A/N: Before anyone asks, yes, I'm glossing right over the mission at Santa Prisca. People have been telling me that following the canon too closely is boring, and I agree. Besides, it's a boring episode and it wouldn't be much improved by me adding another two characters to it. The mission will still be taking place, but Naruto will not be there.
Chapter 10
The night of July 22nd found Naruto standing in the foyer of Jason Blood's home, dressed in full battle regalia, but with his facemask pulled down. It had taken Jason most of the previous night and the rest of the current day to begin making preparations. Tonight he would cast a spell to send Naruto's soul into the Astral Plane.
Naruto watched as Jason went about spreading paints, salts, and all manner of spell materials on the floor. The result was a rather large circle that took up most of the floor space in the foyer, filled with arcane runes and candles set at uniform distances around the perimeter.
Jason approached Naruto and presented him with a silver knife and a golden chalice. "We'll need your blood. And the demon's body. You said you had access to it?"
Naruto took the items from Jason, removed his gloves, and with a quick slice opened his palm, allowing his life run into the cup. "He and I... we're connected. Much the way you and Etrigan are. Follow?" Jason nodded and they both watched as the ninja's blood ran into the chalice. After Jason decided that they had collected enough blood, Naruto wrapped his hand with a nearby rag. The bleeding would stop in a few seconds as it had already slowed, and the cut itself would close within a few minutes.
Jason set about using Naruto's blood to put a few finishing touches on the circle. "Could you perhaps provide a sample of the demon's energy? Any bit would help to narrow down the search. The Astral Plane is a realm of infinite depth. It envelops and saturates all of the infinite multiverses. If we can't narrow down the search, you will wander the realm until the end of your days and never meet your friend."
Naruto blanched at the prospect. He had already been ripped away from one home, he didn't want to lose another. He closed his eyes and focused on pulling on Kurama's power. After a second or two, a golden fire began to coalesce in his hand. He presented it to Jason.
"Is this good enough?"
"Perfect. Approach the middle of the circle and make very sure you do not disturb any of the lines. It would be quite a shame if the spell were to backfire."
Naruto tip-toed into the middle of the spell-circle, using every bit of his ninja training not to touch anything. Once he was in the center he looked at Jason for more instruction.
"Now sit cross legged on the ground. I don't know if you have any experience with meditation, but I'll need you to clear your mind. Focus only on your intent. To enter the Astral Plane and reach your friend. Do not allow any stray thoughts to enter your mind. Also, before I forget, when you reach the Astral Plane, there will only be one way to return. It will appear as an item that brings you comfort, I cannot say what. When the time comes, you'll know what to do with it."
Naruto nodded and did as he was told. He closed his eyes and began to clear his mind. It was quite easy. Training to be a sage had made this kind of thing a piece of cake.
Jason watched as Naruto sat on the ground, eyes closed, and the golden fire floating above his hands. When Naruto became unnaturally still, Jason took that as his signal to start. He started chanting a spell in Latin, begging the Earth for energy to send Naruto's soul to where it needed to go. True masters could use their own magics to accomplish this effect, and they didn't need to go through all the trouble of gathering materials and drawing up a magical circle, but Jason Blood was no master sorcerer. Adept, certainly, but not a master.
A wind picked up, blowing around the room, causing the candle flames to flicker. Jason watched as the golden flame rose until it was floating in front of Naruto's forehead. A bright light started to envelope the ninja's body. It grew brighter and brighter until Naruto was obscured and only a pillar of light remained in his place. The golden flame floated into the pillar and with a great gust of wind, everything returned to normal.
Naruto's body had slumped over and the golden flame had disappeared completely. Jason approached Naruto, paying no heed to how his feet were smudging the lines he had worked so hard to draw. The circle had served its purpose. Jason began to gather up Naruto to move him to a more comfortable place.
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Naruto wasn't aware of the instant that his soul had left his body. Indeed, he wasn't aware that anything had happened at all. Until he opened his eyes and took in the world around him.
