The Crimson Speedster

by choejhulkp9

Barry Allen AKA the Flash wasn't the only one who was affected by the particle accelerator. He and Star Labs find another speedster who has similar powers to Barry, yet he's a bit different. Watch as the Scarlet Speedster joins the Crimson Speedster possibly join forces and protect Central City. Naruto x Linda x ?

9. The World's Greatest Detective

Hey everyone. I hope you're all doing well in light of the whole COVID-19 pandemic around the world. Stay safe and quarantined and please take care of yourselves. For those working in the medical field, you have my upmost respect and solemn thanks for what you are doing in this crisis and for those who have lost loved ones to what has happened you have my deepest condolences. Times like this test us so let's come back stronger. Stay safe, stay alive, and stay well. Peace to all of you.

I hope this helps bring a little joy and positive interruption to your lives. Since there's no new Flash episode on Tuesday March 31st, 2020 a new chapter for my Flash story seemed like a good way to try and fill the void. Hope you guys enjoy and stay safe.

Here is Chapter 9 of the Crimson Speedster. With Orochimaru dealt with, that chapter of the Nine is closed until they learn more information. Until then, Naruto is slowly but surely building himself up back into someone who will be ready for the next fight but not lose who he is in the process. Helping him along that path, Naruto and Jiraiya take a business trip to Gotham to help advance STAR Labs future with Wayne Enterprises and meets the World's Greatest Detective and several of his rogue's gallery. And they're not fun. Enjoy!

The Crimson Speedster meets the World's Greatest Detective

My name is Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze and I'm one of the fastest men alive. After I got my powers, I dedicated my life to keeping the people of my city safe to the best of my ability and while I'm not in the suit I work at STAR labs to help the planet and make a better tomorrow. My life got more complicated after I learned about the work my parents did for a group called the Nine and their deaths was not an accident. I've taken down one of the Nine but in doing so I've strayed from my path. Now, it's up to me to rebuild myself into someone else…something else…I am Impulse.

Late March 2015

Central City, STAR Labs

The fight with Orochimaru marked the end of the first chapter in Naruto's battle with the Nine. He won but it wasn't easy. Now, they had to wait for their next opportunity of tracking down two leaders, Sasori and Deidara. But that was for another time and right now was the time for healing and planning ahead. Naruto was waiting outside of STAR labs for Kankuro and Temari to arrive. Kankuro and Temari Suna were Gaara's older siblings who were ecstatic that he was alive and well. Orochimaru had commanded Gaara to send emails to them over the years to mitigate any attempts to find him but now that he was dead, Naruto told them to come to STAR Labs because there was a lot they needed to know.

A Volkswagen Jetta pulled up through the empty parking lot and stopped at the curb. Kankuro got out of the driver's side and Temari came out the passenger side. Kankuro has spiky brown hair and was dressed in a black and purple suit while Temari was wearing heels, a long black skirt and white button up with a business jacket over. Kankuro worked as a designer for a major toy company while Temari worked an entry level position at an avionics company.

"Thanks for coming you too." Naruto said as Temari rushed over and hugged him. "Sorry it had to be like this."

"No, please. We're just glad he's ok." Temari replied as Kankuro and Naruto shared a hug. "A part of me was always worried about him but I never thought he'd end up here."

"What happened? You were kind of vague on the phone." Kankuro said.

"There's a reason for that. This is best done inside." Naruto led them into STAR labs before taking the elevator to floor 540, his designated work floor and where he moved Gaara.

"Wow, this place is impressive." Kankuro said, looking around at the building they were in. "Are my friends going to be jealous when I tell them I managed to get an inside look at this place."

"That's not gonna happen, Kankuro. I'm sorry but frankly what you're going to learn today…no can know." Naruto told him.

"Know what?" Temari asked as they walked into a medical room. Classical music was being played for Gaara as it helped him calm down and became part of his recovery routine. His eyes were closed as he seemed to be at peace. "Gaara."

The red-haired Meta opened his eyes and saw his older brother and sister in the doorway. "Temari."

She rushed over and hugged him, and he hugged back, holding her close and crying small tears of joy. Kankuro joined the two and the three Suna siblings were reunited. "It's so good to see you two. I thought I'd never see you ever again." Gaara said, wiping his tears away.

"What happened, Gaara? Naruto wouldn't tell us anything except that you were here. Are you ok? Did one of Naruto's experiments hurt you because if it did then he's dead." Temari shot him a death glare.

"Easy, Temari." Kankuro tried to calm her down.

"Nothing like that, Temari. He's been helping me. Without him, I wouldn't be here right now." Gaara said.

"What happened?" Kankuro just wanted a straight answer as to what the hell was going on.

"It's a long story." Naruto brought over two chairs so they could sit down while he and Gaara explained what happened. He was a little apprehensive with them knowing the truth but Gaara would get better if his brother and sister knew the whole story. It was a lot for them to take in and even more so for Gaara but hopefully together things would get better.

"If that son of a bitch was still alive, I'd kill him again and again." Temari said in anger, showing off her protective older sister personality.

"But he's not and he killed everyone in his organization who would have known Gaara so he's ok. And I have someone taking some measures to make sure that stays the same." Naruto told them.

"So, this is what you do when you're not inventing? Fighting crime in spandex?" Kankuro asked.

"Sort of. I'm taking a break at the moment but essentially." Naruto replied.

"Naruto's been helping me…try and get back to the person I used to be." Gaara told them.

"We've been helping each other. A lot happened that night." Naruto said. "But we're moving in the right direction."

"So, what now?" Temari asked.

"That's up to you guys. I figured that you three could use some time alone. Taking a vacation would help with everything and help you guys reconnect. But after that's over Gaara's always welcome back here if he needs help with his powers or if he wants a job."

"Thanks for the offer, Naruto but I'm not a scientist." Gaara reminded him.

"And I wouldn't hire you as one, but I have plans to hopefully expand STAR labs besides this one facility. With expansion comes developing a legal department, Human Resources and a public relations group. And I remember that was kind of your specialty when we were in college."

Gaara smiled at the memories of simpler times. "I'll think it over. Thank you, Naruto."

"Don't mention it. If you guys need anything just let me know." Naruto said, giving them some time alone and heading over to his work lab/office. He walked in and saw Kurama sleeping on a little cushion by his desk.

He sat at his desk and scratched the fox behind the ears, making his tail flutter a bit while he slept. He activated his computer terminal to work on more projects and check some work emails. "Aw…wasn't that scene just…tooth-achingly sweet?"

Naruto took a deep breath and ignored what was said to get back to work. He opened up an email he got from the Weathersby and Stone law firm about the business meeting later that week in Gotham. Naruto heard back from the office of Lucius Fox of Wayne Enterprises about arranging a business meeting to discuss business opportunities.

"It's cute how you think you can help Gaara, but you can't. He's a monster just like you." Orochimaru taunted him, sitting down on the edge of the desk. "What's the matter, Naruto? You're too good to talk to me or are you afraid I might be right?"

"No, I'm just not going to talk to a figment of my imagination brought on by my lingering guilt. I'm not crazy." Naruto replied, wheeling over in his chair to get some files. "Besides, you're getting quieter and quieter every day."

"Try as you might, Naruto…I'll never leave. I'll always be here." Orochimaru taunted.

"And I'll learn to live with it." Naruto replied as the Orochimaru ghost vanished, leaving him to get back to work in peace. After about an hour, Naruto carried Kurama and his cushion up to the cortex with a large docket of files in his other hand. He walked in and saw Cisco and Dr. Wells working on the computer and Caitlin texting with Ronnie. He and Professor Stein were progressing nicely with the whole Firestorm thing and were slowly learning more about their powers. They would probably be back in Central City soon.

"Naruto, how's Gaara doing?" Dr. Wells asked.

"Better. With Kankuro and Temari here, he'll get better. Sorry if them knowing complicates things but frankly it's the only way he'll get better. Besides, they know me and I'm terrible at keeping secrets from them." Naruto explained.

"It's quite all right. You trust them and we trust you." Dr. Wells answered. "What do you have there?"

"Some legal stuff." Naruto put Kurama and his cushion down on a chair so he could hand the docket files to Dr. Wells, Caitlin, and Cisco. "Honestly, if you would have told me that scientific breakthroughs and trying to change the world involved so much legal work, I would have preferred not being co-owner of STAR labs."

"Technically wouldn't it be CFO?" Caitlin asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, Dr. Wells is CEO of STAR labs and since he's established you as Co-owner, that would make you CFO." Caitlin said.

"I'm not exactly sure that title reflects what I do. A CFO deals with the finances of the company and while I'm kind of doing that now, it's not the only thing I do." Naruto countered.

"Perhaps CEO instead?" Dr. Wells suggested

"That won't be for a while. You'll outlive us all, Dr. Wells." Naruto joked. "Besides, we can worry about my legal title in the company later. If anything, I'd like to focus on what I just handed you guys."

"Yeah, what is this?" Cisco skimmed through it. There's no way he'd read it all now.

"It's the new STAR labs legal contract for employment. With the larger magnifying glass on us from our recent press conference, we'll need to do more to make this place seem like an actual science lab and not someplace that helps two speedster metahumans fight crime on a daily basis." Naruto pointed out.

"By the way, I've been wanting to talk to you about your suit." Cisco reminded him.

"Later, Cisco. This is just an official legal document laying out your position at STAR labs. Dr. Caitlin Snow, you are head of the bio-engineer and bio-medical department which consist of…. uh, just you for now." Naruto shrugged his shoulders. "But you did get a pay bump reflective of your position."

Caitlin took a look and her eyes went wide-eyed from the large number. "Are you sure about that?"

"If you don't want it, I could always lower your salary?" Naruto asked and she shook her head no. "Besides, it reflects the work you've done. A lot of the bio-medical technology and renovations that's in the Wayne Enterprises proposal were made with your help. Them along with the other scientific advancements were made with Cisco's help as well, or should I say, Cisco Ramon, head of the scientific mechanical engineering division of STAR Labs."

"Nice!" Cisco got a look at his salary and to say he was excited was an understatement.

"Are you sure you can afford this?" Caitlin asked.

"At the moment…no." Naruto said, instantly deflating the mood. "But we're on our way there. Our sale of the specialized bulletproof vests has already been sold to the Central City police along with various small security firms in the city. I've already finished the vests and packed them for the orders from New York City, Washington DC, Atlanta, Miami, and Los Angeles."

"How did you do it so fast?" Caitlin asked when she realized how stupid of a question that was.

"I'll send them out for shipment later today." Naruto told him.

"Since this is a real thing, we should try and work out a more efficient assembly and distribution system." Cisco pointed out.

"One of my many hopeful plans. I can handle the assembly for now, but we could license out our design to companies who make vest and they do it for us while we get paid. But ultimately the hope would be that STAR labs does everything itself." Naruto said.

"Kind of a tall order considering there are only four of us." Dr. Wells reminded him.

"And the fact that this place wouldn't be the best secret lair for our nighttime activities if it was crawling with employees." Caitlin added.

"Which is why I'm already looking into buying a smaller location somewhere in the city. A sort of STAR labs expansion that we can use to do the day-to-day science business and where we can have new hires work while this place stays the same and is designated just for us." Naruto suggested.

"Not a bad plan but not entirely viable at the moment." Dr. Wells stated.

"You're right. So, in the meantime, we just focus on what the four of us can do here. We've got the meeting with the city council tomorrow about activating the Arc Reactor. Cisco, if you wouldn't mind getting the power lines set up to route the power out to the city?" Naruto asked.

"Sure thing." He replied.

"Caitlin, if you wouldn't mind could you start the work on those medical equipment upgrade plans and schematics?" He asked. "And see where we are on those medical trials and enhanced vaccines."

"Sure thing."

"That just leaves us the logistical stuff, Dr. Wells. Namely all the paperwork that's required for the Arc reactor and getting our Oxohydrine bacteria out into the world." Naruto said.

"Then let's get started." Dr. Wells replied. Honestly, the next several hours was filled with paperwork signing and amendments. You have no idea the amount of paperwork it takes to set up a new energy company and distribute power to all Central City and its surrounding suburbs. Although the payday from this was going to be quite…sizeable.

Barry walked into STAR Labs later that day after his shift at work and walked down the halls when he saw Dr. Wells with a packet of files in hand and a coffee in the other. "Dr. Wells."

"Mr. Allen. I assume since you didn't super speed here that things are relatively quiet in the city?" He asked as Barry took some of the papers to help.

"Yeah. Nothing serious. Although from the look of these papers I'm assuming you've been doing a lot of paperwork." Barry readjusted his arms, so they didn't fall.

"That we have. Naruto has a lot of paperwork for the meeting tomorrow with the city council and the mayor to activate the Arc reactor for the entire city. Plus, the meeting with Wayne Enterprises is later this week so he's been quite busy." Dr. Wells explained.

"Right." Barry was worried about Naruto, not just because of all that work but because of what happened during his fight with Orochimaru. "How has he been? I mean, dealing with everything since Orochimaru?"

"As best as can be hoped. He's been undergoing some therapy sessions with Shizune back at the shelter. She is a trained specialist and has helped all the children at the shelter. She'll be able to help Naruto through this as well as the rest of us." Dr. Wells replied when he noticed the look in Barry's face. "Is there something else concerning you, Mr. Allen?"

"Yeah." Barry said as the two stopped in the middle of the hall to speak in private. "Something…happened to Naruto when we were in Starling City. It happened during his fight with Orochimaru."

"He said when he killed Orochimaru it was an accident?" Dr. Wells suggested and Barry nodded.

"And it was. I saw the whole thing and Naruto didn't mean for that to happen but…before that. Orochimaru's meta ability allowed him to transform into some…giant snake and he nearly killed Naruto, but something happened. Naruto turned the fight in his favor with that glowing armor we saw him use against Hartley." Barry explained.

"As I estimated, this must a new ability Naruto can somehow use that activates during times of great stress or danger. Hartley nearly killed him and Orochimaru did the same. Perhaps some kind of unconscious link in his brain activates it." Dr. Wells theorized.

"But that's not the strange part. After it happened and Naruto had Orochimaru on the ropes…something happened to him." Barry said and judging by his tone it was something that truly shocked and possibly terrified him a bit.

"Define something."

"Ok…I don't know how but…but Naruto suddenly changed. His body began vibrating super-fast to the point where he was a blur, his eyes were glowing red and his lightning color changed from crimson and white to blood red." Barry recounted and all that seemed to make Dr. Wells adopt a serious face. "And his voice sounded just like him."

"You're not suggesting that Naruto is the Reverse-Flash, are you?" Dr. Wells asked for clarification and Barry shook his head no.

"No, of course not. I mean, he was by my side when the Reverse-Flash attacked in December but what I saw…was exactly like that." Barry said. "I mean…I was there, and I still can't believe it."

"What does Naruto have to say about what happened?"

"He remembers parts of what happened, but he said it was like every single angry emotion he had at Orochimaru intensified to the point where he couldn't see straight. I mean, he attacked us when we tried to stop him, even Linda. I didn't think that was possible."

"This is disconcerting, although it does explain why Naruto has yet to build himself a new suit or use the spare that Cisco made for him." Dr. Wells pointed out. "He's afraid of that happening again."

"Do you think the Reverse-Flash did something to him?"

"I highly doubt it with all the tests we've run but I'll double check his last results." Dr. Wells told him. "There's still a lot about your powers that we don't know and how it connects you two to the Reverse-Flash. Clearly Naruto tapped into something for this to happen, but it doesn't appear to be the case anymore as his lighting has turned back to normal. I suppose we'll have to keep an extra eye on him from now on to make sure this doesn't happen again. Don't worry, Mr. Allen. I'll keep an eye on him."

"Thanks, Dr. Wells but I'm just concerned if the Reverse-Flash really did something to him. And if he did, then that means he can come after the rest of us. You don't think Naruto's been working for him this whole time?" Barry wanted his opinion on the crazy idea in his head.

"I don't believe so." Dr. Wells replied, looking at Barry. "Do you?"

"I…I don't think so but after what I saw I'm not sure what to believe." Barry was honestly not sure what to think. "I trust Naruto with my life. We've fought side by side for months but after what happened I can't help but feel that something else is going on. Does this sound crazy?"

"We're having a conversation involving superpowers…crazy has become the new normal as Naruto would say." Dr. Wells stated. "And I also know Naruto would never, ever betray your trust. He is your friend. Never doubt that."

"You're right." Barry shook his head and took a deep breath, putting that thought out of his head.

"We'll figure out what happened to Naruto, Mr. Allen and trust me when I tell you…never lost faith in him. I haven't." Dr. Wells remarked as the two made their way into the cortex where they were greeted to the sight of Joe standing in the middle of the room while Naruto took his measurements like he was a tailor.

"Ok, Cisco measurements for jacket are 38" by 28.9" long so let's round that out to 29"." Naruto announced, using measuring tape like he had done this before.

"On it." Cisco typed that all down in the computer. "Do you want to use the macro-fiber material to adjust for crimping and stretching?"

"Yeah, that should be fine and won't reduce the structural integrity of the armor." He replied, double checking the measurements. "Joe, are you comfortable with your pants measurements or do you want me to take them because I'd rather not."

"That makes two of us. I'm a 38" long." Joe told him.

"Thank you." Naruto handed him his jacket so he could get dressed.

"Guess you were right to now lose faith in him." Barry remarked and Dr. Wells nodded. "Joe, what are you doing here?"

"Naruto found me and wanted me to get fitted for the new concealed body armor."

"How did he find you?" Dr. Wells asked as Naruto and Joe shared a look.

Flashback thirty minutes ago…

Naruto was walking down the hallway of one of the floors after getting some extra equipment from storage when he heard the tell-tale sign of snoring. He stopped when he heard the snoring and walked over to the source which was coming from a room labeled lounge. He walked in and turned on the lights only to see Joe asleep on the couch. The sudden intake of light woke up Joe from his nap.

"Naruto…" Joe was not expecting to be caught asleep in the lounge. "…I can explain this."

"No need." Naruto walked in and saw Joe made himself very comfortable with a nice pillow and blanket. "How long have you known about this place?"

"I stumbled into here one day when Barry first started…and I've been napping here ever since." Joe recounted.

"Well, far be it from me to intrude in on a man's sacred napping spot. Don't worry, secret's safe with me." Naruto assured him before walking over to the little coffee counter/bar in the far corner. "Do you want me to set this thing up for you?"

"No, that's all right. Kind of defeats the purpose of a napping spot to have an espresso machine that works."

"Fair enough. Well, since you're here how about we get you fitted for your body armor." Naruto suggested.

"Fine by me." Joe replied.

End flashback…

"Joe came by here for a status update. Figured it was a good time as any to get him fitted for this. Just give me a few minutes and I'll have it and some spares ready." Naruto explained.

"Sure thing. You guys are pretty busy around here." Joe commented.

"Well, with all the work Naruto's done it involves some logistical items to take care of." Dr. Wells informed him, strolling over to the computer to put some files down on the table. "I've got the analysis data on the Arc reactor's muon energy reaction. Are you thinking of doing what I think you're doing?"

"Depends if you are thinking what I'm thinking." Naruto replied.

"What are you both thinking?" Barry asked as Naruto held up his parent's old notebook.

"Just some applications for Arc reactor tech my parents thought up of. Let me show you." Naruto grabbed a rolling cart and tablet while Cisco grabbed two light projector/scanners and placed them across from one another on the cart. He turned them on and a cyan-blue light projected from both, creating a light field between the two. "This is something Cisco, Dr. Wells and I managed to finally get working. I give you, the first ever holographic hard-light projection interface."

Cisco placed his phone in the light field created by the two light projectors. Said projectors instantly scanned the item in question before projecting a 3D image in the air. The hologram was highly detailed and provided information and schematics of the phone. Cisco placed his hand into the field and touched the hologram like it was really there and it reacted to his touch. It moved when it was in his hand and just like in movies and other pop culture depictions, it was a real-life hologram. Cisco spread his hands out and the phone's hologram opened up into its various components like it was taken apart and each layer and component had detailed data.

"Incredible." Barry walked over to get a closer look. He put his hand into the field, and it was just like in the movies. An actual real-life hologram.

"It took some time to get the hard-light interface system to work but we eventually managed to get something working. The patent paperwork has already been sent to the law office along with the others we have developing. This is the one I plan to unveil at the Wayne Enterprises meeting." Naruto said. "Imagine how easier it'll make your CSI work with hard-light holographic scanning and projection?"

"It'll make a lot of work easier." Barry added. "I mean, with this thing you could essentially replace computers, laptops, tablets and pretty much everything people used to do normal work."

"I'll stick with my computer along with a pad and pen. It's old school but it works for me." Joe remarked.

"Fair enough but this is the future. We're already working on smaller applications like phones, watches and such. I figured if Palmer Tech can turn a computer into a watch, I'm going to go a step further." Naruto vowed.

"What's that?" Joe questioned only for Naruto's smile to drop.

"I have no idea, but I'll let you know when I find out." Naruto replied causing them all to chuckle. "Anyway, once we got this working it's been making the design and building process a lot easier. Whatever a computer or notepad can do, this thing can do ten times faster and it provides a 3-D scale model of whatever we're building. We've got some pretty incredible technology designs working up but the thing I've been wrestling with for a few days is this."

Naruto pressed a few buttons on the hologram projector, accessing its stored memory files and brought up various scanned pages that were filled with data and calculations. "What exactly are we looking at?" Joe was confused with what was being shown.

"It's some of the pages from my parent's notebook. The projector can also scan and store information from anything like a book or a pile of documents. Makes reading a lot easier." Cisco explained.

"Makes the Kindle I got Iris look like a magnifying class in comparison." Joe said as Barry chuckled.

"You don't have to worry about that yet, Joe. I want to get this into a smaller sized device before we license that out to companies but that's later. Anyway, when we turned the Arc reactor on, I went over all of my parent's old notebooks and I found some interesting hypothesis my mother had on Arc reactor technology." Naruto told them.

"Like what? I mean, that thing can power an entire city. What else is there?" Barry asked.

"That's what I want to figure out. She suspected that the muon energy the reactor generates can not only create energy for power but could possibly be used in synthesizing new elements." Naruto explained catching Barry and Joe by surprise. "She was a biophysicist by training along with being a molecular biologist and figured that the arc reactor energy could help in her research. Most synthetic elements are usually created by manipulation of particles in a nuclear reactor or particle accelerator. The Arc reactor muon energy is more than powerful enough to re-arrange the particles in elements to make something new and given that it's non-radioactive in nature that should help in making something different. I have some tests I plan to run through later today."

"How the hell do you have the time to come up with this stuff?" Joe questioned, genuinely impressed and shocked with these scientific advancements that he had no basis to understand. Still it was impressive.

"Helps to have super speed. It makes thinking a lot easier. And I've had some time on my hand." Naruto answered when they got an alert. Cisco walked over to the computer to check.

"Bank robbery on O'Neil boulevard."

"All right, I'll call it in." Joe said, dialing the station on his phone.

"Right." Barry walked over to his mannequin to grab his suit when he saw Naruto seemed to be frozen in place. "Naruto? You coming?"

"I got a spare Impulse suit in my workshop." Cisco reminded him.

Naruto had a bit of a mild panic attack judging by the shaking his right hand was doing and his increased heart rate, something Dr. Wells and Caitlin saw. "Barry, why don't you take care of this?" Dr. Wells suggested.

"Yeah, shouldn't be that hard." She added. Barry looked at Naruto and noticed his shaking hand and facial expression. He realized Naruto was experiencing some PTSD.

"Yeah, I can handle it." Barry quickly put his suit on and super sped out of STAR labs.

Naruto took a deep breath to calm himself down before sitting in a chair. "It's ok, Naruto." Caitlin came over to comfort him. His PTSD was still there and while he had taken some serious steps in recovery…it wouldn't fix itself overnight.

Line Break xxxxx

Naruto was asleep in his bed at the shelter, but it wasn't a peaceful sleep judging by his tossing and turning.

He was reliving the moment of Orochimaru's death over and over again but that wasn't the terrifying part. The scary part is what happened after…he would see his reflection. His reflection showed his right hand and arm dripping blood…his body vibrating at super speed…his eyes were black with red pupils and his lightning turning blood red. His reflection then grabbed him by the neck and slammed him into a wall. He struggled to get free only for his reflection to tighten his hand around his neck. Suddenly another figure appeared next to his reflection and it was a vibrating man in yellow with red eyes…the Reverse-Flash.

"You either die a hero or live long enough to become the villain…Guess we have." His evil reflection said before vibrating his hand and driving it through his heart like he did Orochimaru.

[GASP!] Naruto shot up from his nightmare with sweat pouring down his face in shock and fear. He did a double-take to see where he was, and he was in his room at the shelter. Kurama was asleep on his furry bed and unaware of what happened. Naruto took some deep breaths when he noticed he sweat through his shirt and judging by the sweat on the sheets, he wasn't going back to bed anytime soon. The time on his alarm clock read 5:30am and the sun hadn't come over the horizon yet. He turned his body and sat on the edge of the bed, running his hands through his spiky hair and wiping the sweat that covered his face. "Jesus Christ. Talk about my subconscious wanting to torture me."

He took a few deep breaths to calm himself down before sitting down on the floor in cross-legged position to do some meditating. Shizune recommended it to help him with his recovery. Deep breaths in and out to calm his heart and focus his mind on something else. He closed his eyes and tried to find his center, breathing slowly and calmly to try and recover from his little chaotic nightmare.

"Find a goal…find a dream…and don't stop trying…until it comes true. If a man hasn't discovered something he will die for, he isn't fit to live." Naruto said to himself. Those were his favorite quotes from his mother and father respectively. Those words would always linger in his head and have been a driving force his entire life. Even after he awoke from his coma, discovered his powers, and became a hero. The road to recovery was tough but not impossible and hopefully he'd find himself when he finished.

He glanced over at the clock and saw it was 5:59am. He wasn't going to get anymore sleep so might as well get up and get the day started.

One hour later…

Tsunade and Shizune finished their morning routines and got dressed before walking out of their rooms. Tsunade stretched her arms over her head to get the kinks out and ease some soreness while unintentionally causing her large bosom to bounce. Shizune finished fixing Ton-Ton's little shirt before picking him up. They walked down the stairs to the ground floor where they saw Jiraiya asleep on the couch like an idiot. His head was hanging off the edge and his legs were sprawled all around.

"How much longer is that pervert going to be here?" Tsunade asked. "You'd think a CIA agent would at least not be a slob."

"But isn't it a good thing he and Naruto are improving their relationship?" Shizune pointed out

"I'd just rather have them do it someplace else where I don't have to see his stupid face every morning. I love the kid and everything he's done to help us and this place with work and the million-dollar donation but that old man wasn't part of the package deal." Tsunade made her point. "Anyway, let's get breakfast ready and the lunches for the kids before we deal that excuse for a man on the couch."

"I think the first part has been taken care of already." Shizune pointed to the dining room table where all 20 kids were sitting and eating a nice and full breakfast buffet laid out expertly on the large table. There were scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, toast, various breakfast pastries with accompanied jams, jellies, and marmalades, along with tall pitchers of apple and orange juice. Naruto was dressed in his blue jeans, red t-shirt and a blue button-up over it. Kurama was sitting in the kitchen, munching on some bacon while Naruto walked over with two plates filled with pancakes and waffles.

