, based on the first word I spoke when we first met. The House of El gave my life meaning and direction, and that is a debt I can never pay them back. All I can do is protect Kal and Kara, in honor of their parents and the kindness the House of El once showed me."

— Naruto Uzumaki

oOo

Outskirts of Argo City, Krypton, the day it exploded...

"Mom! Dad! I heard from one of the Academy stewards that you wanted to speak to me immediately." Seventeen-year-old Kara Zor-El loudly asked as she burst through the door to the living room area of her home, only to notice moments later that her parents were not alone. "Uncle Jor-El and aunt Lara! I didn't realize you were here." She said happily as she gave her relatives and their one-year-old baby boy, Kal-El, a warm smile.

Jor-El who was sitting next to his brother Zor-El, discussing various scientific theories, paused their discourse as he smiled back at the enthusiastic young woman and replied. "It's good to see you in such great health my dear niece, though I wish it was under better circumstance." The brilliant scientist's voice turned solemn as he then added. "We called for you at the Academy today to speak not only to you, but to Naru-To as well. There is something important that the both of you need to be made aware of."

Naru-To, Kara's bestfriend and current betrothed, had walked into the room right behind her and was silently observing the exchange between the members of the House of El while waiting for a chance to greet the adults. He suddenly broke his silence with a deep sigh and in an uncharacteristically resigned tone for the fairly hyper-active young man, said. "While it's good to see you too Lord Jor-El and Lady Lara, I can't help but conclude that today is the day of the end. The day Krypton is going to die."

All the adults suddenly stiffened, their eyes widening ever so slightly in surprise, before schooling their features a moment later as they faced Naru-To. Kara looked confused by the statement and hadn't noticed the reaction of the adults, however, everyone but her and baby Kal-El knew that Naru-To had noticed it.

"How did you figure that out?" Jor-El asked hesitantly, unable to completely suppress the shock that was audible in his voice. To the two brothers of the House of El, Naru-To was mystery in a way that very few things in the universe ever were. The boy had intrigued them ever since Zor-El first found him in the wilderness of Krypton many years ago. For all of Jor-El's impressive knowledge and understanding of the universe around him, Naru-To was one person capable of consistently surprising him with his unpredictability and sheer weirdness. It happened just about every time they met, and both brothers had taken to not really thinking about the strange phenomenon's that happened around Naru-To too much, largely in order to avoid giving themselves headaches.

In response to the question Naru-To simply shrugged his shoulders and said. "It's kind of hard to describe, but I can feel the planet's soul for lack of a better term. I guess you could say that its screaming, and if I really focus, I can sense it thrashing around in its final death-throes. I wish I could explain it better than this but I really don't know how else to describe it."

Jor-El winced at the explanation they were given, but then after thinking about it, let out a brief chuckle at the sheer absurdity of what Naru-To had just said. "By Rao's glory, your abilities never cease to amaze me Naru. It seems as if nothing is hidden from you." Jor-El was careful to hide how sad Naru-To's words really made him feel. To hear from the mouth of the child that their great planet was a living organism with something akin to a soul was both amazing to him and tragic to learn, especially since Krypton was destined to die that very day. Oh how he dearly wished he had time to study this phenomenon, there was no doubt in Jor-El's mind that Naru-To spoke nothing but the truth, the boy would never lie about something like that. Unfortunately, this further proved to the scientist that he had utterly failed to save Krypton, so bringing his attention back to Naru-To he said. "You speak the truth Naru-To and that's part of the reason we are all gathered here right now. Krypton merely has hours left before its complete destruction, and anyone who is still on the planet by the end of today will certainly die."

Jor-El could feel how his proclamation had changed the room's atmosphere. He could feel the near tangible sadness flowing from each of the adults in the room, with the only people not emitting it being the children. Naru-To seemed almost indifferent, whereas Kara seemed bewildered and a tad confused, and Kal-El…well Kal was a but a babe, who knew what was going through his son's head.

"Yet you and Lord Zor-El don't look all that concerned about this." Naru-To said slowly, after giving all the adults in the room a scrutinizing look. The boy was intelligent and shrewd. There was no doubt in his mind that Naru-To already knew that he and Zor-El had come up with some kind of plan. Jor-El only hoped that Kal would be able to learn this from Naru-To someday.

"I am resigned to the fact that Krypton will die this very day, and that it will be the end of our way of life as we know it. However, when it comes down to the matter of saving the lives of Great Krypton's people, well, that is another matter altogether and something I have yet to give up on. Zor and I have spent all of our time since we first learned of the planet's impending doom, working on finding a way to save as many of our people as possible. We separately came up with a few plans, one of which is to build a fleet of ships that will be launched towards other habitable worlds which can host Kryptonian survivors." Jor-El explained.

It seemed that the shock of all these life-changing revelations unfolding before her had finally worn off, for Kara could no longer keep quiet and asked in disbelief. "Wait! Wait a minute everyone! Other worlds? Launching a fleet of ships? You're all playing an elaborate prank on me right? Krypton isn't really doomed, right?"

It broke Jor-El's heart to see his niece's hopes dashed in the silence that followed as everyone refused to answer, many of them refusing to even meet her eyes. Zor-El eventually chose to speak up and confirm the bad news to his daughter.

"Unfortunately my dearest child, this is no prank. Krypton is truly in its final hours, which is why you, Naru-To and Kal-El will be on the first two spaceships off the planet." Kara looked like she wanted to say something in protest but Zor-El cut her off before she could even make a sound. "The world we've chosen to send you to, is younger and more nourishing than ours, its sun is also smaller and just entering the prime of its life. This will have an effect on your physiology Kara, it will give you and Kal-El incredible powers, the likes of which will make you more than a match for even Naru-To in terms of speed, strength, durability and so on. Which is why you will need someone to guide through this change, someone who can teach you and protect you as you grow into your powers, and I can't think of a better person to do this than Naru-To."

Jor-El picked back up from where his brother left off. "Which is just one of many reason why we've chosen to send you, Naru-To and my little Kal-El on the first two ships towards this world called Earth. Another is that the human race has an indistinguishable outward appearance from us Kryptonians and the Shinobi people of whom Naru-To is descended from. It will allow you all to blend in, and when the time is right, reveal yourselves to their world."

"With powers like the ones you will have under a yellow sun, it will make you both a blessing to be cherished and an extreme danger to humanity. You will need to learn to control your abilities, as well as exercise an extreme amount of discipline and precision in how you choose to use those abilities. You will be like gods to them, but you must never take that role. We do not send you to their world as conquerors, but to live with them and inspire them to greatness. The very Symbol of the House of El, stands for Hope, and as members of the House of El, you must do your best to embody that hope for all of humanity to see. Always remember this my children." Lara spoke up, making her own addition to the meeting while gently rocking baby Kal-El in her arms.

Alura, joining her sister-in-law, said. "Naru-To, we place the protection and care of Kara Zor-El and Kal-El in your hands. This the hardest thing for any parent to do, but each of us having watched you grow up, gaining knowledge, wisdom and mastery over your unique abilities, while remaining humble and well mannered, have come to the same conclusion. We couldn't have picked a better person to entrust our children's lives to. With your powers, you can protect them, with your experience and your genetic memories as a guide, you can train them and help them control the god-like abilities they will develop on Earth, and with your wisdom you can help them acclimatize to this new life on an alien world, just like you once did on this planet.

"But this is not the main reason we entrust them to you, no. We freely give responsibility over Kara Zor-El and Kal to you because you love them as your own flesh and blood, and it's this love for each other that we believe will ensure you all have a bright future. The truth is that it might take years before we see each other. These ships are experimental technology after all, and we will be scattering Kryptonians all over the universe, as fast as possible. In fact, the possibility realistically remains that we might never see each other ever again. It's hard for a mother to trust another with the life of her only child, but you've done nothing but prove yourself, which is why I am entrusting you with my family." Alura finished with tears in her eyes. It was literally the nicest thing the usually indifferent woman had ever said to Naru-To and everyone present knew it.

Taking over from his wife, Zor-El said. "Which is why we want you to promise us, that you will take care of them no matter what happens. Look out for them, help them as only a family member would be willing to do, and protect them from the many dangers of the new world you are headed to."

Dropping to one knee, Naru-To said. "Lord Jor-El, Lord Zor-El, Lady Alura, Lady Lara, you all have my word that I will do everything in my power to love, care for and protect Kara Zor-El and Kal-El, as only one who shares blood with them would be willing to do."

"Then I believe we are all satisfied with this outcome. With time running out, we better get to work. Your rockets aren't going to launch themselves after all." Jor-El said as he and Lara, still holding Kal, rose to their feet before leaving the room, while everyone quickly followed behind.

VvV

Fortress of Solitude, Arctic, Earth / Many years later...

"This vessel carries my daughter Kara Zor-El and my ward Naru-To, from the now dead planet of Krypton. Treat them as you would your own children, for you will see the treasure they will be for your world." Clark Kent, better known to the people of Earth as Superman, loudly read the alien hieroglyphs engraved into the hull of the Kryptonian spaceship for his friend and teammate to hear. The spaceship was one of the last physical connections in the universe to his long since destroyed birth planet, and it had brought a pair of passengers to Earth, who were supposedly his family.

"Treasure?" Asked his teammate and arguably bestfriend, Bruce Wayne, a hero known to the world at large as Batman. Bruce was carefully analyzing the translation on a datapad, as he read over the alien hieroglyphs for himself. Clark had taught him to read written Kryptonese a few years ago, so the man wasn't unfamiliar with the script. Which made things that much more frustrating when Batman asked. "Do you think we've translated it properly?"

Clark whose alien birth name was Kal-El, the very son that Jor-El and Lara had sent to Earth in a rocket from Krypton all those years ago, sighed in exasperation at the persistent and cynical man. Bruce had a habit of always seeing the worst in everything so that he could get ahead of it and beat it, just like Clark had a habit of always looking for the best in people and actively worked each day to inspire them to be greater than they already where.

"For the fortieth time Bruce, yes. It says treasure. Not terror, not trouble. Why won't you just accept her?" He asked, immediately getting to the root of Batman's issue, which was his distrust of Kal-El's recently arrived cousin, Kara Zor-El. One of two survivors of Krypton's destruction, that had arrived like him in the vessel they were currently scanning.

"You can start with the fact that I find her sudden arrival a little too convenient. And if we are accepting it, you do realize now that it would mean that Luthor wasn't entirely insane." Batman said, reminding superman of the debacle a few weeks ago when former President Lex Luthor openly blamed Superman for bringing an Asteroid from Krypton to target the planet and kill the entire human race. Lex had even put a $1,000,000,000 bounty on Superman's head for his capture, and caused dozens criminals to come to come out of hiding to attack him. This was all done in order to keep the Man of Steel busy and out of the picture, while the giant Kryptonite asteroid came crashing towards Earth.

What Bruce was specifically pointing out though, was the part where Luthor had said that the asteroid was coming to Earth because of Superman. As in, it was following him here. "The navigational system on board this craft was bringing the asteroid to Earth. Specifically, to you." The Dark Knight continued.

