Idan don update again. Grumpywolf, dey play. Just dey play, you hear? All the rogbodiyan you started has paid off. Dey play. Una use me laugh. Dey play. Sha no looseguard make you no drop update every week.
Seriously though, if you haven't checked out the original story, I highly recommend you do. It's a really good story and it's not only long, but it's completed too and the author, Grumpywolf, has a good work ethic. It's easier to envy him than work to match him so I'll just say it should be me. It really should be me.
I only ever read previous chapters for referencing sake or to know if there's anywhere to pick up from, so if there's something I missed, contradicted or repeated, please let me know.
Anyways, join AizenTheGoat's discord server. I'm a little too tired/lazy to pitch it to you so if you want to know more, go to the previous chapters.
The link's: GApekdUFD
Let's get to it.
"This is all still weird as hell to me." Kiba said disbelievingly before looking at Sakura who sat with her arms folded. "You can't seriously believe all this, do you?"
"The evidence speaks for itself, Kiba." She sighed. "I'm not all that surprised, Kaguya's shown us that there's other worlds."
"I wouldn't say she so much as showed us as she tried to kill us in them, but okay." Kakashi shrugged.
While whatever had brought them here had shown a brief recap of previous events unlike with Kara, but there were still blanks left unfilled and he was saddled with the duty of bringing them up to speed with a detailed explanation.
"The story isn't a far fetched one either." Sasuke said. "Kaguya sent us to multiple dimensions during our battle with her, she just never thought to separate us all completely. Had she done so, Naruto here could have been the same as his other self."
"Or I'd be dead," Naruto added. When they all looked at him, he continued. "Let's be real, we could barely touch her as a team. If she had come after us one by one, we'd have been easy pickings."
"Either way, the war would have been lost." Kakashi said. "Let's not dwell on the bad, hmm?"
"Yeah." Kiba nodded. "I gotta admit though, your other self as a mercenary? That's badass."
Naruto blinked. "Aren't we all mercenaries already?"
"Seeing as how we usually get assigned the jobs rather than take them ourselves and the Hokage ends up taking most of the profit, I wouldn't say we're exactly mercenaries."
Oliver couldn't resist chiming in. "So you're like hookers?"
The ninjas gave him blank stares.
Barry sighed. "He means prostitutes."
"Oh." Sakura murmured before the speedster's words fully registered and her face lit up with indignation. "You perverted bastard!"
Naruto groaned. "Come on, man. Really?"
"Hey, all I'm saying is you need to think about it. You follow whoever pays you, sometimes the job gets chosen for you and your boss takes most of the money." Oliver continued. "You can't exactly leave him, your career's pretty much over if he runs out of use for you and he can do more or less anything he wants with you."
"That's a pimp." Clark whispered to Batman who smirked amusedly.
"What the hell? Did you tell him that?" Kiba glared at Kakashi who pointed at Tsunade.
"I'm not wrong am I?" The blonde asked with a shrug.
"That's a bad way of putting it, Lady Tsunade." Sakura complained.
"But not an incorrect one." Kakashi said.
"Not incorrect?" Kiba sputtered. "What do you think we are?!"
Oliver slinked away as the ninjas began to argue among themselves to stand beside the Kryptonians who looked to be pressing Barry for information.
"...what exactly did that monkey guy sound like? Did he sound human?" Kara asked rapidly. "Did he look human? Did you get his name? What color is he? What-"
"Don't you think you're getting a little worked up, Kara?" Clark cut her off.
"Your son's gay and I'm dating a monkey, Clark. I'll get as worked up as I want to be."
"...and that doesn't affect me." Clark said, but his voice was strained a bit. "He's still my son."
"Till he starts calling another man daddy." Dinah snickered.
"...he's still my son." Clark sounded like he was reassuring himself. "And who your other self goes out with shouldn't affect you either, it doesn't happen in this timeline…or universe."
Diana slung an arm over Kara's shoulder with a teasing smile. "But in the event where it does, we won't judge you for seeking love from another race."
"Isn't someone uppity now?" Kara remarked a bit irritably. "I thought you'd be all gloom and doom since."
Diana shook her head. "There's no use dwelling on a past I had no involvement in. I was just…shocked that my uncle would stoop that low."
"He's your dad," Clark said.
"I'm not calling him that."
Kara shrugged. "You did say he did his own two older sisters and a bunch of other mortals. I don't think he draws the line anywhere."
"I don't think so either." Diana sighed. "Anyway, what's keeping us from starting the next chapter?"
Oliver pointed at the group of ninjas who hadn't ceased their heated exchange. "You know, you'd think they would have a less violent reaction to being called whores."
"It's their leaders agreeing with the notion that set them off," Hal said.
"Yeah, whatever. I'm bored," Kara blew a stray strand of hair away from her face. "Still can't believe I'm dating a monkey."
"It could be worse," Clark tried to console her.
Barry nodded. "Yeah. In another universe, you're dating a horse."
"Oh Rao!" Kara wail drowned out Diana's laughter.
"I think the universe is trying to tell you something." Oliver snickered.
"I don't want to hear it." Kara's hands shot up to her ears. "Is there not a universe where I'm dating someone normal?"
"Well, Barry said there's one where you and Jimmy are together," Clark said.
"Olsen?" Kara's face scrunched up. "Wait, why does Barry know so many people other versions of me date? Have you been sending him to look?"
Clark flushed. "I get curious, alright? He sees tons of things."
"And some of them just happen to be the state of my love life?" She folded her arms.
"Yes."
She stared at him hard before her shoulders slumped. "You've been hanging out with Batman too long, I can't even tell if you're lying or not."
"He is," Batman said.
Superman fixed the vigilante with a blank stare. "Really, Batman?"
"Batman six nine." Oliver shook his head.
Batman frowned under his cowl. What the hell did that mean?
The book flapped loudly, attracting everyone's attention before it shot towards a surprised Kiba and struck him in the chest.
"Ow! Fucking-"
"Don't be a baby, Kiba. It was just a light tap," Kakashi said casually.
Kiba glared at the man. "Hey fuck youuuu…." He caught himself and dragged the word out as Kakashi's mocking smile grew to a threatening grin. "...uuusing soap to bath."
"I knew the stink didn't come from your jacket." Sakura accused him.
"It is!"
