The sound of loud tremors could be heard throughout Gotham City. Those tremors originated from none other than Itachi and his Susanoo. Itachi currently had James, Paula, Carla, and Carson with him. They were in the palm of his Susanoo's hand while he rode on its shoulder. Itachi had two goals in mind; get them out of danger and eliminate the plant threat in Gotham.

Carson and her companions looked on in awe of what they were riding. This was unlike anything they have ever seen or heard of before. They were on a gigantic, humanoid avatar of sorts and riding it as if it were a bike. They could feel every tremor from its footsteps as they progress out of the danger zone that was the Gotham Narrows. James looked up at the now unmasked vigilante and wanted to know what the next course of action was.

"…Itachi...you're taking us to a safe zone right?" Itachi kept his vision forward, but did give an answer by nodding.

"How do you plan on combating the plant threat," James found himself getting agitated by the lack of communication between himself and Itachi. Carson saw this and reassured him that he shouldn't take this personally, "He's just like that James. Itachi tends to let his actions answer for him."

"Yeah well his actions could determine the fate of our city and I'm not comfortable leaving it in the hands of a man who could just as easily level it to the ground if he wanted." James retorted bitterly.

"Itachi is a hero James. He's saved me and several others since getting here. Why don't you trust him?" Carson asked confusingly.

"You've only seen when he saves people. I've seen what happens when he hurts them. That doesn't look like a hero to me." James answered strongly.

Paula and Carla could feel the tension building between them and tried to placate the situation, "Let's just focus on getting to a safe zone. We don't need to argue after everything we've been through today," Paula said. Carla agreed though somewhere in the back of her mind she had the same trepidations as James did about Itachi. She decided to wait until they were finally safe to voice her concerns.

Itachi heard all of their discussion but decided to focus on getting them to safety. Saving them doesn't require that they trust or like him. He does it because it's the right thing to do and that's the only reason he ever needed. Itachi kept moving forward through the chaos.

There wasn't too much resistance for him. Anytime a plant arose he'd just cut it down with his Susanoo's blade. Most of the civilians in the city had already been evacuated to safe zones thanks to Gotham's finest and his shadow clones. Most of the plant threat had been eliminated, only the main plant located in Midtown Gotham remained. He'd go there right after dropping them off at this safe zone a few blocks down and then go join the Team to help defeat the Injustice League.

Moments later the group finally arrived to the safe zone. The civilians, paramedics, and assigned soldiers all looked on in fear and awe of what they were seeing. The soldiers started shooting at it, but their bullets had absolutely zero effect on the giant avatar. It wasn't until the soldiers heard shouting that the shooting stopped. They looked up and saw that there were people in of the giant's hands. Itachi's Susanoo dropped to a knee and lowered its hand to the ground so the people inside to depart safely.

The soldiers went and got them all one by one. Soon after Itachi saw that they were all on the ground, he exited his Susanoo to make sure they were all alright. He put his mask back on and departed while his Susanoo stayed in its position like it was a statue. Carson ran up to greet him while the others stayed behind.

"You're leaving to fight the plants aren't you?" She asked. Itachi nodded at her.

"How do you know whether or not you'll win? Black Mask is one thing, but shouldn't you leave this sort of thing to the Justice League?" She asked.

"The world needs the Justice League, but Gotham needs me. It's my home now."

"But you're just one man…with an orange giant behind you. How do you expect to win?"

"Back where I come from that is called Susanoo. Do you know what that means," He asked referencing behind him. Carson shook her head no in response, "It means 'He with the ability to help by all means'. It will protect me…no matter what."

He could see that the soldiers and civilians behind him were scared so he wanted to make this quick. He shook off cobwebs as his eyes started to throb behind his mask. Blood started falling to the ground as he felt his eyes start to change. James was watching the interaction through leered eyes.

"Itachi…your eyes!" Carson noted. Even though he had his mask on, she was still close enough to see that his eyes started to rotate. When they stopped his mangekyo sharingan was different from before. The three pronged pinwheels now had three small black dots between each of them and small circles inside each blade of the pinwheels. Itachi felt his eyes change and guessed that the Sage had implanted new eyes into him, but the question he wanted to know was whose eyes were these that he possessed.

He looked up and saw Ms. Yumi walking up to him. Carson backed away to give them their privacy. She gave him a hug and thanked the great Sage that he was alright. She saw that his eyes had changed and quietly whispered, "You have unlocked the eternal mangekyo sharingan. It must have required you reaching a certain emotional threshold in order to unlock it. Seeing your city die around you could have possibly done achieved it, or possibly the threat of losing a loved one. It doesn't matter either way at this point. Now you no longer have to fear losing your vision. You can protect your city…your loved ones more than ever before."

"But whose eyes are these?" He asked. She pulled a small mirror out of her small handbag and showed Itachi his reflection. His eyes widened when he recognized who these eyes belonged to.

"They belonged to my father, but how? I thought Danzo had all of the sharingan from the massacre stored away." Itachi surmised.

Ms. Yumi chuckled at her ward, "Do you really think the great Sage can't get something as small as a pair of eyes from a dead man. He obviously wanted you to have your father's eyes to help with your mission."

"He doesn't think I'm strong enough by myself?"

