A New Life

Chapter 1

Naruto's POV

I always wanted to be taken to a whole new world, ever since my imagination could think of it. In fact, it was my favorite thing to imagine whenever the matron of the orphanage kicked me out early in the mornings or left me huddled up in the drafty corridor of the orphanage at night.

In all my imaginations, I never thought I'd appear in a war torn world.

Guess that's why one is called reality and the other, dreams.

Now, standing on the roof of this ridiculously tall building with a huge ball jutting out of its top and the cloaked body of my white haired companion in my arms, I survey the city around me.

The nighttime sky, usually (at least, I believe it should usually be) dotted with stars is a mess. Great rings of crimson light are strung haphazardly across the sky and from these rings, (portals, if my battle with Kaguya taught me right) winged beings stream out. They chatter madly as they fly around, these demonic looking creatures, and they snatch up people from the ground below while destroying all that lies in their path.

The ground is even more of a mess with these demons zipping about at incredible speeds, their destructive exploits continuing,

To my far left, I see the wide expanse of a water body. An ocean, I believe. The worst of the demon horde pours out from a mechanical device, at least ten miles wide.

Another portal.

Amidst the maddening chaos and carnage, I see even more bizarre things.

A man, dressed in skintight blue apparel with a yellow symbol on his chest and a long haori... No. A cape. A red cape stretches out of his back as he flies at speeds greater than anything old man Ōnoki ever flew at. His fists pummel the demons into the dirt, into buildings and right back into hordes of more demons.

A woman, in clothing even MORE revealing than Anko's (really? A bustier and underwear topped off with knee high boots? Didn't she think of protection?), zipped about, a bit lower than the blue dude, her sword slashing and her shield bashing the demons into submission.

A man, again in skintight clothing, red this time, with a hooded white cape, flew about, fists wreathed in lightning as he unleashed a barrage of raiton jutsu on the demons. My eyes narrow as I watch him. No... Those aren't the controlled effects of raiton ninjutsu, those are uncontrolled bursts of lightning.

Two more fly around, one in green and black clothing, that creates and manipulates a strange green light to wreak destruction on the demons. The second seems like an odd fusion of an automaton and a human, its arms changing to create objects that blast light at the demons. Normally I'd wonder about that but it seems to work.

Oh well.

On the ground, I spot a couple more figures.

The first, in a crimson bodysuit like the others, zooms around at speeds rivaling Gai-sensei with the sixth gate open. At that speed, every demon he touches is instantly hurled back, splattering across whatever surface they impact. A second, in a yellow suit, moves at considerably slower speed, though greater than anything even elite jōnin can move at, zips about, moving trapped civilians to safer locations.

A man in a gray suit with a black cloak fights with swift, precise and unhesitating brutality, dealing swift attacks to the demons' pressure points while flinging black objects- my sharingan slows them down enough for me to note the vaguely bat-like semblance of these weapons- with unerring accuracy at the further demons.

Further down the street a boy in a red, green and yellow (and people complained about MY orange tracksuit) suit work together with the man to protect an ever growing mass of people. Another female, no two older women join them, one a blonde unleashes a scream that would make Sakura proud (and had the side effect of rupturing the demons ear drums, judging by the blood streaming down their ears) while the other, a brunette or maybe a raven haired woman in a purple, non-protective but definitely flattering, outfit shoots arrows expertly from a small projectile device.

So, the good guys are in the funny outfits and the demons are the bad guys.

Nice to know.

I walk to the base of the huge sphere and lay her down, brushing her lustrous hair away from her face.

'It may seem strange but she isn't in control of her actions. And she hasn't been for centuries.'

'Protect her brat. Now that we've freed her, she'll need a friend and I trust no one else but you.'

The parting words of my friends, one of whom nearly killed me and the other who was either trying to take over my body or acting like a snarly bastard when he wasn't doing the first.

My best friends.

Suddenly, I feel an abrupt change in the tone of the battle.

A quick glance around confirmed what I could feel.

The defenders, going strong a few minutes ago, seemed to exude an aura of disbelief and discouragement. The demon invaders, on the other hand, were filled with a new hope and frenzied strength.

