Pairing: Naruto/Supergirl/Wonder-Woman/Mera/Grail/Zatanna/Poison Ivy/ Madam Xanadu

Disclaimer: I do not own the Naruto franchise or DC comics. I simply do this for fun and to improve myself as writer.

A/N: Hey guys, I'm back with a new chapter of SOW. I know you guys have been waiting for it and I'm sorry it's taken so long to upload. Unfortunately real life has been kicking me to the ground and then kicking my while I'm down, over and over again. Things have been pretty bad for me.

The biggest reason I've been silent since my last update was simply that I need some time to myself. This past August, my aunt – my mom's younger sister – passed away after losing a battle with breast cancer. She was very much like a second mother to me and had been in my life in some form or another for the last 20 years. She also would've been celebrating her birthday today, the 24th November, together with me (my birthday being on 21st). So it's a really lonely day for me since we've been celebrating our birthdays together for 20 years, and now she's gone.

Anyway, since the funeral it's been really hard to concentrate on writing, and life hasn't gotten any easier in the wake of her passing. So yeah, that's biggest reason I practically disappeared on you guys again.

The second biggest reason I haven't updated this or any other story is simply my ability to do so was impeded by the electricity problems I've been facing. The electricity situation has been bad for most of the year, with 6 hours of electricity every 24 hours being the worst I'd had to deal with prior to September. Yet, September was a special kind of hell for everyone out here.

On a really really good day I'd get 4 hours of electricity every 24 hours, and on a bad day it was anything between 2 hours and mere minutes. Meanwhile, the worst days were the ones when I didn't get any electricity at all. We had a couple of weeks were we didn't get power at all and had to use solar powered lights to charge our phones. It sucked.

Anyway, I can't write anything if I don't have electricity and the best I've been able to do is steal an hour here and 30 minutes there as I slowly put together this chapter. And even then, I had to cut out a lot of things I would've included if I had the time. Fortunately, as of the last two weeks I'm getting at least 7 hours of electricity so there is more room for me to work.

Of course, those were not the only things I've had to deal with and they've had knock on effects. A taxi driver who'd come to my home to drop the kids of my late aunt, ran over our dog and killed him. That dog used to belong to my aunt who passed away, so…yeah, I've been pretty broke up about that. And then 3 weeks ago an old lady I used to be neighbors with and who tutored me through school from 2nd grade through high school, also passed away. She was about to hit 90 years old.

And then, there was a project I was working towards last month, I'd been doing part time jobs and saving up for six months. It was meant to be a surprise party for kids coming from poorer families in the area I lived, specifically held on this past 24th October, which was the 60th Independence Anniversary for Zambia (where I live for now). The party was meant so that these 70-ish kids who specifically wouldn't be able to celebrate Independence Day like everyone else due to financial challenges would have a fun day. And guess what happened a week before I could arrange everything?

I got freaking robbed.

I'm not gonna lie, that one made me feel like a piece of shit, and left me in a depressed rut for a few days. I spent six months working towards that one day and I couldn't even deliver on the day. And add to it everything else that's been going on, it's been rough.

Also I'm broke so I haven't actually paid for my internet this month and I'm just using a friend's wifi to upload this chapter. I'll see if get some money by tomorrow in order to pay for my internet, otherwise I will just have to take chances when it comes to the next update.

Anyway, sorry for ranting about my life for so long but I just wanted you to know what's going on with me. Again, I'm not abandoning anything; life's just been hell for me lately.

Now for this chapter, I'm a little worried that my moods and frustrations from the hurdles life has thrown at me may have infected the chapter here and there. Unfortunately, I literally don't have time to check and proofread everything to my heart's content or else I won't be uploading this at all. I was supposed to upload on my birthda, the 21st November, but FFN screwed up my documents as i was uploading and then the power cut after i ran out of time. Still I hope this chapter's an enjoyable read.

And when it comes to the story itself, I've changed some of my plans going forward. I've been rewriting and chucking out parts of the overall story that no longer fit with the new direction I intend to go in future. You won't notice much difference because the changes aren't too drastic, but I'm hoping this will allow me to get more chapters out quickly and give the story more focus and a clearer direction, while also quickly stepping into some events you're more familiar with from the comics.

My original outline for Sage of War's story would've had a couple of arcs before the five year time skip ended and the events of the New 52 & Rebirth comics picked up. These changes will have me cruise through those plans.

One of those changes to the story is downsizing the harem to just seven girls. Yes, I know a lot of long time readers aren't going to be happy with that decision, but it is what it is. I literally don't know how many hours of power I will get every week and the temperature outside currently averages about 38 to 40 degrees Celsius or 100 to 104 Fahrenheit, until summer is properly over and the rains begin to consistently fall. We've only had one rainstorm so far, so it's not yet storm season and thus technically summer.

Anyway, I just have too much on my plate to try and make sense of a relationship with any more girls than that. So I dropped Donna Troy from the harem list, sorry.

I'm also trying to do smaller chapters instead of ridiculous 30K to 40K word chapters in order to get them out faster, because I just don't have the time to write something that long with the electricity cuts. I also don't have any coffee to wake me up when electricity comes back at 2:00 am and cuts off at 4:00 am or some other random time. So I'm going for something in between 5k and 15k words per chapter.

Next, for this particular chapter, I won't be directly replying to reviews in this Author's Note because I'm literally running out of time to upload the chapter (please forgive me guys). That doesn't mean I haven't read your reviews (thanks for all the love by the way) or that I'm not taking your concerns seriously (for those of you critiquing my work). Again, the electricity situation and my current lack of internet are my enemy.

With all that said, I wanted to quickly say a special thank you to my patrons Gamer and Mads Poulsen specifically, as well as everyone else who's given me their support over on pat_reon. Your support has quite literally made this chapter possible, especially with all the chaos currently going on in my, so thanks guys.

If anyone else wants to help support this story and other stories, then you can go to my pat_reon page on Pat_reon dot com (slash) ScarletAesir058. I could really use it now more than ever, you'd be saving my bacon and I'd be able to do so much more.

I'm working on AUH chapter 7 or a variant of it, but its slow going. Otherwise I got a bunch of new and old stuff I'm doing.

Now, let me not delay this any longer, you're here for the story not to listen to me yapping. So once again thank you so much for your support and patience, I really hope that despite being a little rushed you still will enjoy this. And please remember to leave a review at the end, it really helps inspire and shape the direction of all the stories I write.

A'aight here we go.

Chapter 8: A star falls from the Heavens!

"The life of a superhero? It honestly snuck up on me, because before that night when we fought Darkseid and stopped the invasion from Apokolips, I could not have imagined ever wanting to be a superhero. Don't get me wrong Cat; saving people…well, I would be a liar if I didn't admit that I've always had a bit of hero thing going on, so it feels good to get out there and help. But you won't catch me dead in one of those skin tight costumes my teammates are so fond of. I consider myself fortunate that, my powers come with an in-built badass design and I don't need to find a nearby phone booth or a convenient changing room to get into costume. I'm kidding, I'm kidding!"

— A viral clip of the hero Sage during an online interview with Cat Grant!

oOo

Somewhere near downtown, Central City…

"So can you do it Mr. Sage?"

The wide green eyes of the little girl peered up at him imploringly as she asked Naruto to save her pet kitten from the tree it had managed to get itself stuck in. It was a request that left the ninja feeling very nostalgic, albeit for different reasons than most would assume.

Even from as far back as his early Genin days, Naruto Uzumaki had had a personal history of capturing unruly cats and returning them to their owners. Of course much of that history was unpleasant and caused Naruto to instinctively want to yell 'hell no' to the request. The sheer trauma of a dozen Tora 'the demon' cat chases that ended with his face as a scratching post, had yet to fade from his memory.

Yet, as he looked into those hopeful green eyes, Naruto felt his heartstrings being tugged at, and knew in soul that he would not be able to deny this little girl. It also helped that in his personal opinion, the cats here on Earth were not nearly as crazy as the one's in the Elemental Nations, especially not demon cats, of which there were surprisingly a few literal ones.

That said…

The blond ninja turned to face his teammate, the Scarlet Speedster, the Flash, the one and only Barry Allen he considered a friend, and found him off to the side, leaning against a nearby building's wall – snickering at Naruto's misfortune.

For a few milliseconds – a timespan that only a speedster would've noticed – Naruto gave said friend a heated glare while making a few less than polite hand-gestures and faces at the Flash. It was too quick for anyone other than Barry or perhaps Clark Kent to observe, yet for this moment it only made Barry vibrate with laughter.

Dialing back on the speed before anyone noticed something was amiss, Naruto turned to face the mother of the little girl he was interacting with, one Ms. Ana Wallenstein. She was a particularly beautiful woman in her late 20's or early 30's that looked more like a supermodel than a mother. Yet with his empathic abilities, Naruto easily sensed her emotions towards her daughter and smiled at what he found.

