Injustice Book 2: Darkness in the Light

by Carrots123

With his freedom regained, Naruto is left lost and unsure of what to do. The life of the anti-hero had torn down his relationships and the life of the mercenary had left him betrayed. Now, he finds himself on a team of young heroes. With new burdens thrust upon his shoulders and new enemies stepping out of the Light. Will he survive the coming storm? Book 2 in the Injustice Series.

2. Chapter II - Drop Zone

Injustice: The Path to Hell.

Book 2: Darkness in the Light.

Chapter II – Drop-zone

So just like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and think of this as a little Christmas gift from me to you all, hope you do enjoy it. I tried to change as much as I could so that it wasn't a carbon copy of the episode, but the major changes happen towards the end. I'd still suggest reading the whole chapter as there are little snippets here and there that are different from the original. Anyway, I'm thinking of doing another update on New Years, but that'll be it until I've got enough free time.

Some of you may have noticed that I've been updating other fics, but the reason for that is because most of that stuff is chapters I'd already written, but just hadn't edited or submitted so with what limited free time I've had that's what I've been doing.

Anyway, I do hope you enjoy this, once again have a Merry Christmas and if you'd like, consider going me some support over at the Pat reon I've created. There will be some behind the scenes (spoiler) stuff for this fic, mainly future arcs, enemies and power ups for certain characters so if you want to see at least a vague outline of what's planned then do go check that out, just don't spoil it for those who haven't.

Pat reon - /Carrots123

"Normal Speech."

'Normal Thought.'

"Telepathic Speech."

"Demon Speech."

'Demon Thought.'

Location/Time

---

Sunday 20th July, 11:30.

Rhode Island,

Happy Harbour,

Mount Justice.

Slapping Kaldur's fist to one side, Naruto responded with a straight jab that the Atlantan avoided by simply moving his head slightly to one side. As Naruto's fist came within a hairs breadth of striking his cheek, Kaldur responded by gripping hold of it with both hands and flipping the blonde over his shoulder where he slammed onto the ground.

Grunting, Naruto ignored the simulations words that told him he had lost and instead accepted Kaldur's hand, allowing the Atlantean to pull him to his feet. "I'm going to feel that in the morning." Naruto's quipped getting a smile from Kaldur.

"You are not the only one." He replied, rubbing his ribs where a few of Naruto's punches had slipped through his guard. While not as powerful as the Atlantean, Naruto was still strong enough thanks to the enhanced serum that he could at least do some damage with enough blows. "I'm just glad you decided to not use your other powers."

Naruto nodded his head in agreement. Despite meditating consistently and tapping into his powers as much as he could, Naruto still felt like he was making barely any improvement. The anger was there, like a voice constantly whispering in his ear and while Naruto could ignore it in the initial stage of the transformation, the longer he was in it, the louder the voice got. And that was not a good thing considering keeping control got harder and with it, he gained more power.

"It's still difficult to control." Naruto said as he looked around the cave at the other members. Barbara and Dick were sparring a little ways a way, Superboy was sat watching television, Megan was in the kitchen baking as she always was with Wally unsuccessfully flirting with her. "Have either of those three actually trained recently?"

Kaldur looked to Superboy, Megan and Wally before shaking his head. "I don't believe so, no. But it's fine, this team is new and we're all just settling in."

"I would agree with you if it hadn't nearly being two weeks since this team had been put together and to be honest, those three are the ones that need training the most." Kaldur didn't reply, but knew that Naruto was telling the truth. Out of all of them those three had the most powerful abilities and by all accounts should be the strongest on the team.

Megan with her Telekinesis, Telepathy and other abilities should by all accounts, be the most dangerous person on this team. But not only did she not have the mentality to use those powers correctly, she also didn't train them or herself. As a result, a combined effort from Barbara and Dick could take her down with relative ease and even one-on-one, Megan struggled.

Wally was the fastest person on this team, there was no denying that. But his childishness and immaturity led to him becoming overconfident in spars. Not to mention his well-known love for pretty girls led to him making many mistakes. When it came to the few spars he had participated, Wally had only won against Dick. Even then, his chances of winning were less than fifty percent.

Then there was Superboy.

Due to being the clone of Superman, Superboy was the physically strongest person on this team. But he was practically a ticking time bomb and had next to no technique when it came to fighting. So even with his speed being only slightly faster than Kaldur's, his attacks were wild and predictable to the point even Barbara and Dick could avoid them with ease.

"I know you're thinking the same as me. Those three have the powers that ideally should make them the powerhouses on this team, yet they don't train those powers or themselves." Out of all the people here, Naruto liked Kaldur the most. Sure he was a little rigid and distant in his actions at times, but Kaldur had a good head on his shoulders, was loyal and an all round nice guy.

While things between he and Barbara had cleared up, that didn't mean everything was resolved and so at times, things were a little awkward. It was similar with Dick, the two respected one another and had actually come to like one another, but the two were still aware that they had been on opposing sides on more than one occasion, that didn't just disappear over night.

Megan was lovely with a naivety that made it all but impossible to not like her, but she was too infatuated with Superboy at the moment to think of anything but him.

Speaking of which, Superboy was Superboy. The fact that he was a clone that had been rejected by the very same man he was cloned of had certainly done no favours for the guys already high levels of anger. In fact it only worsened them and as a result, Superboy was more often than not brooding or glaring at the television.

Then came the problem child of the team, Wally West. The speedster had made his dislike for Naruto extremely clear the moment he had joined the team and his immaturity did not make him likeable to Naruto in any way. As a result, the two were rarely in the same room without someone else acting as mediator. It also didn't help that he flirted constantly with Megan and more specifically, Barbara which only irritated Naruto further.

Kaldur reached forward, placing one hand on Naruto's shoulder reassuringly. "I know, but I sometimes it takes time." Naruto disagreed with that statement entirely.

"They've had time, but what are they going to do when we face an opponent that can take us all on individually? We're going to need teamwork and we don't have that at all, we have no leader to unify us and we certainly don't have any experience in working together at all. And teamwork is all well and good, but we've seen plenty of threats that could take on the Justice League and win. We need them to train individually as well as all of us collectively." Naruto argued and Kaldur hesitantly nodded his head, understanding where Naruto was coming from.

"Then perhaps you should do something." Kaldur suggested helpfully and Naruto sighed.

"I would, but Superboy listens to no one, Megan has next to zero self-confidence and Wally hates my guts."

Kaldur smiled slightly at that. "I wouldn't say hate, it's more of an extreme disliking towards you."

"That is not helping me at all." Naruto muttered exasperatedly as he inwardly cursed Batman's entire existence and not for the first time. 'If I had known just how difficult it was going to be just to get this entire team to train let alone lead them on missions, I would have charged you more.' Naruto wouldn't be surprised if he started to get grey hairs prematurely just because of how stressful this was becoming.

---

Tuesday 22nd July, 20:10.

Caribbean Sea,

Santa Prisca.

Sitting contemplatively, Naruto looked out of the Bio-ship, watching as the Caribbean sea passed by. Things had been quiet on the ship for a while, the pre-missions nerves kicking in as it did for most people. Even Naruto himself still felt the nerves and to him, that was a good thing. The last time he hadn't felt them was when he had run into an ambush set by Black Mask and had his first fight against Robin.

No, to Naruto the nerves were a good sign as it meant he was thinking clearly and not arrogantly.

Turning his gaze away from passing ocean, Naruto instead took in the interior of the ship. It was certainly a marvel to behold. Mostly a blue-purple colour, with it being red and black on the outside. The best part about it all, was that it could change it size and add more or remove chairs in order to perfectly suit the number of people in the ship at one time.

Currently, Robin and Kid Flash were at the front, with Aqualad and Superboy behind them and him and Batgirl behind them. Then, dead centre in between him and Batgirl was Miss Martian, both hands encased in two orbs of blue light that apparently served as the controls over the sentient ship. How it was sentient was beyond him, but he was just going to write it off as a Martian thing and leave it at that.

The Undead Talon and superpowered aliens were a reminder that he didn't fully understand the world he was in like he thought he did and the best way to deal with that right now, was to just expect the unexpected.

You have a sentient Martian ship you say, hey why the hell not?

That was pretty much how Naruto viewed every weird and impossibility in his life now. Was it healthy? Probably not but it was certainly better than stressing out over every new detail that sprung up out of nowhere.