"All right, guys eat up. Your day of learning at school will go much better after a full and good breakfast." Naruto said, placing the plates down and putting some pancakes on plates before drizzling them in syrup. "Oh, Morning Tsunade, Shizune."

"Morning!" The kid greeted them, half of them with their mouths full of good food.

"Good morning." Shizune smiled and walked over to the kids, kissing them all on the head.

"You made breakfast?" Tsunade was not expecting this when she woke up.

"I woke up early, so I figured I'd do something productive. Did some food shopping so I could make breakfast along with their lunches." Naruto walked to the kitchen where 20 lunch bags were lined up. "Perfectly crafted sandwiches, chips, fruit, and specially made cupcake for desert. There's more on the counter

Tsunade looked and saw a half empty tray of cupcakes with a piping bag of icing next to them. "You made cupcakes?"

"From scratch, by the way. I also have some bread and croissant dough rising for later." Naruto pointed over to the counter where two covered bowls were resting.

"Since when do you know how to bake?" Shizune asked.

"Since this morning. I read over the cook books you have, and it wasn't that hard. It's pretty much chemistry." Naruto said, walking over to the coffee machine to pour two cups of coffee and bring them over to Tsunade and Shizune. "I have something special planned for dinner. I might pick it up as a hobby. Not only is it fun but delicious as well."

The two women sipped the coffee and it was delicious. "Wow. This isn't Jitter's coffee." Shizune commented as Naruto took Ton-Ton into the kitchen next to Kurama to feed him, putting some vegetables and sausage in the bowel to give him a varied meal. Ton-Ton happily snorted and ate his nice meal with gusto.

"It's not. It's a special Italian roast I got from a specialty shop in Manhattan because none of the stores here were open." Naruto explained putting together plates for his surrogate aunts.

"You went to New York for food?" Tsunade whispered.

"Do I hear you complaining because if so, I can take it away along with the entire closet full of coffee beans that'll last about a year?" Naruto suggested.

"Never mind." She replied sipping her coffee and taking a seat at the table next to some of the kids. They were all so happy and that brought a smile to her face. She kissed one of the girls on the head as Naruto walked over with their plates when they heard the doorbell.

"Who's that?" Shizune asked.

"Oh, that's probably Dr. Wells, Caitlin, Cisco, and the others. I hope it's ok I invited them for breakfast?"

"Sure. The more the merrier but I am not doing the dishes." Tsunade bluntly told him.

"Relax. That'd be torture for anyone who isn't me. I'll do it. It'll take a few seconds anyway." Naruto walked over and opened the door where Dr. Wells, Cisco, Caitlin, Barry, Joe, and Linda were there along with Gaara, Kankuro, and Temari. "Good morning, guys. Glad you could make it."

"Of course, thanks for inviting us." Caitlin said, hugging him and kissing him on the cheek as they all walked in one at a time and smelt the amazing food.

"It smells good in here." Joe complemented him after hugging Naruto and seeing the table filled with food and happy little kids.

"Of course, were you expecting anything less than amazing?" Naruto joked before hugging Barry and giving Linda a kiss.

"You've outdone yourself, Naruto." Barry said, taking his jacket off.

"Thanks again for inviting us, Naruto." Gaara said. "I'm sorry if it was an inconvenience."

"Don't even go there, Gaara because it wasn't. With everything that's been going on, a little peace and quiet will help." Naruto told him as they walked in and he closed the door behind them. "Believe me, I should know. All of this…it helps. And having friends and family there will as well."

"Thank you." Gaara smiled and Naruto smiled back.

"Now, grab a plate and eat up. Don't worry there's plenty so eat until your stomach bursts!" Naruto told them as they all sat down at the table with plates and ate. It was a good and rowdy affair that was like something out of a family drama at the good parts of the film. The part where everyone comes together for a moment of peace and fun. About half an hour into the meal the kids finished just as the school bus arrived, so they were ushered away with their lunch bags. Once they were gone it was little easier as Naruto, Barry, Linda, and Gaara could use their powers. It also helped that they left just as Jiraiya woke up.

Everyone ate their fill and were satisfied so Naruto did the dishes which took all of ten seconds and super sped back into his chair with a fresh pot of coffee hand. "Anyone want another cup?"

"I'll get some of that to go if I can." Joe said as Naruto super sped away before coming back with a thermos. "Thanks. I'll tell you, this Italian roast definitely gives Jitters a run for its money."

"Don't tell Iris that." Barry joked. "Seriously, Naruto that was amazing. You'd think with quantity you'd lose flavor but that wasn't the case."

"Well I guess I can add chef to my growing list of talents. Which reminds me I have dinner planned out tonight as well so all of you are coming." Naruto told them.

"We'll be there." Dr. Wells smiled as he sipped his cup of coffee.

"You seem to be doing better, kid." Jiraiya commented, running his free hand through his bed head.

"Well better than how I started this morning, that's for sure." He calmly sipped his coffee and relished in the warmth it gave him.

"Nightmares?" Gaara asked and Naruto nodded. "Yeah, me too."

"They're not fun."

"Tell me about it." Jiraiya added. "They'll take some time to go away but they will. Stick with your recovery, both of you, and they'll fade. Rome wasn't rebuilt in a day and the mind is far more complex but like all things it'll heal."

"Huh, guess you can be a caring godfather when you want to be." Tsunade remarked.

"I can be a lot more to you if you'd like?" Jiraiya winked only for Tsunade to smash him on the head and his body hit the ground with a thud.

"And he's back." Naruto quipped. "Anyway, he better pick himself up from the floor because he's coming with us to city hall to meet with the city council and the mayor. He's acting as our security escort."

"I'll be fine…just give me a minute." Jiraiya wheezed from his spot on the ground.

"So, what exactly does it take fuel a city with unlimited energy?" Kankuro asked.

"Well, we have the power source. The only thing it actually takes is distributing that energy which Cisco and I have already done. We've set up power lines to run straight from the Arc reactor into the transmission lines STAR labs used when it was still on the city's power grid. We're essentially going to be sending out electricity to the power plant instead of receiving it and from there it'll flow like it normally does except it comes from STAR labs instead of wherever it used to come from. Once the mayor and city council sign off on the documents and we're good to go and operate, then 750,000 people will be receiving renewable and clean energy for the foreseeable future. And STAR labs will receive over 800 million a year or 66 million a month to keep this city powered. We'll get a massive payday, I can finally pay Cisco and Caitlin those proposed salaries, and fund additional projects." Naruto explained.

"I'll cheers to that." Cisco clinked his coffee mug with Naruto's.

"It really takes 800 million a year to power an entire city?" Temari asked.

"Well that's a conservative number but pretty much. Probably more for cities like Los Angeles or New York and the best part is that our energy is constant and free flowing. The only real problem would be if something happens at the power plant to stop the flow of electricity, but we'll make sure that doesn't happen." Naruto remarked before raising his coffee mug. "I would like to propose a toast…to my friends and family who will always be remembered for ushering in a new era. Today…we make history."

"Cheers!" Everyone clanked their cups together.

A little more conversation and packing of leftovers and coffee before the others left. Naruto got redressed into his fanciest business attire for the meeting. He put on some black business shoes and chose to wear a Blue Hemsworth suit and pant combo with a navy striped tie and navy pocket square. A small briefcase containing the legal paper and files finished the outfit and he looked like a businessman…except for his spikey blonde hair but he wasn't combing or cutting that at all.

Cisco, Caitlin, and Dr. Wells were dressed in their fancy business attire as well as Jiraiya who had a pistol and knife hidden incase something happened. They took the STAR labs van to City Hall where they would have the meeting with the Mayor and City Council. Once parked, they made their way to the building where a mob of reporters were already waiting for them. Reporters along with protestors about the Arc reactor and just the advancement of science in general. They were the creationist groups and most of them were the same protestors who protested the particle accelerator during its development. Whenever an advancement in science was made to help change the world there would be people there to protest it.

Jiraiya led the way, keeping them away so Naruto, Cisco, and Caitlin could help Dr. Wells up to the entrance. All Naruto said was no comment or he'd talk after the meeting was over. Once they were inside, they met with Greg Turk, an attorney at Weathersby & Stone who was legally representing STAR Labs at the meeting.

"Mr. Turk." Naruto shook his hand and Greg shook back.

"Mr. Namikaze, Dr. Wells. You're right on time." Greg told them as a receptionist came up to them.

"Mr. Namikaze, Dr. Wells. Welcome to City Hall. If you'll follow me, I'll escort you to your meeting room." She led them through City Hall to where the meeting would take place. They walked into the private meeting room with a large round table and a small side table with a coffee machine and bagels. "This is your meeting room. There are coffee and bagels on the side. The Mayor and City council will just be a moment longer."

"Thank you." Dr. Wells replied as she left.

"This is noice!" Cisco said, looking around at the place. "We are certainly moving up in the world."

"We are Cisco, but this is also important so let's be on our best behavior today." Dr. Wells reminded him.

"Don't worry about me. I'll keep my mouth shut. I'm not even needed here, just for moral support." Cisco said to Naruto.

"Thanks again, Cisco." Naruto opened his collar a bit to breathe. He was beyond nervous. "Whew, guess I'm still really nervous. Is it hot in here or is it just me?"

"Does this happen to the kid often?" Jiraiya asked Caitlin.

"You should have seen him during the press conference."

"All right, what's the plan for today again?" Naruto asked, completely overwhelmed to the point where simple items were slipping.

"It's fairly simple, Mr. Namikaze. All the paperwork is completed and once they confirm everything, they'll ask any questions they have and bring up any last points. Once everything is finished, we'll head with the Mayor and the Council to the powerplant for the energy transfer to the city. There will probably be press and interviews there so brace yourself." Mr. Turk explained.

"Right, ok. I'll handle everything at the powerplant while Dr. Wells and Cisco head back to STAR labs to watch over everything on that end." Naruto added.

"That's fine. God willing in a few hours, STAR labs will be providing power to all of Central City. This is a momentous day." Mr. Turk said when they heard the door open.

"Which is why it's a good thing we're here as well." They heard as a group walked in that wasn't the mayor and the city council. Leading the group was an older looking man in a high-power business suit, reeking of old money. Following him was a young woman about Naruto's age in a very fancy and expensive business outfit and then a team of lawyers with briefcases. Naruto couldn't place them at first but Jiraiya did and walked over to his godson.

"That's Blake Carrington, CEO of Carrington Atlantic." He whispered.

"What the hell is he doing here?" Naruto asked.

"We're about to find out." Dr. Wells told them.

"Excuse me gentlemen but this is a private meeting. I'm afraid I'm gonna have to ask you to leave before I contact Security." Mr. Turk said.

"That's ok. We're actually here to meet you." Mr. Carrington pointed out.

"That's not possible. We have a meeting with the Mayor at 9am." Mr. Turk told them.

"Which has been pushed to 9:30 so that we could talk. It took a little convincing, but the Mayor was willing to let us speak in private for thirty minutes." The woman said.

"Well, you said you wanted this meeting but that doesn't mean we have to stick around until you tell me who you are and what you want." Naruto told them.

"You like to get to the point, I like that. Allow me to introduce myself. Blake Carrington, CEO of Carrington Atlantic." The CEO walked over to Naruto and held his hand out only to get a wry glance before ultimately getting a shake back out of manners. "This is my daughter, Fallon, our Head of Acquisitions. So, you are the famous young scientist who has put the entire world in clamor for your breakthroughs? When I was made aware of your advancements, I must admit you were not at all what I was expecting."

"And what exactly were you expecting, Mr. Carrington?" Naruto asked, appearing as neutral and unemotional as possible.

"Someone a little…older." The old money patriarch replied.

"Come now, daddy. You know the saying about genius and youth." Fallon added.

"Fair enough. Still, to see someone as young as you co-owner of a research lab and making new breakthroughs is something quite remarkable."

"Thank you, Mr. Carrington." Naruto replied. "But if it would be possible, can we just skip all the formalities and get to the point as to why you're here and you pushed our meeting with the mayor back half an hour."

"By all means." Blake Carrington walked over to the other side of the table with his legal team who immediately began taking out dockets and papers. "Carrington Atlantic is looking to diversify its investments. We've been expanding past our typical points of oil and power into the technology related areas which is why we're here."

"Carrington Atlantic would like make a bid to purchase STAR Labs." Fallon pitched.

"You want to buy STAR labs?" Cisco asked.

"Acquire it. Carrington Atlantic would like to make a bid for controlling rights of the company." Fallon corrected him. "We've already drawn up contracts and legal paperwork for purchase and once the company is under the Carrington Atlantic brand you would all have positions in the company under our employment."

The Carrington lawyers handed them the contracts for them to read over. Mr. Turk began reading as fast as he could along with the others, but Naruto and Dr. Wells were the only two who didn't touch them.

"In other words, you want our Arc reactor technology." Naruto plainly put it.

"The Arc Reactor technology is part of it but the other advancements, inventions, and patents you've submitted are things to be considered as well." Fallon said, doing her best as to put it as best as she could.

"I think we can cut the business Jargon and put it in layman's terms because it's pretty simple. I may not know your father's face, but I know of him and the only reason a conservative old-money oil and power tycoon would ever purchase a science firm like STAR labs is because it has something he wants." Naruto flat out put it. "And considering that Carrington Atlantic deals in power and energy, mainly oil and natural gases, a new renewable and vastly more powerful source is something he wants to erase the competition."

"I believe Fallon was right about you, Mr. Namikaze. You are much wiser beyond your years." Mr. Carrington told him.

"It's Naruto, I prefer it. And considering most 23-year-old people are still figuring out their life plans and dealing with student debt, I'll take that as a compliment. But it makes the most sense. Given the drama and PR nightmare you received from the fracking business in Atlanta, you're looking for something to weather the tides and bolster your stocks." Naruto added. "You want that to be STAR labs."

"You've made great strides for the future so Carrington Atlantic would like to help you by giving you a larger platform to operate on." Fallon said.

"Carrington Atlantic is prepared to offer you quite a sizeable sum to make this happen." Mr. Carrington said as Mr. Turk showed Naruto and Dr. Wells the proposed bid of 5 billion dollars. Naruto took the document and gave it a once over before closing it shut and pushing it away.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Carrington but I have no intention of selling STAR labs to anyone." Naruto told him.

"If the agreed amount is not to your liking I'm sure that we can come to a different arrangement." One of Carrington's lawyers suggested.

"I don't care how much money you offer. Fifty billion or even a hundred billion because I'm not selling at all." Naruto told them. "The Scientific and Technological Advanced Research Lab was built to help the world and advance the cause of science, not help you get rich, so I don't plan to sell. STAR labs belong to Dr. Wells and me and it's going to stay that way."

"Dr. Wells, perhaps you would like a moment to talk to your young protégé in private so you could help him see the benefits of this transaction." Mr. Carrington offered.

"Naruto is wiser beyond his years and unfortunately for you we're of the same mind on this matter. STAR labs is not for sale." Dr. Wells added. "STAR labs is a privately owned company with all the shares divided between myself and Naruto here and neither of us are planning to sell anytime in the future to anyone. As Naruto put it, STAR labs is here to help the world and we'll do that on our own."

Naruto smiled at Dr. Wells and when he noticed Blake Carrington's expression turn sour, that added some extra enjoyment. "Sorry you wasted your trip to Central City but perhaps calling ahead next time or sending an email might be the better alternative." Naruto said with a smile while Mr. Carrington just glared at him. "Now, we have nothing further to discuss so if you wouldn't mind leaving. We have our meeting with the mayor."

Blake Carrington held back his grimace and anger before standing up to leave. "I admire your attitude, kid. But I plan to have that company…and I always get what I want."

Naruto sent him a mild glare before clearing his throat. "Normally I'd be intimidated by the scary threats of a powerful businessman but I'm not the same person I was a year ago and I don't scare that easily anymore. There is no way STAR labs is going anywhere so long as I am alive and have a say in it. Lucky for us, the Arc reactor is only one a part of the work we're doing. And unlike fossil fuels or natural gases, my ideas won't run out anytime soon." Naruto replied.

"We'll see." Blake Carrington warned him, but Naruto wasn't about to let him have the last word.

"Mr. Carrington, one last thing before you leave. One day and one day soon when I'm ready to build another Arc reactor…it'll be in Atlanta next to your building. And soon enough, I'll be making an offer for your company. See you then."

Blake glared at him before finally leaving. Fallon shot Naruto a wink of approval before they all left. Naruto let out a deep sigh of relief and smiled. "That…was awesome." Cisco commented.

"Nicely done, kid." Jiraiya told him. "Your parents would be proud and any time to see a smug jaghole grimace like that is a good day in my book."

"Yes, they would be proud as am I." Dr. Wells assured him.

"A part of me wants to lecture you for threatening him but I can put that aside for me being proud of you for standing up for yourself." Caitlin added. "I'm surprised they even showed up here."

"It's not surprising. Carrington Atlantic provides half the power to Central City. With the Arc reactor going online today, they saw it was their chance to stop us from ruining their future." Dr. Wells informed her.

"Well too bad for Blake Carrington that he failed. I'm never selling. Now, let's set out to do what we're actually here to do." Naruto said just as the Mayor and the council arrived.

Two hours later…

After some deliberation, question answering, and science explaining, the talks between STAR labs and the representatives of Central City were complete. The reason it took so long was just answering questions by the mayor and explaining how everything would work and what changes would need to be implement but not that much was going to change. The technicians at the power plant were essentially going to be doing the same thing in monitoring the energy flow and keeping a watchful eye on anything bad happening while STAR labs provided the energy.

Once questions were answered, the Mayor, City Council and Naruto would head to the power plant while Cisco and Dr. Wells went back to STAR labs to monitor everything there and turn the reactor to a hundred percent. Once they walked out of City Hall, the Mayor did his little media press conference to talk about what was going on. Naruto and his group made their way down to the sidewalk while the mayor spoke when Jiraiya noticed Fallon Carrington and a large man, probably her driver, walking up to them, so he moved his hand to his gun just to be safe.

Naruto turned and saw Fallon walk up to him. "Something I can help you with, Ms. Carrington?"

"I just wanted to say I loved your little business tussle you had with my father in the conference room. Any chance I can get to see him uncomfortable and stewing in his losses are prized moments in a dysfunctional family photo album."

"Um…your welcome." Naruto replied. "With all due respect, I can't help but wonder if you being here has an ulterior motive."

Fallon smiled before handing him her business card. "Anytime you want to talk or if you're ready to bring down my father, remember me. I'll be happy to help."

Naruto looked at the business card but noted her personal cell was written in pen. "Duly noted, Ms. Carrington but I'm in a fully committed and happy relationship."

"Really, what's that like?" She joked. "Give me a call sometime. Business related or not."

She winked at him before her and her bodyguard left. Naruto gave her business card a second glance before handing it over to Caitlin. "Do with it what you will. If you think we should keep it then by all means or if you feel we should trash it go ahead. I could care less."

"Good move." Caitlin told him before ripping the card into fours and throwing it in the trash. "Linda will be happy when I tell her this."

"Duly noted. All right, Cisco how about you and Dr. Wells head back to STAR labs now and get everything ready. Caitlin and I will head to the power plant and let you know when we're ready." Naruto said.

"Roger that, captain." Cisco walked over to the van to get a bag of equipment. He handed it over to Naruto before helping Dr. Wells into the van and driving back to STAR labs. Naruto, Caitlin, and Jiraiya got a ride with the Mayor and City council to the power plant. Where they went a horde of reporters came with. Naruto wanted to keep them away for their own safety, but the Mayor was insistent on his good media day, so he let him have it either out of respect or just not caring.

Naruto took his laptop out of the bag and booted it up before plugging it into the main terminal. He gave an energy output reader to one of the technicians to install before giving another a nexus router to install. The nexus router would allow STAR labs to monitor everything remotely incase something happened. Jiraiya helped with install while Caitlin hurriedly passed out the new manuals to all the technicians. Naruto sat at the main control console for the entire power plant with his laptop hooked up and connected while Caitlin had her tablet connected to the STAR labs server.

Naruto typed away at main console, readying the take the electrical grid offline from its main power source to receive the influx of energy from STAR labs. He tapped his Bluetooth earpiece and called STAR labs. "All right. We're all set up on this end. Cisco, Dr. Wells how everything at home base?"

Back at STAR labs, Cisco and Dr. Wells were seated at the cortex computer monitors to begin remote control over the Arc reactor. "We're all good on our end, Red Leader. Ready when you are." Cisco replied.

"Roger that, Red 5." Naruto joked back. "Dr. Wells, can you confirm that we can begin?"

Dr. Wells did some last-minute triple checks to make sure everything was set, and it was. He looked at the security camera in the reactor room and saw the large circular reactor glowing a nice cyan blue color. (1)

"Yes, we are ready. On your go." Dr. Wells told him.

"Roger that." Naruto typed a few commands into his laptop and began to shut down parts of the distribution grid that received the electrical energy from extraneous sources outside of Central City. That was from major energy companies but not for much longer. "Increase Arc reactor input to 15%."

"Increasing." Cisco increased the reaction to 15% in the Arc reactor. Nothing seemed to happen that could be seen but energy from the reactor began flowing from the transmission lines over to the power plant. The main console at the plant alerted him of the incoming energy so he routed it through the lines of the power plant to the electrical generator where it began generating electrical energy. Once the electrical energy was being generated, it was then distributed down its normal avenues through power and transmission lines along with pooling at substations. "Energy output at fifteen percent and we're generating 207,000 volts of energy."

"How much is that?" Caitlin asked, monitoring everything on her tablet.

"That's about 12 office buildings worth of power. Keep in mind that's a general estimate, not taking into consideration size and tenant density." Naruto explained. The city council, mayor and engineers who heard that were amazed. "Any problems?"

"No, we're completely fine." Caitlin told him.

"Technicians say everything's in the green zone. No signs of energy feedback or electrical surges." Jiraiya added.

"All right, let's kick it up to 25%." Naruto said. Cisco did as he was told and the light from the reactor got a tiny bit brighter. As more energy flowed in from STAR labs, more of the outsource distribution grid was shut down. More of the STAR labs energy was fed into the generator and then distributed out to the city.

"25% and we're still looking great." Caitlin told him.

"Excellent." Naruto replied.

"Is there anyway to make this go faster?" One of the councilmembers asked.

"Patience, Councilmen Gorb. Something like this is best not to rush. I'd rather take this slow and steady so we can monitor any kind of issues or mechanical failures. I'd hate to overload the power plant and risk a city-wide blackout." Naruto explained, double checking everything and they were still doing great. "All right, let's move it to 50%."

Arc reactor power was increased to 50% so Naruto did his job when the monitors and terminals triggered with a small alarm. "What was that?" Jiraiya asked.

"Sorry, that was my fault. A little slow on the energy routing but no problem now." Naruto covered his butt and quickly fixed the miniscule problem.

"You were too slow?" Caitlin asked.

"Yes, I was too slow. I get the irony, ha-ha, let's move on." Naruto said as everyone chuckled. "All right, we're at 50% Arc reactor power and distributing it to half the city. Increase to 70%."

"Increasing." Cisco replied, increasing the reaction and more energy was being produced by the reactor. Its glow was brighter than before, but all their scans and readings indicated that the reactor was operating perfectly, and no issues had come up. "Arc reactor at 70% operating efficiency and we're all good here. How's everything there?"

"We're still good. Electrical generator working and distributing the energy throughout the city is smooth." Naruto replied, checking over his laptop and saw the energy levels were at optimal levels and perfect. "Looks like things are reading strong. We're doing it."

"That we are." Dr. Wells said. "Is everything ready to bring it up to 100%?"

"I think so. Let's try it. Increase Arc reactor reaction to 100%." Naruto said and Cisco did that. The Arc reactor charged up to 100% efficiency with the cyan blue glow bright and the humming from the reactor was like music to the ear. Naruto double-checked things on his end and made sure the energy build up was evenly distributed throughout the grid so nothing overloaded. The amount of energy the Arc reactor gave out could easily overload the power plant.

"How's everything going?" The Mayor asked.

"One second…" Naruto did some tinkering at the control console before wheeling the chair over to check the output readers and they were all at a hundred percent and reading green. He then wheeled back to check the laptop and the Arc reactor was purring like a kitten. "Mr. Mayor…City Councilmembers of Central City, congratulations. Your city is the first to go green."

There was a moment of silence before a loud roar of applause erupted from the mayor, city council, reporters, and technicians alike. Caitlin rushed over and hugged Naruto who hugged her back with gusto. Jiraiya joined in as well, lifting them both off the ground a bit before kissing his godson on the head.

"Your parents would be so proud of you right now." Jiraiya told him.

"That they would." Dr. Wells added. Naruto smiled, thinking this was the moment that would mark the rise of his future just as the Mayor and City Council joined them in the celebratory hug and photo op.

Today was a huge day for Naruto.

Line Break xxxxx

At 12pm, the stories and photos about the Arc reactor finally going online and providing power for the entire city made its circulations around the city and pretty much the entire country. To say it started an uproar is an understatement as it made national and international headlines. The first city to be solely powered by a single company using a green, renewable energy source was going to be a monumental marker in human history. Every news station worth its salt reported on the news day, every scientist commented, and the CEO's of the world's energy and oil providers had…some choice words to say. With STAR labs momentous breakthrough, magazines were quick to call them the pioneers of the future and labeling STAR labs back at its rightful place as the company of tomorrow.

"CHEERS!" Beer bottles were clanked together at a bar/restaurant. At the bar was Naruto, Jiraiya, Caitlin, Cisco, Dr. Wells, Barry, Joe, Gaara, Kankuro, and Temari to celebrate this momentous decision. It may have been only noon, but there was cause to celebrate.

"I can not believe it actually worked and here we are." Naruto said as everyone smiled.

"What you were actually doubting yourself?" Barry asked.

"Any sane person has a healthy amount of trepidation. I guess this was mine." Naruto replied.

"Still, I never thought I'd live to see the day that Central City of all places goes green. I wonder what this means for my energy bills." Joe wondered.

"Unless you plan to install a massive tanning bed and movie theater in your backyard you should be fine Joe. I can't actually believe it's working, and the proof is right here." Naruto gestured to the bar/restaurant they were in with all the lights on and TVs working completely fine like nothing different happened.

"Things down at the station have been running smooth when we left." Barry told him.

"And everything from our side is reading good. We are living historical markers and I'm liking it." Cisco said, drinking his beer.

The doors to the bar opened and in walked Linda and Iris. They saw the group at the bar and rushed over with Linda leaping into Naruto's arms. "I'm so proud of you. You did it. Everyone is talking about you and STAR Labs."

"Which makes it all the more miserable that Linda's going to be getting the exclusives for the foreseeable future." Iris commented as she hugged Naruto.

"Don't worry, Iris. Even if I'm dreading all the press that's going to come with my future, I plan on being fair to all reporters looking for a story which includes you as well." Naruto assured her.

