A/N: I'll try not to put these before the story too often, but here it goes. When imagining Naruto's costume, just think of Nightwing's (from Young Justice) with all the grey parts orange and a face mask instead of the traditional domino mask. I've tried to keep the black and orange aesthetic without having an orange blob running around punching dudes and taking names. Also, before people ask, I'm not writing this story to depower Naruto and put him the same level with the other teenagers on the Team. He fights on par with more seasoned heroes because Naruto is extremely powerful with many years of training and some pretty good experience. He'll hide the full extent of his powers for a long time, but I'm not going to take away well earned powers for the sake of arbitrary balancing. That said, I hope you enjoy.
Chapter 3
Naruto was in a quandary.
After his outburst, the three strange men had endeavored to answer his frenzied inquiries. When their answers registered only confusion on Naruto's part, they decided to take him to a more appropriate location for the impromptu question and answer session to continue. They'd taken Naruto, after much complaining on his part, to a building in a different part of the city. Before he could question the situation much more, they were stood before what he could only describe as a giant ornate hole in a wall. The hole in the wall promptly started glowing and they were quickly enveloped in a bright light before they appeared in a different location altogether.
Upon arriving at the new location, Naruto tried to gain his bearings and take in the layout of the place. He discovered he was indoors and there were no windows. The floors were made of metal and the walls of stone and he figured they were underground on inside of a mountain somewhere. It wasn't surprising, the people of the Land of Earth loved to build their homes inside of rock formations and underground and he figured they weren't the only people in the world to ever do so.
While he was looking around a new arrival was heralded by the same bright light that had brought him here and, more strangely, a disembodied voice exclaiming, "Recognize, Martian Manhunter, 0-7."
Naruto whirled around to inspect the new arrival and ready himself if a more violent response was needed. He was immediately taken aback by how strange this new man looked compared to even the other strangely dressed men he'd met so far. This Martian Manhunter had green skin, solid red eyes, and he wore a black outfit with red accents and a grand blue cape to top it off. Naruto rolled his eyes in exasperation. What was it with these people and their capes?
"J'onn. Superman found this boy on top of the Daily Planet building in Metropolis. He had no idea where he was and when questioned it was discovered that he didn't speak a word of English. In fact he had no idea that English was even a language. He spoke only Japanese, and when questioned he didn't know who we were or even where he was." Batman summed up the events that had led them here and to him calling in the alien. It was his hope to put his mind reading to use to suss out the truth of this Uzumaki Naruto's lack of knowledge of their world, language, and the Justice League itself.
Naruto huffed at being spoken of as though he wasn't there. "I'm right here ya know!" He exclaimed. If there was one thing Naruto Uzumaki hated, it was being ignored.
Martian Manhunter nodded to Batman and walked towards the teenager and in question with his hand held out towards him. "I'm J'onn J'onzz, the Martian Manhunter. And who might you be?"
Naruto looked at his hand warily before taking it in a firm grip. "Uzumaki Naruto. Now, if we're all done with the meet and greet, can somebody tell me where the hell we are?"
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Naruto's conversation with J'onn lasted longer than he'd expected. He discovered he'd been taken to a place called Mount Justice, just outside of Happy Harbor, Rhode Island. When he'd asked where that was, he was told the United States of America. When he asked what America was, J'onn decided it would be prudent to ask him the last thing he remembered before appearing in Metropolis.
Naruto, after some careful consideration of what would be safe to tell him, recounted the story of his final battle with Tobi. He was careful to leave out specific details of his own abilities, but he had a feeling the green man knew more than he let on somehow. When he arrived at the point where Tobi had used his space-time technique as a final revenge against Naruto, J'onn's eyes held a gleam of understanding.
A boy from a place that was not referenced in any database on Earth had shown up in a strange place after being targeted by a technique that warped the very fabric of space and time used by a dying man. You didn't need to be the greatest detective on Earth to figure out what had happened. There was a clear consensus amongst the scientific minds of the galaxy and the practitioners of the more arcane art of magic that there were multiple universes. An infinite number of parallel universes all variances of one origin universe, called the Prime universe. If the boy had been thrown through space and time, it was more than likely that he'd been thrown from his own reality into this one.
When he was told of this, Naruto was floored by the reality of his situation. He wasn't just far from home, he was in another reality. It was more than a journey across an ocean, it was a distance insurmountable by ordinary means. Even if he figured out a way to open a pathway to another of these realities, if what Manhunter said was true, there were an infinite number of other realities; finding his home amongst the literally endless sea of other worlds would be attempting the impossible. And to think, his friends were probably mourning his death while he was stuck in this strange place, literally a universe or more away from them.
