Several hours later, ten very confused Konoha nins filed out of one of the JLU's briefing rooms. They said nothing, and each one of them was obviously very concentrated. Naruto, in the lead, seemed to be pacing almost mechanically with no clear desitination in mind, and the others simply followed him. Though a few heroes sent them puzzled and even hostile glances as they passed, none tried to stop them... the word had been sent out.

Halfway across the emergency hangar toward the medical bay, Naruto finally paused in thought.

"That." He said. "was pretty weird."

#

"Well, thank you all for meeting like this." The caped man offered a nervous smile to the entire table. "I realize we're not all on the best of terms, but hopefully we can straighten everything out and figure out what's going on."

Naruto didn't know if he shared the man's optimism. For some reason, Sakura and the one lady at the table seemed to have a death-feud of some kind going on, and the rest of the table wasn't doing much better. Neji, Chouji, and especially Lee were all glaring at the stretcher-bound man (Sakura was doing that too, but she seemed more focused on the woman); and Kiba kept nervously glancing around and growling at anyone who came too close. The only really relaxed people seemed to be Shino, who was being, well, Shino, and Hinata, who was glancing at dark-haired lady at the end of the table. Sai seemed fairly relaxed too, but something about the way he was twirling that pencil around his fingers bothered Naruto.

With a cough, the caped man recalled their attention. "First of all, I'm Superman, one of the founding members of the Justice League, and protector of Metropolis." He turned to Naruto at this juncture. "For starters, I'd like to apologize for the battle we had earlier. I acted hastily, but your attack on Stargirl and the others convinced me you were hostile."

Feeling a trifle embarressed, Naruto rubbed the back of his head. Now that he had learned more of the situation, the whole incident was horribly awkward. How he could have thought the girl was shouting out a jutsu when he hadn't even understood her... Naruto silently vowed (for the twentieth time) to think more before he started blowing things up.

Apparently encouraged by his expression, Superman continued, "I suppose an 'I'm sorry' doesn't quite cover my beating you to an inch of your life, but if you..."

"It's okay." Naruto interrupted, hoping to get past the issue already. "You'd be surprised how often that sort of thing happens."

Superman blinked, taken off guard "Well... thank you. We'll proceed then with giving you guys some background." Nodding to one of the others, he sat back down.

The dark-skinned man rose and pressed a button on his wrist. Instantly a glowing orb appeared above the table, it's green-blue surface glowing faintly in the dim room. Naruto eyed the man with reverence. He must be QUITE a ninja to pull off even a minor genjutsu like that without any hand seals whatsoever.

"This," said the man, "is Earth. You are currently in the nation of the United States..." the image zoomed in, "in the state of New York..." again it zoomed in, "in the city of Metropolis." One final zoom brought the city into focus. "The building you are currently in is called the Metro Tower, one of two facilities the Justice League operates."

Huh?

"Metropolis" Naruto understood, thanks to Hinata and a few other talks he'd had. "New York" was a new one to him, as was "United States." But what really threw him off was this "Earth" idea.

They were ON that globe? As in, the ground they were standing on was part of some giant ball floating somewhere? And they calle d it EARTH? "Earth" was the name of a minor country, not of some... weird... ballish thing with a bunch of people living on it.

Shino, apparently,was interested in something completely different. "And what is this 'Justice League'?"

"Ah..." Superman rose again. "THAT is a question."

#

"They... seem like nice people," ventured Hinata.

"As Ino has observed, that tends to be your appraisal of most people." Shino adjusted his glasses. "While certainly they do not appear to have any hostile motives, that does not mean that their profession of good will was made in good faith."

Sai inclined his head in agreement. "When determining enemies, one must look at allegiances rather than attitudes. ' Nice' or otherwise, they were very evasive about questions of who they worked for or who funded them."

"They said that's 'cause they're not tied to any government," blinked Naruto. "Like, they try to keep out of politics and stuff."

With a snort, Neji shook his head. "That only makes it worse. It makes them a loose association of missing nins, very similar in organization to Akatsuki."

"Oh c'mon, Neji, these guys aren't terrorists they're working for peace."

"So was Akatsuki, in their own way." Naruto fell silent at that, and Neji continued. "These men answer to no one but themselves, and thus are doubly untrustworthy. Today they may feel like allowing us freedom and assistance; tomorrow they may decide to extract all the information they can from us. After all, it was just yesterday we were all prisoners. We cannot remain safe so long as we rely on their goodwill."

Sakura gave a short nod. "I'm with the others on this one, Naruto. Sorry, but it looks like you're outvoted."

"Fine." Naruto stuffed his hands in his pockets and glanced away irritably. "So what do you guys suggest?"

"We make our way back to Konoha." Sai shrugged.

"Oh? And how do we do that?" An uncomfortable silence greeted this question. "You heard what they said in there. Even if you don't believe everything they said, that part was pretty clear. We're stuck here, for a while at least. They might be able to help us get back."

"Perhaps." Shino said, somewhat coldly. "But perhaps they might not be able to, and our chances are at least as good as theirs."

"Better, actually." Sakura arched her eyebrows. "We know more about the teleportation and our 'powers' as they call them, are better suited to replicate the sequence than theirs are. We can probably figure it out sooner working on our own."

Naruto huffed but let the subject drop. Surprisingly, though, Hinata had a question of her own. "Wh-what d-do we d-d-do while we're waiting?"

"Hm? What do you mean?" Chouji asked.

"W-well..." Hinata toyed with her fingers a little. "I-it's going t-to t-take us a wh-while to f-f-figure all that stuff out. W-what do we do until we do? I-I mean... we don't really know much about this world. Wh-where are we going to stay? What are we going to do?"

"That's.... a good question." Frowning, Sakura chewed on her lip. "It's not like we can just reinvent the jutsu overnight."

Ino nodded. "We need to find Shikamaru and Tenten before we can return to Konoha too. How are we going to do that?"

"That's a matter we can handle ourselves," shrugged Neji. "As for what to do... well, I imagine we can find some sort of facility to occupy, raise money through various contracts and missions. Not terribly difficult. It may take some adjusting, but it wouldn't be too difficult."

Naruto shook his head. "That won't work. For one, that Luthor guy is still out there, and he might be after the rest of us. We need to know how this world works in order to stay ahead of him. Also..." he hesitated for a moment, "...call me crazy, but I don't think these JLU guys would like the whole idea of us setting up a mini-ninja village in the area."

"True." Neji frowned.

There was a moment of silence as everyone mulled that over. Finally, Naruto spoke up. "Well, we've still got some time to figure that out. I guess I see why you guys don't want to stay here, but keep in mind we'll need some kind of plan for once they let us out."

He glanced at the nods he received. "Okay, tell you what. For now, at least, there's no need to be antsy about kidnap attempts. Let's split up, see what we can learn from the people here, and meet back here in a few hours. Then we can compare notes and decide where to go from there."

"Be careful, all of you." Neji warned. "We still don't completely understand these people."

#

"S-so y-you're kinda like ninjas," said the pale-eyed girl. "Ninjas protect the civilians from other ninjas, because the civilians can't use chakra properly. It's why we form villages B-but..." Hesitantly, she paused "...you're not bound to any village, are you?"

"You're like some kind of global ninja alliance?" The blonde blinked.

Superman glanced to J'onn for confirmation, still unsure as to what exactly these 'ninja villages' were like. After a moment of hesitation, J'onn nodded.

"That's awesome!" grinned the blonde.

"Uh... thanks." This blonde was turning out to be their easiest customer. "Well... in that role as a global alliance, it's our job to deal with... well, extra-global matters. Things outside the earth, if you understand me." A quick glance showed him that they didn't. "You know, like outer space? Aliens?"

"What're aliens?" The tattooed boy wrinkled his nose in confusion.

