Come Nerevar, friend or traitor, come. Come and gaze upon a few anecdotes that you may or may not find interesting. If you skip them, I may be upset with you, but in the end, I have nothing but a gut feeling to rely upon. I welcome you! Welcome, moon and star! Together, we will speak for the law and land and enter the story where we will drive the mongrel dogs of the empire out of fanfiction.
Flipp Dinero's 'Leave me alone' is heat. Thank you, Aizen. I downloaded it and now, it's on repeat on my phone.
I also just found out about a data plan that lets me buy 10GB worth of data for only 1000 naira! The only real catch is that it only lasts for an hour meaning if I can't exhaust it in time, my money's gone down the drain but it's a risk worth taking. With 2k, I can buy 20gb in a row where the normal cost for the same amount is 5k.
Anyways, join AizenTheGoat's discord server. It's got lots of skilled writers like Skairipa, Helghy, TheChamp123, DRAGONFromHeaven and lots more. If you're interested in starting a story but want ideas, you're looking for help with a story you're working on or just motivation, you're searching for a beta reader or you just want to hang out with writers and readers, feel free to join.
Normally, I'd add everything in between but you wouldn't see this link if you don't read fanfiction so it's safe to assume you're either or both of the two.
Anyways, the code's: cswtVb6mzE
I take commissions now too so PM me if you'd like a story written. To know more, you can check my bio.
Okay, let's get to it.
"Well…that was something."
Tsunade raised an eyebrow at the silver haired man. "That's all you have to say?"
Kakashi shrugged. "What am I supposed to say, I can't believe she's a demigod? It's been somewhat hinted at already."
"Yes, but not in that manner. " Tsunade glanced at Diana who hadn't left Naruto's side yet. If they were talking, they were doing so too quietly for her to hear.
"I'll admit, I didn't see that coming either." Kakashi admitted. "But if there's anything I'm glad about now, it's that if we have gods, they've distanced themselves from us."
Tsunade snorted. "Why? I don't think any goddess would ignore other men to pursue one who reads porn in public."
"You might find it hard to believe, Lady Tsunade, but I'm a very handsome man underneath this mask." Kakashi smiled. "In fact, I keep it on at all times to keep people from falling hopelessly in love with me."
"You're right, I find that very hard to believe." Tsunade said. "Take it off, let me see for myself."
Kakashi shook his head. "I won't because I care about your sanity. Besides, I can't take it off here, maybe in a more secluded place."
"You know, if I didn't hear the beginning, I'd take what you just said the wrong way." Kara said as she casually floated above their heads.
Kakashi could see why Diana found the girl's habit of barging into conversations annoying. "Are you that bored that you decided to come to us?"
"Hey it's not that, you're interesting people." Kara smiled down at them. When Kakashi didn't budge, she sighed and floated down. "Yeah, I just want to know more about your world."
"Interested in coming over, are you?" Kakashi raised an eyebrow.
"Let's go with that." She said. The comics said a lot about their world, but there were a lot of things that still went unsaid and Naruto only knew so much.
Plus, it'd give her more points to lord over Barbara with.
"I doubt Naruto's told you everything that isn't confidential." Tsunade shrugged. "You're better off asking Gaara if you want to know about more places than Konoha."
Kara glanced at the redhead who busied himself by making small talk with J'onn. To call it 'small' was an overstatement considering the two exchanged questions with even shorter replies. "I think I'm good for now…well, Naruto's free now. I'll leave you two to it."
Kakashi and Tsunade watched her awkwardly float away before the former cleared his throat. "Well, she's gone now. Now about my mask…"
…
"Hey, Naruto?"
"Hm?"
"Is she alright?" Kara pointed at Diana who hadn't moved from where she was. "I get that the last chapter was heavy, but that's a bit much, don't you think?"
Naruto sighed. "She spent millennia thinking she was made of clay only to find out from a book that she only exists because a horny god decided to disguise as her mother's boyfriend and sleep with her."
"Yeah, I'd probably be in a slump too after that." Kara grimaced.
"Yeah."
"I know this is coming out of left field, but you've been to prison, right?" Kara asked.
"Where did you hear that?" Naruto frowned. He was sure she hadn't arrived at the time he said that.
"Barry and Oliver told me." She lied. "And you looked really put off by Starfire's situation. It's the look you only get when you can relate, you know."
"I…see." Naruto said slowly. Either Kara was a lot better at reading him than he'd given her credit for, or that was a telltale he didn't know he had. "So why'd you ask?"
"What's it like there? Is it as dangerous as people say it is? Like don't drop the soap or you'll get raped and you could get stabbed just because someone feels like it?"
Naruto snorted amusedly as his mind traveled back to his time in Hozuki castle. "It was…bad. The food was shit, you had to watch your back all the time, the guards were sadists who tortured prisoners whenever they could get away with it and there were days where things got really bad."
Something told her he wasn't telling her everything. "So people got into jail fights a lot? Like those ones where you went around shanking everyone you saw?"
"Not as much as you think." Naruto chuckled. "But then again, there are different types of fights, at least when I was there. There were the don't-fuck-with-me fights. It's public, loud, showy. You use someone as an example and drag it out so people know what you can do. It's just to give yourself a reputation of sorts, you know, not because you have anything against your opponent."
He noticed a few other people listening to him, but continued anyway. "And then, there's the real fights. The personal ones that happen hidden prying eyes. The private ones where you fight with every intent to kill. They're brutal, they always end in a few seconds and nobody knows about it until the body gets brought out. You never get into those without a reason worth dying for."
Kara licked her suddenly dry lips. "Oh. So, uh, did you…get into any of those?"
"That's not something you ask, Kara."
"Oh, I'm sorry."
"It's fine." Naruto said. "I spent a lot of time in solitary, and when I didn't, few people actually confronted me."
"Why? Did your reputation precede you or something?" Kara asked.
"No, I tried to fight the warden on my first and second day and barely a month later, I broke out of the 'inescapable' prison."
"Oh, aren't you a Scofield?" Kara teased.
"What? What are you talking about?" Naruto squinted. "Is that another television reference?"
"Yeah, Scofield planned to break out of his prison. Pulled it off too."
"More like I jumped off to my potential death and I got rescued." Naruto corrected her.
"Really? Some guy was just staying outside the prison? What was he doing?"
" She was a prisoner too, just really good at sneaking around 'cause she went pretty much everywhere she felt like."
"Another lady, huh. You two sound very close." Kara muttered. She knew Ryuuzetsu was dead, and Blood Prison was apparently canon, but now that she got to meet him herself, she realized that he did know too many women for her liking.
Naruto smiled a tad bitterly. "We never got the chance to get 'very close', but I wish we did. Gods do I wish we did."
Kara frowned. How many things were different in his world? "Did…did you love her?"
Awfully forward, wasn't she, Naruto thought. "Are you asking out of jealousy or to satisfy your curiosity?"