"Don't I have the best boyfriend in the world?" Linda asked, giving him a quick kiss. "And I knew him before he was rich and famous."

"That you did. Weren't you lucky to trip and fall right into my arms that day at Jitters?" Naruto joked.

"Oh, very funny like you didn't see that coffee spill ahead of time and didn't warn me just to sweep me in my arms." Linda pointed out.

"I'll admit to nothing except to being really glad I met you that day." Naruto gave her another quick kiss. "All right, now I know it's only noon but we're celebrating, and one beer won't affect you for the rest of the day so please, bartender can we get two more?"

"While I'm all for celebrating and this is a treat to see how normal people would after a raise at your job or getting a new car, perhaps some Dom Perignon is more appropriate for these festivities?" They heard and turned to see Fallon Carrington in the bar with her driver holding a crate of Dom Perignon champagne bottles. "Excuse me, Bartender. Champagne glasses please."

"Ms. Carrington, what are you doing here?" Naruto asked.

"Oh, please just call me Fallon. Ms. Carrington makes me seem so old and reminds me of my mother which are both horrible ideas so let's just stick with Fallon." She said with a smile. "Sorry to interrupt your little celebration but I wanted to bring something to your little get together."

"Who are you?" Barry asked.

"This is Fallon Carrington, head of Acquisitions for Carrington Atlantic." Iris told him. "Her family's company are regular newspaper mentions."

"And given my father, I'm sure for very good reasons but not me. I'm here to help celebrate. Any day I can see my dad down five glasses of scotch as he watches his stock prices drop because of a young scientist who wasn't afraid of him is a good day in my book." Fallon explained.

"How did you even know we were here?" Naruto asked as Fallon held up her phone to show a post on Instagram of the group celebrating.

"You're top trending news now. You might want to get used to people and paparazzi stalking you on a daily basis. I have. It does wonders to your development but lucky for you that you get to deal with it at this age as opposed to the pivotal years of childhood development, so you don't have to worry about it affecting you." Fallon remarked just as the bartender put the champagne glasses on the bar. She took a bottle and handed it over to Naruto. "To your great victory today and for more to come."

"Thank you, Fallon but you didn't have to do this."

"Oh please, as I said it was my pleasure." Fallon replied before smiling at Linda. "So, is this the lucky girlfriend you mentioned being in a committed and happy relationship."

"Linda Park." Linda introduced herself, shaking Fallon's hand out of manners.

"Pleasure to meet you. As someone who's had experience dating in the public eye, paparazzi can smell a scandal a mile away so prepare yourself." Fallon warned her.

"I'm a sport's journalist. I've prepared thick skin already." Linda replied and Fallon smirked.

"Oh, tough and pretty. You got lucky." Fallon commented.

"Thank you." Naruto kissed Linda on the head. "I'm sorry Fallon, the champagne was very kind and thank you very much for congratulations but like outside city hall I can't help but feel that you have an ulterior motive."

"That's a good feeling and it's a good thing because you're going to need it. Besides dropping off the congratulatory champagne and all the positive energy I have to muster, which isn't a lot, I'm hoping to stay on your good side." Fallon admitted which caught Naruto a little by surprise but based on her facial expressions she seemed to be telling the truth.

"Well, call me old fashion but I liked to abide by the elementary school proverb of treat people like you would like to be treated. So, in that case everyone I meet is given a clean slate unless something happens like your father threatening me. That obviously puts him on my bad side but at the moment you're still in the positive. I mean, all you've done is being mildly flirty but yet again, I'm happy in a relationship." Naruto replied with a smile.

"Oh, looks like both of you are lucky in this relationship." Fallon replied. "And thank you for saving any negative opinion you might have on me."

"I personally feel that everyone deserves to be judged after I know them. But this is my curiosity speaking as to why you want to stay on my good side." Naruto said which made Fallon chuckle.

"Other than the fact that you manage to rile up my father, you've essentially changed the landscape of power on the planet and I mean that quite literally." Fallon told him. "Like you said, fossil fuel sources and pretty much every way Carrington Atlantic gets it energy has an expiration date. Despite my past comments on Silicon Valley nerds, your technology isn't a stupid app or website but something actually worthwhile. Your little science generator is powering this entire city as we speak when before it took the combined electrical energy generated by 6 separate electrical grids from 2 separate power plants. You've made a lot of powerful people very nervous and soon it won't be just my father who tries going after you for your technology."

"Well it's all patented and even their greatest scientists can't make work arounds for the Arc Reactor." Naruto said.

"Be that as it may, today you've stopped being just a research lab. And if your promise at City Hall is any indicator that you have a lot up your sleeve then you're going to turn into a business faster than you realize. The business world is filled with sharks and they'll start circling soon including my father. You may have sworn to never sell to him but that doesn't mean he won't do anything in his power to try and take you down." Fallon warned him.

"He can do whatever he wants but STAR labs is not going anywhere." He told her.

"Still, as the start of a potential business partnership and as something to keep in your mind when you take on my father allow me to give you some advice. Science may be about helping mankind but businessmen like my father only help themselves and will go through anyone to get what they want. Case in point, word has reached this daughter's ear that my father is scheduling to crash your meeting in Gotham city with Wayne Enterprises to stop STAR labs from expanding." Fallon said only to get a look from Naruto. "Ok, so he told me that's what we were doing before he left."

"Even if he stops Naruto's meeting with Wayne Enterprises other companies are going to want to talk to him." Jiraiya pointed out.

"True but the first one is the most important as it sets a precedent. And my father has enough pull in the business world to make finding another partner much, much harder. He's going to take you out before you can even start so don't let him. I know I pretty much bad talk science nerds but considering you're not exactly a stereotypical nerd why don't you prove me wrong and show my father that people like you will rule the planet in the future." Fallon said.

"Thank you, Fallon." Naruto replied, holding out his hand and she shook it.

"Your welcome. And when you do eventually make a bid for Carrington Atlantic, please remember me fondly." She reached into her purse and handed him another business card. "I had a feeling you threw the other one away but considering your girlfriend was witness to all this, hopefully you'll keep it this time."

Fallon and her driver left and while she gave a nice present, she also gave Naruto a lot to think about. Her unintended meeting chewed up some time so the celebration would have to wait for tonight at Naruto's dinner he was making for everyone at the shelter. He even had Barry invite Ino and Joe could invite Iris and Eddie so long as everyone kept their powers under the radar. He got the hurrah-hurrah by Tsunade and Shizune when he got home along with the kids when they got back from school, but he had a lot to think about. Luckily, he kept his mind busy with making dinner.

Around 6pm, dinner was just about finished so Naruto was sitting in the living room while he waited for some things to finish. He was still wearing his business attire from his morning just without a tie, jacket, and his long sleeves rolled up. He was sitting on the couch looking at some news articles on his tablet about his Arc reactor and business comments on it while also digging up some dirt on Blake Carrington and other CEO's like him. After speed reading almost everything there was, he put his tablet down and pulled out the business card Fallon gave him, this time without her personal number on it. He just looked at it as he contemplated everything that was going to change going forward.

"Something on your mind, kid?"

He heard as Jiraiya walked over, still wearing his business suit from this morning but a little loosened up and holding a beer in one hand. "If you plan on calling Fallon for a threesome just a warning, in most scenarios the women tend to gang up on the man. If you see handcuffs or rope, you might want to run away. I wouldn't but I'm use to it. If I were you, I'd just dip my toe in the pool." Jiraiya joked with a chuckle only to see Naruto give a half-hearted quick smile before adopting his serious yet concerned face. "Only a half-hearted smile. Something must really be bugging you. What's up?"

"Nothing…uh…it's just what Fallon said before. Guess it's getting to me." Naruto admitted.

"Hey, if this is about Blake Carrington then we can go all metahuman on his ass. And I've got some people at the CIA. Some…friends who owe me a favor who could get some dirt on him." Jiraiya assured him. "If he thinks he can mess with you then he's got another thing coming."

"No, it's not that I'm worried about. Honestly, after everything I've been through since I've got my powers, that doesn't scare me at all. That along with seeing my mother's infamous rage moments or when Tsunade gets extra irritated and starts cracking her knuckles. That trumps everything." Naruto said.

"Yeah, your mom had that unusual power to go from kind to her crazy habanero tomato fury in a second. Granted, calling her that probably starts her fury." Jiraiya remembered. "Although when Tsunade gets irritated it's very sexy."

"Ew." Naruto commented. "I'm gonna need an ear worm of a song to get rid of that from my head."

"Yeah, well we all have our type." Jiraiya said when he noticed Naruto really seemed concerned. "Seriously, kid what's up?"

"It's just…is this really what I want STAR labs to turn into?" Naruto asked himself. "Fallon was right about one thing is that STAR labs won't just be STAR labs for much longer."

"I figured that's what you wanted. Dr. Wells told me about your proposed plans to build a secondary site in the city, a sort of STAR labs tower. Oh, the STAR tower…guiding the world to tomorrow." Jiraiya pitched.

"No, what I mean is…am I really ready for everything that follows from expanding STAR labs into a legitimate business?" Naruto asked. "The attention, scrutiny, dealing with company CEO's, browning nosing stockholders, intimidating my competition, or just buying them out to gain the edge. Not to mention how much harder I'll have to work to keep my super speeding under wraps, but how long before I turn into the next Blake Carrington or worse?"

"Well…if you're going to be the next Blake Carrington…can you buy me a mansion like him? I mean it is really nice. I saw it on Architectural digest." Jiraiya joked which made Naruto chuckle a little bit. "There he is."

"I'm serious, Jiraiya. Ok, people like Blake Carrington and all those powerful CEO's have years of experience and actual education in how to run businesses like empires. In fact, if you make the comparison, I think some companies might actually be run like defunct former dynasties or regimes. I'm just a scientist from Central City. What chance do I have?"

"Dr. Wells and your parents did perfectly find with all of this when they started STAR labs years ago." Jiraiya said.

"True but they didn't expand it like this into business terrain…like I did." Naruto said, realizing his decisions to bolster STAR labs were the reason. He's his own worst enemy. "I've screwed myself. Maybe this is too much for just me and Dr. Wells? Perhaps getting a business perspective might be a good idea."

"Hang on and hold the needless melodrama." Jiraiya told him.

"It's not melodrama…just some self-doubt at a crucial crossroads." Naruto corrected him.

"Whatever you call it you can trash it." Jiraiya put it bluntly. "Look, you didn't do this to make money or start an empire, you did it to change the world so keep doing that. People like Carrington only know how to destroy. So…do the opposite and start building and leaving your own legacy."

"Yeah but I have no idea how to run a massive company." Naruto reminded him.

"Then it's a good thing you'll have help from Dr. Wells. And why is that a bad thing? Perhaps why the business world seems so horrible is because businessmen rule it. You're a scientist, you solve problems for a living. So…look at this like a problem. And the answer to that problem is simple…don't be like them. If you try and be like them, you'll only fail. Just be the you that I know you can be, and you'll be fine and kick their asses. And mark my words in five years' time, you'll have controlled all those CEO's and moved onto ruling governments. Maybe we could do with a shakeup there." Jiraiya told him before sipping his beer.

"Governments run by corporations? That sounds like a dystopian future if I've ever heard it. But thanks, Jiraiya. Guess I just needed to hear some words of encouragement. You know, you really are getting a handle on this whole godfather thing."

"Thanks, kid." Jiraiya smiled when a ding from the kitchen was heard.

"That would be the ice-cream finished churning." Naruto got up from the couch and walked over to the kitchen to get back to work.

"You're making homemade ice-cream for dessert? Man do I have the best godson or what?" Jiraiya asked aloud before finishing his beer.

Dinner was at 7 so people started showing up around 6:30. Linda, Dr. Wells, Cisco, Caitlin, Gaara, Kankuro, and Temari were the first to show up and they helped set up a larger dining table with plates and utensils. Barry and Ino soon arrived dressed in nice clothing to see the place all decked out for a party.

"Wow, Naruto's going all out for this." Ino said.

"Well, there's a lot of cause to celebrate." Barry replied when Ino saw Gaara.

"Gaara!" Ino rushed over hugged him. The sand metahuman was a little frozen in shock before hugging back. "It's so good to see you along with your siblings. I didn't know you were back in Central City."

"Yeah, uh I've been hanging out with Naruto. He's offered me a job at STAR labs."

"That's awesome. With you back we'll be able to hang out a lot more." Ino smiled, giving him another hug. "There's a lot we need to catch up on."

"You have no idea." Gaara whispered.

"Ino, why don't you help me get the drinks?" Temari asked.

"Sure thing." Ino followed her into the kitchen to see Naruto plating food. "So, what job are you offering Gaara and any chance I'll get one?"

"Well, I'm still working on developing that but I'm thinking Human Resources. And maybe STAR labs will instead donate funds to the conservatory for research. Possibly working on new crops and plants for the future." Naruto suggested.

"Sounds good to me." Ino replied as Temari opened up a bottle of champagne and began pouring it into glasses. That's when Ino noticed the crate of Dom Perignon on the kitchen counter. "Whoa! You splurged on tonight, didn't you?"

"I didn't buy those. Fallon Carrington gave them to me as a gift." Naruto explained.

"Fallon Carrington as in spoiled rich heiress Fallon Carrington? Are they actually a gift or a threat?" Ino asked.

"Honestly, I'm not entirely sure but I think it was a gift. Time will tell if she's being honest about wanting to help." Naruto replied as Jiraiya walked in.

"Kid, Joe's here with Iris and her boyfriend."

"All right, fill the rest of those glasses. I want to make a toast." Naruto said as Jiraiya helped.

Joe, Iris, and Eddie arrived last for dinner. Eddie and Iris were happy to get the invitation for dinner. Even though they knew Naruto the least out of everyone it was nice to be included. They saw the large round dining table with enough room for not only Naruto's friends but for the kids as well who were already in their seats. The table was filled with bowls and plates of food. Several bowls of salad, two loaves of fresh baked French bread, two bowls of risotto, a pan of Lasagna brought by Linda, roasted brussels sprouts, carrots, and other vegetables, and to top it off there were several bowls of mash potatoes.

"Geez, how much food is Naruto making?" Iris asked.

"He has a bit of a fast metabolism." Linda replied as Naruto walked into the room with a large plate of steamy and crispy homemade Porchetta roast with Jiraiya right behind him with a large roasted chicken. "A big metabolism."

"I know it seems like a lot, but I figured having chicken would be a good alternative for those that don't eat pork. And there are plenty of vegetables for those that don't eat meat." Naruto said, putting the meat on the table as everyone clapped. "Thank you all for the applause and for coming tonight for this celebratory meal. Before we start eating, I'd like to say a few words."

Ino and Temari came in with the champagne glasses and handed them to all the adults while the kids got soda or juice. "It's Dom Perignon given to me as a gift and if Linda hasn't claimed all the bottles by the end of the night then please help yourself."

"Yeah!"

"Anyway, today has been a momentous marker for STAR labs and honestly I think all of you must be annoyed at how many times I've said momentous." Naruto joked which made them all chuckle. "I've had some time to think over a lot of what happened today and what it means for our future. I could go into detail, but I'll keep it simple. Whatever direction STAR labs ends up heading after today and for the foreseeable future, it will still be run by the same people who have become family. And so long as we stick together, I think we have a chance of making something truly amazing. A toast…to the people in this room who matter the most. To family, both old and new."

"To family." Everyone raised their glasses and cheers their drinks.

"To family." The kids added causing them to chuckle.

"All right, now let's eat!" Naruto shouted as everyone took their seats and began the literally feast laid before them. Changing the world was one thing…but these little moments mattered too.

Line Break xxxxx

April 2015

Central City, STAR labs

Naruto was packing up the last of his work supplies and tech he would need for his trip to Gotham. It was time for his meeting with Bruce Wayne and the board of Wayne Enterprises to discuss a possible business partnership on future projects. Jiraiya was coming with as security and Gaara was coming as well. He had taken Naruto's offer for a job since it would be hard to find one after everything that happened with Orochimaru. Working with Naruto would be great because they were friends and he'd be able to get help at STAR labs for his powers. Now he was current head of Human Resources. It was the three of them while Cisco, Caitlin, and Dr. Wells would stay home.

He finished packing all the equipment and plans along with folders and binders for the meeting before heading to the cortex to say goodbye. Dr. Wells and Cisco were working at the computers while Caitlin was in the lab. "All right, I'm all set for the trip to Gotham. Are you sure you don't want to come, Dr. Wells?"

"Yes, I'm sure. It was you that Bruce Wayne spoke to about this potential venture and you will be representing us at this meeting. I have faith in you. Besides, I'd rather avoid flying if it can be helped." Dr. Wells told him.

"Fair enough. What about you, Cisco? And you Caitlin?" Naruto asked.

"I'd love to, but my parents have forbidden me from traveling because of my brother's birthday party this week and there is a dinner I need to go to."

"And I'll be here for emotional support for Cisco." Caitlin added.

"All right, guess I'll see you three when I get back." Naruto replied, grabbing his luggage and bags.

"Oh, wait. One last thing, if you see Batman get me a picture. Better yet, if you meet me, ask him where he gets his armor." Cisco requested.

"Sure, I'll ask him at the Superhero/vigilante club meeting." Naruto joked.

"That's not a bad idea. You could form a sort of league." Dr. Wells suggested.

"I'll add it to the list of things to my to-do list." Naruto slung his backpack on before grabbing his bags. "Call me if something comes up and I'll race back as fast as I can."

"Don't worry. We'll try and handle things on our own so not to interrupt your meeting." Caitlin assured him.

"Thanks." Naruto replied as Dr. Wells made his way over to him.

"I'll see you out, Naruto." Dr. Wells and Naruto made their way out of the cortex and over to the elevator. "Keep your wits about you in Gotham, Naruto. While Cisco's comment on the Batman was humorous, your arrival in the city will warrant the attention of a few unsavory characters."

"You mean that the Cape Crusader's rogue's gallery is going to be after me?" Naruto questioned. "Don't worry, Dr. Wells. I can handle myself…even if I don't want to."

"Yes. I understand why you haven't taken up your suit after what happened…believe me I understand. Take this as me being concerned about a family member but you can't blame yourself for what happened." Dr. Wells pointed out. "Mr. Allen shares my concerns as do the others. You're being too hard on yourself."

"Honestly I think I'm being the appropriate amount of hard on myself. Oliver said this road wasn't going to be easy and it's not but I'm building myself up." The young speedster replied. "Besides, when I do go back out on the field with Barry, I don't want it to be in the same suit I wore when I killed Orochimaru. I want this to be a new start for me and a new suit will help with that."

"Fair enough. So, any thoughts on the new suit design?" Dr. Wells was curious if the old Impulse was gone, what would the new one look like.

"I've got something working at the moment. By the time I get back, maybe it'll be ready. Take care, Dr. Wells." Naruto bid him goodbye and made his way down to the loading dock where Linda was waiting for him along with Gaara and Jiraiya. She would be dropping them of at the airport. Jiraiya had a mildly irritated look because he was carrying all of Kurama's toys, bed, and food not to mention the small fox was in his arms jostling and moving like he didn't want to be carried.

"Let it be on record that I'm not ok with this." Jiraiya told him as Naruto walked over and picked up Kurama who immediately began to calm down and cuddle into his arms.

"Guess that solves the question on why he's been so fussy." Linda walked over and scratched the fox behind the ears. Judging by the tail wagging, he liked it.

"Yup. He doesn't like the old perv. All right, let's head to the airport." Naruto said as they all got into Linda's car and she drove. "Thanks again for the ride and for watching Kurama while I'm gone. Are you sure you can't come with?"

"Unfortunately, I can't. With all your groundbreaking discoveries and stories I've had to write, I've fallen behind on the stories I was supposed to write. My editor is breathing down my neck to finish those and while I can normally handle him, he's being particularly pushy right now." Linda explained. "As much as I would love to go with you, I'm gonna have to sit this one out."

"Fair enough. I'll bring back a souvenir." Naruto replied as they drove to the airport.

There was some traffic, but they managed to arrive in time at the terminal. They got out of the car and put all their stuff on a cart when several airline employees came over. "Mr. Namikaze?" The flight attendant asked, and Naruto nodded. "We're here on behalf of Mr. Wayne and Mr. Fox. He has his private jet ready for you and your companions. Can we help you with your bags?"

"Uh…sure." The flight and airline attendants took all their luggage. The only things they didn't take were the equipment and plans he was presenting at the meeting. He held onto them for security measures. "Bet you regret not coming with us now, aren't you?"

"A little bit." Linda gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Let me know when you land and be careful."

"I will." Naruto assured her as he, Gaara, and Jiraiya were escorted into the airport where they got their own personal security line to skip the large mass of people. After that, it was a personal shuttle ride to the Wayne Enterprises Private Jet that was waiting for them on the runway. Their luggage was stored away, and they all got comfortable in the lush seats.

"Mr. Namikaze, would you like some champagne?" The flight attendant asked.

"Um, no. I'm fine. Just some water, please." Naruto replied as he sat down in his seat.

"Damn, you are moving up in the world, aren't you kid?" Jiraiya laid down on the couch and put his feet up.

"It's not my jet, you perv. It's Bruce Wayne's."

"Still, this is quite nice." Gaara sat himself down in a chair and it was beyond comfortable. More so than the first-class seats you'd get on the best of planes. "If private jets are a fringe benefit of working for STAR labs then I'm extra glad I took you up on your job offer."

The flight attendant came by with cups of water for all of them. "Please enjoy yourself while we prepare for departure. Let me know if you need anything at all." She said before heading to the kitchen.

"So, what now?" Jiraiya asked, getting comfortable on the couch.

"Now, you two relax and do whatever you want. In a few hours we're gonna be in Gotham City." Naruto said as the plane took off.

Gotham City

The plane touched down at the Gotham City airport and after going through security and everything, a car service dropped them off at the Gotham Royal Hotel where they'd be staying, in the grand suite. Naruto opened the door and Jiraiya and Gaara were amazed at the place.

"Wow, swanky." Jiraiya walked over and sat down on the couch. "We are certainly moving up in the world, aren't we?"

"Isn't this place a little pricy?" Gaara asked.

"A little but I can cover it. And in this city, it's the safest place there is. Around the clock private security thanks to the Crows Security company." Naruto assured him.

"Oh yeah. Crows Security is pretty serious. A lot of people I know retired from the military to work private security and Crows is one of the best." Jiraiya added.

"I'm glad you know so much because I want you to look this over." Naruto reached into his backpack and pulled out a file before handing it over to him. Jiraiya looked it over and saw it was labeled Atlas Security. "With STAR labs expanding and everything we could do in the future, I've been thinking of setting up my own private security company. As a measure to safeguard all STAR labs sites and personnel."

"Atlas Security?" Jiraiya wasn't sure about the name as he looked over the layout and paperwork for the security company set up.

"I wanted the name to have meaning. Given this is STAR labs, what better name for a security company than the Greek Titan who held up the heavens. I was originally going to name it after a Japanese god but Amatsu-Mikaboshi security was a bit of a mouthful." Naruto explained.

"Who?" Gaara asked.

"Amatsu-Mikaboshi is the Shinto god of stars." Jiraiya explained. "Perhaps name the Japanese branch Amaterasu Security."

"Hmm, better."

"Anyway, it seems like a good idea. Especially when this deal goes your way, investing in a security company paid for by you is smart." Jiraiya added. "They'll provide security for your sights when you do expand, and you won't have to worry about corrupt officers or other security agents being paid to spy on you. I've got some contacts I can put out to get you your first recruits."

"Awesome. I'm also going to talk to Dig as well. He has some contacts and some people who need jobs. Atlas Security is going to be better than the other security firms. STAR labs is going to provide the best tech and protection along with the best pay and benefits to help them."

"You're starting to sound like a CEO, kid." Jiraiya commented when they got a knock on the suite door.

"Come in!" Naruto answered as the door opened and in walked the concierge along with room service who carted in a large tray of fancy and expensive food along with a bottle of champagne and a Macallan 25-year-old Highland Single Malt Scott Whiskey worth $2000 per bottle. "Um, we didn't order this."

"Compliments of the Wayne Enterprises Board of Directors for your meeting tomorrow." The room service attendees told him.

"Oh, um…that's generous." Naruto commented as the concierge gave him a letter.

"And this arrived for you as well. Enjoy." They soon left afterward.

"Wow. Oh, is that caviar." Gaara walked over and immediately began eating. Guess food had a way of helping him with his recovery.

Naruto opened the letter he got and it was from Bruce Wayne. "Congratulations on your success. Here's to a hopeful partnership. Bruce Wayne." He read.

"Man, those company head honchos must really want this deal to go well tomorrow." Jiraiya said, looking over the bottle of scotch when he noticed a letter attached. "You got another one."

"What's in that one?" Naruto asked as Jiraiya opened it.

"I would like the opportunity to discuss a possible business partnership. Please meet me at the Iceberg Lounge for drinks. Yours truly, Thomas Elliot—CEO of Elliot Estates." Jiraiya read.

"Elliot Estates?" Gaara asked, his mouth half-full of finger foods.

"It's the second biggest real estate company in Gotham, right behind a Wayne Enterprises subsidiary. Did he say the Iceberg Lounge?" Naruto asked for clarification and Jiraiya checked.

"Uh, yeah. The Iceberg Lounge. You do know the reputation about that place, don't you?" Jiraiya questioned.

"Yeah, of course. It's run by Oswald Cobblepot or as he's been known in the past as the Penguin."

"The Penguin?" Gaara thought that was a stupid nickname.

"The story goes he used to work for the various mob bosses of Gotham before striking out on his own. He took on the moniker of the Penguin before being taken down by the Batman and sent to Blackgate. Eventually served his time, got out and went legitimate as a club owner and philanthropist but people still suspect he's a criminal. He just got really good at hiding his underworld dealings." Naruto explained.

"Why would he want you to meet him there?" Gaara questioned.

"If I had to wager a guess, Elliot has some kind of sway in the club. And the reason he wants to meet you is because I have it on good authority is that he's trying to make his move to outdo Wayne Enterprises and be the best in Gotham." Jiraiya answered as Naruto and Gaara looked at him. "I have my ways."

"So, what? Elliot sees himself as a venture capitalist and needs me to take down Bruce Wayne?"

"Pretty much. What are you going to do, kid?" Jiraiya and Gaara saw Naruto contemplate his decision.

"The hero in me knows something is going on with this decision. But the scientist/business owner part has to act like the hero part doesn't exist and play ignorant. I guess I'm going." Naruto grabbed his suitcase and went to change.

"Are you really sure that's a good idea?" Gaara asked as Naruto went into the bathroom to change. "You just said the place was run by a formal criminal who is probably still a criminal."

"I know but I'm thinking more like a superhero who can break the sound barrier in his sneakers instead of a 23-year-old scientist company owner who is blissfully unaware of the criminal underworld." Naruto replied from the bathroom. "It's a con of leading a double life but I've got to play my part. I'll go the club to hear Elliot's proposal, politely decline his offer and comeback as fast as I can."

"Something tells me that won't be as easy as you think." Jiraiya pointed out.

"Well, then it's a good thing I know how to defend myself. No one said a scientist can't know Martial arts. Besides, you'll be coming with me, Jiraiya."