A few seconds of quick analysis showed the sources of both.

The man in blue, clearly one of the most powerful forces on the defenders side, was being towed away amidst a horde of demons.

As for the invaders, well, their sudden gain of frenzied strength was something I had seen before.

During the War, the Zetsus had exhibited such strength when Madara finally showed up on the battle scene. Their ace had shown up and they were assured of overwhelming victory.

As my eyes flicker over to the ocean, I know I'm right.

He is huge, at least half the size of the Gedō Mazō, with skin like cracked rocks, wearing blue and silver armor and his eyes glow malevolent red.

The demons' ace, and possibly their leader.

While the grounded heroes battle the demons, their flying partners rush forward, cutting a swathe through the demons on a straight path toward Rocky.

They might as well have charged a metal wall.

In fact, charging a metal wall would have been better. At least, it wouldn't have blasted them back with minimum effort.

Rocky must be immensely powerful judging by how he sends the sword welding woman through three buildings with what amounts to a casual slap and disdainfully snaps the green guy's arm.

And THEN he unleashes the eye blasts.

How the energy can curve around objects, I don't know but it does, relentlessly hunting down each defender.

The defenders are outclassed. Simple. They need an ace of their own.

I turn to the woman I'd laid on the structure beneath me and activate my Mangekyō Sharingan. One Kamui later, she's safely tucked away in an alternate dimension of my own.

I turn back to the War, my chakra cloak wrapping me in its comforting warmth, in the back of my mind, I feel the Truth Seeking Orbs connect with me, waiting on the slightest of commands to act and I feel my senses explode outward. I lock on to Rocky.

Time to be a hero.

Again.

Line —~ ~— Break

Diana Prince, known to the world as Wonder Woman, ambassador to the Amazon nation of Themiscyra, was not having a good day.

So far, she'd been slashed, smacked and now smashed through buildings.

Not a good day at all.

Flying through the falling debris, she charged at the hulking behemoth, intent on getting in a few good strikes before being flung back again, when the ground was suddenly bathed in a blinding flash of yellow light.

Later, when she had time to go over the battle in earnest, she would realize that it wasn't one huge flash but thousands of smaller ones all happening within nanoseconds of each other.

She didn't know where it came from but the results were clear: all the parademons, as the cyborg called them, on the ground were dead.

Then, something even more baffling happened.

The flashes of light appeared again around Darkside, again the name was provided by the cyborg, before it was sent stumbling back by a massive punch to the chin. Then, two glowing yellow beings, about the same size and stature as a young man, chanted something magical.

One spat out a humongous dragon of water, the other, a beam of electricity so thick it was like a pipe.

Both combined into one attack that smashed into Darkside with the force of a freight train.

'I don't know who he is but I'm joining the attack.' Her earpiece buzzed with the voice of one of her fellow defenders, she wasn't sure which.

They were right though. These strange men had just provided the opening they needed.

Line —~ ~— Break

Naruto's POV

I know I was powerful before, when I had the power of Asura, son of the Rikudō Sennin but now that Sasuke's given me the power of Indra and Kurama has siphoned off the power of the Jūbi... I feel awesome. Like I can take on the world.

Since I'm not Madara, though, I'll settle for crushing Rocky.

Also: I did not expect the Rinne-Sharingan to be a hive mind. I mean, somehow, even though I'm no longer in the Elemental Nations, I know have a complete library of every jutsu ever seen by a sharingan.

I don't exactly like it but I must admit that it has come in very handy.

Flashing from point to point, sometimes switching with my clone (I'm limiting myself to only one clone for now), fingers weaving handseal after handseal, I rain down a hail of chakra empowered attacks on Rocky,

The few tines he's been able to let off those destructive eye blasts of his, I simply switch with my clone. Since its basically me, whatever tracking methods the blasts use are nullified.

My clone has turned it into a bit of a sport to see how many demons he can destroy by leading the blasts on a merry chase. Record's probably around sixty now.

He's roaring his indignation again, Rocky is, probably saying something in some kind of language.

