Hello everyone! It's been a hot minute, but I hope everyone here is doing well! The fight between the JL and Akatsuki heats up here!

Mount Justice

23:00

Aqualad broke through to the surface of the now flooded cave. "Is everyone okay?!"

"Good as can be!" Kid Flash gave a thumbs up from above. "But that's not saying much!"

"What could do this?" Naruto jumped down, landing on the water…and stayed on top of the surface.

"Naruto, you're walking on water?!" Artemis shouted.

Naruto blinked, looking down at his feet. "Oh, yeah!" Naruto chuckled. "Haven't really used this since I learned it!"

"Thank goodness!" Wally rolled his eyes. "I don't know if I could take it if you turned out to be the second coming!"

Sakura looked on in amazement and jealousy. "You really have all the luck, Naruto."

"This may actually be a good ability considering what's going on right now!" Aqualad said. Turning to his side, he said "Miss Martian! Did you contact the League?"

"I tried contacting them!" Miss Martian said. "But no one is responding! From what I can gather, they're all under attack!"

Sasuke's brow twitched. For some reason, he had a feeling it was related to him…

"We need to get out in the field, help as many people as we can! Naruto, M'gann! Right now you two are the best hope for the citizens. Get as many as you can to high ground!" Aqualad ordered. "The rest of you, with me!"

"Hold on!" Zatanna said. "Repus Oreh smrofinu no!" Artemis, Wally and Zatanna were surrounded by a mist and in their hero costumes when it dissipated.

"Sakura, Sasuke!" Artemis tossed them two pieces of metal. "Those are rebreathers, they'll give you oxygen if you have to go under! Be careful, they only have five minutes worth each!" The two ninja nodded, and dived into the water.

Metropolis

"Catch, Superman!" Deidara launched several clay creatures at the hero. Superman just looked at them in confusion as they crawled all over. Suddenly they went off. Superman was tossed around in multiple directions, eventually falling onto a roof. And that was Deidara's first clue to what he was up against: Superman was smoldering but whole, not even his costume was significantly damaged! One of those bombs should have at least blown a limb off!

Superman pushed himself off into the sky like nothing happened! Brushing himself off, he said "You really are new around here. Bombs aren't going to be enough." Deidara gritted his teeth. They had barely begun, and yet his most basic attacks gave away how outmatched he was!

He eyed the kryptonite bomb in his pouch; though he was told this would be his trump card, it was his only shot. If this man found a way to dodge it, Deidara was screwed. "A tactical retreat may be in order." His bird turned and flew the other way.

Superman followed, in no time catching up to the Akatsuki. "I think you should pull over before someone gets hurt!" He grabbed the bird's right wing, knocking it off course.

Deidara could only hold on as it tilted sideways of its axis, and as the Kryptonian twisted, the bird went with him. "He's as strong as the legendary Tsunade!" Superman let the bird go, and into an abandoned building in the Suicide Slum area. No one had knocked him off his bird before, and Deidara could only tumble across the roof. Superman levitated towards him, still unperturbed. Deidara reached into his sleeve, throwing out more clay objects. Suddenly, lasers shot out of the man's eyes, vaporizing the crawlers instantly. "Shit!"

Superman zoomed suddenly, grabbing Deidara by the collar. "That's quite eno-" He stopped as Deidara became dirt and collapsed. "Is this…one of those fakes?" Superman backed up in surprise. He then remembered everything they went over when those ninja kids arrived.

"The one named Naruto specializes in making duplicates of himself, which can disappear in a moment. According to the others, they have similar techniques, but his clones are the only ones that form actual bodies." He remembered Batman saying in a meeting up in the Watchtower.

Superman thought about this. "This must be a distraction tactic." He looked to his left, his eyes narrowing. "Where did he go-?"

Deidara hid behind a brick wall, hyperventilating . "This…was a mistake-!" Superman's arm suddenly burst through the bricks, inches away from Deidara's head. The ninja frantically ran away from it, as Superman tore it down.

"I must ask you to surrender peacefully." Superman said as he floated towards him. "The League will have questions for you."

Deidara growled, reaching for the Kryptonite in his pouch.

Washington D.C.

The creature ceased its fire, to see if the woman had been reduced to ash. To Kakuzu's surprise, she remained. Her bracelets were red with heat, but she remained unburnt. Those should have put her through unimaginable pain! She reached back and clocked his creature in the face. It was enough to send it flying over a car and into a building! "Impressive." Kakuzu noted. "Your heart will be most useful." His tendrils erupted from his body and ensnared her. She struggled, but he managed to slowly pull her in. "You're strong." He noted.

