No Way Back

Authors Note – So I would just like to thank you all for the support. I would also like to give specific shout-outs to reviewer Robdor Peltan, ChunkyFunkyMunky, and .9.

Those three (especially the first reviewer, Robdor) pointed out a severe mistake I made due to an oversight by me. Jean's name shouldn't have Summers at the end of it as that's her married name when she and Scott became husband and wife. I'll be fixing that with the release of this chapter, so thank you for pointing it out!

I would also like to give my appreciation to Pibbinator, whose story "Marvel's Maelstrom" was what actually inspired me to write this (along with another author, Stone Shield). I recommend you guys check them both out as their writing is superb! Another thing I'd like to show my appreciation for is his review, it offered a lot in terms of advice and praise and I can't thank him enough for it.

Also, before I forget, the mask that Naruto is wearing is based off an ArtStation sculpt made by artist David Gonzalez; whose sculpt was based on another artist's work, who goes by the name of Chun Lo. My description of the mask doesn't do it justice, so I suggest you guys head on over to the site and check it out for yourself.

As to the technique names, I was wondering if you guys would prefer that I stuck to English or Japanese? I'm alright with either but I wanted everyone's opinion before sticking to one or the other. For now, I'll stick with English.

Other than that, enjoy the second chapter of Invictus Spiritus.

Disclaimer: Marvel and Naruto belong to their respective owners. I just own the plot.

"To think that even with all this technology, people still find cruel ways to kill." – Naruto

With their conversation concluded, Naruto saw the man with a bulking stature turn towards him, already beginning to speak.

Naruto however, decided to see if there was any other way of communication, because not understanding what they were saying sucked! Reaching out to his companion, he intoned curiously, 'Oi fuzzbutt, is there any other way we can understand them? Cause right now, all I'm hearing come out their mouths is gibberish. It sounds stupid.'

Kurama snorted, "Kid, if I knew, I wouldn't be sitting here twiddling with my thumbs up my ass." Ignoring his wardens disgusted gag, he continued "Whatever it is, I'm already getting bored at just sitting around doing nothing."

'You're not the only one.' Naruto sighed, already feeling the effects of sitting around and doing nothing. He really didn't care what it was they wanted, he just needed to stretch his legs. He could feel them cramping up and that seriously wasn't a good sign.

"Bah, don't be such a baby. You've sat through worse." Kurama intoned, feeling the aggravation leak from his host. "Besides, don't you know sign language? And don't say you don't, because I'm sure as hell that scarecrow taught you."

'Yeah, but that's ANBU sign language. I'm pretty sure they can't be applied here.' Naruto rolled his eyes at Kurama's ignorance.

"Think for just a second kid, just a second… What's the difference between normal sign language and ANBU sign language?" Kurama began slowly, as if he was speaking with a particularly dim child, which in this case was replaced by a blithering adult he shamefully called his container.

'Well, besides a few key differences in structure and execution, they're practically the…same… ohhh…' It finally clicked for Naruto, whose mind finally worked well enough to piece the puzzle together. 'But how will I know they'll understand me and not take offense in case our interpretations of the signs are different?'

Kurama shrugged, "Better than nothing, wouldn't you think? It sure beats looking like a braindead monkey, oh wait, you always do." Swiftly ignoring Naruto's grunt of 'Go fuck yourself.'

Deciding that he had nothing to lose, Naruto held his hands up, causing the three to tense thinking he was about to attack them.

'Jeez, lay it off with the paranoia why don't you?' Naruto rolled his eyes at their apparent stiffness, they would suck at being shinobi.

He digressed however, he was much the same when he was younger.

Slowly making motions with his hands, he signed out a greeting towards the three hoping that at least one of them might understand. Judging by the slight widening and surprise in the larger man's eyes, he garnered that he understood the gist of what he was saying.

Good, it made communication easier until they could properly speak.

"Hi there, thanks for saving me." Was what he signed, and judging by the other mans motions, he could just barely make out his own greeting.

Hank looked towards the blonde whose hands were now in a motion he was actually familiar with and he quickly gestured to the professor to let him sign, seeing as he studied up on the language in the event the professor ever took in a deaf student into their institute.

Signing back a greeting to the blondes own, he was ecstatic that they were finally making progress.

"Hello there, it's our pleasure. What's your name?"

The blonde cleared his throat and bowed his head, and Hank knew he understood him.

"Uzumaki Naruto. Hajimemashite."

Jean, Hank and Charles finally understood. The man was Japanese! Although, it seemed more archaic than the modern language that they knew of. Maybe he was from an isolated village? Even if he was, why would he be in a crater? And how would he have survived if he was a normal human being?

Could he possess the X-Gene? Was he a possible mutant?

All these questions burned through their minds, but Hank decided to grace Naruto with a response seeing as he nearly forgot to.

"Ah! Apologies, I'm Hank McCoy, this is Professor Charles Xavier, and the lady behind me is Jean Grey." Hank gestured towards himself, then the professor, then Jean allowing Naruto to soak in their names and understand who they were.

Naruto nodded and attempted to pronounce their names.