"Perhaps a better example would be extra-dimensional matters." Batman's gravelly voice cut in. "Like the one we're in now."

"Yes! Yes, exactly." Almost sighing with relief, Superman turned matters over to his friend. "Bats, seeing as this is your field, would you..."

Batman grunted. "Suppose I might as well." Ignoring the glares levied at him, he raised his stretcher enough to survey the table properly. "By now, I imagine you understand the concept of different dimensions and alternate realities. What you don't know is our history with these matters." He clicked a few buttons on the side of his stretcher and a frighteningly familiar set of faces popped into view. "Multiple dimensions were first confirmed by the arrival of Mr. Mxyzptlk in Metropolis in 2001. Parallel realities were validated several months later by Lois Lane's insertion into an alternate Metropolis."

From his position at the head of the table, Superman could see Lois looking unusually smug and—for some reason—somewhat dreamy-eyed. Hinata, the pale-eyed girl, was looking at her with reverence.

"The Justice League first dealt with alternate universes in the affair of the Justice Lords."

That brought a reaction from everyone except the kids. All of the founding members—Hawkgirl, Green Lantern, J'onn, Wonder Woman, and even Flash—looked suddenly ill at the mention of the twisted versions of themselves. The self-appointed "Guardian of the Guardians," Green Arrow, chewed the end of his mustache nervously. Lois merely looked uncomfortable, as she'd only dealt with the Superman Lord cursorily, but Amanda Waller had an expression of quiet bitterness. Cadmus had partly been built out of fear that the League might become the Lords. Even Terrific seemed vaguely uneasy.

Why did Bruce have to bring up THAT, of all things?

The answer came without the question being spoken. Because Bruce, despite whatever he said, still felt the danger of the Justice Lords, and wanted to remind the League not to get carried away with their own power. Which, Superman realized suddenly, was kinda what this whole thing was about. The League had overstepped their authority in acting against the Konoha nins. Thus Batman's statement was doubly relevant, and, in a way, his own recognition of the mistake he'd made.

Superman grinned unexpectedly. It was probably as close as Bruce would ever come to an apology, but it was still something.

"The Justice Lords succeeded in capturing the seven members of the Justice League active at the time, and proceeded to occupy Earth. Fortunately the disaster was averted, and for quite some time the League had little extra-dimensional contact. Then came the arm." Batman pressed a few more keys on the table and the infamous mouthed hand appeared floating above the table. "The arm appeared on July 10th, 2007, at..."

"Hey!" The blonde boy—Naruto, Superman reminded himself—had jumped to his feet and was pointing at the arm. "That's Deidara's!"

Batman paused and Superman glanced up. "Deidara?"

Glancing up, the pink-haired girl studied the arm momentarily and nodded. "Hey, you're right, it is. Didn't Kakashi-sensei destroy it, though?"

"I thought he did." Naruto turned on Batman. "Where'd you guys get it from?"

Batman's eyes had narrowed, he was obviously very interested in this boy's account. "We found it on top of a building in Metropolis. It appeared there shortly after a massive explosion at JLU headquarters. Who was this Deidara, and what does your sensei have to do with him?"

"Deidara? He was this creepy Akatsuki dude, made little animals out of exploding clay and blew stuff up." Pointing at the arms, Naruto continued, "he had those... mouths on his hands to chew and mold the clay for him."

"I see." Batman nodded, his face perfectly serious. "And how did he lose this one?"

Naruto shrugged. "Kakashi-sensei used some eye jutsu on it and teleported it to another dimension. He meant to get all of Deidara but he hadn't yet... OH!"

Naruto's eyes had suddenly gotten very large and wide. Apparently sharing his realization, the pink-haired girl's hand flew to her mouth. The other nins looked somewhat puzzled for a moment, and then, slowly, comprehension dawned.

Superman let out a breath he'd been holding for the last three days. "Well now... THAT explains a lot."

#

"So their dimensional trip was completely accidental, probably due to something their teacher did." The nins were no longer in the briefing room, but the League heroes still had matters to discuss Currently, Superman was thinking out loud and staring at his fingertips. "So we finally have an explanation as to how they got here."

Green Lantern nodded. "It's a little thin, but it fits. Using experimental weaponry in a battlefield situation explains their story, their condition, and their overall disorientation. And it makes a lot more sense than a bunch of highly trained soldiers stumbling into a random portal somehow."

"It's a different method of teleportation, though. No physical portal, just some kind of meta ability their sensei can use with his eye." Batman frowned. "Very atypical. Don't think we've ever seen that before."

"Incidently, the fact that their teacher triggered the portal with his eye implies that he would be unable to teleport himself. That means we may be one off on our count of dimensional visitors." Mr. Terrific pointed out.

"Right. So with the Kiba boy that Question had—remind me to talk to him, by the way—that brings us to..." Superman blinked. "...well, I guess that accounts for all of them, actually. So we finally have a good idea of what is happening."

"Except for the dog." Green Arrow reminded helpfully.

"AND Luthor." Hawkgirl growled.

"Right, except for Luthor." Superman sank back into gloom. "That part still makes no sense."

"It's not like his death made much sense to begin with." Batman pointed out.

"Pardon me for interrupting." Waller coughed. "But what are you all talking about?"

The members around the League table glanced at each other, before finally Superman sighed and leaned forward. "As you know," he said, "about a year ago, Luthor attempted to ressurect Brainiac and instead ressurected Darkseid, ruler of Apokolips. He promptly invaded Earth in retaliation of my interference with his actions."

"What exact interference?" Waller's eyes narrowed. She knew the story of Darkseid's invasion, but not the reason behind it.

"Darkseid was attempting to use Brainiac to acquire something called 'the Anti-Life equation.'" Batman explained. He had the attention of most of the room, only the founding members had participated in the Apokolips affair. "Roughly speaking, it's a mathematical equation that proves life is meaningless and hence grants the owner complete control over the universe."

Mr. Terrific snorted. "Because math totally works that way."

"Yes... well," Superman cast a glance at the scientist. "He had been trying to do that, and I destroyed both him and Brainiac. Hence, when Luthor tried to ressurrect Brainiac, he got Darkseid instead, whose first action was to attack Earth. As you know, Luthor joined Batman and I in the assault on Darkseid's flagship."

"Yes." Waller nodded. "According to my understanding, you fought him to a standstill before being trapped by something called an 'agony matrix.' After which, Luthor showed up and defeated him, but died in the process." Quirking an eyebrow, she added, "I must confess I've always been curious as to why he was the only one able to defeat him. To be honest, I figured you killed Darkseid and Batman killed Luthor, but you both came up with the story to hide it."

Superman closed his eyes, but Batman appeared unpreturbed. "Good idea, but not the case. Luthor disappeared from the fight early on, only to return at the end clad in a tuxedo without any weaponry whatsoever."

"And he defeated Darkseid like that." Quirking an eyebrow, Waller commented, "You're not really adding much to your story's credibility here. Can't you give me some more details? I mean, the two of you were THERE, you should know SOMETHING about what happened."

Biting back his rage, Superman answered. "I was a little busy at the time, what with the Agony Matrix and all. I recall Darkseid saying something about putting my heart on a stake in his throne room."

"I was several thousand feet away." Batman commented. "Superman HAD punched Darkseid a sizeable distance, and I'm not as young as I used to be." Holding up a hand at Waller's scoff, he continued, "I can still see pretty well, though. That, pieced together with what little surveillance footage we could find, gives us a fair idea of what happened."

"And that was?"

Batman smiled without humor. "A series of things that don't make any sense. Luthor simply appeared out of nowhere, clad, as we said, in a tuxedo. Darkseid was dismissive of him at first, until Luthor revealed what he was carrying." As he spoke, Batman frowned in concentration. "It's hard to describe, but it appears to have been a shimmering diamond of radiant energy. At any rate, it fascinated Darkseid, who immediately dropped his torture of Superman and walked straight toward Luthor, putting his hand out to the object."

