AN: Heeeeeeeeeeellllllllllllllloooooooooooooo People! CrimsonKyuubiSage here! It is nearly 1:00 am when I am publishing this... and I have my first midterm of the second semester today... for Statistics... that I have to do in less than 50 minutes...

Yay. I really hope I do well, so wish me luck on getting a good grade on the first of three exams for that class!

And Now Onto Reviewing Your Reviews!

VoidLing - Thus far, Naruto has been fighting self-taught, meaning that he's had no teacher to train him in any formal fighting style. Throughout the story, and in future chapters, his fighting style will be refined and strengthened until he can stand equal grounds with some heroes and villains. But make no mistake, this will not happen overnight.

DragonPony022 - Spider-Man is not friends with Wasp, but it'd be asinine if heroes and villains were not aware of each others' existence, especially with media coverage on them. And Kushina is not a mage, she just practices magic and comes from a family in which this is common knowledge.

Fighting Joe - I had a bit of difficulty finding something that would fit the boundaries of what I set for Paranoia's image, but if it helps picture something similar to a green version of an Anodite - a humanoid alien from the Ben 10 universe.

Kyuuotsutsuki - Naruto has the potential to be an Omega Class Mutant, but until he reaches that point, it will only be the potential to be one.

PenPanther - Kurama will eventually make his appearance in this story... just not in the way you'd expect.

And Now On With The Story! Enjoy!

Chapter Start

-Vortex-

"Mom?!" Naruto exclaimed, his initial reaction catching up to his brain less than a second later as he coughed, attempting to cover up his outcry. "I mean... You seem familiar. Who are you?"

"... Well, my name is Kushina Uzumaki." Kushina said after a moment of hesitation, motioning to Strange after she introduced herself. "And this Doctor Strange, the Sorcerer Supreme."

"Greetings." Strange said aptly. "Like she said, I am the Sorcerer Supreme. Every magical anomaly falls under my jurisdiction."

"Oh, well you should have been here a few minutes ago, you know, before a hellish green portal of ooze opened up and stole a superhero?" Spider-Man quipped, causing both Kushina and Strange to frown.

"Hmm... So we're too late." Strange muttered.
"Not necessarily." argued Kushina, walking over to the green, gooey residue left by the portal. She reached down and pinched a small amount between her fingers, investigating the goop with an analytical eye. "Everything leaves a magical residue. If I can identify it's signature - and I damn well can - then it's just a matter of locating a magical ping with the matching spike."

"How long will this take?" Naruto questioned, causing both magic-wielders to turn their attention to him.

"And why would this matter to you? This is a matter concerning the magical world - although..." Strange began, floating over into Naruto's personal space. "I do sense the potential for the mystical arts in you."

"That was my... archenemy that was taken." Naruto admitted, albeit he forcefully said the word 'archenemy'. "If anything bad's going to happen to her, then it will be me taking her down!"

"... Very well. You may assist us in this endeavor." Strange stated, holding up his hand to Kushina as she opened her mouth to protest. "And before you say otherwise, Kushina, we will need a mutant's help for what we will need."

"Beg pardon?" Naruto called out, breaking out into a nervous sweat at Strange's statement.

How did he know he was a mutant?

"Easy, I read your mind." Strange replied, a sly smirk on his face which radiated amusement. "By the way, you should find a way to put up some mental barricades. It was way too easy to do it, and I'm not even that proficient at telepathy."

'... Note to self, ask Emma to put up mental blocks.' the masked blond thought, scratching his head as he began to speak. "Okay... so, uhh... why do you need a mutant - w-which I am definitely not, by the way!"

"In order to get his help without causing a commotion, a mutant will be needed for an easier coverup." Strange stated, making a motion with his hands and causing an orange portal to appear. "Come now, time is of the essence!"

He motioned for Naruto to enter first, to which the blond did with much hesitation, followed by Kushina and finally himself...

All the while, Spider-Man watched this all go down with a strong amount of confusion. The only thing he was left to wonder...

What the hell just happened?!

-Vortex-

Meanwhile, Naruto, Kushina and Strange popped out of an orange portal, one that closed not a moment later, and left them beholding the sight of a grandeur mansion.

"What is this place?" Naruto asked curiously, looking around the area to find kids running around as early as twelve to those who appeared to be his own age...

But what really caught his attention were some of the kids. Each one was different, but Naruto saw things like kids flying in the air, freezing the ground beneath their feet, some even had non-human appearances...

His eyes widened as a sudden realization dawned upon him.

They were mutants! They were all mutants!

"Welcome to Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters." Strange stated, just as one of the older students approached them.

