The Zenko of the DC

Chapter 14: A Retry

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…

"…ow," a groan of mild pain could be heard from Cheetah's lips as she gradually opened her eyes and blinked several times to get rid of the blur in her vision "Wha-what happen? Where am I?" she took noted that she was in some sort of room with hi-tech computer system and was lying on a cot in the medical section with a cloth over her body.

"I see you awake," Cheetah snapped her head towards the source of the familiar voice to see Zenko sitting cross-legged on the ground with Sigmis perched atop his shoulders in its chick form but the odd thing was that his back was facing her "Um…please make sure that the cloth is covering you properly,"

"What are you talking about, you're making it sound like I'm na-,"

Cheetah trailed off as she looked down and noticed that there was something strange about her body. Her fur has gotten very short to the point that she could almost see her skin, she felt something flow down to the back of her head and reached back to bring in view and was shocked upon seeing long chocolate brown hair. Not stopping from there, Cheetah pulled off the cloth to look down on her body and was stunned to see that her body's proportions had changed greatly and was far more feminine, she grabbed a nearby mirror to see that her face which was originally catlike had become more humanlike. She looked down to see that her hips and bust had gotten larger to the point that she could see her ni-*

Cheetah wrapped the cloth around her body tightly around herself with her tail stiffening as her face turned beet red "…did you see them?"

Naruto flinched at the tone of her voice, knowing exactly what she was asking about. His left eye twitching as he heard Kurama snickering from the mindscape before speaking after sighing in resignation "I couldn't avoid seeing them…," he heard a low growl and immediately knew what was about to happen if he didn't explain things properly "Before you try to turn me into a scratching post, I need to remind you that you're still recovering from what happened when Luthor sicced his undead attack dog Grundy on you,"

The changed hybrid feline was about to retort when she began to recall what happened that led to her losing consciousness. When the bomb failed to detonate inside of the Watchtower, Luthor immediately suspected there being a traitor amongst them and pinned it on her since she was being close to Zenko and Batman when she was actually innocent then sent Grundy after her. She tried to escape but was knocked out by that crazy clown before Grundy got his hands on her.

"How…how am I alive? I should have been dead," said Cheetah in confusion and disbelief.

"By all rights, you should have been with multiple bone fractures and broken bones, internal bleeding, punctured lungs and so much more. I was able to save you by using my powers, I was expecting some side effects but…yeah,"

"I see…," Cheetah looked down at her new figure in awe, but a part of her was actually liking the new change "What happened to Luthor and the others?"

"In jail as of this moment, and I also made sure to return the favor to Grundy for what he did to you," said Naruto.

"I see, thank you," she felt vindicated that the dumb zombie got his comeuppance "So, what happens now?"

Naruto was about to answer when he suddenly got a call from his comm link and answered it "Zenko here,"

[Zenko, I was calling to inquire as to why you haven't been seen since the fight and Cheetah not being among the arrested villains] said Batman sternly.

"It's hard to explain, I think it will be better if I brought you to my base to make things a bit clearer. Do you have one of my kunais with you?"

[Yes, I do]

"Then wait for me to come over," Naruto ended the transmission before turning to Cheetah "I'm going to get Batman so we can figure something about your new changes. By the way, I uh…left a set of clothes over there on the table, be right back,"

Naruto warped away in a yellow flash, leaving Cheetah behind in mild confusion as she got off the cot and approached the aforementioned table to find the clothes. She had been living without wearing clothes for so long that it has become a foreign concept to her. Regardless, she went ahead to put them on. She was now wearing a bra and pants, burgundy long-sleeved blouse, blue jeans and a pair of sports shoes. Cheetah had to adjust her blouse and jeans since they were being a bit tight in certain parts much to her embarrassment and newfound feminine pride.

