The Zenko of the DC

Chapter 8: Getting Down to Business

"This looks like a good enough spot," Naruto jumped off Sigmis's back to land on a small clearing within a forest far from the city with the phoenix transforming back to its chick form and snuggling into his hoodie, he turned around to see Starfire landing on the ground near him.

"This is quite a quaint place, Friend Zenko," said Starfire politely.

"Yeah, this way no one will try to eavesdrop on us," Naruto sat on a fallen tree trunk and pulled his hood back "So can you tell me more about yourself and where you came from?"

"Of course, I would be glad to!" Starfire took a seat atop a boulder and began to speak of her origins.

Starfire spoke of her coming from a planet named Tamaran where she is a second daughter of three in the royal family with her older sister Kormand'r as the first in line of succession, however her sister was crippled by a childhood illness which robbed her of the ability to convert ultraviolet light into flight energy and so had lost the right to become queen with Starfire being handed the right. Sometime later, they were taken to be trained by a group called the Warriors of Okaara in the arts of combat but Kormand'r ran away in the middle of their training only to return years later as an ally of their people's enemy, the bloodthirsty race called the Citadel who were able to easily invade Tamaran due to the information provided to them by Kormand'r. The Tamaraneans fought back with everything they had but it was a losing battle with their numbers dwindling and close to complete annihilation, Starfire's father King Myand'r made the bitter decision of offering her to the Citadel slavers as a way of a truce to spare his people from extinction.

Naruto was angered at how her sister betrayed her people just because of a defect, then he saw that Starfire was looking down at the ground silently and sensed the sadness within her with his sensing ability, he got up and went to sit next to her and placed a palm on her shoulder while having Kurama channel his chakra to soothe her. Starfire felt warmth flow through her and turned to see Naruto looking at her without his first mask on, giving her the courage to continue.

The blonde ninja listened as Starfire spoke of how she had to endure six years of torture and sexual abuse until she and Kormand'r were handed over to a group of sadistic scientists called the Psions who performed a deadly experiment to see how much energy a Tamaranean can absorb before exploding from overload just to sate their sick curiosity. During the procedure, forces loyal to Kormand'r broke into the Psion ship to free her. Starfire took the Psion's distraction as the opportunity to break out of her bonds with use of her newly discovered destructive blasts of solar energy called starbolts as a result of the experiment, she sought to free her sister who was in the same situation, but instead of being grateful Kormand'r actually struck her down with similar but stronger starbolts and had her restrained to be executed later.

"…But I managed to find a way to escape from her and flew as far away as I could, then I found myself in this planet and that's when I met you friend Zenko," said Starfire.

Naruto was angry…no he was enraged! He hadn't been this angry since the time he helplessly watched Pein stab Hinata before he called on the full force of Kurama's tainted chakra, he could hear said fox growling in anger at the back of his mind as well as the dragon tattoos heating up on his skin. Few know this but Naruto has a severe hatred for rapists and slightly lesser towards traitors, he clenched his fists so tightly that the grown nails dug into his skin to draw blood.

"How could they do this to her? She did nothing wrong to deserve this!" thought Naruto angrily.

"Those monsters better hope that they do not encounter us for they will have drawn their last breath should they do so!" said Kurama, never thought he would hate someone else more than Uchiha Madara.

"No doubt, but now we need to help Starfire," thought Naruto then he turned towards said alien who was looking at him since he was being so quiet for some time "But I'm a bit surprised, people who go through something like that would find it to trust anyone at first glance but you opened up to me very quickly,"

"Well my people and I are very passionate people driven more by emotion than reason, we have a greater capacity for love than for hate which is why things like strife or war hardly existed for centuries until this one but we're also fierce warriors when the time calls for it," said Starfire, looking happy as she spoke of her planet's culture.

"Sounds like a nice place to live," said Naruto with a soft smile behind the facemask "So will you go back home after you're well rested?"

Starfire's smile instantly dropped at the question "I…I cannot go home,"

"What? Why not?" asked Naruto confusedly.

"If I were to return, it would render the truce ineffective and the Citadel would be free to attack Tamara again. There's also the possibility that my sister or the Psions would try to capture me again. And my home is light years from here, it would take too long for me to go back even if I wanted to…I don't really have anywhere else to go," Starfire looked down again in sadness of not being able to return home without endangering her people.

Seeing her in such depression made Naruto get angry at the ones responsible for all this but he ignored it for now and began thinking of a way to help her, he came up with a plan easily approved by Kurama and Sigmis chirped in agreement before calling out to the alien girl.

"Uh Starfire, I have an idea if you're willing to listen," said Naruto nervously.

"What is it friend Zenko?" asked Starfire curiously.

"Well since you don't have anywhere to go, I was thinking that you could stay at my place for the meantime until we could come up with a solution to your problem…if you're okay with it?" asked Naruto, this is the first time he's ever invited a girl to his place and trying not to insinuate anything improper.

