Yo, here with another fic. I don't know a thing about writing reading fics so let me know if you feel I'm doing something wrong, alright?
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Wonder Woman tried to keep her eyes open as Batman went on about something and everything. Normally, she'd be more attentive but after a long day of dealing with the president and Cheetah, she just wanted to go home, have a bowl or two or six of ice cream and get a good night's rest.
But crime never slept and neither should the crime fighters, at least according to Batman who had called all the league's founding members to the watchtower at eleven thirty in the night. She was sure what he was telling them could wait until the next day but the man's sense of urgency wouldn't let him do the same.
Hera, the backrest of her seat felt so soft and comfortable now. Even the air conditioning made her feel more tired. If it wasn't for the droll voice grating at all her ear, she was sure she'd have dozed off already
"Hey, Diana." The Flash whispered next to her. "If Batman sees you dozing off like that, he's going to ask you to take over the debriefing from him."
"You say it like he hasn't already noticed." Diana sighed.
"Maybe, but it's best not to let him call you out on it. The man's not afraid to embarrass anyone."
"Of course he isn't. But I didn't answer the summons just to listen to him talk about his suspicions."
"To be fair, he wouldn't call us all if he wasn't sure it was for a good reason." Flash slightly lifted his hands off the table.
"Diana, Barry, please listen." Superman cut into their conversation. "This is important."
Green Lantern rolled his eyes. "It doesn't look like anyone's going to ask so I'm just going to say it. Do we really need to do this today? Now to be precise? It's eight"
"Yes, Green Lantern, we need to do this today." Batman responded tonelessly. "Your presence here isn't all that important so if you don't feel the need to be here, you're welcome to take your leave."
Green Lantern glared at the man. It was no secret that the two didn't get along. Before he could come up with a retort, Superman quickly cut in.
"What he means to say is that while this isn't exactly urgent, it's better we told you sooner than later."
Aquaman sighed and got up. "I did not leave my duties on Atlantis to listen to trivial matters. Let me know when there is something important to discuss."
Before Batman could respond, his communicator began to beep repeatedly. He brought out the device and looked at the screen.
"What is it, Canary?"
"Batman! If you're in the watchtower, tell everyone to get out now!"
The heroine's uncharacteristic panic was enough to put the whole group on high alert. Batman sent out an alert for evacuation almost immediately. "What happened?"
"Some kind of portal's been snatching everyone up! It just took Green Arrow and it's chasing me now! I don't know how long it'll take to find and get to you but you need to le-"
Batman scowled at the communicator as the line got cut off. It didn't take much to figure out that Black Canary had been caught up to as well. He looked at the remaining members of the league who were prepared to fight or flee. "We're going to Mount Justice now. Whatever it is that took the rest, we've got to find a way to stop it before it goes too far."
It was only The Flash who barely managed to see the inky blackness that emerged from underneath the floor and consumed everyone before Batman could even finish his sentence.
But before he could run away, his lower body disappeared into the blackness and he tipped into the portal. The last thing he was was what looked like other people falling as well before his vision went dark.
Uzumaki Naruto had learned early in life that there were situations in which all you could do was roll with whatever was happening and hope things turned out for the best. It was why even though he didn't believe in fate, he still followed the predetermined path set for him by a prophecy he still didn't believe in and saved the world.
It was also why he didn't fuss too much when he got swallowed up by a portal in River County on his way to Sunagakure and appeared in what looked like a giant room that seemed to have no confines yet somehow felt restricted enough for him to know it was a room and not some outer area.
Aside from the dark surroundings and dead silence, it was a nice place. There was breathable air, the temperature was nice, the seat he'd found himself on was comfortable and there didn't seem to be any threat of attack. Save for the isolation, there wasn't anything to be concerned about.
He was, however, very concerned when he saw a bunch of familiar faces get spat out.
"Gaara, you're here too." He waved at the redhead who gave him a worried look. Behind the man were Kakashi and Tsunade.
"Naruto? Where are we?" Gaara asked.
"Yeah, is this another one of your experiments with space-time?" Tsunade placed her hands on her hips angrily.
Naruto shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine. I was filling my water flask in River Country and next thing I know, I'm here. Tazuna's done with the plans for the aqueduct by the way."
Gaara smiled at him. "That's good news, Naruto. We can start the construction when we get back." He glanced at the distant space. "If we get back."
"What were you doing in River Country?" Tsunade asked him. "Didn't you say you were going on some pilgrimage to Demon Country?"
"Demon Country? He told you where he was going?" Kakashi's eyes widened.
"Naruto sighed. The truth would have come out anyways. "I did go to Demon Country, but the path of the broken branch is determined by the current of the stream."
"Don't think sagely quotes are going to get you out of this, Naruto." Tsunade glared at him. "You and I are going to have a long talk about the repercussions of lying to your superiors."
"We both know they don't really apply to me anymore. I saved the world. There's even a giant statue of me in Fang and Claw Country."
"As long as you're an active member of the corps, I'd say you still fall under the rules
"I've been trying to resign for months now but my letters keep getting 'misplaced'." Naruto gave the woman a knowing look that she didn't look away from.
"I don't know what you mean, Naruto. They could simply be getting mistaken for trash and taken out, that's what happens when you don't improve on your handwriting."
"My handwriting is perfectly legible and you know it. I'm a sage now, granny. I can't just stay in one place, I've got even more reasons to be out there than Pervy Sage."
"I think we best get back to trying to figure out where we are." Kakashi nodded. "From what it looks like, we're in a pocket dimension. I've been in something like this before."
"It's most likely a room." Naruto commented as he looked around.
Everyone looked at him, prompting him to shrug again. "It doesn't have that limitless feel to it, you can tell there are walls, meaning it's limited. A pocket dimension would just stretch on and on. This might just be a very large room."
"If you knew what it was before, why didn't you just say so?" Tsunade asked annoyedly.
"Because he doesn't know, Lady Tsunade." Gaara said. "Our main concern now is how to get out of here."
"I would try the kamui but, well…" Kakashi trailed off. It was in times like these he wished he got to keep the sharingan after the war.
"Don't talk about what you could do if you can't do it anymore." Tsunade scowled at him before turning to look at Naruto. "Any ideas on how to get out? Maybe a technique or a seal?"
"Nope." He shook his head. "Even if I knew the hiraishin, there are no active tags anywhere."
"What about that portal you've been working on?" Kakashi asked.
"I still haven't been able to write coordinates into the index and I don't know the whole seal off head."
"So we're stranded." Tsunade sighed.
