Disclaimer: Neither I nor Ld1449 own Batman Beyond or Naruto...so HA!

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Beyond the Maelstrom

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Shadows In The Night

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Terry's dark form soared over the bustling streets of Gotham city, the red wings giving him lift as his rocket boots propelled him through the sky dodging and weaving through traffic as he went a bit lower into the middle of the traffic. The Dark Knight turned his head to glance behind him his eyes narrowing in distress as he saw the four Assassins were still easily keeping up with him, leaping from car roof to car roof in an incredible display of skill, fearlessness and precision. Terry glanced down beneath him, one false move from those guys and they'd be well on their way to becoming a disgusting pile of things not entirely unlike soup.

The teenager turned in mid air, launching several Bat-a-rangs from his wrist launchers, the small red, curved blades spinning rapidly through the air as they approached two of the assassins. To Terry's surprise however the assassins merely drew their blades and deflected or in some cases, cut his Bat-a-rangs in half.

This confirmed two things for the young teenager, first that his normal bat-a-rangs may as well have been spit balls and second that he knew where these people were from. Their movements were practically identical to that of Curare, the former assassin he had encountered a few years earlier, not as fast as her but it certainly didn't appease him any. Against Curare alone he had nearly lost his head one too many times for comfort, against four assassins, even if they weren't as good as her...well...he didn't like his odds. Twisting in mid air he began rising, heading up towards the skyline in an attempt to get away from his pursuers. Before he made it very far however he felt something wrap around his ankles and yank him down. The teenager let a startled gasp escape him as he was violently yanked down, sending him out of control before he righted himself in mid air, pushing more power into his rocket boots as he turned so he was flying parallel to the glass windows of a building, flying past it from left to right. He looked down to his legs, finding a steel cable wrapped around both of his ankles, he followed it to the Assassin that was now trailing behind him, slowly pulling himself closer and closer as Terry and He pulled away from his other comrades.

The current Batman gritted his teeth before making a sharp 'U' turn away from the building, the result of this was that the cable gave a violent whiplash, which sent the assassin flying off in another direction like a bullet. Terry watched in satisfaction as the man crashed through glass windows and into an office building with enough force to make him cringe.

Giving another sharp turn he rose high above the sky line before any of the other assassins could catch up. The dark knight gave a single flip in mid air before landing awkwardly due to the cable still wrapped around his ankles. Quickly using a miniature buzz saw he had in his utility belt he cut the metal wire, ignoring the sparks as he untied himself.

He didn't have another second to spare before he saw one of the assassins leap up over the ledge from his peripheral vision. Grabbing hold of the steel cable Terry swung it like a giant steel whip, smacking the assassin in the face before he could fully land, sending him tumbling off to the side.

Terry then heard through the suits enhanced sensors the footsteps approaching behind him. Spinning around on his heel he used the steel cable and wrapped it around the mans sword arm as it descended down to him. Terry then twisted the arm behind his back, wrapping another part of the cable around his neck as he pulled hard, trying to strangle the man.

The assassin gave a grunt of discomfort before he lashed out with a mule kick and though the kick wasn't as strong as it normally would have been due to the cable around one of his arms and neck it still held enough of an impact to easily cause a great deal of pain to the Batman, especially considering it drove right into the center of his chest, sending burning pain coursing throughout his entire chest cavity.

Terry grunted as he hugged the injured area, coughing for a second or so before he noticed the third assassin, coming up on his side. Backpedaling in order to avoid the sword swing he then blocked the follow up with his gauntlets before countering with a kick to the assassin's stomach. The abrupt movement once again sent pain through his rib cage, causing the teenager to stagger for a second before he could take up his fighting stance.

To the teenagers dismay however he then saw the fourth assassin, the one he recognized as the one he whip-lashed into the building, at least given the concrete dust and scratches on his armor.

Terry's eyes narrowed before he threw down several dozen flash-bangs and smoke bombs, flying off the roof he contacted Bruce as he saw the assassins rush after him, barely deterred by the smoke bombs or flash-bangs. "Bruce I'm heading to Wayne Tower, whatever help you're sending tell them to get there!"