"H-Hanku… McCoy? Charesu Xaviea? Jean Gurey?" Due to his native Japanese heritage, Hank could tell that he would have troubles with their names for a while. At least, until he could pick English up proficiently enough to converse.

Hank didn't let it deter him and nodded towards Naruto, signing his praise at being able to closely say their names for the first time.

"Your pronunciation needs a little work, but it'll do. Do you mind answering some questions for us?" Hank signed, hoping he wasn't being too rude by getting into the heart of the matter.

Naruto signed back, "Yes, but is there an easier way to talk? I'm not very good with sign."

Hank nodded in understanding and signed back, "If you come with me to my lab, I can try and hook you up with a translator."

"Translator? What?" The three could tell that he was obviously confused by Hanks statement.

Hank quickly clarified, "It's a way of letting us talk without the use of our hands."

Naruto understood, an expression of clarity forming behind his mask, "That makes sense. Will I be detained?"

"No, not really, seeing as you haven't done anything to make us detain you in the first place."

Finally, they were getting somewhere.

~Invictus | Spiritus~

Naruto internally sighed in relief, now things were getting there. They were still no closer to fully understanding each other, but it was a good first step.

"Well?" Kurama began, his tone taking on a superior edge.

Naruto raised a brow, 'Well what?'

"I'm waiting…" He hummed gleefully, waiting for Naruto to connect the dots.

Naruto rolled his eyes, finally understanding what the bastard wanted, 'Alright fine. Thank you oh so much Kurama, your wisdom and intellect know no bounds. I bow before you in all my stupid glory.'

"Pfffft." Kurama snorted, "That was pathetic, but… I'll accept it. Shows how graceful of a tenant I can be, no?" His sentence ending in an insufferable smirk.

'Yeah, yeah, soak it up you killer-rabbit. This is the last time I do something like that.'

"Uh huh, sure…"

Ignoring his tenants comment, Naruto looked for his equipment, seeing it stacked neatly on top of a desk sat right by his bed. It wasn't much, just his headband, his equipment pouches, his now clean and kempt clothes (huh, that's weird, did they fix it or something?), and a few odds and ends that he always had on him.

'Ugh, as much as I like the progress we're making when it comes to this language barrier, I hope the big guy can actually provide a solution.' Naruto intoned annoyingly, feeling bummed out at the fact that he couldn't properly speak with them.

A voice that certainly wasn't Kurama's breached through his thoughts, "Perhaps I can help." And before he could reject whatever it was that mysterious voice alluded to, he could feel something pour through his body, his head now being assaulted with images of characters, letters, and strokes of all different sizes and shapes.

'What the fuck was that?! Oi, Kurama, did you hear that voice?' Rubbing his throbbing temple in an attempt to soothe the migraine that was coming on, he reached out to the furball, hoping he didn't just hallucinate that voice.

"Kid? Kid?! What the hell happened? I couldn't contact you for a second, something was blocking my ability to reach out to you."

'Ugh, not so loud buddy. My heads still splitting from that migraine I just got.' Naruto groaned in discomfort, and his companions words sunk in, 'Wait, are you saying you couldn't hear the weird voice that just came through my head?'

"No, I felt a disturbance in the mindscape, but from what I could tell, nothing was touched, and the only difference is that a new segment in your mind appeared. You mind filling me in?"

'Well… there's not much to say. I was complaining about not being able to understand them, and suddenly this voice just pops fuck out of nowhere and before I knew it, something poured over me.'

"Whatever it is kid, it doesn't seem to have affected your mental inhibitions too much. However, I'll look around again and try to pinpoint the source."

'Thanks buddy.' Naruto gratefully said.

"Heh, of course."

Shaking his head and looking forwards, he felt the concerned eyes of Hank, Jean, and Charles on him, seeing him wince and squirm like that was probably why they stepped forward to attempt to see if he was alright.

He waved them off with a cheery grin, "Maa, maa! I'm alright, see? Just had a bit of a headache is all."

The three suddenly leaned back, clear surprise etched on their features.

Naruto looked at them curiously, his masked visage staring into them. "What? Is there something on my face?"

The man, Hank, suddenly rubbed the bridge of his nose and looked towards the blonde, "Well, just a few moments ago, we couldn't understand you at all. And now suddenly, you can speak our language so fluently I'd have mistaken you for a local."

Naruto blinked in surprise, did that weird voice give him the ability to understand them?

Holy shit.

"Whoa… I can understand you guys now! And judging from your reactions, so can you."

The wheelchair-bound man – the professor Hank introduced him as – rolled himself forward, "Well, yes young man. We can understand you. While this is certainly a… surprise, it's a welcome one for sure."

Naruto just chuckled awkwardly and rubbed the back of his neck, "Well… sorry about that. My brains were scrambled for a bit."

Charles nodded, "Well, its no surprise. You did crash into our back field in a meteor of course."

Naruto stiffened, and looked at Charles disbelievingly, "Wait what?! I crash-landed in a meteor?! You're kidding me old man!"

Chuckling, Charles merely shook his head, "Oh no, I am most definitely not kidding. You can see for yourself." With that, he turned around and rolled towards the exit, looking back just as the doors opened and gesturing for the three of them to follow him.

