"T-thank you, Lord Atrocitus!" Ratchet, a Red Lantern who looked like a large jellyfish, stuttered in gratitude, Atrocitus having just now vanquished a Man Hunter that was about to destroy him.
"You're welcome, Ratchet! Now stop dawdling and attack The Manhunters coming up behind you before I kill you myself!" Atrocitus said angrily, looking even more intimidating than he ever did before now that he had bull horns sticking out of his head, a side effect of him being bonded with The Butcher, the bull-like embodiment of the red spectrum.
"Y-yes, my Lord!" Ratchet stuttered as he turned and attacked the two Manhunters that were trying to ambush him, the task made easy by the fact that he would much rather face the Manhunters than to face the wrath of Lord Atrocitus, because that is how terrified he was of the sub commander.
Sure, The Mad God's status had dropped with Lord Kitsune's hostile takeover and the Mad God's subsequent submission to him, but his power had not dropped by one bit, in fact, he had gotten even stronger after Lord Kitsune bonded him to the Butcher, thus making him a far more terrifying individual than he already was before.
It didn't help that the first order that the Mad God had given after the takeover was that those Red Lanterns who thought him unworthy or weak because of Lord Kitsune's takeover should attack him and prove his unworthiness, the result being that thirty Red Lanterns had attacked him, and all thirty were defeated effortlessly, and killed brutally and mercilessly.
That incident alone was enough to re-establish the fear and respect that the Mad God rightfully commanded within his ranks, enough to cause every Red Lantern who had their doubts to immediately cast all doubts aside, enough to cause every Red Lantern who dared to dream of taking the Mad God's place to immediately cast such a foolish dream aside, and most importantly, enough for every single Red Lantern to fall in line.
'Lord Kitsune was right. Under training my lanterns was a big mistake, and it would have cost me dearly had he not intervened when he did. We are severely outnumbered, but thanks to the new red lantern training regimen, the power of Lord Kitsune and his allies, and the power and strength he bestowed upon me and my lanterns, we can and will actually win this war.' Atrocitus thought.
The mad God was grateful to Lord Kitsune. That isn't to say that he enjoyed or was comfortable with taking orders and being under someone else's command, in fact, he had even planned to betray Lord Kitsune as soon as he had full control of the Butcher's power.
However, the futility of it all had quickly become apparent when he realized the numerous safety precautions Lord Kitsune had placed on the bonding seal, especially the ones whose function that Atrocitus didn't even understand. As if that wasn't bad enough, Lord Kitsune had gone on to bond a device he called brother box to the Red Lantern Central Power Battery, and then explained that brother box was a powerful living computer of his own creation and as such, brother box would be able to control the central power battery to such an extent that the central power battery itself would become a weapon that can be used in the front lines.
This meant that the power battery would now be more secure than it ever was before because it could now escape from those who would attack it directly, or out right annihilate those individuals, depending on what was most suitable at the time.
However, Atrocitus knew that there was more to it than that, in fact, as far as he was concerned, it was obvious that the bonding of brother box to the central battery was Kitsune's way of taking complete control over the Red Lanterns, and also his way of spying on the Red Lanterns and being kept in the loop of every single action that the Red Lanterns took. It basically guaranteed obedience and submission, otherwise he could just have brother box shut down the power battery or destroy it completely.
Still, despite everything, the one thing Atrocitus was not very good at was lying to himself, and he would be lying to himself if he said both he and the red lantern corps were not better off than they were before. He would be lying to himself if he said that he wasn't satisfied with the way things were progressing.
So no, evicting Lord Kitsune from his position at the top was not possible, not even remotely, but so what? At least now he had the power to take on the Guardians and win, at least now his army was far stronger than it ever was before, and at least now they were on the verge of destroying the Manhunters.
"Ratchet, order the Red Lantern Fleet to retreat behind me! I will deal with the remaining 53 Manhunters myself!" Atrocitus ordered, wanting to get this over as quickly as possible as he generated a gigantic red orb between his bull horns, looking like he was about to use a large scale attack in order to destroy them all in one fell swoop.
Saying that the red lanterns were originally outnumbered was not an exaggeration by any means, as there had only been six hundred and thirty six red lanterns in the army when the war started, thirty eight with the recent recruitment of Prince Ragnar of Planet Betrasus and Prince Rubyn Omoto of The Golden Dragon.
This meant that the red lanterns could only afford to have one red lantern per sector, and that, meant that each red lantern would have to defeat 72 manhunters on their own seeing as the manhunters had 72 manhunters per sector. Furthermore, there would still be 28 sectors that had no red lanterns.
This was the reason that the Red Lanterns had not yet been ready to defeat the Manhunters, the reason that Atrocitus had been biding his time whilst also trying to create or allow situations to be created for the cultivation of rage within the 666 sectors of the forgotten zone.
However, things were now different. Sure, they were still severely outnumbered, but not as much as they were before as Lord Kitsune had sped up the production of liberators thanks to using brother box to facilitate production. As of now they had a total of one hundred and fifty liberators in the army.
If that was all it would have been very good, possibly enough to win the war, but things were even better than that because not only did they have a far larger number of liberators now, but they also had allies, for example, the entire army of Betrasus, lead by their queen, Blue Lantern Iolande.
They also had the entire army of Planet Jayd behind them, the formidable army known as the Golden Dragon, lead by Blue Lantern King Kentor Omoto, his daughter, Blue Lantern Princess Laira Omoto, and his son, the Red Lantern Prince Rubyn Omoto.
Then there were of course the other blue lanterns, namely, former green lanterns Shyir Rev and Planet Mogo, Sister Sercy, Saint Walker, and Brother Warth. To complete the unified army, there was of course, Lord Kitsune himself and his alleged wife and partner, Goddess Diana The Thunderer.
Finally, there were Kitsune's followers and subordinates, Raven, Enchantress, Incubus, Big Barda, and Mr Miracle, each with the individual strength of an entire army. Needless to say, the tide had been completely reversed as it was now against the Manhunters. In fact, victory was at hand, as the Manhunters were all being pushed towards sector 666, Atrocitus's home sector, where the final battle was set to culminate.
"Red Spectrum Way of Destruction: Sphere of Armageddon!" The Mad God said as he launched a gigantic sphere of destruction in the direction of the manhunters, creating a red construct force field afterwards for himself and all the red lanterns that were behind him in order to protect himself and them from the effects of attack, the sphere of destruction exploding upon reaching its target and obliterating everything in every direction up to ten million kilometres in every direction.
"That settles it. You did well to lure out the Manhunters and lead them to this desolate area of the sector. You all should be proud of yourselves!" Atrocitus said sincerely, causing a ruckus as the Red Lanterns shouted, screamed, and cheered for their victory, praising in particular both the name of Lord Atrocitus and Lord Kitsune, up until Atrocitus lifted his right hand to silence them.
"The war is not won yet! So hold back your celebrations! The time for celebration will come only when the evil creation of the Guardians has been uprooted down to its very roots! For now, we march on to the next sector!" Atrocitus ordered as he flew in the direction of the next sector, his squadron following behind with insurmountable rage at the mere mention of the Guardians, but also with hope for a better future, and faith in their squad leader and army sub commander, Mad God Atrocitus.
Meanwhile: Sector 471
"U-unbelievable!" Bleez exclaimed in shock and surprise, unable to believe just how powerful her squad captain was.
Bleez, for the most part, didn't look too different to how she did before Kitsune tore off her wings, except that she now had new, metalic wings. The wings were blood red in colour and were made of elememt X, a powerful, cosmic metal alloy unique to the New Gods of Apokolips and New Genesis.