"Will you two stop arguing? It's bad enough that you both kept letting Kakashi goad you into a pointless argument." Sasuke jumped in between them.
"Fuck off, Uchiha."
"Don't talk to him like that." Sakura hissed. "And he's right, we're acting like children."
"No shit." Tsunade spoke up. "Even Naruto knew when to shut up and leave."
"More like he knew when to go get mushy with his girlfriends." Kiba grumbled as he looked at the blond who'd sandwiched himself in between the two superheroines
"Believe me, there's nothing mushy there." Kakashi sat down. "Now read. And try not to open your mouth too wide, we wouldn't want your halitosis ruining the experience."
Tsunade smirked. "Who knows, depending on what's in the book, it might even add to it."
Kiba swore under his breath as chuckles reached his ears and opened the book. The screen came down and turned on as he began to read.
Chapter 12 - Asylum
Two days after the Jump City incident, the members of the Justice League were together in the Watchtower at the request of Superman. The mood in the conference room was stifling and unnatural. Batman seemed more taciturn than usual, Green Lantern and Martian Manhunter looked like they had a lot on their mind and Wonder Woman appeared to be distracted, not fully focused on her peers. Flash was his usual easy-going self but strangely enough for the rest of the JL members, Hawkgirl seemed to be in a great mood.
"Rest in peace to the Psions and the Gordanians in advance." Oliver said insincerely.
Hal snorted. "If Hawkgirl was here, her words words be more along the lines of rest in piss-"
"-you won't be missed," Kara finished.
"Damn, what did they do to make her that mad?" Kiba asked.
"Her race and theirs have been at war for over a century. Not to mention the Gordanians are slave traders and pirates who used to enslave and destroy worlds and the Psions used to bankroll their activities in exchange for people to experiment on." Hal answered.
"Good riddance," Sasuke muttered.
His time as Orchimaru's apprentice exposed him to the multiple atrocities he carried out on people and he could never fully desensitize himself to it unlike Orchimaru's right hand, Kabuto who was just as bad, if not worse than his master.
"Yeah, good riddance." Superman said, albeit reluctantly.
Superman sat up from his seat and opened his mouth to say something but Batman unexpectedly spoke first.
"Before you tell us the reason you called us, I'd like to say a few things. Looking back at what happened, I believe we could have avoided a fight with that alien mercenary. And it was all my fault. I want to apologize."
"No way." Barry gaped at the screen, as did the rest of the superheroes. "Ain't no way."
"I'm not above apologizing, Barry." Batman deadpanned.
"When have you ever apologized for anything you've done, man?" Oliver asked. "Hell, you didn't even apologize for making Brother Eye."
"Let's not open that can of worms, okay?" Dinah rubbed his shoulder.
"Brother Eye?" Naruto looked at a scowling Diana.
"Maybe later," she said.
Momentarily, the other 6 heroes were stunned. They had never seen Batman apologizing or admitting he was wrong about anything before - and they've been together for about a year by then.
"He does apologize, he just has to be irrefutably wrong before he does so," Clark said.
"To you, maybe." Hal rolled his eyes. "I, for one, have never heard an apology from him."
"Me neither." Diana nodded, with the rest voicing their own agreement.
"Talk about a hardass," Sakura commented.
Though he was no less startled than the others, Superman was the first to react. "You did nothing wrong, Batman. It was the right-"
"No it wasn't." Hal said.
Clark frowned. "So you expect us to just stand and watch a murderer and a potential kidnapper make off with his victim? What good person would do that?"
"It was good, yeah. But a good thing isn't always the right thing." Hal shook his head. "You've got to learn that some things just aren't your business, whether right or wrong. We're defenders of Earth, not space police."
"It became our business the moment he decided to be active on Earth." Batman said adamantly. "He broke our laws, even if unknowingly and ignorance isn't an excuse."
Hal scoffed. "That would hit a lot harder if I knew you wouldn't do the same thing even if he hadn't been on Earth, Bats."
"Please let me finish," Batman raised a hand and said. "The truth is that we didn't need to start a fight against him right away. We could have tried to solve our issues with him diplomatically first. After all, he was not the violent type that couldn't be reasoned with. Quite the opposite, he tried to reason with us and avoid clashing against us."
"But I let my ego get the better of me that day and I endangered you all. I have no excuse for that. I would like to temporarily retire from the Justice League and-"
"You know at this point, it feels like you use every excuse to take a leave from the league," Oliver remarked. "This is what, like the fifth time you're resigning?"
"Oliver's tactlessness aside, this isn't enough reason to leave, Batman." Clark said after giving the archer the stink eye.
"I made us fight him because I didn't want to believe I could be wrong, Clark," Batman said. "I can't make you follow wherever my personal beliefs lead."
"A bit late to say that considering that's what you do most of the time," Dinah started. "But you didn't force them, Bats."
"Yeah, we chose to listen to you." Barry nodded.
"And we would not so readily follow your lead if we did not trust in your judgment," J'onn added. "And it is a trust earned by your competence. The times you have left us astray can be counted on a hand."
"And leaving isn't a way of rectifying your mistake," Diana joined. "Had Naruto turned out to be the homicidal criminal you believed him to be, we would have taken him down together. Whatever mistakes you make, whatever the consequences may be, we'll deal with them together. We might complain, we might rage, but we'll face them. As a team."
Batman stayed silent, but the ones who knew him knew their words had gotten to him.
"You know, I was thinking they'd come in for a group hug or something." Kiba spoke up out of the blue.
"Don't ruin it." Sakura slapped his arm.
"Too late," Oliver sighed.
"You guys give each other motivational speeches often?" Naruto grinned at Diana.
"No," came the smooth reply.
Kara stared at her incredulously. "Are you kidding? Hearing all that, I wanted to put my hand on yours and yell ' go justice league!'"
Dinah cringed. "The day we do that is the day I quit."
Barry shrugged. "I don't know, it sounds kind of cool."
Oliver rolled his eyes. "Of course you like it, you wanted us to call ourselves The Super Friends."
"We're superheroes and we're friends! And you can't tell me you never fantasized making like a power ranger with that. Think of us doing that in space, Oliver. Power rangers in space!"
"The only one I liked was Dino Thunder." Oliver shot back.
Clark, Kara and Barry gasped loudly.
"What the fuck is Dino Thunder?" Kiba asked.