Ana was the kind of woman who easily turned the heads of men and women alike wherever she went, and there was no doubt in Naruto's mind that her daily life involved being hounded by men and some women trying to score a date with her. Yet as she looked back at Naruto nervously, the ninja could feel both the hopefulness Ana had that he would help her daughter and also the sheer embarrassment she felt that her daughter was asking someone like him to do something that was so…trivial.

And it wasn't the bad kind of embarrassment either; it was something that came from a place of love and parenthood. It was something Naruto had never personally experienced while growing up due to being an orphan, and a role he had yet to assume now that he'd become an adult in the wake of the 4th Shinobi World War and his transportation to this new reality. Yet, for all that he was lacking in experience when it came to parenthood, Naruto could nonetheless tell Ana's feelings towards her daughter were a genuinely good thing – pure even. He could also tell that Ms. Wallenstein was preparing to comfort her child if Naruto refused to help her. In fact, the ninja could literally feel the sheer love and adoration Ana had for her daughter, like a physical force.

Eight year old, Lena Wallenstein was Ana's entire world…

Not that there was any chance he wouldn't help Lena get her cat back – Tora induced trauma be damned. He liked what they had, that feeling of hope, love, joy, protectiveness and more, and he liked the simple fact that this was a world where people could walk around with such feelings in their hearts – free from the cycle of hatred that plagued his native reality.

Of course, Naruto just had a bit of a hard time wrapping his head around one particular detail that the little Lena had mentioned when she first spotted him and asked for his help.

"Does Superman really go around rescuing kittens from trees?" Naruto asked aloud, completely failing to hide his disbelief. It the act itself that caused Naruto's disbelief but the spectacle made of it that allowed children in other cities to be aware of Superman's actions. It just seemed too trivial for the godlike alien, especially since he'd already noted that Earth cats were not that impressive.

A little to the side, the Flash's vibrations due to his silent laughter were beginning to become noticeable to non-speedsters as the forensics investigator coughed repeatedly into his hands and a tear formed in the corner of his eye. Of course, Barry deliberately made sure to not make any form of eye contact with Naruto when the blond ninja turned to him looking for answers. Barry Allen could be such an unhelpful bastard at times.

After a moment of silence in which none of the adults seemed eager to explain Superman's activities to the ninja, the answer to Naruto's question came once again from eight year old Lena, who said matter-of-factly. "Of course he does Mr. Sage! Superman is the greatest hero in the world! He saves all the kittens and cats in Metropolis that climb up trees." The little girl paused, then as an afterthought added. "The Flash does too, here in Central City."

Naruto didn't even need to look in his direction to know that Barry was smiling behind his mask, he could feel the warmth radiating off of his friend. Outwardly Barry gave the little girl a courteous bow, which seemed to please her and amuse her mother. All in all, this visit to Central City was turning out to be quite interesting.

This whole strange encounter had begun when Barry and Naruto were walking around the city, as Barry showed him all the cool spots in Central City. It was as they doing this that they met a distressed Lena and her mother who was simultaneously trying to comfort the little girl, while also searching for someone to help them with their kitten. And the two superheroes walking their way were just what Ana and Lena Wallenstein needed.

Of course The Flash had then roped Naruto into being the one to save the kitten from the tree instead of doing it himself in a picosecond. According to Barry, the speedster wanted Sage to save the cat in order to promote the image that Sage was a more child-friendly hero. Naruto was more than enough of a people person that he could easily interact and make friends with adults and teens, but children were a different story.

He'd give his life to save a child in a heartbeat, however that was different from being able to befriend kids or simply feeling comfortable around lots of kids while they were playing and causing the kind of chaos only children were capable of.

In the end, even Naruto recognized that as Sage, he needed to be the kind of hero that parents could trust their kids to be around at all times. Superman, Flash and Wonder Woman easily had that, and even Batman as far he knew was trusted around children, though Bruce's caped persona would scare the crap out of them for sure. Regardless, no one believed Batman would harm the children.

Naruto however was different…

People recognized that fact almost as soon as they met him; they saw that something about him wasn't quite like the vast majority of the members of the Justice League. And they couldn't quite place a finger on it, so they instinctively didn't feel safe leaving their children around him unsupervised. Or at least they wouldn't until he saved a hell of a lot more kittens and did plenty more public stuff to make the masses comfortable with having him around.

As such, Naruto felt that this was as good a place to start as any other.

Sighing in resignation, he looked up at the little white kitten with large brown and black spots in the tree, then back down to little Lena, before saying. "I see. I take it Superman just flies up to the kittens he saves and brings them down from the trees in his arms."

"Yes, that's exactly what he does." She excitedly replied with metaphorical sparkles in her eyes.

Amused by her excitement, Naruto decided to do something a bit more…interesting. Kneeling as if to whisper a secret, his voice remained just loud enough for Ana and Barry to hear what he was saying. "In that case, how about I show you something cooler than Superman flying into trees to catch stranded kittens?" He said in a conspiratorial tone. "It's a cool trick that even the Man of Steel wouldn't be able to pull off if he practiced it for the next million years." He added half-bragging.

If Lena's excitement at Superman saving kittens had been contained to her sparkling eyes, it now exploded out of her when he mentioned a cool trick that even Superman couldn't do. "Really Mr. Sage, you've got a trick that's that amazing?"

"Of course, and it's perfect for saving little kittens." He replied with an overly confident nod and a boastful grin.

Finally the little girl couldn't take it anymore and began jumping up and down in excitement as she repeated. "Oh I wanna see! I wanna see! I wanna see!"

Her mother wanted to say something – not to refuse the request, but she at least seemed to want to get her daughter to behave. Yet, Naruto beat her to it and said with a chuckle. "Calm down then little lady. I'm going to do that trick right now, so you'll be able to see it much more easily if you are not jumping up and down."

"Sorry." She apologized, helped by the stern glare her mother was giving her.

Naruto smiled replied. "Don't worry about it." He thought of patting her shoulder or rubbing her hair, but then thought better of it. He didn't know these people after all, and he had no idea how they would react to him patting their children or whether such an action was even appropriate. Turning towards the tree with the stranded kitten hanging on one of its upper branches he raised both his hands and said with mischievous smile. "Now pay close attention." And the girl did as instructed, focusing on both his hands and the kitten in the tree, not wanting to miss anything.

Delving inside himself to his mental space where he connected to his powers and many others that he passively absorbed, Naruto immediately sought out the different flavors of Nature energy in the world and tapped into the two he needed. First was the White, the most familiar to him of the various Parliaments governing nature and life, and then a little bit of the Red, the wildest of them all. Most of the work in saving the kitten would require the White; the Red would just be there to gain the animals trust.

Satisfied that he had a good bit of control over the power, he began to swing and swish his hands back and forth, like a conductor of an Orchestra. It was purely for dramatic effect, a means to invoke a sense of wonder in the child, instead of just willing what he wanted to occur.

As he did this ambient water in the atmosphere began to form into a bunch of tiny fluffy clouds, which gathered together in descending layers, like stairs. The topmost cloud reached just below the tree branch that the kitten was on, while the bottom one came up to Lena's chest height. The next part was where the real 'magic' began; using the Red he called out the poor kitten. His words were English, but he used the Red to ensure he was simply 'understood' by the little feline, and to an extent, trusted.

"Come down little one, its safe!" Layered beneath his words was an instruction on what he wanted the kitten to do, as well as assurances of its complete safety in his presence. "You can walk on those clouds to reach us, they're magic." These words were more for Lena's sake, who promptly gasped as he mentioned walking on clouds. He would soon be inviting the young girl to take position at the bottom of his cloud stairway, after all he had no intention of giving the kitten a chance to use his face as scratching post. "Lena is waiting for you."

With that last bit directed back at the kitten, he used the Red to remind the Kitten of the family that had taken her in and was raising her. He reminded the kitten that Lena and Ana were her owners and that they cared about her and were now very worried about her safety.

And as he finished speaking, Naruto drew on the power of the White to fill the clouds with energy and make the clouds into solid fluffy floating platforms. The kind of clouds people imagined existed in heaven, or once believed – before science showed us the truth – that people could sleep on if we could get to them. The timing was perfect too, because the little kitten didn't even hesitate to leap onto the first cloud platform, a moment that had numerous bystanders that had gathered to watch, collectively gasping in horror.

Only for that horror to turn to wonder and then joy when the kitten did not fall through the fluffy cloud, but stood there proudly.

The kitten, whose name Naruto had not bothered to ask about was standing on the top layer of cloud platforms, looking around with as much curiosity as a cat could possibly have. Naruto gently moved Lena to the foot of the makeshift cloud stairs and called out one last time with the Red. "Come little one, Lena is waiting."