Clark frowned at that, not liking the implications of that little nugget of truth. He and Lex Luthor practically hated each other's guts, so the idea that Lex might've been right about anything was extremely unpleasant to him, no matter the circumstances. Clark immediately argued back. "Luthor would've had no way of knowing that."

"But Darkseid would." Batman pointed out just as fast, stalling Clark's argument. "And we both saw Luthor using Boomtube technology. The point is that, you have many enemies, Clar-" Bruce never got a chance to finish explaining his point, because there was a sudden loud beeping coming from the spaceship's command console, before a light inside it unexpectedly activated, drawing Bruce's attention. Turning to his friend, the Dark Knight instead asked. "What did you just do?"

Superman shrugged from his position inside the two-person ship's cockpit, where he had started inspecting the ships interior, and simply stated. "I don't know; it seems my presence somehow turned something on. It feels like sunlight. I guess that explains how my cousin's powers manifested so quickly after her arrival." True to his words the interior of the ship which had been dark right up until a few seconds ago was now filled with bright golden light, greatly resembling sunlight at noon in the middle of summer.

Batman snorted at this and muttered under his breath. "How convenient."

Clark scowled, his superhearing easily picking up his friend's words, as he said. "Kara has done nothing to warrant your concern."

"We don't even know if her name actually is Kara." Bruce argued back. "This could be an elaborate trap by one of your enemies." 'To get at you in the one place where you are truly vulnerable.' Was left unsaid.

Clark grimaced, but in the end he knew that Batman was just looking out for him in his own special way. It was one of the things that the two heroes and their other good friend and teammate, Wonder Woman, did almost religiously for each other. They were each unable to standby and do nothing when they felt that someone, particularly a teammate was in danger, it was simply the heroic streak in each of them. However, when it came to any member of the so called Trinity of the Justice League being in danger, Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman's mother-hen-like over-protectiveness rose to all new heights. Superman and Batman were literally from two different species yet Clark couldn't think of Bruce as anything other than the brother he had never had, and instinctively he knew Bruce felt the same way about him.

"Then what about Naru-To." He reminded Batman of the second passenger that had come to Earth with the ship. "If it's just a trap to get me to lower my guard, why add him to such an elaborate and elegant fabrication. It would just make the whole the plan unnecessarily complicated and messy. There is no need for some random unknown person to be included if Kara is really some kind of psychological trap designed for me by one of my enemies."

"No Clark, it makes the whole thing seem that much more real. Life is complicated and messy, and anyone with the power to lay a trap like this would also know that, and work it into their plans. Kara appears to remember him and genuinely cares for Naru-To, romantically I might add, yet has absolutely no memories of how she left Krypton or more importantly of her mother's name. I'm sorry Clark, but I am not buying it." Batman said with a shake of his head.

"Let's look at the facts revolving around this boy. He arrived in the same craft as Kara, supposedly from Krypton. He was fully clothed in a pressurized protective suit that kept him shielded from yellow solar radiation, while Kara was apparently completely naked and absorbing that same radiation." Batman said.

"How is that last one even relevant?" Superman asked, blushing slightly in embarrassment of the state in which his cousin had arrived in.

"I don't know...yet, but I am not overlooking anything. Carrying on, this boy has DNA that has been obviously modified, it resembles both Human and Kryptonian DNA, in addition to possessing other peculiarities hidden deep inside it that I have never seen before in any living being. That alone makes him potentially dangerous to you. Add to this that he has been in some kind of a coma since we found him, despite the fact that he should be physically fine – as far as I can tell – and in perfect health. This coma keeps us from being able to question him and cross-reference his and Kara's stories, to analyze for falsehoods, loopholes or other mistakes. And finally, every time you are around him, you subconsciously relax in a way I haven't seen you do except around Lois, Conner, myself, Diana and now Kara." Batman listed, giving voice to his many observation, before noting the glare Superman was openly sending his way.

"Oh is that all?" Superman sarcastically asked.

"Don't give me that look Clark. If I was your enemy and wanted to kill you, this would be a truly ingenious way to do it. Using Kara as an emotional connection to lull you into false safety and then activating a living weapon that was previously dormant at the moment you were completely off guard. This boy might be a ticking time bomb for all we know, designed specifically to kill you. And you decided to bring him inside your Fortress of Solitude." Batman scolded, a note of incredulousness in his tone over Clark's decision to bring Naru-To to the Fortress. Bruce however was conveniently forgetting that his Fortress of Solitude had some of the best defense, medical technology and stealth technology on the whole planet. If there was ever a place in the world that could keep a threat contained, it was this one.

"It will be fine Bruce; I will be fine." Kal-El insisted in a voice like frozen steel, his friend was becoming steadily more annoying by the second. Sighing as he rubbed his eyes, Superman said. "Naru-To's more than likely just a survivor from Krypton, maybe not a native Kryptonian, but the writing on the ship referred to him as my uncle Zor-El's ward." Clark replied unconcerned with Bruce's fears. One of them saw the worst in people and the other the best, this way of viewing the world ironically made both of them very good heroes.

"Someone with the right tech and an understanding of Krypton, its people and its culture, could have engraved the words into the ship, including his "story" about being your uncle's ward." Batman said, making quotation marks when he said the word story. "I am not ready to be so trusting with either of them, in case they are really-" Batman was again interrupted from finishing what he was saying when suddenly something slammed into one of the doors leading to the room they were in, with enough force to shake that entire section of the Fortress of Solitude. A door that could have easily withstood a nuclear explosion without much trouble.

BANG!

BANG! BANG!

BOOOOOMMM!

The impacts were like thunder, hitting the duo like a solid wall of force as the heavy blast door to the Science Lab section of the Fortress of Solitude, was suddenly blasted off its hinges, and Kara Zor-El sped through it. Looking over her shoulder as she crossed the distance between them in the blink of an eye, she quickly hid behind Clark while yelling in panic. "It's after me! It's after me! It hates me! I swear I didn't do anything to it."

Clark immediately shifted his position from relaxed to on guard, fearing something dangerous had succeeded in entering the Fortress of Solitude or breaking out of one of the containment units. In the corner of his eye, he noticed Batman doing the same and keeping an eye on the door. So placing a calming hand on Kara's shoulder, even as the teen girl tried to hide behind his cape, he asked in the voice he used to get people still in shock from an accident or attack to tell him what happened. "Kara, I need you to calm down and talk to me, tell me exactly what is after you? Has the Fortress been breached?"

She blinked in surprise at the authoritative tone, turning to face the entrance of the science lab and pointing as she said. "That!" Then promptly ducked behind Superman again. Confused by her behavior Superman turned to face the door once, focusing all his considerable superhuman senses in that direction.

From beyond the doorway, Clark picked up the sound of four padded feet. Something was running on all fours at supersonic speeds towards them. Before he could use his X-ray vision to see what it was, a blur of white fur and red cloak came into view, it was a dog, his dog for that matter. It leaped through the shattered door, then paused in midair, in complete defiance of gravity, before spotting Kara and snarling at her, baring all of its teeth.

In the blink of an eye, the alien dog shot forward across the room like a rocket, leaving a sonic boom, as it snapped its teeth wildly at the scared girl. Its eyes lit up in crimson, ready to unleash its heat vision, fully intent on doing its best to incinerate Kara, but thankfully Clark was there. Positioning himself between the dog and Kara, Clark yelled in a commanding voice. "Krypto! No! Down, boy!"

The Kryptonian guard-hound immediately responded to its owner's command and stopped its attack, lowering its head at the chastising tone in Clark's voice. It really was a very clever dog after all.

Seeing that she was no longer under attack, Clark's beautiful cousin said. "I was down in the intergalactic zoo, looking at some cool stuff, and all of a sudden it came after me."

Clark frowned at this and looked back to Krypto before saying. "Bad dog. Kara's a friend. Leave her alone." Krypto's ears drooped at this, and the most powerful dog on the planet whined pitifully much to Batman's secret amusement.

In frustration Kara said. "I've tried to get Krypto to like me Kal, but he hates me."

Whatever else she was going to say was interrupted by Batman who declared. "Enough! Go up to your quarters, we will discuss this later."

Obviously stunned by Batman's bias against her, Kara began. "But, I didn't do anything wrong. It was the dog that attacked me."

"Go to your quarters." He repeated in quieter voice, but one which somehow seemed to be more threatening to the Kryptonian. Kara frowned as she finally noticed that Batman wouldn't budge on the issue, before turning around and leaving.

Sighing at the sight of his depressed and currently rather angry cousin, Superman turned to his friend once Kara was beyond the maximum range of her current level of superhearing and said. "You could've handled that better. Go talk to her. She's obviously upset."

"Doesn't it bother you at all that the dog hates her?" Batman said promptly changing the subject. Though he still looked meaningfully in the direction that Kara had left.

"His job is to protect the Fortress when he's here." Superman argued, before adding. "Besides...that dog hates everybody."

"Not Naru-To." Batman pointed much to Superman's annoyance. It was just another reason why the Dark Knight viewed the boy as a threat and why Superman felt he could trust him.

VvV

Kara was wandering through the weapons section of the Fortress of Solitude's museum/trophy room, noting the swords, armors, guns, spears, bombs, axes, shields and even an alien bow and arrow set in one particular case, that Kal-El had collected over the years. Just looking at them made her think of him, of Naru-To, her bestfriend. He was being contained in one of the Fortress of Solitude's Medical bays, behind a very powerful force-field capable of holding even a fully powered Kryptonian.

She wasn't allowed to see him without Batman or Superman being there to watch her. They both believed he was dangerous, but for entirely different reasons. Superman was worried that he might be carrying something dangerous he had picked up either on Krypton or during their journey to Earth. A dangerous toxin, alien disease or something else of that nature, believing it responsible for leaving him in his comatose state. Whatever it was, he didn't want Kara to catch it, and so wouldn't let her touch or visit him without heavy supervision and following very strict quarantine protocols.

Batman on the other hand, had a much simpler view. He believed that Naru-To was dangerous, because for some inexplicable reason he thought Naru-To was a living weapon, and one meant to kill Superman. Speaking of Batman…

"Try that bogeyman stuff with somebody else. I can hear your heartbeat." She angrily said aloud as she looked behind her to find the Dark Knight standing there silently, a human would not have heard him approach. Under her breath she muttered. "If you had a heart that is."

"..." Judging by the blank expression he was giving her, he has somehow picked up that last comment.

With a growl of frustration, Kara fully turned to the silent hero and yelled. "Why can't you just leave me alone? You'll never understand what it's like to be me!"

"Then explain it to me until I do." He promptly replied before motioning for her to follow him to which she reluctantly complied. The duo walked into a hall known as the Hall of Krypton. Inside of the hall resided every single piece of Kryptonian technology, culture, art and knowledge that Kal-El had managed to acquire during his life. Everything except for the ships which they had used to journey to Earth.

