Hello, everyone! I meant to get this finished before New Year's, but of course life happened! I guess it's fitting, seeing as how Young Justice Season 3 will release in only a couple of days, so I guess this is as good as any a time to celebrate! Enjoy!

"AHH!" Superboy pounded against the barrier, breaking down the wall but the barrier of energy remained and kept them inside.

"Enough!" Aqualad ordered him. "Brute force alone isn't going to get us out of here!"

"Then what is!?" Superboy shouted. "Perdita's in danger, Naruto's about to be killed, and Sasuke and Sakura are on Death's Door! We can't just wait for help!"

"I didn't say we should give up!" Aqualad shouted back. "We should confront the ninja responsible for this directly!"

"They haven't bothered us." Robin said. "Seems like they really do have to hold still to keep this up."

"Should be easy." Artemis said. "They're basically sitting ducks."

"Yeah." Robin said as he rubbed his chin. "It seems TOO easy." He warned her. "Surely they thought about what could happen if someone attacked them like this?"

"You're probably right." Aqualad said. "Superboy, Artemis, Robin. We will be leading this offensive. Superboy, you take the Upper West Wing. Robin, Lower East. Artemis, Lower West, and I will take the Upper East."

"What about us?" Zatanna asked.

"Miss Martian will stay in contact with Naruto. And both of you will be on standby to help him directly if we manage to break the barrier." The Atlantean then turned to run. "Let's move!"

Deathstroke charged and brought his sword down. Naruto rolled away, but noticed his left sleeve was torn and his arm sported a superficial cut; this man was fast! "Can't worry about that now!" Naruto ran towards the assassin, and twisted in the air with a spinning kick.

Deathstroke easily caught it, and pushed him away, Naruto falling on his back. "Stronger than the girl. Worse technique than the other boy."

Naruto forced himself up. "What did you do to them!?"

"What I'm about to do to you." Deathstroke charged as he swung his sword again. Naruto clumsily dodged; he had a feeling the masked man was toying with him.

Meanwhile, Perdita desperately tried to untie the bolos that restrained Kid Flash. As soon as she touched it, Perdita screamed as an electric current ran through her and pulled back. "Perdita stop it!" Kid Flash shouted. "Just find a place to hide! NOW!"

"NO! I'm not leaving either one of you!" Perdita shouted back. Still, she knew she couldn't do anything to help him.

Naruto quickly created more bushin, and charged right at Deathstroke. "Duplicates. I wonder…" Deathstroke spun and cut them all down as he swung his sword in several arcs. As they vanished, Deathstroke gave a perplexed look under his mask. "Hm. Solid, but not filled with blood." Looking back to Naruto, he then said "And obviously no effect on you. Quite a useful tool…if the user has the brains to use them."

"Aw, shut up!" Naruto created more clones and they all dogpiled on Deathstroke.

The assassin quickly dispatched all of them with a couple of kicks and a slash. The last one managed to throw a birdarang before Deathstroke cut him down. And of course, he caught the birdarang in his hand. "All for-" Deathstroke then realized something: they were all gone. All of them. "Where'd he go?" he thought as he looked around.

Suddenly, the birdarang transformed into the real Naruto. "Who's the brainless one now!?" Naruto took advantage of his surprise and kicked the sword out of his hand. The blade clattered down to the courtyard below, out of reach. On reflex and anger, Deathstroke punched him back. Naruto clenched his stomach as he flew back 20 feet; it definitely hurt a lot. Strength wise, this guy was probably on par with Zabuza! "Ouch." Still, Naruto forced himself up as he chuckled. "You're unarmed now."

Naruto simply ran straight at him, confident he was no longer lethal. "Don't be too sure about that, little fool…" Deathstroke reached behind his back and pulled out a metallic stick. It extended, and shot a laser out of the end pointing at the genin.

Naruto narrowly reacted in time, ducking under it. "AHH!" Still, the laser singed his right shoulder and burned his other sleeve.

"I always have more than one trick up my sleeve." Deathstroke said. He twisted his staff and pointed the other end at him, a blade extending out of it. Not one to waste time, Slade charged.

Superboy ran down to his corner, seeing Jirobo sitting in the lotus position, his back turned to him. "Why do you want the Queen dead so bad?" Superboy asked.

"We could care less about her." Jirobo replied, not getting up. "We're just here to help Deathstroke."

Superboy growled, and charged. He punched, but his fists bounced back as Jirobo remained unharmed. "Wha-?"

"You don't think we would just leave ourselves vulnerable now, do you?"

Artemis fired her crossbow at Tauya. The arrows bounced off what seemed to be a force field. "Damn it!"

Robin tried kicking at Sakon and Ukon, but he felt himself pushed back without touching them. Robin quickly threw a birdarang, the projectile exploding once it was in close proximity. However, Sakon remained in place, as if nothing happened. "In addition to keeping you in this barrier, we create barriers to protect US." Sakon explained.

