Overwatch Base: Watchpoint King's Row – London

"Time to wake up." Naruto groaned and tightened the blankets around him. He didn't want to get up. "You need to get up, otherwise you'll miss out on all the exciting things." Naruto just wanted the voice to go away and let him sleep. "Get your ass up because you need to meet with Lena today!" Kurama commanded.

Naruto's blue eyes flickered open quite quickly after that and he pushed himself out of bed…and onto the floor. "Ow." Naruto grunted and he got off the floor.

"You probably need a shower. And new clothes. You look and smell like shit." Kurama stated which caused Naruto to sigh in annoyance. The A.I. could just be so nagging at times. As he headed towards where he believed the showers were, Naruto felt excitement grip him at being able to meet one of his best friend after all these year in person. They wouldn't have to call one another over the phone for once which also made Naruto a little nervous at what Lena would think of him now that he was grown up. He also thought about what Lena would look like now as well.

With some luck, he found the room that led into the showers with a stack of folded towels in the corner. Naruto took one of the towels and rushed into the showers while quickly stripping his clothes off. He turned the shower knob on and let the warm water fall onto his skin. "I'm really nervous…" Naruto announced.

"Perfectly natural human reaction. Just stay calm and everything will turn out for the best. Besides, the girl does like you so that adds to it." Kurama consoled.

"But what if it turns out that I don't? Then it would seem really awkward. I just don't want to mess this up. Otherwise I don't know…" Naruto said while rubbing his head.

"Well, I've noticed during my time on the Earth that anything can happen. We're a living testament to that. No matter what, she's our friend and we are still going to see her, regardless of if you may or may not like her. Regardless of that, last time you talked with Lena, you were red like a lobster and your heartrate skyrocketed." Kurama replied.

Naruto was both silent and blushing at this. He had no comeback for that.

"Even now you're blushing."

"Shut up you dumb A.I. fox!" Naruto shouted which made Kurama laugh while Naruto quickly finished washing himself and stepped out of the shower. He picked up a towel and dried himself off and began putting his discarded clothes on.

When he had finally left the room, Naruto walked around the base in some hope of finding the kitchen where he could quickly grab something to eat and then leave for Lena's house. After a few minutes of being unable to find the kitchen, Naruto went back to the front desk and spotted the older woman Minerva at the desk.

"Hey Minerva! I have a question." Naruto said. The older woman looked up to Naruto with a smile.

"How may I help you, Naruto?" Minerva asked. Something about the way she spoke managed to put Naruto at ease as she said this.

"I don't know where to find the kitchen. Could you tell me where it is?" Naruto asked. Minerva nodded and pointed to the right.

"Go down the hall, make a left at the first hallway, and then make a right at the second room. You'll make it there."

"First left, second right. Got it. Thanks!" Naruto said. Just as he was about to go, he was called back by the woman.

"I have had children before, and you show the same signs as them." Minerva stated. Naruto had no idea as to what Minerva was talking about. He shrugged and listened to what she had to say. "You, child, show the faintest sign of being in love with someone. I'm just going to say this, go for it. Now, off you trot." Minerva finished as she went back to typing on her computer while leaving Naruto confused.

'That woman was weird.' Naruto thought.

'Could've been fooling me. That was pretty on the nose. Now go eat something quickly and get over to Lena's. Also, try to not fox all over her, will you?' Kurama asked. Naruto's eyebrow raised when he heard this.

'What the hell does 'fox' mean?!' Naruto asked

'It's a new meme all over the internet. Apparently it means for one to become excitable in an important situation and tackle your problem…literally.' Kurama replied. 'I have a few videos of it for you.' A small window appeared in the corner of Naruto's vision of a slightly drunk man in a blue shirt at a concert. The man quickly climbed up onto the stage and started smashing stuff around.

'Okay, please don't show me another one of those again.' Naruto begged. Kurama chuckled after this. 'I hate you so much right now.' Naruto eventually made his way to the kitchen where he noticed Reinhardt sipping on a cup of coffee while reading a newspaper which looked quite small in his hands.