As if that was the signal, the little kitten began what could only be described as a proud march down the cloud stairway Naruto had constructed, while showing off all its fine feline features. It looked both cute and silly, but somehow also regal as it leapt from platform to platform until it was on the last one, right at Lena's shoulder level. That was low enough for the eight year old girl to quickly scoop her pet up into her arms in a loving embrace, twirling it in a circle as she did so.

An around them, the crowd of bystanders who had initially been drawn to this little 'event' after spotting the Flash and Sage together, suddenly began to applause. A couple of them had even whipped out their phones and began taking pictures or recording videos of Naruto saving the kitten. Now he felt embarrassed, as he scratched the back of his head while chuckling, and waving off the praise.

With his freehand Naruto casually gestured to a couple of flowers nearby – tulips if remembered correctly – which were being grown in the small park. In response the clouds swiftly moved to just above the flowers before condensing into a watery mist that gently sprayed down around the yellow flowers. And the applause grew louder, taking a few minutes settle down as Naruto thanked them, seeming more like a stage magician in that moment than a superhero.

Finally once most of the people watching began to move along, satisfied that the impromptu show was over, he asked Lena who had been watching. "So, what did you think?"

"That was awesome!" She the little girl exclaimed.

Nodding his head he then asked. "Better than Superman flying up into a tree?"

"Yes, better than Superman flying up into a tree." She agreed.

Smiling, he clapped his hands together as in a prayer-like motion and bowed stating. "Then my work here is done."

Ms. Ana Wallenstein let out an amused snort as she faced away from him, but placed a caring and immaculately manicured hand on her daughter's shoulders, giving Lena a comforting squeeze. A moment later when she was done laughing she asked. "And after all of this, isn't there something you should be saying to Mr. Sage, my little princess?"

Lena's cheeks colored as she remembered her manners and said. "Thank you for saving Cynthia Mr. Sage."

'So that's the kitten's name.' Naruto thought, while smiling back as he replied. "It was my pleasure Lena Wallenstein. Though, you don't have to call Mr. Sage all the time, it kind of makes me feel super old, so just Sage is fine. Unfortunately, I have to go now; the Flash and I got a couple of things to do."

Before the little girl could complain her mother stepped in and said. "We understand Sage, and we're both very grateful for you taking the time out of your busy day to rescue Cynthia."

"It was genuinely my pleasure." Naruto responded, before walking over to Barry who merely waved at the parent and child as they continued on their way. Everyone else still watching also resumed whatever they had been doing before the Sage and the Flash, showed up.

Still smiling, Barry Allen said. "That was very well handled Sage. I love the magic touch you threw in there, I mean speaking to animals and walking on clouds. You're living up to the idea that Sages are mystics."

"I'm not that kind of Sage. I'm a ninja and a superhero first and foremost Flash, everything else comes second. Now I believed you mentioned something about an awesome spicy ramen place. I like to think of myself as a ramen aficionado and I came all the way from National City to check it out, so it better live up to the hype." Naruto finished with a proud and nasty smile.

Barry snorted in amusement before confidently replying. "Don't worry about that, buddy. Just follow me."

And with that he disappeared in a burst golden lightning, with Naruto hot on his heels in a streak of golden flames. The Ramen gods were demanding there due and Naruto was eager to sample the various flavors that this new world had to offer. Of course if Barry Allen, speedster extraordinaire, ended up making the ultimate sacrifice for his stomac…I mean footing the bill for his lunch, then that was even better.

VvV

Sometime later, Madame Xanadu's Emporium…

Looking back on it, the ramen was surprisingly not bad; it bordered on being amazing even. It wasn't traditional at all but instead used Japanese Ramen as its base, while infusing flavors from all across South-East Asia into the core of the dish. All in all, it was really good.

That said, it couldn't beat the taste of Ichiraku ramen. By design, old man Teuchi's ramen was tailored to mesmerize the enhanced taste-buds of superhuman ninjas. So even in a completely different universe, Ichiraku's remained the gold standard as far as Naruto was concerned.

Yet even with that disadvantage, the meal was not robbed of its greatness or Naruto's healthy appreciation for it. And it might've been a little ruinous to Barry's wallet based on the sheer number of bowls they both ate. Was it evil of Naruto that that last part put a smile on his face?

Whatever the case, after several bowls of delicious ramen and visiting a couple of genuinely interesting sights around Central City, Naruto took his leave and headed over to Madame Xanadu's Emporium. He still had the matter of payment that he needed to settle with Nimue, for her help with setting up Superman's date with Lois so much earlier in the timeline than would've naturally occurred.

Of course, it turned out that Nimue was unwilling to accept cash as payment, which led to the present situation.

"This is humiliating." The ninja grumbled as he sat in a comfortable throne-like chair, wearing nothing but a pair of swimming trunks. He was covered in special oils and surrounded by rose petals while scented candles were tactfully placed in the background around him.

Meanwhile, positioned to either side of him were two absolutely gorgeous ladies dressed in skimpy two piece bikinis. They were rubbing their arms all over his oiled chest and arm muscles while giggling in amusement at his uncomfortable reactions. It was extra amusing because Naruto did not move the whole time, aside from twitching his face in various annoyed expressions.

Had a random person from the streets outside walked into Madame Xanadu's emporium at that exact moment, the scene before them might've seemed like it was heading in the direction of a rather wild sexual fantasy. Yet even having a random person assume that 'that' was exactly what was going on might've been preferable to the humiliation Naruto felt from what was actually going on.

Things were obviously not what they seemed…

A half-naked Naruto being 'attended' to by two gorgeous equally half-naked women…well that was simply Nimue's idea of a dirty joke. The woman had a filthy mind that would've impressed Jiraiya, and a sense of humor from right out of the dark ages when she felt in the mood for bawdy jokes.

It was even funnier for Nimue because Naruto was extra squirmy thanks to the fact that she was one of those two gorgeous women rubbing themselves all over the ninja – a feat that she thought impressive since he still managed to remain sitting still enough to use senjutsu and gather nature energy. Furthermore, there was a damn good reason they were doing this and it was not whatever idea would automatically pop into the head of that theoretical person who'd stumble upon them after entering her shop and witnessing the three of them in this titillating scenario.

What was actually going on was that they were performing a magical ritual, a highly sexualized magical ritual but a magical ritual all the same…

It was repayment for her help in hooking up Clark Kent and Lois Lane in a way that would result in Jonathan Kent being born way earlier in the timeline. It was also something Naruto could not refuse because Nimue had been forced to jump through all kinds of mystical hoops, taking dangerous risks and cashing in many favors with various entities of incredible power across the universe. And most importantly of all, Nimue being Nimue, had deliberately set things up to be as erotic as possible without crossing any lines, simply because watching Naruto squirm catered to her truly prehistoric sense of humor - ergo everyone in the room was half-naked, and Nimue along with her companion were all but molesting Naruto.

That she could set it up so that it served a purpose in the magical ritual was simply Nimue's genius at work. The sexual tension was itself a tool and a very active part of the ritual that the three of them were performing. One that would allow Nimue to harvest enormous quantities of magical energy from a magical ley line beneath the throne-like chair Naruto was sitting on.

The whole process was a type of borderline sexual ritual Nimue had created after modifying an older ritual from Arthurian times, one that had long since been lost to the majority of the magical world. The original ritual was a dark foul thing used by Succubae in those ancient times to literally consume the life-essence of men.

In the original ritual, six magical symbols were drawn or carved into equidistant points around the chosen victim, after which the Succubus only needed to appear before the person the ritual was being performed on, ideally naked. The ritual then used lust and pleasure as a conduit to drain the man's life-essence via the concept of give and take – specifically using the feelings of lust that the victim felt for the succubus to make the spell target him, and pleasure given by the sex demon to the man who willing accepted said pleasure (take) to create a conceptual channel linking the two and completing the ritual.

In short, the sex demon just needed to show up and pleasure the man through whatever means it chose – sex, blow jobs, hand jobs, etc. And after that, the victim's fate was sealed as the ritual would trigger and drain the man of all his life-essence, leaving him a withered husk.

The whole thing was truly a terror in those ancient times and the world greatly benefited from the ritual being 'lost'…

Of course, Nimue had no intention of subjecting Naruto to the original abomination of a ritual. The ritual they were using at that moment was so heavily modified that it was something completely different from the original, and most importantly harmless to him. Well, that is unless you were considering Naruto's dignity.

Where the original ritual stole life-force and transferred it to the Succubus who could use it to heal itself, empower itself, sate its hunger or a million other little things. The ritual Nimue create took those vampiric elements and redirected them to targeting the raw magical energy in living beings, completely draining the magic right out of anyone targeted. In fact, you could say it was tailor made for Naruto Uzumaki who could absorb enormous amounts of magical energy while using senjutsu but not actually use any of it.

Naruto still couldn't use magic and reacted so badly to absorbing it that his body grew increasingly numb the more magic he absorbed. Yet while that was bad for him, it was only really a problem if that magical energy stayed inside of his body for extended periods of time. And he recovered from those side effects almost as soon as the magic left his system.