"It's not about one's own strength. You need the help of others to achieve your goal of saving the world, even if that help comes from the dead. You of all people should know that just because you're dead that doesn't mean you can't have a significant impact on living loved ones. Your father would want his for you…accept it." She wisely said.

He nodded at her and started to walk back to his Susanoo, 'That explains why I can form its full body now. I wonder what else I can do now…'

Carson called out to him just as he was about to get on. He turned towards her direction as she gave him one last hug, "Please be safe. I know you can take care of yourself, but I'll always worry about you. Oh…if it's okay with you I'd like to talk to you when this is all over…in private. There are a few things I wanna ask you about before I can be sure of how we can move forward together, deal?"

Itachi nodded at her, "Deal."

He turned to get on his Susanoo when he heard Carson shout playfully, "Go kick that stupid plant's butt Crow! And you better not die you dork!"

Itachi shook his head at how embarrassing Carson could be but smirked inwardly at her. Once he was inside of his Susanoo, he floated to its center and began heading towards Midtown Gotham to end this siege on his city.

Caron looked on as the giant avatar walked away, 'He with the ability to help by all means huh. That's a description more fit for you Itachi. Come back safe.'

Carson then felt a hand on her shoulder and looked to see Ms. Yumi beside her, "Come my child. There's no point in watching him leave. Let's head inside where it's safe." Carson reluctantly followed the old woman inside and rejoined her family. All she could do now was hope for the best and wait for his return.

It didn't take long for Itachi to make it to Midtown Gotham. In plain sight was the source of the siege of Gotham. Wrapped around Gotham Tower main building was the cobra-venom powered plant. It easily engulfed the tallest building in the entire city, which meant that it towered over Itachi's Susanoo too. Itachi eyed the plant monster as it wretched and wriggled its way around the building. It would be a sight to behold if not for the fact that it was destroying the entire city.

Itachi and his Susanoo were able to cut down any vines encountered along the way, but that meant little to nothing when compared to the behemoth that was ahead of him. It seemed to notice Itachi because all of a sudden it stopped wriggling around randomly and started sending some of its vines down towards him. Itachi summoned his Susanoo's curved sword and cut the vines down as they met him. He then floated towards his Susanoo's mouth and unleashed a giant fireball jutsu towards the plant which landed a direct hit.

He watched it seethe and screech in pain as the fire started to spread. Before the fire could completely overtake it though, the plant started to hack off its own vines for survival. Itachi used his Susanoo's blade to send a powerful shock wave towards the ailing plant and combined it with his amaterasu to send the black flames high enough to reach the plant. Once the black flames landed the effects were immediate. It engulfed the plants completely thanks to the shock wave boost and symbolized the end of this terror, or so Itachi thought.

Itachi watched as the plant hardened its bark until it was harder than steel and then shed it along with the black flames to come out unharmed. Itachi, on the other hand, not only had to maneuver about to avoid to black flamed bark falling out of the sky, but also had to stop it from reaching other buildings and possibly setting Gotham ablaze. He used his visual prowess to cut down each piece of bark that was in free fall by using his Susanoo's blade to create powerful shock waves.

Miraculously, he was able to destroy each of the bark pieces before they could land. Itachi was about to set his sights back on the plant, but got surprised when multiple vines sprouted from underground and ambushed him. Before he knew it, Itachi and his Susanoo were completely engulfed by the vines. To make matters worse the vines started to harden their bark and cut off his access to outside air. If he doesn't move fast and think of something, he'll suffocate.

'I didn't know about its hardening and shedding abilities. If I had, there's no way I would have used amaterasu on it. I couldn't use the Yasaka Magatama because a powerful attack like that would destroy the building the plant has latched itself onto,' He then tried to cut his way out, but his Susanoo's blade couldn't make a dent. He didn't understand why because earlier his Susanoo had no problem cutting down the airborne bark pieces. In that instant he figured out why, 'That's because the bark was detached from the main plant. The instant that it got detached it lost its power source and became just a normal husk. This isn't good.'

Things went from bad to worse when the vines started to use its pores to unleash that poisonous gas from earlier. His Susanoo only protected him from physical attacks so if he inhaled any of that gas into his lungs he'd definitely die. An added issued with the gas is that Itachi didn't know whether it was flammable or not so he couldn't use any fire based jutsu to escape at such a close proximity. Itachi was in quite the bind, 'I don't have too many options left. I'll have to use…that.'

The Team were all currently riding in M'gann's ship and heading towards the Injustice League's lair. Inside the ship they were all pretty much silent because of how they were mentally preparing themselves for the battle they were about to partake in. Artemis had her mind on, in her humble opinion, her idiotic friend Itachi. She was still peeved at the fact that he went on a covert infiltration mission alone last night and didn't tell her.

'What an idiot. I see why Carson gets so frustrated with him! It hasn't even been twenty-four hours yet and he's already off trying to play lone hero in Gotham…again! That being said I still hope he's okay. My mom and an entire city is depending on just one person…maybe I should have just left with him.' She contemplated.

Robin eyed that Artemis seemed to be in deep thought and decided to try and console her, "You're worried about Itachi, aren't you?"

"I'm worried about a lot of people, but to answer your question, yeah I am." She replied.

