"Shino? Good, you're back." Sakura bent over the mouthpiece. "Get down here right away, we're trying to get everyone together." She turned back to face the purple-lingerie lady. "Four days ago, you say?"

"Almost five." The lady appeared to be rather anxious, she kept fiddling around with her crossbow. It probably didn't help that Sakura, Robin, Cyborg, and Neji were all staring at her. "He left around midnight, saying he had a lead, and that I shouldn't wait up for him. I didn't think too much of it for the first few days... He can get a little absentminded when he's on a case... but when it got to be three days I got nervous."

"Aaaaand... why did you bring this to us?" Cyborg arched a critical eyebrow. "Isn't this more a League kinda thing?"

"Huntress doesn't work with the League." Robin answered before the woman could. "Question does, but something tells me this wasn't a League mission." A piercing look entered Robin's eye. "But I'm rather puzzled by you bringing this to us too. You're a loner, Huntress, why aren't you tracking him down yourself."

Huntress glanced away uneasily. "I'm... not in the proper condition to fight. It's too dangerous."

The ninja part of Sakura's mind filed away that uneasiness (as did Robin's, from his expression), but the other part of her had more important matters to consider. "You two had been tracking Sasuke? All this time?"

"Question had. I was just along for the ride. He didn't say who had ordered him to find Sasuke, just that it wasn't the League. I think I have a pretty good idea who it was, though."

"So do I." Robin snorted.

Though thoroughly confused by the exchange, Sakura had other matters to consider. "Why didn't anyone let us know?"

"If you recall, the League did not take kindly to our interference in this matter." Neji noted "Even if they had known about this woman's efforts, they would not have informed us for fear we would have involved ourselves."

"With good reason, apparently." Again Robin snorted. "You realize there's no way I'm letting you guys out of here to go after him, right?"

"You realize none of us care?" snapped Sakura, turning back to the computer system. "Go ahead and try to stop us if you feel so stubborn about it, there's enough of us to handle you guys."

She could nearly feel Cyborg's glare. "Boss..."

"Let it go, Cyborg." Robin ordered. "And Sakura, you should know you can't afford any losses. Last time you went up against Sasuke, you had your whole team and were meeting him on familiar ground. You don't know anything about Gotham and you're down two members, what on earth makes you think you'll be better off this time?

Sakura's fingers paused momentarily over the keys. "He doesn't have Suigetsu with him."

"Our chances are irrelevant." Neji added. "Sasuke is a Konoha matter and must be handled by Konoha nins."

Huntress uttered a short bark of a laugh. "More or less why I came here, I suppose. Couldn't call the League, since he wasn't on League business, but I figured the ones after this Sasuke kid might be interested in doing a rescue mission."

"Miscalculation on your part. These guys aren't so much about rescue as assassination." That came from Cyborg.

"We can perform rescues as well as anyone." Neji sounded almost insulted. "Every precaution shall be taken to ensure the safety of this 'Question.'"

"Question? That the guy who stripped me and tied me to a chair?" Sakura turned just as Kiba entered the room, glaring around suspiciously. "Hey yeah, this lady was there. What's going on Sakura?"

"We've got a lead on Sasuke and we're taking it." Sakura rose from the chair. "Are the others here? We'll do a quick debriefing and then head out."

"Not in any Titan ships, you won't."

Shrugging, Sakura responded. "Fine then. We'll walk. But if you're really concerned about our survival, Robin, could you give me a hand with the scanner? I can't find Naruto or Hinata anywhere, and if we can't find them soon, we'll have to leave without them."

For some reason Robin seemed to find her request humorous. "Even if I wanted to, I couldn't." He answered. "Your teammate seems to have a talent for disappearing."

#

"No, Naruto-kun! No!" Hinata shot in between Naruto and the Spectre and held her arms out. "He's a friend!"

"He's a hulking mass of chakra is what he is!" Naruto snarled. "Signature nearly knocked me out from clear across town!"

"You are not far from 'a hulking mass of chakra' yourself, Uzumaki Naruto, you would do well not to assume similar masses are inherently evil." Spectre eyed the boy disdainfully.

"Shut it! Last time I felt something like that was in Luthor's base, and IT wasn't friendly. What the heck are you and what are you doing with Hinata?"

"He's not doing anything with me, Naruto!" Spreading out her arms placatingly, Hinata attempted to calm the boy. "I... if you need to know, I came here to see him. I... I know him."

Naruto blinked, momentarily distracted. "What? You know this dude?"

"I contacted her upon your arrival into this world," nodded the other. "It was essential that someone within your team be able to communicate freely with the meta-humans, just as it was important that I be able to relay my information to someone within your team."

"You mean you... she..." Naruto's eyes flickered from one to the other. "Hinata, have you been spying for this guy?"

"Do not be ridiculous." Spectre's scorn flashed out before Hinata could voice her distress. "I am the Spectre. All things are open to me. I do not need 'spies.' I selected her as an intermediary to inform your people of why they were needed."

"An inter... okay. I see."

Naruto's face showed all too clearly that he did NOT see, but at least he wasn't accusing her of spying anymore. Somewhat relieved, she lowered her arms. "I met him in the park on the day you fought Superman." She explained. "He helped me find you. I met him again that day we went out for ramen."

"Why didn't you tell anyone?"

"I... I..." How was she supposed to explain that she'd been worried what he'd think? "I didn't... that was the same day as the... thing with Ino..."

"Oh." A guilty expression flashed across Naruto's face, reminding Hinata of Naruto's own painful aversion of the topic. "Never mind then." He turned to the man. "So what are you, anyway? What's with that massive chakra?"

"As I was just explaining to your friend, it is not 'chakra.' However, since you ask, I am the archangel Uriel, who stands within the Second Bloom of the..." He stopped at the glazed expression on Naruto's face and sighed. "I am called Spectre." He amended. "And I am an angel."

There was still some glaze left over Naruto's eyes. "A what?"

"He's very powerful, Naruto." Hinata explained. "He's a little like Kyuubi, except he's good and doesn't destroy villages."

"Oh!"

"I am NOTHING like Kyuubi," protested the indignant angel. "Kyuubi is a twisted division of a being of pure evil, I am a messenger of the Almighty, sent to..."

"He called me here today because he needed to tell me some... stuff." Hinata glanced anxiously at the trenchcoat-clad man, who appeared to subside at her words. "We were nearly finished when you came in here."

"He needed to tell you stuff? What kind of stuff?" Naruto peered around her at the angel, eyeing him distrustfully. "And why should she listen to you anyway, buster?"

Spectre acknowledged the comment with a mild tilt of his head. "Because I am the one responsible for your presence on this world."

Naruto's mouth dropped open. Hinata turned, her mouth also agape.