The room was dead silent. Everyone's attention was fixated on Batman. "And then?" Waller croaked.

"Then they were surrounded by a whirling field of energy and exploded." Superman sighed. "Batman and I barely managed to get clear. The only clue we got was the few last words I heard as we were running away." His face bending in confusion, Superman shrugged. "But they don't make sense either. Darkseid said 'It's beautiful, isn't it,' and Luthor agreed, saying 'Yes, it is.'"

"Hang on. You're telling me the two biggest egomaniacs in the history of... well, EVER, actually aggreed on something?" Flash cocked a disbelieving eyebrow.

"And that the most emotionless creature in the cosmos found something beautiful." Superman sighed. "I told you it didn't make sense."

Surprisingly hesitant, Batman spoke up. "Actually... there is one way it might." Seeing everyone's attention riveted on him, he shrugged irritably. "I haven't mentioned this before, but as I said, I saw the battle, and as I DIDN'T say, I can read lips. I was too far away to catch most of it, but as Luthor revealed the object, he said something along the lines of 'the only thing you want.' Given Darkseid's reaction, he was right."

"So? What does that tell us?"

Batman grimaced. "Think about it for a minute, it'll come to you. What's the only thing Darkseid ever really wanted?"

"Death?"

"Doom?"

"Destruction?"

Grimacing again, Batman lay back on the pillows. "Sometimes I wonder why I even bother..."

"Control." Superman spoke up, the features of his face working slowly. "Darkseid wants control. And the purest incarnation of that control would be..." His eyes widened. "You can't seriously..."

"It's the only thing that makes sense." Batman's face was grim. "The only thing that Darkseid would be interested in or find beautiful. The Anti-Life equation."

#

"Very interesting," mused the caped man. "So your 'sensei' used this eye jutsu in battle to remove hazardous objects?"

Naruto answered with a careless nod. "Yeah. He developed it himself. Pretty useful, because there really wasn't any way for the opponent to counteract it. Far too draining to be used often, though. He..."

"Yes, yes." The man cut him off with a wave. "Do you remember the kind of things he's used it on?"

"Um... Not really. Just the arm and the explosion." Naruto hadn't really been around for Kakashi's other battles.

Surprisingly, Chouji raised his hand. "When... when our village was... was being invaded by Pain... Kakashi-sama managed to somehow stop a missile shooting at me. I never really... thought about it, but... I suppose he might have used such a jutsu then."

"A missile, you say? Would it have been preceded by a nail?"

"Er..." Chouji looked a trifle flabbergasted. "I don't know... maybe? We were in the middle of a battle, it was kinda hard to tell."

"Why do you specifically ask about a nail, Batman-san?" Shino turned his gaze toward the stretcher-bound man.

"Because a nail showed up in this world, shortly before the missile did." Batman pressed a few more buttons and a new image came into view on the screen. "Special Agent King Faraday of the United States Government, fomer Liason of the Justice League. Killed in Washington DC by a NAIL that somehow shot into his throat at a high velocity."

"This is the League's explanation of that event?" A heavyset woman at the end of the table—Naruto hadn't caught her name—snorted. "I was under the impression that we had agreed it was the DC police's jurisdiction."

Out of the corner of his eye, Naruto caught just the faintest twitch of humor around the mouth of a skinny man in a red suit. "You DO realize you're talking to Bats, right? Jurisdiction means about nada."

"We did not order the investigation." Superman answered the woman, glaring at the stretcher bound man. "However, I'm not really surprised to find out that Batman looked into it anyway."

"I might not have, if it hadn't been for the missile that materialized a few moments later and crashed into the Washington Monument." Batman snorted. "THAT, at least, was Justice League business. I considered the two matters connected and labeled them 'second contact.'"

"Second contact?" Neji frowned.

"The explosion at the JLU Metrotower and the arm discovered on the building were labeled first contact, as I considered they had happened at the same time. By the time of second contact, I had several of the Justice League sateillites monitoring the earth for dimensional cascade frequencies suggested by analysis of the evidence. One of them picked up the specific frequencies, which allowed me to develop a warning system should any other such contacts occur." Returning Neji's glare, he added. "Such as you. Third Contact, I suppose."

"You mean to say you were set against these kids before they even landed?" The thin dark-haired lady at the end of the table screeched.

Superman massaged his brow. "Bats, do you ever THINK about telling us what you're doing?"

"First contact blew up part of the Metrotower and Second Contact killed the Justice League liason," frowned Batman. "It made perfect sense to think any future contacts would be similarly aggressive. For all I knew, they could have sent a giant flaming arrow through the next one and destroyed the Effiel Tower."

"The what?" Ino blinked.

"In any case,are you suggesting it was wrong for me to design the warning system? If I hadn't prepared such a protocol, we might have remained unaware of the dispersement and location of our different 'visitors,' or even of their arrival. Certainly it would have been much more difficult to find them, and we might not have guessed the reason for the Titan's silence until much later. There's no telling what this Uchiha Sasuke might have... "

Naruto barely heard the exclamation from Sakura as his head snapped up.

"Sasuke?"

#

The case just didn't make sense. A shape-shifter COULDN'T have broken bones, it was literally impossible. And even supposing he could, he should be just able to move said broken bones back into place, or manipulate the non-broken sections.

Yet after half-an-hour of treatment, Beast Boy could not do any of these things.

The medical staff had done what they could. They'd treated the affected sections as they would on an ordinary human. They'd given him painkillers. They'd taken X-rays, MRI's, and CAT scans, but they could find nothing.

Dr. Jewell reflected that she needed a new line of work. Sure, medical work for the JLU sounded fun and exciting—life-threatening cases, fascinating opportunities to study some of the most rare conditions in the world, the best help and equipment that money could buy (in addition to one's own sizeable pay check.)—but most of the time it simply felt frustrating.

"Excuse me, Dr. Jewell? Er... these... visitors would like to see the patient."

Glancing behind her assistant, Dr. Jewell caught sight of something VERY odd. Three teenagers stood a short distance away, viewing the chaotic scene with detached amusement. Clad neither in the spandex of most Leaguers, nor in the purple coveralls of the staff, they stood out markedly as strangers. The blonde girl's purple exposed midriff and skirt were not so unusual—indeed, they vaguely resembled those of the Tamaranian who had been through here earlier—but the pale boy's outfit was somewhat more bizarre. How many BOYS wore a short jacket like that? Not to mention his hand... it was all bandaged up.

The last girl... the last girl was dressed sensibly enough—for ancient Japan, at least—but... her hair. It was pink.

Seriously, pink hair?

Ah, whatever. It wasn't like she had't seen stranger. The pink hair probably reflected her ability to shoot flames or something. So the girl was a meta. More from the Teen Titans? These younger heroes didn't all take to the same spandex-aesthetic that their forebears did.

As she watched, the pink-haired girl (who had a decided air of command about her), glanced about the room and frowned. "'Nante sobokuna dougu, ne?" she commented to the others. Then, catching sight of Dr. Jewell, she strode forward.

"I am Haruno Sakura." She offered, with a little bow. "I would like permission to examine the patient, please."

Dr. Jewell blinked. "I'm sorry?"

"I may not look it, but I am actually quite a qualified medic in my world." A hint of fire came into the girl's green eyes. "Though I know this seems irregular, I know the... person who attacked him, and I may be able to shed some new light on the subject."

Dr. Jewell considered it a moment. "Well, I suppose so." She stepped aside, reminding herself. It's all up for grabs at this point, anyway. "Gentlemen, the League has sent someone down to look into the matter."