I don't give a shit and I'm not in the mood to listen to him roar so I feed him a mouthful of Dōryūdan. He seems to like it.

The others are more active now that they have room to breathe. The ground troops have cleared most of the civilians away since the bit of reprieve I gave them and the flyers have taken to guerrilla tactics.

They adapt quite quickly, I must say.

Abruptly, my vision is filled with a large, rocky image.

I may consider the damn thing a cheat but the sharingan is still one hell of a tool.

It slows down perception just long enough for my brain to respond to the new threat and, a millisecond later, I'm just above the image. Rocky's hand, it turns out.

My clone appears beside me in a flash, hands already weaving the seals to support the jutsu I'm about to unleash.

"Katon: Nezumi Kidama!"

"Fūton: Atsugai!"

The Mouse Hairball, a technique exclusive to the Nibi, explodes violently against Rocky's chest and the Pressure Damage turns it into a flaming blue tornado of death.

And, tough bastard that he is, Rocky's still up.

Princess Sword-and-Shield flies into his disoriented face and plunges her blade, hilt deep, into his eye right before he backhands her.

I'm behind her an instant later, steadying her and smiling my appreciation for her decisive blow.

She nods to me, gratitude for stopping her plowing flight, I guess.

No problem.

I focus on Rocky who, with one bleeding eye shut tight, is still holding off the rest of the flyers and I know I have to get back.

After taking a second to ensure that the Princess (she has to be one. Only Koyuki could hold herself with the same dignified grace this woman has) is steady, I flash back to deliver a double fisted punch to Rocky's gut.

Line —~ ~— Break

Barry Allen, A.K.A The Flash, was stunned. And, considering the fact that he'd been in the hero game for over six years now, that was saying something.

When the invasion started, he'd been busy with Central City, himself and Wally doing all they could to stop the parademons. It had helped that some of his rogues had decided to step up and fight.

In the words of Killer Frost, as she sliced a parademon in half; This is my city too, Speedy. Only us humans are allowed to run rampart and cause so much chaos.

And, while he didn't particularly like her motives, he had to admit that she was doing a great job of helping.

So, when the Batman's call came in, himself and Kid Flash zoomed over to Metropolis.

Things had been going... Well, things had been going okay until Darkside showed up, Superman got captured and even MORE parademons poured out of the portals.

Then, he showed up.

First, he'd zipped around from parademon to parademon, slicing them with twin obsidian staves, freeing up the ground for the ground based defenders. All in less than half a second. Then, he'd taken the fight to big baddie who had been, up to that moment, ripping apart the aerial defenders.

This guy, wreathed in ethereal flame-like energy that formed into a coat and haloed by ten spheres of light absorbing black, had unleashed a furious flurry of devastating attacks on Darkside that, while having no visible effect, had given Wonder Woman a shot at blinding one of the tyrant's eyes.

After a quick lull in the fight, the stranger was ready to go again.

-Flash!- Black Canary's voice buzzed in his ear. -We've got a building on Sixth and Madison about to collapse!-

"On it!"

Line —~ ~— Break

Naruto's POV

I did not know he could blast those damned laser of his through his hands. If I did, I'd never have grabbed onto his hand to stop him from punching White-Hood. Kami knows the lightning wielding guy could have taken it.

Oh well, here I am, flying through buildings, wondering exactly what to do to put Rocky down for good when I feel another change in the battle.

The defenders are strengthening, growing more and more confident in their chances of winning.

I zip over to the building I'd first landed on, chakra cloak shutting off instantly.

Turning back to the battle, I see Rocky get punted upward from a powerful blow. Looks like Man in Blue is finally back.

The rest of the defenders are gathered around the half human automaton and the man in gray suit. They must be planning something as I notice multiple heads nodding.

Time to get back into the fray, I decide, and I zip over a couple of miles to hover right about a kilometer over Rocky's head.

He's barely a speck down below but I lock onto his energy signature. He's tanked most of the attacks we've hit him with bar the shots to his eyes so I think it's time to kick things up a notch. Focusing on the hazy not-quite-memory resting in my head, I follow my instinct and feel the chakra flow in the precise order I want it to. Extending my hand downward, I call upon the gravitational manipulation the Rinnegan grants me.

