Jump City Assassin

by Shinobi of Greed

My name is Naruto Namikaze. Eleven years ago my father and sister were killed before my very eyes. Since then I've trained with an elite group, honing my skills in hopes of finding justice for my sister and father. But to avenge my family I have to become something else, someone else. I am the Black Fox!

8. Chapter 8 Familiar Face

Chapter 8. Familiar Face

(Nine Years ago, Naruto age 7)

Today was Naruto's first day of school, which for a normal child would be a large milestone in their growth. However, Naruto wasn't a normal child like his peers, no he was an assassin in training. This of course meant Naruto was vastly different from the kids around him. Mainly because he had been through more trauma and hardships than most people go through in their entire lives, so that meant for a seven year old Naruto had to grow up fast.

So that is why Naruto didn't fit in with children his age, as the difference between him and normal children was just too large. He was being groomed to be a trained killer and they were busy enjoying their childhood, a luxury Naruto didn't have. That's why when his class was let outside for recess, Naruto stood off by himself.

The blond sat alone on a small table and observed the children play and laugh. Well to be more precise Naruto kept his gaze on one child in particular. That was of course the child of the woman he was contracted to kill.

The girl oddly enough seemed to be similar to Naruto, in the regard of not being social with her peers. In fact, Naruto noticed she looked nervous every time another child crossed her path.

"She seems shy." Naruto noted in a low voice, as he was building a small list of observations on the girl. "She is also alone, which means she probably hasn't made any friends yet. That could work out good for me, as I can work my way in as her closest friend."

Naruto watched as a small group of children approached the girl and surrounded her. This caused Naruto to narrow his eyes, as now it looked like other kids were trying to befriend her.

"Well that complicates things." Naruto mumbled in a low voice, as with more friends it lowers Naruto's chance of being very close to the girl. Which in turn lowers the chance of Naruto getting the chance to go to the girls home.

However, the kids surrounding the girl began laughing and tugging on her hair. One even managed to swipe the doll the girl was playing with out of her hands. This caused the girl to sob and shed some tears, which only caused the children to laugh more.

Naruto gritted his teeth at the scene and glanced over to the teacher who was supervising the children. The teacher appeared to be looking right at the conflict that was unfolding, but instead of stopping the children. The teacher just smirked and turned his head the other way.

Catching this action, Naruto tightened his fists and stood to his feet. His mind completely forgetting his mission, Naruto stalked over to the group of teasing children.

"Hey jerks!" Naruto yelled to the group of four boys who were tormenting the girl. "Why don't you leave her alone?"

The largest of the bullies, who was a head taller than Naruto and quite pudgy looked at the blond. "Kid do you know who this brat is?" The large bully asked, while he bent down and tugged on the girls hair. "She is the daughter of the council woman who put my dad out of a job."

Naruto took one step forward. "Like I give a shit." The small assassin in training began, causing some kids to look surprised when he cursed. "Leave her alone or else."

The four kids laughed at Naruto and backed off the girl.

"Kid you are some kind of stupid." The leader of the bullies insulted. "You're like three feet tall and by yourself."

"I won't tell you again." Naruto spoke in a low voice, while slighting coiling back to strike on a moment's notice.

The bully scoffed. "If you wanna play hero it's your funeral." The boy began before motioning his friends. "Let's teach him a lesson guys."

Naruto smirked as he watched the four boys make the first move towards him. Though faster than any of the kids present could follow, Naruto sprang forward and punched the largest bully in the jaw.

This caused the large child to fall on his backside and begin to cry, while his friends stopped and looked to their downed friend. Naruto wasn't done however, as while the remaining bullies were busy looking at their downed friend. The blond assassin began thrashing the remaining bullies.

Naruto alternated between kicking, punching and stomping on all four of the bullies. As they stood no chance against the boy who spent the last two years fighting full fledged assassins. Though Naruto was suddenly hoisted into the air, when someone grabbed onto the back of his shirt. This caused the blond to act on instinct and flip around and punch the newcomer in the nose.

Then as he heard a groan of pain, Naruto broke free and turned around, but he quickly frowned. During his rampage Naruto had punched the teacher watching over the children. He also noticed by the bloody nose the teacher was holding that it was most likely broken.

"You two!" The teacher screamed, pointing to Naruto and the girl. "Principal's office now!"

"But they-." Naruto began pointing to the beaten down bullies.

