Summary: The story of Uzumaki Naruto/Nathaniel Wilson, son of Deathstroke the Terminator and a New Godess of Apokolips, and raised by the Uzumaki Ninja Clan.
"Hello, father. I must say, I did not expect you to come and visit me so openly. You're usually far more discreet, this is very reckless of you." Naruto said casually.
He is a twenty year old who was wearing an expensive navy blue suit with black shoes and a red tie, spotting spiky blonde hair and ocean blue eyes. He also had what appeared to be fox-like whisker marks on his face and was a tall young man, standing at 6'4" in height.
"If that is your first concern after not seeing your father for years then I am a better teacher than a father." Slade Wilson replied casually.
"Besides, I have friends in high places. Someone who happens to be a homo magi owed me a favor. You're the only one who can see me for who I really am because of your abilities, everyone else just sees an unassuming nerd. The spell will last for twelve hours." The man in question replied.
He had short silver white hair and an eye patch over his right eye, and was wearing a maroon jersey along with black pants and black shoes. He also spotted a blue tie and a neatly trimmed, silver white beard and spoke with what appeared to be an Australian accent.
"Always meticulous and vigilant I see, as expected of course, from the most dangerous assassin in the world." Naruto retorted.
"The fact that I'm known as the most dangerous assassin in the world means that I've been sloppy. If I truly was the most dangerous assassin, then no one would even be aware of my existence." Slade retorted.
"Nonsense! If no one knew about you, then you wouldn't get any clients. People only know about you because you wanted them to, and you're only known in a very small circle of people anyway." Naruto countered swiftly.
"Hn, you always were able to see through me, Nathaniel." Slade retorted, causing Naruto's carefree and calm demeanor to change in a barely noticeable but significant way as he confirmed that something really big was going on, because his father only called him by that name when shit was hitting the fan.
The name Nathaniel, of course, was the name that his biological mother, who happened to have been a New God, had given to him, however, she had given him to his father to raise and went back to her home planet of Apokolips in order to hide and protect him from her master and ruler, as she feared that the immense potential Nathaniel had surpassed even that of the Dark Lord and that the Dark Lord would be able to immediately sense that potential just as she had and have him assassinated before he could reach that potential.
Slade of course had been in love with another woman and even had plans to marry her. Bringing in a love child into the relationship would have destroyed it beyond repair, and Slade couldn't…wouldn't have that. So he had taken Nathaniel to his close friend Uzumaki Namikaze Minato and his wife Uzumaki Kushina to be raised in the Uzumaki ninja clan while he carried on with his life.
However, the agreement had been that from age fifteen onwards Naruto would go on missions with Slade in order to gain combat and mission experience, and also allow father and child to meet and bond with each other. He had also gotten a new name from the clan, hence the name Uzumaki Naruto.
Things had gone according to plan initially. Naruto's mother had sealed his power away, predicting that Naruto's power would eventually grow too powerful for the seal, starting at around the age of twenty. However, she had clearly underestimated the true extent of her son's potential as the seal had started to weaken by the time Naruto was eight years old.
As a result, by the time Naruto was 10, he had already been able to bench press 200kg and squat 300kg. In other words, he was arguably the strongest ten year old in the world, and that was despite the seal on his body. As a result of this drastic increase in physical strength, it was decided that Naruto would start missions with his dad at age 10 instead of fifteen, so that his father could contribute to his son's training before he grew too strong for him to be able to even spar with his son. It also helped that he had already mastered everything the Uzumaki had to teach him by that age, showing that he truly had Godly genius intellect and talent.
So for the next five years Naruto would frequently leave the Uzumaki compound to go on training trips and missions with his father, and they had a one hundred percent mission success rate too. By the time Naruto was fifteen he was already a war veteran and his power was already such that he could lift twenty tons of weight despite the seal still being in effect, albeit significantly weakened. He was essentially a super being with the power and skill to throw it down with the best of the best.
However, that didn't do much in the way of protecting his clan as they were completely wiped out when he and Slade had been on a mission. Still, they held their own pretty well considering that they managed to kill four hundred and fifty armed elite warriors before they were wiped out, a great feat considering the fact that there were only twenty Uzumaki members in total, and not all of them had been adults.
It wasn't hard to figure out who did it, the uniforms of dead soldiers were a dead giveaway, no pun intended. It was Hive, Slade's old enemies. Naruto had wanted to go after them himself but Slade had refused, forbade him from seeking revenge and insisting that he keep a low profile just like his biological mother wanted, promising his son that he himself, and he alone, would get revenge for the Uzumaki clan. Ironically, at the very moment that Slade was promising to avenge Naruto's family, his own family was being attacked as his other son, Joseph, had been kidnapped.
The events that proceeded lead to the Uzumaki clan being avenged by Slade and also lead to Slade's legitimate son, Joseph Wilson, being saved by Slade himself, however at the cost of Joseph losing his ability to speak as he had his throat slashed by The Jackal.
Naruto had thought that with the Uzumaki clan gone, that Slade would take him home with him, but that didn't happen. Instead, Slade had made it clear that Adeline and Joseph were his real family and that Naruto was not part of that family. He had also told fifteen year old Naruto that he was never to make any contact with his family and that he was an adult because he had killed dozens, in fact hundreds of people and that the Uzumaki clan and Deathstroke himself had taught him all the skills he needed to survive.
Those words had hurt Naruto very badly, but he had been taught and trained in the ninja ways, and a ninja never shows emotion nor is he ruled or influenced by emotions, so he had sucked it up and did as instructed, forging his own way in the world, which is how he ended up with four PhD's and a multi billion dollar company known as Wave Consolidated, at only the age of twenty years old.
Slade had to admit that he hadn't expected Naruto to go legitimate, nor had he expected Naruto to forsake the way of the assassin in favor of a normal life. It was perhaps the biggest surprise of his life. He also hadn't known just how much he would miss the sun kissed New God, or the pain that came with being estranged to your first born son.
Naruto had not said anything to rebuke or insult Slade, and had always been civil and accommodating to Slade whenever Slade called him or asked for a favor, but the fact remained that Naruto, in all that time, had never once, not even once reached out to his father. It was always his father reaching out to him, never the other way around.
For some reason the lack of rebuke or anger hurt more than anything in the world to Slade, it hurt more than if Naruto had called him out on his bull shit or if he had outright hated him. Slade honestly, as an assassin, never understood the saying that you could kill someone with kindness. He always thought it was nonsense because the only way to kill someone was to poison them, burn them, electrocute them, blast them with bullets, drown them, hit a pressure point, bomb them, suffocate or strangle them, stab them, or cut them up. There was no other way.
