DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NARUTO OR YOUNG JUSTICE
X
PLEASE SUPPORT THE OFFICIAL RELEASE!

|CHAPTER ONE|

The sound of someone pounding relentlessly on his apartment door dragged Naruto out of his nightmare and into the brightness of another morning.

He cracked open one eye to check the Superman alarm clock on the wooden crate beside his bed. The famous superhero stated adamantly that it was far too early for such a racket.

Damn... he swallowed heavily and ran a hand through his hair, trying to steady his breathing.

That was a terrible memory. The last few seconds played over and over again in his mind, and he saw Iruka and felt the burning embarrassed sensation all over again.

It echoed in his mind almost too clearly.

Everyone in the village hated him for something he couldn't control.

Naruto shook his head, pushing the memories back into the little box he kept them in. Thinking about it wouldn't help. He was in a new world now. There were no Jinchurriki here. No ninja villages. No Akatsuki or Danzo chasing after him.

Which meant there was no point in driving himself mad thinking about his old life.

Besides, I have enough to worry about in the physical world.

The knocking at his door was getting loud and Naruto had a pretty good guess as to who his early morning visitor might be. He didn't have any friends. And he doubted any villains—or any of the heroes—would bother with knocking on the door.

Which could only mean that the person standing outside his apartment was his landlady, Mrs. Rogers.

In his restless sleep, Naruto had twisted the blanket around his legs so when he tried to get out of bed he almost fell flat on her face. He kicked the covers away, accidentally tearing the cheap sheets with his strength before climbing out of the makeshift bed. It wasn't much more than a mattress plopped in the middle of the room, but since he couldn't afford a real bed with a frame, it had to do.

As he headed across the small room to the door, Naruto stopped in front of the only piece of furniture she owned. A small dresser with a mirror hanging on the wall above it. He grabbed his notepad off the dresser and stared at the boy looking back at him in the mirror.

Naruto Uzumaki: a blue-eyed teen with bright blonde hair and six whisker-like birthmarks on his cheeks. It was his face, had been for the past sixteen years, but it was too rememberable.

He used a simple Transformation jutsu to hide his features. This one less distinct, more rounded, and softer, with brown eyes and dark hair.

A normal boy who lived a normal life.

Naruto moved pat the mirror to the door unfastened the trio of security locks, wondering for the millionth time why he even bothered. He didn't have anything worth stealing and if someone broke in while he was home...kami help them.

He twisted the last lock, turned the knob, and pulled open the door as he put on his cheeriest smile, holding up the first page in his notepad.

"Good morning?" Mrs. Rogers scowled as she read the loopy handwriting out loud.

The landlady was a tiny thing, not quite five feet tall with completely white hair and enough wrinkles to rival a pug. Mrs. Rogers looked like she was just shy of her hundredth birthday and one arm constantly quaked with little tremors. Mark Something in Unit B2 had told Naruto that it was because she'd survived more than a dozen strokes. He'd revealed that little fact with a tone of somber reverence in his voice and downcast eyes of concern.

As for him, Naruto thought that if kami was trying to kill Mrs. Rogers, he should probably just give up.

"Don't give me that 'good morning' crap, little boy. I'm here to tell you that you're out."

Naruto flipped to a clean page in his notepad and scribbled as fast as he could.

"I'm out? You mean evicted?"

Mrs. Rogers read the words out loud. She pushed the thick-rimmed glasses up higher on her hooked nose.

"As of today. I want you gone in an hour."

Naruto scribbled more words.

"What did I do?" Mrs. Rogers read the words then looked back up, glaring at Naruto with a fury. Her non-shaking hand at her side came up holding a piece of paper. "When you filled out this rental form, you signed with a false name! Sasuke Uchiha doesn't exist!"

Naruto sighed and started writing again. He had hoped given the landlady's extreme age, she might not know how to look into fake identities. Holding up his notepad, he waited patiently for Mrs. Rogers to finish reading.

"Would it matter if I apologized and explained that I had to lie because I'm only sixteen?" Mrs. Rogers shook her head after she read the words. "It would not. I'm sorry about whatever situation you have going on with your family, but I hate liars in general and I could get in serious trouble for renting to a minor. Now pack your things and get out of my building."