"The real question is what's power rangers?" Sasuke said. The number of things they'd talked about in the process of reading the last chapter alone had left him feeling out of the loop in a way that he didn't like.
"Something from their world, try not to think about it." Gaara said.
Superman interrupted him once again:
"Absolutely not! That's exactly the opposite of what we should be doing now. We have faced other powerful aliens before but we stood united. Together, we could overcome them all. If we let just one setback break us apart we will be doomed."
"Superman is right, Batman," Wonder Woman said. "Don't beat yourself too hard. Everyone makes mistakes once in a while. But we are a team and we pick each other up from the ground when we fall."
Martian Manhunter and Green Lantern nodded and Flash grinned and rushed behind Batman and put an arm around his shoulder as if they were best pals.
Batman glared at Barry who buried his face in his palms.
"Don't be such a sourpuss, Bats. He's just trying to cheer you up." Oliver waved him off.
"There's easier ways to do that than touch me."
"Pause." Dinah snickered.
Flash had expected for Batman to growl at him like usual for getting too close into his personal space but, to his amazement, Batman did not as much as glare at him. For a moment, Flash even entertained the thought of asking 'are you the real Batman?' but he wisely decided to not push his luck too much.
"So you have no problem with being embraced by a man, hmm?" Kakashi eyed the man with an impish smile starting to form. Barry went pale.
Tsunade concealed her grin with a hand. "He seems to accept it even. Who knows, he might even enjoy it."
Diana rubbed her chin. "Maybe those shippers were onto something."
"No." For the first time since they'd arrived, Batman raised his voice, even if only a little louder than the usual volume.
"I don't know, Bats. You're like the only guy here who wears his suit extra tight." Dinah said.
"It's not just him, it's all of you," Tsunade pointed out. "And especially you," She pointed at J'onn. "You're only wearing a pair of chest straps over underwear and a cape."
Kara watched the blond woman insult the men amusedly. If she thought they were wrong for dressing like they were going to audition for a spot in Magic Mike, she'd have an aneurysm when she saw what many of the superheroines wore.
"Today, I asked for everyone to be here because I wanted to talk to you about this: I am thinking of expanding the Justice League."
"We're opening a branch on Mars?" Barry asked hopefully.
Batman sighed.
At Superman's words, noises of surprise came from the other heroes in the room.
"Over the past year, we've been through some tough times together. The last incident, in particular, showed me that the Justice League could use more members, more manpower. There are only 7 of us and the Earth is a very big place. It also looks like the more our technology advances, for some reason, the more often we get into contact with aliens. We have to step up our game."
"Wait, you're only seven?" Kiba stopped reading to ask.
"We're more than seven, but over there, apparently not." Clark said.
"How many are you?"
"The real question is how many can we be?" Kara cut in.
Clark raised an eyebrow. "We?"
"Yeah, we. Me, you, the others. We."
"You must be speaking French, cause there's no you and I we."
Kara groaned. "Oh come on, you have a ten year old. Why not me?"
"You're just not re-wait, what?" Clark looked at Batman. "We have a ten year old in the league?"
"Yeah, Shazam's ten. Didn't you know?" Oliver said.
Clark's mind raced. The magic user whose stature and power matched his own was ten?!
Martian Manhunter who had been silent until then spoke.
"I whole-heartedly agree with what you said but we have to consider what the government's reaction would be. And not just the US government but the United Nations as well. The Justice League becoming too powerful will no doubt place a great amount of stress on them. Our decision to amass more power could be interpreted as hostile. We are already under the entire world's scrutiny."
"Yeah, they'd probably think we're trying to make like the Justice Lords or something," Barry said.
"They don't have anything to worry about so long as you're still alive." Oliver patted him in the back.
While the Justice League were discussing in detail the pros and cons of expanding their organization, a very loud alarm rang in the Watchtower. They all stood up and rushed towards the control room, with Flash and Martian Manhunter being the first to arrive there.
"My name is Barry Allen. And I'm the fastest man alive," Barry bragged.
"You beat up a teleporter and you won't let us hear the end of it." Oliver grumbled.
"He did what?" Naruto asked.
"I beat up a teleporter." Barry grinned. "Punched his lights out the instant he appeared."
"That's nothing." Kakashi scoffed. "One time, a person used the substitution technique and I killed him so fast, it was his corpse that got switched with the log."
Everyone stared at him with looks varying from admiration to disapproval.
"Yikes." Oliver shuddered.
⁂
Twenty miles above the ground, somewhere above the Indonesian Archipelago, a very large construct of green light in the form of a human hand stopped Koriand'r, Kyuubi, and the turned-to-stone Naruto in their flight.
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.
Diana and Kara floated off their seats with smug smiles on their faces. Not wanting to be outdone, Clark rose off his seat till he was higher than them both, much to the amazement of the newcomers.
"Real mature, you three. Real mature." Oliver mocked them.
"They can fly." Sakura whispered.
Sasuke grunted, but even for him, it was a surprise. He'd never seen anyone levitate without the use of a technique, but it seemed to come as naturally as breathing to them.
But when the Justice League got the chance to take a better look at them, they received a small shock. The turned-to-stone Naruto was terrible to look at. More than half of his body had become a statue and it had taken on a toad-like appearance. If it had not been for the tiny fox latching on from his waist and the red-haired alien girl holding them both and flying they would have not recognized him.
"Jesus, no wonder he used to wear a mask," John Stewart unknowingly blurted out, earning himself a glare from Hawkgirl and Superman.
Naruto scowled as Kara burst into laughter beside him.
"Talk about a face only a mother could love." Oliver smirked.
Green Lantern did a fake cough to pass over the moment and then a green light came out of his ring and encased everyone in a sphere. A deep demonic growl came from Kyuubi's and a crimson red chakra started to bubble around his tiny body when the green construct of light appeared to have trapped them but he did not immediately attack them. He could feel no negative emotions coming from the Justice League. Just a sense of cautiousness... and fear.
"The feeling's different when you know he's capable of destroying your planet." Hal commented.
"Sounds like you know what he's going through." Naruto said.
"I once carried what looked like a Rubik's cube cum flower basket to Oa. Turns out it was a galaxy wiping bomb that gets activated from pressing a button on the side and I'd been drumming on it throughout the journey."
"...talk about blind luck."