"I see I still have some explaining to do," muttered the angel. "Perhaps you ought to be seated."

#

"Bruce, there's a message coming in. Recognition code says it's from Robin"

"Hit play." Batman ordered, looking up from his microscope. "And put it on speaker."

With a curt nod, Wonder Woman tapped the appropriate keys on the control panel. Her few weeks in Gotham had taught her a great deal, and she'd acquired certain skills—such as computer management and crime investigation—that she hadn't had opportunity to develop before. More and more regularly now she went off on her own, instead of being accompanied by Bruce everywhere. She wasn't sure whether she liked the change or not, but so far her time had been most productive.

'Robin' however, she had yet to meet, and it was some curiosity that she listened to the terse voice issuing from the computer. "Bruce."

"Dick." Batman replied, still fiddling with the microscope.

"I'm sending this from the Titan flier. We're currently headed toward Gotham."

Glancing up sharply, Batman frowned. "And why is that?"

"Huntress came down to the tower with a message, said Question's missing. She told the ninjas that they'd been tailing Uchiha Sasuke." The voice took on a slightly insinuating tone. "I assume that was your idea?"

Diana shot Bruce a stern look but he took no notice. "I didn't know Huntress took on partners, at least not teenagers."

"Apparently she's not fit to go superheroing herself and thought the ninjas would be interested." Wonder Woman could almost picture the shoulders shrugging up and down. "Guess what they decided."

"And you let them?"

"Didn't LET them do anything. They were going with or without us, I figured that they'd have better chances if we were at least along. And I got Cyborg to delay arrival too... I'd hoped to keep them from using the planes, but apparently the one Neji has been studying them a bit. Still. You've got fifteen minutes, tops, before we arrive in Gotham."

"Sasuke's here, then."

"Yes." Cold, clinical. To the point. Every inch Batman's apprentice. "Some of the ninjas can detect this chakra, they should be able to find him quickly. From what I've heard, none of them are Sasuke's equal, but they have enough to get a good-sized brawl going, so... I just thought I'd let you know."

"The ninjas aren't aware of this message, then?"

"No. They think I'm just up front here being sulky."

Diana suppressed a grin. Definitely Batman's protege.

"Very well." Starting at the sudden voice at her shoulder, Diana turned to see Batman leaning past her toward the control panel. He tapped a few keys and a corresponding screen lit up. "We'll be aware. Keep the ninjas attention frontward."

"Understood ." The radio clicked off.

Diana turned on the caped crusader wrathfully. "You had Question track down the fugitive one?"

"He was going to be a problem sooner or later," returned Batman. "It seemed best to start on it while the trail was fresh, and Question was available."

"Uh-huh. And why didn't you at least bring this up to the others so we could have, I don't know, VOTED on it?"

"It was a trivial detail that might not have come to bear anything for a while. I deemed it better to bring it up once Question had actually found something." With a few last strokes on the computer, Batman nodded and turned away. "Also if I'd brought it up then, prevailing prejudice against Question would have defeated it."

"Easier to ask for forgiveness than permission, hm?" Diana sighed. "It almost bothers me more that I'm not surprised. And what was that business about 'keeping the ninja's attention' about?"

Batman was already stalking across the cave floor. "The ninjas ARE our best chance of locating Sasuke right now. We can't let them actually engage him, but we can use them to track down his exact position." He jumped toward a ladder and began to climb.

"We're following them, then?"

"Of course we are."

#

"...doesn't do anything like that."

"Are you sure of this?"

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "Of course I'm not SURE. He's an enemy, for crying out loud, it's not like he tells his techniques to ME. But I fought him and he never used anything like that." Of course, Shikamaru had NO intention of mentioning Kakashi.

"Very odd indeed, Mr. Nara, as my sources tell me definitely that he HAS used the teleportation device, several times."

"Well then ask your oh-so-definite SOURCES how he does it!" Shikamaru would have thrown his hands up in frustration if they hadn't been manacled to the bed. "I don't know how he does it, and personally I don't think he does. Anyway, if he COULD shift between dimensions, what makes you think he'd still be hanging around THIS one?"

"He has not. I would know."

"And how, exactly, would you know that?" Already Shikamaru's mind was reforming, adapting itself to the setback. Luthor seemed unusually insistent on the eyes, they were a weak point, Shikamaru could exploit that. He also seemed unnaturally sure of himself, something that aroused Shikamaru's suspicions. "You don't even know where the guy is or how he does this thing, assuming he even does it to begin with! If you're so sure he hasn't teleported out, than that only means that he can't. That guy has got NO reason to continue hanging around a world full of wackos like you. And if he can't, that means you're wrong, and that this whole stupid obsession with him is pointless."

"It is far from pointless, Mr. Nara, and I tell you he would NOT leave. His section would be drawn to mine, the equation naturally seeks completion."

Shikamaru barely blinked at the curious wording, but he noted it nonetheless. "Or maybe it isn't, and you're just wrong about the whole thing."

"Wrong? No. No, not wrong, Mr. Nara." A cold chuckle escaped Luthor's lips. "No, I have never been more sure of anything in my life. You know something, even if you do not yet realize it's significance, and I will not allow your ignorance to stand between me and my ultimate ambition." His eyes glittered as he leaned closer to the glass. "You will tell me what I want to know."

Shikamaru snorted, realizing both his position and the potential inherent. "And how, exactly, am I supposed to do that, when I don't even know what it IS that I know that is so significant? Or even what is so significant about the whole deal to begin with?"

There was a slight pause as the man regarded him narrowly. Shikamaru did his best to appear frustrated and confused, as if completely unaware of the importance of his question.

Finally the man gave a little chuckle, and spoke. "You really want to know the stakes you're playing for, boy? Very well. Let me tell you a story..."

#

"Bathroom. Bathroom? Bathroom!"

"Through that door, but it's not really a..." Robin trailed off as Huntress shoved her way toward the back. "...whatever."

Kiba, from his seat, grinned. "Jeez, Cyborg, you oughta fly slower for the lady or something."

"Hey!" Cyborg glared back at the dog-nin. "My flying is fine! She's probably just airsick of something."

Robin was eyeing the door thoughtfully. "There's nothing in her league history to suggest it..."

Personally, Chouji was just glad the lady was out of their hair for a few moments, even if the sound of retching from the bathroom DID sound rather painful. She'd been pacing and asking all sorts of bothersome questions and had even complained about the smell of his potato chips.

Seriously, the smell?

Chouji leaned back and stared outside. The clouds were whizzing past his window, thin bits of wispy fog being ripped apart by their sleek jet. He wondered what Shikamaru would think of viewing the clouds from up here, and whether he would like it. Personally he doubted it. Shikamaru had always enjoyed the slow movement of clouds, being up in a plane where they whipped past would probably ruin the point.

