Shinobi of the League: Arise of the Heroes! Chapter 4: The Space Trial! Part 2!, a Naruto + Justice League Crossover fanfic

Shinobi of the League

NarutoxHarem

''Normal Speech''

Inner Thoughts, Dialogue, or reading passages from books and scrolls

000

Author's Note

000

Only the first 5500 words are the actual chapter. Towards the end I put the double post four year old version of this chapter so you guys can get an idea of progression from when I first started writing and how much I mproved since then.

0000000000

Story Start

00000

Naruto couldn't believe what he had just heard. ''John you can't be serious?"

"That's what happened… and it's time to take responsibility," Lantern replied looking at the sky.

''Lantern, you expect me to believe that out of nowher you killed billions of lives and then went on with your life to only now accept responsibility?''

"HOW CAN IT BE A LIE IF I WAS THERE?!" Lantern snapped at the blond.

"GL take it easy man, we're just trying to make sense of this," Flash tried to calm the storm between the two.

"I didn't ask you to come here for help! I know what happened and nothing you can say is going to change that! This is way over your head. Go home!" The frustrated hero had enough with this annoyance.

One of the Man Hunters robots approached Lantern from behind. "It's time to return to your cell."

John did as he was told, lowering his sight to the ground, he turned his back on his team and walked to the holding area.

The team was left to think about the situation.

"Three billion gone… I can't believe it!" Flash said looking at Superman who now held a thinking position with his hand on his chin of his thumb on his cheek

"Neither can I." He returned walking away from the team and looking at the rocky remains of the planet Ajuris 4. "I want to take a closer look at what happened."

"Why? John admits that he's guilty. No one is disputing the facts," Hawkgirl responded questioning his hunch.

''I can out of the blue say I eat babies…doesn't mean I do. John may believe he's guilty, but I don't sense blood or aura of countless lives on him. Also I can sense something is off,'' Naruto answered.

"That's right, so we are going to investigate what really happened. J'onn, I need you to come with me. Sage, Hawkgirl, Flash do you think you can buy us some time in court?"

"You're asking the world's fastest man to slow things down? It won't be easy…" Flash was not very sure how to accomplish this.

Naruto just smirked under his mask. "Then just do what you do best… confuse them until they're ready to crack." Everyone smiled at his remark gaining some optimism.

"That I can do," Flash responded with a smile.

While Naruto, Flash and Hawkgirl returned to the stands, Superman and J'onn were on their way to the Javelin.

Reaching their destination J'onn broke the silence. "So, what are you expecting to find on this moon?"

"I don't know. There's something bothering me…" responded the hero. "Just call it an…"

"Intuition?" completed the Martian.

"Exactly."

They didn't notice that they were followed by the space pirate that testified against Green Lantern.

As the heroes departed, Ken'Ja Ro returned to the trial.

The court was ready to resume with John, on a floating disk, in front of the monitor of the three judges and Ken'Ja Ro being on a similar disk, ready to be questioned.

"John Stuart, you may now question your accuser." The judge announced.

"No questions…" John answered without hesitation and lowering his head at the judge in shame.

This shocked the entire gallery, even his teammates looked at each other and all had one thing on his mind. 'Has he lost it?'

"None?! Don't you intend to defend yourself?" asked the female voice of three judges, shocked herself at this turn of events.

"No, I don't."

The disk that was holding the pirate in the air floated down effortlessly.

"I object! You call this a trial?!" Demanded Flash determined to not let his friend give up. Everyone else were now talking amongst themselves and looking at him. "I say this is a joke."

"Are you out of your mind? What do you think your doing?!" Hawkgirl hissed pulling Flash down.

''No Hawkgirl let the Flash distract him…Lantern won't be able to buy us the time we need. I'll send you questions being telepathy to ask while the two of us go and collect some information.

"Right," The Flash assured in understanding.

"Remove him!" Their conversation was interrupted by one of the judges. Two reptilian guards were already closing in on him, but Flash's superior speed allowed him to escape and evade the other guards reaching the center of the gallery facing the judges.

"Listen to me. With something this important, you have to hear both sides," he tried seriously to get them to understand the implications.

"Flash, I told you not to get involved!" Lantern voiced trying to keep his friend out of trouble.

"They're railroading you, pal! " Flash tried to reason with Lantern but was pulled into a headlock by one of the guards with two more reaching him.

"Wait! This being may have a point! We don't want any lingering thoughts about our final judgment, do we?" Interrupted the female voice stopping the roughhousing.

"Of course not," the other male voice of the robot of the far left of the screen answered. "But who will speak for John Stuart?"

"Don't you have any lawyers here?" Flash asked freeing himself from the guard's grip.

"We solved our lawyer problem a long time ago," Answered the central voice of the judges.

"However you can speak for him, if you wish," added a female voice.

"But be aware. If you loose, you will share the same penalty as the accused," the last voice completed.

"The same penalty? That's crazy." Flash was starting to feel the stress already.

"No, that's how we solved our lawyer problem. What's your answer?"'Damn…now that's just cold blooded.'

