Chapter 4

After the dust up with Metallo, Shinobi and Superman were on their way to Washington, D.C. Superman insisted on flying them both there. He cited his incredible flight speed as the reason; flying from New York to Virginia was a piece of cake when you could break the sound barrier. It all sounded very reasonable, but the ninja was certain he just wanted to take advantage of the fact that flying made him uneasy, and flying at such extremely fast speeds only made it worse. Naruto's confidence and bravado was legendary in its own right, but he found it abandoned him when he was flying.

They arrived at the Hall of Justice in just a few minutes only to find that there was already a motley crew of costumed heroes there waiting for them, as well as a scattering of tourists taking pictures of said heroes.

When Superman finally set him down, Naruto got a good look at the heroes assembled before him. There was Batman, Robin, Green Arrow, Speedy, Aquaman, and Aqualad. Naruto was prepared to make his introductions, though he'd met Robin and Speedy before on different occasions, before Superman interjected.

"Seems we're short two. You'd think the two fastest people in the world might manage to keep an appointment." His joke was met by chuckles that were cut short when the final two attendants arrived. They both appeared in bursts of speed; The Flash and his protege, Kid Flash, had arrived.

"I knew we'd be the last ones here!" Kid Flash's outburst reignited a new round of laughter before the group decided to make their way up the path to the Hall of Justice.

Naruto tapped Kid Flash on the shoulder and waited until he turned around before he stuck his hand out.

"Name's Shinobi. Nice to meet'cha." Kid Flash immediately took his hand and shook it vigorously.

"Hey! I'm Kid Flash! Oh, man, I'm so pumped! Have all the sidekicks ever been in the same place at the same time?"

"Don't call us sidekicks. Not after today," Speedy interjected.

Today was the day he was going to move up in the world. He would finally be acknowledged for all his training and hard work. He was joining the League today, and he'd never anticipated anything more in his life.

"Yeah. Besides I'm not anybody's sidekick! Not even this guy." Naruto pointed at Superman who gave him a clap on the back that sent him stumbling forward.

"Sorry. First time at the Hall. I'm a little overwhelmed." And Kid Flash's awe was understandable. Here they were, young heroes that had paid their dues. They were about to be accepted into a society their mentors had been a part of for years. A league of men and women who were revered by all for their willingness to lay down their lives in the defense of their fellow man. It was a lot to take in.

"You're overwhelmed, Freeze was underwhelmed. Why isn't anybody ever just whelmed?" Robin's comment marked the end of their walk. They entered the atrium of the Hall of Justice where they were met by Red Tornado and Martian Manhunter stepping out of a doorway marked 'Authorized personnel only'.

"Robin, Speedy, Kid Flash, Aqualad, Shinobi. Welcome." Martian Manhunter turned and lead them through the doorway. "You now have unlimited access to the gym, our fully stocked galley..." They were led through many rooms of the Hall, all of them with observation decks where the tourists watched and took pictures of them. Naruto couldn't fathom why the headquarters of the mighty Justice League was a glorified tourist trap. He also didn't understand why they were making such a big deal about all this 'access' if any person who wandered in off the street could see exactly what they were seeing right now. The tour came to an end in the library. It was a large room with books lining all the walls, a few comfortable chairs here and there, and a large black table in the center. "And, of course, our library."

The Flash turned and made a magnanimous gesture, "Make yourselves at home." The other teenagers proceeded to throw themselves into the open chairs. All except for Speedy and Shinobi.

Shinobi stood there and scratched his head in a confused manner. He felt gypped. Superman had made a big deal about this for the past month. He'd been excited for Naruto, and that excitement was infectious. Naruto had almost felt like these people saw him as an equal, that they would bring him into the fold. But here they were, in a glorified museum and sitting in a room while both the members of the League and the common people looked down on him alike. It was disappointing to say the least.

The older heroes started to discuss a series of attacks made by several villains today when Naruto decided to make his disappointment vocal. That is until Speedy beat him to the punch.

"That's it?! You promised us a real look inside, not a glorified backstage pass!"

Aqualad was quick to answer, "It's a first step. You've been granted access few others get."

Speedy made a sweeping gesture to the crowd that was looking down upon them from the observation deck. "Oh, really? Who cares which side of the glass we're on?!"

Green Arrow stepped forward to calm down his protege. "Roy, you just need to be patient."

"What I need is respect." He turned to the other four teenagers and tried to appeal to them directly. "They're treating us like kids! Worse, they're treating us like sidekicks. We deserve better than this."