A couple of neighbors' doors opened and sleepy faces peered out to see what the commotion was all about. Mrs. Rogers ignored them all and continued to bore holes in Naruto with her eyes.

Naruto sighed again and flipped to a new page in his notebook. "Okay, Mrs. Rogers. I'll be gone in an hour. Sorry for lying to you."

The eviction notice danced at the end of his nose. "One hour," Mrs. Rogers said. "After that, I'm calling CPS and having them send someone to get you."

Several curious faces watched Mrs. Rogers march away and then turned back to Naruto. He responded with a shrug and went back into the soon-to-not-be-his apartment and began putting his possessions together.

Less than thirty minutes later, he stood on the sidewalk outside his former residence with a frown on his face and everything he owned in the world in a bag across his back. Which was very little. The Superman clock, a couple of changes of clothes, a few dog-eared paperbacks, and his notepads. He'd left the dresser and mattress for the next tenant.

Naruto also left several holes in the wall for Mrs. Rogers to find because he was mad at being kicked out like that. It was the beginning of the month, so either it was a coincidence that Mrs. Rogers just found out or she had waited until right after he paid rent to kick him out.

Shifting the pack into a better position, Naruto walked the six blocks to the nearest bus stop and stood with another group of people waiting for public transit. A couple of teenage boys dressed in identical fast-food chain work uniforms sat on one of the benches. Even though they were probably together, each ignored the other in favor of watching some video or playing a game on the phones in their hands.

On the other bench was a little old Asian lady who was probably about the same age as his former landlady but looked a lot friendlier. She patted the empty spot next to her and smiled.

"You can sit here."

Naruto blinked a few times and then nodded, accepting the invitation. He ran his fingers over the rough strap of his bag and leaned forward to look down the empty street in that impatient way people waiting for a ride do.

The lady watched him with a tiny wry smile and reached out with a delicate hand to pat him on the knee. When he looked at her, she tapped her watch. "Our bus will be here soon," she said.

Naruto returned the nod and then looked up when he heard the muffled sound of distant thunder. The sky was still a beautiful shade of blue and contained only a few nearly translucent clouds that hung motionless overhead.

As he waited for the bus, Naruto thought about the past few months as usual. Whenever he had even a moment of free time that's where his mind went. It's hard to believe that just three months ago, I was in a completely different dimension and constantly running for my life.

Naruto never would have risked wasting time waiting for a bus in the Elemental Nations. As a missing ninja, staying on the move was crucial to avoid being killed or, even worse, captured.

Despite still only being an academy student when he fled the village Konoha had declared him a missing ninja. Normally, an academy student wouldn't be classified as such since he wasn't officially a ninja.

However, he had fled the village with the Scroll of Sealing. It had been stupid of him to take it, but after learning that the reason he'd been treated like less than trash his whole life was to protect the village, he thought he'd deserved it.

Maybe if he hadn't taken the scroll the old man wouldn't have sent the ANBU after him. They'd caught him in less than a week and he was back in Konoha being tried for treason.

Of course, everyone wanted him dead, and Hokage or not, the old man had to do something. Naruto hadn't been the brightest back then, but even he knew he had put the old man in a bad spot. And as much as he hated Danzo, the bastard saved his life by suggesting he join Root and serve the village. He'd only spent two years in the shadows before he made a deal with Kurama. Using the Bijuus power, he had slaughtered his way out of Root and stole the Scroll of Sealing before fleeing the village again.

This time ANBU hadn't caught him in a week. They hadn't caught him at all.

Danzo was a sadistic bastard, but his training had turned Naruto into a real shinobi. He had even given Naruto the tools he needed to hide, and when that didn't work Kurama protected him until he was strong enough to protect himself.

Something else he had to thank Danzo for: the inspiration and mental fortitude to be willing to take other's power and make it his own using the forbidden jutsu in the Scroll of Sealing. But there was never a moment to rest. It was exhausting trying to stay ahead of Root, ANBU, bounty hunters, ninjas from other villages, and even those monsters in the Akatsuki, all bent on harnessing Kurama's power for their own gain.