In fact, the only reason he wasn't recovering as Nimue continued using the ritual to extract magic from his body was because he kept absorbing more of it. All of which he did for her sake.

Magic in general was useless to Naruto, yet to an immortal witch like the sister of King Arthur, the value of the energy being collected could not be calculated. Not that any of that mattered to Naruto. Nimue wanted the magical energy so Naruto was only too happy to give it to his friend; he just wished he didn't have to be the target of her dark sense of humor in the process.

Of course, even if he decided that enough was enough, there really wasn't much he could do with his body at the moment. He was already quite numb from exposure to raw magic, and he certainly wouldn't be able to physically resist the two women groping him, if they decided to cross…certain boundaries.

In a way, Naruto was incredibly vulnerable now – and he was allowing himself to be like this because he completely trusted Nimue. He trusted her so much that regardless of how uncomfortable his vulnerability made him feel, Naruto chose not to so much as twitch a muscle. He simply owed Nimue this and so much more…

Okay not this specifically, but rather he owed Nimue in general for so much. She was the first person he met after waking up in this world, and had done so much for him since then. Teaching him about stuff, guiding him when he was on the brink of making mistakes, offering him shelter, going along with his more ridiculous whims and patching him up after a hard fight – she'd done it all.

Words could not express the gratitude he felt towards her, as such, a bit of discomfort and a blow to his dignity from this silly ritual was an easy price to pay for his friend's happiness. Especially, when he was more than ready to bleed or even die to protect her, grim as such thoughts may have been.

All of that aside, it did nothing to change the fact that the great Madame Xanadu had a truly filthy mind…

Nimue had made sure that the targeting and trigger elements of the ritual were largely the same as the original one that the succubae used in ancient times. In short, he had to feel some form of lust for the caster of the ritual, and then receive back some form of pleasure from the one he was directing his lust towards, triggering the ritual.

Unfortunately for him, his lust was not hidden enough and he couldn't pretend he wasn't feeling…stimulated by the two incredibly beautiful women all but molesting him – as such the ritual was working incredibly well. Furthermore, the embarrassing ritual made it abundantly clear that Naruto was without a doubt attracted to Nimue and/or the other magician girl who he hadn't even been properly introduced to yet – because a certain part of his male anatomy was being more honest than he was willing to be, much to Nimue's amused grin.

Of course, Naruto couldn't exactly throw stones when he was the creator of the Sexy jutsu and its many many variants.

That said. 'Someone bury me in the core of the Earth for a thousand years. At least the heat and pressure there will be gentler on my dignity' He mentally lamented while actively avoiding Nimue's gaze and diligently drawing more magical energy from nature into himself for the ancient witch to harvest.

In fact, there was a corona of mystical light and pressure surrounding Naruto. It was a side effect of the enormous quantities of magical energy being absorbed into his body by the ritual, and then almost immediately being drained right back out of him by the two magic users attending to him. Magic flowed like liquid, literally – the sheer concentrated amount of magical energy had been transformed through some unknown process into a sky blue slightly viscous liquid which Nimue and the other magician lady directed into specially prepared magical containers.

What they were going to do with it, Naruto didn't care. That said, with narrowed eyes he playfully growled. "Aren't you enjoying this a little too much?"

"Oh quit whining and suck it up, you big baby." Nimue replied with a grin that was all teeth before she switched out an artifact jar filled to the brim with magical energy for another empty one, the liquid magical energy giving off an ethereal glow. "Do you have any idea how difficult it was to acquire artifacts that could store large amounts of concentrated magic long term? How many favors I had to cash in, and trials I had to go through for the amusement of various gods out there? Seriously, you have the easy job, all you have to do is just sit there and look pretty, all the magical energy around will naturally flow towards you.

"I on the other hand had to drink Thor under the table, or at least trick him into thinking I did. That scruffy redhead knows how to hold his liquor, so I had to pull some damn impressive tricks to win that trial and get a few of these artifacts. Then there was playing cards with Quetzalcoatl, where if I lost, he would literally rip my heart out and eat it in front of me before growing me a replacement one. That wasn't fun either. And I'm not even going to talk about the shit I had to do to convince Anubis to help me; all I will say is that gods generally have a disturbing sense of humor. So just sit there and relax while some of us do the actual work." She playfully scolded, without any real heat in her words.

"Now hold on a minute." Naruto protested, though only weakly. "I can't use magic yet, and if I draw in too much I might end up falling into another coma. I'm taking risks here too ya know."

"More whining. Jeez, even my brother, King Arthur wasn't this bad as a brat, and he was a thoroughly a spoiled brat no matter what the legends people write about him these days say." Nimue muttered while giving Naruto a look of pity.

For all of the drama going on between them, every single word spoken was carefully chosen for the sake of their nervous third companion who was busy helping with the extraction and storage of the magical energy being drained from Naruto. After all, from the very moment Naruto had stepped into the shop and the whole ritual had begun, Zatanna Zatarra had not been able relax around him.

Oh she played her role excellently, rubbing him down seductively and giggling at all his reactions. And if Naruto was not an empath, he might not have noticed how nervous she was. And yet, he did and so it was only natural that having grown tired of the tense atmosphere; Naruto would do something to break the ice by playing the fool…or was it the whipped 'boyfriend', he was still a little unclear on these roles.

Fortunately he succeeded…

"Pfft! Hahahaha!" Zatanna couldn't help herself; she burst into laughter so hard she had to clutch her sides. She didn't care at that point if anyone was watching as she let out a relentless series of guffaws while trying not to look at the two arguing friends, thereby missing smiles exchanged. And only after a long heartfelt laugh did she regain enough control over herself to gasp out. "Please…stop…I…I can't…take it anymore."

"I think you broke her." Nimue stated with a wink towards Naruto who grinned back. She knew what he'd done and truly appreciated the lengths Naruto was willing to go to make Zatanna comfortable.

Instead of replying to Nimue, he straightened up and declared in a haughty tone that was completely unlike him. "Hoh, does my predicament amuse you Miss Zatarra."

"Just call me Zatanna. And just so you know, you two squabble like an old married couple." She said without a thought to how her words could be taken the wrong way; she was too busy mustering enough self-control to stop giggling.

"Eh, were nothing like that." Naruto responded, taken aback by the suggestion. He sounding almost offended by it, yet once again there was no heat to his words was but humor. "I just don't like sitting still in general, and pulling ambient magic into my body sucks. This ritual also could've been a little gentler with yanking the magic back out of me. It feels really weird, probably a flaw in the design-. Ouch!"

He gripped his head dramatically where Nimue had thumped him, not really feeling any pain but playing it up. "I told you to deal with it. Besides, this is you paying me back for that prank I helped you set up on Superman…remember?" She reminded him.

"You pranked Superman!" Zatanna asked in disbelief.

Naruto shrugged and grumbled out. "Well, he didn't think it was a prank, and I probably still would've had the black eye to prove it if I didn't heal so quickly."

"Superman hit you?!" Zatanna asked even more shocked than before.

Naruto chuckled and responded. "In my friend's defense, I totally deserved it." He then turned to Nimue and said. "As for you, this isn't about any pranks I may or may not have played on the Man of Steel. This is about me not enjoying being stuck here."

"Hmm, but you're really so good at absorbing ambient natural energies, particularly those of a supernatural nature, and we need the magic for more witchy stuff, that would go right over your head if I tried to explain. Besides, we are draining the magic right out of your system almost as soon as it goes in, keeping it from building up to harmful levels. Not to mention your body is growing ever so slightly resistant to the more dangerous side effects of magic, and more importantly learning to process it better." Nimue said, playfully talking down to him like he was an ignorant child.

Naruto growled back. "And that's why I said it sucks. I feel like a cow being milked for all its worth, or like a bloated whale that got beached…perhaps some combination of both. Magic isn't like chakra or any of the other natural energies on the planet. It has a metaphysical weight to it, that feels like my soul is being squeezed or something. It's weird and I don't like it."

"Well tough! You have the ability to gather enormous amounts of magic in seconds, and these artifacts I worked my ass off to get a hold of need filling. If I tried to collect this much magic using normal methods, it would take months, possibly even a few years to fill up all these artifacts. So you're going to do it for me." She declared firmly with no room for negotiation.

Sighing dramatically Naruto grumbled. "Sometimes I hate that we are friends."

"No you don't." Nimue responded.

"No I don't." Naruto admitted with a chuckle, and beside them Zatanna smiled at the two clearly good friends.

VvV

Shortly after the ritual…

"So what's up with the girl?" Naruto asked some time after they completed the ritual. He and Nimue had moved to a private room to speak, while Zatanna was doing something elsewhere in the magical building.

Their current conversation carried a very different tone behind it from their previous one. Naruto might've been willing to entertain Zatanna and even help her relax in his presence, but he certainly didn't trust her, and he wanted to know why Nimue had let the young woman witness a moment in which he was arguably at his most vulnerable.