His surroundings were hazy. Everything was blurry and hard to see, as if his vision was very badly impaired. Not only that but everything that made up the environment was in a constant state of flux. First he was in a brightly lit forest, with pink trees that had purple leaves, then he was on a mountaintop, black snow falling around him.
As Naruto stood up, the surrounding environment finally seemed to have made up its mind and settled on a grassy field that stretched out as far as the eye could see, though that was, admittedly, not very far. There was a black haze in the distance, but the flexible nature of this realm seemed to make it hard for Naruto to see anything clearly at a long distance.
Naruto looked around for a bit, wondering which direction to travel in, when he felt a tugging. It wasn't coming from any part of his body, but he could feel the essence of his being wanted him to go in a certain direction. He started to walk in the direction before his foot bumped something on the ground. He looked down and saw a book laying on the ground. It was small, with a khaki cover, that read The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi.
Naruto picked it up and knew without a doubt that this was the item Jason had mentioned. Something that brought him comfort and would open the path back home when the time came. Without further ado, Naruto tucked the book into a pouch and began walking. There was no way to gauge time here and the environment changed every twenty steps, making it entirely impossible to measure distance, so Naruto decided there wasn't much to be gained from running.
Naruto walked for what felt like an eternity and came across nothing. There were no animals, no people, the only constant was the way the world around him refused to retain one form. Sometimes he walked up a mountain, other times he was walking across the surface of an ocean, and some times he wasn't walking at all, but flying. It was a strange experience, but after a long time, the universe decided that he had reached his destination.
Naruto hadn't quite realized that the universe had stopped changing until he had gone forty steps and found that he was still in a forest. The forest was made up of the largest trees that Naruto had ever seen and the canopy their branches created blocked out the Sun completely. It reminded him of the Forest of Death.
Naruto continued walking for a while before he came across a large clearing. Not that he recognized it as such because he was confronted by a red furry wall. Naruto was bewildered for a moment before a grin spread across his face. He immediately kicked the wall and was rewarded by a growl as the immense creature turned over.
"Who dares to disturb the slumber of - Oh, it's you."
Kurama had turned around to present his gigantic toothy maw to whatever fool had decided to kick him, but was met by the grinning face of Naruto.
"It's about time you showed up."
Naruto ran forward to pat Kurama's snout before an exhalation from the giant fox blew him backwards. However, Naruto didn't appear to be offended in the least. He got back up, his stupid grin just as bright as ever.
"Man, I've missed you, Kurama! You've got no idea what I've been going through this last year!"
"Yes, yes. I'm sure you'll regale with the whole tale. But first, do you have a way out of here? It may have been a year to you, but it feels like I have been stuck in this place for a millenium."
Naruto nodded and reached into his pouch to pull out the copy of The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi. "I've got just the thing."
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When Naruto awoke, he was laying in a rather large four-post bed. He sat up and looked around. It appeared he was in a room in Jason Blood's house. Jason himself was asleep in a chair by the bed, and further inspection revealed Batman lurking in a corner of the room, completely silent.
"What a creep."
Naruto couldn't help but snicker at Kurama's comment. It was true, Batman had a propensity for creepiness, what with all the lurking in the shadows and intense glaring he was prone to.
Batman, having noticed that Naruto was awake, started walking over to the bed. Naruto opened his mouth to speak before Batman interrupted.
"You had a mission last night. You didn't answer your communicator."
"I had a thing," Naruto answered with a shrug. The ninja certainly appreciated everything Batman had done for him, but if the Dark Knight expected for Naruto to spill all of his secrets at the drop of a hat, he was going to be sorely disappointed.
"That's unacceptable. When the communicator rings, you're expected to answer. I won't ask what you were doing here, you probably won't tell me, but know this: whatever it is, it had better not endanger your teammates. You may be powerful, but everyone is held accountable for their own actions and for how those actions affect others." Batman turned and began walking to an open window in the room, probably his point of ingress. He reached the window before turning around. "By the way, it's been a year since you came to this reality. In all that time, I've been covering your living expenses. The time has come for that to end. You'll have to find a job or move into Mount Justice and have the League itself take care of your expenses. Have a nice day."