"We're approaching Santa Prisca." Miss Martian informed the team, whose bodies simultaneously tensed and relaxed at the same time, except in the case of Superboy. The clone so dead set in his belief that he was the strongest and a living weapon being the main focal point behind his unnatural calmness. Something he, Kaldur and Barbara both agreed needed to be changed and soon.

Turning his gaze from Superboy, Naruto instead looked at the island dead ahead of them.

Santa Prisca itself.

From what Batman had told them, it was the leading production centre of a highly addictive enhancing drug known as Venom. Naruto hadn't come across the drug personally, either as Black Hood or as Naruto but he had certainly heard about it.

'Shame I'm only getting paid for a simple observe and report job, I'd have happily taken the chance to take this place out myself.' Naruto knew that this place wasn't the only production centre of Venom, any criminal worth his salt knew to have more than one place set up, but a place this big would certainly contain a bulk of the production. Islands this remote were far and few between and most were very small, too small to hold a big production centre like this and go unnoticed.

His eyes then panned over the island to where he could just make out the sight of the tip of the factory. With all the trees and foliage, it would be all but impossible for most people to see, but thanks to his enhanced eyesight he could make it out, albeit barely.

'Even then, this could prove to be informative.' The main reason this mission was given to them was because the factory, while still running at full capacity had cut off all shipments. A fact that was both highly odd, but also intriguing.

As they neared closed to the island, Naruto gave a nod to Miss Martian. "Drop-zone A in thirty." In front of him, Aqualad rose to his feet, the chair he was sat in melting back into the ship.

Tapping the A shaped symbol on his waist, the red of Aqualads suit changed into a blackish grey colour. "Ready." He said shortly with a nod to Miss Martian.

"Putting Bio-ship in camouflage mode." At the same time the ship slowly descended towards the oceans surface and upon reaching the designated point, part of the floor in front of Aqualad opened up. With a firm face, the Atlantean dived down into the ocean while the ship continued on towards the island itself.

"Heat and motion sensors are patched." Aqualad informed over the commlink a few moments later. "Data is on a continuous loop, move in." With this, Naruto rose to his feet, his chair dissolving back into the ship itself as the rest of the team followed his lead, except for Miss Martian who continued to fly the ship.

The island of Santa Prisca was not invulnerable, but it was certainly very difficult for most governments to actually lead any mounted attack upon it. There was only a few open beaches big enough for a few boats to actually deploy on and they were monitored continuously by a network of security systems. Not to mention that any ship or plane would be seen miles away.

However, what none had prepared for was a ship that could camouflage and as a result, the main problem they faced was a landing zone. The only real landing zones being those guarded by a network of security systems.

That was where Aqualad had come in to play and with those security systems now transmitting incorrect data, they could move towards Santa Prisca undetected, which they would not have been able to do had they shut down the security system entirely. Not only would that have been time consuming, but if even a single part of the network were to be shut down, it would alert those on the island to someone else being here as well.

Heading further into the island, they came to a stop over an opening in the forest.

"Drop-zone B." Miss Martian informed the rest of the team, rising to her feet while a number of cables came down from the ceiling. Taking his Naruto clipped it to his belt before giving one final nod to Batgirl who returned it with a smile, taking a moment to admire his new suit as Naruto did the same.

His new suit was certainly better than his Black Hood costume and while equal in terms of durability to his Marauder costume, was probably greater when it came to gadgets. It was a basic, full body suit similar to that of his Black Hood costume with dark orange greaves, vambraces and shoulder guards. His face mask was similar to his Marauder costume in that it was split between black and orange but once again, inverted as to show his differences between him and his former master.

The reason he kept the colours the same was while he did like orange, it also helped remind him of where he came from. It reminded him of everything that had happened previously.

To finish off his outfit were a number of weapons including a number of throwing knives inside a small pouch on his back as well as a combat knife strapped to each thigh. And on his back where two swords, each with the handles popping out over his left shoulder and a small cylinder no bigger than a baton, placed between them.

"How cool is this?" Kid Flash asked, turning to look at both Batgirl and Miss Martian with his new stealth tech, built into the symbol on his chest turning his suit from an eye catching yellow, to a dark grey.

Batgirl just shook her head in amusement at his childishness while Miss Martian smiled. "Very impressive." Much like the others, Naruto took a moment to admire how Miss Martians powers worked, her entire outfit changing with just a single thought.

'That sure would come in handy.' He thought, thinking about how much money he could save on not having to buy clothes.

"Eh, that works too." Kid Flash finally managed to say with a smile before turning to Superboy. "Hey, Supie, not too late to put on the new stealth tech?" Despite his gentle teasing, Superboy did not look amused.

"No cape, no tights, no offence." Crossing his arms over his chest Naruto found himself agreeing with Superman's clone. His outfit was the closest he was going to get without going full tight and cape, not that he ever would wear them. Not that it didn't mean others looked awful in them, Batgirl certainly didn't and Miss Martian didn't look to bad either. Though he would never say either of those things out loud.

Apparently while he had a filter, Miss Martian did not. "It totally works for you." She muttered dreamily, before quickly realising what she had said. By the embarrassment in her face, it was obvious she had not meant to say that out loud. "In that you can totally do, good work, in those clothes." To top it all off she even gave an awkward thumbs up which only made Naruto's enjoyment grow.

Even Robin and Batgirl, who had managed to keep a straight face through the entire proceeding couldn't stop the little smirks when Miss Martian pulled up her hood and turned invisible, all in an attempt to escape from what had happened.

"Alright you lot, enough chit chat, let's go." Naruto intervened before anyone could say anything to further derail this mission. "Miss Martian, open a hatch." Naruto then turned to Superboy who had yet to put on his clip while the other dropped down. "Superboy, put on your clip."

"Don't need it." Superboy replied gruffly, a scowl on his face not only at Naruto but at how much he sounded like a petulant child.

"Yes, but this is an observe and report mission, a covert operation. You causing an earthquake with your landing kind of goes against the whole point. So please, put on your clip." He didn't beg, Naruto knew that Superboy would see right through his attempt at manipulation. But at the same time, Naruto couldn't just order Superboy around either. His experience at the hands of Cadmus had left him unwilling to listen to authority and so, Naruto found the middle ground hoping it would work.

It did, mostly because he neither begged or ordered Superboy to do it. But it was also because Superboy recognised that both of them had been in the hands of Cadmus and was therefore, more willing to listen to Naruto than others. Even then that wasn't saying overly much.

So, after putting the clip on, both Naruto and Superboy dropped down to be greeted to the sight of the rest of the team waiting. "Finally, what took you guys so long." Kid Flash exclaimed only to be smacked up the side of his head by Robin causing him to cry out in pain. Not that any of them were convinced he was actually in pain, especially when he tried to use this as an excuse to get Miss Martian to kiss it better.

"What was that about?" Bargirl asked coming to stand beside Naruto as they took up the rear.

"Superboy wasn't wearing the clip, I think he planned to jump down and I pointed out that it would cause a lot of noise that could potentially give away our position." Naruto explained, frowning when he noticed Superboy tense up, no doubt having heard him with his superhuman hearing. Yet, Superboy didn't do anything instead, his shoulders seemed to slump and his stomps increased.

Batgirl also saw it as well. "You know he's not actually angry at you, if he was he would have probably done something just then. He's probably more angry at himself." Naruto nodded his head in agreement.

---

Tuesday 22nd July, 20:30.

Caribbean Sea,

Santa Prisca.

The walk through the forest had been slow on account of Robin and Batgirl – who had joined Naruto upfront – using their holographic maps and small radar system to pick out the mines nearby. While Superboy could survive the blasts, the rest of them couldn't and while Naruto was unsure if he could, he was in no hurry to find out.

Either way, the objective was the same as it always had been, rendezvous with Aqualad at the factory. While they were making their way through the forested area, having to manoeuvre carefully around mines and other traps, Aqualad was able to take a straight route to the factory by scaling the cliffs and avoid most of the traps.

Suddenly, Superboy who was at his side abruptly came to a stop. "Did you hear that?" He asked, his eyes narrowed as the rest of the team turned to him. Naruto himself closed his eyes and focused his own hearing, that while not as good as Superboys, was still good enough to make out the sound of snapping twigs.

"Is this a super hearing thing?" Kid Flash questioned while Miss Martian fangirled once more.

"You do have great ears." Again, as if realising she had said that out loud, Miss Martian blushed nearly curling in on herself.

