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Caterpillar by grumpywolf

Naruto & Justice League Xover Rated: M, English, Adventure & Romance, [Naruto U., Diana of Themyscira/Wonder Woman] Kyuubi/Kurama, Words: 202k+, Favs: 5k+, Follows: 5k+, Published: Oct 7, 2020 Updated: Apr 15 3,216Chapter 31 - Life and Death battle

AN: New chapter up, enjoy!

Chapter 31 - Life and Death battle

"Superman, no! Fight against it!" she shouted.

But the Kryptonian was too far gone. His eyes were bloodshot, veins were pulsating like small snakes on his temples and a crimson light burned around his eyes, ready to blast a beam as hot as the sun at any moment. An enraged scream came out of his chest and he lunged at her filled with bloodlust. He was not seeing a white and gold-armoured Amazon. In his eyes, she was Darkseid, the one who had just murdered everyone that he had ever cared about.

He screamed his parents' names. Supergirl's name. He was mad with rage. Both of his hands clenched around her neck and the building's upper floors collapsed as he smashed his way through them with Wonder Woman headfirst against them.

He pierced through the atmosphere at a speed that made the air explode with ear-deafening booms behind them. In but a second, the Earth became tiny under their feet. He was holding nothing back. In his madness, he was going to throw her into the Sun.

Her hands clenched around his wrists, struggling with all her strength to free herself from his grasp. But he was too powerful. And the closer they got to the sun, the stronger he became.

Still screaming at her, Superman's eyes became crimson red and the skin on her face started to burn and peel off as his heat beams bore into her flesh. She felt her bones melting.

She clenched her hands around his head and her thumbs dug into his eyes, making his heat vision explode into his eyes. He shouted in pain and the agony made him let go of her.

'Hermes, give me speed!' she prayed as she plunged back towards the Earth which looked like nothing but a small marble from how far away it was.

They were in space. She couldn't breathe. She was running out of air. She had to go back into Earth's atmosphere as fast as possible.

The vacuum of space did not hinder her speed. There was no air to create friction. She flew faster than spaceships, faster than she had ever flown in her life. In the blink of an eye, she reached the exosphere of the planet. Hope grew in her heart.

But she celebrated too early. Oozing a murderous spirit and with his body filled with yellow radiation from his previous proximity to the Sun, the Kryptonian's vicious punch smashed into the face with the force of a star.

Red crystals appeared in space as the blood that burst out from her mouth was instantly frozen in space. She blacked out for a moment.

In that moment of unconsciousness, Maxwell Lord's face flashed in her mind. He was looking at her from above, smirking smugly and gloating at her defeat. But the heat of the thermosphere brought her back when her body reentered the planet's atmosphere. However, it was too late for her to stop her descent.

A cataclysmic shockwave cleared the sky of clouds for dozens of miles when she smashed into a mountain. The rocks caved in as if they were mud and an enormous crater was formed into the side of the mountain as if a bomb had exploded in it. At the centre of it, Wonder Woman laid unmoving, seemingly dead, her body still burning.

⁂

"This is what happens when the gods fight, Brother, do you understand? Mortals suffer." Maxwell Lord said.

He was speaking to a device that he was holding in his hand. It looked almost like a cellphone. On its screen, there was only the simple image of an eye.

"Clarify." a robotic voice came from the device. It was Brother Eye, the AI that Batman had created and Maxwell controlled now.

"Fortunately, she had fallen into a deserted area, into the mountains, in Chile. Can you imagine the devastation if she had come down in a city like Metropolis, Tokyo or Moscow? The catastrophic loss of life? These people are in control of humanity's destiny, Brother, and this is why they must be eliminated. Look at him." Maxwell said and gestured towards the screen that was playing the live footage of Superman's and Wonder Woman's fight.

"Look at all the punishment he's dishing on her. Imagine if he turned his power against us. But wait, you don't need to imagine. Just search for the files and stored data on what happened in Metropolis several years ago, how many people he murdered. Hundreds of them."

"What I've done to him took time, it took effort. But the mere fact that I could do it at all proves my point. Because it's not the first time it happened. If I can do it, someone else can, too, and that's the heart of it, Brother."

"Superman, Wonder Woman, the rest of them... ... they are too powerful, too dangerous to be left alive. They will kill us all if we don't eliminate them first.

⁂

With difficulty, Wonder Woman crawled up to her feet on shaky legs. And there he stood, at the edge of the crater, his face as twisted with rage as in the beginning.

"What you did to my parents, what you did to Kara, I'll make sure you'll never do it to anyone else ever again!" he shouted.

"Superman, please, I'm not your enemy!"

But he was deaf to her pleading voice, too lost, too immersed in the illusion shown to him by Maxwell Lord. He was not going to stop until 'Darkseid' was dead. His chest inflated and then he blew out a gust of frozen air. It was his ice breath. It encased her entire body in a block of ice before she could even react.

"It's too late to ask for mercy now. You didn't show any mercy when you killed my Ma and Pa either. You're just a rabid animal that needs to be put down."

As he said that, the Kryptonian smashed his fist into a cliff on the mountain and broke off a huge chunk of it. Then, he hurled it with all his strength into the crater where Wonder Woman had been frozen.

But when the ice and the rock were smashed to smithereens, the Amazon princess' remains were nowhere to be seen. Even in his rage-clouded mind, he understood that she had gotten away at the last moment.

"There's nowhere to hide. Nowhere you can run." he said and then he stood still, focusing on his super-hearing.

Somewhere away from Superman's line of sight, Wonder Woman was breathing heavily, trying to catch her breath. Her entire body was an aching bruise. She had barely survived when she had been smashed into the planet like a meteorite.

'He's too strong. He has so many abilities. His speed, power, invulnerability, heat vision, super hearing...'

But as her line of thought reached that point, a flash of inspiration hit her.

'But every strength can be turned into a weakness. When he stops speaking and stands still, I know he's using his super-hearing.'

The sound of wind being displaced by a fast-moving object reached Superman's ears but he was just a little too late to react in time. Wonder Woman's Bracelets of Submission slammed into his ears at the same time.

The gong-like sound that followed almost turned Wonder Woman herself deaf, to say nothing of Superman who had been using his super-hearing at that moment. He collapsed on the ground with his hands holding his ears and screaming in agony. Blood was flowing from his ears; his eardrums had burst.

Despite the immense pain he was going through, he tried to stand up. But she was not going to give him the chance. As a warrior, she knew when to take advantage and press on, regardless of whether it was honourable or not. There was no such thing as a 'fair fight' in a life and death battle. Her shin smashed into his temple, and the Kryptonian was thrown back to the ground.

Relentlessly, he tried to stand up again but another vicious leg kick to the back of his knees made him lose his footing and he half-kneeled on the ground. In the next instant, a powerful cross slugged him in the face and the Man of Steel was smashed face-first into the ground.

He was powerful. Incredibly so. But she was not too far below him in strength as to make her fighting techniques useless. And when it came to hand-to-hand combat, there was nobody on Earth more skilled than her, a warrior who had honed her martial arts for thousands of years.

Though the last punch almost rocked the Kryptonian hard, she knew better than anyone just how durable he was. That was nowhere near enough to put him out. Her hand wrapped around the handle of the god-slaying sword strapped to her waist. But she stopped herself.

'No, he's not the enemy.'

She had to hold back. She could not use her sword against him. She did not want to kill him. Bearing that thought in mind, she grabbed her Lasso of Truth instead.

'If I could catch him, just for a second, it would be enough for my Lasso to clear his mind and stop his madness.'

However, that short moment of indecision on her part was enough for Superman to gather his wits and recover. When Wonder Woman threw her lasso at him, he disappeared in a burst of speed. Flying faster than the naked eye could follow, the Kryptonian rushed at her and swang his fist wildly.

A shockwave exploded from the impact of his fist clashing against her forearm as she blocked his punch. Her bracelet absorbed his hit.

Seeing his all-out punch blocked, Superman's eyes glowed crimson-red and he fired his heat beams but the Amazon's other arm came forward and her elbow smashed into his temple, making his heat beams miss their target when his head was rocked to the side.