Without so much as a glance, the pink-haired girl strode through the assembled doctors. She gave a smile to the rather confused Beast Boy, then immediately began diagnosis, feeling for his pulse, glancing down his throat, shining a light into his eyes, and having him cough while she felt his chest.

Though the girl might be wasting her time, there was no mistaking her efficient, professional manner. Grinning, Dr. Jewell reflected that if nothing else, the girl certainly was a competent medic.

At that moment, the girl laid her hands on the boy's chest and closed her eyes. Slowly, her hands began to glow with a strange light.

"Hey... what are you doing?" Beast Boy glanced up at Sakura and then back at his chest. "Th-that... that kinda tingles."

The girl ignored him, her forehead furrowing in concentration. Then she opened her eyes and a triumphant expression flashed across her face. "Buta-chan," said she, beckoning to the blonde. "Hai, yattemite Buta-chan."

Hesitantly, the blonde stepped forward and placed her hands where Sakura's had been. Her hands began to glow also.

"Nanka kanjiruno?" asked the pink-haired one, expectantly.

"U-un, nanimo kanjinai," said the blonde, shaking her head as she stepped away. "Hitai-chan no chakura osae wa mada atashi yori umai date." Apparently she was unable to find whatever the other had.

"Noroi fuuin no chi wa hara ni iruno da. Kitto sore wa kare ni sawatte iru." responded Sakura, seemingly in explanation. Glancing over at Beast Boy, she asked: "You've got some blood from an acquaintance of ours—Juugo, a powerful shapeshifter—in your body. Did you ingest it, or did they inject you with some?"

"Um..." Beast Boy frowned in thought. "I don't remember being injected with anything... I guess... I bit him a lot, I guess I might've swallowed some of it..."

The girl gave a relieved sigh. Turning to the other doctors, she explained. "Juugo's blood was a transforming agent, it may be interfering with this one's abilities. I'm not sure, but I believe if we remove the blood, it should at least temporarily solve the problem. May I have a bowl of clean water?"

"Water?" came an incredulous voice from behind Dr. Jewell's shoulder.

"Just get it." Dr. Jewell snapped to her assistant. This girl seemed to know what she was doing, and at least she seemed to have a better feel for things than most of the other doctors did.

A few moments later, several bowls of filtered water sat waiting on a table. The pink-haired girl dipped a finger into it and frowned before quickly launching into a babble of Japanese with the blonde. Though the blonde seemed somewhat taken aback, she quickly nodded to whatever the other girl had asked for.

A trifle bothered by the reaction, Dr. Jewell stepped forward. "Do you need any help, Miss Haruno?"

"No, I'm fine, thank you." The girl shook her head. "There's something funny with the water, but it shouldn't cause any problems. The substance is fairly easy to remove. If the blood had been directly injected, things might've been serious, but as he swallowed it, his digestive system might've broken it down some. Trust me, I've done more research into this blood and it's affects than just about anyone in the world."

The last sentence piqued Dr. Jewell's interest. "Really? Why is that?"

The girl leaned forward for one of the bowls, obscuring her expression from the doctor's view. "Personal reasons. Alright, I'm all ready now. Ino?"

Nodding, the blonde placed both her glowing hands over one of the bowls. Her brow furrowed in concentration and slowly, before the medical staff's eyes, she drew out the water into a swirling orb floating between her hands. She held it out to Sakura, who reached forward and took it (the exchange seemed to require a bit of concentration from both, but was handled fairly well), carrying it over to the bed. "Oh." She said, catching sight of Beast Boy's startled gaze. "I forgot to mention... you may want to hold him down. This will probably hurt a bit."

Hold him down?

What happened next was truly surreal. As far as Dr. Jewell could tell, the girl was drawing the water directly through the boy's body, isolating and removing any elements of the "foreign substance" that she could find. The water flowed from the orb in the girl's one hand and entered the boy's body perfectly clear. On the other side of the body, it emerged dark and polluted, collecting into another orb around the girl's other hand.

Three times the girl repeated the process, dumping the polluted samples into a new bowl the blonde held out. The entire time, Beast Boy was uttering tiny whines—but struggling surprisingly little. Finally Haruno Sakura stood back, her forehead damp with sweat. "That's all I can do." She panted, gesturing to the shapeshifter. "Go ahead. Try it again."

Beast Boy bit his lip, but raised his good arm nonetheless. The fur flattened back, formed into scales on an arm that was growing longer, thinner, less rigid...

And suddenly there was a green octopus in the operating room, hugging Haruno Sakura for all it was worth. "Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" It crowed in affectionate tones. "Oh MAN, you have NO idea how good it feels after..."

"Get off me," growled the medic. "NOW."

The octopus blanched at the girl's voice. "Uh, right, you got it." It said, slithering off the girl in a moment and regrouping as a green-skinned teenager sitting on the hospital bed. "How... how'd you do that?" he asked, scratching his head in a comical fashion.

Haruno Sakura shrugged. "It's just something I can do."

#

"So what exactly can this Sasuke friend of yours do?" They needed to catalogue powers, get an idea of the threat they faced.

The blonde one—Naruto, Batman reminded himself—shrugged wearily. "Lots."

"His sharingan grants him the ability to instantly copy any techniques or moves he sees," answered Sakura, the boy's partner. Batman had already singled them out as the two most valuable source of information. "He trained for three years under a master of all of them. Generally, though, he focuses on fire-based and lightning-based attacks."

Batman nodded, that fit with his own experience. "This sharingan... that's the same eye your sensei has, correct?" Several heads nodded in response. "Can he do that teleportation thing also?"

"Unlikely." This time it was the bug-user, Aburame, who spoke up. "Why? If he had, this world would have experienced more disruption than it has. Also, if Uchiha Sasuke has mastered the teleportation technique, logically he ought to be able to reverse it. He would not still be here if he could."

Time to get some real information. "In the meantime, what else can this eye of his do?"

"In its base form, it just accelerates reaction time and allows the bearer photographic memory. It also can perform simple illusions. However, Sasuke has awakened a heightened version of it... they call it the Mangekyou Sharingan."

"Really." This Sakura had done her research. "And what can that do?"

A shrug in response. "According to Kakashi-sensei, it has a heightened illusionary ability called Tsukuyomi, where the victim is more or less teleported to a state of mind where the user controls space and time. It's a very effective interrogation technique."

"The guys from the Kage summit said he had some other stuff too..." Naruto frowned. "Amaterasu—black flames that can't be extinguished—and Susanoo—some kind of massive figure that surrounds him and absolutely protects him. They said he combined them to make some kind of black flaming monster, pretty wild."

Interesting. "And how..."

"Kage summit?" That was Clark, distracted as always by the evil involved. "Like... a diplomatic meeting? He attacked them?"

Naruto's face grew dark. "Yeah. He was after the current Hokage, Shimura Danzou, who was attending the summit. The Kages beat him off, but Sasuke caught him on the way back and killed him. We caught up just a little too late... Madara was just making off with the body when we arrived."

"Madara?"

"Uchiha Madara, one of the founders of Konoha and current leader of the terrorist organization Akatsuki. Sasuke is his... understudy, as much as the term applies." Shino adjusted his glasses.

Naruto nodded. "He rescued Sasuke and his team from the Kage Summit. Talked to the Kages, too, about some 'Moon's Eye Plan' he has that's going to throw the world into an eternal illusion and control everyone so he could guarantee world peace or something..."

"Villains do monologues on your world too?" laughed Flash, cocking an eyebrow. "I don't get it. You'd think they'd catch on how stupid it is to tell people what you're going to do."

"It WAS kinda weird." Naruto agreed.

Batman's mind was somewhere else. Plans that involved controlling the entire world were nothing new, but ones that could control the fabric of reality were not.

Why did that sound so familiar?

#

"Explain." Waller's face was hard. "How would Luthor have gotten this Anti-Life equation? And why bring it out only to give it to Darkseid?"