"Uh…"
Naruto shook his head. "It depends, really. What exactly would you call love? What's the difference between love and camaraderie and at what point does the second become the first? Does it even matter? She had my back and I had hers. I trusted her with my life just as much as I'd have sacrificed it for her just as she trusted me with hers. Was that love? Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't. Eitherway, I was content with what we had."
"But I suppose it doesn't matter considering she's dead now." Naruto's tone turned morose as he remembered how her death had reduced him to a mess for a spell.
It stung him even more because her death felt like it could have been avoided completely. She'd neither been afraid of Satori nor had any intent on killing it, the only reason he got her at all was because she'd tried to save him and whatever chance she had of surviving the demon's claw was forfeit when she chose to revive him.
They hadn't known each other for a long time, but she'd done more for him in months than most had his entire life and he'd readily give up anything to have her back.
Focus on the living, Kurama had told him. The tailed beast had claimed the dead had no business dwelling anywhere other than his memories and even if he knew it was the truth, it was easier said than done. In spite of himself, he couldn't help thinking about what could have been.
Kara mentally slapped herself. "I'd have loved to meet her, she seems like someone I'd have gotten along with."
Naruto let out a small laugh. "You probably wouldn't, she wasn't easily amused and it took a lot to get her to open up."
I'd have found a way." She insisted.
"If you say so." Naruto nodded amusedly. Kara found it more than a little concerning how easily he went from looking like he'd cry to being all smiles again. He stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Anyway, we should probably get to the next chapter."
Kara frowned, but nodded. She knew when she'd dredged up memories best left untouched. "We should, but if you want someone to…share, you know, baggage with, I'm here. At least for the time being."
Naruto smiled at her gratefully. "Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. Now let's get back to Diana. I'm sure she'll appreciate company even if she says otherwise."
Kara smiled back. Things had gotten a little too deep for her and she just hoped the coming chapter would have something like mindless action, anything except for another sad chapter that would turn Naruto or Diana sober again.
…
Nobody had words to exchange so everyone took their seats in silence and Clark tried to open the book, but it refused to budge. The man frowned and tried to pry it open with more strength, but to no avail.
"Something wrong, Clark?" Oliver asked, noticing how much the man was straining.
"The book won't open." Clark grunted.
"What do you mean? We're ten chapters in and nobody's had an issue before." Oliver asked.
"Yes, but now we do." Clark glared at the book. "Here, you try it." He gave the book to the archer who tried to open it, but was met with the same result.
"It's like someone closed the pages together with gorilla glue." Oliver tried to slip his fingers in between the pages and hissed in pain as a sharp pain traveled up his fingertip. "And it almost crushed my finger. Fucking great. You want a go at this, babe?"
"If Clark couldn't open it, I don't have much of a chance." Dinah refused.
"Bats, think fast!" He tossed the book at Batman who caught it with a hand.
Batman hummed in thought as the eyes on his cowl glowed blue. "There's nothing wrong with it."
"So it just decided it doesn't want anyone opening it anymore? What, is there a cooldown period for each chapter or something?" Barry asked.
"We are starting a new chapter a lot earlier than we usually do." Hal mused.
Kakashi rubbed his chin. "I have a theory."
Everyone looked at him expectantly. "I'm sure you've all see how the book flies to a different person after every chapter and I'm certain all of us have read at least one chapter by now."
"So what, we have to wait for it to choose a new reader? If you haven't noticed, this is all of us." Hal said.
"Not for long." Batman said. "If Hatake's theory is right, then someone else or more people are going to be arriving soon."
"It makes more sense than the cooldown period thing." Barry shrugged and slouched in his seat. "So, what now?"
"Now, we wait." Batman said. The group spent the next few minutes in silence before a faint sound bearing a likeness to shifting sand crept into the space, becoming louder with each passing second. Everyone tensed as a large hole appeared above them and dropped three people. The three ninja's eyes widened at the sight of the three newcomers.
"What the hell…" Naruto trailed off, dumbstruck.
"Uhh, does anyone know what sucked us in? I feel like I took a dive in oil." A masculine voice groaned, obviously nauseous from his impromptu journey.
"Another portal. It's always a portal." Another one, this time belonging to a female, said irritably. "And get the hell off me, Kiba. Your coat stinks!"
"It's not my fault that I couldn't change clothes before coming here, Sakura!" The now named Kiba untangled himself from the female, revealing pink hair.
The last one, another male with dark coloured hair covering an eye looked around before he saw Naruto. "Naruto? You're here too?"
"Wait, Naruto?! Where is he?!" Sakura haired girl shot to her feet. "Wait, Sasuke?"
"Sasuke's here?" Kiba, who'd gotten over his nausea, glared at the uchiha in question. "Where the hell did you take us, you bastard?!"
"Will you two stop and look around you?" Sasuke glared at the two before looking back at Naruto who returned his stare stoically. "Where are we, Naruto?"
"W-"
"Naruto? Where the hell have you been, man? It's like you just up and disappeared from Konoha in the middle of the night." Kiba accused the blond. "And who the hell are these people?!" He pointed at the superheroes.
"Lady Tsunade? Kakashi? Gaara?" Sakura stared at her two former teachers in shock. How had they gotten here?
"Hello." Kakashi waved at her casually.
"It's me." Oliver couldn't help himself.
"I was wondering if after all these y-"
"Now's not the time, you two." Clark cut the speedster short.
"When did you all get here?" Sakura asked.
"Give or take a few days maybe." Kakashi shrugged. The passage of time hadn't taken it's toll on him, but it felt like he'd been here for three days at least.
"That's not possible, your disappearances would have caused an uproar." Sakura frowned.
"Apparently, time doesn't flow here so as far as the outside world is concerned, we're not missing." Gaara said.
"What?" Sasuke asked.
"I think everyone outsider's still stuck in the same instant we were taken from or something, I don't know how to explain it. Ask Naruto." Tsunade pointed at the blond.
Sakura sucked in her teeth. "Maybe later."
"Ask the others then."
"About the others," Kiba turned to the only strangers in the room. "Who are you guys? Are they the ones who brought us all here?"
"No they're not, Kiba." Kakashi said. "They're in the same situation as us. In fact, they got here after we did."
"It could be a ploy." Sasuke said.
"It's not, Sasuke." Kakashi replied coolly. "Please don't try anything with them, they're perfectly capable of defending themselves."
Sasuke found it a little hard to believe, but he'd learned not to underestimate anyone regardless of how outlandishly they dressed.
Clark walked over to them, feeling a sense of deja vu as he plastered a friendly smile on his face. "Rest assured, we're in the same situation with you just as Kakashi said. I think an introduction is in order, don't you agree?"
Sakura felt blood rush to her face as she and the kryptonian made eye contact. She loved Sasuke, but why did the man have to be so damn handsome?! "W-well, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt for now. I'm sure you've learnt our names already."
"Yes, I have." Clark nodded. "I'm Clark Kent and these are Barry, Kara, Oliver, Dinah, Diana, J'onn, Hal and Batman." He pointed at each member of the league who nodded at them as their names were mentioned.
