-Author's Note-
I apologise for being away for so long.
I want to quickly explain why I haven't really done anything. For the past few years, life has been difficult. My mum passed away nearly two years ago and now, only a month ago, my dad passed. It was difficult as I had to sacrifice a part of my life to help care for them but it didn't even matter in the end. Now, due to certain circumstances, I have lost the house and will be forced to move soon. So I am job hunting to try and find something full time to help support myself and my cat and dog.
As horrible as this probably sounds, a burden was lifted. I love my parents very much and I will miss them for the rest of my life, but now I have been given a chance to focus on my own life. Honestly, there isn't much that go wrong anymore. After my Dad passed, I was a little lost until I watched Avatar and came across something that Iroh said. "Never give in to despair. In the darkest times, hope is something you give yourself. That is the meaning of inner strength." That quote hit me deeply and allowed me to accept everything that had happened. It made me realise that I am not alone as I have family and friends that can help me if I let them. And I hope that I can help you all in some way to.
So I say this in hopes that those who are struggling will find this. If anyone is struggling in life in any way, then please do not hesitate to talk. I know how difficult it is to find someone to talk to. I do not want my family or friends to worry and its odd to think of going to see someone about it, however, I have found that talking about my problems does lift the weight off my shoulders, even if its a little bit. So, please talk to me if you are struggling or desperate to talk to someone. I will never share your problems and I will only reply if you wish me to, that way you can just type your worries to see if it helps.
Now, onto the story. I am so sorry for not updating this for in almost a year. I worked on this chapter a lot but every time I made something, I hated it. I kept thinking I could do better and I hope this chapter can show this. I will not give up on this story as I am proud of this idea and will hopefully see it finished someday. I also updated the last chapter as I was trying to do something with Naruto and that bottle of sake but I didn't like it in the end so I changed it.
The other story I worked on is called Brotherhood. It is a Naruto/Avatar story with Assassins Creed mixed in. Please give that story a chance as I am excited to work on it. I am only saying this in hopes of getting more reviews for it as well as this story.
I actually copied most of the Author's Note to explain my situation. Funnily enough, where I said I was currently job hunting, an hour after posting the chapter I got a new job. So things are starting to look up.
Most of this chapter is fighting, so I hope I did it well enough. I also tried my best to have the ending of this chapter make sense, please let me know what you think
If you see any mistakes then please let me know and I will fix them. Any questions then please feel free to ask and I will do my best to answer. Please also leave a review if you can, the more the better.
Word Count (without Author's Note): 5546
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The nightmares returned last night and they were just they were worse than before. They were the kind that you couldn't wake up from and were forced to experience no matter what. So Naruto was forced to watch all of his old comrades die one at a time, unable to help or say anything as they begged him to do something. Their words and their pleas turned into dying breaths as Naruto stared into their eyes. And the pain that they felt, he too felt. Every knife stab or burns from a Jutsu, even his entire body being turned to ash. He felt it all. Then there was the fire that enveloped everything, burning away every building and tree, and turning every corpse to ash.
When he did wake up, Naruto was gasping for breath and covered in sweat as he always was when having his nightmares. He moved until he was sitting over the edge of his bed, his head in his trembling hands as he felt a pounding pain in his head. He knew why his dreams were more terrible than before as today was the day he first arrived in this world two years ago.
It was also the day he realised he had failed his world. That he basically abandoned his world after losing everyone he held dear, even if it wasn't by choice.
Looking at the clock, Naruto just gave a small sigh as he saw that it was only six in the morning. He didn't want to go back to sleep and risk having more of those nightmares, so he instead went to have a shower to wash all the sweat away. Once he was in his shower and felt the hot water on his skin, Naruto could feel his body relax and his headache begin to clear, even if it was slightly.