"Yeah." Naruto affirmed. "We've got movement ahead of us. A group." Naruto then turned to Superboy once more. "Can you pick out how many?"

Superboy tried to focus in more but that was when gunfire erupted. "Well, I guess that answers that question." Batgirl quipped sarcastically as Kid Flash turned in the direction of the gunfire, his goggles switched to infrared vision where he picked out two groups of men firing upon one another, something he relayed to the rest of the team.

It was at that moment they realised that they were missing one person as they looked to find the smallest member of their team. "Where'd Robin go?" Miss Martian questioned.

"Don't worry, Robin won't be spotted by them." Batgirl responded, putting Miss Martians mind at ease.

At the same time, Naruto was issuing orders of his own. "We need to avoid being seen, swing wide and avoid them. They'll be too focused on each other to notice us."

"Yea, yea." Kid Flash had other plans as he nonchalantly dismisses the order with a wave of his hand. "Just as soon as I find Rob."

"Wait don't…" Naruto called out in an attempt to stop Kid Flash but he wasn't fast enough as the speedster took off leaving nothing but a blur behind. "Great, Batgirl, can you find Robin?"

"Yea, I'll find him." She agreed taking off leaving him, Superboy and Miss Martian.

"Lets go." He asked with a sigh and the three quickly took off in the direction of the fighting, all the while Naruto couldn't help but curse Batman once more. Naruto could understand why Batman didn't want to outright name him as the leader because there were a few that wouldn't accept it, Robin and Kid Flash to be precise. The only way either of them would accept Naruto as leader was if they choose him, but at the same time, the lack of clear leadership was already causing problems.

Meanwhile with Batgirl, she quickly followed the route she knew Robin was most likely to take.

The trees.

High ground was something Batman had taught them to use effectively, especially against superior foes or number of foes. After all, facing an enemy where they were strongest was stupid and would only cause serious problems for them. And most opponents didn't have the skill or knowledge on how to fight someone higher up than them. Especially when that opponent could attack you at any moment without you realising.

Just like she had expected, Robin was moving slowly, using his great acrobatic ability to manoeuvre quickly and easily through the trees only to come to a stop overlooking the clearing where the two groups were fighting.

Neither said anything, but the frown Batgirl directed towards Robin told him that she was not happy which confused the young hero greatly.

Before he could ask, Kid Flash came tumbling out of the tree line and landing in a heap directly in front of Bane. There was a brief pause, neither side knowing how to deal with this new guest, but Bane wasn't one of Batman's most dangerous foes because of his strength alone. No, he was equal parts brain and brawn with a great deal of combat experience.

As a result, he reacted quickly after a moments pause, levelling his gun directly at the speedster and fired. "So much for the stealthy."

That was when the battle erupted once more, Bane's men open firing upon – what they could make out to be – members of the Kobra Cult as well as Kid Flash. The latter of which scrambled and rolled on the ground like a worm as he avoided the hail of bullets before finally managing to get to his feet and hiding behind a tree.

This was when the rest of the team sprung into action.

With a roar of anger, Superboy charged forwards, lifting Bane up off the ground with a tackle, only for the more experienced fighter to quickly turn this against the clone of Superman. Masterfully done, Bane slammed the back of his elbow into Superboy's back, it did no damage but it certainly shocked him enough so that when they landed on the ground, Bane could push Superboy's head into the ground with one hand while using the other to twist his right arm.

Despite his great physical strength however, it was nothing compared to Superboy's own strength and with grit teeth, the clone broke his right arm free and pushed Bane through the air and into a tree.

Robin and Batgirl both jumped down, using Superboy's appearance as the necessary distraction to take out four guys near instantly. Using teamwork and the surprise factor, they landed in between two men each and with fast and powerful kicks, knocked them all unconscious.

"What is wrong with you guys?" Robin exclaimed a mixture of annoyance and surprise. At the same time all the guns were ripped from their owners hands, Miss Martian floating above with both hands extended and her eyes glowing green. "Remember covert, why didn't you guys follow my lead and follow me into the jungle." He finished this off with a jumping, spinning hock kick to a guys head.

"Because you never told any of us." Bargirl replied shortly, capitalising on Miss Martian's telekinetic ability to flip one Kobra cultist to the ground followed up with a stomp to the head to knock him unconscious. Just as she went to take on another just in front of her, Naruto appeared, gripping his neck with enough force to knock him unconscious.

At the same time, he threw the man into a group of two others that were attempting to flee, each of them collapsing to the ground in a heap of bruised and groaning men.

"We're not mind readers, y'know! Or at least, I'm not." Kid Flash finished his tirade, turning to sheepishly smile at Miss Martian who finished off the second to last guy with a telekinetic push that slammed him into a tree.

"You told me to only read the bad guys minds." She argued only for them all to spot one guy running away. Just as Naruto was about order Kid Flash to give chase, Aqualad appeared, one hand braced flat against the mans chest as he channelled his Atlantean magic through his body in the form of electricity.

"Enough." Naruto ordered instead before a full blown argument could break out. "Let's just tie these guys up and once that's done, we're gonna have a talk about a few things that need sorting out before we do anything more in this mission."

---

Tuesday 22nd July, 21:00.

Caribbean Sea,

Santa Prisca.

"So, who exactly are these guys?" Naruto asked as he looked down at the unconscious Kobra Cultists.

"They're a group of cultists that believe a prophecy about them becoming a great and powerful organisation. They were pretty small until a few years ago when they got a new leader called Naga Naga, or Kobra as he's more commonly known as, started using science to bring about their ambitions." Batgirl answered before turning to Naruto with a teasing smile. "Maybe you should join, didn't you say you found religion a few days ago?"

Naruto just snorted in amusement. "I did not find religion." He shot back, but Batgirl only continued to give that teasing smile that told him he would not be living it down for a long while.

"Sure you didn't." The little wink she gave at the end only made the smile on his face grow bigger, but she quickly became serious again. "What's your take on all this?"

"What's yours?" Naruto returned.

Batgirl took a moment to think on it, studying the cultists and Bane's goons in turn before answering. "I'm guessing the Kobra Cultists came along and took control of Santa Prisca, shoving Bane and his men out and probably stockpiling the venom."

"I believe Batman would have told us if a dangerous extremist group was running Santa Prisca's venom operation." The two turned to see Aqualad walking towards them, a frown on his face and arms crossed over his chest.

Robin also agreed with this assessment as he came to stand with the group, as did the rest of the team. "Hence, why the supply lines have been cut off."

"We get it, Kobra wants to make a bunch of super cultists. Case closed." Kid Flash brushed it off. "Let's go report back to Batman."

"None of these guys are on venom, which would be the case if they were making super cultists." Robin argued and all members except for the two showed equal signs of frustration at their bickering. "No, Kobra's hoarding this stuff and I'm not leaving until I know why."

"Until you know why?" Just like they had expected, Kid Flash rose to the bait.

'For fucks sake, we don't have time for this shit.' Naruto moved forwards, grabbing hold of both Kid Flash and Robin, dragging the two behind him a little ways away from the prisoners, close enough that they could still see them, but far enough away that they couldn't be heard clearly.

"Hey man, let go of me." Kid Flash argued struggling against Naruto's grip much like Robin was as the rest of the team followed behind.

Eventually, Naruto let the two go where they turned to glare at Naruto. "What's the big idea, Maelstrom?" Robin demanded and Naruto released a deep breath.

"We haven't got time for you two to argue every two minutes. We have come here, uninformed and under prepared. Mostly because some of you, couldn't be bothered to train, treating the last two weeks as a vacation." He pointedly looked to Miss Martian, Kid Flash and Superboy. "And now that we're on this mission, it's become even clearer to me that Batman should never have sent us on this mission in the first place without a clearly defined hierarchy. So, were going to sort out the second problem now and the first when we get back."

There was silence between the group as each of them took in what Naruto had just said.

"Maelstrom's right." Batgirl cut in, seeing that Kid Flash looked ready to argue on the principal of who Naruto used to be. "Look at what's happened already, Kid Flash would have blown our cover if not for us taking these guys out and Robin disappeared without telling any of us. We need someone to take charge and lead us."

"Then lets put it too a vote." Aqualad stepped forth, receiving a nod of gratitude from Naruto for his assistance, a nod he also gave to Batgirl as well. "We'll decide now and quickly before going on to complete the mission."