No sooner after, there was another yellow flash and Naruto had returned with Batman who took one long look at Cheetah before turning to Naruto and said one word in a serious tone

"Explain,"

Naruto rubbed the back of his sheepishly, feeling like he was being lectured by Iruka "Well, it went like this…," he proceeded to explain what had happened during the fight and when he went to rescue Cheetah after learning what they did to her. During that time, Cheetah began sniffing the air as she picked up a scent which was coming from Naruto; he smelled of fox and something like nature.

"He smells so nice, w-what am I thinking?" Cheetah was in a daze before snapping back into focus to listen to their conversation.

"So, you're saying that your powers was able to heal her but might have also done some changes to her physiology?" asked Batman thoughtfully.

Naruto shrugged in response "That's pretty much what I thought too,"

"Then we should take a blood sample and find out what happened," Batman turned to Cheetah "If you wouldn't mind,"

"Go ahead as I am curious about this as well," said Cheetah, the scientist part of her wanting to know.

"Is your med bay well equipped?"

"Yeah, I got the best ones from the market. They recommended Waynetech to me so I went for it," Naruto answered.

"Then we're good to go,"

Batman took a blood sample from Cheetah and proceeded to use the medical equipment to analyze it. It took some time until the results are in as Batman operated the computer with a low hum of thought.

"Hmmmm, interesting…do you recall the previous state of your DNA before the change?" asked Batman.

Cheetah looked down in thought 'If I can recall correctly; my Cheetah DNA was much more dominant than my human DNA which was why I looked more feline than human,"

"If that's the case…," Batman tapped a button on the keyboard to make the screen display a DNA helix, making Cheetah gasp in shock and Naruto looking rather confused "It appears that Zenko's powers not only healed your body but had also corrected any flaws in your biology. Both your Human and Cheetah DNA are well balanced with neither side being more dominant over the other,"

"I-I see…," Cheetah was in shock at what she's hearing.

Naruto was also thinking about this when something came to mind "Hey Cheetah, this is something random but can you close your eyes and imagine your human form?"

"Huh, why?" asked Cheetah confusedly.

"Just something that came to mind, give it a try,"

"O-Okay," Cheetah closed her eyes and visualized how she used to look like before her transformation, it had been so long that she had almost forgotten but her strong desire to change back to normal helped her remember. She heard Zenko let out a 'whoa' which caused her to open her eyes and look down only to be shocked at the sight of actual human hands with nary a trace of fur, she quickly felt her face to discover that there's no fur there either, even her tail was gone "I…I…,"

"Apparently, you can willingly alter your biology to be that of a human or a hybrid," said Batman, a tone of interest in his voice.

Next thing Naruto knew was that he was engulfed in a very tight hug by Cheetah who was sobbing in relief. The blonde ninja could tell that she was overjoyed, she wanted to become human again and in a way he helped her achieve that.

"T-Thank you, thank you very much," said Cheetah happily.

Naruto smiled behind his mask and returned her embrace "You're welcome, guess this means that you won't be doing crimes anymore," Cheetah shook her head at that.

"Zenko…," Batman spoke up but Naruto cut him off.

"I know what you're gonna say, but you know as much as I do that she's the least guilty out of the guys Luthor hired to get us. She needed the money to change back while the others were in it for cash and kicks. Now that she can become human, what else would she want? Give her a chance, Batman,"

"She's a criminal,"

"A criminal who was forced into crime out of circumstances and not of freewill. With this, she could live a new life, a better one. Heck, I'm willing to watch over her in San Francisco and make sure that she doesn't go back to that life! Can you look me in the eye and tell me that there wasn't anything you had done and you hadn't wished for a second chance?" Naruto responded.

"…," Batman paused and thought back to everything he had gone through ever since he first started his career as the Dark Knight in Gotham.

