DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto and Marvel.

Chapter 4

Naruto yawned as he entered the kitchen. He wasn't tired. He was used to waking up early in the morning. He was pretty much used to it even before he was transported here. If he were honest though, he would have wanted to stay in bed longer, but alas, this is the life he had to live.

He sat down at the kitchen table, his ears barely registering the news from the TV.

"I'm thinking there's no chance of having ramen for breakfast?" Naruto said, looking hopeful. He had to be honest; he missed eating ramen for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Natasha sighed. "Look, I know that was your old diet from wherever you came from, but you should know better that it's not healthy."

"I don't know about that, I'm pretty healthy," Naruto tried to argue.

The SHIELD Agent placed a stack of pancakes on the table, "I beg to differ. You're extremely short for your age, you ever think of that?"

"Yeah, yeah," Naruto rolled his eyes.

"Now that we have an understanding, eat up or you'll be late," Natasha said.

As Naruto began to eat, the two had been aware of the news.

Breaking News!

Tony Stark, CEO of Stark Industries, had been reported missing in Afghanistan earlier today. He had flown to the Middle East for a weapons demonstration for the US Armed forces. When he was en route back to his accommodations, they were suddenly ambushed by unknown assailants. The authorities are currently out looking for the missing CEO. In the meantime, his father's old business partner is running the company.

Christine Everheart reporting.

"Goddammit," Natasha cursed, knowing what her next orders will be.

"Are you going to be busy?" Naruto asked.

"Hopefully not," Natasha said, but even she did not sound convinced by what she said.

"I'll be okay," Naruto said.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm a teenager now. I can handle myself if you get busy."

"Don't use this as an excuse to eat ramen all day, every day."

"I would neither confirm nor deny that," Naruto said trying to play innocent.

Natasha sighed, "I'm starting to know you now. Look, you promise to dial down on the ramen when you're on your own, I will trust you to leave you on your own."

"Oh, all right," Naruto begrudgingly agreed. Truth be told, he wanted to grow as tall as his peers are. "Deal."

"Okay, then," Natasha nodded.

S.H.I.E.L.D. HQ

"I'm sure you've all heard the news," Director Fury sat on his desk clearly not pleased."Some organization had the balls to kidnap the country's top weapon maker."

"I knew it," Natasha muttered under her breath.

"You have something to share Agent Romanoff?" Nick Fury said.

"I'm guessing that you want us to find him?" She answered back not at all intimidated by her boss.

"You guessed right, Agent," Nick Fury nodded. He looked to the rest present in the room. "I want you to find Tony Stark or at the very least, the f*****s who kidnapped him. I want answers on who did this. I want to know everything about them: their grandmother's name, their blood type, hell I even want to know the smell of their farts. You have your orders, get a move on."

Everyone turned to leave, except Natasha who stood by the doorway with her back turned. "This better be worth it. I'd be leaving my new family at home to search for a playboy."

"Trust me, Agent Romanoff. It will be all worth it."

With that, the Black Widow left.

When he was all alone, he muttered to himself. "Although, I hope we don't see the day when we need them."

SOMEWHERE IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Blurry eyes opened to an unfamiliar location. It was dark and, frankly, whatever he was lying on was extremely uncomfortable. How he wished to return to that comfy bed he loved to lie on back in Malibu, maybe get another reporter on his bed.

"You're awake, finally," Someone spoke to his side. He didn't know this person. Frankly, he didn't even know where he was. All he remembered was he was captured by some insurgents, and they had some demands. There was this weird insignia that he didn't recognize though.

"Wha-" He tried to speak, but his throat was dry.

"Wah- -er," He wheezed out to the only other human in the room.

He tried to sit up, but there were multiple things attached to him. For starters, there was a nasogastric tube in his nose, an IV stuck in his arm, and a… is that a wire?