"Yeah, me too. How did you meet the guy anyways?" Robin asked.

"Through a friend," She answered simply. She thought back to first seeing him outside of Carson's door and never would she have thought that he was a vigilante that was beat the crap out of villains or a dude that would be taking on a steroid filled plant all by himself.

"Did he seem so broody back then too?" Wally asked.

"No, he actually was quite pleasant and polite. He's the total opposite of you. But it did help that he was pretty good to look at too." She added.

Robin and Wally groaned while M'gann chuckled to herself. She then decided to ask more about Itachi, "So what's he like when he doesn't have a mask on?"

"I wish I could say like any other hero but I'd be lying. Truth is I don't know anything about Itachi outside of him being pleasant and polite. He's not one to talk about his past, shoot he's not one to talk in general. My mom seems to like him a lot though."

"He's met your mom?" Wally asked. She nodded back at him like it was the most normal thing in the world. Robin, on the other hand, had serious concerns.

"That's not much to go on. You know him the best, but based on what you're saying you seem to know him just as much as I do…which is not at all," Artemis glared at him before asking where he was getting at, "I just can't believe that Batman would trust some outsider he doesn't know to handle his city alone like that. You don't find it strange? Trust isn't exactly what Batman is known for."

"You think Batman has an ulterior motive for letting Itachi go it alone?" Kaldur asked.

"Without a doubt. I just have a hard time trying to figure out what it is." Robin answered.

"But isn't he our friend? He's saved our lives enough times to earn our trust." Conner said coming to Itachi's defense.

"He is our friend. It's why I think we should know more about him beside the fact that he has good table manners." Robin answered in a placating way.

"I honestly don't care about his past. Right now, I care about Itachi fighting by himself…again. Once he's saved Gotham I'm gonna give him a piece of my mind." Artemis declared.

Kid Flash snickered and leaned in to joke with Miss Martian, "You don't have to be a mind reader to know what that'll look like."

"Oh shut it," Artemis replied. M'gann gave her friend with a curious look, "You don't think to ask Itachi about his past? Do you think he can save Gotham?"

"'I don't know would be my answer to your first question. Tell me M'gann, do you know about all of our pasts," The Martian shook her head, "If he opens up to us fine, but I won't press him for it because I respect his privacy, just like with all of you. And about him saving Gotham, well I've seen Itachi do some amazing things, but that doesn't mean he's a miracle worker. He has his limits…what concerns me is that he hasn't seemed to reach them yet." Artemis spoke in a serious tone.

"Isn't that a good thing?" Conner asked.

"Not necessarily," Robin answered. Wally gave him a confused look and asked him to explain, "All that means is that the day is going to come when he does reach his limit and depending on the situation, it could have terrifying ripple effects for all of those around him."

"That is especially true if we keep getting put in situations where we have to depend on his individual success as a component to our team victory." Kaldur added.

"So what is the solution to that problem then since I don't see Itachi ceasing in his dangerous mission intake any time soon," Wally asked. He then saw the duffel bag next to his leader and got curious, "And what's in the duffel?"

"Plan B." Kaldur answered. He was about to answer Wally's first question when M'gann started to groan about being dizzy. Robin showed his ignorance by commenting about Martians getting airsick and Wally didn't do much better when he commented on M'gann looking greener than usual.

M'gann quickly dispelled their worries by saying it wasn't her that felt sick, it was her bioship. It was trying to shield them but something was disrupting its efficiency.

Count Vertigo and Black Adam were outside waiting to ambush the Team right out of the air. Vertigo was using his powers to target the bioship and force it to uncloak itself. Once the plan worked and the bioship got exposed, Black Adam took flight to force it to make a crash landing. He flew towards it and punched it out of the sky with one hit, causing it to crash land in the nearby swamp.

Before anyone could react multiple vines emerged to the surface and started to pull the bioship down. M'gann grabbed her head in pain from the damage she felt being done to her ship by Black Adam. Everyone looked up to see that the supervillain make a hole in the ship to peek through. Conner quickly reacted by leaping upward and knocking Black Adam off of the ship.

The vines kept pulling the ship deeper into the swamp and water started pouring in through the hole.

"No. No way I'm nearly drowning three missions in a row." Artemis declared. She then got two re-breathers out and gave one to Wally who was nearby, "Wow. Uh, thanks."

"M'gann, we need to get out. Open a hatch." Conner said frantically. M'gann chided herself on how slow to the point she could be at times and did as Conner requested.

"Out. Everyone out!" Kaldur telepathically commanded. The entire Team plus Wolf swam out of the ship until they reached dry land. They made it just in time to see M'gann's ship be pulled under by the vines.

"She's in shock. She'll need time to recover." M'gann informed. Out of nowhere the Team collapsed in pain from an attack by Count Vertigo. Conner tried to stop him but got rocked by a powerful cross from Black Adam. Kaldur used that moment to use his water power to wash Vertigo away before he could resume his attack on them.

"Robin, Miss Martian, disappear! We will keep them busy. You two fulfill the mission objective." Miss Martian and Robin followed his ordered and went on ahead. The others stayed behind to continue the fight against Black Adam and Count Vertigo.