"Come on then, I'll be sure to have Bobby and Scott know that you're up and running." With his piece said, he rolled away, likely heading to the site of the crash.

Naruto grumbled, "Talking to me as if I'm a goddamn robot, the nerve of that gramps…"

Hank merely chuckled and Jean giggled into her hand and were heading out the medical room but not before turning back and gesturing Naruto to suit back up in his clothing.

"I hope you don't mind, but I took the liberty of restoring what I could of your clothing, seeing as you arrived in nothing but your tattered hood, mask, and ruined clothes."

He thanked Hank in appreciation and lifted himself off from the bed, letting his feet touch the cold surface of the room floor. Grabbing all his items and quickly dressing up, he double-checked himself to ensure he had all his equipment and paraphernalia on him before heading out and following Hank and Jean, who were waiting just by the entrance of the medical room.

Nodding towards them, he allowed them to lead him towards where crash-landed, and hopefully, find some answers.

~Invictus | Spiritus~

Stepping out into the large forested area that the mansion was surrounded by, Naruto could see that in the center, what would've been a largely untouched, open field surrounded by trees was now a smoking hot crater, dirt and debris littered all around.

Naruto looked sheepish as he approached the group, now with two additional members – Bobby and Scott if he recalled what the professor said.

While the thought of crashing here didn't bother him, it was the large gaping hole in the middle of the field that did. He didn't realize he'd make such an impact.

Just how fast was he going for the crater to be this deep and wide? Matter of fact, how did they stop it? Kurama did say they had some weird energy signatures…

Feeling Hank and Jean walk up to him, he heard Jean say "If you're wondering how we managed to stop that meteor from making a massive gape in the institute, you're going to have to ask the professor. I'm not really allowed to give you more than that. All I can say is that you owe me blondie!"

He nodded slowly, "And what would that be?"

Jean tapped her chin in thought, "I… actually haven't thought of something substantial but I will soon!"

Hank simply gestured for Naruto to follow him, "Come Naruto, the professor wants to see you."

Shrugging, he allowed Hank and Jean to guide him to where the professor was sat in his wheelchair, and before any of them could greet him, he turned around and smiled.

"Hello there Naruto, how are you feeling?" He asked, the tone in his voice genuinely curious of his wellbeing.

As Naruto reached up to scratch the back of his neck, he was reminded of one morbid detail.

His right arm was completely removed from the elbow down. While it certainly will impede his ability to fight until he could get acclimated to fighting without it, he was just happy he was still kicking.

It's the thought that matters. Getting his mind back on track, he answered the professor, "I'm good old man, thanks. I'm a tough guy you know?" With a proud grin, he tapped his chest with a closed fist.

Smiling, Charles gestured all of them to look towards the crater, specifically Naruto – seeing as he was the one that caused it. "As you can see, due to…" Charles paused momentarily, a slight lull in his thoughts that Naruto caught on, "special circumstances, we were able to divert the course of the meteor and have it crash into the back of the mansion instead of destroying parts of it."

Stroking his chin in wonder, Naruto let his thoughts be known, "That's impressive. Did you guys manage to stop this all by yourself?"

"Yes however, if it weren't for young Jean and Bobby's quick and decisive actions, it may have caused more destruction than it has and may have even potentially put you in a worse-off state than in the one we found you in."

That last statement had Naruto curious, while he did amass quite the collection of injuries, some fatal and others too minor to even bother remembering, he was wondering just how bad his state was considering the massive crater the meteor that was housing him made.

He let his curiosity be known, "How bad was my condition?"

Charles grimaced, "To put it simply, none of the students here would've been able to stomach the site of your condition. I don't know what occurred that caused you to have those sorts of injuries in the first place, but the fact that you're still alive and a majority of those injuries are now fully healed, it would appear that you're quite special. If I may, were there any circumstances in your life that may have caused this sort of healing factor to appear?"

Naruto paused, unsure if he should divulge any information about him that may potentially be used against him. Deciding to have faith in the old man, he slowly began, "Telling you every single detail of the unique circumstances that brought me here would take too long to explain so I'll try and size it down a bit."

Sighing wistfully into the air above, Naruto began his tale, "It's safe to say, I'm not from this world. Or rather, I'm not from this plane of existence or even reality. Where I come from, all of those who are born have the ability to conjure up a source of energy that we call 'Chakra.' Chakra, in our own definition, is the combination of Physical and Spiritual energy and makes up as a base for all of our power. Of course, not all of us would've been able to do it, but it didn't mean it was non-essential to those who were lacking when it came to their Chakra pool." Naruto knelt down and began etching into the grass with a thin blade of wind.

"For example, those who didn't have the necessary pools of Chakra to call upon became civilians, but all of us needed Chakra to survive. This source of energy is produced within these thin lines that are spread out within the body, and the largest collection of said energy resides within the belly, and throughout said lines, lay nodes from which Chakra can be released from within us. They're called Chakra Points."

Before he could continue, he was interrupted by Hank's inquiry, "So, one could only release this energy throughout these various nodes correct?"