Once again, there was silence, each of them thinking or in some cases simply waiting.

"Well, I for one say I should lead this team." Kid Flash spoke, confident in himself and his ability to lead.

Robin on the other hand, disagreed. "Oh really, the guy that nearly blew our cover. What a great idea."

"And I suppose that makes you our leader then, huh?" Kid Flash rose to the bait just like all of the, had expected the moment Robin spoke. "You're just a kid."

"And you're a mature fifteen year old." Robin shot back.

"News flash, you're not Batman."

"Closest thing we've got."

As the two continued to bicker, Naruto couldn't help but watch on in disbelief. "I, I have no words." He muttered as Aqualad watched on in equal disbelief. "I mean, I expected this from Kid Flash, but Robin?"

"From my own experience, Robin does tend to act more immature when around Kid Flash, but never to this degree." Aqualad responded, the two watching as the speedster and boy wonder continued to bicker in enemy territory. "I believe it may be because Robin wants to prove himself to Batman, that he can lead this team."

Naruto just shook his head. "Even so, if Batman knew about this," he waved his hand in the direction of the two. "I doubt he would be impressed." Aqualad made a noise of agreement before the two decided to finally break them apart.

At the same time, Batgirl, Miss Martian and Superboy were discussing who they believed should be in charge. All of them had quickly ruled out themselves as well as Robin and Kid Flash, despite the former having more experience and being one of the smartest on the team. His immaturity shown now, proved that while skilled, he was also too young to lead and shoulder the responsibility that came with it.

"Guess that leaves just Maelstrom and Aqualad." Batgirl pointed out as the three of them watched the two boys in question break apart the bickering pair. "Question is, who?"

"I think Aqualad." Miss Martian piped up. "I mean, Kid Flash doesn't exactly like Maelstrom. I don't know why, he's so nice though he can be a little strict. But still kind and always helps me with training if I need it." As if realising that she was rambling, Miss Martian blushed and ducked her head.

"No, go on." Batgirl said, finding the Martians rambling quite endearing and adorable. "Why Aqualad?"

"Well, it's just that Kid Flash doesn't like Maelstrom so wouldn't it be best to choose a leader liked by everyone?" She posed the question gaining nods from Batgirl and Superboy, both of them understanding and agreeing with Miss Martians reasoning. Batgirl herself, as much as she trusted and respected Naruto's skills, would have chosen Aqualad simply because of that very same reason.

However, while agreeing with what she said, Superboy had his own opinion as well. "You're right, but I doubt Aqualad will accept." This drew both girls attention to him. "Aqualad hasn't exactly expressed any interest in leading outside of issuing orders."

"And when he has, it's being begrudgingly." Bargirl finished, Superboy nodded his head to show that she had gotten it right. "So, back to square one." The joke did get a slight smile from both of them as they turned to see the rest of the team finally finished arguing.

Moving forwards, the three of them joined up with the other boys.

"Well, right now we've narrowed down the list to two possible candidates, Aqualad and Maelstrom." Neither Kid Flash or Robin looked happy at this, but Robin at least showed he understood why he wasn't in the running even if he wasn't happy about it. "So it just comes down to you two to decide because we can't decide out of either of you."

Both Naruto and Aqualad spared a glance as if to figure out what the other was thinking. Neither could quite tell, but they had grown to become friends over the time they had spent sparing with one another.

However, a decision had to be made and it was Aqualad who made it. "My vote is for Maelstrom." This sent a ripple of shock through the team, even those who had come to understand that Aqualad had no desire to lead were shocked at this. "Being leader holds a great deal of responsibility, making the hard decisions is one of them. In my life, I can count myself lucky to not have being forced to make many hard decision, but the hardest for me was the decision to leave Atlantis and become Aqualad."

Here, Aqualad smiled sadly at the memory of his home and more specifically a beautiful young girl he had not seen in a long time.

"I have not dealt with those decisions well, in fact I have grown to regret that decision on many occasions." Aqualad then looked to Naruto. "From what I have come to know of you and your past, you don't regret the decisions you made, only that life forced you to make them. Am I wrong?"

There was a pause in which the team looked to Naruto for an answer.

"No, you're not." The blonde answered reluctantly.

"That is why, I think you should lead. You understand and are willing to make those tough decisions without regret. Something I would not be able to do." Aqualad explained and Naruto couldn't help but smile sardonically. While he knew Batman had wanted him to lead, Naruto hadn't actually planned on leading. In fact, he had brought the whole idea forward under the belief and hope that Aqualad would be chosen to lead the team.

'Guess I should have expected things to not go my way.' He thought in amusement before stepping forward and clasping hands with Aqualad. "Then I'll accept, but don't expect to get off too easy. I'm gonna need someone else to help me shoulder the burden of leadership."

"Then I too, will accept." Aqualad responded.

Pulling away, Naruto looked to the team, his team now. "So, what's the plan?" Bargirl asked and Naruto just smirked.

---

Tuesday 22nd July, 21:20.

Caribbean Sea,

Santa Prisca.

Bane couldn't help but marvel at the sight before him, just because of how…pathetic it was. Aqualad, Robin, Batgirl and Kid Flash along with three newbies that he didn't recognise all arguing over who should lead. Or more accurately Kid Flash and Batman's prized protégé argued while Aqualad and the Deathstroke wannabe broke them apart.

However, the latters appearance did raise a few questions. Was this guy simply a fan of Deathstroke yet decided to become a hero? That alone was strange and highly unlikely. Was his costume simply a matter of coincidence? Again, highly unlikely, but also not impossible. Or was this the mysterious apprentice of Deathstroke, the one called Marauder who had both appeared and then seemingly disappeared a few months ago? If so, what was he doing with the sidekicks?

Then his eyes turned to the other two members of the team that he didn't recognise. The first and most eye catching was the young Martian girl, no doubt the apprentice of Martian Manhunter, though she must be new because this was the first he was hearing of her.

And the last was the guy wearing some basic clothes, though the most obvious thing about him was the 'S' symbol on his chest. One famous because of the famous Man of Steel himself, Superman. While Bane would never boast to having fought Superman – he was too smart to engage the man that could shrug off missiles like someone had thrown a wet paper ball at him – he sure as hell knew all about the Kryptonians powers. While the kid had not shown all the abilities of Superman, Bane had for the second time in the last few days being completely outclassed in a contest of strength.

Even with the remnants of his last Venom dosage still coursing through his veins, the kid had broken through his grip like it was nothing and despite being far more skilled, the kid had beaten him in short order just because of the overwhelming difference in strength and speed.

Now, if this kid was Superman's kid that would certainly be a worrying thought, yet also extremely useful, especially to him. All it would take was a few words here and Bane could have this team and especially the mysterious kid with super strength on his side. Well, not permanently, but for long enough to drive the Kobra Cult off his island.

"Míralos discutir {Look at them argue}." Turning his head ever so slightly, Bane made sure to listen to what one of his men had to say, while also keep his eyes on the sidekicks. "Libérate y tómalos mientras estén distraídos {Free yourself and take them while they're distracted}!"

"¡Tranquila {Quiet}!" Bane snapped, making sure to keep his voice low. "Por ahora voy a seguir el juego. Me darán lo que necesito {For now I play along. They'll give me what I need}." From what Bane was seeing, the only two to be any cause for worry were Aqualad and the kid who had overpowered him. Mostly because without Venom, he would be no match for them in a contest of strength and Aqualad seemed to be skilled in magic. He had personally never come across or fought anyone capable of using it, but he wasn't about to underestimate someone who did.

Bane felt a smirk come upon his face, with the help of these sidekicks, he could quite easily drive the Kobra Cult off his island. The only real problem would be the cults champion and he could attest from personal experience that the champion was powerful. Even with Venom, he had been overwhelmed in speed and strength.

And if they fought again, Bane would make sure to not underestimate the champion again, but even then he doubted his chances of winning were very high. No, the team of heroes would prove valuable in retaking his island.

Chuckling lowly, Bane looked to see that the team had finally finished arguing, declaring the Deathstroke lookalike, Maelstrom as their leader. "Such clever, niños." His words drew their attention, just like he had planned. "You've done so well in figuring out the story so far, allow me to fill in the rest, via my secret entrance."

While he couldn't see Maelstrom's face, he could tell the boy wasn't pleased with Bane's words. Not because he didn't doubt them, but because he didn't want to trust them.

