I'm not a Sidekick

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or DC comics.

'Thoughts'

"Foreign Language"

'Jutsu'

(After the incident at Cadmus)

"Okay, so we're on the outs with our sidekicks, our enemies are stealing our playbook and banding together and we have a newly discovered clone of Superman who has been taught God knows what since his creation." Flash summed up as he and several other league members gathered in a conference room on the Watchtower. "Who else wants to call today a win?" He asked with false cheer.

"Now is not the time Flash!" Batman said to no one's surprise.

"I agree completely." Green Arrow said plopping down in a chair. "Today is on my 'Shouldn't have gotten out of bed' top ten list."

"Did I miss something? Shouldn't Superman be in the foul mood at the moment?" Wonder Woman asked looking in confusion at the other members.

Batman glanced at the Amazon only then realizing that between providing the backup for Zatara and then the trip to Cadmus there was not an opportunity to update her on exactly what happened with the sidekicks. 'Well no time like the present.'

"Things didn't exactly go as we planned this morning." Batman said. It didn't take long to explain what happened and why Green Arrow of all people, who was almost as laid back as the Flash in an ill-tempered mood. "Things wouldn't have gotten has bad as they did if not for Shinobi."

Wonder Woman was about to protest on behalf of her sometimes collaborator but Green Arrow beat her to it.

"As easy as it would be to place all the blame on the guy, he wasn't the straw that broke the camel's back." Green Arrow said with his elbows on his knees and his head hanging down. He was the picture of depression. "Roy has been chafing at the restrictions being placed on him for some time now. That's why I initially told him about the Watchtower. I have a feeling he would have left today regardless of Shinobi's presence."

"So what do we do now?" Aquaman who had been quiet up until then asked. "You heard their ultimatum and that is exactly what it was. Either we back them up or they go off on their own."

Batman said into the silence. "They're working together." All attention went to the bat themed hero. "That was a coordinated attack by Icicle Je, Killer Frost and Mr., Freeze. Our enemies have been working smarter not harder in recent months. Like Flash said, they stole our playbook, so we need new plays."

There were confused looks exchanged around the room. It was the alien Manhunter who asked. "In what way?"

"As a whole the League has been largely a reactionary organization. They make the first move and we respond. We can't afford to be on the back foot anymore. I propose a recon/information gathering team. After today I believe we already have volunteers."

There were nods of approval around the room. They spent the next hour throwing ideas back and forth about the responsibility of team and who would be involved. It was only when Wonder Woman threw in one particular idea that the tension in the room climbed to unhealthy levels.

"I would like to invite Shinobi to join this team. He already meets several requirements. He's an excellent fighter, he as experience and we all know stealth won't be a problem." Wonder Woman said.

Green Arrow was the first to speak against the mysterious sword wielders involvement. "He doesn't have the trust requirement. We don't know anything about him, even after all this time."

"I've been building the trust between us since the day we met." The Amazon said with irritation clearly in her voice. "It hasn't been easy, especially when certain individuals constantly attempt to unmask him. How can he trust us if we don't show we trust him?"

"He is a complete unknown. His methods remind me too much of Ras al Ghul's teachings. Until we find out who he is, we have to keep him at arms-length." Batman argued.

"Do his methods remind you too much of Ras al Ghul or yourself?" The Princess argued back.

Batman bristled but the Amazon didn't give him time to respond.

"You speak of his methods but were you so different when you started? I recall old news reports of a masked vigilante who sent 17 people to the hospital in the first week of his sightings." Smirking she added. "That same individual also had the tendency to dangle people over ledges, sometimes even throwing off buildings."

"Well she's got you there. As I recall you didn't even want to work with us in the beginning." Flash said. Then he mimicked Batman's gruff voice. "'I'm not much of a team player' that was a direct quote."

"All I'm saying is give him a chance."

"I'll think about it." Batman conceded. After that the meeting broke up with everyone going their separate ways. All except Superman who had not said more than was necessary since returning from Cadmus.

"You want to talk about it Clark?" Batman asked when the room was empty.

"How can they do this again? After the nightmare that was Galatea, how can they create another clone!?" He snapped.