"I said now!" The teacher ordered, as he cut the blond's speech off.

Naruto gripped his fists, he had half a mind to give the teacher a busted lip to match his nose. Though as a delicate hand touched his arm he relaxed and looked over to the girl he had saved.

"Yes sir." The girl mumbled in a low meek voice.

The teacher pointed to the entrance to the school and didn't say another word. So Naruto and the girl started to make their way to the principal's office.

"Thank you for helping me." The girl began once they were out of earshot. "But I'm sorry I got you in trouble."

Naruto looked over to the girl who had bright pink hair and green eyes. Though once their eyes met she quickly looked to the ground. This only caused Naruto to frown as he felt sorry for the girl.

"I don't like people who pick on other people because they are weaker. It's not your fault you were getting picked on." Naruto replied in a soft voice. "I'm Naruto by the way, Naruto Ghul."

The girl smiled and looked up to Naruto. "It's nice to meet you Naruto, I'm Sakura Haruno." The now named Sakura introduced.

Naruto held his hand out to the girl and grinned. "Well Sakura today you have made yourself a friend." Naruto revealed to the girl, causing her eyes to grow wide.

"Really?" The girl asked in a surprised voice, since because of her mother most kids either avoided her or bullied her.

Naruto laughed. "Yeah from today on we are friends."

Sakura started to cry while she smiled wide. "First you save me from those bullies now you wanna be my friend. You're like my own personal hero."

Naruto blinked at Sakura's statement and looked away. It slightly pained him to hear the word hero, when in reality he was hired to kill her. "I'm no hero." The blond clarified in a plain voice.

Sakura laughed, causing Naruto to tighten his fists. "Of course you are, I bet one day you'll even protect other people like Superman does."

Naruto didn't respond to the girl's declaration, as it was the belief of a small child who had no reason behind her words. Though what Naruto didn't know, was that Sakura saw something inside him. She didn't see the killer and assassin he was being groomed to be, no she saw the hero he was destined to become.

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(Present day)

It has been an entire month since Artemis had agreed to work with Naruto, but since then she hasn't done anything. Naruto had told her until he felt she was ready, he would not take her out during his nightly outings. After all, he promised Jade he would protect her, so that's what he planned to do. Artemis being the independent soul she was, didn't like Naruto's rule. However, she went along with little grief because she knew Naruto had a good reason behind his actions.

Though with Naruto's rule in place, it inspired Artemis to work extremely hard in her training with Naruto. The latter of whom had to admit the girl had a lot of natural talent for combat. Also in the past month Artemis got to meet Naruto's partner Shikamaru. Who had been busy training with both blonds, while also constructing a costume and gear for Artemis.

Shikamaru and Artemis got along fairly well, as neither really had a gripe with one another. In fact between all three teenagers, they found they worked together like a well oiled machine. Which worked great for their small team, but not so well for the Teen Titans. Who in the past month have been no closer to stopping Naruto.

Speaking of the Titans, not only had the group of heros failed at finding out who Naruto was. They have also been striking out at discovering who Raven has been spending her free time with. Which was of course Naruto, who had become very special to Raven.

The two teenagers had been spending even more and more time together and today was no different. Currently Naruto was dressed and walking out of his bedroom, as he had plans to meet Raven for lunch.

Quickly he found himself inside the living room of his apartment, where Shikamaru and Artemis were both lounging about. Artemis was sprawled out on their couch and was lazily flipping TV channels. While Shikamaru was off to the side typing on the laptop, which was resting on his lap.

"You guys look busy." Naruto chuckled as he walked closer to his friends.

Artemis glanced over to Naruto and sighed. "I don't know why you keep seeing that Raven girl." She began in exhausted tone. "I mean what's the point? You don't plan to use your relationship against the Titans and you're only increasing the risk of people finding out who you are."

Naruto shrugged his shoulders. "What I like her, it's not my fault me and her are technically enemies." The blond retorted, causing Artemis to roll her eyes and look back to the TV.

Shikamaru snorted and looked up. "Don't try to reason with him Artemis, it's too troublesome."

"I've noticed." Artemis began before something caught her eye. "Well looks like you're on TV again Naruto."

Naruto raised his eyebrow while Artemis sat upright and turned the TV volume up. It was a popular national talk show that discussed many of the ongoing situations in the world. Currently the show appeared to be talking about his alter ego.