"Wait, your name's Batman?" Kiba asked disbelievingly. "What kind of name is that?"
"Don't be insensitive, Kiba." Sakura reprimanded him, but she had to admit that it was an unfortunate name.
"It's not really his name, it's an alias. He'll share it with you if he comes to trust you enough." Clark smiled apologetically.
"Has he trusted anyone enough yet?" Sasuke asked.
"As much as I like being here already," Kiba said, taking his eyes off the women. "What are we here for?"
"You're not going to believe it." Kakashi chuckled.
"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked.
"We're reading the events of another universe." Barry said.
"Another universe?" Sakura parroted the man. "Is that supposed to be a joke?"
"You've been sent to other dimensions, Sakura. Is the idea of other universes still implausible to you?" Sasuke asked her.
"No it's not, but you don't seriously believe that, Sasuke." Sakura stuttered.
"Their attire and names should at least provide reason for you to have an open mind, Sakura." Kakashi said. "They're not from our world either."
"Even if it's true, why the hell should we care what happens in another universe?" Kiba snorted. "We've still got our own shit we're dealing with."
"Because Naruto's there too." Clark pointed at Naruto.
Kiba's eyes widened. "How the hell is he there? He's here with us now."
"There's different versions of us, Kiba. Just as we're here, there are other versions of us existing in other dimensions at the same time." Naruto explained.
"So we're all there too?" He asked.
"No, I'm the only one there. Well, the only one from my world. I'm in their universe." Naruto gestured towards the superheroes. "Not theirs exactly, but one of their own alternate universes."
"So we weren't just taken from our world, we were snatched out of our own reality entirely." Sasuke frowned as he looked around. He'd tried opening a portal as soon as he arrived, but none of his ocular abilities worked.
"Maybe?" Hal shrugged. "None of us
know where this place is. For all we know, it could just be a pocket dimension or a solid, yet invisible part of an unknown universe."
"It's for the best if you try not to think of it too much." Kakashi said. "Take a seat, we're supposed to have started the next chapter anyway."
The three complied and took their seats to prepare for the next chapter.
"Lady Tsunade, why's Naruto staying with those two?" Sakura whispered to Tsunade, pointing at the boy sandwiched by the kryptonian and the amazon.
"They've hit it off well since we got here." Tsunade said. "You couldn't get either of them to break that formation now."
"I see…" Sakura muttered, not sure how to feel.
Tsunade looked at her student questioningly. "What's with that response, are you jealous or something?"
"No, of course not. It's just…I don't think it's a good idea to get so close with strangers so fast."
"Right…" Tsunade said, obviously not believing her. "Why don't you go tell him that, hmm?"
"You know I can't, Lady Tsunade." Sakura frowned at her.
"You two still haven't talked after that Hinata matter?" Tsunade shook her head.
"Not for lack of trying. It feels like he's avoiding me."
"You did say some unnecessarily harsh things to him." Tsunade shrugged. "Now's as good a time as any to patch it up, I have a feeling he's not going to stick around to listen to anything you have to say if he can help it."
Sakura nodded and as she was about to talk, the book flew out of Clark's grip to drop onto Sasuke's hands. "What the hell?!"
"It's been doing that for a while now." Kakashi said. "The book chooses it's reader for each chapter. Don't worry, it probably won't come to you after this one…probably."
"A book that chooses it's reader." Sasuke muttered slowly.
"What kind of shit have we gotten into now?" Kiba sighed.
The uchiha cautiously opened the book. "What chapter are we continuing from?"
"It should be the eleventh chapter." Barry said.
Sasuke looked down at the book. "Odd, that's exactly where I am."
"Trippy, huh?" Kara remarked.
"Trippy?" Sakura asked. She couldn't remember Sasuke tripping on anything since they appeared.
"It's a slang, don't worry about it." Kara sighed. What exactly did they do in their world other than fight if they didn't even have slangs?
The boy gave her a strange look, but didn't respond. The screen came down as he began to read.
…
Chapter 11 - Rejection
The word immense did not do it justice. As he looked at the endless expanse of darkness ahead of him, he could not find a word in his vocabulary to describe its size. In truth, it was way, way larger than dozens of planetary systems put together, a darkness blacker than the darkest black. His eyes would have not been able to perceive its existence in the first place if it had not been for the accretion disks glowing at its edge.
"W-What is this?"
"I agree, what the hell is that?" Sakura asked, worried for Naruto.
"I don't know, i-"
"It's a black hole." Hal cut Kakashi off grimly. "A singularity in the fabric of space that exerts a gravitational force so great, nothing that gets sucked in comes out. Stars, planets, ships, nothing. Not even light."
The ninja's eyes widened, Naruto's especially. The closest thing to what Hal had described was Nagato's chibaku tensei and even getting trapped in that had hurt like a bitch.
"And that's what he found himself in?!" Tsunade half yelled.
"Apparently so." Barry asked.
"I can't believe he wound up in a black hole. The guardians have researched them as best as they can, but they've never found anything to suggest it can distort time to such a degree." Hal said.
"This is some Interstellar level shit right here." Oliver said. "Have they tried dropping a probe or something?"
"Nothing that goes in comes out, Hal. It traps everything. Radio waves, light, radiation, communication signals…chances are everything they send in gets crushed in an instant, we can't tell." Hal said slowly.
"They obviously don't seeing as how Naruto doesn't look like a steamrolled can yet." Barry pointed at the screen.
"Don't joke about that, Barry." A frowning Kara muttered.
"No, I'm serious about 'yet', Kara." Barry said. "The black hole isn't the singularity in itself, it's the effect of the singularity and in a black hole, everything's drawn towards the singularity at the very center where they're crushed. If he doesn't get out in time, he'll be crushed."
"What a wonderful way to start a new chapter." The kryptonian was getting a little fed up with the way things were going.
Two chapters ago, it was Naruto collapsing after carrying out a massacre, the last it was Diana finding out about her unpleasant origin and now, it was Naruto in another near death situation.
"It can't be helped if things aren't always exciting or happy." Diana said solemnly.
"This is the discovery of a lifetime." Hal's ring glowed green as he recorded the proceedings on the screen. "This is the first time we're even seeing the inside of a black hole. The best we have is footage from the borders of the event horizon."
"Why's his ring glowing?" Sakura asked Tsunade who shrugged.
"It's what it does, ask him." She replied.
"We're about to watch myself get crushed to death after destroying a planet but hey, science." Naruto sighed.
"But if it traps in light, shouldn't the whole inside be like a lightshow or something?" Sakura asked. "It looks darker than a demon's soul to me."
"It should, but there's a chance that the nearest bit of light's millions of miles away. Some black holes are larger than a whole solar system." Hal replied.
"A solar system?" Sasuke couldn't help his curiosity.
"A group of planets orbiting around a sun." Came the quick reply. "Chances are he won't see any unless he's near the center."