"Who, Zatanna?" The immortal seer asked coyly. "See something you like?" She waggled her eyebrows at him in a suggestive manner, making him snort. She could be such a pervert at times, enough to impress even him, and probably inspire Jiraiya to write a whole new Icha Icha series had he still been around.

"Oi, get your mind out of the gutter, I just met her." Naruto chastised with a grin, though a moment later his expression shifted to something much more serious as he added. "Besides that's not what I meant and you know it."

Sighing Madame Xanadu responded. "You're no fun today." And while she'd probably deny it happened till her dying breath, Naruto found the pout that made its way onto her face incredibly cute.

Deciding to just cut to the heart of the matter, Naruto asked. "Why is she here Nimue? You asked me to use my sage arts meditation to gather magic for you as payment for our little prank, so I did that, but I thought it would be something private, something just between us. I didn't expect you to invite someone else."

The former princess of Camelot looked saddened by his words, but nevertheless replied. "Even so, you didn't make a fuss about it, because you already know I wouldn't invite anyone I didn't believe was trustworthy."

"True." Naruto ceded the point. It was near unbelievable to him how much he trusted Nimue, after only knowing her for such a short time but damn it he did. "I trust your judgment, but that doesn't mean I like it when you throw me into a situation blind. You could've at least given me a heads up to prepare myself."

"And I apologize for that. I will even make it up to you later, Naruto, but I needed the help she could provide in draining the magic from your body. I also felt that it was an important opportunity for you to meet Zatanna in a controlled environment…or rather for Zatanna to meet you."

Naruto frowned at the way she said that. Looking at his friend with a slight amount of concern in his eyes, he asked. "Important? As in important to the future?"

"…" She did not answer, which meant it wasn't just important for the future, but for his future specifically.

"I've told you before Nimue. You might be able to see the future and manipulate destinies, but that's not something you should be delving into so deeply. A prank here and there is fine if it leads to an eventuality that will take place anyway, but messing with peoples freewill will eventually come back to bite you in the ass." He said with a frown. They'd had this argument several times before and the last time was actually quite recent.

"Relax Naruto. It was just a minor tweak to the timeline, and it was not so much your future I was messing with, but hers. At least now she will have a slightly happier life." Nimue explained and he sensed the truth in her words, but somehow he got the impression that it was a selective truth, and that there was more to it than that. "Besides, I got an amazing ass; plenty of people of beings out there would like to take a bite out of it." She joked.

Naruto blushed at her response, before coughing and asking after a moment. "You care for her rather strongly. Why?"

"Her father and I where close back in the day." She said softly, with a fondness that much to Naruto's surprise made him feel…jealous.

For confirmation, he asked. "Like you and me kind of close, or-."

"No." She cut him off, then bluntly said. "We were lovers; John even wanted to marry me."

Naruto nodded, easily able to tell that she wanted to marry this John as well. That jealous feeling, seemed grow a little stronger but he pushed it down even further and asked. "Then why didn't you?"

Nimue looked to the door leading to the next room, where they had left Zatanna attending to the magical artifacts, and said. "Because if I had accepted his proposal, Zatanna would never have existed. John's destiny was to fall in love with a Homo Magi woman and eventually have Zatanna Zatarra. And sometimes a person's destiny is too important to the world to mess with it, even when it means sacrificing your own happiness."

"I…see." He said awkwardly, before stamping out those pangs of jealousy he felt. Nimue needed her friend right now. "She's like the daughter you could've had." He said in a whisper.

Nimue shook her head in denial and said. "Don't be ridiculous, Zatanna is Zatanna and the past is the past. Speculation about what could've been is pointless, and not worth bringing up. Besides there is another reason I asked you to come."

"Oh, what would that be?" He asked, in curiosity.

She smiled at him, though this time he immediately noticed that there was certain wariness behind it, and sensed through his empathy that Nimue was feeling nervous. That alarmed him quite a bit as she took a step back and said. "A friend of yours wanted to chat."

"A friend?" He asked with a raised brow, not missing the fact that Nimue was slowly, almost cautiously backing away from him. He didn't have a whole lot of friends in this reality, much less ones who knew Madame Xanadu well enough to find her Emporium.

"Your friend might have called themself, your 'Boss' when they introduced themself to you last." Those words caused Naruto to freeze in shock and slight fear as he remembered that moment during the beginning of the battle against Darkseid, when he effectively killed Naruto for a few seconds and the Entity calling itself his Boss spoke to him. "I see that got a reaction. Allow me to put them on the line."

Panicked Naruto tried to move towards Nimue and stop her, but even while mostly recovered there was still a slight feeling of sluggishness from the after effects of the magic absorption that messed with his coordination. It was a delay of mere milliseconds, in which he managed to step forward and yell. "Nimue wait-"

He was too late…

The younger sister of King Arthur suddenly grew unnaturally still, as her vibrant amethyst eyes turned a dark brown approaching black color and her body suddenly jerked in an unnatural manner before she took a deep breath. At the same time a 'presence' with a shockingly potent metaphysical weight pressed into their reality, and the Entity now possessing Nimue turned her head to him and said. "It's been a few days since our last conversation Godkiller. Don't worry, this will only take a moment of your time"

"I'm only going to say this once. Let. Her. Go!" Naruto growled threateningly. He already knew that if it came down to a fight, he was utterly outclassed by this 'Super Being'. Its power eclipsed his own by such a ridiculous degree that it wasn't even funny. And yet, for his friend's sake, he'd fight no matter who it was. After all, this wasn't the first time the odds had not been in his favor, and going up against impossible odds was simply what he did best.

Sensing his distress the Entity said. "Be at ease Godkiller. I've no intention of hurting Nimue, she's an old friend, and she volunteered for this temporary possession. She knows that this meeting is necessary."

"How am I supposed to be at ease when you are possessing my friend's body? Not to mention that the last time we talked, you suggested that the mere knowledge of who you are could literally break me. What about her?" He angrily pointed out.

"The circumstances and even the method you were using to perceive me the last time we talked were vastly different from this situation right now. And again, Nimue and I go way back. Not only does she already know exactly who I am, she's had over a thousand years to comprehend and process that answer. Her mind is far more flexible than yours, young man. And don't think you can just ask her for answers as soon as I leave; I put a seal on her long ago that will prevent her from telling you anything about me. Not that she would do so even if I hadn't placed my seal; I trust her to keep my secrets, just as in time I will trust you with those secrets. So relax, Nimue will be fine, this possession is only a temporary thing. Besides, wouldn't you prefer to we get to why I am here so that you can get your girlfriend back faster."

"She's not my…ugh, what do you want?" He grumbled.

The Entity promptly responded. "I want to give you a reward."

"A reward?" Naruto asked in confusion.

It nodded in Nimue's body, sending his friends raven locks swaying, then said. "Yes. I'm rewarding you for your excellent performance against Darkseid. What you did to him, was just so delightful…I don't even have the words to properly describe it really. Something like that deserves its own reward. So here." His 'Boss' in Madame Xanadu's body said, handing him a piece of paper that just seemed to have materialized from out of thin air.

"What is this?" Naruto asked as he took the paper in hand. For the most part it seemed like an ordinary piece of paper, except for a bunch of weird squiggly symbols that he couldn't understand written on to it.

The Entity smiled and said. "Those are coordinates between two points in space, one place for you to be at and another at a distant point in space. Give that to your friend Cyborg; he'll know what to do, and then go to the coordinates indicated with him tomorrow. Be there before 07:53 pm."

"Why? What happens at 07:53 pm?" Naruto asked.

The Entity responded. "07:53 pm is your window of opportunity provided you are in the correct location to act on it; a young woman's life hangs in the balance, Naruto. Save her if you dare."

"What young woman?" He asked.

"Be there and find out!" The being snapped back, making a cutting gesture that silenced his retort with Nimue's hands. "What's important is that you now have a chance to help someone in need, and with Cyborg helping you with the instructions on that piece of paper, you have the means. Are you going to debate with me here on whether to save a life or not, just because you don't know who or what kind of being they are…or are you just going to do what you've always done in the past and deal with the consequences as they come?"

"I never said I was unwilling. I just want a little more information since this is all happening tomorrow." Naruto explained

The Entity shook its head and said. "You already have all the information you need, and that's also the limit of how much I am able to tell you without invoking severe repercussions. Divine politics is a bitch; don't worry your little head about it. Whatever the case, Cyborg will know what to do, just be at that coordinates at that time and be prepared to catch her."

"To catch her? Is she falling." Naruto asked.

"Even if I was allowed to explain it all to you in detail, I still wouldn't Naruto, because that would suck the fun out of all of this." The entity said with a chuckle, before adding. "Oh and one last thing, Naruto, those instincts that keep telling you you're being watched are not wrong."

"Watched! By whom?" He demanded but it was once again too late.