Taking advantage of the short moment when he wobbled back from the force of the elbow that had crashed into his temple, Wonder Woman raised her hand and threw her Lasso at him. However, to her surprise, he grabbed her right wrist when she had least expected it. The Kryptonian may have been an unskilled brute in the eyes of a trained martial artist like her but he was not stupid. Seeing how she single-mindedly tried to ensnare him with her lasso, he took advantage of it.

Putting his entire strength into it, Superman abruptly twisted her arm and Wonder Woman screamed in pain when her wrist snapped. He followed up with a swing of his punch, all the way from the back, intent on finishing her off with it. But she headbutted him in the face, her golden Tiara smashing right into his nose. An audible crunch was heard when the Kryptonian's nose cartilage was crushed and he stumbled back on rubber legs as his vision momentarily became white from the pain. He was not allowed a moment to rest as her high-heeled greaves smashed into his stomach, making his body bend like a paranthetis as he was hurled off the top of the mountain.

Wonder Woman grabbed her broken wrist with her other hand and clenched her teeth in pain. It was a foreign sensation to her. It was the first time she had broken a bone. It was the first time that someone had hurt her that badly.

'I was a fool for thinking that I could hold back against someone like him. He's too powerful.'

She no longer hesitated. The first time she had hesitated, it had allowed Superman to recover himself and he turned the tables on her by breaking her arm. She was not going to make the same mistake twice.

The Bracelets of Submission were a godly artefact that the Olympian God of Forging, Hephaestus, had crafted for the champion of the Amazons from Zeus' shield, Aegis. They were indestructible. They had served her in her battles over the years, protecting her from attacks that could have been lethal. However, ever since she found out about her true power and heritage, the Bracelets also served as a limiter for her. As her mother, Hippolyta, had instructed her, ever since that day, Diana had never taken them off, not even while bathing or sleeping. It was the only way for her to hide her identity as a demigoddess, as Zeus' daughter, the only way to stay hidden from Hera's eyes.

But she could no longer afford to suppress her powers. Fighting to kill was much easier than fighting to subdue. If she wanted to subdue him without killing him, she needed more strength. Decisively, Diana took off her Bracelets.

The moment the Bracelets fell on the ground, an exhilarating feeling washed over her and she involuntarily closed her eyes. It was as if a weight was lifted off her chest and she could finally breathe freely, for the first time in her life.

A rush of energy suddenly came from the earth beneath her feet. It was Goddess Demeter's blessing. As long as her feet touched the ground, the Earth would supply her with unlimited strength and stamina. The burnt flesh wound on her face from Superman's heat vision began to heal and close up at a speed visible to the naked eye, and even her snapped wrist righted itself and the injured bones of her hand were mended.

She was still marvelling at what happened when the enraged Kryptonian appeared in front of her, leaving sonic booms in his wake. The entire mountainside quaked from the cataclysmic shockwave of the two god-like individuals clashing against each other. But the result was far from what Superman had expected. His fist was firmly caught in Wonder Woman's hand and she did not budge even an inch from her spot. It was like an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object.

But the Kryptonian screamed and it was like his rage amplified his strength sevenfold. His other hand clenched around her neck and he smashed her into the mountain and flew with her through it until they broke through the other side. A massive landslide followed and a fifth of the over 10k foot tall mountain crumbled in the wake of their destruction.

They smashed from one mountain into another, levelling their peaks and creating landslides and avalanches as they crashed with their bodies into them in their violent power struggle. Despite her releasing her true power as a demigoddess, the Kryptonian was not falling behind in the least. It was like his strength was infinite. But as Superman continued to smash with her into the mountains, her heavy punches rained down onto his face repeatedly. Even with his incredible durability, after the 10th punch, his face became a bloodied mess. A particularly painful hit landed on his already broken nose and the pain made him almost blackout for a second. That was the moment when Wonder Woman managed to get away from his grasp.

Spittle came out of her mouth as she coughed. He had almost strangled her to death.

The enraged Man-of-Steel was like a juggernaut. No matter how hard she hit him, he was too durable. Even with her enhanced strength, when her power grew, it felt as though his strength multiplied as well. With the sun brightly shining above their heads, his supply of power was infinite.

'This isn't going anywhere. At this rate we'll beat each other to the death.' she thought.

She could increase her healing factor and draw strength from the earth but he was in no way below her; he was doing the same by absorbing the energy of the sun. And although her fighting technique was unmatched, it could be said the same about his durability.

'In the end, it still came down to this, huh?' she thought while she drew her sword from her waist and grabbed the golden shield strapped to her back.

She had not wanted to use lethal force against him but he was leaving her no choice.

"Come!" she shouted to provoke him and the Kryptonian rushed at her like a wild beast.

A battle cry erupted from her chest and the ground under her feet ruptured as she exploded forth.

*bang*

The sound that came from the white and gold-armoured demigoddess bashing with her shield into the god-like man travelled for dozens of miles and the shockwave it generated flattened the forests below and massacred any living beings in it.

As he watched the footage filmed by Brother Eye, even Maxwell Lord's heart shuddered in terror at their terrible strength. It was beyond anything that he had ever seen in his entire life.

Miles opposite of each other, both Superman and the Amazon princess created another pair of craters as their bodies were slammed back from the force reflected from their clash. Logically, due to her using her shield, Wonder Woman should have recovered faster as she was not as hurt by their collision as Superman. But the reality proved to be different. He rose up to his feet even faster than her and he once again broke the sound barrier, flying at her.

Both of his fists raised above his head, he was going to slam them onto her like a hammer.

But when he came to 2 feet away from her, a wet, squelching sound was heard and his body suddenly froze in mid-air.

A feeling of pain like he had never felt before assaulted his brain.

When he looked down, he saw only the handle of a sword sticking out of his stomach. His blood-thirsty eyes were cleared up and his mind became lucid. The pain was so intense that it momentarily cancelled Maxwell Lord's control over his mind.

"Diana, I-,"

He could not find his words. He was in shock. Shocked at realizing he had been trying his utmost to kill Wonder Woman, that it was not Darkseid. Shocked at realizing that someone had been mind-controlling him from the start. Shocked at finding out that the Amazon princess went as far as to run her sword through him to stop him.

"I'm sorry, Superman." Diana said. "It was the only way to stop you."

The Kryptonian stumbled backwards and almost fell but the princess caught him and stabilized his body. Then, she guided him to sit down on the ground. Another cry of pain came from him when she pulled her sword out of his stomach. Blood started to flow from the hole in his body like a river but she was not worried. Although it was a grievous wound that would have killed a lesser being, it was not enough to end a Kryptonian's life. As long as the yellow sun shone, he would recover.

"Don't leave this place if you don't want to start murdering innocents. You don't know when Maxwell's control over you will resume. Hold on just for a few minutes. I'm going to deal with him myself."

The princess split the air with her sword and she flicked off all of the blood on it before sheathing it back to her waist. She also strapped her golden shield on its place on her back and then she flew away without sparing him a second glance. She was in Chile, in Southern America, while Maxwell Lord was all the way over the ocean, in Europe, in Switzerland. A commercial plane would take over 12 hours to cover that distance. Even the fastest military jets in the world would still need around 2-3 hours to cover that distance. She had no time to waste. After a short prayer dedicated to Hermes, her speed increased way beyond her usual flight speed when her powers were sealed.

⁂

Though the building had become a ruin after Superman ran Wonder Woman through it and flew into space, Maxwell Lord had not moved away from it. It was not like he had much time to do that either. His eyes had been glued to the screen that was playing the life and death battle between Superman and Wonder Woman. And it was only a few minutes after the end of the fight that the rest of the building shook as the Amazon landed next to him.

Though he was inwardly shocked at her speed - he had never thought anyone could fly from Southern America to Europe in a matter of minutes - his face was as composed and relaxed as ever.

"Bravo~" he said sarcastically and clapped his hands. "Most impressive. To think that-"

But the warrior princess was not in the mood to entertain him. Her golden Lasso of Truth was swung in the air and thrown at him. The billionaire was tied up and immobilized in an instant.