Aqualad, Kid Flash, and Robin look at each other and back at Speedy. Their reaction was less than encouraging. He then looked to Shinobi and asked him, "How about you? Didn't you take down Metallo by yourself today?" It seemed news travelled fast. "We're just as good as any of them and treat us like dirt! Doesn't that piss you off?"

Naruto crossed his arms and looked down in contemplation before he answered. "Sure it pisses me off. Of course I'm disappointed. But that big oaf," here he pointed at Superman, "is my friend. He's been lookin' out for me since the beginning. I trust him. So of course I'm mad, but I'm not just gonna fly off the handle like a kid and complain 'cause I didn't get my way."

"You've gotta be kidding me. Right? Today was supposed to be the day. Step one in becoming full-fledged members of the League." It seemed Naruto's speech had only served to rile Speedy up even more. Kid Flash gave it a try next.

"Well, sure, but I thought step one was a tour of the HQ." It all seemed reasonable to him. The League had trusted them enough to let them into their headquarters. Sure there were tourists everywhere, but they were being trusted to go where no one else was able to. That was a big step in his book, though Speedy was quick to disabuse him of that notion.

"Except the hall isn't their real headquarters!" The heroes behind Speedy had looks of surprise on their faces. It was obvious the sidekicks weren't supposed to know that. "I bet they never told you the Hall is just a false front for tourists. It's a pit stop for catching zeta-beam teleporter tubes to the real thing: an orbiting satellite, called the Watchtower."

Green Arrow glanced back at Batman and was met with staunch disapproval.

"I know, I know. But I thought maybe we could make an exception?" His request was answered with a narrowing of the eyes. Batman's glare was the writing on the wall. On this issue he would not budge. "Or not."

Aquaman tried to diffuse the situation, but a king was not the best option when trying to calm down an angry teenager. "You are not helping your cause here, son. Stand down. Or-"

"Or what? You'll send me to my room? And I'm not your son. I'm not even his." Speedy could see he'd hurt Green Arrow with that comment, but he continued undaunted. "I thought I was his partner. But... not anymore." He signed his resignation by taking off his hat and throwing it down on the ground. As Speedy left the library he let loose one parting shot. "I guess they're right about you four. You're not ready."

Before anyone could say much about Speedy's departure an alert came in and Icon appeared on the screen. He was a very large man wearing a red tunic, a green cape, and a domino mask to conceal his identity. "Icon to Justice League. There's been an explosion at Project Cadmus. It's on fire."

Batman was the first to answer. "I've had my suspicions about Cadmus. This may present the perfect opportunity to-"

"Zatara to Justice League! The sorcerer Wotan is using the Amulet of Aten to blot out the Sun! Requesting full League response."

After consulting with the other heroes present, it was decided that the fire at Project Cadmus could be handled by local authorities. The rest of the League was called in to rendezvous at Zatara's coordinates. Before they left, Batman left one stern command. "Stay put."

Kid Flash was the first to voice his complaints. "How are we ever supposed to be ready when they treat us like... like sidekicks."

"My mentor, my king. I thought he trusted me."

"Trust? They don't even trust us enough to tell us the truth! They've got a secret base! IN SPACE!"

To Naruto it was a disappointment, sure, but to the rest of these guys it was a huge betrayal of trust. But he wouldn't spend the rest of the day moping around over it. Uzumaki Naruto was no quitter.

"Instead of cryin' about it, let's do something. You can't sit here complaining all day, do something proactive. I say we take care of that fire at that Cadmus place. Let's show 'em we can do just fine with 'em. I'm not anybody's sidekick, now it's time to prove you're not either."

They all looked at Naruto in surprise before smiles spread over their faces.

"What is this Project Cadmus?" Aqualad posed a good question. If they were going to take care of this problem without League consent, they would need to know where to go.

Robin answered with a mischievous grin. "Dunno, but I bet I can find out."

He walked up to the computer and his hands started flying all over the keyboard, typing in any number of commands. Robin was through the security in a matter of seconds. He found out that Cadmus was a genetics lab in Washington, D.C.

"So, just like that, we're a team on a mission?" Aqualad still had his misgivings, but Naruto quickly put them to rest.

"You want their trust and their respect, right? Well those aren't given, they're earned. Let's go earn 'em."

With a destination in hand and a resolve to prove themselves to the League, the group of young heroes was off.