Green Lantern started by saying quickly. "We don't want to fight against you. I used my power ring just to isolate ourselves from the wind so we could talk."
His words had merit because at 20 miles above the ground, the roaring winds would have made it almost impossible for them to converse otherwise.
"Why have you returned to Earth? And what in the world happened to him?" Superman asked.
"Natural energy poisoning. We came back to Earth seeking asylum," Kyuubi said.
"Hey, it's the title of the chapter." Kiba exclaimed.
"Yeah, it feels like those music tracks that get named after a line or word in the song." Barry agreed. "Now that I think of it, who names these chapters anyway?"
"You know, I never thought of that." Clark muttered with the rest agreeing.
Who did name the chapters? Why did they even get separated into chapters when they were supposed to be a documentation of someone's life?
He got drawn out of his thoughts by the sight of Oliver tentatively stretching out a finger as if to poke something only he could see. "What are you doing?"
"Nothing." He quickly withdrew his hand.
"I told you to quit rewatching The Matrix." Dinah sighed.
"Why Earth of all the places?" Martian Manhunter asked.
"Before coming to Earth 2 days ago, we had flown all the way from outside the 3600 sectors of the Universe. And then we flew straight to the Vega System. We didn't haven't enough fuel to reach a planet inhabited by sentient beings that were not in the middle of an intergalactic war or major civil unrest. Earth was the closest."
"Why does that feel like a backhanded insult?" Kara squinted at the screen.
Diana had to agree. She wasn't sure if she'd misheard the fox, but it sounded like he'd insulted them.
Kyuubi could naturally talk to any sentient beings regardless of their language. However, that was not the case for Koriand'r.
"At least now I know how he said English back in that ship." Clark said.
"What, did you think people spoke English in space too?" Hal asked a bit teasingly. The kryptonian glared at him, but didn't respond.
Besides the words of Green Lantern that had been automatically translated by his power fing, she could not understand a thing from what Superman, Kyuubi and the Martian said as they talked with each other. However, knowing Kyuubi's temper, she was getting increasingly anxious at the situation. She could feel that the fox was on the brink of blowing up at them.
"We don't want any trouble! We just need a place to rest and heal up because our ship was destroyed!" Koriand'r said.
"What is the girl saying?" Superman asked Green Lantern to translate.
"That their ship blew up and that they don't want any trouble."
They momentarily stopped conversing amongst themselves because they realized that Kyuubi's situation was abnormal.
'I sense a great amount of rage coming from the fox alien. I would not be surprised if he attacked us at any moment. Stay on your guard.' Martian Manhunter's voice sounded in everyone's mind.
"That's so creepy." Kiba muttered, having been enlightened about the Martian's schtick of reading minds.
"Don't be rude, Kiba." Sakura halfheartedly reprimanded him. "He's just a Yamanaka, but green, bald, half naked-"
"And listening to you two." Sasuke said.
They froze and slowly turned to glance at the Martian. True to Sasuke's words, he had fixed them both with an unblinking stare that gave nothing away.
Kiba shuddered. "No takebacks, he is creepy."
The others became alert at his words because they knew not to be deceived about the fox's currently tiny appearance. According to the information that Green Lantern had shared with them before, that tiny fox was capable of becoming a behemoth that destroyed a planet. They knew that they had to make a decision fast before things got out of hand.
"If we let you come to Earth, what guarantee do we have that you won't start killing people left and right?" Wonder Woman suddenly asked.
"What if he starts killing people right and left instead?" Kara feigned thinking.
"That's not particularly clever." Diana said bluntly.
"Or funny." Naruto chipped in.
She pouted. "Tough crowd."
"Diana-" Hawkgirl and Superman attempted to stop her. They thought that asking such a blunt question was undoubtedly going to enrage the fox and that was literally the last thing they wanted to do at that moment.
To everyone's great surprise, however, at Wonder Woman's words, the crimson energy swirling around Kyuubi seeped back into his body and he visibly took on a calmer appearance.
"Artemis' blessing?" Naruto looked at Diana wearily.
She grinned.
Listening to her mother's request, Wonder Woman had not told anyone yet that only the previous night she had become a demigoddess. That is to say that her powers were naturally stronger than before - including her affinity to nature and wild animals that goddess Artemis had blessed her with.
"I don't understand, what does that have to do with the kyuubi?" Sakura asked.
"It means animals are less likely to be violent with her. In fact, they're calmed by her presence." Naruto explained.
"But it's not an animal." Sasuke pointed out. "It's not even organic."
Naruto shrugged. "I don't know why her blessing affects him, maybe it does so with everything even remotely animalistic."
The Uchiha couldn't find any way to argue with that.
In addition, Kyuubi himself did not want to be angry and start a fight with anyone at that moment. Wonder Woman's influence helped him to restrain his volatile emotions and rage. The fox replied to her question in a much calmer voice than before, clearly more in control of himself:
"All I want is a place for my brother to recover. I have no intention of causing any trouble. As long as no-one disturbs us, you have my word. Do this for us and we will owe you a favour. You should be well-aware of what someone of our power owing you a favour means."
"Unless he can grant three wishes, no." Barry folded his arms.
"He can do a magic trick though." Kara said.
Barry blinked. "He can?"
"Yeah," she grinned. "He can make your enemies disappear."
Naruto rolled his eyes as Kurama's pride reached him. Even he had to admit that was a good one.
As Kyuubi said, the Justice League was keenly aware of how important was a favour from Naruto and Kyuubi. But the question present in everyone's mind then was, 'Can he be trusted?'
But even if they could not trust him, they did not really have a choice. The Justice League was not confident in regards to a fight against the fox alien. Even more importantly, they had to think about the safety of the over a hundred million people living in the archipelago of islands below because unlike the first time around, they no longer underestimated Kyuubi. For all they knew, the fox could easily blow up half the ocean in its rage.
"I don't think he'd attack you guys just because you told him no." Naruto stated.
"You understand that us refusing means you'd die and he'd blame us for it, right?" Clark asked.
"Oh, that's true." Naruto admitted. "Well, best tell him yes, okay?"
"And I'd you don't, he'll huff and he'll puff and he'll blow your oceans up!" Oliver grunted loudly as he spoke.
"Isn't it down?" Diana asked.
"Yeah, but you can't blow an ocean down, can you?"
"You can't blow it up either." Diana argued
"You can." Naruto and Kara said at the same time. Sasuke looked away awkwardly.