Well, turns out there was another way because he was being killed by his very own son with kindness, and it hurt like hell. Still, he needed his son right now, he needed his son, for the sake of his other son.
"Okay, you already know that I'm an empath, I could sense the guilt, pain, remorse, and anger rolling off of you in waves from the moment you entered the city. You also called me Nathaniel instead of Naruto, which is a dead giveaway that something is up. So sit down and tell me what is going on." Naruto instructed as he too took a seat in his office chair, Slade doing as instructed as he was reminded that he couldn't really hide anything from this guy.
"My son, Joseph, has been kidnapped. Joseph has disappeared from his boarding school, its been 24 hours already and I haven't got a definitive lead. I'm going to have to take drastic measures to find him, but that could take more time than I care to waste." Slade explained.
"You had a homo magi who owed you a favor and instead of asking them to divine Joseph's location you asked them to hide your identity so that you can come and ask me for help?" Naruto asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Stop being a smart ass and help me out. I'll owe you one." Slade retorted, Naruto rolling his eyes at Slade because to this day Slade hadn't paid any of his debts to him, but of course Slade would argue that Naruto hasn't called any of those favors because Naruto never even calls him.
"….."
"Look, this is my son we're talking about. I wasn't going to trust his fate to some stranger who happens to practice voo doo or whatever. Better the devil I know." Slade tried to explain his reasoning.
"Fair point I guess. Okay, your son is at a place known as the Kerguelen Islands. It is one of Hive's main bases. Place is quite the fortress." Naruto said as if it was nothing of consequence.
"How do you know exactly where is? You didn't contact anyone and you don't seem to have used your New God cosmic powers or whatever, its almost as if….as if you already knew that my son was kidnapped!" Slade said with both anger and suspicion.
"Your son has developed meta powers. I don't know what other powers he has but I know about his telepathic and empathic powers because he tried to use them to contact me once, but I blocked him off because…well, because you said you didn't want me making contact with him. I did monitor his movements though, telepathically and empathically that is. Your son hates you, and he wasn't kidnapped by Hive, he joined them…" Naruto trailed off as Slade got up, grabbed Naruto's work office desk, and violently threw it at Naruto, the desk completely shattering on impact, breaking into pieces right on Naruto's face.
"That was uncalled for, father." Naruto said calmly, not even phased by his dad's violent behavior, neither mentally, emotionally, or physically.
"You expect me to believe that my son joined Hive, my greatest enemies? His greatest enemies? The people who attacked him and his mother, kidnapped him and slit his throat? You expect me to believe that nonsense?" Slade exclaimed angrily.
"Well, when you put it like that, no. But your son was in a vulnerable state, I mean, he thinks you abandoned him and his mother shipped him off to some far away boarding school afterwards. He needed you both after the trauma he suffered but both of you left him all alone. Furthermore, the Hive Queen that runs the base in the Kerguelen Island happens to be another of your illegitimate children, so its kind of like a brother sister thing I guess. They must have bonded over their loneliness and abandonment issues." Naruto laid it out on the table.
"My w-what?" Slade stuttered incoherently.
"Your illegimate daughter. It wasn't easy to get accurate intel on her, but she is your daughter, yours and a woman from Combodia known as Lillian. Her mother named her Rose, Rose Wilson. Her powers are very similar to yours, super strength, enhanced agility and speed, regeneration, enhanced brain function and intellect, etc." Naruto explained patiently.
"Lillian, I haven't seen her in a long time. I…I never knew she was pregnant." Slade said sorrowfully.
"She's dead now, died quite a long time ago actually, when Rose was still very young. Rose was on the streets for a while, but she quickly realized she had superior physical abilities and started using them in an underground fighting arena. That's when the Jackal found her and recruited her. He probably knew about her long before then though, he couldn't have just randomly found her, he must have been monitoring her, or rather, he must have been monitoring you, which is how he would have known about Lillian and Rose." Naruto explained in detail.
"Wait, Jackal is alive? This is….this is all…this all crazy. Where does the Jackal's obsession with me even come from, why won't he die!" Slade thought furiously.
"….."
"You should try using a condom more often. I mean I'm grateful to be alive and all and I'm sure Rose doesn't wish to be erased out of existence but come on man. Being immune to diseases doesn't mean you shouldn't use protection, or at least birth control. A vasectomy wouldn't be a bad idea either."
"Just…shut up. Just shut up for a second and let me think." Slade said irritably.
"There's nothing to think about father. I don't think you'll want to kill your daughter, fathers are supposed to have a soft spot for their daughters. You definitely don't want to kill Joseph, so your usual methods won't work here. You'll either have to let them kill you, or you're going to have to convince them to forgive you somehow, and of course, be a more present and supportive father afterwards…assuming they do forgive you and don't just kill you." Naruto explained patiently.
"Or I can kidnap them and make them forgive me, kill and destroy the rest of Hive and the Jackal himself, and then spend the rest of my life making it up to my kids." Slade retorted.
"Sounds good on paper, but I wonder how it will really play out. Anyway I have been thinking. Why not take over Hive after you kill the Jackal and run it with your son and daughter. You once told me that my mother said that earth would need me and a powerful army in order to fend off the forces of Apokolips if Darkseid ever found out about me, or if he just happens to decide to conquer earth. Hive could be the start of building that army, and you could use it to further your mission of getting paid while making the world a better place through the art of assassinating the metaphorical pests that are destroying the metaphorical greenhouse." Naruto suggested, breaking Slade from his thoughts as he brought up a vey solid idea.
"That could be a very good idea. But…Adeline, she'd never forgive me for bringing Joseph into my world, I'm not sure I could forgive myself." Slade replied, conflicted.
"Joseph has already brought himself into that world, by his own will. Nevertheless, you can give him the option of continuing with a normal life, I doubt he would accept the offer though. There really is no going back now." Naruto retorted.
"You managed to build a normal life for yourself. If you could change, then Joseph can too." Slade argued.
"Really? You think I'm living a normal life? I must be even better than I thought if that is really what you believe." Naruto laughed, causing Slade to frown at him with displeasure.
"I never stopped taking missions, Kitsune is still very much active. Besides, there is nothing normal about the world of business, trust me. It's not as dangerous as what we do obviously, but it is just as treacherous and difficult to navigate safely." Naruto retorted.
"I had no idea. I thought you gave up on that life completely." Slade retorted.