"I'll defend him!" answered Flash determined.

"Very well. Proceed."

"Right, sure." Flash cleared his voice and got on the disk that floated in front of the court.

Naruto watched as the red costumed hero started to talk about some random lawyer talk that didn't make any sense to anyone; actually it seamed to have created more confusion. Hawkgirl palmed her face and signed while Naruto grinned as Flash was doing his best to create confusion.

Hawkgirl looked at where the John's fellow lantern comrades were supposed to be and noticed that they left. "Hey, the guys in green are gone," she whispered to Naruto.

''That's our cue,'' He said as they slipped out. ''Shinsei bunshin no Jutsu,'' He said created a clone. ''You stay in the court and assist Flash.''

''Whatever you say Original,'' The clone said saluting as he went back into the gallery.

''You got to teach me that one day,'' Hawkgirl said as she couldn't help but be in awe by some of the blondes ability.

''Shinsei would kill you…though maybe wind or kagebunshin with some time…time to track down our targets.

Ajuris 5 Cantina

''As I thought Lantern Corps,'' The blonde answered as he followed his sense of smell. They made their way to the table. 'Try not to kill anyone ok Trigger?' He thought as Hawk girl shot him a rather nasty look.

"Waiter! Another round!'' Ordered the short round one.

The two of them had to their anger at the lack of concern for one of their own. Both of them came from a clan/tribe/race that valued it's members.

''You know one of your own is in there and his life is on the line…the least you can do is attend the trial.''

"Huh! We couldn't stand it anymore." Spoke the round one that raised his hand to make his point.

"John Stuart made us all look bad." This time the more humanoid alien spoke taking over for his teammate.

''People who only care about their image makes me sick…your image? Is your image more important then taking care of one of your own?''

Hawkgirl decided to add her two cents. "Huh, so much for the vaunted loyalty of the lantern corp."

"Huh, don't get so high and mighty, if you two are smart, you'll stay away from him too." The round one answered.

"Otherwise, you'll wide up reeking in his stench yourself.'' Again it was the humanoid one to complete the round lantern.

"COWARDS!" Hawkgirl tried to bring her mace down on the table. But Naruto's hand grabbed the mace. "Are you just going to let them talk about John like that!?" she turned and shouted at him as he continued to hold the weapon.

The other lanterns as well as the rest of the cantina looked at the blonde with widened eyes.

His eyes flashed crimson briefly which only a few people caught. ''Trigger we don't want to cause trouble remember.'' He said letting go of the mace as Hawkgirl looked down begrudgingly and mumbled something.

"Huh?" the rest of the lanterns had smirks on their faces seeing Hawkgirl get put in her place.

Naruto narrowed his eyes slightly, and then grew a sly smile under his mask. "But you know what…let's blow some shit up.'' He said as Hawkgirl snapped her head up, with wide eyes. Then it was replaced with a grin akin to a kid in a candy store or one unwrapping his/her present on Christmas morning getting what they wanted.

With a swift almost untraceable movement he kicked up the table making the plates

that had some sort of pasty substance jump in the air and land upside-down splattering the food on all the lanterns.

"Why you!?" A fish-birdlike lantern called furious at the Shinobi.

Hawkgirl instantly grew a sly smile on her lips. "Now, you're speaking my language. AHHH!" She instantly went on the offensive with her mace and tried to attack the closest lantern that powered his ring. She proceeded to keep striking at the lantern even with his ring activated, though she couldn't break the shield she did manage to push him back till he hit his round friend that fell out of his seat.

The bartender saw the commotion, who was a small blue alien, a meter high, with six tentacles instead of arms or legs, slid on the floor and got between them. "My friends, please. No weapons, no weapons."

"You think I need this mace to take you down?" Hawkgirl asked before throwing her mace in one of the support columns making it stick in there. The bartender slid to safety, and the lanterns depowered their rings.

Naruto looked at his female teammate. ''Last one to put their mark in the coma has to buy dinner,'' He said as he did a sweep kick then blasted the small Lantern into one of the walls.

''You didn't even say go,'' Hawkgirl almost whined but reserved herself, as it was undignified for a warrior like her to whine.

The humanlike alien with fangs attacked the heroine with a punch that she evaded followed by a left hook in his chin then his upper chest and his face. She pulled her right arm back and punched the dazed lantern in the face sending him on their table.

Sage on the other hand was being an ass-hole shooting his opponent across the air using wind manipulation. After a few minutes he finally got bored and sent him flying into a guy at the bar.

Another lantern, this one looking like a cross between a human with a seahorse with a beak for a mouth tackled Hawkgirl on the ground. Though before he could do anything she used her foot to push the alien off her and into the neon sign above the bar shattering them.

Another lantern, this one being the most different, he had a fish like shape with four short tentacles, one eye and four feet, tried to pounce on Naruto but the blonde throw a punch sending it flying.

''Maybe we should take this outside,'' Naruto suggested spinning and catching the short lantern from before by the scruff of his neck and throwing him out a window. ''I'm not paying for that.'' He said then yawned. ''These guys are nothing without their rings.''

