Chapter Four
A/N: I apologize for the long delay for this chapter, some very personal things have happened in my life and I have had no desire to write anything. I will not promise quick updates, for I just don't see that being possible in my new schedule. Having said that, I have still not given up on this story and I still have lots of ideas. Thank you all for your understanding and patience, I truly do appreciate it.
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The sun was peeking through the trees assaulting his eyes. Sasuke rubbed them to remove the grit. His body was stiff but his mind was waking. Sweat was beading on his brow, and his clothes were sticking to him. He would have to stop next to the creek again to freshen up if he was going to go back into the village. His chances of finding information about the strange place would be better if he was able to remain clean.
The water from earlier quenched his thirst, adding much needed moisture to his lips and throat. He emptied the container then tucked it into his hidden pocket. All the other items he secured into scrolls. Better to leave his resting place as undisturbed as possible. He might need to come back if he couldn't find a way home.
Sasuke didn't waste much time. He found the little creek, refilled his water container, splashed water on his face, and made to change his clothes. How lucky was he that leaving the compound would have prepared him for a solo journey. He finished with his task quickly, wanting to make it into town while the sun was high in the sky. It would give him more time and a better understanding of what it was like.
Sword back in place, Sasuke left the forest on foot. With the little bit of scouting he did the previous night, he remembered the food place located in the center of town. He would start his investigation there. Perhaps he could get a meal and something cool to drink. Sasuke had several coins on him; this would also let him know what kind of currency the village used.
He walked to the edge of the forest line, then stopped.
The village was bustling. People of all kinds walked the streets, and some kind of carriages moved along the black pavement. He had never seen such things before, but it was certainly intriguing.
Sasuke did his best to blend in. Walked slow, kept his eyes forward, hands by his sides. People would still give him a wide berth. The closest anyone came was within five feet. Was it his sword? He didn't notice anyone else carrying a weapon. There had to be people with weapons, how else were they supposed to protect themselves?
Didn't matter. He could smell that cooking bread on the wind. His stomach cramped with the scent. It must have been longer than he thought since his last meal. Sometime before his little grapple with Orochimaru. Not long enough to be concerning, just long enough for his body to protest.
A flash of red caught his attention from across the street. He activated his sharingan and focused on the figure that was blasted into one of the taller buildings. His thoughts of food dissolved as he drew his sword and ran into the street. One of the carriages swerved and he jumped over another, as soon as his feet hit the pavement he summoned his lightening chakra, igniting his sword in crackling energy. Within seconds he was behind the man opposing the figure still hunched over.
The man who attacked was holding a diminutive grey device. Smoke arose from a small hole, where a red light seemed to be charging.
Sasuke tracked the man's movement with his eyes and struck the device with his sword, just missing the man's fingers.
His adversary turned and threw a punch. Sasuke brought his open palm up to counter. He used the momentum from the punch to throw the guy onto the ground.
More enemies emerged from the alley. Citizens started to take cover underneath the building with the word 'Pizza' on top.
The man who started the attack, lifted himself off of the ground and charged again. Sasuke swung his sword low and hacked off one of his legs. Sparks flew off of the injury, but he was still approaching.
Sasuke's eyes tracked his opponent's hand as he brought out another grey device and aimed it at Sasuke's head. The Uchiha hesitated, his eyes flicking around looking for a way to subdue his adversary without a fatal blow. In the end he decided to grip his sword tightly and slice through his neck. With the lightening still coursing through there was no resistance.
Relief spread through his system when he saw sparks instead of blood shooting out from the fatal wound. The thing collapsed as its head rolled past Sasuke's feet, still sparking. Sasuke took a quick breath and focused on his next target. He sent chakra to his feet and jumped into the air descending upon the victim. His sword slashed another head from shoulders, as he twisted to land on his feet. Head after head rolled across the pavement, but Sasuke was satisfied to see that each one was sparking. If it were up to him there would be no casualties.