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"Dude...I am so fucking lost."

That was the voice of Uzumaki Naruto as he stood on the ledge of a building, staring at the digital map Bruce had given him, trying to make heads or tails of the damn thing, turning it this way, and that way, upside down, right side up, left, right, up and down, side to side.

"Uzumaki where the hell are you!" Came Bruce's agitated voice from his earpiece. He hadn't known how to activate it so he didn't have a chance to call the old man before then.

"Yea old man...I actually have no idea." The blond said a he tilted his head a bit in order to get a better view of the map.

"What the hell do you mean you have no idea! Use the damn map I gave you! McGinnis is getting cornered out there." Bruce yelled from the two way radio.

"LOOK!" Naruto yelled back quickly getting agitated. "IT AIN'T MY FAULT I DON'T KNOW HOW TO READ THIS DAMN THING! THEY DIDN'T COVER MAPS ON THE COMPUTER!"

The slap Bruce gave himself on the forehead was heard over the radio. "You idiot!" The old man snarled before he took a deep breath and spoke. "Look Terry is heading towards Wayne Tower, its an extremely tall building in the center of Gotham you cant miss it."

Naruto glanced around to the multitude of sky scrapers that surrounded him gaining a deadpan expression behind his visor and mask. "Old man. THEY'RE ALL TALL GODDAMN BUILDINGS!! YOU EXPECT ME TO GO THROUGH ALL OF THEM!"

"ITS THE ONE WITH A BIG 'W' AT THE TOP!" Bruce yelled finally loosing his patience with the young Shinobi as he saw the trouble Terry was having.

"WHAT THE HELL IS A DOUBLE-EU!! WE WRITE WITH KANJI OLD MAN!"

Bruce smacked his forehead again.

Before Naruto heard an answer however the blond saw an explosion at the top of one of the far buildings. Watching a letter he did not readily recognize (a W) fall from the building and plummet to the streets bellow with a massive crash. The orange hue and black smoke rising high into the midnight sky.

The blond stared at the scene for several seconds. "Right...Bruce...I think I found it."

"Thank God." He heard come from the old man with something akin to a sigh. Naruto ignored it however as he put away his digital map and rushed to the sight.

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Terry's breaths came in harsh pants as he leaned against a steel beam, his eyes shifting from left to right from behind his cowl small bits and pieces of his outer suit were torn, revealing the red wiring, and plasma resistant Kevlar beneath. Terry had managed to stall the assassins well enough using the suits physical enhancements and gadgets to keep his edge, but that all changed when a fifth assassin showed up, A girl roughly his age by the look of it. Regardless, her presence had shifted the tide from a relatively even (leaning in favor of the assassins) fight to that of a total beat-down. In an act of desperation, he had seen some hydraulic tanks, no doubt used by the heavy machinery in Wayne Tower. He had launched some explosive bat-a-rangs at the tanks and so with a massive explosion the entire roof was engulfed in flames. Sending him and the assassins flying and slamming into various pieces of architecture. He hadn't expected the explosion to be so big, but rather to be used as a distraction in order to fly away again. But it had been bigger, much bigger than what he had intended and so he had ended up even more injured than before and not only that, now his flight capabilities were damaged. If these Assassins were still standing then Terry could only hope whatever help Bruce was sending would get here soon enough.

Before Terry could continue with his thoughts however a sharp pain riped through his right shoulder, eliciting a scream as he stumbled forward, causing more agony to race up and down his arm. Spinning back around on his heel he saw the tip of a blade impaled through the other side of the iron beam, dripping with his blood, before it was swiftly yanked out, the owner of the blade stepping around the beam, revealing the young girl from earlier, two of the assassins appeared at her sides, the last two limping out from behind some rubble, one of the assassins with his arm slung over the other, his leg bleeding profusely. The one who was carrying him suffered no aliments in the legs, but his arm from the upper part down did seem to be rather broken.