"Banshō Tennin!"

I ready myself for stage two of my plan as Rocky is torn off the ground and hurtles toward me.

Just before he hits, I reverse the gravitational pull.

"Shinra Tensei!"

Instantly, he's sent streaking back down.

With little more than a thought, I'm directly in his flight path, right hand cocked back as he approaches.

Three.

Two.

One.

"Wakusei Rasengan!"

The humongous Rasengan in the center grinds into his chestplate as the revolving orbs grind at his shoulders and groin.

For the third time in as many minutes, he's sent flying up.

In an excellent show of adaptive teamwork, the green suited man binds Rocky's arms to his body just in time for the Princess and Big Blue Wonderboy to deliver twin punches to his back, sending him streaking down again.

White-Hood calls down a pillar of lightning as wide as I am tall that smashes into Rocky. Then, a portal opens up behind him, gradually dragging him in.

It's a slow process though, and Half-Automaton Man, who seems to be powering the portal, is tiring.

The blonde woman's screams, the exploding projectiles, punches and other tricks don't seem to do any damage.

Another Rasengan forms in my hand.

I race across, weaving my way around people and objects until I'm right in front of him. I see his single remaining eye widen in shock.

Good. That's the exact reaction I want.

"Ōdama Rasengan, bitch!"

I allow the Rasengan to grind against his nose a bit before letting it explode.

Simultaneously, the Princess slams a double footed kick into his forehead, pulling out her sword on the rebound, just as Big Blue Wonderboy plows a right straight Baa-chan would be proud of right beside the Princess' kick.

He loses his grip and is sent hurtling into the portal a millisecond before Half Automaton Man collapses, shutting the portal off.

Amidst their celebration and cheers, I flash away, landing on the roof in my regular clothes.

Now that the world is safe again, all I have to worry about is precisely how we are going to survive in this world.

I feel each of their signatures, first coming together, to discuss, I guess, before they depart, each going their own way.

Then, the man in the gray suit lands about four feet away from me.

"It's a nice night to watch the stars." He states simply.

I'm not even remotely surprised that one of them found me or is trying to figure out my intentions. I'm a shinobi. I'm paid, well, I was paid to be suspicious.

I'm more surprised that he speaks my language. "Indeed it is. Makes you appreciate surviving extinction."

"Glad to know that you understand me."

"It's nice to know that someone understands me." I shrug. "So, may I ask for your name?"

"Batman." He replies and I end up snorting in laughter. I should have realized from the whole bat-theme he had going on.

I don't hesitate to tell him why I'm laughing.

He's probably heard it a million times, if his blank facial expressions mean anything.

"I have two questions."

I shrug, not promising anything but he takes it as a go ahead.

"First one: who are you?"

I'm tempted to pull a Jiraiya on him and crank out the toads for an epic introduction.

But I've pegged this guy. My experience with Sasuke has scarred me with the unfortunate ability to spot out emos from a mile away. And this guy is a prime sample of what emos aspire to be.

So yeah, if I pull out the toads, he's going to consider me some kind of idiot. Contrary to popular opinion, I did hear every 'dumb blond' joke Kiba used behind mine and Ino's backs.

"Uzumaki Naruto."

"You're Japanese?" He asks.

"Unfortunately, I don't even know what the term 'Japanese' means." I answer. "Doubtful that I am one."

"Interesting..." He murmurs.

While he thinks, I walk over to the edge of the rooftop and look down. People are beginning to crawl out of their hidey-holes, in the throes of shock, while the emergency services begin their work, clearing the rubble off the streets and setting up tents to attend to the people.

"My second question-"

"You already asked." I cut in. I can't help the tiny smirk tugging the corner of my lips. "You said you had two questions and the second, I believe, was if I was Japanese, to which I replied in the negative."

Kami, I definitely owe Baa-chan for putting me through those diplomatic relations classes. Everything from learning the right, just barely bored tone of voice to be used while negotiating to how to spot loopholes in statements were drilled into my head via kage bunshin training.