However, thanks to Kurama's suggestion of tampering with a time-space seal, he was given a way out. The Bijuu believed that if he poured enough chakra into the seal, they could tear open a rift to a different dimension. The idea was to travel to a new dimension where they could escape their enemies and live freely. As it turns out, the Sage of Six Paths also possessed this ability.

Of course, Kurama had one request in return: his freedom. Naruto had been hesitant to make a deal with the freaky snake Sannin, but the opportunity was too good to pass up, even if it meant dying to free Kurama before he left.

For a year Naruto and Kurama worked on the seal while pretending to work with Orochimaru who was growing Naruto a new body in return for his help in attacking Konoha.

Three months after the seal was done, Kurama was free, and Naruto was living in a world without chakra. He was the only one in this new strange world with chakra, and although that made him more powerful than most of the population, it didn't make him invincible. There were others in this world with powers far greater than his own. A few of them had even formed a Justice League where every member in the league could easily match his strength. And even among them, one stood out as the strongest—Superman.

Even with his shinobi training and ninjutsu abilities, Naruto had trouble imagining any scenario where he could defeat the Man of Steel in direct combat. Superman's powers seemed almost god-like—abilities that in the Elemental Nations would easily make him an S-Rank threat to even the Kage.

Flight alone would make Superman incredibly difficult to engage. Then there was the Kryptonian's infamous heat vision—laser-like beams shooting from his eyes hot enough to melt through solid steel. But perhaps most daunting of all was Superman's immense physical strength. The hero could bend steel beams, shatter mountains, and shrug off blows that would kill almost everyone else.

Naruto had seen videos of Superman crashing through buildings, hurling giant robots into the sky, and calmly walking through massive explosions and he had to admit most ninja tactics would be useless. Taijutsu was clearly useless. Genjutsu illusions seemed laughable against someone with super-senses. Deception and subterfuge were meaningless when your opponent could see through walls, listen to your heartbeat, smell your sweat. Ninjutsu would be any better, not with Superman's durability.

The only possible way Naruto could see himself beating the world's strongest was Fūinjutsu. First he'd have to learn the seal, which wasn't easy, then use someone Superman loved or maybe just a innocent civilian to lure the hero in and try the Reaper Death Seal.

That was all just hypothetical though. Naruto would probably never actually have to fight the Man of Steel. Superman was a symbol of hope, justice, and selfless heroism for this entire world. He only used his incredible abilities to protect the innocent from harm, upholding truth and peace on Earth.

Superman was definitively one of the good guys.

And Naruto...well, he was trying to be more of a good guy himself these days. His life of running, fighting, and deception as a rogue ninja was hopefully behind him. Sure, he had done some questionable things in the past to survive, but living in this new dimension gave him a chance at a fresh start.

Three months ago he had been spending a sunny afternoon at the beach—a simple pleasure he never could have enjoyed freely back in the Elemental Nations. He was lounging on the warm sand, letting the gentle waves lap against his feet, when a commotion broke out further down the shore. A young boy, no older than 8 or 9, had ventured out too far from the shallows and was struggling against the strong undertow, flailing his arms desperately as the rip current began pulling him out to sea.

Naruto wasn't going to help at first. One of the first lessons he'd learned as a missing ninja was to keep a low profile. Drawing any unnecessary attention to himself was incredibly risky and made him easier to track by hunter-ninja, bounty hunters, and the Akatsuki. His first instinct was to turn away and pretend he hadn't seen the drowning child. But he was in a new world now, far away from the Elemental Nations. The brutal world of the ninja villages was behind him. There was no Konoha or Akatsuki pursuing him in this strange new dimension without chakra.

So against all his instincts, Naruto sprinted across the surface of the waves and scooped the drowning child out of the water. He remembered the shocked, awe-struck faces of the crowd that had gathered, their mouths agape as he carried the sputtering, soaked boy back to the beach.

For a ninja from his world, such a water rescue was little more than basic technique. But to these civilians, it must have looked like some sort of miraculous feat. The boy's relieved parents had embraced their son and Naruto hurried away before anyone asked too many questions about his abilities. It was only hours later when he saw the news at his favorite ramen spot that he realized his actions had set Japan's media on fire.