Gesturing to the various objects around them, Batman asked. "Does any of this help fill your memory lapses."

"Some of it." She replied, nodding towards two giant statues of a familiar man and woman, holding up a spherical model of her dead home-world, Krypton. "I know that that's my uncle Jor-El and my aunt Lara."

"Because Superman, Kal-El told you?" Batman asked.

She shook her head in denial, her golden locks bouncing wildly as she replied. "No, because I remember them. Both my father and uncle Jor-El were brilliant scientists back on Krypton. Jor-El was said to be the smartest man on the planet, and quite possibly in the whole galaxy. My father was considered to be the closest thing to his equal as a scientist, yet Zor-El did not hold a seat on the Science Council like Jor-El did. This didn't bother my father though, he loved his brother even if they didn't always get along, or at least they hadn't gotten along well until Naru-To showed up in our lives. Naru-To changed everything."

"Naru-To?" Batman echoed, clearly still suspicious of the boy.

Hoping to alley some of those suspicions, Kara decided to tell Batman about Naru-To, saying. "Yeah. He grew up all alone in the wilder regions of Krypton, surviving off of nature until my father found him. I remember my father saying that he had a lot of physiological issues because he wasn't a native of Krypton. My father and uncle bonded over solving many of these issues, they were both fascinated by him, and began to cooperate and listened to each other more often as they worked on helping him overcome his medical problems. My father was also the only person to not initially doubt uncle Jor-El when he warned the High Council and other prominent scientists of Krypton, that the planet was doomed.

"The High Council however, did not want the news to be spread for fear of inciting global panic, and because they didn't want to believe that it was truly the end of Krypton. They took up various measures to silence uncle Jor-El, including shutting down his main research lab, blacklisting some of his research projects and threaten him into silence. In response uncle Jor-El and my father had to secretly build the ships that brought Naru-To, Kal-El and myself to Earth, at a hidden facility. Our ship was bigger than Kal-El's, due to the need to transport both me and Naru-To, so it took a little longer. I remember my father telling me before we boarded our ship, that our navigation system was slaved to Kal-El's ship, and that my parents would follow soon afterwards in a vessel of their own. Not that it mattered in the end. We were either too late or my parents lied to me so that I would willingly leave, because I didn't see any other ship, only ours and Kal-El's"

"So they…." Batman trailed off, hinting at the fact that they were likely dead. Batman's eyes softened ever so slightly, it was the most empathic she had ever seen the Caped Crusader. Kara merely nodded her head sadly, a single tear rolling down her cheek.

"Most likely. Our ship never even had the chance to leave the planet under its own power." Looking up towards the crystal ceiling that was faintly glowing with a soft white light. "All I remember in those last minutes, is the darkness surrounding us as quadrillions of tons of rock buried us alive, and Naru-To grabbing my hand to gently squeeze it while he smiled at me, promising that we would somehow survive this together. He was right too. The ship must have kept us alive and in some kind of suspended animation for all those years that we traveled across the stars together, because the next thing I remembered was waking up at the bottom of Gotham harbor. The rest I learned from you." She said with a nod towards him.

Batman probed. "Do you remember your mother's name?"

"You already know that I don't." She replied angrily, a bitter look appearing in her eyes.

"Then tell me more about Naru-To?" He quickly changed topics.

Kara frowned at him but reluctantly answered. "He is my betrothed, my destined one. Naruto and I are star-bonded, and we were to be married in future, within the halls of the great temple of Rao at Argo city. Obviously that's no longer possible. Nevertheless, there is no accurate word to describe the nature of our relationship in your language, but for simplicities sake, you could just call him my boyfriend. However, don't confuse the nuances and subtleties of what we share with your human relationships and courting rituals. Our ways are of Krypton and thus fundamentally different." Perhaps it was a bit arrogant, and perhaps she was looking down on Batman for simply being human, but he had pissed her off.

"I see." The superhero replied, before asking. "How did you meet then?" He was clearly eager to move on to a different topic.

Sighing to release some of the aggression she was channeling towards him, Kara replied. "Like I said, my father Zor-El found him. Father just brought him home one day, I was six years old back then. He said that Naru-To had been surviving all alone in the wilds, like a beast since infancy, and that because of this he had gone unnoticed by all of Krypton until father stumbled across him while on a research expedition. Though Naru-To looked like us, it was immediately apparent that he was an alien, one without a home and in possession of extra-ordinary abilities. My father quickly realized that he needed love, acceptance and guidance in order to use his abilities responsibly, as well as to mature into a good person. Doesn't that sound like a familiar story to you?" She asked.

"Kal-El." Batman responded, having picked up on the obvious hints she was dropping. Clark Kent's life was remarkably similar to how Naru-To's life had turned out while he was on Krypton it seemed.

"In this case, Naru-To had physically grown to the age of five in Krypton's harsh wild environment, before he was even found by Dad. We don't know how he arrived on Krypton or if he was a baby when he arrived, all I know is that he was surviving off of berries, insects and small animals he was able to hunt even as a child. He had no past memories of anyone, yet he somehow knew how to make a fire in order to cook his food, make traps to catch wild animals, and wore clothes as if he'd grown up in civilization. My father said that he was more like a feral beast than a child when he first found Naru-To. The blonde idiot wasn't even able to say anything other than the word Naruto, which my dad later converted to the Kryptonian name Naru-To. Father described Naru-To as a creature driven by pure instinct." She continued, lost in old, vague memories of her past.

"Was?" Batman noted the past tense.

Kara smirked as she said. "Oh yeah. While Naru-To was feral, he wasn't mindless. Dad and uncle Jor worked with Naru-To for over two years before I ever met him. Naru-To has the ability to learn at an incredible rate, and I think that it was this that fascinated my father and uncle so much about him, among many other things. The two began to teach Naru-To, giving him a basic Kryptonian education up until our equivalent of college, the Trials. Naru-To learned it all at an unprecedented rate.

"It was only after Naru-To had learned to behave well enough to pass for an ordinary Kryptonian in public, that father brought him home and introduced him to me and my mother. From that day onward, Naru-To became a ward of the House El, and the first thing my father did was instruct me to teach him to read and write Kryptonese glyphs. I spent most of my early days just teaching him to read and write the 118 unique glyphs in our alphabet, and all the additional material from my old school work and homework. He complained about it a lot, saying it made his brain hurt, nevertheless, Naru-To never once gave up and I guess we became friends due to this. Over the years Naru-To and I, would often hang out at my place in Argo city, have picnics at the Fire Falls, and eventually visit uncle Jor-El and aunt Lara, while she was still pregnant with Kal. Aunt Lara and Naru-To got along really well actually, she even named him Kal's bond-brother...the closest analogue in English for it would be some form of godbrother or bloodbrother I guess. Essential, this made him part of their family as much as ours." Kara finished.

"You're saying Kal-El's mother trusted a stranger enough to basically adopt him as Kal-El's brother?" Batman asked, surprised by this.

"Naru-To wasn't a stranger to them, aunt Lara was fully aware of exactly who and what he was thanks to uncle Jor-El, and she trusted him with babysitting Kal-El all the time." Kara defended her boyfriend. "Making him Kal-El's bond-brother was the next logical step, especially after all he did for them. Naru-To was always a really kind person, someone you could easily come to trust and believe in. He taught me so much."

"Like what?" Batman asked curiously.

Kara frowned as she tried to recall the exact lessons her betrothed had taught her, but couldn't for the life her remember a thing. Finally, with a sigh of disappointment she admitted. "I can't remember. It's all still so foggy."

"Then how do you know that he taught you anything?" Batman challenged, his voice dripping with skepticism.

Kara scowled and replied. "I remember him teaching me, guiding me through the various steps of different lessons. I just don't remember what the lessons themselves were about."

Narrowing his eyes at her, the frustrating human said. "And yet you still can't remember your own mother's name?"

"I already told you that I can't! Why won't you trust me?!" Kara yelled at him.

To which he simply responded. "Because you remember your boyfriend who by your own testimony appeared in your life under strange circumstances, but you can't remember the name of the woman who gave birth to you and cared for you your whole life. More importantly, you desperately want me to trust you."

"Batman, she's been through enough." Superman interrupted floating down towards them from another part of the Fortress, before he stood in front of the duo and said to Batman. "I think she's ready."

Whatever this meant, Batman seemed to immediately understand and was vehemently against it. "I disagree. You're making a mistake." Batman argued. Clearly this was a matter that the two had spoken on before and disagreed about.

Puffing out his chest, Kal declared with tone of finality. "Then it's my mistake to make." To his clear satisfaction, Batman silently backed down.

Confused by what was going on, Kara asked the two superheroes. "Ready for what?"

"To get a little fresh air. We're going to Metropolis cousin." Kal-El explained with the same infectious smile that both Jor-El and Zor-El had always shown back on Krypton. Kara could only grin happily in response.

VvV

New Troy District, Metropolis...

Clark couldn't remember the last time he felt so, not quite happy, though he was exceedingly happy at the moment, but rather light. It was like a massive burden he had always been carrying around on his powerful shoulder, his whole life, was suddenly lifted and he was free for the first time in forever. He knew what it was of course.

All he needed to do was glance to his side, where a beautiful blonde teenager was bouncing around like an overexcited puppy. A puppy demanding to know everything there was to possibly know about being an Earth girl. Clark Kent acknowledged that it was a slight misstep on his part to bring her to Metropolis for the day without asking his lovely wife, Lois, to come along and help deal with her fellow female. Specifically, to answer any questions about what Earth girls are like and the things they do. Even so he was genuinely happy, he now had his cousin Kara Zor-El in his life, living proof that he was not the last of his species in the entire universe, and that he didn't have to live the rest of his life feeling all alone.

The others didn't get it, and quite frankly he could never even bring himself to wish that they would fully understand this unique burden he bore. Because the only way for them to do so is if Earth was destroyed along with every single person on it, and they were left all alone in the universe. He could never desire such a thing for his adopted home planet or any one of his many friends and enemies. Not even Lex Luthor deserved such a fate.

The metaphorical weight of knowing you are the last of your kind, and that you are different from everyone else because you are an alien, regardless of the fact that he had been raised by humans and lived a very human life. It was all so much for him to bear at times, and it was only his dear friends, both in the Justice League and those at the Daily Planet, as well as his parents and his beautiful wife that kept him from cracking under all that pressure. Someone with his kind of power couldn't afford to crack no matter what, not ever. Because if he ever did, then the whole world would be in very real danger.

It was for this reason that while he did not appreciate his bestfriend's paranoia in regards to his cousin Kara, he fully understood it. Kara was family, someone he would always be willing to let close to him unless something drastic occurred. She was a vulnerability that one of his enemies could use to defeat him where weapons of mass destruction and kryptonite had previously failed. Additionally, Clark grew up with human values and ideology but his cousin's values were Kryptonian, so what was considered right and wrong on Earth, might not have been seen as such on Krypton. If Kara suddenly decided to live her life in a way that did not abide by human rules, there really wasn't anyone aside from Clark and a select few who could hope to stop a rogue Kryptonian, especially one that Batman believed was stronger than even him.