Terry hissed in pain as he stepped back, keeping a wary eye on the assassins and the growing flames around them.

Cassandra stepped forward, ready to finish off the Dark Knight so they could at least accomplish one of their objectives but soon the sound of a gurgled, strangled grunt reached her ears, bringing her and her men's attention to where the sound had come from, finding the form of one of their comrades, looking strangely slumped, blood accumulating behind his cloth face mask before it dripped down his chin and onto his armor. He turned his eyes onto them before they rolled into the back of his head and he collapsed, face first, revealing the sight of his back sliced wide open from neck to lower spine.

Cassandra caught sight of two small glints in her peripheral vision, raising her blade and blocking the projectiles, which were soon revealed to be two kunai ones she recognized as the same they used. Had this attacker managed to grab them when he killed their comrade before any of them had noticed? The thought worried her...

Seeing where the attacks had come from she threw two of her own kunai, these had been made with a potent mix of gunpowder and high explosives to create the tip as well as the center of the projectile. When they hit they exploded in two massive 'BOOMS' which shook what little remained as a roof. The silhouette of a man dropped down from the area, crouching low as he reached the floor, Cassandra took up her fighting stance as did her last able subordinate the other two injured stepped back a bit further.

The roof above the unknown individual collapsed around him, allowing the bright light of the moon to reach his shadowed form, revealing the four glowing eyes and red scarf/mask that fluttered in the winds over the high skyscraper.

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Seeing that he had been spotted Naruto ran toward the group putting his hands in a very familiar cross-shaped hand seal. He made a sharp turn to his right heading towards the Batman, while, in a puff of smoke another 'him' so to speak continued his path running toward the assassins. The real Naruto, not losing a bit of his speed, grabbed the Batman by his shoulder and disappeared in a blur of movement.

Cassandra was shook out of her stupor first as a nagging feeling told her that this was somehow just some form of illusion or copy. Quickly whipping out a kunai she hurled it toward the still charging doppelganger. Watching in satisfaction as it truck the charging forms shoulder, stopping him in his tracks as blood sprayed from the injury. Now what she didn't expect was for the copy to explode, with the blast equivalent of three U.S. Military Grade Fragmentation Grenades. The blast knocked both her and her remaining companions tumbling to the ground. Skidding to a halt she shook the disorientation out of her head, stumbling to her feet she picked up her blade and barked out a command to the rest of her, still groaning comrades.

"Find them they couldn't have gotten far." Cassandra said getting nods from the four remaining assassins, as the all ran off the roof and disappeared into the night.

Naruto meanwhile in his mind, quickly assessed the damage of his stunned companion. Seeing nothing life threatening he let out a breath of relief, it seems the only damage done was a few shallow cuts and bruises. Not counting the blade that had gone through his shoulder, but even that just seemed more painful than dangerous. Shifting the Batman onto his back, he scanned any place to hide real quick. Quickly finding a large shadowed area on the roof of another building, he set the stunned teenager down and quickly performed the only medical jutsu within his range of abilities to perform.

"Jinjutsu: Shizenchiyu.(1)" he said placing his glowing green hands onto Terry's chest

It's a very simple technique that does not require a lot of control, all it does it heal small lacerations and bruise while at the same time numbs the pain receptors in nerves. Not very useful in combat but a great thing to use after an intense session of training.

"What the fuck did you do that for!" Terry exclaimed after regaining his bearings after both being hauled like a sack of potatoes halfway across town and being healed.

"What heal your body?" Naruto asked pulling back his hands finishing his jutsu.

"No why did you kill that man?" Terry all but yelled as he stood up on his feet.

"I dunno maybe it was the small fact he was trying to execute you!" Naruto replied harshly throwing up his hands in disbelief.

Terry's eyes narrowed minutely as he stood up. "We don't kill people...period." He finished the sentence with a tone of finality that left little room for argument.

Well not that Naruto had much of a chance to argue as suddenly two kunai landed a couple feet from their position and was quickly followed by the sound of foot steps.

"We'll finish this later." Terry growled out before breaking and running to meet one of the assassins head on.