Batman didn't have any answers other than the obvious ones being of greed and fear both of which he was sure the Kryptonian had already thought of. The silence stretched until Batman asked the most important question. "What are you going to do about him?"

Superman sighed and scrubbed his hands up and down his face. "I don't know. I have absolutely no idea what to do Bruce." He said despondently before leavings without another word.

Bruce looked at the departing form of the closest person he could claim as a best friend and never thought he would see the Man of Steel look so defeated without a single punch being thrown.

After a very pleasant night and morning with Roulette, Naruto didn't get back to his penthouse until almost noon the next day. After a shower and a bite to eat, he fired up his computer to check the latest headlines. As he waited he couldn't keep the smirk off his face thinking about his late night activities. 'I can't name many people who can contort themselves into some of the positions she did without some kind of body modification. She almost moved like Orochi- Noooo! Bad thoughts! Bad thoughts! Orochimaru has no place anywhere near your sexual reminiscing! '

Doing a full body dry heave and gladly getting out of his own head, Naruto turned his attention to the Daily Planet news site. "Boy Heroes help put out blazing inferno." He read out loud. Skimming the article, he read that Aqualad, Robin and Kid Flash saved two people from a fire of unknown sources at Cadmus Labs.

"The Jr Leaguers stepped in for their adult counterparts I see." Scrolling down to the next headline, Naruto's interest was piqued. "Justice League on the scene of Cadmus collapse." It was a nice picture of all the big names in one spot. Naruto leaned back into his chair. "What is so important about Cadmus that it would draw the who's who of the Justice League to their front door?"

"Well it seems I'm heading to D.C. for some old fashioned recon." 'Memo to self, you're developing a bad habit of talking to yourself. You're lonely. Get a pet or a friend.'

So around midnight, after staking out the rubble that used to be the upper levels of Cadmus Naruto made his way under a camouflage jutsu around the night security into the inner building and down an elevator shaft. Tracing the path of destruction to the point of origin, he came upon something out of a sci-fi movie. Giant test tubes, walls dripping in weird glowing goop and a bunch of flashing lights on a super computer, knowing the Justice League had most likely mined it for all it was worth he didn't bother with it.

What he did do was take a seat just beyond the door and allow himself to fall into a light meditative state, just enough to feel out any life energies nearby. What he found was enough to almost knock him out of his trance. Below him were hundreds possibly thousands of life signs, some stronger than others but they were down there.

He was deciding whether or not to investigate when he felt a familiar and strong life energy enter into his sensing range at a fast pace. Retracing his steps he came face to face with the Amazonian Princess just as she was landing a couple of sub-levels above his previous position.

"Hime, so good to see you again." He said pleasantly and casually.

"It's good to see you as well Shinobi." She said equally as pleasant. She looked around casually before commenting. "Do you come here often?"

Naruto smiled even though she couldn't see it. "That is the cheesiest pick up line I've ever heard. You're going to have to do better than that." Naruto always enjoyed his run-ins with the Amazon. It was a weird relationship to say the least. Sometimes he flirted, sometimes she flirted. Other times they could sit in companionable silence with each other like old friends. "What are you doing around these parts?"

"I was hoping to run into you actually,"

"Uh oh, I hate to think I was getting predictable." Naruto said but he was only half jesting. Predictability often lead to death, which he was not in a hurry to experience again.

Diana simply nodded in agreement. "I had an interesting conversation with my colleagues recently."

Naruto groaned out loud. "The writing was on the wall as far as Speedy goes. He would have left if I was there or not. As for the others. My intention was not to sow dissention or distrust into the ranks but to get them thinking for themselves. If they are ever going to step out of the shadows of their mentors, then they need to start relying on their own instincts and judgement. And that all starts by questioning everything they've been taught. That's how you grow as an individual."

Diana was silent as she dissected what he said. "You've only just met them but you've seemed to have taken a personal interest."

Naruto shrugged. "I don't know about that. So, why were you hoping to run into me?"

"I want to talk to you about something, but not here. Somewhere more private."