I may never have used it back home but I sure as hell would try it out here.

Surprisingly, he simply nods and apologizes for his error. "I have that one question left."

Again, I give him the noncommittal shrug.

Again, he takes it as a go-ahead.

"How and why did you help us in the war?"

"Technically, that's two questions not one." I turn to look him right in the eye. I know that whatever my words say, he'll be searching for verification and one of the first things you learn in the shinobi academy is that you can tell when most people are lying by looking into their eyes for tells. Only the most elite of jōnin or the most specialized infiltration experts could hide their intent from their eyes.

"I helped because it's in my nature to do so. I can't stand watching people suffer and I truly despise tyrannical bastards who believe they can enslave others to their own will. I've got a female companion who's currently… indisposed. We both got dragged into this world without our knowledge."

I watch as he studies me intently and, for the briefest of moments, his eyes wander over my body.

I can tell that he's looking for tells, small almost instinctive actions the body performs in given situations.

Two seconds later, he nods. "Alright. Do you have a place to stay?"

"Unfortunately not." I answer honestly. "It's one of the things that's been a bit of a bother to me."

"Alright then. Can you fly?"

"Yeah but I'm like a beacon when I do." I shrug. "Not the best for stealth, I'm afraid."

"Don't worry about that, then." He replies. A few seconds later, a rope ladder descends from the sky. Extending my senses upwards, I feel a large... object hovering over us, its body giving off a very low hum.

"Please follow me. I have a few drop off points you can use until I can set you up somewhere." He states as he begins to climb.

I climb after him.

At the top, I find myself in a small space. After adjusting myself into a comfortable position, I watch as he operates various switches and knobs. Not two seconds later, I feel the vehicle we are in lurch forward at an incredible speed.

"This is an interesting vehicle." I comment, watching the lights of the city fly by.

"It's a personal favorite of mine."

I nod. "I have a favor to ask. I need to learn the language of this world and its cultures."

"That shouldn't pose a problem."

"Thank you."

Line -~ ~- Break

Two Weeks Later

Hall of Justice; Mount Justice

Few Miles away from Happy Harbor Coast

"Sorry I'm late." Superman apologized as he flew into the Hall. "Perry held me back for a last minute assignment change."

"Pain's of having an alter-ego that actually has to work." The Flash shrugged between munches of Doritos. "Want one?"

"No thanks." The Man of Steel declined. "So, what have I missed?"

"Nothing." Batman stated from his seat. "Now that we're here, we can begin. Cyborg?"

Right on cue, the fluorescent lights in the room dimmed as a crimson beam of light shot out of Cyborg's head and windows opened up.

Seated around the table were Superman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Cyborg, Green Lantern, Batman and The Huntress while Green Arrow, Shazam, Aquaman, Black Canary and Supergirl were linked in via holo-vid.

"All set."

"Excellent." Batman stood to address everyone. "Let's begin with the state of affairs in your respective cities since the War."

"Themyscira was attacked but stood victorious and life is gradually returning to the norm."

"A similar attempt was made on Atlantis but everything is fine."

Such positive news was reported everywhere, from Central City to Star City, National City, Coast City and Blüdhaven.

"Alright then." Batman sat down.

"Question." Shazam spoke up. A slight nod from the Dark Knight had him continuing. "Cyborg, you're the one with Apokoliptian tech grafted on and I'm certain you've spent time analyzing how it works so I will be direct: what are the chances of this ever happening again?"

The dark skinned mecha-human sighed. "While there chances that they will attempt an invasion attempt again, I don't know how high or low said chances are."

"The chances will be high." Green Lantern stated bluntly. "I've seen races like this before. They will attempt to invade again for three main reasons: first being for whatever reason they attempted this in the first place, second being that we defeated them, something no tyrannical race ever takes lying down."

"And the third?" Superman asked.

"We severely wounded their leader." The Lantern grimaced. "Smart money says they're already upping their tech and seeking ways to lock Cyborg out of their systems."

"And this is resting solely on the belief that the next invasion attempt will be by the Apokoliptians." Supergirl stated. "For all we know, any one of the tyrannical races GL just implied could be prepping right now to attack us."