"So there has been a lot of buzz going around about this Black Hood vigilante in Jump City. He's taken out a lot of criminals within Jump City, but his methods are a little questionable." The female host of the show began. "Many have debated if he is a hero who protects the people. Or just another deranged killer."

"Hey I take offense to that." Naruto whined at the TV. "I'm not deranged."

"Joining us today to talk about the Black Hood we have popular talk show host G. Gordon Godfrey!" The female on screen declared loudly. This was followed by a loud applause of the TV audience, while the camera panned over to Gordon.

"Oh it's this guy." Naruto mumbled in an uninterested tone as he took a seat by Artemis. "I swear this asshole complains about everyone from me to the Justice League."

Artemis grinned and glanced over to Naruto. "Don't like the publicity Naruto?"

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "Shut it, sidekick." The blond retorted, causing a vein to pop on Artemis's head.

Shikamaru chuckled and closed his laptop, he then pointed to the TV. "Well regardless, it seems like a lot of people are interested in the Black Hood." The boy pointed out.

The two blonds' looked to the screen and continued to watch the program.

"So Gordon, what is your opinion on Jump City's vigilante the Black Hood?" The female host asked.

"What do I think? I think he's a bloodthirsty killer who should be stopped!" Gordon declared loudly. "Sure he's killed plenty of criminals, but he also killed a dear friend of mine. An innocent man might I add!"

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Oh boohoo." The blond mocked before glancing over to Shikamaru. "Hey didn't you do some digging on that Sharp asshole I killed and found out he was pretty shady?"

"Yes, I hacked some of his personal emails and files and learned he wasn't the model citizen. He has sold many illegal weapons to gangs and terrorist organizations. However, that wasn't the reason you put an arrow through his chest." The lazy teen replied.

Naruto shrugged his shoulders. "Fair enough." The blond began, before his eyes moved back to the female on the TV screen. "Though it appears not everyone in this city hates the Black Hood."

"Well many people in Jump City feel safer knowing we have a vigilante in the streets. In fact crime in Jump City has went down by 15% since the Black Hood first made his appearance!" The female pointed out, causing Naruto to beam with a small bit of pride. "I'd say the citizens of Jump City feel much safer with him around. In fact a recent Twitter poll states that 37% of the city feels the Black Hood does more to protect Jump City than the Teen Titans!"

"The only reason crime is down is because he's killing every criminal who crosses his path!" Gordon shouted loudly. "He has no regard for the law and has already killed an innocent man. How much longer before he starts killing more innocent people? I say it's high time those piss poor excuses for sidekicks the Teen Titan actually do their job and stop him!"

Artemis rolled her eyes and clicked the TV to a different channel. "Man that guy is annoying." The blond female groaned.

Naruto started to snicker as he stood to his feet. "Just wait till I let my little sidekick tag along with me. I'm sure he will have wonderful things to say about you!"

Artemis swatted at her fellow blond, the latter of whom merely jumped away. "You're the worst!" The girl accused.

Naruto grinned ear from ear and headed to their door. "Oh I know, see you guys later!"

Shikamaru raised a hand into the air and waved his friend off. "Bring some food back for us, I'm sick of instant ramen."

Artemis nodded and folded her arms. "Yeah I'm with Shika, for a billionaire you eat like a poor college student."

Naruto rolled his eyes and leaned out the exit of the room. "You guys have access to separate bank accounts with millions of dollars. Buy your own damn food." The blond grumbled before leaving his friends behind.

Artemis huffed and looked to Shikamaru, while a small smirk graced her lips. "Well if he wants to be that way. Why don't we go get some food and spy on his little date?"

Shikamaru sighed. "That sounds like a drag." The teen whined in a low voice. "But it's not like we have anything better to do."

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(With the Teen Titans)

Perched on a building rooftop, the leader of the Titans Robin looked down to the streets below with a scowl. "I have a bad feeling about this." The young leader admitted.

Starfire floated beside her friend and rested a hand on his shoulder. "Have some patients Robin." The girl advised, before giving him a small smile. "This time will be different."

"Yeah Rob listen to Star, this time we've got him." Cyborg declared, while the teen started to type on his arm.

"I guess you're right." Robin replied in a low voice.

Beast Boy shifted into a small monkey and landed on his leader's shoulder. "That's the spirit!" The small green hero shouted.

Their eyes growing wide, all the Titans hit the deck and hide themselves from the view of the streets below.