He waited for her response but wasn't expecting her to tackle him to the ground with a bright smile on her face then pulling down the facemask to smother him with kisses while pressing her body up against his and repeatedly saying thank you to him, causing the blonde ninja to blush tomato red at her response.

"Somewhere in heaven, I bet your perverted godfather is popping a bottle of champagne at the sight of this!" said Kurama while laughing out loud, not know that is exactly what said person is doing alongside Minato and Kushina who were proud of their son's kindness.

"Shut up Kurama!" Naruto used every bit of will he has to separate himself from Starfire and had them stand up from the ground "Alright then, just hold on to me and I'll get us there quickly but brace yourself since it will be slightly dizzying,"

"Okay friend Zenko!"

Starfire happily wrapped her arms around one of his, pressing her breasts against it, almost making him lose focus from the sensation but he locked-on to the Hirashin mark and warped them towards it and appear in the living room. Starfire looked around in wonder of the place before turning towards the ninja.

"Welcome to my current abode, hope it suits you," said Naruto.

"This is a nice place to live,"

"Thanks, now let me show you round the place and help you settle down then tomorrow I'll contact my comrades to help us out," said Naruto, then he gave her a small tour of the place and showed her how to use the things around especially the bathroom. That was when he realized that Starfire had no clothes apart from her current outfit "Go ahead and use the shower while I go out to get something, I won't be long,"

"Ok!" said Starfire before entering the bathroom.

Naruto created a shadow clone to cook a meal since he got affirmation from the Tamaranean that she could eat earth food, then he put on a henge to disguise himself in his civilian clothes before rushing for the closest clothing store. It took some time and recommendations from the store clerk to get some clothes before heading back, he soon returned to the apartment and went inside.

"Alright Starfire, I'm ba-" anything he was about to say stopped when he saw the alien princess sitting on the couch and watching TV…while in the nude, she must have heard him come as she turned round to greet him with a bright smile on her face.

"Oh welcome back friend Zenko!" said Starfire cheerfully, then she noticed that he was standing there unmoving "What's the matter?"

"W-w-w-why are you n-n-n-naked?" Naruto stammered as he spoke.

"Well my outfit was dirty so I couldn't put it on again, is there something wrong?"

"W-well it's that, women aren't supposed to be naked around men or strangers in general and should wear clothes here," Naruto tried to explain.

Starfire tipped her head to the side in a cute manner "Is that so? Quite a strange custom, I'm sorry if I offended you,"

"It's okay since you didn't have any extra clothes which was the reason why I went out to buy some for you," said Naruto while holding out the package containing the articles.

Starfire flew over and hugged him tightly "Thank you friend Zenko!"

Naruto turned even redder than before from the contact with her slender skin "Y-y-y-you're welcome, how about you go and try them on in your room?"

"Okay!"

Naruto waited until she was gone then he collapsed to the ground and panted heavily as if he underwent a physically grueling task "What the hell kind of lifestyle does her people have?"

"The kind your godfather would have approved, I gotta say that you really hung in there since any other normal guy would have lost it," said Kurama.

"Flattery will get you nowhere furball, I get the feeling that there's more to come and we're yet to introduce her to the league," thought Naruto.

"That's true, I'm curious of how they would react,"

"Me too,"

Naruto got back up and went to the kitchen to help the clone with the cooking before Starfire returned while wearing a yellow short sleeved T-shirt and red trousers with long blue stripes on the sides. He served up a dinner of American fried rice, tuna casserole, coleslaw, and ice cream sandwich for dessert, all of which Starfire found to be very delicious. They talked a bit more, particularly the rules and lifestyles of the earth before going to bed.


The next morning, Naruto woke up from bed after smashing his alarm clock then he went to take his bath and put on a fresh set of clothes then went to the kitchen to prepare some for him and his tenant with Sigmis sitting atop his spiky hair. He put on the earpiece and tapped it several times to open up a channel to contact the Watchtower, he soon got a connection and it turned out to be J'onn who answered.

"Hey J'onn, nice to hear that you're back," said Naruto with a smile.

"Yes, we were able to resolve the issue with Green Lantern and had returned last night," said J'onn.

"Cool, I'll learn more about that but first I need you to call the others to the Watchtower,"

"What seems to be the trouble?"

"All will be revealed when we all gather,"

"Very well then, I will contact the others,"

"Thanks, I'll see you all later," Naruto ended the transmission and resumed his cooking, he served up a breakfast of ham and eggs, toast with a small plate of butter, fruit juice, and cinnamon rolls. He heard Starfire enter while letting out a yawn "Good morning Starfire, glad to see you're up,"

"Good morning friend Naruto," the alien princess sat at the dining table and waited for Naruto settle down with Sigmis perching on his shoulder now, he told her that he should only call him by his code name when in his alter ego "So what are you doing today?"