Raising his right hand, he stared at the palm as he recalled the fight he had with the possessed Titans due to the Puppet King controlling them. Even though it was incredibly dangerous for him, he had used his chakra to swap places with Raven and then created a Rasengan to block Cyborg's Sonic Cannon and destroyed the cybernetic teens arm. He had used two Jutsu, one was simple while the other wasn't but neither were very chakra consuming. And yet it still left him feeling like his lungs were on fire and that he couldn't breath. Thanks to trial and error when he first arrived in this dimension, he learned that the more chakra he used, the more severe the backlash was on his body.
His right hand was also the same hand that he had cut when he picked up the sharp mug pieces. Usually his healing factor would have dealt with it but, with what was happening to his chakra, his healing was the same as a typical humans. The cut was gone now but only because Raven had used her magic to heal it while the Titans were trying to figure out why his chakra was so screwed up. They didn't find anything, as Naruto had expected, but the attempt was very much appreciated.
"I need some fresh air," Naruto muttered once he was dried and changed into clean clothes, a pair of jeans and a white shirt. His coffee shop was closed for today and he didn't want to stay inside all day. While leaving his apartment, he wondered what Raven and her friends found out from the arm he ripped off of one of the robotic muggers.
"Any word on the robot arm?" Robin asked Cyborg as he and the others ate breakfast. The other night, Raven had appeared from one of her portals and, while that was pretty much normal now-a-days, it was the torn metal appendage she carried that made it so odd. After explaining how she got it, and answering that Naruto was okay, Cyborg immediately took the arm and ran numerous tests, saying he will have answers at some point.
With a spoon near his mouth, Cyborg sighed. "Can't even let me enjoy breakfast," he muttered before answering, "Yeah, I ran all the tests and got the results last night. It's not made of anything special, just your typical mixtures of metals to make it strong and such. The whole thing is interesting though."
"Interesting how?" Raven asked, trying to ignore how Starfire was shovelling food into her mouth while sitting next to her.
"It's meticulous," Cyborg answered before explaining further. "Whoever made this knew exactly what they were doing. The metals that were used were to ensure that its strong and durable. All the wires are in perfect place, and I can tell that, whoever made this, left room for improvement. A lot of ways they could be upgraded or have attachments."
Narrowing his eyes, Robin continued eating his breakfast. "That's definitely worrying. So there's no way to know who made it?" Seeing the half metal man shake his head, Robin sighed, "Alright, we just need to keep an eye out. Next time we see Naruto, we'll need to tell him to be careful. Whoever made this targeted him for some reason and they will probably try again."
That was a worrying thought for Raven. She knew that Naruto could defend himself but he was limited in what he could do thanks to his messed up chakra system. "I'll let him know. I was going to go see him today anyway," she said before noticing the grin that Beastboy had and how Cyborg swore and handed the little changeling some money. "What was that?" she asked with narrowed eyes.
"It's nothing," Beastboy replied a little too quickly.
"BB wanted to make a bet," Cyborg answered, pointing towards his friend who wanted Cyborg to shut up, "We noticed how you and Naruto were interacting yesterday and BB figured that you would go to see him today."
Beastboy whimpered in his chair as Raven's eyes stared into his own. The air around him grew thick and heavy, making it very difficult to breath. It was only Beastboy that was feeling this way as no one seemed affected. "And what was so interesting about how I interacted with Naruto?" she asked calmy, "I spoke to him, just as you all had done. Starfire had done more by hugging him, did she not?"
Somehow, Beastboy managed to find some semblance of courage and said, "Y-You guys were holding h-hands." The stutter he had, plus the fact he kept shaking in fear, showed that his courage was non-existence. And if she could, Raven would laugh as she found that hilarious.
'Ah, I forgot about that,' Raven thought, thankful that her hood was up to hide her reddened cheeks. Holding hands wasn't exactly what they did as she had actually put her hand on top of his as a form of comfort to bring him out of his depressing thoughts. And, while it had worked, her friends and teammates all saw this. She also distinctly remembered telling them not to say a word but that was clearly ignored. "How I interact with Naruto is my business and nothing to make bets on, understood?"