"Beast Boy." Robin seethed in a low voice. "Are you trying to blow our cover?"

The green skinned hero chuckled nervously. "Oops, my bad."

Cyborg sighed and peered over to the streets below. "Well we haven't been discovered yet, so no harm done."

Joining his half machine friend, Robin stood to his feet and sighed in relief. "We got lucky." The boy wonder began in a low voice. "If Raven knew we were spying on her she'd kill us."

Down on the streets below, Raven was sitting by herself at a small table outside of a large cafe. The girl was wearing a normal black shirt and tight jeans, while also sporting a small black beret and a pair of black sunglasses. This particular choice of fashion made Raven completely unrecognizable as Raven the hero and made her appear more as just some random beautiful girl.

"What's taking him so long?" Raven grumbled to herself, while the young female sipped on a small cup of coffee. "He's ten minutes late."

Waiting for a few more minutes Raven eventually fished out a small cell phone from her pocket. Then by fidgeting with the device between her fingers she debated on calling Naruto. However, before she could come to a conclusion on doing so. The blond she was waiting on arrived and made his presence known by pulling out a chair and taking a seat across from Raven.

"Heh, sorry I'm late Rachel. I got caught up with my roommates again!" The blond explained sheepishly.

Raven folded her fingers together and leaned onto the table. "Oh is that it? And here I thought you forgot about me." The hero retorted in a flirty tone

Naruto smirked and reached across the table to grab Raven's hands. "How could I forget about you?" Naruto asked in a suave tone. "Beautiful girls tend to leave quite the impression."

Raven blushed at the compliment and motioned her eyes forward. "I figured you would be late, so I went ahead and ordered your usual for you." The girl revealed.

Naruto looked down to the cup to his side and grinned. "Thanks Rachel."

"Don't mention it." The girl replied softly. "But tell me how are these roommates of yours?"

Naruto grinned, he had told Raven about Shikamaru and Artemis. However, he lied and told the girl he took them in to help bring himself income since his store didn't bring in much money.

"They are a pain in my ass, but I can manage them. Artemis can be a challenge sometimes, but I've dealt with worse." Naruto explained in a joking manner, while at the same time swearing he heard the sound of muffled yelling.

Raven smiled. "I would love to meet them."

Naruto scoffed. "You wouldn't be saying that if you knew them!" The blond joked, before he heard more muffled screaming. Though he chose to ignore the noise and focus on Raven. "Though maybe one day you'll meet them."

"I hope so." Raven admitted honestly. "Though I understand keeping me away. I'd dread having you meet my team."

Naruto chuckled and lifted his eyebrow. "That embarrassed of me huh?"

Raven giggled. "The opposite actually. Those idiots would probably drive you away."

Naruto smirked and gave Raven a wink. "Sorry nothing can keep me away from you. But I was thinking, me and you have been spending a lot of time together. . ."

Raven nodded. "And?" The girl asked.

"Well I was thinking maybe it's time we put a label on our relationship." Naruto purposed in a slightly embarrassed tone.

"What kind of label?" Raven asked in a low voice, her heart pounding with excitement.

Naruto leaned over the table and grinned ear to ear. "The boyfriend and girlfriend kind."

Raven blushed and looked down. "I'd like that."

"So that settles things." Naruto replied in a happy tone.

Raven feeling a sense of overjoyment was about to speak, however a large explosion grabbed her attention.

"What the hell!" Naruto yelled in surprise, while he felt the shock of the explosion.

Turning to the source, Raven growled in anger as she saw three of the H.I.V.E children Gizmo, Mammoth and Jinx. They were currently robbing a local bank and causing a large amount of destruction while doing so.

"I really don't like those guys." Raven declared in anger filled tone, while her eyes turned black. "They have a way of always screwing up a good afternoon."

Naruto chuckled and looked over to his new girlfriend. "Well it's a good thing you're here to save the day." The blond joked.

Raven glanced over to her newly labeled boyfriend and gave the boy a stern yet caring look. "Try to get as far away from here as you can." The girl instructed to the boy who she believed to be completely helpless. "I. . . I don't want you to get hurt."

Naruto smiled. "I'll be fine, now go take care of those criminals."

Her eyes lingering over Naruto for a moment, Raven quickly jumped into action and flew after the rampaging criminals. Naruto watched this and then quickly glanced up to the building across from his location.