"Hey there! Can Ah help y'all with something?" a girl with auburn, nearly brunette hair with a white streak in the front asked. She seemed relatively normal, at least compared to some of the other students Naruto got a glimpse of, save for the fact she was wearing a pair of long white gloves.

"Yes, my companions and I need to speak with the Good Shepherd about very urgent matters." Strange responded.

The girl seemed to think on it for a moment before giving a reply.

"Alright, Ah'll take y'all to the Professor. But-" she pointed towards Naruto, causing him to flinch in surprise. "You, sugar, have to wait somewhere until they're done."

Naruto silently nodded, not trusting his words at the moment and opting instead to remain silent as they traveled into the mansion, stopping by a closed door to a lecture hall along the way.

"Wait in here, sugar." the girl ordered, to which Naruto complied and entered the room, the door closing with a creaking groan as he released his grip on the handle.

"..." Naruto continued to keep his silence, noticing that he was the sole occupant of the lecture hall at the moment. So, curiously, he began to look around...

All the while wondering what was happening with his mother and Strange and, nearly in the forefront of his mind, Wasp...

-Vortex-

"Ngh..." Jan groaned as she began to regain consciousness. There was a dull throb in her skull, and she attempted to reach up with her hands and rub her aching temple...

Keyword being attempted. A metal clinking sound jarred at her ears, and it was at this point she realized that she was bound by metal shackles.

Her eyes widened as her mind caught back up to her! She had been defeated and knocked unconscious!

Where was she now?! Panicking, she began to struggle against her restraints, and then...

She heard giggling, the sound of which sent a cold chill up her spine.

"Oh goodie! You're awake!" Paranoia exclaimed gleefully, watching Jan continue to struggle to break free. "Don't get any ideas about shrinking either, I had those wrist restraints especially made to keep you from doing that!"

"W-What do you mean?! How?!" Jan exclaimed furiously, attempting to shrink her size but found that something was... blocking her!

"Magic! That's how!" Paranoia cried out, now giggling furiously like a madwoman.

"Paranoia. Your presence is needed." a new voice called out, causing a frown to appear on the green woman's face.

"I will be there shortly." she responded in an almost robotic manner, the frown vanishing from her face and being replaced with a look of indifference. "Guard the prisoner while I'm away." she said before turning around and walking away.

...

Jan lifted her head up to watch Paranoia leave, and when she was certain the crazed woman was gone, she began to struggle against her restraints once again.

"Cease your struggles, child. For soon you shall see the truth of our Lord and become one of us!" a cloaked figure exclaimed, most likely the person who was ordered to guard her.

"Well I'm pretty sure I don't want that!" Jan retorted, continuing to struggle against her bindings when... she saw it.

A figure was dashing between the shadows of the dimly lit room, silent, going unnoticed by the guard who had begun to watch her with a curious gaze.

Soon enough, the shadowy figure had made its way behind the robed guard, hold a rock high up and poised to strike...

"*Wham*!" The guard didn't realize it until it was too late, and took a single blow to the head before falling down. The shadowy figure did not stop there, it knelt down and continued to slam the rock in its hand against the guard's skull several times more before ceasing.

If Jan wasn't showing any signs of panic before then, she surely was now.

The shadowy figure rose, standing tall over Jan and looming like a mysterious, nightmarish demon of darkness, it proceeded to raise the rock high above itself once again...

And then it struck.

-Vortex-

"Hmm..." Naruto hummed to himself as he paced around the room. A sizeable amount of students could be held in here at once, and the white, dusty writing on a chalkboard near the bottom was enough for him to know that it was used recently...

His gaze then found its way to a desk situated near the chalkboard, the teacher's desk if his assumptions were correct. Strangely enough, he saw no chair nearby to go with it, but what he did see were clusters of papers, a coffee mug with assorted pens with and without caps, and a few photos propped up in small frames.

He eventually meandered his way over to the desk, and circled around so that he could clearly see the photos contents.

The first was a picture of several people, all seemingly normal... except for the yellow-and-black uniforms they wore, all except one woman. He noticed two blue people - one whose skin was blue and the other who appeared to have blue fur. But besides their appearances, Naruto did not recognize who any of those people were.

The second photo he looked at was of a battalion, or something like that - he wasn't entirely sure about what number of soldiers counted as a battalion. It was a black and white picture, and there were signs of aging in the film that was used...

He was, however, able to see one person in that picture who looked like another person in the first picture, though he still didn't know the person's name.

Finally, the third picture he looked at was a black and white photo of a bald man in a wheelchair, shaking hands with...