"You have no idea." She sneered. She jumped into the air…and kept going. Kakuzu tried to entangle her more, but she broke free of his restraints, and knocked him back onto the road with her knee. Another of his masked creatures got her in a nelson, pulling her off him. Another reached to maul her, but she flipped her restrainer over her shoulder, smacking him into the other.

Kakuzu managed to land a cross across her chin, but she barely felt it, returning it with a punch that sent him into a jeep, crushing it. "Ngh…" It had been a while since he had felt pain like this. He saw her lunge for him again, but Kakuzu flipped over, using his tendrils like extra limbs. Landing on his feet, he looked over her. "Your heart…will be mine…" he growled.

Star City

"Ahh!" Hidan sliced with his scythe, Green Arrow flipping away. He fired an arrow, the tip blunted. It hit Hidan right in the face; to him, it felt like getting hit by a sentetsatsu. He stumbled back, with his head arched back. It snapped back, only for him to meet GA's bow to the face.

Green Arrow's bow had been modified to be heavier than average, allowing him to use it as a bo-staff up-close. Hidan brought his scythe up, blocking it with the long hilt. The two struggled for a while; Green Arrow was strong, but this character clearly had an edge over him. With a sudden push, Hidan shot his weapon off and forced Green Arrow to drop his signature weapon.

Hidan grinned as he spun, the three blades of the weapon coming to his face. "Look out!" A cop said; he pushed Green Arrow out of the way. It looked like he would be decapitated, but the blades stopped short for that, instead scratching his cheek and returning to its owner.

'Hmph." Hidan thought, inspecting his glades. Three slivers of blood dripped through the blades. "Eh." He shrugged. "You're a far cry from what I normally kill, but I can't let a good life go to waste." He licked it, and raised the scythe high.

Green Arrow watched as a circle suddenly appeared on the floor. That was actually the least surprising change; the man's skin became mostly black, sporting pure white markings on his face. It fact, the white parts reminded him of the face painting the Mexicans used during La Dia del Muerto. He also noticed that Hidan was pointing the tip towards his own body. He pulled back an arrow, aiming at him. "Whoa there." He said. "I don't know what kind of therapy you need; I'll spare you the sermon. But as much of a pain as you've been, I can't just let you off yourself. Especially over a miss."

"Oh, I'm not planning to die." Hidan sneered. "This is how I live."

As he made the move to stab himself, Green Arrow reacted, letting his arrow loose. The arrow was another blunted punch arrow. It hit Hidan's hands, causing him to direct his staff towards his side. "AHH!" The point still went right through him, but at least it was in a spot that wasn't fatal…

"Augh!"

"Charlie, what happened!?"

Green Arrow turned to see the officer who got in the way on his back, holding his side as blood seeped through. It was serious, as he noticed that he was coughing blood too.

"Hmph." Hidan groaned. Green Arrow turned back in shock as he stared at Hidan, his weapon still embedded in him. "If you let me hit my heart like I intended, he would have died a painless death."

It was at that moment Green Arrow realized that the side Hidan was stabbed in was the exact same spot the cop was hurt. "Did you…link yourselves?" He asked.

"I link life to sacrifice to Janshin, and in return, he extends mine." He painfully pulled the scythe out. The wounded cop screamed in pain, and his wound seemed to get worse.

Green Arrow's eyes widened as he remembered what happened. "You cut him." He muttered. "And you licked his own blood."

"Hmph." Hidan snorted, reverting back to his normal colors. "You're a smart one." He spun his scythe, pointing it at Green Arrow.

The archer gritted his teeth; by most accounts, specializing in a ranged weapon, he should have had the advantage. But no matter the nature of the fight, having some wounds was usually inevitable. And the most terrifying thing about this person was that he did not need to hurt you badly in order to kill you.

Central City

Sasori shot more needles out of his mouth. The needles were coated with a unique poison; it was slow-acting, but the victim would writhe in agony for hours before death. And the antidote was from herbs that existed only in his village; if the hero was hit, it was unlikely any place on this planet could cure him. However, none of that seemed to matter at the moment; the man in red dodged each shot easily, with little effort. "I didn't believe the files, but it is true," Sasori thought inside his shell. "This is truly the fastest being alive."

Flash caught one of the needles for a quick inspection. It was thin and light; it would barely have penetrated his costume if it hit. Which meant… "You're a poison user, aren't you? You're Toyman if he were an outright assassin."

Sasori would have twitched his brows if that were possible for him. "Perhaps I should come in, up close and personal!" The thing leaped towards Flash. Under normal circumstances, Flash would have simply jumped backwards and phase through the walls. But he could not do either easily in such a confined space; either he was going to crash into the glass, or he was going to get hit in the middle of phasing, which could prove deadly for him. He chose the former, throwing himself through the glass while Sasori followed.