"More to the point, if he had it—if both of them had it—why not use it? I thought you said it gave them complete control of existence."

Batman gave a silent nod. "Exactly. It doesn't make any sense. If Luthor had the equation before the fight, he should have never been driven to contact us and confront Darkseid, so I can only assume he found it sometime during the fight." He held up a hand to forestall questions. "How, I don't know. But it's the only reason I can think for not bringing it out sooner."

"Which still leaves us with the question of WHY he brought it out, and WHY he used it like... that." Superman frowned. "He could have taken over the world with it. Why didn't he?"

"OR maybe he DID and we just don't KNOW about it!" Grinning cheekily, Flash leaned back. "Maybe we're all in some Luthor-controlled reality and he's playing sick little mind games with us. Huh? Huh?"

"In that case, he would not have wanted to capture the ninjas, nor would he have allowed one to escape." Mr. Terrific shook his head.

"Plus, it seems like a Luthor-controlled world would be more blatant, not hidden," pointed out Superman. "Like you said, he's an egomaniac. If he was ruling the world,he'd want us to KNOW about it."

Flash slumped in his chair. "Bummer. There goes that theory." Suddenly his eyes brightened. "Unless he's just MAKING you all refute my brilliant idea to keep me from finding out the truth!"

"Bats, how come you kept this information to yourself?" Ignoring Flash's outburst, Green Lantern turned on the Dark Knight. "Why didn't you do anything about it?"

Batman's response was a glare. "Who said I haven't been doing anything about it? I don't just sit around in my cave admiring the stalactites. I've been working on countermeasures for some time. But, as for why I didn't tell the League, there was simply no point. If Luthor had the equation, as Flash pointed out, you would be under his control. If he did not, my theory was moot."

"You still could have told us your ideas." J'onn admonished.

A snort came in response. "I told you my 'idea' that Luthor wasn't dead. Did any of you listen to that?"

An uncomfortable silence filled the conference room.

"Exactly. I work best alone. The only thing I might have accomplished would be perhaps a few more wisecracks from Flash and a few more ludicrous 'leads' from Plastic Man. There was no point to telling anyone at the League, so I kept it to myself." Batman leaned back. "Now that the facts are relevant again, I might as well tell you about them, but even now, they're rather useless. The only thing I can deduce is that the Anti-Life equation did not function as expected."

"OR it functioned EXACTLY as expected!"

"Flash, be quiet." Superman groaned and pressed his fingers to his head. "Let's stick to basics for the moment,okay? Luthor's alive, perhaps in possession of the Anti-Life equation, which may or may not do what it was supposed to. That just makes it all the more crucial that we find him and the three ninjas in his power." Glancing up, he pointed at J'onn. "Put the word out to all League members that Luthor is back. Any and all information possibly related to him or his organization is to be directed to the Watchtower. We'll need the government's cooperation also." He nodded to Waller, who inclined her head slightly. "And... Lois? Could you please try to keep this out of the papers?"

"You think I CAN?" Lois (who technically should not have been present), raised an eyebrow. "You're giving out information to a every member of a multi-national taskforce, including glory-hounds like Booster Gold, and you think I can keep the media from finding out about it?"

Pleadingly, Superman gazed at her, and Lois finally sighed. "Fine. I won't write anything for the Planet. But you owe me a headline. A BIG headline."

"Done." Superman turned back to the table. "Any other questions? Green Lantern?"

"What're we going to do with them?" asked the ex-marine. "I mean... we're not keeping them here, I got that, but... you can't honestly expect us to let a couple of dimensional visitors like that just wander loose around Metropolis."

Hawkgirl nodded. "At the very least, they're going to need someone to help them adjust to the outside world. If the wrong one gets peeved, we could end up with another smashed city square to handle."

#

"'Chakra.'" The dark-skinned man standing just off the table frowned in thought. "Interesting. We do have something we CALL chakra in our world, but it sounds very different from yours. It's more a..." there was a touch of disdain in his voice "...religious thing than an actual energy."

A snort came from the winged woman (seriously, wings?) seated next to the green man, but the archer leaning against the wall seemed interested. "You think they're the same thing, maybe? I mean, we have heroes here who get power from synching with nature and tapping into chi energies, maybe we could use chakra..."

"You don't have chakra. I can sense chakra, and you don't have it," interrupted Neji.

"Oh." Looking slightly nonplussed, the archer shrugged and glanced away. "Worth a try."

Grinning, Naruto looked around. Some of his friends looked a trifle anxious about how much he was giving away, but Neji, Sakura, and Hinata looked perfectly easy about it. Lee, of course, was just grinning from ear to ear and beaming at all the spandex-clad people about him.

They needed to get Lee out of here. It just couldn't be good for him.

A cough from the stretcher-bound man interrupted his thoughts. "If this chakra powers all your attacks, then the power and amount of your attacks is limited by your amount of chakra, correct?"

"Sure." Naruto shrugged. That was pretty basic academy stuff.

"I see." The man gave a short nod. "So explain something to me. I fought four of your friends earlier, and Uchiha Sasuke after that. I can guess Uchiha has fairly strong chakra reserves, simply by comparing him to the others. But from what I've seen of your fight with Superman..." The man's eyes narrowed. "...you must have a phenomenal amount of chakra. Much greater than Uchiha, incredibly greater than your friends. And, I'm guessing, many times greater than what a normal ninja should have."

The room was dead quiet. The heroes mostly looked puzzled, unable to see what the dark-caped man was driving at. The ninjas, however, sat tense, still, and ramrod-straight. A few anxious glances were darting between them.

"So what's the story? That sort of power can't be natural, not even in your world. You all have taken onto the idea of 'metas' rather well, and I'm guessing that we're not the first 'above the norm' individuals you've heard of." The dark man's eyes bored into his soul. "All of you are already meta-class individuals, and if you are, as I think, exceptional even among them, then it's essential that we know. NOW."

Shino spoke up immediately. "Uzumaki-san's abilities are a matter of Konoha national security."

"Interesting." Now it was the fat black woman speaking. "But as said 'matter of national security' happens to be within another nation, that makes it a matter of our national security that we know."

Thinking quickly, Naruto opened his mouth. "It's a special technique I can use... it's called Sage mode. I attune myself to the natural energy surrounding me and use it to augment my strength and invulnerability. Anyone can do it, but it requires intensive and specialized training."

Batman was obviously not satisfied. "Then why have none of your friends undergone this training?"

"Na-Naruto-kun works harder and faster than anyone." That was Hinata.

"He also attracted the attention of a gifted instructor." Shino adjusted his glasses. "The secret of Sage Mode is taught only to a few, and even fewer master it."

There was a short moment of silence. The heroes, who seemed to be following Batman's lead, all glanced at him to see what he thought of the explanation. After a few moments, he nodded. "We have some here who work by attuning themselves to natural energies... it's possible, I suppose. So this makes you invulnerable and boosts your strength?"

"Yes. Boosts my chakra too, and renders me conscious of my surroundings in all directions."

"Anything else?"

"Uh... no."

"You're sure?"

"Yessss..." Naruto was growing uneasy. WAS there anything else?

"Then how do you explain your unnatural rate of healing?" Before Naruto could answer he pressed on. "And the strange markings on your stomach? Our medics wondered about them. And why are you all so anxious to present an explanation that moments ago you were all hiding?"

Shino was on his feet. "Batman-san, I must protest..."

"Oh, don't bother, Shino." Sighing, Naruto waved his friend down. "They got us, we may as well tell them. Might as well get it over with anyway, they'll find out eventually." Turning to the man, he looked directly into his eyes and responded. "I'm a jinchuuriki. A demon host. I have the spirit of the nine-tails fox sealed within my body, and I can draw pretty much any amount of chakra I want from it." He stared defiantly into the man's eyes. "That's who I am."