"End this now!" she said aggressively.

"No."

"End it!" she screamed and lifted him in the air by the neck.

Though he was choking, Maxwell's only reaction was to laugh. With difficulty, he said:

"You and I both know that wound is not enough to put Superman out for good. Any minute now he'll arrive here and start this all over again. And he will keep coming at you until you either kill him or he kills you."

"He snapped out of your control when I stabbed him. He knows your illusion was not real." she retorted.

"Oh, but it seemed real for him. And it will be again once the shock from being stabbed goes away."

"How do I stop it? Tell me!" she commanded and the billionaire was compelled by the Lasso of Truth to speak.

"You can't. Unless you kept him tied with your Lasso at all times. But you can't do that, can you? And the next time, I will send him to kill Batman, or you, or maybe kill his own parents with his own hands. Superman is mine. I'll never let him go."

She threw him to the ground and then she smashed him against one of the still standing walls of the room.

"Tell me how to free him of your control!" she ordered.

Maxwell Lord looked at her without any fear.

"Kill me." he said. "That is the only way."

She looked him in the eye. He did not avoid meeting her eyes either. But then, his head was abruptly twisted to the side. In the last moments of his life, Maxwell Lord only saw the wall behind his back. The Amazon princess snapped his neck.

Little did Wonder Woman know that her and Superman's violent and brutal clash had been filmed and televised from the start to finish. That the world was now aware of the metahumans' potential for destruction. Little did she know that millions of people had watched her how she killed Maxwell Lord by snapping his neck.

AN: Up to the moment when Superman broke Wonder Woman's wrist, the way the fight went is almost identical in the canon. But in the canon, the fight ended shortly after that - Wonder Woman won by slashing Superman's throat with her Tiara, almost killing him.

Nonetheless, much more important than Diana's win over Supes is what followed after that. Wonder Woman is one of my favourite characters not just because of her beauty/strength etc but also because she was willing to get her hands dirty and do what needed to be done. Unlike Batman and Superman who repeatedly spared mass-murderers like the Joker or Lex Luthor because they don't want to kill, Wonder Woman killed Maxwell Lord. Yep, it is canon, she really snapped his neck. And she did not hesitate for even 1 second. It was an iconic moment that defined her character as a hero/anti-hero.

PS: There is a poll on my profile about my next story after I finish this one. Feel free to vote if you're interested. Until next time!

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Caterpillar by grumpywolf

AN: New chapter up, enjoy!

Chapter 32 - Aftermath

Over one hundred members of the Justice League were gathered at the Watchtower. The atmosphere, however, was vastly different from usual. There was no order and everyone was in the midst of arguing with others.

"You snapped someone's neck like a cold-blooded murderer!" someone shouted. It was a man wearing the attire of an English medieval knight.

The centre of everyone's attention was a tall and athletic woman with long black hair and blue eyes. Her white and gold armour was stained with still fresh blood and her otherwise dignified and beautiful face bore the marks of a violent fight against a formidable opponent seeing as there were bruises on her cheekbones and dried blood at the corner of her mouth.

"I did what I had to. If I was presented with that situation again, my choice would be the same. It was the life of a criminal for the life of countless innocent people." the woman replied.

"Who allowed you to be the judge, jury and executioner? We are the Justice League. We don't kill! Are you out of your goddamned mind?" Superman screamed at her in anger. His blue and red suit was in tatters and his face was no less bloodied and hurt than that of Wonder Woman. Furthermore, although the sword wound in his stomach had closed up, his suit was still soaked with his own blood.

"You of all people should not talk about others being out of their mind, Superman!" Green Arrow shouted back at him, unexpectedly speaking up to defend Wonder Woman.

What nobody knew was that when he had first started his vigilante work, Green Arrow had murdered quite the number of criminals in Star City. It was only after he had 'cleaned up his yard' and after gaining some notoriety that he had become low-key with his actions and started acting like the rest of the superheroes, sparing the criminals' lives. Fortunately, he had erased his traces very thoroughly after that and the rest of the Justice League was not aware of his radical past deeds.

"It was out of my control! But she willingly murdered someone!" Superman shouted back and stepped aggressively into Green Arrow's personal space.

Though he had no superpowers, Green Arrow was not intimidated in the least.

"What? You're going to punch me to shut up? Or maybe kill me to keep quiet? Like you murdered hundreds of people in Metropolis a few years ago?"

Superman stepped back startled.

"No! I wasn't going to-..."

Captain Atom intervened and said:

"That doesn't change what Wonder Woman had done! She had murdered someone in cold blood, perfectly aware of herself. What's even worse, the entire world had watched her do it!" Pointing an accusatory finger at her, he declared: "You will have to take responsibility for your deeds in front of the International Court of Justice!"

Captain Atom was an Airforce Captain. Although he was a superhero, he was a part of the United States' military too. He understood better than most how far-reaching were the consequences of Wonder Woman's actions. The US government was just looking for an excuse to take drastic actions against the Justice League. The United Nations wanted to suppress them too because the Justice League had grown too powerful for their liking. Until then, the Justice League had never killed anyone so the United Nations and NATO had their hands tied up. All the members used non-lethal means of apprehending the criminals and operated somewhat within the law's constraints. But the Amazon princess' actions changed that. Now, the United Nations had a legal ground to oppress and maybe even force the Justice League to disband.

Because of Captain Atom's words, the subject was diverted from Superman back to Wonder Woman. While some of the heroes tacitly agreed with what she had done, only Green Arrow had been brave enough to voice out his support to her. The rest, kept their mouths shut. There were also a few like Supergirl and Starfire who adopted a neutral stance, choosing to stay on the sidelines and not get involved. But the vast majority of the members of the Justice League were very vocal in their jeers directed at Wonder Woman.

It was in the midst of that chaos that a deep and demonic voice rang over the noise made by dozens of people's yells:

"Shut Up!"

They had been so absorbed by screaming their heads off that no-one had noticed a non-affiliated space-ship entering the Watchtower. Now, they realized that two beings had all of a sudden snuck into their ranks. When they turned their heads and saw the giant nine-tailed demon fox and the masked man next to it, they immediately became silent.

Though the original members of the Justice League were more concerned about Naruto due to their clash in Jump City, the rest of the members did not know about his true power. Instead, the rest were more scared by Kyuubi's strength. After all, they had all seen the video of a demon fox as tall as Metropolis City's skyscrapers defeating the Justice Lords from the other dimension.

"Diana. Come here." the masked blond man said calmly.

In front of over one hundred of her teammates and friends that were screaming at her and accusing her of being a murderer, Wonder Woman had kept her calm, showing them a composed and cold face. But when she saw that Naruto and Kyuubi had come for her, her suppressed emotions were about to burst. She almost ran to him, into his arms.

"We're leaving." Naruto said simply to the others and then turned around with Diana.

"Hey, where do you think you're going?" Shazam shouted when he saw that Wonder Woman was going to leave just like that.

He flew at a high speed, intent on blocking the door and cutting off their way but a massive appendage, even thicker than his torso, was slammed into his body and he was swatted away like a fly. He crashed into the metallic outer wall of the Watchtower with a bang, leaving a human-shaped dent in it.

Dark laughter came from the fox when he saw the muscular hero barely pulling himself up to his feet.

"I haven't killed someone in ages. Who wants to be first? I'll be more than happy to oblige."

There were almost 150 metahumans present there but none of them dared to step forth. Shazam was one of the most durable and physically strongest members of the Justice League, almost on par with Superman. If he was smacked back that easily, it stood to reason that most of them would turn into a smear of blood by the demon's tails.

"That's what I thought. Trash." Kyuubi said mockingly. He was goading them to attack him.

"Don't provoke them, Kurama. We're not here to fight." Naruto said.

"Speak for yourself. I'm itching to see some blood." the fox growled at him.

"You're itching for a beating."

The two of them bickering like they were not giving 2 cents about the large group of metahumans behind them was almost like a slap for the superheroes there. Unable to stand the humiliation, Superman shouted:

"Don't think you'll be able to protect her forever, Uzumaki! What she has done will not go unpunished!"