"Hey Reiny, how are you doing?" Naruto asked with a grin. He felt quite happy at seeing his old friend once again. Reinhardt lowered the paper he was reading and smiled at Naruto.

"Excellent, Naruto. Had a good rest?" The towering man asked.

"Yeah, Reiny. I feel great. I'm also going to be able to visit Lena again, so that is another upside to my day." Naruto replied.

"Then I wish you luck, Naruto. Now, would you care for a bagel?" Reinhardt asked while pointing to the small stack of bagels on the table. A small growl from his stomach made Naruto want the food. After grabbing a seat at the table, Naruto began shoving the food into his mouth. The one annoyance about his enhancements to his body was the constant dietary needs.

"Do you have plans here in London, or are you just making it up as you go along like you usually do?" Reinhardt asked. Naruto just shrugged in response.

"I was going to visit Lena first, then I planned to visit some of my old hangouts around here. After that, well, I don't really know. But, Reiny, when will this situation involving me end? I can't be that dangerous, can I?" Reinhardt set his newspaper onto the table and turned his focus onto the blonde.

"No, you aren't a dangerous person. But to others, you can do a dangerous thing. That's what they are afraid of. But all of us here, your family, we aren't afraid. Don't forget that." Reinhardt said with finality.

"Thanks, Reiny. You are a real help."

"And to me, you are the same young boy who was scared when he first saw me." Reinhardt stated. "Now, go on out to your friend and leave this old man be." Naruto ate the last of the bagels and left the table.

"Thanks for the talk, Reiny."

"Pleasure is all mine." Reinhardt said as he raised his cup to the blonde. Naruto saluted the man and then left with a much happier disposition. Though he still had doubts about how people would still be afraid of him.

Overwatch Base: Watchpoint Grand Mesa – Colorado

At a shooting range in one of the classified Overwatch bases, two people stood together. One was a teenager with a revolver in his right hand while his left was that of a metal arm. Next to him was a woman with bronze skin and long dark hair. She had a tattoo under left eye and wore a black bodysuit with blue armored plates on it.

This woman was Ana Amari, resident sniper of Overwatch. Next to her was Jesse McCree. Originally when Jesse first lost his arm and had to get it replace, he'd been a slight mess. He'd been less optimal than he'd originally been before the incident. Part of this was brought on by some slight PTSD of Jesse's, the other was from the alien feeling of the new arm he had.

After a while of watching Jesse delve deeper into despair, Gabriel had had enough and so he had called in one of his teammates who could have helped. That teammate was Ana Amari who had also dealt with having a limb of hers replace, well, more like an eye. Either way, at the moment, she was the perfect for the job. As Jesse fired off another shot, Ana called out a command.

"Fan the gun!" Ana ordered. Jesse's other metallic arm quickly began fanning the hammer of his gun as each shot hit into the target. When Jesse finished unloading onto the battered target, he quickly emptied the used casings and reloaded. With a quick flick of his wrist, Jesse's gun spun upon his finger before going back into his holster located on his belt.

Jesse had showed some signs of aging throughout the years. The peach fuzz on his face attested to that. But his eyes still held a small amount of childish idealism. Ana made fun of this by calling Jesse a cowboy.

"What do ya think of that, Miss Amari?" Jesse asked with a cocky grin on his face.

"I think that you really don't need me helping you anymore." Ana replied.

"Maybe I just like some company when I train." Jesse retorted. Ana laughed at this before she began walking back to the base. "Hey, where are you going?" Jesse asked as he ran after Ana.

"I'm going to get some lunch. You can join me if you want. That is if you are done training for now." Jesse quickly caught up to the woman and fell in stride with her.

"Miss Amari, can I ask a question?"

"You already did, but go ahead." Ana replied with a smile. Jesse felt his face redden in embarrassment.