"And we have no way to spot an incoming armada." Canary muttered.

"Actually, Cyborg and I have been working on something." Batman said before turning to him. "Bring up project WATCHTOWER."

The holo-vid windows shifted to a side as a three-dimensional image popped up.

"This is project WATCHTOWER, a state of the art orbital platform." Batman explained. "A personal project of mine before the War, I have since worked extensively to include reverse-engineered Apokoliptian tech into the design."

"Damn…" The Flash whistled softly as he watched the image rotate slowly. "How are we going to build it?"

"Certain contacts of mine around the world are building individual components now but myself, Superman, Supergirl, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Shazam and Cyborg will assemble it in space."

"While I'm certain it will have cutting edge tech and will become our new meeting point, I'm wondering how us non-space farers will get up there." Green Arrow asked.

"I've already begun calculations and modifications on how to use the boom tube to lock onto each of our energy signatures and teleport us up there automatically."

"All figured out then." The Star City hero nodded. "The rest of us will offer assistance as is required."

"Anymore questions?" Batman asked.

"One." Wonder Woman stated, having remained silent since speaking of Themyscira's state of affairs. "What do we know of the man who assisted us in the War."

"Cyborg, pull up the data file I sent to you prior to this meeting." The words of the Dark Knight had everyone's eyes locking on him.

A few seconds later, the WATCHTOWER was replaced by two portraits, one a blond male and the other a white haired female.

"These are Uzumaki Naruto and Princess Ōtsusuki Kaguya, aged 19 and 18 respectively. According to the Princess, she was the leader of a powerful clan with Naruto as her bodyguard in another dimension. An evil entity took over her mind and led her to turn on her people which in turn lead to her having to battle Naruto. During the battle, Naruto was able to root out the malevolent force but they were, as a result, blasted into the rift between dimensions."

"So how did they get here?" Shazam asked.

"They must have gotten pulled here by the boom tube's distortion of space." Cyborg theorized. "My guess is that they somehow were pushed into a hibernation state until they were dragged here."

"So, they have the same powers?"

Batman shook his head. "We only saw Naruto fight. He had Kaguya hidden away somehow."

"Damn." Supergirl whistled. "So, precisely how powerful is this guy?"

"No clue." Flash shrugged before sitting up, his voice tensing up to show how serious he was. "But he's fast. Probably just beneath light speed. The thing that caught my attention, though, was the fact that he moved differently."

Only the Scarlet Speedster caught the narrowing of Batman and Wonder Woman's eyes. "Explain."

He just barely stopped himself from swallowing nervously. "I move by empowering myself through the Speed force, allowing me to do the things I can. Naruto, though, from what I saw, seems to... I dunno, teleport between locations. When he annihilated the parademons, I noticed that he simply appeared by each target's side, only reappearing in between spaces when the targets got too far."

"Maybe he bends space around himself?" Shazam suggested. "I saw it on TV once, a guy who could move between spots by warping the distance between himself and his target, making it so short that he could just walk across. But he had a limit."

"You could be on to something there..." Cyborg agreed.

"Beyond speed, though, he still has a bunch of other abilities." Canary said.

Huntress nodded. "Replication, tornadoes of blue fire, pillars of lightning..."

"A fricking water dragon, if you would believe it." Shazam added.

"As well as the blue energy ball and what felt like gravity manipulation." Superman finished.

"That's an almost ridiculously broad, not to mention dangerous power set." Supergirl frowned.

"Particularly when one adds in the fact that he's a trained killer." Wonder Woman stated tersely.

The room was engulfed in graveyard silence.

"Um, no offense, Princess, but the odds are quite heavy that we all killed." Flash finally broke the quiet. "So can you please explain that statement."

The Amazonian Warrior nodded. "To begin with, Flash, you must understand that the act of killing does not make one a trained killer. That Superman shattered skulls with his punches doesn't make him a trained killer.

I, on the other hand, have been trained in various fighting forms including ways to kill. As such, I recognize those forms or the effects of such."