As a result, she could fly much faster than before or use her wings both for offensive and defensive purposes. She could also shoot her "feathers" as projectiles and the projectiles could even function as something Kitsune, the creator of the wings, referred to as "trick wings". The wings were also of course nigh indestructible, and as a result, Bleez was far more powerful than she ever was before, which is why she had been so livid when she learned that she wouldn't be squad captain but that an outsider would he taking on the role.
However, after seeing what Incubus had just done to the Manhunters of sector 471, well, she could honestly say that she had no qualms at all anymore about letting him lead her squad, and that she absolutely did not want to cross this guy whatsoever.
So, what had Incubus done that was some amazing and horrifying at the same time, so terrifying that it was able to get Bleez to swallow her pride and fall in line? Well, nothing much, except living up to his title as the Sun God as the big guy, matching Atroticitus in size and muscle tone, had just created a miniature sun from which scorching heat lasers flew at ridiculous speeds and annihilated every single Manhunter, well, at least the 48 that were remaining after the squad had taken out twenty four of them.
"Everything is happening exactly as Lord Kitsune anticipated. Pretty soon we will have the Manhunters surrounded in sector 666. I know some of you are tired, so use this time to rest up. While you rest I will be taking out the Manhunters in the next three sectors, and then it will be my turn to rest. Make sure you have fully recovered by then." Incubus ordered.
"Y-yes, Great Sun God. As you command." Bleez replied on behalf of herself and the rest of the squad, of which there were only eight remaining, feeling kind of nervous about having to take on 72 manhunters just between the eight of them but at the same time trusting her new found powers thanks to Kitsune and the training that he provided for her and the entire Red Lantern army.
"Good! To the next sector we go then!" Incubus said as he flew in the direction of the next sector, the other Red Lanterns following in pursuit as they were right on his heels.
Sector 563:
"Goddess Raven, we have defeated 32 Manhunters, but the other forty are retreating and we only have but a small amount of energy left on our rings. I'm afraid we will not be able to give chase as we need to recharge our rings before we can fight any further." Skallox said as he kneeled in front of Raven, if it could even be called kneeling as his knee wasn't actually touching anything seeing as they were floating in the air, or rather, in the vacuum of space.
"How many times do I have to tell you, I am no Goddess. I'm a…I'm an interdimensional demon." Raven replied with a bit of self consciousness.
"With all due respect, Goddess Raven, but if you are Lord Kitsune's sister, then you are no demon. Your physiology is inconsequential in this matter." Skallox replied stubbornly.
"Fine, whatever. I'll handle the rest. Tell the men to focus on recharging their rings and healing up for now." Raven ordered as she floated to the front of the army, creating a bit of space between herself and the army before activating her demonic magic, releasing her soul self from her body, which took on the form of a gigantic mass of black magical energy in the shape of a raven, the mass of energy splitting itself into hundreds of man sized ravens before each raven jetted off in the direction of the Manhunters.
The speed at which they travelled was quite unfathomable, even the Red Lanterns, the fastest and physically strongest lanterns of them all, shocked by the speed of the Ravens as they quickly caught up to the Manhunters.
The Manhunters tried to use their energy rods to kill off the ravens, firing in unison energy blasts that were capable of killing even full fledged Red Lanterns. Their efforts however were ultimately of no consequence as they were only able to kill less than half a dozen of the Ravens, the rest of the Ravens smashing and slicing right through the Manhunters and obliterating all of them, leaving not even a single one 'alive'.
"They say that quantity cannot always beat quality, but in this case, victory was assured because our Goddess Raven provided both a quantity and a quality advantage." Skallox said with nothing but devotion, awe, and faith in his tone, having completely abandoned whatever beliefs or faith he had before and converted to Kitsunism, or whatever it was that he called his new belief system.
"Credit that to the teachings of my brother. Why choose quantity over quality, or vice versa, when you can have both? Always strive to be the best at everything, and that way, no enemy can ever defeat you, or at least, no enemy can ever catch you off guard." Raven said as she turned around only to find Skallox scribbling maniacally on his notebook.
"What are you doing? Shouldn't you be charging your ring? And what is that?" Raven asked curiously, not bothering to wait for an answer as she used her telekinetic powers to rip the book out of Skallox's hands and pull it towards herself.
"This is….you're writing a book about me? Seriously?" Raven asked with her usual emotion deficient tone, even though somehow she was still able to portray the sheer disbelief and incredulity she felt about the whole thing.
"I….it's not just any book, it's the Gospel of New God Kitsune! T-this just happens to be your chapter in the book." Skallox stuttered fearfully, not really knowing what the Goddess Raven would do now that the jig was up, as he had been hoping to write and release the book into the masses without anyone ever finding out that he wrote it.
"Azarath metrion zynthos." Raven chanted as she cast a spell on the book so that all the information inside of it would flow into her mind in an instant.
"Interesting. This book, it is amazing, both in its accuracy and in its message. I also like that it is very detailed, nothing is glossed over, everything is portrayed clearly and concisely so that there is no room for misinterpretation. Keep up the good work. I'm sure my brother, if he doesn't know already what you're up to, will be happy to find out how well you have served him." Raven said as she moved the book back into Skallox's hands with her mind before assuming a meditative position.
"The squad has but only four hours to recuperate before we move on to the next sector. Make sure you convey this message for me." Raven instructed with her eyes closed as she had already begun her meditation.
"Y-yes of course Goddess Raven! At once!" Skallox exclaimed as he bowed respectfully and then quickly left Raven's side, beaming with pride and joy at the fact that his Goddess was pleased by his works, and if she was pleased, surely New God Kitsune himself would be pleased too, right?
At least, that is what Skallox hoped would happen, because he absolutely did not want to face the wrath of his God ever again. Sure, he had gotten a nice upgrade out of the whole thing, getting new element X horns that could be pulled out and used as mega rods or even be shapeshifted into swords or canon blasters. He also received element X plating under his skin in order to fix his cracked skull, the result being that his head was exponentially harder than it was before, having been ridiculously hard in the first place.
So yes, even if it resulted in more upgrades, Skallox absolutely did not want to go through that kind of pain again, ever. He just hoped that New God Kitsune would be pleased with his work, and even if he wasn't, then at least he hoped that he would show leniency as Skallox was only trying to please him, because he was only trying to make sure that everyone knew who his God was and what he stood for, so that they can all worship and serve him just like Skallox now did.
Sector 654:
"No man escapes the manhunters! No man escapes…" A manhunter trailed off as it was, in an instant, blown to smithereens, a large lightning bolt having honed in on it in a literal instant, such was the speed of Diana The Thunderer's lightning bolts.
She had made exactly 72 of them, which was the same number of the manhunters, a clear display of her confidence that her lightning bolts were either too fast or too durable to be dodged or deflected by the manhunters, otherwise she would have made more than the exact number of the manhunters.
"No manhunters escape the Godess of Thunder." Diana said said as she mentally directed the remaining 71 lightning bolts to attack the Manhunters, some Manhunters trying to run, some trying to dodge, and some trying to attack the lightning bolts, but all of them failing as they were all obliterated by lightning bolts, Diana's eyes returning to normal as she 'deactivated' her Old God mode, no longer a menacing and glowing white but now back to her beautiful blue eyes, her voice also returning to normal as a result.
"The Manhunters in this sector have been vanquished. It is clear however that the Manhunters are able to instantly share information with each other as Kitsune has informed me that the manhunters in the other sectors are all fleeing towards sector 666." Diana relayed to her squadron.
"Then that means that everything is going according to plan, Goddess Diana, just as Lord Kitsune predicted." Zelius said joyously, unable to hide his joy at the fact that they were about to achieve their long standing goal of eliminating the entire Manhunter armada.