"Well are they gonna stop spying and help I wonder?" The blond pondered out loud, showing he was aware that he and Raven were being watched by the other Titans. After all, one of his first instincts when entering a new area is to canvas the landscape. So four eyesores on a building's roof were an easy spot for him.

"Titans go!" Was the loud battle cry from the leader of the young heros.

Naruto smirked and merely shook his head, as he watched the four remaining Teen Titans spring into action. "Man Raven is gonna be pissed when she finds out they were watching us. Though that's not my problem."

The blond then reached outward and grabbed his drink, while casually taking a sip. Then as Naruto released a sigh of satisfaction, he placed his drink onto the table and ignored all the screaming coming from the panicking civilians that were fleeing from behind his back. Displaying how calm and uncaring the young vigilante was regarding the superpower brawl going down before his very eyes.

As Naruto reclined back in an uncaring manner, Robin looked over his shoulder and for a split second the blond vigilante and former sidekick shared a glance. An action that caused Naruto to send the hero a devious smirk, one that screamed trouble.

This quick exchange ended once Robin fully engaged with the rampaging villains. Then as Naruto noticed he could no longer taunt his girlfriend's leader, he decided to stand up and walk away. Though he did stop to glance over his shoulder, allowing him vision of the rampaging battle.

The Titans were doing relatively well against the H.I.V.E children, but it was still a close fight. Though Naruto did notice the two sides were racking up a lot of collateral damage in their battle. As cars were being hurled into buildings, explosions were being set off and bodies were being sent flying left and right.

"Hmm maybe I should go get my gear and throw myself into the ring." The blond mused in a low voice, while not being serious in the slightest.

Releasing a loud laugh the blond walked off, but a sudden noise grabbed his attention. It was a soft sobbing of a small child, a young girl no older than seven or eight to be exact. She was alone and very close to the rampaging battle, and it appeared like neither party was paying attention to the girl's presence.

"Shit." The young vigilante cursed, while at the same time he looked up. Noticing the building above the girl was starting to break and collapse. "Oh you've got to be kidding me!"

Wasting no time, Naruto ran towards the girl at his fastest speeds. He then took an acrobatic leap onto a table and flipped into the air and traveled over to the girl.

"Shhh it's okay, I've got you." Naruto spoke in a low soothing voice, while he scooped the small girl into his arms. "You'll be safe."

Though Naruto was about to regret his words, as a transformed Beast Boy crashed into the building from above. Thanks to a powerful throw from Mammoth, a blow which caused glass and concrete to come raining down towards Naruto.

"Brace yourself." Naruto ordered, while he wrapped his arms around the girl and shielded her with his body. He then seethed in pain as a large shard of glass pierced his right shoulder. Though as he waited for more painful blows, Naruto was surprised when nothing else followed. Which didn't make sense, since by his estimations he should have been buried alive.

So being left with confusion, Naruto opened his eyes and looked upwards. His eyes growing wide with realization, once he saw all the building derby suspended by a black coating of magic. Naruto then glanced to the right and saw Raven, who was frantically looking over the boy she cared so much for.

Naruto mouthed a small thanks to the hero and gave her a confident smirk. Disregarding the sharp pain coming from his shoulder. After all, pain like this was nothing to a trained assassin like Naruto. He was tortured frequently in the League to build up a strong resistance to pain. Though as he heard more soft crying, his features softened and he glanced down to the girl in his arms.

"Are you okay?" Naruto asked in soft caring voice. "You didn't get hurt did you?"

The girl looked up to Naruto, her bottom lip quivering. Though she managed to shake her head. "No I'm fine."

Naruto smiled. "Good."

The girl shook her head some more as she held onto Naruto's shirt. "But you got hurt mister!"

Naruto ruffled the girl's hair. "Don't worry I'm a pretty strong guy. I'm just glad you're okay, but stick close to me. From the looks of things the fights almost over."

Over with Raven, the female hero changed her focus from her boyfriend and the small girl over to the H.I.V.E children. Her eyes then became engulfed in a red color as she glared at the three villains.

"You're going to pay." The girl hissed in a demonic tone. While black tendrils shot out of her hands and constricted the three villains. She then began to squeeze the life out of the three with a twisted grin on her face.

This continued on for a few seconds before her team noticed she was going too far. So they decided to stop her.

"Raven calm down!" Robin ordered.