She paused her to turn to Cyborg. "Please bring up the first few seconds of Uzumaki's entry into the battle."

A few seconds later, the requested video appeared on the holo-vid.

"Now freeze the frame and, wiping out Uzumaki, highlight the areas on the parademons hit by his staves."

The video froze, showing for a few seconds, multiple, bijū cloaked Narutos before they vanished, leaving only the bodies of the parademons and the glowing red areas the blond had hit.

"Find the pattern." Wonder Woman said cryptically.

Of course, being the fastest man alive coupled with his day job, Flash was the first to notice it.

"The attacks hit one of eight areas. Using human anatomy as the base reference, he targeted the jugular vein, carotid artery, heart, lungs-"

"The kill spots."

It was not so much the fact of what was said that stunned Supergirl but the ones who had chorused it.

Batman, Black Canary, Green Arrow and Huntress. The four most dangerous people in attendance as far as she was concerned.

Yes, herself and her cousin were so much more powerful than almost anyone else on the planet. Were a fight to break out for some ill contrived reason, she was certain that Clark, Diana and herself would easily come out on top.

Yet she also knew, without a shadow of doubt, that were they to lose their powers for one reason or the other only the four, and the Amazonian Princess, would make it out.

Upon snapping out of her split second mind-wandering, she asked; "Can we get an explanation?"

Canary answered: "The kill spots are locations on the body that, when stabbed or sliced open, will lead to an almost instant death."

"And Uzumaki Naruto, an off worlder who clearly is no slouch in the power department, not only knows them but targeted them on vaguely humanoid creatures." Aquaman frowned.

"So, what do we do about him?" Cyborg asked.

Line -~ ~-Break

Thirty minutes later, the fluorescent lights were back on showing that most of the meeting's attendees had left.

Seated around the table now were The Flash, Wonder Woman, Batman, Cyborg and, via holo-vid, Aquaman and Black Canary.

"Any news on the lead I gave you, Princess?" Batman asked.

"Nothing, unfortunately." She frowned. "I was close but I lost them because of the War."

"Same here Batman." Flash stated in response to the as-yet unasked question. "I swear, I was this close to getting my man when the portals opened."

Wonder Woman nodded. "That's exactly how it happened on Themyscira. It was almost like they knew I was tailing them and used the initiation of the invasion as a distraction."

"Like they had some foreknowledge of the invasion." Batman steepled his fingers and sat forward. "I'll factor this into my observations of their group. Cyborg, how far have you gone on their money trails?"

"Their encryption is very powerful however I'm certain I'll have their monetary network cracked in two days. Tops."

"Then we can go round up some baddies."

The Scarlet Speedster's grin was cut short by the Dark Knight's next word: No.

"That doesn't make any sense, Batman." The Atlantean King rejoined. "They've got influence reaching from Atlantis to Themyscira and more. We need to shut them down before their network grows."

"While you aren't wrong, Aquaman, there are two problems here. First, we don't know precisely how deeply they're entrenched in our society. For all we know, world leaders could be in league with them.

"The second reason is tied to the first: we have no idea how powerful they are and as such don't know how the possible repercussions of exposing them. For all we know we could expose them now and be crucified by media around the world. Senator June Finch is already of the strong opinion that we triggered the War on purpose as a sort of stunt to gain popularity. It may not make sense now but if we ever get crucified by the media she'll definitely bring this back up, further damaging any credibility we have."

The hall went quiet as the occupants thought over the Bat-themed hero's words.

"I think we've waited patiently long enough." Canary stated drolly. "Let's have your brilliant idea Bats."

The subtle glare directed the way of the blonde heroine would have had lesser mortals shivering. "We need to watch these guys covertly, learn everything we can about them and gather our evidence." At this point, he paused to slide a wafer thin memory stick to Cyborg who instantly downloaded the contents and displayed them.

The Flash whistled as he scanned the information for the tenth time since it was displayed. "A task force consisting of our partners?"

"And a few more." Aquaman added.

"Mind giving us a rundown on them?" Wonder Woman asked.