"YES!" Beastboy squeaked as he noticed a few items around the kitchen floating, especially a few knives and forks that were all pointing suspiciously towards him.
Everything was put back in place and Raven nodded while the feeling of death that Beastboy had mercifully vanished, allowing him to collapse in his chair and take deep breaths. "Good," Raven said, satisfied her threat worked.
She left the comms room and headed back to her room. Just as she made it to her door, Robin spoke as he caught up. "Hey, when are you planning on going to see Naruto today?" he asked while thinking.
"Probably a couple of hours," Raven answered honestly. "Are you wanting to come along?"
"Yeah, been thinking I need to get out more lately. Plus, if Naruto does good tea, like you say he does, then he might do a decent coffee," Robin replied with a small laugh, one that Raven smiled at.
"Alright, I'll let you know when I'm ready and then we can go." But fate had another plan as the alarms starting blaring in the Tower, alerting the Titans of a crime that was currently happening somewhere in the city. "...Or we can forget about our plans and deal with bad guys all day," Raven said with a sigh. And she had been looking forward to having a relaxing day with Naruto's tea and a good book.
Going back to the Comms Room, Raven and Robin saw that the TV was on. It was showing some breaking news and how a familiar group were attacking the city. "It's the H.I.V.E. Trio again," Cyborg explained when they neared. "They just attacked an armoured truck carrying bags of cash and are now terrorizing the city like they always do."
"I would have thought they'd just get out of there when they had what they wanted," Beastboy said.
"I believe they just wish to destroy for the sake of destroying," Starfire commented.
Frowning, Robin stepped forward and slammed his fist into his open palm, trying to sound and look tough for his team. "Doesn't matter. It's still our job to stop them! So lets get out there and protect the city!"
Even though today was a day that Naruto considered to be the anniversary of his greatest failure, he also began to believe that today just sucked in general. The sky was covered in grey clouds, threatening the city with rain but nothing happened yet. The amount of people that had bumped into him was ridiculous as they had all given him dirty looks, like it was his fault every time. In fact when someone had bumped into him, they had splashed their food onto him, staining his white shirt.
And it happened again as another person just bumped into his shoulder, accidently making Naruto stumble a little. He caught himself and Naruto muttered something about people being jerks as he kept walking, quickly finding himself near Jump Cities park. But, before he could take another step, his eyes widened towards the crowd before of him. There were dozens of people all gathered around but he didn't care about that. It was the flash of pink hair at the back of the crowd.
His feet moved automatically, making Naruto push against the crowd. "Sakura!" he shouted, easily recognising who the pink hair belonged to but his voice was drowned out by the crowd. People were pushing each other and they were pushing Naruto back as well. "Get out of my way!" Naruto shouted while he struggled. There were too many people and the crowd seemed to be growing by the second. "Sakura!"
Finally, he managed to push through and land a hand on the person with pink hair. "Can I help you?" the stranger asked, her brown eyes looking confusingly at Naruto as she tucked a lock of brown hair back into her pink beanie hat.
"I-I'm sorry," Naruto replied, looking around. The crowd that he had pushed through had disappeared, leaving him and a couple of other people standing in the park. The girl walked away back to her friends, leaving Naruto alone as he stared at the ground. "I saw her, I-I know I did," Naruto muttered, his eyes moving to the hand that had grabbed the girl. It was shaking again. 'No,' he thought, clenching his eyes shut as he took a shaky breath, his mind trying to make sense of what he saw. 'It's just a lack of sleep, that's all.'
There was a sound of an explosion, catching Naruto's attention as he also noticed plume of smoke in the distance. A couple nearby were on their phones, with one of them saying, "It's those teen villains again! They just started attacking everything in sight!"
The persons friend was also looking at their phone, frowning at what was happening. "I hope the Titans show up and stop them. Those H.I.V.E guys are wrecking my favourite store."