"Spending the night guarding my godson in a club owned by a criminal. Great." The spy replied sarcastically.

"As if it's not better than what you were planning on doing tonight. Gaara, do you mind staying here and watching over the place? With Fallon's warning about her father's threat, I want to make sure everything stays fine for tomorrow."

"Sure thing. Staying the night in a luxury hotel suite with room service. I can handle that." Gaara replied, making himself comfortable on the couch.

"Good." Naruto stepped out of the bathroom dressed in a fancy grey colored business suit. "Better get dressed old man. We're going to a party."

Line Break xxxxx

Iceberg Lounge, Gotham City

A line of patrons was waiting on the sidewalks by ropes of red velvet as bouncers and security keep them in control. Cars rolled up as valets gave the driver's their tickets and parked their cars. The bright spot lights shined on the neon umbrella symbol and name above it, the Iceberg Lounge.

A black sedan pulled up to the curb where Naruto and Jiraiya got out. Jiraiya got changed into business-ish attire with a knife and pistol holstered and hidden. They walked over to the bouncer who had a clipboard. "Name?"

"Naruto Namikaze. I'm here to meet Thomas Elliot." Naruto said as the bouncer checked his list.

"Of course, right this way." The bouncer led them into the club where they were impressed at its sheer size and grandeur. It was massive with a large iceberg in the middle of a large pond. On the iceberg were platforms where a live band was playing music. There were various floors of the club with tables and booths, servers moving dutifully from each table to the kitchen and a massive bar on the first floor.

"[Whistles] This club may be run by a criminal, but it is swanky." Naruto commented as the bouncer led them through club and up the stairs to the private balcony rooms. They were reserved for the wealthy and criminally-inclined of the Gotham Elite. They stopped at a room with two security guards waiting outside who opened the door where Thomas Elliot was talking with Oswald Cobblepot. A fairly skinny man of average height with pale skin and noticeably bright blue eyes. His nose was slightly pointed and beak-like. He had a black top hat covering his hair and was wearing a fancy and expensive purple and black jacket with black striped trousers and to finish his outfit he had a monocle over his right eye and was holding an umbrella. Judging by how he was leaning on said umbrella and his odd posture, it was safe to assume he had a leg injury and used the umbrella as a kind of cane. (2)

"Mr. Elliot, Mr. Namikaze is here to see you." The bouncer announced.

"Excellent timing. Thank you, John and thank you Oswald for allowing us to use one of your private rooms." Elliot thanked the bird-themed criminal.

"A pleasure as always, Mr. Elliot." Penguin limped his way over to Naruto with a smile. "Mr. Namikaze, it is a pleasure to meet you. My name is Oswald Cobblepot and I own this establishment."

Penguin held out his hand and Jiraiya half expected Naruto to walk away but he played his part and shook his hand while staying posed and oblivious. "Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Cobblepot. This is quite a fine establishment you have here. Never did I expect to see an actual iceberg in a club. That's quite a feat and judging by the long line of patrons you have outside you are a very good business owner."

"Well to be a good business owner or more accurately a good club owner, requires a good deal of…ingenuity. A vision that most people can't seem to comprehend. I imagine as a scientist you must have a vision that others would think of as ridiculous." Penguin pointed out.

"That's a fair point. Well, from one visionary to another, thank you for hosting us." Naruto said with a smile and Penguin smiled back.

"My pleasure. If there's anything you need please let me know." Penguin bid them farewell after that leaving the room to just Naruto, Jiraiya, and Thomas Elliot and his security team along with two club waitresses/servers.

"Thank you for meeting me, Mr. Namikaze. Please have a seat." Elliot gestured him to the couch as he took a seat across from him. "Is there anything I can get you? Champagne, whiskey, scotch? Mr. Cobblepot has a wide selection."

"Um, sure. That's be great. Nothing too strong as there's still some work to do tonight and I'd rather be able to think clearly for that." Naruto joked. "Pardon me for being forward, Mr. Elliot but why did you request this meeting?"

"Well, I was hoping to discuss a possible business opportunity the two of us could endeavor together." He said as one of the servers poured him a class of scotch while another handed glasses of champagne to Naruto and Jiraiya. The old spy took a quick sniff and couldn't pick up any hints of poison or other bad things, so he gave Naruto a look saying it was safe. "Congratulations, by the way, on your successes. Never did I ever expect to see the day where an entire city could be powered by one machine. You've accomplished a lot for someone so young."

"Thank you." Naruto replied while sipping some champagne. "It was a big day for everyone at STAR labs. It's a good marker of where we can go moving forward."

"Something I'm more than happy to help with. On behalf of Elliot Estates, I would to extend an olive branch so the two of us could work together. I have considerable resources for development in Gotham and in other cities which we'll be able to use to expand STAR labs facilities and I have other friends in the business sector who would be more than willing to discuss business opportunities. I'm aware that Sionis Industries is very open to diversifying its portfolio and working with new companies." He explained.

Naruto wasn't completely aware of Sionis Industries except for the fact that its owner, Roman Sionis, is a suspected gang leader that uses the alias of Black Mask. Cisco's files on all the Gotham supervillains are quite extensive. Judging by his friendship with Penguin and work with Sionis, Thomas Elliot was a criminal or at least was in business with them. That gave him all he needed to know.

"That is a very generous offer, Mr. Elliot but I am meeting with Wayne Enterprises in a more official capacity to discuss possible business ventures." Naruto replied.

"Which I'm fully aware of but to be perfectly honest, working with Wayne Enterprises won't help you in the long run. Bruce is a dear friend of mind but he's more concerned with his partying ways and growing litter of orphans than running a multi-billion-dollar company. I, on the other hand, have my sights firmly set on expanding. Together, we can become bigger than anything Wayne Enterprises could ever hope to be." Elliot promised, his tone and facial expressions giving clear indications of his desire to be better than Bruce Wayne. Whether it's out of professional jealously or a deep-seated hatred is up to interpretation.

"I admire your drive, Mr. Elliot but like all scientists I tend to wait on facts before making my final decision." Naruto took another sip of champagne before setting the glass down. "Thank you for the meeting and for the drink but it would be best if I could get this information in writing."

"I completely understand that which is why I already have something set up." Elliot snapped his fingers and his bodyguard handed him a large file. "Take your time to go over it and make sure everything is in order, but I think you'll see that I'm right."

"We'll see. Thank you for tonight, Mr. Elliot." Naruto stood up to leave as Jiraiya finished his drink.

"Are you sure I can't convince you to stay a little longer? Mr. Cobblepot has arranged some…" A knock on the door was quickly answered and in walked several scantily-clad women. "…private entertainment for us."

Two of the women walked over to Naruto and Jiraiya and got all flirty. The old perv was enjoying himself while Naruto was less than enthusiastic. "That won't be necessary, Mr. Elliot. We have another obligation to get to at the moment. Until next time." Naruto walked to the door but saw Jiraiya was too entranced by the women, so he was literally dragged by the collar out of the room.

"Oh, come on kid. Can't I go back in there?" Jiraiya asked only for Naruto to keep dragging him towards the exit

"Sure, if you're ok with Hepatitis?" Naruto joked as a waitress winked at Jiraiya which invigorated his attempts. This led to Naruto having to grab him by neck and forcing him outside onto the curb.

"What the hell, kid? You've got a girlfriend so why not let the single man get some action?"

"Not here. I don't need Elliot or Penguin getting any kind of ammunition against me which includes my godfather/bodyguard getting down and dirty in a club owned by a criminal." Naruto said as the two walked down the street to talk a bit.

"Fair enough. So, what do you think?"

"I think that entire thing was a prime example of how horrible people have inherited too much power." Naruto bluntly put it. "Clearly he has some grief with Bruce Wayne besides wanting to eclipse him business wise."

"That's right and did you pick up that name drop during your conversation? Clearly he has his hands dirty with some seriously bad people." Jiraiya added.

"First the Penguin, then Black Mask, who's next? The Riddler?" Naruto asked rhetorically. "Anyway, clearly dealing with Elliot Estates is a no go. Which leads me back into the Wayne Enterprises meeting tomorrow morning. Anything I should know?"

"At the moment, no. But something tells me you'll eventually find out a very interesting similarity you and Bruce Wayne share." Jiraiya cryptically foretold him as they walked down the street past a couple of dudes who discreetly began to follow them. "You seem them, kid?"

"Yup. Five behind us and looks like three coming at us. How do you want to play this because I could use some exercise?" Naruto wondered.

"I'll go on your go." Jiraiya replied as the three men coming at them pulled out knives.

"Don't move. Wallets, phones, everything now." One of them ordered.

"Yeah, you guys really don't want to do this." Naruto pleaded with them only for one of the hoodlums to pull out a gun and hold it up to his head. "Maybe you do."

"You heard him." Naruto was warned only to see the fancy, thousand-dollar watch on the gunman's wrist along with the gold and sapphire ring on his finger. What's more interesting is he recognized the Rolex…and who is belonged to. "Hand over everything."

"Something tells me you don't need it. Given you're wearing a fancy watch and that expensive ring, I'd say you have more than enough money or at least someone with deep pockets who sent you after me. I think I know who, but he made one mistake. He should have sent more." Naruto immediately disarmed the gunman, kneed him in the groin before following that up with a knee to the face and elbow to the back of the head. Jiraiya threw out double elbows to two of the attackers, sending them onto their back's unconscious. He caught the fist of a third and broke it before throwing him to the ground and knocking him out with a right hook. He side stepped a knife before grabbing the attacker's wrist and throwing him into a fire hydrant.

Naruto took out two of the attackers with quick strikes to the face, chest, and groin before doing a leg sweep and knocking both onto their back sides. He dodged a knife to the back before grabbing his attacker from behind and doing a suplex and breaking his ankle for good measure. The last attacker was shaking in his shoes after seeing his friends get the shit kicked out of them so easily and saw Naruto glaring at him. "Boo."

He turned to flee only to run right into Jiraiya's fist and hit the ground like a sack of potatoes. "That was fun." Jiraiya said with a smile.

"It was. I needed that." Naruto walked over to the gunman and kicked him onto his back before pressing his shoe onto his neck. He knelt and removed the watch the gunman had on before giving him one last glare. "He really should have sent more men."

Naruto kicked him across the face and knocked him out only for Jiraiya to give him a look. "So, do you want to call the police or should I?"

Soon enough the GCPD arrived to arrest the attackers but they weren't saying anything and lawyered up immediately. Naruto and Jiraiya spoke to the uniformed police officers about what happened and everything. That's when Naruto noticed a dark figure on a rooftop watching them. He wasn't able to pick up a lot of detail given how dark it was and how far away but there was someone watching them.

Line Break xxxxx

Wayne Enterprises, Gotham City

A private limo arrived outside the Wayne Enterprises headquarters to drop off its guests in front of the building where several security guards and a Wayne Enterprises receptionist were waiting for them. One of the guards opened the door so Naruto, Jiraiya, and Gaara stepped out. All of them were wearing fancy and expensive business suits courtesy of Naruto who was also holding a briefcase and backpack with everything he needed for the meeting.

"Mr. Namikaze, welcome to Wayne Enterprises. If you'll follow me." The receptionist led them inside where they could see the building with their own eyes. It was the perfect mixture of designs from the past and the present that exemplified everything there is about Wayne Enterprises. Marble busts of the previous Waynes lined the hallway along with various paintings of the city in the past along with high-tech monitors that were playing typical company puff videos along with still images of cities. Employees diligently went about their business, using high-tech ID cards to get past security terminals with Wayne Enterprise security guards keeping watch over everything.

The receptionist checked them in at the front desk along with checking their phones and digital devices for security purposes. Makes sense as you don't want anyone strolling in and stealing any data. Luckily enough he didn't need his phone and security scanned his stuff for the meeting, so he was ok. After that he was escorted into a private elevator up to floor 85 where the largest meeting room was. It was usually reserved for important meetings between the board of Wayne Enterprises and outside investors or internal meetings between the board, Lucius Fox and Bruce Wayne.

Once they arrived at their designated floor, the receptionist and security led them into the office of Lucius Fox, acting CEO of Wayne Enterprises. Waiting for them was Lucius Fox himself, a younger man who shared a resemblance to him and Bruce Wayne himself. "Mr. Fox, Mr. Wayne. Your guests have arrived." (3)

"Thank you very much. That'll be all today." Mr. Fox told her as she and the security escort left. "Mr. Namikaze, a pleasure to meet you."

"Please, the pleasure is all mine, Mr. Fox. From one scientist and engineer to another I can say this has made some of my childhood dreams come true. Your paper and work on pneumatic actuated building is very impressive." Naruto replied causing Lucius to chuckle.

"And all your work at STAR labs is equally impressive. A young man with a mind like yours is going to put Wayne Enterprises out of business. Which is a good thing we're having this meeting today. This is my son, Luke Fox, our current head of R&D." Lucius introduced the two as Naruto shook his hand.

"Pleasure to meet you." Luke said.

"This is my bodyguard, Jiraiya and this is Gaara Suna, our head of Human Resources." Naruto introduced his companions who shook hands and made nice. "Mr. Wayne, it's good to see you again."

"You as well. Thank you for coming a little earlier today." Bruce told him.

"That's all right. Is there something going on that we should be made aware of?" Naruto questioned.

"We're not sure at the moment, but something to keep in mind. Yesterday, the board received message from Blake Carrington of Carrington Atlantic about strengthening business relations in Gotham and with Wayne Enterprises. When I informed him of our meeting with you, he seemed rather adamant that he be able to join the meeting and discuss his proposition. Normally that wouldn't be the case, but Mr. Carrington is familiar with many members of the board and they allowed it." Bruce informed him.

"Don't worry, I was already expecting this." Naruto replied which caught them a little off guard. "Mr. Carrington showed up in Central City and pushed back my meeting with the mayor because he wanted to buy STAR labs from me. The reason he made that offer is because he's afraid of the competition and everything his company stands to lose with my success. This is him trying to derail my plans for the future."

"You don't sound concerned." Luke noted.

"That's because I'm not. Sure, Carrington Atlantic has been around for decades, but I've got a few tricks up my sleeve. Tricks I think you'll like very much." Naruto said with confidence. Time for the war to start.

They were taken to the board room and given refreshments until the rest of the board arrived for the meeting. Once they started to trickle in, Naruto, Jiraiya, and Gaara sat together as Bruce, Lucius, and Luke took their seats. The board members all sat down and soon Blake Carrington and his daughter walked in with their security team. Fallon sent him a knowing look and Naruto winked back as everyone sat down.

"Thank you everyone for being here today. No doubt we'll have a lot to go through, so we'll try and get through everything as smoothly as possible. I would just like to take a moment to thank our two guests of honor, Mr. Naruto Namikaze of STAR labs and Mr. Blake Carrington of Carrington Atlantic. Wayne Enterprises is eager to coordinate a business partnership with either of these companies and further expand in all territories. Mr. Carrington, you have the floor first." Lucius told him.

"Thank you, Mr. Fox." Blake stood up and pressed a button on the wall which closed the window shutters so he could play the little video he had for them. "Carrington Atlantic is here today to help usher in a new era for Wayne Enterprises. Both companies have been around for centuries, whose pull can be felt across the world. Wayne Enterprises is the world's largest multi-national conglomerate that is helping to reshape the world and Carrington Atlantic would like to help with that. Now, I could go on and on about profit margins and quarterly earnings that prove Carrington Atlantic is powerful but that wouldn't put it right. Because Carrington Atlantic is power."

Blake Carrington pushed a clicker and a projector displayed information on Carrington Atlantic and how amazing they were doing while Fallon handed each member of the board a written proposition document. "Carrington Atlantic's business is power itself. From the moment every single one of you woke up this morning and probably before, Carrington Atlantic has had a hand in getting you there. From charging your phone, making breakfast to the fuel that goes in your car, Carrington Atlantic is there every single step of the way. It's a company and a name you can trust to be there for you, and we would like to do the same for Wayne Enterprises in a partnership. We control the most profitable and abundant oil fields all over the country and around the world. Despite other company claims of such, oil is still power that the world has used for centuries and there is a reason for that. The Talberton group alone requests over 100 million dollars of oil for their refineries. I would like to cut out the middle man and give Wayne Enterprises private access to our power. I believe there is a lot we can accomplish together because in business…you trust a name and a company that has proven itself. The business world is not for young dreamers who will learn as they go."

Naruto hid his sneer as those last two sentences were directed at him personally. Blake continued on with his business proposition with opportunities and benefits and judging by the smiles on several of the board member's faces, those were the ones he had in his pocket. Honestly, his entire talk was just boring.

"If this is what businessmen do on a regular basis then I feel sorry for the people who have to listen to his crap." Naruto whispered to Gaara who chuckled.

The whole business presentation went on for about another fifteen minutes before Blake made his final statement. "I know you'll be offered with an interesting proposal today from STAR labs, but I know you'll make the right decision and trust a company that has proven to be reliable."

The board members clapped as Blake turned off the projector. Naruto clapped as well only out of manners. "Thank you, Mr. Carrington. The board and I have some thinking to do regarding your proposal." Lucius said. Blake sat down next to his daughter with a smile on his face, thinking he put the final nail in the coffin. "Mr. Namikaze, the floor is yours."

"Thank you, Mr. Fox." Naruto stood up and walked over to the front of the table placing a hologram projector at the end. Gaara did the same on the other side before handing out STAR labs business proposal documents. "Good morning, board members of Wayne Enterprises. Thank you all for agreeing to be here today. For those of you who don't know who I am, I am Naruto Namikaze. Co-owner, and lead scientist of STAR labs. I imagine many of you were expecting Harrison Wells to be here today and I'm sorry for those who are disappointed he is not here. As we scientists like to say, disappointment is probably the one definitive answer in the universe."

His little science joke drew chuckles and laughs which was a good thing. Naruto couldn't speak to large crowds, but these smaller cases were fine enough. Jiraiya sent him a wink and he winked back. "Many of you can guess why STAR labs is here today for this meeting and it's in regard to the recent success with the Arc reactor. As we speak, Central City is essentially the only green city in the entire world. That is part of it but that's not the only reason I am here. As Mr. Carrington put it, Wayne Enterprises is helping to reshape the world…which is a philosophy that STAR labs share as well. The scientific and technological advance research laboratories were founded on the principal of advancing the cause of science. To change how people think about science, unconnected to the government or any kind of business ventures but just to change the world and explore what could be done. Now I know that the idea of working with a laboratory that is unconnected to any kind of business venture seems like the wrong choice to make in business and in most cases that would be true. But not today. All of you are wondering what a 23-year-old scientist who has no business degree or business experience have to offer that sounds appealing. As a scientist, I have that solution. And that solution…the future."

Naruto turned the lights down and pressed a button on the projector, activating the hologram field which immediately projected a detailed and mesmerizing view of the cosmos that made everyone gasp in amazement. "Oh, no. Wait, hold on. That's the universe. My bad. Let me…" Naruto joked like it was an accident, but it was a ploy to get their attention. He then changed it to a large tower in a city that was alive. Hologram people and cars moved around but at the epicenter was the tower with STAR labs at the top. "There is the future. Interesting, isn't it? I bet none of you were expecting this today. What you see before you is the first ever hard light holographic system in human history. What was once science fiction is now just science. Courtesy of STAR labs."

He looked and saw all of the board members were amazed, Lucius, Luke, and Bruce among them while Blake was both amazed and frustrated. "Just like in the movies. Hard light holograms are quite awe inspiring, aren't they?" Naruto moved his hand forward and picked up one of the buildings and began to mess with it. Everyone watched with rapt attention as he wasn't just waving his hands in light, but the hologram was actually responding to his touch. He opened the building up, made a swipe motion which brought down a hologram list of other buildings and replaced it with a Wayne Enterprises tower. "Although they take a little getting used to. By all means, see for yourself."

Bruce was the first to do it and grabbed a small hologram car and to his amazement, he could actually interact with it. It was like it was really there in his hands. The rest of the board followed suit and even Fallon wanted to play. "Just like when you were kid playing with toys. That is one of the benefits of being a scientist, our imagination is unlimited. If there is a problem to be solved, with enough time, we can solve it. I'm not going to tread into the points I made during my previous press conference as I'm sure you're all aware of that already. I'd rather focus on what else STAR labs has to offer."

Naruto waved his hand as the diorama of the city vanished and was replaced with the ARC reactor design along with various other designs, inventions, and revolutionary advancements. "STAR labs hologram workstations are just the beginning of what we have to offer. There are numerous patents, designs, and projects that STAR labs has been working on for months that will help revolutionize the world and usher us into the new millennium. Now, with Mr. Carrington's point of oil and power being the driving force for centuries but as the saying goes, all things must come to an end. We shouldn't delude ourselves into thinking that we can continue to use these resources indefinitely. Fossil Fuels and the like aren't unlimited, and it won't be long before we run out. That's where the Arc reactor comes into play. Not only does it produce enough energy to power an entire city for years, but as we advance our technology into new avenues, we'll find new uses for it as well. Arc reactor energy fuel cells and batteries that are powerful enough to power an entire building. And we discovered new uses for Arc reactor technology that were right under out noses the entire time."

Naruto reached into his pocket and produce a silver chunk of metal as the hologram field changed to reveal data and information on something called Starium. "This is Starium. Yes, it's a very unusual name that's right on the nose and could have been better but it can be changed in the future. At first glance there doesn't seem to be anything to this. Just a silver colored chunk of rock. The same could be said for its natural equivalent, Tantalum." Naruto handed it to one of the board members who began looking it over. "For those unfamiliar with the element, Tantalum is essentially the miracle child that ushered in the modern era. Without it, I doubt most of everything we've come to enjoy as common place wouldn't exist. But like most elements that are mined and highly prized, it's not without its faults. The mining process itself is dangerous and the current suppliers of the elements are in areas of conflict such as Africa and China. That's where Starium comes into play. A man-made element that can be used exactly as Tantalum but made in a lab and more importantly, made by using the Arc reactor muon energy. Introducing the energy into silicon and carbide elements and then superheat it to over 1000 degrees kelvin, you get Starium. It is able to do everything tantalum products are able to without the necessary needs for mining or processing and STAR labs controls everything. And possibly Wayne Enterprises can help with that. I know this is a lot to take in so please read the proposal you've been given and come to your best decision. Blake Carrington and Carrington Atlantic offered a familiar path, a path that works now for the present. STAR labs would rather offer a path to the future and I would like Wayne Enterprises to help with that. Thank you."

The round of applause he got was much louder than Blake Carrington's and who could blame him. Just the Arc reactor alone would have made any board of directors salivate in anticipation but add in the hologram projector, arc reactor batteries, and Starium and you'd have to be an idiot to reject his proposal. It was a literal gold mine worth billions of dollars. Naruto smiled as he saw the happy faces on the board of directors who were giddily anticipating a new payday. Jiraiya and Gaara were proud he stood his ground and the unhappy expression on Blake's face made it all the sweeter.

"Thank you, Mr. Namikaze. That was a very insightful presentation. I think the board and I will take some time to discuss the prospects with Mr. Wayne before we let you and Mr. Carrington know our answer." Lucius told them.

"Of course. Take all the time you need." Naruto replied as he packed up the hologram projectors into his bag.

"Well done, kid. That was amazing." Jiraiya told him. Naruto rubbed the back of his neck and took a deep breath to relax.

"Thanks. I think I did all right."

"More than all right. Carrington isn't exactly happy about what happened." Gaara glanced over at Blake Carrington who was conversing with some members of the board, trying to keep them from siding over to the STAR labs deal but he wasn't having the best results. And those were the board members who were in his pocket. "Looks like my job is going to pick up soon."

"Soon enough." Naruto handed Jiraiya the bag as Bruce Wayne walked over.

"Naruto, I have to say that was quite the presentation. Where do you find the time to work on all of your designs and inventions?"

"The work is much easier when you don't look at it like work and it's something you love to do. And time flies after that." Naruto answered. "I understand that everything in my presentation may seem like a typical scientist grandstanding, but STAR labs can deliver on its promises. But having help in developing and distributing its promises is another story."

"Well, I think its safe to say that we'll be doing business in the future. Mr. Carrington may have some of the board members in his pocket but even they're smart enough to see a good opportunity when it presents itself." Bruce assured him. "I think STAR labs and Wayne Enterprises can do great things together."

"That I agree with." Naruto shook his hand.

"There is an event I'm hosting at my family Manor tonight for the Wayne Foundation. Not only will the board members be there but other high-powered members of the global business community as well. Shall I add you three to the list?" Bruce asked.

"That would be great. It would be our honor." Naruto answered.

"Excellent. I'll have the information sent to your hotel room." Bruce bid them farewell for now. He wasn't the only one leaving as Blake Carrington and his daughter were leaving as well. Suffice to say that Blake wasn't in a good mood.

"Careful, daddy. You keep that grimace on your face for much longer and it'll stay that way." Fallon joked.

"This is hardly the time for your jokes, Fallon. That couldn't have gone any worse." Blake told them as the elevator arrived. Blake, Fallon, and their security team entered the elevator alone.

"Oh, I don't know. I can think of a few more worse case scenarios." She commented.

"I gave that board everything Carrington Atlantic has to offer. Money and private access to all our global oil fields but all they're talking about is what STAR labs has to offer. How the hell is any of that even possible? I mean, I met that kid a few days ago and he's already designed enough products for the next ten years." Blake commented.

"Clearly he's a motivated scientist and engineer. Question is, how do you plan to eclipse a company that is literally promising the future?" Fallon questioned rhetorically.

"It's not the company I have to handle, it's the owners. That kid has no idea the kind of people he's messing with, but he will soon." Blake stated in a tone that made Fallon worried for what he might do.

Line Break xxxxx

Naruto, Jiraiya, and Gaara went back to the suite to relax after the business meeting and have a little celebration. They ordered room service while Naruto was out on the balcony to call Linda.

"Central City News, Linda Park speaking and before you say anything know that if this conversation is in anyway about my relationship with Naruto Namikaze then I'm hanging up." Linda answered in a slightly annoyed tone.

"Then I'm not sure how this conversation is going to progress very well." Naruto joked. "Someone should have taken my offer to come to Gotham. I bet no one's ever said that."

"I know and I'm sorry. Honestly since I've been at work the past few days all I've been getting are phone calls about us. Guess the world wants to know how we met. It's like they're trying to turn us into the next Kim and Kanye." She told him.

"There are many things wrong with that sentence that I don't even want to pull on. Sorry for all the grief."

"It's fine. Like I told Fallon I have tough skin. Besides, I don't care about them. Iris is protecting me and so is Larkin, my editor but he's also happier than I've ever seen him. I think he's trying to cozy up to me to make sure I get all the exclusives about STAR labs in the future. He's even offered me an office." Linda typed at her computer before walking over to the printer to get something. "I'm not sure whether to feel happy or insulted."

"Maybe a bit of both. That's how I would feel if the roles were reversed. I'm so sorry, Linda." Naruto felt horrible she was going through this.