"W-well, I was wondering if you could tell me if Gabe is coming back anytime soon? It's been a few weeks and I've just not seen him." Jesse asked. Ana's brown crinkled at thinking about her teammate. Gabriel had been very distant these past few years, more so than usual. Even Jesse was getting the cold shoulder.

Personally, Ana didn't know what to do and it slightly worried her. It didn't help that Jack had told her about the division of Overwatch known as Blackwatch that Gabriel was leading. That just gave the man more of an excuse to separate himself from everyone here at Overwatch.

She also found it quite disturbing that Blackwatch recruited those of very murky backgrounds. Ex-cons, dishonorably discharge soilders, mercenaries. These were the type of men in Blackwatch, and that made Ana slightly worried for Jesse who technically was part of the group. Then there were the orders that Jack had been given the other day from the IJC otherwise known as the International Justice Commission.

The orders said that by the end of next year, Reinhardt would be forcibly retired from Overwatch due to his age, which Ana thought was complete shit. She couldn't put a finger to it, but she knew there was something else that was going on behind the scenes. But Ana just took a deep breath and looked at Jesse, still in her eyes just a boy, even if he said otherwise.

"Gabriel has been busy on multiple missions. He also is a very secretive man. You'd be more likely to get a brick wall to talk then you are to get him to say anything that he doesn't wish to. Gabriel will come back though, he's too much of a stubborn man to not do so." Ana finished.

"Oh. Then I guess I'll just wait." Jesse said with some disappointment.

"Cheer up, after all, we're both going on a mission together." Ana said in an effort to cheer up Jesse. The young man seemed quite surprised at this.

"Really, when?"

"Tomorrow. I'd recommend going to bed early tonight." Ana replied. Eventually the two made it to the small base's kitchen where they began pulling food out of the fridge together. When the two got what they wanted, they put it onto a counter and began assembling their lunches. Jesse opted for a sandwich stacked with as many toppings as he could put on it while Ana made a simple tuna sandwich.

They sat at the table together with their lunches and began eating. Jesse's sandwich began to get everywhere the minute he took one bite. "A little too much there, Jesse?" Ana asked.

"It's never enough." Jesse replied.

"If that's what you wish."

"Hey, Miss Amari, I was looking in the news today and I found that apparently there was an incident in South Korea involving an Overwatch agent that could turn into a giant fox. Who is this guy?" Jesse asked. Ana stopped eating as she too remembered reading about it.

It had been a while since she had seen Naruto and or Jiraiya in the news together. The last she heard about them, they had been in Russia stopping some rogue Omnics. The boy really did look like Minato now that he was older. It was uncanny really. Still, the news about him turning into a giant fox had really surprised her even if she should've gotten over that surprise after seeing Naruto in the news so often.

"Yes, I know about him. Why do you ask?"

"Well, who is he? How come nobody told me that we had this type of firepower in Overwatch?" Jesse asked quickly.

"Because we all knew that it would be for the best if Naruto's abilities were kept a secret. Now that secret's out of the bag thanks to Naruto, and possibly the idiocy of Jiraiya. Trust me on this, I will be having a serious talk with those two about subtly."

"How long has he been in Overwatch?"

"Well, technically he was unofficially adopted into the organization when he was five after his parents were murdered. He's fifteen now, I think, so ten years." Ana replied. Jesse froze just as he was about to take another bite of his sandwich and instead looked at the Egyptian woman incredulously. "A few years younger than you. Surprising, huh?"

"Do you guys just recruit out of the cradle!?"

"That's what most people think."

Japan

It was nighttime in the land of the rising sun as a woman with blonde hair that was tied up in a ponytail surveyed a hospital table with the charred and bleeding body of a young man on it. Most of his limbs besides his left arm were gone, but even that arm would need to be removed as there was no way to salvage it.

The woman wore a set of strange white arm with a pair of orange wings on the back and a halo like device which all in all, gave her the appearance of an angel. Her name was Angela Ziegler, but most knew her by the codename that she had adopted: Mercy.