"That life is just as much a part of me as it is yours, in fact moreso me since it was the only thing I knew from the moment I started walking and talking." Naruto retorted.
"I see. I'll…I'll think about what you said on my way there. Its not a bad idea at all. I'll have to run it by the kids of course, and hope they don't kill me first, but I'll make it work somehow…if it is indeed what I end up deciding to do." Slade said thoughtfully.
"Well good luck with all of that. Whatever happens, I hope you all live to see another day, and I hope you manage to reconcile." Naruto said sincerely.
"Thank you….son." Slade said as he turned and walked away, headed towards the door.
"Sorry about your desk." Slade said before closing the door and making his way out of the building.
To be honest, he was extremely disappointed. He had been hoping that Naruto would offer to accompany him since the matter involved his brother, and his sister too apparently. It would be like old times when they used to go on missions together.
He knew it was an unreasonable expectation, he knew that he was the one that was supposed to ask for Naruto's help and company after the horrible things he had said to the boy after his adopted parents died. It was an olive branch that he wanted to extend but couldn't for some reason that was beyond him. Was it pride? Was he too prideful to admit he was wrong and to ask for forgiveness from his own son? Too prideful to mend the relationship that he broke?
The boy had it tough, his biological mother was literally in another the dimension, the so called fourth dimension, and left him when he was a baby. His biological father pawned him off to his friends, who raised him as their child only for them to all be murdered because of Slade's own enemies, because he somehow lead them to the Uzumaki clan.
And then Slade, being the boy's father, being responsible for the boy's existence and his suffering because of the death of his parents, had abandoned him and said so many hurtful things and in such a harsh way while doing so, and he still had too much pride to just say that he was sorry? Adeline was right, there was something seriously wrong with him.
And the boy, how could he have taken all that so well, how was it possible for him to be so well adjusted despite all of that. Granted the boy was raised as a ninja and was taught to control and suppress his emotions at all times, but still, this was a little too much. Was it because of the divine genes that he had? Perhaps. Perhaps Slade was too close to the situation, anyone else would have first noted the fact that the boy wasn't even human, he was literally a God. For some reason Slade tended to overlook that fact.
'Maybe Gods are better at processing this kind of stuff.' Slade thought, not entirely convinced but not entirely unconvinced either, leaving the premises as he got into his car and drove away from National City, just in time too because what happened ten minutes later would probably have delayed his rescue mission significantly.
13 Minutes Later:
"Sir! You need to come with me! I need to get you out of here! Poison Ivy is…" Khalil Payne, otherwise known as Painkiller, trailed off in surprise and horror as he saw Poison Ivy outside of his boss's window, standing on what appeared to be a literal monster plant, the head of the plant looking like it was the size of a submarine, like something straight out of a nightmare as the plant's mouth seemed to have sharp fangs that were the size of a grown human.
Painkiller is a
tall, muscular, and handsome black man, with black hair styled is a neatly trimmed short cut and brown eyes. He is wearing black military styled pants along with black combat boots and also has a short sleeved black top along with black body armor. He has two high tech guantlers on each of his arms and has two guns on each side of his hips. There are also knives and other weapons stashed in many different compartments on his person and he is clearly either Naruto's assassin or his body guard, also carrying two apokoliptan tech swords on his back.
"What do you want?" Naruto asked through the impenetrable glass window, making sure to pronounce his words slowly and deliberately so that Poison Ivy could read his lips.
"I want to kill you and destroy your company." Poison Ivy replied maliciously, using a hand gesture as well to express her intentions as she moved her right hand thumb across her neck.
"Let us talk first, you can kill me afterwards if you desire. Meet me on the roof." Naruto said, pointing upwards in order to convey the message to Poison Ivy.
"Don't keep me waiting, or I'll make you regret it." The notorious feminist and eco terror…uh…activist said dangerously, mentally commanding her plant monster to take her to the top.
"That was a good diversion sir. Now lets get out of here before she catches on." Painkiller advised.
"No Painkiller, you're wrong. I have every intention of honoring my word. I man's word is a man's bond Mr Payne, always remember that." Naruto retorted.
"Okay, I always knew you were out of your mind but this is just ridiculous. You actually think you can reason with Poison Ivy? She's a misanthropist, as in, she hates all humans. You can't reason with that kind of crazy." Painkiller said incredulously.
"And what about Looker? She's a hardcore, redneck racist isn't she? And yet here she is, working side by side with Painkiller and Instant, an African American and a Hispanic American. You and her have gotten pretty close I hear, despite you being of the race that she hates the most." Naruto said with a knowing smirk.
"She…! That's diff….! Okay…okay! I get it!" Painkiller said after stuttering incoherently, shocked that his boss knew about his illicit affair with his racist colleague.
"Don't worry, I have no problem with your relationship with Looker, so long as it doesn't affect your work." Naruto said calmly, Painkiller nodding his head in understanding, and gratitude.
"So what now sir?" Painkiller asked.
"Contact Instant and have him come here immediately. We'll need his abilities if things go south." Naruto ordered.
Instant, real name Eduardo Dorado jr, is, like Painkiller and Looker, twenty two years old, only two years older than his boss. He is also one of Naruto's generals and bodyguards, and is mainly responsible for emergency transportation due to his ability to instantly teleport to different locations.
Naruto had been sixteen when he met him and Eduardo had been a troubled teenager who was addicted to drugs and started using his metahuman abilities to rob banks. Naruto had quickly tracked him down and subdued him. Following that, Naruto took him to the mountains where he had set up a space time barrier and left a shadow clone to train Eduardo in fitness and hand to hand combat for two years.
By the time the training was complete, Eduardo's body no longer craved for drugs and his mental, physical, and emotional fortitude was so strong that you couldn't make him addicted again even if you injected him with drugs on a regular basis. Needless to say, Instant was one of Naruto's most loyal henchmen.
"Roger that sir." Painkiller saluted, pressing a button on his ear piece as he contacted his friend and colleague.
"What about Looker and Hack?" Painkiller asked curiously.
"Have Looker and the sange protect all the sensitive facilities in the building, and make sure that Hack continues to protect our digital mainframe." Naruto ordered.
The sange are basically normal humans, or rather, they are originally normal humans, homeless caucasian people to be more exact. However, they now have powers such as super speed and super strength thanks to Looker's powers, her powers being the ability to produce a silver liquid metal that she can insert into people and use the substance not only to control those people, read their minds, and see through their eyes, but to give them abilities similar but lesser to those of herself, such as of course super speed and super strength.