(Some weeks later)

It was a tense atmosphere as the now six member team of young heroes made our way to Santa Prisca per Batman's orders. If Naruto were to guess the reason, it was most likely due to his presence. It took quite a bit time as in weeks to finally convince him to join. What clenched his decision was seeing the team in action in that near debacle in Happy Harbor. This was the team's first official mission, so added to the apprehension that Naruto's being there caused, there was also an appropriate level of nervousness and anticipation.

"We're approaching Santa Prisca, drop zone A, in 60 seconds." Announced M'gann M'orzz our de facto pilot (it is her ship).

Aqualad stood up from his chair and pressed the stylized A on the front of his pants. His outfit melted away from a red shirt into dark gray and his pants went to a darker shade of blue almost black. Aqualad nodded to M'gann. "Ready."

"Switching to stealth mode." After a moment M'gann swung the ship in closer to the water and a hole in the center of the ship opened up allowing Aqualad to disappear through it in a perfect swan dive.

A few minutes later Aqualad's voice was heard through the ship.

"Heat and motion sensors have been patched. Data is now on continuous loop. Move in."

"Drop zone B." M'gann announced. The rest of the team, Naruto included, stood up as their chairs melted into the ship's floor and harnesses lowered from the ceiling.

Kid Flash pressed the lightning bolt emblem on his chest and his standard yellow and red speed suit melted away into a mostly black suit with red accents. "How cool do I look? Huh? Huh?" He said trying to look at himself from all angles.

"Very cool." M'gann said as her own blue skirt and white top turned into a form fitting black body suit with a red x across the front.

"How about you Baby Supes?" Naruto asked as he wrapped his hand around his own harness. "You going to stick with the just kicked out of military school look?"

"No capes, no tights, no offense." The teen clone said crossing his arms over the red S on his shirt. He glared at the most recent addition to the team. "What's wrong with the way I'm dressed?"

"Nothing!" M'gann said immediately. "It completely works for you." The second part coming out a little dreamily. "Meaning you can do good work in those clothes." She added flustered by her earlier outburst.

'Someone likes bad boys.' Naruto thought to himself when M'gann pulled her hood up and went invisible.

After an awkward silence Kid Flash, Robin and Naruto descended to the ground using the harnesses provided by the ship, while M'gann floated alongside them.

They all quickly scattered away from the landing zone when a fast falling Super Clone nearly dropped on top of them.

"I told you I didn't need a line." He said dusting his hands off while stepping out of a mini crater he created.

Naruto sighed heavily and approached the new teen. "This is a covert operation. As in 'an operation that is so planned and executed as to conceal the identity of or permit plausible denial by the sponsor.' In Layman's terms it means do not cause a mini earthquake thereby announcing your arrival. Next time use the damn line."

Naruto walked away and touched the side of his helmeted head. "Aqualad we're on the ground."

"Head for the factory. I'll track your GPS and rendezvous."

We all crowded around Robin as a holographic map sprang from his wrist brace. "This way."

Twenty minutes later, the team was making good time when Superboy alerted them to a noise.

"Did you hear that?"

Naruto channeled chakra into his ears and was able to pick up the sound of multiple footsteps.

"I don't hear anything. Is it a super thing?" Kid Flash asked. "Robin, you have any idea wh-, and he's gone. I hate it when he does that."

"Kid Flash, Superboy switch to infrared, see if you're being tracked." Aqualad said through the coms.

Kid Flash adjusted his goggles over his eyes and focused on a copse of trees in the distance. "Got a group of heavily armed baddies, but I don't think they're looking for us."

"They're not. They're going to bump into another equally armed group before they ever come our way."

"Good. Leave them to it. We're here to gather information." Naruto said just before they all heard the sounds of machine guns going off.

"No need for super hearing now."

"Shinobi is right. Stay clear of that fight, move on to the factory."

"Yep, just as soon as I find Rob." Kid Flash said before taking down a muddy river bed.

Naruto touched his ear and barked quietly into the coms. "Kid Flash, get your ass back here, Robin can take care of himself! Kid Flash?"

"Don't bother, he just lost his footing. He's going to end up right in the middle of both sides." Superboy said never taking his eyes of path Kid Flash took.