"Um…," everyone turned to Cheetah who raised a hand timidly "…I would like to take the chance to start over, to become a doctor again and help people like I always wanted to. I know it's hard to believe but I want to do things the right way and promise to never commit crimes anymore,"

They turned back to Batman who stood there silently before letting out a sigh "…the League needs to be informed of this new development. Should she relapse, it will be on your head,"

Naruto nodded seriously "I know and I'm willing to take responsibility,"

Batman walked away to contact Superman and the others at the Watchtower, leaving Naruto alone with Cheetah who approached and tugged at his haori lightly to gain his attention.

"Thank you for everything… you actually helped me when those other heroes would have simply chucked me back into jail with the others without a second thought. You really kept your promise," said Cheetah with a soft smile.

Naruto took off the fox mask to reveal his eyes which crinkled into a smile, sensing that she was truly being sincere about all this "I could just tell that you weren't all bad and wasn't doing all this for bad reasons. I had met someone like you who wanted to be normal again and almost went down a path she wouldn't have been able to back away if I hadn't stopped her. I knew she wasn't a bad person as she had saved my life back then,"

"Are you really a hero? You're being too nice,"

"Heh, I don't always follow the norm around here. There's a good reason why everyone back home considers me to be the most unpredictable shinobi,"

Sometime later, Batman had Naruto warp him and Cheetah to the Watchtower where the others were surprised to see how much she had changed due to Naruto healing her with his power, Flash couldn't stop staring with Hawkgirl having to snap out of it with a smack to the back of the head. Some of the leaguers were against Cheetah, namely Green Lantern but others were more willing to give her a chance being Wonder Woman, Hawkgirl, Flash and Superman.

"I still don't like this," said Green Lantern in disagreement.

"She shows the willingness to redeem herself," said J'onn.

"Come on, if a second chance is what stops her from being a bad guy…I mean bad girl then I'm all for it," said Flash in agreement.

"She wants to change then why not give her that chance?" Wonder Woman pointed out.

"We need to make sure that she's capable of sticking to her intentions," said Batman.

"Which is why we're doing what I said, I'll watch over her in San Francisco since it's my turf and I'll be able to keep an eye on her," said Naruto, starting to feel annoyed about all this just because some of them as being too cautious.

"Alright Zenko, we'll do as you requested. I just hope that it turns out okay," said Superman.

"Thanks, glad to see that you're on my side of the court,"

Batman shook his head "I'll see about creating an identity for her," then he walked away without another word.

"Geez, what crawled up his outer pants?" said Kurama.

"Quit it Kurama, let's not push our luck," thought Naruto with a roll of his eyes.

"Hey Zenko, if your powers could fix her, could you do the same for the other villains?" asked Flash curiously.

"I don't know, I can't exactly tell since this is the very first time that I've done this to a supervillain. Things are already being testy with me trying to help Cheetah reform, let's not skip steps until then," said Naruto, not revealing the fact that he's also helping Poison Ivy reform too.

"No doubt Batman is tugging at his cowl since he hasn't been hearing anything about her for a while now," said Kurama, amused at the thought of that being the case.

"Not gonna hold my breath on that one," thought Naruto.

A week later, Naruto was on a nightly patrol through the city and keeping an eye out for any crime activity before landing atop a water tower to take a short break. Whilst doing so, Naruto thought back to what has happened in the past week. As agreed, Batman forged a new identity for Cheetah and got place for her in one of the hospitals as a doctor in San Francisco. As an additional countermeasure, Naruto had placed a seal on her wrist which enables him to track her no matter where she goes and it remotely records wherever she goes into a scroll placed in his pouch. Honestly, he did this so as to get Batman off his case, and here he thought that ninjas were the ones supposed to be paranoid. Regardless, Naruto and Cheetah have been getting along pretty well to the point that she prefers that he calls her Barbara or Barb for short.

That is not to say that there weren't some oddities along the way, Cheetah seems to have a thing for rubbing herself against him whether she's in her human or hybrid form. Poor blonde couldn't help being awkward by a woman coming on to him like that given his past experiences with females back in the Elemental Nations. Naruto later introduced Cheetah to Starfire who wasted no time to extend a hand of friendship to the former villainess, being the openminded alien girl that she is and would hang out with her from time to time.