Oliver snapped his fingers. "Oh yeah, you weren't around in nineteen fifty-four."
"Did I really miss that much in the fifties?" Diana had to ask. Just how much happened in that decade?
In the end, it looked like the current scenario was the best case possible: them coming to an agreement and the aliens even owing them a favour.
Superman and Martian Manhunter looked at each other for a moment before they turned and nodded at Wonder Woman. Having realized that the fox was more open to talking to her than anyone else, they let her speak for the Justice League.
"We agree to grant you asylum on our planet. We hope that you will not break your promise. But first, we'll take you to the Watchtower. Our medical equipment is better than what regular hospitals on Earth have."
"It's not something that medicine and science can fix. His condition and my rage are problems of a magical nature. But your presence feels calming. It's helping me focus. You...feel different than before." Kyuubi said, his slit crimson eyes peering into Wonder Woman's eyes.
Diana frowned. He could see what the braces suppressed? How?
"He can sense these things." Naruto spoke as if reading her mind.
"Oh." Diana nodded. "Wait, how did you know?"
"It's obvious what you were thinking." Kakashi answered for the blond.
The Amazon Princess was secretly startled. 'I'm wearing the Bracelets of Submission. They're supposed to hide my true nature even from the gods...how did he feel it?'
It was Hawkgirl that spoke next. "A friend of ours, Doctor Fate, is a great sorcerer. He may have a solution to your problem if it's of a magical nature."
Inwardly, Kyuubi was a bit suspicious of their behavior. But he came to terms with it once he realized what the Justice League must be thinking at that moment.
'They're afraid of endangering the millions of people below. The Green Lantern Corps have surely found out about what we've done to the Psions by now so most likely the Justice League is aware of my power now too...that's why they're so willing to talk now, eh? Well, no matter. It works for us.'
"Don't you just love it when things work in your favour?" Dinah remarked.
"Word spreads really fast, huh." Naruto sighed.
"I think the real surprise would have been if they hadn't. The Psions getting turned into a hashtag isn't something that'd fly under anyone's nose, especially not a team with a Thagnarian and a Lantern in it." Hal said.
As if he knew exactly what Kyuubi was thinking about, Green Lantern spoke at that moment.
"We understand how dangerous you are and we don't want to risk a fight that would endanger the lives of the innocent people below. But even if the Justice League might not be enough to stop you, you should know that the Green Lantern Corps most certainly can. I will also let you know that the Guardians have already classified you as a Universal-level threat and they have their eyes on you."
"Universal level threat?" Sasuke asked.
"It means he's a danger to the universe as a whole," Hal clarified it for him. "It's one of the highest threat levels you can place anyone under.
"Wait, there's higher?" Barry asked.
Hal nodded grimly.
"And you can stop them?"
"Well, not all of them, but we can sure as hell keep a giant rampaging fox from dealing more damage than we can tolerate." Hal smirked. "But there's the ones where if you have to see them, all's already lost."
"Shit." Kiba whistled. "And I thought Kaguya was the worst we could face."
Naruto stayed silent. If Toneri was right, there were those worse than her. Far worse than her.
Green Lantern and Kyuubi looked into each other's eyes silently for a few seconds. As a green power ring wielder, John Stewart's willpower was strong enough to look into Kyuubi's crimson-red eyes without flinching in fear. That fact alone earned the man a bit of respect in Kyuubi's mind.
"Just as you said you don't want any trouble, we don't want any either. I am telling you this so you know that we do have the ability to fight back."
Unexpectedly, Kyuubi nodded at his words.
"I gave you my word. I'm not a human. I do not lie."
"And there it is." Kara chuckled. "He'll never stop taking potshots at humans, will he?"
"Never." Naruto smiled.
"I don't get why you're smiling, you're human." Oliver grumbled.
"And I lie." Naruto shrugged. "Just because you don't like it doesn't make him wrong."
Two weeks had passed since Kyuubi, Koriand'r, and the petrified Naruto had arrived on Earth and struck a deal with the Justice League. True to his promise, Kyuubi did not cause any incidents. Instead, he had spent most of his time sleeping, gradually eliminating the excess of berserk natural energy that he had previously absorbed.
"All I hear is an excuse." Naruto huffed.
'Fuck off.' Kurama growled from within the seal. 'I hope my other self leaves you to die next time.'
'He'll be following me soon after, who's going to feed him?'
Diana watched Naruto's eyes become vacant before his facial expression changed rapidly. No matter how many times she saw it, she'd probably never get used to seeing him converse with the tailed beast in him.
The Justice League had kept their word as well: currently, a man dressed in a blue suit, a yellow cape and wearing a golden helmet was coming out of the Javelin together with Superman and another blonde-haired teen girl.
"Hey, it's Dr. Fate." Kara pointed at the helmeted man.
"Magpie would cream herself if she saw him." Oliver joked.
"Why do they call him that? Can he control fate or something?" Kiba asked.
Oliver looked at Batman who shrugged. He didn't know either.
"Doctor Fate. You've arrived." Green Lantern said as a form of greeting before raising an eyebrow and asking Superman: "What's she doing here?"
A helpless expression appeared on Superman's face.
"She's been pestering me every day over the past two weeks to take her up to the Watchtower. Meet my cousin, Kara Kent. Kara, this is John Stewart, a Green Lantern."
"You don't say." Kara deadpanned.
Clark sighed.
But the girl in question was too busy ogling at her surroundings to notice the annoyance in Superman's voice.
"Nice to meet you!" she said in a chirpy voice before taking flight, starting her exploration.
"Ah, so cute. It's like watching a baby in a new playroom." Naruto cooed at a flushed Kara who glared at him.
"You'd think she didn't destroy fifty thousand dollars worth of equipment less than a day before." Batman said.
"Damnit, Batman, I'll pay you back." Clark glared at him.
"I'm sure you will." Batman rolled his eyes underneath his cowl.
"She's quite a handful," Green Lantern remarked.
"You don't know the half of it," Superman said and sighed. Despite his sighing and the tone of his voice, there was a smile on his face as he looked at Supergirl who was zooming around with no care in the world.
"Shall we go?" Doctor Fate said from the side.
The three men walked towards the hospital wing of the Watchtower. When they arrived in front of the room where Naruto slept, Doctor Fate was the only one who stepped inside. Superman and Green Lantern remained outside, watching through the window.