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J'onn had seen the look of dreadful understanding dawning on Naruto's face and decided to go fill the others in while Naruto came to accept his situation. J'onn had known this feeling of isolation when he'd been transported to earth more than five decades ago. He'd missed his family and was inconsolable for a time. It would be best to leave Naruto alone, for at least a few minutes.
He found Batman and Superman in the kitchen, sharing a conversation in hushed tones.
"He's got amazing reflexes, Bruce. He turned and punched me six times before I knew what was happening. He's strong too. He didn't really hurt me, but if I'd been anyone else, someone more normal, I might be talking to you with two black eyes and a few missing teeth." Superman had recounted to Batman how Naruto had reflexively tried to beat his face in when he'd touch him from behind. Obviously there was a danger of letting a meta-human with reflexes quick enough to attack the Man of Steel with impunity. Batman decided he would need to be watched, closely.
"That's not the extent of his power, it seems. When we were talking I caught glimpses in his mind of a fight between him and a masked man. The powers both of them displayed were truly impressive. However, that is beside the point. The boy told me of what happened to him before he appeared in Metropolis." J'onn explained to them his theory that Naruto was from a different universe, somewhere in the sea of infinite universes. "I detected no outright deception in him. He tried to omit details of his true strength, but he never tried to outright lie to me."
"If it's true that he's from a different reality, then we have no way of returning him to his home. Not without knowing conclusively which of them he's from. And then there's the fact that multiverse is ever expanding and new universes come into existence every second of every day. Our maps the existing multiverse are already out of date. We can't try to send him anywhere; with the amount of time he's been here, his reality is likely already out of our reach." Batman summed up the hopelessness of the situation quite well.
"I guess that's that, huh?"
They all turned to see Naruto in the doorway to the kitchen. He pounded his fist into the doorway, pounding a section of it into dust immediately, before he blurred out of existence. Likely trying to find his way out of the mountain. Superman was quick to follow.
Batman narrowed his eyes at J'onn. The boy hiding his presence from himself or Superman was explainable, but he held no delusions that J'onn wasn't perfectly aware of his presence outside of the kitchen.
"It had to be done my friend. Uzumaki Naruto will not benefit from being coddled. He needed to hear it spoken plainly to understand his situation."
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It wasn't hard for Superman to find Naruto. With his super hearing it was impossible for him not to hear sound of fists on breaking stone. When he came upon Naruto he was furiously trying to punch his way out of Mount Justice through the rock wall. Finally, he seemed to become frustrated with the futility of his actions and formed a swirling blue ball in hand the size of a basketball and drove it into the wall. It exploded with a furiously release of energy and when the dust cleared there was a hole several feet deep in the wall, but he wasn't much closer to getting out of the mountain.
"That was pretty impressive, you know."
Naruto whirled around, anger in his eyes and spotted Superman. "Whaddaya want?! Unless you've got some way to get me home, open this door and let me outta here!"
"I can't get you home, and I can't just let you run around causing havoc because you're angry. But I can do you one better; you can come to the training room and take it out on me. I can take it, the mountain can't and the people out there certainly can't." Superman turned around and made a gesture for Naruto to follow him before he started walking away.
Naruto stared after him for a few seconds and reluctantly followed.
The mountain shook that day and it continued well into the night. Repairs would be needed before Mount Justice was usable again.
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It was July 4th, 2010, and Naruto had been in this reality for almost a full year. He hadn't given up hope of ever going home, but such concerns had taken a backseat to his starting of a new life in this reality. He tried not to become too comfortable with his new life, tried to keep the flame burning for his old home, but it was hard. While not everyone here was kind, he'd found a friend and confidant in Superman. Reluctant as he was to say it, Superman was a strong opponent and they'd forged a mutual respect that later developed into friendship on that night, almost a year ago, when they'd torn up the inside of Mount Justice. Though he still thought the cape was ridiculous.
Batman had been kind enough to set him up with small apartment in Metropolis afterwards, though Naruto was immediately disabused of the notion of Batman being kind when he realized that he had seemingly endless resources at his disposal and that he'd been placed in Metropolis so that Superman could better keep an eye on him. Batman was slow to trust, and he didn't want a meta-human running around unchecked.
A judicious application of shadow clones had allowed Naruto to quickly learn the languages of this new place before Zatara's spell wore off. He'd learned many of the languages of this new reality, mostly because shadow clones made it easy and expeditious and he never wanted to be caught in a situation where he couldn't communicate with the people around him again. He'd learned the customs and he'd learned how to blend in.
Naruto had quickly been taken under Superman's wing and had been introduced to crime fighting by the Man of Steel himself. And therein lay the Naruto's new passion. He could punch bad guys while saving lives and protecting the innocent. What wasn't there to like? It provided a much needed release for him and punching super powered villains was a good way to work through the stress of finding himself in a strange world surrounded by strange people. Through crime fighting Naruto raged against the foul turn of circumstance that had taken him from his friends and loved ones and brought here.