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When they arrived at Project Cadmus the local authorities were well on their way to putting out the fire, but there were two trapped scientists shouting out of a second story window for help.

With a burst of speed, Kid Flash ran up the wall, pulling the scientists from the window and depositing them on the roof of the building before he lost momentum and traction and started to fall. Naruto was about to move to save him, but he caught himself on the ledge of the open window.

"Look! It's Flash-Boy!" One of the firemen shouted.

"It's KID FLASH! Why is that so hard to remember?" Kid Flash took a moment to complain before he pulled himself into the window.

Down on the ground Aqualad, Shinobi, and Robin stood watching Kid Flash as he ran headlong into the situation.

"Does he always have to run ahead? We need a plan." Aqualad had a point and Shinobi agreed with him, but it seemed Robin had other ideas. With a laugh that echoed around the area he was running up the ladder on the fire truck and swinging on his grapple gun into the burning building.

Naruto sighed. This wasn't how a team was supposed to work. He looked at Aqualad and said, "Guess it's just us, huh? Can you put out that fire? I'll get the scientists off the roof. I dunno why Kid Flash thought putting them up there of all places was a good idea."

Aqualad ran towards the firemen that were holding the fire hose while Naruto ran up the side of the building with much more success than Kid Flash had on his own attempt. After some fancy maneuvering with his Water Bearers, Aqualad had put the fire out and two quick clones on Shinobi's part carried the scientists to safety.

After they made their way inside they found Robin on a computer and Kid Flash looking through a file cabinet.

"Hey! You two can't just go running ahead all the time. If we're gonna be a team, we gotta act like one. You can't just go leaving your teammates behind!" Naruto couldn't trust them to have his back if they were just going to go running ahead with no concern for their comrades. If they were going to be a team, he wasn't going to hold back when half the members tried to be hotshots and do everything on their own.

"You handled it. Besides we're here to investigate, remember?" It seemed Robin didn't listen to anyone except Batman; Naruto's whole tirade had as much effect on him has wind did blowing on stone. He was going to lay into him again before they heard Aqualad calling over to them.

He was in the hall pointing at an elevator at the end of it. "There was something in there."

"Elevators should be locked down," Kid Flash said.

Robin started fiddling with a holographic screen projected by his glove and it revealed that the elevator was a high speed express elevator. "This doesn't belong in a two story building."

"Neither does what I saw." Aqualad walked forward to the elevator doors and a quick application of force pushed them open. They all moved over to the open doorway and looked down to see an elevator shaft that stretched down into the Earth for as far as they eye could see.

"And that's why they need an express elevator," said Robin before he shot his grapple gun into the ceiling descended down into the darkness. Both Aqualad and Kid Flash jumped to his line and went down after him. Naruto, however, prefered to take his own way down and allowed himself to tip over the edge until his feet found purchase on the side of the elevator shaft and he started to run down it.

Shinobi quickly reached the point where Robin's line had run out and jumped across the shaft through the door that Aqualad had opened.

"Welcome to Project Cadmus," said Robin before Kid set off running down the long hallway before them. He made it to a turn in the corridor where he was surprised by a herd of very large, grey beasts ambling down the intersecting pathway. He was joined by the rest of the team who looked in awe at... whatever these things were.

"What the hell have they been doing in here?" Shinobi had seen much larger animals, but nothing quite so odd as this. There was obviously a lot more to this Project Cadmus than met the eye.

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Doctor Mark Desmond was the head of Cadmus Labs in Washington, D.C. He had long brown hair tied back in a ponytail, and black-rimmed glasses sat on his face. Desmond was something of a weedy man and he had a short temper for anyone who would interrupt his experiments. He sat in his underground lab, surrounded by jars full of half-complete abominations, experimenting with a mineral suspended in a clear liquid. He'd finally seemed to make a breakthrough when he was interrupted by the sound of his door opening.

Guardian, the head of security, stood in the doorway with one of the telepathic G-Gnomes stood on one of his broad shoulders. "Dr. Desmond."

"Tell me, Guardian, what part of 'no interruptions' did you not understand?" Desmond continued his work unabated.

"A G-Gnome on sub-level 26 reports four intruders." It was plain as day to Guardian that Desmond didn't care what he had to say about anything. If Desmond had his way he'd be left alone to experiment from sunrise to sunset, but there were other more pressing issues at hand.