Back in Gotham, Itachi still had to deal with the situation he was currently stuck in. Being encased in a vine construct was not how Itachi thought his day would go and he had decided that enough was enough. He poured out an overflow of chakra into his Susanoo and caused it to change. The gigantic humanoid started form armor around it, causing it to start to resemble a yamabushi. When the transformation finished, Itachi's Susanoo went from orange to red and now resembled a long-nosed tengu and it wore a pair of magatama earrings.

Itachi then summoned one of the two trump cards that made his Susanoo virtually indestructible; the Totsuka Blade. He used his Totsuka Blade to pierce straight upward through the vines. Instantly afterwards, the vines started to be sucked into the snake jar his blade came out of.

He eyed the plant monster on Gotham Tower and got ready to end this. He flared his Totsuka Blade using his chakra until it was long enough to pierce the plant monster on top of the tower. He started to hack pieces of it off one by one. There was little to nothing that the plant could do about it. Once he was finished hacking off its vines, Itachi pierced its head and sucked it into his snake jar thus ending this siege finally.

He could see the people on the inside of the great tower start to head to the windows in relief of finally being able to see the outside again. They were all in awe of seeing Itachi's Susanoo down below. Itachi sheathed his Totsuka Blade and decided to inform Batman that the threat had been neutralized.

"Batman. This is Crow. I've neutralized the threat in Gotham." He spoke into his communicator.

"Good. The rest of the League is spread thin and are still combating the plant threat around the globe." Batman responded.

"Do you need me to provide assistance?"

"No. Stick to the plan. You are to reconvene with the Team and help them fight the Injustice League." He replied as he banked his Batwing to the left to avoid a swipe from the plant monster he and Zatara were fighting.

"Understood."

"I'm sending Superman over to take you to their location since he's about done in Metropolis."

"That won't be needed. I'll get there myself." Itachi responded as he started to flare his chakra.

"How? Without the ability of flight it's going to hard to get there in time."

"Who says I don't have the ability to fly?" Itachi responded.

"Very well," Batman answered while preparing to fire off some missiles. He didn't know that Crow could fly and would be sure to make note of that later in his mission's report, "I'll send their coordinates to your communicator and leave you to it then. Batman out."

Itachi was left alone to his own devices. As more and more chakra started pouring into his armored Susanoo it began to change. Its head let out a spark of red light as its entire body started growing at an exponential rate as scales started to cover its upper body. Wings started to develop for flight, the Susanoo gained a helmet that features a long tengu-like nose, and was now clad with robes and ornate armor. It has a mask on like how Itachi does except it is a quarter-mask that covered the left side of the Susanoo's face and its forehead, though both of its eyes remained visible. The mask also held the Susanoo's hair back in place. Just as with all of the Perfect Susanoo's, there was a transparent jewel in the center of its forehead that held Itachi in it. Once the transformation was complete Itachi's Perfect Susanoo easily towered of Gotham Tower, which was the tallest building in the city.

Itachi let out a breath of exhaustion before commanding his Susanoo to go airborne. Everyone in the city's mouth dropped as the colossus rose into the air. People from all over could see it, including Carson, James, Paula, and Carla whom all stared at it in a cross between fear and awe. Paula was the first one to notice something peculiar about it.

"I think that's the Crow's," She announced. Everyone looked at her odd until James reluctantly agreed, "It is the same color. It seems to have gotten bigger though."

"Yeah, a lot bigger." Carla added. They all looked on as the giant took to the skies at breakneck speed. They were all curious why Itachi left the city when the soldiers there started to announce that the plant threat had been neutralized and the city was safe again. Everyone cheered in joy of the great news. Carson silently thanked Itachi and hugged James. Ms. Yumi smiled at hearing that her ward had saved the city and was glad that he was safe.

Itachi knew he needed to reach the others fast so he didn't waste any time in pushing his Susanoo to the limit. He just hoped he wasn't too late to help them.

Hours had passed since the Team got split up. Robin and Miss Martian were in the dark of night as they were treading towards the Injustice League's base. Miss Martian was starting to become worried since she hasn't heard from any of their teammates in a while and voiced her concerns.

"I've lost contact with Aqualad and the others. Should we-" She was cut off by Robin.

"Sorry, that's not the gig…this is," He pointed at their destination, "The Injustice League central control system. Looks like that plant is acting as an antenna to control the other plants worldwide."

"Well hello," They heard just as vines sprouted out of the ground and bound them up. They saw that Poison Ivy had discovered them, which meant that they were in deep trouble. The situation got worse as Ultra-Humanite joined Poison Ivy and had his gun aimed directly at them with the intent of firing, "And goodbye."

Miss Martian used her powers to manipulate Ultra-Humanite into firing at the vines and releasing them. Robin ran for cover as Poison Ivy was hot on his trails. He had to use his acrobatic maneuvering to avoid being caught by vines that were being controlled by Ivy. It proved to be difficult since they were in the middle of a swamp of all places. Miss Martian was busy being pursued and shot at by Ultra-Humanite.

Aqualad and the others were soundly defeated by Vertigo and Black Adam. They were being transported while high in the air thanks to Wotan's magic. He had them in a cage so strong that not even Conner could break them out of it with his super-strength. Aqualad wasn't ready to concede to them just yet.