Nimue let out a loud gasp as she retook control of her body, before raising her hands to her head to nurse a throbbing headache. Wincing she muttered. "Okay, that was extremely unpleasant. I'm not letting her do that again for a whole decade. Feels like that hangover I got that one time I got buzzed on Odin's personal stock of mead, only I don't have any memories of getting buzzed today."

Ignoring just about everything she just said, because he really didn't want to know how she got access to the All-Father's personal alcohol stash, Naruto instead pulled her into a hug saying. "So stupid, how could you do something so stupid?"

"I was fine Naruto?" She assured him like it wasn't a big deal.

With a little anger in his voice he retorted. "You were possessed by an Entity beyond anything I've ever encountered. What about that was fine?"

"Your so called 'Boss' would never hurt me. They were telling the truth when they said that we go way back, honestly I don't understand why they don't just come out and tell you their name. Besides, I volunteered to let them use my body to communicate with you. It's easier for everyone this way." She tried to reassure him.

And failed, as he took a step back while gripping her by the shoulders and roared. "Easier? You nearly gave me heart-attack Nimue."

"And you had to die the last time you had a conversation with your 'Boss'." She yelled back, poking his chest in a brief flash of genuine anger. That display was enough to silence them both for a moment, until Nimue let out a sigh and said. "Sorry, I…this really was the easier option Naruto. No one was hurt."

"I'm sorry too, Nimue." Naruto apologized followed by a sigh of his own. "I've spent most of my life either fighting or training to fight various threats. I'm so used to it that I don't…it doesn't bother me at all to put my life on the line. Hell, I've nearly been killed by or nearly killed most of the people I considered my dearest friends back home. My world was just that kind of violent place, and growing up on a world like that, it shapes a certain way of thinking. It shaped in me a need to grow strong and protect others, so seeing you twitching like that as you were possessed and hearing someone else speak through your body. I…"

"It's fine Naruto, I'm fine. Sorry if I worried you with that stunt." She said placing her palm on his chest, over his heart. "All I need is a bucket full of aspirins and a good nap, and I will be good as new." She joked.

Naruto snorted in amusement before saying. "You did actually worry me this time, and I will make you pay for it some other time." He pulled her in closer for another hug, a tighter hug and added. "But for now, I am just glad you're alright."

"Oh what would the world think if they learned how overly emotional the legendary Sage happened to be." She teased.

In response Naruto pushed her away with growl. "Shut up, this is serious."

Nimue's eyes twinkled with amusement for a moment before saying. "I'm guessing you want to know about my relationship with that Entity."

"Yes." He promptly replied.

"I have history with a lot of Celestial Entities out there. Your 'Boss' just happens to be one of the more powerful ones, and pretty damn good at poker I might add." She said with a chuckle, before adding. "Still, like they said, I can't tell you anything about them."

Naruto frowned and said. "So you were listening."

"Oh I was." She responded with a nod.

Naruto's expression turned thoughtful before he asked. "Then perhaps while you shared a body, you gleaned from that being's mind who the girl whose life hangs in the balance is?"

"On that matter, all I can say is that she is 'Super' important and once you see her, you will immediately understand why. Just do what our mutual friend said, meet Cyborg and show him the paper. Follow the instructions you were given, and it will all work out in the end." She assured him, successfully by what she could see in his eyes.

"Nimue…" He trailed off, his hesitation warring with his trust in her.

To which she smiled and said. "It's okay Naruto. That 'Entity' really does not mean any harm to you or anyone you or I care about. I can promise you that much."

With a sigh he muttered. "Fine, I'll do it, but only because I trust your judgment."

She smiled coyly and replied. "Liar! The minute you heard a life hung in the balance, you were already prepared to move heaven and earth to save a complete stranger. You're too noble not to."

Naruto snorted in response to the accusation but did not deny it. That was a battle he would not be winning, not against her, so instead he brushed her locks to aside and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead, before saying. "Rest well Nimue and try not to get up to anything too crazy while I'm gone. I'll go and talk to Cyborg, and then I have guests to entertain. Me, Diana and Mera are having a movie night, we're watching the Star Wars movies…well the original trilogy first. Flash and Green Lantern suggested it, and have been hyping up the series quite a bit. Even Superman thought I needed to watch it, so that says something about it."

"You know, if I didn't have this giant headache, I'd be very offended you didn't invite me." Nimue said, playfully glaring at him.

"Then it's a good thing you have that headache. We wouldn't want you to feel offended right?" He teased back.

"Oh by Merlin's scraggly beard, off with you already." Naruto's friend declared, leaning into her Madame Xanadu identity as she gave the blond ninja little shoves out the private room and towards the stores front door. Naruto merely chuckled at her efforts, and then just to mess with her teleported directly out of the shop.

With a sigh, at her friend's antics the former princess of Camelot set the wards to turn people away before making her way to her bed. She really did need a nap. Of course, she first waited a moment to ensure Naruto did not suddenly decide to come back, before turning to one of the corners of the room with a seemingly empty chair and a reading lamp beside it, where she spoke to seemingly to no one. "Is it really necessary to lie to him, Death of the Endless?"

"My little godkiller needed a bit of direction." A voice replied, a distinctly female voice.

"Careful!" Xanadu warned. "Those that Death love are bound to die."

"Then that's quite unfortunate. I love all living things Nimue, that's why Death is inevitable. I just choose to not touch certain individuals right away. I can patiently wait a few billion years before taking even those deemed immortal. Nevertheless, even from here I can sense your fear for Naruto Uzumaki. Don't worry; I will not reap the child of prophecy, not for a while at least." Death replied earnestly, as she added. "He's a pretty interesting guy."

"Well, whatever. Just remember to apologize to Naruto when you talk to him again. You told him that you were giving him a reward, but just grabbing ahold of that reward will put him in a world of hurt he is not ready for." Nimue chuckled as she peered into the future and witnessed her friend's actions before saying. "The fool would've been better served by dodging out of the way, but he's too stupid and far too noble to do that."

"Well, I did say that the young lady's life was in danger. He's just going to come to the erroneous conclusion that I meant from the crash. Don't worry, he will understand everything soon." Death chuckled amicably, before smiling at Nimue and saying. "And don't think I haven't noticed how much you still love him for that same foolish determination little princess. Whatever, I won't needle you about that this time, I have places to be, people to kill and babies to watch being born." She said almost flippantly, before giving Madame Xanadu a two fingered salute and adding. "See you next Thursday at the poker game."

"Yeah sure." Nimue waved her off, and just like that the goth looking teen-aged looking embodiment of the very concept of Death faded from existence.

With a sigh, Madame Xanadu muttered. "Naruto sure is drawing the attention of a lot of troublesome women these days. I'm going to have to step up my plans." And with that last thought, she allowed herself to drift off to sleep.

VvV

Naruto and Mera's home, National City, USA…

"So what do you think?" Naruto asked Victor Stone, as his cyborg friend and teammate scanned the mysterious piece of paper Naruto had received from his 'Boss'. Cyborg had been quick to come over when Naruto invited him, opening a Boomtube directly to the gardens behind their mansion.

"I can't read this." Victor responded after a moment of concentration, much to Naruto's confusion.

Frowning the ninja said. "But the Entity said I should give it to you, and that you'd know what to do with it."

"I can't read it at all." Victor insisted before adding. "I've scanned through every language database on Earth, I've tried every cipher I know of in case it was some kind of code, I've even tried to map the characters on the slip of paper to known celestial bodies across the universe, as well as mathematical equations and every scientific principle I can think of. And yet, I can't make heads or tails of what it says."

Naruto sighed before saying dejectedly. "That's a shame. Sorry I wasted your time buddy."

Victor chuckled as a grin broke out across his face, and he said. "I can't make sense of it Naruto, but the Motherbox inside me can."

Naruto blinked as he realized just what had happened. "Oh you didn't." The ninja said with a grin, realized he'd just been pranked "Ha, you bastard, you're messing with me aren't you?" Naruto laughed.

Victor gave him a smile and said. "A certain Bat that we all know and love says it's a season for such things; something about you messing around with Superman and catching an ass whooping recently."

"Let's not talk about that." Naruto quickly insisted in embarrassment, before asking. "So what does the paper say?"

"Hmm, if I am understanding the Motherbox's interpretation correctly, then it's a combination of coordinates and instructions for opening a Boomtube in a very specific way. I really can't explain how the Motherbox is translating all of this, but tomorrow at 7:30 pm EST, you and me are going to go to Africa…or at least the sky above the Western Sahara desert. From there – and provided we follow the instructions precisely – we'll be able to open up a Boomtube at exactly 7:53 pm that'll allow you to bring the young lady you mentioned safely to Earth. So we better not be late." Victor explained.

