Arc 1 - A New World - Chapter 8: Doomed Mission
The next two weeks were fairly uneventful. A few times per day, Naruto would visit his parents and learn taijutsu or sealing from them. Sometimes Laura would go with him, but he found that it strained his mind to bring more people in so he could only visit once if she came, but could visit three or four times if he went alone. Occasionally, Dr. Strange would visit his parents as well, but Dr. Strange could use his own abilities to talk with them and didn't need to rely on Naruto to ferry him.
No work had yet been done to work on fixing Naruto's summoning. The Sorcerer Supreme had been kept far too busy with his own duties to even consider looking at helping Naruto repair this skill, and his father was unable to help in his current form. Naruto had offered to help Dr. Strange by taking some of the easier jobs off of his hands, but the Sorcerer Supreme had refused stating that it was too dangerous until the new filter was added.
The one thing that Naruto had spent a long time talking to Dr. Strange about was his seal and the new filter. He was rather upset that his mind looked like a sewer and wanted to change it to something more pleasant. He thought that the Kyuubi would like the same chance. This had resulted in Dr. Strange entering his father's crystal for a full five seconds of real time before saying that he would consider the request.
Now, after two weeks of idle chakra, Naruto had finally been given permission to work on chakra control exercises and chakra flow meditation to help the seal settle faster. To this end, he and Laura spent their days at the Xavier Institute. Naruto would walk on water, climb trees, or try to split leaves with his chakra. This last exercise was what was traditionally used as the first step in wind manipulation training. It was a good place to train because no one though he was strange for doing any of these things. It also gave Laura more time with her father.
Naruto held the phone. It felt strange having technology being so pervasive. People relied on it so much, but a single paper bomb could bring many of these so-called indispensable services to their knees. Perhaps that was why the Elemental nations were so far behind in some ways. No technology became widespread unless it was either repairable or replaceable in the field. The very notion of needing a large bureaucracy and miles of sensitive equipment working to do a task you could accomplish as easily by crossing a street just didn't make sense. But then, the Elemental Nations were much more insular than any nation on this world. The ability to communicate instantly between villages would be too much of a security risk to allow, even if the technology was available. In fact, it wouldn't surprise him if the technology had been sitting around in a cupboard somewhere for years because it was too much of a security risk to implement.
Naruto put the receiver to his head as he had seen Dr. Strange and Laura do on multiple occasions. "Hello. This is Naruto Uzumaki."
"Hello, Naruto, this is Pepper Potts, Tony Stark's assistant. Are you interested in doing some security work?"
"Can Laura come?" Naruto asked.
"What is her skill set?" Pepper asked.
"Expert with hand to hand, weapons, and at least basic knowledge of most transportation. Has adamantium claws and skeleton and heals really fast."
"Is that the name of the X-23 you referred to in your earlier meetings with Tony?" Pepper asked.
"Yes. She has a name now."
"The pay is the same regardless of who you bring to help. Unless you arrange otherwise, the pay will be split equally among your team."
"That is fine. What is the mission?" Naruto asked.
"A armored vehicle will pick you up at the Sanctum Sanctorum. You will inspect the vehicle for any tracking chips, explosives, or other hidden surprises. The only thing in the truck should be the driver who will be wearing a uniform bearing a Stark Industries logo. He will have a Stark Industries sidearm with a grip authentication safety lock. If he does not have this sidearm, or the weapon does not acknowledge him, or there are additional people or devices, you are to capture and await instruction. If everything is as it should be, the driver will take you to the Baxter Building. Here you will receive a delivery of a crate of body armor from Reed Richards. He is a man who has the ability to stretch his body. He may have the help of a woman who can turn invisible and project force fields, a man who can set himself on fire, and a man made of living orange rock. The crate will be placed in the secure area of the armored transport. You will escort it to the delivery entrance in the back of Stark Tower where you will receive further instruction."
"Hai! We'll be waiting!" Naruto hung up and went to look for Laura.
A boxy delivery van arrived in front of the Sanctum Sanctorum where Naruto and Laura were waiting. Laura immediately went to work inspecting the vehicle since she had known what to look for. Naruto knocked on the driver's door.
"Please open the doors so we can conduct a security inspection," Naruto said. The door opened and Naruto saw that the cabin was empty except for a middle-aged man in a Stark Industries Uniform. The cabin was free of everything else. It was very professional. "Can you demonstrate that your sidearm acknowledges you as its owner?"
"Sure," the man drew his weapon. It was obviously a standard identification method. When he held it and placed his finder on the trigger, a small red light turned green.
"That's all that happens?" Naruto asked, "Does it at least do something if someone else holds it?"