"For now, perhaps." Gaara said. "It is safe to say that whatever took us did so for a purpose. It did not select us randomly, nor did it simply take everyone otherwise it would be the whole world here."
Naruto nodded. "Gaara's right. The best we can do right now is wait to find out what we're here for and hope we're able to get back when it's over."
"Hmm, it seems like we're not going to be the only ones here." Kakashi mused as he watched another group of strangely dressed people get spat out. He noted with a large amount of glee that a few of them were very attractive women.
One of them, a man in what looked like a bat themed suit of armour, noticed them and walked towards them with narrowed eyes. The ninjas tensed, prepared to fight if necessary.
"Who are you?" He asked them. Kakashi blinked. The man sounded like he had a sore throat. And he spoke a language that he didn't understand.
"Apparently, it's not just your dressing that's strange." Kakashi said. The man frowned and turned to look at his group who had followed him.
"Can you identify what language they're speaking? It's similar to Japanese but I don't recognize the vocabulary."
"The ring isn't picking anything either." Another man in a green suit that Kakashi noted looked way cooler than Gai's said. "Try to use sign language or get him to talk some more. If the ring can pick up a pattern, it'll help with the language."
The bat themed man nodded and turned back to him and spoke again, this time using sign language in tandem. "Who are you all? Are you the ones who brought us here?"
Kakashi nodded inwardly. While some of the man's words were understandable but the language still largely resembled gibberish, the sign language got the message across. Luckily, he was skilled in sign language too.
"It's considered impolite to ask for one's name without giving yours first." He responded and smiled at the man through his mask.
"Batman, the ring's picked something up." The man in green said. "I'll send it to you now. Try using the language through the translator, maybe they'll get it. I'll share it with you all."
The bat themed man nodded and Kakashi's hand subtly inched towards his weapon's pouch as the stranger suddenly reached into what looked like a belt concealed by his cape. His action didn't escape the notice of the remaining strangers who looked like they were ready to attack him as well.
He watched as the man brought out small devices and passed them around before attaching one to his…helmet? A few moments later, the man spoke again.
"Where are we?"
Kakashi blinked. He could understand him now. "I can understand you now."
"Answer the question."
"Awfully demanding, aren't you." Kakashi gave him an unimpressed look.
"You don't know the half of it." Another blond man clad in green muttered, getting a nudge in the side from another blond female.
"Your guess is as good as mine." Kakashi finally answered as he glanced at the rest of the strangers who were watching him closely. He couldn't blame them, for all they knew, he and the others could have been the ones to bring them here.
"We're in a room." Naruto spoke out, getting everyone's attention. "At least, I think we are."
"No shit, Sherlock." The man in the green suit said. Naruto noted with amazement how much power was packed into the glowing ring on his finger. "Where exactly are we? Like what world?"
"Hell if I know. We got here in the same manner as you." Naruto said. The man in green gave him a look that said he didn't believe him but didn't ask anything else.
The man in armour didn't have such reservations. "So you all just happened to be comfortable being in a place where you got forcefully transported to? That's quite convenient."
"Would you rather we all panicked?" Tsunade entered the conversation.
The man turned his gaze from Kakashi to her. Before he could respond, a man in blue tapped him on the shoulder.
"I'll take it from here, Batman." Superman said.
"We don't know who they are, Superman." Batman insisted. "For all we know, they could be the ones to bring us here."
"They look like they know as much as we do, Batman. And they also look willing to help us out. They've been nothing but cordial with us and I'd like to keep it that way."
Batman didn't respond but stepped away for Superman to approach them.
Superman smiled at the blond woman and brought his hand out for a shake while trying not to let his eyes go to her bust. "Hello, my name is Superman. If it's not too much trouble, I'd like to know your names as well."
Kakashi smiled at him. "Kakashi."
Tsunade nodded at him but didn't shake his hand. "Tsunade."
Gaara nodded as well. "Gaara."
Naruto smiled and shook his hand. "Naruto. Hey, pardon me if this comes off as rude but why do you wear your underwear outside?"
Superman's smile froze on his face. Ugh, this again. "Well, it's not exactly underwear. It's armour."
Naruto nodded. "Ah, nice. It's probably for the best if you wore it inside though, you know, give your enemies a nasty surprise when they go for your dick but end up hitting armour instead."
"I'll keep that in mind." Superman said. "And these are Green Arrow."
The blond archer waved at him.
"Black Canary."
The woman smirked. Naruto made sure not to stare at her for too long. With how close she was to the arrow guy, they wer probably dating.
"Batman."
Only the ninjas' trained eyes let them see the man's small nod.
"Green Lantern."
The man gave them a small wave.
"The Flash."
A man fully clad in red gave Naruto a peace sign that he returned. He was cool.
"Martian Manhunter."
A bald green alien with red eyes simply stared at him. "Your minds are well protected."
There was an awkward silence as the three ninjas tried to process what he said. It was Tsunade who spoke. "You tried to enter our minds?! No wonder I felt someone prodding at my skull."
"It's a thing with his race." Superman hastily jumped to his defence. "They all communicate telepathically, he's been doing it all his life and old habits die hard. I assure you he didn't do it out of malice."
"It's for the best that he doesn't try that again." Kakashi's smile wasn't as friendly as it had once been. "We don't take kindly to invasions of privacy of that degree."
"And why is that?" Batman asked.
"For the same reason you wouldn't want someone going around, seeing everything you know and watching all your memories." Gaara responded.
"I apologize." The man said. Naruto gave him a smile. To be honest, he almost hadn't noticed the man's attempts at entering his mind.
Had they been anyone other than Konoha nin who had been trained extensively to protect their minds from the likes of the yamanaka and Gaara who had to steel his own to avoid getting forced into sleep, they'd probably be open books in front of the alien.
"Right." Superman tried to get back on track. "And here's Wonder Woman."
'Oh wow.' Naruto thought, feeling his face burn. He'd seen lots of attractive women in his life but this Wonder Woman really lived up to her name. A muscular frame that didn't interfere with her curvature, eyes more blue than his own, lush, raven hair that made him want to run his fingers through them just to know how they felt.
The woman in question caught him staring and raised an eyebrow. Shit, shit, he couldn't have her thinking he was just some idiot without self control.
Tsunade memorized their names which were clearly aliases. But it made sense, they were still strangers.
Kakashi noticed his former student's predicament and coughed loudly. "Hey, Naruto. Do you think there's a chance of more people getting brought here?"
Naruto turned away from her. "Unless we're the only ones it meant to pick, no. We'll be seeing more people."