''Your telling me… should we tie our hands behind our backs to make it easier?'' Hawk girl asked.

''Don't forget the blind fools,'' He said as he sworn he saw his ally crack a smile..

Kilawog, the last lantern saw enough. "No more, they're right. John Stuart is one of us, and I'm going to help him." He turned to the exit and flew at the gallery.

While the winged heroine pulled out her mace, Naruto turned to bruised lanterns that were getting on their feet. "You guys are far too dependent on your rings…I knew a guy like you depended on his eyes far too much…train yourselves or else you'll find yourself in a situation where you can't use your rings and then you'll be dead.''

As they made their way to the next location they noticed the scum-bag from before. Though they noticed he was also with a Man Hunter?"

Sage looked where she pointing. "Hmm, looks like he might not be working alone."

They both returned to the gallery where Flash was making a show that would make Shakespeare rip his hair out.

While the three heroes were buying time Superman and J'onn were exploring the moon.

"See anything wrong with this picture?" Superman asked looking at the ground.

"Where should I start? The loss of life? The echoes of our own pasts? The lack of any texture in this story? Or the misspelling?"

"No, not that. This," he pointed at the moon.

"It can't be!" The Martian widened his eyes

"But it is. This moon is still orbiting a planet which doesn't exist."

"It should have flown off into space the moment the planet was destroyed."

"But it didn't, did it?"

Kilawog was just finishing a story in which he and John were paired together and the hero risked his life to save Kilawog.

Flash had a good idea to ask the alien about his past with Stuart but Naruto wanted more.''We need to beef of the people's opinions of John. Ask him if John was ever aggressive or violent beyond necessary.''

Flash turned to Kilawog. "In your experience with John, has he ever been overly aggressive or violent?''

''No, he never expressed any aggressiveness or violent behavior beyond what was required as his duty as a Lantern.''

''Did he ever abused his powers for self-gain?

Flash smiled and asked the alien,'' Has John ever abused his powers for self-gain?"

"Not in my whole life have I ever seen John use his powers for anything selfish."

"And how would you describe John's reputation among the Green Lanterns, before this incident?"

Flash moved his lips in a smile 'Good thinking Naruto'.

"And how would you describe John's reputation among the Green Lanterns, before this incident?"

"John was respected by all Lanterns around the Universe, his reputation is one of the best. And when you're in a team with John, you know you got a real friend watching your back."

John continued to look down, still feeling guilty. While the rest of the court were impressed, even though they didn't show it, while the prosecutor was impressed as well, he still looked at the his screen and studied his for the piece el' resistance.

"Then if I asked you this question, based on all your experiences with John, do you consider that the events that took place on Ajuris 4 happened because of John's lack of professionalism or because of unforeseen circumstances that lead to a terrible accident? "

This time Flash had a hard time keeping up with Naruto. "Then, after working with John for so long, do you consider that the events that took place of Ajuris 4 happened because his lack of professionalism or because of unforeseen circumstances that lead to the terrible accident?"

Kilawog took a moment to think the question. "I definitely say that the events happened because of unforeseen circumstances."

Damn…that's it…I have no more questions.

Flash concluded as well "Thank you Kilawog, John couldn't have asked for a better character witness." Then he turned to the prosecutor. "Your turn."

The alien looked at Kilawog and asked. "Kilawog, can you tell me exactly what a green lantern does?"

"Simple, we catch bad guys."

"Commendable, but how do you know who the bad guys are?" The prosecutor forced again forcing his point.

"How? I just know," Kilawog was taken back by this question and looked undetermined.

Naruto suddenly felt a headache coming his way.

"Oh, so you're saying you use your obviously superior intellect to rottenly sort out matter of life and death." This time the prosecutor raised his hand out to the judges to make his point known.

"I didn't say… Well… yeah… kind of. "

The prosecutor continued. "And then you and the other green lanterns enforce these decisions with those incredibly deadly rings." He was obviously trying to tarnish the reputation of the lantern corps.

"I guess you could put it that way."

Flash looked defeated. Even he saw how easily the prosecutor twisted the truth to his favor.

The prosecutor decided to push on. "Who said you could do this? WHO GAVE YOU THE RIGHT?"

"We did…" answered the voice of a new character. This one along with others were the size of a small humans with bluish skin and robes with black going from the collar to the shoulders and chest going in a V shape stopping at the center of the chest, ending at a symbol of the green lantern, and going down covering their legs with red. They all were the same size but had different faces and hairstyles. There were 5 in total.

J'onn and Superman had been scouting the planet and finally discovered a huge device that they suspected was designed to create illusions over objects or space.

They concluded that it was the cause why the moon had remained in orbit. They were wondering who could make such a machine when they were fired upon by a ship. The ship piloted by the pirate Ken'Ja Ro. And he was determined to bury the heroes along with the device.

He was about to escape when he was attacked by another ship this one was piloted by Hawkgirl who followed him.

They had a quick chase but the thanagarian's hard and quick tactics brought his ship down. Luckily Superman, who along with J'onn survived the rockslide, saved him from crashing.

