Naruto stood in front of the building, staring at the address Kamala had given him.
He blinked.
"This is it?"
It wasn't exactly the towering, high-tech superhero headquarters he'd been expecting. No flashy neon sign saying "Welcome, cool heroes!" No underground lair with secret tunnels. No Avengers Tower gleaming in the skyline. Just... an extremely normal-looking apartment complex.
Inside his head, Kurama let out a snort of pure judgment.
"Well, at least it's not an ogre-infested swamp. Low bar, but they cleared it."
Naruto groaned, rubbing his temples.
"That's the standard now? 'At least Shrek doesn't live here'?"
With a sigh, he trudged up the steps and knocked on the door.
A second later, Kamala Khan swung it open, grinning wide.
"Hey, new guy! Welcome to-"
Naruto peered past her into the apartment. His eye twitched.
"This is literally just an apartment."
Kate Bishop appeared in the doorway to the living room, waving casually.
"Correction: this is our apartment slash headquarters."
"Riiight." Naruto stepped inside, scanning the space. It wasn't bad, exactly. A little cluttered, but honestly? Homier than anywhere he'd stayed in a long time.
Then he saw him. A golden retriever sprawled on the couch, tail thumping lazily.
Naruto's eyes lit up.
"You have a dog?"
Kate nodded. "That's Lucky."
Without another word, Naruto dropped to the floor and started scratching Lucky behind the ears.
"I've only known you for five seconds, but if anything ever happened to you, I would murder everyone in this room and then myself."
Kurama rumbled in agreement. "Finally. A member of this team with actual value."
Kate blinked. "…Uh. Okay?"
Kamala plopped onto the couch, still grinning. "So, Naruto! You're officially one of us now."
Naruto leaned back, still scratching Lucky's belly. "Yeah. The Young Revengers. Feels good."
Kate frowned. "It's the Young Avengers."
"Eh."
Kate scowled. "No, not 'eh.' There's a difference."
"Is there?" Naruto tilted his head. "Because 'revenger' kinda implies avenging, but, like, twice as hard and cooler."
Kate snorted. "That's… not how words work. At all."
Naruto shrugged. "Look, I'm just saying we could workshop it."
Kate rolled her eyes and chucked a pillow at him. He caught it midair with a smug grin.
"Anyways," Naruto said, stretching, "what's our first big mission?"
Kamala's eyes lit up. "We're busting one of the, if not the biggest Russian arms dealers in the world."
Naruto raised a brow. "How did you two stumble onto something that big?"
Kamala leaned back like a kid explaining why the cookie jar is mysteriously empty.
"Maybe I hacked into the SABER network and have been casually monitoring their intel databases?"
Naruto laughed, "That sounds illegal."
Kate smirked, "Let's just call it creative file sharing."
Kamala dug into the oversized pocket of her bomber jacket, fingers brushing past snack wrappers and tangled earbuds before pulling out a slim, matte-black rectangle, no bigger than a phone, etched with faint symbols along the side.
"Okay… don't glitch on me this time," she muttered, giving it a tap.
A soft whirrrr filled the air as a blue-white holographic screen flickered to life. Transparent panels fanned out like digital wings. Maps, data logs, glowing mission files spiraling into view.
A window popped open:
TARGET: Arkady Rasputin
CODENAME: OMEGA RED
It displayed a mugshot-style photo of a scowling man with dark red eyes, and lines of scrolling bio-data underneath.
Kamala kept scrolling. "This guy's been trafficking both weapons and people through New York, High-level tech, too. Some of it resembles Stark's design. Operating out of a sealed off subway station under the Lower East Side."
Naruto froze mid-bite, chip halfway to his mouth. The air tightened around him, just for a second. Heavy. Sharp. Then it passed as quickly as it came.
Naruto resumed eating his potato chips.
Kurama rumbled in his mind, "Calm yourself down, Naruto."
Naruto looked annoyed as he ate, "Geez, I'm not a little kid anymore, now chill before your blood pressure rises too much."
"Brat, I am a primordial demon of pure malice and hate. I do not have blood, or organs, or anything fucking internal."
"I know that."
"Then why'd you bring it up?"
"Cause I know it annoys you." Naruto smirked.
"I hate you."
"Love you too."
Naruto sighed as he returned his attention to his friends.
"So," he chewed annoyingly with his mouth full, "when is the meetup?" he asked
Kate stood up, grabbing her bow and quiver from where it leaned against the wall, along with her retractable sword. "We don't have an exact time, but logs say it's going down some time tonight. We'll scout the area and intercept when the transfer starts."
Kamala was already stuffing snacks into a sling bag. "And we've got blueprints. The old tunnels are usually sealed, but getting in should be no problem for us. And once we're in..."
Naruto rolled his shoulders. "I punch first, we ask questions later."
Kate groaned, "That isn't a plan, that's improv mixed with brain damage."