"Stop apologizing, it's not your fault. I'm the one who chose to see and continue to date a famous scientist who is seeking to change the world. I was expecting this kind of drama the moment you told me what you were trying to do. And a little more after we told each other about our powers. I've already turned Larkin down for the office. If I'm going to get an office at this paper, it's going to be because I earned one." Linda assured him.

"That's my girl. Although, how would you feel if in the future you start your own paper with some possible blind endorsement from your rich boyfriend?" Naruto asked.

"Well…we'll talk about that when it comes up." Linda joked causing them both to laugh. "I'm guessing by your sense of humor that things went well today? I was a little concerned after you told me about the thugs that tried to jump you."

"Key word there is tried. Honestly it was a workout if anything. But this morning was far better. Blake Carrington arrived with his daughter and pretty much tried to derail my plans for a joint business venture with Wayne Enterprises. He's got some friends on the board and managed to finagle an invite to the meeting." Naruto explained.

"So, Fallon was right about him trying to take you down before you even start. And how did he do?" Linda asked only for Naruto to smirk over the phone.

"How do you think? All Blake had to offer them is what they already have. I offered them something different and a chance for actual growth. An Arc reactor in Gotham, not to mention Wayne Enterprises being the sole business partner to help produce all of STAR labs patented equipment. This deal will literally make them billions of billions of dollars. Anyone would take that deal. Blake was stewing in his loss after the deal. It was so good to see it a second time." Naruto was beyond happy about this.

"Wow, I don't think I've ever heard this side of you. Wishing failure on other people." Linda commented.

"He started this and if his goal is to keep STAR labs from expanding because he's jealous, hates me, or wants to buy me out then so be it. He has no idea who he's messing with." Naruto told her.

"Wow, you sound sexy when you get all serious." Linda smirked over the phone.

"Oh, don't tempt me, Linda." Naruto joked. "Anyway, Bruce Wayne thinks the deal is all but set in stone, so Wayne Enterprises is going to help STAR labs going forward. He's even invited us to a Wayne Foundation Charity event tonight at the Wayne Manor."

"Really? Now I'm even more upset I didn't come. I'm so proud of you. This is big. Now, make nice with the powerful businessmen, stay away from the super models and don't let the Joker get you. Come back to me in one piece." Linda told him.

"I will. Enough about me. What's going on in Central city?"

"Something interesting. It turns out we've got another evil metahuman in the city. Mark Mardon." Linda informed him.

"Why does that name sound familiar?"

"Clyde and Mark Mardon were career robbers who were presumed dead when the particle accelerator exploded." Linda reminded him.

"Right, Barry's first Metahuman was Clyde and Joe shot him. Guess his brother has come back for revenge." Naruto said.

"Pretty much. Cisco's already dubbed him Weather Wizard. Barry's watching Joe and I'm watching over Iris until Cisco finishes his device to stop him." Linda added.

"Do you guys need help because I can race back to Central City in about an hour."

"No, we'll be fine. Dr. Wells insisted that we can handle it so your business in Gotham goes smoothly and we will. So, stay relaxed and rub shoulders with the powerful men of the business world then come home." Linda made him promise.

"That I can do." Naruto swore.

Outside the city in the palisades of Gotham was Wayne Manor where the Wayne family had resided for generations. Catering trucks and groups of servers diligently moved everything for the party into the manor. Bruce's loyal family butler and confidante Alfred Pennyworth instructed them where to set up everything and to keep them away from areas they weren't supposed to be. In particular, he didn't want them to stumble into Master Wayne's study or any area they shouldn't by accident. (4)

While that was taking place upstairs, beneath the manor in a secret underground cave system that stretched for miles even to the lake on the grounds was a high-tech multi-floored dwelling for the Batman. Rows of monitors and an advanced computer system that was beyond anything on the market for years was occupied by a woman with red-hair in a wheelchair while an armory and training area on the second floor was being occupied by two young men who were sparring. On the far side of the room were circular metal tubes of importance with a tattered, cut-up, and scarred suit wielding a spear hung in remembrance. On the suit were the words, Ha-Ha the Jokes on you in spray paint. On the ground floor by the water was a fully functioning garage where several armored motorcycles were parked along with a large vehicle that looked like a cross between a Lamborghini and an armored personnel carrier. There was a paved road leading up to a secret path underneath the lake and next to that was a high-tech armored hover jet. (5)

The main elevator to the manor descended until it stopped and out walked Bruce Wayne in a suit. He walked through his lair and made his way up to the computers where Barbara Gordon was busy working on something. Daughter of Police Commissioner James Gordon and the former vigilante Batgirl, she now helped the Dark Knight as his information hub, Oracle. Her red hair was tied up into a bun and she was wearing jeans and a purple Gotham City University sweatshirt. She pushed her glasses up as she continued focusing on her work. (6)

"How the party prep going?" Barbara asked as Bruce walked up to her.

"Fine, Alfred has it handled."

"I feel sorry for him every time you host one of these things. Kate left you a message by the way. You should call her back when you have a chance." Barbara informed him.

"I'll do it when the satellite lines up to where she is. I'm surprised she's stayed there training for so long but knowing Kate I should have expected it. Anyway, what did you find?" Bruce asked, looking over the data she managed to compile.

"A lot. There's been a lot of chatter the past couple of days throughout the city from both the GCPD and their CI's. Something's got the criminals of Gotham agitated and mobilizing and I reckon is has to do with your future business partner." She told him.

"Anyone in particular?" Bruce wanted something specific to act on.

"Nothing concrete. There was some chatter from the Iceberg lounge but that's probably about his meeting with Tommy Elliot." She explained.

"Anything else?"

"Nothing concrete though there are some leads about Crane making a move and he's not the only one. I've gotten whispers from just about everyone. Something's got them agitated. I'll have the kids run down some leads to make it easier once they're done playing." Barbara and Bruce looked over at the training area at the two young men sparring. Both were shirtless which displayed plenty of scars and bruises and both were using different weapons. The older of the two was using two escrima fighting sticks while the younger was using a bo staff and both were blindfolded. Despite their lack of sight, it didn't seem to hinder their movements as they continued to spar and managed to land a lucky blow against the other before the older one backflipped into a corkscrew spin and threw his escrima sticks which ricocheted off the floor and at his opponent who blocked them with his staff. That left him open to a flying scissor takedown where the older put him in an arm lock and had him at his mercy. (7)

"Dammit." The younger one said in his defeat as he took his blindfold off before he was helped off the ground. This was Timothy Jackson Drake, newest member of the Batfamily as the latest Robin. "I'll get you next time, Dick."

His opponent removed his blindfold and stood up. This was Richard Grayson, adopted son of Bruce Wayne, the first Robin and now the vigilante known as Nightwing. "Sure, keep telling yourself that Tim. It's still 15 to 10 in favor of me. 16 now."

Dick helped him back to his feet and the two grabbed towels and water bottles. "Dick, get suited up and take Tim out into the city. Oracle will watch over everything here. Something big is happened in Gotham so find out everything you can." Bruce told them.

"What about you?" Tim asked.

"I have to stay here tonight for the event. I invited Naruto Namikaze personally, so I'll have to be here." Bruce informed him. "Something big is brewing and I want to know before it happens."

"We'll get suited up." Dick told him as the two walked over to the far wall where they pressed their hands down on individual scanners. Once they were finished, the circular metal tubes rotated to reveal armored suits on mannequins. One was black with a blue bird crest on the chest and shoulders along with a domino mask. The other was black, red, and yellow with a red R over the heart.

Line Break xxxxx

Night had descended onto Gotham as a multitude of cars and limos were arriving at Wayne Manor for the Wayne Foundation charity gala. The who's who of Gotham's elite and powerful were in attendance of course along with the board members of Wayne Enterprises and other powerful people in the business world. A horde of paparazzi were outside, taking photos like it was a red-carpet event but in Gotham it was. A black limo parked at the front of the manor before the driver got out and opened the passenger door where Naruto, Jiraiya, and Gaara all stepped out in their best-looking suits and tuxes. Gaara and Jiraiya were looking very dashing in their tuxes, Jiraiya of course was still packing his gun and knife just to be safe. Naruto himself was dressed in a similar fashion to Daniel Craig's James Bond in Casino Royale. The dinner jacket he wore during the poker tournament and he was pulling it off.

The paparazzi took photos and a reporter asked him some questions which he was happy to answer before they made their way into the manor. They got the attention of everyone when they entered. The men whispered about them while the women smiled and waved. They arrived at the main hall of the manor where a live band was playing music, servers carried trays of drinks and finger foods, and people gathered around small tables to converse with one another.

"Wow. I wonder how much this place cost?" Gaara asked.

"That's an answer we probably don't want to know." Naruto said when he noticed two beautiful women walk by who winked at them. And as could be predicted Jiraiya immediately began to go gaga but Naruto stopped him from walking away. "Look. I know this is a great opportunity for us tonight and a great party, but I don't want us thrown out of here or causing a scene that destroys the hard work Dr. Wells and I have been building or spoils any future growth. So, Jiraiya, do your best to keep it down to an acceptable level of perversion tonight."

Jiraiya didn't seem to catch any of that as he watched another beautiful supermodel walk by. She was probably the date of one of the businessmen here. "Uh huh, sure."

"Dude." Naruto smacked him upside the head to get his attention. "I'm serious. I don't want you getting thrown out or arrested because you hit on some dude's wife and possibly screw up a potential business client, all right. I'm sure there are plenty of single women who will happily kiss you if you turn the perversion down and act normal."

"And why am I taking advice from you again?" Jiraiya asked only for Naruto to give him a look.

"Because I'm the only one of us who actually has a girlfriend and is in a happy relationship." Naruto pointed out.

"He's got you there." Gaara added.

"I'm serious. If you actually tone it down, you might be more appealing and actually get lucky." Naruto pleaded with him.

"All right, all right. I'll tone it down and double check for wedding rings before I work the magic." Jiraiya bargained.

"Knowing you that's the best I can ask for. And as an extra gift, I relieve you of your guard duty tonight. Go enjoy yourself." Naruto said only for Jiraiya to suddenly vanish. "But if you do get a date find your own hotel room!"

"Well if you don't need me, I'm going to scope out the buffet." Gaara bid him goodbye and made his way over.

A server walked by with a tray of champagne that Naruto happily took. He was a little out of place in this thing, but it was a good glimpse at his future. He walked through the party and was stopped by some businessmen, venture capitalist, politicians and their trophy wives who wanted to chat about his recent successes and possible business ventures. Now he was starting to wonder if Dr. Wells didn't want to come because of this. He could be quite crafty.

At the end of about two hours of talking, downing glasses of champagne and eating some finger foods his pocket was literally bursting with business cards from prospective clients or politicians who wanted to do work with him. Honestly, he felt like he needed a lobotomy after that ordeal.

He went to the bar to get a scotch for the taste since none of this alcohol wasn't affecting him which kind of sucked. He leaned against the bar and took a few sips when he heard the clack of heels get closer and someone joined him at the bar. "Martini, please."

"I wasn't expecting you to be here tonight, Fallon." Naruto turned to see her in a fancy and probably expensive dress. "I figured after what happened this morning that your dad wouldn't be in the mood to play charity."

"He's not which is why I'm here by myself." Fallon told him only for Naruto to spot her driver about ten feet away. "Well, mostly by myself. I'm surprised I don't see your bodyguard by your side."

"I gave him the night off. I think there's only so much business chatter he could take." Will finished his drink. "What brings you by?"

"Another warning. My father is on the warpath. Honestly, I've never seen him this angry." Fallon told him.

"I figured after what happened today. You sound a little concerned." Naruto noted.

"I think it just might be a good idea to keep your bodyguard extra close from now on. Or even hire a private security team. I've never seen my father this angry and I don't want to think of what he's willing to do. He made some not so subtle threats." Fallon explained.

"I have an inkling of what his threats are. Thanks again for the heads up." Naruto replied. "You must really want to stay on my good side for the future."

"I'm head of acquisitions for Carrington Atlantic. I know a good opportunity when I see one. And like I said I want to stay on your good side." Fallon reminded him.

"So, if in the eventuality that I do buy Carrington Atlantic I'll remember your help and place you as CEO." Naruto added, drawing an odd look from Fallon. "When I do expand, I don't plan to buy companies or firms and gut them like anyone in my position would. Any company I purchase will officially be under the STAR labs umbrella. All that entails is them changing up their business a little to fit with what STAR labs wants to accomplish. Which means that I'll be assigning people to watch over said companies and report to me."

"Ah, which means if you buy Carrington Atlantic, you'll be assigning someone to run the company in your best interests. Color me impressed. Remember me fondly when that happens." Fallon bid him goodbye to mingle with the other businessmen and women at the party.

Bruce was playing the part of Bruce Wayne, the billionaire playboy philanthropist at his own party with a beautiful model hanging off his arm. He was being suave and dashing and pretty much the opposite of what you'd expect a masked vigilante to be which was exactly the point. His phone in his pocket vibrated so he checked it to see the Bat symbol on the screen which meant it was Oracle. Bruce excused himself and walked down the hall to a room that was empty before he answered.

"Oracle, did Nightwing and Robin find anything?"

"Yeah, they managed to track a lead down to a warehouse Crane was operating out of. He had over thirty hired thugs in the warehouse watching over twenty hostages." She explained.

"Not like Crane to take hostages. What did he want?" Bruce asked.

"He wasn't holding them for ransom. They were all captured so Crane's men could take their place. They work for the Millennium events food and catering company. The same company that's charged with working your party tonight." Oracle explained. "Whatever Crane has planed it has to do with your charity event tonight."

"Right. I'm heading down to the cave now. Get my suit ready. Where are Tim and Dick?" Bruce asked as he made his way through the mansion to his study.

"They're on their way back now. Should be here by the time you're suited up." Oracle said, watching the trackers in their suits show they were speeding through Gotham very fast. Bruce double checked the hallway before walking into his private study and over to the old grandfather clock. He opened it up and pulled one of the pendulums which was followed by a series of tumbles and locks like a safe. It then slid to the side to reveal an elevator. "I already sent a message to the police and they're on their way."

"They won't get here in time." Bruce said as the elevator closed.

Naruto was at the bar sipping some beer and doing some people watching. He saw Gaara munching on some finger foods while Jiraiya was putting the moves on a different girl. You'd think that after the 10th time striking out that he'd just give up, but he was persistent. Maybe he'd have luck with number eleven. Naruto's people watching brought his attention to some odd things, mainly with some of the catering staff. Some of them would huddle together near food or drink carts and they weren't doing a very good job at passing around food or drinks. He even saw one sneak a swig of whiskey. One catering waiter walked by with a drink tray and Naruto noticed some tattoos hidden by his shirt collar. Normally, that wouldn't raise a red flag but the suspicious looking bulge in his side pocket did.

Naruto finished his beer and walked over to Gaara. The sand metahuman noticed Naruto's expression and something was wrong. "Naruto, what's up?"

"I think this event is about to get robbed. Go to Jiraiya and tell him. We need to get these people out of here." He whispered. Gaara nodded and quickly walked over to Jiraiya who failed yet again with another woman while Naruto walked over to Fallon who was talking to a representative from Kord Enterprises. "Fallon, I'm sorry to interrupt your conversation but I think it might be a good idea to possibly take this conversation elsewhere."

"Really, it was just getting good." Fallon told him.

"Is there something wrong, Mr. Namikaze?" The rep asked when Naruto saw one of the catering staff reach into his belt and signal the others with a nod.

"EVERYONE GET DOWN!" Naruto shouted as one of the disguised wait staff dropped a flashbang grenade onto a table. It blew up and set off a loud ringing sound that was accompanied by gunshots from pistols and submachine guns. Everyone hit the deck as twenty disguised waitstaff took off their suits to reveal dirty brown shirts decorated with the symbol of a scarecrow, indicating they worked for Jonathan Crane AKA the Scarecrow.

Naruto protectively got in front of Fallon as the Scarecrow gang put their guns on the hostages and immediately subdued or killed the Crow and Wayne Security team. "All right! Everyone shuts up or you get a bullet!" The ring leader shouted as he fired a few more rounds from his Mac-10 for good measure, scarring the piss out of the hostages. "Now, I'm sure you all know how this works! You hand over all your money and jewelry or else you'll end up in the morgue! Meanwhile, those with fat bank accounts will getting on the phone with their bankers and transferring everything over to account number we tell you. Anyone who takes too long or pisses us off…gets a bullet!"

The party patrons immediately handed over their valuables while others got on the phone and did as they were told. Naruto took note of the gunmen's positions around the room and knew he could take them down easily but not without using his powers. Gaara and Jiraiya could help but he couldn't only do so much without using his powers in view of everyone. He needed help and he got it when he saw two masked vigilantes move by the windows. He got the direct gaze of one of them dressed in black and red armor with a small cape. Naruto began to subtlety sign and point to the ceiling and the figure nodded before he and the other moved.

"Fallon, take a few slow and quiet steps back to your driver. When everything goes to hell, get as many people as you can to the door and get out of here." He whispered.

"Naruto, what's going on?" Fallon whispered back when the ringleader saw Naruto and walked over to him.

"Well, well looky here boys! We've got a celebrity in the house!" Fallon took some steps back as the ringleader's attention was on Naruto who was as calm as can be. Said ringleader took out a Glock pistol and got as threatening as he could be. "You know, every other rich douchebag and bitch in this stupid place is cowering in their designer shoes and doing what we said but not you. You think you're better than them?"

"Most of them, yes but I've been in these kinds of situations before. It either scars you for life or makes you stronger. Guess I got stronger." Naruto quipped earning a chuckle from the ringleader who looked to his friends in disbelief. He glanced over to Jiraiya and Gaara who nodded at him, ready to fight on the signal.

"You're funny, kid. I'll admit that. And you're smart too but not that smart. So, you hand over everything you have or else you won't live to tomorrow." The ringleader warned him, placing his gun right in Naruto's face.

Naruto glanced up and saw the three shadows moving above the glass ceiling. He took one more gaze around the room at the twenty-armed goons and knew the time to act was now. "Would it be all right if I say one thing before I hand over my fortune?" Naruto asked.

"Sure, kid. Amuse me."

"You never want to put your gun right in someone's face because it gives them the chance to do this." Naruto grabbed the gun, spun around, elbowed him in the back, grabbed his other arm and threw him into a table before turning and firing 12 bullets at the guns of 12 of the gunmen essentially disarming them. Jiraiya acted, drawing his knife and disarming two more of the gunmen. Gaara pushed a food cart into another when the glass ceiling above them shattered and three figures dropped down. Several sharp projectiles flew through the air and disarmed the remaining gunmen. The figures landed on three of the goons, knocking them out and revealing themselves to be Robin, Nightwing, and in the black and grey armored, cowl and caped suit…the Batman.

Fighting soon erupted in the manor as Batman, Nightwing, and Robin engaged the goons while everyone else made a run for the exit. "Fallon, go!" Naruto helped her up and her driver escorted her to the door as fast as they could run. The distraction was enough for the subdued members of Crows and Wayne security to get free and attack the Scarecrow gang. One lone member tried to attack Naruto only to get his arm broken and thrown into a table. A Crow Security guard rushed over and started escorting him away.

"Mr. Namikaze, let's get you to safety!" He said as the two made their exit.

Batman, Nightwing, and Robin engaged the Scarecrow gang in hand-to-hand combat which was easy since their guns were taken care of. Batman took out three with brutal yet skilled efficiency as he elbowed one goon in the nose before grappling him to the ground and breaking his leg. Nightwing flipped through the air and threw his twin taser/escrima sticks which ricocheted off the walls and into the faces of two goons. Several quick kicks and taser smacks to the body took them down with ease while Robin used his bow staff to deal with his own goon. Batman fired his grapple gun, yanking a goon to him before close lining him and doing a hammer fist to the gut. The last goon left standing was taken care of by Jiraiya who elbowed him in the throat and threw him into a table. The old spy/metahuman looked at the Bat and just shrugged his shoulders.

"You're good for that, right? So, who do these idiots belong to?" Jiraiya asked, kicking one of the downed goons in the gut.

"Scarecrow." Batman replied, looking at the 20 defeated minions of Jonathan Crane.

"Seems a little small fry for Crane." Robin commented.

"You're right, we're missing something." Nightwing told him when Gaara came out from behind a table and looked around.

"Where's Naruto?" Gaara asked as he and Jiraiya looked around and noticed he was gone.

While Batman and company were fighting…

The Crow Security guard led Naruto down through a wing of Wayne Manor. "Where are you taking me?" Naruto asked.

"To a secured exit. My associates have a car waiting for us." The guard answered as they made it to a side exit of the manor where a non-descript van was waiting for them, not a Crow security personnel carrier.

"Yeah, I'm sorry but I'm not getting in that thing." Naruto told him.

"I wasn't going to give you a choice." The Crow guard pulled out his gun only for Naruto to kick it away and then kick him in the face. He hit the van and threw out a punch only for Naruto to parry it and respond with a gut punch, knee to the groin and getting his head slammed into the van. The back doors of the van opened and two more of Scarecrow's goons got out. One grabbed Naruto from behind to drag him into the van while another charged from the front. Naruto kicked the guy in the front before throwing his head back and hitting the goon in the nose. He then stomped on his foot, elbowed him in the gut and then kneed him in the face before throwing him head first into the rear-view window. The other goon rushed into the driver's seat to grab something while the crow security guard got back up and pulled out a spare sidearm from his boot holster. He pointed it at Naruto, but Naruto did the same disarm, spin and elbow to the back before throwing him to the ground and knocked him out with a pistol whip to the face.

"Thank you, Oliver." Naruto quipped. Oliver was the one who taught him to fight and instilled all his fighting instincts which he honed with his solo training sessions. The disarm and throw was one of the first things Oliver taught him.

Naruto noticed he was short one goon when he heard footsteps. He turned to defend himself only for some kind of modified aerosol gas gun hit him in the face with a puff of gas. Whatever gas he was hit with was potent and there was a lot of it. It got in his nose and he inhaled some before blowing the rest out of his face and trying to catch his breath from the fit of coughing. Then it hit him like a freight train.

His world began to warp around him to the point where everything outside of his direct line of sight was distorted and looked like something straight out of Dante's Inferno. He began seeing monsters crawl out of the ground but standing right in front of him was…himself. Or at least the nightmare version he's been seeing lately. He was wearing his Impulse suit, but it was black and blood red instead of his regular white and crimson. His eyes and lightning turned blood red, his right arm was dripping blood and he had a bloodthirsty and maniacal smile that Hannibal Lecter and Freddy Kreuger would find welcoming.

"What's the matter, Naruto? You don't look so good…" His evil persona then treated him to a right cross and left cross to the face, a punch to the gut, another punch to the face before throwing him into the van and kneeing him in the gut. Naruto hit the ground in a helpless pile as his evil clone kicked him in the gut over and over again. Despite his powers, Naruto was too overtaken by fear to even think straight.

"No…please…I'm not you. I'm not you…" Naruto begged only to get his wrist broken and kicked in the face one more time. His head hit the side of the van hard and he began to slip in and out of consciousness. "You're not real…you're not real…"

"I'm am real…and I'm not going anywhere!" Dark Naruto told him with a menacing smile.

All of that was happening in Naruto's head but in reality, the Scarecrow goon hit him with Scarecrow's fear toxin and began beating the hell out of him. Before he could finish him off or drag him into the van, the gravel and pebbles on the ground tightened around his feet while Jiraiya raced forward and forcefully slammed the goons face into the van. Gaara then encased the other goons in gravel and pebbles to keep them from moving as he checked on Naruto who wasn't looking good at all. The physical injuries were nothing, it's how they occurred that was the problem.

Jiraiya looked over Naruto and noticed his shaking like he was drugged or something. That along with the babbling of being scared and someone not being real along with his eyes was enough to tell him something was seriously wrong. "Jiraiya." Gaara held up some kind of modified gas gun.

"Oh no. Naruto, stay with me!" Jiraiya told him but Naruto wasn't listening.

"You're not real…you're not real…you're not real…" Was all he could babble when Batman, Nightwing, and Robin rushed out to see them. Jiraiya cradled his godson's head in worry before looking at Batman.

"You owe me, Bruce. Help my godson." Jiraiya begged. Batman looked at the victim and made his decision then and there.

Barbara/Oracle was at the computer to monitor the situation and everything seemed fine. The police soon arrived and took Scarecrow's goons into custody though the question as to why Scarecrow would have them attack needed to be answered. It wasn't exactly in Scarecrow's repertoire to do something like this. Before she could dig into it the ding of the elevator caught her attention along with the shuffle of more than three sets of feet. She made her way down the ramp and saw Bruce with his cowl down as he led some older white-haired man into the med bay. The white-haired man was carrying Naruto Namikaze into the med bay. Wow, what the hell happened?

"Put him here." Bruce told Jiraiya as he laid Naruto down on a gurney. "Dick, hook him up to the EKG. Tim, analyze his blood as fast as you can."

The two wards got to work quickly as Jiraiya strapped Naruto down onto the gurney to keep him from moving. Despite his unconscious state, he would jerk or struggle like he was in a nightmare.

"Uh, Batman. Can you explain why you've let two people down here?" Barbara asked.

"Later. Barbara, I need you to run an analysis on the toxin used in this." Bruce handed her the modified aerosol gas gun the goon used on Naruto. "Crane's figured out a new method for delivering it so he might have adjusted his formula."

"I'm on it." She moved it over to the lab and got to work. Dick had finally hooked Naruto up to the EKG while Bruce put an IV line in his arm. The beeps from the EKG were extremely rapid like Naruto was going into cardiac arrest.

"His heartbeat and blood pressure are way above normal." Dick said.

"Well, the kid isn't exactly normal, but you probably already know that, don't you Bruce?" Jiraiya spared him a glance. "Still, that's way higher than the kid's normal stats. What the hell is happening to him?"

"Crane's fear toxin increased the secretion by the pituitary gland of the adrenocorticotropic hormone. It's triggering his fight or flight response only it's supercharging the flight. Don't worry, we developed a cure." Bruce told him.

"Yeah, I'm not sure how good that cure's gonna work in this instance, Bruce." Tim told him from the computer. "His blood is showing increased endocrine activity. If we give him the cure, then his system will burn through it in a matter of minutes."

"The kid heals way faster than a normal person. If that's the case, then why isn't he awake?" Jiraiya asked.

"If his body heals fast then his mind would heal fast as well." Barbara wheeled over to the control console and activated the CT scanner. After a few seconds of scanning, it showed Naruto's brain and his usual hyperactivity had gone into overdrive. While his super genius brain was normally lit like a Christmas tree, this time it was lit like the Fourth of July. "Ok, that's definitely not normal. I don't know how he's alive at this point."

"It's his super brain. It's usually hyperactive but I don't think it's supposed to be like that." Jiraiya explained.

"It's the fear toxin. It's affecting his hyperactive amygdala and further increasing the hallucinogenic process in his brain. Because of his hyperactivity, it's affecting him ten times harder than a typical victim." Bruce summarized as he took a syringe of Fear toxin cure and injected it into the IV line.

"Bruce, his body is going to burn through that in minutes." Dick told him.

"I know but we're out of options. Barbara, start synthesizing something to slow down his brain activity. Until then…it's up to your godson." Bruce told Jiraiya.