"If someone else holds it, the light stays red. If they pull the trigger, they get a little electric shock, the gun disables itself permanently, and a distress signal is sent. Our weapons can't be used against us."
Naruto chuckled and drew his knife. "He didn't put that feature in mine."
This caused the driver to laugh. Naruto went around to the other side and climbed into the passenger side. Laura squeezed in next to him. There was no reason for one of them to ride in the back when there wasn't any cargo. The driver pulled out and made his way onto West 12th Street which he followed to 6th Avenue. He turned right on West 42nd Street and pulled to a stop in front of a building at the intersection with Madison Avenue.
"First stop Baxter Building," the driver announced.
Naruto and Laura hopped out of the vehicle and entered the lobby to find a lanky brown haired man with a crate waiting for them.
"Are you Reed Richards?" Naruto asked.
"That I am. I assume you are Naruto and Laura." The man looked at them and smiled before reaching across the room to shake their hands. It was really a little unnerving and reminded Naruto of Misumi from the chunin exam preliminaries. "I've been expecting you. This crate contains some sample configurations of a new form of body armor for civilian responders, that is police officers and fire fighters, that should be lighter, more malleable, and better fitting than the current Kevlar armor and be more effective at the same time."
The scientist's elucidations were interrupted by an explosion that destroyed the entrance to the building. A group of robots that looked almost like hovering garbage cans with protruding appendages swarmed into the building. They each began firing laser blasts that left gouges in the floors and walls.
"These robots appear to be consistent in design with the technology of Dr. Doom," Reed Richards announced as his body weaved around the laser blasts, heading to a control panel.
Naruto popped out his blade and formed a mass of shadow clones as he and Laura began to counter attack. He had never failed to protect his target on an escort mission before and he had no intention of starting now. Only Naruto's ability to match the massive number of robots with his clones kept them from being immediately outmaneuvered and overrun. He knew he was probably going to get a talking to from Dr. Strange after his mission though. He was not supposed to use large amounts of chakra. He was now producing clones in waves of hundreds which actually put a small drain on his incredible chakra reserves. There seemed to be no end to the robots, despite the fact that Laura's claws and his dagger could cut through them easily.
"The building's systems were hacked. All defenses are disabled. I need a few minutes to get them back online!" Reed called.
"Longer you take, the more things will break!" Naruto called back, destroying another robot before being surprised by a laser blast to the face from a robot that had shadowed the one he had just taken down.
Naruto scrambled to his feet and wiped the blood from his eyes as he slammed his weapon down into the head of the machine.
"They're going for the target!" Laura shouted. She was surrounded and couldn't extricate herself in time.
Naruto formed a clone to throw him over the wall of robots and onto the crate. He formed several hardened clones that used rasengans to rip through the converging robots. Their numbers were dropping quickly now.
Naruto heard a strange humming sound. Whatever it was, it couldn't be good. He looked around. One robot had its chest plating open and a glow of energy was building up. Then it released in a massive cracking beam of power that vaporized the robots surrounding Laura. He could see most of Laura's adamantium skeleton exposed. What little flesh remained was blackened and charred. She lay on the ground, limp and unmoving.
"Laura!" Naruto called out. Her body was grabbed by some of the remaining robots that flew off into the sky faster than he could hope to follow. "LAURA!" Angry red chakra flared around him. The nearby robots were blasted away by the sheer force of his presence. He reached out with a claw of chakra and grabbed the robot that had blasted Laura. He squeezed the robot until it was nothing more than a charred husk of metal. He threw the remains through three other robots, causing an explosion that sent robot parts flying.
Too late, the automated defenses came back online. Weapon turrets quickly disabled the remaining doom bots, but Laura was already gone.
Naruto went to Reed and looked him in the eye. Naruto's eyes were red and slitted. "Where did they take her?" He demanded.
"Probably to the Latverian Embassy. That is where Dr. Doom usually operates from. I'll assemble my team, then we will go rescue her."
Naruto was seated on the bottom of the Fantasticar. It had taken a little convincing to allow him to be seated here, but it allowed a tactical advantage, and he really did not feel like talking to anyone right now. Someone had taken one of his precious people and that was unacceptable. There would be consequences.
The embassy was patrolled by security robots. Some were similar to those that attacked the Baxter Building. Some took a more humanoid appearance. A clear bubble of power was created around the vehicle by Susan Storm. It protected the vehicle from the attacks of the robots as it flew over the embassy. It did not protect the embassy from Naruto dropping off the bottom of the Fantasticar. He formed hundreds of clones which formed oodama rasengans that bombarded the embassy and the grounds as they landed. While this distracted the guards, the Fantastic Four searched for a place to land.