Naruto had insisted that she use homeless people, because well, most of them had no life. That didn't mean Naruto didn't value their human rights, because on the contrary, he did. They were briefed, in detail about what would happen to them once she gave them the substance and they all willingly volunteered, thereby granting Looker, and by extension, Naruto, an army of super humans both for security purposes and for war if necessary.
"What about Brainwave junior and Hourman junior sir?" Painkiller asked.
"Poison Ivy is strong but I don't think we'll be needing Brainwave and Hourman on this one. Leave them be. Oh and stop calling them junior, they don't like that." Naruto retorted.
"Then they shouldn't have chosen the same code names as their fathers." Painkiller retorted in between his dialogue with Instant through his earpiece.
"Their fathers are deceased. There is no longer a need to differentiate between them." Naruto retorted, Instant well, instantly appearing in Naruto's office right after his retort.
"Hey boss." Instant said casually.
He is mexican guy with olive skin, messy black hair and brown eyes. He was wearing a black facemask that covers the lower half of his face and had a red visor covering his eyes. On his body he was wearing a red long sleeve top with black body armor made of promethium element and also had two promethium gauntlets on his arms. His pants were black military pants and black combat boots and he also had a black ankle length coat over his outfit. There were a number of hidden compartments with all sorts of weapons in his outfit but the one item that wasn't hidden was the long Apokoliptan sceptre on his back, a gift he got from Naruto.
"Instant. You sure are always late for someone who can appear anywhere in an instant." Naruto retorted, Eduardo rolling his eyes under the visor, unable to contain his dismay at the fact that his boss probably didn't actually need any of them. They all knew just how powerful he was, after all, it was only last week that the boss had made short work of Looker and the sange when Looker somehow got it in her head that she didn't have to follow someone who was weaker than her.
Her delusions of grandeur were quickly shattered when she came to the realization that her liquid metal substance doesn't even work on the boss, then she and her puppets got bodied hard by the boss with literally one hand behind his back. It was then that she learned the true nature of the boss, and so did the others, that he didn't command respect and warrant fear just because of his money and connections, but because of his power.
The boss had explained to them, for the first time, who he really was, that his other known name was Nathaniel Wilson, son of Deathstroke the Terminator and Gilotina, an actual Godess from Apokolips, who was a member of the Elite Warrior Group known as the Furies. It all made sense after they heard that, no wonder he was so strong, no wonder he had such a strong presence. To think that this seemingly normal business nerd and scientific genius was actually an all powerful God.
Well, Eduardo had already known that the boss was dangerous even without knowing he was a God, the hellish training the boss made him endure had been proof of that. However even he had been shocked to the core to learn that his boss was an actual God. That was just crazy, he was supposed to be a Christian. His mother would turn in her grave if she knew he was literally serving the will of another God.
"I'm sorry boss, it won't happen again." Instant said, scratching the back of his head sheepishly.
"Whatever, just take us to the roof before the misanthropist gets pissed off and does something even crazier than what she is doing right now." Naruto ordered.
A Minute Later:
"You made me wait! Are you trying to stall me? You think perhaps if you stall me enough than Superman can come in and save the day? Let me shatter that bubble quickly, I gave Superman a lot of distractions specifically so that I will be able to take my time with you. So don't fuck with me Naruto, not today…or ever!" Poison Ivy said dangerously, the green skinned, red haired Godess in human form not looking too pleased at all, left hand on her curvaceous hip and right hand ready to take action at a moment's notice.
She was wearing green pants and a hip length jacket that was a much darker shade of green and had voluptuous figure with curves in all the right places. She was standing on top of what could only be described as a monster plant head, the beastly plant literally salivating at what it saw as three potentially tasty meals. The entire building had all its exits closed off and was constricted by gigantic vines all around it, the vines so strong that they could literally squeeze and crush the building at Ivy's command. Essentially, Poison Ivy was holding the entire building and everyone in it as her hostages.
"I see, so you're saying that you've got more of these gigantic vines attacking other notable buildings in the city? Which means that this particular building is the last one you attacked. You are however overlooking one thing, Superman has super hearing. He can hear everything happening all across the world at once. Its possible that he is listening to our conversation as we speak." Naruto said as he unfolded the camp chair that he brought with him and sat down comfortably, Poison Ivy's confidence taking a slight knock at hearing that information as she hadn't known that Superman had such an insane hearing ability, internally wondering how the hell this nerd even knew that because it isn't like that was public information or anything like that.
"Now, I know you want to kill me but surely you have already realized the impossibility of that task as you may have noticed that we arrived via instant teleportation. We can be on the other side of the world in a heart beat." Naruto retorted.
"I did notice that, but are you willing to abandon your life's work and all of the employees that are trapped inside the building? If you are, I wonder how the rest of the world will react to that? How will the families of those employees react? Will they turn into villains for the sake of revenge and hunt you down? How will your clients and suppliers react? Will they be willing to do business with someone who would betray his own employees, someone with so much bad will with the rest of the world, so much so that no one will buy his products? Tell me Naruto, does that sound like a desirable outcome?" Poison Ivy asked rhetorically.
"Not at all, which is why I want to know why exactly you're out to get me. I don't remember doing anything to you, and if I did unknowingly do something, I doubt its so bad that it couldn't be resolved peacefully. So, please tell me what it is that is bothering you so much." Naruto asked
"We are here because you are a piece of shit pretender, acting like you're pro clean energy and that you're an eco activist when you're really NOT!" Poison Ivy said angrily.
"What? How am I not pro clean energy? My entire company is built on the production of clean energy technology. As for being an eco activist, I never pretended to be one, all I did was build the best technology in the world that happens to not release any harmful emissions." Naruto argued.
"That's precisely the problem! Its not enough! You're the richest and most famous person in the world, and that comes with a heavy amount of influence. You could literally decide who becomes the president of this country by endorsing and financing the campaign of anyone you want. You can similarly influence the business sector and get everyone on board with your clean energy initiative, but you don't! Instead you are only interested in profiting off of the market gap that you exploited." Poison Ivy said furiously.
"So basically you're here to force me into becoming an eco activist?" Naruto asked incredulously.
"Or kill you….or your entire roster of employees if you teleport away." The plant Godess said with a warning undertone.
"I think you're leaving out one other option, the one where we kill you instead." Painkiller said with a grave undertone.
"I dare you to try." Ivy said angrily.