"I gave a call to my partners a couple minutes ago, so we'll be meeting them later on," said Naruto.

"Okay,"

They began to eat the breakfast prepared with Starfire cheerfully praising him for the food, Naruto smiled in response and Kurama teased him a bit about how proud he must feel about being praised for his cooking with the blonde choosing to ignore him, soon they were down eating and created a shadow clone to clean the dishes which surprised Starfire at what he did before asking him many questions about himself out of curiosity so he took to telling of the adventures he had during his younger days.

Naruto was telling Starfire about his mission over at the Crescent Moon Kingdom which he felt a sudden pull on his chakra and sensed one of his Hirashin seal being triggered "It looks like they're waiting for us, so let's go," he got off the sofa while already donning his gear before pulling up his facemask then the fox mask as well with Sigmis nestled in his hoodie.

"I can't wait to meet your friends!" Starfire in her outfit stood up and grabbed a hold of Naruto's arm then he homed in on the seal and warped them towards the Watchtower.

"Come on, they're sure to be in the control room," Naruto led her to the place and sure enough, Superman and the others along with Green Lantern were all there waiting for them "Hey guys, hope we didn't keep you waiting and it's good to see that you're back GL,"

"Feeling's the same, but who's that Tamaranean with you?" asked Green Lantern.

"Greetings friends of Zenko, my name Koriand'r from planet Tamara though you can also call me Starfire," said Starfire politely.

"A pleasure to meet you," said Wonder Woman.

"Hello," said Hawkgirl.

"Whoa, what a beauty," said Flash, looking dazed.

"I'm guessing that she's the one who crashed into San Francisco last night," said Batman.

"Pretty much yes," said Naruto sheepishly.

"But would you mind explaining to us what the princess of Tamaran is doing here on earth?" asked Green Lantern with a small frown.

"Well it's a bit of a long story…," Naruto proceeded to tell the group of how he met Starfire then she spoke of what happened to her in the years before escaping to earth and meeting Naruto who had offered to help her. Needless to say, everyone was shocked and disgusted at this. Diana and Hawkgirl were angered at how she had been maltreated and betrayed by her own sister, Flash and Superman weren't happy in the least bit, J'onn's eyes glowed in silent anger, and Batman was as stoic as usual.

"This is going to be a problem if the Citadel were to find out that she's here on earth and would try to get her back and let's not forget about her sister out to get her too," said Green Lantern.

"As far as I can tell, Starfire returning home would render the truce null and void for those creeps to attack her people. So all we need to do is have her stay here incognito and problem solved," said Flash.

"It's not as simple as that Flash, we could face a potential threat greater than the imperium if the Citadel were to learn of her presence here,"

"Then we just have to make that they don't know she's here, and we would be prepared for them if they do find out. She's safer with us here than anywhere else," said Hawkgirl.

"Even so, we would need someone to keep an eye on her most of the time. The candidate will be Zenko since she's most attuned with you, but we would need to set up an identity for her," said Batman.

"I'm okay with that," said Naruto with Starfire smiling happily at him, she was feeling rather nervously about all this but is now joyful at how many want to help her "I can also show her the ropes of how we do things around here,"

"Okay Zenko, we'll be leaving her in your care though we will be checking in from time to time," said Superman, getting a thumbs-up from the Shinobi.

"Thank you very much for your kindness, I will never forget what you have done for me," said Starfire while bowing to them.

"No need for thanks, we're more than happy to help," said Wonder Woman with a sisterly smile.

"Yeah, what she said!" Flash spoke up with a smirk.


Afterwards Starfire took the time to get to know the heroes while Naruto had a small talk with Batman and Superman concerning a few things and also vouched for the alien princess's story due to his ability to detect lies which links to negative emotions. Naruto also brought up the topic of whether Wonder Woman has a civilian identity to get around, Batman offered to create one for her as well as another for Starfire which will be ready in a couple of days. Hawkgirl and Diana were having a conversation with Starfire and learnt that she was well trained in terms of combat which perked their desire to spar with her in good time. Of course Flash was trying many ways to impress her which was nothing more than baby steps in his case.

A few days later after the league had given Starfire the go ahead to stay on earth, she had been working alongside Naruto in crime fighting. Her debut was rather interesting to say, the duo were involved in stopping bank robbery with the thieves and hostages gawking at the beauty of the alien princess with Naruto simply shaking his head before proceeding to detain the criminals with her helping out. Naruto took the time to advise Starfire on the dos and don'ts in crime fighting with times allowing her to go solo though he cautioned her not to reveal his identity to the others until otherwise. The media was buzzing with news about the new heroine with many speculating that she and Zenko could be more than partners, something Flash and Kurama would use to tease the ninja who would threaten them with pranks.