"Indeed it is. They have realized that they are being picked off sector by sector, and seem to believe that by banding together and converging on one sector, that they can still salvage a numbers advantage significant enough to change the tide in their favour. However, getting them all in one place is exactly what we want, so that Lord Kitsune can destroy all of them with one large scale attack." Diana explained.
"Wait what? I thought it was so that we can surround them and attack them from all angles?" Zelius asked in shock, unable to believe that Lord Kitsune was actually planning to fight them all on his own.
"The plan is to surround them, which will prevent them from scattering and attempting to escape. However, that is as far as our role extends, because fighting them is not part of the plan. Lord Kitsune will destroy them in one fell swoop. He has a number of uh….jutsu…for that kind of thing." Diana explained much to the shock of Zelius and the entire squadron, though all of them already knowing how powerful and amazing Lord Kitsune was, still unable to comprehend just how great the magnitude of his power was, although after seeing Diana decimate an entire Manhunter platoon on her own, they could only imagine what kind of power New God Kitsune himself must have wielded.
"I…I see. Then, we must move onto the next sector at once!" Zelius said excitedly.
"Indeed. Rally the troops Zelius Zox! Together at once, we march forward." Diana instructed with authority.
"At once, my Goddess!" Zelius bowed as he gathered the troops and rallied them toward the next battle zone.
Sector 665:
"Chibaku Tensei. This is a technique I once used to save a planet that had had its moon destroyed by meteor storm. I used the same meteors to construct a new moon for the planet so that its inhabitants would not perish." Naruto explained as he gazed at his creation, which was an actual moon in which he had trapped and crushed to smithereens an entire sector of manhunters, now dressed again in his Kitsune outfit as there was no longer a need to pretend to be a red lantern.
"Incredible! Your abilities seem to know no limits. I was sceptical at first, but truly, if not a real God, what else could you be?" Razor replied in awe.
He was the sub commander of Naruto's platoon, a decision made by Naruto himself and one that had been frowned upon by the other members of the red lanterns, particularly the ones that didn't even make sub commander.
However, Naruto's eye for talent had proved to be just as excellent as it has always been as razor, throughout the war, had transformed from a red lantern to a blue lantern, but that was not all as he had then evolved from a blue lantern to something new entirely, a lantern wielding both the powers of a blue lantern and a red lantern.
As a result, the left side of his outfit was still red, but the right side was blue, and apart from Atrocitus, Naruto, and Mogo, he was stronger than any individual red lantern or blue lantern. Everyone who doubted him before had been made to eat crow, and not only had they been forced to re-assess their opinions of Razor, but they had also learned not to doubt the decisions of their New God.
"Well, I suppose I am. But even Gods cannot do everything on their own, otherwise what would be the point of having followers?" Naruto asked rhetorically.
"You do not need us. I have seen how powerful you and your numerous shadow clones are, but, I am still grateful that you have chosen us. You are the reason I was able to hope for a better future, and consequently, the reason I was able to become a blue lantern. You also taught me the importance of learning to harness and control my rage, the importance of righteous fury and how it can be forged into a weapon. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you planned and orchestrated my evolution into….well, whatever it is that I am now." Razor said as he waved his right hand over his body.
"A bridge is what you are, a bridge between the Red Lantern and the Blue Lantern armada. If I am going to control and rule both Empires and also get them to work together, then a credible liaison between the two would be very useful don't you think? And who could be more credible than the one person who wields both the blue and the red spectrum?" Naruto asked rhetorically, causing Razor's eyes to widen in both surprise and realization.
"So you really did plan this all along?" Razor asked, already knowing the answer but needing confirmation nonetheless.
"I did. When we met in Shyir Rev's home planet, I was able to both sense and see the potential in you. Turns out I was right about you all along." Naruto retorted.
"I…uh….thank you, My Lord. I promise I will do my best, and I pray that I never fail you, not even once!" Razor said, pledging his undying loyalty to Kitsune.
"Remember these words in everything that you do Razor. You have very good instincts, and a very good heart. Trust them both in every decision that you make and every path that you choose. As long as you do that, then it is unlikely that you will ever fail me." Naruto retorted.
"I shall never forget your words of encouragement, my lord. This I swear on my life." Razor pledged.
" Good, then onto the final sector we go." Naruto ordered, he and his squadron all heading towards the last and final sector, where the remainder of the Manhunters had gathered their army.
Back on Earth:
"How is it possible that I can be both mad at you and grateful at the same time, both want to kill you and jump for joy and hug you? Every time I think I have you figured you out you come out with something new and surprising altogether. I mean, seriously, you recruited Wonder Woman and you want me to be on her team? I can't even tell if this is a dream come true or a living nightmare, not to mention how utterly unbelievable it is. I mean, Thee Wonder Woman of the Justice League working for a shady organization like HIVE? No way." Pamela said, trying to process the multiple contrasting emotions that Naruto was once again bringing out of her, but doing a much better job of it now thanks to her sage training.
They were in the office, alone, well, not quite seeing as Hack, who practically lived in the Wave Consolidated mainframe, was always listening in. Pamela was wearing her usual green blazer and green skirt, only changing the shades of green but always wearing green nonetheless, and Naruto was wearing a black suit with a white shirt and a black tie with red clouds on it.
"It's not official yet, and stop calling us a shady organization. You make it sound like we're a criminal syndicate or something. We're more revolutionary than criminal." Naruto retorted.
"Yeah yeah I know, but still." Pamela said, still in shock and awe by the news that she just heard.
"Well, anyway, you'll have some time to process this new information. I have a scheduled interview with your potential replacement, one Emilia Harcourt. She's a mole that Amanda Waller is trying to plant in our ranks." Naruto explained, causing Pamela's eyes to widen in sudden realization, the reality only now hitting her, that being a part of Wonder Woman's team meant that she would no longer be working closely with Naruto anymore.
"Y-you already have a replacement lined up for me? Am I that expandable to you?" Pamela asked with more of a hurt than an angry tone and expression.
"Expandable? You? Haha! Pamela, I'm teaching you the secrets of Sage Mode, and I have invited you not only to join my secret organization but also to join one of its elite squadrons. Does it sound like the word expandable belongs in the same sentence as Pamela Isley aka Poison Ivy?" Naruto asked rhetorically, Pamela's mouth opening and closing as she struggled to come up with a retort.
"…."
"If you need me to say it anyway, then no, Pamela, you are without a doubt an irreplaceable asset. You are NOT expandable." Naruto deadpanned.
"Okay, fine. I…I accept the reassignment. Besides, I now know for sure that I don't need to watch your every move to know that you take the protection of our flora and planet as a whole seriously. You may not destroy chemical plants or march on the streets, but you are a true nature activist." Pamela said with a genuine smile.
"I'm glad you feel that way, Pamela. We will do great things together, and I believe both you and Wonder Woman will learn a lot from each other." Naruto said with a pleasant smile, just before he heard a knock on his door, signalling the end of his meeting with his PA.
"That would be my potential new PA who is only here to spy on me so that she can find a way to either destroy me or control me." Naruto said sarcastically, causing Pamela to laugh heartily at Naruto's ability to speak so frankly and yet be so funny and charming at the same time.
"I'll let my devious replacement in. Good luck to both of you." Pamela said as she went to get the door, greeting the interviewee pleasantly before ushering her in to meet her boss.
The interviewee was very beautiful, a Caucasian American spotting blonde hair and blue eyes and a slim, very fit, and very sexually appealing body as she was wearing a form fitting navy blue business suit with a white shirt underneath. She was also wearing black formal shoes and was carrying a computer pad on her left arm.
"Emelia Harcourt, please come, sit! Make yourself comfortable." Naruto said as he went around his desk and sat on his chair, eager to hear just what kind of gibberish Emilia was planning to feed to him in order to convince him to employ her.
"Mr Uzumaki. You've been ignoring my calls, my emails, my faxes, my texts, and even my post mailed applications." Emelia deadpanned.