Starfire flew up in front of her friend and gave her a worried look. "Listen to Robin, they had enough."

"Yeah Rae this isn't you!" Cyborg added in.

Her eyes returning to their normal color, Raven discarded the three villains onto the pavement and floated onto the ground. She then gave her teammates the cold shoulder and walked over to Naruto.

Said blond looked up to Raven and grinned. "Nice work out there Raven." Naruto began, using her hero identity. "Way to save the day."

Raven smiled and hunched over to her boyfriend. "Idiot, I told you to run away from the danger. Not go closer to the action!"

Naruto laughed. "What and miss out on being the hero who saved the little girl? That's not gonna happen!"

Raven sighed and started to remove the glass from Naruto's shoulder with her powers. "This will sting a little." The girl explained. "But you deserve it for making me worry."

Naruto pretended to cringe in pain before grinning. "I should have you know I was never in danger. I'm dating a superhero after all."

Raven chuckled. "I wouldn't count on your little girlfriend to always have your back."

Naruto merely winked at the teen. "I would, she is pretty great." Naruto praised before he felt a slight tug on his shirt. "Oh I almost forgot you were there! How about I help you find your parents?"

The small girl by Naruto smiled and gave a nervous nod. An action which caused Naruto to grin wide and hold a hand out to the girl. Though to the surprise of Raven, the small girl held a hand out to her as well.

"Will you come too?" The girl asked in a near silent voice.

Raven gave a small rare smile and held her hand out to the girl. Then as the young girl stood between the couple with a hand held onto each teen, the three walked towards a large crowd of people. Hoping to find the young girl's family, while oblivious to the fact that they themselves looked like a small family. Though as they walked Naruto suddenly got a devious plan inside his head.

"Hey Raven." Naruto began in a low voice, earning the girl's attention.

Raven glanced over to her boyfriend and raised an eyebrow. "What is it."

"You know your team appearing on scene wasn't a coincidence. They were spying on our date from a rooftop." The blond explained in a low voice, while he inwardly laughed.

Raven's eyes flashed red for a moment, she didn't question her team's appearance at first. Though now everything made sense and Raven knew she was going to rip her friend's a new one for prying on her love life.

"After we find her parents and I get you patched up. Me and my team are going to have a chat." Raven declared in an angry tone, one that caused Naruto to give off a small hidden smirk.

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(Few hours later, Naruto's HQ)

Taking a few steps into his hidden bunker, Naruto quickly spotted his team standing in his path. Artemis had her arms crossed with a deep frown, while Shikamaru was lazily staring his friend down.

Naruto noticing the anger radiating off his female friend gave an awkward smile. "Hey sidekick how's it-. . ." Naruto began before stopping mid sentence, that way he could catch the first custody of Artemis.

"I heard the shit you said about me!" The girl declared loudly.

Naruto raised his eyebrow and chuckled. "Oh you were spying on me too? Huh seems me and Raven both have annoying teammates."

A tick mark flaring on her head, Artemis seethed. "Why you." She began, but stopped once Shikamaru sighed and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"We weren't spying Naruto, me and Artemis went to go grab some food. Then I got an alert from a program I installed on my phone." Shikamaru explained before handing the phone to Naruto. "It's a tracking software I developed to help locate Mizuki. And I've managed to locate his whereabouts."

Artemis nodded. "We were gonna call your dumbass, but then we saw you and your little girlfriend. So we decided to go grab you instead. Then you had to go get involved and almost get killed, so we headed back here and waited."

Naruto looked over the phone while he listened, his eyes scanning over the information. "You sure he will be at this location tonight?" The blond assassin asked with absolute seriousness.

Shikamaru scoffed. "He was found with a software I made. Of course I'm sure."

"Alright Artemis suit up, you're with me tonight."

"Really agai-. . . Wait I can come?" The girl asked in a surprised voice.

Naruto nodded. "We are too close to avoid the target escaping. So you'll be needed tonight. . . Sidekick."

"Go to hell." Artemis fired back before walking over to a display case with a suit and weapons. "We are partners."

Naruto laughed and walked over to his own gear. "You tell yourself that sidekick."

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(Titans Tower)

The doors to the Titans living room slid open while Raven stomped her way into the room. She then stopped where each of her teammates were waiting inside. Each member of the Titans had a serious expression on their face and didn't look pleased with Raven. While the latter didn't look happy with her team either.

