Disclaimer: I have no claim to the marvel throne or the Naruto hat. Everything belongs to Marvel comics and Kishimoto.

A/N: I am glade to be back with Chapter 5 of AUH. Sorry for the long delay, my computer went down for a while and I had to rewrite the chapter, then my neighbor died, she was a family friend and her kids were my classmates back in the day. Right after that my uncle passed away so I wasn't exactly in the right place to do much writing. Please, forgive any lapses in the quality of my work, but do point out my mistakes in a review later so I can get better.

Okay, so back in chapter 1, the first thing Naruto says when he sees Laura is "Beautiful". I got a lot of heat for that cause people thought I was trying to be romantic, I wasn't, that was Naruto coming out of cryostasis and a harmful form of it at that. He was literally still regenerating and his mind was not altogether there when that came tumbling out of his mouth.

What I am getting at is, I wrote that while consideration Nartuo's situation at the time, which was him being a partially frozen popsicle. He wasn't supposed to be thinking straight. I bring this up cause of a scene or two between Laura and Naruto in this chapter. I feel as if I need to warn you take in to consideration Laura and Naruto's background. I won't spoil for you.

Anyway, I originally didn't plan for Laura and Naruto to do as much talking as they did in this chapter but its all part of the set up for everything else that will happen later in this arc, and events that will continue all the way up to AvX. I especially didn't plan for the last two scenes but that's where my muse knocked me out and took over. Also sorry to all you Carol Danvers fans out there, between this chapter and the next I might have gotten a bit carried away.

Splawheel: You get to see what the Skrulls had planned this chapter, and it will have long lasting consequences, both negative and positive.

RunOnSenteces: The aliens are called the Otsutsuki, I hinted about about their fate in Chapter 2, though it will be a while before I reveal the details of that event. Way too many spoilers for future events.

Kurama Otsutsuki: I apologize for all the delays, with all the deaths around me, I haven't been in the right headspace to do much writing.

dragon slayer of death 98: The Harem's already pretty big, I also have more of a sibling thing planned for Blindfold and Naruto.

Dr. Bunny: Thanks for the advice, I intend for the story pick up steam from this point on.

Warmaster Koss: Yeah, Naruto isn't dense when it comes to woman. He is more cautious cause he's very keen on returning home and doesn't want to break hearts, plus he had a harem at home which you will learn about in this chapter. As result he sometime deliberately ignores ladies and their advances, there are many woman who are taking an interest in Naruto.

MindForgedMan: Hoh! Naruto and Gaea? Complicated, very very complicated.

claymoredj: X-23, Angela, Valkyrie, Captain Marvel, Jean Grey, Psylocke, Kelda Stormrider/Skadii, Future Valeria Richards, Illyana Rasputin and one more mystery character. You will begin to see the relevance of these girls to Naruto starting this chapter.

Anyway lets get on with the story, again I apologize if this isn't my best quality work. Please read, enjoy and leave a review at the end. Also check out a new Naruto/DC fic I am uploading along with this chapter.

Chapter 5: Monsters and Polygamy!

"Its easy to see the kind of lost soul I was back then, especially when you consider the choices I made and paths I took to arrive here. I've made my fair share of mistakes on my journey, and if I had tried to do it all on my own, I would never have made it this far. Lucky for me, no matter how dark things got or how hellish my life suddenly became, it was never truly hell. Not really, not so long as I had a family that stood by me, through every moment of it."

— Naruto Uzumaki

oOo

"Frost!"

The blonde woman in question raised a delicate eyebrow at the intruder, as she stormed into the sanctuary of the Headmistress's office, interrupting the meeting Emma and Logan were having. The two mutants had been trying to decide where to take the training of their students next. Particular, those kids that had quit Naruto Uzumaki's advanced training course a little over a week ago, after a not so secret meeting at the Breakstone Lake, boathouse.

Emma Frost frowned at the other woman, who was in charge of all the O.N.E operatives and assets, safeguarding the X-mansion and its mutant residents. The Office of National Emergency's efficiency at the task was already in question after multiple disastrous attacks on members of the former and current student body, resulted in a significant amount of deaths due to terrorist actions.

Which was why it did not surprise Logan at all that Emma immediately read Deputy Director Cooper's mind to figure out what she wanted rather than waiting for her to explain. The Ice Queen's tone was was like just that, Ice, as she loudly announced. "He's long gone you know."

Dr. Valerie Cooper scowled back at the Headmistress of the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning, knowing the blonde telepath had invaded her surface thoughts in the time it took her to blink. Emma was respectful enough to stay out of anything that was classified, but she could still be a vindictive bitch when she was upset, and Valerie had obviously upset her with her sudden intrusion. Wolverine knew her tells better than most thanks to how much he personally butted heads with Emma or Scott Summers on a regular basis.

Surprisingly it seemed that Val was willing to be diplomatic today, so as to get some shit done before sunset, seeing as she did not immediately go on a rant about how the White Queen was abusing her powers. Though Valerie still managed to say in a tone just as frosty as Emma's. "Their really was no need to invade the privacy of my mind, especially when I was going tell you what happened anyway."

With a scoff Emma rudely retorted. "And their was no need for you to invade the sanctuary of my office and interrupt an important meeting over something like this, without at least knocking first. Besides, this way was faster. I've already tasked the cuckoo's to keep an eye on the two, that is if their psychic signatures pop up again. Naruto has ways of hiding his mind from me, that he hasn't disclosed yet and he's probably done the same for Laura."

To keep him in the loop Emma sent a burst of information to Logan via her telepathy, leaving the feral mutant to marvel at how efficient she could be with transmitting large amounts of info when she wanted to. Apparently the whole reason Val had come here was because X-23 and Naruto had snuck off the Xavier Institute grounds, breaching the O.N.E perimeter, and with great ease Logan had to add. It wouldn't have been such a problem if the agents that had been assigned to tail Naruto and Laura after they escaped, hadn't mysteriously lost the two in under two minutes. This made Logan feel oddly proud of the two kids.

Valerie Cooper was now here, hoping to recruit either the White Queen or him, the best tracker on the premises, to hopefully track down and drag the two kids back before something happened to either of them. One thing you could count on around here, was that Bad luck seemed to follow mutants around like stench to shit, and this went double when X-23 was involved.

Meanwhile Naruto was an altogether different powder keg waiting to explode. With all his abilities and genetic potential, every exploiter of mutant and biological powers would've rolled up on their porch the very next day, with a private army if they discovered his existence. Not that they would be much of a threat to the young ninja if what Beast had to say was right. Logan had no doubt that any attempt to abduct Naruto would go horribly wrong for the abductor. Despite this, Val simply could not afford to deal with the fallout of him becoming a known factor, at least not yet.

That said, the complete lack of concern Emma Frost and he were showing at the fact that the two kids were out in the wind, was clearly pissing Director Cooper off. She even said as much. "You consider a meeting over training your remaining students with Wolverine more important than the safety of two kids out there in the unknown, with no back up. One of whom is your daughter Wolverine."

Wolverine who had been sitting by and watching this whole drama unfold silently, finally decided to speak, saying. "As entertaining as your little cat-fight is ladies, me and Emma aren't wrong to not be worried about those two. Especially if they are together." Adjusting his wide brimmed cowboy hat from where it was hanging low over his head, he added. "They've been trained to blend in for most of their lives, and any problem they may encounter that Naruto personally can't take care of, is a problem that O.N.E and your sentinels won't be able to deal with anyway. Trust me on that darling, those two are damn good at what they do."

Logan surprised himself, with the sheer confidence he felt in this assertion. He knew he wasn't wrong, but it felt odd to hear the words coming out of his mouth. Emma, himself and Val all knew that Naruto was incredibly strong. Hell, anyone who had seen the footage from two weeks ago when Naruto had defeated a few of the senior X-men in the training exercise, would be able tell that much. In fact, it was abundantly clear even before then that he was incredibly powerful, to the point that they all had to wonder how the hell Weapon X even got their hands on him in the first place.

Val frowned at his reply and Logan did not need to be a telepath to understand what was going through the Director's head. In Valerie Cooper's eyes, Naruto Uzumaki was just a kid at the end of the day, both him and X-23. No matter how powerful they were, no child deserved to go through half the shit those two had survived. She believed that they deserved to be protected just as much as any other mutant on the planet, and it was her job to see to it. Having a set of O.N.E agents with eyes on them simply made her job infinitely easier.

Sighing deeply, the Director said. "Look, I get it. I've been here long enough to know that you two almost never agree on anything. Which means, Naruto is one hell of a kid just for accomplishing that much. Not to mention, with what you've shared about him with me in private, I have kept him out of Washington's line of fire. My superiors would want me to grill him for answers on who he really is and how he can do even half the shit he does on a regular basis. However, as much as I believe in the government and what its trying to do for mutantkind, it is not infallible, and too many unknowns have access to our databases for me to be comfortable.

"The sheer number of people who would do anything to acquire his services, his powers and his DNA, is a list the size of a blue whale, with every inch of it written in fine-print. So for now the best thing for him to do is to keep himself anonymous and not take any risks. Risks, like leaving the premises with your daughter, unsupervised." She finished giving Wolverine a pointed look.

Which Logan promptly ignored and replied. "We are not prisoners Val, the kids simply need blow off some steam after being cooped up here for so long. If you are so unhappy with them, we can put them in the time out corner after they get back, but Naruto needs to relax. He's been on edge for weeks now and he's beginning to crack, considering how powerful he, we all know that that is not a good thing."

Sighing at the fact that she couldn't refute this, Valerie Cooper said. "Which would be fine if we had an eye on their location, but our agent tailing them lost sight of the two in under two minutes. And despite having the latest in satellite imaging technology, numerous other forms of tactical surveillance equipment and advanced alien tech that even Reed Richards would be impressed with, we simply can't find them. That has me worried." She then pointed at the two with a frown as she added. "That should at the least have you two terrified, especially you Logan. Need I remind one of the kids we are talking about is your daughter."

"Two minutes, two hours, two seconds, it makes absolutely no difference to him." Logan said with a shrug, before giving Val a serious look and saying. "I'll be blunt Director, if Naruto does not want to be found, then you will not be finding him no matter how hard you try. He's the best damn ninja on the planet for a reason, even if his competition doesn't even know of his existence yet. So I'll say it again, those two will be fine." Logan assured.

"How can you know this?" Val asked, somewhat awed by the confidence Logan seemed to have in Naruto.

"Because I know ninja's, I know killers, I've gotten to know Naruto a bit and I know how far people will go to protect what's precious to them. Naruto's also with my daughter, as you've repeatedly pointed out to me, and I'd happily shake the hand of the unlucky bastard with the balls of diamond necessary to get between her and what she wants. That is if he will still have hands or even be alive for that matter when Laura is through with him, that said, if he did manage to survive, said unlucky bastard will sorely wish he hadn't." Logan replied, with a downright bloodthirsty grin.

VvV

"Bloody hell mate! Where are you putting it all!" The British sounding waitress asked looking at Naruto in a mixture of awe, disbelief and disgust, due to the sheer number of bowls of ramen he'd just consumed. It was a reaction he had long since grown accustomed to in Konoha, every time he walked into his favorite ramen place, Ichiraku Ramen.

Eyeing the waitress with an appraising gaze, Naruto nodded to himself silently. She was rather plain in the looks department but a type of plain looking, that was in itself beautiful. Not that he was judging her for her looks, no any judgments Naruto currently had were reserved solely for the quality of the ramen he was eating. So far he had deemed the ramen adequate.

"You're getting paid to bring me more ramen, not mouth off at your customers for their appetites." Naruto quiped, his tone laced with dry humor. Truthfully he didn't care what she thought of his appetite, its not like she would understand his heightened metabolic processes, especially when he could accelerate the speed at which his body broke down eaten food so as to heal itself and restore his chakra reserves. Tsunade had eaten 50 times as much as he had just consumed, after awakening from the comatose state she'd fallen into during the Invasion of Pein.

"Yeah yeah kid." The waitress grumbled. Naruto could sense her relief at not offending him with her foot-in-the-mouth comment, as she joked. "Still, either you are super addicted to this stuff. No...not even that would justify this, let alone explain how this situation is even possible. The only logical explanation is that you have super powers and your power is a Black-hole sitting within your stomach."

Naruto smiled at her attempt at humor and simply replied. "That wouldn't work because singularities tend to grow in size as they consume stuff. Plus, even the walls of my stomach would have to be truly godlike to keep a black hole from tearing them apart. A better hypothesis would simply be, that I have the power to turn Ramen directly into pure energy as soon as it hits my stomach."

The woman blinked at his correction and sophisticated speech pattern before giving him a quick assessment of her own, noting how he was clearly older than the young lady he had brought along with him to the restaurant. Laura Kinney who was sitting across from Naruto, had happily contented herself with a single bowl of Ramen as she ignored the both of them with ease. To an outside observer, it looked like a date gone very wrong.

Finally the waitress asked. "Are you a university freshman or something? You seem like the right age."

"Actually not yet, I am just kinda smart." Naruto replied with a mysterious smile before adding to get rid of her. "If I could have the bill now, please."

"Of course." She nodded as she took his used bowl and went to grab the bill, her fun was over and she obviously needed to get back to her job before her boss pitched a fit. There were plenty of other customers in the small restaurant that were waiting to be served. As she disappeared Naruto decided he would leave her a decent tip, he liked being nice to people that way.

"So, as amazing as it has been to watch you devour 28 large bowls of ramen, and that is a sentence I never thought I would ever say out loud. Why did you bring me out here? Don't get me wrong, the Ramen was pretty good, but something tells me you have other reasons for dragging me all the way out here. Not to mention sneaking past the O.N.E blockade around the mansion and stealing one of my dad's favorite motorcycles in the process. By the way, he will be pissed at you for that." Laura said, finally choosing to speak up after the waitress left.

"I can handle your old man." Naruto dismissed confidently.

"Hmm." She hummed quietly and Naruto went to say more, but before he could Laura's eyes did something unusual. Her gaze gained something that had never been there in their previous interactions, and Naruto struggled to identify it. Then things got crazier as her tone suddenly turned from the near monotone it usually was to sultry smooth, while she batted her eyelashes at him and asked. "Or perhaps, this is your world's version of asking a girl out on a date? I wouldn't mind it if that was the case, you've already made it a far more exciting afternoon than it would've been if we remained stuck at the mansion."