"Straight to the point I see. Well, Emilia, when someone applies for a post that isn't even vacant, I tend to ignore it. I cannot hire you to do a job that doesn't exist." Naruto retorted.
"Have you looked at my credentials Mr Uzumaki? I'm not the kind of person you fill a vacant position with, I'm the kind you create a position for. My resume speaks for itself. Every company I have worked for has experienced a minimum of a 35 percent increase in revenue within the first six months, 45 percent within 12 months. I'm very good at what I do Mr Uzumaki. I'm not a normal PA, I'm a businessman whisperer. I give genuinely good advice and oh, did you see my military background? Yes, Mr Uzumaki, I can also be your bodyguard. Bodyguard, PA, and Business Advisor, all in one." Emilia said confidently.
"Yes, well, I do not have a person who is all those things in one admittedly, but I have people that are better than you in each one of those categories. So no Emilia, I'm not interested in having you work for me, but maybe I can work with you." Naruto said cordially.
"Work with me? Are you saying that you want us to be business partners? That would mean….wouldn't that mean that you would have to give me shares in the company…?"
"Wow don't get ahead of yourself. No one is giving or selling any shares to anyone. I have something entirely different in mind. I want you to look at this." Naruto said as he handed a computer pad to Emilia Harcourt, in the pad, a video of Billionaire Simon Stagg doing a press conference.
"I do not see any significance or relevance here. Why am I looking at that filthy pig Simon Stagg doing an interview? Is he a friend of yours?" Harcourt asked incredulously.
"No, but he is competition, and I keep tabs on all of my competition in order to identify any weaknesses. However, instead of a weaknesses, I have identified a threat." Naruto retorted.
"A threat? Simon Stagg is a cruel, borderline evil man, intelligent too, but that does not make him a threat to you. Do you even know how rich and powerful you are? He doesn't even hold a candle to you. If he tried to go against you, it would be the same as a toy gun wielding baby trying to kill a US Marine." Harcourt retorted.
"He's not a threat to me Miss Harcourt, he is a threat to mankind as a whole. Hack, activate xray camera vision." Naruto ordered.
"Yes, Master Naruto." Hack replied from inside the computer pad, causing Harcourt to almost jump off her skin if it were not for her military and master spy training, nevertheless looking closely at the pad as she saw something so horrific and so unbelievable that she failed to hide her emotions this time, dropping the computer pad on the ground as she jumped in surprise.
"W-what the hell are those things inside where his and his daughter's brains are supposed to be?" Harcourt exclaimed in shock.
"We have taken to referring to them as butterflies, naturally that is because of their uncanny resemblance to butterflies." Hack said as a liquid geo screen appeared out of the computer pad Emilia dropped, showing to Harcourt images of the 'butterfly' in a 3D format.
"They are of alien origin, and they have seemingly come here to essentially replace mankind. Out of the 500 million alien beings inhabiting planet earth, the butterflies currently compose 350 million. As far as we are aware, the three of us in this room are the only ones who know of their existence and their presence on earth." Hack explained patiently, lying through her teeth of course as the entirety of HIVE knew about the butterflies.
"A shot gun to the head will do the trick if you want to dispose of them. But their main weakness is that while they can breathe and live on our atmosphere, and even take over human host bodies, they however cannot survive on any of our food sources. Consequently, to provide a food source for themselves, they have brought with them another alien creature codenamed: 'The Cow', the location for which is something we are still investigating. It goes without saying that the eradication of this creature would be followed by the rapid extinction of the butterflies." Zalika completed her explanation.
"You see Emilia, you should not be worried about infiltrating my organization, but rather you should be worried about this world wide infiltration that is busy happening, and should be taking this information to your boss. This sounds like a good mission for her suicide squad don't you think?" Naruto asked rhetorically, causing Harcourt's eyes to widen considerably.
"The Suicide Squad? What is that? I have been in the military, the CIA, the NSA, and many other secret organizations in the US Government, and I've never heard of a Suicide Squad." Emilia lied with a straight face.
"Tell Amanda Waller that I am willing to co-operate with her on matters such as these, but she doesn't get to tell me which matters to assist her with or how to assist her. I will pick and choose according to my discretion. If I say no it means no, and if she tries to strong arm me again, well, I'm sure after last time I don't need to finish that sentence." Naruto said gravely.
'My little act has done nothing to dissuade him. He knows the truth with certainty, he doesn't have even a shred of doubt. He didn't even pay attention to my attempt at deception, like it didn't even occur. I guess the jig is up, there's no point in pretending anymore, besides, the stakes are too high now. If these butterflies manage to reproduce, or if they bring more of them here, mankind as we know it will cease to exist. In light of that, deceiving and infiltrating Naruto Uzumaki has to take a back seat, especially when the attempt has already failed before it even began." Harcourt rationalized.
"Okay, fine. I'll tell her. In all likelihood I'll be selected as liaison between you and her, so it might make things easier if I already worked here. That way the exchange of information would be easier and faster." Harcourt replied.
"I'm afraid that's never gonna happen Harcourt. The whole civil war between Waller and I began because she tried to forcefully take my money and my technology. I'm not letting her lead spy anywhere near my business." Naruto retorted.
"Especially now that I plan to assimilate Stagg Enterprises into my organization as soon as the butterflies that took over Stagg and his daughter are dealt with." Naruto thought diabolically, not wanting Waller to catch wind of the fact that he was essentially using her to gain more power for himself whilst simultaneously using the butterfly invasion as a distraction.
"Okay, I guess that will be my cue to leave then. But before I do I have one more question. If xray vision is all that is required to identify butterflies, why haven't Superman and Supergirl caught on to this yet?" Harcourt asked suspiciously.
"If you are trying to insinuate that they are collaborating with the butterflies, then you couldn't be any further from the truth. My relationship with Supergirl ended on bad terms, but if there is one thing I know about her and can never question about her, it is her love and devotion to justice and her love for human kind. Supergirl and Superman not catching sight of the butterflies is a deliberate scheme, after all, there isn't a single butterfly in Metropolis, trust me, I've looked…extensively. I'm willing to bet there isn't a single one in National City either." Naruto retorted.
"So you're saying that they are deliberately avoiding the Kryptonians because of their xray vision?" Harcourt asked.
"Yes. You know, this could be an opportunity for Waller to erase her insecurities. Seems to me like she could use a Kryptonian or two right now. The combination of xray vision and heat vision should be enough to take care of this butterfly problem. Supergirl and Superman can scan entire cities in seconds, and they can kill entire hordes of butterflies in a similar amount of time. Its an opportunity to mend broken bridges or build new ones don't you think?" Naruto suggested.
"Waller is more likely to eat butterfly faecal matter than co-operate with the Kryptonians on this." Harcourt retorted.
"Yeah I figured as much. Her whole crusade against aliens is because she feels powerless in the face of them and their technologies and abilities. She would never use an alien to fight off another alien unless she had complete control over the alien in question. And since she has no control over either of them, she will never let them take the credit for stopping this invasion." Naruto said, knowing his nemesis too well after ransacking her mind along with Enchantress.
"Yeah, that just about sums it up. That's why she needs brilliant humans like you on her side, and why it frustrates her so much when you don't want to play ball." Harcourt retorted, of course not knowing that technically, the person she was talking to was also an "alien".
"It's not that I don't want to play ball, I just don't want to play it on her terms." Naruto countered, and just as he finished talking, alarm bells went off on his computer and in his utility watch, Naruto quickly pressing a button on his watch that projected a screen with a video feed of the affected area.
"This is a scheduled delivery, so why would there be a….wait a minute, Hack, run facial recognition on these interlopers." Naruto ordered.