"You are not the only one trained in the mystic arts, Wotan!" He tried to use his powers to bust open the cage, but only succeeded in tiring himself even more.

"Please, Atlantian, do not pretend you're in my league." Wotan said arrogantly as they continued their flight.

On the ground, Robin and Miss Martian were still fighting their opponents. Robin was trying his hardest to get close to Ivy, but her plants were so overwhelming that none of his attacks made any progress. He was knocked to the ground and about to be beaten when Miss Martian came to his rescue and destroyed the attacking vines. She also came bringing good news.

"Robin, he's made contact." She announced.

"Aqualad?" He asked.

"No…Crow."

They both looked up and saw their teammates being held captive in a mystic cage. Then they saw something that they would never forget. Itachi and his Perfect Susanoo descended from the skies above and made his presence known to the Injustice League. Count Vertigo was the first to sense it, but was too late to do anything about it as the mountain sized behemoth knocked Wotan out of the sky with a simple flick of its wrist.

The mystic cage evaporated and the Team fell into the water below them. Itachi deactivated his Susanoo and went to join the fight. Black Adam was prepared to strike him out of the sky, but Itachi's sharingan allowed him to contort his body and avoid the blow. Itachi then used Black Adam as a platform and kicked off of him to increase his descending speed.

"Why you-," He was shut up when a paper bomb that Itachi had placed on him went off and blew him out of the sky. He recovered in just enough time to save Count Vertigo from falling to his death, "Not me. Stop those delinquents!"

Conner was the first to recover and he did so just in time to come face-to-face with Ultra-Humanite.

"I hate monkeys," He said as he and Wolf both launched themselves at him. Aqualad and Artemis were next as they saw Poison Ivy with her vines ready to attack. They reached for their weapons, but found that they weren't there unfortunately, "Ahh! I feel naked and not in a fun way."

Ivy started to command her vines to attack the pair. To Ivy's dismay though, her plants were incinerated by fireballs rained down from above, "Fire Style! Phoenix Flower Jutsu!"

The vines went up in flames as Itachi landed in between Aqualad and Artemis, "Good to see you Crow. I take it that was you who saved us from that cage."

Itachi answered Aqualad by nodding. Artemis had a million questions, but first she knew they had to defeat these villains first. Ivy was very angry and had grown three more vines to replace the ones she had just lost. Artemis smiled and looked at Itachi before asking, "Ready for some 3-on-1 action?"

Itachi answered by summoning three kunai knives. Aqualad took the lead, "Time we showed them what a real team looks like. Maneuver 7."

Artemis then ran towards Aqualad who scooped her up and threw her into the air. Poison Ivy had her vines rise up to knock the female archer out of the sky, but was surprised when she saw Crow throw his kunai at each of the vines. Itachi had paper bombs on each of the knives so when they hit their targets they each exploded and destroyed the vines. Ivy was so busy leering at Crow that she had forgotten that Artemis was still in the air. She was kicked off of her plant pedestal and sent hurdling into the water below.

Kid Flash had Count Vertigo in his sights and sprinted towards him. He was stopped when Vertigo used his power to distort Wally's senses and eventually was knocked away by Black Adam. Vertigo was still angry about their plan falling apart seeing that he did not predict the Crow of all people being here. He still didn't know where Robin and Miss Martian had gone off to.

Conner and Wolf were starting to lose to Ultra-Humanite when Itachi came over and gave them an assist, "Water Style! Water Bullet Jutsu!"

He blasted the gorilla into a bunch of trees with that technique. Itachi saw Artemis be struck by one of Ivy's vines and was about to retaliate when he stopped because Miss Martian was contacting him telepathically.

"Crow, help us destroy this plant on top of their headquarters. It controls the cobra-venom plants around the world."

He was about to help them when Black Adam flew over to him to try to sneak attack him. Itachi was too fast though and dodged every attack. He used his visual prowess to read and counter every move Black Adam made. In between Black Adam's punches Itachi would weave the hand signs needed to burn that last plant to the ground. He ducked a sweeping right hook and weaved the sign for Boar, he parried his head away from a left uppercut and weaved the Horse sign, and finally Itachi caught his straight right cross and used their combined hands to weave the Tiger sign. Itachi then delivered a powerful spinning hook kick that landed so cleanly that Black Adam was immersed head-first under the water, thus giving Itachi the clean look he needed at the plant as his foot held Black Adam's head underwater.

He saw that Robin had placed explosives all over the plant, so one good fire attack on top of the explosion would burn it away for sure. Ivy turned in time to see the explosive batarangs just before they went off, "My baby."

"Fire Style! Fireball Jutsu!" Itachi fired off a gigantic fireball towards the plant. That, with Robin's explosives, completely obliterated the plant. Standing on top of the base where the central plant once stood were Robin and Miss Martian, whom both had a look of accomplishment.

Ivy was now furious and aimed her ire at the pair standing on the base. Miss Martian deflected the attack, only to be struck from behind by Atomic Skull and the Joker. Joker had a sadistic smile on his face as he looked at the scene before him.

"Children…children foiled our plan," Atomic Skull started to blast after Robin as Joker continued on, "Inconceivable! Unacceptable! Retributionable! Okay, that last one might not be a word. Sue me."