Naruto let go of Wonder Woman's hand and turned around.

"She just whooped your ass and left you half-dead after stabbing you with her sword. Does she look like someone who needs to be protected?" he said and looked at him in ridicule.

Martian Manhunter who had been mostly silent until then spoke at that moment.

"We're not talking about harming her. But Wonder Woman committed a taboo. If she wants to continue working as a member of the Justice League, she has to be held accountable for her actions. She will have to take responsibility and be trialled by the International Court of Justice."

Naruto snorted at his words.

"You think I'd let her be part of this charade after this?"

"Naruto!" Wonder Woman tried to make him stop but he said categorically:

"No, Diana. You just fought with your life on the line to subdue a Kryptonian who was trying to kill you. They are your teammates and your friends, but instead of supporting you, they're the first to denounce you. Some friends they are, kicking you down at the drop of a hat. With friends like these, you're better off living among enemies."

Then he told the Justice League:

"Even if she were somehow acquitted by the sheep living on this planet, I wouldn't let her be part of this organisation of imbeciles anymore. You people do not deserve her."

⁂

Back to Wonder Woman's apartment in New York, Naruto opened the door for her and followed her inside. They stopped in the living room and she let herself fall on the sofa heavily.

He sat down with her and started to examine her face.

"He beat you up so badly. You're hurt."

"You should've seen his face," she said, chuckling weakly. He did not laugh.

Bringing his hand up to her face, he caressed her bruised cheek with his thumb gently, to make sure he was not causing her pain. A cyan light started to glow around his hand and healing chakra started to seep into her skin, speeding up her regeneration.

Diana closed her eyes and let out a sound of comfort at the warm energy infiltrating her body. The bloodlusted Kryptonian had almost killed her when he punched her from the Outerspace into the planet like a meteorite. Then, he reshaped a portion of the Andes Mountains with how he repeatedly smashed her into mountains, almost levelling some of them in the process. While Goddess Demeter's blessing had allowed her to draw energy from the earth and heal her most serious wounds, her entire body was one big bruise. Everything hurt.

"Why didn't you summon me? I could have teleported to your side in an instant. You wouldn't have been hurt like that." he said.

"You said it yourself - I'm not a damsel in distress. I don't need someone's protection. I am a warrior."

Naruto frowned in annoyance. He knew how proud the Amazon princess was.

"Besides, I didn't have your dagger with me. It was 5 am when J'onn woke me up and I left in a hurry. I forgot to take it with me." Diana mumbled in a low voice.

"I told you to keep it on you at all times, didn't I? What if something worse happened?" he scolded her.

When Wonder Woman looked to the side stubbornly, he dropped his shoulders and gave up. He did not want to nag her too much at that moment. But he was going to make sure they would talk about it again soon.

He fiddled with the clasp holding her white cloak and untied it before taking it off. He also took off her golden tiara from her forehead and her golden wing ornaments framing her face too. After that, he untied the clasps of her golden pauldrons, revealing her bare shoulders.

Standing up from the sofa, he took off her high-heeled golden greaves, leaving her bare-footed. When his arms came behind her knees and around her back, she said with a stammer:

"What are you doing?"

She was starting to grow embarrassed when she realized that he had undressed her and now he was carrying her in his arms.

"Shh. Let me take care of you." he shushed her and headed to the bathroom with her in his arms.

When they entered, the princess saw that the bathtub was already filled with hot water. A shadow clone had prepared the bath for her before dispelling itself.

He let her down in front of the bathtub. Objectively, at that moment, Wonder Woman's appearance left much to be desired. A bruised and bloodied face, shaggy hair filled with dirt, she was stinking of sweat and her previously white clothes looked grey, stained with mud and blood. However, in Naruto's eyes, even in that deplorable state, Diana looked beautiful. When he saw her shy and embarrassed expression, he could not contain his feelings of love for her. Though he had just let her go, he brought her once again in his embrace.

"If you hadn't already beaten the crap out of Superman yourself, I would have ripped him to shreds." he said and hugged her dearly.

She did not push him away. But when she felt his hands starting to pull at the back of her white and golden top, she looked up at him startled.

"Baby, I-, I don't think I'm ready for this." she said.

He had lost count of how many times she had acted provocatively over the past weeks, trying to seduce him. But now, she was acting like a scaredy-cat. Nonetheless, he was not having indecent thoughts in mind at that moment.

"Relax. I won't do anything like that. But I could stay and help you wash if you wanted." he said, grinning. Her meek reaction was poking at his inner sadistic side. He felt the urge to push her down and tease her but he held himself back. Everything had a time and a place. Now, she was wounded. Other things were more important.

Kissing her forehead, he added: "Have a shower. Soak in the bath. I'll wait for you outside, ok?"

⁂

Hums of comfort and pleasure were coming from Diana as Naruto worked his magic on her. Channelling the Mystic Palm Technique, he was infusing her tired and bruised body with his chakra. A cloak of yellow-red light appeared around him and when he placed his hands on her back again, the princess shivered. Then, her bruises started to disappear at a speed visible to the naked eye. Naruto's Yang chakra had a very powerful rejuvenating attribute. Coupled with her already excellent constitution as an Amazon and a Zeus' daughter, she was healed in a matter of seconds. Even her tiredness disappeared.

Though she was completely fine now and she no longer required his assistance, he did not stop. He started to massage her. He gently caressed the back of her neck and slightly pushed with his thumbs on her trapezius muscles. They were more defined compared to other women and her shoulders were wider too. He took his time massaging her stiff and sore muscles and secretly smiled to himself. When his index finger traced her spine, she made a cute sound and her back involuntarily arched.

As his hands travelled further down her back he heard her breathing quickening in anticipation. But he purposely did not touch her glutes, caressing her hips instead. She started to subtly squirm when his hands touched her inner thighs, very close up to the towel covering her below the waist.

"I can't massage you properly if you don't relax your muscles."

She was on her stomach and could not see his face but she could hear the smile in his voice.

"How can I relax when you touch me like that?! Pervert!"

"You're the one who's been perving on me all this time, how does it feel to have the tables turned on you for once?" he said and chuckled.

But he stopped teasing her after that and started to really massage her legs seriously. From her strong and meaty thighs to her sculpted calves and her surprisingly dainty feet. She started to groan in comfort again when he began to massage the soles of her feet.

"Yes, there." she almost moaned.

"That's what you get for fighting crime and monsters while wearing high heels." he said.

"If getting a massage from you is the price, I won't stop fighting in heels any time soon." she said, giggling, but she let out a squeak when he unexpectedly smacked her butt.

Being pampered and spoiled like that, Diana momentarily forgot about the pandemonium in the outside world at that moment. Other people saw her as a stoic warrior and - more recently - a brutal and cold-blooded murderer but when she was with him, behind closed doors, she transformed into an ordinary woman, a woman whose heart fluttered whenever the man she loved showered her with his affection.

When he was done massaging and teasing her, they cuddled together in bed. It was barely noon and the world at large was on fire, with the mass-media fanning the flames even harder but they were disconnected from everything else. Now, they were watching a movie - Home Alone. Christmas was just around the corner and many television channels started streaming the traditional Christmas movies.

"This house is so full of people, it makes me sick! When I'm growing up and getting married, I'm living alone! Did you hear me?"

They chuckled at that particular line.

"It's chaotic, but I wish I grew up in a home like that." Naruto said wistfully.

"Our future kids-" Diana began to say but she dressed her voice and stopped.

"Do continue, please." Naruto said, smiling from one ear to another at her slip of the tongue.

Luckily for her, she was saved by the bell. Just at that moment, the doorbell rang.

"I'll go." she said and quickly jumped out of the bed, rushing out before Naruto could open his mouth.

He was still chuckling to himself when Diana's startled cry reached his sensitive ears:

"Hermes?! What are you doing here?"

The fluffy and feel-good mood from before vanished. An arc of yellow-red light was left in his wake as he teleported out of the bedroom. An instant later, his body appeared right in front of Diana, in the doorway. A cloak of yellow-red chakra enveloped him as he entered directly into his bijuu-mode and a flaming Rasengan took shape in his hand in the blink of an eye.