Clark knew that he would be very reluctant to fight his cousin, and would rather exhaust every single option available to him in order to make her see things his way, than hurt her. Batman knew this too, which was why the Dark Knight kept putting pressure on Kara, interrogating her and doing everything in his power to find any and all loopholes in her story, just in case she was not the kind of person Clark believed her to be. A teenage girl who had lost her home and every other member of their family, but was still a genuinely good person at heart.

Even now, Batman was watching. Disguised as a normal person, with a fake mustache and a week old stubble and hazel eyes, no doubt contact lenses. He wore a worn out beanie over his head, a tattered gray jacket and blue jeans, as well as dirty hiking boots, while cradling a bottle of liquor in a brown paper bag. He looked like he was a genuine homeless person, and if not for the fact that Clark had memorized his bestfriend's heartbeat, he might have mistaken him for one.

With a tired sigh, he thought to himself. 'I really hope you come to realize that I am right Bruce.'

VvV

Centennial Park, New Troy district, Metropolis...

After a long day of walking around, clothes shopping, eating hot dogs and generally talking to each other, Clark and Kara arrived at Centennial park. It was already evening and Clark was hoping to take Kara to meet his wife Lois, for dinner, but before that he wished to ask her somethings about Naru-To.

Slowing down as they crossed over a small waterway bride leading to a large pond, Clark asked. "I have been meaning to ask you something Kara, it's about Naru-To. I overheard most of what you told Batman in the Fortress, but I would really like to know more about your boyfriend. What's he like? What kind of things does he like? Whatever you can tell me really."

A bright smile appeared on her face at the mention of Naru-To, before Kara replied. "One of the things I remember fondly about Naru-To, was that in the weeks leading up to the destruction of Krypton, he would visit you and your parents' home a lot. Often without me because I had to go to school at the Academy in Argo city, as I was preparing for my Trials."

"Why did Naru-To visit so often? You mentioned he got along with my mother." Clark asked, he was very interested in hearing about his birth mother. Though he tried to not let his eagerness show. He loved his adopted parents with all his heart, but he still wanted to hear details about Lara Lor-Van from someone who actually knew and spent time with her.

"He was babysitting you of course. He used to bounce you on his lap, feed you and even changed your Kryptonian equivalent of diapers a couple of times, though he despised that particular job. As for Aunt Lara, she was the only mother figure he ever had, certainly more of a mother to him than my mother, Alura, ever was. At best my mom tolerated his presence in our home, she never made any attempts to connect to Naru emotionally. She was especially unhappy with dad when he ignored the suggested spouse provided by the Registry of Citizens in favor of arranging my betrothal to be with Naru-To. She was upset with him for weeks afterwards and didn't even want to look at Naru-To. Your mother, Lara was the one who showered him with love and kindness, and was the mother that Naru so desperately needed while growing up. In turn Naru-To came to truly love you as his little brother, always doing everything he could to protect you." She revealed.

Surprised, Clark asked. "Protect me from what?"

Kara hesitated for just one second, before sighing and saying. "The Science Council was less than pleased when you father went around announcing Krypton's imminent destruction. As I told Batman, they believed uncle Jor would incite a planet-wide panic, and wished to silence him. The way I heard it told, was that several members of a rogue faction in the military guild were encouraged to attack your home, they were determined to at the very least harm you and aunt Lara, as a message to your father. However, no one counted on Naru-To being there, and he protected you both."

"He did?" Clark asked, surprised to hear that the younger looking man in a coma had done that for him and his family when he was just a baby.

She nodded and replied. "Yes he did, I remember your father Jor-El called him a hero afterwards. The attackers were armed with advanced pulse rifles, armor and other dangerous Kryptonian military grade weapons. I think they might have secretly intended to kill you and aunt Lara. They just didn't count on Naruto being there or his superpowers."

"What happened exactly?" Clark asked.

"He locked you and your mother in a safe room Jor-El had built, then stood guard outside, waiting for them to come after you. My father claimed that the violence that occurred in that room that day was unlike anything Krypton had seen in several hundred years. He said that Naru-To fought like a demon and had his entire right arm blow off for his trouble, but he killed every single one of the attackers to protect you and your mother. The figures of how many attackers were present are varied, so I can't give any actual figures but it is suspected that at the very least a dozen men and woman were involved in the incident.

"Both dad and uncle Jor were shaken by these events, but in the end they were just extremely grateful to Naru-To for protecting you and Aunt Lara. The Council also learned their lesson and received a lot of backlash for that incident, even if no one could directly connect them to those rogue soldiers. They never tried anything like that again, though they did subtly warn Jor-El off and place heavy restrictions on a lot of his public research. It was only then that your dad started to focus on building the ship that saved you." Kara said.

"Wow." Kal-El breathed out, amazed by the story he had just heard. "What happened to Naru-To in the aftermath of that incident? If he lost one arm, how does he have two arms, both of them organic?"

"Naru-To's unique physiology allowed him to slowly adapt to living in Krypton's harsh environment, but it was constantly under attack. Krypton's atmosphere had a unique blend of gasses, some of which were poisonous to everything that was not native to Krypton, including him. The planet also had significantly heavier gravity than Earth, was constantly bombarded by solar radiation from Rao, and produced some of the deadliest pathogens found in the galaxy, among many other such natural hazardous phenomena that made life difficult for non-Kryptonians. For Naru-To, it was like the planet was constantly trying to kill him, and only his species' natural regenerative healing kept him alive...albeit just barely.

"However in the aftermath of that attack, Naruto was left severely wounded and near dead from blood loss and Krypton's unforgiving environment. It would've been his end, thankfully our father's devised a way to save Naruto's life, by turning him into a pseudo-Kryptonian. A Kryptonian-alien hybrid so to speak." Kara explained.

"How did he accomplish that?" Clark asked.

To which she shrugged and replied. "I have no clue on the details, but I remember dad said something about splicing Naru-To's DNA with Kryptonian DNA, down at the genetic level, using some unknown technique that he and uncle Jor invented back when they first found him. After the operation, Naru-To gained enough resistance to the environmental factors of our planet that his natural regenerative abilities kicked in and healed him back up to full health. The only problem was that when they were planning the operation, they didn't know whose DNA to fuse with his. It obviously couldn't be from either of our fathers, because thanks to us being betrothed, it would've made me and him genetically half siblings or cousins. Thankfully, your mother decided to volunteer her own blood for the process, which worked out better since I am not related to the House of Van."

"My mother?" Clark asked, surprised by what his mother had done.

"Remember that she loved Naru-To like a son, and with that procedure, Naru-To literally became your half-brother. He has the blood of the House of Van running through his veins, the blood of your mother, Lara Lor-Van. Anyway, he regenerated soon after that, his body perfectly adapting to your mother's Kryptonian genes. My dad thought that they would need to clone a new arm for Naru-To, but he simply regrew his missing limb thanks to his regenerative abilities. When he recovered, she and Jor-El officially named him your Blood-brother, something that Naru-To smiled about for weeks afterwards. Which is why he will be so devastated when he wakes up." She said sadly.

This confused Clark and he asked. "Devastated why?"

Placing a hand on his chest she said. "You are all grown up Clark. If there is one thing that Naru-To wanted to do, it was to raise you and protect us as we grew up on Earth together, in honor of our parents. It was practically their final wish, so when he wakes up, if he wakes? He will feel like he failed not only you, but both of our parents who entrusted your care to him, along with mine."

"He will wake up Kara, I promise." He said comfortingly as he pulled Kara into hug for a brief moment. Releasing her she stepped back and took a moment to look around at their surroundings.

"Wow!" She exclaimed as she realized that they had arrived at the center of the park, where a massive statue of Superman stood with a stone eagle resting on his arm and a lit torch burning at his feet. The statue of him looked like such an authoritative and larger than life figure, that it was hard to think that Superman and Clark Kent were the same person. "This is how they see you."

"I guess...it's very flattering, but I don't really think about it." Clark replied humbly, with a shrug.

Taking it all in, Kara said. "You're their champion. A larger than life figure they all look up to. No wonder the eyeglasses work, nobody would look for you while dressed like them."

"There is no them Kara, it's just us. We all share this world, even if some of us were born on another planet. We are one people, and we-" Clark suddenly paused as he picked something up on with his superhearing, and he turned his head to listen. A frown marred his face as he concentrated but heard nothing out of the ordinary, feeling sure that he had heard something just now.

"What is it?" Kara asked with frown, not liking how tense Clark had suddenly gotten since he paused.

"I'm not sure, I thought I heard something. I don't like this Kara, no matter what happens stick close to me." Clark said, turning his head to back to his cousin who was behind him. It was mistake, no sooner did he do before a streak of yellow light smacked into him with enough force to send him flying into the dense shrubbery to the side.

"Kal!" Kara screamed and was about to run to his side, but something coiled around her leg. Looking down she found a golden rope of some kind tied to her left leg. She immediately flew upwards angrily muttering. "After being scrunched up in that ship for years, I am not going to let anyone put me back in a box, not any-waaaaaaaah!"

A jerk from the other end of the golden rope pulled her down from out of the sky with enough force to slam her into the ground, forming a large crater and temporarily stunning her. Before she could recover her wits, the Rope was pulled again and Kara found herself dragged across the park floor, towards a figure hidden in the shadows.

Helpless despite her great power, and in an unknown situation, she did the only thing that came naturally to a teenage girl regardless of what planet they came from. Kara screamed for help. "Help me! Somebody help me! Naru-To!"

"Kara!" Superman yelled as he burst through a pack of thick shrubs to aide his cousin, already fully dressed in his superman uniform, unfortunately he was interrupted by a series of lightning fast blows powered by fist of glowing energy. They struck from every direction and at times several blows landed simultaneously. Unable to do anything Clark Kent found himself getting pummeled, even as his cousin was dragged away from him. He the very real feel that he was about to lose his only living relative along with an intense hopelessness, due to being successfully stall by his attacker. After mere moments the attacks let up, just enough for him to see who his attacker was, and he was shocked by the face staring back at him. "Harbinger?" Was all he managed to say before the attacks resumed.

VvV

Dreamscape...

"So, care to explain to me why you had me drive all the way out here to meet you with a spare change of clothes, Naru-To? And why you were butt naked for that matter when I found you?" Kara Zor-El asked him as she placed a hand on her hip, cocking it out to the side in that way she knew he liked, while giving him a knowing smirk. "This should be a good story." She added under her breath.

Naru-To sighed in exasperation at his bestfriend's sparkling blue eyes and the dark tone in her voice, already knowing that as soon as he explained it to her, she would never let him live it down. Despite this, Naru-To was well known across Argo city for his bravery(craziness), and so he began his tale by saying. "I was looking for a gift, something to present to you on your upcoming birthday, and well, I decided to look for it all the way out here."