"You know what brought us here?" Batman asked.
"It was a portal, I'm sure you saw it as well." Naruto said. "The real question is why it brought us here."
"Do you know where it came from?"
"No, but considering how it's been bringing us, it's not a naturally occurring anomaly." Naruto folded his arms.
"I mean, portals aren't natural anyways." Flash spoke. Naruto gave him an odd look.
"They're not? I've seen some occur before my very eyes at sites of previous battles. But then, it's often in places where battles involving the use of space-time tecniques happened."
"That doesn't make them natural, Naruto."
"Portals are created with a destination in mind, Flash. If it's a seal,-"
"A seal? Like the animal?"
Naruto blinked. "There's an animal named a seal?"
"It's kind of obvious that we're from a different world, you two." Green Lantern rolled his eyes. "Of course things would be different."
Out of nowhere, a book dropped onto the floor, creating a noise loud enough to attract everyone's attention.
"Damn, I've heard gunshots quieter than that." Green Arrow muttered, rubbing his ear.
"Whoever made it appear obviously wanted to make sure we knew it was here." Black Canary said, rubbing his shoulder.
They all approached the book but made no move to pick it up as they examined its appearance with their eyes.
"Caterpillar?" Superman read the title. "We got sent here to read about caterpillars?"
"Someone must have skipped so many biology classes, it pissed off the universe." Flash joked. "That wouldn't happen to be you, Batman, would it?"
The man didn't respond. "How do we know there isn't a trap in the book?"
Kakashi rolled his eyes. "Unless you've got a means of disabling everything without touching the book, someone's going to have to open it and find out."
Naruto bent to pick the book just as Wonder Woman did. They both retracted for the other at the same time before Naruto picked the book. Shit, that was awkward.
"Sorry, I didn't think you'd want to take it as well."
Wonder Woman smiled slightly. "It's nice to see someone as brave as you are."
It was less of bravery and more of confidence that there wasn't any trap the book could be rigged with that he couldn't tank, but he smiled back. "Thanks, you're pretty gutsy yourself."
The group watched tensely as Naruto cautiously opened the book before rapidly flipping through the pages. When he reached the back, he flipped it all the way to the front again before slamming it shut and holding it by the covers then shaking it.
"I'd say it's safe." Naruto concluded.
"There might be a time delay on the explosives if there are any." Batman reasoned.
"On a book?" Naruto snorted.
"Don't rule anything out."
"Sure, sure." Naruto opened it again and picked out a note. "Huh, this wasn't here before."
"What does it say?" Tsunade asked.
Naruto started. "I've brought you all here to read about 'The Caterpillar.'"
"We're really -" Green Arrow got cut off again by another nudge.
"I'm sure you are all aware of the existence of multiple dimensions, some of which are relatively similar to yours, save for the fact that some events have different outcomes. This is one of such events."
"Does it say anything about who brought us here?" Flash asked only for a note to fall on his head. He took it and read it.
My identity does not concern you.
Of course.
Naruto resumed reading. "You will all be returned to your separate dimensions when this is over. Don't worry, there's no passage of time both in here, and in your worlds. I understand that you are curious as to who I am."
"...And?" Batman asked impatiently.
"There's no 'and', Batman. That's all." Naruto chuckled and handed him the note after turning it to the other side.
"I believe the sooner we get started, the better for all of us." Gaara said. "Let's get this over with so we can return to our respective lives."
Everyone gathered and Naruto sat in the center. He flipped the book to the first page and began to read.
Chapter 1: The preserver
Superman's face soured.
"I'm guessing you know who this is?" Kakashi asked the man.
"The Preserver goes around the universe collecting one of every rare and endangered species and race he can find. Be it a plant, animal or person. He locked me up in his ship for a while." Superman explained.
"Are humans rare or endangered where you're from?" Naruto asked.
"I'm not human, I'm a Kryptonian." Superman said.
The word didn't ring any bells for the trio.
"You look human to me, but I'm guessing it's an endangered race?" Naruto said.
"Yeah…endangered."
The man's sorrowful look discouraged Naruto from asking any more questions and he went back to reading.
" Hey! Monkey wants a nanna?" A very tall and buff, grey-skinned humanoid creature said mockingly while imitating a monkey. It was Lobo, one of the most infamous bounty hunters in the galaxy.
Green Lantern burst into laughter. "Lobo took you to the preserver? That's rich."
"What do you mean?" Tsunade asked.
"Lobo is the last of his kind. The Preserver won't let him leave the ship if he can help it." Green Lantern said, getting nods from the ninjas.
"I don't think he realizes his own situation." Gaara said quietly, getting a chuckle from everyone who heard.
"He'll find out soon enough." Green Arrow smirked.
"When I get out, I'm shoving that arrogant smirk right down your throat!" A human man said angrily from behind a glass wall. He was imprisoned in a room with glass for walls. It was none other than Superman.
A screen appeared to show everyone the scene. It beat the point of reading a book, but it only seemed to follow Naruto's words so there was that.
"That doesn't look like a ship at all" Kakashi observed. Either technology had improved to the point where ships could be built that large and have such peculiar designs or they were lying about it being a ship.
He was going for the latter. What kind of ships had glass prisons?
"It's not a boat kind of ship, it's a spaceship." The Flash clarified, getting blank looks from the four ninjas. "A vessel designed for the purpose of Interstellar travel."
"You'll have to simplify it further for us, Flash." Tsunade said.
"It's used to travel through space." Flash said. "Outer space, the blank area that exists outside your planet."
"Oh, we know that." Naruto snapped his fingers.
"Thank God. Out of curiosity, how advanced would you consider your world in the way of technology?" Flash continued.
"You can discuss that later." Batman spoke before gesturing towards Naruto. "Keep reading."
Naruto rolled his eyes. "It's not like it matters if we're fast or slow, there's no movement of time."
"He's not wrong, Naruto. Continue." Tsunade said.
Naruto shrugged.
However, unlike his name suggested, he was currently severely weakened due to the radiation of an artificial red sun shining in his cell.
"Red sun?" Gaara asked confusedly.
"Why would the sun make you weak?" Tsunade asked Superman.
"Not just any sun, a red sun." Superman clarified.
"There are different kinds of suns?" Naruto asked excitedly.
"Yes, there are red suns, yellow suns, blue suns, white suns…"
"Suns are just stars that planets orbit around." Green Lantern said. "They've got different colours as a result of differing cores, radiations and the likes. As a result, they all have different effects on the body."