Naruto on the other hand just sighed an ran into the fray, ready to dish out some pent up frustrations. The need to destroy had been welling up within him, mainly as a ninja his main source of stress relief came in a couple of things; the first was eating ramen but unfortunately he hadn't been able to get some recently, the second was tending to his plants in his apartment, the third was sitting on the Yondaime's head and looking over Konoha, and finally the last one would be anything pertaining to violence weather it be sparring, training, or learning a new jutsu. Guess which method would be applied...

Naruto met three assassins in a whirlwind of fist and kicks. He landed a roundhouse kick on the head of the first of the assassins that reached him which he quickly followed up with another roundhouse kick to the other side of his head courtesy of his other foot. But his unorthodox combination didn't end there, he quickly his used the leg that landed the last kick as a hook as he turned it back around, he pulled the man's head toward the knee of his other leg the mans face smacking against his knee with a sickening crunch as Naruto broke his nose before kicking him away. Back flipping onto his hands, he pushed off the ground and landed on his feet, from there he crouched down with his hands on the ground and his head staring at his enemies.

The other assassin paused minutely at the sight of his downed comrade, but they quickly shook off that feeling as the hauled their comrade to his feet. Apparently what they were dealing with was no amateur and by the precision and speed he accomplished this feat with, it would suggest that he was far beyond their individual skills. It looks like they would need to rely on their superior numbers and teamwork to deal with this.

Terry on the other hand was not fairing so well, the female which seemed to be the apparent leader of this little group, was much more skilled compared to her underlings. This was apparent as she dodged and weaved between strikes landing bone-crunching blows of her own in retaliation. Behind him another assassin snuck up and landed a haymaker across his upper back. While at the same time the female assassin land a double open palm lunge, hitting him in the lower stomach. The force of both hits making quite literally do a somersault in place. But before he could make the full circle, as soon as he was parallel to the ground he was hit yet again; This time the male with a double hammer fist to his face and the female with a Ax Heel Drop on his solar-plexus.

Needless to say this dazed the Batman, sending his world spinning and the pain numbed by Naruto's healing technique earlier coming right back to him. Pressing their advantage the male whipped out a kunai and was about to plunge it deep into the head of the downed Batman. He would have succeeded to had not the flying bodies of two of his comrades slammed into him, sending all three flying away.

Naruto came running holding a stolen kunai in one hand, extending the blade and sharpening it to a razors edge with wind chakra he rushed towards Cassandra, Terry and the rest of the assassins. Facing Cassandra he swung at her with a horizontal slash, only for the female assassin to backpedal away from him before countering with her own sword. Terry meanwhile had allready gotten back on his feet as Naruto cut the woman's blade in two when she tried to block one of his swings, receiving a rather deep gash in her shoulder for her efforts as his attack continued its path.

Suddenly Naruto was forced away from his female opponent, having recognized her for certain as the one he'd fought back at Bruce's place, as three shuriken went whizzing past his head, turning towards where they had come from he found the other three assassins rushing him. As the first reached him he formed a Rasengan in his hand and plowed it into the mans stomach, shredding past the feeble blade the man had put up in his defense before the chakra based attack sent the man flying back, impaling him onto a steel pipe that stuck out from the roof. Naruto's attention snapped immediately to his left as another of the assassins capitalised on the distraction his now dead comrade provided, but before he could deliver any attack he had planned to deliver, it was Terry that smashed into the man, tackling him to the floor before he flipped up and over the downed assassin and threw him across the roof, sending the man so close to the edge he nearly went over.

"Stop deal with the Batman, I will handle this one." Cassandra said stepping in front of her comrade, who seemed to have decided to focus on Naruto and let his partner deal with Terry, the man stopped mid stride before he nodded then went to assist his comrade against the aforementioned man.

She stared at the red masked Naruto, taking up a loose stance with two kunai as she watched the masked dimensional jumper take up his own stance with his single kunai/wind blade, one she did not recognize.