AN: Because Wonder Woman took off her Bracelets of Submission in her fight against Superman, the cat is out of the bag. Now, the Olympian gods have learned about her real identity, that she is Zeus' daughter.

PS: for those who might not know, the Justice League is not out of character here. When Diana killed Maxwell in the canon, everyone turned against her, yes, including Superman and Batman.

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Caterpillar by grumpywolf

AN: New chapter up, enjoy!

Chapter 33 - Decree

After they took Wonder Woman from the Watchtower and returned to her apartment in New York, Kyuubi thought it would be good to let the two of them spend some time alone, as a couple, and decided to go visit Doctor Fate and ask for his advice.

Therefore, while Naruto was healing up Diana's bruised and battered body, Kyuubi landed with his and Naruto's spaceship at the outskirts of Salem, Massachusetts, in the woods, next to a stone tower.

It was a rather comical image when the large trapdoor of the spaceship opened but only a tiny nine-tailed fox cub stepped out of it. After doing 2 rounds, walking around the tower, and seeing no entrance, Kyuubi lost his patience and yelled:

"Fate! Oy, sorcerer!"

Shortly after the fox started hollering, a door of light in the shape of an ankh appeared in one of the stone walls of the tower and a rather good-looking woman looking like she was in her thirties came out. It was Inza, Doctor Fate's wife.

"Is Doctor Fate here? That's the address Naruto gave me."

The previous time when Naruto visited the sorcerer, it was only him and Wonder Woman. Kyuubi had been away, wandering on his own for several days. Now it was the first time he was seeing Doctor Fate's home.

Inza looked at the fox cub in curiosity. It was the first time she was seeing Kyuubi face-to-face. The nine-tailed demon fox was actually very infamous among the metahumans of Earth, much, much better known than Naruto of whom most people thought of as just "Wonder Woman's boyfriend". In contrast, the bijuu was famous for how he curb-stomped the Justice Lords of the other dimension because it was seemingly his enormous size and his fire breath attack that defeated them.

Seeing the woman looking at him silently, Kyuubi said:

"I'm not going to attack him or anything like that. Fate knows me, we've met very often while he was curing Naruto's petrification. I have some questions that he may know the answer to."

'Let him in, Inza, he means no harm.' she heard her husband's voice in her mind.

"Very well then. Follow me." she told Kyuubi and turned around.

⁂

An arc of yellow-red light was left in his wake as he teleported out of the bedroom. An instant later, his body appeared right in front of Wonder Woman, in the doorway. A cloak of yellow-red chakra enveloped him as he entered directly into his bijuu-mode, and a flaming Rasengan took shape in his hand in the blink of an eye.

But his target evaded his Rasengan like a phantom.

"Naruto!" Diana cried out to stop him.

Naturally, he was aware of his surroundings too. Though he missed his target, just as his flaming Rasengan was about to impact the floor, the sphere of fire was abruptly extinguished, disappearing into the palm of his hand. If he had not cancelled his technique, the top half of the skyscraper would have been blasted to smithereens, causing an untold number of casualties. But he held back because he did not want to endanger innocent bystanders.

Nonetheless, their uninvited guest kept his distance with a wary look on his face. He had definitely taken notice of how powerful that attack was, gaining a healthy dose of respect for such destructive magic.

"That's a rude way to greet someone." the Olympian God said eventually and patted off the non-existent dust on his clothes. "So this is the man my sister fancies? I must say this isn't a very good first impression."

Hermes looked like a handsome and well-built man in his late twenties. His attire consisted of an off-shoulder white robe, a winged and open-faced golden helmet, golden greaves on his feet, and a wide beige belt around his waist. Hanging from his other shoulder was a rather large pouch filled to the brim with scrolls. All in all, his appearance was exactly how a mortal would imagine the Herald of Gods to look like.

"Why are you here, Hermes? Has anything happened?" Wonder Woman asked as she stepped forth from behind Naruto's back.

Whenever the Amazon princess had met one of the Olympian gods in the past she had greeted them with a deep bow and respectful words. But, ever since her mother revealed the truth of her origins to her, she had lost her reverence to the gods. Nonetheless, Hermes was one of the gods that she still respected.

"I found out after thousands of years that I have a sister. Do I need a reason to come and see her?" Hermes joked and approached them. But he stopped to 6 feet in front of them when he saw Naruto prepare another sphere of 'magic' in his hand, this time filled with lightning.

The god dropped his shoulders in helplessness.

"I don't know what you heard about the gods, but we're not all trying to kill Diana, you know?" Hermes said to Naruto and then he turned his attention to Wonder Woman: "We all felt your divinity earlier this morning. Now, the entire Olympus is aware of your existence. And Hera... ...she is not happy, to say the least. When I left, the skies were shaking from her screams at Zeus. Zeus himself is not pleased with the situation either. Apparently, you weren't supposed to learn about your true heritage." Hermes continued to say but the Amazon cut him off and actually shouted at him:

"How is any of that my fault? He's the one who cheated on his wife! He's the one who raped my mother! Why should I care that he's not happy? For all I care, he should burn in the flames of Tartarus for eternity!"

Momentarily, Hermes was stunned. Had it been in the past when the Olympian Gods still roamed the Earth, Zeus' lightning would have struck Wonder Woman down for her blasphemy.

"Zeus is the King of Gods for a reason." he said seriously. "Many have tried to dethrone him before but none of them has ever succeeded. Do you know why? Because of his power. And might makes right. I came here today not just to see you. I also have a message from him too."

Then, he started to rummage through the scrolls in his pouch, looking for the right one. After a while, with an "aha!" sound, he found it. He tossed it to Diana but it was Naruto the one who snatched it before it could reach her. He was not taking any chances. For all he knew, that scroll could be a trap.

Wonder Woman glared at him for how overprotective he was being but he paid it no mind.

'Better safe than sorry.' he thought.

Unfurling the scroll, he tried to read it... ...only to realize that he could not understand the language. It was Ancient Greek. Furthermore, his translating device could not translate texts. Awkwardness ensued.

"Give it to me." Diana said in exasperation, not knowing whether to laugh or to cry at his antics.

Then, she started reading it out loud, in English:

"By decree of Zeus, Father of Olympus, it is so ordered: Diana of Themiscyra will travel to Tartarus and prove her loyalty by executing the traitor, Hades, and presenting his head to Olympus, in front of the Gods."

Turning towards Hermes, she said:

"So you're telling me to go to hell?"

Hermes shrugged his shoulders uncaringly.

"Hey, I'm just the messenger, don't get angry at me."

Diana tossed the scroll back to him.

"If they want to kill someone, they should do it themselves. I'm not anyone's henchman. Why should I care?"

"You mean other than the direct order from the gods?" Hermes replied.

"I've been exiled from Themyscira. I'm no longer serving the gods."

Seeing her unimpressed and indifferent face, the god said:

"Then maybe do it for the sake of your mother and your Amazon sisters?"

"You dare threaten-" Wonder Woman started to say angrily but Hermes quickly raised his hands to stop her from blowing up at him.

"Hold up! They haven't said anything about it yet. But you should know the myths very well. While not all of them are true, most of them are not too far off. If you defy the gods, maybe you and your-" he made a pause to find the right words "-violent boyfriend over here are strong enough to survive the repercussions. But what about your friends and the other people close to you? Specifically, what would you do if they decided to take their anger on your mother and the rest of the Amazons?"

Unlike most of the other Olympian Gods who had shut themselves off from the world and ignored the mortals in the lower plane of existence, Hermes and Athena were completely the opposite. In particular, as the God of Commerce and Thieves, very few other beings were as informed as Hermes was in regards to events that transpired not only on Earth but in the rest of the known Universe too. He knew that Diana's "violent boyfriend" annihilated a race together with his demonic fox so he did not underestimate him despite that he was just a 'mortal'.