"John F. Kennedy. That's the Professor in the chair shaking hands with JFK." a new voice called out. Naruto suddenly panicked as if he were caught robbing a bank, and his grip on the picture frame slipped.

He tried to grab the frame before he dropped it, but luck was evidently not on his side at the moment, and the photo frame became effected by gravity and fell...

Only to freeze halfway down and go in the opposite direction, floating up and maneuvering around until it was gently placed back on the table where it was originally found.

Naruto spun around to face the person responsible for saving the photo, and almost immediately a small tinge of red appeared on his cheeks.

It was a woman, standing at 5'6" with green eyes and long, red hair. And her attire...

Well, it left little to the imagination, as it was a green and yellow suit which seemed to be a second skin, coupled by a yellow sash around her hips.

"I - uhh... I was just - err..." Naruto stuttered, trying to come up with an excuse for what he was previously doing, but his brain was in a panic from not only being caught messing around, but the newfound enamor with the redheaded woman...

Damn his red hair fetish!

"It's fine... Naruto Uzumaki." the woman said, causing Naruto to freeze up.

How did she know his name?! Unless...

"You're a telepath?!" Naruto exclaimed accusingly, feeling a small, near unnoticeable throb in the back of his mind - something he had felt before from when Emma had done the same to him.

"Telepathy is just one of my powers." she stated, extending a hand to the blond. "My name is Jean Grey."

"It's, uhh... nice to meet you." Naruto replied, hesitantly shaking her hand. She arched a brow and the corners of her lips curled up slightly into a smile.

"You're an Omega Level? Not quite... but close..." Jean muttered, her eyes roaming over him as if judging him.

"I'm sorry? An Omega Level what?"

"Mutant."

...

"I... don't know what you're talking about." Naruto denied, his heart beating faster at the very mention of the 'M' word.

"Yes you do." Jean refuted. "I don't even need to read your mind to know that you know."

"I, uhh..."

"I'm a psychic, Naruto. Or do you prefer 'Vortex'?"

"Vortex. At least when I'm dressed like this." Naruto stated, motioning to his current attire.

"So if I were to do something like this-" Jean started, making a motion with her hands and causing his goggles and coat to fly off his body. "-I could call you Naruto."

"Hey! That's not what I meant!" Naruto exclaimed, his cerulean blue eyes filled with fear as he tried to reclaim his concealing accessories.

"Then what did you mean?" Jean questioned, levitating the dark blue goggles closer so she could inspect them. She plucked said item from the air and held it up to Naruto. "I want to know what the difference is between you and 'Vortex'."

"The difference is that Vortex is a super villain, a mutant! Naruto - I'm... I'm just..." Naruto trailed off, a lump forming in his throat which choked the words he thought would come out of his mouth.

"You don't want to say you're a mutant." Jean stated, her face twisting into a look of pity. "You've known since you were sixteen, and have been hiding the fact ever since then, even from your parents."

"I... You've seen all the things about mutants in the news, right?" Naruto asked. "All the controversy, the riots, crimes... That's not me, I'm not one of them."

"And Vortex is?" she retorted, causing Naruto to shake his head.

"I just wanted to understand my powers a bit more, but I couldn't just wait every few months to go home and practice." Naruto explained. "So, I decided to put on a disguise, go someplace hidden and then-"

"Then you got caught." Jean finished.

"Wasp called me a super villain, and from then on every time I went out dressed as Vortex, that's the stigma I carried." Naruto continued, snatching his trench coat from midair. "I wasn't a mutant, I wasn't a super villain... Vortex was."

"So you've basically dissociated your mutant identity from your... human identity." she commented. Without warning, she walked towards the window, motioning for Naruto to come closer as well. "Tell me, when you look out there, what do you see?"

"I..."

Naruto looked to where Jean was motioning, and happened upon the sight of students - mutants - running, laughing, joking...

Acting normal...

"Do you see any riots or crimes going on out there?" she questioned. "Being a mutant doesn't mean you can't be normal. This school is a safe haven for out kind, somewhere we can just be people, not just mutants."

"..." Naruto stood silent, for he could find no words to say in retort to Jean's statement. Instead, he just continued to watch those who were like him enjoy themselves without worrying about being labeled a criminal...

A small part of him was jealous.

"... The Professor wants us to go to him now." Jean stated, handing Naruto his goggles before making her way to the door. "Come on, I'll show you the way."

-Vortex-

Jan was perplexed. Her eyes were still shut tight, anxiously awaiting the cold chill of death to take her...

Only it never came.

"*Clang*! *Clang*! *Clang*!" The sound of metal being hit reached her ears, and she quickly opened her eyes to find that the chains connecting to her bindings had been severed.