"Good guess, and you're mostly right. Experienced Shinobi like myself who have the technique and the amounts of energy needed, are able to expel our techniques from any part of our pathway system. Some of us are even able to forcefully expel a large amount of it throughout our entire body in order to break through certain illusions or even physical binds. However, that requires an incredibly large amount of energy, and to date, only me and a few other individuals were ever able to do this without exhausting our supply of chakra." Ignoring the curious murmur of, "Shinobi? Like the ninja's from Japan?' he continued, "If you are able to locate or memorize the locations of all 361 chakra points throughout our system, and hit them with a specific amount of pressure and force, you could essentially seal their ability to release chakra throughout their entire body and thus preventing them from using any techniques that require the usage of chakra itself."

It seemed like Hank was the only one willing to question him, which he found to be amusing, "So what would happen if you did seal all of their chakra points? Would they lose the ability to perform techniques?"

"Yes and no. While they would lose the ability to perform techniques, it wouldn't be permanent as you would have to forcefully destroy the individuals chakra system in order to prevent them from ever regaining the ability to use it without dying. So, while they would 'lose' the ability to use their chakra, it wouldn't be permanent."

"Judging from your extensive knowledge, it seems like you know of people, perhaps even personally, that were able to locate these chakra points and seal them off."

He smirked at Hanks perceptiveness, "Correct. My village held a clan that were able to use an Ocular Bloodline that granted them the usage of observing the flow of chakra within an opponents body, and with deadly accuracy, would pinpoint and shut off any specific chakra point to disable them from moving and using techniques. Not only were they very skilled at hand to hand combat, combined with their physical and spiritual prowess, a majority of their opponents would never seek to directly combat them."

"You say you were a shinobi and that you belonged to a village. Just how many Shinobi are there?" Jean was the one to ask the question this time around, her curiosity having finished its peak and her ability to keep quiet fading.

Naruto couldn't keep the despondent look on his face from being hidden, "There were tens of thousands of us. Now? I'm not so sure, thousands maybe? Perhaps even hundreds. A majority of us died in a global conflict that nearly wiped out the entirety of the shinobi populous and did wipe out the civilian ones. To get more context, I'll explain the system we used to have."

He began drawing once again on the grass, using this time to draw out the various kanji for Fire, Water, Earth, Lightning and Wind. Along with other symbols such as Tea, Spring, River, and so on.

"We used to be split into five major villages, and numerous smaller ones, governed by a leader called a Kage, or Shadow in your language, and he was governed by a Daimyo, who would essentially act as the leader of the entire major village. The Daimyo controlled the flow of income, supply, manpower, and so forth but we shinobi were the ones to go out and get it. You could say that the Kage was the middleman between us and the Daimyo, but the Kage do have a lot of political power, and those who were worthy had to be both physically and mentally ready to bear such a burden. There's not much else I can say about the various governing bodies as I was never familiar with politics." He paused to take a breath. This was much harder than he expected, he didn't truly realize the complexities his world had until he was forced to explain it to people unfamiliar with it.

Regaining his breath, he continued, "Now comes the village and who inhabits it. If we were to split it up into a percentage, my village would be a rough split of 70-30. 70% of our village population were inhabited by Shinobi, this also includes those in training and those in retirement, while the other 30% would be the civilian population.

These guys would be responsible for everything essential to the daily life of the Shinobi. Cooking, Trading, Commerce, Crafting, you name it, the civilians would handle it. If you were looking for something more specific, or of a higher quality than most civilian shops contained, you'd go into the part of the village where most retired shinobi live and set up shop. Depending on who you asked and what you needed, there would be a shinobi who could cater to your specific needs. Of course, not all of the shinobi who cater to these needs are retired, but most are. Need a specific vial of poison needed for an infiltration and interrogation mission? Our interrogation and herbalist specialist can hook you up. Need high-quality chakra conducting weapons? The Higurashi (1) family could set you up.

Each village had everything they needed in order to produce what they wanted. Of course, some villages had a surplus of resources that they would trade in exchange for others that their land may not have a large supply of, and this is where a majority of the civilian populace would put their stock into. Trade and Commerce, as that was the most financially lucrative business opportunity for them."

Stopping a moment to regain his breath, he allowed another few moments to pass in case anyone had any questions. About to continue, he heard the professor speak up.

"The world you lived in bears some similarities to ours in terms of military-power and politics. I am curious of one thing though, do the shinobi from your lands only fight when necessary? Say for example, in the event of war or an invasion?"

Naruto smiled sadly at that, "I was just about to explain that. However, I need to make sure you guys know the major villages before continuing onwards." With this, he began pointing towards the symbol for Earth, Fire, Water, Lightning and Wind, "These were the five major villages. Iwagakure,or the Village Hidden in Stone that resided in their country in the Land of Earth, Sunagakure, the Village Hidden by Sand, residing in the Land of Wind, Kirigakure, the Village Hidden in the Mist, residing in the Land of Water, Kumogakure, the Village Hidden in the Clouds, residing in the Land of Lightning.