"Some things just don't go away so easily, eh brat?" said Kurama amusedly.

"Go cough up a hairball, fuzz butt," Naruto retorted as he reached into his pouch and took out a notebook which he started writing on.

"That would be my sister's sidejob, though hers would made out of flames," Kurama could have sworn that he heard an angry growl in the mindscape "Could it be? Nah, I must be hearing things," the Bijuu took note of what his partner was writing "So, you're working on your next volume, eh?"

"Pretty much yeah,"

After republishing Jiraiya's Icha Icha series, Naruto decided to take up writing novels like his perverted Godfather. He had already published a novel called 'The Chronicles of Maelstrom' which is based on his life but he made sure to change his name and avoided revealing certain critical information. So far, the first volume was based on when he was at the end of his year in the Ninja Academy up to the Chuunin Exams.

Needless to say, the publishment of the novel was a great success as many readers bought the copies within three days from the shelves of well-known bookstores all around. It was especially liked by the eastern countries like Japan, Naruto wasn't expecting such a great turnout considering the time he rewrote one of Jiraiya's novels and ended up having to chasing down the ninja courier to get it back since it was being sent to the wrong person but failed, but it turns out that the Feudal Lord was actually a fan of the Icha Icha series and accepted it as a gift with no intention for war. Boy was that one of the crazy days for him, and the fact that he never heard of a war going on must mean that he wrote a pretty good manuscript in spite of Jiraiya having said otherwise.

After writing about four to six pages, Naruto closed the book and placed it back into the pouch before getting back to his feet with a stretch "Alright, one more run before calling it a night and heading back home, any suggestions?"

"Why not take the cliché route and check out the docks? Those humans seem to have a thing for making deals out of the way of prying eyes,"

"Sounds about right, plus I haven't been patrolling that place in a while. Let's see if I'm lucky to come across a deal," Naruto proceeded to leaping across the rooftops in the direction of the harbor.

Kurama chortled in amusement "You seem to keep forgetting that Lady Luck is your yandere, both good and bad,"

"I'd like to keep that out of mind,"

It didn't take long for the blonde shinobi to arrive at the gates leading into the harbor when he took note of something off already as he flipped off a rooftop to silently land atop a streetlight. He saw a couple of black sedans parked at the gateway with men dressed in black suits and shades cautiously surveying the area.

"Guess there's something going down for there to be guys in black suits at this time of the night, this just screams suspicious," said Naruto thoughtfully.

"Humans can be predictable most of the time, you are just one of the rare exceptions,"

"And I like it that way, time to take a closer look,"

Naruto reached into his pouch to take out a digital camera and took a couple of shots at the suspected guards before easily leaping over the fence into the harbor. He traversed the area atop the shipping containers, noting that there were more of the guards which told him that it must be a big deal for there to be so many keeping watch. Taking more shots and video recordings, he stealthily moved past them till he got to a warehouse where there were two limos were parked.

Firing a chakra chain towards the roof and rappelling over to it, Naruto cautiously peered through the skylight to see several men dressed in obviously expensive suits and one of them was a dark-skinned man dressed like a scientist with glasses.

"Hmmm I wonder what is they're talking about?" Naruto created a shadow clone and give him a digital audio recorder, having it sneak inside and record whatever it is they're speaking of.

The shadow clone snuck through a small opening an opening and hid amongst stacked wooden crates and began recording the conversation as he listened it.

"So, the deal is that you supply us with the weapons and we give you the cash. Is that right?" the man in the suit inquired with a small frown.

"That along with us setting up a base here in San Francisco, lugging the hardware from our mainstay to here can be quite a hassle," said the scientist.

"Hold up Mr. Stockman, I don't recall that in the deal on the phone," said the man with a frown.