Chouji wondered what Shikamaru would think about a lot of things, particularly the mission they were on at the moment. The last time they'd done something like this, he'd led them, and while Chouji trusted Sakura—she WAS one of the Sannin apprentices, after all, it wasn't like anything he had with Shikamaru.

Whatever. He didn't know. He didn't know what to do about ANYTHING, really. Shikamaru was gone and Ino was... well, she was better, but still out of it a lot. Without the one to guide him and the other to boss him around, Chouji was more or less lost. He just sat around until someone—usually Sakura or Robin—gave him something to do.

Pretty much what he was doing now—just sitting in one of the rear seats and listen to what was going on in the front.

"Now entering Gotham City." Cyborg's voice broke in on his thoughts. "Hope ya enjoy the scenery, hosts the finest smog-choked skies in the country."

"Bludhaven is worse." Robin objected.

"Whatever. We're here." Sakura cut both off with a wave of her hand. "Now I was going to ask Huntress where her boyfriend was, but since she's out..." She turned to Neji. "...see if you can locate Sasuke's chakra anywhere in the area."

Neji nodded and brought up his hands. "Byakugan!" Almost immediately the veins around his eyes bulged and his head jerked convulsively.

"Are you well, youthful rival?" Lee eyed his teammate, noting a strange vagueness to his gaze.

"I'm... alright." Neji responded, putting a hand to his head. "It is merely... disorienting to be traveling so fast. Ah." He pointed. "There is a dim source of chakra in that direction."

"That was fast." Robin glanced at the nin.

"Locating a chakra signature in a city empty of it is much easier than identifying a particular person," explained Sakura. "Alright, Cyborg, take us off that way. Now everyone, remember the plan. Sasuke uses his eye-powers a lot, so your best chance is to stay out of his line of sight. We'll attack in a circle formation..."

Neji's voice cut into her speech. "We have a problem."

Sakura glanced up. "What?"

"There is a plane pursuing us at a distance of fourteen miles or so."

"There are a lot of commercial flights through Gotham..." Robin offered.

"It is flown by our 'Batman' acquaintance." Neji shook his head. "And he is accompanied by the woman my other teammates fought before."

"Crap." Sakura hissed. "How does he do that? I mean, I knew he lived here but..." Shaking her head, she turned and faced the others, deep in thought. Finally she pointed. "Chouji. Sai. Follow me." Without pausing, she walked straight towards the back. "Cyborg, cut the engines a little." She called "Let that jet get a little closer."

Shrugging, Chouji pushed himself from the seat and climbed after her, to be followed somewhat more hesitantly by Sai. They stopped before a ramp and a rather ominous-looking ceiling hatch.

"The wind will tear you to shreds out there, so you have to do this quickly." Sakura explained. "Chouji, I want you to bring that jet down. Sai, you fly down on one of your ink things and back him up at the crash site. Slow down those two for as long as you can."

The two gave a short nod, though Sai looked a trifle worried. He kept darting anxious little glances at Chouji.

"Okay." Sakura poised her hand over the release switch. "On 'three.' One, two..."

Chouji's feet bounded over the metal, up the ramp and out into the air. He felt the wind tearing at his skin but paid it no heed, his hands were already flying into the seals. "Cho Baika no Jutsu!"

His body ballooned outwards, swelling to nearly three times its former size. The sensation was always curious, it really felt as though the world about him grew smaller, more cramped. In this case, he definitely noticed the space between buildings shrinking, but to his astonishment did NOT feel the reassuring weight of the ground underneath. Gotham City was much higher than Konoha.

He scarcely had time to think this before the small, sharp black jet clipped his shoulder. The pilot must have been incredibly talented to avoid his massive bulk at such short notice, but he had been unable to miss him completely. Chouji watched in satisfaction as the plane hurtled earthward, smoking.

His satisfaction immediately turned to chagrin as a red and blue blur of feminine fury shot at him.

#

"It is difficult to know exactly where to begin," said the Spectre, calmly addressing Hinata and the suspiciously hovering Naruto. "As I have said, all events are connected and interdependent, therefore to truly understand any event, you must understand all."

"Of all the..." Naruto began, but Hinata quieted him.

"As that is scarcely possible, I suppose I should begin with the convergences. Some time ago, in the space of two of your years, I witnessed a dim—a connection, as it were, with another world. Such connections are not uncommon, indeed, there are many more than people suspect, but this was rude and blatant, obviously artificial. Such connections can be dangerous."

"So... what did you do?"

Spectre blinked at Naruto. "Nothing."

"What?" Naruto blinked back. "But you just said they were dangerous!"

"They are. Very dangerous. Artificial convergences can create rifts within worlds, or even the dimensional fabric itself. More commonly, they knock both worlds away from their appointed places." Spectre frowned. "Or at least they seem to. No world is ever truly out of its appointed place."

"But..." spluttered Naruto. "If they're so dangerous... you knew about it, and you didn't... DO anything about them?"

"The curse of an angel is that he knows everything and can do nothing," spoke a voice from the doorway. Naruto and Hinata turned to face a bemused Rev. McCay. "Just as the curse of man is that he knows nothing and believes he can do anything."

Spectre inclined his head. "The convergence was meant to happen. I witnessed it but it was not appointed to me to interfere. However, it was appointed for me to investigate."

"D-didn't you know who it was?"

"I did not." There was neither embarrassment nor frustration evident on the angel's face, just calm acceptance. "Nor do I completely know now. Norman is not entirely correct, angels are not all-knowing. We know only what we are given to know, that is all. In addition, the source of the dimensional disturbance was shielded by a powerful force, one nearly as great as my own. Naturally, this discovery only made my investigation more paramount, but for some time I was unable to determine anything."

#

"We've been at this for days. So far you've been unable to give me anything useful." Sasuke muttered to the faceless man sitting across from him. "What does it take to get this through your skull?" Casually, he brought up Kusanagi and touched it to the man's neck. "Why were you following me? What do you know?"

Sasuke couldn't even tell if the man blinked. "Cranberry sauce wasn't at the first Thanksgiving." He answered. "It was added by Masonite mystics to alter the American bloodstream."

Sasuke sighed and sent a bolt of charged electricity along his sword straight into the man's nervous system, manipulating it up and down his nervous system, making sure to especially stimulate crucial points along the body. It was one of the more delicate tricks Orochimaru had taught him, but these days he mostly just used it to alleviate boredom.