"Can we please keep going?" Dinah cut Sasuke off before he could ask something else and ignored his annoyed look. "There's no point in speculating about an outcome we can see, is there?"
"I guess not."
His voice was shaking. A brave and courageous man, someone who never backed down, someone who had dared to even fight against a god: that man, at that moment, was frozen. A primal fear beyond his reasoning gripped at his heart. He could not breathe. In terror, he could not even look away.
Naruto grimaced at his other self's terrified visage. It was one thing to see something like the inside of a black hole and it was another to be in one. Being trapped in a seemingly boundless void devoid of light and life while being pulled towards certain death was a horrifying thought.
A thought came to his mind. 'This is the end.'
"No it won't, it can't be…" Kara stared at the screen, wishing he hadn't lost hope yet.
"He's just saying that. If he's anything like Naruto here, he won't stop fighting till he can't anymore." Kiba reassured her, but his own voice sounded unsure to himself.
"Kiba's right." Sakura nodded. "He's not going quietly to his own death."
Alarms rang and many warnings appeared on the screen of his computer. The ship began to shake terribly because of the force pulling at it, dragging it away from its trajectory.
"He's getting close." Clark muttered, his voice tight with worry.
"You don't say." Hal absently responded. He was worried for the man, but he didn't stop recording the sight.
Snapping out of his trance-like state, he grabbed the controls of the ship in panic and pulled on them, trying to steer the ship away manually. He pressed on several buttons and all the engines of the ship blasted at full power. But for all his efforts, the only result was that the ship started shaking even harder and then, with a loud bang, one of the engines superheated and exploded.
"Oh God." Barry felt a little sick.
"It's not all that bad, without air to feed the fire, it's not going to spread." Clark said, trying to be optimistic.
"But his already low chances of escaping have plummeted even further." Batman reminded him.
"Kurama!"
"Kurama?" Sakura asked. "Who's Kurama?"
"The nine tails." Kakashi absently responded, not taking his eyes off the sight of what might very well be the end of his former student's life.
"The nine tails has a name?" Kiba asked incredulously.
"And if you know what's good for you, you won't go around using it all the time." Naruto warned them, having felt Kurama's anger at having his name revealed to more people.
Sasuke hadn't been expecting it, but he wasn't surprised either. He knew from experience that the tailed beasts weren't mindless creatures, but he didn't imagine they'd attach names to themselves.
At his call, a yellow and red light came out of his body. He stood up from the pilot's seat and then squatted against the floor of the ship. The yellow and red chakra increased in density around him to such a degree that his silhouette became blurry, almost indistinguishable. His legs pushed against the floor with all the power he was capable of and he launched himself up like an unstoppable rocket. He broke through the reinforced special alloy that the outer walls of his spaceship were made of, straight into the void.
Everyone watched with bated breaths as the man cannoned out of the ship. The display of power would have been more impressive to see if the situation wasn't so desperate.
"Now! Blast it!"
Crimson red chakra burst from the soles of his feet, it enveloping the several hundred feet long spaceship below. An enormous explosion boomed when the ship's main ion reactor blew up. That explosion did what the spaceship's engines could not achieve: it propelled him away violently, lessening the pulling force that had taken hold of his being.
There was no sign of relief on his face. A tailed beast bomb started to take form in the palm of his hands and it grew in size until it was as large as a football. But he did not throw it - where could he have thrown it to? For millions of miles, there was nothing around him. Pressing with his palms against it, the tailed beast bomb's spherical form was compressed to that of a plum. Then, it blew up and another violent explosion blasted him away. It was almost as powerful as a small nuclear bomb.
"Jesus…" Hal trailed off. "It's not enough."
Even if all the concussive force of a single nuclear bomb were concentrated in a linear path, it would never send any object travelling fast enough to escape a black hole. Not one at least.
In the vacuum of space, those two explosions hurled him to more than a million miles away from his initial location.
'Not enough! It's not enough!'
Desperation threatened to overwhelm him. He felt like no matter how far he flew, he would not be able to escape. He could not escape from the intangible claws of the devouring demon that had grabbed a hold of him.
A shadow clone appeared behind him. But the clone did not have the momentum that the two huge explosions had granted to the original body. In a blink of an eye, the original body had disappeared from the clone's sight. Despite the original body's crazy speed and momentum, it had still not been fast enough to escape the radius of the explosion that followed. The shadow clone killed itself by creating and detonating another tailed beast bomb in his hands, just so the shockwave of the explosion could bast away the original body even further.
Terrible explosions with powers no less than that of nuclear bombs appeared like tiny suns as they lit up, for a brief moment, the ever-present darkness of space.
"What the hell…" Kiba trailed off, amazed by the light show.
Oliver shook his head, astonished. "I know it's a bad time, but it's amazing how he can basically spam nukes like that."
"I know, right?" Barry agreed.
The repeated shockwaves coming from them were enough to even pulverize some of his internal organs and make him cough up large amounts of blood. But after the explosion of nearly 10 tailed beast bombs, consuming much of his chakra pool, his body gained such an astonishing momentum in the vacuum of space that he had almost reached the speed of light. It was a speed that no-one could reach without the aid of a supernatural force protecting their being.
Everyone winced as the blond took the explosions head on. It did what it was supposed to, but something like that would have had to hurt like a bitch.
With his body wrapped in a dense yellow and red chakra, he looked like a comet as he flew in desperation. But finally, he could feel it: the pulling force from behind was weakening. He was not far from his salvation: the event horizon.
"At least it was worth it." Sakura said.
"He's not out of the woods yet." Hal said grimly. "If he doesn't keep at it, he can easily get pulled back in."
"Are you kidding?" Kiba asked. "After everything?"
"After everything." Hal nodded.
…
He woke up with a start. Had half of his body not been petrified, he would have jumped up to his feet. In his condition, he could only grab onto the bedsheets with his still working hand. He noticed that the sheets were soaked with his sweat. Closing his remaining eye, he tried to calm himself down. His heart was beating as if to jump out of his chest.
'Void!'
Years had passed from the last time he had had that nightmare. But it was not just a mere dream. Out of the 3381 missions that Naruto had taken over the past century as an intergalactic mercenary, he had completed 3380. He had failed only one - it had happened when the events from his nightmare had taken place.
"What job would take a person to a black hole?" Hal couldn't help but ask.
"Maybe he was unlucky and got sucked in. It happens, doesn't it?" Barry suggested.
"Yeah, that could be it." Hal nodded. He'd heard tales of some other lantern corp members who wound up in black holes. Sometimes, even the rings didn't return.
A supermassive black hole located very far from the 'borders' of the 3600 sectors of the Universe...It was the closest he had ever come to dying. It was the most terrified he had ever been of something. It was a fear that did not make sense because, normally, Naruto was not afraid of death. It was beyond his understanding, more than his mind could comprehend.
One hour spent at the very edge of its gravitational pull's range had meant over 50 years in the world outside the event horizon. Though he had completed the actual bounty before the supermassive black hole's gravitational pull derailed his ship off its course, by the time he returned to show proof of his bounty's completion and collect his reward, the person who had issued the bounty had died of old age. That was why it was counted as a failure.