The young woman said nothing, watching his stance for any kind of opening, yet somehow mannaging to keep her eyes fixed on his visor. Finally, she saw it, a minute shift in his stance which is all the opening she needed as she rushed forward.

Naruto saw her coming, compared to Gai and Lee this one could barely even reach half their speed so it was relatively easy. He watched as she moved to stab her kunai into his left side, a move which he countered as he swung towards her outstretched arm with his wind blade, only for Cassandra to pull her hand back like a viper, before it lashed out again, this time plunging the knife into his forearm, driving the point deep, between the two bones there and twisting it sadisticly. Naruto cursed as he sucked in a sharp breath, she had anticipated his move. Forming a Rasengan in his other hand he moved to drive his hand under his arm and into her stomach, but she anticipated that as well. Grabbing onto his wrist with her free hand, she pivoted over him, twisting his arms around over his head and flipping him around till he landed on his back, she turned back onto him, only to receive a boot to the face as Naruto kicked up behind himself using his arms to assist the force of his attack.

The blond quickly jumped to his feet as he pulled her kunai out of his arm, ignoring the biting pain. He rounded on the now recovered woman as he formed a rapid set of handseals, leaping high into the air as he did so, so he could look down towards her and the city street slightly bellow, watching from the corner of his eyes as Terry was holding off the other three assassins relatively easily.

"Katon: Gouryuuka no jutsu.(2)"He yelled spewing out a giant fireball in the shape of a dragon head and when he finished he stated once again another chain of lightning fast hand seals.

"Fuuton: Daitoppa no jutsu.(3)" He cried next before expelling a large amount of wind towards the roaring dragon head.

Only her quick reflexes saved her in that moment, as soon as the first sign of the fire came out of the strange man's mouth, as she had whipped out her grappling gun and used it to dragged herself out of the way. For as soon as she did a wave searing heat caused by the attack swept past her, she fell to her side in awe as a dragon of flame swept into the dark sky propelled by the winds.

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Elsewhere in a patrol car nearby, a very studious Eliza sat besides her partner overlooking various files under the light over her seat, the dispatch had said something or another about explosions over Wayne tower and possible sightings of the Batman, which they decided to lead up on, since they were in the neighborhood they didn't expect to find much though. Prank callers made calls like this all the time.

"That's bad for your eyes ya know?" Rodriguez commented as he breathed a bit more of his cigar

"Not really given I have two lights on the file while I read." She commented. "Besides you're getting lung cancer which is much worse than needing contacts or glasses, but you don't see me butting in?" She added as an afterthought.

"Damn it Elisa give that a rest now I've been smokin' since I was in diapers, I'm not quittin' I ain't ever gonna quit and trying to convince me is a waste of time so you should just drop it." The Lt growled.

"No I sho-" The woman began but was cut off at Rodrigues's voice.

"HOLY SHIT!" The middle aged man yelled as he was forced to swerve his car to the right, gripping the steering wheel tightly as he yanked to the side as hard as he could.

"Wha-OH MY GOD!" She followed his example at the sight of a massive fire dragon that rushed past their vehicle, its trail indicating it was coming from atop the building directly to their right. They were right now several blocks away from Wayne tower, so they had no idea what this was about. Grabbing onto the radio Elisa quickly called in dispatch.

"Dispatch, Dispatch, we have a strange sighting off of Sixth st. and Steinway blvd, send in fire trucks and back up; repeat, send in fire trucks and back up over."

"What is the nature of this disturbance?" The voice called over the radio.

"We're about to find out." She replied before looking to Rodriguez who was still looking up to the sky like an idiot.

"What the hell are you waiting for GO!" She yelled snapping him out of his star gazing as he activated the siren above his car. and pulled up in order to rise over the skyline

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Shaken out of her shock as the sounds of the sirens, Cassandra stood up and called out to the other two comrades "RETREAT!" but Naruto used her momentary lapse in concentration and swiftly knocked her out. His eyes turned onto the other two assassins just as they fell over the edge of the building. Then they turned onto Terry as the teenager swiftly ran back towards him, stopping as he stared down at the unconscious Cassandra.