Finally, there's Konohagakure, the Village Hidden in the Leaves, residing in the Land of Fire. This was the village I was born and raised in. The reason why Shinobi existed was because they were to act as both the military and its main driving economic force. If a minor village needed a task to be done that couldn't be achieved with their own population, they would hire the nearby major village and in turn, the village would send out a group of shinobi, and depending on what the mission was, they would send a force suitable for the task.

For example, if you needed to move large stocks of inventory, the respective Kage would send out a group of Genin to do the work, as they were relatively new and needed both the experience and the training. An escort mission from the Land of Fire to the Land of Waterfall? The Kage would send a team of Genin overseen by either a Chunin or Jonin. Assassination? Depending on who the high-value target was and where they were located, the Kage would either send a lone Jonin or perhaps even a solo ANBU member or team of them."

Jean was so very confused, "Uh… What? You mind explaining what those terms mean? What's a Genin, or ANBU, or whatever else?"

He could hear Kurama growl frustratingly in the back of his head, "Irritating monkeys. No wonder I tried wiping your kind out multiple times." Naruto bit back, 'And each time you got sealed. So, zip your lip fuzzy.' Ignoring his companions haughty huff, he began to explain in simpler terms. He realized that this would take much longer to explain than anticipated and by the looks of it, the sun was well on its way to setting and they all needed to get a bit of rest.

"Essentially, the 'hierarchy' of the village would be split into 7 groups, 8 with an exception. You had the civilians, who were at the bottom of the hierarchy but were essential for keeping the village up and running with their physical labor and economic value. Then you had Academy Students, who were potential shinobi in training, who would then have the opportunity to graduate and become a Genin, after passing a few tests and proving themselves to their teacher. You would then be entered into a global examination event called the Chunin Exams, where the exam would be split up into multiple categories and it would end with a final tournament where the potential Chunin who passed their preliminary categories and fights could graduate and become said Chunin. You would then have the ability to ask for a promotion to Jonin, however, these were done locally and much more under the radar as Jonin were the elite driving force of any nation.

However, if you wanted to go a step beyond that, there was the ANBU, now these guys were the cream of the crop. Specially selected, trained and reviewed, they did all the black-ops missions. Assassinations, Blackmail, Sabotage, Espionage, you name it, they did it. My village was especially well-known for producing multiple ANBU members well before their adulthood. I would know, my teacher and best friends brother were both ANBU by the time they hit their pre-teens. Then lastly, you have the Kage. I don't know much detail about this specific group as the way they would elect a potential leader of super-powered Shinobi were kept highly under wraps and would only be discussed and agreed upon if the Daimyo also agrees with the decision.

While I only named 7 groups, the 8th group is an exception as they were called Special Jonins. So, while they weren't actual Jonin per-say, a majority of these guys had the physical and mental ability to promote to Jonin, but due to a lack of experience or otherwise, they were held back from doing so. In layman terms, we were mercenaries. Highly trained, highly efficient, and extremely deadly." With that, Naruto fell on his butt with an exasperated huff and looked towards the darkened night.

Maybe it was just him, but that took way longer than it needed to. Who knew he'd be going on a long tangent so soon after his awakening? Talk about his odd luck.

Charles Xavier could only rub his temples and sigh, 'This is quite the situation. So, not only do we have a potential super-powered assassin in our hands, but if I were to trust Naruto's words, his world birthed these types of beings. What kind of history did they have to be given such a morbid life? One can only hope he is the only one to be sent here. I shudder to think of the consequences if there were another one and he was much more antagonizing than our blonde here.'

While Charles pondered on the situation at hand, Jean, Bobby, Hank and the others could only gawk and lay flabbergasted.

"Wait… so, this guy… he's an actual ninja?!" Bobby shouted with excitement, causing Jean to smack him in the back of the head and Scott to scold him.

"Bobby! Do you know how dangerous he could be? Did you not hear him? His people were mercenaries! Meaning, if someone evil like Magneto were to tempt him with something we couldn't possibly give, whose to say he won't switch sides?" Scott's response was grim, much like his usual self.

"Yes, but if he were truly an evil person at heart, do you not think he would have the ability to kill us all before we could even react? Let's be realistic for a moment, none of us have the experience that he does. He was born for that life for crying out loud! Do you not think that he would've just gone and offed us if he wanted to?" Jean was exasperated at his paranoia, sure he was cute, but Lord Above, was he such a stickler.

Hank agreed with Jeans assessment, "While I would've put it in a nicer way, I can't help but agree with Jean's assessment here. None of us have the abilities nor the prowess to defend against someone like him. We barely have a grasp of our own powers as it is, and even if we had the Professor on our side, it wouldn't matter because he wouldn't be able to do much except slow him down. Let's not rush to conclusions here Summers."

Scott grunted and acquiesced his opinion begrudgingly, what they didn't realize however was the volume their discussion took and that it piqued Naruto's interest enough to butt in and confirm their valid worries.

"I don't mean to be cruel, but I agree with Jean and Hank. If I did harbor any ill-will towards all of you, none of you would be alive by the time either one of you blinked." To demonstrate his point, he blinked in front of Jean, causing her to yelp and nearly fall on her back if it not were Naruto's hands catching onto her waist and back.