Flash rolled away on his side as Sasori tried to impale him with his tail. "Living up to your name, I see!" He quipped.

Full disclosure: Barry Allen was a fan of old school anime and actually self taught himself Japanese so he wouldn't have to read the subtitles. He knew Sasori meant Scorpion.

"Hold still!" Sasori yelled. He made for a straight stab, less telegraphing.

But Flash seemed to evaporate before him. "Sorry." Flash said said, appearing behind him. Sasori made for another swipe, Flash moving out of the just enough without too much trouble. "I never stay in one place for long." Sasori attacked with the tail again with the same result. "It's kind of my thing." He said like this battle was not putting him under any stress.

"YOU" Sasori began to shoot out a series of strikes. "ARE" Flash cartwheeled over the tail. "INSUFFERABLE!"

Flash side stepped the last strike by a half-inch, unconcerned. "It's called trolling." Flash slightly bent his feet. "But more importantly, I see that's not your real body."

Sasori paused. "He's smarter than he looks."

"I think it's time we got more personal." Flash vibrated his hand through the shell…and withdrew as he felt a sharp pain. "Ow!" Something pinched his hand, hard enough to break through the uniform material and make him bleed. He was too stunned to dodge the tail that smacked him across the face, sending him spiraling into the concrete. "Ohh.." Flash tried to stand, but he like his muscles were on fire, and he was getting a terrible spell of vertigo. "Poison…" he groaned.

"I could just leave you to die here…" Sasori said as he approached him, raising his tail. "But I make it a point to be as efficient as possible. Think of it as mercy."

Flash squinted his eyes. The tail came down…only to pierce the street, while Flash ran away.

Star City (Outskirts)

Black Canary spun on her heel as she kicked a piece of living origami away. The paper dug deep into the concrete upon landing; even the sharpest paper she knew of would have bent. "What is this?"

Konan rushed her, her paper wings giving her an extra boost of speed, and kicked at the super heroine. Canary blocked the first, but the second caught her in the chin and she fell to the ground. Konan prepared her wings to skewer her, but Black Canary reacted quickly, propping herself up on her hands and kicking her away. Canary followed up with punches that even most female boxers would have been envious to learn. Konan's wings folded in front of her, acting like a shield. She didn't stop there, sharpening the edges. Dinah's knuckles bled, but instead of just retreating, she fired a powerful karate punch to break through, even nailing Konan right in the chest. Before she could be pushed back, Canary grabbed Konan by the collar and threw her over the shoulder.

Konan had taken hits before, having had her fair share of being thrown. But her abilities gave her the luxury of avoiding direct hand to hand fights. Her eyes widened as she saw the Canary lift her leg high into the air; it almost looked like the legendary Tsunade's kicking technique. Before it came down, Konan replaced herself with a paper clone. Dinah's heel was caught, and the paper flew onto her leg. The paper became as strong as metal shackles, pinning her down. The real Konan reformed and charged with a kunai, managing to cut across Dinah's cheek, the Canary turning to avoid a fatal strike. The paper was merely like Quicksand though; it would hinder her, but not truly drown her.

Konan tried to kick her with a flying side, but Black Canary was quick enough to catch her heel and flip her. Konan propped herself up, staring at her with a death glare. A blade of paper shot out of her sleeve as she charged. Dinah turned her head to the right before it could take her eye. More paper fell on her, pinning her down. "It's useless!" Konan shouted.

The Atlantic

Aquaman's trident and Kisame's Sadehama clashed. Aquaman was surprised that Kisame could hit as hard as he could. The Shark Man grinned, and pushed him back. The King of the Sea growled, and twisted his trident to parry the shark-skin sword away. Kisame struck back, and the two exchanged blows. Kisame's sword was wide, easily able to block most strikes. Aquaman seemed to be a bit more skilled with his trident, able to block the sword. Using the shaft, he pushed the sword down into the floor and whacked Kisame across the temple with the tip and made the Akatsuki fell over. Kisame noticed the cut on his gills, growling.

Aquaman leaped towards him, prepared to impale him. He hit him…and he dissolved into water. Aquaman brought his weapon back in surprise, as Kisame shot out from a corner behind him. Aquaman turned, but he was too late; Kisame ran into him with his elbow, knocking the wind out of him. He followed through with a water bullet, the water shooting out of his mouth with enough pressure to throw the man past a wall and into an abandoned office. He was on all fours now, trying to get his bearings. "Disappointing." Kisame growled as he approaches him. "You're as useless as the net says." He raised his Sadehama, preparing to take his head. Kisame dropped the sword…and the weapon stopped. "What-?"