"Oh, how sweet and thoughtful of you Naru-To. However, that still doesn't explain why you were naked when I found you, or how you ended up naked in the first place, or why in the name of Aethyr's bowels, it seemed like a remotely good idea to you, to go wondering around the Rao damned Fire Falls of all places? And completely unsupervised at that, despite everything that's going on with you now. This place is remarkably dangerous Naru-To, even with your newly enhanced regeneration. More importantly its constantly monitored by the Science Council. Are you trying to reveal all your secrets to those Rao forsaken sons of Cythonna, and give them a reason to tear our family apart?!" She demanded, her voice continually rising till she was all but yelling at him in the end. Naru-To couldn't help but cringe at this, Kara was the most passionate and stubborn person he knew aside from himself. The last thing he wanted was for her to get mad at him.

Thankfully, despite her anger at his decision to come here alone and in secret, Naru-To already knew that Kara would calm down as soon as he showed her a new ability he had just discovered. Kara had always been rather mesmerized by his powers and was always asking him to show them off to her. At the very least they would distract her long enough to cool down from her justified anger at him. The last few weeks had been rather frustrating for her, with him being put in lockdown, for observation by Jor-El and Zor-El as they waited to see what kind of side effects splicing his DNA with Kryptonian DNA might have produced.

Already one major side effect that had revealed itself was the fact that his genetic memories which usually manifested as dreams, once every few nights were now coming every night. Naru-To would see his people or himself using some incredible ability and the next morning he would just wake up fully capable of replicating it. Worse yet, he was even beginning to have these dreams in the day time, where he would suddenly enter a sort of dissociative fugue state, where in his mind he would be watching a cool ability occur, while externally his body recreated that exact ability.

Alura had demanded that the brothers quarantine him until he was back to normal, after he spontaneously burst into blue flames in the middle of her kitchen while she was preparing lunch one day. Jor-El had diagnosed these dissociative fugue states as merely his body adapting to the Kryptonian DNA spliced into him. He believed that they would eventually go back to only appearing once every few nights, after his mind and body settled. And he was right.

Unfortunately, not being around Kara for that long had had a bit of an effect on the poor girl. His bestfriend had become a bit of a mother hen around him, always trying to make sure he was okay and worrying unnecessarily about his every action. Though this time, her worries were somewhat justified.

Raising his index finger to make a point, Naruto said. "Firstly, the Science Council has bigger things on their plate than wasting precious time and resources to dedicating a drone towards simply observing me for a couple of hours as I wondered up and down the Fire Falls. Secondly." His middle finger joined his index. "I was released from quarantine today, your uncle believing that I have largely gone back to normal and can now associate with people again. So I don't need anyone's supervision. And thirdly, that's just it Kara. The Lava is not dangerous, at least not to me." He finished with ring finger joining the other two.

"Explain!" She demanded with a glare that could've frozen hell over, while folding her arms under her developing bust, making it look considerably bigger. Despite the heated glare thrown his way, Naru-To couldn't help but appreciate what he had to look forward to in that department. He had seen Alura In-Ze once, with only her night-ware on and he could officially verify that the woman of the House of Ze tended to blessed in the bust department and with their physical looks.

Scratching the back of his head, in that habit of his, when he was extremely embarrassed or confused about something, Naru-To replied. "I, uh, I fell in."

"Fell in what?" Her voice was barely a whisper. Dreading his answer, but already knowing that since this was Naru-To, her suspicions were likely already correct. In response he motioned his head to the lake of boiling lava behind him, making clear exactly what he fell into. "That?!" She exclaimed, in pure shock, pointing at the lava.

"Yeah, I fell into the Fire Falls. I was too close to the edge, and the bank crumbled beneath my feet and the next thing I knew I was falling into the lava." He admitted, feeling embarrassed about the whole affair. The situation was so outrageous that Kara didn't even have time to truly process what he had just said and be angry at him at him for his stupidity. Far too focused on the mere fact that he was alive.

"But you're-." She began.

"Fine. I know right." He interrupted with a smirk, as he pulled off the spare shirt and robes Kara had brought, revealing his ripped abs and toned muscles to the girl who immediately blushed at the sight. Extending his left arm horizontally to his side, till it was level with his shoulder, he said. "Check this out Kara. The ability just appeared in my mind as I was falling." Then concentrating on his arm and the mysterious energy he always felt flowing through his body, he focused on the one that felt most like fire and earth mixed together and channeled it into his arm.

Before Kara's astonished eyes, his entire arm turned into glowing lava, hot enough to make Kara flinch even from where she was standing a few meters away. "By Rao's flaming balls!" She swore. "How are you even doing that Naru-To?"

Her fellow blond shrugged, while trying not laugh at Kara's profane language, Alura would've grounded her for a month if she had heard Kara say that. He then replied. "I haven't the slightest clue...yet. It's just another one of my many unexplained abilities that have been popping up ever since the operation with Lady Lara's blood. All I remember is following my instincts right before I fell in, it was like I knew what to do to survive. But it's still pretty cool right?" He asked his fellow blond, who chuckled and gave him a nod.

"Yes Naru, it pretty cool, and don't think I haven't noticed you are trying to distract me from the fact that you actually fell into a river of molten lava out of carelessness." She echoed in a voice that sounded like she was talking to a particularly dimwitted child, making him scowl much to her amusement. "But I will let it slide this time, because thanks be to Rao almighty, you are not hurt. Just put your shirt back on before someone sees you, oh, and turn your arm back to normal. This is a popular enough tourist spot; someone could be watching."

"You mean, put my shirt on before someone sees us together, and reports it to everyone in Argo city. Just think of the scandal it would cause if word got out that Naru of House To was standing half naked in the presence of the beautiful Kara Zor-El, while she gazed at him hungrily. Oh, the glorious gossip that would generate." Naruto said dramatically, while dropping to a knee and wildly gesticulating.

"Don't you dare try and ruin my reputation. I will kick your ass all across Krypton if you do." She yelled at him angrily for his teasing, but there was no real heat in her words. She actually liked this playful side of Naruto, who would tease her.

The blond in question smirked and replied. "Oh I would love to see you try. You've yet to beat me in a spar, even once."

"I will, someday...soon." She grumbled back, upset at how right Naruto was. They trained together all the time and sparred regularly, yet so far he had won all 987 of their bouts, and relentlessly teased her about it. He had declared that if he won all 1,000, then she should just quit trying to beat him because she would never win. He would also extract a price from her, a punishment for failing to win even once, this gave Kara a lot of motivation to beat him. "Now get your Rao damn shirt on, it's embarrassing seeing you like this."

"Alright alright. Jeez I was only teasing you." He said with a chuckle, raising his hands in surrender.

"Hmph!" She looked away from him, a slight blush on her cheeks, as he put his shirt and robe back on, concealing his muscular chest much to her secret annoyance. After a few moments she asked. "Naru-To."

"Yes dear?" He responded far too cheerfully.

"What were you searching for here?" She asked, gesturing to the Fire Falls as a whole.

He shrugged and replied. "I wanted to pluck a firestar-lily or a blood bloom for you, they only grow at the Fire Falls."

"You know that that's illegal right. An ordinary citizen would go to behavioral correctional camp for at least 3 weeks if they were caught. But with the entire Science Council hating your guts, those 3 weeks would probably turn into 3 years or possibly even more for you." She reminded him.

"Only if I get caught." He reminded her, wagging his index finger for emphasis. "I pranked the entire high council in broad daylight after the shit they pulled over at Lord Jor-El and Lady Lara's place, and that was while they were in the most secure facility on the planet. No way am I getting caught by a couple of security drones at a tourist resort."

Kara snorted, vividly remembering that day a few weeks ago and the chaos Naru-To had unleashed on the Council. "Too true, and that was pretty hilarious. You even got my dad to roll around on the floor laughing like a child, once he learned what we did. Still, I don't want you to risk yourself for a silly flower, no matter how cool it would be to have one. I would rather just have my bestfriend by my side forever."

Naru-To smiled, walking up to her and chastely kissing her on the lips as he replied. "Okay."

Kara was surprised by his boldness, to kiss her in public, even if it was only for a half a second and his willingness to give in to her demands so easily, Kara asked. "Okay? I thought I would have to argue with you a lot harder before you gave up on the idea of getting me a present." Naru-To was easily the most stubborn person she knew, outside of herself.

He smirked and said. "I haven't given up on getting you a present, I just have a better one in mind."

"Naru-To, what in Rao's name are you planning? And how much fallout will the chaos of this plan

cause." She growled more than asked, very familiar with the smirk on Naruto's face. One that indicated he had a crazy, possibly humiliating and definitely not legal plan in his mind. Crazy for anyone who went along with the plan, humiliating for whoever was the victim, and not legal period. They'd done this a couple of times.

"Like I would tell you, and let you talk me out of it. No, you are just going to have to wait for three long days to find out on your Birthday, my beloved. All I can promise you is that, as long you have this gift, I will always be able to come to your side when you are in danger." He said with a wink, emphasizing exactly how long she would have to wait to find out what he was up to.

"Rao's glittering bear. This better not get me into trouble." She grumbled.

"It won't." He assured, before kissing her forehead and pulling her into a hug.

VvV

Real World...

'Help me! Somebody help me! Naru-To!'His eyes suddenly snapped open upon hearing Kara cry out his name over their shared psychic connection. It was something that they had developed while Kara was practicing Torquasm Vo, a special type of Kryptonian martial arts.

The world Naru-To had awoken to was a jumbled assortment of smells, sensations and sights that were both familiar and completely alien to him. He could hear his own heartbeat thundering away as his blood loudly rushed through his veins, while every cell in his body felt like it was energized by a controlled explosion constantly occurring within. Every hair on his body was standing on edge, as if an electric current had passed over them, while the world seemed to alternate between crystal clarity and blurry distortions. Time seemed to flow simultaneously slower, faster and at a normal pace to him, and a million of his thoughts raced through his head in a million different directions, faster than his mind could even fully comprehend. All except for one thought that stood out above all others. 'Kara needs me.'

With an almost mechanical level precision and utterly inhuman grace, Naru-To rose from the bed of blue-white crystals he had been laying on, all the while spreading out his senses to locate Kara Zor-El. His body was functioning more on autopilot than anything else, yet adhered to his desperate desire to find the girl he had grown to treasure more than anything over the course of many years. Ignoring the plethora of information and sensations his newly heightened senses were returned to him each second, Naru-To focused on the older and more familiar senses that he had long since mastered back in the wilds of Krypton. He specifically tuned into his ability to track the life-force energies of living beings, something that was referred to as chakra signatures in his genetic memories/dreams.

Focusing primarily on the feeling of Kara's life-force, Naru-To found to his horror that while wherever he currently was, was a place filled with a lot of diverse lifeforms, none of the signatures he detected belonged to Kara. Even expanding his chakra sensory abilities by hundreds of kilometers, he couldn't detect her presence at all. Even in his half-awake state, with his various primary senses going haywire, Naru-To couldn't help but feel his heart begin to race in fear, as he wondered what had happened to the girl that had literally become one of the two most precious people he had left after Krypton's destruction.