"That's quite the textbook explanation." Black Canary snickered. "I'm guessing that's the ring's work?"
"Hey, I know lots of things myself." Green Lantern frowned at her.
"It would be best if we let Naruto keep reading." Martian Manhunter spoke out for the first time since his introduction.
Naruto made a mental note to meet Superman and Green Lantern after this was over before they left. He had to know everything!
"Ohh yeaaah! You know, I believe that Lois gal might be getting a tad lonely now that you're doing time in a cosmic petting zoo. Maybe I'll go back and cheer her up." Lobo said and rubbed his chin while laughing.
"I'll kill him if he tries." Superman clenched his fists as his eyes glowed red, getting the rest to look at him with a mix of curiosity and alarm.
"He's just baiting you, man. Chill out." Naruto pacified him. "I'm sure he wouldn't be saying that if you weren't behind the glass."
"Naruto is right, Superman." Wonder Woman said. "Besides, it's another universe. Nothing you do here will affect anything there."
Superman nodded and closed his eyes. When he opened them again, they were back to their blue colouration.
"That's neat." Naruto muttered. In spite of his relative distance to the man, he'd still felt the heat radiating from his eyes. Unless the man somehow learned how to gather his body heat and release it through his eyes, it was probably a Kryptonian thing.
"But of course, I do have to collect the bounty on this geek first," He said as he pointed at the rat-like creature he had on a leash. "Emperor Spooj got a bad temper on him."
Then, turning towards the levitating yellow creature behind him, he made a salute with his hand at his forehead and said.
"Adios, wrinkles. You want any more dorks snagged, you got my number."
The one in question, the Preserver, replied.
"Quite ugly, isn't he." Kakashi chuckled.
"Actually, there is one other being I need for my collection. The last Czarnian."
Green Lantern laughed. "Called it!"
"This Lobo is called a Czarnian?" Naruto asked.
"No, his race were called Czarnians. He's the last of them, as you can tell."
"Huh, that's kind of sad." Naruto thought. To be the last of his own, what a lonely existence.
Lobo laughed out loud.
"Haha! That's rich! I'm the last Czarnian!" Then as if it was a big secret, he told Superman. "I fragged the rest of the planet for my high school science project. I gave myself an A."
Maybe not so sad.
"He destroyed his own world?" Tsunade looked horrified as did the others who didn't know. "Why would he do that?"
"Nobody really knows." Superman said. "It's Lobo, the only way you can really understand how…chaotic he is is if you meet him yourself. Which I hope you don't."
"Yeah, he got arrested and executed for it too." Green Lantern said. "Come to think of it, how come he's still alive? His execution was made public."
Naruto stayed silent as his mind went back to the second part of the prophecy. He didn't really believe in it but was there a chance he could have done the same as Lobo? What had the man experienced on his world to push him to destroy it?
He looked at Gaara who placed his hand on his shoulder. The man didn't speak, but it was clear that he understood what was going on his mind. He gave him a half hearted smile.
Batman's eyes narrowed at the two. Had Naruto tried doing something similar before?
The Preserver said no more. With a wave of his hand, a glass cage fell from the ceiling on top of Lobo. Before he had the time to react, extremely potent sleeping gas poured from the floor. Lobo tried to resist and punched the glass walls but it was futile. He fell unconscious in a matter of seconds.
"That doesn't look survivable." Tsunade observed the cage. Unless there was air coming in through the top of the cage, Lobo was a dead man.
"Thanks for returning my uniform. Now how about my ship?" Superman said after he finished changing from Kryptonians' traditional attire into his Superman costume.
"Not a chance." Green Arrow chuckled.
"Impossible." The Preserver said. "For ages, I've preserved many rare creatures, even some from your adopted planet, Earth."
"Do you think those historical cases of missing people and alien appearances and abducted cows is because of the preserver?" Flash rubbed his chin.
"It's…a possibility." Green Lantern admitted.
The ninjas glanced at each other. Abducted cows?
"I'm not an animal to keep me stuck in a cage!" Superman said revolted.
"Normally, I don't take sentient beings. But you and Lobo are all that survived from your respective homeworlds. Same for this nine-tailed fox over here, named Kyuubi." the Preserver said and pointed towards the glass cage next to that of Superman.
"Kyuubi!"
The surprised cries from the ninjas caused the superheroes to jump.
They stared at Naruto in worry. For the kyuubi to have been taken, it would have to have either been ripped out of him or taken after his death, neither of which they liked.
"They said only the kyuubi survived in our world." Tsunade said shakily. "We're all dead. The world's destroyed."
Naruto stared at the book, feeling numb all over. For Kurama to be the only survivor, he had most likely been the one to destroy the world then, meaning he had found a way to break free.
Or he had been the one to release him.
Had the prophecy been real? Did he really destroy the world in this dimension, even if indirectly?
The superheroes stared at them, unsure of what to say. How did you comfort people who found out about their world being destroyed, especially when you couldn't relate?
"I…I don't really know what led to your world's end." Superman started slowly. "But I understand what you're going through. I'm also the last of my kind, at least one of them. My world's been destroyed too."
"But if it's any consolation, this is another dimension, not the future. Your world meeting this fate doesn't necessarily mean yours will too. But I think that's why you were to read this. So you could gain something."
"What could we possibly gain from knowing that we're dead?!" Tsunade snarled at him.
"He means that we have an opportunity to look at our own selves." Gaara said. "To look at what could lead to us meeting the same fate and trying to change it, make amends. Thankfully, there does not seem to be much need for that considering we are already trying to change."
Naruto nodded but didn't say anything. He needed to meditate.
Flash tapped Batman's shoulder. "Hey Bats, what's a kyuubi?"
"A nine tailed fox spirit from Japanese mythology." Batman said.
In it, a small crimson-red fox cub was chewing on a chunk of meat several times larger than it while its nine fluffy tails wagged lazily at its back.
"That's the kyuubi?" Wonder Woman asked. "It's rather cute."
Naruto snorted. If Kurama wasn't asleep, he was sure he would be roaring at being called cute.
Flash asked. "It looks harmless. Why were you all worried about it?"
"It doesn't matter." Kakashi said. "Let's get back to reading, shall we?"
Batman had a feeling that it did matter but didn't say anything. He'd try to find out later.
"These two have adjusted well to their new surroundings. I suggest you do the same."
After the Preserver floated away, Superman furrowed his brows as he witnessed Lobo getting gassed by the two robot girls attending to his needs when he tried to escape.
Wonder Woman made a disgusted sound. "The filthy lecher."