"It's Doctor Baxter Stockman to you, my boss said so and I implore that you consider his generosity. Last I checked, you mafias haven't exactly been having good fortune ever since that hero Zenko showed up and claimed this city as his territory," said the scientist with a frown.

"Well, you can go back and tell your boss that the deal is off, I have other people from whom I can get weapons," said the mafia leader.

"Sounds like these mafia aren't exactly happy with the boss's good deeds for the city, to the point of trying to using higher grade weapons to take him down," said C-Naruto thoughtfully.

Baxter shook his head in disapproval "I implore you to change your mind, my boss doesn't take no for an answer. He tends to respond quite 'strongly' to such words,"

"Well, he wasn't the first and certainly won't be the last I'll say no to…,"

"*Sigh* Know that I advised you,"

Up above, Naruto could tell that the deal was going south fast and was about to do something when he felt multiple presences making themselves known both inside the warehouse and on the roof. He gradually rose to his feet and glanced over his shoulder.

"I was wondering when I would run into you guys," said Naruto with a slight grin.

The reason for him saying so would be because the people standing behind were dressing from head to toe in black ninja gis and the eyes on their masks were red. The now identified ninjas brandished various weapons, ready to attack.

Naruto took out a kunai and twirled it with two fingers "Come on then, show me what you got,"

At his words, the ninjas lunged at Naruto and attacked with coordination and precision, nothing that the blonde shinobi wasn't familiar with from his old home. Naruto skillfully moved in and out whilst onehandedly deflecting their incoming attacks with his kunai before countering with punches and kicks of his own, knocking them away from him.

Inside the warehouse, the mafia brought out their guns and started firing at the ninjas. Some of them quickly took Baxter to safety, while the others engaged the opposition. The mafias gun them down but the ninjas were making it extremely hard for them to get their shots in and were quickly getting beaten down. The mafia leader backed up to a stack of wooden crates with his handgun held out but his hands were shaking with fear as the ninjas drew close.

Baxter smiled smugly "Should have accepted the deal when the opportunity presented itself my friend, but how would you have known?"

Suddenly, there was a crash as a ninja fell through the skylight from above and onto a table, smashing it to pieces. Someone followed afterwards and landed on the ground for everyone to see who it is.

"Hey guys, hope you don't mind that I invite myself to this party," said Naruto, smirking behind his mask.

"Zenko here?!" Baxter wasn't expecting this to happening before glaring at the blonde shinobi "Take him down!"

"Oh please do, I wanna see what you ninjas can do,"

Once more, the ninjas attacked by tossing several smoke pellets to impair his vision with a smoke screen then followed up by throwing multiple shuriken into the smoke, feeling assured that their target would be unable to defend himself against this tactic. Suddenly, golden glowing chains shot out from the smoke to wrap around the limbs of some of the ninjas and pulled them in where everyone heard the sound of punching and kicking before the smoke dissipated to reveal Naruto standing unscathed and the ninjas laid around him battered and bruised.

"Here's a jutsu, on the house!" Naruto sped through a set of handsigns "Wind Style; Air Bullets!" he took in a deep breath and began spewing compressed spheres of air from his mouth through the mask, sending several more of the ninjas flying as they crashed into walls or tumbled across the floor before turning to face Baxter "Hey doc, you need better help. These ninjas aren't exactly up to snuff,"

A ninja was sneaking up to Naruto from behind with a katana raised above his head to strike him when something shot out from the shadows to wrap around the ninja's wrists and was yanked away only to be knocked out with a high kick to the face. Everyone turned towards the unknown attacker and were surprised to see who it was.

"Batgirl, what are you doing here?" asked Naruto curiously, not exactly about her being here at the moment but rather why she's in San Francisco.

"Well, I noted strange activity at the docks while I was checking out the city then I saw that you fighting these guys and figured that I could lend a hand if you don't mind," Batgirl explained as she prepped for the fight.