"Damn!" Naruto hopped down into same muddy river bed that Kid Flash used only he had chakra to help him keep his footing. "M'gann get those guns away from them. Superboy put down those thugs quickly, we don't know if they have any other surprises. I'll take Bane."

By wordless agreement they all split off. M'gann took to the air, Superboy broke off to flank them from behind and Naruto reached into his weapons pouch and imbued two shuriken with wind chakra and as soon as Bane came into view he hurled them with precision and cut his weapon into three parts.

When Bane looked up from his destroyed Uzi, Naruto was airborne. A flying kick to the forehead sent Bane's head rebounding of the tree he was taking cover behind. Naruto easily side-stepped a sloppy thrown left hook before hitting the masked villain in the sweet spot behind his left ear with an overhand right, that landed him face down unconscious in the mud.

Looking up from his defeated enemy, he saw M'gann hurling two red hooded men into a tree knocking them out. Superboy then walked out of the darkened woods carrying one person over his shoulder while dragging three more. A flash of light in his peripheral announced Aqualad's arrival as he electrocuted someone attempting to run away. All in all 'Needs work, needs a lot of work.' Naruto thought.

After tying everyone up the team convened in the center of the recent battleground.

"I recognize these uniforms. It's the Cult of the Kobra. It's led by their supposedly living god called Kobra." Robin imparted.

"I don't think Batman is aware that Santa Prisca's venom operation is now being run by a criminal cult of extremists." Aqualad said looking over their captives.

Robin nodded in agreement. "Judging by this skirmish we stumbled into, I'd say it was a hostile take-over."

"But these guys aren't on venom." Naruto stated the obvious. "So if they aren't using it on them-selves and according to Batman they aren't selling it. What are they doing with it?"

"Exactly what we should find out." Robin suggested too enthusiastically.

"That's not your call to make." Naruto said sternly.

Robin narrowed his eyes defiantly. "Whose call is it, yours?"

Naruto ignored him looking at Aqualad. "Call the Bat, tell him what we've run in to so far."

"Aqualad to Batman come in. Aqualad to Batman?" The Atlantean waited before trying once again. When he still received no response he gave it up. Shaking his head he looked at the rest of the team. "No response they must be jamming radio signals now."

"So it's decided, we find out what the Cult of the Kobra is up to." Robin said.

Kid Flash stepped into the boy wonders personal space. "It's not decided just because you said so."

"This team needs a leader." Robin said not backing down.

"And you think you're just going to appoint your-self and we're going to follow?" Kid Flash asked incredulously. "You're only 13 and you already left us hanging once."

"Did you forget you just blew our cover Twinkle Toes?"

Before the argument could get even more heated Naruto stepped up beside them. "Excuse me fearless leaders, but while you two argue like an old married couple our enemies are wide awake and listening to every word you say."

"Hahaha. I was wondering when someone would notice." Bane said as he continued to chuckle. "You're clever niños, you know about Kobra but that's is only half the story. I can get you into the factory so you can learn the rest. I have a secret entrance you understand."

M'gann crouched in front of him and raised one hand in his direction the other she put it her temple. "There is a secret entrance but, he's definitely hiding something."

"Ah ah ah, it won't be that easy." Bane said slyly.

"He's reciting futbol scores in Española. This could take a while." M'gann said with a sigh.

Bane smirked at the gathered teens. "Well the enemy of my enemy is my friend."

"Miss Martian, check this guy," Naruto said nudging the man next to Bane. "See if he knows about the secret entrance."

M'gann turned to her new target. Her eyes glowed briefly, she shook her head. "He doesn't know anything about an entrance."

The team exchanged looks seeing this as there only option and reluctantly agreed.

Naruto walked over and crouched in front of the Luchador. "Alright hombre, but before we go to your secret entrance, I want you to see something." Naruto took out a kunai and an explosive tag. He wrapped the tag around the handle and tossed it at the trunk of a tree some distance away but still visible. Keeping his visor locked on Banes masked faced, after a small pause an explosion rocked the forest.

While Bane and the others were still gaping at the sight of what a flimsy piece of paper can do. Naruto slapped another across Banes throat. As he spoke turned up the killing intent with each word.