There was a short silence.

"A demon host?" questioned the caped man. He sounded almost disappointed. "Is that all?"

"Oh brother..." the black-skinned man rolled his eyes.

"Seems a bit different from ours." Superman frowned. "That makes, what, two?"

"Three." Batman shook his head. "You're forgetting Blue Devil."

#

"So... anyway, sorry for smashing your legs and everything."

The creature snorted. "If it comes to that, sorry for trying to spear you through the heart and banish your demon. It was a fight. Mistakes happen."

There was a short moment of silence. Naruto perched on the chair beside a bed containing the blue-skinned psycho he had fought earlier. Even knowing that the man was a demon host, Naruto couldn't help but feel a little wierded out. Not only was the guy covered in blue scales, but he had long sprouting horns, a forked tail, and a strange little beard that made him look almost silly. And, even if the man DID seem a lot more friendly now that he'd learned about Naruto, his glowing eyes still looked kinda freaky.

But still. He was part demon, and that made him okay in Naruto's book.

"So you've got a demon 'sealed' in you, hmm?" At Naruto's nod the man shook his head. "That's a new one on me. I've seen demons sealed in jars, bottles, pits, and lamps, but people... I didn't know you could do that. What does that mean, exactly?"

Naruto shrugged. "Well... it means I heal from injuries quickly, and that I have a crazy amount of energy, and that I can draw on more if I need to. Oh, and if I get mad or upset, I turn into a monster that destroys anything nearby."

"Hm." The man grunted. "So you get the demonic powers, but not control over them." Giving a shrug, he added: "still, I take it you're not damned to hell for them."

"I don't... think so, no." Some of the villagers had suggested this to Naruto, but he'd never looked into the specifics, and the Third had never said anything about it.

"Sounds like a pretty good deal, then," mused the man, and at Naruto's incredulous look, he shrugged. "Well, suffering persecution during this life is bound to be better than suffering it for eternity. The couple times I've been to hell... it ain't pretty, kid.

"You've been to hell?" Naruto had a vague understanding of what the man was talking about, but his knowledge of hell was shaky at best.

"Part of being a demon. Well, a man turned into a 'demon-with-a-soul,' I suppose."

"You can turn a man into a demon?" Naruto was flabbergasted. Sealing demons he'd knew about, and being in harmony with your demon he'd heard of, but... actually becoming a demon?

His surprise did not last long. "No, not really." The man/demon/neither answered. "I suppose, essentially, I'm still a man under all this. I'm just a man with demonic powers who's damned to hell. Oh, and I have the horns and tail."

"Are they important?"

"Important? Nah. Neither does anything particularly special. They're just memoirs of my deal with Neron. Gave them to me so EVERYONE could tell I was a flesh and blood demon." The man grunted. "Don't ever make deals with demons, kid, not even your own. They ALWAYS screw you over."

Naruto nodded in compliance, but something was still bothering him. "So those are supposed to show you're a demon?" At Blue Devil's nod, he exploded: "But that's crazy! Demons don't look like that!"

"Of course not. Demons are spiritual creatures, they can look like whatever they like. Neron just chose this form to remind everyone else what I am, and to torment me particularly." Grunting again, Blue Devil folded his arms across his chest. "Trust a demon to take the religious angle."

"Religous...?"

"I'm Catholic, kid. Do you think I enjoy looking like this? I can't go to church anymore, or take communion, or even say the Lord's prayer without burning myself up."

Blinking, Naruto asked, "What's a 'Catholic,' and what are churches?"

"You're kiddin..." The man glanced at Naruto and shook his head. "Okay, you're not." He sighed. "When I gets out of this hospital bed, I'm going to have a long talk with you."

There was another long silence, broken this time by the man. "So." He said finally. "What do demons do back where you come from?"

"Break things, mostly. Destroy countries and stuff."

"That seems awfully simple for them," frowned Blue Devil. "So what'd you seal one into you for?"

Naruto frowned in response. "I didn't. My dad sealed it inside me. Villages use guys like me as big weapons." A grin crossed his face for a moment. "But my dad had a LOT more in mind than that."

Eyebrows raised, Blue Devil asked, "So you don't ask for it? Your government gives it to you?" At Naruto's shrug, he grunted. "Well. Guess that does stink, then. I at least made a deal for my powers... I knew what I was doing. You've got it rougher than I thought. Sorry kid."

"No problem." Naruto grinned. "I'm sorta used to it by now."

"Hm. Yeah, I guess it does sorta grow on ya."

"So what do you do with your... demon?" Naruto eyed Blue Devil curiously.

Frowning, Blue Devil glanced up. "Told ya. I don't HAVE a demon, I AM one—for all intents and purposes, anyway. But I use my powers as a demon to send other ones back to hell. That's what the pitchfork..." he nodded to where it was hanging on the wall. "...is for."

"Whoah." Naruto glanced as the object. "Is that what you were gonna do to me?"

"Yeah," came the nod. "Sorry."

"Don't sweat it. Don't know if it would have worked anyway."

"Prob'ly not," agreed the other. "So, if you're a demon host, what's your friend?"

"Friend?" A small 'eep!' made Naruto turn, and he instantly understood what Blue Devil was talking about. "Oh! Hi Hinata! When'd you get here?"

Chuckles broke loose from Blue Devil. "She came in here with you, kid. Right behind you. Don't you remember?"

"I thought you went with Shino and Neji," said Naruto, pointedly ignoring Blue Devil's question. It was really kinda freaky how quiet Hinata could be at times. She must be a great ninja for stealth, to be able to sneak up on people like she did with him.

At the moment, though, she simply stood there, blushing red and tapping her fingers together. "I... I thought somebody should go with you." She murmured.

"So what are you?" asked Blue Devil, who seemed amused by something.

Hinata blinked. "Hyuuga Hinata." She answered, bowing.

"No, no, not who are you." The horns wagged back and forth. "I mean, what are you?  I've never gotten a vibe like you off anyone.  What's up with that?"

This time, both Hinata and Naruto stared at him.

"Ya mean ya don't know?" Blue Devil's glowing eyes widened. "That's weird. That's really weird."

"Getting back to Sasuke," Superman broke into Green Arrows list of supernaturally-enhanced heroes, "There's something we need to know. Can he do this jutsu of your sensei's?"

"Not yet. It's an original jutsu of Kakashi-sensei's, and Sasuke's never seen it before." Suddenly Naruto frowned. "He WILL learn it, though. He'll be trying to find a way to get back."

"So basically, if we give him enough time to figure it out, he'll leave on his own." Green Lantern shrugged. "Problem solved."

But the ninjas were shaking their heads. "We must find him before he has the chance to." Neji indicated.

Superman blinked. "Why?"

Deciding to re-enter the conversation, Batman spoke up. "Because this Sasuke is a threat to their village. If he goes back there and these kids aren't there to stop him, their village is toast." He glanced at the teenagers. "Correct?" A few heads nodded hesitantly. "Thus, they want him to stay here."

"But blast it, we can't just KEEP the kid here." Looking askance, Green Lantern threw up his hands. "He's a major threat, we're not running some kind of prison colony."

"The UN will not sanction the holding of interdimensional criminals. Caliban was bad enough, we're not hanging onto any more of them." Waller tapped the end of her pen on the desk to emphasize the point.

Fortunately the ninjas did not seem inclined to argue the point. "Naturally," nodded Shino. "Uchiha Sasuke is a missing-nin of Konoha, and Konoha must deal with him. But also we cannot allow him to return before us."

"We can help with that. We're looking for him already." Superman assured them. "Once we find him, we'll place him and his confederates in your hands to be tried back in Konoha."