"Sure, I don't mind. Lots of them to go around," Naruto shrugged in response, he turned towards Baxter "Looks like things aren't going your way, eh doc?"

Instead of being angry, Baxter smirked at the duo which made them weary "On the contrary, this rather reveals the flaws that need to be ironed out as well as an opportunity to test something out,"

Naruto quirked an eyebrow his words "What do you mean by th-," he stopped in midsentence as he suddenly rushed towards Batgirl and positioned himself behind her with his arms to block something, being pushed back slightly from an unseen impact.

Batgirl looked at the blonde shinobi in confusion "Zenko, what are you-," Naruto moved swiftly to her left side and blocked something again before looking around rapidly, she noticed that Baxter was smirking at them which made her suspect that something was going on, she flung a batarang at the scientist only for it to be deflected in midair.

"It appears that you peons have an inkling of what's going on, allow me to introduce to you my Foot Tech Ninjas; highly improved versions of your old-fashioned ninjas through the magnificence of science. Cybernetic armor that enhances their speed, strength, durability and grants the ability to be invisible, quite an achievement for a genius such as myself," said Baxter proudly.

"That explains a lot, they must be equipped with cloaking devices," said Batgirl with a frown, recalling Batman having faced a villain who was invisible and it having been a difficult battle until he found a way to beat him.

"But I am rather curious as to how you are able to somehow detect their presence,"

"Do you seriously expect me to tell you right off the bat?" Naruto retorted.

"The past you would have done so," Kurama pointed out.

"Then it's a good thing that I grew out of that tendency," Naruto glanced at Batgirl "I may be able to sense them thanks to the ability to sense their negative intent, but she doesn't have that capability. So…," Naruto create a trio of shadow clones that went over to batgirl "These guys will watch your back,"

"Thanks, I'll see what I can do to help," said Batgirl.

Naruto strode forward and stood still with his eyes closed behind the mask as he took on a combative stance and focused with his Negative Emotion Sensor (NES). He needn't wait long as the Tech Ninja moved as a group to attack without giving him a proper opportunity to react accordingly. However due to training with his shadow clones in terms of Taijutsu as well as sparring with Rock Lee and Neji, Naruto has become very adept in terms of facing multiple enemies in combat.

The blonde shinobi needn't to wait long as the invisible Foot Tech Ninjas attacked him in numbers but he was ever ready as he took to evading and parrying their attacks, studying their strengths and limits before proceeding counter them with throws and retaliatory strikes of his own.

Batgirl was occupied with fighting the visible Foot ninjas whilst the shadow clones fended off the invisible ones that would attempt to attack her, she was analyzing the enemies as fast as she could before coming up with an idea "Could one of you guys hold one of them down?"

One of the clones nodded in affirmation "Alright, hold on," the clones detected one of the Tech Ninja moving to attack and dodged at the last second to get behind then hold him down with a chakra-enhanced full nelson "Okay, what now?"

"Let's hope my theory is correct," Batgirl took out a batarang and flung it to hit the ninja, the weapon proceeded to electrify the ninja which disabled his cloaking device. The clone knocked the ninja out with a chop to the neck "As I thought, their suits aren't insulated. So, a strong electric current can disrupt their cloaking devices,"

"If that's the case…I'm gonna need you to get some distance away from me," Naruto sped through a set of handsigns as one of the clones carried Batgirl away far enough for him to use the jutsu "Lightning Style: Lightning Storm!" he crossed his arms together as blue lightning arced throughout his body before breaking them apart to discharge numerous bolts of electricity all around him, zapping both the Foot and Tech Ninjas, disrupting the latter's cloaking devices and knocking them all out into unconsciousness.

Ending the jutsu, Naruto looked around to see that all oppositions have been subjugated but then noticed something off as the clones dropped Batgirl next to him and dispelling themselves.