'Looks like Raven's gonna be busy,' Naruto thought offhandedly as he walked away. He wasn't worried as he knew that Raven and her friends could handle themselves, especially up against villains that they faced and beat before. Slowing down to a stop, Naruto felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. Something wasn't right but he couldn't tell what it was or why he was getting that feeling. He looked around, his eyes carefully examining everything around him until he spotted what gave him that feeling. In the distance, outside the park and back in the city, he could see someone standing on top of a building.
And they were looking right at him.
As soon as the Titans arrived to help, Cyborg immediately had to catch a car that had been thrown at them by Mammoth. Flying past her friend, Starfire's eyes and fists glowed green as she landed a hard punch into Mammoth's stomach, causing the large hairy teen to grunt in pain. He managed to stand his ground though as he raised his fists into the air to land a blow onto Starfire's back. Thankfully a green bison had appeared and headbutted the villain away. "Ha! Bet you didn't see that coming!" Beastboy shouted.
"And you didn't see this coming, Shit-Stain!" Gizmo yelled as he flew down thanks to his jetpack. Once he was near enough, he aimed one of his arms at Beastboy and pressed a button on his wrist. Two wires fired out and stuck themselves onto Beastboy who had no time to react as he was suddenly electrocuted.
Cyborg quickly came to his friends aid, firing a sonic blast at the bald villain to get him away. He then ripped the wires off of Beastboy and asked, "You okay, BB? You look a little burnt." Which was true because it does look like someone had thrown Beastboy in an oven for several hours.
"Y-You smell cooked chicken?" Beastboy replied, his body randomly twitching and smoking. "I can smell chicken."
Nearby, Jinx backflipped to avoid a bird-a-rang that had been thrown at her. Running up to the villain, Robin brought out his staff and swung it round, aiming for Jinx's head to knock her out but she ducked and fired a quick hex-bolt that hit Robin, sending him back a few feet. Grinning, Jinx got ready to fire another blast but stopped when she heard beeping. Looking down at the bird-a-rang she avoided a minute ago, her eyes widened as it exploded in a flash of light. "GAH! Cheating bastard!" she yelled, now blinded.
"Got you now!" Robin declared, running up to the blinded girl to capture her.
Sort of knowing which direction the hero was due to his shouting, Jinx turned towards him. Her eyes were still shut but that didn't stop her from placing her hands on the ground and sent a wave of her power into it. The ground then shook, stopping Robin as he had to steady himself. He didn't have time to react as the ground cracked open and threw him off. Jinx didn't have long to celebrate getting one over the Boy Wonder as objects encased in black magic were lifted off the ground and thrown at her.
Raven floated down to the ground with more random objects floating around her. "You know how this will end," she warned.
"Not this time, Bitch," Jinx said back with a scowl. She really hated that hero. But she had a job to do, a job that someone paid her and her team to complete. She sent a Hex-Bolt at Raven, who threw several objects at her at the same time but both dodged the others attack.
Keeping an eye on the stranger staring at him, Naruto walked through the park towards the exit. He wanted to know who this person was and what they wanted with him so he was going to confront them. That plan was ruined though when he looked away for a second and lost the stranger. They were no longer on the roof. 'Oh good job you idiot!' Naruto yelled at himself in his head, 'Rookie mistake!' There was no doubt that the stranger was still around, so Naruto never let his guard down as he kept moving. And thanks to a lot of trial and error, mostly error, a kunai slipped down the sleeve of his jacket and into his hand, ready for an ambush if there was one.
Naruto was forced to stop as something was fired at the ground in front of him. Looking to see who had shot at him, Naruto was greeted with the sight of five of the robots that had mugged him a few days ago. They were all around him, making sure that he had no chance of getting away. Each of the robots were also either holding a blaster gun or a short sword similar to a tanto. Apparently they wanted to make it more of a challenge for Naruto who stood there with a confident smirk.