"Come on, kid. Fight." Jiraiya held Naruto's hand in worry, not wanting to even imagine the kind of nightmare he might be facing.

Line Break xxxxx

(Naruto's Mindscape)

Run.

Run…Run…

Run…Faster…Faster…

Don't let him catch you!

That's all he could think as he ran as fast as he could all around the world. This hellish scape of Dante's Inferno was all around him and it was all he knew. Withered trees, a red inferno sun, and demonic creatures as far as the eye could see but none of that scared him. His fear came in the form of blood red lightning colored evil version of himself that chased after him like a cat after a mouse. His evil clone was making a game out of this and no matter how hard or how fast he fought the two were equal. The only difference…his evil clone was without remorse, sympathy or any emotion other than anger, rage, and sadistic torture.

Naruto resorted to running away as fast as he could with the distant echoes of evil laughter and taunting coming up right behind him. He had never felt so afraid of himself or anyone in his entire life.

His running took him from Tokyo to Star City and eventually back home to Central City where he resorted to hiding in alleyways like a rat. He covered his mouth to try and silence his heavy breathing, but it wasn't working that great and his hopes to catch his breath were soon dashed by a whoosh of air and flicker of red lightning that appeared it the alley. Naruto hugged the wall and covered his mouth to muffle his breathing.

One…two…I'm coming for you…three…four…gonna hurt you more…fix six…gonna kill you quick…seven…eight…it's far too late…nine ten…

The creepy sing-song nursery rhyme stopped then and there with nothing but utter silence. The momentary silence caught Naruto off guard. Did his evil clone leave? Was he safe?

"Say hello to me again!"His evil clone phased through the wall and showed up behind him before throwing him through the alleyway wall with enough force that he went through the brick wall.

"Shit…" Naruto laid down on the ground in pain as his evil clone stepped through the hole in the brick wall and over to his good self.

"Oh…you don't look so good there, Naruto. Don't worry. I'm gonna get you somewhere safe."The evil Naruto hoisted up the original and raced through the city before heading to STAR labs which was run-down, half destroyed and looked like Leatherface's vacation home. Naruto was thrown in the air and hit the ground with a thud, adding onto his already growing list of injuries. He managed to raise his head up and see he was in the dilapidated and blood-stained remains of the cortex. One thing that did stand out where the skulls ordained on pikes. Evil Naruto then appeared in front of him in a flash. "Nice right? They're little…souvenirs we've picked up over the years. At first it was just a gimmick but…I'm proud to say that no one does what we do better than us."

Evil Naruto walked over one of the pikes and dusted off the plaque to reveal the words Captain Cold. "I know, right? All those little pesky super villains that kept getting away or we locked up in the accelerator ring to never rehabilitate? Well…we solved that problem all together. Cold…Heatwave…The Mist…the rest of the Nine…and plenty more. But not just our bad guys, oh no. Looky here, we've got Ra's al Ghul and his daughter. Let me tell you that she was not happy about that, but we took care of her and the rest of the League. They're all next to Deathstroke and Malcolm Merlyn. I mean, what Oliver was thinking in not killing them is beyond me but he's not an issue anymore."

"What did you do…" Naruto managed to utter out and his evil clone smiled.

"Let me show you."He super sped them to Naruto's office where the skulls of all his friends and family were hung up on the wall like trophies. Barry, Cisco, Caitlin, Jiraiya, Tsunade, Oliver, Felicity, Diggle, Linda, and Dr. Wells. "Now these…these ones are special. Don't you agree?"

"You're a monster." Naruto told him only to get picked up and have his head slammed into his desk.

"No, we're monsters, Naruto. Come on, I want you to say it. Here, I help you…We…are…monsters…"His evil clone taunted him like he was a child. "Come on, you can do it."

"I'm…nothing like you…" Naruto told him as he struggled to get free only to get a knee to the gut and thrown into the wall. Evil Naruto then flashed in front of and grabbed him by the throat with one hand.

"When are you going to get it through that thick skull of yours, Naruto and just accept what you know deep down in your soul. I'm not some illusion or mind trick…I am the real you." His evil clone told him.

"The real…me?" Naruto gasped for breath as his evil clone smiled.

"Yeah, I'm your precious hatred and every evil thought you have your in your head. Your dark self, if you prefer."Dark Naruto boasted only for Naruto to punch his elbow and get free. He kneed his dark self in the gut and then punched him in the face only for Dark Naruto to spin and punch him back. The two hit the ground hard before getting back to their feet and stalking around each other, waiting for the other to make the first move. "You can't beat me, Naruto. Ever!"

"Yes, I can, and I will!" Naruto shouted back.

"Wow, we really are delusional, aren't we? But I'll fix that. You can't beat me, Naruto because I am you. Every single little dark thought, twisted impulse, or action you've ever thought of or done is me. I have always been here, and I will be sticking around for a long time."Dark Naruto said. "Quiet frankly, I've never gotten this much freedom or energy in years but after what you've been dealing with the past couple of months…let me tell you. Practically a 5-star buffet. We sure are messed up, aren't we?"

"Screw you! This isn't real!" Naruto shouted as he super sped away in a blur of white and crimson lightning with Dark Naruto chasing after him in a blur of blood red lightning. The two raced and fought all over STAR labs at super speed but neither side was winning. Just like the times before there was no clear victor in this fight so it was an exercise in futility. The fight eventually led to the remains of the accelerator ring and a destroyed Arc reactor. Punches and kicks were traded but still no victor as one final kick from both sent the other onto their back. Naruto groaned in pain, but Dark Naruto just laughed.

"This just shows that even though we're a genius we're still stupid when it counts. You can't beat me, Naruto because I'm you. Every punch, kick, and move that Oliver or Jiraiya taught you, I know. There's nothing you can do to stop me so just give up and let me take over!"Dark Naruto stood up as Naruto did the same. Both wiped the blood from the lips, and both were tired. "Think about it? How much fun it'll be? Central City is going to be safe and secure because every single criminal is going to get the same treatment we gave Orochimaru. No one would dare rise up against us. And soon enough we'll have the rest of the Nine join him."

"And what about my friends? My team? They won't accept killing innocent people!" Naruto shouted.

"Oh, please. Don't try and fool us with your naivety. It's just depressing."Dark Naruto waved his hand and the surrounding area began to show their memories, more importantly the bad ones and all the bad people they've stopped including the villains. "Multiplex, The Mist, Captain Cold, Girder, Rainbow Raider, Heatwave, Pied Piper, Peek-a-boo, not to mention General Eiling and anyone in the government. They aren't good people…so why should we care if they live or not? Hell, I'm sure people would applaud us if we took them off the board for good."

"I'm not disagreeing that they're bad people…but killing them all makes me no better than them." Naruto stood his ground.

"We aren't…at least, not anymore. I believe you said it to Oliver about Mizuki…I'm just one bad day away from being just like him…and you were right. That day came and I'm enjoying it!"Dark Naruto gave a mighty roar before his negative influenced speed force aura erupted from his body like lava from a volcano. The red lightning crackled around like wildfire and gave him power, feeding off all his anger, doubt, and negative emotions. Whatever negative force this was began to affect Naruto as well and he began to feel everything he felt when he fought and killed Orochimaru. "Sometimes the best way to stop monsters is to be one. So just embrace it, Naruto. We can really change the world…and stop anyone in our way!"

The lightning that circled around him morphed into multiple copies of the Reverse Flash who slowly stalked to him in a menacing fashion. The dark red sun of his nightmare mindscape got darker and darker to the point where all he could see was red. Slowly and slowly, he began to slip, and it was only a matter of seconds before he gave in…when a small glimmer of light pierced through the darkness and made it and the lightning scatter away. Naruto felt all his negative emotions slowly ebb away until he was back to normal. He lifted his head up to the light and saw the shadows of two people until his eyes managed to get a clear view of who they were.

"Naruto…"

"Dad…mom…" Naruto saw his parents standing there in front of him. Minato was wearing a yellow button-up with a white lab coat over with the word's science can save the world written in Kanji on the back. Next to Minato was Kushina Uzumaki, wearing a similar lab coat. Her flowing red hair tied up in a ponytail.

"Hello, my son." Minato smiled at Naruto with pride and love while Kushina was crying small tears of joy. "I'm sorry our meeting had to be like this, but it came up at a good time."

"You're not real…neither of you are real…you're not here…" All Naruto got was a punch to the head by his mother and it hurt like hell. "OWW!"

"Don't be disrespectful to your parents! I raised you better than that Dattebane!" Kushina shouted as her red hair got all crazy while Minato was scared.

"Wait…only mom would ever say that…" Naruto looked up at his parents. "Is that really you guys?"

"Of course, it's us." She replied.

"But…but how? You're both dead. How can you be here? Is this just my head messing with me?" Naruto asked.

"Or maybe something brought us to you to help you with this." Minato said as he waved his hand which made Dark Naruto and everything else freeze so they could have some privacy. "I'm so sorry, Naruto. I never wanted you to go through any of this."

The only response he got was a super speed gut punch that made him double over. "WHY DID YOU DO THIS?! WHY?! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT I'VE BEEN THROUGH?! WHAT YOU FORCED ON ME?! HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO YOUR OWN SON?!"

Naruto cried tears of anger and sadness while Kushina just laughed her butt off. "Oh my god, you did deserve that."

"I'm sorry, Naruto, I really am. Although I supposed it's of little conciliation if I apologize now after everything you've been through." Minato uttered.

Naruto wiped his eyes from his angry tears and began to calm down. "It is but it's fine. I'll deal with it like I always have."

"Since you asked…I did this to you because I knew you could do this. I did it because you're my son. If anyone would be able to stop the Nine…it would be you. And there's a reason I did this. When your mother and I developed the meta-serums for the Nine, we learned something." Minato told him.

"Learned what?" Naruto asked as Minato adopted a more serious face.

"That the Nine themselves are just puppets of a far greater evil. An evil that has survived through the generations in his descendants with only one goal…to establish peace through control. They believe that only through their leadership can the world ever know true peace and so they have worked behinds the shadows over the years go achieve that goal. The Nine was one of them, to control the criminal element of the world. They're goal, while troubling could never be made a reality even with all the influence and military might they could gather…until our research." Kushina explained. "The true mastermind behind all of this used our research for his own means. Shortly before the accident, we found out that the research we sent to the Nine detailed how to create a unique serum…a serum to bestow untold powers onto its user. Powers the true leader of the Nine would want."

"What kind of powers?" Naruto asked.

"Enough that even with your speed you couldn't stop. Nothing could stop him from his goals of ruling over everything." Minato replied. "That's why we did this. In order to truly protect something precious, war will be wages. As long as there is love in this world…there will be hate. Some people will take advantage of that hate. To be a true hero means to confront true hate. Every single one of us must battle against that hatred and he embodies hatred like no other in history. If you are to eventually face him, this is what you must be ready for."

"How the hell can I do that when I can't even deal with the hatred deep inside me?! You heard the dark clone of me, it's still in there! Dad, what do I do?!" Naruto begged.

Minato placed his hand on Naruto's head like he always used to do when he was younger. "I'm certain you'll know the answer when it comes, Naruto…because I believe in you completely."

"We both do." Kushina stepped forward. "You got your father's looks but everything else about you is pure me…and that's a good thing. And your mind is the best of both of us. If anyone can do this, it's you."

"Are you sure about that? If you're in my head, then you know what I've done. My dark version may be insane, but he does make some solid points. I'm not the person you remember." Naruto pointed out.

"And we're not the people you always thought we were. Guess it runs in the family." Minato said.

"This darkness you have inside you is something everyone has, Naruto. Oliver told you as such. I know you're afraid of your inner darkness but running from it is not the answer." Kushina told him. "You need to face it head on."

"We know you're scared, Naruto but it's something you need to do if you want to wake up." Minato added, comforting his son. "You're ready, even if you think you're not."

"I don't know if I can do this alone." Naruto said as his mother and father smiled at him.

"You're not alone." They both said as they waved their hands and like Dark Naruto brought up all his negative memories, they brought up his positive ones. His happy memories from his childhood like birthdays, science fairs, and family vacations along with his time hanging out with Dr. Wells and Tess Morgan. They then change to his memories after his coma and he got his powers. Meeting Barry, Cisco, Caitlin, and Linda. All his triumphs and tribulations as Impulse and all the good work he did. "We're with you no matter what."

"Sometimes I forget about all the good memories." Naruto said with a teary smile. "I miss you both so much."

Kushina and Minato hugged their son, and both cried the same tears of joy, pride, and sadness. "We miss you, but we will always be here." Kushina said. "My special boy…you have such a big destiny ahead of you. We've seen it…they showed it to us. But like I always told you, if you don't like your destiny, don't accept it. Instead, have the courage to change it the way you want it to be."

"We couldn't be prouder of the man you've become. Remember: It's not the face that makes someone a monster, it's the choices they make with their lives. Failing doesn't give you a reason to give up as long as you believe. And we believe in you." Minato told him. Naruto smiled as Minato kissed his son on the head. "You're ready."

"I'm ready." Naruto turned around as Minato and Kushina waved their hands which unfroze Dark Naruto and the nightmare mindscape.

"Aww…look who's here? The two idiots who turned us into the monster we are. I'm so glad they're here to see their sweet little innocent boy turn against them."Dark Naruto mocked.

"You know what to do, Naruto." Kushina cheered him on.

"I know." Naruto stepped forward as the Reverse-Flash avatars reached out to infect him only for his crimson and white lightning to erect a barrier around him and keep him safe. "That's not gonna work on me anymore."

"Are you sure, Naruto? Like I keep telling you, you can't get rid of me."Dark Naruto reminded him as Naruto took a few steps forward.

"I know. You are a part of who I am, and you always will. I may think that you're too much, but you push me when I need it and you may think I'm unnecessary, but I mellow you. So, you can stop thinking of taking over because I'm not going to let that happen and you don't really want that." Naruto pointed out.

"Oh yeah! How about a rebuttal!"Dark Naruto dashed forward in super speed to punch him in the face only for Naruto grab it. One thing that was different was that Naruto wasn't angry or upset or sad…just calmness and acceptance. "What are you doing?"

"Proving you wrong. My anger and hate won't make me powerful or stronger or make the pain go away." Naruto told him.

"Then what will?"Dark Naruto asked.

"…Remembering who and what I fight for will. When people are protecting something truly special to them, they truly can become as strong as they can be. If I'm really going to take down the Nine and keep my friends…my family safe…then we'll need each other. No more feeling sorry for myself…it's time to grow." Naruto said to his dark persona as the red lightning began to dissipate.

"You had me at takedown the Nine." Dark Naruto said as the red lightning finally vanished, and he was back to being regular Naruto. He smiled at the original before he slowly dissipated and merged with him, uniting into one whole person.

Naruto closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "How do you feel?" Kushina asked as Naruto opened his eyes and they flickered with white and crimson lightning.

"I feel good." Naruto replied when his nightmare mindscape cracked with thunder and the nightmarish aura pooled together on the ground to form a large scarecrow. "Huh, was not expecting that…but I could use the exercise."

"Go get him, son." Minato said.

"Kick his ass, Naruto." Kushina added.

"With pleasure." Naruto smiled as he began to channel his speed. Minato and Kushina smiled at their son before they transformed into lightning. Minato into white lightning and Kushina into crimson. The lighting merged together to form the cloak of a roaring animal…a Fox if you will before it hit Naruto which made a huge flash of light that made the nightmare scarecrow shield its eyes.

When the light dimmed down, Naruto stood there in a new suit. His boots were black with red accents on the shins. His pants from his belt down were black but the rest of his suit was silver and crimson. His fists and forearms were crimson along with accents around his biceps, ribs, collar bones, and the wingtips on his mask. Everything else was a silver/white color and looked almost like a thin, breathable, and flexible armor. His mask was different than his old suit because it covered his whole head, with lenses over the eyes and a mask to cover his mouth. The crimson wingtips on the mask were one noticeable difference along with his new symbol. Rather than the weird arrow/zig-zag his old suit had, this one had a red lightning bolt symbol in a circle like the Flash, but the circle looked like a gear as an homage to Naruto's talents as a scientists and engineer. All in all, it was a brand-new Impulse. (8)

Naruto stood there in his new suit as his mask retracted so it was like his old one, covering most of his head except for his hair and mouth. "New suit…and I'm liking it." The evil night scarecrow roared at him and brandished a hellish looking scythe. "All right, time to send this scarecrow back to the corn field."

His mask reformed and covered his whole head as Impulse super sped toward the Scarecrow which came right at him. It came right at him with the scythe, but there was no doubt it wouldn't survive. And so…Impulse was born again.

End of Mindscape

Line Break xxxxx

The sound of water cascading into a pool, the steady beep of an EKG, and the flutter of small wings were the ambient noise that woke Naruto up from his unconscious state. And it wasn't like waking up from regular sleep or a nap. It was more like waking up from a hangover after a New Year's Eve, Saint Patrick's Day, Fourth of July, and Christmas party combined…times a hundred. He squinted his eyes to let them adjust to the ambient lighting and saw he was in some kind of medical bay like at STAR labs. He turned his head and saw Jiraiya sitting by his side, jotting down some things in his notebook.

"Are those notes for your smut novel?" Naruto asked which made Jiraiya jump in shock before seeing his godson was awake.

"It's not smut…it's romance." Jiraiya put his notebook away. "Glad you're awake, kid. You gave me a bit of a scare."

"Yeah, I understand scares and fear pretty well, now." Naruto struggled to lean up so Jiraiya helped him before handing him a bottle of water which he guzzled down in a few gulps.

"How do you feel?" Jiraiya was glad Naruto was alive but concerned about the state he was in.

"Honestly…I feel like I'm getting over the worst hangover humanely possible…times a hundred. And coming from someone who can't actually get a hangover, that's saying something." Naruto shook his head a bit and cracked his neck to clear up his stiff joints. He shifted a bit and sat on the edge of the gurney. "How long have I been out?"

"About six days."

"Six days?" Naruto was shocked he was out for so long. Jiraiya pointed behind him at the large pile of empty IV bags he went through. "Whoa."

"Yeah. You pretty much went through an entire hospital's worth of IV bags. Guess that super metabolism has its downsides." Jiraiya joked.

"Among other things." Naruto got off the gurney and to stand on his feet but wobbled a bit so Jiraiya helped him find his balance. "Oh, man. Linda and the others must be worried."

"Don't worry about it. Gaara and I already took care of that. We told them you were recovering but now that you're awake they'll be relieved. And Gaara's doing his job as Human Resources head. A lot of the press have been wanting to talk to you about what happened, but he's kept them at bay. He told them you were handling some personal business and he made a statement on your behalf." Jiraiya informed him.

"Right. I'm gonna need to give Gaara raise." That's when Naruto noticed they weren't anyplace he was familiar with. "Where are we?"

"The one place with the knowledge to help you." He heard and saw a young red-haired woman in a specialized electronic wheelchair.

"Uh…hi. I'm Naruto." Naruto introduced himself as she strolled over and shook his hand.

"Barbara Gordon. Pleasure to meet you and glad to see you're on your feet. Considering all the IV bags you went through I was worried you'd burst like a balloon." Barbara commented.

"I would pay to see that. Just saying." Jiraiya joked while Naruto just gave him a look.

"If you wouldn't mind following me, he'll want to speak with you." Barbara said as she led them out of the med bay.

"Who's he?" Naruto asked as he saw they were in a huge and scientifically advanced underground base. She led them down a pathway that ran next to an armory with a whole bunch of cool weapons and gadgets and he could see a garage with several motorcycles and an awesome looking car. "What is this place?"

"I like to call it the Bat-Cave. And our fearless leader wants to talk." Barbara, Naruto, and Jiraiya went up a small ramp that led them to the main area where a large super computer rested. Someone was sitting in the chair flanked by two young men, one older than Naruto and the other younger. "He's awake."

"Glad to see you're among the living." The older of the young men said as he walked over. "Dick Grayson."

"Naruto." Naruto shook his hands as he then shook hands with the younger one.

"Tim Drake. That was quite a nap you took." Tim commented.

"Well, it wasn't so much a nap but a moment of self-reflection and facing my inner demons." Naruto replied.

"Then you've done what most have never been able to do." Naruto heard as the chair spun around to reveal Bruce Wayne. "Glad to see you're awake…Impulse."

"Bruce Wayne…Bruce Wayne is Batman." To say that Naruto's brain was suffering a mini-stroke is an understatement. "Oh my god. Bruce Wayne is Batman, I cannot believe this. Well, I wouldn't say that because out of anyone who could be Batman you were in the top five list but to know for sure is blowing my mind right now. Oh my god, Bruce Wayne is Batman."

"How much longer is that going to go on?" Barbara asked Jiraiya.

"Give him a few seconds. This kind of thing has happened before."

"Wow, I can't believe…wait, you said Impulse. You know who I am?" Naruto asked as Jiraiya, Barbara, Tim, and Dick nodded their heads. "Let me guess, while I unconscious you took samples of my blood and found out I'm a metahuman."

"That along with the fact that shortly before the mysterious blurs started to appear all over Central City was when you and Mr. Allen woke up from your comas. That and given your connections to STAR labs and the calculated trajectory and time it takes for either of you to get to a crime scene helped to solidify my hypothesis." Bruce told him.

"Wow, you really are the world's greatest detective. So, care to fill me in on why you let me stay here? I figure it's not just because of the superhero/vigilante solidarity or because of our business dealings." Naruto pointed out.

"That'd be me." Jiraiya stepped forward and over to Bruce. "The detective owed me a favor. I was here on a mission in Gotham a few years ago and I saved his butt from a giant crocodile and shape-shifting clay pile. That along with keeping the CIA off his back. I was given an IOU and cashed it in after you were hurt."

"Wow…thanks, Jiraiya. And thank you, Bruce." Naruto said as both the older men nodded their heads in response. "But what exactly happened that night and what did they hit me with? It was like some crazy…drug thing."

"Scarecrow happened." Bruce told him, bringing up the files on the attack at the manor.

"Scarecrow as in the Scarecrow. Jonathan Crane, crazy former psychiatrist who uses fear as a weapon and wears that burlap suit?" Naruto asked which drew the attention of Bruce, Barbara, Dick, and Tim. They were a little confused as to how they knew that. "A friend of mine keeps detailed files on the supervillains of Gotham City. Call it a…professional curiosity mixed with obsession. Anyway, I've read a bunch of articles on the Scarecrow and it doesn't sound like him to attack a charity function."

"That's because it's not. We did some digging and found out his reason for the attack. You." Bruce brought up an image of the Crow security guard who escorted Naruto away from the party and tried to take him away. "You were the target. Someone put a bounty on your head while you're in Gotham."

"A bounty. Great. I've been in this city for less than a week and I've got every criminal after me. And the gas he hit me with?"

"Scarecrow's fear toxin. We developed a serum that neutralizes the affects but that alone wasn't enough for you. Your metabolism burned through it quickly, so we had to monitor your condition. Your hyperactive brain chemistry accelerated the toxin's reaction and made it ten times as deadly. After the second day we managed to develop a sedative serum that slowed your brain chemistry down enough for you to recover. You should have woken up immediately after that, but it seemed something kept your body in a comatose state to recover." Bruce informed him. Naruto remembered what happened in his nightmare mindscape about confronting his evil self and seeing his parents along with creating a new suit out of lightning and beating up that nightmare scarecrow. He was sure that was real, but he wasn't exactly sure as to how.

"Yeah, you wouldn't believe me if I told you and I'm not even sure if what happened in my head actually happened." Naruto pointed out. "So, who put the bounty on me?"

"That's what we've been working on and we finally managed to figure that out." Dick said as he typed a few words on the computer and up popped a surveillance photo of a Chinese woman in a red dress.

"Her name is Victoria Sinclair but most people in the criminal underworld know her as Roulette." Barbara told him.

"Who is she?" Naruto asked.

"She's a purveyor of sorts. Caters to the criminal and high-end of the world as a spectacle shower. She hosts high-end death matches and fight clubs all over the world to expensive clients but she's also a broker and liaison to anyone who pays her enough. She's been known to act as a middle woman for assassination hits and the such." Jiraiya explained. "The CIA has had an eye on her for years but she's got the backing and protection of a lot of powerful people around the world so we can't do anything about it. Still, the second she screws up her fine ass is ours."

"Guess her skills brought her to Gotham. Do you know who she's the broker for?"

"No, but whoever it is clearly wants you. Roulette put a ten million dollar bounty on you. Scarecrow had the first shot but clearly, he failed. She's holding another meeting with everyone who's accepted her bounty to discuss details later tonight." Tim informed him.

"Great, that's when we get her. I want some answers." Naruto added.

"Whoa, Naruto hold your horses. You just woke up from a practical coma and are still adjusting to your legs. Who knows what else that fear toxin did to you? You need to rest." Jiraiya said.

"He's right. At the very least, you need some food to get your body back to normal." Bruce added.

"Fine, be right back." Naruto vanished in a blur of white and crimson lightning that made Barbara's and Jiraiya's hair whish back.

"Whoa, that was faster than normal for the kid." Jiraiya commented.

"How fast can he go?" Tim wondered.

"I think Mach 1.5 or somewhere along those lines the last time I checked." Jiraiya replied only for another whoosh of air to sound in the Bat-Cave. They looked and saw Naruto sitting in the med bay with a whole lot of Big Belly Burger bags. "Figured he'd go for Big Belly Burger."

"I hope he got extra." Tim said only for Bruce to stop him.

"I don't need you getting groggy or slow in the field." Bruce told him.

"Right, sorry." Tim replied as he followed Dick to the training area.

Naruto ate his fill of Big Belly Burger to get his metabolism back to normal and after his first dozen burgers he felt great. Not only because of the food and that he was recovering from whatever Scarecrow did to him but he felt…different. He felt…lighter, like he was invigorated with something pure and energetic. Similar to when he would focus in on his speed when he was training but times a hundred.

"I've never seen anyone eat that much Big Belly Burger in one sitting and be happy about it." Barbara commented as she and Jiraiya walked over. "Usually eating that much would involve a painful trip to the bathroom."

"I'm not most people. All that fancy food is nice and all but it's nice to go back to the basics. Besides, this will give me enough calories for later. I'll burn it off after tonight." Naruto sipped his soda as Barbara and Jiraiya stole some fries. "So, how did you get involved with the Batman?"

"Probably similar to how the Arrow got his tech support or how you did as well." Barbara replied. "You know, when we first got reports of all the weird stuff going on in Central City, I wasn't sure it was real at all."

"A year ago, I would have agreed with you." Naruto replied. "Never did I think I would have super powers and find myself in the lair of the Batman. The world sure has gotten strange."

"The world was always strange. You were just oblivious to it." Jiraiya told them both. "You're looking better, kid."

"Yeah, I just needed some food in me but that's not it. After I woke up and the grogginess passed…I feel better." Naruto said.

"Better how?" Barbara asked.

"I'm not sure but…if what I saw was real, I have a lot of answers to some questions and doubts I've had lately." Naruto explained. "To be honest it's hard to explain what happened if you weren't there but…I guess facing my deepest fear and inner demons gave me clarity. And…a power boost. I feel a lot stronger and faster than I did before. Sorry, this is probably confusing."