Her teasing had him choking on the Pepsi he was drinking and coughing violently to clear his airways of the soda. This was too strange a turn of events for him to properly process, and it took a few moments for Naruto to rationally process her words. Even then the sheer disbelief he felt took a few seconds for him to get over.

Laura was actually flirting with him, or trying to at least. It wasn't too bad, slightly awkward in his opinion, but that was cause it simply wasn't something Laura ever did. That didn't change the fact that the silent, cold and ever logical assassin sitting across from him was trying to flirt with him. 'When the hell did this happen?' His mind wondered. She had never shown this much confidence around him before, and doing so in public...Naruto didn't quite know how to handle it.

Their mysterious and still not quite defined relationship was no secret to anyone at the X-mansion. He was falling or perhaps had fallen for her, yet he had been keeping himself distant. Naruto had focused more on their friendship and helping her growth as person rather than romance, despite how much he knew they both wanted something more at this point. As for Laura, she had so far been content with this arrangement, until now it seemed. Not that he really disliked the change, especially when she was taking charge.

'Psylocke had something to do with this.' Naruto eventually concluded in his own mind. He knew that two weeks ago Laura and Betsy had formed a sort of rivalry during their secret night time training. However where as in the beginning it had been something a little vicious, it had changed since then to a more friendly rivalry. It was still highly competitive, it just didn't carry as much tension and ill feelings in it, as before, something for which Naruto was extremely grateful.

Over the time spent at the Mansion, Naruto had come to care about both girls deeply. His feelings were slightly different with Elizabeth Braddock, more half veiled lust and a deepening trust that steadily developed each night that they trained together. She was also precious friend, not to the same level as Laura but enough that he hated seeing the two fight in any way but physically.

On a side note, Laura and Betsy now had a habit of hanging back for a few minutes after their training session ended every night, to discuss "Girl Talk" as they had put. Thanks to Jiraiya's warnings, Naruto knew better than to stick around for that. He would not be ambushed into going on an endless shopping spree if he could help it.

Still, if anyone was responsible for this change, it had to be Betsy. Naruto just didn't understand why, especially when he was aware of Psylocke's own developing feelings for him, he had felt them whenever he turned on his Empathy. And, Naruto had to admit that on some level, he wanted to return the purple haired telekinetic ninja's feeling, even if he already knew he would not ever act on them barring some drastic change.

Quickly regaining his composure and clearing his thoughts, Naruto firmly said. "This is not a date. When I ask you out on a date, trust me Laura, you will know it! Any date with me or a ninja from my world would have O.N.E, S.H.I.E.L.D, the F.B.I and any other agency with an acronym for a name, pulling their hair out at the craziness of it all." Winking at her when she gave him a dubious look he added. "Believe me, ninja-style dates are just that epic. Dating is like the one area where ninja's do not know the meaning of the word subtle, our romantic gestures are just that over the top."

"Really?" Laura asked, sounding more interested in Naruto's reply.

Scrunching his face up in thought, Naruto tried to find a way to convey what ninja dates were like to the girl born in the 21st century on Earth, sitting across from him. Here what was considered standard for a date was usually going out to eat followed by perhaps a walk in the park, or going out for a movie, or a trip to the carnival. In short it was simply a fun mundane activity that you spent with someone you liked, and Naruto believed that that was a good thing.

If the girl enjoyed her date and liked you she might then let you kiss her in a number of ways ranging from, a goodnight kiss, a first kiss, a feather-light peck, a wet and sloppy smooch, a full blown french kiss, or if you were very lucky much much more. Ninja's on the other hand were not nearly as conservative.

Naruto had shared his first kiss with a girl – Hinata – while free falling thousands of feet, after jumping off of one the Land of Waterfall's tallest mountains. It was a combat mission and they were being pursued by enemy ninja, the fastest way down was simply to jump off the mountain. However, in the time it took to reach the ground and their enemies coming to the realization, that they had actually jumped off the mountain, Hinata had decided there was time enough for a kiss. It was a tactically stupid decision in his opinion, but also one of his most treasured memories.

This kind of thing wasn't even an outlier, Shinobi did crazy shit like that all the time. Kakashi-sensei had turned a random lightning bolt during a thunderstorm, into a giant rose made of Lightning accompanied by the words "I love you Kahyo!" Naruto felt particularly proud of being the one to instigate that relationship. Jiraiya had his whole thing dancing on top of the head of a giant toad while other toads played music in the background. Anko had made her snake summons recite poetry in the middle of the open day assembly at the Academy when she was trying to get into Iruka-sensei's pants, now that had been funny. And these were just the proposals, the actual dates were far more interesting.

The point was, dating to a ninja wasn't just about having a good time with the person you liked, but doing things and going places that normal humans simply couldn't. Ninja dates fully embraced the idea of exploration and going beyond the mundane. That's why everything to an outsider just seemed so over the top.

Naruto was personally fond of diving into whirlpools surrounding the Land of Whirlpools to explore the sea floor for mysteries left behind his ancestors. Traveling to the ancestral homes of the various animal sages and their unique environment was also fun, once you go past the food the natives had to offer. So was riding the great tigers from the Forest of Death like horses, or having a picnic on the crystal clear glass-like surface of a volcanic lake, without ever causing so much as a ripple in the water. Though learning to constantly channel chakra into the picnic blanket so it not only stayed dry and above the water but also kept everything on it above the water had been a pain.

In the end, there were just so many more places to go, and so much more to do on a date when you were a ninja. Ninja's after all weren't limited by an ordinary human body, so no mountain was too high, no country too far away, no cave too dangerous, no ocean too deep to explore with the one you cared about.

The very elements where theirs to command and the most dangerous thing they ever encountered were other ninja, a problem that had disappeared with the end of the 4th Shinobi World War. The world was theirs to explore, and apparently ninja's preferred to do it with their love interests. How did you explain that kind of freedom to a woman of the 21st century from Earth. Naruto had no idea.

Thinking of all this and the things he did back then, inevitably made him think of Konoha and Hokage mountain, which in turn gave him an idea. Half the things ninja's did on dates, would be down right illegal in America and most countries in the world. To shinobi however, crazy was normal.

Naruto no longer had any memories of his life between 6 months after his 17 birthday and his arrival on Earth, aside from the one memory about his world burning. However, in the lead up to those six months, he'd done all kinds of crazy shit. Some of it out of grief due to losing Hinata, some of it as he tried to move past that grief and continue living like she had wanted him to, and some of it for the sake of simply doing something he'd never done before.

A brief flashback of having drunken sex with Mei Terumi as they floated above a powerful thunderstorm thanks to Six Paths Sage Mode, made him blush. It was something no country on Earth would condone, hell no country in the Elemental Nations would've condoned his actions that night, but that was more because Mei was a Kage and he was a global hero and future Kage candidate. 'Sweet kami, what possessed me to agree to that, drunk or not.' The answer was always Hinata. Pushing that memories to the back of his mind, Naruto thought to himself. 'I need stop thinking of the past so much.'

Reflecting back on Hokage mountain and the idea it inspired, Naruto thought of America's equivalent to the Hokage stone faces and said. "I would call something like watching the sun set from a spot on the forehead of George Washington's stone face at Mt. Rushmore, extremely tame for a date. Actually, I don't know which way those faces are actually facing, so I don't know if you can even watch the sunset, sunrise, both or neither. I've never been there."

"Me neither, but that sounds like fun, I'm sure someone would try to arrest us for it." She said sounding a little hopeful, maybe they should check the place out together. "What else do ninja's get up to on dates?"

"L...Laura." Naruto stumbled, there was that gleam again in her eyes, Naruto did not know whether he liked or not. No, who was he kidding, he definitely liked it. He was just scared of where it would lead to because he already knew what it was. Naruto was just afraid of admitting it to himself.

"Yes?" She asked innocently, far too innocently for it to be genuine.

He had ignored the obviousness in behavior before, when she tried flirting. However, ever since she mentioned the possibility of this outing being a date, she'd been pretty blunt with her words and body language. It all came to a head now, as it was all undeniably right there, in his face. How could he continue to ignore her and the hints she was dropping, when a part of him wanted this as well. 'Scared and excited, I suppose I can live with that.' Came his detached thoughts.

"You're not being subtle you know." Naruto finally replied, a little caution in his tone.

In the end, it was in his nature as an Uzumaki to confront things head on, and as unsure of a step as he was currently taking with everything else he had on his plate, Naruto found himself feeling tired. Tired of fighting his feelings, and after a month of spending nearly every day with Laura he couldn't deny what his heart wanted anymore.

Laura smiled at him and responded. "I know, but recently some friends have been telling me to be a bit more confident in myself and assertive."

"That's usually something I would say." He replied in a lazily drawl.

"True, but as good of a friend as you've been, I've made a lot of other friends at the mansion, and those other friends all pointed out that you can be kind of dense when you want to be. In that case, it falls to me to be as abundantly clear as I possibly can about what I want, if I am to get through to you. And right now Naruto Uzumaki, What. I. Want. Is. You!" She said emphasizing each of her last five words in a way that left no confusion as to what she meant.

Naruto felt his heart skip a beat as she gave him smokey look while saying this, he was feeling as excited as he felt scared. Laura was different from the kunoichi of the Elemental Nations, emotionally fragile due to all the shit she had been put through for one. Secondly she was, literally different due to the differences between the culture of the United America States of America and the Elemental Nations, which was a more unified world.

It left him unsure of how to proceed, despite having dated and courted girls before. But it was also too late to turn back now. Naruto found himself momentarily tongue tied as his thoughts raced in a million different directions. At least until he latched on to one thought desperately and said. "I don't know if that is a good idea."

That was not what he meant to say...

"Wha-" The shock and hurt in Laura's eyes as she began to protest made something in his heart ache. He hadn't even finished his sentence, yet it had come out so easily misunderstood and hurtful, Naruto cursed himself for not thinking things through. Seeing her cry was the last thing on his mind so he had to fix this quick. Thankfully the shock of what had just come out of his mouth, also helped his thoughts crystallize and the idea he'd been grasping at to fully unfold in his mind. It was something he'd wanted to tell her since the first night she visited him in his room at the X-mansion after being released from quarantine, but had been wary of doing it at the time.

Quickly holding up his hand to stop her outburst, Naruto said. "Hold on, I am not finished." When he saw her calm down enough to not say anything, he said. "I don't know if this is a good idea, at least not without you knowing certain details about my past that have never come up in any of our previous conversations."

"You're past, as in your love life?" Laura asked, quickly connecting the dots. 'She really is incredibly a smart one.' Naruto thought fondly. He was also relieved to note that the hurt in her voice and the tension in his shoulders had dissipated.

With a nervous nod, as he tried to get his heart rate back under control, which Laura was thankfully too distracted to listen for, Naruto replied. "Yes. I...I had other girlfriends while in the Elemental Nations, multiple other girlfriends. Also, Hinata wasn't just my bestfriend and a teammate alongside Sasuke. We were going to get married." Naruto's stomach felt like all Nine Tailed Beast's had decided to cut loose with a barrage of Tailed Beasts balls in there after that confession. 'By the Log, I haven't felt like this since I first confessed my feelings to Hinata.'

Laura nodded with a slight frown as she replied. "I didn't know about the getting married part, but I suspected there was more to your relationship with Hinata than just a close friendship and being teammates. Though I am a bit more surprised that you were in multiple relationship. You don't exactly act like what people here call a playboy and i've seen plenty of them."

"I will have to look up that reference. You on the other hand don't seem...?" He asked cautiously trying to find the right word for the reaction he expected from Laura. He'd seen Jiraiya getting absolutely pummeled more than once cause of all the women he'd been involved with in his younger days. Settling down with Tsunade had been the best thing for that old pervert's life.

"Seem what?" She asked with a face as blank as her tone, giving absolutely nothing away. He could have used his Empathy here but it would've felt like cheating so he kept it locked down again. In a place as populated as New York, he picked up way too many people's feelings most of the time.

"I don't know, upset, concerned, disappointed, something." Naruto fished for words as he wildly gesticulated. "I know how people view polygamous relationships in America and most of Europe. I also didn't tell you everything about Hinata and myself, when I first started telling you all about Hinata and myself weeks ago."

Cocking her head to the side, Laura asked. "Why would I be any of those things? That is, ignoring the fact that this all happened in your past and we are all entitled to a past and secrets, that we can reveal to those we trust, when we are ready. You taught me this, every night over the past couple of weeks as you've sat patiently, waiting for Cessily to open up to us about her experience at the Facility. Waiting for her to trust us, never trying to force it out of her. Not to mention, in the month we've known each other, you've been nothing but kind and considerate to me, helping me in every way you know how."

"Is it so strange that I would want to help my best friend on Earth?" He asked with a sad smile.

"Perhaps not, but I am not exactly normal Naruto, things that bother other people, things that society says should bother me, most of the times they simply don't. And I've already told you about my life including the time I spent as a prostitute, you never once judged me for any of that, so how could I ever judge you?" She asked in response.

Naruto gave a self-depreciating chuckle and mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like "I can be such an idiot some times", before he closed his eyes for a second, and when he opened them again, he looked straight into Laura's own eyes while saying. "You know what, to hell with all this fear and hesitation! Laura, I don't know when and I don't know what it will be like, but I am taking you out on date."

The way he said it made it clear that he was not making a request, but declaring his intent. In essence it was a promise that they both knew would be upheld, one way or another. Naruto didn't go back on his word. Ever!

"You know, traditionally the guy actually asks the girl on a date. He doesn't make it an order." She teased.

"Oh no no no! This is going to happen, even if I have to bend the laws of reality to my whim. I am not asking." He playfully assured her, with light chuckle. "Also, you already said that you wouldn't mind it if this was a date, implying you are willing to date me, and you said to my face that you want me, so here I am. Today however doesn't count, I only brought you out here so you can relax cause i've been working you to death in training."

"How considerate. You seem to have conveniently forgotten to do the same for everyone else." Laura pointed out in a snarky tone.