"You don't like him much, huh." Naruto chuckled.
"He tried to make advances at me the first time we met. They were as revolting as the word can get."
"Some people can be like that." Naruto's mind went back to one woman he'd met on his travels that he had to reject after she told him what she'd do to him. She was hot but sick in the head.
A chuckle came from the cage where the small fox cub was imprisoned.
"First time getting locked up?"
Unexpectedly, it was the very deep voice of a male. Even more unexpected it was that it was speaking in English.
"You people know English? Why didn't you say it to us?" Flash asked.
"Hmm?" Kakashi asked.
"Nevermind."
Superman looked at the talking fox dumbly, surprised not only at it speaking in English but also marvelling at how the huge chunk of raw meat was disappearing at a mind-boggling speed into the tiny being's jaws.
Naruto chuckled. Kurama had a centuries of experience with eating meat. The unfortunate criminals he occasionally let the tailed beast attack could bear witness to that.
After he was done eating, Kyuubi arched its back and stretched its small limbs. A cute yip escaped from his mouth as he yawned. Then, he jumped on the comfortable-looking circular bed and started to push against the mattress with his tiny paws not unlike a cat before he finally found the perfect place. After eating a chunk of meat ten times larger than his entire body weight, nothing was better than a sweet afternoon nap.
Wonder Woman smiled softly at the sight.
"Are you seriously content with staying locked up like this?!" Superman asked when he looked at the fox cub who seemed like he could not care less about their predicament.
"It's not like he has anywhere else to go." Naruto shrugged. "When there's nowhere to go and nothing to do, you just find yourself taking whatever life gives you until you can think of something better."
"Amen to that." Green Arrow said. He spent his first few months on the island living the day before deciding he'd established himself enough to start dedicating resources to try getting back to civilization."
Kyuubi opened his eyes lazily and said "And what would you have me do? The meat he brings is always laced with tranquillizing drugs. It saps all my strength."
"And he still eats it?" Superman asked.
The ninjas looked confused at that, Naruto, more than the rest. It wasn't like Kurama to willingly let himself get weakened.
Superman had an incredulous look on his face.
"Why would you keep on eating it if you knew it was drugged?!"
The fox cub let out another cute yawn before he said. "How can I turn down free food? Relax. Everything is going according to the plan."
"He's got a plan?" Green Lantern asked skeptically. "What's that, eat until he gets fully weakened and play possum in the hopes that the preserver tosses him out?"
"I don't know, but I have a feeling we'll find out if we let Naruto read. " Kakashi said. "Without interrupting him."
"Right." Green Lantern looked sheepish.
"What do-"
Superman did not finish his question because, at that moment, a powerful tremor shook the entire space ship. The Preserver's ship so was gigantic, one had to measure its size using miles. For such an enormous ship to shake that badly, it spoke volumes about how powerful the attack that had impacted it must have been.
Deafening alarms started to blare and numerous robots swarmed the corridors of the ship.
Kyuubi's large ears flicked as they captured a particular sound.
"Wind Style: Vacuum Wave!"
"Wait, that voice…" Kakashi said.
"Naruto!" Tsunade looked ecstatic. "You're alive!"
"Yeah, I'm here aren't I?" Naruto grinned at her.
"Not you," The former Kage slapped him on the back. "The other you."
"Do you think there's a chance that the rest of us survived too?" Gaara asked.
"Probably." Naruto said.
"If your world's gone but you two somehow survived, there's a chance you were involved in it's destruction." Batman pointed out.
That killed the mood. Gaara glared at the man.
Not only that the giant metal doors of the room were cut in half but the whip-like wind technique continued to fly and sliced all the robots on the corridor clean, from the middle.
"It's a lot more powerful than I remember it to be." Kakashi noted.
"I've never seen Naruto do something like this before." Tsunade said.
"Neither have I, the last person I saw using a technique like this was Danzo. And while the man could cut clean through rock and walls, I doubt he could create one powerful enough to go through metal of that density and keep going."
"I'm just surprised the other me even said the name of the tecnique." Naruto said. "I stopped doing that after the the Third Raikage called me out on it."
"I told you multiple times that it was stupid, Naruto." Kakashi sighed.
"Hmpf! Show off!" Kyuubi said snarkily. "Why do you even keep on saying the names of your jutsu, it's not like you need to anymore. And what took you so long?! I've been locked up for 2 days already!"
The newcomer's face was hidden behind an ANBU-style white fox mask, with red lines drawn on it but Kyuubi did not need to see his face to know that he was grinning widely from one ear to another.
"Keeping the culture alive, huh." Kakashi smiled at Naruto who looked amused by the mask. "Wonder how you got one though."
"His other self most likely joined the ANBU at one point in his life." Tsunade looked angry at the idea. The idea of Naruto joining the black ops branch of the military put a bitter taste in her mouth.
"What's the ANBU?" Black Canary asked. "It sounds like the military."
"It is." Kakashi nodded.
"I don't really see why you all look so against the idea then." Green Lantern said. "I can tell you're all military, even Naruto. It's in how you carry yourselves."
"Well, the ANBU is more like the black-ops part of the military." Naruto specified. "Basically the guys who do the dirty work."
"Oh."
"Yeah." It was probably for the best that Pervy Sage neglected to tell Tsunade about the assassinations he had him carry out during the three year trip.
'They're not military.' Batman thought. 'They carry themselves like fighters but they mask certain gestures and favour concealed weapons. They're assassins.'
"So how long have you been serving?" Green Lantern continued.
"Now that would be telling." Kakashi wagged his finger.
"They see me rollin' they hatin'."
"For real, for real." Naruto smiled. "Haters will hate."
"Potatoes will potate." Flash joined in and the two burst into laughter.
The others rolled their eyes.
"Maybe you should spend less time with Bee, don't you think?" Kakashi sighed.
"No." Naruto said before pointing at Flash. "Even if I did, I've got another 'bro' here."
"Man, I'm going to be bummed when we leave." Flash's smile dampened. "You seem like you'd be fun to hang out with."
"I'm already working on a portal." Naruto grinned. "Give me your coordinates and if I get it down, you'll be seeing me sooner than you think."
"Holy shit, you're working on a portal?" Flash looked amazed as did the rest. "That could revolutionise transport! No more ships, no more risky flights, just pass through a hole in the fabric of space and time and voila, you've arrived at your destination."
"I know right?!"
"Let's get back to this, please." Batman sighed.
"Oh, right." Naruto flipped to the next page.