"Confusing but I'm curious by nature. Comes with the territory." Barbara told him.

"If you don't mind me asking…what happened to you?" Naruto asked, referring to the accident that got her in the wheelchair.

"The Joker happened." Barbara said, touching her chair for a bit. "We had an encounter that…well, let's just say that it put my career as Batgirl on hold."

"I'm sorry."

"Thank you. But I've gotten stronger from it and I'm doing better now. I can speak for Bruce but Tim and Dick would be dead if it wasn't for me being behind a computer." Barbara bragged.

"Yeah, don't think so." Tim shouted from the training area as he sparred with Dick.

"Don't listen to him. He knows I'm right." Barbara told them.

"I'll take your word for it. And I know it's just a promise but hopefully STAR labs partnership with Wayne Enterprises can figure out a treatment to get you your legs back. I know it seems impossible but a lot of things I thought were impossible turned out to be very possible." Naruto promised.

"I'll take your word for it." Barbara replied.

"So, you and Bruce don't know who put the bounty on me?" Naruto asked. "Who wants me dead?"

"We're not sure yet. There's a large suspect pool but we do know for sure that they don't want you dead." Barbara led them back to the computer where she brought up the file on the guard who tried to kidnap him and the Scarecrow goon who hit him with the fear toxin. Both of whom were now dead by suicide but most likely staged suicide. "From the details we managed to piece together in the city, the bounty was specific that it was ten million dollars for you but alive. The guard and goon that tried to kill you were killed in jail. Probably as a warning and a message to anyone who was going to take on your bounty."

"Don't worry about Gaara. He's safe back in the hotel. I reinforced that room with CIA cameras, locks, and surveillance gear. No one could get in there and if they did then they run into a metahuman who can control sand. Besides, we've subtly spread word that you decided to get another room at a different hotel as a security measure. It takes the pressure off of Gaara and keeps them guessing." Jiraiya said.

"Sounds good but something tells me this bounty is going to follow me even back home. We need to find Roulette and get her to call it off." Naruto told them.

"You sure about that. Someone with Roulette's reputation won't let this go." Barbara pointed out.

"She better or else her night is going to get rough." Naruto replied.

"Sounds like you want revenge." They heard as Bruce walked over.

"Not revenge…answers. Roulette is the only one who has them and I want to know who wants me so badly." Naruto told him. "If she's hosting a meeting with everyone who's accepted my bounty then it's the perfect chance to get her."

"Yeah, just minus the fact that she'll have probably dozens if not hundreds of criminals all around her who want to accept the bounty." Dick pointed out.

"Not to mention probably a few skilled mercenaries and Arkham Asylum escapees." Tim added.

"Then it's a win-win. I get Roulette and answers and we can put those escapees behind bars." Naruto told them.

"That only works if you plan on going into the field and judging by the lack of appearances from the white and red blur in Central City, Impulse seems to be out of practice." Bruce said.

"Not out of practice but more of taking a break. Breaks over. I'm going with you to this meeting to get her." Naruto told him.

"Are you sure that's a good idea, kid? You destroyed your old suit and I thought you didn't make a new one." Jiraiya pointed out.

"True but I'm not doing this as Impulse. It'll look weird if Impulse shows up in Gotham the same time I do. It wouldn't be long before someone makes a connection and digs deeper. Just give me a hoodie and a face mask and I'll be fine. Besides…" Naruto super sped away in a flash before reappearing with a recurve bow and quiver filled of arrows, he took from the Batcave's training area/armory. "…these will do just fine."

"So, what? After a few training sessions with the Arrow you're thinking you picked up archery?" Jiraiya joked only for Naruto to draw an arrow and shoot, firing an arrow and hitting one of the training posts right in the head. "I stand corrected. Where did you learn to shoot?"

"What? You think I make all those trick arrows and a new prototype bow for the Arrow and not learn how to shoot to test them?" Naruto rhetorically asked. "I'm not an ace sharp shooter like him but I'm good enough for tonight."

"That implies that you're actually going out tonight." Bruce told him. "I have enough reservations bringing you down here as it is."

"Bruce doesn't do good with unknown factors. Not to mention his trust is something that's very…difficult to gain." Dick added which made Barbara and Tim chuckle.

"And I get that but I'm not sitting this out. So, I'm going with you and the only way to stop me is to lock me up. And something tells me you haven't figured out a way to neutralize my powers yet." Naruto replied as he and Bruce got into a little bit of a face off. "Your move, Batman. And if you are going after Roulette tonight then you'll need all the help you can get."

The rest of the people in the cave watched the little standoff between the Crimson Speedster of Central City and the Dark Knight of Gotham. "Ohhh…I've never seen Bruce stumped like this before." Tim whispered to Barbara only for her to shush him.

"All right. Let's see how skilled you think you are." Bruce answered.

"Excellent. I'll be in your lab if you need me. I've got some adjustments to make to this stuff." Naruto super sped to the lab in a hurry.

"I'm never gonna get tired of seeing that." Tim commented only for Bruce to give him his patented glare as the rest got back to work.

A few hours later, Barbara managed to confirm their hunch on Roulette's location for her meeting with everyone taking on Naruto's bounty. She was hosting her bounty seminar or whatever at one of the abandoned Sionis industry warehouses by the docks. Easy access to escape boats and no cops were near that area or would even venture there unless they had to. It was the perfect place for them to gather.

"Are you sure about her position, Oracle?" Bruce asked. He walked over in his suit with the cowl down while he finished adjusting his gauntlets.

"Yup. She arrived about half an hour ago and in that time a lot of other bad guys have arrived too. I've already counted 200 of the city's worst not to mention some of our favorite heavy hitters. I know you don't like it, but it might be a good thing that you'll have a speedster there to back you up." Oracle told him.

"That remains to be seen." Bruce replied as he put on his cowl.

"So, any notable mentions?" Dick asked as he and Tim walked over dressed in their gear as Nightwing and Robin.

Oracle brought up nearby street camera footage along with Wayne Tech Satellite images. "Well, we've got Bane, Black Mask, Killer Croc, Mad Hatter, The Riddler, Two-Face, the Electrocutioner, Firefly, Zsasz, Great White Shark, not to mention the Joker and those are just the ones I managed to get on camera. Who knows who else will be there?"

"Then it's a good thing I'm coming with." They heard as Naruto walked up in regular boots, jeans and a black hoodie with the hoodie and facemask down. He had on some combat gloves along with a recurve bow and a quiver filled with recently enhanced arrows. "Impulse may not show up in costume but that doesn't mean I can't use my speed to even the odds. It's not like they'll see me anyways. So, shall we get started?"

"Oracle, contact GCPD once the fighting starts and keep a watch on the perimeter." Batman told her as he, Robin, and Nightwing walked over to the garage.

"I'm on it." She busily typed at the computer as the door to the Batmobile opened so Batman could jump in. He ignited the engine which sounded like a mix between a Lamborghini and a tank. (9)

Nightwing and Robin got on their personalized armored superbikes. Robin's was dark red and green and had the R symbol on the side, the R-Cycle while Nightwing's was blue and black, the Bluebird. Naruto looked and was instantly in love. "Wow…got to love cool cars. When we finish this, I'm definitely designing upgrades for you guys. Try and keep up."

Naruto put up his hood and facemask as his eyes crackled with lightning. Barbara hit a button on the computer, activating the ramp and gate that opened the path to the city. Naruto took off first followed by the Batmobile, Nightwing, and Robin.

At the edge of the lake by Wayne Manor approximately a mile away in an area where there was no one around, a ramp appeared on the shore where the Batmobile, R-cycle, and Bluebird came out. They drove down a makeshift road through the woods on their way to the city. Batman kept his eye on the road as his nav-computer plotted him the best course and relayed information from the Batcave. He glanced at the mirror and picked up a flicker of lightning and soon enough Naruto was running beside the vehicle. A quick glance at the speedometer indicated the two were running the same at about 210mph so Batman hit the button on the accelerator lever activating the afterburner. The turbine on the back engine lit up like a Christmas tree and the Batmobile zoomed forward reaching speeds up to 325mph.

"Ok, that's how we're gonna do this. Two can play at this game." Naruto sped forward and easily caught up with the Batmobile before overtaking it with ease as the four heroes made their way into Gotham City.

Line Break xxxxx

April 2015

Gotham Harbor, Gotham City

The once abandoned Sionis industries warehouse situated on Gotham Harbor was now acting as a meeting house for anyone who was accepting the newest bounty in Gotham City: co-owner and lead scientist of STAR Labs Naruto Namikaze. A bounty of ten million dollars was enough to get the attention of pretty much every criminal in Gotham who wanted an excellent payday. Several dozen cars were parked outside on the street by the warehouse with several goons, mercs or men in suits standing by as security or as drivers. One of the drivers stepped away to the corner to take a smoke. The second he lit his cigarette he was hit in the head and dragged away from the street light. The whistling of a projectile was heard before an arrow with a heavy metallic tip hit one of the cars. The metallic tip beeped before it let out a small contained electromagnetic pulse that disabled the cars and any electronics the guards and drivers had including phones. They were then taken care of with tranquilizer darts.

Inside the warehouse, tables and chairs were set up all over as a kind of makeshift event hall or the underground fight clubs that Roulette was known for. Roulette had her own security team on sight to keep her safe. These were some seriously capable criminals who could collect this bounty, but they were criminals, so she wanted to be extra safe. Many of the tables were occupied by the various super villains of Gotham who brought along various members of their crew.

At one table sat the masked wearing Venom using Bane and his small band of mercenaries. Bane was a brilliant fighter and strategist who accomplished one thing that no one in Gotham had done before…he broke the Bat. Unfortunately, Batman recovered and paid the favor back in full. Even though Bane was a mercenary, his hatred and drive to get even kept him in Gotham for the foreseeable future and taking this ten-million-dollar bounty would help with his plans. The table next to him sat a tall man wearing a fancy business suit but what was odd was that he and his men were wearing creepy black colored masks. This was Roman Sionis or as he was known to the criminal underworld, Black Mask. He was your classic ego-centric businessman who wants everything in the world and also enjoys the occasional torture, maiming, and killing of his enemies. Overall…douchebag.

Next to Black Mask sat a short creepy looking guy who looked like a cross between Napoleon, Gollum, and the Mad Hatter and ironically, he was called…the Mad Hatter. He and his wonderland gang terrorized Gotham with a fairytale twist. Then there were a couple of green and purple colored henchmen surrounding a green and purple suit dressed man with a green top hat adorned with a purple question mark and a question mark cane. Edward Nigma or more colloquially known as the Riddler. Terrorized Gotham with head scratching robberies, bombings, and terrorist attacks in an effort to prove he was the smartest, but Batman kept proving him wrong. The textbook case of obsessive-compulsive disorder and narcissism. Next to the Riddler gang were the burlap dressed Scarecrow Gang and the Scarecrow himself. The former psychiatrist who turned fear into an actual weapon. He had the first shot at the bounty and his men screwed it up so here he was to try and fix that.

Another table was filled with thugs dressed in black and white clothing but was split down the middle with one color on each side. Leading them was former District Attorney of Gotham City before an accident turned him into the half-scarred, split personality criminal known as Two-Face. The last table was occupied with thugs dressed up like crappy and creepy clowns but that was homage to their leader. The bleach skinned, green haired, purple suit wearing clown prince of crime and bane of existence for Gotham…The Joker. The man who kills, torments, and does what he does for fun. The ultimate embodiment of disorder and chaos. He was the most dangerous of them all and the only reason he was taking on this bounty was out of sheer boredom and a chance for some fun.

There were plenty more of the Batman's rogues gallery who were going to take on the bounty like the flamethrower wielding jetpack using Firefly, the electric glove using assassin the Electrocutioner, former financier turned crazed gang leader Great White Shark, the scarred serial killer Victor Zsasz, the mutated actor Basil Karlo turned shapeshifter Clayface, mutated crocodile-like killer known as Killer Croc, skilled contortionists and poison using killer Jane Doe or Copperhead, and the cryogenically mutated former doctor Victor Fries now known as Mr. Freeze. (10)

Besides the big guns there were a bunch of low-level thugs, criminals, and mob enforcers for the Falcone and Maroni crime families accepting the bounty. All in all, a lot of the city's criminals were here. Roulette stepped forward on a makeshift stage which drew all their attention. About twenty stragglers in the back were stealthily taken out to no one's attention just as Roulette began to speak.

"Welcome, all of you who are interested in the bounty my employer has offered." Roulette said.

"Who is your employer?" Firefly asked, his voice muffled a bit by his mask.

"I'm afraid my employer wishes to remain anonymous in this situation." Roulette told him.

"Bane does not deal with lackeys. If your employer will not even show his face, then how do we know if he will keep up his end of the bargain." Bane pointed out.

"Old Baney boy has a point. I mean, if they won't show their faces then how do we know this isn't the start of a practical joke that will end badly for the rest of us?" The Joker questioned.

"No one is holding you here against your will. If any of you don't want to take part of the bounty, then the door is that way but if you will then you will be dealing with me. And unlike any of the brokers in this god forsaken city I don't suffer fools or idiots who waste my time." Roulette warned them as her bodyguards readied themselves if an altercation broke out. "The bounty is simple. My employer is offering ten million dollars for one simple thing: Naruto Namikaze but he wants him alive and unharmed. Any blunders like Mr. Crane's associated attempted won't be tolerated."

"Those men are no longer an issue." Scarecrow assured her only for the Joker to let out a laugh.

"Old Craney boy can't keep his little crows in check. Not very good for business." Joker said in a sing-song tone.

"The terms my employer set are iron clad. He wants Naruto Namikaze alive, unharmed and in person. If you do manage to get him, you are to contact me on these phones." Roulette's bodyguards began handing out burner phones to everyone. "Once I confirm everything then the ten million dollars will be wired to any bank account you desire."

One of the guards handed out the last phone only for it to get knocked out of his hands by a projectile and then the guard and the low-level thug he handed it to were yanked into the air via wires. "I'm afraid none of you are going to be cashing in on that bounty!" Someone shouted as the ceiling lights began to shatter one by one.

Bane stood up from his chair as he watched the lights shatter. "Batman." He sneered in anger and anticipation.

Dozens of goons rushed to the exits only to get trapped in giant metal nets that fell from the ceiling. Before any of their friends could help them, the nets constricted and pulled them into the ceiling and out of sight. Everyone took out their guns and began unloading at the ceiling while Firefly activated his jetpack and began hovering in the air. Three arrows with heavy metallic tips hit the wall before the metallic tips beeped and let out a warbling sound. Soon after all the heavy guns flew to the wall and collected around the arrows, indicating they were specialized magnetic arrows. It even affected Firefly's equipment and jetpack as the magnetic force was pulling against the propulsion force of his jetpack. The two struggled against one another before an arrow hit one of the engines causing it to malfunction and for the magnetic force to win and pull him against the wall with a harsh slam. A sharp metal bat-shaped throwing star or batarang knocked the flamethrower away before a yellow batarang hit one of Firefly's wings and let out an electric shock that disabled his gear and knocked him out.

An arrow hit the ground connected to a thick cable line which allowed Naruto to grapple down, kicking several goons in the face. He landed in a roll and did a flying scissor takedown on one of Scarecrow's goons before breaking his ankle and knocking him out with a kick to the face before turning and firing three arrows in rapid succession, nailing three goons in the arm or leg. He ducked and elbowed another goon in the stomach before throwing him into a pole and spinning into a bow swing which knocked out two goons who tried to blindside him. He fired two bolo restraint arrows and tied up some more goons when he saw Scarecrow.

"Crane!" Naruto shouted, slamming a mob enforcer into the ground face first before throwing him into a wall. He fired a flashbang arrow at Scarecrow and his gang before charging. He jumped forward and did a flying knee takedown at one of Scarecrow's goons before taking his knife and slicing the tendons of another goon. He did a spinning leg sweep and stabbed several of them in the leg and thigh with the knife to keep them from moving before he turned and smashed Scarecrow in the face with his bow, probably breaking his nose. He walked over to the downed supervillain when Scarecrow turned to hit him with fear toxin, but Naruto grabbed his wrist and broke it, preventing him from activating his aerosol claw. "How about a taste of your own medicine, Dr. Crane?"

Naruto yanked the mask off and hit Crane in the face with his own toxin. The mighty Scarecrow began to shout and cry in terror before getting a punch to the face and thrown into the wall and finally restrained with a bolo arrow. "I hope it's a lot worse for you then it was for me."

Batman jumped down from the ceiling and landed on a thug, spin kicking another in the face and then taking out another with a flying lunge takedown. He spun to the ground and grappled another before breaking his leg and throwing a flashbang batarang at a group which concussed them and allowed Robin to jumped down and take them out with ease. He punched another goon in the face twice before grappling him and throwing him into the air where Nightwing flipped forward and slammed into him feet first, sending him flying into a wall. Nightwing kicked one goon into a table when he was grabbed from behind, so he began lashing out with elbows and escrima strikes before slamming his face into the ground. A butterfly spin allowed him to dodge a thrown crate before he closed the distance and took him out with a grapple takedown. Nightwing then lashed out with a spinning hook kick before jumping over and hitting him in the head which allowed Robin to come from behind with a shoulder charge and bo staff to the groin. Robin spun his staff and took down another two goons with quick strikes before a flying kick to another thug's face. He threw some birdarangs at a thug to disorient and distract him which allowed him to close the distance and do a takedown.

Mr. Freeze saw Batman, Nightwing, and Robin fighting so he took aim with his freeze gun only to get hit in the back of the suit by something. He turned around and saw Firefly's flamethrower on the ground with a beeping arrow that soon exploded in his face. The sudden explosion and heat rush from the flame thrower was too much for the frozen villain who soon passed out. Naruto dove forward to avoid gunfire from Riddler's men only to pop back up and fire a liquid cement arrow and trap them. He then spun behind a wall for cover from some bullets. Batman fired his grapple gun at a thug and pulled him close to do another closeline takedown before vaulting to the side to avoid gunfire from Great White Shark. The pale and sharped tooth gangster looked around for his target only for a wingding to knock his gun out of his hands and an escrima stick to strike him square in the nose. That distraction was enough for Nightwing to close the distance and taser his ass unconscious.

The Electrocutioner charged at Nightwing from behind only for a smoke pellet to explode in his face and cause him to cough up a lung. He was then finished with a boot to the face by Robin. Naruto disarmed another goon before punching him in the face twice and throwing him to the ground. He right crossed a second goon, ducking under a punch and roundhouse kick then followed up with his own gut punch to the third goon before taking him out with an elbow to the back of the head. The second goon tried to kick him, but Naruto caught his leg and broke his ankle before delivering a knee to the temple and then throwing out a spin kick to a goon who tried to rush him from behind before quickly firing an arrow at one of Riddler's gunmen, hitting him right in the knee. Naruto walked forward and punch him in the face with his bow hand, so it hurt extra. He quickly fired an arrow to knock the gun out of Riddler's hand before firing another at a charging goon from behind and hitting him right in the shoulder. Naruto then fired another arrow at the last of Riddler's goons and hit him in the knee. He walked forward and punched that goon in the face before ripping the arrow out and firing it at the Riddler, knocking his hat off.

"Riddle me this: what's green and purple but covered in black and red?" Naruto asked before blocking a swipe to the face from Riddler's cane. He disarmed the villain before smacking him in the face with his own cane and then slamming it down on his head before landing one final kick to the nose which knocked him unconscious. "You, after I kick your sorry ass." Naruto took a zip cuff and tied him up, so he wasn't running away.

Batman finished off another goon with a takedown that resulted in several broken bones when Copperhead jumped onto his back. She contorted her body and brought her poison claws down on his face, but it was blocked by his gauntlet. He managed to get a hold of her arm and throw her off. Copperhead rolled back to her feet and sneered at the caped crusader before flexing her poison claws as Batman sized her up and anticipated possible attacks. Several batarangs were thrown in quick succession which she dodged and charged forward. She brought her claws down to slash, but he caught her arm and pulled it behind her only to get a boot to the face. She jumped onto him and pressed her knees against his neck to keep him restrained before kicking him in the chin. She leapt forward in a double leg grapple before spinning around his body and brought her claws down to slash him only for a wire restraint arrow to come out of nowhere and wrapped her up like a present. Batman grabbed her by the leg and slammed her onto the ground before throwing her into a wall. Another wire arrow fired and pinned her to the wall before releasing a mild shock to her nervous system. Batman followed that up with a knock-out gas batarang that knocked her unconscious. The Dark Knight turned and saw Naruto grappled throw another thug to the ground and stomp on his face. Naruto nodded to Batman who nodded back before quickly jumping out of the way to avoid an attack from Bane while Naruto rolled out of the way of gunfire from Two-Face.

Naruto quickly dove over a table as Two-Face fired at him with his two pistols, keeping him cornered there until he had to reload. "You picked a bad day to pick a fight in Gotham, Arrow. You should have stayed in Starling. To bad for you, you won't be going back." Two-Face took out a grenade and threw it at the table where it exploded into pieces and knocked out some nearby thugs. That didn't work as a small flechette knocked his guns away before Naruto vaulted over a table and kicked him in the face. Two-Face quickly reached behind his back to pull out his spare firearms. He pointed and shot but Naruto shoved his hands up and made him miss. He punched him in the ribs before knocking the guns out of his hands with his bow. Two-Face threw out a punch which Naruto parried and punched him in the face with his bow grip before wrapping his head around the bow string and pulling it back.

"I'm not the Arrow and this is gonna hurt." Naruto let go and the bow collapsed, hitting Two-Face square in the nose and knocking him out cold. Naruto finished that up with a wire restraint arrow before quickly moving out of the way to avoid gunfire from some leftover goons.

Robin finished beating up another thug with his bo staff before sidestepping a knife to the back and throwing Zsasz to the ground. He smashed his bo staff into Zsasz jaw before moving his head to the side to avoid a punch from behind. Robin grabbed his sneak attacker's arm and brought it down on his shoulder, breaking his elbow and finished off with a spinning throw into a crate. Zsasz came at him with two sharp knives and a blood thirsty look on his face, swiping and slashing with deadly purpose while Robin blocked and dodged all his attacks. Any normal person would be dead by now but Robin was trained by Batman himself so he could hold his own. A duck and dive roll saved Robin from a knife swipe and lunge and gave him some space. Zsasz quickly blocked some thrown birdarangs only for Robin to aim his bo staff at the scarred maniac killer like a gun and press a button on the handle. The end of the bo staff opened and fired four pellets in quick succession that exploded in Zsasz's face, hitting him with a potent tear gas. It left Zsasz a coughing and weeping mess vulnerable to attack which he got. A leg sweep knocked him onto his back where he got a bo staff slam to the stomach and then the face which knocked him out. Robin took out a pair of handcuffs and cuffed him while making sure all his knives were gone.

Nightwing jumped and flipped over tables, crates, and used his grapple gun to avoid gunfire from Black Mask's henchmen. His acrobatics and agility made him a hard target to hit. He swung around a support beam before throwing down some smoke pellets. The thick cloud of smoke made it impossible to see but lenses activated in Nightwing's domino mask and let him see their heat signatures. He threw two electric wingdings which tasered one goon before using his escrima sticks to take out the others with skill and efficiency and taser shocks to the system along with bone breaking attacks. Nightwing took out the last of the henchmen when one of his escrima sticks was knocked out of his hand by a bullet. He grappled up the ceiling and hid in the shadows as Black Mask unloaded an entire pistol clip before reloading and rushing to the exit. Two wingdings flew through the air and hit the side of the exit door just as Black Mask opened it. The wingdings shot out metal cables which blocked his exit and running into them bounced the evil mobster away from the door where Naruto grabbed him by the back of the neck and hurled him into a crate. Nightwing threw another wingding which erupted into a net and secured Black Mask from leaving.

"Nice work." Nightwing told him.

"Thanks." Naruto replied when a huge muddy wave erupted around him and swallowed him whole.

"Crap!" Nightwing would have gone to help him except Killer Croc came out of nowhere and sent him flying with a claw swipe. He ended up hitting Robin and the two hit a wall and crumbled to the ground. Nightwing groaned in pain and managed to sit up, indicating he was alive but hurt. He and Robin saw Croc charging so they threw down flashbang and smoke pellets before moving out of the way. Batman was still busy dealing with Bane, so it left the two proteges to fight Killer Croc.

Batman weaved and dodged Bane's strikes before flipping over his masked enemy, grabbing him by the neck and hurling him away. Bane recovered and hurled a box and multiple chairs which he dodged with ease. Batman responded by throwing several batarangs that embedded in his skin and armor, but it did nothing. Bane hit a button on his wrist and began injected venom into his system getting bigger, stronger, and madder. He charged again which led to Batman grappling out of the way and throwing an explosive batarang that hit Bane right in the face, disorientating him. Several more batarang flew through the air and sliced through the venom tubes on the back of his head and arms. Three electric batarang hit Bane in the spots the tubes were connected to and let out powerful shocks that made out Bane shout out in pain and fall to a knee, but he was still conscious.

"The same old trick won't work on me twice, Batman." Bane got back to his feet. While he didn't have any more venom flooding his system, there was already enough absorbed by his body to make him trouble. Batman sized up Bane and prepared his plan of attack when a large amorphous brown clay pile landed behind him before forming into the large behemoth of Clayface.

"Going somewhere Batman?" Clayface asked as his two clay hands morphed into axes. He was about to slice Batman in two when his torso and stomach began glowing crimson and white and a vibrating sound could be heard. Soon enough, something shot out of Clayface's body leaving a large human sized permanent cavity. Clayface groaned in pain as whatever shot out of him was fast and generated enough heat to scorch and dry part of his body. Soon after three arrows impacted him and began freezing him all over until he was eventually frozen solid. Bane charged forward to tackle Batman only for a speeding blur to come up behind him and send a lightning bolt strike amount of electricity into his system.

Bane lost consciousness and fell on his face where Batman saw Naruto standing there, still with his hood and facemask up and quiver on his back, but his hands and forearms were glowing a solid white and crimson light like a kind of armor. Naruto turned and saw Nightwing and Robin dodging and jumping to avoid Killer Croc while using everything in their utility belts to take him down, but it wasn't working. Naruto ran forward at a normal speed and when he got close, he jumped off a crate and landed a flying punch straight to Killer Croc's jaw. While a normal punch from a regular person would have felt like a flea bite, this punch wasn't normal. Croc felt like a fist sized car traveling at a hundred miles per hour hit him square in the face. Croc was sent flying and smashed through the wall and out of the warehouse where he hit the ground with a loud thud.

"Whoa…I didn't know you could do that." Robin said.

"Neither did I." Naruto replied, looking at his hands and saw they were encased in the same armor he used during his fight with Hartley and Orichimaru. The one key difference is that he felt in full control of his mind. Whatever this new power was…it felt pure and powerful. "You guys all right?"

"Yeah, thanks." Nightwing said.

Naruto noticed someone rushing to the door, so he grabbed his bow off the ground and fired a grapple arrow at the fleeing target. The grapple wires wrapped around the fleeing criminal and he was yanked away from the exit by Naruto. Their fleeing criminal was the Mad Hatter. "Where are you going, Mad Hatter?" Naruto pulled the hat over his face so he couldn't see before wrapping him up and tying him up against a beam.