Something like killing intent wouldn't break a guy like Bane. But it would get his attention and Bane would know for damn sure I meant every word. "If anyone besides me tries to remove it, it goes off. If you double cross us, it goes off. If you make any comments I don't particularly like, it goes off. If you tell any knock-knock jokes, it goes off. You are going to have to work very hard to stay alive Bane."

An hour of walking later the team plus one super villain found them-selves on a cliff overlooking a very busy compound.

"Alright we're here. Where's this secret backdoor of yours?" Naruto asked looking over to Bane.

Without comment Bane walked over to a boulder almost twice as tall and wide as he was and with barely a grunt tossed it aside. "Right this way." He said before he walked in and was immediately illuminated by motion sensor lights hanging along the walls.

Kid Flash paused at the opening and huffed. "So El Masko is our leader now?"

Robin bumped his shoulder deliberately in passing but didn't comment other-wise. The rest of the team was silent. The mine shaft them to a thick red rust colored blast door that Bane unlocked with his thumb print. They then wound up in an old disused by the look and smell locker room.

Bane and Robin were peeking out of the only apparent exit.

"All clear." Robin said before slipping out the door. The rest followed, by the time Naruto joined them on the factory floor Robin was nowhere in sight.

"Damn it, did that fool get caught already?" Bane growled although quietly.

"If he was caught we'd be hearing about it." Aqualad huffed before adding. "He just does that."

"No sweat." Kid Flash said before pulling his goggles over his eyes. "I'll get the Intel and be back before the boy wonder." Before he could move he felt a vice like grip on the back of his neck. His head was forcefully turned towards visor covered eyes that even though he couldn't see them, he could feel them glaring at him.

"Now is not the time or place for you and Robin to try and one-up each other." Naruto said in a hard tone. He pulled Kid Flash back into the shadowed recesses of the large vats, motioning the rest of them to follow.

"Alright pay attention. It just so happens that Robin is uniquely qualified to sneak in hack their computers and get out." He turned to Bane. "Which way to the loading docks? Whoever is buying this stuff has got to pick it up."

"That way, down there." Bane shot a thumb over his shoulder.

Naruto then turned to M'gann. "Miss Martian, since you have a built in camouflage mode, I want you to scout ahead. Keep to the shadows and out of the light as much as possible. Since the coms are down you have to use telepathy to communicate. And also relay to Robin what we're doing."

She shot a hesitant look at Superboy.

"I'll be fine, let's just get it over with." He said gruffly.

M'gann still looked at little unsure but drew her hood up and disappeared from view, a whooshing sound signified her departure. It wasn't long before Naruto heard a female voice in his head.

"All clear, you can move forward."

The remaining five crept along the wall following Bane's hand signal directions and M'gann's mental affirmations.

"Stop. Two cultists standing guard at the door leading to the docks."

"Any weapons that you can see?" Naruto asked.

"Machine guns slung over their backs, nothing in their hands. And they have their backs to you. They seem pretty relaxed actually.

"Of course they are, they're not expecting any attacks from the inside." Kid Flash chimed in.

"Superboy you're with me, we take them down quickly and quietly." Naruto commanded before creeping forward with the clone right behind him.

After stashing the unconscious guards in a nearby closet, and being rejoined by a visible M'gann, they were now crouched behind stacks of crates in the rear of the loading docks.

"It's a massive shipment alright, enough to dose an entire army." Aqualad said in horror.

"Yeah but It's all new product, the old stuff is just sitting there." Superboy said.

M'gann suggested with a cutely confused look on her face. "Maybe freshness counts."

Naruto chuckled and ruffled her hair he couldn't help it. "Nice try." He said before he voice got serious again. "If they were just going to make new venom, they could have set up shop anywhere in the world, why would they fight over this place?"

"A helicopter is coming." Superboy said looking off into the distance.

"Most likely the buyer."

"I'll get closer and I.D. the buyer everybody else fall back to our entry point." "That means you too Robin." Naruto added mentally.

"I'm almost done." His voice came back impatiently

"NOW!"

"Okay, okay. Jeez!"

"Get going. And Bane? Remember to mind your manners. Miss Martian don't drop the link. Coms are still down." Naruto said.