Bane's eyes flickered to the Martian to see one hand resting on her temple with both eyes closed in concentration. "There is a secret entrance, but he's also hiding something." As her eyes glowed, Bane felt a sudden pressure upon his mind, and while he would admit to her being skilled, he hadn't even noticed her initial presence at first, the moment she tried to delve deeper, he could feel her easily.

"Ah, ah, ah, chica. Bane's not that easy." Allowing a smirk to cross his face, Bane cleared his mind and focused on a few simple thoughts repeatedly, just like he had trained himself to do. A simple but perfect way to keep telepaths out of his head. Though he hadn't tested his defences against the likes of Martian Manhunter, he'd like to think his defences would hold, but he doubted that would be the case. Either way, it would by him enough time to force Martian Manhunter to focus on other things.

Just like he had expected, Miss Martian recoiled away. "Gah! He's mentally repeating fútbol scores and español. This could take a while." She admitted with a sigh and while she did receiving a comforting hand from Batgirl, it was the leader, Maelstrom that had other plans.

"No time for that. We'll have to do something less time consuming."

Bane just shook his head with another chuckle. "It's not complicated." He said, looking to stare Maelstrom in the face and he could make out the scowl on the kids face beneath his mask. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend." While Bane kept his eyes on Maelstrom, he could see that a few of the sidekicks seemed at least willing to listen to him and even believing.

"No, the enemy of my enemy is just another enemy." Bane smirked, realising that the boy may not be as naïve as some of the other children. It certainly made things a little more difficult, but not impossible.

"Perhaps, but like you said. You, niños haven't got time to wait for the Martian to read my mind and the only thing you can offer me to tell you about my entrance is for us to ally ourselves with another. So, what's it going to be?" Bane posed the question, taking in the looks on each of the sidekicks face.

None of them looked overly happy with the idea of working with him, yet most also seemed resigned to the idea. All except for Maelstrom, Aqualad and Batgirl, the former who from body posture alone told Bane that he was never going to accept of his own volition. Again, troublesome but not an impossibility to overcome. After all, he had only just recently being named leader and as a result, could be voted out just as quickly. Especially if he was overruled by his own team and that's exactly what Bane was hoping for.

While Maelstrom seemed adamant to refuse him outright, the others at least seemed willing to work with him, though begrudgingly.

"Maelstrom, I," Batgirl spoke up. "I think we should take him up on his offer. He has information on not only the inner workings of the factory, but also gives us a way to get inside without being seen. It's worth the risk."

Maelstrom said nothing, only staring at Bane who cockily smirked back as he leaned nonchalantly against the tree he was tied to.

"Fine." Maelstrom relented finally, unsheathing one of the katanas off his back and cutting through the rope easily. Rubbing his wrists, Bane rose to his feet and extended one hand to Maelstrom only for the leader of the team to sheath his sword and cross his arms over his chest. "Lead us to the entrance."

Finding the whole thing amusing, Bane lowered his hand and began walking through the forest, well aware of the team following behind him and the suspicious glare of the teams leader on his back. 'Clever chico.' He admitted mentally, praising Maelstrom for his adamance to refuse his help. He had the right idea, the enemy of your enemy is just an enemy you have not encountered yet. Unfortunately for the young hero, most of his team didn't seem to share his opinion.

---

Tuesday 22nd July, 21:30.

Caribbean Sea,

Santa Prisca.

With narrowed eyes, Naruto kept his eyes carefully following Bane the entire way through the forest. The walk had been silent, Naruto not willing to talk or risk letting slip any information to Bane, not that some members of the team had been so willing to do the same. Either way, he had been making sure to keep his gaze firmly on Bane, waiting and hoping for Bane to prove him right and betray them or lead them into a trap.

'If he does, I'll kill him.' He firmly thought as they eventually broke through some thick foliage and out onto a cliff overlooking the factory.

Making sure to keep Bane in his sights, Naruto's moved forwards, sparing the factory a quick glance. Just like they had expected, the Kobra Cult were hoarding the Venom. However, it didn't look like it would be for themselves

That fact alone changed the mission slightly, Venom from what he had read was sold in small doses to small time criminals. Not overly powerful, but enough to give anyone who took it the strength to overturn cars with ease. The upside was that it only lasted a short time and was highly addictive. So, much like most drugs, it was sold in small doses in order to increase demand.

It was a smart operation, that he could admit as he read over Batman's file pertaining to all information on Bane's enterprise. It seemed that Kobra on the other hand was running things a little differently, selling large shipments at a time, which was certainly worrying.

The reason Venom wasn't as well-known on the streets was because it was so rare and for those that did know about it, it was extremely difficult to get your hands on. Naruto had only known about it beforehand because of a few instances with one of the men in his old apartment complex had managed to secure himself a batch.

"Look at all that product." Robin whispered as he looked through his binoculars. "A buy is definitely going down. But if Kobra's not selling to the usual clients, then who?"

That was when Bane decided to move away from the group. If the man was trying to be sneaky he failed, but from the slight swagger that had been present in all his movements, Naruto doubted that was the case. A glance to Superboy, showed that Superman's clone had also picked up on Bane's movements. The two of them both turning to watch where Bane went as the rest of them studied the Kobra Cult down below.

"We need to identify that buyer." Aqualad stated, rising to his full height as he looked to Naruto, only to see that he and Superboy were watching Bane closely.

"Just what I was thinking." Kid Flash muttered.

Robin smirked, seeing the perfect opportunity to respond only for Batgirl to shake her head. There was a few moments where he considered going through with it anyway, but eventually decided against it.

That was when they heard the sound of rocks moving followed by grunting, each of them turning to see Bane moving a rock. The overall weight of the rock alone should be over half a ton and it was a testament to his own strength that he managed to move it with only some minor difficulty. He in fact lifted it cleanly off the ground before dropping it to one side, revealing a tunnel.

Dusting his hands off, Bane turned to Naruto and waved one hand to the tunnel. "Answers, are this way." Saying nothing, Naruto indicated with his head for Bane to get moving and he did so, Naruto and the team following behind him.

"So, el luchador is our leader now." Kid Flash snarked and Naruto ignored the obvious dig, instead keeping silent as they walked down the tunnel. Yet, while outwardly he was quiet all to ensure he didn't reveal any information to Bane, he knew other ways to communicate with the team.

"Miss Martian." It was a wild guess to see if she could hear him, but he didn't want to give any outward sign that could tip Bane off. As much as he disliked the idea of working with Bane and he still did now, he couldn't deny that it did have some uses. Bane especially could prove to be extremely useful.

There was a long pause of silence in which Naruto tried a few more times before he eventually got an answer. "Maelstrom?"

"Good, you heard me." Naruto released an internal sigh of relief, with a link established between him and Miss Martian, it would make his job much easier. "Can you link the whole team up?"

"Eh, yeah, but I was told to only read the bad guys minds." She admitted.

"Don't worry about that, I need you to establish a link and I'll take the blame for it. I am technically the leader so you have to do what I say so if they're annoyed by it, that's your excuse." Naruto explained and while still unsure, Miss Martian gave a mental nod, he couldn't see it but he could tell she had done so. "Now, link us up."

"Right." A few moments later, Naruto heard her voice once more. "It's done."

"W-what?" There was a few other mutters of confusion over the link, but before any of them could do or say anything to tip off Bane, Naruto took control.

"I've asked Miss Martian to establish a psychic link between us, it'll allow us to communicate mentally." Naruto explained. "Some of you may be confused at to why or dislike the idea entirely. However, I don't trust Bane nor is he in charge. I have no doubts that at the first chance he gets he will betray us and I'm not going to let that happen. So, we're going to use Miss Martian as a way to communicate without revealing our plans to Bane. You may not like it however, I'd rather the minor discomfort of the idea of someone else, someone I trust being in my mind purely for secure communication than allowing a known criminal to betray and possibly get us killed. If you have complaints, save them until after the mission is complete, is that understood?.

There was no answer, no sounds to show discontent, but he could just tell some didn't like it. Whatever Miss Martian had done to connect their minds in this way, allowed him to at least feel their discontent with this whole thing. Not everyone was however, some were accepting and even welcoming of the idea, if a little begrudgingly in some people's cases.

"So, what's the plan?" Batgirl asked and Naruto took a few moments to think it over.