Seeing Wonder Woman falling silent, Hermes added:

"This is an order from Zeus. You have to obey it. Though many years have passed, Zeus is still vigilant against the Titans and fears a potential uprising. Given your strength as a demigoddess and his mistreatment of your mother in the past, Zeus wants to make sure there won't be a repeat of what happened when Hades betrayed them. But if I were to give you a piece of advice - when you go to Tartarus, make sure you come back. I'd hate to see my new sister perish just like that."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Naruto asked with narrowed eyes.

"Putting aside the danger Hades himself poses and the dangers of fighting against the creatures of Tartarus, the fact is that the eyes of the gods can't see past the gates of Tartarus, into Hades' domain. Wouldn't that be the perfect place for-"

"For Hera to take action." Naruto completed his words.

Hermes nodded at him.

"Exactly. Now then, I would love to sit and chat more but I have completed my task so I shall not dilly dally any more. Time is money. You take care of yourself, dear sister." Hermes said and waved his hand in good-bye before he vanished.

⁂

As the saying goes, when it rains, it pours. That's what Wonder Woman was feeling at that moment. It was as though she was in the middle of an agitated sea; waves after waves were coming and the storm seemed unending.

"What do you wanna do, Diana?" Naruto asked quietly.

The princess was sitting on the sofa, with her elbows on her knees and her face buried in her palms.

"I'll have to follow his orders," she said in a defeated voice.

"You don't have to do anything you do not want to. No-one can force you to do anything. If nothing else, nobody will be able to harm you, your mother, or the Amazons as long as I'm standing here."

Diana shook her head.

"You don't understand. The gods don't need to act against them. They don't need to do anything. One simple thought of theirs is enough to snuff the life out of everyone."

Naruto looked at her in doubt. He had battled against a goddess before and he had learned quite a few things over the years about the gods of New Genesis and Apokolips too. None of them was capable of simply erasing people from existence with just a thought. He believed she was exaggerating.

As if to prove his thoughts wrong, she continued:

"Nowadays, the Amazons exist for the sole purpose of guarding the gates of Tartarus. But do you know how the Amazons came to be? How were they created?"

He did not know what to say.

"They are women who had died at the hands of men in their previous lives. The gods created bodies for them, sculpted from clay, gave them life, and blessed them with superhuman abilities. The gods don't need to attack and we can't do anything to protect them because if the gods just retrieve their blessings, the Amazons will simply die, reverting to clay. Their very existence depends on the gods. For thousands of years, I thought I was one of them too. That's the reason for my blind faith in the gods. That's also why the world came crashing down on me when I learned the truth."

A grave expression appeared on Naruto's face and he frowned.

"This whole situation is so twisted." he said.

There was nothing the Wonder Woman could do to protect the Amazons if the Gods decided to take action against them. And even if she and Naruto had the power to kill the gods, they could not do that either because the Amazons would die after that too. Wonder Woman really had no other choice but to obey Zeus' decree.

⁂

It was barely two hours after her injured and bruised body recovered that Wonder Woman starting putting back her armour, preparing herself to go to battle again. A white and gold armour top, white skorts, golden over-knee greaves, golden pauldrons, and a white cloak covering her back and protecting her neck. She put her golden tiara back on her forehead and the protective wing ornaments framing her face too before she finally strapped her sword and her golden shield on her back.

She was not the only one getting ready. Similarly, Naruto also changed from his grey sweatpants and blue t-shirt into his black combat suit and his fur-collared black cloak.

Diana came in front of him and her blue eyes looked at his slit, red ones. Despite their fierce and demonic appearance, to her, his eyes spoke volumes of his feelings for her.

"Ever since we started living together I've only brought problems at home and now, I'm even dragging you with me to hell. I'm sorry."

That was not how she had imagined her winter holidays to be this year. She had expected the most beautiful end of the year in her very long life, spending her time together with the man she loved. She had wanted to go shopping together with him and even try to cook something together as a couple, in spite of her previous disastrous attempt. She had wanted to decorate the Christmas tree together with him, to go on walks and watch the Christmas lights on Christmas Eve and spend many more romantic moments with him. She had also been planning and hoping for them to have their first time together very soon and progress with their relationship to the next level... ...But nothing seemed to go her way. Her superhero work was eating up most of her time every day and misfortune and new troubles popped up one after another. Her dreams turned out to be vastly different from reality. Involuntarily, her eyes became wet from frustration.

Letting out a shaky breath, she came to him and hugged him silently.

"It's okay. You don't need to say anything else." he told her and gently caressed the back of her head.

They stood like that, hugging for a few moments. Diana had an expression of unwillingness on her face when they parted and, despite the sombre mood, Naruto found himself smiling softly at her.

'To think that I would hold such a special place in someone's heart one day. Who would have thought?'

He could see how much his presence meant for Diana. Until then, besides Kyuubi who had always been by his side, he could not think of many people that had really cared about him as a person.

'Even the old man and ero-sennin cared for me only because I was Kurama's jinchuuriki or the child of the prophecy.' Naruto thought. 'Maybe Iruka cared for me? But then again, it's only after I graduated that we got closer and even then, we rarely ever spent any time together.'

Looking back at his childhood and his teen years, Naruto was beginning to realize just how lonely and starved for affection he had been until he met Diana. Objectively, his childhood and his teenage years had been like hell; mostly alone, ostracised and abused even by his own teammates, to say nothing about the rest of the people in his village. After that, he was hunted like an animal and spent years on the run from a terrorist organisation. Lastly, he ended up participating at the mere age of 16 in an apocalyptic world war.

Spending almost a century single-mindedly looking for a way to return to such a terrible place only served to prove how damaged he was as a person. But now that he was living in the bliss that came from being loved by someone and realized how sweet life could be, it was as if a veil was lifted from his eyes and he could finally see the unbiased truth in regards to his homeworld.

'Now, I wouldn't go back even if I could. Not without Diana.'

When he arrived at that conclusion in his mind, the feelings he held for the Amazon princess started burning even harder in his heart. He was unable to bear with the sudden urge of wanting to hold her. And he did just that, he embraced her again, his arms wrapping tightly around her back.

"I love you, Diana. I love you so much."

He was speaking from the depths of his heart and Diana herself sensed that. She cupped his scarred cheeks in her hands and then took his breath away with a kiss. Her arms came to embrace his neck and she pressed the back of his head to deepen their kiss even more. Their tongues met in a dance of love and passion and they lost themselves in the other's sweetness.

When they parted, they rested their foreheads on each other, their faces flushed and gasping for air. Still hugging, they continued to steal small pecks and quick kisses, unwilling to let that moment of passion end.

She was being forced to go to hell where she would most likely be assassinated and she had to fight against a god and kill it too. If that was not enough, except for Green Arrow who had stood up for her, everyone else, all her friends turned their backs against her. Even her oldest friends, Batman and Superman, men that she had respected a lot, were condemning her and wanted nothing to do with her. Now, the entire world hated Wonder Woman. A murderer. But, as she lay in Naruto's arms, she thought:

'It doesn't matter.'

At that moment, she felt that even her friends' betrayal meant nothing as long as he loved her.

AN: I usually update 1 chapter or more per week but this time it took me almost 2 weeks to write one. For some reason, it was so hard for me to write this chapter. I mean I have a clear storyline in my head and I know what events are supposed to follow up next but things were just not coming out like usual. I don't know why I struggled so much. I hope this mental block won't last for long and that I will return to my normal updating speed soon.

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Caterpillar by grumpywolf

AN: New chapter up, enjoy!

Chapter 34 - Faith

Vanilla biscuits and green tea were being served in the living room of Doctor Fate's tower but, unlike his usual self, the gluttonous fox felt no desire to stuff himself full with the food placed on the coffee table in front of him. Instead, his slit crimson-red eyes were staring intently in the grey eyes of the old sorcerer and his Negative Emotion Sensing ability was focused on him too. Though he had played off Naruto and Wonder Woman's worries in regards to him, Kyuubi himself was more concerned than anyone about the things happening to him.

"How do I make the voices stop? How can I end this?" Kyuubi asked after he finished telling Doctor Fate about his problem. His fluffy nine tails were unconsciously flicking in distress.

Kent Nelson looked like he was hesitating, mulling over what answer to give him.