Hearing Kyuubi starting to growl at him, the newcomer added. "Come on! What's cooler than bursting in to save the day, saying the badass name of a cool technique and kicking everyone's ass? Hahaha, you're just jealous."
Superman looked at the man and the fox arguing with each other in an alien language. He did not understand a word from what they were saying but apparently, the man was very talented in pissing off the little fox. However, as amusing as it was to watch the nine-tailed fox cub kicking up a fuss, there were other pressing matters at hand. He decided to interrupt them.
"That's rude, Superman." Naruto shook his head.
Superman smiled awkwardly. "Err, sorry."
"Hey, friend! Would you mind helping me get out of this cage?"
Naruto fiddled with the translating device installed at his belt for a moment before replying to Superman in a perfect English.
"Oh wow. What is a human doing all the way here?"
"Lobo attacked me and lured me in the range of this ship and the Preserver captured us both. But I'm not a human, I'm a Kryptonian."
Though Superman could not see his expression due to the mask he was wearing, he got the feeling that he was very surprised.
"It's pretty understandable." Green Arrow said. "You're as likely to find kryptonite in your backyard as you are to find a Kryptonian in space."
"True, they all just comes to earth." Green Lantern nodded. "Kryptonite isn't all that uncommon though."
"It is, Lantern." Superman clarified.
"Like hell it's not. A purse snatcher I stopped in metropolis last week had like five of them in his pocket, Maxwell Lord literally uses them as his chandelier, Lex Luthor has a new shard every week after you destroy the last one and some sex trafficker had a kryptonite collar for when he finally met Supergirl."
"...Wait what was that last one again?"
"Read, Naruto."
But that's not important right now." Superman said quickly "Please help me get out before the Preserver comes with reinforcements."
Naruto nodded and clenched his fist, about to punch the glass, when Kyuubi's annoyed voice came from behind.
"Hey, you asshole, free me up first!"
Naruto snorted.
"Come out yourself you lazy pig."
"That's true. He can free himself just fine."
Naruto frowned at the book. Give Kurama some love, damnit!
"He's a small fox that ate meat probably drugged enough to kill an elephant." Green Arrow said.
"You'll see. He's just being lazy." Naruto insisted. Honestly, laziness was Kurama's main enemy. Kurama wouldn't tackle a problem that would eventually disappear if he waited long enough.
A "tsk" came from the fox cub who then proceeded to increase in size until he was no smaller than a horse. His previously fluffy and cute nine tails were now much larger and apparently incredibly powerful given that the reinforced glass that had been caging him until then was smashed effortlessly with a mere swipe of one of his tails. But Kyuubi did not linger in that large size for a second longer than necessary and immediately turned back to his original appearance - that of a tiny fox cub.
None of the superheroes spoke. Even Superman was shocked quiet. He's struggled against that same glass and the 'harmless' animal had destroyed it as if it were no more than soggy paper.
"Well, that happened." Black Canary chuckled awkwardly.
"I'd like to meet this kyuubi one day." Wonder Woman said. "Respectably powerful and aesthetically pleasing. A wonderful pet to have."
"He wouldn't take kindly to being called a pet, but with me and you will." Naruto smiled at her. Flash looked at him in mild suprise. He'd said something similar th first day he met the woman too.
"You know where it is?" Wonder Woman asked.
"Something like that, yes." Naruto nodded.
A moment later, the glass imprisoning Superman was shattered with a punch from Naruto and Superman stepped out quickly, letting out a sigh of relief.
"Thank you!"
"It was nothing," Naruto said dismissively before turning his back at Superman and going back to Kyuubi. He scooped the small fox in his arms and then put him on his shoulder.
The fox then curled up into a ball of fluff and closed his eyes. It fell asleep. Strangely enough, no matter what kind of movements Naruto made, the little fox seemed like it was glued to his shoulder, not budging one bit even if Naruto were to bend down completely.
"That is odd." Superman said and turned to Naruto. "Do you know how it's doing that?"
"Yeah, it's a secret."
Naruto smiled under his mask and gently patted the small fox on his shoulder.
"Sleep tight, Kurama. I'll take care of these annoyances," he said and his hands began to form a series of hand-seals when another group of robots appeared at the end of the corridor. This time around, a vortex of razor-sharp wind shot from his mouth and shredded to bits everything in its way.
"Aren't you worried about collateral damage?" Superman asked him again. "Those attacks might hit innocents."
"Innocents?" Naruto blinked. "It's a kidnapper's ship."
"Filled with captured animals and people." Superman argued. "People who didn't have a choice to be there."
"It's the other me, man. Besides, I'm sure he found a way to free them already." Naruto said. If the other Naruto was like him, he'd have made clones to go around freeing as many as he could.
…
"Don't forget your promise, Lobo. You said that you'll leave me and everyone else on Earth alone."
"The Main Man's word is his bond, man," Lobo said.
"Like him or hate him, that much is true." Superman said.
Unlike his normally flippant and goofy attitude, the Czarnian appeared to be very serious. It seemed as though he truly lived by what he said - that he never went back on his words.
Naruto whistled impressed.
'He's a psychopath that murdered his entire race but he does have his good points too, eh?' he muttered to himself.
"Professionals have standards." Kakashi said. "Especially since he's a mercenary. The word of your mouth has to be trustworthy if you want to get business."
"How would you know he's a mercenary?" Green Lantern asked.
"He gave The Preserver his number and asked the man to call him for more jobs." Kakashi raised his eyebrow. "Were you not following?"
Not going back on one's word was something that Naruto could respect since he was exactly the same.
"A truly respectable trait." Wonder Woman agreed, smiling at Naruto.
Lobo came to him and extended his hand for a handshake.
"I owe you one. I'll pay back this favour anytime you need it."
And with that, he jumped on his space-bike and left the dry dock of the space ship.
"See you around, big guy," Naruto said and waved towards Superman as he turned around. "You better not stick around. This ship will self destruct any moment now."
Superman felt his stomach drop. "What?"
Speaking of the devil, just as he finished his words, a loud but clear robotic voice was heard through the entire ship of the Preserver.
"Initializing self-destructing sequence. Remaining time until the explosion of the ion engines and reactor: 5 minutes."
As he was leaving, Naruto felt a heavy hand pat him on the shoulder. Superman's angry voice came from behind.
"Why did you do that?!"
Naruto tilted his head in confusion.
"Do what?"
Superman was even more irritated at his reaction.
"All these creatures are now going to die! I could've saved them! I could've taken them to Earth!"
Naruto shrugged his shoulders.