"Kid Flash, Robin, you've been at each other's throats the entirety of this mission. Keep bickering as to keep Bane thinking we are just inexperienced children. Let him think that, the rest of us, we're going to wait. I have no doubt Bane will do something to blow our cover and force us to fight alongside him."

"And what makes you think he'll do that?" Robin asked.

Naruto frowned slightly. "Because it's what I would have done." There was silence over link as the others took in what he had said and he could just feel that most did not like the reminder of who he used to be.

---

Tuesday 22nd July, 21:45.

Caribbean Sea,

Santa Prisca.

Peaking his head through the door that Bane had just opened, Robin took a few careful seconds to check for any Kobra cultists. "All clear." He whispered when he saw that there were none, before rushing out, the rest of the team following behind him. Even so, he was still quite always in front of them before he rounded a corner.

However, as soon as they rounded a corner, they found that Robin had already disappeared. Coming to a stop behind a few pipes, they looked around for any sign of Robin. "Has that little fool already being caught?!" Bane questioned doubting the teams of sidekicks even more.

"No." Aqualad staged firmly with a shake of his head. "He just does that."

"Wait here, I'll gather intel and be back before the boy wonder." Kid Flash said arrogantly, pulling down his goggles before speeding off.

Despite Aqualad attempting to stop him, the speedster was just too quick and left. "Great chain of command." Bane growled out, turning to Naruto where he stood with Batgirl at his side. Yet, Naruto said nothing, just stood there with arms crossed over his chest.

"Good job, Robin, Kid. Make sure to stick to the plan." Naruto praised, keeping his gaze locked on Bane who had begun studying the Kobra Cultists more closely.

"Yea, yea, you don't have to tell us twice." Kid Flash brushed off, continuing to speed quickly around the factory, keeping out of sight as he gathered intelligence on the number of cultists as well as what weapons they were packing and their positions.

"On it." Robin was much more agreeable than Kid Flash as he moved to the central terminal as to hack into the database and gather every scrap of information he could on not only Kobra's operation here in Santa Prisca, but also Bane's.

Meanwhile, Naruto and the others moved to crouch down behind a crate, watching as the cultist continued to move around the factory. "That's a massive shipment." Aqualad muttered in awe at the sheer amount of Venom that was being carried around by the cultists. The others couldn't help but share his sentiments, though all of them were equally unnerved by how determined the cultists were. Some of them looked like they hadn't slept or taken a rest in days and yet, they continued to work. It was a level of commitment that made them dangerous, luckily they were tired.

"Yea, but they're only taking new product off the line." Superboy noted. "There not touching this Venom."

"Maybe freshness counts?" Miss Martian suggested, though she seemed embarrassed as soon as she said it.

Batgirl agreed with her. "It's possible. Everything has a shelf life, even Venom. It eventually runs its course and Batman's theorised that the longer it takes before being injected into somebody, the less effective it is."

Before Naruto could say anything, he picked up on the sound of something heading this way. Turning to Superboy he saw that he two had heard. "Helicopters coming." Superboy said, all of them turning to the sky waiting for the helicopter and what they assumed would be the buyer to arrive.

"Guys, I've found something." Robin's voice sounded over the link. "It's about the Venom, Kobra are producing." By the tone of his voice, the worry and the nervousness, it put all of them on edge. Bane himself simply took it as the sidekicks getting ready for the buyer.

"What is it, Robin?" Batgirl asked.

There was a few moments as Robin took some time to fully grasp exactly what he was seeing. "The creature, the one Bane described and fought against."

"Fought?" Kid Flash snorted in amusement. "Guy got his ass kicked, he all but admitted it."

"Yes, thank you for that." Robin replied dryly. "Like I was saying, the formula that was used to turn him into that thing, isn't just an enhanced version of Venom. It's a chemical mixture of Venom and the Project Blockbuster, turning it into one super drug. It's three times stronger than Venom and permanent."

There was silence over the link, the gravity of what was happening taking a while to sink in.

"But how did Kobra get their hands on Blockbuster?" Aqualad asked the question on all their minds.

It was Batgirl who had the theory. "The buyer, they must also be Kobra's supplier."

"Right, new plan." Naruto spoke up. "Kid Flash, have you managed to find an armoury of some kind?"

"Yea."

"What was in it?"

"Guns, ammo and few explosives." The speedster listed. "Why?"

"I want you to head back and get the explosives." He ordered and while confused, Kid Flash quickly spun round and ran back in the direction he came from, taking a hard right to the armoury along the way.

At the same time, Naruto and the others watched as the helicopter came into land. "Naruto, what have you got planned?" Batgirl asked

Naruto didn't answer the question, instead calling out to Kid Flash. "You got them?"

"Yeah, now what?"

"I want you to wait on my signal then place them in clear places along the production of the Venom."

"That wasn't our mission!" Robin exclaimed, gaining murmurs or agreement from the others. Naruto on the other hand turned to Aqualad.

"You said that a leader has to make tough decisions. This is one of them, understanding that sometimes you have to make changes to already existing plans that could possibly put us at risk." Aqualad frowned in understanding, though he did not like it. "Bane is going to betray us at some point, or force our hand. The moment we agreed to get help from Bane was the moment secrecy went out the window. I'm just going to make sure that we fuck with Bane's operation once all is said and done."

Kid flash laughed, smiling as he rushed through the corridors to find the perfect hiding spot. "I'm down with that, just give me the signal."

"Good, hold your position when you get there. I'm pretty sure you'll know what the signal is." Naruto said. "As for the rest of us, we've got our own tasks." From there, Naruto began issuing orders to the rest of the team, each of them voicing their understanding. "Get ready." With a nod, he and the others rose to their feet, quickly moving to higher ground in order to get a better view of the factory. Miss Martian on the other hand, turned invisible, flying up into the air and heading out into the direction of the copter.

That's when the copter landed, a tall, well-built man with blonde hair and dressed in a hockey mask moving towards Kobra who was flanked by a girl who looked to be a rock fan and the creature. He couldn't quite make out what they were saying, he could hear muttering and besides a few odd words here or there, it was indecipherable. Even with those odd words, he didn't have a clue as to what they were saying.

"Maelstrom, sending you the image now?" Suddenly, in his mind appeared the image of the man in question. Yet, he had no idea who the man was, another reminder that he still had a lot to learn about the world and those in it.

"Sportsmaster." Aqualad answered, he too having received the images just like the rest of the team. "He must be the buyer."

"It's time to call it in." Naruto said, turning to Batgirl nodded her head, raising one hand to her ear in order to active the commlink.

"Batgirl to Red Tornado." There was static on the other end. "Red Tornado, do you read?" She questioned only to receive static once more. "I've got nothing, they must be jamming our signal somehow."

"No matter, we just need to get off the island." Naruto said urgently, but Bane had ideas of his own. With a shout, he jumped over the rail and plummeted to the ground where two Kobra Cultists were standing. Each of them noticed the shadow and looked up, but it was too late.

Bane had already landed.

One hand swiped out, backhanding one cultists while he slapped the other gun into the air letting the bullets fly harmlessly upwards. But it had the effect of also alerting the Kobra Cult that they were not alone.

"That's your signal, Kid." Naruto ordered as he, Batgirl, Aqualad and Superboy watched on from the railing. "The rest of us, we wait." The four of them quickly rushed away from there, moving to another location while the rest of the cult were being distracted by Bane.

He was doing well, his natural strength and speed proving to be too much for the cultists, but that's when the Kobra's champion appeared, jumping through the window and landing on the railing they had just moved from. With a growl, the creature moved forwards at great speeds and while Bane was skilled and strong, he was no match for the champions own power. Even with Venom, he would have been outmatched and without it, it was a one sided slaughter.

"Done." Kid Flash informed them and Naruto smirked.

"Good, you know your parts, now just wait for my signal." He had no doubts Bane would tell Kobra about them, it was just who the guy was, an opportunist. However, Naruto was not about to let the guy give away their biggest advantages, the element of surprise. Nor was he going to allow Bane to continue running rampant and possibly cause problems.

No, he was going to wait just for the right moment when the guy was beaten and before he could reveal their presence. And lo and behold, there it was.

"Now!"

Kid Flash was the first to make his presence known as he in short order took out twelve guys before they even had a chance to realise what had happened. But their cries of pain attracted the attention of the champion, as well Kobra and Sportsmaster.

Yet before any of them could do anything they each heard the sound of a roar.