A bare arm raised up in the arm, and Batman irritably noted its owner—Sai, the androgynous ninja with the creepy smile. "How do you intend to return us to Konoha, honorable gentlemen?" he asked, another false grin spreading across his face. "Perhaps I have missed it, but I do not recall hearing about how that is to occur."

"It's... going to be tricky." Superman admitted, glancing over to Mr. Terrific.

"But not impossible." Mr. Terrific offered a short nod. "As we mentioned, we've had experience with interdimensional affairs before. There are a few experimental portals that Batman has designed... with a little work they could be open a link to your world."

A sudden frown crossed his face. "The difficulty, of course, will be connecting to YOUR world. Most links we've done are between Earths similar to our own. Yours is obviously very different, and thus will be much more difficult. However, with enough time and resources..." Mr. Terrific gestured. "It can be done."

There was a short silence as the ninjas mulled over this. "And how long will it take you to build this gateway?"

"Impossible to say for certain." The scientist admitted. "A few months, at best."

#

"So what on earth are we going to do with them in the meantime?" Hawkgirl exploded. "We can't just let them run loose out there!"

Lois' eyes narrowed. "Clark, if you..."

"We're not keeping them here," replied Superman, closing his eyes. "That's not up for debate. Just because they're powerful doesn't mean they're dangerous. They seem disciplined, they can handle themselves, and they know they can—somewhat—rely on us."

Green Arrow snorted. Grinning, Lois threw a somewhat smug look at Hawkgirl.

But Superman wasn't done. "On the other hand, Shayera has a good point also. We can't just 'let them run loose out there.' Not only because they're incredibly powerful, but because they're incredibly LOST. They don't really know where they are or what to do." Opening his eyes, Superman glanced at Lois. "How long do you think Hinata would have lasted on the streets without you?"

Lois looked a little uncomfortable. "She's a smart girl..."

"But she doesn't know anything about the place." Wonder Woman nodded. "Anyone could take advantage of that. Scam artists, the media, politicians..."

"Luthor," added Batman darkly.

"...supervillians too." Wonder Woman agreed.

"Their lack of knowledge also renders their power inherently dangerous." J'onn's voice entered the conversation. "With the difference between Earth customs and their own, it is highly likely they may commit a crime without trying to, or feel some well-meaning person has committed a crime against them."

"Which leaves us with a crater in downtown Metropolis."

Amanda Waller gave a short nod. "They have essentially the same status as foreign nationals—some sort of watch will need to be set on them, and probably some officials to help assimilate them into the world."

"They're not likely to trust anybody WE offer," pointed out Green Arrow.

Batman snorted. "This all has nothing to do with me." He said, picking up the remote to his motorized stretcher. "Let me know what you decide to do with the kids, I'm going to check on the situation in the infirmary."

The others watched as Batman's stretcher slowly drove out of the room, then returned to table. "So what do we do?" Superman glanced at the others. "Ideas?"

"Give them a building in Metropolis, where we can keep an eye on them." Green Lantern offered. "Gives them free access, but helps us to contain any disasters."

Lois scoffed. "Try getting THAT past City Council."

"How about a place in the country then?"

Superman thought about it. "It WOULD keep culture clash to a minimum, and limit any possible disasters. We wouldn't be able to observe the situation, though. If Luthor struck, we'd have little time to respond."

"I don't suppose you'll want to listen, but I do have one idea." Grunting, Waller heaved herself up. "The government could possibly furnish a facility that..."

"No."

Waller shrugged resignedly. "As you wish."

"How about a moon base?"

"NO, Flash." Superman rubbed his eyes. "Any other ideas? Anyone?"

A silence descended over the conference room.

#

"So... what do we do now?" Naruto glanced around the room.

Superman cleared his throat. "Well, until this 'Sasuke' is found and the portal built, there's not really much else we can do, I'm afraid. I suppose you'll simply have to get used to living here."

"Not 'here' as in 'here' of course." He added hastily, seeing the dark expressions being sent at him. "Or rather... I suppose if you wanted to... But what I meant was, you shall have to spend some time HERE in this WORLD. Getting used to it."

"Sasuke is a matter for Konoha to deal with," responded Shino. "Why? Certain attachments between him and members of our party make it dangerous for others to kill him."

"We're not going to kill him. We're just going to capture him and hand him over to you."

Shino gave a short nod. "Still. We must insist on doing our part in hunting down the Uchiha."

"Not possible, I'm afraid." Superman shook his head. "You guys don't know the territory or the people here. Your normal tracking methods may not even work. No, you'd best leave him to us. We have a network already set up, it shouldn't take long."

"But I must..."

"Shino." Naruto waved the Aburame into silence. "Don't bother." It's not like they were going to actually follow what these people told them anyway.

Giving Naruto a grateful nod, Superman returned to his speech. "In any case, you're all free to go." Several of the ninjas smiled, but most remained tense. "We may need some of you to help Mr. Terrific building the portal, but outside of that, I suggest you just relax and enjoy your time here. Don't worry about Luthor, we'll find him and your friends soon."

"Huh." That was Sakura. "And where do you propose we 'relax' while you're doing all this?"

Superman paused, clearly wondering about the same thing. "Well." He said finally. "I suppose you COULD stay here in the Metro Tower..."

"NO."

"Not happening."

"We respectfully decline."

Naruto stood up. "Look, thanks, but no thanks, okay? From the looks of things, NONE of us have had good memories of this place."

Also standing to her feet, Sakura added, "Let us know if you've got any better ideas. In the meantime, we're outta here."

One by one, the ninjas filed out of the conference room.

#

Sakura examined the red-clad boy a moment and frowned, then put her fingers together. "Kai!"

Eyelids flashed open. A glance to the left, then to the right, and finally the young vigilante seemed to relax. "Metrotower?" He asked Sakura.

"Yes." Sakura nodded. "This is the Metrotower. You..."

"Roooooobin!!" An orange blur dashed past Sakura and engulfed her former patient. "You are well! You are no longer the non-conscious! Thank Oflgar!"

Robin blinked at his Tamaranian girlfriend. "Hi Star. Um, what..."

"And you!" The girl whirled around and faced Sakura. "Thank you, most honored physician of the pink-hair, for you have returned Robin to health and vigor!" A second later Sakura found herself engulfed in a similar bone-crushing hug. "Oh, this is truly joyous!"

Sakura struggled to find words. "Uh... you're welcome?" The odd orange flying girl had run into them just outside Beast Boy's room. Upon hearing what they had done there, she had instantly begun pleading with them to help 'also friend Robin, who was lying sick without the consciousness and the medics did not know what to do.'

Really, Sakura hadn't needed much convincing, but the girl had practically dragged her there anyway. After that, the problem was relatively simple to solve—it was a genjutsu, a minor one, just enough to keep the victim out of things. Easy to figure out.

The girl? Not so much.

"So." The red one—Robin—sat part up in bed. "Was it Batman?"

Sakura blinked. "I'm sorry?"

"Yes it was, friend Robin!" The orange girl nodded excitedly. "He broke into the cell with friend Raven and I! I recognized not him, so I performed the disintegration beam, but he dodged and stopped me. Then he..."

Sakura stared at the strange girl as she rattled on all that she had heard about the battle at Titan's Tower. Batman? As in the Batman that attacked us? He rescued these guys? So Batman had fought Sasuke in order to rescue these teenagers, not merely for the fun of the thing. He had come there to help. And got badly hurt doing it, she realized with a wince, recalling the stretcher.

The red-clad boy apparently had different thoughts. "Blast him." He scowled. "He always has to be babysitting me, doesn't he? Can't trust me to handle things for myself." Shaking his head, he glanced back at Star. "So they're all safe? Cyborg, Raven, Beast Boy?"

"Yes, Robin. They are all well. Beast Boy was for a time badly injured, but this woman saved him."

"Really?" The teen gave Sakura a critical once-over. "Thanks. Gar can get carried away sometimes."