"You can't."

A low growl came from the fox.

"What are you hiding from me, sorcerer?" Kyuubi asked dangerously. The fur on the back of his neck stood up like needles.

Doctor Fate's expression changed. For all intents and purposes, the demon fox across the table in front of him was like a ticking bomb. He decided it was not wise to test his patience.

"I am not lying. You can't stop it. Not by yourself." the sorcerer said. "To put it simply, the power of faith is pushing you to become a god."

Whatever Kyuubi had expected Doctor Fate to say, it was definitely not that.

"The power of what now?"

From angry and frustrated, Kyuubi had become speechless.

Kent Nelson explained:

"While I was curing Mr Uzumaki's petrification a few months ago, we had a rather interesting conversation. From what he told me, hundreds of millions, if not billions of people in the Vega System had celebrated the annihilation of the Psion race. He said that some of the more extreme and zealous people there even started to create cults dedicated to worshipping the being that had brought them salvation, the being that had freed them from their tyrants. To worship you."

The silence that followed was almost deafening.

"In all honesty, back then, I just brushed those words aside, not paying them any attention. I thought he was exaggerating in an effort to justify his deeds."

With the knowledge and wisdom of Nabu, Doctor Fate could see what lay beyond the physical realm. He could sense the power of faith converging into the fox cub's tiny body and that there was an enormous amount of it.

"The voices tormenting your mind are nothing but the voices of the people that put their faith in you. They are praying to you. For them, you are their god. But since you obviously not a god, things aren't going well for you. Naturally, something like this would not have happened if there was just a small number of people praying. But when there are hundreds of millions or billions of people, the psychic energy generated by their will and their faith is not something that can be easily ignored."

Kyuubi was floored by the revelations.

"How do I make it stop?" he asked urgently. "I can't go on like this. Over the past few weeks, I forced myself to sleep because the voices would quiet down then. But even that doesn't work anymore. I have to stop it!"

The fox was growing desperate as he realized the actual magnitude of what was happening.

"You only have two options:" Doctor Fate said and showed two fingers. "One: to break those people's faith in you. But after what you did for them, I can't imagine a scenario where the people of Vega System would start to resent you unless you started committing some unthinkable atrocities against them."

The bijuu may have been an avid enthusiast of battling and violence but he was not a mindless beast that enjoyed slaughtering innocents. He eliminated that option from his mind right away.

"Two, become a god. But that is impossible."

Before Kyuubi could say anything, Doctor Fate asked him a question:

"You've ever wondered what are the gods? How are they any different from other metahumans? It's not like they are the only beings in the Universe with superhuman powers or the ability to not die of old age. There are countless other beings with superpowers out there. In that case, what makes someone a god?"

Kyuubi and Naruto had travelled the Universe for nearly a century but that did not mean they were all-knowing. There were plenty of things that they were still clueless about. In particular, the things Doctor Fate was talking about had never even crossed the fox's mind before.

"Outwardly, one would think that gods are no different than other metahumans. But what is different at them is their essence: the essence of divinity, the energy of the Source and the Presence. It is an energy coming from the Creator, the one true God. That is what gives the gods their power, their immortality, their right to call themselves gods."

The fox listened to his words with rapt attention. He instinctually understood that that was a piece of information that extremely few beings in the entire Universe were privy to. Kent Nelson was among those extremely few enlightened beings because he was the owner of the Helmet of Fate and possessed the wisdom and the knowledge of Nabu, a Lord of Order.

Doctor Fate continued:

"The power of faith amplifies a god's power. The psychic energy they assimilate from the people that worship them can increase their strength several times over. But the power of faith itself cannot create a god."

"The only ways for a new god to appear in this world are either to be given birth by a god, or for a mortal to usurp a god's divinity. But how many mortals can stand up against a god, to say nothing about killing them? And even if you are powerful enough to do so, how would you find a god? Gods live in a different dimension from our own, in another plane of existence. The Sphere of the Gods. Mortals have no way of accessing their realm."

"Do you understand now why I said you can't?"

Doctor Fate was not an expert at reading emotions on a fox's face but the grin that appeared on Kyuubi's face left no doubts that he was in a great mood. Instead of being deflated or angry by the seemingly impossible task ahead of him, Kyuubi was excited. For months, ever since he and Naruto destroyed the Psions, he had been plagued by the voices in his head. It was something that had gotten increasingly worse with every passing week. There were moments when he was seriously considering the possibility that maybe he was going insane. But now, he finally learned of a way to solve his problems.

⁂

"Come on, Di. We have to go." Naruto said and broke their hug.

Wonder Woman let out a small sigh. Naruto's offer from a few months ago to leave the Earth behind and tag along with him and Kyuubi on their adventures seemed more tempting every day. Though she was a woman that did not run from responsibilities, it was different when all her efforts were being spat on.

She locked the door of her apartment and then the two of them climbed the staircase to the rooftop of the skyscraper. It was a short flight of stairs because her apartment was already located on the top floor of the building.

Clad in their respective armour suits and equipped with their battle gear, they were going to take flight from the rooftop of the building.

"Are we going to Salem first?" she asked as she approached the edge of the rooftop.

"Yes, we have to take Kurama with us too." Naruto said and followed her towards the edge.

However, when he looked at the scenery below, his expression darkened.

The avenues and streets of New York had become an ocean of people. Despite the cold and snowy weather outside (it was past the middle of December) tens of thousands of people were marching together, their screams covering any other sounds in the city. What they were screaming could not be understood completely because they were not coordinated but it was not difficult to guess what they were saying. After all, Wonder Woman had killed Maxwell Lord IV only a few hours earlier that day and the AI named Brother Eye had streamed the act for the entire world to see it.

A few currents of air started to circle around Naruto and his feet left the rooftop of the building. He started to fly after casting a Wind Release technique. Wind had always been the element that he had had the most talent in. Flying was something that very few shinobi back in his homeworld had been capable of but it was nothing extraordinary for him after almost a century.

As the two of them flew together above the city, he said:

"These are the people you're fighting for. Do you see now? People's hearts are change like the weather. They love you today and tomorrow they'll lynch you in the streets. Why even bother trying to be a hero...?" but when he saw the expression on her face, he stopped himself from continuing. He realized that at that moment, the last thing Diana needed was more nagging from him. His words were like pouring salt on an opened wound. "...I'm sorry, that was uncalled for."

Diana bit her lower lip and avoided meeting his eyes, speeding a bit ahead in front of him. In her heart, however, her thoughts were not much different than what he said.

'I dedicated so much time and effort fighting crime. Everything I did was to keep everyone safe. Yet they...'

Before meeting Naruto, Wonder Woman had not even had a social life at all. Spending from 10 to 20 hours either on guard at the Watchtower or actively fighting against regular and metahuman criminals alike was a daily occurrence. As people who did not have a civilian identity at first and no other friends outside the Justice League, Martian Manhunter and Wonder Woman were the ones that had spent the highest amount of time on duty.

As for killing Maxwell Lord, she was not a bloodthirsty person. On the contrary, she had a very kind and pure soul. But the Amazon princess was not blinded by her kindness. She knew what was truly important and where to draw the line. Under the effects of the Lasso of Truth, Maxwell Lord was compelled to speak the truth - that he was never going to let go of Superman and that the only way for Superman to regain his mental faculties was for Maxwell to die. Because of that, Wonder Woman killed him. It was for the sake of countless innocent people that could have suffered or even died at the hands of the mind-controlled Kryptonian.

'I can see where the average population is coming from. They are afraid of me, of my power. They hate metahumans. I can understand their reaction because fear makes people irrational. But Superman, Batman, J'onn and the others... how could they not understand why I did it? Why did everyone turn their back on me?'

Wonder Woman was momentarily distracted from her thoughts when a loud beeping sound came from the wristwatch on Naruto's hand. He stopped in his flight and floated in the air to answer. After tapping on the screen of the watch, a small hologram was projected from it. Two long rabbit-like ears, a cute snout, nine fluffy tails and the body of a tiny fox cub. It was none other than Kyuubi.