"Affirmative sir. Running facial recognition." Hack replied, taking less than five seconds to discover the identities of the interlopers.
"The interlopers are Doctor Harlene Quinzel aka Harley Quinn and Edgar Cizko aka Doctor Psycho. The other man has no identity documents in existence on any server, and he has no history whatsoever." Hack retorted.
"Given who the other two are, then in all likelihood its probably Clayface. Do me a favour and use xray camera vision on the package. The package seems to be significantly larger than it is supposed to be." Naruto replied.
"Already on it. You are correct sir. The package is missing, Nanaue, also known as King Shark is hiding inside the containment module." Hack replied.
"I see. So Poison Ivy breaks all ties with Harley Quinn's crew and the next thing they are trying to infiltrate her place of work? Do they think they can dig up dirt on me to turn Ivy against me, or are they up to something else entirely?" Naruto pondered thoughtfully.
"I do not know sir. Harley Quinn is quite literally mad. Her reasons are not worth reading into." Hack retorted.
"True. At the very least we should get Pam in here…" Naruto trailed off as the door opened to reveal one of Naruto's elite sange guards escorting Poison Ivy.
"Ah just the person I was hoping to see." Naruto said contently.
"I thought you might want to keep her close to you in light of the situation." The soldier said in a voice that could not possibly belong to him as it was the voice of a female despite the body belonging to a man.
"So you knew who they were but you allowed them in anyway. Why?" Naruto asked curiously.
"For the lulz, but mostly because I knew you would want to personally handle this little bit of business. Or at least, I think you should. It would be a piece of cake for my sange to take care of these D listers, but if we handled it ourselves, I get the feeling that Harley Quinn would never stop trying. She needs closure, and I think talking to you and getting her ass handed to her by you is the only way that is going to happen. Killing her isn't an option either, unless you're willing to kill plant girl over here too." Looker retorted through the body that she was controlling.
"That was well thought out and well put. You're right of course. Harley Quinn may not even be consciously aware of it, but she really came here to see for herself what it is and who it is that she has been left behind for. She's here to verify whether Ivy is justified in leaving her and her crew for me and my organization. She's here for closure, or alternatively, to prove that Ivy was wrong to leave her. " Naruto replied.
"Touche. Now get off your ass and start doing some of the dirty work for a change." Looker said as the eyes of the guard turned back to normal, from pure silver to hazel in colour.
"The sange will be on stand by sir. Not that we expect you to lose or anything, just as a matter of principle." The guard said, now speaking in his own masculine voice.
"Good. Escort Harley's Crew to the training room. They do not know where the package is supposed to go so it shouldn't be a problem escorting them there. Inform Instant that his services will be needed. I want him to teleport me to the training room as soon as it has been secured." Naruto instructed.
"Consider it done, Mr Uzumaki." The red head replied before sealing the door shut and getting on his way.
"Well, looks like its time to kick some ass. Don't worry Pamela, I won't kill them, just…teach them a little lesson that's all." Naruto said reassuringly.
"I know. I remember a time when the very thought of you attacking Harley and my friends would have sent me on a genocidal rampage. Things are different now though, I've evolved both mentally and emotionally." Pamela replied, subtly referring to the fact that she was a perfect sage now and as such, had found peace and harmony within herself.
"Good. Now where is that….Instant." Naruto trailed off as Instant arrived in a literal golden flash.
"I was on my lunch break, boss." Instant whined petulantly.
"Nobody cares Instant! Just get the boss to the training room and lets get this over with." Pamela said, eager to get this whole charade over and done with so that she can put it behind her.
"Ayt ayt! We'll be back in a flash!" Instant said the most corny line Pamela had ever heard in her life, rolling her eyes in exasperation at her colleague's antics.
"Let's go boss." Instant said, now spotting a serious facial expression and speaking with a serious tone, getting a nod of affirmation from the blonde Uzumaki as Instant put his right hand on the boss's shoulder before teleporting both of them away.
A Short While Later: Wave Consolidated Head Office Secret Training Room
"Hello Harley Quinn. It is…not a pleasure to finally meet you." Naruto greeted not so much cordially, but sincerely nonetheless.
"Well its piece of cow dung to meet you too asshole!" Harley Quinn exclaimed as she threw her wig and glasses away, no longer feeling the need to put up a disguise seeing as her cover was clearly blown to smithereens, the container that they were holding the package in also shapeshifting into what appeared to be an old man in a cybernetic wheelchair, the effect being that King Shark was also released from the confined space that he was kept in, and so was Harley's baseball bat.
"Hn, no wonder I do not like you very much. No manners at all." Naruto retorted, Harley sticking the middle finger out at the blonde Uzumaki in retaliation.
"Uh…guys am I the only one that is getting seriously dark and sinister vibes from this guy? I mean if I were getting these vibes from you guys I wouldn't mind, in fact I'd be proud, but from him? well, it does not feel so good." Doctor Psycho said warily.
"That you could sense anything whatsoever from my mind is quite impressive, Psycho. I must have underestimated your telepathic aptitude, and for that, you have my sincerest apologies." Naruto said as his body was rapidly covered up by nano bots that formed a black nano technological armour all over his body, an armour made of promethium weave mesh.
"Oh shit! I didn't know he could do that!" Harley thought in dismay.
"Yeah well guess what, you brought a baseball bat to a futuristic technological battle you blonde bimbo!" Psycho said angrily.
"What the fuck are you talking about? I brought the best psychic in the world, an indestructible fish giant fish man, a cybernetic transformer, and a fucking clay monster! If that aint enough ammunition than nothing is!" Harley exclaimed with both incredulity and indignity.
"You think I'm the best telepath in the world?" Psycho asked with stars in his eyes, a big shit eating grin plastered on his facial features.
"Yeah, okay don't let it get to your head or I'll take it right back." Harley retorted, rolling her eyes in exasperation.
'Their guard is completely down. What a bunch of idiots.' Naruto thought as, in a split second, he had already covered the distance of the entire training room, and it was a really long distance too, the blonde Uzumaki wrapping his right hand around Psycho's throat as he lifted up and strangled the poor man to death, or rather to unconsciousness as of course he didn't want to risk alienating himself with Poison Ivy after putting so much effort into her.
"Very difficult to focus your psychic powers while having the life strangled out of you isn't it? That's what you get for having a casual dialogue while the enemy is standing right in front of you." Naruto said condescendingly, Psycho looking like his eyes were about to pop out of his eyes due to the vice grip-like strangulation he was being put under, his entire crew also spotting the same expressions on their facial features, but theirs due to shock as opposed to strangulation.
"Shit! Let go of him you mother fuck…er!" Harley trailed off in surprise, having tried to smash Naruto's cranium into tiny fragments, only for her metalic baseball bat to bounce off and go flying away rapidly from her hands, almost like it had hit a spring or something.
"What the f….argh!" Harley cried, unable to finish her sentence as she found herself lying face first on the floor, a casual but super fast back hand slap all that was needed for the blonde Uzumaki to take her out of the play as she lost consciousness almost as soon as she hit the deck.
That was also around the time that Psycho lost consciousness too, Naruto unceremoniously dropping him on top of Harley as if without a care in the world, which in fact was true as right now he really didn't have much of a care in the world, at least not as far as the wellbeing of these criminal interlopers was concerned.
"Clearly none of you have any real combat or military training. It seems obvious that the psychic should have been at a further distance and there should have been a formation that provides for his protection from close range combat should someone be able to bypass his psychic abilities. And as for Harley, even if she brought you guys along, one would think she would have at least armed herself with something more than a baseball bat when going into unknown territory against an enemy who's combat prowess is also unknown." Naruto said, shaking his head in disappointment.