"Damn, that sucks." Kiba said.
"No shit, Kiba. All that trouble and nothing to show for it." Sakura agreed.
"It's natural to fear what you don't understand." Naruto nodded.
"The only rational fear is the fear of the unknown." Batman agreed.
"Not death?" Kara asked.
"If someone knocks on a closed door, there's every chance that they've got a cake, a gun or they're an extra-dimensional being looking to punish you for meandering the linear flow of your timeline." Barry shrugged. "Point is, you'll never really know what's behind the door until you open it."
Everyone stared at him weirdly.
"You really have to quit time traveling, Barry." Oliver shook his head.
"You can travel through time?" Sasuke asked the speedster curiously.
"Yep. It's not something I'd advise though, it's usually more trouble than it's worth." Barry replied.
"What do you mean?" Sakura asked.
Barry rubbed his chin. "Well…one time I traveled to the dark ages and accidentally moved a chair to another table and when next I went to that branched out timeline, Kara was dating some monkey dude, Superman had a gay son and Diana had a twin sister."
"My son was what?!" Clark shrieked.
"I'm sorry, what did I have?" Diana asked.
"Wait, she was dating a monkey?" Kiba parroted the last part as he looked at the girl in question.
"Wait, wait." Oliver waved his hands. "Do you mean a monkey monkey or a-"
"No, some Asian guy with monkey powers who dressed like Sun Wukong or something, I don't know, I didn't stick around long enough to really be sure."
"So she's a furry." Dinah shook her head disappointedly.
"What if he's just a shapeshifter like BeastBoy?" Hal said.
"Something tells me that's not the case." Kara muttered.
"Better start stocking up on bananas now, Kara. You might find love the next time you visit a zoo." Diana ribbed the blonde who glared at her mildly.
"I'm more concerned about Clark's son though." Hal said. "What if he was going to throw a house party or something? Would any guys show up?"
"Doubt it." Oliver shook his head. "Imagine asking where the hoes are only to find out you are the hoes."
"I think it's ironic though." Naruto chuckled. "The last of your kind and your only offspring is homosexual."
"It's odf how the people who ought to revive their kind are usually the ones who seem to have the least interest in doing so." Kakashi glanced at Sasuke who pretended not to see him. "I'm talking to you, Sasuke."
"I'm working on it." The Uchiha said. Sakura blushed red.
"Don't tell him that!" She reprimanded the boy who rolled his eyes.
One hour under the influence of that supermassive black hole had made him unaging, immortal. He had searched for information about black holes after surviving that incident. In this wide universe, there had been other people too who had stepped beyond the event horizon of a black hole and managed to escape and live to tell the tale. But he had never heard of someone becoming immortal as a result of it. He had also never heard of a black hole of that size before. The largest one recorded reached 'only' the approximate size of a planetary system.
"The closer you get to the singularity, the more time distorts." Hal explained. "In fact, there's a point where a minute is equal to seven hundred years outside and at a certain point, the flow of time grinds to a halt entirely."
"You think that's where I got to?" Naruto asked.
"I doubt it." Hal shook his head. "Research suggests that at that point, you'd have to be close enough to the very center of the black hole that you'd be able to see the singularity."
"But if he did get out, shouldn't time pass normally for him again?" Kiba asked. "I mean, he's no longer in the black hole. Things should have become normal."
"The fact that he wasn't crushed when he ejected means his body adapted to the conditions to an extent and by proxy, the time. It's a wild shot, but that's about all I have right now." Hal theorized. "Like he said, we don't know near enough to learn why most things in black holes happen."
"So I guess we'll never know then." Kakashi sighed.
To this day, he was convinced that it had not been a natural phenomenon.
'Something...someone...must've created that thing.'
To this day, Naruto had been left with a deep fear of the Void. In front of that world-ending black hole, he felt insignificant.
'Old Gods? New Gods? ...what a joke. Who dares to call themselves a god in front of the Void?"
"You're awake!" A girl's voice made him break out from his thoughts.
Barry grinned. "You were trying to cross the border, right? Fell right for that imperial trap."
"Imperial trap?" Sakura asked.
"Exactly, what the hell are you talking about?" Tsunade asked too.
"I couldn't live in your world. I can't imagine a life without games." Kara sighed pityingly.
"Me neither." Barry agreed.
"We get it, you have phones and games and all that." Naruto huffed.
"Both worlds have their strong points." Diana comforted him. "Look at it this way, you don't have rule 34."
"Rule 34?" Kiba raised an eyebrow. "Is that some kind of codename for a criminal or something?"
"Don't worry about it." Kara waved him off.
When he felt the cool sensation of a wet cloth wiping the unpetrified part of his forehead, he opened his eyes. A curtain of long red hair appeared in his sight. It was Koriand'r; a worried look could be seen in her green eyes.
Kiba whistled loudly as Koriand'r appeared on the screen. "Man, what is it with every girl from this world being hot?"
"My thoughts exactly." Naruto nodded. Kara grinned at him.
Sakura felt envy sting her gut as she saw Sasuke staring as well. The Uchiha looked largely unfazed by what he saw, but the slight widening in his eye and his partly opened mouth let her know he was taken by the redhead.
She glanced at Kiba. "Should you be staring like that? Aren't you seeing someone now?"
"Nothing wrong with admiring a good sight." The boy replied without looking at her.
"Amen to that." Oliver muttered.
"Are you okay?" She asked but she realized how stupid her question sounded given that he could not talk and that half of his body had been turned to stone so she added: "Will you recover from this?"
"It's weird seeing her so worried about you now since she fought you two chapters back." Barry remarked.
"I didn't turn her in to her former captors and I nearly died getting rid of them as well. Besides, the whole fight was because of a misunderstanding." Naruto pointed out.
"I guess the love story between her and your boy's really not happening here." Oliver told Batman who stared at him blankly.
All Naruto could do was to make a thumbs-up gesture with his hand. He could not write as he had done with Kyuubi because he did not know the Tamaranean language.
"Now this is weird," the girl said as she brought her face closer to him and sniffed. "The bed and your clothes are wet from how much you sweated but it doesn't smell."
"It's because Saviour Naruto does not stain nor pollute. Instead, he preserves and cleanses." Oliver put his palms together. Naruto groaned loudly, much to Kara and Diana's amusement.
"Saviour Naruto?" Sakura asked Tsunade who shrugged.
"Running joke, don't think about it too much."
If he had not been petrified, Naruto would have chuckled at her antics.
'This girl is not right in the head.' he thought inwardly amused.
Koriand'r took his unharmed hand in hers and squeezed it but without putting too much force into it to not hurt him. She bowed her head and said:
"I was scared and confused at first because I suspected the worst when you said my parents sent you to rescue me. I mean they've been dead for years. I thought you were trying to trick me."
