The light from the exploding star base was as blinding as it was beautiful. Well, as little of it as he could see. The power had been diverted from his auxiliary systems, including video, to provide life support, not that he would need it given the blast from the nuclear device would reach him in just under 2.089 seconds if his calculations were correct. No one had ever tracked a nuclear explosion in space before. Tony Stark, billionaire, playboy, inventor, philanthropist and savior of the human race was all of those, and yet at 1.756 seconds till his end he could only think of one thing. Pepper. His beloved Virginia 'Pepper' Potts. They say that life flashes before ones eyes, that one remembers everything that happened to them just moments before death, but for Tony, all he could think of was Pepper. From the moment he met her, to their kiss at Stark Expo to the last thing he had said to her and her to him at the tower. It was probably because until Pepper, he hadn't really lived.

Yinsen, the man who had helped him become not only Iron man, but also changed Tony's views on the world had confided in his family, during those few moments of peace in the cave they had been captured in, Yinsen often the one talking as Tony doubted any of his escapades with the various and often beautiful women he had shared usually short and lustful moments with would appease the down to earth man. But then, very shortly before their planned escape, when Yinsen had finally run out of things to say, or perhaps talking of his deceased family had pained him too much, Tony finally began talking of those closest to him, if only to relieve the uneasy tension that held the room silent. Happy, ever the serious but optimist man who he had known for most of his life and loved almost like a brother, he had said three sentences about. Rhodey had gotten four, with one being about him needing a woman or weed and perhaps a combination of the two. But Pepper. Yinsen would have fallen asleep with how long Tony talked about her. .501 seconds now. The heat, not yet faded out from the cold vacuum of space was now felt against the armor. Yinsen's words that night, as Tony finished talking and they began to work again, came to mind. That and Pepper's beautiful smile, the same she gave when he had finally done something right amidst all the wrong he had done in his life. The moment he had truly fallen in love with her.

'Perhaps I was wrong about you. You do have something, but you have let your life you blind from it. When you leave this place, do not let that something go. Protect it with all your might, Tony Stark. And then, you will have everything you need.'

"Pepper."

.001 seconds. A tug of gravity, untold pain, warning lights... then nothing.

"Come on Stark." Natasha anxiously toned as she held the scepter at the ready, she could see the explosion, hear the Chitauri army fall like puppets, but just like the other avengers her gaze was upwards for a glimpse of red against the light of the nuclear weapon unleashed in another side of space. Steve Rodgers was a praying man, but he also was a bit of a gambler, not so much in money, but more in odds. As it was he was gambling the fate of the blast taking out part if not all of New York just for one man, but all too soon, the blast was far too close to let it stay open. His gambit had failed, Stark was gone.

"Close it." From the top of the tower the energy cut off and almost immediately the portal began to shrink, the blueish black was changing into a fiery orange from the incoming blast, Rodgers looked down, feeling the loss from loosing another man, and guilt. Wasn't Stark someone whom he had all but said would never be able to do what the man had just done? A sound, a stunned gasp broke over them and something fell before them in a horrible crash. It was steaming, metal and flesh alike, and it made Rodgers feel all the more guilty and disgusted with himself. It was a leg, or at least what was left of one from the knee down. The exoskeleton that held the bleeding appendage was sparking dangerously.

"Shit." Hawkeye remarked as he landed nearby with Thor. The Norse god said little, only offering a prayer to his ancestors that Stark was honorable enough to join them. But there was no time to morn. There was someone up Stark's tower who had to be held responsible for not only Tony's life, but all the others he and the Chitauri had taken.

"We'll do what we must later, right now, we need to keep Loki from escaping." Rodgers remarked harshly, trying to organize his thoughts like he had when he had lost his best friend all those years ago. There was a mission now, the pain would have to wait. At least Thor wasn't looking at him like an unfeeling bastard like Clint and Natasha were. He'd tell them straight later. Hulk merely roared angrily at the sky for taking his fellow warrior away. Steve envied him, he very much wanted to do the same.

"Look look, Jiji! I told you there was a metal man here! He's bleeding and everything!" As the boy was only four years old, Hiruzen Sarutobi did not think much of Naruto Uzumaki's wild accusations of a metal man falling from the sky into his apartment very seriously, merely assuming the mild explosion and smoke to be from an attack on the village or possibly enough the boy who had rushed to meet him as he and a group of ANBU appeared. However as soon as the five adults entered the apartment the boy's comments were proven true. Laying in a pile of debris from crashing into the roof of the apartment complex lay a mostly whole suit of armor, with the left leg of both man and machine having been severed rather abruptly from the looks of it. Two ANBU moved to protect the Hokage but the other two moved to examine the figure, wary. However from the rapidly growing pool of blood from the stump of the man's leg there was little to worry about. Boar, with incredible strength and boosted with chakra ripped off the plate covering the battered warrior.