Sensing the newcomer's presence in the room, Kyuubi woke up from his slumber and opened his eyes - he had been sleeping on Naruto's chest, curled up and purring just like a cat.
"Hard to believe a fox as adorable as that is as dangerous as you say it is," Supergirl said when she came next to Superman and looked through the window just in time to see Kyuubi arching his back and stretching his tiny limbs as he yawned.
"Go pet him." Oliver snickered.
Kara scoffed. "You urge me to fuck around but will you be there to help when I find out?"
"That adorable fox can turn into a half a mile monster and blow up a planet. Appearances can be very deceiving." Green Lantern said.
"Truest words ever spoken." Kakashi voiced his agreement.
Supergirl stuck her tongue at his words, making Superman chuckle and ruffle her hair with his hand.
"You're not acting very super, girl." Diana wagged her finger chidingly.
"Nice." Naruto fistbumped her.
"Oh come on, that was as lame a joke as mine." Kara complained.
"That joke of yours was a harder miss than Soul Train." Oliver said.
"Oh no." Barry gasped.
"So he is the one who saved me from Argo?" she asked and looked at the sleeping Naruto with undisguised curiosity. "Whoa! Are those whiskers?! Why didn't you didn't tell me how cute he was!"
"Well well well, how the turntables." Kara grinned at Naruto who kept a stony face.
"And that was the beginning of the love story between the kryptonian and the bounty hunter." Oliver said loudly.
"Ooh." Kiba ooh'd.
"The fourteen year old kryptonian and the century old bounty hunter?" Diana asked, keeping the mild irritation she felt out of her voice.
Clark chuckled nervously. "Wow, that turned from a Disney concept to a news headline real quick."
"At least there'll be singing and dancing." Barry tried to hold in a laugh.
"I'm Naruto Uzumaki and I'll refrain…" Oliver pointed at Naruto who raised an eyebrow, still not understanding the whole thing.
"I don't get it, what am I supposed to say?" He asked.
"I hate your world."
Superman palmed his forehead, feeling the beginning of a headache.
"He used to wear a mask. I couldn't see through it even with my X-ray vision. And if you saw him when he came back two weeks ago, you wouldn't think he was cute. He looked like a half-human, half-frog. It's only a few days ago that his face returned to normal. At least what we think it's his normal appearance."
"Half frog?!" Naruto cried, offended. "You take that back!"
"You did look like a frog statue!" Clark shot back. "And you were hideous!"
"It's toad and you're just mad because your niece finds me attractive!"
"Don't bring her into this!"
"Will the two of you keep it down? Jesus." Kara stopped them both before they could continue.
It was the fifth time Doctor Fate came to the Watchtower to cure Naruto. Living up to his name as the owner of the Helmet of Fate and one of the greatest sorcerers in the world, Doctor Fate did manage to alleviate some of the effects of the poisonous natural energy in Naruto's body and speed up his innate regeneration ability.
Because of that, the stone and toad-like appearance of his face was reverted to his original looks. His petrified leg had been turned back to normal as well. Only one of his arms was still petrified.
"By the way, who is that girl?"
Following the direction that Supergirl was pointing at, Superman and Green Lantern noticed Koriand'r who was sitting on a sofa in the room, not far from where Naruto's bed was. The red-haired girl was focused on the PSP in her hands, busily pressing on its buttons.
"You'd think she wasn't capable of destroying a city block with how she's acting," Diana remarked.
"Appearances deceive don't they?" Naruto chuckled.
The others, however, were more focused on something else.
"Oh God, it's a blast from the past." Kara slouched in her seat when she saw the console. "I haven't even seen one in years."
"Seen what? That thing she's holding?" Clark asked.
"If only you knew, Clark. Having that elevated your social standing like you'll never get. You got cannonballed into elite status the moment you showed up with one, especially of you had like two disks in the case with it." Kara chuckled nostalgically.
"I just liked it because it was a portable console." Barry sighed wistfully. "Now, everybody's running around with a switch and a steam deck. You'd think there weren't portable games before them."
"I've got to agree with that. Mario doesn't feel right to play on anything that isn't a Nintendo DS." Dinah chimed in.
"Or Red and Blue on a Gameboy." Oliver sighed.
"We're not that old, Ollie." Hal laughed.
"Neither am I." Dinah shrugged.
"…anyway, twelve bucks say she's playing Little Big Planet." Oliver ignored the jabs at his age.
"Five says she's playing rock band unplugged." Barry countered.
Kara scoffed. "Please, we all know the only game that needs that much focus and commitment is Ratchet and Clank."
"Up your arse…nal." Oliver snorted. "Holy shit, I just realised the inneundos in all their titles. How the fuck did they get away with it all?"
"Yeah, yeah, games rule. Now let him continue." Clark grumbled.
"Wow, jealous much?" Kara teased him. "What, you didn't get to play games when you were young?"
"After James Johnson made the news? I didn't even get to use a computer."
Batman could understand why. If a sixteen year old self trained hacker could break into the pentagon at the time, it wouldn't stand a chance if a boy with a supercomputer for a brain decided to try his luck too.
Oliver shook his head pityingly. "That's rough, buddy."
"She's the girl that caused that big commotion in Jump City 2 weeks ago. Apparently, the Psions have destroyed her homeworld, Tamaran. Myself and Wonder Woman are the only ones who can communicate with her - she doesn't know our language." Green Lantern said.
"I'm surprised you haven't put in a joke about a kiss." Kakashi said to Oliver.
"Now's not the time." Oliver lied.
Supergirl grabbed the handle of the door and was about to go in but Superman stopped her.
"Don't go in there or that fox will beat you up good if you barge in - Flash felt than on his own skin. That fox doesn't like anyone else besides Doctor Fate and Wonder Woman."
"Ehh..." Supergirl made a bummed-out sound. "I can see why he'd like Doctor Fate: he's curing his friend's condition. But why does he like Wonder Woman?"
"Because she makes him feel at peace." Naruto nudged Diana teasingly. "You've been laughing at Kara for the monkey stuff, but it seems you're in a bit of a hairy situation yourself."
"She is Greek." Kara smirked. "I hope you're ready for the life though, I hear foxes scream at random and their piss stinks for days-"
"I will not have relations with an animal." Diana shuddered. It took a different kind of degeneracy to be attracted to animals of all things.