And just like that, Batman was gone. Naruto was stunned and could only sit there, staring out of the window. And then it dawned on him, he had to get a... day job.
"Wait, what!?"
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Naruto sat outside of his apartment, watching his clones go about the task of packing his meager possessions. He didn't own much, just some clothes, courtesy of Batman, and a rather extensive stash of kunai, shuriken, and other such ninja tools that he'd amassed over the past year using the monthly stipend afforded to him by Batman. He even had a ninjato sitting around, though he hadn't the faintest idea of how to use it.
After Batman had dropped his bombshell, Naruto had come to the conclusion that moving into Mount Justice would be his best choice. He didn't have any skills or education, and the thought of working at one of those abhorrent fast food places made him seriously consider buying a gun and using it on himself. The only thing Naruto knew how to do was fight, and taking up permanent residence at Mount Justice would free him up to do just that. Of course it was obvious this was a rather transparent attempt by Batman to keep a closer eye on him, but Naruto could trust Batman not to do anything sinister with whatever information he gathered.
Naruto walked into his apartment and quickly changed into his crime fighting outfit. After he was dressed, he addressed his clones.
"A couple of you guys take this stuff over to the mountain when you're done packing, alright?"
All of the clones saluted except for one. "Why do we have to do this menial labor while you go out and have fun, huh?!"
Naruto swiftly and ruthlessly dealt with the dissenter; a kunai to the throat was enough to silence him. It was a recurring problem with his clones. Every once in awhile, one of the clones in a group would fancy itself a revolutionary and try to rile up his brothers to rise up against the original. Naruto had learned quickly that a quick death was enough to solve the problem, however temporary the solution was.
"Such swift and decisive punishment. We'll make a man out of you yet."
Naruto gave a grunt of acknowledgement and replied, "I forgot how annoying you were."
With the rogue clone dealt with, Shinobi jumped out of the window and took off over the city rooftops, heading towards New Troy. Shinobi hadn't reached the bridge before he was stopped on a rooftop by a strange sight. There was Lex Luthor, standing there, plain as day. He was accompanied by his pretty body guard and another figure that was dressed in a long grey trench coat with his hood pulled up over his head.
Shinobi started approaching the group before Luthor's bodyguard moved to stand in front them. The ninja stopped a distance away before speaking.
"Lex Luthor. What're you doing in this part of town? And what's with the posse?"
A smirk spread across Luthor's face before he answered. "We were here looking for you, actually. As for my companions, well, one can never be too safe, can they?"
Shinobi tensed up when Luthor said they were looking for him. Luthor was as devious as any ninja Shinobi had even known. Luthor, having seen the tensing of Shinobi's shoulders, was quick to try to allay his concerns.
"Now, now. We didn't come here to fight. Rather, we have a proposition for you."
"Yeah, well, I'm sure whatever you're proposing, I'm not gonna want any part in it. See you around. On second thought, I probably won't." Shinobi was walking towards the ledge in preparation to make his departure. If Luthor was looking for him, then the best way to foil his plans was for Shinobi to remove himself from the situation. Though it seemed Luthor wasn't just going to let him walk away.
"Don't be so hasty, Shinobi. You displayed a very unique sort of power when you were fighting that demon creature that tore through S.T.A.R. Labs. It has gained the interest of a certain group of people. Very powerful people."
"Let me guess: these people have the power to hurt me and those closest to me and whatever else you people like to threaten others with. Well, let me save you some time. I've got nothing you can threaten me with. No family, no friends, nothing. I'm gonna walk away now. You should probably do the same before you and your buddies get hurt." Shinobi continued to walk towards the edge of the rooftop before Luthor uttered one more sentence, except this time it wasn't directed at the ninja.