The faceplate came off and a bruised, bleeding and rapidly paling face was revealed. The figure was barely breathing.

"Get me the medical corps now! We have a dying man here!" Two ANBU shushined out leaving Sarutobi to shake his head. What bizarre armor this man had. However the man and the armor was in no condition to fight, he felt safe enough lean in close to the man to listen to the mumbling that was issuing forth. It was in a language he didn't understand, but a word was being repeated over and over again mixed with others.

"~Pepper~."

Tony awoke to an odd looking ceiling. The sounds of people and various other things came from the open window off to his right hand side. There were a few familiar looking machines, older models than he was use to, but still wholly functional sitting off to the side of the bed he was on. Glancing over his body he could see the first absolutely horrifying thing was the obvious lack of anything glowing in his chest, and in fact the rather large hole he had in his chest was missing, pulling up the very thin hospital gown he found only a rather red scar. Panic, confusion, and fear lanced into his throat and out his mouth in a scream to end all screams. Two orderlies rushed into the room moments later talking at him in a language that was incredibly close to what he assumed was... Japanese?

"~Whoa Whoa Whoa, slow down, I can't understand you at all. My Japanese isn't that good! What happened to my Arc Reactor?~" The two orderlies looked at one another, questioning each other from the sounds of it to his English. But honestly he was so freaking out that he couldn't even begin to formulate the words into Japanese. Geez didn't he spend his 18th year alive in Japan, learning Japanese and micro computers applications? Well, most of it, he learned a lot of interesting Japanese from his language teacher. Mostly, after the second day, about what she liked in bed, but that was besides the point, he had already learned the language by that point? He took in a deep breath and shifted in the bed to try and calm dow...n.

Another scream, this almost as loud as the first erupted from his mouth as his hands pulled the sheets over his lower torso... or rather what was left of it. The bandaged stump just under the knee stared back.

"~What the hell happened to me!~"

"I believe I can explain Stark-san."

"~Please calm yourself, Sir. I will attempt to explain and translate for you.~" From the doorway, an old man wearing a red and white uniform stood, a small satchel over his shoulder had various wires leading up to the helmet of his suit that rested in the palm of the elder.

"Jarvis? W-what's going on."

"~So your telling me this isn't Japan, we're not on earth, and that these people, who look totally human are only 75% genetically the same as I am and managed to do what the doctors on earth couldn't and remove the shrapnel from my chest without me dying with some fancy spiritual energy based healing?~"

"~That is correct, Sir. All known star charts and data held in the mark 5 suit correlate that the stars are in a different alignment that that of earth, and conclude that given their shift we are approximately 27 kly from Earth and somewhere closer to Galaxy bulge, However a precise measurement would require a star chart of this region and .~"

"~Huh. And no teleporter or Enterprise to take me back home. So I'm Scotty without a starship, great.~"

"~Given your accent used from last years Halloween party and a distinct lack of empathy towards your creations I feel you would a poor rendition of Montgomery Scott, even for the reboot.~"

"~Ouch, your upset I tried to make an upgraded version of you still, aren't you. Anyway, back to the genetic variations in their genome compared to mine?~"

"~Of course Sir. The genetic tests that I have been allowed to gather from the one known as Hokage brought to my attention amazing similarities between both Homo Sapiens and the species known as the Asguardians in the people found on this planet, that is if the blood sample collected by S.H.E.I.L.D. are to be believed. They are an unequal blend of the two species.~"

"~Somewhere around 75% Human, 25% Thor's next of kin. Lovely. So that explains the super powers they exhibit as if it was a normal occurrence.~"

"~As far as I can tell, yes. Their mode of technology is a mixed bag, some being as advanced as the latest Stark tech, and then other predating the industrial revolution. It is rather much like records of conversations found in S.H.I.E.L.D. databanks of one Jane Foster about Thor's home planet. Their technologies stall in areas as their abilities take the place of more complex machinery so little to no advancement is ever done in those fields. However given what I have been allowed to observe I believe that with some small amount of time, you should be able to find or build all the materials needed to recreate your lab and begin to repairs the suit and begin researching ways home. I assume you also wish to build a prosthetic for your left leg, am I correct in that assumption?~"

"~Got it in one, Jarvis. Now, I assume the man with you is this Hokage? Has he been able to understand our conversation? He seems to be listening very closely.~"

"~The man is undeniably intelligent, the odds however, on learning the English language are-.~"

"~You...? Not is from... here?~" Tony merely blinked, looked at the now silent head then turned to the man who had just in under ten minutes of listening learned to understand words in Tony's own native tongue. Tony addressed the man with the same respect having systematically reviewed everything he could remember on the Japanese language, assuming correctly that the gap in their rendition was from the two cultures came from the two races diverging at one point in the past.