The champion looked up to see Superboy jumping towards him, fists clenched as he readied himself to punch the champion. Behind him, Aqualad, Batgirl and Naruto moved quickly, and just like that, the ambush had been sprung.

With a growl, the champion tensed it's large legs before pushing off the ground, the ground cracking and cratering slightly beneath its feet as it tackled Superboy in mid air. Even Superboy's punch did nothing to stall the creature as it carried Superboy back through the air to the shock of the sidekicks. Yet none of them paused they're charge, knowing full well that Superboy could take more damage than most.

Even then, Naruto wasn't about to needlessly risk the life of his teammate and had prepared this backup just in case. He would have liked Superboy to take on the champion, it was an ideal situation, but the champions strength was greater than they had expected. "Aqualad, Superboy, switch to plan B." He ordered.

Superboy just grit his teeth as he lay there, arms crossed in front of his face as the champion pummelled it's fists into the Kryptonians guard. "Trying." He grit out trying to recover his wits.

He quickly did, his natural physiology aiding him and he caught the champions fist in one of his. There was a pause as the champion seemed surprised, but none the less pushed that fist further down forcing Superboy to exert more force in turn. But he quickly realised that as much as he didn't like to admit it, he was being overpowered and so with a shout of anger, pushed the fist to one side before driving his other fist up into the champions chin knocking him off his chest.

Scrambling to his feet, Superboy raised his fists and glared at the champion that shook his head as he rose to his feet. "Superboy, lead him to me." Taking a quick look, Superboy saw Aqualad using his Water-Bearers to direct and control a large amount of water, using it to protect himself from bullets, though the cultists were mostly busy with dealing with Kid Flash, the speedster zooming across the factory, easily dodging bullets as he knocked out cultists with lightning fast punches.

Clenching his fists once more, Superboy swallowed his pride and anger with a growl. He didn't like it, taking orders especially after his past at Camdus, but Maelstrom and Aqualad were the leader and vice-leader of this team, as voted by everyone, including him.

The champion growled before charging at Superboy with a roar. The distance between them was closed quickly, his fist drawn back and ready to beat Superboy into the ground.

However, Superboy was ready.

Naruto had been right about him, he hadn't trained, but not because he was treating this a vacation. It was because he didn't see the point, he was designed by Cadmus to be a living weapon and that was exactly what he was. But he had taken part in a few sparring sessions with Naruto and Aqualad.

Naruto was skilled, far more than himself, Superboy would admit that much. He'd even rate him to be equal in skill to that of Robin and Batgirl. However, despite that great skill, Naruto had only won a small number of their sparring sessions. The disparity and strength was too great for Naruto's far superior skill to bridge the gap, especially when Superboy just didn't tire nor did he get hurt by any of Naruto's strikes.

Even then, each spar with the blonde was difficult.

Aqualad on the other hand, well Superboy had yet to win a spar against him, though he wagered in a straight fight like back in Cadmus he'd win. Anyway, Kaldur was not as skilled as Naruto, but he was faster and stronger. So much so that despite being stronger than Aqualad, the difference was not big allowing Aqualad's superior skill to bridge the gaps.

And while the number of spars he had with the two of them was small, he had picked up a few things here and there. Like this move for example.

Twisting his body ever so slightly, Superboy let the champions fist just miss his body. He reached out, gripping hold of the fist in both hands – he needed to due to the sheer size of the champions wrist – and threw him in the direction of Aqualad.

While shocked, Aqualad didn't hesitate and instead directed the full brunt of the water he taken control of at the champion.

The water struck the champion with force equivalent to that of a speeding train and launched the champion across the factory where he slammed into a wall. He would have gone straight through had it not been for him also going through a number of crates containing the old Venom, slowing his momentum.

Sharing a nod to Superboy as the clone passed him by moving to keep Sportsmaster busy, Aqualad continued to direct water at the champion. The man, more beast now had already risen to his feet and was trying and failing to push against the torrent of water pushing against him in turn. For every step he took, he took two more back as he struggled against the force of the water.

With the champion suitably taken care of, Naruto and Batgirl rushed towards Kobra and the woman at his side. Sportsmaster had already moved towards to his helicopter in order to take the shipment he already had away. It was not the full totality of it, but he was not about to risk the rest of the Just League arriving and stopping him.

Even though he was in a rush, he also wasn't unaware of Superboy moving to intercept him and instead pulled out a small cylinder that extended into a javelin. With near perfect form, he threw the javelin directly at Superboy who didn't even falter, just rushing straight forwards at the javelin.

Yet, when it came into contact with him, it exploded, causing Superboy to stagger slightly before, with a wave of his hand moved the smoke from his vision. His glare firmly locked on Sportsmaster retreating back and with a growl, rushed forwards once more.

Up above, Miss Martian swung her arms and with it, the cultists that had been surrounding Kobra and the woman were flung through the air with cries of shock. And while this certainly cleared the path for Naruto and Batgirl, it also revealed her presence to Sportsmaster. The man in question had trained himself to master all forms of sports, turning it and himself into a weapon he could use against his enemies. With it, he managed to pick up on the slight shimmering in the air to indicate that something was there.

Whipping out another javelin, he threw it directly towards where the air was shimmering without breaking his stride.

Miss Martian, so focused on the guards, didn't see the javelin until it was too late. It exploded right next to her, knocking her out of the sky and causing her invisibility to dissipate revealing her to the world. More than a few cultists were still around and more than one pointed their guns at her, ready to shoot before she could recover.

That was when Superboy landed in front of her, the bullets that had been fired bouncing harmlessly off his skin as he stood protectively in front of her.

Then from, behind the guards, Robin appeared. Quick kicks and punches, along with a few well-placed Batarangs managing to take out most of them. Superboy dealing with the rest in show of brutal, bone breaking strength. Each cultists struck by his punches was flung through the air before they landed in the ground with a heavy thud.

"Sportsmaster?" Robin asked, coming to stand beside Superboy and the recovering Miss Martian, the heat from the explosive javelin causing her to take more time in recovering.

Superboy just shook his head, turning to the still-grounded helicopter with a grunt. "He got away." They turned to see the helicopter lifting up off the ground. Superboy however, was not going to let him go that easily and rushed forward, tensing his leg before jumping off the ground, but even then, the helicopter had already lifted too high off the ground and Superboy only felt his fingertips brush against it before he plummeted back to the ground. "Damnit!"

"Hey, don't worry about it." Robin appeased, raising one hand to show a detonator there. "I managed to finish my part." Pressing the detonator they watched the back of the helicopter explode, the Venom that has been stockpiled on it going up in flames. Even then, they watched as Sportsmaster jumped out of the helicopter, a parachute opening up behind him as he slowed his descent.

Meanwhile, Batgirl dodged a number of straight jabs and crosses from the woman named, Shimmer. Whoever she was, Shimmer was certainly skilled and had received some training.

However, it was not enough.

Perhaps a few months ago she could have posed to be a greater challenge. But ever since she and Robin lost to Naruto, posing as Marauder at the time, Batman had increased their training exponentially. As a result, their skill had skyrocketed and while Shimmer was skilled, Batgirl was just too good.

Parrying one blow to the side, Batgirl landed a straight punch to the side of her temple sending Shimmer stumbling. The woman in question recovered remarkably well, but Batgirl was already on her. A roundhouse kick to the stomach drove the wind out of Shimmer's lungs and this was followed by a spinning hock kick to the temple.

The hock kick alone was a devastating kick, especially when it struck an opponents temple. However, when aided with the momentum gathered from the roundhouse kick, Batgirl ensured the blow was a knockout one.

With nary a grunt or a sound, Shimmer sailed through the air, collapsing on the ground unconscious as Batgirl stood over her.

Smirking, Batgirl quickly, leaned down to tie her up before looking to Naruto. While she had taken on Shimmer, he had instead gone straight for Kobra. From what she was seeing, it was relatively close with Kobra taking the slight edge due to experience alone. She could see that Naruto's swords had been knocked to one side and he was instead using his extendable staff.

Each blow was fast and no doubt, extremely powerful. Yet, Kobra dodged them with the barest of movements while blocking those he couldn't with his forearm. And each time the slapping sound that echoed made her wince, but Kobra just took it without a grimace.