Landing the ship Hawkgirl rejoined her teammates and answered their unanswered questions. " I followed him here from Ajuris 5. I had to…uhh… borrow one of the defense's fighters."

"So he was the one responsible for this?"

"Not exactly." Answered Hawkgirl.

"It is time brothers, time to avenge a thousand years of grievances, time to regain our power and dignity!" The head Manhunter preached to a room full of manhunters."YEAHH!"

"Our plan has worked flawlessly so far. We have created distrust in the lantern corps and stained their reputation forever. But beyond that, we have succeeded in luring our most hated enemy away from their home planet of Oa, yes they're here! The guardians!" He preached to them.

"DESTROY! DESTROY!" The crowd of ManHunters screamed as they released their staffs that extended.

"No my brothers, not here, not now. Our destinies lay elsewhere, but rest assured. The guardians will burn. For we are the ManHunters!"

"NO MAN ESCAPES THE MANHUNTERS!" They cheered and were already …far too easy.

Ajuris 5- Tribunal Gallery

Flash and Naruto ran out of questions and though they had managed to reveal that the ring doesn't have the power to cause such destruction, and that the Guardians trusted John. They weren't able to get anything solid.

The representative of the Guardians was questioned by the prosecutor.

"It's true that we guardians control the lantern power-source, but the individual lanterns have complete autonomy."

"So if one of them does something wrong, it's not your fault?'' Responded the prosecutor trying to twist the answer.

"You misunderstand. We give them autonomy because we trust their experience and…"

"No other questions, your honor. How much more must we hear, we demand immediate judgment!" Asked the prosecutor getting annoyed at the constant interruptions.

"I object!" Flash objected.

"Overruled!" The judges returned also getting tired with this mix of comments.

"Having heard all the facts, we will now consider,'' Responded the judge, the monitor shutting off.

Flash was floating from his disk to the ground meeting John on the way down, "We did everything we could."

"I wish you hadn't." Was his only reply.

While this was happening Naruto was frowning. This prosecutor was good, whatever he invented he returned right back at him. It felt like they returned to square one. 'Come on Superman, bring us something. I can get them out but I can't get far enough.'

The judges returned minutes later. "The facts are clear. John Stuart is a privileged hero and deserves respect. We even dare say that if the stakes hadn't been so high, we could look the other was and give a less sentence. However, an example must be made, that none is above justice on this world, even heroes. "

The answer didn't shock Naruto, but he was hoping it would take longer.

"Do you wish to make a statement before we pass sentence?" The female judge asked.

"…no." he answered.

"Very well, the sentence is… termination… for you and your advocate," Answered another voice.

A huge dome was suddenly rose from the liquid that was above the center of the gallery.

The dome opened and both were pushed on a platform and lead to the dome.

"Wait, I want an appeal!" The flash asked trying to buy more time and to survive.

"Will you show some dignity for once in your life!?" John demanded accepting his fate.

"This isn't right, we can't just sit here."

"We have to. Think of the others like us, we all need to be held accountable. We have too much power not to be."

Both were put on the platform and the surrounding walls closed forming a semi-sphere.

The semi-sphere turned out to be a gas chamber.

'Damn it! No time.' Naruto jumped to the chamber and the guards attacked. He quickly punched one in the face and kicked the other in the gut.

He opened his palm and a sphere of bluish energy started to form. Five seconds later it was finished. ''Rasengan!'' He crushed the outer shell of the chamber and quickly got Flash and John out.

"How dare you!?" Demanded the judge.

The glass that was placed over the hole Superman made when they first arrived was shattered with the said man of steel charging and J'onn with the pirate In his grip.

"Stop!" He flew to where Naruto had been able to revive both the heroes and used his heat ray to destroy the advanced cuffs that were holding John.

Superman turned around "John is innocent." He then whispered in his earpiece"That's your queue Hawkgirl, I hope you can hear me."

"Loud and clear!" She answered before throwing her powered mace at the device on the moon destroying it.

The image was suddenly clearing and where the debris of a planet used to stand, now stood the planet itself, full of life and undamaged.

Everyone in the gallery was shocked, too shocked to say anything.

Superman decided to answer their unasked question "Ajuris 4 was never destroyed. It's right where it always was. It was all an illusion, a frame-up, as they say on my planet."

"YOU!" John saw the pirate and tackling him to the ground as hard as he could. Finally losing his temper at how easily he was fooled. "WHY DID YOU DO THIS TO ME?! WHY?!"

"…for… for money" answered the pirate frightened.

"WHO'S MONEY?!"

"…the ManHunter's."

Superman noticed that the guardians were leaving.

"Come on!" he voiced and everyone followed them with Naruto using Superman's hand to reach them faster.

"GL!" Lantern wanted to smash the bastard's face in but Flash's call stopped him. Letting go of the scum, he signaled his ring to come to him and it obediently did get on his finger. He was ready again.

Naruto quickly asked, "Just out of curiosity what did you guys find?"

J'onn quickly answered, ''A holographic projection device on moon that should have fallen out of orbit."