Just before Naruto would land, he formed one more clone which threw him through an upper level window of the embassy, allowing him to avoid being caught up in the massive explosion occurring outside. Looking out, he could see Johnny Storm flame on and begin picking off the surviving robots.
Naruto formed a small army of clones, sending them out to explore the embassy. Using rasengans, they tore apart every wall, every ceiling, every door, every stone. Within an hour, all that was left above the ground was rubble and a stone stairwell leading down into the ground.
Naruto and the Fantastic Four congregated at the entrance of the subterranean lair as Naruto's clones pour down the hole.
"You really did a number on the building," Johnny Storm said with an appreciative whistle.
"Those who hurt my precious people will get torn apart. This building was just in the way," Naruto said coldly. "There were many booby traps but I've triggered them all. The target is at the bottom."
The room had high arched ceilings with stone columns. The floors were tiled in patterns with natural stone. A dais at the front of the room had a throne that was large enough for a giant but was seating an ordinary sized man wearing metal armor and a green cloak. Before him is a metal table that was riveted into the ground. Laura lay tightly shackled to it with her limbs pulled tight. Every movement brought her pain as electricity coursed through her body.
"Let Laura go!" Naruto demanded.
Dr. Doom chuckled as if humoring a belligerent child. "Dear boy, after all the damage you've caused for me, you expect me to listen to your demands? No. You have cost me too much, and I will take my payment from her flesh!" He pressed a button on his throne and Laura screamed. "Now, I would have you leave. You are trespassing." Hidden doors along the walls opened up and more robots appeared. These ones had electricity crackling around them, forming a spherical shield.
His father had told him about the strength and weaknesses of the elements. Electricity was essentially a form of lightning chakra, so Naruto knew that it should be beaten by his wind clones. He formed half a dozen and sent them towards the shielded sentries. Unfortunately, these robots were much more organized in their firing patterns. All of the wind clones were destroyed much too early and Naruto had to shield his group with hardened clones which took a big toll on his chakra.
"You really should release the girl, Victor. You don't want to make this kid any more angry," Reed cautioned. "I've seen first hand what he does when he is angry."
Victor Von Doom laughed. "There is no reason to listen to what you say. There is no way you can stop me!" The robots began aggressively firing at them.
Johnny took to the air and bathed the robots in flames, but they seemed to slide over the shields instead of penetrating them.
"You're fighting back. Naughty, naughty." He pressed a button and held it. Laura screamed, and screamed as her body convulsed. Her skin began to blacken, blister, and split.
"I'm going to be nice, just this once. You can die fast, or you can die slow," Naruto growled. His nails and teeth sharpened as his eyes turned red.
"I will not be the one dying today," Dr. Doom replied as he increased the current until Naruto could actually see Laura's skeleton glowing through her flesh.
Two tails of power burst from Naruto's back. In an instant a chakra claw whipped out and crushed half the robots against the wall as he leapt across the room in an instant and slammed his claws through Dr. Doom's gut. He was surprised when Dr. Doom exploded, revealing himself to be just another robot.
Johnny and Susan took down the remaining robots fairly quickly while Reed freed Laura from the electrocution table.
"Fascinating. Your healing factor is incredible. Imagine how much medical science could learn by studying the way your body reacts to negative stimuli," Reed said as he watched her body restore itself before his eyes.
Laura merely groaned in response as her skin and muscles repaired themselves.
"Ahh, why won't it stop?" Naruto grunted in pain as a third tail of red chakra began to form behind him. As much as he pushed, the chakra refused to be forced back into the seal. He collapsed and grasped his stomach in pain as more and more wisps of demonic power forced themselves out.
Laura, seeing his predicament, struggled to her feet and hobbled over to him. With a sudden twist, her knee struck him in a precise spot in the back of his neck and his face slammed into the floor. He was knocked unconscious from the blow. The red cloak of chakra soon dissipated.
"If that hadn't worked, we would be in trouble now. He should be fine when he wakes up," Laura said. She winced as she tried to put her weight on her leg. It was not healing as rapidly as the rest of her wounds.
Naruto regained consciousness to a feeling of swaying in a hammock that appeared to be moving up stairs. He opened his eyes to see Mr. Fantastic's neck and head extending out of the hammock and looking down on him. He screamed in shock and leapt upwards to cling to the ceiling.
Naruto realized that the hammock was actually Reed Richard's torso as the man restored his body to its normal form. It had been stretched out into a hammock to carry him since he had been unconscious and he was too heavy for any one of them to carry on their own. Naruto decided to stay on the ceiling rather than get too close to the stretchy man again. Something about him was just too weird.