For a moment, the blond pseudo-Kryptonian desperately hoped against all odds that Kara was still alive, somewhere on this planet. He needed answers and he would only get them by finding her and Kal-El, then finding out where they were and who they could trust. The House of El had entrusted their protection to him and Naru-To had no intention of failing his duties. Trying a different approach to tracking Kara, Naru-To reached out with his senses to feel for the presence of Kara's necklace.

He felt a response, a faint ping in that back of his mind that indicated that the necklace was there, albeit quite distant from his location. Relief flooded his being at the response, Naru-To knew from past experience that Kara wore that necklace all time. He was the one who gave it to her after all, which was why he knew he was sensing the Flying Thunder-god maker placed on the back of the necklace.

He had crafted this gift for her on her birthday all those months ago on Krypton. Made from crystalline heavy elements that had been pushed up to the surface from the depths of Krypton's core, until they were deposited in the Fire Falls on the surface. Naru-To had secretly harvested the material from the lava plunge pools at the base of one of the many Fire Falls, using his ability to morph into a lava in order to retrieve the material. Then using his chakra, he had shaped it into a tiny shield baring the crest of the House of El, no bigger than a ping pong ball. Using the hide of a venomous Fish-Snake that had tried to attack him when he emerged from the lava, Naru-To had then fashioned a leather necklace from which the crystal hung.

Naru-To had given Kara this necklace as her birthday present, on her birthday, along with a solemn promise to always be there for her no matter what the future brought. The Flying Thunder-god marker he had seen in his genetic memories/dreams, had been added to the back of the shield in order to keep that promise.

Naru-To hoped that Kara was at the other end of that ping, safe and sound with baby Kal-El. If not, then it was at least a clue for him to begin searching for his family. He needed answers quickly, so Naru-To took a moment to pray to the great god Rao and the goddess Flamebird for his success in this endeavor, as well as the protection of his family. If some person or creature had hurt them in anyway, there would be hell to pay. Once he found Kara and Kal they would figure out the next step. With that Naru-To disappeared in a brief flicker of yellow light.

Naru-To's transition from wherever he had awoken to Kara's position was instantaneous. Appearing a few meters behind Kara and another woman with beautiful raven hair, a head piece of some kind and a rather scandalous red, gold and blue outfit covered in white stars. This woman was taller than his betrothed, and surprisingly muscular while maintaining her feminine beauty. Yet all he felt when he looked at her were his instincts, sharpened in the wilds of Krypton, warning him that she was dangerous and he needed to be careful.

Despite these feelings, Naru-To completely ignored them, his eyes zooming in on the fact that one of the woman's arms was wrapped firmly around Kara's neck in a threatening manner. He didn't need to understand the loud conversation she was having with the two men (who were also rather colorfully dress) standing across from her, in a language that was completely alien to Naru-To. {I am taking this girl, and you will not stop me!} Such details were unnecessary for Naru-To, not to mention having just woken from a comatose state and spent years in stasis, he wouldn't have been able to process them even had he been 100% okay.

Naru-To didn't even pay attention to the fact that one of the two men; dressed in a blue skin tight body suit, with red undergarments on the outside, red boots and a cape, looked an awful lot like Jor-El. The diamond shaped shield bearing the crest of the House of El, on that man's chest, was all but invisible to Naru-To in his current state. And he showed no concern over the fact that the Jor-El look-alike had noticed his arrival and quickly said something to the lady he was arguing with in the same strange alien language. {Wonder Woman stop! Let's continue this after we deal with the bigger concern standing behind you.}

The Jor-El look-alike's companion was cloaked in a mostly black and gray skin-tight bodysuit, with a bat-like symbol on his chest, and a cowl with pointy ears that connected to a midnight black cape. He remained completely silently though his body was slightly tensed, yet Naru-To paid him no heed.

No, at that moment Naru-To's sole focus was on the woman who had dared to lay her hands on Kara. Simply knowing that his bestfriend and betrothed was being held against her will would've pissed Naru-To off even had he woken up under the best conditions possible, and he most certainly hadn't. Yet, what truly set him off was the fear he could sense coming from Kara. His Kara, the bravest woman he had ever known, his bestfriend was utterly terrified.

In the state the he currently was, after just waking up from years spent in stasis, then suddenly being overwhelmed by new sensory input and on top of that being filled with worry for Kara's safety when he realized she wasn't nearby, only to eventually find her being held captive, and very afraid. It was all too much; Naruto couldn't take it. His mind went blank, his emotions spiked and his powered flared to life within him. A deep anger that he did not even know he possessed quickly surged to the surface and overwhelmed him. His vision suddenly beginning to fade as his mind fogged over, while dreams of another time and of another world jumped to the forefront of his mind, along with a long list of abilities and moves he could suddenly perform. Moves specifically designed to kill.

An audible and quite frankly animalistic growl suddenly erupted from his throat, and before even Superman realized what was happening, Naru-To attacked.

It all occurred in an instant. Lightning bloomed in his right hand, covering his fist in electrical energy as he activated a technique that he had practiced extensively back on Krypton, under Zor-El's supervision. His dreams/genetic memories referred to this particular lightning ability as Raikiri, but there were many more lightning abilities available for his use. His use of Raikiri at the moment was more akin to muscle memory, due to having trained with it so much in the past. Instinctive if you will.

Between the attack on Jor-El's family by the rogue military guild members, the operation afterwards that spliced his Lara Lor-Van's DNA into his, Naru-To started developing new abilities at a truly ridiculous rate. Jor-El and Zor-El's answer to this was to build him a safe place where he could freely practice and adjust to his new found abilities, as well as somewhere they could monitor him closely.

One of the side effects of the whole incident, was the unleashing of hidden knowledge buried deep in his genetic memories. Knowledge that even the slightest action he perceived as violent or a threatening to him, or more importantly someone he loved, would instantly send him into a fugue state and unlock a new ability to counter the threat.

The fugue states eventually ended after Naru-To's body adjusted to the Kryptonian cell running through it, and both Jor-El and Zor-El believed that they wouldn't resurface. However, the way he had woken up from his coma and everything that had happened since, had created the perfect storm to send him plummeting headfirst into another dissociative fugue state. So while he conscious was largely…elsewhere, his body attacked what his subconscious perceived as a threat.

The distance between Naru-To and the raven haired woman instantly vanished as he appeared before her in the blink of an eye, and struck.

With godlike reflexes, the woman who had been holding Kara hostage, shoved the Kryptonian teenager aside as she spun around to meet him head on, displaying her own impressive speed in the process. His lightning encased fist was cleanly intercepted by a pair of indestructible silver bracelets wrapped around the woman's wrists, which snapped together in an X, in time to block the attack. However, despite this the sheer power behind the attack still sent the woman skidding backwards for a distance.

Naru-To did not pursue her though. Even in his current abnormal state of mind, Naru-To's sole concern was for Kara, whom he immediately stood in front of in a clearly protectively manner. Behind him, Kara stared in shock at his back, tears beginning to appear in the corner of her eyes as she whispered. "Naru! Is that really you?" He ignored her, never once taking his eyes off those he perceived as the enemy.

{I don't know who you are young man, but you've just attacked an Amazon warrior, that was a big mistake. If its battle you want, then battle you will have.} The raven haired woman said as she entered a combat stance, but her words meant absolutely nothing to Naru-To, who couldn't understand the language and wouldn't have even had he been in a normal state of mind. Instead, Naru-To sensed the intent behind her words and actions, her very desire to fight him was as clear as day to him, and he growled in response.

{Diana, wait!} The Jor-El lookalike in blue said, as he tried to intervene. {He came from Krypton with my cousin, the girl you and your people attacked. He doesn't understand anything about this world and was likely just trying to help her.}

{No, it's more than that. Look at his eyes Superman, that boy isn't in a normal state of mind.} The man dressed like a bat, interrupted, before taking a single step forward, only for Naru-To growl loudly and bare his teeth at the Dark Knight, who immediately took a step backwards. {I don't think he is even seeing us right now, instead he is reacting to our intent. He believes we intend to harm Kara and is protecting her.}

{Whatever the case, I will subdue him. The lightning and sheer strength behind that attack would've easily killed a normal person, and his speed is nothing to sneeze at. He needs to be taken down before someone innocent gets hurt. Harbinger.} The raven haired woman said with a frown.

A blonde Kara look-alike with green eyes, suddenly emerged from behind some bushes replied. {Your will be done my Queen.}

{Wait, no!} The one who looked like Jor-El cried, but it was too late.

VvV

It was too late for Superman to stop her, Harbinger shot forward at supersonic speeds, extending her fists forward mid-flight. Yellow glowing flame-like energy covered each of her fist's as she crossed the distance between her and the target in less time than it took for a man to blink, and she prepared to knock him out. Except, just her fists were mere millimeters from his face, the blond young man who had attacked Wonder Woman, suddenly bent over backwards till his body was nearly parallel with the ground, completely evading the attack.

His hands came together in a weird hand formation and he took a breath so deep that his chest seemed to swell up comically, before releasing it. A needle thin beam of super-heated air shot out of his mouth just as Harbinger's body flew above him, and blossomed into a conflagration that blasted Harbinger into the low hanging rain clouds hovering above the city of Metropolis. The attack was so forceful that its recoil slammed the young man, back first into the ground hard enough to crater it. While the flame blinded everyone temporarily and set some of the surrounding trees on fire, which Superman immediately put out. Just like that, he had taken Harbinger out of the fight.

Diana knew that Harbinger was tough and that an attack of that magnitude wouldn't keep her down for more than a few seconds. However, the mere fact that this supposed berserker-like alien, could eliminate one of Themyscira's top warriors so easily, when he was in an abnormal state of mind, was very worrying.

VvV

Naru-To rolled backwards to get back to his feet as soon as his back hit the ground, a Wind Release: Rasengan formed in his hand which he launched at the spot he previously stood. It exploded, deepening the newly formed crater he'd created, and kicking up an enormous amount of dust to conceal him and Kara. He had blinded his enemies with the Fire Release technique, but that was already fading and the dust was going to keep visibility low for a few more seconds. Enough time for a retreat.

Naru-To didn't know why he was doing what he was doing, he was just following his instincts and actions that appeared in his mind. Still, he grabbed Kara who yelped at suddenly finding herself being carried bridal style, and then a moment later, he leaped toward the nearest building at top speed. Behind them, someone cried out. {Damn, his getting away.} Not that he understood.

With Kara in his arms, Naru-To landed on the roof of a nearby skyscraper and then shot forward at hypersonic speeds, the sound barrier shattered explosively as did every piece of glass nearby, all the while, Naru-To, began doing the most insane rendition of parkour anyone in Metropolis had ever seen.