"If you want to break through, you're going to have to do a lot better than that!" Kidomaru taunted Aqualad as his electricity faded out. The Spider-Kid laughed as he watched the Atlantean fall onto his hands and knees, sweating profusely…dangerous for his kind. "We can't move, but on the plus side, the chakra barriers absorb all energy!"

"Something's wrong." Miss Martian noted.

"Yeah." Zatanna agreed. "They're taking too long." Zatanna looked at the ship above. "Can't you direct the ship to attack Deathstroke!?"

"I could." Miss Martian said. "But I don't think it would be precise enough; I could risk knocking the others off, including the Queen! Besides, Perdita is not in danger. Not from Deathstroke." Miss Martian looked at Naruto, scrambling to get away from Deathstroke. "But I can still help Naruto through other means." Her eyes glowed green…

"AH!" Naruto barely managed to jump back from a slash that cut across his midsection. Thankfully the cut was superficial; a second later and his guts would have spilled out.

The assassin looked at the small smear on his blade. "Not enough." Deathstroke said. "I require more."

"Naruto!" Miss Martian called to him. "Can you hear me!?"

"Yeah!" Naruto jumped away from another strike. "For all the good that will do! What are you doing!?"

"We're trapped in a force field of some kind! The others are working on it! Right now, follow my instructions, and I'll guide you through his attacks!"

"Okay!"

Naruto began to dodge Deathstroke's strikes better, this time not getting cut. "Mm. Second wind."

"Miss Martian." Naruto called back. "Get Perdita and Kid Flash out of here."

"He'll go after them."

Naruto was momentarily distracted, which allowed Deathstroke to smack him across the face with his stick. Naruto nearly rolled off the roof again, grabbing hold of the edge. "He won't!" he said. "He had every opportunity to take her, and he didn't!" Naruto scurried like a monkey as Deathstroke tried to grab hold of him. "His focus is on me for some reason! While we have a chance, get Perdita!" Naruto finally jumped back up to the roof as he ran across the stick in an unusual show of agility. Deathstroke twirled the staff to throw him off, but Naruto landed on his feet.

"Okay." Miss Martian reluctantly agreed. "I'm sending the ship over now."

Miss Martian commanded her ship to move away from above the hall, hoping he was right.

"YAHH!" Deathstroke began to make more aggressive slashes. Though some of Naruto's hair flew in the wind, the genin managed to come out unscathed. "Enough of this!" Deathstroke yelled.

Naruto panted in relief. "He's getting frustrated."

"I grow tired of this, boy!" Deathstroke made for a stabbing motion, but Naruto charged under it. Unexpectedly, he jumped right in front of Deathstroke and jumped up, punching him in the face. "Uhn!" Naruto quickly followed with a kick to the shin. Deathstroke quickly countered with a dropping elbow, which Naruto blocked. When a thrust kick came towards him, Naruto put his arms up. Though the contact made his arms sting like hell, he was still conscious; that was what counted. "You're getting better." Deathstroke noted. Just then, he saw the ship pull up over the Queen and Kid Flash. Though Deathstroke had no interest in the Queen, if Kid Flash got free, this could go south. "Like hell I'm letting you all get away!" He reached into his belt, and pulled out a grenade.

When Naruto saw it tossed towards them, he knew it was trouble. "NO!" Naruto ran towards them and created a barrier of clones. The explosive went off, and it was more powerful than Naruto anticipated. His clones were knocked back, sending Kid Flash and Perdita tumbling to the ground below. Though Naruto was dazed, as he saw both fall to the ground, he knew he had to act. Naruto used one of his clones as a platform and jumped towards Perdita, embracing her. Another clone reached for Kid Flash. In no time, they all hit the ground. "AH!" Naruto managed to keep Perdita safe, but he felt his shoulder dislocate.

Kid Flash also made it out okay, the clone being a sufficient cushion, but the landing still hurt like hell. "Ohhh…" he moaned.

"Ugh." Naruto pushed himself off. "Sorry about that." Naruto then noticed Perdita was sweating and panting profusely. "Perdita? You okay?"

Perdita blinked her eyes. "I…I think my heart is acting up. The transplant is new; I don't think it can handle this much stress at once yet."

Naruto gulped. If this kept going, just witnessing the fighting could kill her. "Miss M?" Naruto asked, speaking aloud. "You there?"

"I'm still here. What's going on!?"

"Something explosive. I don't know what happened to the armored guy, but I don't think he's done! If this goes on much longer, just watching is going to kill her! You guys have got to break out of there!" Naruto warned her.

"They're trying! Just hold on!"

Suddenly, Naruto turned to see Deathstroke standing across from him. "Sorry for the wait." He said as he slashed his blade across the air. "Had to get my sword."

Naruto gritted his teeth. "Shit."