"You're angry, and while you are indeed super intelligent, you're not thinking rationally right now. My man Instant here can literally kill you in an instant, you wouldn't even know what happened until you were in the afterlife. Even if somehow your plants were fast enough to react, my other man here Painkiller is immune to all poisons and toxins and has enough skill, speed, and agility to close the gap between the two of you and kill you. I'm not saying there isn't a scenario where you could survive, but I don't think there is one where you could win." Naruto said gravely.
"Then you should know that my will extends far beyond my grave. Even if I die, my plants will execute the order to destroy this building and kill everyone in it." The green skinned Godess retorted.
"In that case, I offer to you the position of PA and Bodyguard." Naruto countered much to Ivy's shock.
"W-what?" Ivy said incredulously.
"I'm offering you a job. Think about it, as my PA and bodyguard, I would be completely vulnerable to you. You could literally kill me anytime you want should you have that desire in the future. Meanwhile, you will have complete access to me and will be able to watch my every movement and criticize or advise wherever you feel you must. You can help me to do what you want and expect of me, and maybe in time I can tell you what my real plan is." Naruto proposed.
"Let me get this straight, I attacked you and threatened your entire life's work, and your response is to offer me a job?" Poison Ivy asked, unable to get over the sheer incredulity of the situation. Of all the outcomes she expected from this encounter, this was not one of them.
"I would offer you a more prominent position, such as Head of the R department but that job is already taken. I would have to demote or fire someone in order to give you that job, and that wouldn't be fair, especially since the person holding the position right now is so good. Besides, I'm not sure the employees would be comfortable working so closely with a super villain." Naruto retorted.
"You're out of your mind." Ivy deadpanned.
"Yeah, I agree with her. What the hell man" Instant asked incredulously.
"Instant, you were a drug addicted bank robber when I found you, Painkiller, you were a hitman for super villain Tobais Whale when I found you. Looker was a racist, fascist super villain with the goal of eliminating all non whites in the world. How is an eco terrorist and misanthropist so different to that?" Naruto asked rhetorically, effectively shutting down any other protests from his bodyguards and friends.
"…."
"So, Pamela Isley, are you interested in my job proposition?" Naruto asked eagerly.
"I…I'll give it a try. I mean, this is so weird. I came here to destroy you and now I'm going to work for you? Harley is gonna go nuts when she hears about this. She's gonna think I'm a pussy." Poison Ivy thought out loud.
'Harley? As in Harely Quinn? Of course, they are known associates. How close are they? Poison Ivy is crazy, but she's manageable crazy. Harley Quinn on the other hand is not someone I'm interested in, well, ever meeting her really or having anything to do with her.' Naruto thought.
"This is a difficult decision. It would mean that I have to leave Gotham. I've never left Gotham, nor have I ever wanted to. I'll have to make new friends and find a new place to live and basically uproot my entire life." Pamela said anxiously, Naruto, Painkiller and Instant all wondering how the hell a misanthropist had friends in the first place.
"Think about it. I'll give you seven days to consider it, upon which if you accept the job, you will have another seven days to get your affairs in order. I'll expect you to start working fifteen days from now. I expect great things from you Pamela, together, we could change the whole world as it is known." Naruto said confidently.
"You're…you're an interesting person, far different from what I expected." Poison Ivy said with intrigue.
"Wish I could say I get that a lot but I actually don't. I seldom interact with people outside of work. Nevertheless…" Naruto trailed off as Super…Girl arrived in the blink of an eye, a sonic boom to mark her arrival, and the speed with which she arrived.
"Oh shit! I gotta get out of…."
"Wait! I believe we can resolve this issue amicably." Naruto said quickly, stopping Poison Ivy from escalating the situation.
"Supergirl, it is a surprise to see you here. I was under the impression that your jurisdiction was National City. Did you get lost or something?" Naruto asked with genuine curiosity, which made it even funnier to Painkiller, Instant, and even Poison Ivy as they all chuckled at Supergirl's expense.
"You think this is funny? People have been hurt, innocent people, all because of this…this criminal!" Supergirl said indignantly, suppressing the urge to use the word lunatic.
"I understand your ire, it is not unwarranted. However, I couldn't help but notice you said hurt and not dead. Does that mean that all of the victims are alive?" Naruto asked curiously, wanting to make sure that he kept Supergirl talking because the more she talked the less she was inclined to attack anyone, which is something they definitely did not want.
"You think that makes it better? Those people have the right to their bodily integrity and to feel safe at all times. Poison Ivy has no right to take that away from them!" Supergirl argued with righteous indignation.
"I agree, which is why I have convinced Poison Ivy to make an honest living like everyone else. I have convinced her to take a job as my PA and bodyguard. She has agreed to use the proper channels in order to achieve her desired outcomes. I have the financial and intellectual means to make her dreams come true in a proper way, without endangering the lives of the innocent. I have taken a leap of faith in her, and I would ask you to do the same. As compensation, I will pay for all the damages she has caused today and will pay the full medical bills of everyone who was hurt today by her actions." Naruto countered.
"Are you insane? You expect me to put my trust in her? If I let her go and she ends up killing innocent people, those people will have died because of me, because I wasn't willing to do the right thing." Supergirl retorted.
"And here I thought the S symbol on your chest stood for hope. Are you saying you have lost all hope in Poison Ivy's ability to change and do good for others and herself? Are you saying you have lost hope that she can lead a healthy, productive life? And if you haven't lost all hope in her, then why are you not willing to help her make the necessary transition to become a productive member of society? Why are you standing in her way? Do you really think Arkham Asylum is going to help her? Who has reformed after going there? Who has reformed after going to Belle Reeve?" Naruto asked rhetorically.
"…"
"F-fine! I'll let the authorities know what I have decided, but if they decide to come after Poison Ivy anyway, then I will have no choice but to apprehend her in order to prevent casualties. I do not know what you see in her but if things go south then I will hold you responsible. Also, if my cousin comes back from outer space and decides to apprehend Poison Ivy, the matter will be beyond my hands. Do you understand?" Supergirl asked with authority that she had no idea how little she actually had.
"Perfectly. Thank you for your co-operation Supergirl, you might just be on your way to becoming an even greater hero than Superman. At the very least you have earned my respect, selfish as that may be to say in light of the situation." Naruto retorted.
"Well you do not have mine, I do not give my respect so easily. You'll have to earn it." Supergirl replied defiantly.