"Oh. I think I know where they're going."

Manhunter barracks

The guardians had already reached there first. "We're too late; we have to go back immediately."

"Not so fast." Flash voiced .

The Guardians ignored him and floated past him only to meet Superman "What's going on?" he demanded.

"We don't have time for this."

"The ManHunters have left to Oa, haven't they?" Naruto asked.

The Guardians we're surprised that he knew that and yet confirmed his hunch "Yes they went back to Oa."

John was right behind Naruto. "Back to Oa? You mean they'd been there before?"

"Yes, we… created them there," The lead guardian confirmed.

"Say what?!"

"It was before the Lantern Corps. We thought robots would make good peacekeepers, but they were flawed. They couldn't understand the subtle gradations between good and evil.'' He answered.

Superman asked next "Why didn't you decommission them?"

"We reprogrammed them for lesser duties: tracking, hunting, guarding. They didn't seam to object."

"Not out loud they didn't," John finished.

Naruto looked at them, "They despise you and the Head ManHunter said something about getting back their power, glory and revenge."

"How do you know this?"

"I've spied on them a little while before you showed up. And I've heard their plans."

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"Sure, go in front of the court and tell them that their most elite hunters and guardians are crazy and could have destroyed a planet, while at the same time planning revenge on a bunch of people I've never heard of. He answered being sarcastic.

"We have to get to Oa, as fast as possible."

Naruto found himself asking the Guardians a question that has been bothering him for a while. "Just a question. How are we going to beat all of them? Anything I can do will resort in mass destruction.''

"The ManHunters were directly connected to our superior computers in Oa. Thus it was able to take the best course of judgment on the field. The remaining Guardians must have disconnected them by now. So left to themselves there is a better chance at beating them."

''Hhm if that's the case I got a plan.''

The planet was under attack and with no green lanterns and to protect them, the five Guardians that were left were slowly loosing ground.

Canon after canon fired but they were slowly taken over or destroyed.

The Guardians in the core were weakening.

The ManHunters had finally reached them and they were about to signal their final attack when the Justice League of Superman, J'onn, Green Lantern, Flash and Naruto along with the remaining Guardians arrived.

"They can't stop us brothers! No one can!" The head ManHunter voiced.

Superman flew through the robots breaking them to pieces while Flash and Green Lantern worked together as a team with Flash taking the front and John watching his back.

Naruto pulled out Tempest and charged forward cutting apart his opponents one after another with relative ease. While channeling his Youki he couldn't use Tempest's release form but it was just as powerful.

J'onn in the meantime phased through the towers and disabled the cannon while Flash was trying to ascend the tower but the blasts from the ManHunters on the tower caused debris to fly everywhere, and one piece that landed on his forehead was enough to knock him out. John appeared on the spot and created a shield but the firepower was overwhelming him. Two giants flew above Lantern and Flash and landed behind them. Lantern was now in trouble, he was flanked from both sides and due to all the lasers didn't even see the giants fly above him.

The giants aimed their weapons at John's back.

'An electric dragon blasted the two metallic beings freezing them in place.

Naruto turned to John and saw that he was having problems, he was on one knee and barely holding on. The shield of energy that he had created to protect Flash was collapsing as holes from the Manhunter's attacks were slowly overwhelming him.

'Too… much... power. Must hold on…'

''Rasengan!''

''Thank you…'' John said as Naruto helped him up.

''Anytime…''

Just then Hawkgirl with the rest of the Lanterns form Ajuris 5 arrived.

"Hm. Looks like the cavalry have arrived." John said.

Naruto looked around seeing Superman, Hawkgirl and the other lanterns doing short work of the ManHunters. "Go Lantern. I'll look after Flash till he wakes up."

"Got it" agreed John as he flew to the center of the fortress reaching the source.

A minute later Flash woke up. "Oh. What hit me?"

''I don't know? Did you piss Trigger off again?'' Naruto asked with a smirk.

''Isn't that your job?''

''Can you stand?"

"Yeah, I'm okay."

"Good. I got to go…Chaos Control.'' In a flash he was gone above the entrance. ''Ultima'' He casted as the powerful black magic spell convulse the space around the Man Hunters ripping them to pieces.

He dropped to the ground and heard John screamed, "NOOO!" A Man Hunter had entered the Core.

The Guardians finally arrived but they could do nothing now as the robot shed his metallic skeleton and became part of the energy itself. He continued to grow and grow till he was 100 meters tall.

"NOW I AM THE POWER!" Screamed the giant as he continued to gather energy.

The energy of John's ring left him as well as the aura and energy of the Guardians. Then Naruto started to feel the pull and energy was starting to leave him as well.

"All is lost." Spoke the leader of the Guardians weakly.

John returned to the core and Naruto "Not while we're still standing." John's energy completely left him; even his eyes were now black.

''It's all you from here on John…you can do it…reach deep inside of yourself…draw out your power through the planet…you can do it,'' Naruto said as a the Lantern nodded and concentrated on his ring. Sure enough the energy of the planet slowly seeped into the ring as John began to chant.