"H-Harley! Psycho! I won't let you kill my friends! You'll pay for what you have done!" The old man in a cybernetic wheelchair exclaimed as he seemingly tried to transform into something that Naruto did not care to find out as he moved swiftly and gave the old man a chop to the back of the head before he could finish whatever craziness he was about to pull off.
"Sy Borgman, once a brilliant international spy and technological engineer. I wonder what sort of madness made you do something so silly and impractical to yourself?" Naruto pondered out loud.
"…."
" Strange…." Naruto trailed off as he turned to face the two remaining interlopers.
"Given the bond I had heard you share with your friends, I had imagined that you two would have attempted to mount some sort of attack on me by now. Did I scare the big fish? Did I frighten the bogeyman?" Naruto asked condescendingly, directing his questions/insults at both King Shark and Clayface, referring of course to the fact that they seemed to be frozen in place like statues, both individuals snarling at the blonde Uzumaki but refusing to attack him nonetheless, their eyes darting between Naruto and their comrades as they both seemed to be trying to decide what to do.
" Oh I get it now, even low level intellect creatures like you can figure it out I suppose. Yes, this position, me standing so close to your unconscious friends, and you two having such large scale and devastating attacks, makes it a little difficult for you to attack me without hurting your friends doesn't it? I believe this is what they call a check mate in chess." Naruto said with a sinister undertone, causing shivers to run up and down King Shark and Clayface's spines, if whatever Clayface had could even be called a spine.
"There is always a bigger and badder wolf around the corner. Someone more terrifying than you, someone more powerful than you, and someone more devious and cunning than you are. Remember that next time you come up with one of your bright ideas. Believe it or not, I'm not saying or doing any of this to crush you, but rather, I am sharing some of my knowledge and wisdom with you so that you too may grow and become better versions of yourselves." Naruto said sagely.
"…"
"Ahem…uh….thank you, Mr Uzumaki. We will be sure to have a much better plan next time." King Shark said with a sinister undertone, finally deciding that the best course of action was to place nice for now, at least until his crew was safely tucked into Clayface's body.
"Good, but just in case you think I needed hostages to win this little game…" Naruto trailed off as once again he moved at a speed that was unreadable, closing distance between him and King Shark in an instant before hitting the Shark with a left hook-right uppercut combo from hell, causing King Shark's legs to turn into jelly as he crumbled unto the floor and fell in a heap, being hit with punches that were so hard and so fast that booming sounds and shockwaves could be heard and felt all across the training room.
King Shark however was not going to go down that easily, at least, that's what he thought as he tried to get back up on his feet, only to stumble again and fall on his side, trying to get up two more times and failing both times before Naruto got bored with it all and moved at incredible speed again and gave the Gigantic shark man a sound barrier-breaking vertical hand chop to the top of the head, causing him to join his friends in the land of unconsciousness.
"Last man standing. Do not fret, Clayface, you will come to no harm, after all, someone needs to carry these guys out of here." Naruto said as he turned around to face the behemoth of clay.
"Plus, I have a message for Harley. Tell her that Poison Ivy is on my crew now. Its not entirely personal, it's mostly business, but she belongs to me now nonetheless. If Harley wants to talk about it and hash it out, then I see no problem with that. She can communicate that with Kiteman and have him deliver the message to my roof top." Naruto explained, taking a momentary pause to make sure Clayface understood before carrying on with his explanation.
"Furthermore, I will not interfere with any of hers and her crew's business unless it directly affects me. However, if you guys infiltrate any of my properties again or if any of my men and women are harmed in any way by you lot, I will brutally, painfully, and mercilessly kill each and every one of you. Do we understand each other?" Naruto asked, Clayface doing the only thing he felt he could do at that particular moment, that being to nod his head in the affirmative.
" Good. Now, take your friends into your body. You will be leaving via teleportation." Naruto instructed with authority, Clayface nodding his head in the affirmative as he extended his arms and collected all of his friends before sticking them into his body, leaving only their heads out so that they could breathe, expanding significantly in size so that he could fit all of them in, especially King Shark seeing as he was so large.
"Good man." Naruto said as he dematerialized his suit around his face, but leaving it on from the neck downwards as he pressed a button on his earpiece.
"Instant, it's your turn. Take these people back to Gotham." Naruto ordered.
"Roger that boss." Instant replied as he appeared right next to Naruto in a golden flash.
"Man that was quick. They didn't even mount any sort of challenge whatsoever, but I guess that's a good thing." Instant said, walking towards the Clay monster, touching him with his left hand before disappearing with him in a Golden Flash.
10 Minutes Later: Naruto's Office
"Where's Harcourt?" Naruto asked curiously.
"She left as soon as you dealt with Harley and her crew. She said that she had seen enough and needed to report the Butterfly Invasion to Amanda Waller. She was escorted out by one of the sange." Pamela said, Naruto on the other hand not really sure whether to be impressed or concerned by how detached Ivy was to him just whooping the asses of her friends right in front of her.
"I know what you're thinking. Look, I was all alone in the world, but Harley and the crew accepted me and befriended me despite all of my numerous flaws. So yes, I appreciate that, and I still care for them. But I cannot abandon my life long goal of saving the planet from toxic waste and environmental pollution, and what they did for me does not change the fact that they were and are a bad influence. I'm loyal to the cause, I'm loyal to you." Pamela said reassuringly.
"I know. Don't worry, there might be hope for them yet. This wasn't just a beat down that I gave them, it was also a way for me to plant seeds of growth and change. Let us watch and see how they handle this first test." Naruto retorted.
"Always an endgame with you isn't there? Your benevolence is matched only by your wrath, that's one of the things that I find so endearing about you." Pamela said with a loving smile.
"Endearing? Careful Pamela, don't make me mistake you for a woman that's falling in love with her boss, especially since I plan to recruit your boyfriend as one of my bodyguards, per your request." Naruto teased and warned at the same time.
"Kiteman, I uh….I dunno what to do. I want to tell him the truth about my affair with Harley but I'm afraid of losing him. At the same time I…I think that I'm…I dunno." Pamela said, unable to finish the sentence as she wasn't sure how telling her boss that she was falling in love with him was going to go, especially since he knew so much about her, mainly about the fact that she had, until recently, been cheating on her boyfriend with her best friend, and now was thinking about cheating on him again, with her boss, soon to be his boss too.
In any case, she didn't have to think about it much longer as one of her rivals chose that particular time to knock on the window, much to both Pamela's and her boss's surprise as that was the last person that either of them expected to see any time soon, and given the serious and grave look on her facial features, they both got the sense that it wasn't going to be a very good reunion whatsoever.
"What do you want?" Naruto asked warily, making sure to pronounce his words properly so that Supergirl could read his lips because even her super hearing couldn't penetrate his state of the art sound proof office.
"Let me in or else…" Supergirl mouthed as she activated her heat vision, her eyes glowing a menacing red as Naruto quickly put his hands in the air defensively, not wanting to incur the wrath of his crazy ex girlfriend.
'Damn she knows how to ruin a perfectly good day.' Naruto thought as he pressed a button on his utility watch that caused the nigh impenetrable glass to faze shift, allowing Supergirl to fly straight into the office.
"Leave us.." Kara said without even looking at Pamela, who almost snapped right then and there before remembering the lessons that Naruto had taught her, one of them being that she shouldn't feel the need to prove herself or show off now that she had the power of a sage, but should rather try and stay as low key as possible for as long as possible so that there wouldn't be too many eyes on her or her activities. Of course, being a sage also enabled her to have better control over her emotions, which is why she was able to suppress her rage enough to make the sensible decision.
"It's okay Pamela. She's my crazy ex girlfriend, but she's not my crazy ex girlfriend who would resort to killing me." Naruto replied.
"Oh yeah, and what about kidnapping? Somehow I doubt she is above that." Pamela replied testily.