The blade made first contact with the Atlantean's shoulder. It broke the armor, and even drew blood, as expected. But that was as far as it got; even at full strength, he couldn't budge it any further. "H-how?" Kisame said in surprise.

Aquaman grabbed the sword, and pushed himself back onto his feet. "You would be a match for most Atlanteans, that much is true." Aquaman said. "But not me." Aquaman met Kisame right at eye level. "For I am of Royal Blood!" Aquaman punched Kisame right in the face, with even more force than the Akatsuki was used to.

The shark-man went through 3 walls before breaking a desk to break his fall. Kisame rose, and immediately felt dizzy. "Ohh…he might be as strong as the legendary Tsunade herself…" His vision focused in time to see Aquaman charge at him with his trident. Kisame raised his blade in the nick of time to intercept the tips, but Aquaman's sheer strength easily lifted him off the floor, dragged him across the ceiling and finally back onto the floor. Hard. He wasn't sure he could take much more, and acted quickly. "Suiton! Suijinhenki no Jutsu!" Putting his hands together, the water surrounded him.

Aquaman tried to penetrate it, but even for him it was proving difficult. "This water pressure…incredible!"

Kisame escaped, getting back out into the hall. "No more playing games!" Kisame yelled. "You have proven yourself a worthy opponent! That is why this must end!" Kisame put his hands together in various signs. "Suiton! Goshukuzame!" The water became several small sharks, launching themselves onto Aquaman. Even with his thick skin, their teeth managed to penetrate flesh…

Gotham City

Batman caught up with the fleeing Itachi, and jumped from the bookshelves, fist cocked back. He pounced, and Itachi dispersed into crows again. That didn't stop Batman though, as he flung a batarang to his right. From the shadows, Itachi raised a kunai to block it. "How did you find me?"

"I know this Asylum." Batman replied. "I figured you would pull something like this; we've studied the three closely. And that was the only place you could have gone to ambush me from here."

"I am still skeptical of what they call you, World's Greatest Detective." Itachi jumped out. "But you are impressive!" Itachi brought his kunai down on Batman, who intercepted with his gauntlets. Itachi pulled back with more slashes. Batman dodged most of them, and the one that did hit him didn't cut through his body armor. Itachi went in for a stab, and though he nicked his cowl, Batman managed to grab his wrist and pin him by the elbow. Itachi had no choice but to kneel. "Not bad." He acknowledged. He grabbed onto Batman's wrist for support and managed to kick him, causing him to stumble. Itachi went on the attack again, but the bat knocked his kunai off. He punched, which Itachi barely dodged. He still grazed his skin. He was moving faster!

The two exchanged fists. Neither seemed to have an edge; Itachi got an open palm to the chin. Batman hit back with a reverse punch to the stomach. Itachi made a flying knee to the sternum. And Batman knocked him square in the face with an elbow. The Akatsuki went down and slid across the floor. He helped himself up, feeling his face. It was wet with blood. "I have not bled in years, let alone knocked down. Most impressive."

"You're holding back." Batman said plainly. "Your physiology is superior to that of the average man on this planet."

"Indeed. For what it's worth, even if I did go all out, your probability of getting one blow on me would still be high."

"Then do it."

He saw Itachi made the hand signs. He was on guard, knowing one of their mystical ninjitsu techniques would happen, but there was so much they didn't know. Thankfully, he saw these patterns before. "Goukakyu no Jutsu!" Itachi breathed a ball of flame heading straight for the bat. He quickly shielded himself with his cape, rolling out of the way and tossing down smoke bombs. The combination of the sudden fire and smoke triggered the sprinklers, dampening the area.

Itachi looked around; this Batman hid himself well. He heard a sound, and as he turned his head, he threw shuriken as well. Metal clashed against metal. Itachi eyed the destroyed batarang, and felt what seemed to be wings envelope him. He felt himself lifted off the ground as some kind of mist sprayed into his face, but he plugged his nose and mouth. He kicked his attacker off, and Batman did the same.

The two combatants landed on opposite sides. Itachi landed perfectly while Batman used his grappling hook to stabilize him before touching down. "He is much better than I thought! By all means, I should have defeated him soundly by now!"

Itachi turned to intercept an attack by Batman; truly, he was an opponent who would not let an opportunity go to waste. They had a contest of sticky hands, which ended with both punching the other in the liver. Itachi's punch had more power, but Batman's was faster and hit first. The two stared each other down, panting heavily. "I cannot remember the last time someone challenged me to this degree." Itachi said. Batman said nothing. Though his eyes were shielded by the lens in his cowl, Itachi could see he was quickly strategizing first and listening to him second. "Consider this an honor!"