"Whoa! Sorry! I didn't mean to cause you that much of a fright. Are you okay?" His voice was genuinely worried, and his eyes pierced through Jean's own, causing her to turn as red as her hair.

'Wow, his hands are really big, and they're surprisingly gentle. I wonder, is he also- 'She quickly killed that train of thought before it could spiral further downwards and have her more flustered than she already was, "Y-yeah… I'm okay. Thanks." With a smooth movement, he lifted her straight back up and looked towards Scott and the others.

"Yeah, as I was saying. You guys would be dead before you knew it. But don't worry!" He waved his hands in a placating and surrendering manner, "I have no intentions of doing so. I don't even know why I would to be honest. You guys patched me up and treated me kindly, why would I repay that kindness by slaughtering you for no good reason?"

"While I do appreciate your kindness, please bear in mind that a majority of these students have been badly mistreated due to their gifts." Charles Xavier rolled up behind Scott, causing the student to stiffen and nearly fall, if he didn't manage to catch himself with a foot.

Naruto rubbed his neck and grinned, "Yeah I get that, but don't sweat it! I'm more than happy to do anything you might need help with. Whether its physical labor or something more, I'll be glad to provide. Just say the word."

Charles merely chuckled, "While that is appreciated lad, I believe it's time for us to bid the day farewell and head into the mansion. The sun's already set, and we've got a day ahead of us tomorrow. Come, Hank and I will lead you to a temporary room until we find the time to fully settle you in." With that, he willed his wheelchair to turn around and motioned both Hank and Naruto to follow him, the two following in sync once they've realized just how dark it was. The others, seeing both the Professor and Hank lead the new kid into the mansion, followed suit – the events in the day quickly catching up to them.

~Invictus | Spiritus~

With the trio of men, both Hank and Naruto could be seen discussing the information that Naruto was kind enough to give them on his world, Hank's scientific mind overriding his sense of fatigue in favor of gaining more knowledge on an alternate dimension so similar yet different like their own.

"So, what sort of technology did your world share with ours Naruto?" Hank could be seen asking, a notepad in one hand, pen in the other; jotting down whatever notes he deemed were necessary to building up his library of information stored within his head.

Naruto rubbed his chin contemplatively, the question being one of the simpler ones from the beast-man, "Well, I'm not sure exactly what technology your world and mine shared, but I do know that we did have the same medical equipment that you guys do, albeit a less technologically-advanced one. We also had TV's, Radios, among other things. In terms of transport, considering the only people to ever need to have a use for transport were the civilians, we did have horse-driven carriages along with a steam-powered train. However, the train itself was an incredibly rare commodity and the only one I ever saw was during my mission to the Land of Spring, which at the time was known as the Land of Snow. As far as I was aware, that train was the only one across the entire Elemental Nations."

Hank continued jotting down notes, humming and nodding to each and every sentence Naruto would say. "Essentially, your world was a mixture of Pre and Post-Industrial age technologies with some technologies being a rare occurrence, such as that train you were speaking of. Did your people own firearms?"

All Hank received was an odd 'Huh?' and realizing Naruto may not know what firearms actually were decided to elaborate, "Ah! That's a no then. Well, to put it simply, a firearm is a piece of equipment that would allow any person to fire a high-velocity round from a rifle with varying speeds, distances and stopping power."

The blonde made a face of realization, "Is that so? Well, the only thing I could compare it to is the technology that the people from the Land of the Sky employed. While I don't believe they could achieve the same speeds that your firearms seem to be capable of, I'm sure that they were rudimentary ones at best, attached to their wrists and with a simple press, would fire a gas-pressured kunai from said wrist-mount. While they were fast, the more experienced shinobi were able to dodge it."

Hank made a noise of curiosity, "So are you saying that if I were to shoot a certain firearm at you, with a certain round, you or anyone who has an equal amount of experience would be able to dodge it?"

He snorted, "I'm not saying, I'm stating. One of the most prolific shinobi of my era – who funnily enough was my teacher and was the student of my father - made a technique that he dubbed 'the lightning-cutter' simply because on the day he created the technique, he managed to cut a lightning bolt straight in half."

Hank gaped, and Charles had to stop himself from repeating the same action as Hank. While there were mutants and superheroes who were capable of being even faster than lightning, it still came as a shock that a mere human with an innate energy system would be able to achieve the same things only mutants and superheroes/villains were capable of.

"Hang on a minute, your teacher was able to not only react but even cut through lightning?! You do realize that the return stroke – or the very bright visible flash that we see as lightning – can travel upwards to 220,000,000 miles per hour correct? That's 1/3 the speed of light!"

Naruto looked at Hank oddly, "Huh, does it actually travel that fast? To answer your question, yes. Yes, he can."

"And are you capable of imitating the same move?" Hank's voice could be heard nearly dripping with scientific anticipation.

Oh, the tests he could conduct with him…

Naruto hummed thoughtfully, "To be honest, some of my abilities allow me to boost my reaction time, along with my precognitive abilities to around about the speed of light. Perhaps even faster, though I've never tested it, nor do I know enough about Science to actually test it properly."