As he sat up, he yanked everything out, causing him to gag and wince in pain. When he got to the wire, the older man spoke up. "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

He followed the wire and found that it was hooked up to a car battery and connected directly inside the bandages on his chest. That revelation was enough to make his blood run cold. He faints again after that.

A few minutes later, he later notices that the older man was brewing some tea in the corner.

Seeing that the new hostage was awake again, he pours a cup of tea for the other person.

After taking a sip hydrating him, Tony asked what had been bugging him. "What have you done with me?"

"I saved your life," was his cryptic answer.

Seeing the shocked expression on his face, the older man decided to elaborate. "Don't worry. You are still very much human. I removed as much shrapnel as I could, but there is still a lot left headed for your atrial septum. That battery is what holds them back."

"Do I know you?" Tony asked. This man was acting as if he knew him, but he couldn't remember for the life of him who this person was.

"My name is Yinsen. We met years ago in Bern. I doubt you would remember with the amount of alcohol in your system," The now-named Yinsen introduced himself. "I was surprised you were still able to give that talk."

Now that he knew who he was (he now knows his name, but if what he said was true, he still didn't recognize the older man.), he wanted another of his questions answered.

"What happened to me?"

A snow globe-like object was tossed to him. Upon closer inspection, it was revealed that he wasn't holding a Christmas ornament. In his hands, he held a collection of Christmas Tree-shaped shrapnel.

"I have seen many wounds like yours in the village I came from," Yinsen told him cryptically. "We call them: The Walking Dead."

He didn't even have time to register the words told to him as the metal doors that kept them from the outside world slid open.

"It is an honor to finally meet the great Tony Stark," Yinsen translated their captor's words. "The most famous mass murderer in the world."

"What do you want from me?" Tony asked, again Yinsen played translator for both sides.

The man who seemed to be the leader held up a photo. It showed a clear shot of the Jericho Missile he had demonstrated earlier.

"I want you to build me this missile," He ordered.

"I refuse," Tony said almost immediately. He remembered the bomb that exploded in front of him. It showed him the distinct logo of Stark Industries.

"It's a shame," The leader exhaled. "But what if I told you, that you did not have a choice in the matter?"

SHIELD HQ
WEEKS LATER

It was an uneventful few weeks. It was basically all hands on deck for the agents. Some went to investigate the scene of the crime. Others stormed the local rebels for information. Information was scarce, and whatever questioning they did from whoever they took prisoner just did not work.

Whoever had captured Tony Stark had a hidden must have hidden so well that it was like finding a needle from a haystack.

"What's the situation?" The Big Guy on the chair asked his returning agents.

"We still haven't found any information on the whereabouts of Mr. Stark," Clint Barton reported to his superior.

"Come again, agent?" Nick Fury raised an eyebrow. He wasn't used to hearing failure from one of his best agents.

"We have been hot on his trail for weeks, and yet, all we could find about him was this," Natasha handed him the remains of a banner. He flipped the cloth over and found a weird logo. It was made up of ten circles overlapping each other to form a larger circle, and in the middle, there were a pair of crossed swords.

The Colonel studied the logo. "Even I am not sure what terrorist organization this logo is from. Did you at least get a name?"

"I believe they called it the Ten Rings."

"No shit," Nick Fury deadpanned as he continued to stare at the logo.

Before anyone else could speak, another agent swung the door open interrupting the conversation.

"Sir, sir!" The called. "We have breaking news."

"What are you waiting for, agent?" The boss wasn't in the mood to be kept waiting. "Spit it out."

"Sir, Tony Stark has been found," The agent reported.

"Who found him?" Nick Fury raised an eyebrow,

"The US Military, sir."

"Well, I'll be. The Military can keep their shit together. So, when did they get him out?"

"That's the thing, sir. It turns out he broke himself out."

All the agents in the room were dumbfounded by the news. A mere civilian was able to get himself out and fend off a group of heavily armed terrorists.

"Say that again, agent?" Nick Fury broke the silence, brought by their disbelief.