"YAH!" Robin kicked against the barrier again to no avail, Sakon and Ukon only laughing. "As long as we breathe, you're not getting through to us!" Ukon yelled.

Robin gritted his teeth…and under his mask, his eyes widened. "Of course!" he smacked himself. Quickly, he pulled out another birdarang. "Thanks for the clue!" Robin let it fly, making sure it landed next to Sakon's barrier. The sidekick quickly pulled out a rebreather to filter what was about to come.

The projectile then let out a green gas, quickly enveloping the twins. The two coughed profusely as soon as they inhaled it. "You…" Before they could finish their insult, they fell over on the floor, hard.

Robin saw the barrier dissipate soon after. "Yes!" he pumped his fist. He quickly got to work tying the two up in a cord. "Everyone! I got mine! How's the barrier coming?"

"It's gone!" Miss Martian announced as she and Zatanna saw the purple haze fade from view. "We're going to help Naruto now! The rest of you, finish up as soon as you can!" Miss Martian levitated Zatanna off the floor and floated the two of them out.

Kidomaru looked around as soon as he saw the barrier break down. "No! Impossible!"

"I was right." Aqualad calmly approached him, his water bearer swords drawn. "It seems the barrier depends on all four of you to concentrate. I had a feeling Robin would be the first of us to make a break-through." Kidomaru backed away, his lower left arm drawing a kunai. Aqualad suddenly sheathed his weapons and turned around. "I suggest you take off. No doubt Batman will have my head for this, but protecting Naruto and the Queen takes priority. We'll get you and your friends…next time." As Aqualad ran towards the hall, a net of webbing suddenly blocked him. "Ugh!"

"You ain't going anywhere, punk!" Kidomaru shouted. Kidomaru jumped towards him, but Aqualad pulled his arm free and stopped him with his hand, electrocuting him as soon as they made contact. Kidomaru flew back, but was not out as he somersaulted back on his feet.

"Damn it!" Aqualad hissed as he twirled his water-bearer. "This may take a while." He worried.

"Well done." Tauya said to Artemis as she calmly stood to face her. "You took down the barrier." Seeing Artemis' wounded arm, she smirked. "Now what?"

Artemis chuckled nervously. "I…actually didn't think that far ahead."

Tauya charged. Artemis raised her crossbow, but Tauya sidestepped her and landed a twisting flip kick to Artemis' back, the archer sliding across the floor. "You should have sat back while you had an excuse." Tauya said as she twirled her flute, standing over her.

"I'm a hero, dumbass. We NEVER have excuses." Artemis then fired the crossbow at the ground, the arrow spewing smoke.

Tauya covered her face as she tried to avoid breathing in the fumes. Soon enough, her visibility improved, but Artemis was nowhere to be found. Quickly, Tauya made a few hand signs. "Oto Bushin no Jutsu!" Another Tauya spawned out of nowhere and made a beeline for the door. "If you want to get to your friends, and scramble your brains doing so, be my guest." She warned as her clone placed herself at the doorway. "My clone is designed to explode with a high frequency sound. So make a run for it, if you dare!"

"AH!" Jirobo reacted faster than Superboy anticipated; the fat nin tackled him immediately and smashed him clear through one wall. Superboy was used to taking beatings that everyone else on his team would have blacked out from, but he was in no mood to fool around. Quickly, he grabbed Jirobo's shoulders and placed his leg at his groin. Using his momentum, Superboy rolled down and propelled Jirobo upwards, his boot forcing him to fly upwards through the roof. "Thanks Black Canary!"

Superboy jumped through the hole, intending to go for Naruto, but Jirobo tackled him again from behind, both tumbling down to the courtyard. "I don't have time for this!" Superboy pressed his hand against Jirobo's face and rolled, pinning him on the ground. Jirobo managed to kick him off, and as soon as the Boy of Steel was off him, Jirobo pressed his hands on the ground as the cement around Superboy encased him in a closed dome. "What the-!?" Superboy punched the walls; it felt like the densest sponge in existence, his blows being absorbed by the wall.

Deathstroke charged, holding his sword in a thrusting position. It seemed Naruto was dead in his sights. However, he was thrown off course when Kid Flash ran into him. Deathstroke stumbled, but the collision caused the speedster to use up his energy as he nearly collapsed on his knees. Quickly, Naruto supported him. "Remind me to bring emergency snacks for you!" Naruto stated.

"Not a bad idea." Kid Flash agreed. "It's been a bad couple of days for me."

Deathstroke kiyuped back onto his feet and unleashed a pistol. Naruto, having recognized what those weapons could do, pushed Kid Flash out of the way and rolled. Quickly, he summoned another Kage Bushin. The clone transformed into an oversized shuriken. Naruto didn't miss a beat as he grabbed it and threw it at Slade. Deathstroke deflected it with his sword, but he almost didn't sense that the shuriken suddenly made a sharp turn back towards him, as if some other force was driving it at high speed! "What-!?" Deathstroke jumped out of the way, it's spike embedding deep in the concrete.