"Robin, one of my partners in Gotham. He's been chomping at the bit to be let out on his own, a desire that was recently reinforced when he met candidate two; codenamed Raven, a highly skilled magic user, who's most likely an off-worlder. Next is M'gann M'orzz, no codename, related to Martian Manhunter. Then we have Kid Flash, Kaldur'ahm, Aquaman's student and Donna Troy, an Amazonian who has something of a vendetta against our mystery group."

"And the reason you cunningly avoided sharing your opinion a few minutes ago." Canary smirked. "You already knew exactly what you wanted."

"But is this a wise decision?" Aquaman asked. "Having them on what amounts to an experimental team?"

"It's actually a very sane decision." Wonder Woman replied, having mused over the choices for this Black Ops unit. "Not only will this foster the kind of cohesion as a team that even we still lack but it will prepare them in case of a worst case scenario where we are all MIA. As for their inclusion, this provides an excellent avenue for us to monitor them without running the risk of offending them."

"How so?" Cyborg asked. "Won't they know we're watching?"

"They will." Flash nodded. "But things are much easier when both parties know that right from the onset. Sure, we run the risk that they'll hide things from us but it's a risk we have to take in extending the olive branch.""

Nods from everyone showed that the Speedster was on the right track.

"Besides, as you said, we'll at least have the chance to keep an eye on them and we'll be able to study them when they're in the field." Canary added.

"So, all that's left is the logistics." Aquaman stated. "Their base, modus operandi, covers etcetera."

"We're already in their base." Batman replied to the shock of everyone present. "We'll be vacating this base for the Watchtower in a fortnight. By then, Cyborg, myself and the Flash would have this place retooled for them including the teleportation and a whole new security system. Beyond specific missions requiring special instructions from us, they're free to operate as they choose for as long as it remains under Black Ops parameters. Most of them will be enrolled in the Happy Harbor High School or surrounding businesses as they choose. Martian Manhunter has agreed to be a supervisor for the team and, using telepathy, will be in charge of conducting life-like simulations for them."

"I'm in." Canary interrupted with a small smile. "Telepathic trainings might be cool and all but they'll need at least some physical training. So, I volunteer."

Batman nodded. "Alright. I would like to have two more supervisors for their team, preferably a male and female to balance things out."

"I'll take up the male spot then." Cyborg volunteered. "I can't exactly waltz around the city like I used to so I'll need something to keep myself busy. Besides," he threw a tentatively cocky smirk at Black Canary. "physical fighting can't get you through a two-hundred-and-fifty-six-bit encrypted titanium door if you're under stealth parameters so they'll need technical know-how."

The blonde heroine smiled. "True."

"Then it's settled. All that's left is to find a female supervisor for team..." The Flash turned to Batman. "What are we calling them?"

Batman shrugged. "Their choice."

Okay, new story, I know.

Here's the deal: my phone was stolen, making me lose progress on my Altered story. During the void-like period of not having a phone, this idea popped in and now, while I'm working on Altered chap 14, I decided to give this a whirl.

So please, read and review.

P.S: the timeline here is a personal creation of mine. For now, just know that each of the heroes have been heroes long enough to have protégés. Also, the events of Throne of Atlantis occur five years before JL War. As such, Wonder Woman debuted publically during ToA while Vic Stone shows up during the War for the first time.

Meanwhile, Batman, Flash, Aquaman and Wonder Woman have all experienced a few incidences that puts them on the trail of a secret organization. Bats recruits Cyborg to help track down a money trail.

P.P.S: Before you guys crucify ;

Yes, I know the spelling of Darkseid. I was simply referring to the fact that, being their first time meeting him, they wouldn't know how to spell his name, even in their heads.

Also: Naruto 19 and Kaguya 18? Yup. Naruto because I'm factoring in the Fourth Shinobi War lasting a year and Post Training/Pre-War lasting two years. As for Kaguya, hers will be explained later.

Thanks for reading and reviewing.

The Ethereal Lord.

Feb 16 2018 Edit

-Added a few sentences to smoothen the flow of some dialogues

-Created POV markers for relevant scenes. Scenes in third person POV remain unmarked.