"We both know I can take care of myself" Naruto replied, Pamela reluctantly but obediently doing as she was told as she exited the office, but not before she made it clear that she would be right outside the door.
"…."
"…"
"You know, if all you wanted to do was to stare at my handsome face you could have just video called me or something." Naruto said, trying to break the tension between he and his super ex girlfriend.
"What have you done to Wonder Woman?" Kara asked, trying by all means to keep this as professional as possible.
"I wasn't aware that the two of you were so close." Naruto said as he went back to his office chair and sat down, Kara choosing to stand while she seemed to be trying to stare the truth out of him.
"The Justice League sent me here to give you a warning. Give Wonder Woman back or suffer the consequences." Kara replied sternly.
"The Justice League? You're their errand girl now? What did they do, offer you a place in their ranks if you helped them to take me down?" Naruto asked rhetorically, honestly a little surprised when Kara looked away in shame as despite their differences, he never thought she would go this far.
"Honestly I'm confused. Is it that you would do anything to achieve your long term goal of joining the league, even sell me out, or is it that you hate me that much that you would even help my enemies if it meant getting back at me?" Naruto inquired curiously.
"Look, this isn't about us. Out of all the members of the Justice League, I'm the one who was closest to you, I'm the one who knows you better than anyone else. We thought it would be better if I was the one who delivered the warning." Kara retorted.
"So you're already referring to yourself as a member of the League? Damn, and here I was hoping that you and I might be on the same side one day." Naruto said with his sincerest disappointment.
"Y-you actually wanted uh….to get back with me? After everything? I….I thought you hated me…?" Kara asked in surprise, causing Naruto to burst out laughing, much to Kara's chagrin and humiliation.
"You think this is funny? You think playing with my emotions and making a fool of me is going to make things better for you? Do you have any idea what you're threatening to unleash?" Kara asked angrily.
"It's so cute how clueless you are. Don't you get it, Kara, I can never hate you. Angry at you, yes, definitely, irritated, yeah, sure, but hate you? Hehe! You must have lost your mind." Naruto laughed at Kara's expense.
"W-what are you saying exactly?" Kara asked with both hope and confusion.
"I love you silly, and despite the…vexing and somewhat sinister actions that you have taken against me, I know that you love me too. A bond like ours cannot be banished so easily. Probably, the reason you think you hate me is because you hate the fact that you love me as opposed to actually hating me, and the reason for that is because you think it undermines who you are and what you stand for to be in love with someone you think is a villain." Naruto explained.
"S-so you never hated me? At all?" Kara asked with hope and desperation in both her tone and her eyes.
"No, not then, not now, not ever. Even if we cannot be together, I'll always look out for your interests, and if not your interests, then at least your safety and well being." Naruto replied.
"…"
"H-how? How is it that a villain like you can show unconditional love? How can a villain have so much more love, humility, grace, honour, courage, and sincerity than even the best of super heroes? It doesn't make sense at all." Kara asked, desperately trying to make sense of this entire mess that was hers and Naruto's relationship.
"Well, for starters, I'm not a villain. However, even if I were, what you have to understand Kara is that not everything is black and white in the world. There are shades of grey too. You also have to understand that yes, using your brain is all well and good, but you also have instincts and emotions, and both of them play just as important a role as your intellect. If you do not acknowledge and perfect these two other variables, you will never attain peace of mind and peace at heart, and as a result, you will never find true happiness and contentment in your life." Naruto said sagely.
"What are you saying exactly?" Kara asked, having an idea of what Naruto was saying but still not really sure exactly what he wanted her to do.
"Stop worrying about what Superman, the Justice League, or the rest of the world will think about you. Make your own decisions, based not only on what you think, but also what you feel with your emotions and your instincts. Find the balance, and when you do, you will have clarity about what it is you must do, or at the very least, what it is that you want to do." Naruto explained clearly and concisely.
"…."
"I cannot believe I'm getting therapy sessions from my villainous ex boyfriend." Kara said after giving it some thought, causing Naruto to release an involuntary chuckle as he realized that Kara's words were actually not far at all from the truth seeing as he really did just try to counsel her.
"Anyway, I will give your advice a genuine shot and see where it leads me. But for now, I really need you to tell me what you did to Wonder Woman. Doctor Fate already told the League that you were the last person she went to see before she disappeared. So either you know what happened to her, or you did something to her. The League needs straight answers, that is, if you do not want to go to war with them." Kara said gravely.
'She said them instead of we, good, my little speech seems to have had the intended effect. The truth always works better than a lie when trying to manipulate someone.' Naruto thought diabolically.
"Wonder Woman is off world fighting in an inter galactic war. Well, actually, the war just ended, today in fact. She is now busy picking up the pieces and re establishing law and order in the affected area. I cannot disclose more details than that, but I can only say that she will return in about a forte night." Naruto replied.
"Do you have any proof of this? Can you tell us where exactly is this intergalactic war and why the Green Lanterns do not know about it?" Kara asked eagerly.
"No, I cannot. Everything is top secret. The League can ask her about it when she returns in a forte night. I promised her I wouldn't tell anyone, and I do not intend to." Naruto retorted, Kara giving him a long searching stare before finally relenting.
"What is your relationship with her? Is she your rebound girl? Were you cheating on me with her before we even broke up? Are you guys serious? What if I said that I wanted you back? Would you break up with her for me?" Kara asked in quick succession.
"That's a lot of questions. I'll try and answer them in order." Naruto said, taking a momentary pause as he tried to think about how to answer these questions exactly.
'She wears her emotions on her sleeve, and she isn't afraid to ask questions to which the answers could cause her grief and pain. Some might mistake this for a weakness, but I recognise her character for what really is – unshakable, unbreakable strength of mind and strength of will, self belief, and unwavering confidence.' Naruto thought analytically.
"Well, my relationship with Wonder Woman right now is that we are good friends who trust, love, and respect each other. We both want more from each other as we are both physically and emotionally attracted to one another, the only difference being that she is ready for the more whereas I am still trying to process my break up with you." Naruto answered the first question in as honest and sincere a manner as he could master.
"So no, she is not a rebound girl, she is something more, something much more than that. Also, no, I was not cheating on you, with Wonder Woman or anyone else. I had never even met her until after we broke up." Naruto said, quite honestly caught a little off guard by the question, although in hindsight understanding why someone in Kara's position would be curious about that.
"And…? If I said I wanted you back? What would you do?" Kara asked tensely, Naruto sensing the immense fear of rejection within her but unable to help but to be impressed by the courage and bravery she was showing, and her ability to overcome that fear so that she can ask the question.
"I do not know. Love, true love is essential in a relationship, and I think you and I have that, but it, alone, is not always enough. People need to also be compatible, they need to be willing to learn from each other and grow together, and they need to have similar goals in life. It is also important to respect the differences between each other and be willing to make some concessions or compromises." Naruto began sagely, garnering Kara's full attention as she seemed to be hanging on every word.
"I feel that physically and sexually, we are obviously, as you know, compatible, and we definitely love each other. However, mentally and philosophically, we are not compatible at all and honestly Kara, I have felt completely disrespected and disregarded by you on more than one occasion." Naruto explained, not mincing his words as he wanted Kara to get the message he was trying to impart.
"Finally, there is loyalty and security. When we were together, you made me a target by being reckless with information about us, which lead to the whole world discovering our relationship. You later told Barbara Gordon information that I had shared with you in confidence, which lead to Batman and then the Justice League learning about such information. You also went on a media campaign in which you slandered me every opportunity you got to be on tv. How can I be with someone who consistently not only breaks my heart and spreads ill rumours about me, but also consistently betrays my trust and puts me at risk?" Naruto asked rhetorically.