"Psimon, if you would?"
Shinobi was stopped in his tracks. His body was rigid. He couldn't move at all. Whoever this Psimon person was, he'd somehow invaded Naruto's mind and was stopping him from doing anything at all.
"Kurama!"
"I'm working on it."
Shinobi was stuck in place for an extended amount of time while Luthor circled around to his front. The smirk on Luthor's face was blasting full force. It was the smirk of a man who relished in the power he had over others. Shinobi swore to himself he would wipe that smirk of this bastard's face if it was the last thing he did.
Luthor tutted in disapproval while wagging his finger at Shinobi as though her were scolding a misbehaving child. "Now, now, Shinobi. Nobody has no one. Every being on this planet has someone or something that can be used against them. Let's say for example that team of sidekicks you've grown so close to."
At the mention of his friends, a gurgling sound was heard coming from Shinobi's throat. This caused Luthor's smirk to widen even more. "Maybe that beautiful alien vixen? What's her name? Starfire?"
"I've found him!"
As Luthor was gearing up to continue his monologue, Shinobi suddenly found his body was free and Psimon had let out a scream of terror. Well, Shinobi wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth. He quickly reared his head back and brought it forward in a nose-shattering headbutt. Luthor crumpled to the ground, clutching his bleeding nose, but Shinobi was already moving on.
With a flash of speed, Shinobi appeared in front of Psimon and backhanded him viciously. He heard a sickening crack as the short man flew away. It was very likely that Psimon's jaw was broken.
The ninja rounded back on Luthor only to find his body guard standing in front of him protectively. He was ready to give her the same treatment he had given Psimon, but before he could move her hand folded back unnaturally and her forearm started opening up to reveal the barrel of a gun. A gun that was pointed directly at him.
Shinobi ducked under the first shot, just barely missing having his head taken off. This would require a more creative approach. Shinobi jumped into the air, backflipping off of the rooftop.
"Mercy! Is he gone?"
The bodyguard's eye turned red, revealing it to be another cybernetic enhancement, and she proceeded to scan the surrounding area.
"He's not turning up on any scans, sir."
Luthor brought himself back to his feet and walked over to inspect Psimon's fallen form. His jaw was definitely broken and a bruise had started to form on one side of his face.
"What could Psimon possibly have found in the boy's head that would have caused him to react in such a way?"
"Sir, we should get goi-" Mercy was interrupted by the roof underneath her erupting upwards, Shinobi having appeared in the chaos. She tried to bring her weapon to bear, but was entirely too slow. A backfist from shinobi sent her flying, breaking her cybernetic eye in the process.
Luthor quickly brought his hand to his ear and spoke into a small communicator.
"I need backup!"
Alerted by the sound of Luthor's voice, Shinobi turned and was in front of the businessman in a blur of speed. He picked Luthor up by the collar of his very expensive shirt and held him off the ground, ignoring the man's feeble attempts to fend him off. Luthor was a powerfully built man, and he was taller than Shinobi himself, but he was still just a normal human.
"That guy wasn't trying to control me just now, was he? It wouldn't have taken him so long if he was. What was he looking for in my head?" He shook Luthor a bit, as if in an attempt to literally shake the answers out of him.
Luthor, even in his disadvantageous position, still found the gall to smirk arrogantly at his captor. "I wouldn't be worrying about Psimon right now, if I were you."
"Well, you're not-" Shinobi went silent suddenly, and then he turned, using Luthor himself as a human shield to take a pair of shuriken that had been flying towards him. Luthor took the shuriken in the shoulder, a minor injury, but he still yelled out in pain. Shinobi quickly discarded Luthor and faced his new adversaries, dimly registering that Luthor had landed on his injured shoulder.
Before him stood Deathstroke, flanked by two others. One was a woman in a green robes wearing a white mask that had a sinister smile stretched across it, and the other was man wearing a blue sleeveless top, black pants, and hockey mask on his face. It seemed the woman was the one who had thrown the pair of shuriken, but Shinobi decided to focus on the familiar face, or mask, that was Deathstroke.