"Okay, fine. Step one: I run in. Step two: I punch the bad guys. Step three: Hope for the best."
Kate facepalmed, "Oh great. A three-step guide to getting us all killed."
Kamala grinned, "I don't! This is the best day of my life."
LES, Subway
The subway tunnel smelled like death.
Rust, mildew, and something sour lingered in the air. Old bulbs flickered overhead, barely holding back the darkness. Pipes leaked steadily, like the tunnel itself was sweating through its rot.
Naruto crouched near the edge of a service platform, eyes locked on the scene below.
Kate and Kamala flanked him, low and quiet.
The sealed-off station had become a black-market palace of shadows—floodlights casting long crooked beams across crates, cash, and tech that looked ripped from a stolen Stark Industries truck.
Arkady Rasputin stood in the center.
Pale. Broad. Wrapped in a coat like he stole it off a serial killer at fashion week. Metallic coils lazily unspooled from his back, etching shallow grooves in the concrete like tally marks.
Flanking him were two cloaked figures.
The first was huge with broad shoulders, and mountain-wide presence. Their cloak clung to muscle and menace. Just standing still, they looked like a living landslide.
The second leaned against a pillar, smaller, quieter. Shadows rippled off them like smoke, their hood low, presence heavy.
Across from them stood a Yakuza boss, sleek suit, tattoos crawling from beneath his cuffs. His guards looked like armored fridges with eyebrows.
Arkady gestured at crates and a glowing tablet filled with scrolling names and numbers.
"Guns?" he said, voice like gravel snapping in ice. "Scrap metal. The future is blood. Superhumans. Enhanced humans. You want to live? You need power. Real power."
The Yakuza boss raised a brow. "And if I don't?"
Arkady smiled, all teeth and no warmth.
"Then someone else buys it first. Or worse some idiot in a cape decides you are on wrong side of history. The world already changed. Evolve…"
He held the pause like a knife.
"…or die."
Naruto watched silently, chakra leaking off him like heat. The concrete beneath his feet quivered.
Kate noticed.
"Hey," she whispered. "Chill. You're glowing like a damn lava lamp."
Kamala leaned closer. "Do we have a plan? Because you're giving off big 'no plan' energy."
Naruto's eyes narrowed.
"Don't need one."
And then he stood.
Before either of them could grab him, he dropped off the ledge.
He hit the ground with a sharp thud, sending a pulse through the station floor. Dust curled outward like smoke. Every head turned toward him.
Arkady's smirk vanished.
One of the Yakuza guards stepped forward, pulling a pistol. "Who the hell..?"
"I could ask the same," Naruto said, stepping forward. Red chakra simmered off his back like flames. "But I already don't like the answer."
Arkady's eyes narrowed. "Do not worry. They're not Avengers. Just kids."
The first guard lunged. Katana drawn.
Naruto moved once.
A blur. An elbow. The man folded like laundry.
The second raised his gun. Naruto knocked it away, then hammered a fist into the man's chest. He dropped without a word.
Up on the ledge, Kate groaned. "He just improvised the infiltration."
Kamala was already hopping down on glowing Noor platforms. "And I am loving it."
She hit the ground with a soft thud. "Told you I had style."
Kate zipped down with her grappling hook, landing beside them. "Next time, we take the stairs."
Naruto rolled his neck, chakra flaring. "Alright," he muttered. "Let's break something."
Arkady waved lazily toward the cloaked pair. "Pyotr. Ilyana. Handle it."
The mountain stepped forward; Pyotr, for sure. Every footstep ground cement into dust.
Beside him, the other smaller figure sank into shadow and vanished.
Before Kate or Kamala could react, Ilyana reappeared between them, black sword flashing.
Kate raised her bow just in time, metal shrieked against metal as sparks flew.
Kamala hurled a Noor barrier between them, absorbing a second slash.
"She teleports," Kate hissed, loosing an arrow that missed by inches.
"Yeah, thanks, I noticed!" Kamala shouted, leaping back as Ilyana's blade sheared through another construct.
"Try not to die!" Naruto called over his shoulder.
"Will do!" they shouted back in unison.
Meanwhile, Pyotr hit like a warhead.
He lunged at Naruto with no hesitation, throwing a punch heavy enough to send a car flying. Naruto ducked, feeling the shockwave pass his cheek, and slid back.
"Guy hits like a truck," he muttered.
"Careful, brat," Kurama warned. "Let him land one solid shot, and they'll be scooping you up with a spatula."
Naruto rolled his eyes, just as Pyotr launched a second volley. Fast. Precise. Relentless.
Naruto blocked the first. Sidestepped the second. Redirected the third.
"Why are you even working for someone like Arkady?" he asked.
Pyotr didn't answer.
Just swung again. Harder.
Naruto caught his wrist. Pivoted. Slammed a shoulder into Pyotr's midsection and flipped him into the tunnel wall.