Nodding in agreement Naruto said. "I'll be ready to go when the time comes." He then cocked his head to the side before saying. "You know, with all that out of the way, would you like to come inside? Mera will be pretty happy to see you; I believe she's trying her hand at a popular cooking recipe involving a wild boar. Plus, you look like you could use some time away from StarLabs and all the poking and prodding they're probably doing to you in order to figure your changes out."

"All of which is partially your fault by the way." Victor accused Naruto, reminding the ninja of exactly how the cyborg had gotten his more human form. "It was the synergistic combination of your healing powers and the Motherbox own abilities that regenerated my…human bits, and created a unique fusion of 'man and machine' or so my dad likes to say."

Naruto shrugged and said. "Hey, I didn't expect that to happen either. How is Silas doing by the way?"

"Dad's doing great. He's trying to be there for me, a lot more than he used to anyway." Victor admitted before saying. "But circling back to your invitation, I can't accept it tonight. My dad's actually waiting for me right now. We're supposed to catch a football game together, which I'm almost late for, so please give my regards to Mera and tell her I'll drop by some other time." And putting action to words Victor opened a Boomtube to leave.

"Oh okay." Naruto shrugged. He was a little sad that his friend wasn't sticking around for dinner, but also happy that he got to spend some time with his father. "Enjoy yourselves at the game."

"We will." Victor replied with an appreciative smile. "You guys enjoy your dinner; and remember, don't be late tomorrow."

Naruto rolled his eyes and said. "I know, I know, now get out of here before you're the one whose late for the game with your old man."

Cyborg merely laughed as he walked into the Boomtube and disappeared, leaving the garden empty. With a sigh, Naruto turned back to the mansion; Mera would be disappointed but she would also understand. Victor had it tougher than most of them.

Stepping through the door leading into the kitchen, Naruto was hit with the mouth-watering aroma of juicy meat sizzling in a hot skillet. Mera was by no means a master chef, but she was picking up some serious skills from the various cooking shows she'd taken to watching.

"I see that Victor didn't stay for dinner." The beautiful redhead said as she stood before the gas stove, working a skillet with one hand as she flipped the sliced up pieces of A5 wagyu beef tenderloin with a spatula in the other hand. She followed this up by putting down the spatula in favor of using a spoon to skillfully baste the glorious meat in duck fat. She looked…heavenly.

Shaking his head to clear it of any inappropriate thoughts, Naruto replied. "Sorry! I couldn't convince him to stay; he already had plans with his father for tonight. He sends his regards though and promises to stop by some other time."

"A shame." She conceded while eying the meat to see if it was done and then placing it on a rack to rest. "It seems it will just be the three of us once again." The Xebellian princess said with a sad but also fond smile, before asking. "Do you mind picking up Diana, the ice cream and the star wars movies Hal Jordan recommended while I finish up with the food?"

Naruto simply smiled back and said. "Not at all, just tell me where you need me."

And with those words he crossed his fingers in the hand-seal for the shadow clone technique and three clones phased into existence without the usual cloud of smoke. Mera would've been pretty mad at him if the cloud of smoke that usually accompanied the creation of shadow clones ended up messing with the delicious smells created in her cooking.

Watching the clones run off to fulfill their given tasks, Mera turned back to look at the original Naruto with a chuckle and said. "Alright, check on the rice over there while I prepare a sauce. Also, tell me about your morning in Central City?"

"Oh Central City was pretty cool." Naruto said with a bright smile. "There was an adorable little girl there that asked me to save her kitten who got stuck in a tree from which poor thing was unable to climb down. Apparently saving kittens is something Superman does all the time in Metropolis, the Flash too."

"Huh? I didn't know that." Mera admitted in thoughtful surprise.

"Anyway, it was pretty fun but standard hero stuff followed by a stop at an impressive ramen shop and then some more sightseeing, until a bunch of idiots calling themselves the Rogues showed up and started harassing the Flash." Naruto then pouted and said. "Barry refused to let me fight them. He said, something about me being overkill."

Mera patted him on the shoulder with a sympathetic look. "There there Naruto, it's not like Barry is wrong. He probably just didn't want you to accidentally break their bones or something. You know how kind he is."

"I'm not that reckless you know. And even if I accidentally broke a bone or two, I could fix it faster that most people can blink." Puffing up his chest in pride the ninja proclaimed. "I'm really good at healing."

"Of course, my mistake." She teased. "Now can you grab the potatoes out of the oven? They've roasted long enough." She said, pointing to the oven.

Naruto merely smiled and followed Mera's instructions. She was surprisingly commanding when it came to the kitchen – her kitchen. It was really was becoming her domain.

VvV

The next evening, somewhere in low orbit over the Sahara…

"So I take it this is the place?" Naruto asked as he floated somewhere in the upper atmosphere next to Cyborg who he'd been following. Victor was at that moment in his fully armored form, with both his left eye and third eye-like visor on his forehead glowing brightly while he scanned the area.

"Yeah." He replied after moment of looking around. "These are the coordinates that were indicated on the slip of paper you gave me. Of course, there is the time component to it; we're going to need to do this at exactly 07:53 pm, which leaves us with about a minute and a half to wait." Pausing in uncertainty, the Cyborg asked. "The other end of the Boomtube will open in deep space, Naruto. Are you sure that whoever gave you these coordinates is trustworthy? I mean, I'll have no idea what is on the other end of that Boomtube until its already coming through, and I would rather not open up a doorway for another alien invasion."

Naruto took a moment to pause before responding. "I'll be honest Vic. I can't say with confidence that the Entity that gave me these instructions is trustworthy. However, I do trust Madame Xanadu and she vouched for the source of this Intel. Xanadu would never willingly endanger the world in that way, not unless the alternative meant the end to all life in the universe or something along those lines. Also, the Entity assured me that we will be saving a young lady's life by doing this, so I can't ignore that and not try to help."

"A'aight, we are heroes I guess." Cyborg said with a shrug. "Taking risks is a part of the job.

Scratching the back his head Naruto said. "Sorry, if it's a little inconvenient."

"Don't worry about it." He said, while noting Naruto's appearance. He didn't look sleep deprived or anything, but there was a lot less energy visible in his movements and general attitude. "You tired?" He asked.

Nodding, Naruto said. "Yeah, I'm a little sleepy. I didn't get a whole lot of sleep last night…or the weeks before."

"Really? You're not…..." Victor trailed, not sure how to ask if he and Mera were an item now, or if he and Diana were item. Really it could've been either way, because Naruto seemed equally close to both princesses.

"Huh? I'm not sure what you're thinking of right now Vic but your emotions are reminding me a lot of one of my old instructors. Whatever the case, me, Mera and Diana were watching Star Wars all night. We started with the original trilogy, and then watched the prequels and a bunch of other media related to it." Naruto paused as he recollected the experience with a smile before saying. "It was fascinating stuff, and kept us up all night. The fights were not that interesting, and the powers were meh, but lightsabers are pretty cool and the story was just…freaking awesome. George Lucas is a true genius, which is why it's a shame he hasn't done any sequels films yet, a real tragedy."

"Wait, so you guys regularly get together to watch movies." Vic asked, sounding a little envious.

Naruto shook his head and replied. "It's not a regular thing, but I live with Mera and Diana is probably her closest friend, and Mera wanted to watch Star Wars with Diana so she asked me to pick her up. I believe, Hal said something like it's an absolute must-watch for anyone living in America. Anyway, I will invite you over next time. I actually need your help with some tech-stuff I got planned."

"Right! Sure! Just let me know when. For now, let's do what we came her to do, it's almost go time." He said, even as he raised his arm towards a spot just in front of them. From his shoulder, a hologram began projecting numbers in a countdown, for Naruto's sake, and the ninja prepared himself accordingly.

[5]

[4]

[3]

[2]

[1]

Ping!

Reality split at the seams as a vast golden tunnel materialized with a thunderous crack. An active Boomtube radiating golden light and reach far into an unknown sector of space, while the two heroes floated right in front of its mouth. And for a moment as they peered into the tunnel, there was nothing visible…but only for a moment.

Everything changed in the blink of an eye.

Something new that initially appeared as little more than a speck in the distance was moving at incredible velocities towards the heroes. Yet, as it drew closer, it also grew in size alarmingly fast. In the time it took a normal human to blink, the 'thing' went from being a mere speck the size of a golf ball, then to as large a football and then to the size of a couch, growing in size with each millisecond as it approached.

"Just be in that place, at that time and be prepared to catch her."

Naruto suddenly found himself remembering the instructions that his so called 'Boss' had left before it stopped possessing Nimue.

'Please tell me she didn't mean for me to actually catch…that?' He thought in disbelief as the distance between him and the rapidly approaching ellipsoid shaped object decreased to mere meters in nanoseconds. His ninja instinct told him to him to dodge out of the way. Whatever this was, it was fast, hard and would be a pain to simply catch, let alone hold onto.

Yet Naruto didn't move.