Realizing that there might be more to this lair hidden behind the stone, Naruto formed as many wind clones as he could and gave them his entire roll of explosive notes. He hoped that when the explosions went off, the wind from the clones would fuel the explosions since wind chakra increased the power of fire chakra, even though the explosions didn't really use fire chakra.
The four reached the surface and boarded the Fantasticar, taking immediately to the air and clearing Latverian air space.
Naruto pointed to the remains of the embassy. "Watch the boom," he said with a giggle. With a loud 'FWUMP!' the entire area where the embassy once stood raised up and a shock wave shook the Fantasticar. The dirt settled into a crater with a 'Thud' and sent out a wave of dust in all directions. Naruto grinned, proud of his work. Now only a crater with a few protruding stones indicated anything had ever been built there.
"Remind me never to piss you off little dude," Johnny Storm said.
Naruto grinned.
Back at the Baxter Building, The Thing was waiting by the armored delivery vehicle, talking with the driver while they awaited the return of the protection detail. He had not come on the mission because they had needed room for the two extra passengers and his spot fit the best. The Fantasticar dropped dropped Naruto and Laura next to the already loaded truck.
"Can you call Tony and tell him why we're late?" Naruto asked Reed.
The stretchy man gave an affirmative response before taking the vehicle up to park it back on the thirty-fifth floor. Naruto put a clone into the passenger seat of the cab, then he and Laura climbed into the back with the cargo and closed the door.
Tony was really getting his money's worth out of him. Naruto had a group of clones carry the crate out of the freight elevator, down the hall, and into a lab. On one side was a table covered in weapons and equipment that separated the room in two halves. The other half seemed to be shielded and had targets marked on the far walls.
"The tactical armor in the crate was created using a combination of three different technologies. The first is the unstable molecule technology created by Reed Richards. This can be used to make materials that can adapt to almost any environment. They resist heat, cold, electricity, and are form fitting which means one size fits all. It also allows for a limited amount of self repair. The second is a standard nano-mesh weave inside the layers of unstable molecules. This will stop or deflect most bladed weapons wider than a few microns, like a super light suit of tight chain mail. The final piece of this armor are bands of Stark Nanotek plating. The plating will provide protection from heavy impacts, bullets. Normally it is lighter and more flexible than Kevlar plating, but it stiffens in reaction to any force. Your job will be to create clones and have them wear the vests and test them for any problems with mobility or if you feel there is a spot left without protection that should be protected and for how comfortable they feel. Once that is done, your girlfriend and I will get the pleasure of testing all these weapons on you in an attempt to find flaws in the armor. But, there's no need to worry, You would heal from any of these in a few minutes, even without the armor."
"I really should be getting paid more for this," Naruto complained as he created the requested clones.
"Your English has improved a lot in a month," Tony pointed out, "Since you now have the ability to complain about pay."
"I learned that I learn what my clones learn, so I spent a week sending a few hundred out into the city with orders to do nothing but find people to talk to. You'd be amazed at how much old people can talk once they find someone willing to talk to them."
Tony chuckled.
"So how many jobs until I can get a second special kunai?" Naruto asked.
"If you did jobs like this every day for a year, you might be able to afford one if I paid for the adamantium," Tony said, "That stuff is expensive to manufacture and the vibranium needed to make it is expensive in the first place. I've already got a full set of normal equipment prepared as part of your payment for this job. That is much cheaper since it is just high iron steel."
"I have a kenjutsu teacher now, so I could also use a sword," Naruto mentioned.
"Then, you'd better start working a lot," Tony grabbed a gun off the table and shot a clone in the vest, "Unless you want something simple." The clone staggered back, but was otherwise unharmed.
Naruto was standing still while his father and Dr. Strange were discussing the problem he had with the seal during the mission and what could have caused the seal to become unstable and not allow him to stop using the fox's chakra. This was of course after they had spent quite a bit of time lecturing him about being irresponsible and reckless and disobeying the rules that he had been given for both his safety and the safety of the people around him.
After a lengthy discussion, they concluded that the seal had loosened while it had been in flux and removing Minato and Kushina had damaged the lock so that it always remained a little more open than Naruto wanted and it would continue to loosen every time Naruto used the fox's chakra until they could fix the seal.
"Because you used the demon's power, you decreased the stability of the seal. It will be more time before we can repair it and place the filter. I'm going to have to ask you not to use any jutsu unless it is an emergency until the seal stabilizes."
"But you are allowed chakra control exercises," Minato said, "Especially chakra flow meditation. If you can perfect your chakra flow, the seal should follow."