Hank couldn't take it anymore, and with blinding speed, turned around and gripped Naruto's shoulders, a calculating gleam in his eyes. "My boy, you and I will be great, and I mean great friends. Would it be possible for me to borrow you and conduct some exper- I mean, some field tests on your abilities?"

"Sure, when?" Naruto raised an eyebrow in the look at Hanks eyes, while nearly not on the same vein as Orochimaru's creepy glare whenever something caught his interest (or crazy snake pedo as he liked to dub him), it was quite disconcerting to see the same mad scientific gleam in Hank's eyes. Albeit, it was on a more controlled and less-batshit insane level.

Charles coughed into his hand, realizing that they've stopped in the hallways for the better part of 10 minutes now, "As much as I would enjoy listening to the rest of this conversation, I believe we should continue to lead Naruto here to his room. He must be quite exhausted from absorbing all these new things in one go."

Hank blinked and let out an awkward chuckle, "Oh dear. My apologies Professor, Naruto. I was too caught up in my fascination with his abilities that I didn't realize what today must've felt like for him." He turned to look at Naruto, a genuine look of apology and sadness marring his features, "I truly am sorry for the inconvenience Naruto."

Naruto merely waved him off with a grin, "It's no biggie Hank! You're not the first person I met that adored the subject of Science and I'm sure you won't be the last. Your Professor is right though, we should continue to my room so you guys can start heading off to yours and taking a rest. Especially you Professor, I'm sure that you and Jean must've completely burned yourselves out stopping the meteor from making a gaping hole in the mansion. Did I ever say sorry for that?"

Charles merely laughed, "That's no problem at all my boy! It isn't your fault that we encountered such a bizarre scenario today, and I believe this won't be the last time if you decide to stick around."

Naruto merely snickered, his snickering showing off some canines due to how hard he was attempting not laughing outright. "You got that right old man."

Before the three knew it, they arrived at the temporary room that Naruto would be staying in. Coincidentally, it was in-between Hank's and Jean's own room, which would allow him to interact with the two people he was already familiar with. However, Naruto understood his own nature of wanting to make friends and resolved to meet the rest of the members in the mansion.

"Here you are Naruto. As you can already tell, I chose this room for you to settle in as you would be able to reach out to both Hank or Jean should you need anything. We'll continue the introductions for tomorrow, but for now, head in there and make yourself at home. I'll attempt to sort out the mess the meteor created but until then, just rest up and enjoy the rest of your evening." Charles explained to the blond, handing him a keycard that would allow him to enter and exit his room freely, along with showing him how to operate said keycard.

"With that being said, I'll head off to my room Naruto. I'll be seeing you tomorrow, so have a good evening, Professor, Naruto." With a cheery wave, Hank had swiped his own keycard and entered into his room, content to rest the contents of the day away. Which left Naruto and the Professor alone, the Professor making sure he knew how to use the keycard and its keypad should he ever lose said keycard.

"Alright Professor, I think I've got the hang of this. Thanks for taking the time to help settle me in and sorry again for the mess I caused…" Naruto chuckled awkwardly at that, his only remaining hand coming up to scratch at the back of his neck due to old habits.

Charles merely chuckled and waved him off, "That's quite alright. Now go on and get some rest. We'll deal with all the other details tomorrow. Goodnight Naruto." With a farewell, the Professor wheeled himself around and continued down the hallway, most likely heading into his own room.

Deciding to stop delaying the inevitable, Naruto swiped his keycard and with a hiss of air, the door before him opened up and stepping inside, he realized just how big the room was. It was more reminiscent of a two or three-bedroom apartment that he saw while doing some apartment-hunting in Konoha, with a comfortable dark-oak floor contrasting the white, if slightly grey walls surrounding the room.

In the middle of the room, hugging the back of the wall, was a large full double-sized Murphy bed, with a large cabinet supporting the frames of the bed itself. Considering the amount of open space that the cabinet had and the almost immaculate condition it was in, Naruto guessed that this room was only used once or twice before he was given it.

'That's a really nice bed, and the extra space means I can just stuff my non-essentials on there. Not that I had much in the first place. You reckon the beds comfier than the one we had at home Kurama?' Naruto asked, relaying his observations to the tenant inside his belly.

"Bah, who cares? I never understood why you humans ever needed to invent these things. Your ancestors slept on the floor like we did, why can't you?" Kurama snorted derisively, his distaste for the human race showing.

Let it be known, while Kurama trusted Naruto, it did not mean he trusted the rest of his race. In this case, his trust solely lay in Naruto, seeing as the tailed-beast was stuck with him since his birth, he got to see just the type of person that the blonde was. It did not mean he held the humans in any lower standards however, understanding Naruto allowed the fearsome nine-tailed beast to realize that the human race was not solely made up of evil beings like Madara or Kaguya, but of all kinds and backgrounds. From the morally corrupt Danzo, to the morally ambiguous Itachi Uchiha.