CRASH.
Naruto stood there calmly waiting as the dust billowed.
"Don't tell me that's all you got?" he said cheekily.
But the dust barely settled before Pyotr rose again, skin gleaming with organic steel. Naruto cracked his knuckles with a sigh. "Alright, big guy. Round two."
Pyotr rushed forward slower this time, but his blows heavier and deadlier. Naruto's chakra flared defensively, his movements quick but cautious.
Their clash rattled the station like distant thunder; raw force slamming against raw will, each strike louder than the last.
The dark-cloaked figure vanished into shadow, reappearing between Kamala and Kate in a blur of motion. Her jagged black blade came down in a vicious arc, Kate barely got her bow up in time. Metal screamed against metal.
Kamala reacted fast, thrusting her arm forward as Noor energy surged from her palm. A crystalline barrier flared to life just in time to absorb the follow-up slash. The impact sparked light and shadow across the tunnel walls.
Ilyana flickered backward like smoke caught in wind, no wasted effort, no hesitation. Just surgical violence.
"She's fast," Kate muttered, already loosing another arrow. It hissed past Ilyana's cloak only just inches off.
"Fast?" Kamala grunted, ducking as the blade sliced clean through her latest construct. "She's playing whack-a-mole with a murder sword!"
Ilyana spun, blade igniting with pulsing dark light, and clashed with Kate in close quarters. Kate blocked with her retractable sword, holding the line—but just barely.
Before Kamala could flank, Ilyana blinked out in a ripple of black.
"Teleporting and sword-fighting? That's totally unfair!" Kamala shouted, jerking back as a spinning slash nearly clipped her face.
Kate backed up fast, breath short, already lining up another shot. "You've fought aliens, djinn, and The Wrecking Crew. But this is where you start whining?"
Kamala's fists flared, Noor forming into thick gauntlets. "She's got boss fight energy, okay? I say we treat her like a Soulsborne boss; stay aggressive and pray she doesn't hit phase two."
Ilyana said nothing.
Her blade shifted, growing larger, jagged, darker. Raw energy crackled along its edge as she slashed wide, unleashing a wave of purple energy.
Kamala threw up a Noor wall just in time. The shock rocked her, but she held.
"Kamala! Flank her!" Kate shouted, already sprinting wide for position.
Kamala dropped low, light forming into a crescent blade along her arm. She surged forward and slammed it against Ilyana's sword with a guttural grunt. Sparks and energy erupted and her arms shuddered from the force.
For just a second, their eyes met beneath the hood; cold, unblinking, inhuman.
"Why are you trying to kill us?" Kamala demanded, blocking another strike. "You really think this helps anyone?"
Ilyana didn't speak.
She teleported behind Kamala and drove a boot into her spine, launching her into a wall of rusted pipes.
Kamala groaned, flipping mid-air and landing rough on a Noor platform.
"Okay," she wheezed. "Yeah. She really thinks this helps someone."
Meanwhile, Naruto's fight with the tall, silent figure had escalated.
Pyotr didn't allow Naruto to breathe. He came at Naruto with fists like battering rams. Naruto dipped, dodged, blocked each strike sending vibrations up his arms. The guy was quiet but carried the weight of a freight train in every movement he took.
Naruto slid back, boots skidding against cracked cement. "His strength's no joke," he thought. "But in his metallic form he's a lot slower."
"Then you need to end this fight quickly brat before that girl kills your friends."
"Yeah, yeah. I get it," Naruto muttered, chakra starting to bleed from his skin in waves.
"You're just doing what you're told, right?" Naruto stepped forward, voice low, steady. "Arkady points. You punch. Real original."
Pyotr didn't waste words. He came in swinging with a heavy right hook.
THUD.
It connected.
Naruto's head jerked to the side but he didn't fall. Didn't even flinch beyond the impact. He turned his gaze back slowly, blood trickling from his lip, a look in his eyes that was part pity, part challenge.
"That it?" he asked, wiping his mouth. "Feels like you're holding back."
Pyotr growled and threw another punch. And another. Fists hammered into Naruto's chest, shoulders, even his ribs but each hit was met with red chakra which boiled over Naruto's form like a second skin.
Pyotr tried to haymaker him.
Naruto ducked and hammered him in the gut.
WHAM.
Pyotr gasped, armor denting under the impact. He stumbled back a step, clutching at his side.
Naruto followed, not giving him time to recoup.
"What'd he promise you, huh?" he said between blows. Left. Right. Elbow to the jaw. "Power? Family? Something to finally make you feel like you're worth something?"
Pyotr tried to punch him but Naruto caught his wrist and drove his fist into Pyotr's chest, sending the bigger teen skidding across the floor.
"Because from where I'm standing," Naruto continued, walking toward him, "you're just being used."
Pyotr's boots scraped as he rose again, steel shimmering across his arms.
He charged.
Naruto let him come.