He heard screams coming from across the street and saw more of the puppets rushing toward what looked like civilians. Sasuke slashed through another enemy and started making his way over to them. The middle of the street is where his forward progress was reduced. Just the mass amount of numbers was enough to slow him. At one point there was a kid offering Sasuke some support from behind. He didn't pay too much attention to him, but he did notice the kids skill with a staff. Not one enemy was able to get through the kids defense. Good thing, Sasuke was able to continue his forward assault.
His body moved through several of his blade dances, hacking and slashing anything that came too close. At one point, his sharingan detected some strange green creature ripping the enemy apart with teeth and claws. Sasuke had never seen such an animal, he would have to ask one of these people about it later.
They were still surrounded. Every head sliced from the owners shoulders, weren't enough to thin the numbers. Sasuke had to do something. He didn't want to risk using too much of his chakra, but he had to make it through to the other side of the street.
The kid using the staff was close enough to him so he would be protected from the jutsu Sasuke planned to use. The creature was directly in his range. He would have to buy some time in order to gain the type of control needed to be sure his new allies weren't caught up in his jutsu.
Sasuke severed his next victim in half, then grabbed a hold of the one behind it. He used it as a shield from the next blast then threw it to the ground. It bought him enough time to summon his charka, and form one hand sign. "Chidori stream!"
A high pitched bird chirp could be heard, as lightening coursed through Sasuke's body. It radiated outward making their enemies fall and twitch. He was careful to direct his chakra around his allies, his sharingan pin pointing his aim exactly. When his jutsu ended, there weren't many enemies remaining. He counted ten.
Sasuke moved to attack the rest as they sprinted toward the alleyways, but noticed three other teens already in pursuit. He directed his attention back onto the civilians that had taken shelter underneath the building's overhang.
The three women were already standing, and making their way down the street. They didn't seem to have any injuries so Sasuke let them leave.
There was an older man, with salt and pepper hair, having a difficult time making it onto his feet. Sasuke crouched down next to him and offered his shoulder for support. The man smiled and let Sasuke help him. He smelled of cologne, and his clothes were made of a fine material that Sasuke was unfamiliar with.
"Thank you young man, my wife would kill me if she found out I was stuck in between a battle of the Teen Titans and robots. Not that she would believe me! No it's better if I don't mention it at all." He paused to smooth out some wrinkles in his shirt. "There wasn't any lasting damage anyhow thanks to you. If it wasn't for you young people out here fighting the good fight, we would be forced to move back to Gotham. Can you believe that?" The laugh lines around his eyes crinkled as he chuckled. "Anyway good day, I better be off now."
The man grabbed Sasuke's hand and shook it. He smiled once more then turned and left.
Sasuke wasn't sure what to think of him. He was awful cheerful for being in the middle of a battle.
He was distracted from his own musings when the kid with the staff approached him. His clothing was quite colorful. Shirt was red with green sleeves, pants the same green color, his gloves also green, the cape had a yellow undertone while the rest was black. He wore a black and white mask that covered his eyes. Sasuke's eyes were sore just from looking at that outfit.
"Hi, I'm Robin, leader of the Teen Titans. Thanks for your help back there, those were some pretty sweet moves." He extended his hand out in greeting.
Sasuke decided it was worth his time to introduce himself. If these teens had such a reputation, then they might be able to help him in his own situation.
He let his sharingan fade, then took the offered hand. "My name is Sasuke Uchiha."
Robin smiled then waved the rest of his team mates over.
They all had strange outfits... much more colorful than any peacekeeper should wear. Sasuke supposed they dressed that way to put their citizens at ease. It reminded him of Naruto. His bright orange outfit misled most of his opponents into thinking he was a push over. They were all wrong of course. Sasuke had never encountered anyone as hard headed as that blond haired fool. It was almost fitting that he should meet a team of powerful teens who hid their strength behind this innocent facade.
The short green one held his attention the most. He was the one that had turned into the strange creature, and Sasuke would like to know more about that unique ability.
"Are there other creatures that you can morph into?" He asked the green one.