Finally Sasuke released the lightning and whipped his sword away, letting the man slump in gasping exhaustion against his bonds. "I finally find someone who speaks clearly and all he does is talk nonsense." He muttered. "I can keep this up for a while, you know. My genjutsus don't seem to have quite the effect they once did, but I'm more than capable of replicating their illusions in real life. Tell me what I need to know."

The man's breath was spasmodic, gasping, but he managed to grit out: "Hanes socks aren't 20% polyester. At least 0.05% is made of minerals collected from crop circle corn fields."

Sasuke sighed and sent the charge again, this time not even bothering with the sword. "You should consider yourself fortunate that I've been so bored lately." He told the screaming man. "I might have Tsukiyomi on you by now if there was anything I needed to know instantly. As it is, I have plenty of food and plenty of ammo, and all the time in the world. Even experimenting with my Sharingan has gotten dull. So this is amusement, really." He let off on the electricity and watched the man slump against his restraints. "Now. Tell me your purpose. Your name. ANYTHING useful you might know. Tell me."

"Topically... applied... fluoride... doesn't... prevent... tooth...

"This is getting rather bothersome," snorted Sasuke as he shot electricity into the man's nerves once more. "You know, I might feel more concerned about who sent you if they weren't likely to be helpless incompetents like yourself. Even if they do send someone after you, I doubt they'll be worth saving. Perhaps I ought to..."

Sasuke was broken off in mid sentence as the walls around him exploded.

#

"Several years ago, I acquired a good deal of power." Luthor casually buffed his fingernails on his labcoat as he spoke. "How or what amount does not matter, suffice to say that I became... assured of my position. Immovable, as it were."

Tenten really had no idea why the man was blathering on. All she had been doing had been their arranged weapons-testing session for the day. When Luthor had first walked in, she'd assumed he wanted to start questioning early, and had resolutely sworn not to say anything till she was finished with practice.

Fortunately, his initial questions had been rather meaningless—all about some guy named 'Gennosuke'—and when he'd grown irritated with her silence, he had decided to fill it by telling her exactly why it was so important he find this 'Gennosuke.'

Tenten did not particularly care for Luthor's reasons. This was not heart-to-heart time. This was weapons practice.

'Weapons Practice' was a tightly controlled regime, as Tenten had expected it to be. She was strapped to a chair, arms, legs, and head immobilized. Each weapon, in turn, was attached to the front of one of the chair's arms, where it locked into place. She could not move it, twist it, or even look along it very well. She could only press the trigger and watch it fire.

Regardless, Tenten was in heaven, and not about to be pulled out of it by some bald-brained inquisitor who thought she had nothing better to do than listen to his stories of greatness.

"You'd think that, having obtained such power, my first act would be to use it against my enemies and catch them off guard. But events have taught me not to underestimate the Justice League, and they seemed likely to remain complacent for a while. So instead I focused on consolidating my power, and working toward the ultimate completion of my aims."

Tenten beckoned eagerly with her finger as a new weapon was brought forward. She remembered this one! Rapid fire, explosive rounds. Not incredibly accurate, partly due to recoil, but still... amazing. The things she could do with something like this. If only her hands were free...

"You must understand Miss Tenten, although genetically I am human, the sensation of being a god is not wholly new to me. Most of my new powers were fairly basic: teleportation, transformation, terraforming, things of that nature. Brainwashing too, though I have received mixed results with that." She saw him frown momentarily. "However, as I said, I was discrete in the use of my powers, preferring to work through mortal means."

Firing off a few rounds, Tenten frowned. Something was wrong. The balance on this gun was off. It had always been inaccurate, but now the explosive range was nearly a full foot larger than earlier. How was that possible? As much as she could, she craned her neck around to study the gun.

"Although successful in avoiding the League's attention, all my power could not find me the one thing I sought... the final completion of my power. You see, Miss Tenten, my power stemmed from a simple equation, but the equation was not complete. A crucial piece was missing, and without it, true godhood was denied me."

Now she saw. The idiots had removed one of the side air circulators, throwing off the balance. They'd done this before, she guessed to mess with her knowledge of the gun's capabilities. Now that she felt it, there was a touch more stiffness in the firing mechanism. They must have gummed it up with something.

"Countless experiments bore no fruit until, one day, I felt something. A tug at my mind's eye, you might say, as if somewhere, the missing piece had reached out to me. Things yearn to be whole, Miss Tenten, and the missing piece of the equation KNEW it was meant to be with me."

A few more shots. Tenten frowned again with irritation. This was seriously messing with her aiming. Plus, the alterations to the gun couldn't be healthy for it... extra friction meant extra heat, and with one circulation vent missing already....

Suddenly Tenten grinned, an idea forming in her head.

"It took me a while to identify the pull, and reach out to it in turn. Imagine my surprise, therefore, upon discovering that the pull came from another dimension."

#

The debris will give us a few seconds of cover. Sakura reflected as she dashed over the ground. Effect virtually negligible in light of Sasuke's Sharingan, which will allow him to see the chakra networks. However, will keep him from employing Amateratsu during intial phases.

Her hand flew to her pouch and a few smoke pellets fell into her hand. Whatever this world's shortcomings in soldier pills, they made some mean smoke bombs. She scattered them in a wide arc, hearing satisfying pops as her comrades did likewise.

"Contact." A monotone sounded off somewhere ahead of her, and Sakura shot towards Shino's voice. The disadvantage of the smoke screen was that they could not see Sasuke, while Sasuke could see them. The circle formation they'd landed in would keep him from escaping, but the first to meet him needed to let the others know.

So far, the plan had gone rather well. The only hitch was that Sasuke had not cast a genjutsu, as she had expected, but perhaps the surprise, in accord with the smoke, had rendered that impossible.

Unless he had cast a genjutsu...

Sakura shook her head and took another leap toward the sounds of battle. She'd been hanging around Sai too much. There had been no chance to cast one, and her back-up plan would have taken care of it if there had. No, this was real.

She burst through the final wall of smoke to behold Shino and Lee teaming up on Sasuke, who was throwing fire-balls left and right. Part of Shino's coat was singed, indicating a rather costly encounter. Lee, she noticed with annoyance, was still wearing his weights.

Neither Lee nor Shino so much as glanced at her, but Sasuke noticed her nonetheless. Almost lazily, he shot her with a bolt of electricity, knocking her flat on her back. The distraction was enough for Lee to land a roundhouse to Sasuke's stomach, but he recovered quickly and the fight resumed it's normality. A blur announced Kiba's entrance to the battle, but Sakura did not hope for much from him.

"Lee... take the damn weights off!" She shouted, standing to her feet. "Remember last time?"

Paling, Lee leapt back, dealt a sharp blow to each leg, and whipped back into the struggle, leg covers dropping to the ground with a clang as he did so. A green blur filled the air, knocking Sasuke back a few paces.