Moving forwards, Batgirl rushed to give Naruto aid. The two of them tag teaming Kobra with Naruto being the main offensive and the tank while she acted as a support. It suited them best, Naruto's natural strength, speed and durability made a support role not only difficult, but a waste. However Batgirl fit quite easily into a support, her natural flexibility and agility allowed her to move around Naruto and strike at Kobra from awkward ankles.

Swinging his staff round, Naruto watched Kobra lean his head back to avoid it before swinging it low to take out his legs. It worked, mostly because Batgirl had taken the moment he crouched down low to use his back as a springboard and come down upon Kobra with a double footed stomp. He blocked it, tanking her blow with a cross guard and bending his knees slightly to better absorb the force.

Even then, it left him exposed and his legs were taken out easily by Naruto's sweeping staff strike.

Landing with a grunt, Kobra went to get to his feet only to have to block a kick to his temple from Batgirl. Gripping her leg tightly in one hand, Kobra brought her down at the same time as he swung one fist up.

Yet his fist was stopped by Naruto who snatched it out of mid air with one hand. Using this, Naruto yanked Kobra up off the ground and slammed a few punches to Kobra's face before the cult leader managed to recover enough to knock the fourth one to the side. There the two engaged in a contest of strength that Naruto easily dominated, driving Kobra back till he slammed into one of the discarded crates of Venom.

Attempting to free himself from Naruto's grip, he struck at the blondes elbows with his forearm causing the arms to bend, but the grip on his shoulders did not loosen enough for him to break free.

Realising this, Kobra then targeted Naruto's legs, more specifically his knees. In response, Naruto moved back bringing Kobra with him, the movement knocked the cult leaders aim off causing the knee strikes to miss.

Something Naruto used to his advantage as he pulled the already off-balance Kobra towards him, and flipped him onto his back.

Slamming one foot on Kobra's chest, Naruto lazily caught the blade thrown to him by Batgirl and pointed it at Kobra's neck. "Surrender." Naruto ordered and there was a brief moment where he thought that Kobra would resist. But the Cult Leader changed his mind and raised his arms up in surrender.

---

Sunday 20th July, 11:30.

Rhode Island,

Happy Harbour,

Mount Justice.

"A simple recon mission, observe and report." Batman's voice echoed loudly through the hall as he glared at each member of the team, all lined up in front of him. Yet, if one looked closely, which Naruto did when Gotham's Dark Knight invaded his personal space, there was no anger there. "You'll each receive a detailed evaluation detailing your; many mistakes."

'Mistakes that wouldn't have been made if you allowed us to select a leader before going on the mission.' Naruto snarked internally, yet never voiced those thoughts. He knew that right now was not the time, especially not in front of everyone, no matter how much he'd like to be the one criticising Batman instead of the other way round.

"Until then…good job." There was few looks of surprise from many members of the team, nearly all of the, having expected to receive a bigger rant from Batman. "No battle plan survives first contact with the enemy. How you adjust to the unforeseen is how to determine success. How you choose who leads, determines character." Here Batman spared a glance to Naruto as he walked away from the team. There was an almost, unnoticeable nod of his head to Naruto that went unnoticed by the rest of the team.

A/N: So yea, officially here 20 chapters in. This is where the official start of the Young Justice Season 1 arc begins despite the last chapter and the last two of Book 1 taking place in the first three episodes. So as you can see, there was quite a few similarities in the early parts of this chapter to the actual episode, but towards the end I changed a lot. This is how you can expect things to go for the rest of YJ season 1.

This is because Naruto is neither strong enough or smart enough to cause the changes necessary to make the big changes to YJ timeline like some of you are hoping. The Light are a supervillain team made up of some of the smartest individuals in the DC universe, besides a few exceptions. Look at the de facto leader, Vandal Savage. He is, Alexander the Great, Julius Ceaser, Genghis Khan, Vlad the Impaler, Adolf Hitler. Some of the greatest conquerors and strategic figures in all of history and he is every single one of them.

Guys as a strong as Superman and guys as smart as Batman didn't figure out what was happening until AFTER the Light's plans came to fruition. Now, some of you may still not like this and here's another explanation why. If this was a canon Naruto that arrives in DC by the time YJ season 1 comes around, I would definitely make big changes to the story and the fact is, it would work because Naruto is an unknown variable. His goals, powers, limits, personality, strengths and weaknesses are unknown.

But my Naruto has been a known entity for over a year. Sure, the Light don't know that he's Black Hood, but they know he's Marauder. They know that he took on both Batgirl and Robin alone and won. They even know about his powers and have factored all those into their plans. The Light are manipulative and smart, every time the Team seemed to have messed up their plans, the Light just uno reversed that shit and revealed they had a backup in case that happened. To believe that Vandal Savage and the Light wouldn't have made plans to deal with a known entity like Naruto is stupid.

If my Naruto was an unknown, like I said, the canon version appearing at the start of YJ then I would definitely make changes, but I'm not. The overall timeline is the same and while each individual episode will have my own unique spin to it, the end result will be the same for the reasons listed above.

Also, about Naruto's powers and why he hasn't used them. He is training to control them it's just difficult and makes fighting very difficult. While he is faster and stronger when using them, he's also having to keep his anger in check and not go berserk. As a result, base Naruto is actually a more dangerous opponent than Nine Tails Chakra Naruto (this is the form where Naruto doesn't have a chakra shroud, the initial form seen in the Wave Arc and Chunin Exams). However, in my story it will be known as Partial Demon form or when the knowledge of the tails appears, 0 Tailed Naruto.

Now, for the questions:

Yakuza2010: Yes, but due to a certain unique situation, Naruto's personality shift will make him more in keeping with the rest of the heroes. That temptation to kill and end a threat once and for all will be there and it will be something that will never disappear. The Light, yes and no. I have one main member of the Light have a very particular interest in Naruto later on, but not right away. And yes, he will meet Sportsmaster, but not to sure about the others.

Iamnothere12: No, that's a misunderstanding. You see, imagine Naruto from canon, he can't access four tails worth of power in his one tailed state can he? It's kind of like that, he has to transform in order to access more of that power, each form will have a limit in how much power it possesses and the angrier Naruto gets, the easier it is to access that next stage. Hopefully that makes sense. And as for my comparison to Hulk, is was more of a loose comparison. My main aim was to show you that his powers are linked to anger like the Hulk.

Z-Breezy: No, Naruto won't forget about them, when Rose said their even, she meant by the fact Naruto spared her life so she saved his in turn. That's why she said their even, Naruto hasn't and will not forget what Slade did.

nlichristou: Not forever, all of YJ season 1 but after that Naruto will leave and branch off on his own, going solo and teaming up with the team back in season 2, but never properly rejoining again. Season 1 only, but you know, partnering with the team in season 2.

Crease1947: The first one, no. Jason Todd will be one of Naruto's biggest failures. Yes he will kill again and will be tempted to do so time and time again. Book wise, I think the total number is 10, though whether that is the end number is not certain. Trust me, this is a long and complex story spanning the entirety of DC and that's a fucking huge universe to cover. And yes, some villains will be redeemed eventually.

HateLove731: What Cadmus did and why they did it to Naruto is something that will be slowly revealed over the course of Season 1 and the time skip. But trust me, it's very important to one of the biggest events in this story and something that will change the very course of this universe. So I'm looking forward to writing about it and seeing your reactions and theories.

OgFrosty: Season 1, yes but for the reasons listed above. But the time skip will be different as Naruto will be off doing his own thing and season 2, yes and no. There will be key differences here and there. But don't worry, I'll be skipping some episodes entirely. As for Red Lantern Ring? Maybe, who knows.

Grounded Forever: Don't worry, it's not meant to make sense and that's purposefully. This sudden shift in character is meant to be jarring and while at first the rest of the characters will brush it off, those who knew Naruto before will notice these differences. And thank you, I'm glad I managed to make it convincing.

uchihaNaruto247: Oh yea, Naruto might get momentary breaks here and there but not only will never be able to catch a break, but neither will you as readers. When things start to really go down hill, it's gonna be like a fucking avalanche.

kakaroto1997: Yes, it will have limits. Mainly that each stage (tail) has a limit to how much power it possess. Therefore, in order to access more power he must reach the next stage and that can only be achieved by reaching a certain point of anger. Of course, much like a Saiyan, once you access that form once, so long as you know the trigger you can reach it again without the same levels of anger.

Thank you all for your support and once again, I wish you all a happy Christmas and if I don't post before New Years, have a happy New Years as well.