"Naruto! I'm not going crazy!" the foxed yelled out the very moment that Naruto answered the call. "Haha! I told you I'm not crazy!"

Diana looked at Naruto bewildered and he found himself chuckling.

"You won't believe it if I told you! Come on, try to guess!" Kyuubi continued to shout, filled with enthusiasm. "Yours truly is becoming a god! Wahaha!"

Naruto rolled his eyes.

"You're definitely going crazy..."

"Nono, I'm serious! Doctor Fate said so. Apparently, those people that started worshipping me in the Vega System are the cause of this. Now, all I need to do is kill a god. Didn't that New Genesis helmet dude offer us an assassination bounty already?"

"You mean Orion?"

"Yes, him. We can kill Darkseid for his bounty and get myself a godhood too. Two birds, one stone. Whaddya say?"

Naruto and Diana looked at each other.

"What are the chances?" she asked him with no small amount of surprise.

Turning towards Kyuubi's hologram, Naruto said:

"Um, about that...we might have to kill another god first."

"What did I miss?"

"It's a long story, wouldn't know from where to start. Let's meet up and talk. Where are you now?"

"In our ship, still outside Doctor Fate's tower. I haven't taken off yet, I called you first."

"Alright, wait for us there. Diana and I are on our way, flying. We should be there in a few minutes. We'll talk more face to face."

After that, he terminated the transmission. Turning towards Wonder Woman, he said with a grin:

"Race you there?"

Diana raised an eyebrow and smiled wryly at him.

"What do I get if I win?" she asked.

"Oho, confident, aren't we? Well, what do you want?"

With a hand under her elbow and a finger to her chin, she made a thinking posture.

"If I win, you're going to teach me some of your skills. Especially the transformation spell or the way you're storing things in a scroll."

Naruto looked at her weirdly.

Interpreting his expression as him being reluctant about it, she added quickly:

"Nevermind, if it's too much to ask, let me think of something else-"

"Dummy, why wouldn't I want to teach you?" he said and pinched her nose, making her slap his hand away in annoyance. He chuckled at her. "I'm not holding my skills secret or anything like that. I just never thought you'd be interested. I mean you're already a fantastic fighter, you can fly and you're a demigoddess too."

A smile made its way on her face when he complimented her fighting skills.

"Come to think of it, we've never sparred against each other, have we?" she said.

"We haven't done any missions together either." he also said. "It would be so fun to do bounties together with you and Kurama... Anyway, we're going off-topic. You don't need to win a wager for me to teach you my jutsu. All you had to do is just ask. Think of something I wouldn't normally agree with; you can make use of this chance and force me to do it."

"But I wouldn't want to force you to do something you don't like..." she said and trailed off.

"Sheesh, you're no fun." he complained in annoyance.

"Well, sorry for not being fun. I'm sorry I'm such a boring person." she said annoyed too.

But their annoyance was all a pretence. Only a few moments later, they started grinning at each other.

"If I win, you're washing the dishes and taking out the garbage for a month." Naruto said.

"Hey, aren't the stakes a bit too high?" she asked, for the first time showing some hesitation. Doing housework was something that she did not enjoy, to say the least.

"Well, you can back off if you don't dare." he said snidely.

"What did you say?" she narrowed her eyes at him.

She knew it was a petty provocation but her competitive nature could not simply ignore it.

"You heard me." he said unrepentantly.

"If I win, you're going to tell me the most embarrassing moment in your life, while you're tied with my Lasso of Truth."

Naruto suddenly became pale in the face. At the front of his mind, a memory that he had tried to bury for over a century had suddenly resurfaced. The memory of losing his first kiss to a black-haired boy, at the academy. He was not going to tell her that, over his dead body.

"Did I strike a nerve?" Diana asked, the corners of her lips raising in a grin. She even started to laugh. "I can't wait for it, haha! By the way, just for the record, earlier this morning, it took me only a few minutes to fly from Chile to Switzerland. That's over seven thousand miles, baby! There are less than 200 miles from where we are now to Salem. Now, you do the math, how long will it take me to get there?"

At her words, his eyes became serious and his body was suddenly enveloped in a very bright cloak of red and yellow light. Despite the risk of getting ill if he absorbed too much natural energy, he even entered his Six Path Sage Mode at the same time and a Truth-Seeking Orb appeared behind his back. He was not taking any chances.

"I can't wait to see you wearing an apron and washing the dishes like an obedient housewife."

A tick mark appeared on her temple at his words.

"And I can't wait to see what you're hiding. It's got to be something very juicy if it got you to be THAT serious!"

Eyes filled with fighting spirit, they glared daggers at each other. After getting in a line, he said:

"Alright, counting together from 3 to 1 and starting at go. Ready?"

"Ready."

Then, they started counting at the same time:

"3... 2... 1... GO!"

A deafening explosion boomed as if the sky ruptured. Wonder Woman exploded forth with such speed that she left sonic booms in her wake, clearing the sky of clouds in her surroundings.

But Naruto did not fall behind her at all. The Truth-Seeking Orb at his back instantly transformed into an enormous slingshot. Not only that he also broke the sound barrier when the slingshot launched him, but he even overtook Wonder Woman too despite her already insane speed. However, just as he was about to grin in satisfaction and relief, he was suddenly thrown off his course when she blitzed past him almost like a hurricane. As hard as it was for him to imagine, Wonder Woman's speed all of a sudden increased to almost double from before.

'Fuck.'

It was at that moment that Naruto knew, he was fucked.

'No! I can't lose this! I won't lose this! No matter what!'

His mind set, he formed a one-handed ram seal. In the next moment, his body vanished, leaving behind only a few arcs of yellow and red light. He teleported.

⁂

"You cheater!"

Wonder Woman's loud yell made a whole flock of birds scatter and fly in panic from the woods surrounding Doctor Fate's tower.

"I didn't know you were such a sore loser." he said with a grin. "I thought warriors are proud people that know how to take a loss with dignity."

"I didn't lose! You teleported! You cheated!" she shouted incensed.

"How so? I said we'll race but I never said we're only doing it by flying. You just assumed that."

"You- ... ...!"

"A ninja must see underneath the underneath. That's the first lesson that my first sensei taught me after I graduated from the Academy."

Diana's cheeks were red and her entire face was flushed from anger. If she had lost 'fair and square' she would have not said a thing. But she could not accept the result in the current situation.

"You tricked me! You're a scumbag, Naruto!"

"Aigo, don't praise me like that or I'll get a big head. Ninjas are masters of deception, didn't you know that? Hehe. When I was a kid-"

Naruto abruptly stopped his gloating when the sound of a sharp sword leaving its sheath reached his ears.

But when Diana lunged at him, a cloud of smoke unexpectedly filled her entire line of sight. When the curtain of smoke finally dispersed, there was only a piece of log instead of Naruto. If that was not enough to infuriate her, there was even a smiley face with its tongue stuck out that had been carved in the bark of the log.

It was so ridiculous that the princess found herself bursting into laughter. All her annoyance melted at that moment.

He appeared behind her with a body flicker movement and embraced her from behind, his hands resting on her tummy.

"Feeling better yet?" he asked and kissed on the cheek.

"You jerk!" she said petulantly but leaned back into his embrace like a spoiled child.

She realized that their little race and his shenanigans had been just a way for him to distract her from her worries and relieve her stress. And it worked. Although only for a moment, she had forgotten about the tens of thousands of people protesting against her in New York City or that the ones she used to think of as her dear friends hated her guts now. She felt better now.

'My goddess, how I love this man!' she thought.

"But don't forget that you lost. You still have to wash the dishes for 1 month. I'll make sure to take photos." he piped up.

'I take that back, I hate this man!'

AN: A bit of fluff towards the end of the chapter, don't complain. After all, I did promise you, didn't I? - that you will get diabetes by the time you finish reading this fic haha.

Jokes aside, there are some interesting things coming up next. About Kurama potentially becoming a god, I'm not sure if my foreshadowing was on point but I did sprinkle quite a few hints over the course of the story~. I hope you liked the chapter. Until next time!

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Chapter 1255 - vg

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