A girl's life was in danger according to his 'Boss' and Nimue wanted him to trust the Entity's words and treat them as true. Nimue wouldn't have let him do this if that Entity was lying to him, and she had assured him that he could trust it on this matter. Besides, both his 'Boss' and Nimue were right about one thing. A life was in danger and he could save it, so did anything else really matter?

In the moment before the object collided with him, Naruto's Six Paths Sage Mode cloak flickered into existence and was further reinforced with the power of the White. And then….

Naruto's world exploded into stars and pain as he was blown backwards at speeds that utterly wrecked the sound barrier. The collision was so fierce that Cyborg was flung sideways from the shockwave. And by the time Cyborg was recovering, Naruto and the object were already more than a dozen kilometer away and set to crash into the Earth.

Yet this was Naruto, stubbornness incarnate. Even as his vision blackened with what might've momentarily been a concussion before his healing factor fixed that along with his pulverized body. He smiled bloodily, while gripping either side of the ellipsoid for a solid hold with both hands as he began to pushing back against it.

It would've been a bit of a stretch to say he'd successfully caught it, because the truth was that what had happened was a lot closer to a bug splattering the windshield of a speeding vehicle. And yet, from his position in front of the ellipsoid, he could now leverage his abilities to begin slowing down the object.

And so he did.

Victor had opened the Boomtube pretty high up in the atmosphere, to the point that they'd been near the exosphere. And so as he pushed against the object in his hands, flying in the opposite direction even as the atmosphere around him boiled in resistance to the speed with which he was falling from the heavens.

Naruto grit his teeth and drew on more of the White's power, much like he had been doing all week, forcing the Atmosphere around him to immediately thicken. And the air obeyed, greatly increasing the air resistance, while he projected a small shell of chakra to ensure that the object he had caught didn't cook from the increased heat and resistance.

Then drawing on Shukaku's magnet release chakra, Naruto generated an EM field around himself and the object, which after watching Star Wars he was beginning to think of as some kind of spaceship. And then using this electromagnetic field, Naruto pushed against the EM field generated by the planet, which was repelling his. With his field being weaker than the planet's, it allowed the ellipsoid to slow down gradually, which when combined with his own incredible strength and ability to fly, ensured Naruto quickly slowed with the object to a halt, a few hundred meters above ground.

Once he was certain that ellipsoid had stopped and they weren't about to splatter into the ground, Naruto teleported both himself and the ship back to the Mansion, where he found Victor already waiting with Mera. Gently putting the ellipsoid down – which was oddly singing something about children of the stars at an extremely high frequency beyond the human hearing range – Naruto finally took a moment to wince in pain.

If this thing was truly a ship then he had just caught a space ship as it crashed into him at frankly ridiculous speeds. Despite his success, doing so still hurt and he took a second to regenerate from all the damage he'd taken…a lot of damage judging by the steam coming off his body as he regrew flesh and skin.

"Are you alright, Naruto? I saw you get hit by that object, and before I could do anything you were hundreds of kilometers away." Victor asked, concerned for his friend.

Naruto simply gave the man a shaky smile before saying. "I'm good. A little sore and I might need a few more seconds to fully heal, but I'm good. That felt like getting punched by Darkseid all over again."

"Well, yeah. That ship hit you at speeds in excess of 100,000 km/s. No matter how you slice it, that had to hurt. I'm amazed you somehow didn't die, and even managed to slow it down in time. If I had known a spaceship was coming through the Boomtube, I would've called Superman to catch it. That could've killed you." Vic babbled, clearly still worried about his friend.

Waving him off Naruto responded. "Eh, it probably would've killed the old me. I'm a lot tougher than I used to be, and I am still getting stronger. But let's put that aside for now Vic. I'm much more interested in what's inside this thing. Do you have any idea how to open it, because I'm guessing the lady I was asked to save is inside and she might need medical attention?"

"Right! I'll begin interfacing with the ships systems now." He said as a slurry of silver nanites poured from his right hand and spread over the ellipsoid spaceship, searching for a point to interface with it. "Hmm, this is interesting; it's very advance and familiar. Wait, according to my Motherbox this ship is…" He trailed off.

Naruto frown and asked. "What?"

"We need Superman here now." Victor declared in a tone full of shock and excitement.

"Um…why?" Naruto asked knowing that Superman was busy at that exact moment – he and Nimue had ensured it.

"It's this ship, it's Kryptonian." Cyborg said to Naruto. And as if in response to that declaration, the ship's surface cracked like an egg, before reconfiguring itself into something that looked a lot more like a spaceship – a golden almost aquatic-looking spaceship. Then the front of the ships outer hull turned transparent revealing exactly what…or rather who was contained inside the ship causing them all to gasp. "Naruto, you just saved a Kryptonian survivor, and if what I am interpreting from the ship's systems is correct. She's from the House of El, Superman's family."

Naruto did not need Cyborg to explain that, he could see the young woman lying inside the ship with his own eyes, or more specifically the very familiar shield placed on her chest of her Kryptonian clothing. He also noted that she was quite beautiful.

The lady had back-length golden hair, slightly tanned skin, a diamond shaped face with rosy lips, high cheek bones and a pointed chin as well as a peaceful expression as she slept. Naruto knew she wasn't dead because he could see her chest raising and falling – a very prominent chest he mentally acknowledged.

She wore a skin-tight blue and red leotard-like outfit, with a short red skirt around her waist and a large red cloak over her shoulders. (Think a fusion of New 52 Supergirl and the Supergirl from Superman & Batman: Apocalypse)

Turning back to Victor in disbelief, Naruto muttered. "Well shit."

"That's right, we gotta call Clark now." Victor excitedly agreed before attempting to do just that. After a few seconds of silence, in which Naruto was beginning to sweat bullets, Victor said. "I'm trying to contact him but I can't seem to get any signals to lock onto; something ain't right about this." He sounded incredibly frustrated. "I'm triangulating his last known position using satellite imagery and nothing…, no wait Motherbox found him and…he seems to be on a date." It was only then that he noticed Naruto embarrassed look, and he asked. "What did you do?"

"Remember that rumor about Superman beating me up?" He asked to which Cyborg nodded. "Well it wasn't a rumor, Big Blue did kick my ass. I may or may not have hooked him up with a date that is happening right now, and I may or may not have utilized every method at my disposal to ensure that his date was successful and he would not be disturbed."

It was today that Clark Kent and Lois Lane where going on their date, a date that Naruto along with Nimue's guidance had done a lot of things in the background to ensure it could not be disturbed.

They had planted magical totems that created communication interference for anything specifically targeting Clark Kent and Lois Lane. They'd convinced villains and crooks with several threats to not cause a ruckus in Metropolis on the day of the date. They'd hypnotized Perry White to let Clark and Lois off early from work, sent in teams of disguised clones to respond to emergencies and done so much more.

"Care to explain this?" Vic asked his blond friend.

Naruto simply shrugged and said. "It's his business, and I'm just trying to ensure he has today off."

"His only living family just landed on our planet. I'm pretty sure Clark will want to know." Cyborg said.

To which Naruto nodded. "Yes, after his date."

"Naruto!" Victor said with a frown.

"Trust me Victor." Naruto implored. "We will just hold off on telling him for a few hours. And this way, Clark walks away from his date with a girlfriend, and then he gets to meet his new family."

For a moment Victor glared at Naruto who clearly refused to budge on the matter, before finally giving up and saying. "Fine! But you'll be the one explaining to the big guy why we didn't call him first, when we discovered this woman."

"Oh, that's no big deal; he will probably just insist that he and I have another sparring session." Naruto said waving off Cyborg who looked confused by the explanation, doubly so when he noticed Mera who snickering behind them.

"Why is Mera laughing?" Victor asked.

Naruto shook his head and said. "Don't worry about it. She just finds the things I do for my friends…funny."

Of course, before any of them could say another word the girl inside of the ship began to move. She slowly stretched her arms and legs with a yawn before opening her eyes and looking around confusion. Shaking his head in amusement at the sight, Naruto said. "How about we welcome our sleepy guest to Earth first?"

TBC…

And that's that! Once again I hope you enjoyed the chapter. We now know who Naruto's so called 'Boss' is, she's Death of the Endless and she has her own agenda for him. Meanwhile Kara Zor-El has arrived on Earth way earlier than she would've and she's not quite the teenager traditionally depicted. Naruto has also officially met Zatanna Zatarra thanks to that ritual, meanwhile Nimue and Naruto's 'prank' aka their attempt to hook up Clark Kent and Lois Lane on a date has had some unintended side effects. There were also other hints of things to come based on stuff from other chapters.

All in all, there will be fallout from this.

Anyway, if you're willing to support me please check me out on pay_treon (slash) ScarletAesir058, you'd be a ridiculously big help right now. Otherwise thank you once again for your time, support and patience. And please please please, leave a review. They really help me as a writer, to improve my skills and get a feel for what you my audience likes.

Till next time, Scarlet Out!