Another hit to the chest. Another to the side.
Naruto grunted but stayed up.
"You think punching things makes you strong? All I see is someone too scared to stop following orders."
He cracked Pyotr across the face with a brutal backhand, sending him spinning into a pile of broken stone.
Pyotr growled, panting, eyes wild.
Naruto just looked at him calmly.
No anger was present. Just... disappointment.
"You could be more than this. But maybe it's easier being someone else's weapon."
Silence.
"Come on then," he said softly as he prepared his stance. "Show me what you're really fighting for."
On the far side of the station, Kamala and Kate had regrouped.
Ilyana advanced forward, blade dragging against the floor, casting sparks. Her aura pulsed darker, thicker; like the air was growing heavier with every step.
Kamala steadied herself, gauntlets reforming around her hands.
Kate regrouped at her side, arrow nocked, sword slung back over her shoulder. She gave Kamala a look. "Okay. Time to stop solo-queuing this boss."
Kamala cracked her neck. "Co-op mode?"
"Co-op mode."
Ilyana blurred forward again, sword raised high.
Kate moved first, firing an explosive-tipped arrow at Ilyana's feet. It detonated in a burst of smoke and concussive light, staggering her for just a second.
That second was all Kamala needed.
She surged in from the left, slamming a Noor punch into Ilyana's side. The force knocked her back, but not down as her blade lashed out, forcing Kamala to jump back.
"Try that again," Ilyana growled. "See how many limbs you keep."
Kate dashed in from the opposite side, striking low with her sword. Ilyana parried, but not cleanly as Kate ducked the counter and spun out of range before the retaliation landed.
"Keep her off balance!" Kate shouted. "No more giving her room to teleport!"
"Right!" Kamala called. "Time to get annoying!"
"Already are," Ilyana snapped, voice sharp with disdain.
Kamala threw a volley of Noor discs, tight, focused blasts of energy which forced Ilyana to dodge right into Kate's next arrow, which cracked against her armor with a jolt of concussive force.
Ilyana blinked, trying to teleport but Kamala was already there, swinging a glowing Noor whip around her wrist, yanking her out of the shadow portal mid-cast.
"No cheating!" Kamala barked.
Ilyana snarled, barely catching her footing. "You two fight like amateurs. Loud, sloppy, and desperate."
Kate sprinted up and planted a boot in her chest, knocking her back.
"Yeah? And you talk like a Disney villain who's failing math class," Kate shot back.
"Keep talking," Ilyana hissed, shadows flickering up her arms. "I'll carve that smug expression off your face."
"Kamala, go high!" Kate shouted.
Kamala launched her hands upward, forming a Noor platform under Kate's boots as she leapt. Kate flipped mid-air and fired two arrows, one flash, one impact.
The flash blinded. The impact staggered.
Ilyana raised her blade but Kamala was already behind her.
The Noor gauntlet slammed into her back in a hammer-punch that dropped her to one knee.
"You. Insolen-!" Ilyana spat, turning fast, blade crackling. "You think you're winning?"
Kamala panted. "I think we're surviving aggressively."
Her blade surged again, pulsing with dark magic, wild and unstable.
Kate braced, drawing another arrow. "She's powering up."
"Then we hit her harder. You thinking what I'm thinking?"
"Double finisher?"
"Double finisher."
Ilyana screamed in anger and lunged.
Kate fired.
Kamala charged.
The arrow hit her sword hand just as Kamala's Noor blast struck her chest. Her blade flew, skidding across the station floor.
"No!" Ilyana shouted, stumbling.
Kate's final arrow pinned her cloak to the ground.
Kamala didn't stop as she followed through with a rising uppercut, Noor gauntlet blazing.
It hit clean.
Ilyana was launched back, crashing into a stack of collapsed beams with a burst of sparks and a pained grunt.
She groaned, one hand twitching, blood at the corner of her mouth.
"I'm going to kill you both," she hissed, breath ragged. "Then bring you back just so I can do it again."
Kamala flopped to the floor, exhausted. "Cool. Make sure to write that in your evil teen diary in teenie villain prison."
Kate dropped beside her, catching her breath. "We done?"
Ilyana didn't move.
On the other side of the station, the sound of fists slamming concrete echoed like drumbeats of war.
Naruto met Pyotr's charge head-on, both of them crashing fists into each other like titans. Sparks flew. The walls cracked. Floor panels buckled.
"Man," Naruto grunted, sliding back as one of Pyotr's punches clipped his shoulder. "You're built like a tank and you fight like one."
Kurama snorted in his head. "If he were any more straightforward, he'd come with a caution label."
Red chakra snapped off him like wildfire. Naruto ducked, spun low, and drove a chakra charged kick into Pyotr's gut. The teen lifted clean off the ground and slammed into a support beam hard enough to shake the tunnel.
"You really okay with all this?" Naruto said, stepping forward. "Letting people be turned into weapons? Used? Hurt?"