"Noted. Now Pam, I'm going to need you to call off your plant friends. Our deal with Supergirl does not have a leg to stand on unless you call off your friends. Supergirl, please help evacuate the injured civilians and take stock of the costs of repairs for the property damage and the medical bills of the injured. When you are done please bring me the figures and I will take care of everything." Naruto said, his voice carrying so much authority and purpose that both Supergirl and Poison Ivy felt compelled to obey, the two powerful women in their own right doing as ordered despite their dislike for taking orders from others.
Two Days Later:
"Uzumaki Naruto here, how may I help you?" Naruto asked as he picked up his cell phone.
"Kid, I need your help. I cannot do this alone. Joseph refuses to listen to me and….well, he's way too powerful. He doesn't just have telepathy and empathy, he also has these crazy strong telekinetic abilities. He tried to kill me and almost succeeded. If it wasn't for my regeneration I would…Naruto…Nathaniel, I need you, son." Slade said at the other end of the phone, his wife, Adeline, looking at him with pure unadulterated shock before it turned into anger and hate, although she did well to stop herself from saying anything, choosing rather to wait until Slade was done talking, after all, whoever this other person was must have been very powerful and resourceful if Slade thought that he could do something about their predicament.
"That's not a problem at all. I have a guy, he goes by the name Brainwave, named after his father. He is a powerful telepath, and his telekinesis is also on a grand scale. He should be able to hold off Joseph while you and Mrs Wilson deal with the rest of…"
"No! I can't leave Joseph to some stranger. It needs to be you! It needs to be his brother!" Slade said firmly.
"You realize what this means right?"
"I know what it means, and I know I have no right to act like a father after everything, and I have no right to ask you any favors. But Joseph…and Rose, both of them are your siblings. They need their elder brother! They need you….I need you, so does Adeline. We all need you!" Slade pleaded, something that Naruto thought he would never hear his father do, not Deathstroke, not the Terminator. He does not beg or plead, he simply takes what he wants. That's the Slade Naruto knew. This had to be very important to him if he was willing to grovel, he must really love his family.
"Have you told your wife about me?" Naruto asked.
"N-no, not in so many words." Slade stuttered.
"Is she listening in on this conversation?" Naruto asked, although already knowing the answer to his question.
"Yes." Slade answered patiently.
"Then you probably will have a lot of explaining to do. With that in mind, I'll be arriving in an exactly sixty minutes. I'd give you more time but I get the feeling that this Joseph situation is more urgent than the issues between you and your wife."Naruto replied before dropping the phone, leaving Slade and his wife to sort out their issues, if that was even possible at this point.
'It would seem like my world is about to change once again. Having a brother and a sister? I wonder what our relationship will be like? Will I love and protect them like an older brother? Will I feel nothing for them?' Naruto thought, only to be broken from his thoughts a moment later when he heard a knock on the window of his penthouse, turning around to see Supergirl floating on his window
He could honestly say that he was absolutely not pleased to see her, not because she was a super hero or anything, because he honestly did not care about that nor did he have anything against super heroes. It was just that, well, she apparently had x-ray vision, and Naruto knew that if she ever looked at him with those her x-ray vision eyes, she would be able to easily tell that he was no mere human, that is of course to say, if she hasn't already looked at him with her x-ray vision.
He honestly did not want to have to answer questions about his heritage, especially to a super hero. However it seemed like he was going to have to accept the fact that Supergirl was going to be a thorn on his backside, at least for as long as she was going to be hanging around Metropolis. Hopefully Superman would not follow in her footsteps when he returned, and at least for now, Naruto would try to be accommodating, as in, try not to give Supergirl a reason to use her x-ray vision on him.
He could easily prevent the use of x-ray vision by creating a barrier ninjutsu around himself or directly on himself but then that would raise more questions too. Although now that he thought about, perhaps he should do that as soon as possible. It was far better she have questions about him then to outright confirm that he wasn't human.
"You know I have a door that you can use like everyone else right?" Naruto asked mockingly as he opened the window so that Supergirl can come in, putting all barrier and x-ray vision thoughts aside for now.
"Where is the fun in that Naruto-kun." Supergirl retorted cheekily, causing Naruto to raise an eyebrow at her for using the cheesy "kun" suffix. Not that the suffix itself was cheesy but rather it was the fact that she use it and with her American accent that made it cheesy.
"What? I mean you are Japanese right? Or at least a Japanese wannabe. So tell me, what's your real name…Naruto-kun?" Supergirl asked curiously.
"What the hell is this? Why are you bothering me? Just because I said I respected you doesn't mean that I actually like you, you know." Naruto deadpanned.
"It also doesn't mean you don't." Supergirl said as she looked around the youngest billionaire in the world's penthouse, whistling as she admired how big and beautiful the place looked.
"This place is lit Naruto-kun, its very beautiful. You have good taste. I do wonder though why you felt the need to have bullet proof, sound proof, and x-ray proof windows in your penthouse. It made it very difficult for me to track you down. Do you know how hard it is to find out where you live? I didn't think it would be so hard to find out where arguably the most famous person in the world lives." Supergirl said, finally turning around to look at the blonde Uzumaki, having given him her back the whole time since she entered his abode.
"First of, its not just the windows, it's the entire building. Secondly, I seriously doubt I'm as famous as your cousin, or even you for that matter. And thirdly, I have somewhere to be in exactly 48 minutes, so whatever this is, I'm gonna need it to be wrapped up by then." Naruto retorted.
"You know most people would be ecstatic to have Supergirl pay them a special visit, but not you. You're not star struck at all, you simply don't care. You're not a villain, at least as far as I'm aware, but you don't seem all that impressed either. Yet at the same time you did show me some respect, genuine respect, during our first meeting. I…I think I want to get to know you a little better. So I'll be paying you these random visits every now and again." Supergirl said with a cute, innocent, and yet at the same time very mischievous smile.
"So wait, you've got a crush on the youngest billionaire in the world, who also happens to be the richest man in the world, after just one encounter with him where he showed you the bare minimum of respect? Wow, you sound just like one of my fan girls." Naruto taunted.
"Have any of your fan girls ever been invited into your apartment in the middle of the evening?" Supergirl retorted cheekily.
"No, I don't suppose they have. This is…unexpected though, I mean, I thought maybe you came here to talk to me about Poison Ivy, or at least the property damage repairs and medical treatment of the injured civilians." Naruto retorted.
He'd be lying to himself if he said that he wasn't attracted to Supergirl, that blonde hair and those bright blue eyes, that blemish-less skin and those long legs and curves in all the right places. Honestly, she was arguably the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. However, at the same time, this was just too surreal, like, Supergirl pining for his affections, and so blatantly too? It was just too weird. She had to be up to something, and yet using his empathic abilities, he could feel no negative emotions whatsoever, only positive ones.