"In brightest day, in blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight!" It was working their efforts gathered the energy and the monster with it. "Let those who worship evils might! Beware my power! Green Lantern's Light!" Finally all the energy was gathered. "''Rathzzhaaaa!''

Green light engulfed both as the energy of the lantern was restored and cleansed from corruption, the monster having been destroyed by the flow of energy.

The Guardians could now gather the energy again and their power was restored. The approached both and the head Guardian looked at John "We choose wisely when we offered you the ring. Thank you, John Stuart." They bowed their heads. John didn't look too happy, actually he looked disappointed. They then turned to Naruto "You as well…

You will always have our gratitude." Naruto nodded and both left the fortress.

The battle ended and the once majestic fortress of Oa was now littered with the remain of the Manhunters and the rubble.

The lanterns were gathered around Hawkgirl. "You and that other guy are great fighters, lady."

"But we already knew that, didn't we?" Responded the fanged one now laughing at their victory.

They turned around and saw Naruto and John return from the tower. John only glided down while Naruto jumped and landed in front of them.

They were both 'attacked' by praises and John by apologies. "I guess we were wrong about you John. We should have known better."

John turned to them and simply responded. "Yeah, you should have," before leaving to his team. His real team.

Naruto left closely behind lantern.

"Are you both alright?"

Lantern just closed his eyes and looked at them all. "You believed in me, even when I didn't believe in myself."

Flash leaned on his elbow, ''What are friends for." He smiled and both exchanged looks.

"We're a team John and friends look out for each other,'' Responded the blond.

"Let's go home…" John created a shield around all of them and it started to fly them back to Ajuris five and to the Javelin.

Chapter End

000

Old version of the story I wrote four years ago. Read if you want an idea of how much I progressed since then.

''John you can't be serious?'' Sage questioned not believing what he was hearing.

"That's what happened… and it's time to take responsibility," returned Lantern looking at the sky.

''Lantern you expect me to believe that you out of nowhere killed billions of lives then went on with your life to only accept responsibility now?''

"HOW CAN IT BE A LIE IF I WAS THERE?!" snapped Lantern annoyed that Naruto kept poking his nose into the eyes were glowing greener with his anger.

"GL take it easy man, we're just trying to make sense of this," Flash tried to calm the storm between the two.

"I didn't ask you to come here for help! I know what happened and nothing you can say is going to change that! This is way over your head. Go home!" returned the frustrated hero having enough with this annoyance.

One of the Man Hunters robots approached Lantern from behind. "It's time to return to your cell."

John did as he was told, lowering his sight to the ground, he turned his back on his team and walked to the holding area.

The team was left to think about the situation.

"Three billion gone… I can't believe it!" said Flash looking at Superman who now held a thinking position with his hand on his chin of his thumb on his cheek

"Neither can I." He returned walking away from the team and looking at the rocky remains of the planet Ajuris 4. "I want to take a closer look at what happened."

"Why? John admits that he's guilty. No one is disputing the facts," responded Hawkgirl questioning his hunch.

"That's right, so we are going to investigate what really happened. J'onn, I need you to come with me. Sage, Hawkgirl, Flash do you think you can buy us some time in court?" added the man of steel making a plan.

"You're asking the world's fastest man to slow things down? It won't be easy…" Flash was not very sure how to accomplish this.

Naruto just smirked under his mask. "Then just do what you do best… confuse them until they're ready to crack." Everyone smiled at his remark gaining some optimism.

"That I can do" responded Flash with a smile.

While Naruto, Flash and Hawkgirl returned to the stands, Superman and J'onn were on their way to the Javelin.

Reaching their destination J'onn broke the silence. "So, what are you expecting to find on this moon?"

"I don't know. There's something bothering me…" responded the hero. "Just call it an…"

"Intuition?" completed the Martian.

"Exactly."

They didn't notice that they were followed by the space pirate that testified against Green Lantern.

As the heroes departed, Ken'Ja Ro returned to the trial.

Time Skip-Several minutes later- court gallery

The court was ready to resume with John, on a floating disk, in front of the monitor of the three judges and Ken'Ja Ro being on a similar disk, ready to be questioned.

"John Stuart, you may now question your accuse,r" proclaimed the judge.

"No questions…" responded John without hesitation and lowering his head at the judge in shame.

This shocked the entire gallery, even his teammates looked at each other and all had one thing on his mind. 'Has he lost it?'

"None?! Don't you intend to defend yourself?" asked the female voice of three judges, shocked herself at this turn of events.

"No, I don't." answered Green Lantern with his will broken.

The disk that was holding the pirate in the air floated down effortlessly.

"I object! You call this a trial?!" Demanded Flash determined to not let his friend give up. Everyone else were now talking amongst themselves and looking at him. "I say this is a joke."

"Are you out of your mind? What do you think your doing?!" Hawkgirl hissed pulling Flash down.

''No Hawkgirl let the Flash distract him…Lantern won't be able to buy us the time we need. I'll send you questions being telepathy to ask while the two of us go and collect some information.

"Right" assured Flash understanding.