"It's not," Joker looked up to see Crow kick off of the base and towards the others. Joker recovered and started laughing uncontrollably, "Hahahaha! So you're the Batfreak knockoff I've heard so much about. I saw you in all of your glory when you were carving up Ivy's plant monster in Gotham. You're alright I guess. Tell me, do you have a thing against killing like how pointy eared freak does?"

"You tell me," Joker turned around in time to see a second Crow. He did a double take and laughed again, "I must have hit too much of my good stuff again. Boy I'll tell ya-"

He stopped when saw a kunai knife go through his abdomen. He started laughing as hard as he ever had before coughing up blood. He looked around to see that everyone around him had disappeared and only he and Crow were left. Well, he and about 100 Crows were left. Also the sky was blood red for some reason.

"I pegged you wrong. I thought you were another Boy Blunder, but boy was I WRONG! Do it again! Do it again!" He shouted manically. Itachi obliged and had all his clones stab Joker one by one as time seemed to stop. When they were all done, only a second had passed in real time, but a year had passed in Itachi's genjutsu. And yet Joker still laughed.

Itachi looked at him perplexed when Joker regarded him, "What? Surprised your crazy juice doesn't work on me. Shocked to see me still laughing and unbroken. Newsflash dummy! You can't break something that's already broken. Hahahaha! You're just like Bats after all, can't get the job done. Sheesh, that loony Scarecrow is scarier than y-"

Itachi silenced him by having his mouth close shut. Itachi decided to kick up the intensity since Joker obviously had a high tolerance to this madness, "I usually pound my victims till they break, but with you I'll make an exception. I'll just stretch you out till you snap."

Joker tried to talk, but his closed mouth made that impossible. He couldn't made a sound…he couldn't even scream when the torture began and reality itself seemed to bombard him with pain.

In the real world only about five seconds had passed. It seemed like Itachi and Joker both were just staring at each other to the normal person, but Joker was experiencing his own special kind of hell in the Tsukuyomi. Joker fell down to the ground and looked visibly shaken by the hell he'd just gone through. Itachi knew the madman was defeated and left to assist his friends.

"Kill them! Kill them all!" Vertigo ordered. The Injustice League got serious with their attacks and one by one each member of the Team started to get overwhelmed. Itachi could handle himself, but the others were just overmatched by the combined might of these villains. And soon the villain all began to combine their attacks against Itachi.

Itachi was beginning to run low on chakra and would soon need to rest his eyes. A prolonged fight against this many people wouldn't end well for him. Aqualad saw the writing on the wall and knew that he'd have to go to drastic measures.

"Plan B." He told to Miss Martian. She sent a command to her ship, that was now free since the central plant was destroyed, and had it drop the duffel bag Aqualad brought with him. Itachi eyed it and felt a strange aura emanating from it. He was about to use his Susanoo to end this fight, but stopped when Aqualad took out some gold helmet that was in it and was about to put it on.

Wotan immediately recognized what that powerful item was, "The Helmet of Fate."

Kid Flash heard this and turned towards his leader in panic, "No! Aqualad don't," Black Adam used the distraction to sucker punch him, who in turn then got sucker punched by Superboy. In all of the chaos Aqualad put on the helmet and had become Doctor Fate. Kid Flash looked on in dread, "Oh dude."

Fate ascended into the air and confronted Wotan, "You are mine." They both had a clash in magic, but Fate ultimately won and bound Wotan up in chains. Wotan didn't give up though and broke the chains in preparation for a counterattack. They then began to resume fighting in a dual of magic.

Miss Martian was evading Ivy's vines while invisible. They were so ferocious that defense was all she could hope for. Ivy evilly grinned as she continued her hunt, "I may not see you Martian, but perhaps I'll hear you scream."

"And perhaps I can be of assistance." Vertigo said as he used his powers to temporarily incapacitate M'gann. They were stopped by a flash of light caused by a flashbang Robin had thrown. Kid Flash ran and tore at Vertigo's cape to distract him so he wouldn't see Artemis and Itachi team up to deliver kicks that sent Vertigo flying right into Ivy, and thus knocking them both to the ground.

Artemis ran towards Kid Flash and took the part of Vertigo's cape that he ripped, "Hey that's my souvenir."

"Hold still," She then wrapped it around his arm for support. After she was done Wolf was thrown right into her by Ultra-Humanite. Wally would have been hit next but Itachi came to his rescue and diverted the blow.

"Thanks man." Wally said as he ran away. Itachi shook his head as he got knocked back by the gorilla, 'You and Artemis are made for each other. You both don't pay attention.'

In the sky, Doctor Fate and Wotan were both still waging battle, "Surrender sorcerer. You cannot hope to defeat a Lord of Order."

"I can defeat you and I will," Wotan began to fire up another spell but was blasted away.

" Ekirts Natow nwod," The spell came from Zatara, who was accompanied by the rest of the Justice League. That was what turned the tide of this fight. All of the Injustice League were cornered and defeated. It was crystallized when Itachi threw stupefied Joker in the middle of the pile of villain. Batman stepped up and in his famous monotone voice said, "It's over."

The rest of the villains knew they had been defeated and raised their arms in surrender. Vertigo still remained defiant, "There will be another day."