The boys parents were on every channel showering Naruto with praise and gratitude for his heroic actions. This open appreciation was completely foreign to his experiences back in the Elemental Nations. For as long as he could remember, he had been treated as an outcast and a pariah in the Leaf Village. The knowledge that he had the Nine-Tailed Fox sealed within him had turned Naruto into a living reminder of the devastation it had caused years earlier. He was a walking symbol of death and destruction to the villagers. He was never thanked, never praised, only scorned and shunned by the citizens of Konoha.

Even after leaving the village, he'd still asked the people he'd helped like Tazuna and Koyuki to not talk about him. But here, in this new strange world without chakra, people he had never met were actually glad he existed. They were happy he was in Japan. Some had even gone so far as to plead with Naruto to stay, hoping he would protect the country going forward.

For the first time, he didn't have to run away after helping someone. It felt really nice and was a major part of why he decided to make Tokyo his home instead of traveling the world. With no hunter-ninja or Akatsuki pursuing him anymore, what reason was there to constantly be on the move?

Over the following months, Naruto mostly stopped small-time crimes like robberies and assaults. To him, it was nothing. The general population of this world was untrained and weak. But each heroic act was met with widespread praise from the citizens. The police and media desperately sought more information on the mysterious young vigilante protecting their streets. Fan pages and social media accounts dedicated to Naruto seemed to pop up every day.

when the boom sounded again, this time closer.

He'd been mistaken the first time…

That wasn't thunder!

Naruto stood up, slipped his dufflebag off his shoulder, and put it down on the ground beside the bench. The teens with their earbuds filling their heads with whatever sounds were coming from their phones didn't pay him any attention. The older lady, however, was watching him with wide eyes.

"Trouble?" she asked.

Naruto nodded and looked in the direction from where the sound had come. Another loud clap told him that it was getting closer by the second.

What he wanted to do was head straight for the fighting. He could be there in less than a minute.

But... Naruto glanced back at the friendly lady and saw the worry on her face clear as day. The lady didn't look like she'd be able to make it across the street by herself.

Naruto needed to get her somewhere safe.

Pulling out one of his notepads he wrote down what he hoped was enough information. Then he tapped the lady to get her attention.

"I am going to have to carry you to someplace safe." The lady frowned as she read the words aloud. Then she looked up at Naruto, confused.

Probably wondering why I wasn't just talking, Naruto thought and cursed Danzo for putting that stupid seal on him.

The lady looked around, fear still present on her wrinkled face before finally nodding.

Naruto smiled and bent down to gather the lady gently into his arms. Looking over his shoulder, he saw a yellow sedan sail over the top of the building behind them.

Flames licked at the undercarriage and its trajectory brought it down fifty feet away.

He spun around with the old woman cradled against his chest and kicked the bench with the two boys on it. They both shouted with surprise as their seat flipped into the air and dropped them behind the concrete wall of the bus stop.

The car exploded and metal shrapnel coupled with bits of burning rubber pelted Naruto's back like a machine gun before he exploded in a cloud of smoke, replaced by a backpack.

On the other side of the concrete slab, Naruto crouched down next to the two boys. Both seemed unhurt, though, from the looks on their faces, Naruto doubted either would ever forget this day.

Slowly, he stood up and unfurled his arms, releasing the old lady. Her chest rose and fell rapidly and her wide eyes looked everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

Naruto held up his notepad and gestured for the two boys to look. They both stared blankly at him. He snapped his fingers several times in front of their noses.

Finally, one of them snapped out of their surprised stupor and read the words.

"Stay here and keep an eye on this woman until the paramedics get here."

"Uh, yeah. No problem." the other one nodded.

Before Naruto could try and communicate any more than that, a section of the building across the street exploded in a fountain of bricks and mortar as a massive humanoid figure bulldozed through it.

Most of this chapter was set up to explain what happened after Naruto left the village and why he can't talk!

Next chapter Naruto meets his first member of the Justice League!

Thanks for reading!