"Yeah, it still doesn't sound believable the second time around," Clint commented.

STARK INDUSTRIES

The limousine pulled up in the driveway of the world-famous weapons company. Out of the three passengers of the vehicle, one of them was enjoying a heap of American Cheeseburgers. According to him, he craved the delicacy after being stranded in the middle of the Middle Eastern Desert for god knows how long.

There, Obadiah Stane was waiting to greet them, along with the rest of the Stark Industries Employees. Everyone was ecstatic about the return of their boss

Tony walked towards his business partner, handing the bag full of burgers to his assistant.

He raised his arms in welcome. The employees started a round of applause for the return of their boss.

"Tony. Tony, Tony!" Obadiah greeted cheerfully. When Tony was close, he hugs Tony warmly. "Welcome back. But I thought we were supposed to meet at the hospital. Surely, you need to get checked up before you come back. And of course, you and I both know that this place is teeming with reporters."

"Well firstly, I wanted a cheeseburger," Tony answered. "And two, that's perfect. Come on, you'll see,"

Tony and co. entered the building. Sure enough, it was packed with reporters like piranha drawn to a piece of meat. But there was one individual who stood out in the crowd. He didn't hold any recording equipment nor any notepads to take notes.

Tony and Obadiah continued on their way to the podium, with his security paving a path through the reporters who hounded him as soon as they saw him enter the room. Pepper stood on the outer part of the room, looking on at his boss with a smile.

It was then that someone approached her, startling her in the process.

"Ms. Potts," He said. "May I have a word?"

"Oh, sorry, I'm not part of the press conference, you'll have to wait a little longer. Tony will address everyone shortly." Pepper told him.

"Oh, I'm not a reporter," The man handed him a card. "I'm Agent Phil Coulson from the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division."

"Wow, that's a mouthful," was all Pepper could say as she struggled to read the card's tiny font.

"We know. We're working on it" The man said.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Coulson," she said respectfully. "But we were already approached by the D.O.D., the F.B.I., the C.I.A. –

"We're a separate division, ma'am, with a more…specific…focus," Agent Coulson explained. "We are especially interested in the circumstances of Tony's escape–"

"That's great! I will let him know immediately," Pepper cut him off.

But the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent was persistent. "I assure you we are here to help. We're here to listen. Mr. Stark will want to talk to us."

Pepper was equally as persistent. "I'm sure he will. Now, if we're done here, could you please take your seat?"

Obadiah took the stands to address the crowd but noticed that his business partner was nowhere to be seen. He looked over and down the podium and saw that the C.E.O. was sitting on the floor.

"Can everyone just take a seat, so we can make this less formal?"

He opened up the cheeseburger that he kept in his coat pocket. He took one big bite and began to compose his words. Obadiah joined him on the floor beside him, taking a seat on the steps of the stage where the podium sat.

He looked at Tony with a smile and patted him on the shoulder.

"I never got to say goodbye to my father," He began. "There are questions that I wish I could ask him. I would ask him if he were proud of what this company did, if he ever was conflicted or if he ever had doubts. Or if he ever was the man we all remembered from the newsreels."

He took a breath and continued. "I created weapons to defend and protect the lives of American children. Instead, I found them in the hands of the enemy, the very weapons with my name printed on them, used to threaten their lives instead."

Obadiah looked at Tony like he had uncovered some dark secret, but he was keeping his composure well.

"I realized that I had become part of a system that is comfortable with zero accountability–"

"Mr. Stark, what happened out there?" A reporter interrupted him.

Tony stood up and took the podium. "I had my eyes opened. I came to realize that I had more to offer this world than just the weapons I make. That is why effective immediately the weapons manufacturing division–"

The reporters were shocked by this and began to hound him with questions. They came here to get the scoop from one story, only to catch some breaking news on something different altogether.