Starfire got along with the other league members especially Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl though not so much with Batman, J'onn and Green Lantern given that they don't really express themselves that much. Superman had also introduced Supergirl to her sometime later, but the latter would feel a bit jealous whenever Starfire places herself very close to Naruto if he was present.

At the moment, Naruto was currently in a bookstore while dressed in his civilian clothes and browsing through the bookshelves in search of something with Kurama being forced to sit outside much to the Bijuu's chagrin. Naruto took out a folded map of San Francisco then he looked through the bookshelves to look for something else in addition and found it too, the blonde heard Kurama's voice speak through his mind.

"So why are we here again?" asked Kurama.

"I'm thinking of finding a place which I can set up as a base, it will make things easier for us instead of having to frequent between the Watchtower and home," Naruto unfolded the map and looked through it for a few moments before something caught his eye "Hmmm…a clock tower huh…"

"Is that the only reason?"

"I also need to find a second job aside from being an author to rack up on some cash too,"

"Not so surprising, considering that the roommate has an appetite akin to that of an Akimichi," said Kurama causing Naruto to chuckle in amusement at the comment.

He took the map and magazine and checked out at the counter before leaving the bookshop with Kurama hopping up to his shoulders, he was browsing through the job list on the magazine and so wasn't exactly paying attention to where he was going which resulted in him bumping into someone. He looked down to see a teenage girl with long auburn hair tied into a ponytail, wearing a white T-shirt with yellow stripes, a black skirt reaching past her knees, and a pair of black high-heeled shoes.

"Oh I'm so sorry about that! I should have watched where I was going," said Naruto apologetically before stretching out a hand to help her up from the ground. The girl rubbed her backside to ease off the pain to look at whom she had bumped into to see that he is a man with red hair and dressed in casual clothing with his hand held out to her while looking apologetic.

"It's no biggie, should have watched where I was going too," she grabbed her purse nearby before taking his hand to be lifted to a standing position "Although I would like to know the name of the guy I ran into,"

"My name's Menma Namikaze, and this is my buddy Kit," Naruto introduced himself and Kurama who was a bit miffed at the name but shrugged it off.

"And my name's Barbara Gordon, nice to meet you two. So what were you doing that you couldn't pay attention to the road?" asked Barbara jokingly.

"I was kinda looking through a job list to find some work," said Naruto sheepishly.

"What a coincidence I'm here also because of work, got an internship in an IT company and came all the way from Gotham,"

"That's pretty cool, I wish you luck on it," said Naruto with a foxy grin.

"Same here, hope to see you around since I'll be here for a while," Barbara walked away though couldn't help but looked at the redhead "What a cutie, maybe being sent here won't be so bad after all,"

Naruto made his way back to the apartment and took the elevator to his floor and went inside to find Starfire playing with Sigmis in the living room before they turned to see Naruto and Kurama then greeted them with the phoenix flying over to nestle on Naruto's now spiky hair.

"Welcome back friend Naruto!" said Starfire happily.

"Thanks Kory-chan, anything happen while we were gone?" asked Naruto while going to the kitchen to pop open a bottle of ginger pop from the fridge and drinking it.

"I was having some fun with Sigmis and we watched a funny show on TV. What about you?"

"I was just checking something in the bookstore and planning on searching for places where I can set up a base here in San Francisco, I'm just resting for a bit before exploring as Zenko," Naruto explained.

"That sounds interesting, can I come with you?" asked Starfire curiously.

Naruto was about to answer when his earpiece started beeping to signal that he was being contacted and tapped on it to answer "Zenko here, what's up?"

"Zenko this is Superman, we've received an SOS from a submarine called the USS Defiant and are en route to assist. But we might need your help just in case," said Superman.

"Roger that, I'll suit up and be there in a yellow flash!" Naruto dashed to his room and quickly put on his gear.

"Are you going somewhere, friend Naruto?" asked Starfire.

"Yeah, there's an emergency and Superman's calling me for help so I'm heading over to lend it," Naruto emerged from the room while putting on his Kitsune mask "Can I ask if you can watch over the city for in my place until I get back?"

"Of course, I don't mind. Just be safe,"

Naruto responded with a thumbs up as Kurama hopped onto his shoulder before homing in on the Hirashin marker and warping towards it to join Superman and the others for this mission.


This is Hussbek online with the latest chapter, Naruto has taken the time to learn of Starfire's origins and circumstances then chose to help her out as he took her to the league with many feeling the same way then chose to have Naruto as her guardian on earth and partner in crime fighting. Things are now going smoothly though Naruto is seeking out a job aside from being an author and seeking out a place to set up a base, he unknowingly encounters batgirl who's there for unknown reasons. Now he's received a call to assist to an SOS, but is unaware of what he is about to encounter.

Be sure to read and Review as always

This is Hussbek from Ghana.

Signing out.