"Is she dead?" Terry questioned looking to Naruto. The blond shook his head in response.

"No, just very very sleepy, believe me she wont be getting up for a while." he said recalling the pressure point he had hit.

Terry nodded. "Fine, now mind introducing yourself?"

"Huh?" Naruto said stupidly before he remembered. "Oh right the mask. Its me McGinnis...remember, the guy you met a few days ago."

Terry's eyes dawned with realisation but before more could be said, the flashing lights of a police car washed over the two, the spotlight bearing down on them, as the two were forced to cover their eyes. The harsh winds of the jet propulsion that kept the car hovering in place kicking up dust and sending Naruto's scarf/mask whipping out behind him.

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"I can't believe it!" Rodruiguez cried out. "Our first night on the job and we actually find the guy, this may just be the easiest case I've landed."

"But who's that with him?" Elisa questioned as she saw the other masked individual standing next to the famous Dark Knight, before her eyes landed on the dead form of the assassin impaled on the steel pipe, and the unconscious Cassandra. "What the hell happened up here."

Before more could be said, Batman and the masked individual seemed to speak a few words to each other before the one with the red mask picked up the unconscious woman, hefting her over his shoulder before both assailants ran off in the same direction.

"Damn, Rodruiguez after them!" Elisa cried as she unhooked her gun from its holster.

"You got it!" The Lt. said as he hefted the controls of his patrol car and rushed after the two.

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Naruto and Terry leapt from rooftop to rooftop, watching over their shoulder as the patrol car gave chase. The blond looked over to his conscious companion. "Go flying off towards the cave, I'll draw them off towards me."

"Cant'!" Terry replied between pants as he leapt off "Flight controls were damaged during that explosion above the tower."

Naruto let out another curse under his breath. "Damn, well looks like we're gonna have to lose them the old fashioned way." He remarked before two plasma shots whizzed past the three and hit the floor in front of them, forcing them both to stop. Glancing back up to the patrol car Naruto caught sight of a woman with short black hair, leaning over the edge of an open door and aiming down at them with her pistol.

The blond Shinobi reformed his wind blade, ready to leap up, even with Cassandra over his shoulder, in order to slice said vehicle in two, but before he could a red wing-tipped Bat-a-rang soared through the air, knocking the gun out of Elisa's hand before another, sort of disk shaped device latched onto the bottom of the car. Naruto saw an electrical pulse spread from the device before he saw the inside of the car flash red as the vehicle lurched downward.

Elisa grunted as she jumped back into the car, bracing herself as Rodriguez struggled to keep the machine airborne. "Damnit! Systems are goin' nuts. Must a hit us with some kind of EMP or somethin' damn it, I cant keep her airborne, brace yourself! He yelled as the patrol car slammed down onto the gravel covered roof, knocking the wind out of the two officers as well as setting off the safety bags.

Naruto glanced back at Terry, "Nice." He commented before he leapt over the edge of the building. Terry paused as he saw the two officers stumble out of the wreckage, making sure they weren't harmed too badly before he followed his partner/rescuers example.

Elisa stumbled out of the police car, kicking down the door in order to do so. She glanced up managing to catch a brief glimpse of the Batman before he fully turned around and leapt off the building.

Rodruiguez groaned as he stepped out of the car. "Ok...you remember when I said this may be the easiest case I've ever been assigned to Elisa?" He questioned rhetorically before he continued. "Well...I take it back...this may be just a little harder than I first thought." He groaned before sitting down, ignoring the sound of twisting metal and crunching glass as he did so.

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(1)Healing Technique: Spontaneous Recovery

(2) Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique

(3) Wind Release: Great Breakthrough Technique

Alright here is where Ld1449 and myself need your help...we are currently brainstorm a name for Naruto...but we decided that Fans should get a say in this as well...So we are leaving it open for you to submit what you think Naruto's codename should be.

Then after that we will have a poll in the next chapter to finalize the name.

SO BE SURE TO SUBMIT YOUR CHOICE WITH A REVIEW!