Naruto shook his head in amusement, he loved how much more emotion she showed around him, especially when she started to get snarky. With a grin he replied. "Wolverine and Psylocke have X-men stuff to do today but me, Betsy and Logan are going to go on a fishing trip in future. Its so I can learn to catch Blue Fin Tuna or something. You dad thinks its a really important coming of age ceremony that I should go through to call myself a man in America." Naruto snorted at that idea, he became a man the second he received his Forehead protector, but Logan was surprisingly insistent on the fishing trip. "As for the rest of the New X-men, they think I've invaded there lives enough. They basically don't even want to consider the idea of the words break, vacation, off day, me-time or holiday in the same sentence as Naruto Uzumaki. In the end, you were the only one willing to take me up on my invite, its also better this way."

"Better?" Laura asked raising an eyebrow.

"Remember we had to ditch our O.N.E tail to get this free time, its not as easy to do with a large group." Naruto responded.

"Yeah, you would have probably needed to steal the Blackbird instead of Logan's bike, for such a...field trip. That said, I can't blame the others for skipping out on this. Your training methods are insane and that's coming from a girl who was trained most of her life to be a killer." Laura replied a little amused.

"I wasn't that bad, ya know." Naruto whined with a slight pout.

Laura instead of immediately refuting this simply reached over the table grabbed Naruto's hands gently, pulling them into both her own with a serious expression, before saying. "I'm sorry to break this to you Naruto Uzumaki, but as someone who can regenerate from all kinds of damage and who has an incredibly high pain tolerance, its up to me to tell you this." A teasing grin spread across her face as she continued. "When it comes to training others, you are not a harsh taskmaster, you are not even a demon, you're the fucking devil, and I mean that in nicest way possible."

"What! Come on!" He protested.

Laura laughed at his outburst, Naruto really didn't understand how harsh the training he was putting them through was. Only his charisma and the determination of his trainees was what allowed them to endure. Cause Naruto Uzumaki was an honest to god slave-driver. With that thought in mind she pointed out. "Your methods are efficient and you've drawn out more of the other students potential in the past few weeks you've been here, than the X-men have been able to do over periods of many months. But it does not change the fact that when it comes to training you are the devil."

"I was holding back." Naruto protested in disbelief. He couldn't believe he was being compared to the devil due to how harsh his training was, it left him slightly speechless. However, he did not feel any negativity from her when she used that word. As a child he'd been called demon or devil plenty of times, and it had hurt because those who had spoken the word had deliberately used it to hurt him emotionally. Even a few months ago, just being called Devil or Demon would've brought up all kinds of unpleasant childhood memories.

Now though, he felt nothing from it, he didn't even mind Laura calling him that, in fact he found the whole situation amusing on multiple levels. He supposed he had changed a bit while he was here. More importantly, Naruto really like the sound of Laura laughing at his slightly exaggerated reactions to that whole statement. Her laughter was light and very girly, but carried a slight guttural harshness to it, a beautiful sound that Naruto treasured deeply. He wanted to hear her laugh and express her joy more often. He wanted to ensure that in future she would always be able to laugh.

"Anyway, we were talking about dating. And since you wont officially ask me out with you, I will volunteer to be your date. But first you have to tell me all about your past girlfriends and how polygamous relationships work in your homeland. That's the deal, take it or leave it." Laura said with a fierce gleam in her eyes that told Naruto she wouldn't budge on this issue.

Sighing in exasperation, Naruto finally smiled and said. "I will take what I can get then. But if we are going to talk about my past relationships then lets take a walk. There is a park nearby, where I can regal you with my past womanizing ways."

"Oh please." She replied skeptically.

"No serious, I had like ten women." Naruto insisted, knowing she would be shocked by the number.

Laura gave him a blank look as she asked. "You're kidding right?"

"Nope!" Naruto replied, a wide toothy grin spread across his face as he savored the feelings of shock hidden underneath her blank facade via his empathy. It was delicious.

The facade broke and with an exasperated sigh, Laura got up to leave while saying. "Definitely a playboy."

Naruto waved at the waitress with the money for the meal and a generous tip while replying. "I already told you, I don't know what that means."

VvV

AIM Experimental Testing Ground #91/Unknown Dimension!

"Report."

V'ktl, now a team leader of several disguised Skrulls agents posing as AIM scientist was in a small pocket dimension adjacent to Earth that AIM had discovered via their dimensional tunneling technologies. It was a place out of sync with Earth's reality but close enough that it was relatively simple to connected to it, with the right equipment. While not wealthy in resources, AIM had found that it was a good place for hiding things you didn't want found and performing experiments that no one wanted to come to light. It even had, a breathable atmosphere, light and a firm ground to stand on, but little more.

Due to its barren nature, this dimension hadn't attracted the attention of a super-scientist like Reed Richards. Not when the negative zone was so much bigger and filled with numerous extra-dimensional alien life forms, technologies and other things of interest to the super-genius. And even if that was not the case, their were hundreds of other dimensions that were simply better than this one, and thus more likely to attract the attention of anyone with the tech and the means to cross between them. For this reason AIM was free to operate here, without the worry of attracting SHIELD or anyone else's attention.

Since receiving his team and making arrangements for this test, V'ktl had learned a lot of things about the nature of the experimental creatures that AIM scientists simply called the Phase Beasts. He also learned about the measures put in place to control the creatures and the limitations of their powers. One such limitation being their inability to fully shift between dimensions. This was by design, AIM had created them like that so that they wouldn't escape their pen by simply shifting into another dimension.

Before V'ktl, stood three pitch black shipping containers, each holding one of the three Phase Beasts that were to be unleashed in today's experiment. The mouth's of each container were designed to open into a large high-tech animal pen that was over a kilometer in diameter. It was surrounded on all sides by energy shielding, electrified adamantium walls and machine-gun turrets that fired adamantium laced needles with sedatives inside, at the Phase Beasts if they got out of line and tried to escape or eat somebody they shouldn't.

Without any other choice, the Beasts would be forced out of their containers and into the center of the pen, where they could freely use their abilities. From within the pen the Beasts would then be able to partially shift their forms between Earth and this dimension. Once they had shifted to Earth, special chemical triggers that were completely undetectable to humans were to be released into the air on the other side, this would send the creatures into a murderous frenzy and ensure that the Phase Beasts would attack any humans on sight.

AIM had specifically engineered the creatures so that they would only be able to materialize their claws and mouths on the other side, to attack things in different dimensions while most of their body remained in whatever dimension they initiated the attack from. This also helped the creatures avoid anything from other dimension, harming their real bodies over here, if the target somehow fought back. In short AIM had designed the three beasts for assassination missions.

And now, all it would take was his say so to unleash them on one Naruto Uzumaki, or rather they would be unleashed in an area near to his location, forcing the hero, and there was no doubt that he was a hero, to investigate. However, when Naruto entered the Area of Operations, the Beasts would then specifically target him, and he the great V'ktl, sleeper agent of the the Skrull Empire would observe and judge whether Naruto Uzumaki was a threat to be worried about or not. If not, Naruto was as good as dead, if a threat, then his would be a lesson on what he was capable of and the foundations of a plan to deal with him when the invasion truly began.

"Target sighted, he is in the park. Target is accompanied by mutant female designated X-23, supposed daughter the Wolverine." Reported one of the spotters back on Earth, wearing civilian clothes as they watched the pair through binoculars and used high altitude stealth drones to track the young couples movements.

"She's a none factor. Operational status." V'ktl responded into his communication device before demanding all his subordinates give him an update.

"Units 1 through 3 are ready for deployment on your order sir."

"All comm traffic in the area's is being actively jammed sir. Nothings getting through."

"Diversions are in play sir, the heroes will be too busy sorting out the gifts we left them to investigate this isolated incident."

"Acknowledged, lets let the kids settle in first before we deploy our pet project, we are not savage's after all. If all goes well, we will see exactly what is so special about this Naruto Uzumaki." The last part V'ktl muttered more to himself than his subordinates. He had nothing more to do after saying this so he sat back and simply observed the live feed of X-23 and Naruto Uzumaki on the screen. The show would begin very soon.

VvV

Laura laughed at Naruto as the ninja looked suspiciously at his hot-dog. The scarlet haired boy, was well aware that no dogs were harmed in the creation of the food product, yet he seemed to turn green at the mere prospect of eating it. Still, a ninja was nothing if not a stubborn creature and willing to soldier on even under the harshest of circumstances or so Naruto had claimed a thousand times.

Wolfing the hotdog down in three impressive bites Naruto said with a frown. "I have completely mixed feelings about that thing I just ate, but we can discuss its inappropriate name at another time. You wanted to know about my past girlfriends and about polygamous relationships in the Elemental Nations, right?"

"Yeah." She responded with a simple nod.

Turning to the nearest park bench, Naruto led Laura over to it and sat down, giving her a moment to join him before saying. "Let's start with polygamy, its easier to explain and everything else will make sense afterwards. So the short version is that nearly 800 years ago, we stopped mutating like the mutants of Earth do, which is individual by individual, unique power by unique power. You can even go as far as to say that we stepped into the next stage of mutations, stability. Groups of people with similar abilities gathered together and interbred, causing a bunch of minor but similar weak mutations to grow into one strong major mutation, with several extra facets. It is these strong mutations that we refer to as Bloodline Limits."

"Bloodline limits?" Laura asked, confused by its weird sounding name.

"Its exactly what it sounds like. They are called Bloodline Limits because these mutations never show up in people not related to the bearer of that specific bloodline, their kin. As a result, the mutation is Bloodline limited, unless of course they are transplanted into a compatible none-relative through organ donation, or a process similar to what you call CRISPR genome editing. But those are the exceptions to the rule, not the norm, and I'm pretty sure that only Orochimaru and his people could even attempted something like CRISPR.

"The thing is, any ninja carrying these genes can potentially wield the distinct powers born from a mutation associated with a particular bloodline. Basically, entire families...no entire clans of people related to each other, no matter how distantly, all had the same powers. Beast tells me that, this was also the direction mutations on Earth were headed in until M-day." Naruto explained.

"As interesting as all this is, what does it have to do with Polygamy and your former girlfriends?" She asked, more out curiosity than impatience. It was all fascinating, and Laura genuinely wanted to learn more, but for now she was more interested in his rather bold claiming of having 10 girlfriends. She also wanted to figure out how the whole polygamy thing worked for him and his people.

"I'm getting there." Naruto replied urging her to be patient before saying. "Because mutations became stable, they also became predictable. Those who carried Bloodline limits had unique extra abilities in addition to the basic chakra abilities every ninja could potentially develop, so people learned what kind of advantages each clan provided based on the abilities of their bloodline. This allowed specialization to develop among the clans, and Hidden Village's to market the services of their unique ninja. For us ninja's who are already like a kind of living weapon to ordinary people, bloodline users suddenly became like super-weapons. In short they were highly desired for missions suited to their Bloodline abilities. This also meant that when a specific bloodline was close to extinction, measures were put into place to prevent that."

"Polygamy." Laura said, finally understanding. Naruto had spent a considerable amount of time simply talking about his homeland so it was easy for her to connect where he was going with everything he said. So she was already very familiar with the concept of Ninja's being essentially a mix of soldiers and mercenaries. So if a client went to a Ninja Village with a special tasks, and a particular bloodline was well suited for the job, those bloodline users could complete the mission better, faster and more efficiently than an ordinary ninja. In that case it was only logical for the client to simply pay for the Bloodline user, instead of an ordinary ninja. This in turn made Bloodline Limits valuable military assets that needed protecting, thus polygamy.

"Exactly." He said with a smile. " My clan was destroyed a couple of years before I was born, so it was already somewhat expected of me to take at least 2 wives, of course I had the option of refusing back then. There were still more than a few Uzumaki's wandering around, and it wouldn't have been hard for a ninja squad from the Diplomatic Corps to talk a couple of my cousins into settling down in Konoha, where they would've been encouraged to take a few wives and repopulate my near extinct clan. Obviously they would be given more than a few special benefits and some strict rules to follow if they wished to continue enjoying those benefits. It was a basic Carrot and Stick policy really.

"However, the war changed everything for me. After the 4th Shinobi World War, after my powers had skyrocketed into a realm that most people including the most powerful ninja's in the world could only call godlike..." Naruto trailed off but Laura picked the conversation back up.

"You no longer had that option." She said.

Before Naruto had simply been a member of a respected clan and a village asset, but there were plenty of other options for restoring his clan and their Bloodline abilities. After the war however he'd become the strongest ninja in existence, with his bestfriend as a close second. He had told her about how they had fought and defeated a goddess capable of destroying the whole world and literally rebuilding it again. The only reason Team 7 had even beaten Kaguya back then, was that she wasn't at full power, she wasn't very creative with her abilities and she was holding back...by a lot.

"Yeah, I kind of managed to talk everyone into putting off any marriage arrangements until I was at least 21, out of respect to Hinata's memory. But that didn't stop any of the girls from demanding I take em on dates in the mean time. A couple of them were princess types that I had saved in the past, while on ninja missions, while others were fully trained kunoichi. Hell, Mei was a freaking Kage, the leader of the Hidden Mist Village and pretty much the equal of the King of her nation, in matters of both authority and political power. I kind of feel bad for her though, of all the girls I was engaged to, Mei wanted to marry me most." Naruto said with a light snicker, there was obviously a hidden joke there but it flew right over Laura's head.

"You sound like you cared about her." Laura tried to sound earnest but she couldn't keep out the slight pang of jealously she felt towards these unknown women as Naruto spoke of them. Naruto Uzumaki was an amazing guy and it was no secret that he intended to return home, which more than likely meant returning to these women. What woman wouldn't feel jealous in her situation, especially after so blatantly revealing her interest in him. Something that had not been anywhere near as easy to do as she made it seem.

"I cared about all of them." Naruto honestly admitted after a moment of silence. "Mei, Yugao, Karin, Pakura, Temari, Yugito, Mabui, Ryuzetsu, Koyuki and finally Shion. Yeah I know! Ten girlfriends was just ridiculous no matter how you slice it, and I didn't really have a choice in that matter. Still, I cared for them all, they were to be my new family, it was just a matter of time before it was official, so the least I could do was give a damn about them. Besides, I was already close friends with many of them before all the political marriages were brought up.