"But I want to thank you. You killed my captors. Your fox friend told me that you even killed the Psions who have imprisoned and experimented on me for years. I have etched this gratitude deep in my heart. No matter when or where I will always be ready to repay you for it. Thank you."
Kara squinted at the screen. That sounded a little more than an oath of indebtedness.
"She seems really nice now that she's calmed down." Diana commented. "I'd say she looks to have turned out better than most in her situation would."
"Looks like you've gotten yourself a stalker though." Oliver snickered. "Last time someone said that to me, they ended up following me around and looking for an opportunity to save my ass so they can run off with a clean conscience."
"Well, where would she go?" Naruto shrugged. "Her world is gone, her family's dead. She's my other self's responsibility now since he chose to save her."
Koriand'r was a little startled when Naruto pulled his hand free from her grasp. She was even more surprised when his hand landed on her head. His hand was heavy and his palm and fingers were rough with callouses from a lifetime of wielding weapons...but it brought her a sense of gentleness like she had not felt in almost a decade, from the time when she was a young child, before her parents sold her out as a slave.
"Damn." Kiba said quietly. There were few betrayals as bad as that. He couldn't imagine his mother giving him away for whatever reason.
She found herself leaning into his touch, taking comfort in that gentle head pat. However, that moment did not last long. After a few seconds, his hand became still and his one eye closed. Still tired, he fell asleep.
"And the moment's over." Oliver said.
"I wouldn't say so, she's still watching over him." Dinah pointed at the girl who still hadn't left.
"Yeah, but the wholesome mood's kind of gone now and it's just her watching him in his sleep."
Sasuke frowned. He'd only just noticed the state the blond's other self was in. "What happened to him, Naruto?"
"Nature energy poisoning." Naruto said simply. "He took in too much nature chakra from a polluted source."
"Does that happen to you too?"
Naruto eyed the boy cautiously. "Our pollution's not that bad…why?"
"Nothing."
A planet reminiscent of a blue marble could vaguely be seen in the distance. Having just passed by planet Mars a few minutes ago, the Earth was now only 20 million miles away or so.
"It's a little weird how he's coming back like he didn't almost turn you guys to pancakes last time." Kara commented.
"Probably because he thinks we'll grant him asylum." Clark shrugged.
"He's not wrong, is he?" She smiled at her cousin who sighed resignedly.
"The woes of being a good person, huh?" Kakashi chuckled.
Ever since she woke up, Koriand'r had tried to talk more with the owners of the ship. But the man was in a terrible shape, bedridden and unconscious while the talking fox appeared to be in an awfully bad mood, even worse than when they had just met and he hit her. Any attempt of her starting a conversation was shot down with a growl and a fierce glare from him. After the third time, the girl wisely decided to stay silent and let the angry fox have his peace and quiet.
"Really, Kurama?" Naruto thought.
'A friend of yours isn't instantly a friend of mine,' Came the tailed beast's reply.
"At this point, I'm not surprised." Hal said. "Would it kill him to be a little nicer though?"
'Tell the man to…'
Naruto pursed his lips as he listened to the string of expletives that made up Kurama's message. When the tailed beast was done,
he gave Hal a tight smile. "He said yes."
"He didn't." Kara corrected him.
"It summarizes to yes."
Nonetheless, the ship's destination was of great importance for her too since she was aboard as well. When she realized that they were on their way back to Earth, she could not hold in her doubts and worries and said:
"Why are we going back to Earth? Last time we went there they fought against me and they fought against your master too. They are not friendly."
"In loving memory of Koriand'r. A beloved daughter, princess and waifu." Oliver and Barry bowed their heads mournfully.
"She's still seventeen." Batman said.
"Not here she's not." Oliver argued. "She got taken at nine, right? Let's say nearly a decade means nine, almost ten years."
"You sound like a pedophile trying to round up a minor's age to eighteen." Kara shook her head. "For shame, Oliver."
"You take that back!" The archer glared at her.
Sakura stared at them confusedly. "What do you mean? She's not dead."
"She will be. She called Naruto his master." Sasuke said.
"Kurama's not that temperamental and she doesn't know." Naruto defended the tailed beast. "He's not going to bite her head off over an honest mistake."
"Are you sure about that? He looks pissed." Kiba pointed at the screen.
"Trust me, he won't do anything."
Kyuubi growled at her again.
"Naruto is not my master. He is my little brother."
"Hey, I'm not that either." Naruto ignored Kurama's amusement.
"To be fair, he was old before even your parents were conceived." Kakashi reminded him. "You should be happy he called you a little brother rather than a grandson."
"With how grumpy he is, he'd probably coat an onion in chocolate and trick you into thinking it's a popsicle." Kara said.
"That's…actually something I see him doing." Naruto admitted. Kurama didn't have much of a sense of humor, but it bordered on malicious sometimes.
Koriand'r recoiled at the anger in the fox's voice and stood silent for a while.
"I'm sorry for my wrong assumption. Don't be angry at me anymore, please."
The fox let out a low growl from his chest.
"I'm not angry at you but I'll get pissed for sure you don't shut your trap for a moment. We're going to Earth for asylum. They are not bad people deep inside, they're just morons. But because they're morons they will protect us from others. Now that you know why we are going there, please keep quiet."
"See? He likes you." Naruto smiled at the superheroes.
"He called us morons." Clark deadpanned. "He called us useful morons."
"Poor Koriand'r. She got stuck with the one who doesn't like people." Diana said.
"I think he's just worried about Naruto and some girl trying to make small talk isn't making him feel any better." Tsunade told the amazon.
The Tamaranean princess made herself small and did not say anything else. In her mind, however, she wondered why the fox was so mean and angry at her all the time.
'Does he hate me? Or maybe he hates everyone? ...or it could be that he's stressed because of his brother's condition?'
"Alloffum." Oliver nodded.
"All what?" Sakura muttered. What sort of gibberish did the people in the other world speak?
"All of them." Dinah clarified. "And for the love of God, Oliver, talk normally."
"Normalcy is for the weak."
Kyuubi was, indeed, stressed out and very worried because of Naruto's condition but that was not the only reason for his irascibility. The main reason for his 'bad mood' was the massive amount of natural energy he had absorbed.
While he had not gotten ill from all the natural energy that Naruto had pumped into him (he was a chakra beast, he did not have a normal, biological body), it had certainly amplified his rage and violent tendencies.
"At least now we know why he's acting that way." Naruto said.
After all, it had been a crazy amount of natural energy, so much that he had become even stronger and more immense than the Ten Tailed Beast, his progenitor, a god. In comparison to Juubi who was a mindless beast, Kyuubi was handling his power much better - and he had absorbed so much chakra that he had become a planet-busting behemoth.
"He's now more powerful than the ten tails?" Sasuke's eyes widened.
"That's a hell of a claim there." Kiba said skeptically. "I mean, the ten tails? The same ten tails that beat all of them at once?"
"Yep, that ten tails." Naruto nodded. "He's proven it too, you should have seen him two chapters ago."