Green Lantern shrugged his shoulders.
"Beats me. Something to do with the blessing she received from the Greek Gods I guess. But I can't help thinking that something is different about her these days. You've noticed that Superman? Or I'm just overthinking things?"
"This feels like some sort of gag where the truth gets placed under everyone's nose, but they all miss it anyway." Oliver said.
"To be fair, if gods can't tell what it is, we don't have much of a chance." Clark shrugged.
Superman nodded.
"I can't put my finger on what exactly is going on either but she does look like she has something on her mind."
Though Wonder Woman had always been rather serious and kept most things to herself, the rest of the Justice League had noticed the subtle changes in her after the Jump City incident. She became more introverted, she talked less than before and she looked like she always had some pressing problems on her mind. Also, her hero costume had changed as well.
"Not that I'm complaining," Naruto grinned at Diana who blushed lightly. "You were alright in the last one, but you're straight fine now."
"And he means fine with nine 'i's." Kara nodded slowly. "Fiiii-"
"Are you really sure you don't swing the other way?" Hal asked again.
"Just calling it as I see it." She stared matter-of-fact'ly.
"She's definitely a lesbian." Oliver whispered to Dinah who giggled.
"I can hear you!"
Oblivious to what Superman and Green Lantern were worried about, Supergirl knocked on the window and then started waving her hands, attracting the attention of Koriand'r who was playing on her PlayStation Portable. Koriand'r tilted her head in curiosity at the blonde girl who was making her signs to come over.
'She looks friendly,' Koriand'r thought and her face was brightened by a smile.
"It's nice to see them about to hit it off." Naruto smiled.
Diana nodded. "I'm more happy for Koriand'r. Gods know she needs a friend."
Naruto frowned. "Hey, I'm her friend too."
"Your entire bonding session consisted of her tending to your petrified body and you giving her a headpat." Hal deadpanned.
"And mine with Gaara was me talking to him after punching him awake after he tried to kill me." Naruto pointed at Gaara who nodded.
"...hold on, how can he try to kill you when he's aslee-you know what? I don't want to know."
Over the past two weeks, she had started to feel cooped. Granted, it was nowhere near as bad as the years that she had spent imprisoned but it was a fact that she was bored. Seeing a girl of her age apparently trying to make friends with her naturally piqued her interest.
Leaving her PSP on the sofa, the Tamaranean princess came out of the room.
"Hello! I'm Koriand'r. What's your name?" she said and raised her hand for a handshake.
"She's saying hello and that her name is Koriand'r. She's asking you to introduce yourself," Green Lantern explained.
Supergirl shook the redhead's hand and a bright smile appeared on her face.
"I'm Kara. It's nice to meet you!"
But Supergirl's smile became a little stiff when Koriand'r seemed like she did not want to let go of her hand even after like 5 seconds passed. Suddenly, she was pulled!
"What-" she began to say but, before she could react, a soft feeling came from her lips, as Koriand'r kissed her on the mouth, muffling her words.
A pindrop would have sounded like an explosion in the room at that moment as even Sasuke's jaw went slack in his shock.
"Well, shit." Hal muttered.
"Oh…my…God." Oliver took off his eyepiece.
"She kissed her." Sakura whispered, still trying to process what she was seeing. "She really kissed her…on the lips."
"Well…that's something." Kakashi giggled perversely. It was in times like these that he wished he still had the sharingan.
Clark moaned in despair. First it was seeing Diana half naked and now this?!
Naruto had seen females kiss before, but when they both happened to be two of the most attractive ones he'd ever seen in his life? He had no idea what to say.
"I guess you have other things to worry about than monkeys now." Diana absentmindedly remarked.
Kara mutely gaped at the screen. There were few things in life as surreal as watching yourself getting your first kiss stolen by a girl you just met, but even with her shock, another feeling grew in her. She didn't know what it was and a part of her didn't want to find out.
Supergirl backed away with a small shriek and a hand covering her mouth. Her eyes were wide and her cheeks were burning red in disbelief and embarrassment.
"Did I startle you? I'm sorry. My people have the ability to learn any language through the act of kissing."
"You! You stole my first kiss!" Supergirl yelled in embarrassment, pointing a quivering accusatory finger at her.
"Her first kiss too." Oliver started quietly. "She stole her mouth virginity."
Dinah punched him in the shoulder annnoyedly. "You couldn't help it, could you?"
"You look rattled. Perhaps it felt bad you? I quite enjoyed it. Your lips are very soft and they taste sweet. Did you eat strawberries before?" Koriand'r said.
Tsunade eyed Kara amusedly. "My, Kara, that's quite the look on you."
Everyone turned to look at the kryptonian in question. True to the accusation, she sported a light blush and her eyes were still wide, a sign of how intently she stared at the screen.
"Oh Rao." Kara started. "Oh Rao."
"Kara, it's not as bad as you think." Clark started to comfort her. "Accidents happen all the time."
The more than mildly concerned Naruto joined in. "Yeah, shit I lost mine to Sasuke here."
Hal binked. "Wait, what?"
"Don't remind me." Sasuke's face soured.
"Oh Rao! No!"
Clark placed his hands on her shoulders. "Kara calm down, accident-"
"You don't get it, Clark." She looked like she'd come to a horrifying realization. "The gay one in that universe is me!"
Oliver's eyes widened as he came to the same conclusion. "You don't have a son there, Supes, so the curse got passed on to her."
"Curse?" Dinah raised an eyebrow.
"Uhh…"
At her words, Supergirl gave up all pretence and just buried her face in her palms. Only her beet-red ears could be seen.
Koriand'r kissing Supergirl had been so out of the blue that Superman and Green Lantern were still watching the scene frozen. They had totally not expected something like that.
⁂
"You really helped me out a lot, Doctor Fate," Naruto said. "Without your aid, it would have taken me around two months to recover up to this stage."
Diana scoffed."You think two months is bad? Petrification is usually permanent."
"You only recover from partial petrification." Naruto replied. "If I'd fully turned to stone, I'd be an ornamental statue by now which would suck cause that'd mean I'm dead."
"I'm happy it worked out, we don't want a frog statue in the watchtower either." Clark said.
Naruto glared at him. "It's toad."