"Barg sih selkna!"

The concrete morphed into hands, grabbing Deathstroke's ankles. He looked up, seeing Miss Martian and Zatanna in the air. "Damn! Just a few seconds-!"

"You're not going anywhere, now!" the two Narutos shouted as they ran towards Deathstroke and punched him in the face.

Kid Flash got another burst of energy, as he circled the assassin and landed several super-fast punches on his person. "Ow! Don't think-ow!-I didn't-DAMN!-come-oof!-prepared for this!"

Deathstroke dropped an object at his feet, which dispelled at electric charge that blew Kid Flash away. "AHH!" The speedster tumbled away, out for the count this time. Not one to waste any time, Deathstroke expertly cut his stone shackles, his expertise preventing his blade from getting chipped.

"Esacne mih-!"

Recognizing that as an incantation, Deathstroke quickly threw a flashbang grenade at Zatanna, the blast knocking her out cold. "Take a time out kid."

Suddenly he felt himself being pushed across the concrete by nothing, and quickly lifted into the air. Miss Martian approached him, her eyes glowing green. Not taking any chances, Deathstroke pointed what seemed to be a spray can, and fired napalm into her face. "AH!" Deathstroke felt gravity take hold of him and landed on his feet, while Miss Martian fell onto the concrete.

"You bastard!" Naruto rushed him and punched him across the face.

"Oof!" Naruto landed, ready for more, but Deathstroke could see from his flushed face he was on his last legs. The assassin quickly kneed him in the face, causing him to tumble and fall face first. "Finally." Deathstroke sighed, pulling out his syringe gun. "His technique was terrible, but his stamina was incredible." Suddenly, Perdita ran over to him, shielding him. "You're in the way." He warned her.

Aqualad brought down his water swords, while Kidomaru blocked with his gold boomerangs. Of course, having six arms, attacking at the same time wasn't an issue for him. His middle arms stretched forward as they tried to cut Aqualad's stomach horizontally. Aqualad jumped back, his uniform torn but not bleeding. "I know I connected!" "You've got thick skin." The spider-kid noted.

"I'm Atlantean. I SHOULD." Kidomaru charged again, all arms slashing at Aqualad. The Team Leader quickly formed a water shield to compensate for the disadvantage of having two arms compared to Kidomaru's six. His right sword turned into a hammer, as he bashed Kidomaru away.

Still, the ninja rolled with it and flipped up into the wall behind him. "Get him now!" Suddenly, several spiders descended from the roof and bit into Aqualad.

"AH!" The spiders were the size of large rats, and even their fangs managed to pierce Aqualad and were strong enough to lift him off the floor.

"I summoned them a while ago; I didn't have enough strength to summon the mother." Kidomaru said as the spiders began to cocoon him up.

"Lucky me." Aqualad growled. Quickly, he sliced the webs and charged for Kidomaru.

He surprised Kidomaru with his superb strength, easily knocking him into the wall and leaving a nice crack in it. "Ugh." Kidomaru hugged his ribs.

"You can't use those weird markings, can you?" Aqualad said, standing over him. "I'm guessing they take a lot of stamina to use, and you still haven't recovered from that night."

"Don't get so cocky, waterboy!" Kidomaru jumped and tackled him. While Aqualad held his neck back, Kidomaru opened his mouth, revealing his fangs.

"It's Aqualad. And I'm not just known for water." Aqualad's tattoos glowed, and Kidomaru screamed as the electricity flowed through him. He flew back to where to the wall, and slumped into unconsciousness. Having nothing to restrain him with, Aqualad chose to let him go and ran to aid Naruto. "Hang on, Naruto! We're coming!" he thought as he ran down the hall.

Tauya growled. "Is she ever going to show?" A part of her was content to just stay here…as long as the mission was finished. But Tauya was never a patient one. She wanted the pleasure of snapping her neck, now! "You know…your friends are about to die." She said, goading her missing opponent. "Deathstroke isn't taking any prisoners…and your friends can't hold off the others forever. Oh, and those two? From my world? I know they're in dire straits. The longer you stall here, the closer to death they'll come." Still no answer. Tauya growled, and threw an explosive kunai at a random bookcase. The shelf was destroyed, but no sign of a body.

Tauya yelled. "Where are you!?" As she searched back and fourth out of her peripherals, she caught movement. Artemis was running down the hall. "What-!?" "How'd she get past me!?" Tauya sped after her, running along the walls. She quickly caught up to her…but when she pounced on her, she just went through her and landed face first on the floor. "OW!"