"Raven, we need to talk about earlier." Robin began in a disappointed tone. "You almost lost control of yourself today!"

Raven glared at her leader. "No you need to get something straight. I don't appreciate you four spying on me. My social life has nothing to do with any of you!"

Everyone present cringed at the harshness of Raven's tone.

"Raven we-. . ."

"No Robin you don't get to say anything!" Raven cut in sharply, while pointing a finger at the boy. "Just leave me and Naruto alone, or I swear I will leave this team!"

Everyone was surprised by their normally silent friend's outburst. Especially with her final declaration to quit the team.

Beast Boy took a step forward. "Raven we-. . ."

"Save it." Raven cut in as she turned her shoulder to her team. "I'll be in my room, so just leave me alone."

Cyborg watched Raven leave the room with a frown. "Guys I think we messed up."

Starfire nodded in agreement. "I believe we have."

Beast boy sighed. "We are idiots guys, maybe we should try to apologize later once she cools down."

Robin nodded. "Yeah we should."

The team quickly fell into a small silence, but it didn't last long as a small ding went off.

"It's done!" Cyborg shouted in surprise, while the teen dashed over to a computer.

The other three Titans looked at their friend's random outburst with confusion.

"What's done friend?" Starfire asked, while she and everyone else gathered around the male.

Cyborg grinned and typed frantically on the computer. "Awhile back Robin asked me to look for people who bought houses in Jump City around the time that our little assassin friend showed up. Well the number was larger than I expected, so I narrowed the search down to male buyers and also ran a few key words based on information Robin had shared with me. In this case one of those words was the name Harley Quinn."

Pressing a button all the Titans watched a single blond haired teenager appear on a large monitor. "Boy's and girl, I'd like you to meet the only match I found Naruto Quinn."

Beast Boy looked at the picture and tilted his head. "Hey isn't that the guy Raven was with?"

Robin narrowed his eyes. "Yes it is, what else do you have on this guy?"

Starfire frowned. "Didn't Raven say to leave him alone?"

Ignoring starfire, Cyborg sighed and pressed a button. "This guy is shady Rob, his record is way too clean and I mean clean as in there is hardly anything here. Though the biggest issue is the person who signed for the place he lives at."

Robin examined the file on screen. "Harley Quinn." The leader mumbled in a low voice, causing Cyborg to nod.

"He's obviously connected to the Crime Queen of Gotham." Cyborg pointed out as he pulled up a picture of Harley. "And if what you said about Thaelab working for Harley is true, then the pieces are coming together."

Beast Boy looked at the picture of Harley and compared it to Naruto with wide eyes. "Why do they both look so familiar?"

Robin waved the boy off. "You saw Naruto today and Harley is a famous criminal."

"Yeah that's gotta be it." Beast Boy mumbled in silent voice.

Cyborg turned to his friends and folded his arms. "So what do we do?"

Robin rubbed his chin. "We take him down." The boy wonder declared. "This has gotta be our guy!"

Starfire frowned. "Should we tell Raven?"

"No." Robin declared, surprising the group. "She obviously wouldn't agree to going after Naruto. She may even warn him. . . No we move in on this killer today before he learns we are onto him!"

Cyborg nodded. "I'm on board, Rae will forgive us later."

Beast Boy kept silent and continued to study the picture of Naruto and Harley. Meanwhile Starfire just shared a small frown with the group, as she didn't like the plan one bit.

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(Jump City docks)

Running frantically, one short breathed Mizuki Sato dashed through a warehouse with desperation in his movements. While he fled he tried to knock over boxes, tables and anything he could use to slow his pursuers. Though to his horror a male dressed in black with a red fox mask fell from above and cut off his escape. The vigilante them drew a bow and pointed it at the criminal, forcing the man to freeze.

"End of the line asshole." The man began in a deep disguised voice.

"You gave a good chase." A female voice from behind chuckled. "Just not good enough."

Mizuki looked over his shoulder, allowing him vision of the woman dressed in a similar suit as the male. Though her mask was green and she only had a bow, unlike the male who also had a sword.

"Shadow Man, me and Vixen have the target and are moving to extract intel." The man explained through the communicator in his mask.

"Y-you're Thaelab!" Mizuki declared, while the man staggered backwards in fear.

"I'm trying a new name, call me the Black Fox." The man instructed while shooting an arrow into Mizuki's leg. Earning a loud pain filled scream from the man. "Now we are gonna talk!"