Naruto stayed crouched behind the crates as everyone else quietly slipped out the door. When they were gone he used his own camouflage technique to disappear. He then wall crawled very slowly up to a skylight to get a vantage point on the in-bound helicopter.

Lying down as flat as he could on the slate roof, Naruto eyed the welcoming party which consisted of two lines on either side of three individuals. One of them was very slim almost to the point of being emaciated, he couldn't tell from his position if it was male or female, they wearing leather pants, some kind of leather half jacket that covered just the torso and had orange hair. The figure in the middle was completely unidentifiable because it was covered head to ankle in a hooded red cloak, but was most likely the leader of the cultists.

The last individual was a complete stand out. Even from this distance Naruto could tell it was gargantuan figure. Gray skin, overly developed upper body to the point it was slightly hunched over, with torn pants and bare feet.

By the time his inspection was over the helicopter which was clearly military had landed. And out of the doors step a person he could instantly identify as Sportsmaster.

With all the environmental noise and the helicopter rotors still going he wouldn't be able to hear anything anyway so decided to meet back up with the rest. Before he retreated back to the warehouse he made a clone to ensure that the helicopter never left the ground and to buy some time to plan.

"So," He began to say when he rejoined the team, but Robin cut him off.

"We heard, Ms. Martian already told us Sportsmaster is the buyer."

"That's right. What did you find?"

"I found a formula that combines the blockbuster formula with venom. It's three times stronger than the old venom and the results are permanent. They're calling it kobra-venom."

Naruto grimaced behind his mask. "I've already seen the results. About seven feet tall, big, gray and ugly."

"So what now?" Aqualad asked in the silence.

"Now, this recon mission is a sabotage mission. Kobra-venom does not leave this island." Naruto said firmly.

"Do you have a plan?"

"The plan is this," He turned to the impatient speedster. "Kid Flash, you're up first. You are going to do what you do best. Get yourself noticed, cause a disturbance and make a nuisance of yourself all while taking out as many of those cultists as you can."

"I should feel insulted but somehow I'm not." Kid Flash said giving him two thumbs up.

"Miss Martian, you're going to back him up. Keep the cultists off the upper levels, we don't want the factory floor turning into a shooting gallery."

"I understand."

Naruto then stepped in front of Superboy. "You have that walking slab of muscle, put it down and keep it down."

"Done and done."

He stood in front of Aqualad and Robin. "Sportsmaster and the shipment. Whatever else happens he does not leave here with that stuff. Got it?"

"Got it." "Got it."

"And what of me Generalísimo? Do you have a job for me?" Bane asked sarcastically.

"Actually I do. How bad do you want to get some payback on Kobra?"

Bane stiffened and both and hands clenched into fists so tight his leather gloves could be heard creaking in the silence. "What would you have me do?"

"When all hell breaks loose, he's all yours. Don't hold back." Naruto said simply.

"With pleasure."

With nothing more needing to be said, they double timed it to the factory. Pausing at the door and opening a crack, they saw they were still in the clear. "Kid, Miss. M, you're up."

Kid Flash affixed his goggles over his eyes before turning to Miss Martian. "Are you ready for this beautiful?"

In answer Miss Martian raised her hood over her head and went transparent. "As I'll ever be."

Kid Flash took off and before you knew it his voice was echoing through the factory. "Okay guys, stop if you've heard this one before! There once was a man from Nantucket-"

The sound of automatic gun fun cut him off.

"Let's go!" The rest of them sprinted from the hidden alcove straight for the loading docks. With Naruto in the lead he cut a non-lethal swath through all the small fry, until they all burst out into the open field in time to see Sportsmaster fleeing towards the waiting helicopter with a metal case under his arm.

"Mammoth kill them! Now!"

Naruto's attention was turned towards a beastly roar and the angry charge of the now named Mammoth.

"Superboy that's your dance partner." A black blur raced passed Naruto and met the charging Mammoth with his own challenging roar. The two met in a collision that was felt by those nearby. Superboy went in low, driving his shoulder into the mid-section of the suped up monstrosity, before jumping up hard and fast with an uppercut that would have decapitated a normal man but only shot Mammoth about two feet in the air. Superboy grabbed Mammoth by the arm and tossed him away before following after him to get more room to fight.