"In the end these marriages were arranged mostly for the sake of keeping the truce between the Hidden Villages and as a symbol of every shinobi in the Allied Shinobi Nations' commitment to preserving peace across the Elemental Nations. Also, as the most powerful ninja in the world, everyone wanted a measure of control over me in case they ever pissed me off, so I gained 10 fiances from all over the world. Well, everyone except the 3rd Tsuchikage. Ohnoki, the stubborn old fossil would've rather eaten his own hip bone than force his granddaughter into a marriage contract with me to maintain the Alliance. I was still the son of his country's most hated enemy, and the old bastard knew how to hold a grudge like no one else."

"I see, it was all for the sake of peace." Laura finally said after listening to his lengthy explanation. 'He did it all out of duty then.' She thought to herself privately.

Laura liked the way this sounded in her mind, she liked the idea that it was out of duty rather than love that Naruto ended up with a harem. It made her feel special, and that she wasn't competing with these invisible women for Naruto's affection. She would only have him to herself for perhaps another month or so and she needed to make him hers by then. Well he did kind of become her boyfriend 20 minutes ago – they would need to clarify that whole dating thing – but she wanted him to be hers in a more concrete sense.

Naruto nodded and replied. "Yep, the shinobi world, as I've told you before, was a dark place. When my generation was born, things were actually getting better. The 3rd Shinobi World War had just ended , the Hidden Villages were going through demilitarization and there was a greater focus on earning revenue for the village through pleasing our civilian clientele, rather than committing acts of espionage against the other villages or sabotaging their national interests. All in all, things were relatively peaceful, at least until the 4th Shinobi World War."

"The war you fought in?" Naruto had told her bits and pieces of this war before, some of the details she had just learned the two nights ago when they stayed up late talking.

Naruto let out a tired sigh that seemed age him two decades in an instant, and said. "It was worse than anything you've been through so far, Laura. I honestly want to pray you never experience war in all its true horror, but with all the Invasions and other crap frequently happening on Earth, its inevitable you will find yourself fighting on the frontlines of a war, sooner or later. You are too much of a hero and protector to stand aside. All I ask is that you survive Laura, no matter what."

Naruto suddenly sounded very solemn. Too solemn for someone his age, yet their was truth to his words and a lot of frustration. Earth seemed to get invaded like every Tuesday. As for Naruto, It was like he wanted to do something about the situation but just didn't know what to do. It made Laura feel warm inside that he cared that much, no, not just cared but was openly showing it to her, instead of hiding behind his mask of false perfection like he did with most other people. He'd been doing that a lot lately.

Shaking his head as if to clear it Naruto continued. "Anyway, our 4th World War equivalent was different. For the first time in our history, every ninja from the Five Great Nations and a few lesser ones were cooperating with one another towards a common goal. From the lowest of the low, all the way up to the Kage's and elite ninja's, we all fought together for the sake of protecting the world. This was why when the war was over I suddenly had a bunch of fiance's, all of them hailing from a many different nations. The logic was that if every nation was tied to me or Sasuke in some way, then the alliance we had formed in the midst of war, would be maintained even in times of peace. That and so I wouldn't destroy them if they pissed me off, it is very frowned upon to attack your in-laws back home."

Laura nodded in understanding. She remembered reading of a King Solomon in the Bible doing something similar to keep the peace, when she was younger. Besides, no one in their right mind wanted to mess with a nation who had two soldiers that had straight up fought a goddess capable of destroy the world and won. After the war, the Hidden Leaf Village instantly became the dominant super power of his world simply by virtue of Naruto and Sasuke calling the place home.

Which brought to mind the question of why the Hidden Leaf would accept these marriage contracts, something she quickly asked. "What about your home country, did they just agree to this? Arranged marriage's gave these village's a bit of a buffer from you or your teammate's wrath, they also connected you to everyone else making you two the linchpin of this Truce. In other words they all gained something from it, except your village."

Naruto shook his head as he replied. "Two of the girls were from my own village, so even Konoha had its own unknown agenda in this. Plus it helped that the Hokage and her new replacement both desired peace, having fought in the previous wars and lost a lot of loved ones then. I do know however, that Konoha made a single stipulation before agreeing to the marriages. Any kids I had, would belong to the Uzumaki clan of Konoha and be raised in Konoha as citizens of the Land of Fire."

"Your kids." Laura asked surprised.

Nodding he explained. "Yes, if they had to share me they wanted to make sure my kids would still grow up to be Konoha ninja's at the end of the day. Additionally I and Sasuke were forced to retire from the day to day activities of Shinobi life in our home village, specifically things like taking missions for the village. In fact, we weren't allowed to serve purely any one village anymore. The Allied Shinobi Nations charged us with handling matters that affected all the villages and the world at large, I often had to travel between all five major villages for this. This way we were supposedly more neutral."

Knowing his personality, Naruto had obviously not been happy with this, but it was the price they had had to pay for peace. Laura remembered Naruto telling her of how Sasuke traveled to different dimensions as part of his job, now she understood what Naruto had meant by that.

Really what Konoha had done was very clever, despite no longer having full control over their two top ninja's, they could still train their children and with everything Naruto had mentioned about Blood Limits, it was unquestionable that his kids would be powerhouses. Also by ensuring all of Naruto's children would be Uzumaki and bound to Konoha, the other village's wouldn't dare step out of line and try and break the peace, lest Konoha crush them through the Uzumaki clan.

With her curiosity satisfied, Laura changed the topic and asked. "You said a couple of the girls you saved were actual princess's? As in, "they had their own castles", kind of princess's?"

There was a clearly amused grin on Naruto's face as he replied. "More like palaces and it was really only Koyuki, she was an actress and a princess of the most technologically advanced Nation in the Elemental Nations. The Land of Spring, sometimes called the Land of Snow. Her uncle killed her father and tried to take the throne for himself so she went into hiding, I killed her uncle after a harrowing adventure and saved her from getting run over by a train. Please don't ask?"

Naruto had a slight blush on his cheek that Laura noticed, her instincts told her that there was a juicy story there. So, in the most suggestive tone she could use, she said. "I see why she would be grateful then." Naruto's blush immediately deepened but he remained as silent as the grave, so Laura chose not pry any further...at least for now. She'd been getting tips from Mercury, Psylocke and Pixie on how to be more feminine as they put it.

Looking anywhere but at Laura, Naruto replied by changing the subject. "Yeah, she wasn't the only one though. I saved Shion who was a Priestess, from a demon, she had a palace too. Technically I didn't have to marry her, only give her kids to whom she would pass on her powers which included seeing into the future and the past. She also looked like a carbon copy of Hinata, if Hinata was a platinum blonde hair and had a totally different personality, that relationship got awkward for a bit. Then their was Ryuzetsu an ANBU operative from a rival nation and a dear friend. We both went undercover to the ninja equivalent of Guantanamo bay, but specifically designed to imprison ninja's. It was a delicate mission and I fell into a whirlpool at some point. She saved me from drowning, which would've been a rather ironic death considering the meaning of my name. She was the only one of the girls to really save me, I generally saved the other girls."

"I am just surprised someone else aside from me, saved you for once. With all the adventures you've regaled me with, its usually you doing the saving." Laura said, less jealous and more amused by Naruto's palpable embarrassment. She liked it when he was so honest and open about his mistakes with her, with everyone else he was more...perfect.

"I saved her back a few days later from a monster capable of ending the World so we are equal." Naruto quickly defended, his tone then turned turned nostalgic as he said. "Of all the girls, I'll admit that I cared about her a lot more. We were already close friends before the Land Grass volunteered her to be my future spouse. Yugao on the other hand was another ANBU kunoichi but from my village and one of my mentors till I eventually became her superior. We were always close and she actually volunteered herself to marry me, "to act as a deterrent against any schemes by any of the other villages" she would say, crazy woman!

"Temari was the older sister of the 5th Kazekage, one of the few people I consider a brother, even if not through blood. Apparently he thought we should grow even closer and decided we should be brother in-laws, and well...you don't say no to Gaara. Now that was a complicated political shit storm in the making, it temporally soured a few friendships along the way, but Temari and I got along well enough and things eventually went back to normal.

"Remember me telling you about Yugito on the first night we talked at the mansion, well she had lived in Konoha since the incident with Kumo when I was 4, and she was always something of a big sister to me so we got along well. I already cared about her a lot, though her being my fiance was now a new and utterly bizarre dynamic that took some getting used to. I only really came to accept her as some I could love in that way when I nearly lost her to a maniac named Pein, after he ripped out most of Matatabi from her soul. She did survive the process, but she almost didn't." Naruto winced as he relive the traumatic memory of that day, not even noticing that he had carelessly named a tailed beast in front of Laura without thinking.

"Whose Matatabi?" Laura asked curiously, she'd never heard that name before. But then even when Naruto told her things, he didn't tell her everything. There were things that he would sooner die than tell her, not because he wanted to die or because he didn't trust her, but because he had promised never to reveal them and Naruto kept his word. Always.

"I'm sorry but I can't talk about that, its a military secret I am sworn to protect." He apologized to which Laura nodded before he said. "Anyway, there was Karin, a fellow Uzumaki I was distantly related to. With her it had nothing to do with keeping the peace and everything to do with bringing back the Uzumaki clan. And before you say it, I know, same surname but clans are big. It wasn't something like incest, even if I could probably call her my cousin. We were pretty distantly related but the Uzumaki genes are a type of mutation we had in common, enough said." He explained a little too desperate to move to the next girl. Things like inbreed and incest were not as a big of a deal in the Elemental Nations as they were on Earth.

"..." Laura said nothing in response to this but somehow made Naruto start sweating bullets as he quickly moved onto the next girl.

"Pakura was a complicated situation no matter how you sliced it. She had been betrayed to the Land of Water in the aftermath of the previous war by her own country which was the Land of Wind. At the time, Kirigakure was ruled by an anti-bloodline faction that sought to see all Bloodline users dead and she is one of the most powerful Bloodline users I have ever met. Not to mention she was a former hero of the Land of Wind who had decimated many ninja's from the Land of Water." Naruto said in a tone that carried a hint of awe.

"You sound like you admired her?" Laura asked

"I read up on her in the old bingo books. A sort of ninja watch list that both served to keep ninja's informed of who they were fighting and to bolster their reputation amongst clients. It had other uses too. But I can't deny that I thought she was impressive even as a kid. I admit that I admired her in the kind of a way that people admire the stars on dark but clear night, you don't exactly expect to interact or be admired back by said stars right? Except I was suddenly supposed to marry her, and she was supposed to have been long dead. " Naruto said.

Laura mouth opened slightly in disbelief, before she demanded. "Okay, explain that one!"

"As revenge for all the shinobi she killed from Kiri, the Hidden Mist forced her village to betray her and sent her on a diplomatic mission to the Land of Water to "sign" a supposed peace treaty or something, without any bodyguards. Like that doesn't sound suspicious at all. Once she was deep enough in the Land of Water's territory they turned her back into a kunai pincushion and left her for dead. She was exceedingly lucky that day, that Mei Terumi was in the area at the time and found her, saving her life. So when Mei as a Kage, decided to lead by example for her nation and declared she would personally marry me rather than subject any of her kunoichi to such a fate, Pakura pretty much volunteered to do the same if only to watch Mei's back. A loyal woman that one. Anyway, that's the story of my ten girlfriends, eleven if Hinata had survived, though I doubt she would have agreed to share me." Naruto said with a shrug.

Laura took up a thoughtful expression as she contemplated everything he had just said before finally asking. "Are they why you are so keen to return?"

Shaking his head in the negative Naruto said. "Not entirely. I didn't want to be tied up in political marriages or to be forced to resign from taking any missions except those that affected all ninja's and the world at large. But, it still happened regardless of my personal desires and for the sake of peace I rolled with the punches, adapting as I went along. Really, its kind of what ninja's do. However, just because I didn't want to be sidelined until a global threat showed up, didn't mean I wasn't going to prepare in case one did. Sasuke traveled to other dimensions cause he believed Kaguya, was actually preparing for war against some unknown enemy. Me, I took that time and trained like a maniac. I only had one arm after the war and I had to make up for a lot of lost skills somehow. In short, I came to take the responsibility of protector of the world seriously."

"I see. You wish to ensure the world is still safe." She again correctly figured out his intentions. Spending nearly every day with him for a month had made her quite proficient at this.

"Indeed, but also cause I have a blank spot in my memories and I know I can get some of the answers I want back home. Honestly, I would rather avoid going back, I am growing fond of Earth, it has good food, music, tons of knowledge and good people who desperately need protection. Still..." He trailed of.

"As you've said, you have a responsibility as a protector of the world that you take seriously. Its noble of you to go back after all the sacrifices you've made." Laura finally said.

"Even if I go back, I do intend to return here. With my, no with our kind of life span, we will watch them all die, both here and there." Naruto's face took on a complicated expression before he said "Laura, I don't want to be alone in life, if I asked you to, would you come with me?"

The question caught her completely off guard. Did he mean to leave Earth forever, but that couldn't be right. He'd just said, that he intended to return at some point. Could she just get up and leave, probably. She hadn't spent too much time with the New X-men and it wasn't the first time she had had to abandon people she was close to, their was Kiden Nixon and her cousin Megan.

However just the thought of never seeing them again left her reluctant to leave this universe, at least not without some sort of assurance that she would be able to return whenever she wanted. Before she could reply in any way however, both their enhanced hearing picked up pain filled screams and panicked cries nearby. Naruto used his right hand to brush some of her stray hairs from her eyes and said in a tone that ever increasingly serious. "Let's table this discussion for now. It seems we got work to do."

VvV

It took mere seconds for Naruto to cross the distance between where they had been sitting and where screams were coming from with Laura on his back. Unfortunately it was still too late for a handful of innocents. The green grass was stained red with the blood and flesh of nine victims, four of whom were already dead with their torso's ripped open, and in some cases their entire heads eaten by what had to have been a gigantic mouth.