"Oh yeah don't worry about that. I have someone working on that for me. You'll have the exact figures delivered to you in a couple of days." Supergirl replied, referring to her sister Alex Danvers Naruto suspected, although content to pretend he didn't known or care about that for now. It was probably better for Supergirl to believe he didn't know anything about her world anyway, because Naruto had no doubt that if she knew how much he knew about her, she would inevitably start digging up information on him, it was the natural reaction of people in that kind of situation.
"So you just came here to tell me that? Good, now get out of my apartment. Isn't there a villain somewhere in Metropolis waiting for you to spoil their evening?" Naruto said in as bored and dismissive a tone as he could master.
"Fortunately for me, Superman came back this afternoon, and I still have someone covering for me in National City so I thought I'd spend the evening with you. Isn't that so exciting?" Supergirl asked with cute, sexy, and yet playful and mischievous smirk, her left hand on her hip as she struck a sexy pose for the youngest billionaire in the world.
'Damn! I can't allow her to keep doing this, I feel like she is chipping away at something deep within my being.' Naruto thought as he felt his defenses weakening slowly but surely.
"I do not know you very well, but this feels so uncharacteristic of you. Are you sure you aren't high or something?" Naruto asked with a quirked eyebrow.
"Hmmm…no, I can neither get high or drunk unfortunately. At least not from earth beverages. There might possibly be a civilization somewhere in the universe with something potent enough to make me drunk, but whatever it is it would probably be fatal to a human being." Supergirl said with a thoughtful expression, hand on her chin as she tried to imagine what it would be like for Supergirl to get drunk or high.
"Fair enough. I was about to offer you some wine but I see now there is no point." Naruto replied.
"Wine? Why Naruto-kun, I know you're young but you don't need to get me drunk to get me to lay with you, in case you haven't noticed, I want to lay with you….when the time is right of course. You'll have to earn my trust first and I have to know that you take me seriously." Supergirl said as she walked closer to the blonde Uzumaki, or rather, sauntered her way closer until they were face to face, pulling Naruto by his tie before placing a chaste kiss on his lips.
"Just a little sample of what's to come if you play your cards right." Supergirl whispered on his ear before pushing the sunkissed billionaire away.
"What kind of Gold Digger plays hard to get? Shouldn't you be trying to get me pussy whipped as soon as possible?" Naruto asked, confused, causing Supergirl to laugh heartily at the blonde Uzumaki's response, his candidness and bluntness only serving to amuse and endear her to him instead of what the Blonde Uzumaki was no doubt going for, which was to turn her off and push her away.
"Oh Naruto-kun, I don't care about money. I don't even get paid for what I do. I risk my life for free, what makes you think I want your money?" Supergirl asked incredulously.
"…"
"Tell you what, if it ever gets that far, we can sign a prenup. How does that sound?" Supergirl asked.
"….."
"How old are you anyway?" Naruto asked. He already knew the age of her alter ego, Kara Danvers, which was 24 years old, but that could just have been a fake human age. For all he knew she was two hundred years old in reality.
"Age is nothing but a number Naruto-kun, but if you must know, I'm 24. And before you make a robbing the cradle remark, you're only four years younger than me, and you're a legal adult so you're game." Supergirl retorted.
"Fair point, but the sudden interest in me? I mean you couldn't have developed such strong feelings over the last two days." Naruto asked suspiciously.
"Truth be told I've been fascinated about you ever since I heard about you. I read any and all news I can find about you and I especially like your philosophical quotes. I see you as a hero who fights the battles that we cannot fight as super heroes. By that I mean the battles that are fought in boardrooms and court rooms. Superman inspired me to be a hero, but you inspired me to stay a hero and to seek all knowledge and wisdom that can help me become a better hero." Kara said with a glowing smile.
"You have no idea how wonderful it was for me to find out that my impression of who you are was only an understatement, that you were even greater than I imagined. I mean, the way you helped Poison Ivy the other day, the way you handled the whole situation, I think that was the final straw, I knew since then that I absolutely wanted you, that I wanted to make you mine. I understand that you do not have to accept my advances, but you should also know that I do not give up easily." Supergirl said with determination.
"….."
"It seems like you're not going to be leaving any time soon, so we might as well order in and dine together. Make yourself at home. I'll be back, just need the bathroom for a minute." Naruto said as he went towards his bathroom, Kara shamelessly eyeing him top to bottom as he went passed her, Naruto doing well to pretend that he didn't notice at all, the girl of steel enjoying a silent squeal of joy to herself when the blonde Uzumaki was out of sight.
She realized that his response was not one most people would consider to be good, but Kara was far more observant than most. Fact of the matter was that, unlike earlier, he didn't ridicule her for expressing her deepest emotions and desires, and he didn't try to get her to leave like he did earlier, instead, he was offering dinner and his company for the rest of the evening, and even told her to make herself feel at home.
He was very subtle in his approach but Kara was also a very caring and sensitive person on top of being naturally observant because of both her super hero and reporter career. More often than not she had to read and predict what a villain's next move might be, or discern what made them tick and what their motivations were. So for her, it was rather easily to decipher the meaning behind people's words and actions.
'I can't tell if Supergirl is a total slut or just has it bad for me.' Naruto thought with a mental sigh.
'Well, anyway, time reveals all truths, so I guess I'll have to ride it out and see what happens. I'll have to leave a shadow clone and teleport away though. Even if she uses her x-ray vision, every room is x-ray vision proof. She won't know that I replaced myself with a shadow clone.' Naruto reasoned.
Forty Minutes Later: Kerguelan Ocean
"What the…? Slade!" Adeline exclaimed as she pulled out her 9mm and aimed it at the unit of a man that just appeared out of nowhere a few meters in front of her.
He was no longer in his work clothes, or rather, he was no longer in his office clothes, as he was wearing his other work clothes, his Kitsune work clothes. Adeline couldn't help but take note of how similar his outfit was to Deathstroke's outfit, as he was wearing almost the exact same outfit except for the fact that the parts that were orange on Slade were red on this guy. Another difference was that this guy had a different mask on, one that was black in color with what appeared to be the face of a red fox-like demon as the front of the mask. Its eyes were also glowing red instead of the white that was on the eyes of Deathstroke's mask.
On the man's back was what appeared to be a gigantic sword, another thing that he had in common with Deathstroke Adeline noted. But this blade was different, because it looked like it was imbued with some kind of futuristic technology, having a mother box interfaced into it as well. Even the scabbard didn't look like a normal scabbard as it looked like the scabbard itself could be some kind of weapon.