Pyotr said nothing. His metal face was unreadable. The only answer he gave was another charge, faster this time, angrier. A blinding series of punches came at Naruto, forcing him on the defensive. Each hit was like a hammer to his bones.
Naruto caught one, twisted, and slammed Pyotr down into the floor with a sickening crunch. The impact cratered the tile beneath them. Still, Pyotr rose, dents in his metal skin, chest heaving.
"You don't talk much," Naruto muttered. "But I get it. I used to bottle stuff up too."
He kicked off the ground and nailed Pyotr with a straight punch to the chest sending him flying back into a crumbled wall.
Naruto's head snapped up as he froze mid-step, eyes narrowing as a cold ripple crept down his spine.
That feeling again. Hate.
'Behind you!' Kurama's voice roared.
Naruto spun just as Arkady's tendrils slashed toward him, whistling like steel whips. He dodged one, caught another.
Big mistake.
Pain lanced through him, sharp and draining, like ice cutting through veins.
Red chakra sputtered.
"Wha-!" Naruto staggered.
"He's draining your chakra," Kurama growled. "Break free. Now!"
Arkady reeled back, laughing, his coils pulsing with stolen energy. His frame bulged unnaturally, veins glowing red.
"Thank you," he hissed. "You've made me… more."
Naruto dropped to one knee, breathing hard, hand resting on the broken concrete beneath him.
"You should've stayed in the shadows," he growled, chakra starting to blaze back to life but weaker this time.
Arkady raised his arm, new energy crackling in his veins. "And you should have run."
Naruto skidded across the station floor, shoes carving deep grooves into the concrete as he barely dodged another strike from Arkady's tendrils.
Pyotr came in immediately behind it, a heavy right hook swinging toward Naruto's temple with freight-train momentum.
He ducked under it, muscles tight, but didn't get clean. The follow-up elbow clipped his shoulder, staggering him.
Before he could reset, Arkady's coils lashed in from behind. Naruto twisted to meet them, swatting one aside with a chakra-enhanced strike—but the second coiled around his ribs and squeezed. The drain was instant and sharp, like a hand plunging into his lungs and pulling energy out by the fistful.
He gritted his teeth and tore free, gasping.
"Tch, he's draining me of chakra every time I get close," Naruto muttered, jaw clenched tight.
Kurama's voice rumbled in his head, as dry as ever. "Maybe if you trained more and binged less garbage TV, this wouldn't be happening. I told you that 'As The Avengers Turn' was a waste of time."
"Can we not right now, Kurama?" Naruto snapped aloud, barely avoiding a stomp from Pyotr that cracked the ground beneath him.
"Not when you're getting your ass kicked like a school-yard nerd."
Pyotr didn't slow. He threw a straight punch that Naruto blocked with both arms, but the sheer weight of it sent him skidding backwards. Before he could recover, a second blow landed, hammering into his ribs and knocking the wind out of him.
Naruto dropped low and swept Pyotr's legs, finally taking the bigger teen off his feet, but Arkady was already on him.
Coils shot in from the left, wrapping around Naruto's arm and yanking him off balance. He landed hard, shoulder slamming into the floor. Arkady advanced, boots scraping concrete, a smirk pulling at the corner of his mouth.
"Stronger than I expected," he said. "But not smart enough to flee when you had the chance."
Naruto twisted up and drove a knee into Arkady's chest just enough to break the hold, but it had cost him. Pyotr was back on his feet, and he charged like a tank.
The punch caught Naruto full in the gut. He folded around it with a grunt and was sent flying into a steel support beam with a hollow clang.
The impact knocked dust loose from the ceiling. Naruto coughed hard, blood at the corner of his mouth.
Kurama's voice was less sarcastic now. "You good?"
"Yeah," Naruto wheezed, dragging himself to his feet. "Just tired of being a fuckin' punching bag."
He touched his side. Chakra flowed through his body, knitting torn muscle and bruised bone. The ache dulled, but didn't disappear.
"I can take the punches," he muttered, flexing his fingers. "But not forever."
Pyotr and Arkady stood side by side now, Arkady's coils twitching, Pyotr's fists clenched and ready.
Naruto exhaled slowly. His hoodie was scorched in places, blood spattered down one sleeve, and he could already feel chakra thinning out from the repeated damage control.
"You done playing hero, little boy?" Arkady taunted. "Or should we keep educating you?"
Naruto rolled his neck, popping it loud. "You're real smug for someone who's ass I'm about to kick."
Arkady lunged again, and Pyotr followed.
Naruto met them head-on.
This time, he wasn't looking for an opening. He was just trying to survive and figure out a plan
Fists slammed into him, coils lashed, and every movement became reactive. He blocked what he could, took what he couldn't, and every blow added to the weight dragging him down.
He got one good hit in, elbowing Arkady across the jaw, hard enough to draw blood.