One of the survivors was a man missing his left arm and a good chunk of his shoulder, he was left whimpering helplessly on the ground, half delirious with pain. Another victim was a lady who had claw marks across her stomach, as if some giant set of blades had tried to shred their way into her intestines. She was mercifully unconscious or she would be screaming her lungs out. Further to the side was another lady, she had been thrown into a tree violently enough that she ended up impaled by a branch through the right shoulder. She had blacked out from the blood loss but luckily had not tried to pull out the branch in her shoulder or she would've died in seconds.

A third woman who turned out to be a mother, had a nasty bruise across her forehead, that was leaking a little blood. She lay unconscious in front of her nine year old son who was crying for her to respond. She was also the least visibly injured person here, though he would need to do a deeper scan to figure out what was wrong with her. The final casualty was a man who had been brutally slashed across his face, losing both eyes in the process and part of his nose. Each of them would have horrific scars for life after this, both psychological and emotional.

It took Naruto nanoseconds to analyze the grizzly scene, a moment later he placed Laura down. Entering into what his ANBU subordinates had always called "Commander mode", Naruto pointed at the unconscious woman and the kid, before saying to Laura. "Check the woman and the kid, make sure they are alright and stand guard over them in case whatever did this tries to come back for a second round. Meanwhile I will get to healing everyone still alive, so if you pick up any scents alert me, I would rather not get caught off guard. Also don't pop your claws, we don't want anyone jumping to the illogical conclusion that we somehow did this. I'll deal with anything else that might pop until the authorities show up."

"Acknowledged." Laura replied before sprinting off to the unconscious woman and her crying child. The woman merely seemed to be unconscious, but she also had a child that needed protecting and Laura was perfect for the job. His job was to first stabilize and then heal everybody else. A lot of them had lost so much blood they were seconds away from death. Not that he would let any of them die on his watch.

Naruto immediately crossed his fingers in the shadow clone technique's seal, more out of nostalgia than necessity. Four identical copies of himself shimmered into existence, instead of exploding in puffs of smoke, as was traditional with this ninjutsu technique. A slight modification to the technique on Naruto's part for more stealthy operations.

His clones already had the knowledge of what he wanted them to do in their heads when they were created, so they immediately set out to fulfill their tasks. Sprinting towards the injured, Naruto's clones started stabilizing them with healing chakra. Meanwhile the original Naruto remained where he was, in case whatever created this massacre chose to rear its ugly head again. Figuring out exactly what had happened here would be the next step once everyone was healed, so till then he intended to keep an eye out with his Byakugan.

Not even a minute later Naruto's caution proved warranted. One second there had been nothing out of the ordinary in the park, and the next a new presence popped up from literally out of nowhere. It didn't stick around though, momentarily appearing and then disappearing again. But Naruto now knew that whatever did this was still around, and that it would likely be back.

With his Byakugan blazing at full power, the world around Naruto came alive with beautiful colors the human eye couldn't even see, and a clarity that would make even Eagles jealous. For up to 900 meters around him, everything was highlighted, as his eye peered through the EM spectrum, from Ultraviolet to deep Infrared and anything in between.

Yet for all the chaos, violence and terror he was saw around them, there was nothing, not a hint of whatever presence had just appeared to him seconds ago. Naruto had little doubt that the creature was the one responsible for killing the four people and injured the five others. In the split second he had managed to observe, he had witness its claws and teeth, as well as the fact it was drooling as if hungry. A common rule of the animal kingdom he was familiar with is that predators loved weak prey.

As he contemplated this, Naruto's Byakugan suddenly pulsed painfully and turned golden. For a split second, Naruto saw a vision of Laura torn in half at the waist. Her life blood and guts spilling all across the grassy floor, as her upper and lower body remained connected only by a few strings of flesh. Above her hovered a gigantic maw of razor sharp teeth and darkness, preparing gorge itself on her.

Naruto felt his blood freeze and his heart constrict as the vision faded, his body automatically turning, as his head swiveled around towards the girl he'd grown to love. Only for a gasp of horror to tear itself from his throat of its own accord, as he witnessed his vision beginning to come to pass. For standing behind her was the very creature responsible for this massacre.

It was mostly invisible, but Naruto could make out its rough form with the help of the Byakugan from the way the light shimmered around it like a heatwave. Its form was that of a dog or a bear, and in someways it reminded him of the silver predators he had destroyed in the Weapon-X Facility when he first met Laura, Julian and Cessily. One of those monsters, designated Predator X by ONE, had gotten away. Naruto doubted this creature was even remotely related to the Predator X project, though.

For one, this creature was a lot bigger than the Predator's, far closer in size to an Indian elephant. Secondly, it was invisible, the only truly visible parts of its body being its claws that were about the same size as Wolverine's but far thicker, like they belonged on a bear, its yellow eyes that seemed to fade in and out of existence every now and then, and its gaping maw. A maw filled with two rows of hundreds of razor sharp, 4 inch long teeth, that appeared to be built for shearing through flesh and bone like a saw. Teeth that were about to descend upon Laura and bisect her. Naruto did not think, he merely acted.

His usual finesse was completely abandoned as he deliberately tore through the sound barrier with a thunderous bang that rattled windows for kilometers around. In an instant he was besides Laura whose eyes widened at his sudden appearance. Still too shocked to even question why he was there, Laura had no time to react to him suddenly kicking her in the shoulder hard enough to send her skidding to the floor ten feet away.

Any protest she might have had to his violent actions died an instant later, when a massive maw filled with razor sharp teeth appeared and clamped down on Naruto's midsection. It was with dawning horror that she realized that something had been trying to eat her and Naruto had without a moments hesitation pushed or rather kicked her out of the way as it bit down, taking her place.

"Naruto!"

VvV

Laura's horrified scream, would've sent any curious bystanders running away at top speed, due to the sheer terror in it. For a moment she feared the worst, that some how that heroic idiot had been gravely injured because of her carelessness. Thankfully, Naruto was a lot better off than it first appeared, as he responded from where he was being held suspended in the creatures mouth, mid-air. "I'm okay Laura! I'll be fine, but I need you to protect the civilians. Get the lady and the kid away from us till I'm done with this stupid beast."

At the sound of his voice the cold hand that had that had clamped around her heart decided to finally let go so it could beat once more. The sight in front of her was as horrific and terror-inducing as it was inspiring. The invisible creatures razor sharp teeth were were creating clear indentations in Naruto skin as it bit down on him, but none of them were able to actually puncture his skin, much to Laura's relief. It was strange what opening your heart a little to someone else could do to you in a situation like this.

Instead of replying with words, Laura fell back on her training, relieved with the knowledge that Naruto was okay. Drawing six shuriken from her pouch, Laura quickly spaced them in her palms like Naruto had taught, and then with a flick sent all six into a guided flight towards the invisible creature. An instant later, she sprinted towards the mother and child who were far too close to Naruto and the mysterious creature for her liking and began dragging them away.

The Shuriken arrived at where she calculated the creatures head should have been judging by its two ember colored eyes on each side of its head. However instead impaling or even bouncing off of the creatures hide, they simply went through the space its head should have occupied, as if it wasn't even there. It was as if the only thing truly present was the mouth biting down on Naruto. This initially confused Laura but she relaxed a bit when she noticed Naruto, who was currently being shaken like a rag-doll in the creatures mouth, seemed to gain a look of understanding when he noticed what happened.

Part of her recently developed darker sense of humor, demanded she pull out a camera and start recording Naruto in such an undignified position. But the rest of her was either still in too much shock at what had just happened or worried about Naruto, who looked surprisingly unconcerned with his current predicament. Tossing aside these useless thoughts, Laura quickly set the still unconscious woman and her son down by a tree a few meters away Naruto and the monster.

The little boy screamed as he watched the invisible monster's jaws, chew on Naruto furiously with its rows of countless teeth, trying desperately to tear him apart and failing. Laura grimaced as she looked at the kid. Forget the boogeyman, this would forever haunt the boy as the monster under his bed. Yeah, the kid was going to need a lot of therapy after this.

Covering the boy's eyes, Laura pulled him into a hug while whispering. "Sssshh-sssh-ssh-ssssshhh! Do not worry young one. That man will be alright, he's a superhero and he wont let that thing hurt you or your mother. I promise you that." Much to her relieve, it seemed that just talking to the hysterical child calmed him down quite a bit. However she still needed to aid Naruto somehow, so he could get free of the invisible creature.

Her Adamantium claws could probably cut through its jaw bone and teeth, enough to free him so he could take it down. However she'd have to do that in a way that didn't put the civilians she was protecting at risk, or let the child in her arms see any more of that monster. Seeing as it would cause him further psychological trauma, which was the last thing a 9 year old needed.

Laura was surprised to find herself reluctant to rush to Naruto's aide if it meant leaving the kid behind and forcing him to be further traumatized by the sight of the monster. Especially when Naruto wasn't even really being hurt by the creature, due to his regeneration and turning his skin tougher than steel. It was unfair how many powers he had, thankfully Naruto solved his own conundrum.

"Alright, enough of this! Laura, get in front of the civilians and brace yourself." He yelled, reminding her of one their training sessions over the past couple weeks, even as she moved to obey the order. Any commands to brace yourself, tended to be followed up by shockwaves when it came to Naruto.

VvV

As soon as Laura did what he'd instructed, acting as a human shield for the unconscious mother and child, Naruto unleashed an omni-directional blast of Lightning Release chakra inside the creatures mouth. It reacted with a screech of pain, due its mouth remaining materialized in this reality, allowing it to process pain. Before it could do anything else, Naruto unleashed a shockwave of pure chakra that loosened the monsters jaw from around his body for just a moment. It was all Naruto needed to escape.

The second his feet touch the ground, Naruto spun around to engage the creature in combat with a sneer, he was less than pleased at having to be its chew toy for the last minute and half. It attempted to dematerialize and hide in whatever dimension it came from, but two strong hands clamped down on its upper and lower jaws, with an iron grip that it simply could not free itself from.

A vicious grin spread across Naruto's face as he attempted a reenaction of the biblical story of Samson and a certain Lion, tearing the entire creature's mandible completely off with a single jerk. He wasn't done however. With his left hand still maintaining a firm grip on the creatures upper jaw so it couldn't go anyway, Naruto flexed his right arm and his twin bone claws shot out from between his knuckles. Naruto momentarily winced at the pain, not entirely used to his claws yet.

For the most part they still looked unimpressive, at least when compared to Laura and Logan's claws that were laced in the indestructible Adamantium alloy and sharpened to a monomolecular edge. However with the Omni-matrix seal connecting his severed chakra pathways to the rest of his recently regrown right arm, Naruto had added additional seals onto his bone claws themselves. Seals that would specifically allow him to channel his chakra through them, as if streaming Elemental Chakra through a weapon. Thus turning what had once been simple bone claws into incredibly versatile and absolutely lethal weapons, that would not set off metal detectors at airports, like Laura and Logan did.

A field of translucent green energy shot out along the lengths of each claw before spreading beyond that and solidifying into two wind blades. His chakra reorganizing the atoms and molecules in the air by size and number of orbiting electron, so that the smallest formed the tip of the blade and the rows behind it were filled with bigger and more complex gases, held in place by chakra. Naruto ended up with a blade of energy that was on par with any monomolecular blade, plus the green energy visibly glowing around his claws looked cool as hell. This was only what happened when he used wind release chakra, other types had other effects and Naruto could use a lot of different types of chakra.

There were very few things in the world wind enhanced weaponry could not cut, and this creature was not among them. Jabbing straight up through what was left of the monsters mouth, his wind blades pierced through the soft pallet of the roof of the creatures mouth and straight into its brain. With a whimper the invisible monster died and he pulled his blade out of it with a sickening shlick sound.

No longer holding it in place so it couldn't shift itself back to its native dimension, the dead creature somehow dematerialized. Its black blood however, remained on his arm, shoulder and face where it unknowingly to him, gave him a rather menacing appearance. Ignoring the blood on him Naruto turned to Laura and said. "Be on your guard, there may be more."

She nodded and asked. "What was that thing?"

"I don't know, but its physical body is in another dimension. It only becomes tangible to attack, our only opportunity to counter is in that moment. The real challenge right now however is to figure out whether that was only one of these creatures or if there are more." Naruto explained. The thing reminded him of Obito, except Obito was about a million times more cautious with how he used his abilities, and was not limited to just attacking from his kamui dimension. He could phase through you if you ever got a grip on him, or better yet teleport you into Kamui to deal with you there.

"Ah, Naruto." Laura's tone as she spoke up, drew Naruto from his memories of Obito Uchiha. It immediately stood out to him, that with his ambiguous luck and that nervous tilt to her voice, this could only mean one thing.

"There's another one right behind me isn't there?" Naruto asked, an answer all but confirmed when a hot, steamy, foul smelling breath washed over his back and neck. Okay, he would definitely need a shower after this.

"Two actually, I can smell them." She corrected to his surprise.

"Well, then. I better say hi." Naruto said with an almost cheery grin as he ducked under the clawed appendage of one the monsters and back handed the other so hard, the crack of its neck snapping was heard in both dimensions.

The surviving creature tried to lunge and bite him, but Naruto caught it by its gaping maw once again. The force of its charge enough for him to create two 10 ft long furrows in the ground before he finally stopped it. At first it looked liked he was going to tear this one's jaw off like he did to the first one. That changed when while his right and left arm held its mouth open, two chakra arms sprouted from his side and collected energy into a super-mini tailed beast ball, before tossing it down the creatures gullet and forcefully shutting its mouth. With a grin Naruto said. "Choke on this?"

There was no spectacular explosion of fire and innards as Naruto expected, at least not in this dimension. On the other side however, there was no doubt an impressive shower of blood, bone, guts and dismembered limbs flying everywhere. Lucky him, he technically wasn't anywhere near the creature when it went boom, seeing as they were separated by a whole dimension.

VvV

Anya Sofia Corazon was horrified by the scene she was bearing witness to. Their was chaos everywhere as civilians ran backwards and forwards screaming, and the police where nowhere in sight. Four dead bodies, multiple severed limbs and internal organs on grass, as well as a truly unhealthy amount of blood staining the ground of the little park crimson. At the center of it all was a young man with a menacing demeanor, scarlet hair and clothes covered in dirt and a black tar-like substance. All in all one terrifying looking motherfucker.