Sakura grinned. The whole key with Sasuke, she knew was to bring him down quickly. Overwhelming force, applied at a single point, might be able to take Sasuke down before he could bring some of his stronger—and more disastrous—jutsus to bear.

Sakura was not a Shikamaru. She knew this and accepted this. It bothered her a great deal that they did not have Shikamaru with them, just as it bothered her that they had been unable to contact Naruto or Hinata about the attack. Sure he was out two partners. Sure, they had the Titans along with them. That didn't change that the last time, when they'd attacked with Shikamaru AND Tenten AND Hinata AND Kakashi(toward the end only, but even so...), they'd still gotten beaten.

And she hated that. She hated it, because if anyone deserved to die from Sasuke, it was her. She'd been unable to stop him, she'd kept the others from killing him before he grew to be... what he was, she was responsible for his falling. If it'd been at all practical, she would have gone up against Sasuke herself. But she'd tried that before, and not only had it failed, it had warned her teammates never to let her try it again.

So she was stuck trying to make a plan where as few of them died as possible.

She felt someone land directly next to her. "Target secured." Robin whispered.

"Good." She nodded. "I didn't think he'd see you, with the smoke and our chakra signatures and everything."

"A little touchy at the beginning, but yes." Robin frowned. "If he'd tried to hold him hostage, we'd have been sunk."

"Sasuke doesn't work that way."

While she might not have Shikamaru's genius for strategy, Sakura had something that the Nara would never have. A thorough knowledge of Sasuke and Sasuke's techniques, developed through obsessive study. In a battle like this, where Sasuke was their ONLY opponent, that counted for a lot.

#

"Our world?" Naruto blinked. "The disruptions were coming from our world?"

"No." Spectre let out an icy sigh. "There are two sides to every false connection, child. A prompting must come from BOTH ends for an effective link to be established. The worlds must have something in common in order to connect. Your world was only one part of the equation, the other was this."

"B-but why?" Hinata blinked. "W-we d-don't have m-much in common with this world.... Do we? It's all so strange and different here..."

The Spectre let out a smile, a strange sight on that foreboding face. "As I explained to you earlier, you have more in common with this world than you realize. It is no accident that you and the reporter Lois Lane established such an easy rapport, little one. You and her are in some ways alike... her role as a reporter is very similar to yours as a 'medium.' You connect people and bring them together. Nor is it any accident that Naruto feels such a sympathy toward the ways of this world. In some ways, it approximates the world he himself has been working toward. One might even say that Naruto, in his boundless optimism and unbridled strength, is very similar to the League's Superman." Spectre nodded to Naruto, who was opening and closing his mouth without any sound. "But that is a discussion for another time."

"The chief inspiring link, however, came from two resonant portions of energy. On your world you have a man seeking to attain godlike power, on this world another madman is seeking to do the same. Though one considers it a form of rites and sacrifices and the other considers it a matter of science and experience, they are merely different aspects of the same thing." Again an ironic smile curved the man's mouth. "For example, while your madman considers his goal a great 'jutsu' the one from this world calls it an 'equation.'"

#

Sasuke had always hated Lee's ability to humiliate him in slow motion. Though he could use the Sharingan to capture and imitate Lee's mastery of taijutsu (and he was getting some beauties right now), he simply could not match the speed Lee had built up over so many years. Basically, that meant he could watch himself get punched in slow motion.

The punches rarely fully connected though. Lee was faster than a two-tailed Bijuu, but Sasuke had fought the Raikage and lived. Barely, perhaps, but he had still lived. Sasuke knew how to roll with what he couldn't avoid and take advantage of what he couldn't. Lee didn't know it, but always training with weights left him slightly... unbalanced for the few occasions when he took them off.

The other one in front of him—Robin, as Sasuke recalled—was another story altogether. His attacks left few openings and he could usually compensate for the few that they did. Each stroke was a balanced act of precision. He might not have Lee's speed, but he had some clever tricks that even the Sharingan couldn't predict. (It still didn't seem to be working well on these).

They were the only real problems, though. Shino had had to duck out after Sasuke had burnt half his insects away, and Kiba didn't seem to have Akamaru, which lessened his threat level from negligible to non-existent. Sakura... well, Sasuke couldn't really honestly consider her much of anything.

The two fighters were getting annoying. Time to kill them. Summoning the necessary chakra, Sasuke cried, "Amaterasu!"

But they were already gone. Instead, flames raked across the deserted stones until smashing against the wall at the far end. Before he could quite process how they'd avoided it, the two fighters were back, smashing into his defense. A series of blue and green shots alerted him to the arrival of the other 'Titans.'

"Enough of this." Sasuke muttered. Both eyes flashed, and a partial Susanoo materialized around him. Seventeen attacks from Lee and three from Robin smashed against it before realizing the futility and backing up. Green and blue energy—the Sharingan told him it wasn't chakra—pounded into the invincible barrier.

A Susanoo gave him a moment to think. The presence of his old comrades in this world meant Kakashi must have sent them all. That was interesting. In all probability, that was how the one 'Batman' had known about Konoha. But were these all that had come?

Naruto should be here. He'd been the closest when the teleportation hit. Neji also, and most likely Shikamaru. All three were dangerous, why weren't they here? (Rapidly his mind also catalogued Sai, Ino, Chouji, Hinata, and Tenten as missing, but he did not spare much time on that). Shikamaru was a master of distraction and misdirection. What could he be doing with three such fighters?

A sudden whirring noise was all the warning he had.

Bone cracked and broke in a roaring whirlwind of green and black, tearing its way through the ribcage straight into Sasuke. With an ease born from fighting Lee, Sasuke rolled with the strike, dodging the worst of it, and tumbled away on the ground. I should have made a flaming Susanoo. He reflected bitterly. Those at least kill people.

Already his attacker was up and screaming. Sasuke experienced a moment's surprise on hearing Kiba's voice. "DUDE! It worked! It so totally WORKED! That is awesome man, I never thought we'd actually.... Aw YEAH!"

"Whaddaya mean, 'it worked?' Man, that killed!" The green dog doubled over on the ground had its own opinion. "How thick a skull does that Akamaru of yours HAVE, anyway?"

Sasuke debated the importance of this conversation and concluded that it had none. At least, certainly not in relation to the others rushing down on his position. Glancing up, he sighted ten of them leaping in attack. "Amera..."

A curious thing happened. Even before he'd begun saying the technique, Kiba had suddenly jerked around and leapt at him. Though closer than the others, he still had no chance of attacking Sasuke before the inextinguishable black flames hit. But Kiba did not seem to intend to. His jacket, already half torn, whipped off in his hand and shot across Sasuke's field of vision just as he said 'Amaterasu.'