Joker all of a sudden broke out of his stupor and pointed at Itachi, "Another day…Another day?! As long as he is here there won't be another day! Not for any of us! Hahahaha!"

He then summoned the remains of the cobra-venom plant and released all pf the Joker-Venom spores inside of it. "Joker-Venom spores! Don't breathe!"

Batman punched Joker to the ground to stop more spore from being released while Itachi activated his mangekyo sharingan once more and prepared to stop the gas, "Amaterasu!"

The gas could be seen clear as day by Itachi as he burned each and every spore down with the black fire. The heroes looked on as the gas soon turned black as ash. Each flame kept burning until it ate up each individual spore that was targeted. Coincidentally, Doctor Fate absorbed both the spores and the flames using his magic just as added insurance, "Fate has intervened."

Itachi was just glad that this was finally over. Joker started laughing before regarding Batman, "I think I'm done with you Bats. It's been fun," He then turned towards Itachi and gave the most ominous grin in human history, "But I just found my true soulmate."

Itachi glared at the madman from behind his mask. 'How did he recover so fast from Tsukuyomi? His mind should be turned to mud. Who is this madman and why is he now fixated on me?'

"I'll definitely be seeing you around more…Crow. Hahahahahahaha!"

Wally was furious at the others for allowing Aqualad to put on the helmet, "What were you all thinking?! How could you let him put on the helmet? Nabu will never release him now. Kaldur will be trapped inside of Doctor Fate forever."

He let the sadness in his voice be heard by everyone. Itachi didn't agree with that at all and decided to intervene one last time. He activated his mangekyo sharingan and used Tsukuyomi.

He and Doctor Fate were transported to Itachi's genjutsu world. They weren't alone either. Both Aqualad and Kent were there with them.

"What is the meaning of this? What sorcery have you incurred? I am a-" Itachi bound him up to a post and silenced his mouth just like he did with Joker, "You talk too much."

Kent and Aqualad looked on in shock. Kent wound up laughing before addressing the Uchiha vigilante, "That is the first time I've ever seen Fate put in his place. What's your name, son?"

"Crow," Kent just shook his head, "Really, your mother named you Crow? That sucks."

Itachi sighed at the old man, "My name is Itachi."

"Well Itachi, what brings you here?" Itachi pointed his finger towards the now irate sorcerer, "I need him to release my friend. Can you help me?"

"I'll talk to him, though you embarrassing him like that didn't put you in the best light." He responded.

"It's not about me…it about Kaldur. He's…he's my friend. And a lot of other people's friend." He answered.

"Very well. Do me a favor and release him so that we can talk." Itachi did as was requested of him and Doctor Fate was released from his binds. He glared at Itachi, but eventually went with Kent to talk.

Aqualad looked around in awe, "Where are we?"

"We're in something called a genjutsu. It's basically a world of distorted reality. Think illusions except with chakra instead of magic." He answered.

"What's chakra," He asked. Itachi looked on as Fate and Kent returned from talking, "We'll have plenty of time to discuss it later with the rest of the Team."

How Itachi worded it didn't escape Kaldur, "Does that mean that you'll join our team?"

"…yes. I'll join the Team." Itachi said as he took off his mask.

Aqualad was ecstatic, but still curious as to what changed Itachi's mind, "Why though? I thought you didn't feel comfortable working with a team."

"And I still don't…but I do feel comfortable working with my friends. You and the others…you are my friends. That's why."
Aqualad smiled and extended his hand. Itachi shook it this time around with no hesitation as the two warriors had just become teammates. They then turned their focus to the issue at hand; getting Aqualad his freedom.

"I talked to Nabu and…he's agreed to release your friend," Aqualad smiled but Itachi knew something else was up, "But…because of the…uh…'disrespect shown to a Lord of Order' if someone else puts on the Helmet of Fate, it stays on. No more exceptions, no more freebies. Understand?"

"Yes," They both answered. Kent looked at his companion who in turn looked at Itachi. Aqualad looked confused when Kent verbalized his thoughts, "You're friend put us in this world, we're just waiting for him to take us out."

"One last thing before I release this jutsu. Do you know of a great threat that has infiltrated Earth?" Itachi asked. Aqualad looked really confused but Itachi assured him not to worry.

"Yes, I've felt it for a while now. In the highest heavens and in the deepest hells. It's getting stronger, day by day. Soon, not even I will be able to stop it." Nabu answered.

"Do you know the identity of this threat?" He asked.

"I do not." Nabu answered. Itachi sighed in disappointment, "Very well." He then needed the Tsukuyomi and released everyone inside. Kent made sure that one of them told his friend Wally hello.

Fate and Kent looked on as they were soon left all alone, "You sense it, don't you?"

"He is the child sent from God." Fate answered.

"The day of golden light is coming isn't it?" Kent asked.

"It is," Kent sighed and shook his head. He has dreaded this for decades, "Do we stand a chance?"

"No, only the child does. But he is not yet ready. Until he is…we are doomed."

"Looks like you're needed after all." Kent noted.

"I will be there." Fate said resolutely before the scene turned to darkness.

Back in reality, everyone looked on as Wally vented when out of nowhere Fate removed his helmet and set Aqualad free.