Batman pushed forward, cocking back his fist and intending to hit him square in the face. His fist went right through as Itachi burst into several crows. The birds flew out, and the shapes around him became distorted. Batman suddenly felt something on his right shoulder grow. He turned to see Itachi's head literally next to him. "Let us see how you handle your worst nightmare!" Batman reached for the head, which disappeared. From there, the distortion only got worse…

Happy Harbor

Kid Flash hurried across the water, running fast enough to walk across like it was a trampoline. Naruto ran across the water as well, though nowhere near as fast as the speedster. Aqualad of course swam under, and Miss Martian flew from above. Superboy rode atop Sphere, which morphed into a jet ski that carried everyone else.

Normally they would go to the source of the problem and fight it. But at the moment, they were the only heroes around to save people.

"Here you go!" Karen said as she hefted a small child onto the roof of a suburban home.

Her boyfriend, Mal, was making sure everyone had something dry to wrap themselves around on top. "How's it going, baby?" He called

"I think this is the last of them on this block." Karen said, Mal helping her up. "But this is too much! We never had to deal with something like this! We've had hurricanes…but it never flooded like this!"

Mal sighed. "I dunno, babe…I just don't know. But, Con and Meg can make this right!"

"You think so?" Karen asked skeptically.

"Well, I don't see Superman coming to fly over and save us, so I guess they will have to do!" Mal huffed. They hadn't talked much since they discovered they were supers, and it was something of a sorespot for Mal to know Connor was a Superman clone (though he didn't know that literally).

Suddenly, what seemed to be a man in heavy scuba gear jumped onto the roof, pointing a sci-fi like rifle. Others boarded the roof, pointing their rifles. "Oh, like hell!" Mal tried to tackle one of them. The soldier made no attempt to block him, but he didn't budge no matter how hard Mal pushed. The soldier grabbed him by the hem of his shirt, and threw him back like he was a bad puppy. "Ngh!"

"Don't do anything foolish." A man in purple armor and an almost starfish like mask helped himself on top, carrying a trident. "At least not yet."

Kid Flash noticed a beam of light shooting into the air. "There!" He said over the telepathic link. "I think someone wants an audience with us!"

Kid Flash made a hard left, everyone else following after him.

"They should be here any moment." Ocean Master said as he handed the plasma rifle back to his soldier.

"Yeah, and they'll kick your ass too!" Mal shouted at him.

"Mal!" Karen hissed.

Ocean Master stared at him, though it was hard to read him with his eyes behind the lens. "Well, we needed hostages. We just don't need a…specific number." His trident charged with energy, and he pointed it at Mal. Before more could be said or done, he noticed something whizzing at him. On instinct, he turned to the side and avoided it.

And then the impossible happened.

The Birdarang turned into Naruto, flying behind him and throwing a birdarang of his own. Ocean Master caught it on instinct, but shouted as the electric current ran through him, even bringing him down on one knee. "If only I had one of these back when Zabuza was around!" Naruto exclaimed as he landed on the water.

Soon enough, the others arrived, surrounding him and his soldiers. Like a kaju would, Aqualad emerged from the water and helped himself onto the roof. Recognizing the enemy of his mentor and king, Aqualad scowled. "Ocean Master." He pulled out his water bearers, the water forming blades.

"You." He said. He growled; he remembered this boy ruined his best chance at murdering the King of Atlantis. "Your bravery was impressive. But all you managed was a distraction. If it weren't for Aquaman, you and your friend would have died by my hands."

"Good thing I have even more back up."

Ocean Master sneered. "That's what you think."

This world had amazing technology. Security cameras and monitors were a relatively new invention in the Ninja world. But to use satellites, hunks of metal in space, to broadcast the images with nothing solid… "And yet, they are constantly at war with each other. Just like our own."

His lone sharingan then looked to his side to another man in the shadows. His eyes were the most distinct feature. Unlike the sharingan, his eyes were a faint purple, and contained several rings. "Fascinating, isn't it?" The masked one asked. "And yet, so terrifying. We will inevitably have to spread our mission to this world, and this Justice League will stand in our way."

"They cannot defeat them." The other said. "I am the only one who can."

"Perhaps. But not without careful planning." He looked back to the monitors. "Even so, we knew we would not be victorious on this day. Consider this reconnaissance."

Behind them, Vandal Savage watched from his seat.

Hope this is enough to keep you all satisfied for now!