The man on the operating table was a person that Angela had found dying in a river. She had been unable to find out anything that had happened to him, and so she tried to save him. Sadly, she knew that nothing normal could actually help him. This was why she was about to do something which would be considered to be risky.

She was about to rebuild most of his body into that of a cyborg, if only to save this man's life. Angela went over to a control panel next to the table and typed on a few of the buttons. From above the table, multiple robotic arms lowered down and started cutting open tissue as well as replacing bits of it with robotic parts. Angela quickly grabbed a steel saw from off a tray and walked to the other side of the table where the man's almost skeletal arm remained.

With a quick breath, Angela put the saw just an inch below the man's shoulder and began cutting. With precise skill and precision, Angela removed the arm in less than twenty seconds before backing away from the area to let the machine start adding mechanical parts to that area as well.

The next step to this process would be to remove and repair the damage that multiple arrowheads had inflicted to his chest. This would be the tricky part as she knew that some of these arrows had barbs on them and had gone quite deep into this man's flesh. It didn't matter to Angela. As long as she could save this man, she would.

She really wished that she had some nanites with her though. It would've made this process much easier…

King's Row – London

Naruto made his way through the crowded area of King's Row. Much of it had changed since the last time he had been here. That, and everything seemed smaller now that he was older. There were new shops, new faces, and he noticed that there were more omnics walking the street compared to before when he barely saw any.

It was nice to be back, that was for sure.

He did notice that there were an awful lot of people that had been giving him glances every once in a while. He tried to ignore the stares, but it felt really weird having this much attention on him. Guess a lot of people liked to watch the news.

'You know, a lot of people would kill for attention like this.' Kurama stated.

'Then a lot of people are idiots. It's really creepy, and it makes me slightly paranoid.' Naruto replied.

'I'm just saying that it's a thing. Besides, you need to relax a bit. You've been a little high strung for the past year. Normal kids would like people looking at them in awe and taking pictures of them.'

'Normal kids don't turn into giant foxes or have A.I.s in their head. Besides, how do you know what normal kids like?' Naruto asked with confusion.

'Internet.' Kurama quickly replied.

'You are looking at the wrong places on the internet.'

'Blame your species. Half of the internet is devoted to your porn, a quarter is devoted to stupid shit, and the other quarter has some intelligent things on it.' Kurama replied with some annoyance.

'That is definitely not my fault. Find some other scapegoat to use, you're not blaming all of the human race's problems on me.'

'I can make fun of you for it though.'

'I hate you.'

'Love you too.' Kurama chuckled at this before he noticed multiple people reaching into their pockets. 'Either a lot of people are happy to see you, or your mugshot is about to appear all over the internet.' Kurama stated. He was proven right when multiple people began taking out their phones in order to get a picture of him. At that point Naruto realized that it was time to get out of this place.

With a quick sprint, Naruto found himself leaving the crowded square and now he was on the sidewalk that was getting closer to Lena's house. He felt excited at the prospect of meeting her once again.

Going down the road caused flashed to enter Naruto's head of times when he used to run up and down the street with Lena in order to go on some adventure or another. Those were good times. 'Kurama, I have no idea what I'm going to say, help me out. Please?' Naruto asked.

'Don't look at me for answering personal life problems. Just because we share the same body does not mean I have to solve every trivial issue of yours.' Kurama responded with a sigh.

'You're the better speechmaker of the two of us.'

'Yeah, well, you can figure it out yourself. It's your problem, remember. I'm just here to watch you mess up hilariously. So, let's see you screw up.' Naruto sighed at his partner's terrible help. With his head held high, he tried to make his way to Lena's house with his mind on what he was going to say. He had little more than three minutes to figure out what to say as Lena's house was just down the block.

Two minutes left and he still had nothing. The house was in view. Naruto's heart rate spike in anticipation and nervousness.