The world around him moved simultaneously at normal and super slow speeds, while he blurred across the cityscape with his bestfriend in his arms. His feet barely ever touching solid ground and each step seemingly taking him tens of miles in the blink of an. It took less than 3 full second to exit the city, and enter a nearby forest. Unfortunately, Superman caught up to them almost immediately, with Wonder Woman right behind him.

"Stop!" He commanded in flawless Kryptonese, making Naruto hesitate and his grip on Kara slacken for a moment. A moment that Wonder Woman took advantage of, her golden lasso of truth wrapping around Kara and yanking her out of Naru-To's arms, much to the boy's displeasure.

The pseudo-Kryptonian saw red, chakra surged within him, empowering every limb as a shockwave erupted around him. Naru-To accelerated towards Wonder Woman, once more obliterating the sound barrier, as he attempted to simultaneously retrieve Kara and strike down the one who took her from him. A field of plasma visibly roiled of his form as, he threw a punch at Wonder Woman's face, only for it to be caught in Superman's palm who appeared right beside her, just as fast.

The sound of Superman catching the blow, was like a thunderclap and Naru-To felt the bones in his fist fracture before almost instantly repairing themselves, not that he cared at that moment. With casual ease, Superman physically forced his hand backward till it was at an uncomfortable angle while saying in Kryptonese. "I said stop."

Naru-To understood the words, even in the state that his addled mind was in, but something about just giving in and obeying rubbed him the wrong way. His instincts quickly guided him to a well of energy deep within him, something deep and powerful and full of life. Naru-To felt it permeate his cells, collide with the other power that felt like a perpetual explosion, mix and magnify. Suddenly his body took on a golden glow, and the pressure that was being exerted on his hand by Superman, shifted from uncomfortable to nonexistent.

Before Superman could even react to the change in Naru-To's strength, Naru-To kicked him in the groin while simultaneously stepping forward and driving the point of his elbow into the Man of Steel's throat as he leaned forward. This was followed by a painful kick to his vulnerable kidney, a punch to solar plexus that visibly made him exhale, after which Naru-To clapped his palms on both of Superman's ears fast enough that sheer motion broke the sound barrier and the impact made a shockwave much to the Kryptonians agony. Then pulling the nearly insensate Superman's head down, Naru-To brought his knee up and drove it into the Man of Steel's nose, breaking it, before spinning in place and unleashing a spinning hook kick that sent him flying through the forest, destroying hundreds of trees in the process. It had all occurred microseconds.

Kara looked on in horror yelled. "Kal! Damn it Naru-To!"

Her angry words made Naru-To pause for reasons his mind could not comprehend. Unfortunately, this was also the moment that Wonder Woman who had released Kara from her Lasso, used his distraction to bind him firmly with her golden lasso before ordering. {Submit! The Lasso of Truth compels you. Surrender.}

Before he could even attempt resistance, a supernatural weight pressed down on his existence. Additionally, Naru-To felt the supernatural bindings begin sapping at his willpower, weakening his desire to disobey as he groaned under the pressure. "Nnnnnnngggg!"

{Surrender!} She repeated, the golden binding glowing brightly in response to her words, as its divine properties further acted to overpower his will, and its power invaded his mind, body and soul. Six Paths Sage Mode, the glowing power that had allowed him to harm Superman so devastatingly suddenly shut off and Naruto felt himself weaken to the point that he collapsed to his knees.

'No! No! This can't be happening, not when Kara needs my help.' He suddenly thought, his mind once more becoming lucid. The fugue state he had been in was rapidly dissipating and his foggy mind clearing up. 'I have to help her.'

{Surrender.} The raven haired woman demanded in that incomprehensible language of hers a third time, but this time the command translated within his mind.

Surrender!

The metaphysical pressure on his soul spiked to an unbearable level, and despite the language barrier that normally would've prevented him from understanding what was being said, the word seemed to imprint itself in his mind, imposing its will over him. It was agonizing.

Under any other circumstances, Naru-To would've have given in. The Lasso of Truth was an artifact meant to subdue even gods after all. However, Naru-To was not in his right mind for starters, and secondly he genuinely believed Kara Zor-El was in danger. So drawing on an utterly inhuman amount of willpower, he mentally screamed. 'Never!'

All the while, his physical body drew on every scrap of power he could manage in that instance, as he rose back to his feet, intent on breaking out of his golden bindings. His veins bulged visible and Naru-To felt like the very blood in his body was suddenly boiling. It was excruciatingly painful, agony the likes of which he had never felt tore through his body eliciting a scream that sent a shockwave of energy throughout the entire forest. "Aaaaaaaarrrrrggghh!"

Trees that were hundreds of years old were suddenly flattened, rocks shattered into sand and the very soil of the Earth was stripped of everything nutritional due to his cry. Yet such a cry of rebellion ended mere moments later, his last bit of resistance faltering as the pressure spiked further and Naru-To felt his soul and psyche fragment under the unrelenting pressure. The last thing he saw before he ceased to be, was a shadowy form appear above the broken fragments of himself, then there was only darkness.

VvV

It had all occurred in a bit of a blur for Kara. One moment she and Kal-El had been peacefully walking through the park, after a day out in Metropolis. Her cousin had been teaching her everything he could about being an Earth girl and more importantly about being a Kryptonian on Earth, and how he had learned to blend in with humanity and make a life for himself. Then a moment later, they were under attack.

The attack itself, was very well coordinated and fast enough that even Kal-El, the vaunted Superman had not been able to react before he was taken down and pummeled into the ground. Kara had tried to escape by flying into the air, but a golden rope had suddenly wrapped around her leg and pulled her back down to the ground with incredible force.

Kara remembered the moment the panic set in, the moment that she looked towards her cousin Kal-El who was barely able rise to one knee from where he was on the ground being pummeled. She remembered how, completely helpless he looked even as she called his name, while some super-humanly strong person dragged her away and into the unknown. She remembered the despair on his face when he realized that he wouldn't get to her in time, and it was at that exact moment that she came to realize that she had to get out of this mess on her own, and in her despair she cried out, to the only other person she believed could save her, Naru-To, and like thunder after a lightning bolt, he was there.

Looking back on things, Kara realized that she should not have called for Naru-To. When he arrived, he wasn't in his right state of mind, something she was very aware of due to all the times she had seen him enter a fugue state while on Krypton. Of course, even his subconscious fighting abilities where so high that he managed to temporarily beat back Wonder Woman, Superman and some other blond girl one after another, without problem. However, everything changed after Wonder Woman took her so called Lasso of Truth, and wrapped it around Naru-To while demanding he surrender.

In true Naru-To fashion, the stubborn blonde boy she had grown up with, completely resisted the divine artifact…that is, until he didn't. Naru-To's scream of defiance ended as abruptly as it began. He suddenly just stopped, his eyes seemed blank, while blood leaked from his nose and ears. Yet even as she watched, it all began to steam and disappear, a sign of his regeneration kicking in. Then he suddenly looked up at her and Wonder Woman who was standing right beside her.

There was a clear and visible change in his posture, aura and personality, as he seemed to instantly become far more calm and collected than she had ever seen. Small habits, body language and mircro expressions that she had come to associate with Naru-To from a lifetime of observations, suddenly disappeared and were replaced by completely different one.

All the while, this stranger in Naru-To's body was looking around at the surrounding forest as if it was the single most interesting thing he had ever seen. After nearly ten seconds of observation, Naru-To refocused his attention on Wonder Woman, then grabbing onto the golden lasso wrapped around him, he said in perfect English. "So that is how it is."

"You speak English." Wonder Woman asked in surprise. Kara was just as surprised but she didn't voice it.

This new Naru-To merely looked at the warrior princess as if it should've been the most obvious thing in the world and then held up a length of the golden lasso as he said. "This golden rope holds divinity and bears the purpose of communicating the absolute truth to another. However, it would be useless if it could not communicate that truth past a simple language barrier. For this reason, your golden rope has been imbued with the power to look into the minds and hearts of those it comes in contact with, and bequeath them with the ability to understand each other. Put simply, because you are holding the other end of this rope, we can speak one language in order to convey truth to each other."

"You...who are you? You are not that boy who attacked me a few minutes ago." Wonder Woman asked, sounding confused and surprised. Kara too wanted to ask that question, this did not sound like her Naru-To. The lasso's golden glow increased to a blinding luminosity, upon its mistress asking that question.

"Very astute." The stranger that Naru-To had become, replied with a nod before continuing. "I am Asura Otsutsuki, second born child of the god of shinobi, Hagoromo Otsutsuki, and grandson of Kaguya Otsutsuki the rabbit goddess. I speak for young Naru-To of Krypton, Ward of the House of El and the second iteration of the Child of Prophecy known as Naruto Uzumaki. He who was the 7th Hokage of the Village of Konoha in the Land of Fire, as well as one of my reincarnations. I stand before you now because of what you have done, Woman of Wonder."

"What I have done?" Wonder Woman asked, sounding shocked by the accusation. Kara remained silent, knowing it was better to let the legendary superhero and the freaking demigod possessing her betrothed do the talking.

"Yes. In your ignorance, you've jeopardized the dreams and hopes of an entire civilization, and nearly prevented their resurgence." Asura accused, though he immediately noted the confusion on Wonder Woman's face and added. "I see you fail to grasp my meaning, very well, I will enlighten you. Naruto Uzumaki or Naru-To of Krypton if you prefer was chosen by my people to be the bearer of our Legacy. Our Legacy being the collective knowledge of our history, culture, technological progress and abilities over the last couple of thousand years. This Legacy was encoded into his very genes, in a way that only his mind or that of his future descendants, would ever be able to access. The reason for this was so that our people could be reborn again through him after the calamity that destroyed us."

"Even if what you are saying is true. I don't see how I could have jeopardized this Legacy you speak of. My only actions have been to restrain that boy, not harm him." Wonder Woman defended.

"Of course you wouldn't see it Child of Wonder and Divinity. It was not an intentional action on your part, so you wouldn't have noticed. The problem lies in the very nature of this golden lasso, along with Naruto's own stubborn nature that refused to surrender to it, when you commanded him to surrender. However, because you demanded it and he rejected your demand, this divine artifact you call the Lasso of Truth, obliterated his psyche, leaving him an almost empty shell." Asura said, in a not quite superior tone, but it was close.

"No! No way! Naru-To can't be gone." Kara yelled, as she felt her blood suddenly freeze and heart stop. The way the two spoke English was confusing, archaic and often flowery at times, but even she understood what this Asura was saying. Her Naru, her bestfriend was in essentially dead or brain dead, and it was all Wonder Woman's fault. Tears began to well up in the corners of her eyes.

Wonder Woman looked just as horrified, but angrily retorted. "What you say is impossible. The Lasso of Truth is not a weapon; it illuminates hidden truths in the heart of a person."