But the cost was another blow from Pyotr that sent him tumbling across the floor like a bag of potatoes
He lay there for a second, chest heaving, blood trickling from his nose.
Then he pushed himself up again.
Kurama's voice in his head wasn't mocking now. Just steady.
"Get serious, brat."
"I am," Naruto said, wiping his mouth. "Now I'm just pissed."
For a moment, the station was quiet.
Ilyana didn't move.
Kate let out a slow breath. "Okay. Now we're done."
Then the shadows shifted.
Kamala's head snapped up. "You've gotta be kidd-!"
Ilyana screamed.
Darkness erupted from beneath her in a violent pulse, sending debris flying as her body arched off the ground, cloak flaring with unnatural wind. Her eyes blazed violet, her blade flew back into her hand, summoned by pure rage, and her aura exploded outward like a curse being torn open.
She hovered just off the ground now as shadows crawled up her arms, licking at the corners of her face, burning hotter and more unstable than before.
"You think that was enough?!" she roared, voice raw and cracking. "I've survived worse in Limbo!"
Kate scrambled to her feet, arrow already drawn. "Yup. Phase two."
Kamala winced. "Why is it always phase two?"
Ilyana struck like lightning, no teleport this time, just pure speed, her blade a blur of jagged violet flame. Kate dodged left, but barely. The edge of the strike clipped her shoulder, slicing through her jacket and drawing blood.
"Kate!" Kamala shouted, hurling a Noor shield between them.
Ilyana didn't even blink tearing through the shield like it was butter, blade screeching like it was alive.
"You don't get to stop me!" she howled, driving Kamala back with a flurry of strikes. "You don't get to win!"
Kamala blocked with her gauntlets, each hit sending a jolt up her arms, pushing her closer to the wall. "You're not some tragic anti-hero, you're just a kid throwing a temper tantrum with a murder weapon!"
Kate rolled back into position, panting, and aimed a sonic arrow. "Hey, Xena the Warrior Princess! Ever heard of overcompensation?!"
She fired.
The arrow landed near Ilyana's feet and detonated with a high-pitched pulse that staggered her for half a second; just enough.
"Kamala, now!"
Kamala pushed off the wall, Noor energy flaring bright as she charged, swinging a glowing hammer-form construct with everything she had.
It connected with Ilyana's side and launched her into the air. Before she could hit the ground, Kate fired another arrow, this one chaining her cloak to a cracked support beam mid-fall.
Ilyana hit the ground hard, rolled, and immediately tried to rise; blade glowing, breath ragged, eyes wild.
Kamala stepped forward, arm cocked back.
"You need to stop," she snapped, Noor energy coiling around her knuckles.
She slammed her fist down with a final, direct strike.
It crashed into Ilyana's chest. A flash of light. A shockwave. Then silence.
The blade flickered out of Ilyana's grip. Her body slumped.
No tricks this time.
Just a fifteen-year-old girl, unconscious in a pile of rubble, breath shallow, magic finally burned out.
Kamala stood over her, panting.
Kate joined her side, wiping blood from her lip. "That was... a lot."
Kamala nodded. "She hits harder than some people's trauma."
Kate glanced at Ilyana. "You think she's really done now?"
Kamala looked at her crumpled form, the flickering remnants of dark energy trailing off into nothing.
"Yeah," she said. "She's outta steam for sure."
"We're still co-op mode champions though, right?"
Kate offered a tired fist bump. "Top of the leaderboard."
They sat there, side by side, bruised and bloodied, but still standing.
Naruto lay still for a moment, breathing hard, blood at the corner of his mouth, ribs aching, chakra flickering dim and shallow inside him.
Pyotr cracked his knuckles and took a step forward. Arkady's coils slithered back into place, greedy to taste Naruto's chakra again.
Naruto didn't move.
Didn't speak.
He just stared at the floor. Then he exhaled.
"Breathe.."
Something shifted inside of him
Not anger, or desperation.
Calmness.
His fingers curled against the ground. The still air around him stirred.
He stood slowly, dust rolling off his back.
"…I've been fighting this like a brawler," he muttered. "But I don't need to fight you your way."
Kurama's voice dropped into his head like a thunderclap of relief. "Finally. Took you long enough to figure this shit out."
The fatigue was still there; bruises, cracked ribs, chakra strain. But it didn't matter anymore.
He wasn't going to be a punching bag anymore.
Naruto slid his feet apart, arms loose at his sides, breath evening out.
The air responded.
"Let's change the tempo up a little bit." he said.
Arkady lunged, coils whipping toward him.
Naruto didn't dodge. He stepped in.
A subtle pivot. A snap of his wrist, and a compressed blast of air shot from his palm. Fast, clean, direct. The force hit the coils mid-flight and knocked them wide, scattering sparks as Arkady stumbled back.
Pyotr roared and charged towards him.