The coat burst into flames. The attackers on the other side continued on unharmed.

What the heck? Sasuke's mind reeled in disbelief even as he punched Kiba and the bizarre green kid away. That was deliberately done to block my technique. How did he know that? How did he know that IN TIME to stop it?

For the moment Sasuke shelved the question in favor of the five or six dangerous warriors speeding toward him. Lee's foot came out of nowhere, Sasuke rolled away from it but nearly hit Cyborg's sonic beam, green shots were coming down all around him, bugs were swarming...

Bad. Sasuke's mind decided. Need to get space to regroup. How? Kusanagi?

Then he remembered the twin Uzis stuck in his coat.

#

"It's hard to explain the sensation." Luthor frowned, apparently feeling for words. "It's like... teleportation, I suppose, except you are not the one moving. A consciousness of an object in transition between two possible destinations. Whenever a teleportation occurred, I was instantly aware both of it and what it contained. Instantly! Almost as if I felt it enter my mind and wait while I planned what to do with it."

Keys clicked under Karin's nervous fingers as she nodded to show her understanding. In reality, she had NO idea what Luthor was talking about. He'd suddenly come in for an inspection of the Juugo hybrids—which were progressing beautifully, actually—and then suddenly begun asking her about someone named 'Gennosuke,' a homicidal maniac he assumed she knew somehow. When she'd protested her ignorance and asked what he wanted to know so badly for, he'd proceeded to give her a long talk... something about an equation and the antidote for life. She did her best to follow it, but interdimensional physics had never been her strong point.

But she had no intention of letting Luthor know that. So she nodded.

"It was amusing enough, and perfectly safe, to toy with the teleportations. An explosion here, a missile there... oh, I poked at my old adversaries well enough. But it was so petty. So weak, in comparison with what I could do if gained the fragment itself, rather than merely respond to the gifts it sent me." Luthor mused a space. "Very frustrating. To be able to feel the power, but not grasp it. I killed about three squads of men trying to teleport them to your world to retrieve it. Once I even attempted the trip myself, but to no avail."

Karin's mind stopped at that. Luthor had tried to teleport to their world? Was the teleporter still in the base? Could she use it? And then she remembered the explosive on her neck and resumed typing.

"Finally, unexpectedly, a great chance came." Luthor's voice took on a new tone. "I had for some time known the nature of the missing fragment—a projector, a portal to fully implement my power over the entire world. With delight, I one day felt such a projector in the eye of my unwary ally! It was reaching out, attempting to seize a fragment like itself! My missing piece was coming to me! Eagerly I arranged it to arrive in my base for harvesting." He frowned suddenly. "But something went wrong. More came than I had reached for, and the Sharingan did not arrive here."

"Sharingan?" Karin's mind came to an abrupt halt. "What does that have to do with Genno... OH! You mean Sasuke!"

#

Cursing, Neji watched as his friends withered under the onslaught of the weapons in Sasuke's hands. He had seen these before—wielded by petty thieves in Jump City for bank robberies in such. They were, in their own way, terrible weapons. He could only imagine what Tenten would have thought about them.

In the hands of Sasuke Uchiha, S-class missing nin and last true wielder of the Sharingan, they were living death. The Titans had more experience with firearms than most of the ninjas, and avoided the worst of the fire. Lee, for the most part, was too fast to be hit. But Kiba, Sakura, and Shino all went down, cut to pieces by Sasuke's devastating reflexes and accuracy. Even the survivors were being forced to give ground.

Neji wanted to go down there. He wanted to help them. But he couldn't. Sakura had assigned him a special role, and his teammates lives depended on his being able to fulfill it.

So he could do nothing but watch as the Titan Cyborg broke loose from cover, roaring, bullets bouncing off his metallic skin, to charge and Sasuke. The girl Raven too, curiously enough, seemed able to deflect bullets through her magic. Both moved up the field, providing cover for the others.

The Byakugan made everything crystal clear... the battered form of Question safe in the Titans Jet, the dodging maneuvers of Robin and Starfire as they shot from cover to cover, the wavering chakras of the wounded ninjas on the ground, Lee's curiously malformed coils... even the far-distant chakra networks of Sai and Chouji, swiftly falling under Batman's assault, could be seen by the all-encompassing Byakugan.

He could even watch Sasuke as the chakra paths in his head switched from the common blue to glowing red.

"Amateratsu!" He shouted, but it was unnecessary. Quick as thought, Ino, right next to him, had seen the same and sent it on to the fighters. Sakura, the closest to Sasuke, whipped her hand from her pouch and smashed some pellets to the ground. Black Ameratsu flames erupted from the billowing clouds and then dissipated away.

The observation post had been Sakura's idea. Neji had fought Sasuke in their last battle, and could see the special chakra employed in the different uses of the Mangekyo Sharingan. Why the chakra was different, he didn't know, but he did not seek to question it. His knowledge allowed him to predict the attacks, and his predictions allowed him to save his teammates—through the telepathic agency of Ino.

Theoretically, Amateratsu was quick as sight. Not so. Ameratsu required a momentary build-up before it could be employed, and then a split second before it's usage and it's actual affect. A two-second warning, at best. But the Byakugan was as quick as sight also, and Ino's telepathy was as quick as thought. A two second warning had been all they'd needed, so far.

It was also Neji and Ino's job to break the others out of a genjutsu if Sasuke employed one. Reputedly, the Uchiha Tsukiyomi could destroy a person in a second, but by most accounts Sasuke had not yet mastered it, so they should be able to break anything he set up before the others were dead. And again, there was the warning system.

He needed to be careful, though. Sasuke had glanced up at that shout he'd given... he had to be suspecting something. If they, the back-up plan failed, what would the front-lines do?

They needed to hurry, whatever happened. Not only were they losing ninjas, but Neji could see that Chouji and Sai had all but fallen now. In a few seconds the defender of Gotham and his companion would be here. Although, he mused as he watched Starfire go spiraling from the sky, their help might not be unwelcome.

Regardless, a Konoha issue was a Konoha issue. If someone from this dimension killed Sasuke, Naruto, Sakura, and Ino might very well take it badly. Or otherwise, which seemed more likely to Neji, if someone from this dimension SPARED Sasuke for some moronic reason, Sasuke might very well escape and cause the whole problem all over again. The strike had to be here, now, before the heroes could interfere.

A private part of Neji's mind even wondered whether the Titans should be knocked out when the moment came. They didn't have much left, it was true, but if Ino could distract them with a mental... something, then he and Lee could probably take care of them in short order. Of course, this would only be practical after Sasuke was down, so at the moment the point was sort of...