"And here I thought whoever sent you guys the last time would have known better than to try this again," Naruto commented, even though he doubted talking would make a difference. He didn't know if the robots could talk back or even understand anything other than what they were programmed to do, so there was no point in even asking who had sent them. It couldn't have been a coincidence though that these robots appeared right after the guy on the roof vanished. "Swords and guns again for little old me? Doesn't seem fair."
One of the robots raised his gun and fired, aiming for the centre of his targets chest. Naruto was quicker though as he moved out of the way of the blast and, at the same time, threw his kunai. It landed in the barrel of the robots gun, making it useless as it was now broken. At the same time, two other robots jumped high into the air with their swords raised to swing down at Naruto. Another robot thrusted its blade at Naruto's back but he managed to spin and grab hold of the robots arm. Twisting it, Naruto used the robots sword to block the two that were swinging down. Making sure to keep a hold of the robot he had, Naruto pushed back against the first two and kicked the one he was holding away while also snatching the sword out of the robots hand.
Giving it a few test swings, Naruto offhandedly admitted, "Not really my thing but it will have to do." Reacting, Naruto used the blade to block a blast from one of the robots before turning and swinging his weapon. He managed to cut into the chest of the robot, defeating it as it gave a few sparks before falling backwards dead. "One down, four to go." Another shot was fired and Naruto went to block it but was surprised to see a robot already swinging at him from behind.
Turning, he blocked the blade with his own and saw another robot with its gun aimed at him. Quickly grabbing the machine he was pushing against, Naruto used it as a shield as it was shot in the chest. It sparked a few times before dying, which Naruto saw and let drop to the ground. But this allowed two of the bots to come at him, one with a gun and one with a sword. Gritting his teeth, Naruto then managed to avoid the blast and tried to move out of the way from the robots swing but it managed to cut him along his right arm. Kicking it away, Naruto took a second to look at his arm and frowned. It was bad but not deep enough to be serious.
'They're faster than before,' Naruto thought with narrowed eyes. The robots in the alley weren't this agile or fast. Whoever made these things had learned from their mistake and upgraded their robots. Spinning around, Naruto saw a downward slash headed towards his head and managed to grab the machines wrist, the blade an inch from touching him. The robot then surprised Naruto as it let go of its sword before grabbing it with its other hand and slashed him across the stomach. Before it could hurt him again, Naruto raised his own blade and stabbed it into the robots head, destroying it.
Now clutching his bleeding stomach, Naruto glared at the three robots staring at him. Two of them had a gun in hand and the third held a sword. Standing still with his own sword held in front of him, Naruto watched as the three robots circled around him. He did his best to ignore the pain he felt on his arm and his stomach, the bleeding having already slowed to a trickle now. He would still need to bandage the wounds as soon as he was done dealing with these robot bastards. Both robots fired at him, aiming at his head but Naruto ducked. He also readied his blade, having anticipated the sword-wielding machines attack. Blocking a slash, Naruto attempted to punch the robot in the head, but was surprised as the robot instead caught his arm and tightened its grip on the cut along his arm. Hissing at the sharp pain, Naruto managed to kick the robot away and had to jump back before he was shot.
The other robot with a gun was close enough to hit him point blank but Naruto managed to slice its gun apart before stabbing it in the head. Unfortunately, the blade snapped as he tried to free it. Scowling, Naruto let go of the handle and turned, only to grunt as he was hit in the left shoulder with the last gun. Another shot was fired but Naruto dodged by diving out of the way and into the trees. The two robots didn't waste any time as they chased after him but stopped when they couldn't see him at all. They slowly walked with their weapons raised.
A little deeper into the forest, Naruto crouched on a branch and winced as he took off his shirt. It had blood on several places but Naruto didn't care as he tore it into strips. After a few moments, he was able to create makeshift bandages for his wounds. It wasn't perfect but it will do for now. Carefully, he looked out and saw the robots a fair distance away.