"Listen to me. With something this important, you have to hear both sides," he tried seriously to get them to understand the implications.

"Flash, I told you not to get involved!" voiced Lantern trying to keep his friend out of trouble.

"They're railroading you, pal! " Flash tried to reason with Lantern but was pulled into a headlock by one of the guards with two more reaching him.

"Wait! This being may have a point! We don't want any lingering thoughts about our final judgment, do we?" Interrupted the female voice stopping the roughhousing.

"Of course not," responded the other male voice of the robot of the far left of the screen. "But who will speak for John Stuart?"

"Don't you have any lawyers here?" asked Flash freeing himself from the guard's grip.

"We solved our lawyer problem a long time ago," Answered the central voice of the judges.

"However you can speak for him, if you wish," added the female voice.

"But be aware. If you loose, you will share the same penalty as the accused," completed the last voice.

"The same penalty? That's crazy." Flash was starting to feel the stress already.

"No, that's how we solved our lawyer problem. What's your answer?"'Damn…now that's just cold blooded.'

"I'll defend him!" answered Flash determined.

"Very well. Proceed."

"Right, sure." Flash cleared his voice and got on the disk that floated in front of the court.

Hawkgirl looked at where the John's fellow lantern comrades were supposed to be and noticed that they left. "Hey, the guys in green are gone," she whispered to Naruto.

''That's our cue,'' He said as they slipped out. ''Shinsei bunshin no Jutsu,'' He said created a clone. ''You stay in the court and assist Flash.''

''Whatever you say Original,'' The clone said saluting as he went back into the gallery.

''You got to teach me that one day,'' Hawkgirl said as she couldn't help but be in awe by some of the blondes ability.

''Shinsei would kill you…though maybe wind or kagebunshin with some time…time to track down our targets.

Ajuris 5 Cantina

"Waiter! Another round!'' Ordered the short round one.

The two of them had to their anger at the lack of concern for one of their own. Both of them came from a clan/tribe/race that valued it's members.

''You know one of your own is in there and his life is on the line…the least you can do is attend the trial.''

"Huh! We couldn't stand it anymore." Spoke the round one that raised his hand to make his point.

"John Stuart made us all look bad." This time the more humanoid alien spoke taking over for his teammate.

''People who only care about their image makes me sick…your image? Is your image more important then taking care of one of your own?''

Hawkgirl decided to add her two cents. "Huh, so much for the vaunted loyalty of the lantern corp."

"Huh, don't get so high and mighty, if you two are smart, you'll stay away from him too." Returned the round one again

"Otherwise, you'll wide up reeking in his stench yourself.'' Again it was the humanoid one to complete the round lantern.

The other lanterns as well as the rest of the cantina looked at the blonde with widened eyes.

"Huh?" the rest of the lanterns had smirks on their faces seeing Hawkgirl get put in her place.

Naruto narrowed his eyes slightly, and then grew a sly smile under his mask. "But you know what…I'm a fucking…well partially insane…let's blow some shit up.'' He said as Hawkgirl snapped her head up, with wide eyes. Then it was replaced with a grin akin to a kid in a candy store or one unwrapping his/her present on Christmas morning getting what they wanted.

With a swift almost untraceable movement he kicked up the table making the plates

that had some sort of pasty substance jump in the air and land upside-down splattering the food on all the lanterns.

"Why you!?" A fish-birdlike lantern called furious at the Shinobi.

"You think I need this mace to take you down?" Asked Hawkgirl before throwing her mace in one of the support columns making it stick in there. The bartender slid to safety, and the lanterns depowered their rings.

Naruto looked at his female teammate. ''Last one to put their mark in the coma has to buy dinner,'' He said as he did a sweep kick then blasted the small Lantern into one of the walls.

''Bastard! You didn't even say go,'' Hawk girl almost whined but reserved herself, as it was undignified for a warrior like her to whine.

Sage on the other hand was being an ass-hole shooting his opponent across the air using wind manipulation. After a few minutes he finally got bored and sent him flying into a guy at the bar.

''Jesus maybe we should take this outside,'' Naruto said spinning and catching the short lantern from before by the scruff of his neck and throwing him out a window. ''I'm not paying for that.'' He said then yawned. ''These guys are nothing without their rings.''

''Your telling me… should we tie our hands behind our backs to make it easier?'' Hawk girl asked.

''Don't forget the blind fools,'' He said as he sworn he saw his ally crack a smile..

Kilawog, the last lantern saw enough. "No more, they're right. John Stuart is one of us, and I'm going to help him." He turned to the exit and flew at the gallery.

While the winged heroine pulled out her mace, Naruto turned to bruised lanterns that were getting on their feet. "You guys are far too dependent on your ring…I knew a guy like you depended on his eyes far too much…train yourselves or else you'll find yourself in a situation where you can't use your rings and then you'll be dead…other then that peace out.''

As they made their way to the next location they noticed the scum-bag from before. Though they noticed he was also with a Man Hunter?"

Sage looked where she pointing. "Hmm, looks like he might not be working alone."

They both returned to the gallery where Flash was making a show that would make Shakespeare rip his hair out.