The green one's eyes widened, then he looked behind himself and back to Sasuke. "Are you talking to me?" His voice was raspy and high pitched.
"Yes, unless there is another here who can change themselves into animals."
The green one chuckled. "No I'm the only one. My name is Beast Boy, and I can change into any animal. Say, that lightening attack was awesome! How did you manage not to hit me or Robin?"
Sasuke wasn't sure just how much information he should give them about his abilities, so he decided to be vague. "I can control where it goes."
There was a woman in a dark blue cloak who spoke next. "Would you know anything about the dimensional rift located in that alley?" Her voice drawled, rolling off her tongue in a dark tone.
Dimensional rift? Was that what had almost crushed him? Sent him here?
"Is that something that could take me from my home, and place me somewhere I have never been before?"
All of the Titans froze. If a strong wind would blow by it would have knocked them all over they were so stiff.
Robin answered first. "Where are you from?"
"Not anywhere close to here I think. I've investigated this entire village and nothing looks familiar."
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He sounded legit. Robin believed Sasuke was telling the truth. He could see the confusion in the strangers eyes. If that was the case however, then he wasn't the one responsible for opening the rift. Robin would have to get this information back to the Justice League, find out if they had any leads.
"That's okay, would you like to come back to our place? I'm sure we can find something that can help you." Robin gestured with his hand toward Raven. "Raven here knows how to travel through dimensions, if we could get enough information she might be able to send you home."
Sasuke's eyes inspected them before he nodded. "Thank you, that is very generous."
With that Raven and Cyborg headed back to the alley.
Cyborg threw over his shoulder "It was nice to meet you!"
Sasuke just nodded.
Robin watched them disappear, before he focused his attention back onto Sasuke. "Right, so how about you accompany Beast Boy and Starfire to the tower? The rest of us will stay here to finish up."
"That sounds fine," he replied.
"Good," Robin paused then waved Beast Boy and Starfire over to them. "Beast Boy, Starfire, will you escort Mr. Uchiha back to the tower?"
Starfire clapped her hands and smiled. "That sounds like a wonderful idea!" She flew over to Sasuke and looped her arm in his. "Come new friend, I'll make sure to show you the proper earth traditions for sharing hospitality."
Robin could see Sasuke's shoulders tense just as soon as she touched him, but he allowed her to drag him away.
Beast Boy ran to catch up with them. "Hey Starfire! Wait for me!"
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The footage was grainy, but he was still able to witness his bots destroyed so quickly. Slade felt a rush just thinking about the kind of ability used to thwart his latest distraction.
Cinder Block was being held in a special location along with Overload, and Plasmas. He needed those three to complete the first stage of his plan. Now it looked like he would have to get a bit more creative. Perhaps it was time for him to meet this Sasuke Uchiha, and learn just where he stood in terms of morals. If he happened to lean more toward violence then Slade could use that to his advantage. He was in need of an apprentice after all.
More information would have to be gathered.
"Bring me the thief," he said to the dark room.
There was no reply but moments later a door squeaked open. The footsteps echoed throughout the area and it wasn't long before Slade saw the figure out of the corner of his eye.
He wore a white mask with a rather large X running through it, his clothes were black, and his cape was ragged.
"Are you finally willing to offer me the amount I asked for?" His voice was synthesized, but still held a sense of arrogance.
"Only if you can bring me the information I seek. This mission won't be easy, I'm afraid even with your unique skills you will be found."
"Please the Titans have a lot to be desired when it comes to security. Do you forget? I was the one who was able to break in and steal this lovely suit, it should be a breeze to do a bit of spying." He placed a hand on his hip and tilted his head back.
Slade was sure he had just rolled his eyes at him. It was no matter. Even if Red X were to be caught, Slade would still be able to find what was needed to complete the information he was gathering. It was of no concern to him that this fool might get interrogated by the Titians, for he had no Intel to share that could threaten Slade's operation. It was only a matter of time before his plans came to fruition, and Sasuke Uchiha could be the catalyst he had been looking for.