"Nathaniel I….I…I'm so sorry. I never really thought about it like that. I never even considered how my actions might have affected you, especially how my actions reflected on me, not to mention all the other stuff I have done to you and said about you on national tv. In hind sight, I have been a horrible person haven't I? All this while judging you and looking down on you. I….I don't deserve to be loved by you." Kara said sadly, struggling and failing to hold back the tears as she started crying, much to Naruto's surprise as he wasn't really sure that Kryptonians could even cry up until this moment, seeing as he had never seen one crying.
Come to think about it, he wasn't actually sure that New Gods could cry either. He hadn't interacted with any New Gods until a couple of months ago when he met Scot and Barda, and he himself could not remember a single day that he had ever cried before. He remembered wanting to cry a couple of times when he was growing up, but he couldn't say that he had ever successfully cried.
Nevertheless, the last thing he wanted was to see Kara crying, especially because of him, which is why before he knew what he was doing, he had already gone around the desk and wrapped her tightly in his embrace, consoling and soothing her as she took to the hug as if it was a life draft that had just saved her from drowning.
"You need not feel inadequate or even bad for that matter. We all grow and mature at different rates. Your mother and father were scientists who lived a relatively normal life, I was raised in the Uzumaki Ninja Clan, and the by Deathstroke The Terminator. Obviously, my upbringing was vastly different from yours, hence the different levels of maturity. But that isn't a problem as long as you learn from your mistakes, and when I say your mistakes I mean our mistakes, because its not like I didn't make any mistakes too in our relationship." Naruto said lovingly, Kara's eyes widening in surprise at what Naruto had just told her.
"I get that now, the learning and maturity part, and the loyalty, safety and security part. When you open your heart to someone and reveal your secrets to them, you allow yourself to be vulnerable to that person, with the expectation that your heart, your soul, and your secrets will be kept safe. What I did was to betray you and to violate your safety and security, and worst of all, I hurt you in the name of Justice." Kara said as she tightened her hold on Naruto, as if her words were going to drive him away from her if she didn't hold on tight.
"I also thought I would be better off without you, or at least, that I would be able to be okay again, after all, it's not like I've known you all my life. I had a life before I met you. But I have been miserable without you, absolutely, utterly, miserable. Nathaniel….I do not want to be miserable anymore. I….I miss you, and I don't mean that I miss having someone in my life, specifically I miss having you in my life. I know its selfish, but I want you to be mine again. I want you to belong to me. I want to be able to look at you and smile to myself, knowing that I can look at you and say that, oh yeah, that's my man." Kara said desperately, Naruto holding her even tighter in his arms as he tried to comfort and reassure her with his body language alone.
"I want you to be mine too Kara, more than you can imagine, but I don't think I'm willing to break Diana's heart in order to make that happen. She's too good a woman for me to betray and hurt her like that. In a short space of time she has given so much of herself to me, for me, and for my cause, and quite honestly, I'm falling head over heels in love with her, and I think…no, I know I want to be with h…"
"I don't care! I'm sorry Nathaniel but I really don't care about you and Wonder Woman, you can do whatever, I mean, she's great, I know that, I look up to her for Rao's sake. She's like my role model. I know she's special and great and amazing and all of that, that's why I don't care. I'm not going to compete with her, coz I'll lose, and I know it's my fault anyway that she managed to get so close to you, coz I wasn't there."
"Kara, what are you saying exactly?" Naruto asked with a little confusion, not sure exactly what point his super ex girlfriend was trying to make.
"Do I really have to spell it out? Geez, making a girl say something so embarrassing out loud. You're an asshole Nathaniel." Kara pouted.
"I…uh…"
"Geez Nathaniel I'm saying you can have us both, okay! I'm saying I don't care that you're with her as long as a part of you is still mine." Kara said with both feelings of embarrassment and exasperation.
"Oh….wait, you want to be my side chick?"
"Fuck you Nathaniel!" Kara said angrily, and yet tightening her hold over the Uzumaki, almost as if he would disappear in a poof of smoke if she let go, which in reality was something that could actually happen considering that it was a shadow clone that she was holding onto.
"…."
"I think that is the first time I have ever heard you swear." Naruto said, causing Kara's eyes to widen in surprise as she realized what she had just said.
"I called you an asshole earlier you smart ass." Kara retorted, smiling in both amusement and triumph.
"Asshole is indeed vulgar language, but I wouldn't exactly call it a swear word." Naruto countered.
"Stop changing the topic." Kara said tensely, but also with a hint of vulnerability.
"Honestly I have never even considered having a side…uh…having more than one partner." Naruto quickly corrected himself when he saw the look that Kara was giving him, Kara quickly snuggling into his neck again when she was satisfied that he got the message.
"But…?" Kara egged on.
"Well, I mean, I'm a guy, so obviously I've had fantasies. To be quite frank, my answer is hell yes, obviously, but that all depends on whether Diana would be okay with it or not. The last thing I want is to be a cheater. If we are going to do this, then we are going to need her consent." Naruto said thoughtfully, pretty much doubting that Diana would agree but then again, he really couldn't say he knew for sure how an Amazonian warrior goddess would take to such a proposal.
"Okay, that sounds fair. I get that you shouldn't have to sully your reputation and integrity because of my selfish desires, and with that understanding in mind, and for other reasons, I need you to let me be the one to talk to her. I think there is a higher chance that she will accept if I talk to her woman to woman than if you do." Kara suggested.
"Impressive. You really are starting to think like a kunoichi, Kara. Yes, you have my blessing, you may talk to her when she returns, so long as you understand that until then, nothing can or will happen between us, no matter how much either of us wants it." Naruto retorted.
"That's fine, I wouldn't want to do it with a shadow clone anyway." Kara retorted much to Naruto's surprise.
"….."
"Of course I know. There is no way you let her fight some Intergalactic War alone, obviously the real you is there with her." Kara said, knowing about Naruto's clones from the time he took her to Mt Myoboku.
"You'd make one hell of a kunoichi, Kara." Naruto said with a big smile.
"We'll see. But for now, I have to get back to the Justice League." Kara replied as she finally pulled away from Naruto, a much, much more pleasant look on her facial features than the one she had when she arrived.
"What will you tell them?" Naruto asked curiously.
"I cannot lie to them, they have Martian Manhunter, Batman, and Superman. Lying to them would be impossible. However, I do not have to tell them everything. I'll just say that Wonder Woman is on a mission to re-establish law and order in another galaxy, and will return in a fort night. I'll also tell them that I reject the invitation to join the Justice League. I realize that joining them and being with you will only complicate things for us, and possibly make it impossible to maintain our relationship in the future." Kara said, thinking much clearer now than she had in a very long time.
"I'm still growing, learning, and maturing as you alluded to earlier. I'm still finding myself. So until I figure things out, I will not be joining the Justice League. Besides, I think I would rather lose the opportunity to be a league member than to lose you again." Kara replied.
'Okay, this sounds promising. She is still far from ready to join The Hive or the Kitsune Coalition, but she has taken a giant leap in the right direction.' Naruto thought diabolically.
"I did not think it was possible to love you more than I already did, not until this very moment." Naruto said with a genuine smile.
"Oh you're going to love me even more Nathaniel, you'll see." Kara said as she levitated herself, blowing the blonde Uzumaki a kiss as she flew out of the office, Naruto hastily pressing the faze shifting bottom in order to allow Supergirl to fly through the glass window, watching her leave with a happy and content smile on his facial features.
End Chapter
I hope this chapter will be to your satisfaction.
I know things are moving slow, but I think it will be worth it in the long run.
Definitely moving towards Kara and Diana as the main paring for Naruto.
Ivy and even Raven are possibilities, but Kara and Diana are pretty much guaranteed.
Take care of yourselves, stay safe and stay healthy.