Naruto kicked off the floor, wind chakra flaring in his soles. He launched up and over the incoming charge, flipping clean behind Pyotr.
Then came the strike.
A sharp, spinning kick, wind-laced through pure control of chakra. It landed just below Pyotr's ribs and sent him stumbling.
Naruto didn't wait.
He inhaled sharply, lungs filling like a vacuum.
Then he exhaled, a quick, forceful burst from his mouth.
A rapid-fire volley of vacuum shells tore across the space between him and Pyotr. Tight, controlled blasts of compressed air, each one striking with the precision of a sniper rifle.
They hammered Pyotr's chest and arms, disrupting his guard, pushing him back with every shot.
Arkady came again, shouting, fury breaking through his composure. "You think these little tricks are going to save you?!"
Naruto smiled faintly.
He turned his body just enough and slammed an open palm into the general direction of Arkady's chest.
Boom.
The palm strike hit like a shotgun blast, sending Arkady crashing into a wall of steel crates with a metallic crunch. Debris scattered. Arkady didn't dare get up immediately.
Kurama rumbled, "That's more like it."
Pyotr wasn't down yet. He charged again, but Naruto didn't meet him head-on.
He moved like a dancer.
No wasted motion. No tension. Just control.
He weaved between his strikes, landing short, brutal bursts with his palms; impacts of compressed wind.
Pyotr swung wildly. Naruto ducked low and exhaled another short burst of three vacuum shells that struck Pyotr's side and leg, breaking his rhythm.
Another coil lashed toward him but Naruto spun, stepping out of range, and swept with his leg.
The kick dragged a compressed arc of air with it, wide and forceful, that slammed both Pyotr and Arkady off their feet and into a cloud of dust and broken concrete.
Silence fell.
Naruto straightened in the center of the station, standing tall, his breath steady and calm.
He was just getting warmed up.
Arkady hacked violently in the rubble of the crater he lay in, struggling to breathe, one coil twitching weakly.
Pyotr rose slowly, bruised, limping now, steel skin now turned back in to flesh.
Naruto cracked his knuckles, then rolled his shoulders, eyes sharp.
Naruto stood in the dust, wind curling around his ankles like smoke. "You're finished."
Blood dripped from the tall boy's nose, his breaths shallow and broken, but his eyes were locked on Arkady, lying crumpled on the floor.
Pyotr took a step forward, then stopped. For the first time, his elder brother looked small.
Naruto didn't move. He just watched.
A ripple of violet light split the air near Pyotr, swirling open into a stepping disk. Ilyana stepped through bruised and quiet as smoke, her cloak trailing behind her like shadows.
Her eyes swept over the scene, the shattered tunnel, Arkady broken and bleeding, Pyotr barely standing.
Then Naruto.
She didn't draw her blade. She didn't think she stood a good chance against someone who could beat both her brothers at the same time.
Pyotr glanced at her, then back at Arkady. His jaw clenched.
"He made his choice," he muttered, voice hoarse. "We're done here."
Ilyana gave a single nod. No argument. No hesitation.
Pyotr limped toward the portal, his steps uneven, slow. Naruto didn't move. Their eyes met in passing.
Pyotr stepped through the disk and vanished.
Ilyana stayed for a beat longer, her gaze locked on Naruto now. Not challenging. Just… curious.
"You could've stopped us," she said, soft but certain.
Naruto's expression didn't change.
"I know," he said. "Didn't want to."
Ilyana studied him for a moment longer, then turned.
The portal sealed behind her with a quiet hum,
And just like that, Arkady was alone.
Naruto watched them vanish, then turned back to Arkady, who was trying to crawl with one hand toward a chunk of metal.
"Don't bother," he said, voice low.
Before Arkady could curse him out.
BOOM.
The tunnel exploded with movement. Lights blazed. Boots thundered.
Rappelling cables dropped from above, floodlights flared to life, and the air filled with the whump of boots hitting concrete.
Within seconds, a dozen SABER agents swarmed the scene, rifles raised and locked.
"HANDS WHERE WE CAN SEE 'EM!" one barked.
Naruto sighed, lifting his arms half-heartedly. "Of course."
Kate raised an eyebrow, bow still in hand. "Relax, G.I. Jane. We're the good guys."
Kamala put her hands up quickly, glancing between the agents. "We definitely don't want trouble! Unless it's bad guy trouble, in which case we already handled it, so… you're welcome?"
The lead agent stepped forward, dressed in full tactical gear, her earpiece blinking. Her SABER badge caught the light.
"Stand down," she snapped. "Now."
Naruto didn't flinch. "You're late."
She glared. "We've been monitoring this operation for months. You were supposed to stay out of it. Arkady wasn't just a threat, he was a lead. A major supplier to six different criminal syndicates. We were tracking the buyers, the movement. The paper trail. And now…"
She swept a hand toward the rubble, where Arkady groaned, thoroughly beaten.