Naruto frowned at the screen. It wasn't like him to just leave people to die without good reason, even if they were animals.
"I didn't know you were such a bleeding heart. They're just beasts, animals. Though it's unfortunate that they will die, it can't be helped. Would it have been better to leave this ship as it was and let in end in the wrong hands? Imagine if some space pirates took control over this ship after we left. They'd have enough firepower to raid an entire planet."
"In the end, leaving them behind is the lesser evil compared to risking the chances of the ship getting in the wrong hsnds." Kakashi sighed.
"We could have figured something out." Superman retorted.
"Like what?" Tsunade cut in. "You don't have a ship, Naruto's ship probably can't contain dozens if not hundreds of thousands of occupants and I highly doubt they can survive the conditions of space. Or would you run around aimlessly till you got lucky and found a way to stuff them all somewhere safe before the ship exploded?"
"He could have tried commandeering the ship to somewhere safe and dropped all the occupants off before destroying it." Batman reasoned.
"I'm very sure the other me would have done that if he could." Naruto said. "I'm not one for letting people die but when none of your available options are good, it's best to just go for the least bad one."
"The other me would have saved them if he could but he can't and he's chosen to do the next best thing. That's good enough for me. It's sad that hundreds are going to die, but it's better than letting the wrong people get their hands on something that can be used to make thousands suffer."
Nobody spoke after that and Naruto took it as his cue to continue.
Superman became silent. When he thought about things from that perspective he understood Naruto's point: it was much better for some animals to die than for such a large and technologically advanced ship to end up in the hands of a villain.
Superman sighed.
"You should get going. There are only three minutes left." Naruto said when he heard the robotic voice's countdown.
Then, turning around, he sprinted towards his own space ship. His shadow clones had already started the engines of the ship and opened the blast doors of the dry dock so all he had to do was to just jump in and close the ship's door behind him. While he was pulling the door of his space ship after him, Superman flew in with an urgent look on his face.
"You can fly!" Naruto gave the man an amazed look.
"I…yes, I can fly." Superman scratched the back of his head.
"I've always wanted to be able to fly." Naruto said.
"But you can fly." Kakashi pointed out.
"I want to be able to fly without looking like a flare."
"My ship was destroyed in the fight against the Preserver. I need your help to get out of here."
Naruto did not waste any time and let him in. A moment later, the ion thrusters propelled the spaceship to several miles away. Even then, it was still too close to the Preserver's ship.
"Is that...a boom tube?!" Superman said in surprise.
"What's a boom tube?" Naruto asked.
"It's a wormhole to cut travel time short." Green Lantern said. "An hour's journey can be cut to a few seconds with one."
"That's brilliant."
"Yeah, it is."
Something similar to a very small wormhole was opened in the space and Naruto's Shadow Clones drove the ship right into it.
"Not exactly. It's nowhere near as precise as a boom tube but I don't have a Mother Box. That stuff is very rare and hard to come by. This is more like a wormhole. But it's the latest warp technology from Almerac so it's pretty good. It gets the job done."
"Isn't that where that queen that tried to fight you came from?" Flash asked Superman who sighed.
"Queen?" Tsunade gave him a curious look.
"Her name was Maxima. Long story short, she challenged me to a fight in which I'd be able to marry her if I won."
"Huh, that sounds familiar." Kakashi looked at Naruto who looked away.
"It's happened to you too?" Superman asked the boy.
"I had less of a choice in it than you, but yeah it happened. She was hot and she's a genuinely wonderful person, but I could do without the marry me if you win, die if you lose thing."
Finally, someone who understood.
Naruto was lying in his chair bonelessly, with an expression of defeat on his face.
"There's nothing about our home here either."
Naruto frowned. "I thought it was destroyed. Why am I still searching for it then?"
"Perhaps you don't know it's gone." Gaara offered. "Or the preserver had simply simply assumed the kyuubi was the last of it's world because he wasn't able to find any other one like it."
Kyuubi, who was awake now, headbutted Naruto gently with his snout and wrapped his nine tails around his neck as to comfort him. The shadow of a smile appeared on his face but it was not visible due to the fox mask covering it.
Still, he brought his hand up to pet Kyuubi as a show of gratitude. They may love to argue with each other but, for the past 90 years, they had always been together, protecting each other's back. They were inseparable, best friends for life. A long sigh came out of his chest.
Naruto smiled softly. He could easily say he didn't have any friend as close to him as Kurama was and even though the tailed beast would never admit it, he felt the same.
"What are you looking for?" Superman asked curiously when he came into the control room of the ship and saw the sombre mood.
It was Kyuubi that replied to him:
"Our homeworld. That's why I even let myself get captured by that creep - for us to have a legitimate reason to raid his ship and access his database."
"So that was the plan." Green Lantern muttered.
It was not the first time the Preserver had tried to capture Kyuubi. Over the past 90 years, he had tried to do that several times but to no success. However, this time around, Naruto and Kyuubi made a plan for Kyuubi to let himself get captured so Naruto would raid his ship for information.
"Hey, it's exactly like the plan with Hozuki Castle." Naruto gave Tsunade and Kakashi a humorless smile.
"Naruto, we've already apologised." Kakashi sighed again.
"You tried to apologize by buying me one bowl of ramen. I've forgiven you but I'm never forgetting that shit."
"The Preserver is rather infamous in the Galaxy for his hobby - collecting all kinds of rare and endangered species to preserve, even going as far as to kill for it. So it makes sense that he has a great deal of information about the Universe's geography as a whole. There was a chance that maybe he knew something about our home world since he was so adamant about capturing me all these years."
Naruto scratched at his spiky blond hair.
"This is hopeless," he said with a defeated voice. "I've travelled through all the 3600 sectors of the known Universe in search for my homeworld. I've visited all the Stellar and Planetary Systems with humanoid creatures in them and all the planets inhabited by human-like beings."
"I hate to say it, but if you've gone to all 3600 and still haven't found anything about your world, it's either destroyed or it doesn't exist in that dimension." Green Lantern said.
" I've even gone to the Green Lantern Corps' headquarters, Oa, to ask for information. But nobody has ever heard anything about the Elemental Nations. This guy, the Preserver, was my last hope."
Even with his legendary stubbornness, after almost 100 years of fruitlessly scouring the Universe for a way back home, Naruto was at the end of his wits. Finally, he realized the futility of it all. He did not even have the energy to get angry anymore.
"I'm just...tired."
A poignant silence followed.