One minute left, Naruto began coming up with some lines he could use like, 'Hey, Lena, been a long time.' Or 'How are you doing?' Really, he was coming up with all of this half-assed. As he made it to the steps of the house, he looked at the door to see that it had a new paint job. It seemed a mix between orange and red. Made the house look good-

'Stop smelling the roses and knock on the damn door already!' Kurama shouted in annoyance. Naruto quickly knocked on the door and waited. Actually, now that he thought about it, he had a perfect line that he could use to start out this conversation. As the doorknob turned, Naruto began with a grin.

"Hey L-" Naruto immediately was distracted by the very attractive girl with long legs standing before him. She wore a white shirt and orange pants that hugged her legs. She had multiple freckles that stood out on her face while she had deep brown hair that spiked up and-

'Oh, this is too good!' Kurama said while laughing. While Naruto took the chance at checking out the girl in front of him, the very same girl took the chance to check out the boy in front of her. Eventually their eyes met and they quickly looked away while blushing.

"Lena?" Naruto asked.

"Naruto?" Lena asked. They looked at one another and nodded. Lena quickly grabbed Naruto into a hug and Naruto returned the gesture. Eventually they separated and sported smiles to one another.

"It's been a while." Naruto said.

"You came back." Lena stated.

"And you waited." Naruto replied. Lena grabbed Naruto's hand and pulled him inside. Naruto took the time to look inside and he noticed that not much had changed since he was last here. The place still seemed as cozy as ever.

"Mum, dad, I've got something to show you!" Lena announced as she dragged Naruto into the kitchen. When Naruto entered, he saw Lena's parents. Both adults seemed older, some wrinkles here, some gray hair there, but they seemed the same. To be honest, Lena now really looked like mother if her mother had brown hair and eyes.

"Hey there!" Naruto waved awkwardly.

Martha smiled at this. "It's nice to see you again, dear. We heard all about your travels, put a right fright in all of us, even if David won't admit it." Martha said while eyeing David who was typing into his computer.

David just looked the young man before him up and down. "So, been able to turn into a giant fox for a while?" He asked.

"N-no." Naruto replied nervously. Even if he could easily beat the man to a pulp if he wished, there was something about that man which just terrified him. "That was just a spur of the moment thing, y'know." Naruto scratched the back of his head.

"Isn't it great, he's back! We'll be heading out now. Be back later!" Lena said before dragging Naruto off once more. David and Martha looked at one another.

"He's a really nice boy when you read about all he's done." Martha stated.

"Doesn't matter, if the boy touches our daughter, I will break him, superpowers or not." David replied.

"You like him, you just won't admit it."

"Not a word, dear. Not a word." With a final keystroke, David finished typing out his report on the slipstream project that he had been working on. It had been five years, but the engine could finally start being build. In another year, it could be tested with an actual pilot, and then, well, most planes would need a new upgrade to match it.

"You know, your dad is still terrifying." Naruto stated. Lena laughed at this. The two were walking down the block together side by side.

"Nah, he's a big teddy bear. Don't you worry a single moment about him. How was your flight by the way?" Lena asked.

"Very long. Didn't help that I had just been let out of the hospital after taking over seven hundred thousand volts to the body. I still taste metal in my mouth." Naruto replied. Naruto felt a slight tap to the back of the head. He looked at Lena who had a slightly worried expression on her face.

"Try to avoid doing stupid stuff that could kill you. I don't want you to get hurt." Lena said. "But, could you tell me, how did it feel to be that giant fox? It looked awesome!" Lena's mood quickly switch from being worried to excited. That was Lena, always the excitable girl that he knew.

"Amazing. I felt like I could do anything. Though the burn out afterwards was not fun in the slightest. My brain was pretty scrambled until Kurama fixed everything." Naruto said. Lena looked up to Naruto's head with a grin.

"Thanks for helping Naruto, Kurama." Lena said.

'At least someone appreciates my help.' The A.I. muttered.

"So, Lena, what should we do today?" Naruto asked.

"Well, the plan was that we'd have some fun, then get some dinner at this restaurant I know. Any questions?" Lena asked.

"Sounds perfect." Naruto replied. "Though, could you tell me something?" Lena looked at Naruto with curiosity, and she also checked out his body once more.