"Arghhh!" Mizuki cried in pain, as he fell to his knees.

"You were hired by someone to attack the GCPD ball eleven years ago, but instead you had James King take your place! Now tell me who tried to higher you!" Black Fox shouted in absolute rage.

Mizuki looked up with a scared expression. "It was Slade! Slade Wilson! I owed him a serious debt and that attack was my payment!"

Naruto frowned and gripped his fists. "Is that so?"

Mizuki shook his head and placed his hands together. "Absolutely! You'll let me go since I told you right?"

Black Fox drew another arrow. "No."

Mizuki's eyes grew wide. "Please spare me!" The man begged. "I have lots of money from my dealings, it's all yours!"

"Money can't bring back those I lost." Black Fox declared before three arrows were buried into Mizuki's chest.

Vixen looked away, as the drug dealers body slouched over to the side. "So we have our next target."

Removing his mask Naruto nodded and looked at Artemis, who removed her own mask.

"Hopefully our last." Naruto mumbled, while he walked off. "Let's head out, I'm sure Shika is gathering more intel as we speak."

Artemis nodded and followed Naruto, leaving the warehouse full of dead and unconscious gang members behind.

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(At Naruto's shop)

Dressed in their casual civilian clothes Naruto and his team stood around their bookstore. Each member was silent and had a different expression on their face. Naruto seemed restless and on edge, while Artemis was nervously fidgety. Shikamaru on the other hand had a calculated expression on his face.

"So Slade Wilson aka Deathstroke is our primary target now." Naruto mumbled in a low voice. "This is an interesting turn of events."

Shikamaru nodded. "Yeah he's a world class merc, not a common criminal. Taking him down will take careful planning. That's for sure."

Artemis folded her arms. "Your little girlfriend and her team has tangled with him before. Maybe you could get some information from her."

Naruto nodded. "Absolutely, we need to go about this as smart as possible. We are too close to the source at this point to risk messing up."

Artemis placed one hand forward. "Well if we work together we can take this guy down. Then find out why he called the attack on the GCPD ball." The girl declared to the group.

Shikamaru smiled and placed a hand overtop of Artemis. "We do make a good team."

Naruto nodded and placed his hand in with his friends. "Let's do something the Titans could never do. Take out Slade for good."

Agreeing on that, the team broke apart, but the sudden opening of the shop door caught their attention.

"Sorry we are closed." Naruto began, as he turned around. Though to his surprise he found Raven's four teammates waiting for him.

"Naruto Quinn." Robin began, ignoring Naruto completely. "Or should I say Thaelab. We are here to arrest you."

Naruto raised an eyebrow and placed a hand to his hip. "You got the wrong guy idiot."

Robin moved forward and forcefully grabbed Naruto and slightly struggling to place handcuffs on the boy. "You're gonna pay for all the people you killed."

Artemis glared at the boy and stepped forward. "Stay away from my friend!"

Cyborg quickly moved forward and blocked the girl off. "Hold off little lady, you don't wanna get involved."

Artemis gritted her teeth and was about to lash out, but Shikamaru placed a comforting hand on the girl. Causing her to slightly back off and recompose herself. "Stay calm Artemis, we will sort this misunderstanding out."

Leading Naruto out the door the Titans started to follow their leader. "The only thing that will happen is a killer being placed where he belongs." Robin declared before leaving the store completely.

Artemis growled in anger. "This is not good."

Shikamaru laughed and shook his head. "It's fine Artemis, everything is going according to plan."

Lifting her eyebrow in confusion Artemis looked at her intelligent friend for answers. "Explain now."

"Follow me down to the HQ and I'll explain everything." Shikamaru began, as he and Artemis started to walk off.

Chapter end!

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Hey guys it's been awhile, I wanna say a few weeks since my last update (Dec 25, 2016) hehe. . . Well I'm back and I finally got the ball rolling. I'm moving a lot of plot points forward as you can already see from this chapter alone I've got some big things planned. I feel like I rushed a few parts this chapter, but I didn't want to draw things out longer. So I felt just moving forward in order to get the story advanced would be a good thing .

Anyways tell me what you think of the chapter and leave any predictions you might have. Also tell me what you think of the names for Naruto and his teammates, speaking of which they need a team name! Any suggestions?

Like always have a good day and thanks for reading!