She had been randomly passing through the neighborhood in her superhero persona, Araña, when she heard the screams begin. At first it hadn't seemed like much of a concern till a shockwave of energetic air overwhelmed her spider-senses and nearly made her faceplant into a building while she was roof hopping.

Deciding to investigate she came upon the scene of this villainous looking man and a couple of copies of himself standing over five grievously wounded individuals with his right hand stretched out over them. A green energy field was shooting from his hands to the people below them and she had to watch in horror as wherever the field touched, flesh bubbled and twisted and shifted in unnatural ways. Thus she didn't think about what she was doing she merely punched, specifically the one covered in the black tar-like substance. He was mostly likely the leader.

The impact of her punch was impressive sounding, perhaps too impressive, she realized a second later. The Scarlet haired man's head exploding into cloud of smoke, sawdust and splinters as he was suddenly replaced with a ruined log. 'Where the fuck did a log come from?' She wondered to herself.

Caught completely off guard by this turn of events, Anya had no time to even react when the Scarlet haired fiend reappeared directly behind her and simply swept her of her feet with a light kick to her ankles. As she tilted over backwards, her feet swept into the air so she would land on her back, she prepared to counterattack, only for a paper tag to lazily float down onto her forehead from the fiend's outstretched hand. The minute it touched her forehead, Anya froze.

It was not of her own volition, yet she was completely unable to so much as twitch anything below the neck. She watched helplessly as black tribal markings materialized all over her body, restraining her even before she fully hit the ground. Then for one terrifying moment, she found herself complete at the mercy of the scarlet haired monster and wondered if he would use his despicable green glowy powers to warp her flesh into some unspeakable horror or worse. Do the unthinkable to her in her helpless state.

"So, what your problem kid? Its not polite to just randomly attack people you know." The young man she had attacked asked in lazy drawl, sounding more amused than anything and nothing like she thought he would. He had a sexy voice, she was willing to admit, even if she had no intention of giving him the satisfaction of a reply, despite how thoroughly he'd defeated her. However after a few seconds of silence, he simply shrugged and moved back towards the injured man he had been standing over before, saying. "The strong silent type huh? Well, I'll play with you after I finish stabilizing this poor fellow here. We wouldn't want him to die of blood loss now would we? Someone already screwed up his day big time."

"Stabilizing? You don't mean? Oh god!" Anya felt sick as his words suddenly clicked in her head and her understanding of this entire scene shattered into a thousand pieces. Suddenly a very different scene was being painted here, one in which she was the villain. Anya hadn't exactly asked what the scarlet haired young man was doing or even taken more than a second to observe him. She'd merely seen the end result of the massacre and that he was covered in the black tar-like substance that made him look all villainy, before she attacked. If he was healing these people, then that meant she was indirectly threatening all of their lives by attacking him, their healthcare provider.

Thoughts like, 'would he believe me if I told him that this was a misunderstanding' and 'I attacked because he looked menacing, would that fly in court. I can't afford to be sued.' passed through her head at blistering pace. As Araña was wondering how she was going to get out of this mess, she suddenly heard the scarlet haired man clicking his teeth, as well as mutter under his breath. "Tch! Do heroes not know how to simply ask questions?"

BOOOOOM!

VvV

Carol Danvers aka Ms. Marvel frowned at the young man before her. A casual swipe of his right hand to the side was all it had taken kick up a gust with enough force to blow aside the spray of dirt from explosion she had created a moment ago. She had fired off to the side with her photon blasts, as a mere warning shot, but it was still impressive and concerning that he could so casually clear the air of dust. His right hand was also glowing a luminous purple with similar markings to the ones that were currently restraining her former protege, Araña.

Carol wasn't sure why Araña was here, however her job as registered hero and Avenger took precedence over the Restraining Order Anya's father had taken out on her, due to the whole incident with Doomsday-man. She would simply have to explain this interaction as a happy coincidence and that people lives where at stake during this whole incident. She couldn't be blamed for violating her restraining order if that was the case right?

Ms. Marvel had gotten word through her secret contacts, some aggressive interrogation and Machine-man's resources that AIM was planning something today. She'd only gotten a location a few minutes ago when a bunch of fires, accidents and AIM terrorists attacks occurred all at once, across New City and every registered hero available mobilized to contain them. There were so many disasters simultaneously occurring that emergency services were tied up and SHIELD was volunteering personnel to help deal with the problem. Which left her and a few members of Operation Lightning Storm to figure out what was really going on.

At the time, her instincts and military training told Carol that the disasters were nothing but distractions and that their was more to what was going on. So following her gut she had had Machine-man triangulate each location on a New York sized map. Cross checking map locations and all relevant information she had on various sudden incidents that had sprung up in the last hour, she then had a search run for locations which were unusually quiet where there should have been activity, as well as other likely targets for an AIM terror operation. Carol's instincts proved correct when she got a hit and Machine-man discovered a communication dead-zone. After that she rushed here as soon as possible. They didn't have the man power to spare anyone else.

Unfortunately Carol only arrived at the tail end of whatever trouble her former protege had managed to walk into. Which in this case meant watching her try to clock this redhead's lights out, only for him to be replaced with a log and almost casually restrain her. If not for the Restraining Order barring Carol from being within 30 meters of Anya Corazon, she would have dragged the adorable little spider powered girl back into training, and kept her in their till she could hold her own against Wonderman at least.

Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Carol focused on more pressing matters, like the fact that Anya hadn't freed herself yet. Considering Araña had enough physical strength, even in that state to carry about roughly 3 tons, Carol found it concerning that she couldn't move. Furthermore seeing Anya so helpless caused Ms. Marvel's motherly protectiveness to rise within her. Which was why she had fired that warning shot off to the side to get the Redhead's attention in the first place.

Carol took special note of how the boy in his late teens or early twenties and his copies, did not even flinch in surprise or fear at the warning shot or her presence. She wasn't exactly weak or an unknown hero, and most people when confronted by her would at least be wary, Superhuman or not. Speaking up she declared in dangerous but authoritarian tone. "This is your one and only warning Red, let Araña go and step away from those people."

"I can't do that last bit. Cause if I step away from them right now, they will die." The newly nicknamed Red replied, even as he made a strange gesture with one hand and all the marks on Anya simply disappeared. He did not however stop whatever it was he was doing to the injured man on of the floor and Carol was half tempted to blast him for it.

The fact that the whole scene including him looked like something out of a horror show, that they were in a communication dead zone, that AIM was somehow involved in all this and that he was projecting a field of green energy from his hands at the injured individuals, was all suspicious. The last part because of how the flesh of the injured, bubbled and twisted in a way that was completely unnatural and creeped her out. Ordinarily she would have immediately punched him, blasted him or perhaps both, but for once Ms. Marvel restrained herself.

It wasn't that she was a violent person or that she was too dumb to investigate and analyze a situation properly as she was sometimes depicted in the media. No, she had received training by the United States Air Force, then with the CIA, NASA and the Avengers. She was in fact very intelligent and competent at her job, she just tend to approach most matters as a soldier rather than a superhero or detective. Like now. "Are you threatening-"

She was interrupted when Red immediately denied this and replied. "No, you misunderstand Ms. Marvel. What I'm saying is that they will literally die if I step away from them. These poor people have already lost a lot of blood and your sidekick here didn't help this one by attacking me when she did, probably shaved a few days from his life. I need to regrow his arm, shoulder and a chunk of his ribs, oh and missing right lung."

"You're saving him." She finally said, she could see it now. The bulging, twisting, bubbling mass of flesh, blood and skin had spread over to where his arm used to be and was slowly growing back a new limb. It was as horrific to watch as it was effective.

"Yes. Now can I concentrate, this isn't exactly easy, ya know." Red said a little crankily.

For a short while Carol allowed him to work in silence as he healed the injured. Sometimes he or one of his copies would pick up a severed limb or some exposed entrails or an organ that had been ripped out of one of the people before using it as added biomass to regrow whatever was missing. It was grizzly work yet he went at it with a dedication she had only seen in battlefield medics, never once flinching from the gore.

Finally out of a mix of boredom and an appreciation for the sheer usefulness someone with this guys abilities and work ethic would be to the 50 State Initiative, she asked. "Are you registered? You can't go around doing superhero work if you are not registered Mister."

The kid actually paused for a second before looking straight up at her and saying. "Are you actually suggesting that I let people who are grievously injured and lying right in front of me die when I am fully capable of saving them, simply because I may or may not be registered. Cause if your answer is yes, I would honestly be impressed, that would take some serious balls. Of course I would also promptly lose any and all respect for you as a superhero." Naruto finished with an a chuckle.

Shaking her head Carol replied. "No, its obvious that whatever you're doing is helping and we do this for the sake of civilians. However when you are done here, we need to sort you out. You're doing good work here and healing abilities are immensely useful, but you look a little on the young side. You need to be registered and the 50 State Initiative can offer you training, funding and a decent support system, Red. We can also-"

Raising his hand for her to stop, he replied. "Okay, let me stop you right there Miss Marvelous. I've been doing this for 15 years, and yeah, I know I look a little on the young side of things but I started out pretty young. Any training you have to offer is appreciated but utterly unnecessary."

"Did you just call me Miss Marvelous." Carol asked incredulously. It was not nearly close to the worst thing she had been called, even today. That said, she couldn't help but feel like she was being teased by this young man and she didn't like it.

His smile seemed to brighten at her question as he replied. "What? You like it? It suits you, after all you are pretty Marvelous looking. Besides you already gave me a pet-name its only fair I give you one in return."

"Gah!"Carol grumbled in frustration. She felt herself lightly blushing at the young man's reasoning and a part of her wanted to blast the Scarlet haired stud right there and then. Instead she settled for a groan, knowing that somehow she was officially Miss Marvelous to him. At least, he seemed to like being called Red, as little as she liked being called Miss Marvelous.

As if he hadn't even noticed her reaction the redhead continued saying. "As for support and funding, I'm a mutant, so I am pretty sure I am registered in some government database somewhere Miss Marvelous. Plus the X-men got all my other needs covered."

Frowning at the mention of the X-men, they were her friends and it would be relatively easy to confirm what this young mutant was saying from either Scott or O.N.E, if it was the truth. However, she wasn't stupid, claiming to be a mutant was a rather easy way for a superhuman to dodge registration when caught in the act of using their powers without a superhero license. It's why she wanted confirmation, and for that she would need to take him to Avenger's H.Q, downtown.

Well she didn't really need to go that far, it would just be faster due to Avenger's tower having access to any Database she needed. Plus they would need to move anyway to communicate with the outside world due to the communication dead-zone still active here. With a nod she responded. "I see. I will still need you to come with me for verification though, you could after all be lying and simply claiming you are a mutant to get out of being a super-powered unregistered, illegally using their powers."

Red suddenly looked nervous, shifting his head from left to right slightly as if in thought before replying. "Sorry I can't do that. You see, O.N.E assigns agents to us whenever we go out to ensure we are protected, and I wanted to have a private conversation with a girl I like so we snuck out. If I go back with you and you log into their database to verify my registration, they will know something is up, which will lead back to me, and then everything will suddenly become much more troublesome."

"While I sympathize with your problems and its good to be young and in love, that's not going to cut it Red." Carol said with a tone of false sympathy. Even if everything Red had just said was true, which she didn't entirely believe it was. This quite frankly wasn't her problem. She had a job to do and Carol Danvers was determined to see it done.

"Oh come on, you're supposed to be the Hero here, specifically the one that everyone marvel's at." Red's pun made Carol's eyebrow twitch. Just for that he could forget about getting her to look the other way, she had been feeling inclined to hear him out and perhaps even figure out a way to stay in contact with him, without involving Stark and SHIELD. Perhaps even recruit him in future, heaven knew that they needed a medic with all the injuries they took on Operation Lightning Storm. Now though, now she would drag him back to Avenger's tower and march him in handcuffs right passed the Paparazzi she would anonymously call, just for that little comment. "Can't you cut a guy a little slack? I did save the lives of everyone here."

On the other hand he did have a point, with the critical condition everyone was in and no communication in the area, no ambulances could get here in time to save these lives. Without him they were all as good as dead. But what had he saved them from and was it still out there? AIM was supposed to be around here somewhere, and he was technically a suspect. "Maybe, but from what."

"3 creatures, with a canine-like build. At least 9ft high at the shoulder and teeth and claws sharp enough to rip a man to shreds." He promptly responded.

"And where are these creatures now?" She asked curiously about these creatures that had caused so much devastation, she wasn't exactly seeing any evidence of them. It hadn't even been twenty minutes since the location went dark yet nine people had fallen victim to something here, 4 of them were dead and the rest barely clinging to life. She needed to know everything about this incident for her report.

"In another dimension." He responded making her growl, at the convenient excuse he had just given.

Sighing to release some frustration she said. "Look Red, you've done a good job here so I am wavering my punch first and ask question later rule here. However, even if I were to simply believe that everything you just said was the gospel truth, I would have to be an incompetent idiot when it comes to my job if I just let you go like that without proof of everything. I am sure you can see how these creature's being in another dimension complicates that."

"But its the truth, and there is plenty of evidence that you could find in the environment, if you stop contaminating the scene with your energy blast." Red protested.

"Even so. You're my prime suspect as of this moment, and until you are not, I can't just let you go." Ms. Marvel insisted.

"Is there really no way we can settle this quietly without me having to go with you." Red pleaded.

Shaking her head Carol replied. "No, and I am at the limit of my patience for the day."

VvV

"Well, I guess it can't be helped. I'm sorry for this." Naruto said as he promptly sidestepped a Photon blast from Ms. Marvel, his clones in an instant jumped at her to retaliate. But with expert efficiency she fired a series of weaker blasts in a burst of rapid-fire that nailed all but one of them like some expert gunslinger.

That remaining clone on the other hand was caught around the ankle by Araña who'd intercepted it in an impressive burst of speed and then smacked it into the ground hard enough for it pop. It was as far as any onlookers were concerned now a two against one battle, and Naruto looked like he was at the disadvantage. Naruto however knew better, looks could be deceiving after all. First of all the duo were actually too weak to beat him in a straight fight even if they worked together, at least as long Ms. Marvel didn't charge up on enough energy. Secondly, Naruto was not alone.