"…thanks to you, the only thing those buyers will know is their supplier got taken out by a bunch of upstart, underage, vigilantes playing hero."
Kate crossed her arms, unimpressed. "You're welcome for the part where we didn't die. That was cool of us."
Kamala stepped forward, voice calm but firm. "You were watching him hurt people. You knew what he was doing, and you waited."
"It was strategic containment," the agent snapped. "We had it under control."
"No," Naruto cut in. "You had it under surveillance. There's a difference."
The wind stirred again soft and steady, lifting dust and cracked debris in gentle spirals at his feet. The edges of his hoodie fluttered.
"I don't care what badge you flash or what desk signs your paycheck," he said, tone cold but even. "People were getting hurt. So we stopped it."
The agent took a step closer, trying to loom. "You just blew months of intelligence work. Do you have any idea what kind of damage you've caused?"
"I saved lives," Naruto said, meeting her eyes. "If that messes with your paperwork? Boo fucking hoo."
Kate leaned toward Kamala and whispered, "He's gonna get us all on a watchlist."
Kamala whispered back, "Worth it."
The agent opened her mouth, furious.
But one of her own operatives stepped forward. "We've got him. Alive. Confirmed. He's not going anywhere."
Her jaw tightened. Again.
Naruto gave her one last look. "SABER? Does that stand for 'Sorry, Arrived But Everything's Resolved?'"
He turned, walking past the agents without a second glance. Kate followed with a casual finger-gun salute. Kamala gave a small, awkward wave, mouthing "sorry" and "not really" at the same time.
Kurama's voice echoed in Naruto's head.
"You really can't help yourself, huh?"
"Nope," Naruto popped with extra emphasis of the p. "And I don't want to."
Kamala flopped dramatically onto the beanbag chair in the center of the room, limbs sprawled out lazily.
"Okay," she said between deep breaths, "can we just talk about how insane today was? Because I am still emotionally vibrating."
Kate sat on the arm of the couch, sipping soda like it was a fine vintage. "We survived a superpowered Russian criminal terrorist and his terrible siblings. I think that earns us at least a little respect and a commemorative mug."
Naruto stood at the window, hoodie half-zipped, hair slightly messy.
Kamala pointed at him, eyes wide.
"And you!" she said, grinning. "You were all like, 'whoosh!', and then the wind exploded, and Arkady went boom into the ceiling, and Kate was up in the rafters like Robin Hood, and then I dropkicked Goth Xena the Warrior Princess into a whole pillar! It was like, live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender, but with realistic CGI!"
Kate raised her hand. "I would like to formally object to being labeled the female Robin Hood"
Kamala ignored her. "And then that SABER lady came in all mad like 'You've ruined months of our operation!' and Naruto was just like.." she dropped her voice, imitating him, "'Boo-hoo.' I died. You were so cool and stoic, it was borderline anime protagonist."
Naruto blinked slowly. "…I wasn't trying to be."
"That's what makes it worse!" Kamala groaned, kicking her feet. "You're effortlessly cool."
Kate tossed a napkin at Kamala. "Please stop enabling him, you're going to give him a big head."
Kamala caught it. "Too late. I'm writing this all down in the team newsletter."
"Please tell me we don't have a team newsletter," Kate muttered.
"We will," Kamala said brightly. "It'll have monthly highlights, training schedules, and a shipping section."
Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Shipping like… boats?"
Kamala and Kate stared at him.
"…Oh," he said. "That shipping."
Kate looked mildly alarmed. "I'd like to be excluded from that narrative."
"You would say that," Kamala smirked.
They all laughed.
Naruto finally sat down on the floor beside the coffee table, leaning back on his palms.
"We made a good team," he said quietly.
Kate raised her soda. "To not dying."
Kamala raised hers too. "To kicking villain butt."
Naruto raised his glass "To ramen."
They clinked their cups together.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
Kate raised an eyebrow. "We expecting an Amazon delivery?"
Kamala shook her head. "Nope."
Naruto stood up with a groan, stretching out his shoulders. "Probably someone with the wrong address."
He swung the door open, then blinked.
Tall. Bald. Black trench coat. Eye patch. The kind of presence that filled the whole hallway without saying a word.
Naruto glanced over his shoulder. "Hey, it's some dude cosplaying Nick Fury."
Then he looked back.
"…Okay. That's a really good cosplay."
Nick Fury didn't react.
"We need to talk."
AN: Naruto has not entered any forms, this is all base form. His chakra is just so potent that it's visual to the naked eye. Plus he doesn't have the best control of it as his chakra is tied to his emotional state. (As you see when human trafficking is mentioned, he loses control of his chakra but quickly reigns it in)
Don't worry Magik and Colossus aren't finished at all. I love their characters. Also I love how Kate is like the big sister/leader of the group. Kamala is the follower, and Naruto is just the mf'er who doesn't give af.