"Quickly! We have to get out of here!" the shadowy figure exclaimed in a hushed voice, frantically looking around as if some unknown terror would pop out at any second.

She wanted to argue with this stranger, but now was not the time as she too realized that the commotion would catch the attention of nearby enemies.

Shakily standing up, the shadowy figure quickly grabbed her hand and dragged her along at speeds she was not used to running.

The shadowy figure lead her through a series of twisting and turning corridors to the point she felt a bit nauseous, finally stopping when it was certain they weren't being followed.

"That... was too close..." the shadowy figure said, peaking around the corner just in case...

Finally, Jan was able to get a clearer look at her savior, and found a rather ragged man.

The very presence of him just screamed 'survivor'. He stood at 5'10", with charcoal eyes that held an intense, unknown fear, black hair with patches of grey which were so unkempt and tangled that it formed a three-point crown at the top of his head, bags under the bags of his eyes, and a long, shaggy beard with patches of grey like his hair.

He wore the remains of what may have been formal attire - a white dress shirt which was so faded and yellowed it couldn't even count as white anymore, black pants which were torn off near the bottom, a faded red vest which was unbuttoned and likely the most intact item of clothing he had on him, and the tattered remains of black shoes.

"You're real, aren't you?" the man asked, placing one hand on Jan while the other pinched himself.

"Duh, of course!" Jan replied, sending the frantic man a confused look. "Uhh... Who are you?"

"It's not safe here, not safe! They'll be looking harder now, especially with all the commotion happening now..." he mumbled, his murmurs reverting into nonsensical words which Jan could not make out.

"Hey! I asked you who you are!" Jan exclaimed, causing the man to immediately cease his muttering and look at her.

"Oh! Sorry, it's been a long time since I've had any sort of human interaction..." the man said, bowing a little as he introduced himself.

"My name is Howard. Howard Phillip Lovecraft."

-Vortex-

While Jean was guiding Naruto to 'the Professor', he replaced his goggles over his eyes and felt just that safer with his identity concealed.

But the inner turmoil he was experiencing was nowhere near as easy a problem as concealing his identity.

He wasn't given much time to dwell on it, as Jean opened a door revealing Doctor Strange, Kushina, and...

The man in the wheelchair, the one from the photos he looked at.

"Thank you, Jean." the man said, turning his attention to Naruto. "So this is the young man you spoke of."

"Yes. This is Vortex." Strange stated. "He has encountered a powerful acolyte of the Cult of Cthulhu, and came out mostly unscathed."

"A pleasure to meet you." the man stated, swerving his wheelchair closer to the masked blond and extending his hand. "Charles Xavier at your service."

"Uhh... likewise..." Naruto replied, hesitantly shaking Charles' hand.

Suddenly, just like with Jean and Emma, he felt a small dull throb in the back of his head, albeit this one was definitely more subtle than either of the women were.

"You are a peculiar one, Mister Vortex." Charles commented, turning his attention back to the Sorcerer Supreme. "Very well, you came to me for my assistance, and you shall have it."

"Thank you, Xavier." Strange said, bowing slightly to the paralyzed mutant.

"You will need to come with me, Doctor Strange, and I would like you to come with us as well." Charles commanded, pointing directly at...

"... Me?" Naruto said with a questioning glance.

"Yes. There is something I would like to show you." Charles stated, wheeling on ahead with Strange and Naruto in tow.

...

"Uhh... just out of curiosity, where are we going?" Naruto asked, looking around as the decor of the hallway shifted from Victorian to something that would be found in a science fiction movie.

"You'll see." Charles said mysteriously, stopping in front of a large door with a large 'X' on the front.

A blue light sprung forth from the center of the 'X', scanning Charles for a moment before vanishing. Once it did, the door began to slide open, revealing a rather spacious, spherical room with a platform in the center which they were moving towards.

"So this is how you do it... impressive." Strange stated, nodding his head a little as he looked over the room.

"How he does what? What is this room?" Naruto queried, stopping when Charles turned to him and spoke.

"This is how mutants in need are found. This... is Cerebro."

Chapter End

POST AN: AAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNDDDDDDDD DONE! For a long time, I was wondering how I would have Naruto meet the X-Men. I didn't want him to just approach them out of the blue, and if I were to have them approach him they would have detected Naruto a long time ago, so this seems like a good way of introducing the X-Men slowly: Through a third party. Doctor Strange is not a mutant, his powers obviously fall under the category of magic, however, I find that it would be implausible with his history in the medical field and with recent news that he could just ignore mutants.

Anyways, I'll see you guys next time! Read and Review! Ja mata!

CrimsonKyuubiSage out!