"-Quite possible, Jarvis. Uh, Yes sir, I come from a planet called Earth, which is 27 years at the speed that light travels from this world. Somewhere around 15,871,949,502,40-5 or 6 miles, give or take a few inches." Even if the man didn't know what a mile was the long convoluted number was indeed impressive.

"I thank you Tony Stark, and Thor-sama, for saving Naruto." Sarutobi looked every part of his years then. "You have given me and that boy so much. It is truly a disappointment that you must leave. Naruto has taken a liking to you. You have protected him far better that I could ever have.

"I can take him with me. He'll be protected by my Earth's mightiest heroes, trained to be the best at what we can teach him.

Four years later...

"So wait, let me get this straight, you designed a suit based on mine... and you gave it high heels?" Tony's expression was rather amused yet curious. Naruto's was rather the opposite.

"I added increased maneuverability not only on the ground by making the suit run on the balls of it's feet but also improved flight capabilities using those vectored thrust nozzles based on the airo-plate whatsits you showed me! However the nozzles needed space to maneuver and not break when landing so they formed-"

"High heels"

"No."

"Is there something you want to tell me, Naruto?"

"NO."

"Any desire for wearing Pepper's clothing? Odd interests in makeup?"

"NO!"

"Oh wait your sexy jutsu. That's not how you feel you should look, is it? I mean I'm not here to judge, if you feel you're a woman trapped in a man's body, that's you and I still care about you. I mean look at your uncle Bruce. It's not outside that really makes a person but the inside."

"TONY DAMMIT!"

"Language and uh, nah, I remember you checking out Romanov last she was here. So let's get back to this design flaw." Tony ignored Naruto's blushing and continued to go over the crude schematic he was observing.

"Design FLAW?"

"Why not use a few more actuators to fold the nozzles up and around the foot when not in use? That way you can also allow your full foot support on the ground when not in combat. I mean take a look at high heels—Stop looking at me like that—that Pepper wear. She can only wear them so long before they begin hurting her ankles and then I have to—and very much enjoy—massaging her legs. But think about that. Rhodey and I are in these things for what feels like days at a time, so if you feel like continuing on this design and build the suit like you are you'll be sore long before you enter combat."

"... Fine. But they're not high heels."

"You sure? Because Pepper would probably love to play dress up with your female side."

"...Tony..." Naruto growled out.

Four more years later...

Tony Stark was typing away at a holographic representation of a keyboard on his workbench with a furious pace.

"Sir, Naruto has just finished his Iron Fox Mark 8 schematic and is asking for it to be reviewed at your leisure, Sir." Tony's H.U.D. Brought up a miniaturized schematic diagram in the corner of Tony's screen.

"Mmm, sure, I was only tinkering with some side projects, I think I can spare a few minutes to look at the kid's design. Jarvis pop it up on the floor for me, full 3-d rendition."

"Sir, I would like to point out that cancer and world hunger are very important issues and should not be considered side projects at the very least." However as Jarvis said this the room filled with a bluish glow as a 5 foot see through rendition of a very unique armor appeared.

The reason for the height was soon apparent as the armor finished as the armor stood on the digits of it's feet and the two pointed ears sticking above the rest of the helmet.

"I see he kept with the Digitigrade style again."

"This is shown in combat mode, Sir. The suit is modular like yours has been since the Mark 45." The suit lowered it's stance, becoming plantigrade with it's feet in a more normal human configuration. Glancing

"Higher quality sound and radar pickups than mine, stand alone I assume, would make sense. The arms seem longer, too long in fact."

"They are fully articulated and A.I. controllable extentions allowing him the ability to use jutsu while maintaining his suit's mobility. In an addition, the extensions allow easier adapatability to a third quadruped mode that is assists a style based on one of the taijutsu scrolls given to Naruto by Hiruzen Sarutobi."

This could have been fun, but while it has been fun, Naruto you are getting too weird for me.

Naruto just went too far for me to enjoy anymore and RL has left me with no interest in trying to keep writing in this fandom. Therefore, this fiction is as finished by me as it every will be, and any one may continue should they wish. PM's are always welcome if you would like to know where I was heading with the story. Adoption papers are a go.