'They're barely making any noise,' he noticed, not hearing any twigs snapping or stones being kicked. Slowly, Naruto reached into a pocket and frowned as he realised he didn't have anymore weapons on him. 'Well, that's annoying.' The two robots split up, leaving the one with the gun closer to Naruto. As soon as it was beneath him, he jumped down and knocked the gun out of its hand. It reacted quickly and began to fight Naruto, trying to focus its attacks on his injuries. The robot managed to land a punch on Naruto's shoulder, causing him to wince. "That hurt you son of a-!" he cut himself off. Ducking down, Naruto managed to sweep the robot off its feet before grabbing its legs and swing it into a broken tree branch, spearing its chest and killing it.
A blade was then held against his throat and his back, causing Naruto to freeze. Somehow the last robot managed to get behind him when he was distracted. Before he could try and think of a way out of his situation, a clapping sound was heard and someone appeared from the trees. Looking, Naruto could tell that the person was with the robots. They wore a black suit with metal plates and a helmet that was half black and half orange, with one visible eye on the orange side.
"Your skills are impressive," the man said with a calm and even voice. "I don't even believe that Robin could be as vicious as you were, Naruto Uzumaki."
"I'd be flattered," Naruto said, trying to ignore the sharp blade touching the side of his neck where his jugular was. "But I don't like getting compliments from people trying to kill me."
The man seemed amused as he gave a small hum. "I had a feeling that you would be able to handle yourself. And you have proven me right," he said.
"You already know who I am," Naruto grunted, feeling the sword at his back dig in a little, "So do you mind telling me who you are and why you're doing all this? It wasn't cause I served you a bad drink or something, right? Cause I like to think I'm better than that."
The man began walking around Naruto as he continued talking. "You can call me Slade. I have been carefully watching you since you encountered the Puppet King," Slade explained, surprising Naruto, "Those abilities you showed were fascinating and I was hoping you would reveal them again. But I see now that my robots were not challenging enough."
Despite the situation, Naruto gave Slade a cheeky smirk. "Sorry," he said, obviously not meaning it, "But that's a trade secret. Can't just give my tricks away."
"I believe you will willingly tell me soon enough."
"Oh? And why would I?" Naruto asked back.
Pulling out a small device, Slade pressed a few buttons and showed a screen to Naruto. The blonds eyes widened and he saw Raven, unconscious and trapped someplace. "Because you wouldn't want to see your friend hurt, would you?" Slade rhetorically asked, smirking behind his mask. "While I was testing you here, I hired a few individuals to distract the Titans and take Raven away."
Snarling, Naruto tried to grab Slade but the robot manoeuvred and slammed Naruto to the ground. It kept the blades on him and a foot on his back so he wouldn't get up as easily. "You bastard!" Naruto roared in anger. "Where is she?! Tell me or I'll-!"
"You'll do nothing," Slade interrupted, his voice taking on an edge. "As long as you do as you're told, then no harm shall come to the girl." Crouching down, Slade grabbed Naruto's hair and and looked at him. It was for a moment, but Slade was sure he saw Naruto's blue eyes flash red for a less than a second. "Interesting," he muttered. "Now, tell me about these abilities of yours."
"Fine," Naruto said through gritted teeth. He knew he didn't have much of a choice without Raven getting hurt, so Naruto told him everything about chakra and the abilities he showed when fighting against the Puppet King. He even explained his situation and how he arrived in this world and how he cannot use his chakra without it killing him.
After listening to Naruto's explanation, Slade looked pleased. "You just continue to fascinate," he admitted. "I originally had plans involving Robin but you will make things more interesting." Before Naruto could question Slade on what he meant, he was hit on the head and knocked unconscious, with Slade's lone eye staring at him being the last thing he saw.
Waking up on the floor, Raven groaned as she sat up, feeling a pounding pain in her head. "Where am I?" she muttered, noticing that she was in some sort of cell with no one around. Walking forward, she put her hands on the metal bar. "Ow!" she flinched, having been shocked by the metal. It wasn't enough to do serious harm but it still hurt. Trying to think, the last thing Raven remembered was fighting against HIVE trio. She was fighting against Jinx but something happened and she fell unconscious. Hearing something behind her, Raven snapped around and was shocked to see Naruto slumped against the wall in her cell. "Naruto!" she cried out, quickly going to his side.