As Araña circled and then tried to come at him from a different angle, she was suddenly tackled right into a nearby pond by Laura whom up until that moment had remained hidden, using her newly trained ninja stealth. Ms. Ms. Marvel moved to go and help the spider hero, but before she could Naruto intercepted her and said. "Laura wont hurt your friend, she's just keeping her from recklessly getting in between a fight involving two professional soldiers."

"You look a little young to be calling yourself a soldier, Red." Ms. Marvel said with an accusing glare and hint of gratitude for not involving Araña any further.

"Like I said, I started out pretty young. Is there honestly nothing we can say that would convince you to leave us in peace. We were just out relaxing together in the park when a bunch of creatures started attacking everyone. Me and Laura were trying to help, we even destroyed these creatures and started healing people when you two showed up." Naruto explain while sidestepping a weak photon blast, she was pulling her punches it seemed.

Ducking under another weak blast and cartwheeling away from a third, Naruto leaped towards a nearby tree before spring-boarding off of it and onto the top of an old Lantern post, while saying. "Stop doing that. You are contaminating the scene by blasting up geyser's of dirt and dust every time you miss me."

"If you'd hold still for a for half a seconds, I am absolutely positive I could accommodate your request, Red." Ms. Marvel retorted with a hint sarcasm in her tone, though she did stop shooting at him, for the moment at least. Naruto could feel the frustration bubbling underneath her skin via his empathy and knew he had to resolve things fast before she really got serious about taking him down.

Smirking Naruto said. "No can do, Miss Marvelous. I am not allowed to willingly be captured by an enemy combatant. Well, I don't really consider you an enemy but you're still an unknown."

Raising an eyebrow the flying superheroine replied. "So are you, which is why I would like to take you in peacefully. It will just be a few minutes of your time and if everything you said checks out, you can be on your merry way."

Sigh in great reluctance at knowledge that he would not be able to talk the woman out of taking him and Laura to their H.Q. Well he could have if he really put in his full effort, but a part of him wanted this fight, wanted this chance to blow off a little steam after being cooped up for so long in the mansion without a single word from Dr. Richards on the status of his home universe. But just a part, fighting an Avenger could cause him unnecessary problems down the line, then again, this whole incident was bound to cause him problems down the line.

It might have seemed like he was just being unnecessarily stubborn, in not wanting to go with Ms. Marvel, and a part of him was. However, Beast had informed him that O.N.E only had a limited idea of what he could really do, with only Director Valerie Cooper being let in on some of the finer details. There was a reason why had fought the Senior X-men in that exercise weeks ago, in that specific way.

If O.N.E knew what he could actually do, they would be frothing at the mouth, and that wasn't even considering the other organizations that would come after him. He knew could beat them, he just didn't want to deal with the hassle.

To that end, if he was linked to this incident then O.N.E and by extension due to there shitty data security, numerous other organizations would take a far closer look at him than he wanted. Having his registration confirmed at Avenger's H.Q or some SHIELD facility would undoubtedly trigger warnings in O.N.E's database and thrust him into the spotlight all of a sudden. And that was not even considering how mad, the X-men and Director Cooper would be at him, after all their efforts to help him keep a low profile.

So to say that he felt like he was in between a rock and hard places, wasn't that inaccurate. Finally with tired sigh, Naruto said. "I guess we are at an impasse then Marvelous." His muscles tensed slightly in preparation for combat that they both knew was coming. He might as just enjoy the release of battle, but he would have to be gentle with Ms. Marvel, she was a good guy after all.

"Yes, it seems so Red. At least until I beat you unconscious and drag you back to H.Q anyway." Ms. Marvel replied as her muscles mimicking his own, yet neither moved to attack.

"Hoh? I've seen all kinds of footage, of you battling different villains from back in the day, your creativity and efficiency in the use of your fighting style and the usage of your abilities, has only improved minimally since then. You are not nearly good enough to take me down." Naruto taunted confidently, it was a bluff. Naruto didn't know the limits of what Ms. Marvel could or could not do, other than that she liked to punch things and shoot energy blasts at anything that pissed her off.

That said, pissing off your enemy so that they made mistakes was basic psychological warfare and judging by the fact that Ms. Marvel actually growled at him, with a look that promised pain. Naruto was willing to say he succeed, at least in pissing her off.

"I am going to make you eat those words Red." She replied darkly.

"I'd be happy to humor you sometime but not here. Looks like the kids are done, and my teammate as expected won. We will be leaving now." He said nodding his towards where Laura and stood dripping wet and victorious over the unconscious body of Araña whom she had choked out so as to avoid a prolonged and dangerous fight.

Back flipping off his spot on top of lamppost as it exploded into dozens half melted shards, he watched as Ms. Marvel clenched her fist and responded. "As if I would let you go after what you just said."

"And who said anything about you being able to stop me?" Naruto asked, taunting her further. The results was not something he anticipated.

Instead of responding Carol simply took aim at the quickly approaching X-23, and before she could even react in surprise, fired a powerful photon blast that tore right through Laura's gut. It was a move so out of place that for moment Naruto simply froze in shock, unable to process what had just happened.

Something dark and icy washed over him, as for just a second he considered half a dozen methods to kill Ms. Marvel right there and then, with each method progressively more painfully than the last. Naruto fought off the temptation almost as soon as he felt it, and an instant later he forced himself into a calm state with a few deep breaths, before saying in an almost detached tone. "That was uncalled for Marvelous. Shooting a teenager through the gut, isn't very hero-like."

"She can heal." Carol replied not very concerned by her actions.

"I see. And how did you jump to that conclusion?" He asked.

Frowning at him the superheroine responded. "We are not idiots Res. The existence and appearance of Wolverine's daughter is well known to SHIELD and by extension the Avenger's. Admittedly we don't know much more than that, but her file has enough to identify her on sight, if you bothered to go through it. I also tend to visit the Xavier Institute so I've seen her before. The real question is who the bloody hell are you?"

"You will find out soon enough. You see, I don't like hurting girls and I am a bit of a fan of yours but you just hurt someone I care about and I cant let that slide." Naruto said darkly, blasting her with a trickle of killing intent.

Showing her fortitude Carol bore it with little problem and asked with a tone of disbelief. "Are you threatening me?"

To this Naruto merely smiled a somewhat sad-looking smile, and instead of responding to her question simply replied. "I am sorry about this."

"What are yo-" Ms. Marvel never even got to complete her sentence before Naruto shot forward. He moved so fast that to Carol it looked like he suddenly teleported right in front of her. One second he was over a dozen meters away and the next he was right there, in front of her. Instincts took over and she swung at him with a right hook that would've clocked him in the cheek and sent him sprawling, that is if Naruto hadn't been trying to force this exact movement out of her.

With an incredible showing of agility, Naruto ducked under the blow at the last second while throwing three smoke-bombs over his shoulder, one of them at her face while the other two hit her shoulders, bounced and fell to either side of her. In the same motion he used a spinning sidestep that took him completely around blonde superheroine, to her back.

Thwack!

The meaty sound of his palm slapping the Mighty Ms. Marvel on her right ass-cheek...hard, was quite literally heard throughout the entire park. Maybe even beyond that. Still, it served its purpose.

"Kyaaaaaaaaa!" The high pitched sound left Carol Danvers's mouth of its own volition. In a state of shock from Naruto's actions, Ms. Marvel didn't even react when at that exact moment, the smoke-bomb Naruto had thrown at her face, half a second ago landed right in her mouth and promptly detonated simultaneously with the other two smoke-bombs on the ground.

In seconds the entire area was enveloped in thick black smoke hiding Naruto and Ms. Marvel from sight, the only sign of either of them being there was the sound of Carol hacking and coughing, as she desperately tried to get the smoke out of her lungs. To help her along, Naruto gripped her red sash which he had grabbed right after slapping her ass and yanked hard enough to throw the stumbling and wheezing blonde off her feet and onto her back. Then before she even knew what was happening, he raised his foot above his head in a heel-drop kick and said. "Heavenly Foot of Pain."

The ground shook with the forcefulness of a seismic even and the smokescreen covering them parted in a ferocious shockwave of energy that bowled over bystanders that had come to investigate. Still, for all the power of the kick Tsunade Senju was infamous for, it didn't look like it had done much damage to Ms. Marvel. Then again, Naruto wasn't trying to hurt her but rather force the air out of her lungs, he knew she was durable enough to take it, having watched her fight plenty of villains in online videos. That said, short of breath she wouldn't be able to pursue them immediately, giving him the opportunity to retreat at will. But first he needed to make something clear to the blond woman.

"Wow, you've got some decent durability there Marvelous. Its one thing to see it in online videos and another to field test it first hand. Enhanced musculature and not even a cracked rib, there is no questioning your toughness, I gotta respect that. Still what you are currently feeling are a pair of collapsed lungs. Allow me to re-inflate them." Naruto said far too cheerfully as his right hand glowed once more with ethereal seals and he changed his chakra to wind nature and guided clean air through her nose and into her lungs. Almost immediately, he felt his control over the air wavering as Ms. Marvel's body started absorbing his chakra.

With a frown Naruto said. "Your body is absorbing my energy, its making this whole process take a lot longer than I would like. Thankfully its also using that energy to heal you...slowly. Honestly, it would be faster to just give you mouth to mouth but I am pretty damn sure you would try to tear off my head. Might be worth the risk." Naruto joked as he grinned at her a little lecherously making Carol Danvers glare at him. Raising his hand in surrender Naruto said. "Fine, fine. I will shut up now, besides I am just about done. Me and Laura will be leaving and you can chase us if you want, but you wont. We are both heroes and soldiers, you are duty bound to make sure the civilians are okay, I'm sure when your people are done scouring the crime scene for evidence you will find the black blood of the monsters and realize that what we had here was just a misunderstanding and that there really was another enemy that I stopped. I'll see you around sometime Marvelous and next time we fight. Lets keep it between you and me, okay. Hurting people I care about tends to brings out all the worst parts of me."

Naruto with that final comment walked off while Carol glared at his back. She still had enough power to hit him with a photon blast to the back of the head but it felt like doing so would be cheating. Oh, she intended to make him pay for all the humiliation he'd heaped on her here, but now was not the time. For now, she needed to figure out what had happened here. Naruto had at least been honest that this was not their fault.

VvV

Location: Gaea's Sanctuary, Core of the Earth!

"Your latest champion is developing at an impressive rate Gaea." A woman with long locks of hair that shone as bright as starlight and multi-colored eyes that shifted like a kaleidoscope spoke up in the palace of crystals, gold and light. The form she took was one she kept from human eyes, lest they be quite literally be blinded by her beauty and majesty. Her name or rather the name she had been using most for the last million years was Oshtur the Omnipotent, and that tittle at the end wasn't thrown in for kicks.

Oshtur just so happened to be the twin sister of the lazy cow lounging on her favorite couch, in the Palace dedicated by the greatest supernatural smiths to the Elder gods, as a place for them to kick back and relax every now and then. This palace that was now considered Gaea's property, looked nothing like what you would expect from the Goddess of Life and Rebirth.

There were no plants anywhere, at least not plants made out of anything as ordinary as wood or even organic material. What potted flowers were present in the palace, were more made from pure Light, luminous crystals, even anti-matter. They were ancient flora that had gone extinct over a billion years ago, preserved only here.

A sea of silver-white lava bubbled beyond the palace and within it floated diamonds of all sorts of colors the size of three story buildings. Above them, where the sky would usually be, lay a crystal clear sea of water that constantly changed colors like light being filtered through a prism. Within it swam all kinds of aquatic creatures, while giant dragons lazily flew beneath the sea. For all that, not even a drop of water ever fell from the sea into the sky below, much less reach the palace even further down.

The palace itself was furnished with every precious mineral and gem that the gods and mortals had ever considered beautiful. Intricate designs where carved into the walls and furniture, enchanted to move and depict ancient stories legends at a thought, a form of entertainment for the Elder goddess or her guests. Any two meter squared area of the palace you randomly picked was so expensive that even Kings and Billionaires wouldn't be able to foot the bill to attempt to replicate that particular piece.

And that wasn't even considering the palace's futuristic design and the impressive array of divine power and magical runes, as well as the engineering that went into building the Palace. It was after all, a sanctuary for Elder gods to relax and in Oshtur's humble opinion, an Alter to Gaea's ego.

From a sofa of purple fur, that had once been the pelt of some mystical creature, the goddess in question replied. "Naruto is more of a reckless adopted child, than my chosen Champion, dearest sister. Not that I do not have a vested interest in his development. After all, he has a great role to play in the Destiny of all my children or he wouldn't be here."

The Elder goddess of the Earth's sister continued let her presence radiate and suffuse the palace in silence for a moment before quietly saying. "You are playing god-maker again."

Gaea frowned at her sister whose skin was a dark creamy brown so rich it created a delicious contrast to her radiant hair and eyes. Giving an exasperated sigh at the accusation of the Goddess of the Eastern Star she replied. "The boy already has divinity within him, I'm just making a path for him to ascend that's a little more gentle than normal should he ever need it. However he has to choose it for himself, once Naruto crosses that line he won't ever be able to go back to being human, not that he's much of one right now. I swear upon our father, its only for in case he ever chooses to become a god, I promise I am not forcing him to do anything. He is powerful and ruthless enough for the job, he just needs to first survive the world of the gods and the many things that can and will try to destroy him before he is ready."

"And that's why you pulled the strings of Fate so he would encounter those amongst your children who would help him survive long enough." Oshtur asked with a small glare. She didn't like how much her sister sometimes messed with the mortals that the Vishanti worked so hard to protect. Of course Gaea technically had more claim to them, seeing as she was the one sustaining them all. Still, her sister could be a pain in the ass on some days.

Shrugging in response Gaea responded. "Someone had to guide 'The Killer' towards him when he was trapped in that mortal facility."

"And now, don't tell me its just a happy coincidence that he's encountered both 'The Soldier' and 'The Assassin", is it?" Oshtur accused her more playful sister.