Suddenly Ino jerked convulsively and fell to the ground with a short gasp. Neji didn't even have time to stare at the holes in her chest before a salvo of bullets ripped into him.

#

"Events reached a crisis eventually, of course," said Spectre, shrugging. "The connections between your world and this were growing stronger and stronger. A complete meld, which would have been disastrous for both, was imminent. My guardianship kept such a convergence from occurring, but I still could do nothing against the disruptions themselves. I knew my opponent was seeking to obtain the power of your world's Sharingan, but I could do nothing against it."

Both ninjas reacted to the word 'Sharingan.' Naruto gave a great groan and buried his face in his hands, Hinata's face simply crumpled in confusion. "H-he... he wants the Sharingan? Wh-wh-why w-w-would he w-w-want something like that?"

"Does it make a difference?" Naruto spoke, voice slightly muffled by his hands. "EVERYONE wants the Sharingan. For something. I'll bet you there are people who collect whole roomfuls of them just for kicks."

"Luthor requires the Sharingan for two reasons." The Spectre inclined his head. "First, its genetic code contains the final pieces he needs for his Anti-Life equation. Second, the Sharingan, used properly, can immediately project his influence over the earth. At the moment his power is limited to his surroundings and those he can speak to, the Sharingan would allow him to seize omnipotence over this entire sphere instantly."

"Just tell me he's not going to use it with the moon."

"So far as I know, the moon does not figure into his plan," responded the Spectre, raising an eyebrow at Naruto. "Why do you ask?"

"Never mind." Naruto raised his head from his hands. "So. What was this crisis you were talking about?"

"The crisis came when your Hokage aimed a teleportation jutsu at Sasuke's Sharingan. He intended to teleport only Sasuke, removing him from your world and—unwittingly—releasing him into ours. Obviously he could not know of the disastrous effects this would have on our world." The Spectre shook his head. "He had not yet learned that nothing truly disappears... it must always go somewhere. True, he had had neither time nor opportunity to consider what might happen, but he did not consider it his concern."

"He's the Hokage of Konoha, not guardian of the Universe!" Naruto protested.

"Multiverse. Or cosmos, more properly."

"Whatever! The point is, it's not his job to make sure dimensions don't collide, it's his job to protect the village, at all costs! Protecting dimensions is your job!"

"Quite." If possible, the Spectre looked almost amused by Naruto's tirade. "But you must forgive my annoyance with your teacher for making my work much more difficult. Still. I must also thank him for the opportunity he gave me."

"O-o-oppurtunity?"

"In such a crisis, I had to take action. I could not stop the teleportation, but I could manipulate it to confuse Luthor's plans. One such manipulation was the juggling of places—I removed his goal from its intended destination and placed it beyond his reach. Another such manipulation was your own teleportation."

The words hung in the air. Hinata gasped as Naruto leapt to his feet. "Do you mean you're the reason we got ended up in this crazy, spandex-clad, ramen-forsaken world?"

The Spectre blinked. "Did I not say that at the beginning? Indeed I am responsible for your presence on this world. I needed intermediaries, allies..."

"...friends," interjected Rev. McCay.

"...I needed help against Luthor." Spectre shot a glare at McCay, who merely smiled. "As I said, his power was already paramount to my own, no small feat. A few pebbles were needed to tip the balance. So, as your teacher focused on Sasuke, I expanded his range, fed on his power, and included you all in the teleportation." He frowned suddenly. "I did miss the dog. But that, too, has turned out for the best. And now, here you all are, players in a grand chess game." Offering an ironic smile, he added, "How does it feel to be a pawn?"

#

"Sakura-san! Sakura-san! You must get up!"

Sakura groaned, pushing herself against the ground. "...leg... burns like... oh my..."

"You must get up, Sakura-san!" Lee's voice continued to insist. It bobbed and wavered around her in an odd manner "It is not safe here! You must escape! I will hold him off!"

"You...?" Slowly Sakura's vision cleared. Very close to her, a green blur shot around a most-annoyed Sasuke, who aimed two blazing Uzi's in any direction he seemed to think it would attack from. The blood splattering across the cement showed his guesses were not wholly inaccurate.

Slowly Sakura saw other things too. The half-man Cyborg lay on the ground a few paces away, both metallic legs cut out from under him, the sword Kusanagi wedged in his sonic cannon. Just behind him Sakura could see the girl Raven, rocking in the throes of some genjutsu-induced nightmare. And ahead of both, on the other side of Lee, lay Robin, his uniform badly singed and his cape still burning with black fire.

Black fire...?

Crap. Neji must be down. Ino must be down. And now that she glanced around her, she saw also Shino and Kiba, collapsed against the pavement, blood painting it a new color. Beside Kiba lay Beast Boy. Farther beyond, she could see a blot of orange slumped against the opposite wall.

All out. All unconscious. Some possibly dead now, all certainly dead later when Sasuke got around to it. All of them dead, for her failing.

This could not be borne.

Distantly she felt the regeneration jutsu kicking in, vaguely she felt the individual cells reforming and knitting themselves back together, closing around the bits of metal lodged in her abdomen.

"Sakura-san!"

She did not get up, not yet. Her muscles were coiling, readying themselves as they found footholds on the ground. But she gave no warning, gave no hint to the man blasting away at her friend. He would have no warning until she leapt at him, arms flailing and smashing and grinding his skull into dust.

Sasuke swore and turned his back to deliver a fresh salvo at the infuriating green blur.

NOW!

...

NOW!

...

NOW, YOU FOOL, NOW, WHILE HIS BACK IS TURNED! KILL HIM!

And yet Sakura stayed slump on the ground, muscles coiled, feet braced, hands around a kunai, watching the blood fly as Sasuke shot away at a green blur.

She could not do it.

She could not do it and even as she hated herself for not being able to do it, she still could not. Images of a three teammates, three... friends, almost, playing together in Konoha flashed through her mind. A declaration made, a squeeze of comfort given, an unexpected protectiveness, a terrifyingly bittersweet farewell, and a heartbreaking promise...

She could not. Whether because of the memories or because of herself she didn't know, but she could not kill Sasuke.

And she hated herself.

"Sakura-san!"

But she could not let Lee die. She might not be able to kill Sasuke, but she could also not let him kill Lee, or any of the others. She had to... but how?

"Sakura... no!"

Sakura glanced upward to see the dark barrel of a gun.

"You know, Lee, I just realized something." Sasuke's voice, calm and cold seemed almost to come from the gun. "You're strong and fast, a great deal faster than I. Even without jutsus you are a formidable opponent. But you still share the same weakness as all men. You have too many bonds."

Lee materialized from his blur for a moment. Sasuke shot at him, but Lee blurred away to another spot. "You cannot. Do not shoot..."