Superman gave the blond man a sympathetic look. While he hadn't gone searching around the universe, he had once possessed a single minded determination to go to Krypton's remains and see if he could find any survivors even if it was unlikely.
Naruto couldn't help feeling sorry for his other self. He didn't know what he'd do with himself if he got separated from everyone he knew permanently.
"It won't be the same with you, Naruto." Gaara assured. "We're here, we still are."
"Yeah, thanks." He nodded. "Thanks a lot."
"I'm sorry to hear that. I know how it feels to be the last of your kind." Superman said quietly. "But you can't give up on living. Though some things were lost, you can gain others in the future. My parents and my homeworld perished, but I found a new family and new friends on Earth. Now, I have one purpose: to protect my adopted home. To protect it so the Earth won't die like Krypton."
Naruto's appreciation for Superman went up a notch when he heard his words. He became silent in contemplation.
"You are more than welcome to join us. You wouldn't be the first nor the last alien to have found a home on Earth." Superman offered.
"Wonderful sales pitch." Naruto chuckled. "But I doubt that's going to be enough to get me to go to Earth."
The blond couldn't suppress a snort.
"Your purpose and feelings are admirable but of all the places in this galaxy, why would I choose Earth? Haha!"
"Hey, what do you mean, what's so bad about my planet?!"
Naruto's fingers danced on the keyboard of the supercomputer of the control room and, after a few moments, a datasheet appeared on the large screen.
"As I said, during the plus 90 years that I've travelled the Universe, I visited all the planets with human-like beings. I've visited the Earth too, about 60 years ago. What's wrong with your planet? I don't know about the current situation but when I went there, there was a freaking world war."
"Your technology was one of the most backwater I've ever seen at a sentient species in the entire Universe and it went the same for the general population's mentality too. Dictatorships focused on suppressing the population, genocides, racism, and like half of the population was struggling to find something to eat from one week to another. And that's just data that I collected in a matter of days. Why would anyone willingly come to such a place?"
Naruto whistled. "Man, your world's messed up."
The superheroes shifted awkwardly. They were familiar with Earth's problems but it didn't mean they liked getting it rubbed in their faces.
"We're…a work in progress." Green Arrow said finally.
Superman dressed his voice awkwardly.
"There were, indeed, many issues in the past. Some of them still exist, I will not lie, but we have come a long way since then. Your information is quite outdated. Our technology exploded over the past few decades to the point where we are able to travel in space. Racism has been abolished in most parts of the world and there are very few dictatorships left. We have a saying on Earth - don't diss it till you try it. Maybe it won't be as bad as you think it is."
"When people say it like that, it usually means the world's still fucked. Just not as much as it used to be." Naruto shook his head. "It looks like I've got a good thing going in space, I'm not going to stop and go to Earth then end up dealing with the stuff that goes on there."
He looked at the superheroes. "I don't mean offense by that."
"It's fine." Flash said. "We're working to change things for the better."
"That's nice. That's very nice."
Naruto shrugged his shoulders, not very interested.
"Well, I'll have to take you to Earth anyway so we'll see then."
Naruto started typing again on the keyboard and an extremely large and detailed interstellar map appeared on the large screen. It was a map of the Milky Way Galaxy. After typing 'Earth' in a search bar, the map was zoomed in greatly, to the point where the map of the Solar System became clear.
Then, he took the coordinates of the Solar System and proceeded to start activating a new wormhole. Unlike Boom Tubes that were so precise that they could open anywhere regardless, the warp system of Almerac's spaceships could only narrow it down to Planetary Systems.
"I need to tell the guardians to try getting closer with Almerac." Green Lantern stared at the screen.
"Out of curiosity, can you open a wormhole to Rao System? Krypton's homeworld?"
Naruto turned his eyes from the control panel and looked at Superman's face searchingly. He made a humming noise as he thought.
"Hm, I do have enough fuel to go to Krypton and then to Earth... but I won't have enough to leave the Earth after that."
"You can refuel on Earth, on our Watchtower." Superman said. "As I told you, we are capable of space travel nowadays. Me flying all the way here from Earth is proof of that."
"You guys can really travel to outer space on your own?" Naruto asked.
"Well, yeah, Superman just said he did it." Green Lantern responded.
"But he's not human. It could be a kryptonian vehicle or something like that."
"We can, Naruto." Green Arrow said. "I haven't gone out myself, but most of us have."
"Nice, nice. You know, the last time I did, it was to fight a genocidal alien."
"... considering the stuff we've done too, I actually believe you." Black Canary said. She'd seen more absurd stuff than that.
There was no reason for Naruto to actually listen to Superman's wishes - after all, he had already helped him more than enough by freeing him from the Preserver's cage and also giving him a ride back home - but, for some reason, he felt a peculiar feeling of kinship with him.
'Nagato really knew what he was talking about.'
Naruto nodded. He really did.
The older Naruto got, the more he agreed with Uzumaki Nagato's beliefs: that people truly empathised and understood each other only after they felt the same pain. It was the same in this case. Although he had nothing to gain from it, Naruto decided to do Superman this favour because he felt that they were the same - the last of their kind.
Turning his attention back to the control panel of the ship, the interstellar map zoomed out and then he wrote 'Krypton' in the search bar. Then, the map of the Rao System appeared on the screen. After typing in a few more commands, the space started to crack and a wormhole appeared a short distance in front of the ship. Destination: Rao System, Krypton.
After the last sentence, the screen disappeared.
"That's the end. What's on Krypton anyways?" Naruto asked Superman. "I thought everyone was dead."
Superman rubbed his chin. "Well I found my cousin there. She's doing quite well now too."
"I wish I could meet her." Naruto said, getting a suspicious look from the Kryptonian. "Do you all look the same?"
"No, we look different. In fact, you wouldn't believe we were related at all if you saw her."
"Hmm." After a moment's silence, Naruto gave the man the book. "You're reading the next chapter. I've got to talk with Flash and the lantern guy."
"And Wonder Woman too?" Kakashi joined in and asked quietly. Naruto gave him a mortified look. "I saw how you looked at her. I'm happy, really. You're actually interested in females, they just happened to be older women. You're a man of culture."
Superman didn't say anything. He had no idea how much older she was.
"I've always been interested in females, damnit. I've just had more things to do than go dating everyone I saw."
He moved away from the arguing duo to Wonder Woman who was staring at the blond. "Something wrong, Diana?"
"No, I'm just waiting to talk with Naruto." She said.
"Oh, okay then." He walked away. Maybe he'd give them a bit of time to talk before moving on to the second chapter.