It was a brief look and that was all Naruto saw before turning his attention to other things.

Bane was already brawling with Kobra, having apparently laid out his bodyguard beforehand. Robin and Aqualad were being held up by cultists and Sportsmaster was getting further away. 'Oh well, no plan survives contact with the enemy.' Naruto thought before taking off after Sportsmaster. He went through, around or over anyone in his way before flinging a brace of kunai at Sportsmaster, knocking the case from his arms.

Sportsmaster pivoted around and got in an aggressive stance. "Ok J.V. let's see what you got."

Naruto never slowed or paused. Sportsmaster ducked under the first aerial round house kick and hopped over the follow up leg sweep. He darted in close and tried to grapple but Naruto got him in a clinch and drove two quick knees into his chest, a side kick put some distance between us.

Sportsmaster hit the ground but rolled quickly to his feet. "Oh, you're good. I can see the kid gloves need to come off." He came back in and as he threw his first punch a six inch triangular blade slid out of the top of his arm guard. When he missed with the first one its twin popped out of the arm guard on the other arm and tried to bisect him.

Naruto bobbed and weaved through Sportsmaster's attempted disembowelment before locking blades with him with two kunai held in a reverse grip. They tested each-others strength before pushing off and rushing back in. The sound of clanging steel and the glint of metal in the moons light was Naruto's only focus at the moment, waiting for an opportunity to take advantage of.

He finally got it when the frustrated sports enthusiast made an angry sloppy swing. He over reached, and Naruto drove one kunai into the underside of his unprotected forearm and sent the other slicing through the air towards his jugular. He must have sensed the imminent danger to his life. In a praise worthy show of dexterity for a man of his body type, he leaned backwards in a single hand spring and only received a glancing nick.

Panting heavily, Sportsmaster with his right arm hanging at his side gingerly placed his fingers on his neck. They came away wet and not with sweat. "You're not like the others are you? You're actually a killer." He stated knowingly.

Naruto got into a ready stance, his bloody kunai held in front of him. "Born and raised." He affirmed.

Sportsmaster's response was to reach into his bag of weapons on his back and pulled out a crossbow that apparently shot out red energy blasts.

Naruto retreated to cover behind discarded crates as Sportsmaster laid down barrage of covering fire as he himself retreated towards the waiting helicopter.

He lay there not even attempting to go after him. "Did you do it?"

A black covered head identical too Naruto's rose out of the ground next to him. "It's done Boss. Even managed to pick this up." His clone set a metal case on the ground next to him.

Peeking over the crates he saw that Sportsmaster was far enough away. A half of ram seal later and an orange fireball could be seen in the distance. Grabbing the case and ignoring the memories of his dispelled clone, Naruto joined the team just as Bane connected with a haymaker that sent Kobra spiraling into a tree.

Kobra stood up panting heavily and ignoring the blood dripping from a cut above his eye. When he saw Naruto or more specifically the case he was carrying his eyes narrowed and he gritted his teeth in anger. "Another time." He said through his clenched teeth as he backed away into the forest. "Definitely another time and another place."

Naruto could have went after him but his team was fatigued and although the small fry were down they weren't out. "Alright boys and girl, don't drop your guards just yet. Robin you get started trying to get through whatever is still jamming the coms and get the coms and everybody else start retraining these people as best as you can."

Everyone scrambled to follow orders. He approached Bane who was still staring of into the forest. "You get a head start. When you get far enough away from me that thing on your neck will fall off on its own."

He grunted in acknowledgment and starting walking off. He paused just before he was fully enveloped in the darkness.

"I'm surprised you're letting me go."

"This isn't the first time an enemy and an ally were the same person on the same day. Take it however you want. As long as you don't take it as a weakness."

With a small almost imperceptible nod he disappeared into the foliage.

Life. What can you do but to make the best of it? I know it's been a while. I assure I'm still kicking, it's just that other things kept me away from my writing desk. I'll do my best to update more frequently but I make no promises. I hope you've enjoyed the chapter. See ya next time.