"Least I could do." Sakura shrugged. "After Sasuke trashed your guys' base..."

Robin's eyebrows shot up. "Sasuke? So you know red-eyes?"

"In a way." Sakura tried to keep her voice even. "Or at least, I used to."

"Hm. How much do you know about him?"

Sakura shrugged. "Oh... a good deal."

"Good," grinned Robin. "We need data. As soon as we're out of the hospital here, I'll need all the info you have. We won't be able to mount a pursuit and attack squad without a proper understanding of his powers and..."

"YOU won't be able to mount a proper pursuit squad, period." A new voice broke into the conversation, and the others turned to watch a motorized stretcher coast into the room, carrying a familiar caped figure. "Half your team is out and you're not too good yourself. I doubt you'll even be able to keep Jump City under control for long."

Robin's eyes narrowed. "Batman..."

"Temper, Robin." Batman cautioned him. "Control the anger and release elsewhere." His eyes narrowed. "I need to talk with you about the tower's security measures."

"I'm not interested in what you have to say."

"I'm not interested in your lack of interest. You're going to hear it anyway." Batman turned to the others. "You may leave now."

Taking the hint, Sakura quickly left, dragging a (somewhat confused) Starfire with her. "C'mon, I don't think we're exactly wanted here."

"But I do not comprehend! Friend Robin should be glad to meet our rescuer! Why is he so angry?"

"Don't look at me. I just met him five minutes ago." Sakura grunted, plopping down on a bench next to Sai and Ino. "Batman, though, I met yesterday, and if Robin knows him I can imagine he'd be grumpy."

Starfire looked a little puzzled but shrugged it off. "In any case, I must again offer my thanks for curing Robin. I no longer have the sorrow, because of your efforts. Thank you!" She bowed.

"You're welcome." Sakura gave a little grin. This girl felt something like a female version of Lee. "So tell me, what is he exactly? Teammate of yours?"

The girl's face nearly burst with happiness. "Friend Robin is my morthlug opetim!"

Just when this world was making sense... "Pardon?"

"Oh! I offer the apologies! In this world, you would say, he is my boyfriend!"

"Ah." That made better sense.

Curiously, the girl almost seemed to sober after this declaration. "I am most grateful," she said quietly, "that he is so. Robin can be hard upon himself, and somber. He does not always have the joyness of heart that he should."

"Really?" Sakura glanced over at Sai and Ino, who seemed engaged in their task of wrapping Sai's hand. "Why is that?"

"He is lonely. And suffering." The girl answered, and something about the way she said it made Sakura look up. "He has suffered much, I can know, but he does not speak of it. He holds it in. He should not do so, it cannot be good for the sulgruns."

"Naturally." Sakura wasn't really paying attention to the words, but the gist of what Starfire was saying sounded frighteningly familiar.

"So I am glad." Starfire sighed. "I am glad that he is my morthlug opetim, so that I may help him with this. I feel the fear to think of what he might become if I did not."

"Yes." Sakura nodded quietly. "Yes, you should."

Starfire glanced up curiously. "What makes you use the tone of... Oh!" She cried, glancing down the hallway, and immediately dashed off in a blur of orange and purple. From down the hallway, Sakura could hear voices.

"Get. Off. Of. Me."

"Friend Raven! It is most joyous to behold you again!"

"Star, I'm really not..."

"Oh! You must come with me and meet the pink-haired one! She is most kind and agreeable and you shall be great friends!"

"Doubtful."

Sighing, Sakura glanced over at Ino. "When were we supposed to meet the others?"

Ino checked her wrist. "Another five minutes."

"Suppose we should get moving then." Sakura stood up. "Haven't really learned anything, hope the others were..."

BANG! The door smashed open and an irate Robin stalked out. "I don't need your advice, old man!" He shouted back at the room.

"Suit yourself then," came the reply, just audible enough for the others to hear. "Good luck with Jump City while all your friends are on half-juice and your base is destroyed."

Robin stepped back in again. "We'll. Take. Care. Of It." He growled, voice slightly muffled by the wall.

"I'm sure you will. Especially with the other Titan cells so busy."

"We'll manage!" Robin shouted, stepping back out. "We'll manage, and we'll do it without you, or the Justice League, or Wayne Enterprises!" He slammed the door.

Sai looked at Ino. Ino looked at Sakura. Sakura looked at Sai.

Ignoring them, Robin walked over to Starfire, who had dashed over at the first sound. "Star, we're leaving." He ground out. "Get the others to the flight deck and find a jet for us to use."

"But, friend Robin, you are not..."

"Just do it." He growled. "We'll be fine. We'll find some help somewhere."

"Excuse me."

Turning, the two faced Sakura, who was gazing at them with a quizzical expression.

"We... may be able to help."

#

"A... superhero team?

"The same team that Sasuke beat up. " explained Sakura to the others. "They're all in pretty bad shape, and they need help until they're back up to speed. It seems like the least we can do, and besides, it's a good place to pick up Sasuke's trail."

"Sakura, we've been forbidden from pursuing Sasuke." Neji reminded her.

Kiba rolled his eyes. "And we were all so totally planning on actually obeying that."

"Exactly." Nodding, Sakura gave Naruto a wry look. "We'll probably end up going there anyway, it seems we might as well have a good reason for it."

"That does make a certain amount of sense. However, can we be certain these 'Teen Titans' are trustworthy?" Shino quirked an eyebrow at her.

A grin came in response. "Not really a major issue, with half of them too badly wounded to really attack any of us. But besides that, their leader HATES the league. Especially Batman. If that's not trustworthy, I don't know what is."

Chouji and Lee grinned in response. Neji, predictably, had no reaction, but his mouth gave just the tiniest quiver.

"Look, it's the perfect situation." Time for the last appeal. "They need fighters, we need guides. We're all familiar with fighting, and they're all familiar with this world. They even have a base for us to use, so there's no need for us to run out and grab something." She glanced around the circle. "So what do you guys think?"

After some preliminary glancing around the circle, Naruto gave a nod. "Sounds good."

#

"The Teen Titans jet has cleared the hangar, Batman."

Batman simply nodded.

J'onn studied his friend for a moment, then returned his attention to the screen. "It appears all our worrying was for nothing. They came up with a solution on their own."

"They're smart kids," grunted Batman noncommittedly.

"Indeed. They have found a solution that adequately satisfies all parties. They will be both guided and supervised, by your apprentice no less." After watching Batman a few seconds more, J'onn added, "We did not even have to suggest it to them."

Batman shrugged. "If we had, they would never have chosen it."

"True," agreed J'onn. "Fortunate that they were on hand to witness your argument with Robin. Or that you had such an argument with Robin."

"Nothing new about Robin and I having an argument."

"Perhaps. But such a curiously opportune one?"

A shrug came in response.

J'onn shook his head and once again looked at the screen. "Your apprentice is very masterful. How did you get him to agree to your plan?"

A small smile curved Batman's lips. "I'm not so sure he knew it WAS my plan."

#

Juugo hauled himself, gasping, from the water. Though unused to staying underwater for so long, he'd managed it through sheer desperation and force of will. The strange visitors had finally left the island, and it was safe to come out of the water.

Not to return to the island, though. The island was far too dangerous, he had to find somewhere else to hide. And he had to find Sasuke-sama. Sasuke-sama must be hiding somewhere already, Juugo had merely to catch up.

Quickly, Juugo reverted back into a human. Couldn't go walking about the streets looking like a gargoyle, after all. He clambered onto the dock and began to move toward the lights of the city.

Thot.

A sharp pinch at the back of his neck made him clap a hand to it, and there he found a strange dart-like syringe. Where did...

Thot. Thot. Thot.

Too late, Juugo realized the danger. He had no time to activate the curse seal as he slumped to the concrete, darkness covering his eyes.