Asura merely snorted as he replied. "Indeed that is its primary purpose. However, even if it is not intended to be used a weapon, what is or isn't a weapon is defined differently depending on the user. In this case, in its effort to shine truth upon Naruto's heart, the Lasso tried to remove what it perceived as unnatural. For Naruto, that just happened to be the mental wall separating Naruto's psyche from thousands of years of knowledge in the form of my people's Legacy. Kara, has witnessed in person how much an insignificant fraction of a percentage of that total knowledge could affect Naruto, after he was altered into a Pseudo-Kryptonian by the cells of Lady Lara Lor-Van. All those visions and new abilities he seemed to be gaining all the time were a mere side effect of having his mind and body adapted to processing far more information than prior to that point. It completely disrupted life in her home for a few months, yet that was nothing in comparison to the true amount of information contained within the legacy. When the mental wall was shattered by the Lasso of Truth, all of that information suddenly came crashing down into his unprotected mind at the same time. The obliteration of his psyche was the most fortunate and painless outcome possible. Surviving and being driven to madness and a hatred of all living things, causing him to be a significant danger to the population, would've been the second most fortunate thing to happen to Naru-To. The hundreds of possible outcomes of this disaster would've only gotten worse from there." Asura visibly grimaced as he finished.

"Why…why did this have to happen Naru-To, after he just woke up again." Kara whispered. Tears where freely flowing down her cheeks, and inside her she felt a crushing pain, as if something was painfully squeezing her soul. But more than that she felt rage, rage at the imposter that was wearing Naruto's body like a puppet, rage at Wonder Woman for creating this mess and accidentally killing her bestfriend and most importantly rage at herself, for her own weakness and desperation which lead to calling out for Naru-To to come here. If she hadn't called his name, then he wouldn't have come here and none of this would have happened. Kara Zor-El felt completely disgusted with herself in that moment, disgusted by her helplessness.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know. If I had I would never have used the Lasso of Truth on him." Wonder Woman said, utterly horrified. There was a deeply regretful look in her eyes, and the formation of a single tear was beginning in one of the corners.

With an audible sigh, Asura said. "Ladies, please stop for a moment. Stop crying and blaming yourself, Kara Zor-El, and you should not let your regrets chain you down Woman of Wonder. Like I said earlier, I speak for young Naru-To of Krypton, the second iteration of the Child of Prophecy known as Naruto Uzumaki. Though his mind was fractured into countless pieces, the psyche of Naru-To of Krypton was by its very nature artificial, and returned to its origin after it was destroyed…namely Me! The real Naruto lay buried underneath and survived long enough for me to enacted repairs."

"What do you mean by repairs?" Wonder Woman asked.

"Perhaps repairs was an inaccurate word for the process, what I did was closer to recreation. I've fused the remnants that made up the personality, memories and very essence of Naru-To of Krypton with the dormant personality of the original Naruto Uzumaki to make a third iteration of the Child of Prophecy. He will be the Naruto you knew Kara, but also something new, something different. All the memories of his life spent with you on Krypton will be there, buried somewhere deep inside of him, but he will also have memories of his original life and its attachments. This is the best I can do under such short notice, so please don't break my descendant again or everything that my people have worked towards will truly be lost." Asura explained, almost pleading in his request.

Kara was stunned by his words. She had never felt such an overwhelming sense of hope. It wasn't quite the news she wanted to hear, Naru-To wouldn't be the same according to Asura, but he would be back. He would be hers again. Almost delirious with joy, she whispered. "I will get him back."

"In a sense." Asura told her with a soft smile. "There will be similarities and differences Kara, but more than ever, Naruto will need your help." He turned to Wonder Woman and said. "You too Woman of Wonder, Naruto will need an unbiased advocate among the divine pantheons of Earth."

"But I am not a god." Wonder Woman argued.

"You are close enough to fulfilling the description that difference is meaningless, and a lot of people seem to have great respect for you. On Krypton, a deal was arranged with Lord Rao and his pantheon, but we haven't had the time or opportunity to negotiate with the Old gods of Earth. I need you to shield him from the jealousy of Zeus and his family. It's a fair trade for having essentially killed this man and then forced me to pull an emergency revival, don't you think?" Asura said, as a joke. Though Wonder Woman silently nodded in acknowledgment.

Having regained her composure somewhat, Kara asked. "Mr. Asura, if everything that you said so far is true, then I have something that I would like to know. Why did you send Naruto to Krypton?"

"Why do you ask Kara Zor-El?" Asura asked.

"My father found Naruto on Krypton one day, as a little boy, but it was immediately apparent to dad that Naruto wasn't a native of Krypton. I've always want to know where he came from and why he was sent to Krypton, and now that I know that it was you who sent him along with this Legacy of yours, I would like an answer." Kara replied.

He didn't immediately begin speaking, but after a few seconds Asura said. "Our homeworld was without a name, and it resides in a galaxy at the edge of this universe. It's also long since been destroyed. That's mostly irrelevant now, but the reason Naruto Uzumaki was sent to Krypton and given the Legacy was because a Priestess with the ability to see the future foresaw the destruction of our world. After talking to the elders and people in power, our entire species began working to save ourselves. The legacy was deemed one of the only ways out of thousands of attempts to successfully save our people, and Naruto Uzumaki was deemed the one most worthy of bearing it. You already know what it's like to lose everything Kara, Naruto has had to learn that pain twice now. Leaving him on Krypton was meant to be his second chance, we did not foresee that your planet was going to face a calamity of its own. A miscalculation on our part, but perhaps not a bad one."

"You abandoned him in the wilds of krypton. Don't you think that was a little reckless?" Kara yelled exasperated by Asura's nonchalance.

He sighed once more before saying. "Higher powers than my own decided where and when to relocate Naruto for his new life. They imbued his soul with the strength of his past life, and left him to be found where they knew Zor-El would launch an expedition. Me and my people had no say in the matter, those were the actions of the great sun deity, Lord Rao himself. Does this satisfy you line of questioning Kara? My time here is quickly coming to an end and there is one more thing I must do before I leave."

"No, that is all. I just want him back." She replied. Perhaps under other circumstance, or even after he left she would be able to think of other questions she wanted answered. However, right now all she wanted was for this Asura to disappear and for Naru-To to come back.

"In that case I will hurry." Asura said with a smile, knowing he was talking to an impatient teenager. "I must return to my vigil protecting the Legacy, but remember Kara, that Naruto will be different, he will need love and acceptance. He won't always act the same way or make the same decisions that he did in the past, but that does not mean he isn't the person you knew. Now, with the last of my currently available power, allow me to take the substance poisoning his body, away." Asura declared, Naruto's whole body beginning to glow a pure white due to the process.

Within seconds of whatever process was taking place, Naruto opened his mouth a green mist came spraying out. Kara immediately felt extremely weakened and nauseous just by being in the mist's proximity. She already knew what it was, having felt its effects before, Kryptonite. Batman had used it once against her and she never wanted to feel the stuff again.

However, it was quickly wrapped in a ball of white energy, insulating its weakening effects from the Kryptonian, then Asura uttered one last word. "Farewell!"

The ball shot off into the sky like a tiny star, easily achieving escape velocity before leaving the atmosphere and dispersing the kryptonite gas harmlessly in space. The ball of chakra that was Asura's soul promptly disappearing afterwards. Back on the ground, Naruto's physical body collapsed to his knees while he grabbed at his head and cried out. "Gaaaah! My head."

"Naru-To! Is that you!" Kara blurred forward with her superspeed, skidding to a halt in the dirt besides him and immediately wrapped her arms around him.

The action must have surprised him, for he looked up in alarm, then blinked in confusion. There was something about the way he was looking at her that unnerved Kara, as if he had never seen her before, and the Kryptonian teenager started to pray to Rao that he had gotten amnesia. Fortunately, after what seemed like another migraine painful enough to make Naru-To groan, her bestfriend nursed his head again before looking at her again, and this time there was recognition in his eyes. He further confirmed this as he said. "Kara! You're Kara."

"I am, and you seem remember me! Thank Rao. I thought for a moment you had forgotten." She whispered with her head nuzzled into his neck.

"I remember you but it's confusing. I remember everything we have been through Kara, I remember Krypton, your parents, Kal-El's parents, all of it. I am very much the Naru-To you grew up with, however, I am also Naruto Uzumaki, the son of Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki, a ninja from the Land of Fire, a descendant of the Sage of the Six Paths and reincarnation of his second born son, Asura Otsutsuki. It's like I am both of these people but also neither of them, I am something completely new. The Naru-To you knew is as much a part of me as Naruto Uzumaki, but they are both pieces of a much greater whole. I'm really sorry Kara, I know it's not exactly what you were hoping for, but I am different now, and it will take time before I really understand-" He was interrupted by Kara's hugging tightening to almost crushing levels, before he felt something welt fall on his forehead. Looking up he was shocked to see Kara crying, her tears being what had dropped on to his face.

Kara whispered into his ear. "I don't care about that Naru. I am just glad I have you back."

"Then I am glad to be back." Naruto said with smile. "Kara where is Kal-El?"

"I am not sure where he ended up, he tried to stop you earlier and ended up-" Before she could explain, they were interrupted.

"I think now that things have settled down over here, we should all talk." Batman said, as he revealed himself crouching on one the branches of a tree that had survived the devastating fight. He jumped down to walk over to Naruto, Kara and Wonder Woman who had remained silent this whole time.

"Agree, we really should have a chat." Superman said as he appeared in the sky above everyone, with a deep frown on his face while he floated down towards them. Things had gotten quite complicated, and they would only get even more complicated in future. Every single person present instinctively knew this, however Naruto's mind was focused on only one thing as he watched Kal-El floating to the ground.

"Kara, why is Jor-El flying?"

TBC...

---

And done, not a whole lot of action afraid. The original draft had a much more serious fight between Naruto and Wonder Woman, that really just seemed to continue escalating, and over a simple misunderstanding. I decided to cut it out however, because (New Earth) Wonder Woman isn't like the New52 Wonder Woman who is inexperienced and a lot more hotheaded. I figured she would know when to ask questions and when to draw her sword and start kicking ass, a little bit better than her New52 counterpart. Sorry if I missed any typos or made other mistakes, this chapter alone is nearly 20k words and my eyes started hurting after a while. I got to learn to write shorter chapter.

As you can see Naruto is a Pseudo-Kryptonian thanks to Lara Lor-Van. In essence he will be kind of like a more powerful Young Justice Superboy, topped up with ninjutsu abilities that Naruto had in canon and some that he gets from his legacy. I am rewatching a bunch of my Naruto Shippuden anime for ideas. As for the people of the Elemental Nations, well they are mostly gone so you wont see many canon Naruto characters pop up on Earth, however, they have left their own unique mark on the history of the DC universe, so there is a lot explore there.

Now, I am still reading through a bunch of comics to figure out all the major storylines I want to include for this story. Stuff like, Final Crisis, Darkest Night/Brightest Day, Infinite Crisis, New Krypton and a few other major and minor arcs are a must. Anyway, please leave a review, I really love hearing your opinions and they influence each chapter in ways you can't even imagine. Also if you like my work and feel you want to support me, feel free to donate whatever you can on www dot p a treon dot com (slash) ScarletAesir058

Till next time, Scarlet out!