"It was awesome!" Kara cheered. "He wiped out an entire race with one attack."
The Inuzuka gave her an unnerved smile. "Uhh, cool?"
In the present, although it took him all of his willpower to restrain his berserk emotions, he did keep himself somewhat calm and in control. But Koriand'r pestering him with questions was not helping his situation at all; that's why he snapped at her the way he did.
It did not take long for the Almeracian ship to reach the Earth and its moon. When they were about to enter the outer layer of Earth's exosphere (about 6000 miles away from the planet), Kyuubi spoke to the AI of the computer in the control room.
"Activate the stealth mode."
"Roger. Stealth Mode will be activated in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Stealth Mode activated. Based on the remaining fuel, the stealth mode can be sustained for 20 minutes." the AI's clear voice sounded.
A light flickered on the exterior of the ship and, after a few seconds, it became almost invisible. A vague distortion of the space was the only trace left of it. It was the perfect camouflage technology - that's how they had bypassed the Watchtower's radars and sensors two days ago as well when they came to capture Vandal
Savage.
"It feels like so long ago now." Oliver sighed.
"It was just three chapters ago." Dinah deadpanned.
"So that's how he was able to sneak past the watchtower." Hal said. "Just what are they doing on Almerac?"
The Almeracian ship was about to enter the thermosphere of the planet when a very bright yellow light appeared seemingly out of nowhere and targeted it. Startled. Kyuubi used two of his tails to abruptly steer the sheep away, performing a roll that would have made even a professional pilot proud, managing to just barely dodge that yellow light.
"That's some top gun level flying." Barry remarked. "Doing that with tails is crazy."
"Shame it's for naught, the lantern won't stop just because it's target avoided it."
"The lantern?" Kiba asked. "They're being chased by a lantern?"
"Not in the literal sense." Hal raised his ring. "Its just a name we give the corps that use power rings like these ones. They draw power from different parts of the emotional spectrum and come in different colours ranging from white to black."
"... you lost me at power rings." Kiba looked away.
"Why do I even bother?" Hal sighed.
"What does your color signify?" Sasuke asked.
"Willpower." He replied. "The rings usually chase after the people who possess a large amount of the emotion they reflect. The green lanterns go after people who have managed to conquer their greatest fears and whatnot."
Sasuke thought about that and wondered if one would seek him out if they existed in his world. Had he even managed to conquer all his fears?
"What other colours are there?" Kiba asked.
"There's orange for greed, violet for love, blue for hope, red for anger and a few others."
"What's the yellow for then?" Sakura gestured at the ring on the screen.
"It signifies fear. The ring goes after the people who inspire great fear in the hearts of others." Hal said.
"And it's going after them?" He asked skeptically.
"Kurama. It's going after Kurama." Clark specified.
His efforts proved to be in vain, however, when the yellow light turned around and targeted their ship again, like a homing missile. This time, it was impossible to dodge it.
But Kyuubi did not give up. One of his tails elongated and pressed a red button.
Energy shield deployed. Shield capacity: 100%. Stealth Mode deactivated." the AI announced.
The fox growled in annoyance. The stealth mode being deactivated meant that the Justice League's Watchtower would no doubt catch wind of their arrival but it was still preferable to having their ship blown up by that weird yellow light missile.
But the following scene greatly startled Kyuubi. The yellow light passed through the energy shield unhindered and then even through the thick glass of the control room's window without as much as making a hole or causing any type of damage. It was as though it was immaterial.
"Wait, what?" Kara blinked.
"You didn't know? Most rings and by proxy, their users, can turn intangible." Hal grinned.
"Just how many things exactly do the rings let you do?" Clark asked. "You can fly, turn intangible, make energy constructs, turn invisible and seal stuff. What else?"
"A lot."
The yellow 'missile' headed straight to Kyuubi who was in the pilot's seat. But now that it was right in front of his eyes and he could see it clearly, Kyuubi said in disbelief. "What the hell?"
It was a Power Ring. A Yellow Power Ring belonging to the Yellow Lantern Corps, led by Sinestro. They were not as well known as the Green Lantern but they were still infamous enough for Kyuubi to have heard of them in the past.
"People who try to restore 'order' through acts of terrorism tend to gain infamy quick." Batman commented.
"True that." Hal nodded. "But I wouldn't say they're terrorists, they've just adopted Sinestro's tendency to take things too far."
The Yellow Power Ring went straight to his right paw and enlarged enough that it fitted around it like a bracelet. An intense yellow light started to glow as it enveloped his body and Kyuubi heard a voice coming from the ring.
"You have been chosen to wield a Yellow Power Ring. Kyuubi, the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox. You will be subjected to psychological and physical reconditioning. You will be transported to-"
"There it is." Hal snapped his fingers.
"You weren't fibbing, they really do try to control their wielders." Barry said.
"All the rings do that?" Sakura asked Hal as she looked at him suspiciously.
"Not all of them, but the yellow lanterns do. It's the same way the red lantern rings force their wielders to go mad with rage and replace their hearts so if they took off the ring, they'd die."
"You got to admit though, it'd be ironic to have your will subjugated by a ring representing willpower." Kakashi smiled at the thought.
"It would, wouldn't it?"
Naruto snorted. "He wouldn't take that ring even if it gave him the power of the gods."
All the rage and anger that Kyuubi had been bottling up until then exploded.
"Don't screw with me!" he roared and a wave of crimson red chakra burst out of his body. "Psychological reconditioning? You think you can enslave ME? You think I'd let anyone ever control me again?"
"Again?" Diana looked at Naruto.
"You'll have to ask him yourself." He shrugged.
His size started to increase again and his entire body became covered in fire. The board of the ship and the supercomputer melted in an instant and deafening alarms started ringing. The ship began to shake terribly because the computer that had been controlling everything was destroyed.
"All that because he got pissed?" Kiba gulped. "Maybe the ten tails stuff isn't that far off."
"You don't say, Kiba." Sakura said quietly as she stared at the screen in mild fear. She'd personally borne the brunt of the nine tails' chakra, but it hadn't been as potent as it looked to be in that world.
The gravity generator stopped working and the atmospheric pressure in the ship started to decrease rapidly. The ship began to lose altitude at a breakneck speed, and it soon reached the lower layer of the Thermosphere.
"Conflicting emotional resonance detected. Rage overpowering fear. Targeted sentient deemed unfit to-"
"Oh no." Hal sighed. "Well, you'll probably have a red ring to worry about too."
"At this rate, he'll probably have enough rings on his hands to look like a bride of many." Barry joked.
"Maybe this is a sign for him to settle down with some nice female tailed beast." Naruto grinned. "What if there's a female you somewhere out there, Kurama?"
"Not only is that thought disgusting, it's also impossible." Kurama's growl resounded in his head. "Would you be romantically involved with another of yourself if she was a female?"
"Well…"
"Ugh, forget I asked."
The voice coming from the ring abruptly stopped because, at that moment, the gorilla-sized nine-tailed fox smashed his fire-covered fists together. A crisp sound was heard and the Yellow Power Ring was crushed into pieces.