Desmond let out a long suffering sigh and looked away from his microscope to scrutinize Guardian. "Did I miss a perimeter breach alert?" Desmond asked with sarcasm dripping from his every word.

"No."

"Then the G-Gnome's confused. Whatever might occur in our faux lab above ground, the real Cadmus is the most secure facility in D.C."

"My job to keep it that way." Guardian was not budging on this issue. It was his job to keep this facility safe, and he intended to do it. Even if he had to rub his direct superior the wrong way to do so.

"Fine! Take a squad." Anything to get rid of this latest interruption.

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They'd been running around this place like chickens with their heads cut off for a quarter of an hour now and Naruto was thoroughly annoyed. They had no idea what they were looking for and they just kept going through doors, hoping to stumble upon something good enough to bring back to the League.

After much aimless wandering the team was standing outside of a large metal door, keeping watch while Robin bypassed the security. They were met by a large room, filled to the very high ceiling with containers that held some very strange creatures. Though Naruto had no idea what these creatures were, it was obvious they were producing electricity to power this place.

Kid Flash was the first to catch on. "This is how they hide this huge facility from the world. The real Cadmus isn't on the grid; it generates its own power. With these... things. It must be what they're bred for."

While the rest of the team discussed the implications of such things and Robin hacked into a nearby computer, Shinobi walked to one of the containers to take a closer look at on of the creatures. It was ugly, that much was certain. All jagged edges and sharp limbs. Ugly as they were, it was no excuse for what was happening to them. These creatures were made by these people and used as tools from the day they were born until the day they died. It was despicable.

His thoughts were interrupted by a voice from the door.

"Don't move!" Security had arrived in the form of a familiar hero called Guardian flanked by four of the creatures that seemed to be everywhere in this place. Shinobi had met Guardian a few times before, considering they were both based out of Suicide Slum in Metropolis. He'd stopped appearing a few months back and the ninja hadn't thought much of it. People moved on, it wasn't so strange. What was strange was to find him in a place like this.

"Wait. Robin, Aqualad, Kid Flash. And Shinobi too?"

"Heya, buddy. Long time no see. I thought maybe you'd died or moved away. But here you are making living weapons in some underground lair." Shinobi walked forward, arms stretched out to his side in a welcoming gesture. "C'mon, Guardian! This isn't you!"

"What, weapons? Shinobi, I-" Before he could finish his statement, Guardian was interrupted by a foreign feeling in his head. He looked down and gripped his head and when he looked back up there was steel in his eyes. "Take them down hard. No mercy!"

Robin immediately threw down a smoke bomb and used the distraction to shoot his grapple gun at the ceiling and quickly escape the room.

"You guys handle the creatures, I'll take Guardian!" Naruto gave his orders and punctuated them by throwing a salvo of shuriken at Guardian.

The shuriken were blocked by the shield on Guardian's forearm, but the shuriken had already played their role. He was separated from his underlings and the distraction had also served the purpose of having Guardian take his eyes off Shinobi. A costly mistake.

Shinobi had used the distraction to close the distance with a burst of speed. Before Guardian knew it Shinobi's hands were on his shoulders, knocking the G-Gnome off, and Shinobi flipped over him, using the momentum of his flip to send Guardian flying into the wall by the doorway.

Shinobi turned to see that Kid Flash and Aqualad had dealt with their enemies. "Let's follow Robin, that little maneuver won't keep Guardian down for long."

They ran out of the room, a new wave of creatures on their tail. When they found Robin he was already in the process of hacking his way into an elevator.

"Way to be a team player, Rob." Kid Flash was annoyed, and rightfully so. Robin had a bad habit of leaving his teammates behind and running off to do his own thing.

"Weren't you right behind me?" He brushed it off in the same playful manner he had before and entered the elevator, the rest of the team follow quickly. The door closed just as the creatures reached it and the elevator started to move. But Aqualad quickly noted it was in the wrong direction.

"We're headed down?"

"Dude, out is up!" Kid Flash added.

"Excuse me? Project Kr is down, on sublevel 52. It's the reason we're here!" Robin was quick to rebut. Naruto hadn't been paying attention when they'd discovered this piece of information, but whether or not Robin was right, it was too late to turn back now.

When the elevator arrived at sublevel 52 the change was jarring. The walls were covered in some sort of organic material that reminded Naruto of Jiraiya's Toad Mouth Bind that had put them inside of one of the summoning toads of Mount Myoboku. The hall outside of the elevator split into several paths and there were barrels scattered about. Naruto couldn't begin to guess what they were filled with, but he was sure he didn't want to find out.