"Believe it or not Ostara, I had nothing to do with The Assassin. That actually was a happy coincidence." Gaea defended with grin.

"Yet you brought 'The Soldier' to him. His bond with 'The Killer' is barely formed and you wish to make his life even more complicated. He can't even protect her, and she doesn't yet have any of the benefits of their bond, cause your so called reckless son is still deluding himself about his future. You haven't even told him what has happened to his people yet, have you?" Oshtur yelled.

Raising a finger, the playful mother goddess replied. "Admittedly not my best work on that first point. But, Naruto will find out soon, and he will need those women to stand besides him."

Taking a deep breath in an effort to calm herself down, Oshtur pinched the bridge of her nose as she said. "Even if that's the case, his encounter with the soldier has done nothing positive for him and is in fact detrimental to him forming a bond with her. But I know you sister, you wouldn't have made this move without good reason. You are playing a dangerous game Gaea, however I wont interfere."

"And I appreciate that sister, really, I do. As for the Soldier, he will get another shot at her and this time I wont give them any nudges, I promise. Is that good enough for you." Gaea tried to assure her irate twin. The two of them used to be inseparable and get along so well, until Oshtur decided to explore the universe some 5 billion years ago. Their brother's all going crazy hadn't helped the situation much either.

Speaking of their deranged siblings Oshtur replied. "Yes, that will do for now. Tell me though, what do you intend to do about our brothers. They too have their eyes on your adopted child, they will draw him to where your powers will not reach and then they will use him to come one step closer to returning to this reality and destroying Earth before spreading across the universe. Perhaps it is time to recall Atum from his resting place in the sun. The god-eater will drive them back again for sure."

"Their is no need to call my oldest boy in to deal with his uncles." Gaea casually state, neither of them were too worried about their siblings. Not so long as Atum the Godeater continued to be Earth's loyal bodyguard against rogue elder gods. Even then their were contingency plans in place to deal with an Elder god threat in the event that Atum was unavailable. Atum was just the most efficient and guaranteed solution, plus it meant the elder goddesses wouldn't have to step into battle themselves. Still...

"What in Infinity's name do you mean by that dear sister?" Oshtur demanded. Despite everything she knew and had planned for in case of such an event, Gaea seemed to have plans of her own. Plans the greedy bitch was keeping to herself, and she needed to know about those plans if she hoped to make sure Gaea didn't screw up this situation and cause some kind of calamity for mankind.

"I have seen Naruto's memories, even some of the ones he has forgotten and I've come to believe in the child. Naruto is worthy, he will endure the worst the world can throw at him and bring about a shinning victory. It is his destiny." Gaea declared, her words backed by the full weight of her divinity as if to etch them into reality itself. Her confidence in Naruto was quite frankly astonishing and Oshtur considered looking into the boy himself. He had to be something to catch so many of the Elder Gods interest's.

"For the sake's of all those precious mortals you are always watching over Mother-of-All, I really hope you are right about this." She warned. She would definitely keep an eye out on this child.

Sighing Gaea replied. "So do I, Omnipotent-One. So do I!"

VvV

They were wrong, they were so very very wrong. This Naruto Uzumaki wasn't just a potential threat to the Invasion plan, he was a real and very serious one. Naruto hid it remarkably well, but V'ktl had seen for himself just how competent the child was in battle. Three monsters that were intangible and invisible, as well as possessing the ability to attack from another dimension so you wouldn't even be able to see them coming, yet he treated them like newborn chihuahuas.

They should have slaughtered him, torn him to shreds or at least made it something resembling a fight. Instead he killed them all in under 2 minutes as if it was nothing more than a casual stroll through the park. His last kill being particularly on the explosive side of things, seeing as he made the beast swallow a detonating ball of energy and inadvertently transferred the explosion to this alternate dimension. 'By Kly'bn the Eternal, I had my mouth open when that cursed thing blew.' He thought in disgust.

Then as if that wasn't ridiculous enough, someone, somewhere, somehow dropped the ball and not only allowed Araña the spider-themed superheroine to get wind of what was going on and show up but her mentor Ms. Marvel as well. Carol Danvers had somehow gotten wind that some AIM related project was occurring in this park and showed up to investigate. V'ktl had gone to great great lengths to ensure the secrecy of this experiment and that no heroes would interfere, and normally he would've had the head of who ever fucked up. Yet he couldn't help but feel somewhat grateful for this breach.

Watching, this Naruto toy with the Human-Kree hybrid and then kicking or in his case slapping her ass had been as cathartic as it was insightful. He was so going to post a clip of that fight all over Youtube, particularly enhancing the image of Naruto's hand slapping her ass and the girlish scream she made a second later. Better yet, he would post it across the Skrull empire's galactic entertainment network and maybe even show the Kree to humiliate his race's ancient enemies further. Yes, that sounded like a perfect idea.

Plans of humiliation aside, he needed to keep a closer eye on Naruto, which meant getting some Skrull sleeper agents into the X-mansion or at the very least, O.N.E. The information they would bring back on this strange scarlet haired mutant would be priceless, both in entertainment value and as a means for the Skrull Empire to counter him. "By Kly'bn, the Eternal. I can't wait to show this video to my Queen, my superiors and then all of my friends. They will love it."

VvV

It had been a couple of hours after his fight with Ms. Marvel and Naruto had spent most of that time with Laura on his back hopping back and forth across New York, as they crisscrossed the city several times over to make sure they were not being followed.

Running on water to liberty island had been a particularly fun activity for Laura, his chakra wrapped around her in such a way that she could run on water without a problem, but she needed to be holding his hand the whole time to do it or the cloak dissipated and she got dunked. He'd deliberately let that happen once for fun, and she'd had shaved off his right eyebrow in revenge to show her displeasure. She really didn't like swimming it seemed.

They had spotted Spider-man for a minute while in Queens as the red costumed superhero was swinging by. Naruto felt slightly jealous when Laura called Spiderman's method of transportation cool, he felt he could jump further, faster and higher than the spider themed superhero could ever hope to compete with. Seriously, he was practically gliding through the air as he leaped past multiple buildings with each bound.

He used a thin layer of his chakra to wrap around the both of them and negate the positive and negative gees associated with his high speed, 3D jumping movements, as well as absorb kinetic energy from impacts and temporarily hold it, so he didn't destroy his surrounding. That last trick was why ninja's could jump off a mountain and land feet first on the ground without making a sound, well Jounin level ninja's at least. Its funny, the things you learn about yourself and your fellow ninja's when you have a teacher as knowledgeable as Beast to guide you.

Still after a day of wonder, and another stop for Dinner, the duo finally arrived back at the X-mansion at around 9pm. Sneaking back in was as easy as sneaking out. O.N.E really needed to up there game, not that Naruto had any intention of pointing out the 19 weak points in their security, 13 of which could be taken advantage of by a non-ninja.

Naruto was in the midst of parking Logan's bike which had been in a storage scroll, where he found it in the garage when Laura interrupted him and said. "Wait a minute Naruto. Before we go into the main building, I never gave you an answer to your question earlier, about whether I would come with you when you returned to the Elemental Nations."

Naruto momentarily stiffened before he turned to face her, a sad smile on his face as he replied. "It was a selfish and inconsiderate thing of me to ask Laura. I don't want to take you away from your loved ones." Framing her face with the palms of both hands. "But I also want to be with you Laura."

Laura's cheeks reddened slightly at his words and the open affection he was showing her now. It took a moment for her to register his words before she exclaimed. "Wait! You don't mean you are going to stay here, do you?"

The idea appealed greatly to both of them, but Naruto was a shinobi with a duty and even now he couldn't forsake his oaths...still.

Shaking his head he replied. "No, I have to return to the Elemental Nations, and in a worst case scenario I'll have to remain there for a century or until everyone I know from the current generation is dead. However, I am immortal and so are you, time is the one thing we have plenty of. What I am trying to say is that, I'll be back for you Laura, I swear it and you know how I am with promises."

"You keep them." Laura automatically finished

Grinning he added. "Yep. I'll beg Kakashi, Tsunade to let me return early if possible. But if that fails, you can take the time to get to know everyone at the X-mansion and out in the greater world till I return. Then we can share the rest of our unnaturally long lives together. Deal."

With a sigh, Laura pointed out. "With that last bit, you sound like you are asking to marry me."

Naruto smiled at her and replied. "That wouldn't be so bad now would it. Though any marriage's will have to be in like a century when I have nothing tying me down to the Shinobi world. No, what I am asking of you right now in this garage, where I have no doubt someone will be watching us on the security camera's, is whether you will officially be my girlfriend."

Laura's surprise lasted mere milliseconds before she stepped forward towards him, looped her arms around his neck and replied. "Yes."

"Really?" Naruto asked, sounding almost surprised by her quick reply.

"Of course you idiot. I already told you today, that what I want is you." Laura assured him.

Naruto looked somewhat embarrassed as he replied. "Yeah, I remember."

"What changed though?" Laura asked.

"Huh?" The question confused Naruto.

Seeing the confusion Laura asked him. "Earlier, I had to volunteer to go on a date with you. I wasn't even sure if you...if you really wanted me as y-."

She never got to finish her sentence due to Naruto silencing her by gently putting his right index finger over her lips and saying. "Ssssh! I am truly sorry for making you feel that way, but rest assured that, what I want is you Laura." He finished throwing her own words back at her. "But you are right something did change in me today."

"What happened?" She asked.

Naruto paused as if trying to figure out how to say what he had on his mind before eventually saying in a tone that sounded haunted. "I saw Ms. Marvel shoot you."

His hands were trembling as he pulled her arms from around his neck and held them tightly. Nothing was visible, but Laura could feel the minute shakes. She quickly placed Naruto's left hand over her stomach, the area where she had been wounded and looked into Naruto's eyes while assuring him. "I'm unharmed Naruto."

"I...I know that." He stammered. "I knew that you would be fine the moment it all happened, even Ms. Marvel herself knew that you were Wolverine's daughter and could heal. Anybody who knows you would know that you've walked off far worse. But when I saw it happening, when I saw that ball of energy rip right through your abdomen and watched you crumble to the floor in agony. I knew in my mind you were going to be fine, but in my heart." Naruto placed Laura's right hand over his heart as he said. "I felt it shatter."

"Naruto." Laura whispered, her eyes softening at his confession.

"Laura, i've always known that I car-. No." Naruto said pausing as he tried again. "I've always known that I'm in love with you, I've felt this way for weeks now. But watching you cough out blood with a giant hole in your stomach, watching you nearly get eaten by one of those creatures in the park that started the whole fiasco. I've seen wounds like that during the 4th Shinobi World War, and i've caused similar ones during my ninja career. Those shinobi didn't make it, and I guess somewhere in my heart, even if I knew you would survive, I feared that you wouldn't. In that moment, I guess it all just clicked to me. I have a duty to return home, a duty that i've been trained and sworn into upholding till my dying breath, but what I want? What I want right now is you Laura, and until the day comes when I do return to my people, I don't want to pretend that I don't love you." He confessed.

Nodding her head, Laura replied. "Which is why you asked if I would be your girlfriend."

Naruto smiled softly as he replied. "Precisely."

Nodding in understanding as she re-wrapped her arms back around Naruto's neck, Laura said. "I am really glad you told me this Naruto, because Psylocke has been training me and right now I want to try out this move."

"Wha-mmph." Naruto was instantly silenced with a soul searing kiss. It took a second to get over the shock and his eyes soon found themselves closing as he leaned in and began responding. His mouth opened as he felt her tongue pressed up against his partially parted lips. In response to her probing tongue invading his mouth Naruto started dueling her with his own. Meanwhile Naruto's arms slid down to Laura's hips as he pulled her flush against him, both of them letting out a small moan as her soft breasts pressed against his hard chest.

'It seemed he was getting rusty, Jiraiya would be very disappointed.' Naruto thought to himself as he created a field of chakra around him that made the air shimmer and distort the light around them, making it difficult for the camera's to pick up anything. There was no need to give them a show. Still a part of him wondered. 'What the hell has Psylocke been teaching you, to get so good at kissing.'

VvV

Naruto walked into the now very familiar laboratory of Dr. Hank McCoy with a goofy grin and somewhat dazed look on his face. He was so out of it that when he was presented with the welcome sight of the blue furred feline mutant looking...frightened, he didn't think much of it. At least not until, he noted another presence in the room, a familiar figure in fact. She had blonde hair, a black domino mask, black leotard with a yellow lightning bolt over her chest area, thigh high black boots and elbow length gloves and red sash around her waist.

'Yep, that that's definitely Ms. Marvel' He thought to himself, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable as the woman gave him a sickeningly sweet smile, while saying. "So Red, I hear your real name is Naruto, huh?"

Laura's kiss really had screwed up his instincts somehow, cause it took him a moment to put two and two together before he mentally screamed. 'Oh shit!' It was his last thought before a black gloved fist slammed into his right cheek and sent him sprawling across the floor.

TBC...

Please remember that Anya and Araña are not some kind of spelling error. Anya Sofia Corazon is the character and her superhero alias is Araña, at least until she later changes it to Spider-girl. Also Ostara and Oshtur are the same person, she has many names and different tittles.

Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed this chapter. It was difficult to write but I am happy I got it out, cause i've been dying to write Chapter 6 for a while now. From this point on the adventure truly begins and some of the consequences, side effects and benefits of Naruto's actions begin to catch up with him. Next chapter will focus on Naruto vs Ms. Marvel round 2, a real fight this time.

Initially wrote a really good romantic conversation between Laura and Naruto. Then I stopped and thought, wait a minute, what does Laura really know about flirting and shouldn't Naruto's understanding of dating differ from everyone on Earth since he is not from Earth. From there I wrote the scenes in the diner to have a somewhat awkward and uncertain feel. Then I wrote about the scene in the park where they talk about polygamy and Bloodline limits so they could talk about Naruto's past relationships and to voice Laura's feelings and thoughts. All of it leading up to the final scene where they were far more comfortable with each other in an openly romantic kind of way and were willing to simply trust each other and there instincts.

I hope you enjoyed, I really hope I didn't do too badly this chapter, with all my problems. Anyway, please remember to leave review.

Scarlet out...