She tried to ignore the fact that he was topless and focused on his bloodied bandages. "Careful," Naruto said, making Raven jump as she thought he was unconscious. "I'm still a little sore."
"What happened to you?" she asked.
"Had a run a little run in with a stalker," Naruto joked but coughed and groaned in pain. "He sent more of those robots after me and they got a few lucky hits in. Then the guy knocked me out and I woke up in here, with you looking so concerned for me."
"Hold still," Raven said, with a roll of her eyes. Naruto smiled and did as he was told, knowing better than to argue with her. Carefully, Raven undid the bandages and stopped. "Your cuts have already been stitched," she said before checking Naruto's other wounds. They too were already stitched, showing that someone had already helped him.
When the bandages were placed back on him, Naruto didn't even wince. When Raven moved back a little, Naruto gently grabbed her hand and looked worried. "Are you okay?" he asked, his tone serious and caring.
Feeling Naruto's hand on hers, Raven blushed a little. Other than her friends, no one has ever showed her concern before. It was nice. "I think so," she said, giving Naruto's hand a squeeze or reassurance. "I'm going to teleport us home, okay?" Seeing Naruto nod, Raven closed her eyes and chanted, "Azarath Metrion Zin- AAHHH!" she screamed, her body suddenly glowing orange. She began to convulse in pain and fell over.
"Raven!" Naruto cried, catching the girl as she fell over. As soon as she fell, the glowing stopped and Raven allowed herself to breath. "What happened?" Naruto asked once he was sure the hooded girl was okay.
Not moving from Naruto's arms, Raven said, "I-I don't know. I felt like I was being electrocuted from the inside." The pain was sudden and excruciation, something she never wanted to experience again. Even though it had stopped, her body ached all over now.
"That would be because of me," Slade's voice appeared from the shadows outside the cell. He stepped forward, enjoying seeing the look of rage that Naruto showed. "As long as you do not use any of your spells, that will not happen again." Just as he did with Naruto, Slade held a device in his hand to show an image of someone's bloodstream. It zoomed in to show microscopic machine attaching themselves to the blood cells. "Nanoscopic probes," Slade explained, "These are currently circulating throughout yours and Raven's blood. You see, with a push of a button, my probes can destroy you both from the inside out. Any spells or abilities will activate them."
Naruto snarled, wishing he could tear the man apart. "It doesn't matter," Raven said, standing with Naruto's help. "My friends will stop you, Slade."
"Ah, I see Robin has spoke of me," Slade chuckled. "I'm sure I will see them all soon enough. But until then, Naruto is going to help me in my plans."
"Why the hell should I?" Naruto growled back, with he and Raven now on their feet and looking ready to fight. Slade lifted his hand to show another device attached to his wrist. It was a button. "That for those little bots? Activate them, I'm use to pain anyway!"
Slade's thumb hovered over the button. "You will help me or I will activate the probes within Raven and leave. It's your choice. Either help me, or watch your friend die slowly and painfully."
Raven didn't want that but she couldn't let this man get away with whatever he had planned. Just as she was about to say something, Naruto stopped her by stepping forward. "Fine," he said, "As long as she is unharmed, I'll serve you."
"Naruto, no!" Raven argued. "You can't help him! I don't care what happens to me!"
"But I do," Naruto quietly said, turning and looking at his friend. Without meaning to, he cupped her face and whispered, "I hurt you once. I couldn't live with myself if I did it again." Raven actually leaned into the touch but Naruto let her go and walked out of the cell, closing it behind him to leave her alone. He gave Slade a hard look and said, "If anything happens to her, those nanobots will not stop me from killing you." Slade chuckled, finding the threat amusing. He walked away with Naruto following.
"Then let us begin, my apprentice."