"Hologram arrow." Artemis stood above her, dragging along the sound clone in a net. Artemis then took and arrow and made a motion to stab her. To her relief, the tip was flat and expanded into foam, entrapping her with the clone. "Gotta go. Have fun." Artemis ran down the hall but stopped. "Oh, and just for good measure-!" Artemis used her good arm to throw a sharp arrow into the Tauya clone and cleared the area as an explosion of sound destroyed the floor and anything made of glass.

Jirobo panted as he stared at the dome he created. It looked like Superboy wasn't coming out, and he heard the attacks stop. He smirked, confident he drained his chakra. "Got him." Suddenly two hands erupted from the concrete below him, grabbing his ankles. "What-!?" Suddenly, he was pulled down through the ground. After being dragged through a solid layer of rock, he finally hit a body of shallow water in the sewers below.

He sat up, seeing Superboy in front of him. "You forgot to lock up the bottom. Wasn't made of whatever that weird substance was." Jirobo snarled as he shot back up to tackle Superboy, and punched him across the face. He was still hard as a rock, but he saw him bleed; his powers were drained. Jirobo threw a few punches on his opponent's person, actually managing to hurt him.

However, Superboy was by no means done, as he retaliated with a headbutt to Jirobo's nose. "Uhh!" Jirobo grabbed his nose, feeling the bones break into powder. Superboy quickly followed with a knee to his stomach, and finished it by grabbing him in a hug, and throwing him over with a suplex. Superboy quickly backed away with his guards up. Seeing Jirobo was just laying there, and hearing a depressed heartbeat, Superboy relaxed, confident he was knocked out.

In hindsight, Superboy was glad he learned these moves from Black Canary. Not only were these moves handy to have in the rare occasions Superboy did meet a physical match, but they were fun to do as well. Truthfully though, he wasn't satisfied. He remembered seeing Jirobo's transformation back on the beach, how he outclassed him then. Superboy hoped to fight him in that form again. However, the Queen was the priority right now. Seeing the metal bars in the grates, he ripped one off. Quickly hoisting the unconscious sound ninja up, he pulled his arms behind his back and wrapped them in a steel pipe, jamming the ends into the brick wall. "Time to get out of here." Superboy jumped up and through the roof.

As Deathstroke stood in front of Perdita, he sighed. "Very well. It's too bad; you weren't one of my targets."

As he raised his sword, someone else ran forward and kicked the side of his blade, forcing it away. Robin stood in his way, escrima stakes raised. "Get him out of here! I'll hold him off!" Perdita struggled to lift Naruto, her breathing erratic. Still, she somehow managed to carry him and run away. Deathstroke attacked, Robin focusing on defense and dodging the sword. Robin kicked back at him, and though he managed to hurt Deathstroke, he did little to actually damage him. Deathstroke performed a horizontal slash, Robin blocking with his escrima sticks crossed. However, Deathstroke's power and weight was enough to send Robin flying back, his sticks forced out of his hands. Catching a break, Deathstroke took the moment to aim a gun at Perdita. "NO!" Robin let his last Bridarang fly, knocking the gun from Deathstroke's hand.

"That's it!" Deathstroke surprisingly sheathed his sword, and ran towards Robin. He grabbed the boy by the collar, and before he could counter, slammed him onto the concrete. He didn't let up, punching his body with abandon.

Perdita looked back, horrified at what she was seeing. "Hey." Naruto whispered. He finally managed to stand on his own feet, but Perdita could see he was shaking. "Get out of here. We've got to finish this."

"You can barely stand!"

"I got one more thing up my sleeve. If it doesn't work…we're probably in deep trouble." Perdita nodded, and reluctantly headed to the corner to hide. "Hey, you big ugly tin can!" Naruto called.

Deathstroke gave Naruto his attention as he finally knocked out Robin with a swift punch across the face. Dropping him, Deathstroke stared down on Naruto and pulled out his sword. "Well then, come on."

Naruto took a deep breath, and put his hands together. "Kage Bushin no Jutsu!" Several clones appeared and charged at Deathstroke.

"Disappointing!" Deathstroke said as he cut one clone down. "It seems you're all talk! All you're good for is creating more useless copies of you!" Deathstroke kicked another away. "I hate to break it to you, but every multiple of zero is still zero!" The assassin raised his gun and shot another Naruto clone in the head, as if to prove a point. Little did he know, these clones truly were distractions, as one stayed with the original Naruto, helping him mold his chakra into a ball, careful to do so behind his back. "I'll be taking your blood now!" Deathstroke yelled as he sliced the remaining clones in a horizontal slash.

Slade fired another round, but by sheer luck he only hit the remaining clone as the real Naruto charged straight at him, holding out his new signature attack. "And I'm taking you down! Rasengan!" Naruto jammed the sphere right into Deathstroke's sternum.

As a professional, pain was nothing knew to Deathstroke; he had suffered and recovered from several wounds that would have crippled others. But he wasn't prepared for something like this! The energy swirled at such high speed, the kinetic energy blasted through his Promethium armor like it was nothing! It was like his body was being twisted just in that one spot, concentrating its damage. "AAGH!" Deathstroke flew away, his body blasting clear through the palace wall. Naruto collapsed on one knee, the experience exhausting him.