"Is that everyone?" Robin asked only for Roulette and her guards to race out of the warehouse from the south exit while Joker and his goons left from the east but not before the Joker tossed several grenades at them. The explosion gave the clown a chance to slip away as the heroes ducked behind cover. "Dammit."

"Let's split up." Naruto suggested.

"Robin with me." Batman fired his grapple gun at the ceiling and grappled away with Robin following behind.

"Guess that leaves us to handle Roulette. Come on." Nightwing and Naruto raced out of the warehouse where they saw Roulette being escorted by her security team. Two of the guards ran over to a crate and pulled out heavy machine guns to lay down suppressing fire which allowed Roulette to keep moving. Nightwing and Naruto hid behind the partially destroyed wall of the warehouse as the guards kept on firing.

Naruto dive rolled from cover and fired two flashbang arrows which concussed and disorientated the gunmen allowing Nightwing to close the distance. He flipped through the air and threw his escrima sticks which ricocheted off a crate and whacked each guard in the head before returning to his hands where he finished them off with taser strikes to the chest and then hits to the skull. Nightwing threw a wingding and hit the last guard, sending him tripping into the harbor while Naruto fired his last bolo restraint arrow at Roulette's legs. She tripped but pulled out a knife to cut herself free only for an arrow to knock it away. Naruto walked up to her with an arrow pulled back on the bow.

"Try to escape and the next arrow won't be a non-lethal one." Naruto warned her.

"Trust me on this. He's not in a joking mood." Nightwing said when their ear comms activated.

"Guys, Batman needs backup. Joker brought heavy weapons and it's not looking good." Oracle told him.

"Go, I got her." Naruto assured him as Nightwing fired his grapple gun and left. Naruto grabbed Roulette by the arm and hoisted her up. "We need to talk."

Batman and Robin had taken care of two stragglers in Joker's little group which allowed the clown and his posse to reach their stashed supply crates and get heavy weapons which including heavy machine guns, grenade launchers, and RPGs. Some quick dodging and batarang throws managed to disarm two of the goons with ease and allowed Robin to take them out. Nightwing swung by and fired several knockout darts from his wrist gauntlet before landing on a thug before he could use his grenade launcher. The last thug with the RPG took aim only for a batarang to knock it to the side so he missed. One grapple claw yank and closeline takedown took him out only for the roar of an engine and loud honking to get their attention. Soon enough a giant purple and green colored APC with a 20mm heavy canon on the top ordained with a clown mask came barreling through.

"I spy with my little eye…a bat and his birds who need to die." The Joker was inside the APC taking aim with the cannon. Batman, Nightwing, and Robin tossed down all the smoke pellets they had and made a run for it just as the Joker squeezed the trigger. The cannon blasted a hole into the ground and the shockwave knocked the vigilantes away. Joker activated the APC's thermal imaging software and saw Batman lying on the ground, so he hit the accelerator and was fully content to run him over.

The Joker had a malicious smile on his face as he got closer to fulfilling his lifelong dream of killing the bat only for him to suddenly disappear. Along with Batman vanishing, two electrical arrows were lodged into the engine which overloaded the APC's system while an explosive arrow stuck in the left front wheel went off. The APC jerked and jumped a bit as the explosion destroyed the wheel and tire along with most of the axels on the underside of the vehicle. The APC veered to the side and crashed into the side of the warehouse with a horrific bang.

The Joker managed to open the door, but he wasn't in the best shape. He was sprawled over the front seats and looked like crap. A quick glance at the rearview mirror let him see Batman make his way over so he reached into his pocket and attached his joy buzzer before dangling his hand out.

"Please Batman…help me…" He weakly called out and when his hand was grabbed the buzzer let out a severe electric shock to Batman. "Gotcha! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

The clown cackled in joy at the Batman's defeat only to see he was holding the hand of the mystery archer who helped the caped crusader. The peculiar thing was that he wasn't dead and the killing electric shock the joy buzzer should have delivered was being absorbed by the glowing armor on the archer's hands.

"That looks fun. Let me try." Naruto smirked as he squeezed the Joker's hand and let out his own electric shock that made the Joker scream in pain.

"AAAAHHHHH!" After about a few seconds the Joker passed out.

Batman walked over to see the aftermath and adopted a smirk. "Not bad."

The Joker was tied up with every wire, handcuff, and zip cuff they had along with removing all his weapons and toys. Roulette had been tied up to a crate while Naruto went to help Batman and the others deal with Joker. She reached her hand into her belt and undid her fancy and expensive buckle to get the small knife she had hidden. It was small but sharp and she used it to cut herself free. Before she could run away an arrow skimmed past her nose and hit the crate.

"I told you what would happen if you tried to escape." Naruto warned her before firing another arrow close to her shoulder.

"I've done nothing wrong in Starling so why come after me, Arrow." Roulette told him as Naruto fired another arrow near her other shoulder.

"I'm not the Arrow! I want the truth about who put the hit on Naruto Namikaze!"

"I'm just the broker acting on someone else's behalf." She told him. "And one point I pride myself on is being confidential. It's bad for business if I give up my clients."

"Your clients should be the least of your worries right now!" Naruto took a few steps forward and fired another arrow. This time it hit just above her hair. Even as calm and collective as her reputation made her, she was beginning to get nervous. "I want the truth! Who put out the bounty!"

"I don't know!" She told him. "They contacted me from a burner phone and set up everything via a dummy account in the Cayman Islands. I don't know their name but whoever they are they must really want him."

Naruto walked up and emptied Roulette's purse before taking her phone. "Consider yourself out of business." Naruto put the phone in his pocket and walked away.

"Do you really think this is gonna stop me? I've got a lot of powerful connections. Despite what you and Batman did tonight, I'll be out in a matter of hours. I'm not the bad guy…I just fulfill a need in the world." Roulette taunted only for Naruto to turn and fired an arrow at her right thigh, sending her to the ground in a helpless heap. She cradled her leg and at the arrow embedded in it in pain. It hurt like hell.

"Something tells me that will slow you down a bit." Naruto finished before walking away.

"Nice shot." Robin told him.

"I missed." Naruto replied as the heroes left.

The GCPD arrived soon after in force at the warzone of a warehouse. Several tactical squads and pretty much everything Captain Gordon could get arrived to help and take everyone into custody. Several tactical and armored vans arrived to take the criminals into custody with special made ones being used to carry the likes of Clayface, Killer Croc, Bane, the Joker, and the rest back to Arkham Asylum.

Gordon tasked Lieutenant Harvey Bullock and Lieutenant Renee Montoya with overseeing the handling of the super criminals. Having all of them in one place was a huge win for them. Off in the distance, he could make out the silhouettes of Batman, Robin, and Nightwing along with a fourth hooded figure on a rooftop. Probably the person who left behind all the Arrows. Whether the Arrow decided to take a trip to Gotham City, or it was someone new, all the bad guys were dealt with and no one is dead. And if he helped Batman then he was ok in his book. Batman, Robin, and Nightwing jumped and glided off the roof while Naruto super sped away. All in all, that was a good night.

Line Break xxxxx

Wayne Enterprises, Gotham City

It had been a week since the initial business proposal meetings for Wayne Enterprises future partnerships with either STAR labs or Carrington Atlantic. A lot had happened which gave the board a lot of think about with either proposal. The pros and cons and bribing that Blake Carrington did to further his agenda. Usually a decision wouldn't have been reached this quickly, but it had so Mr. Fox arranged for the Board to meet with Mr. Carrington and Naruto that morning.

Blake walked into the meeting with his team of lawyers and daughter and smiled when he saw it was just STAR labs head of HR sitting at the board table. He didn't believe the rumors spread that Naruto was at a different hotel because his sources said he wasn't anywhere else in the city. One potential enemy dealt with.

"So, shall we get this meeting started?" Blake asked.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Carrington. We're just waiting on Mr. Wayne to join us. He should be here momentarily with a guest." Mr. Fox told him.

"Shouldn't these meetings be kept private to the parties involved in the transaction. No offense to Mr. Wayne but I think his guest can wait." Blake pointed out.

"True enough…" Everyone heard as Bruce Wayne walked in with Naruto Namikaze and Jiraiya, all dressed up in their fancy business suits. "Then it's a good thing I'm apart of this meeting then, isn't it?"

Naruto nodded to Gaara who smiled and nodded back. "Sorry we're late. We hit traffic." Bruce told everyone as he took his seat next to Lucius.

"Yeah, it's been a bit of a nightmare week…" Naruto winked at Fallon who smiled back. "…but it's a good thing that it's going to end on a happy note."

"That it will." Mr. Fox stood up to address everyone. "First off I would like to thank both interested parties for their patience and for the worthwhile presentations. The Board and I have had a lot to discuss over the last few days regarding the future partnership possibility for Wayne Enterprises. After much deliberation and some input from Mr. Wayne…Mr. Namikaze, on behalf of Wayne Enterprises we look forward to a long and fruitful partnership."

"As do I, Mr. Fox." Naruto got up and walked over to Lucius before shaking his hand. "I know that together, Wayne Enterprises and STAR labs will do great things together."

"I'm terribly sorry that things didn't go the way you were planning, Mr. Carrington." Bruce said as Blake and his team got up to leave.

"I think, Mr. Wayne that a simple phone would have been enough to prevent this embarrassment." Mr. Carrington told him.

"Well, Mr. Wayne didn't want you to think that he was deliberately wasting your time." Lucius added.

"No, just accidently wasting it." Blake commented as he and his team left. To say he was in a bad mood would be an understatement. The elevator arrived which his team and daughter quickly occupied just as Naruto walked out of the board room.

"Mr. Carrington, a moment if you please." Naruto said, getting him to stop for a moment. "I'm sorry that things didn't go the way you were planning. Guess even the best laid plans have their faults. But there was something I wanted to give you."

Naruto reached into his pocket and handed Blake a fancy watch. "Am I supposed to understand what this it?" Blake asked as he looked it over.

"You don't recognize it? I figured you would since it was the same watch you were wearing during our meeting at city hall in Central City. If anything, I thought you'd remember a F.P Journe solid gold watch with platinum inlay worth about 100,000 dollars. Then again, you probably have a dozen just like it." Naruto told him. "Funny thing…you'll never guess where I found it. On the wrist of a thug who tried to mug me my first night in Gotham."

"Are you insinuating something?" Blake questioned while Naruto kept up his charade.

"Me, oh no. I just find it interesting that a mugger would try and rob me when he had this watch on his wrist not to mention he had a gold and sapphire ring on his finger. Plus, I called the police and Lieutenant Renee Montoya told me that the mugger was bailed out of jail after only thirty minutes. Clearly, someone didn't want him talking." Naruto pointed out.

"I don't have time to indulge your little childish detective work. Now if you'll excuse me, I have real work to do." Blake turned to leave only for Naruto to grab his arm in a vice and squeeze. Blake's security guards would have stopped him only for Naruto to give them a death glare that made them freeze in their tracks.

"Let's cut the crap. I know you sent your thug after me the first night I arrived in Gotham. And I have a gut feeling that you had a hand in the trouble I've experienced the past week. I've kept my mouth shut and minded my manners out of the kindness of my heart but no more." Naruto squeezed harder to the point where Blake groaned in pain. If Naruto squeezed any harder than he likely would have fractured a bone. "I'm going to give you one warning. The next time you come after me you better pray that they kill me. If they don't then…let's just say that your world, your company, and your name won't live to see your retirement."

"Are you threatening me?" Blake warned him only for Naruto to tighten his grip and definitely bruise his arms before pulling him dangerously close in a look of anger that gave the Carrington patriarch momentary pause.

"Your damn right I am. You have no idea who you're messing with and you better pray you don't find out." Naruto warned before letting go so Blake could cradle his arm. "If I were you, I'd start thinking about being a better person."

Blake cradled his arm and walked into the elevator to leave. The doors closed and his lawyers began talking about suing Naruto but Blake told them to forget it. Whether it was out of not wanting to draw attention or the fear that Naruto left him in is a matter of opinion but Blake Carrington would do nothing for now.

"How'd that feel, kid?" Jiraiya asked as he and Gaara walked over.

"That felt good." Naruto replied.

"I bet it did. I'm guessing Blake Carrington will think twice about messing with you." Gaara added.

"Maybe but it won't be long before he tries something again. And I'll be ready." Naruto assured them. "All right, time to smile pretty for the cameras."

There was a small press conference outside Wayne Enterprises to announce the new partnership with STAR labs. Lucius Fox spoke about the partnership and the untold opportunities and benefits it would provide for the city along with both companies. Naruto gave a few words as well, mostly about how this partnership would help Gotham into the future and improve the quality of life for all of its citizens. Naruto and Lucius shook hands for the cameras along with a photo op of him and Bruce.

Now this wasn't Wayne Enterprises acquiring STAR labs by any means, it was a business partnership. Behind closed doors, Naruto spoke with Bruce and Lucius about the partnership and what it would entail. Wayne Enterprises would be STAR labs sole producer and distributor for all its products for the time being. Naruto knew that STAR labs had the knowledge to produce revolutionary technology but just lacked the means for mass production with just him, Dr. Wells, Caitlin, and Cisco. It would take some time and capitol until STAR labs could expand to encompass more of the production design. The partnership allowed the items like the Icers and improved body armor to be manufactured and distributed via Wayne Enterprises and its subsidiaries. Wayne Enterprises would receive partial payment for all goods it developed for STAR labs but STAR labs kept sole ownership and patent control so the board or anyone couldn't adjust his designs for their own purposes. To keep the board happy, Wayne Enterprises would be the sole refiner for Starium. Considering that Tantalum was used for circuit boards, capacitors, resistors and is pretty much a critical element for the technological age. Even with STAR labs controlling the patent and a majority share, Wayne Enterprises would still end up making millions in the deal. And to top it off, Wayne Enterprises would start construction of a Wayne Enterprises/STAR labs collaboration lab to house an Arc reactor and the monitoring station. All in all, it was a good path forward and given that Naruto and Bruce shared certain…hobbies then the future of both companies were in good hands.

After the press conference, Naruto returned to the hotel room to finally relax after what was a stressful week. He had a feeling he'd be having more of them. He walked onto the balcony and called Linda to check on her. The phone rang for a bit before she picked up.

"Naruto, are you ok? Jiraiya told us you were awake but you were busy." Linda said, the worry in her voice being very evident even though they were on the phone.

"Yeah, I know and I'm sorry. I'm fine, though. Believe me, I am. In fact, I've never felt better." Naruto assured her.

"What happened? Jiraiya said you were attacked."

"Yeah, by Scarecrow. One of his goons attacked the charity event we were at and hit me with his fear toxin. I was out for a few days after that to recover…and face my inner demons." Naruto explained.

"You sound almost relieved." Linda commented.

"I do. Facing my deepest fears and regrets…it's made me stronger. And after I woke up and recovered, I helped Batman take down Scarecrow and the rest of the major bad guys in this city who would have come after me." Naruto said. "All in all, I'm a lot better. I'm sorry for not calling sooner but it's been pretty crazy."

"Believe me, I get it. It's been pretty crazy around here." Linda told him.

"Does this have anything to do with Weather Wizard?" Naruto asked.

"Weather Wizard? Oh, you mean Mark Mardon. That was taken care of with ease."

"Really? Because last we spoke it sounded pretty serious." Naruto commented.

"Um, I think you must be remembering the wrong conversation. He showed up once and then Barry took him out quickly. I mean, he found out where he was staying and then whooshed him into the pipeline. It was over in a matter of minutes." Linda explained.

"Really? I don't remember that." Naruto recalled their conversation and he didn't remember it going at all like Linda explained. "I remember calling to give you an update and then you said Mark Mardon showed up and Cisco was working on something to stop him."

"Uh, I don't think so because he was taken care of before Cisco even created anything. Are you ok? Did that fear toxin screw with your brain?" Linda asked in worry but Naruto could have sworn he remembered right. "If anything, Mardon was the least of our worries. Captain Cold and Heatwave were the serious issue."

"Snart and Rory are back? What happened?" Naruto was now sure something was going on but he had no idea. Linda filled him in about Mardon getting put in the pipeline but then Snart and Rory showed back up in Central City and brought along a new comer, Snart's sister. They kidnapped Cisco and used his brother as leverage to have him rebuild the cold and heat guns along with a gold gun for her. Then, Snart forced Cisco to give up the Flash's identity or else his brother would die. Now Snart was back in the city and knew who Barry was so it left them in a stalemate. The odd part, apparently Linda said she spoke about this during one of their phone calls before the charity event but Naruto strictly remembers that never happening at all and he has the best memory and a super brain. Unless someone screwed with time, something seriously whacky was going on. After that, things quieted down and Snart was playing along but Linda noted that Barry was acting a little weird and high strung. Guess he missed out on a lot.

Naruto relaxed for a few hours, did some designing and went over some logistic stuff with Gaara. Now that things would be picking up and the larger magnifying glass, they would have on them, Naruto needed to figure out how to move forward. If he wanted to run an actual company/research lab and bring in more people then he needed to do that somewhere other than STAR labs. The risk was too great on people finding out about The Flash and Impulse not to mention the pipeline of metahuman criminals they have stashed away. Guess he needed to find a secondary site in the city and then Gaara's job would really start up.

Back in the Batcave, Bruce was compiling some new data on a file he started just after the Particle Accelerator explosion. It was labeled Enhanced and was Bruce's data on all things abnormal that occurred outside of Gotham. Most of them were about the Flash and Impulse but there were some other items such as still images of a flying green blur over Coast City and in orbit along with mentions of merman in the Pacific stopping whaling operations and saving sunken ships. Plus, he had a lead on a mystery woman who kept popping up every few years going back to the 40s.

Alfred came down from the manor with a tray of tea and snacks. "No rest for the wicked, Master Bruce? Not even after a few successful days as this?" Alfred asked rhetorically.

"There's still work to be done, Alfred." Bruce told him when a small alarm went off only for a crimson and white blur to whoosh into the cave a second later.

"Dear god." Alfred jumped in fright, nearly spilling his tea on himself.

"Sorry about that." Naruto took a napkin and cleaned up the mess quickly.

"Well, that must come in handy." Alfred commented.

"Sorry again for the scare, Alfred. And thanks for helping to look after me." Naruto said.

"My pleasure, Master Naruto. After all, it's not the first time I've looked after an injured man in this cave and it certainly won't be the last." Alfred remarked which made Bruce smirk a tiny bit. "If you need anything, just let me know."

Alfred gathered his things and went back to the manor. "He seems nice."

"I installed a new security system to see if it could keep someone like you out." Bruce commented.

"Yeah, then you're gonna want to get your money back." Naruto told him as he took a cup of tea and sipped it.

"Or you just need to learn how to knock." Bruce told him.

"I thought I'd save you the trouble." Naruto said, seeing Bruce save everything his special file before putting it away. "So, any update on Roulette's phone?"

"Other than the long list of people she does business with, nothing concrete as to who set the bounty on you. And she made bail though from what Oracle tells me, she's pulled the plug on your bounty."

"Roulette afraid of me coming after her again?" Naruto wondered.

"Someone like her doesn't scare that easily. Most likely the person canceled the bounty after what happened last night." Bruce theorized.

"And it just so happens to coincide with my warning to Blake Carrington." Naruto added.

"Blake Carrington is a lot of things but I doubt he would go that far." Bruce said.

"Does the world's greatest detective say that with a hundred percent certainty?" Naruto wondered and Bruce's non-response was his answer. "Whether it was Carrington or someone else entirely, they're gonna try again but next time I'll be ready. Thanks again for all your help, Bruce. I know it couldn't have been easy."

"That's an understatement." Bruce commented. Not in a nasty way but in an almost no kidding kind of way with a hint of your welcome as well. "Still, pretty impressive fighting for someone with your experience. Oliver must be a good teacher."

"Wow, you really are the world's greatest detective." Naruto said before pulling out a flash drive. "Well here, take this as a thank you. It's a list of upgrades, new gadget designs, and the works. Something that'll give you an even bigger advantage in this city."

Bruce took the flash drive and gave it a once over before plugging it in. The computer analyzed the data for any viruses and malware. Once it was finished, it piled up all the blueprints and data on new armored suits for him, Nightwing, and Robin along with possible gadgets and even improvements for the Batmobile and Batwing. "How long did it take you to do this?" Bruce wondered.

"Give or take a few hours. Considering what Dick told me about you and trust, I figured we won't be video chatting to go over redesigns but if you need anything just let me know. It's the least I can do for you after what you did to save me. I mean it, if Batman needs Impulse then I'm there." Naruto told him.

Bruce looked at Naruto before standing up from his chair. Immediately Naruto noted the height difference along with the difference in musculature physique. Bruce kept a neutral face before holding his hand out so Naruto could shake it. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it. Heroes got to stick together." Naruto told him when he remembered something. Given he was here with the world's greatest detective, he figured he'd give it a shot. "Still, if you're the world's greatest detective then you've got to know a lot of things that most people don't know."

"It comes with the territory." Bruce told him.

"In that case…is there anything you can tell me about the League of Assassin?" Naruto questioned.

"Would this have anything to do with what's going on with Oliver?" Bruce added. Naruto would have asked him how he knew that but then again, World's Greatest Detective.

"Yeah. Oliver's found himself on the wrong end of Ra's al Ghul and could use all the help he could get. He sees Oliver as his heir and wants him to take his place." Naruto explained and despite Bruce's neutral expression, even he twinge a bit. "Given your facial twinge you know what that means. Do you know anything or anyone who could help Oliver? I don't even want to think of what Ra's al Ghul is going to do to Oliver for saying no."

"You really don't." Bruce rubbed his chin and began to think. He knew from experience just how unrelenting Ra's could be and given the prophecy of the heir to the demon, it wasn't looking good.

"Is there anything you can do to help Oliver?" Naruto asked.

"Ra's has been around for years. He's skilled, determined, strong willed, and ruthless. He won't think twice of doing the unthinkable." Bruce informed him.

"Great, a psycho who's been around for years. How do you stop someone like that?" Naruto asked, both rhetorically and literally.

"Not easy and not without help from the inside. Even then…it won't be easy and without its downsides." Bruce told him.

"Something is better than nothing. Do you know someone on the inside?" Naruto wondered.

"In a manner of speaking." Bruce said, bringing up an old file and giving Naruto what he needed to know. Time would tell if it would work.

End of Chapter 9

Thus, ends Chapter 9 and the end of the team up between the Crimson Speedster of Central City and the Dark Knight of Gotham. I hoped you guys liked this chapter, this was one I was excited to write and I think it turned out great. Hope you guys think so too. A lot happened here and it lays the groundwork for future arcs and plot points. Naruto has faced his inner demons and Impulse is ready to get back into the fight but a new suit needs to be made first.

Gaara's on his way to recovery and he'll be sticking around in a supporting role until the Nine Arc picks up again. We might be seeing more Naruto characters make appearances in the future, who knows. Things have picked up for STAR labs and now they're partnered with Wayne Enterprises so the sky's the limit.

For those wondering why the characters from Dynasty made an appearance, I needed some antagonists for Naruto's regular life with STAR labs and everything. Plus, they're a CW show as is the Flash so it made sense. He'll have to deal with more headaches like them going forward but changing the fictional world is never easy. On the bright side, he did meet Bruce Wayne and the two share some hobbies plus he got to kick the crap out of a lot of supervillains. He'll pop up every now and then and considering their business partnership, Batman and Impulse will be seeing more of each other. I hoped you guys like the fight scene as it shows Oliver's influence with Naruto in his training, discipline and willingness to accept his darker side in certain situations while maintaining his other more cheerful side. A lot of Gotham criminals got the shit kicked out of them and some might come back later. The nightmare sequence was fun to write and is open to interpretation from you guys. Was it all just in his head, were they really there, or is it something else entirely?

Next chapter, Naruto looks into help for Oliver's problem with Ra's al Ghul before finally returning home to deal with some new developments. Felicity stops by with a new boyfriend and Barry tells him something that he can't believe. Until next time.

1). Imagine Tony Stark's Iron Man 1 arc reactor but the size of the one from his factory. Same design and look just a lot bigger. That's the one he has at STAR labs.

2). Oswald Cobblepot from the season 5 finale of Gotham, played by Robin Taylor.

3). Lucius Fox as played by Morgan Freeman from Christopher Nolan's trilogy. Luke Fox from the Batwoman Show. And again, like in Chapter 7 the Ben Affleck version of Bruce Wayne/Batman.

4). Jeremy Irons Alfred Pennyworth

5). Batcave from Batman V. Superman.

6). Ashley Greene as Oracle/Barbara Gordon. She was the voice of Oracle in Arkham Knight, so it fits.

7). Titans' Brenton Thwaites as Dick Grayson/Nightwing just a little older, age 27. Taron Egerton as Tim Drake/Robin, age 20

8). Naruto's new Impulse suit is the one from the cover image. The black, crimson, and silver/white Kid Flash suit from the New 52. Imagine Kid Flash's suit but in a black, Crimson, and silver/white color scheme. It has a unique mask that can extend to cover his whole head with lenses over the eyes and cover for his mouth like Godspeed but can also retract so it looks like Kid Flash's mask.

9). Batmobile from Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice.

10). Imagine most of Batman's rogues similar to their appearance in the Arkham video game series. The Joker too. The cartoonish, crazy maniacal kind with the voice by Mark Hamill. All praise Hamill as the best voice for the joker ever.

Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze AKA Impulse: Age-23/Date of Birth (10/8/1992)

· Actor appearance: Lightly Blonde-haired Shannon Kook or whoever you want

· Casual outfit: friction-proof sneakers, dark blue jeans, a dark red or silver shirt, black button up and jacket.

· Uniform: Old uniformed destroyed, hasn't made new one yet.

· Resources: Co-owner of STAR labs with vast access to cutting edge technology

Current top speed for Naruto Namikaze AKA Impulse: Mach 2=1534.54 mph.

Current abilities in bold are unlocked now

· Super Speed

o Can run on buildings and water

· Training in combat by Oliver Queen and Jiraiya

· Accelerated healing

· Superhuman endurance

· Superhuman reflexes & agility

· Improved homeostasis

· Enhanced mental capabilities to speed read and process information quickly

· Enhanced senses

· Superhuman/infinite intelligence

o Current Genius level: Professor Martin Stein

· Speed punches: Mach punch

· Speed force constructs: Draws power directly from the speed force to create solid constructs like armor or even weapons (Drains stamina quickly)

o Speed force armor: increases speed, strength, resistant to damage, and generates lightning

o Speed force weapons: weapons made up of pure speed force energy, highly destructive

· Molecular Oscillation: Vibrate molecules at high frequency

o Accelerated Mass/Force punch

o Physical disruption

o Air solidification

o Intangibility/phasing

Multiple Pairings: Naruto x Linda Park

· Eventually: Kara Danvers, Sara Lance

o Maybe: Lena Luthor (Depending on where the story goes)

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or the Flash or any above mentioned properties, all rights belong to their respective owners, I'm just a big fan