"At ease Mrs Wilson, it is I, Nathaniel Wilson, but you probably know me better as Uzumaki Naruto." Naruto said with a much, much deeper voice than Adeline expected from the richest and youngest billionaire in the world (think Kurama's voice).
"Are you using a voice modulator?" Adeline asked warily, unimaginably shaken by how inhuman the voice coming from this man sounded, Adeline refusing to lower her weapon as a result, heck, even if he hadn't spoken she would have still refused, because given this man's size, physique, and fitness condition, and his presumed combat skill level, which Deathstroke said was superior to even his own, then she had no doubt that she would lose badly if they engaged in unarmed combat.
"No, its my voice, I can pretty much manipulate my voice to be whatever I want it to be. Now please Mrs Wilson, I don't want you to get hurt. Bullets bounce off of me, not that I would ever allow myself to get hit anyway. But the point is, if it were to bounce off of me, it might come back and hit you instead." Naruto said in as calming and as sincere a tone as he could master.
"Show me your face. I need to see for myself." Adeline said, still finding it hard to believe that this man, if he could even call him that, was really Uzumaki Naruto. Thankfully, for both of them, that was the moment that Slade walked in along with Wintergreen
"Addy, stop! That's my son, Nathaniel. Remember I told you about him." Slade said hastily.
"He….he came in here with some kind of spiraling portal. It…I think it came from his eyes! And his voice! You didn't tell me he was like this, that he was so…"
"Oh for Pete's sake Adeline I told you he is a God didn't I? What did you expect? Of course he has powers. Our son Joseph has powers, so of course my other son who is a literal god has powers too!" Slade said in exasperation.
"You don't have to be such a prick about it! How was I supposed to take your word for it after all the lies you have told me over the years. I thought it was just another of your crazy lies, obviously!" Adeline snapped back.
"…"
"Okay, I deserve that. Nathaniel take off that damn mask! Everyone in this submarine knows who you are damn it!" Slade snapped, the stress of the whole situation clearly getting to him.
"As you wish, father." Naruto replied, the mask covering his entire head disappearing in a literal poof of smoke, much to Adeline's further surprise.
"W-what was that? How did you do that?" Adeline asked incredulously.
"It's called reverse summoning technique. I can summon and unsummon the mask at will." Naruto replied with his normal voice.
"Your voice…it's… it's normal now." Adeline said, shocked.
"Oh for Pete's sake Adeline, he's a God, get used it. If we're going to be successful without any of us, more especially you, getting hurt, then you're going to have to get used to seeing him, and Joseph for that matter, doing unfathomable things." Slade snapped again, Adeline not replying verbally this time but if looks could kill…
"Negative, father. I'm going in alone. My sister and brother already hate the both of you, especially you, father. A third party with just as strong a blood connection is the key to resolving this mess. If they can see that I am in a situation just as bad but was able to overcome that without turning into a villain and without hating you, then it might open their minds and hearts to an alternative solution to their problems." Naruto replied.
"So you're just going to talk them to death? I already tried that, it didn't work out." Slade said irritably.
"I will talk to them, after I have captured and subdued their entire army. People generally don't listen to people they don't respect or see as beneath them. Capturing and subduing their entire army will make them listen to me." Naruto replied.
"And if they don't listen to you?" Wintergreen asked warily.
"They will, but if hypothetically speaking they didn't, then we'll have to leave them alone. Forcing them to do what we want will only make them hate us…well, hate you even more, and possibly start hating me too. The only thing we can do, if they won't listen, is to make it clear to them that our arms are always open for them, and that they can reach out anytime to us if they need anything. We must show them what family means and be there for them, like a true family. If they weren't family we would just kill them, or threaten them, but this isn't that kind of mission. Its more complicated than that." Naruto explained.
"Do you still intend to take over Hive and run it together with them? I…I don't want Joseph to be involved in this world." Adeline said worriedly.
"Joseph is only a child in age, but in reality he is no longer a child. He has gone through experiences some adults will never go through, and he is a powerful meta human and a general in an army. You cannot make him do what you want anymore, you can only support him or go against him. That is the only choice you have." Naruto deadpanned, causing Adeline to break down into tears, unable to believe that her family life had turned into this nightmare.
"I know its cliché Mrs Wilson, but when life gives you lemons, you have to make lemonade. Nevertheless, I will try to steer Joseph away from this life if possible, but I'm not sure that is such a good thing. This life is dangerous but it affords Joseph the option of never being the victim. He wasn't a part of this life when he got kidnapped and had his throat slashed. This life followed him to his normal life. However, he could use these resources to prevent others from going through what he went through. Would that not give you pride, as his mother?" Naruto said philosophically.
"I…I guess it is kind of selfish to want him to live the life I want instead of the one he wants. But still…." Adeline trailed off, not really sure she could defy her protective instincts, even if they could possibly be wrong in this case.
"If they want out of the life, that's fine. I'll just take over Hive myself and run it myself, and I'll make sure Hive never bothers them again." Naruto said to both Slade and Adeline, not really sure if Adeline cared at all about the wellbeing of Rose.
"….."
"Okay…okay! Do what you have to do. We're counting on you, Nathaniel." Adeline said, finding her resolve after taking a deep breathe and releasing an even deeper sigh.
"In that case, I'll be back in two hours." Naruto said with steel and resolve in his tone, eyes, and facial features.
"Two hours? You must be slipping very badly. The old you could take down these guys in mere minutes, maybe even seconds." Slade said incredulously
"Don't be naïve father. Defeating the army is child's play, but that's not the mission is it? Unless you think I can convince Joseph and Rose to be on our side in mere seconds." Naruto retorted, causing Slade to frown in displeasure as once again his lack of humanity was thrown in his face, by someone who wasn't even a human worst of all.
"…"
"I'll be back." Naruto saidas his mask poofed into existence before he disappeared into another spiraling portal.
"God I don't think I'll ever get used to that." Wintergreen said as he released a breathe he didn't even know he was holding.
"Thank you, Wintergreen. Finally someone normal who can understand how terrifying that thing…that uh…person is." Adeline stuttered at the end, Slade giving her a scathing look for referring to his son as a thing, although Adeline felt like she wasn't entirely unjustified because there was no way something so terrifying could possibly be human. She didn't even understand how his work colleagues could mistake him for a human, didn't they sense the immeasurably sinister and dangerous energy that thing was radiating?