Before they could figure out which way to go, the group encountered another of the creatures. This one was more humanoid in appearance and even wore clothing.

"Hold!" It yelled and immediately started levitating barrels and throwing them at them. The barrels exploded on contact and the group decided that in this case, discretion would be the better part of valor and ran through the path on their right.

Kid Flash ran ahead and when the rest of the group turned the next corner they were confronted by a giant metal door marked 'Project Kr'. For better or worse they'd reached their destination. Kid Flash had managed to bar the door and the group filed in, one by one, with Aqualad kicking out the improvised door stop when he was through.

Robin was once again working his technical magic on a terminal by the doorway. "I've disabled the door. We're safe."

"We're trapped," Aqualad said. He was right. Here they were 52 stories under the ground, behind a door that would only keep the enemy forces out for so long before they got through. They couldn't dwell on this for long though because Kid Flash had brought something more pressing to their attention.

"Uh, guys? You'll wanna see this." He pressed a button on a console in the center of the room and a containment pod that wasn't far behind it was lit up. Inside was a teenager. Not just any teenager, tough. This was the spitting image of Superman and he wore a white suit with Superman's logo on it to confirm what was already obvious.

"Big 'K', little 'R'. The atomic symbol for krypton!" Kid Flash turned to the rest of them. "Clone?"

"If it is a clone of the big guy these people have a lot of explainin' to do." Naruto was shocked. Besides the fact that this was all going on without Superman's consent, he knew that the big guy would never have agreed to this in the first place. At any rate, it was too late now. The clone was grown and it wasn't like one of his; this one wouldn't just disappear in a puff of smoke.

Robin quickly started hacking into the terminal and quickly found what they were after. "Weapon designation: Superboy. A clone force grown in... sixteen weeks!? From DNA acquired from Superman."

"Stolen from Superman," Aqualad corrected.

While the other three were discussing the specifications of this clone, Naruto finally heard something that really caught his interest.

"Genomorph gnomes. Telepathic. Force-feeding him an education." Robin read off the description of the creatures, now named Genomorphs.

"One of those things was on Guardian's shoulder too. I bet they're usin' their telepathy to control him. Probably this guy, too." Naruto gestured at the clone. It made sense, Guardian wasn't the type to be involved with this kind of operation. Not with the way things were run here.

"They're making a slave out of Superman's... son," Kid Flash said.

"Now we contact the League," Aqualad said. And everyone else concurred. He pressed the buckle on his belt and it glowed blue, but there was no answer. They were too far underground to get a signal. They were on their own.

"Let's get this kid outta here. I know Supes wouldn't want him being a slave to these people, even if he doesn't know that he exists," Naruto said.

As the pod opened Naruto noticed that the horns on the Gnomes above the clone had started to glow red. His eyes widened but it was already too late. The clone charged out of the pod and was upon him before he could retaliate.

Superboy was strong, extremely so, and he was using that strength to try to keep Shinobi pinned to the floor while he rained punches down upon him. Well, Superboy may have been strong, but Naruto had experience. He caught one of Superboy's punches and used his lack of balance to turn the tables on him and roll the two of them over until Shinobi was on top. He held him there as best he could, but it was like trying to keep hold of a bucking bronco. If that bucking bronco had super strength.

Shinobi wasn't willing to hurt this clone. He was blameless in this, a pawn being controlled by the gnomes in the room. If they wanted to calm Superboy down, they'd have to take those gnomes out of the picture. Before he could say as much Superboy's strength finally won out and Shinobi's unwillingness to hurt the clone cost him. The price was a full force punch to the face that sent him flying into the metal door behind him.

In their spars together, Shinobi always made sure never to take any of Superman's punches to the head. He'd been hit by one of them once and when he'd regained consciousness, he knew he never wanted it to happen again.

The combination of the super powered punch and his head knocking against the metal door was too much for him and Shinobi found the world fading into darkness.

Naruto cursed his own mistake before he succumbed to the darkness and knew no more.

A/N: This one is running a bit long. I'm cutting the Cadmus arc into two chapters, since it was that way in the show anyway. Next time we'll have the Blockbuster fight and Naruto will finally showcase a few more of his abilities. He's been kinda playing it low key until now because the group's around to pick up some of the slack and his enemies so far haven't required much overwhelming force to take care of. Welp, until next time.

Edited 4/28/13 for grammar and typos.