"What is it?"

"Well, we've known each other for a long time…and you told me that you loved me. I just wanted to know what you meant by that." Naruto asked. Lena had the decency to blush before taking a gulp and looking Naruto in his blue eyes. She then grabbed him grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and kissed him full on the lips.

Naruto's mind went completely blank at this point while Lena pulled away with an extremely red face. "T-that's what I meant." Naruto was still registering a blank until Kurama snapped him out of it with his laughing.

"Oh…"

"Just so you know, you're the first person I've ever…kissed." Lena stated. "Well, what do you think?"

"Lena, if we actually were going to be in a relationship…could we take it slow? I mean- there's nothing wrong with you, you are smart, have an extremely likable personality, look great actually- beautiful even, but I am running my mouth too much, aren't I?" Lena nodded.

"But I like that. So, ferris wheel and then dinner?"

"That would be great…" Naruto said in relief. There were a myriad of emotions going through his head at that moment. He liked Lena, all their talks over the phone had caused the two to bond extremely well, even if both were doing so without facial interaction. And he just couldn't deny that Lena was extremely attractive. Maybe he could see if all of this could work out.

"You really punched the gun on popping that question." Naruto stated. He received a playful punch in the shoulder in reply.

Siberia – Russia

In the frozen tundra that was Siberia, a teen in a gray coat stormed through a battlefield. Both humans and omnics which were once battling one another had turned their attentions in a temporary truce to destroy the being that could command the snow itself to destroy them all. Every time they tried to kill this being, more snow would move about to either shield the figure or to destroy more humans or omnics.

While fear registered in everyone on this battlefield, only one felt completely at peace, well, more than at peace, he was in ecstasy as he slaughtered each being around him. The voice in his head screamed words of encouragement while the teen laughed in excitement.

"Die! Everyone must die!" The teen screamed as snow suffocated or crushed his enemies. With his heart pumping and his adrenaline rushing through his veins, Gaara never felt more alive until now. It felt amazing and almost godlike with how he had no trouble with destroying everything around himself.

Sadly, the fun would have to end. With some disappointment, Gaara held his hand out and lowered it. With that simple command, the snow crushed the rest of the hapless victims. All that Gaara knew was that the other A.I. had also come to this country. All he needed to do was follow its footsteps and he would be able to join it.

With that in mind, Gaara resumed his trek through Siberia. His goal would soon be complete, and with it, the destruction of everyone.

TALON Base – Classified

The Doctor looked upon one of his reports that was given to him by field agents. He was not pleased about it in the slightest. In truth, it meant that he would have to start revealing his hand. This was all due to the Overwatch agent Gerard Lacroix. The damnable man had been getting too close to many of his projects and systematically shutting them down.

What was worse was the fact that he was so irritatingly hard to kill. Every op to end the Frenchman's life turned into one of failure. That was…disturbing.

Still, there was one question that he had, what was the man's weakness. Find his weakness and you find a way to kill him. All that he could think of was that the man had a wife. But now that he thought about it, he could use that to his advantage. A connection is weakness, and all it takes is one simple flaw to make even the greatest monuments tumble.

"Agent Mikoto, I have a new mission for you…" From behind him, the ever silent woman walked up to his side.

"What do you wish?" The woman asked.

"Capture Amelie Lacroix. Bring her back to the base. Make sure that Gerard Lacroix knows that it was us." The Doctor ordered. Mikoto nodded curtly and quickly left the room to accomplish her mission. In the back of her mind, Mikoto thought that this might be the mission that kills her. If so, she would be glad.

I took way too long on doing this chapter, didn't I? I'm so sorry about that. But hey, at least we are getting somewhere now. I hope that all of you enjoyed your break and I'll see you next chapter.

Also, Naruto and Lena finally met up in their awkward confrontation. And yes, I know about Lena's preferences, but I am too far in to submit to canon, so try to ignore it if you can. Besides that, next chapter is their dinner with one another, and more plot.

I'll see all of you next time. Stay frosty my friends.