"You come back for a rematch? You bring your buddies to help you out?" Shinobi didn't give any of them a chance to answer and moved forward in a blur of speed. It was best to take the initiative in these types of situations.
He appeared in front of Deathstroke, ready to punch him into next year, but was stopped when he noticed the detonator in his hand.
"Much as I'd love to do this, we have orders." Deathstroke pressed the button on the detonator and there was an explosion in the distance that was soon followed by the screams of a panicking crowd.
The woman spoke next. "I think you have a more pressing engagement. You should go see to it."
Shinobi gave a growl of frustration before he was gone, in a gust of wind and a swirl of leaves.
With the threat gone, the three assassins set about helping Luthor and his downed compatriots.
"Cheshire, get Luthor. You're the one that put him down with those poisoned shuriken of yours. Sportsmaster, you take Psimon. I'll grab the bodyguard. Let's hurry, Superman will probably come to check out that explosion any second now."
As Cheshire moved to recover Luthor's unconscious form, she surveyed the devastation Shinobi had wrought on Psimon and Mercy so quickly.
"Oh, he's good! I can't wait until we get a chance to play."
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An hour later, Shinobi stood with Superman back at the rooftop where he'd had his encounter with Lex Luthor and his squad. They were long gone by then, and Shinobi hadn't expected them to have remained, but Superman had insisted the ninja show him the scene. With his super powered senses, Superman had a chance to pick up on any evidence the enemy had left behind.
"Did they say what they wanted from you?"
"Luthor said they were interested in my powers, but that was obviously less true than he wanted it to look. Psimon, the short one, he climbed into my head. Tried to find something in there, but I don't know what. Don't know if he found it either."
"Luthor didn't say anything to indicate who he was working with? Nothing at all?"
Shinobi wracked his brain before it produced an answer. "He said a certain group of people had become interested in me. Powerful people. I think it's bullshit, but you can run with it if you want. I'm gonna go."
Shinobi prepared to depart before Superman's hand on his shoulder stopped him.
"Shinobi, we have to talk about that thing you did, back when you stopped Etrigan from rampaging through the city. That golden aura. People are starting to get interested in you. The wrong kind of people."
Shinobi shrugged Superman's hand off of his shoulder and said, "Maybe we should talk about you and Superboy?"
Superman's eyes narrowed into a glare and the corners of his mouth dipped down into a frown.
"Yeah, that's what I thought. That power, that's a personal matter. Just drop it." Shinobi made his way over to the edge of the rooftop before he turned back to Superman. "Batman says he won't pay for my apartment anymore, so I'm moving into the mountain. That's where you'll find me from now on." With that said, Shinobi fell backwards off the rooftop and was gone.
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Luthor stood in a dark room, six screens in front of him, each revealing one of his co-conspirators in the organization known only as the Light.
Vandal Savage spoke first. "Did Psimon find what we were looking for?"
"Something in Shinobi's mind expelled him before the search was completed. The boy then broke Psimon's jaw and Psimon's been unconscious ever since," Luthor replied.
Ra's al Ghul spoke next. "So the mission was a failure?"
"We don't know that just yet. Whatever was in Shinobi's head, it was something powerful enough to cause Psimon terror. We may have stumbled upon something more impressive than just his powers. We'll know when Psimon wakes."
With Luthor's piece said, Vandal dismissed the Light and their screens all went black. Luthor walked out of the room, towards his private medical wing. He was eager to know what Psimon had to report when he regained consciousness.
A/N: Well, there it is. Kurama's back and the plot thickens. Batman plays his hand to try to get Shinobi under tighter watch. Also, I'll reiterate, a clone is not what I have planned for the Light to do. Please, you guys, I love you, but stop kicking a dead horse. Anyway, it's bit short, but I didn't really like this chapter anyway. Thanks, once again, to Wing Zero Alchemist for being my beta. Until next time.