The Kitsune knew that his hatred of humans would not continue on like this forever, not since his sealing within Naruto, but it surely didn't mean that the thousands upon thousands of years of resentment that he had built up since the passing of his father, Hagoromo, would pass within two decades of being stuck inside a human that proved him wrong.

'Because we're an evolved species Kurama, that's why we have the intellect, and you don't.' His container bit back cheekily, if not a bit too readily, almost as if he expected this sort of comment from his companion.

"Go fuck yourself."

'Always a pleasure conversing with you fuzzy.'

Deciding to leave his companion alone to stew in his mood swing, Naruto began to strip himself out of his clothes. However, realizing that he didn't have any sort of sleepwear, and the habit of sleeping with his boxers leaving him during the starting theaters of the war (after all, you wouldn't want to be caught under attack while still clad in boxers) he decided to just strip himself of his top, leaving his fishnet on and keep his trousers on. Resolving to fix the issue of no sleepwear by tomorrow, Naruto flopped onto the bed, the soft cushioning of the mattress instantly lulling him into a sense of sleep.

'Damn, from ending a war to stepping into an entirely unknown new world, guess things never do get old for us do they buddy?' Naruto sounded out to Kurama, hoping his temper had abated somewhat during the last few minutes.

"You're damn right brat. I thought that loudmouth mother of yours got into all sorts of insane situations, from getting kidnapped by Kumo, to being nearly assassinated due to her status of being the sole heir of Uzushiogakure before its, quite honestly, sad downfall but you just take the cake."

'Heh, you're right about that one. Still, that just means we get to go on another wild adventure, right?'

His tailed companion snorted, "Even if I said no, I wouldn't have a choice, seeing as wherever you go, I go too. Just don't forget the Shinobi Code of Conduct. What was it, Rule #01?"

'A shinobi must adapt, overcome, and overpower any and all scenarios.' Naruto stated, quoting off the first rule of the Shinobi Code of Conduct that all 5 Kages had him remember and commit to memory to in order to be effective on the battlefield.

"Good, looks like you haven't forgotten. Don't forget Shinobi Code of Conduct Rule #02: A shinobi must be aware at all times, to do the opposite is to invite death." Kurama gave him the second rule, making sure that his container knew and had it hardwired into that thick skull of his that no matter what, he should never lose focus. Especially now that they were stuck in a world, they knew next to nothing about, something he resolved to make sure his container remedied immediately.

"Kid, I don't need to tell you, but I will anyways. We don't know what sort of enemies we might encounter, they might be even worse than Kaguya herself, I pray to Kami that's not the case, but we can never be too careful. We've stepped into new territory kid, so I don't need to remind you that one misstep could result in both of us dying." Kurama warned gravely, his tone not allowing any room for disagreement.

'Yeah, yeah. Don't worry, you know I won't let my guard down. Not anymore.' Naruto grimaced at his last statement, knowing that if he didn't let his guard down last time, him and Kurama would still end up being in the Elemental Nations, and not here, wherever here was.

"Don't beat yourself up about it. It happens to the best of us. Now let's get some rest brat, it's been a long day and I need to get some rest. My furs beginning to chafe. Oh, and what's our motto?" Kurama knew his container would answer this before he headed off to the land of dreams, as was routine with the two of them every time they had this sort of conversation.

Naruto could just feel the grin oozing off his furred companions snout, and grinned back, 'Never back out, never give in, and never surrender.'

"Heh, you still got that fire in you. Alright kid, sleep well. I'll see you tomorrow."

'Yeah, night Kurama.'

And with the conclusion of their conversation, came the conclusion of the day, its events catching up to Naruto far faster than he had expected. The moment his eyes had closed, his mind had shut off and he was lulled into the sweet land of dreams, the final thought in his head being of the new shenanigans him and Kurama would get up to, and the new opponents that they'd get to fight.

Authors Note – Okay, so that was shorter than I expected but I didn't want to drag this out unnecessarily as I felt that this would be a good note to end it off on. I also feel like the beginning of the chapter started off weak and that's because I didn't know how to continue onwards from the previous ending point of the chapter. The reason why I didn't decide to change it is because I was already on a roll from that point on and if I suddenly erased that part (and trust me, I've erased a ton of things I wanted to get in this chapter but due to a lack of proper plot-building, I decided to scrap and include later on), I would have to re-do 4000+ words and I've already kept you guys waiting long enough.

Other than that, I've not got much else to say other than thank you for the support and for being patient! Once again, thank you to all the reviewers, followers, and the people who have favorited this story. It's genuinely heartwarming to see my story receive this much attention and praise (even if its just 200 people). Thank you, guys, from the bottom of my heart.

In other news, I'll be updating Breaking Chains next as I've already gotten around about 1.5K words in and I'm actually on a roll, while Unchained Calamity is still being written but has slowed to a crawl as I haven't been able to properly storyboard where I wanted the story to go from that point. Never fear though, I haven't abandoned it so I will update it. I'll also be starting to read again as to improve my grammar, vocabulary and overall world-building, so if you guys got any books you could recommend that would help me improve on those fronts, hit me up with them! Once again, thanks for your patience ladies and gentlemen, and I'll see you in the next chapter.

Take care.

Ta.