"Nabu let you go?" He asked.

"He almost did not. But Itachi and your friend Kent were most helpful. He says 'hello'." He answered.

Kid Flash turned to thank Itachi only to see him drop to a knee. He sprinted to him to check on him as the others joined.

"Itachi, are you alright?" Wally asked.

"I'm fine…just exhausted…I need to rest my eyes." Itachi responded. Artemis ran over next and gave him the stare of death.

"We. Will. Talk. Later," She said as emphatically as she could while poking her finger at Itachi's chest. She soon softened her stance and became her friendlier self, "I take it you saved Gotham…and you know who?"

"They're all safe. Gotham is safe." He responded. She hugged her friend and thanked him. Aqualad motioned for everyone pay attention as he had something to say.

"This is not the worst of the threat. A far greater one could still be on the horizon. I may not know the identity of this threat or if it even exists, but this Team will stay vigilant and be ready stop it should the occasion call for it. All of us…me, Superboy, Artemis, Kid Flash, Miss Martian, Robin, and Crow."

Robin picked up on that last named he listed and smiled with anticipation, "And Crow?"

They all looked at Itachi for confirmation. He nodded his head and repeated what Aqualad had said, "And Crow."

"Yeah! And Crow!" They were about to celebrate when Batman coughed. They turned to see the adult all looking at them like they each had two heads, "We'll decide whether or not Crow will join the Team."

Everyone dropped their heads in disappointment. Itachi looked on and waited for their answer, "Crow after everything I've seen of you…you're on the Team. Training starts at 0800 hours…don't be late. We're done here. The supervillains' secret society has been neutralized. As for your performance…"

The Team waited for his delayed answer, "…it was satisfactory. That includes you now Crow. It's time to become something greater than just a vigilante. "

The Team held their heads up high being proud of themselves. The adults left and the Team were heading towards the bioship to drop Itachi off at Gotham and head back to the cave. Artemis pulled Itachi to the side to congratulate him.

"You finally wised up and joined our Team. Took you long enough. And it already looks like the big Bat trusts you. Who knows, at your rate you might make the League in no time."

Itachi gave her a stoic look, "That was an act. Batman doesn't trust me…and I don't trust him."

Artemis couldn't believe her ears, "If he didn't trust you why would he send you on covert missions, or leave you to save Gotham alone, or even let you join our Team?!"

"In short, to keep an eye on me. He reduces the risk of me being wildcard if I'm in an controlled and confined setting like your Team. He's studying me, as I am him." He answered.

"Okay, you're starting to lose me. You're no wildcard. You want to help people. And I don't know if anyone told you, but Batman doesn't handle our day-to-day routines. Whoever is our den-mother at the time will decide that. So how can you study him?" she asked.

"Robin. He is Batman's apprentice. He lives and displays Batman's very discipline and will. I'll study Batman through Robin." He said as if it was the simplest thing in the world.

"Why don't you trust Batman?"

"Why don't you trust the others enough to tell them the truth about you not being Green Arrow's niece? Why not tell them that you're Sportmaster's daughter?" Itachi asked this time.

"Because I don't know how Wa-they will react." She said sadly. Itachi looked at her with sympathy.

"That's why I'm studying him. I need to know what makes Batman react and how. This is bigger than any of us. I can't afford to be too trusting of anyone. Too much is at stake here." He said.

"What happens if you find that you can't trust him? Will you leave the Team?" She asked.

"…I can't say. Even if I do stop being part of the Team, I will never stop being your friend." He stated.

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because unlike Batman I actually trust you, Artemis," He said with a smile. She nodded her head and returned the smile, "I guess that's good enough for now. So we are you heading back to Gotham. Don't you want to celebrate our win with the Team?"

"I have another pressing matter to attend to. You know who I'm talking about."

"Carson, right?"

"Yes."

"Good luck with that. On that front there will be no Team. You, sir, are on your own since you created that mess." She joked.

"I know…" he sighed as they got on the ship and headed towards what would undoubtedly be his toughest fight yet. He then decided to alleviate the somber tone, "So how does one feel naked in a fun way?"

Artemis gasped and immediately felt her face turn red, "You heard that?"

He nodded at her. She could already tell there was going to be an adjustment period with Itachi here now.

A man watched the monitor screens in front of him with satisfaction.

"We have gained most valuable knowledge thanks to the plant attacks across the world. And more importantly, the so-called heroes now believe our secret society has been revealed and crushed. With the Injustice League serving as our proxies we are once again free to operate with impunity."

The man revealed himself to be Vandal Savage. His cohorts joined him in basking in their genius. The monitors all showed Itachi as he was fighting the plants and the Injustice League. The final member emerged from the darkness with a hood and mask on before finishing Savage's soliloquy, "Blood and shadows still conceal our Light. Our Golden Light."

The hooded figure then showed the vial containing someone's blood to the others. After twisting it around a label could be seen on the vial with someone's name on it. The label read, "Crow."

"Time to put the plan in motion."

That was a long one. Please forgive any grammatical errors that you may see. The next chapter or so won't have as much action, but it will definitely continue the stories plot significantly. I hope you all enjoy my vision. Thanks again and don't forget right a review because I love reading them all. Have a great one and until next time!