"I cannot shoot you, maybe, but I can still shoot her." Now Sakura saw his face, coldly leering over the sights of the Uzi. "And seeing as how you're prepared to die to get her out of here, I can't help but think you'd die to prevent that."

"I would."

"So. Our aims agree then." Sasuke again shot at Lee's form and again missed. "Stay still for three seconds together, or I shoot her."

An idea flooded into Sakura's mind. A beautiful, righteous idea.

"You'll shoot her anyway." Lee's voice sounded wary, with a hint of despair.

"Perhaps." Sasuke shrugged. "Perhaps not. But if I do it now, it will be your fault."

The idea continued. She loved it. It was so proper, so fittingly JUST.

"I... I..."

"Lee." Sakura spoke. "Don't do it."

Lee materialized for three seconds, long enough for Sasuke to shoot at him and for him to stare at Sakura, bewildered, before blurring away. "Sakura-san?"

"Don't stop." She answered, muscles tensing. "Don't stop attacking him, don't let up, keep on pounding him into the ground until there's nothing left."

Sasuke lifted an eyebrow. Lee's voice came from the blur. "Sakura-san?"

"Don't stop Lee." Sakura tensed her muscles one final time, staring into the barrel of the gun. "Kill him... for me."

And she leapt straight into the Uzi.

#

"I don't yet know what caused the interference." Luthor frowned in thought. "But as trivial as the interference itself might be, the ramifications have turned out to be much larger than I had anticipated. Now the League stands aware of my survival and my aims, and a host of other, bothersome dimensional travelers like yourself stall me in quest of my true prey. I must find Gennosuke, quickly, before another does."

"I... see." Shikamaru answered, mind reeling. World-control jutsus, teleportation interference, the whole business being messed up with Sasuke's Sharingan... It was far too much to take in at once. What exactly had he gotten himself into?

The man above, noticing his expression, gave a dark chuckle. "Happy to know at last the stakes you are playing for, eh? Beware, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but perfect knowledge is truly terrifying."

"Hardly terrifying." Shikamaru managed, annoyed at having shown his expression so clearly. "I've dealt with worse. Anyway, what motivation do I have to help you with Gennosuke? Maybe he's already been found by someone else? Then your whole plan is pretty shot to ribbons, isn't it?"

"Hardly." Luthor smiled.

#

"Even if Gennosuke has been taken by another already, he shall eventually make his way to me," explained Luthor to Tenten over the roar of explosive pellets. "Indeed, he has already been reaching out to me with his mind."

"Nature abhors a vacuum." Luthor shrugged to a confused Juugo. "And an equation demands completion. He shall seek me just as I have sought him."

#

"Before long, I shall..." Luthor stopped in mid-sentence to stare at Karin. "Sasuke? You said his name was Sasuke?"

Karin silently cursed her big mouth by all the ten gods that she didn't believe in.

#

Shikamaru watched, uncomprehending, as Luthor's face above him grew dark. "Also, it appears you have lied to me about your companion's name." He spat at Shikamaru. "Why did you do that, Mr. Nara? I thought you were no friend of this 'Sasuke.'"

"I'm not." Shikamaru shrugged, doing an internal cursing rant of his own. "Just wanted to see how much you really knew about him. Heck, if you didn't even know his name..." he arched an eyebrow, "...doesn't really give me much confidence in this 'all-knowing-ness' of yours. Explain to me again why I should help someone who doesn't even know the name of the person he's looking for?"

Luthor's face grew nearly purple. "You will regret that, Mr. Nara." He hissed, drawing out a remote. "You will regret that very much indeed."

Maybe, thought Shikamaru as the electricity ripped through his body. But the look on your face was priceless.

#

It hurt to breathe.

It hurt to breathe or talk or move or really do ANYTHING except lie there and try not to move her midsection with the little burning pieces of metal inside, but she had to try. She had to try because that had been Sakura that had just screamed down there, and Ino HAD to know if Sakura was okay.

With great difficulty, pain shooting up and down her body, Ino tilted her head and blinked at the battlefield below. She passed over the Titan and ninja wounded to Sakura, who lay crumpled at Sasuke's feet. In her hand was a crushed Uzi, the middle of it nearly blown apart. Ino was later to hear of the danger of firing while the barrel of a gun was obstructed, right now all she could see was the right side of Sakura's face, badly burnt from the explosion. The pretty pink hair that floated in the breeze was partially burnt.

Lee was screaming. Lee was screaming and attacking and pummeling Sasuke's leaping form, but he wasn't getting anything substantial in, and even as Ino watched, a flaming Susanoo ribcage surrounded Sasuke, just in time for Lee's green-spandex-clad leg to come crashing into it. Seventeen attacks later, Lee lay writhing on the ground, covered in black flames.

Ino started to cry. They'd lost. Again. They had all lost and now Sasuke was going to kill them all before anyone could get here. As her eyes lolled to the back of her head her mind set out a last desperate call for help...

#

"Whaddaya mean, pawn?" Naruto was shouting at the trenchcoat-clad angel. "I'm no pawn! I'm gonna be the next Hokage of Konoha, dattebayo, and don't you forget it!"

"And what shall you do once that has been achieved?"

Naruto gaped at the strange question unable to think of any answer.

Nodding, the angel continued, "To the man living for an ambition, the only thing more terrible than failing that ambition is succeeding in it. Not only because he no longer knows what to live for, but because often, the ambition turns out not to be as fulfilling as he had hoped."

"Some people, in an effort to solve this dilemma, would tell you that the goal is not as important as the struggle to get there." Snorting, the man observed, "they are, of course, wrong. But the point stands that living for oneself, or even for a temporary goal such as 'becoming Hokage' is a limited vision. One must always seek to be a servant, a pawn, of something higher than oneself."

"Actually, it's something of a comforting thought occasionally," observed McCay from the doorway. "Knowing that the world doesn't ACTUALLY rest on your shoulders, even if it seems to."

"Indeed," nodded Spectre. "One could even argue that it is impossible not to be a pawn of some kind, either of destiny or to your own self, for could..."

"Naruto!" Hinata suddenly jolted to her feet, her chair crashing to the floor. "Ino is..."

"Yeah, I felt it too." Naruto, already up, was grabbing for her hand. "Look, Mr. Spectre, fun talking to you but we gotta run it's a long way and all and we..."

"We don't have to run." Hinata suddenly grabbed him with both hands, eyes glowing. "For they that wait upon him shall mount up on wings as eagles..."

"Hinata?" Naruto eyed his muttering friend. "What're you..."

"If I go into heaven you are there, if I descend into the pit there you are also..."

"Hinata? Wha... WAH!"

The room dissolved around them in a blaze of light.