"No way…" Hal whispered. "He destroyed it. One of the most powerful weapons in the universe and he destroyed it…"
"Ah, is that impressive or expensive?" Naruto asked.
"Are you kidding? The rings can tank almost anything!" Hal almost yelled.
"Yeah, even I haven't been able to pull that off." Clark said. "Just how strong is he?"
Naruto could almost feel Kurama's pride swell. "Don't give him a bigger head…"
But Kyuubi did not let his rage cloud his mind any longer. Quickly getting a hold of himself, he turned and tried to grab the controls of the ship...except that there were no controls left to grab anymore. The entire board had been melted by his flames a few moments before.
Just then, the ship began to shake even harder and the temperature rose at an alarming rate. They had entered the mesosphere. Their ship had caught on fire.
"Out of the frying pan and into the fire." Oliver sighed.
"Fucking hell! One disaster after another!" Kyuubi cursed.
He abandoned any hope of salvaging the ship. With no working computer and no controls to steer the ship while it was burning up from the friction with the atmosphere of the planet, not only was it impossible to save the ship, they would also be in danger of dying if they remained aboard when it collided against the Earth. Not him specifically but the unconscious and half-turned to stone Naruto and the Tamaranean girl would definitely perish.
"Koriand'r has a chance, she's a tamaranean. But Naruto? He'd shatter on impact." Hal said worriedly.
"Wow, that's a reassuring mental image." Naruto smiled blandly.
He rushed out of the control room and ran straight to the living quarters. When he entered the bedroom he saw Koriand'r protectively holding Naruto's kneeling statue-like body in her arms, to stop it from being smashed against the walls and the furniture as the ship was going down.
Tsunade smiled at the girl appreciatively. "To think she'd risk herself to keep him alive. She's a good person."
"She really is." Kara agreed. She knew she probably wouldn't be that kind with Naruto had she been in Koriand'r's shoes.
"Your boy really lucked out if she's his ride or die, Bats." Oliver whispered to Batman who didn't respond save for his lips twitching upwards.
Decisively, the now large fox wrapped two of his tails around the two of them and brought them closer to his body. A loud crash was heard when Kyuubi smashed his fist against the outer wall of the ship. Even despite his relatively small size at that moment - he was 'only' as large as a silverback ape - his punch was so powerful that no only that it broke the wall, but the entire ship was smashed into several pieces.
The three of them were hurled into the air but with his two arms and nine tails wrapped protectively around the unconscious and petrified Naruto and the Tamaranean princess, Kyuubi curled himself in a large ball of red fur, protecting them from all angles. Now, the ball of red fur started falling towards the ground like a meteorite.
"Wait! I can fly!" Koriand'r shouted at the top of her lungs, trying to make herself heard over the intense winds and air pressure as they fell.
"And she didn't think to say that sooner?" Sakura asked.
"Tamaranean powers mostly rely on emotion. If she was still as afraid as before, she'd plummet like a stone." Hal explained. "That she can fly now means she's more determined to save them than she's afraid."
"Sounds like a double edged sword." Naruto said.
"The saviour becomes the saved. Saviour Naruto had found his missing piece." Oliver clasped his hands together.
Diana sighed.
Kyuubi's almost rabbit-like ears were not that long just for show. Though faintly, despite the roaring winds, he still heard what she said. He unfurled himself from his curled up position but he still kept two of his tails wrapped tightly around the two of them as they fell.
A bright green light glowed in Koriand'r eyes and around her hands and her face became strained as she tried to stop their descent.
"What the hell, woman, you said you can fly!" Kyuubi screamed when he saw that their falling speed was not decreasing at all.
Koriand'r grabbed one of Kyuubi's large ears and yelled as loudly in it as she could. "Make yourself smaller! You are too heavy!"
In spite of the dire situation, Naruto couldn't help but laugh as did the others.
Kurama wasn't as amused. "The brat!"
'This brat!'
His ear was ringing now. He felt like wanting to smack her for what she had done.
'I'll definitely smack her when we get down!'
But in spite of his thoughts, he did return himself to his tiny form as a fox cub. Regardless, his arms and legs and his nine tails still latched around Naruto's waist securely. He was preparing himself for the worst-case scenario: if the girl could still not stop them from falling, he would enlarge himself again and wrap Naruto in his tails protectively like before.
For him, smashing against the ground from that altitude would be an annoyance at most. It was not enough to seriously hurt him. But he was worried about what the shock of their impact against the ground might do to Naruto while he was in his current state. For Naruto's sake, he preferred landing safely instead of making a crater in the ground with his body.
Sure enough, after Kyuubi became a tiny fox cub, Koriand'r managed to stabilize themself in the air easily. However, as they were currently in the mesosphere, it was extremely cold, way below the freezing temperature of the water.
Holding the petrified form of the kneeling Naruto in her arms and the fox that was latching onto his waist with his tails like an octopus, Koriand'r dived headfirst towards the ground at a very high speed. But, as it was a controlled flight, Kyuubi did not worry.
They were only around 20 miles above the ground, somewhere above the Indonesian Archipelago when a very large construct of green light in the form of a human hand stopped them in their flight.
"Green Lantern coming in clutch like always!" Oliver cheered for him as did the others.
Hal grinned. "All in a day's work."
"We're talking about John, Hal." Clark said.
Hal's expression soured. "Fuck you, Clark."
From behind them, a group of 5 people appeared, surrounding them from all sides. They were none other than Green Lantern, Superman, Hawkgirl, Martian Manhunter and Wonder Woman - the five that could fly out of the 7 founding members of the Justice League.
"The what?" Sakura bit down a laugh.
"Not this again." Clark groaned.
"I can't help but feel like that's a jab at Batman though." Oliver glanced at Batman who rolled his eyes under his cowl.
"Flying is overrated." He said.
"No it's not, the first time you got a ring, your feet didn't touch the ground again." Hal laughed at him.
"Word to Guru Lhagima." Kara said out of the blue.
Everyone stared at her oddly. "You know, from Avatar?"
"Let's just keep going." Clark sighed.
Sasuke closed the book. "The chapter's over."
"Oh."
"Finally. It feels like we've been here for a month." Kara got up and stretched.
Naruto took the opportunity to ogle her as he asked. "Wasn't it a few hours since the last one ended?"
"Yeah, but we've been stuck here for a month. We should get updated faster."
Clark squinted. "What?"
She stared at him. "What?"
"Nevermind." It was the DnD. It had to be.
In spite of my bittersweet relationship with the movie, I still believe Blood Prison should be canon and Ryuuzetsu should have survived. She'd have been the best potential significant other for Naruto in my opinion and it hurt me to see her die.
On a side note, Harleys in Hawaii is a very catchy song. No thanks to anyone, I found it on my own because Shazam has decided to rebel against me.
Now go back to your lives and join AizenTheGoat's discord server while you're at it. Till the next chapter.