"Looks like that Baxter guy made a run for it, but I didn't sense him leave and…is something wrong?" Naruto noticed that Batgirl was acting awkward for some reason.

"N-Nothing at all!" Batgirl turned away from the shinobi, she wasn't expecting one of his clones to suddenly carry her away like a bride without warning like that "Let's contact the police first,"

Naruto shrugged in response "Okay, but I'm kinda curious as to why you're here in San Francisco instead of Gotham city since that's your turf and all,"

"I'm here because of some work on my personal side of things and thought that I could help the police while I'm here in the meantime. I hope that I'm not getting the way of things," Batgirl explained.

"Not at all, I don't mind the help at all,"

"Now we need to focus on the current matter at hand," Batgirl turned towards the knocked-out ninjas and examined one of them closely, Naruto stood by to ensure that they don't try anything desperate "Who are these ninjas and where did they come from? These also the question about that scientist too,"

"The dude calls himself Baxter Stockman, he was trying to supply the mafia with hi-tech weaponry to get rid of me and form a base here in the city but the mafia boss wasn't liking that intention which led to a fight breaking out between them," Naruto explained having received the recording the shadow clone "He also called these ninjas the Foot, sounds like a clan,"

"I may not know of the ninjas to be exact but I do recognize the name Baxter Stockman, he used to run Stocktronics Corporation over at New York, he's a well-known genius at the time with his latest invention being robots called Mousers which were designed to deal with the rat population issues at the times, but it was later discovered that he was using the very same Mousers to rob banks. No one knows what happened afterwards, but Stockman disappeared in the aftermath and no one knew what happened to him since then," said Batgirl.

"Best guess is that these ninjas were the cause of his disappearing act at that time," said Naruto thoughtfully.

"It would be so, there's also the factor of them wanting to branch out which is a cause for concern, it could mean that there are already branches set up in other cities. I'll need to research on this," said Batgirl.

"Well if it's a computer you wanna use, I got one over at my place," Naruto suggested.

"Oh, you have a base of your own?"

"Yup, wanted to have my own place when I'm not hanging out at the Watchtower with the others,"

"Then I'd happily take your offer,"

After the police had arrived to arrest the mafia and ninjas with Naruto providing them with audio and pictorial evidence, the blonde shinobi warped Batgirl over to the Clock Tower with the latter being rather taken with the place and was quick to identify the computer belonging to Waynetech.

At the moment, Naruto was busy rummaging through the refrigerator at the kitchen section to look for something to eat while Batgirl was typing away on the computer in search of information relating to what happened at the harbor. He soon approached her with two cups of coffee.

"Care for one?" Naruto offered one of the cups.

"Thanks," Batgirl smiled as she accepted the offer and took a sip.

"So, found anything useful relating to that symbol on the ninjas?" Naruto looked up at the screen to see said symbol being that of a red right foot.

"It took a while and I had to go search through several digital archives of about five Japanese museums to get pieces of information relating to the Foot Clan," Batgirl explained.

"So, what were you able to get?" Naruto inquired.

"According to what I found, the Foot Clan dated all the way back to the time of feudal Japan and have been said to dabble in ninjutsu and dark magic. they were also known to participate in numerous atrocities such as murder, assassinations, terrorism, theft and much more," said Batgirl with a frown.

Naruto let out a sigh of sadness "The far darker aspects of a ninja…,"

"Makes Konoha seem a bit more like saints but not without its own shadows," Kurama pointed out to the Uzumaki who couldn't deny that blunt fact as there was ANBU and then Danzo and his ROOT ninjas until Sasuke took him out. Irony in the fact that the last Uchiha killed the very person who was responsible for the genocide of the Uchiha Clan.

"For them to be able to exist under the radar since then till now, it reminds me of another organization…," said Batgirl thoughtfully.

Naruto quirked an eyebrow at her statement "Who?"