The man in question was sitting on a stool next to Naruto's bed. His slouched posture and his laborious breathing betrayed how exhausted he was.
"I did it for the people of Earth. If it's in my powers, I will naturally do something about it. It is in my interest as well for peace to be preserved."
"Add some formaldehyde to it and it'll last longer. Badum tss."
"Don't force it, Oliver." Barry rolled his eyes.
Naruto sighed at his words.
"Haa~ You guys are treating us like ticking bombs. But I would never hurt innocents for no reason."
Doctor Fate replied. "You mean to say there were no innocents on the planet that you and your fox have destroyed?"
"Can't argue with that," Naruto sighed.
"It can't be helped if the utilitarian choice has to be made. I'd have done the same had I been in your shoes." Diana assured him.
"Me too." Kara nodded. "It sucks that people have to die, but letting the Psions stick around? That's a no from me."
Clark shook his head disapprovingly. Just what had they been teaching her on Krypton?
A low growl came from Kyuubi who was now sitting on Naruto's shoulder like he had used to do in the past. Naruto weakly brought his good hand up to pat him on the head and tell him to relax.
"I have no regrets about annihilating the Psions. There were no children or innocents among them. Only insane bastards who had taken over an entire system and took advantage of the Green Lantern Corps' preferential treatment to them and their pact of non-aggression to enslave and kill whomever they pleased in the Vega System. Over the hundreds of millions of years that the Psions had lived, countless have died at their hands."
"Even so, I would have not attacked them just for that. I don't get involved in others' problems needlessly and I certainly don't do it for free. But they targeted me."
"They bribed my information broker and then lured me into their territory with two very well-paid bounties - enough money that I could even buy a terraformed moon - all that so they could capture me. A fleet of almost 40 interstellar warships waited for me when I reached Tamaran. Though we easily dispatched of them, I knew that the Psions would never give up on me, especially after learning that I am powerful enough to annihilate a fleet of warships. I would have probably ended up on one of their dissection tables too at some point if I didn't kill them all first. After all, I can't always be on my guard. I am human too, not a god. I'm not invincible."
"I ain't reading all that. I'm happy for you though, or sorry that happened." Oliver smiled as he made a perfect sign with his thumb and index finger.
Naruto scowled as Kara, Barry and a few others laughed. What the hell was so funny about that?
'You're human too?' Was what Doctor Fate thought in his mind and had the urge to ask but chose to stay silent and listen to what he had to say. He realized that it was a very rare occasion to find more about the alien's motivation and inner thoughts. A chance to see how his mind worked.
"I don't think playing therapist with him is a good idea right now." Hal tutted.
"There were eighty seven prisoners locked up in the labs of the Psions. Through the special abilities granted to me by this energy that you've helped me remove from my body, I could sense every single living being on the planet and the nature of their character. I could even get a peek into their thoughts with it."
Naruto looked down seemingly deep in thought.
"I'm not happy about their deaths. If I could have saved them, I would have done it. But after a lifetime of travelling through the Universe, I learned two simple truths: being kind to your enemies is being cruel to yourself and that the world we live in is not such a pretty place where everyone can live happily ever after."
"When you constantly try to help everyone, you weaken not just yourself, but them as well." Tsunade said. "It's the battles we face and conquer that make us stronger."
"It's our duty to try though." Clark argued. "The only reason we're here at all is to help the people who can't help themselves."
"From the problems they can't face on their own, sure. But the way you say it, you do everything you can for them." She smiled humorlessly. "Don't. Stop it."
"Eighty-seven people died as collateral damage. But I ensured my own safety and I've also prevented hundreds of thousands or even more people that would have been captured and killed in the future by the Psions. I have liberated an entire System from their tyranny as well. Do you know that on over 20 planets in the Vega System hundreds of races have celebrated the day when the Psions died as the Day of Liberation? On many of those planets, they even erected statues of Kurama and it looks like cults focused on worshiping him have started being formed."
"Can't believe anyone was going to give him shit for wiping them out. They're bigger menaces than we thought." Oliver whistled.
"No shit, man. I knew it was bad, but to the point where they'd worship anyone who killed them?" Hal shook his head. "I'll need to have a talk with the guardians when I get back."
"But don't let this distract you from the fact that savior Naruto's partner is now a bonafide god." Oliver put his hands together in prayer again.
Naruto groaned. "This again?"
"You're definitely getting a cult, man. It's only a matter of time before they find out about you too and before you know it, it'll be Clavicus and Barbas with you two."
"Clavicus and Barbas?" Clark asked.
Oliver gave him a pitying look. "I knew it was bad, but not even knowing anything about Elder Scrolls? That's horrible."
If Doctor Fate was silent before due to wanting to hear more about Naruto's thoughts, this time he became speechless because of what he heard.
"I see, people are finally realizing how great I am. It was about damn time if you ask me. Hahaha! But why is this the first time I heard about it?" Kyuubi said, his lazy appearance from before a stark contrast with how he was wagging his tails in excitement now.
"I bought this information from a news agency after I finally got my face back to normal a few days ago," Naruto said with a chuckle and tapped his wristwatch-like device. "I wanted to know what had become of the Vega System after what we have done there."
He turned his attention back to Doctor Fate and said:
"I'm not a psychopath or a ticking bomb that could explode at any moment. Believe it or not, I used to be no different than you and the Justice League when I was young. I was called a hero by my people, I've saved many lives. Even after my homeworld perished, I continued to carry those noble ideals and aspirations for many years. But time and tribulations change everything. In the present, in your and the Justice League's eyes, I'm probably just a deranged alien with more power than a man should have."
He laughed bitterly.
"It's funny, isn't it? You either die young as a hero or live long enough to see yourself becoming the villain."
"Is it wrong that superhero was playing in my head as I was listening to all that?" Kara asked out of the blue.
"Skillet?"
Batman twitched. It had to be that band, he refused to believe puberty sparked Dick's rebellious phase.
"No, Metro Boomin." She specified.
"Yeah, I kind of see it now." Oliver admitted. "Hey, Kiba. See if there's more speeches down the book."
"Alright, I've got you." Kiba cleared his throat. "The chapter's over."
Oliver scowled. "Fuck you."
If you got the Soul Train thing, send me a PM. We're best friends now.
Did Batman ever find out why they had Zatanna wipe his memories after they basically lobotomised Dr. Light? I can't really remember anymore.