Finally, the rest of the team arrived, clearing the roof and coming down to the ground. "Naruto!" Aqualad ran to him, helping him. "Are you alright?"

"I think so." Naruto groaned. He hissed as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Think he got me."

"You're fine." Artemis said as she inspected the mark. "And the Queen?"

"I'm here." Perdita said as she walked up to them. Her breathing was heavy, but it was beginning to slow. "I'm okay."

Superboy looked to where Deathstroke was thrown through the wall and ran up to it. Seeing he wasn't anywhere in sight under normal human vision, he used his super senses. He found the shape of a human, outlined by body heat, laying across a motorcycle as he retreated. He was probably about 300 meters away. "I'm going after him!" Superboy prepared to leap.

"Belay that!" Aqualad commanded him. "Queen Perdita was not Deathstroke's target, and the threats against her have been neutralized. Our mission is complete."

"Besides…" Artemis said. "…I think the army's been called in. I think I hear a tank rolling up. If the country's politics are anything like I've heard…they're not going to be happy when they see us."

"We better hurry to the Bioship." Miss Martian answered. "We need to get out of here before they see us, and we need to get Sakura and Sasuke medical attention!"

"I'll buy you some time." Perdita spoke up. The others turned to look at her. "They're here to protect me. If I make it out of here, they'll bring me to a safehouse and the palace itself will be of low priority for a time. That should allow you to leave without their knowledge."

Everyone nodded. "Thank you, your majesty." Aqualad saluted respectfully.

Quickly, Perdita ran up to Kid Flash and gave him a hug. "Ow!" Kid Flash winced from her putting too much pressure on his ribs.

"Sorry." Perdita stepped back. Quickly, she bowed. "Thank you."

"Hey, didn't too much. Just minor assist."

"But it still saved my life." Perdita smiled. Then, she looked to Naruto. Running up to him, she gave him a hug. "Naruto…" she whispered. "…thank you." She then gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, causing Naruto to choke and turn red in surprise.

As Perdita ran off, Naruto turned to Robin. "Please don't tell Sakura." He whispered.

Robin chuckled. "I hate to break it to you, but I don't think you have anything to worry about from her."

Deathstroke groaned as he got his motorcycle into cruise control, the vehicle using a homing beacon to drive him to his plane. With that done, he was able to lean forward and wallow in his pain. "It's taking longer than usual to heal…that move must have damaged my very cells!"

Some time passed as he saw his mini-plane. He quickly took control and guided his motorcycle inside. He forced himself into the pilot seat in order to make his plane take off. Once he was at a good altitude, he turned on the autopilot. He then groaned, forcing himself up as he fell back onto a small cot in the loading bay. The assassin continued to vocalize his pain as he reached under his mask and threw it to the floor. "Shit!" He cursed. As tempting as it was to fall back and pass out, he had to make a call.

Quickly, he dialed a contact on a cell phone. "Mr. Slade, I presume the mission went well?" the voice of his butler asked.

"I wouldn't say it went 'well', Charles, but yes. I finished it." He wheezed, holding up his needle gun. Inside were tubes of three different samples. He thought back to that battle with the blond one. Just as the punk nailed him with that strange energy attack, he jammed the gun into his neck, retrieving the sample. "One of them packed quite a punch. Prepare the medical bay, just in case. And let Mr. Luthor know I have his samples ready."

"Consider it done, sir." The butler hung up, and Slade laid back, finally allowing himself to pass out.

No one could recall when in recent history an assault on the palace occurred, especially on this grand a scale. The army said they trained for such an incident, but if General Anton were to be honest, he had no idea what to do. All he knew was that intelligence informed him those damned superhumans were involved! One wrong move and they could put the Queen herself in danger! "Sir!" one of the soldiers approached him. "It has fallen quiet! Orders, sir?"

The general looked back to the crowd that gathered, their hearts pouring out to their young queen and silently begging for their armed forces to do something. Anton breathed deep and made a decision. "Storm the palace and secure the Queen. If you find anyone who doesn't belong, kill them!" Anton raised his hand, ready to order the palace gates be blown down by the tank he brought. "Ready- "

"Don't shoot!" A little girl's voice shouted. Slowly, the gate was pried open as a frazzled and bruised Perdita stepped out. "I'm okay."

"My Queen!" The general ran over to her. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. I got away; I don't think the assassins are there anymore." She breathed. "Please, have your army sweep the palace for survivors."

The general nodded, and he silently directed his troops to storm the palace. Anton then wrapped a blanket around her, picking her up like she was his own. "Will you need anything else, my queen?"

Perdita looked up, seeing the transparent outline of some kind of plane. It must have been how the team got here. "I just need some rest."