NEW YORK CITY

"What the fuck?" Naruto spat out the milk that he was drinking as he watched the news on his phone. He followed the coverage of Tony Stark's disappearance ever since Natasha had left for the mission to look for Tony.

Now, he was aware of the families in Konoha that made weapons, especially Tenten's family. They basically supplied all the village's weapon needs. And with their village's source of income, they would be in business for years!

But now, here was a dilemma that blew his mind and the minds of the rest of the people who knew of the company's business. He would slap himself in the face if he ever heard of that girl's family ever shifting focus.

"Dude, what's wrong?" Peter asked as he walked over with Ned to the lunch table where their little crew always sat.

"They found Tony Stark," Naruto answered.

"That's great!" Ned chimed. "But why'd you have to curse like that?"

"Because that's not all what happened," The blonde answered. "They shut down the weapons division."

"What the fuck?" Both Ned and Peter cursed the way Naruto did earlier. Fortunately, they haven't had anything in their mouths to spit out yet.

"See? That's what I thought too?" The former shinobi agreed.

"But what's the company going to do now?" Peter questioned.

He was answered by a pair of shrugs.

"Mr. Stark will think of something," Ned offered. "His family had been inventing stuff for years."

"I guess so," he nodded but immediately changed the subject. "Anyway, what did you guys get?"

"My lola gave me some rice and that adobo thing from where she's from," Ned brought out his lunch box.

"Dude, is that a Cool Whip container?" Peter chuckled.

"Shhh, don't be so loud," Ned quavered. He looked around if anyone had noticed. Fortunately for him, no one did.

"Why do you have a Cool Whip container as a lunch box?" Naruto asked.

"I lost my lunchbox a few days ago, and my lola told me she won't buy me a new one," the kid explained.

"I could tease you more, but I'm hungry," Naruto chortled.

He turned to Percy and inquired. "What did you get?"

"Oh, just a sandwich that my Aunt May whipped up," Peter showed them. "She even threw in a banana and a juice box."

Months ago he would have questioned why parents in this country called America would deprive their kids of nutrition and feed them such pitiful food like that, but after easing into his new life, he had come to accept this as a norm, in this country at least. Still, he would prefer to cook his own food rather than eat at the cafeteria.

Deciding he couldn't handle his hunger anymore, he brought out his food. It was a standard Japanese bento box but, opening it up, the contents looked like pieces of art.

To start off, his rice was stir fried to perfection and topped with a sunny-side up egg. The next compartment contained spring rolls with the freshest vegetables he could find in the market. Another held what looked like a crepe, but instead of sweets, it held bean sprouts and shrimp wrapped in lettuce. The next contained steamed tofu marinated in some sauce that looked delectable. The last one contained those cute sausages cut to make it look mini octupi.

Peter and Ned gawked at the blonde boy's food. It just looked so appetizing.

"What?" Naruto said as he separated his chopsticks.

"Dude, that looks great. Who made it?" Peter asked, suddenly losing interest in his food.

"I did," Naruto answered nonchalantly. "It's pretty easy once you get the hang of it."

"Can I try?" Peter pleaded.

"You can have my extra bento if you guys want?" He offered.

Peter looked like he wanted to cry. "Really?"

"Sure why not?" Naruto shrugged it off, "I have extra ramen in my locker if I'm hungry."

"You're the best, man," Peter gulped as he hovered his fork over the lunch box trying to decide what to get. Ultimately, he decided to try the spring rolls. At first, the fish sauce dip was a bit of a turn off, but when the food particle touched his taste buds, he almost moaned in delight at the explosion of flavor, so did Ned beside him.

"Like it?" Naruto smirked at his two friends' reaction.

"Are you kidding? I love it!" Peter exclaimed as he swallowed the morsel of food in his mouth.

"Dude, can you bring us some of this tomorrow?" Ned all but begged. "My lola's cooking may be good, but this? I don't know what to say."