"I'll tell you later, right now I think we need to let Batman know of this. he's not called the World's Greatest Detective for nothing,"

"If you say so, he kinda reminds me of an old friend of mine. He's got an IQ of over 200 but the problem is that he's super lazy," Naruto smiled in nostalgia of his friend Shikamaru.

"So, a lazy version of Batman. I can hardly visualize that," said Batgirl in amusement.

"Anyways, let's contact Batman," Naruto opened up a transmission and was able to contact the Dark Knight.

[This is Batman…and it appears you have Batgirl with you] said Batman, noticing said person on the seat who waved at him.

"Yeah, something came up here that we want to tell you about," Naruto and Batgirl proceeded to explain what happened and what they had learnt "…and that's when we decided to call you,"

[Hmmm, that would explain a few things over here] said Batman.

"What do you mean by that?" asked Batgirl confusedly.

[Last night, there was a robbery at Powers Industries with the target being the prototype generator] Batman reported.

"I know of that, I heard that it's capable of producing a lot of environment-clean energy that could potentially power a city for about a decade," said Batgirl with a frown on her face.

[And that's not all, witness also claim to have seen green lizardmen but couldn't get a clear view as the fight ended too quickly before the police could even be contacted] Batman added [Level of speed in combat is often done by veteran assassins or shinobi]

"Whoa don't look at me, I got nothing to do with it," Naruto waved his hands in innocence, making Batgirl giggle.

[You were the last person that came to mind]

"Which means you suspected me/him," thought Naruto and Batgirl with a sweatdrop.

[As of now; Nightwing, Robin and I are currently investigating these metahumans in order to figure out their goal and retrieve the prototype generator]

"Sounds like you could use my help, every bit counts," Batgirl offered.

[That may not be necessary]

"I could warp her to Gotham with my Hiraishin and bring her back once we're done," Naruto offered with Batgirl nodding eagerly in agreement.

Batman was silent over the comms before finally coming to a decision [I may require certain perspectives on this case, you're welcome to join if you want]

"Translation, he's cool with it," thought Naruto and Batgirl with another sweatdrop.

[Keep both eyes and ears open, I suspect some of my old 'friends' would want to form a partnership with the leader of the Foot Clan. Batman out] then the Dark Knight ended the transmission.

"Looks like something big is about to go down at Gotham and we need to be in the thick of it," said Naruto.

Batgirl nodded in affirmation "Yeah, and we need to be there an hour ago,"

"Sure thing, just grab on and I'll get us there,"

Naruto waited for Batgirl to grab a hold of his arm before locking on to one of the Hiraishin seals which he had planted over at Gotham then warping them both out of his base.

This is Hussbek online with the latest chapter, Cheetah wakes up to discover that she was alive and had undergone changes thanks to the restorative abilities of Naruto's Yang Seal although it had some effects on her biology to the point that she can shift between her human and hybrid form. After some persuasion/argument with Batman and later the League, Naruto was able to help Cheetah have a second chance with her new life albeit being on probation with him watching over her in San Francisco.

During one of his nightly patrols, Naruto happens upon a weapons deal at the harbor between the mafia and a scientist which went wrong and ninjas started attacking the mafia, forcing Naruto to run interception and was later joined by Batgirl even when invisible ninjas were deployed to attack. Later research leads the two to discovering the existence of the Foot Clan which they informed Batman who in turn revealed to them that he was also dealing with issues relating to ninjas and so-called lizardmen. Now Naruto and Batgirl are headed for Gotham to get to the bottom of things and find out just what is going on before things go from bad to worse.

For those wondering, Cheetah's new look is based on that of the Justice League Doom version and I also tweaked the Yang Seal a bit to not only restore but to also balance one's biology so you can guess certain villains won't end up becoming 'useless' in a sense of the word. I don't think I need to tell you guys what comes next given the result of the poll, anyways there's no actual set version of the TMNT and so anything goes with them. Be sure to read and review like always.

This Hussbek from Ghana.

Signing out and staying alive.