Moon Ajuris 4

While the three heroes were buying time Superman and J'onn were exploring the moon.

"See anything wrong with this picture?" asked Superman looking at the ground.

"Where should I start?" asked J'onn "The loss of life? The echoes of our own pasts? The lack of any texture in this story? Or the misspelling?" asked J'onn.

"No, not that. This" he pointed at the moon.

"It can't be!" the Martian widened his eyes

"But it is. This moon is still orbiting a planet which doesn't exist."

"It should have flown off into space the moment the planet was destroyed."

"But it didn't, did it?" Supeman made a conclusion rather then a question.

Ajuris 5 Tribunal Gallery

Kilawog was just finishing a story in which he and John were paired together and the hero risked his life to save Kilawog.

Flash turned to Kilawog. "In your experience with John, has he ever been overly aggressive or violent?''

''No, he never expressed any aggressiveness or violent behavior beyond what was required as his duty as a Lantern.''

''Did he ever abused his powers for self-gain?

Flash smiled and asked the alien,'' Has John ever abused his powers for self-gain?"

"Not in my whole life have I ever seen John use his powers for anything selfish."

"And how would you describe John's reputation among the Green Lanterns, before this incident?"

Flash moved his lips in a smile 'Good thinking Naruto'.

"And how would you describe John's reputation among the Green Lanterns, before this incident?"

"John was respected by all Lanterns around the Universe, his reputation is one of the best. And when you're in a team with John, you know you got a real friend watching your back."

Kilawog took a moment to think the question. "I definitely say that the events happened because of unforeseen circumstances."

Damn…that's it…I have no more questions.

Flash concluded as well "Thank you Kilawog, John couldn't have asked for a better character witness." Then he turned to the prosecutor. "Your turn."

The alien looked at Kilawog and asked. "Kilawog, can you tell me exactly what a green lantern does?"

"Simple, we catch bad guys."

"Commendable, but how do you know who the bad guys are?" forced the prosecutor again forcing his point.

"How? I just know," Kilawog was taken back by this question and looked undetermined.

Naruto suddenly felt a headache coming his way.

"Oh, so you're saying you use your obviously superior intellect to rottenly sort out matter of life and death." This time the prosecutor raised his hand out to the judges to make his point known.

"I didn't say… Well… yeah… kind of. "

"I guess you could put it that way."

Flash looked defeated. Even he saw how easily the prosecutor twisted the truth to his favor.

The prosecutor decided to push on. "Who said you could do this? WHO GAVE YOU THE RIGHT?"

Moon of Ajuris 4

J'onn and Superman had been scouting the planet and finally discovered a huge device that they suspected was designed to create illusions over objects or space.

He was about to escape when he was attacked by another ship this one was piloted by Hawkgirl who followed him.

They had a quick chase but the thanagarian's hard and quick tactics brought his ship down. Luckily Superman, who along with J'onn survived the rockslide, saved him from crashing.

Landing the ship Hawkgirl rejoined her teammates and answered their unanswered questions. " I followed him here from Ajuris 5. I had to…uhh… borrow one of the defense's fighters."

"So he was the one responsible for this?" asked Superman.

"Not exactly." Answered Hawkgirl.

Somewhere in a barracks of Ajuris 5

"It is time brothers, time to avenge a thousand years of grievances, time to regain our power and dignity!" preached the head Manhunter to a room full of manhunters."YEAHH!"

"DESTROY! DESTROY!" the crowd of ManHunters screamed as they released their staffs that extended.

"No my brothers, not here, not now. Our destinies lay elsewhere, but rest assured. The guardians will burn. For we are the ManHunters!"

"NO MAN ESCAPES THE MANHUNTERS!" They cheered and were already …far too easy.

Ajuris 5- Tribunal Gallery

The representative of the Guardians was questioned by the prosecutor.

"It's true that we guardians control the lantern power-source, but the individual lanterns have complete autonomy."

"So if one of them does something wrong, it's not your fault?'' Responded the prosecutor trying to twist the answer.

"You misunderstand. We give them autonomy because we trust their experience and…"

"No other questions, your honor. How much more must we hear, we demand immediate judgment!" Asked the prosecutor getting annoyed at the constant interruptions.

"I object!" returned Flash.

"Overruled!" returned the judges also getting tired with this mix of comments.

"Having heard all the facts, we will now consider,'' Responded the judge, the monitor shutting off.

Flash was floating from his disk to the ground meeting John on the way down, "We did everything we could."

"I wish you hadn't." was his only reply.

The answer didn't shock Naruto, but he was hoping it would take longer.

"Do you wish to make a statement before we pass sentence?" asked the female judge.

"…no." he answered.

"Very well, the sentence is… termination… for you and your advocate," Answered another voice.

A huge dome was suddenly rose from the liquid that was above the center of the gallery.

The dome opened and both were pushed on a platform and lead to the dome.

"Wait, I want an appeal!" Assked Flash trying to buy more time and to survive.

"Will you show some dignity for once in your life!?" asked/demanded John accepting his fate.