"Sure, why not?" Naruto shrugged. "I guess I can sneak in two more bento boxes."

Peter and Ned seemed to have stars in their eyes as Naruto finished his sentence.

"For real?" the two seemed to say in unison. "Oh, shit. I can't wait!"

"Sheesh, chill dudes," Naruto chuckled. "We better finish up here. Lunch will be over soon."

"Oh right," The two recomposed themselves and focused on the food that was packed for them. The trio enjoyed the rest of their break, joking around and talking about the recent events that befell their idol, the CEO of Stark Industries.

Little did they know, that this little incident would break open a new era, an era of heroes.

AFTER SCHOOL

The school bell rang, signalling the end of torture- er I mean day of learning.

The kids ran out of the campus, only to ogle at a car parked outside with a woman sitting on the hood, ignoring the stares and focusing on looking for someone. Well, it wasn't the woman they were staring at per se, but the car she was sitting on. A V-shaped logo was subtlety displayed on the front. That alone spoke volumes of the prominence of the car and the implied prestige that owning it would signify.

When Naruto made it outside, he saw the crowd that was gathering. There were gossiping students, especially around the male population of the school. It got him thinking: 'What could possibly be happening outside the school that would make even the boys gossip like this?'

He pushed through the crowd, earning complaints and curses from the gathered students.

A bunch of complaints later, he made it the front. What he saw made him freeze.

"Hey Naruto," the woman smiled as she spotted him squeeze through the crowd.

"Mom?" Naruto's eyes widened. She wasn't due to come home till a week from now, and yet here she was.

All eyes were now on the blonde. They couldn't believe it. This boy was related to someone with this make and model of a car.

Ignoring the stares that were now focused on him, he ran past through the gate, remembering not to leap over it lest revealing his abilities to the world.

Naruto collided with the woman waiting for him. He exploded with emotion as he embraced her.

"My, I never figured you for a softie," Natasha said as caressed the boy's hair. "You didn't burn down the house, did you?"

Naruto let go of the Widow Assassin and wiped off the tears from his eyes, giving her a small glare. "I most certainly did not. I'll have you know that I did a pretty good job keeping the house in order."

"I'll be the judge of that," Natasha simply said, causing the teen to pout. "But for now, how does a bowl of ramen sound?"

The pout completely disappeared from Naruto's face and his face brightened to the point like it was almost glowing.

"Let's go!"

"Okay, then," Natasha smiled. "But first, are you Naruto's friends?"

Naruto stiffened at the mention of his friends. He was determined never to show this side of himself to anybody else, but he let his guard down this time around. He recomposed himself and turned around to meet his friends.

"Uhh, yes ma'am," it was Peter who answered. "I'm Peter, by the way."

"I'm Ned," Ned introduced himself. "Uhm, is Naruto always like that?"

"I most certainly am not," Naruto crossed his arms and huffed.

"Oh, don't be like that," Natasha told Naruto off. Turning back her attention to the two, she offered. "Would you like to join us?"

"I'll have to tell my Aunt May," Peter said.

"I'll tell my lola too," Ned added.

"Great!" Naruto exclaimed. He had a fire in his eyes. "I'll show the greatness of the food of the gods!"

"Also, SHOTGUN!"

WIth that, Naruto disappeared into passenger side of the front row.

SOMEWHERE IN THE GALAXY

"Aha, take that!" A warrior with long flowing locks, and a helmet covering his face caught his hammer and slammed it onto hulking monster made of rocks.

Just then…

ACHOO!

He sneezed out of nowhere.

"Are alright there, Thor?" Another warrior stopped from his rampage to check on his comrade.

"I'm in tip top shape, Fandral." The now named Thor addressed his companion. "The humans must be thinking about my greatness again."

He and his companion shared a laugh like they were sharing an inside joke.

"Come now, let us wrap up this battle, so we can return to Asgard and FEAST!"

The five warriors all shared a battle cry and continued on to battle.