"Oooh…" Sakura's eyes blinked as her vision struggled to focus.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto grasped her hand.

"Naruto?" she whispered. Remembering all that happened, she shot up.

"Whoa, stay down!" Robin shouted, easing her back down onto a medical table she didn't recall being on the ship. "It's cool. The queen is safe, and the bad guys are defeated. Mission accomplished."

"Oh, good." Sakura sighed. She looked over to see Sasuke being tended to by Miss Martian, using her telekinesis to stich his wounds as a needle and thread flowed between him and the air.

"I'm just glad you're both okay." Naruto sighed.

Sakura smiled slightly. "I'm glad YOU'RE okay, Naruto. You're way too reckless for your own good. And that was AFTER you improved.".

Naruto smiled back. "Well, for our first mission as heroes, not bad. Right?"

Sakura laughed painfully, careful not to reopen her wounds. "Yeah. Not bad at all."

Gotham City

UTC 17:00

"Ow!" Bruce Wayne, clad only in his costume pants, winced as Alfred tended to a particularly nasty cut on Bruce's side.

"Shall I send in the specs to Mr. Fox for a new armor structure?" The butler asked without looking up from his stitching job, only half sarcastically.

"The armor's as good as it gets." Bruce answered. "It was my fault. I didn't think Killer Croc had the chops to actually LEAD a drug ring."

"The economy is changing, Master Bruce. Everyone who hasn't had luck applying in the corporate world has gone into their own entrepreneurial pursuits." The butler joked without smiling.

"It's KILLER CROC we're talking about here." Bruce said back. Sighing, he clicked the remote in front of the Bat Computer. "Might as well see what's on the news…"

Setting it on Cable Mode, he tuned into the morning news, with Gotham's own Summer Gleeson at the anchor's desk. "This just in: Queen Perdita attacked." Bruce's eyes widened. The news showed a photo of the child queen behind Gleeson. "Queen Perdita, shortly after her heart transplant in Seattle, was escorted back to her home country of Lativa, though not without obstacles." She said as footage from the assassination attempt at Gotham Airport was played. "Though the details are sketchy, it is said that someone tried to assassinate the Queen during a court meeting with a firearm. Afterwards, chaos exploded, in some cases quite literally." Raw footage was then shown of the Lativan army, with Perdita being carried away. "What is confirmed is that the Queen is alive and has been safely relocated to a bunker. Rumor has it that super humans were involved both in defense and against the Queen, which has upset the Lativan government, known for its highly isolationist stance." The footage switched to stock footage of Martian Manhunter and The Flash walking down the Hall of Justice. "We have reached out to the Justice League for a statement regarding their culpability in this incident, but have yet to receive any comment."

Bruce just stared at the screen before him as Alfred disinfected the cut with a wet cotton. "Well, ironically it seems these ninjas you've recruited specialize in ATTRACTING attention." The butler noted. "Sounds quite the opposite of my understanding of them."

Bruce only put his hands together as he crouched. "Orange suit. Should have seen that coming…" he mumbled.

Mount Justice

UTC 19:00

Shortly after arriving at Mount Justice, the team was ordered to report to the briefing room immediately. Sakura and Sasuke were well enough to walk on their feet, Sasuke having a bandage wrapped around his head and Sakura's arm in a sling, so they were attending as well. All the while Naruto was shaking. He tried to think of all the ways he could spin this to Batman…and he was coming up with blanks. Looking towards the rest of the team, he looked for reassurance. Seeing their own nervous faces, that made it worse. "Uh…Robin?"

The boy wonder looked to him. "Yeah?"

"When we do a bad job…just HOW mad does he get?"

Robin visibly gulped. "Uh…it's something of a controlled anger. He doesn't really shout at you…but you just SENSE he's furious." Naruto sweated more. "Also, please, I am BEGGING you…" Robin said as he put his hands together. "…just stay quiet."

"What!?"

"Batman is called the World's Greatest Detective for a reason! If you try to lie, spin or exaggerate what happened…he'll know."

Naruto practically turned white. "Come." Aqualad said as he guided him forward with a gentle push. "Best to get it over with."

As they entered the briefing room, Batman was already inside, his cape turned to them as he did work on the holographic computer. Sensing they were all there, Batman minimized the window and turned to address them. "I heard the mission had….complications." he said. "You were ordered to carry out your mission in secret. While not direct orders, in order to achieve this objective, it was paramount to avoid contact with the Queen and the other locals, neutralize any threats without drawing attention to yourselves, and avoide leaving any evidence the League was involved." With a quick swipe of his arm, he maximized the window again as it showed the various reports on the crisis in Lativa from various media outlets. "You have failed on all three accounts. You dragged out the battles, bringing attention to us all. Although the league has not been directly accused, the Lativan government has correctly surmised superhumans were involved, making diplomatic relations all across the world even more difficult. And while the Queen has made no statement, given the chaos that ensued in the capital, I KNOW you all revealed yourselves to the her."