In his first few days of fighting for justice, Naruto had insisted on wearing his newly replaced orange jumpsuit and any improvised mask he could find, much to Superman's chagrin. That is until he had his first run-in with a gun. There had been dart launchers, crossbows, and even the train that had fired innumerable kunai at them in snow country, but those were easily avoided or parried by any experienced ninja. He had never encountered a weapon that could fire such deadly projectiles at speeds so fast that his ninja trained vision couldn't follow them. Needless to say, his first encounter with a firearm had ended with Naruto two holes in his side and a well earned hate for firearms of all kinds.
After that incident Superman had requested Batman make a new protective suit for the ninja. There was no one better suited to making it, Batman knew well the dangers of more conventional weaponry to those who weren't bulletproof. A day later Batman had the designs drawn up and after a few adjustments by Naruto, namely removing the cape, adding a symbol and more orange, the suit was well on its way to being made. One week later Naruto had his new crime fighting outfit. It was a black bodysuit with orange accents and an orange face mask with padded black boots reminiscent of ninja tabi on his feet. There was a simple four pointed shuriken on the chest and it had an orange belt that he used to hold his various weapons pouches. To finish off the ensemble Naruto had taken his leaf headband and fastened it to his forehead as a reminder of his roots and the friends he had left behind. Batman had described it with words like 'armored' and 'kevlar weave' that had no impact on Naruto. He just cared that it would help avoid a repeat of his first incident with firearms and as long as it did its job well and made him look cool in the process, Naruto was perfectly happy with it.
And so the young hero named Shinobi came into existence. Many referred to him as the sidekick of Superman because of how often the two crossed paths, but Naruto had done well to create his own legacy of fear amongst the seedy underbelly of Metropolis's Southside, better known as Suicide Slum.
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The hot day in July found Shinobi in the New Troy borough of Metropolis. He'd left Suicide Slum because reports were coming in that the villain Metallo was conducting a robbery at S.T.A.R. Labs. Superman had told him over a radio communicator that the robotic villain was trying to raid the lab for their stash of kryptonite. The glowing ore was used to power the robot's systems and it provided a useful weapon against the Man of Steel when needed. Metallo had stolen a large chunk of kryptonite and had proceeded to try to escape into the city.
Shinobi stood atop a building waiting for Superman to herd the robot towards him so that he could engage and put an end to his brief rampage.
"Now!" The word came over his comlink and Shinobi tipped over the edge of the building before he disappeared in a blur of speed.
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When Shinobi reappeared his foot was outstretched in the aftermath of a powerful kick and Metallo had been thrown across the road he was running on and into a nearby car, crushing it beyond repair on impact.
Metallo stood and laid eyes upon his attacker.
"Ah, so the Man of Steel sends his boy sidekick to do his work for him? I'll teach him never to send a boy to do a man's job!" The compartment in Metallo's chest that stored his cache of kryptonite opened and a green beam of energy shot at directly at Shinobi.
Before the beam could make contact Shinobi's hands come together in a hand sign before he was shrouded in a puff of smoke. When the smoke cleared Shinobi was nowhere to be found and in his place was the car Metallo had crushed before.
"That's called kawarimi!" Before Metallo could properly register the voice that had whispered into whatever approximated as his ear he was spun around to face Shinobi who then hit him with a devastating uppercut that drove him into the air. At the apex of his flight he was parallel to the ground and had a view of the beautiful sky above Metropolis before it was obstructed by Shinobi who had somehow gotten above him and had a menacing ball of blue energy in his hand. Metallo could raise nary a protest before it was thrust into his chest and it blew up with a monstrous release of energy.
Shinobi landed next to the crater that Metallo's violent reunion with the Earth had made and looked the robot in the eye.
"That's called the Rasengan! Never call me a sidekick again if you know what's good for ya!" This was the last Metallo heard or saw before his kryptonite core was violently removed by Shinobi.
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Superman landed next to Shinobi and laid a hand on his shoulder.
"Great work. A little too much destruction for my tastes, but you definitely handled it quickly and with expert precision." Superman delivered his praise with a smile while both he and Shinobi ignored the cheering crowds and the flash of photography around them.
"Yeah, well, I had to do it fast didn't I? Today's the day, right? Now let's get going, gramps! We're gonna be late!"
A/N: Hope you like it. My first fight scene in my first story. I tried to keep it brief, Naruto shouldn't have to show his entire repertoire of techniques on a niche villain like Metallo whose only real claim to fame is being able to counter Superman. Also, I write these chapters on the spot with no real prewriting involved, so if you spot any mistakes let me know in a PM or something and I'll try to get to it. I'll try to get the next chapter out before Monday, but no promises.