Now Naruto got what Robin was talking about. He didn't resort to verbally abusing them, or raising his voice. His stating out the facts, with absolutely no room to retort…made him feel worse than any scolding from either Kakashi or Jiraiya back home would have done. "This a fire the league sought to avoid starting, and you all put yourselves in danger." Sighing, he finally closed the window. "Aqualad, I would have expected you and the Team to have a handle on these sorts of things after all you've been through." Aqualad said nothing, just stood at attention. "And you." Batman said. He made no hand gestures or body language to suggest it, but Team 7 just KNEW he was now directing his attention to them specifically. "This mission has shown not only do you have a lot to learn about our world, but you have to seriously coordinate your own teamwork as well. At the first sign of trouble, each of you went out on your own to engage the enemy, putting yourselves and the mission at risk."

As he took the moment to let that sink in, Batman continued. "Aqualad, you and I will be having a talk later. As for you three, while I understand this is not meant to be a permanent position, if you intend to work with us until you return home, you will need to get a hold on your bad habits and learn to work with the others." Batman began to walk away. For some reason, Sakura sensed the others were smiling. "In the meantime, good job." Batman said. Naruto perked up. "No mission on this team goes according to plan. The plans are merely insurance that you will return alive. But was really important was protecting the Queen, and you have all done that splendidly. Saving a life, however small, is what matters most, no matter the cost."

Naruto slowly began to smile. "Way to go." Robin said, patting his shoulder. "The more you succeed, the less you'll get these compliments. So savor them while you can."

Naruto looked to Sasuke, who simply smirked as he crossed his arms. He looked to Sakura, who returned a genuine smile. Knowing that Sasuke was not one for physical gestures of celebrating, they both high-fived each other.

In an unknown location, Savage's gates opened. Out of the portal, the scarred immortal stepped out. The mercenaries were lined up in the hall, ready to serve him. "Patch me to Luthor." He ordered, as one rushed to get his laptop ready. "Also, a glass of Merlot will do nicely." Another went off to fetch the wine. "I need to catch up with my partners."

"I do apologize for the trouble, Mr. Wilson." Luthor said as he observed the samples in the case. Closing it, he addressed the mercenary again. "Still, I trust this answers your question why I was so interested in their DNA?" he smiled.

Deathstroke simply replied "It gives me an inkling." He closed a briefcase he was holding, satisfied with the cash inside. "Still, it was fun. A pleasure doing business with you as always, Mr. Luthor."

"Take this." Luthor smiled as he held out a check. "Extra 100k tip." Deathstroke gladly took it. Luthor then saw his laptop was alerting him to a new message. "Excuse me, Mr. Wilson, but I must take this call."

"I know about discretion." Deathstroke replied, waving him off. "I predict we'll be in business together again soon."

"I've a feeling you'll be proven right in the near future." Luthor agreed as Deathstroke exited the doors. Confident that he was alone, he picked up the call, Savage's face on the screen. "Savage." Luthor said. "You have successfully returned."

"Of course." Vandal Savage smirked.

"I take it the venture was successful?"

"Very much so." Savage sneered. "I have all the daimiyos and most of the ninja kage in the palm of my hand." Savage then frowned. "However, the Hokage…the NEW Hokage…wasn't convinced. She met the young heroes, and trusts them. That, and she's not as much of a fool as the rest."

"As long as you stoke the fears in the others, she won't matter much." Luthor answered. "Propaganda is a powerful weapon."

"I am well aware of that." Savage said. "if anything, I'm a master of propaganda." The scared man smiled with pride, remembering his past contributions to his planet's history. "Has any progress been made on your end?" he asked, changing the subject.

"We managed to draw the young heroes out, and the ninja children were indeed with them; it seems the League has integrated them into the team, just like we thought they would. I had an asset who was able to intercept them and obtain the samples." Luthor explained as he typed away at his laptop. Briefly turning to his assistant, a woman, he said "Mercy, please send Queen Bee a thank you card for me. We wouldn't have been able to get Deadshot's help without her." Mercy nodded as she walked out of the office. Turning his attention back to Savage, Luthor picked a test tube out of the case, shaking in slightly in front of the screen. "Of the three, the one known as Sasuke Uchiha has the most valuable blood, at least according to the information Orochimaru was willing to share with us. The jinchuriki should also prove to have some interesting genetics; it will be interesting to see how a chakra beast's presence affects the DNA of their hosts. I haven't heard anything remarkable about the girl, but you never know. If all else fails, we can use her DNA as a baseline control. I will be sending the samples to Cadmus and let you know what we find in time."

"Very good." Savage replied. "Though we face obstacles, in time the ninja world as well will be drawn into the light."

And that's the end of that! I'll be seeing you all next time!