Chapter 45

While the real Naruto was spending some time with Konan, one of his clones had gone to visit Supergirl. He had come to know her over the month through his Gilgamesh persona and believed that she would join him without a battle.

In a month, Naruto had gotten close to Supergirl and learned about her without using his mind reading ability. It was extremely hard for people to reject his friendship and he was very good at making people talk.

Kara was born on Argo City to Zor-El and Alura In-Ze. When she was fifteen, her cousin Kal-El (Superman) was born. Around that time, her father distanced himself from her uncle Jor-El after Jor-El expressed his disapproval at his brother's biological experiments. Not caring for their feud, Kara kept on babysitting her baby cousin while studying for her graduation trials.

A few months later, Kara accompanied her father to his lab. There, Zor-El showed her a space pod where he put her to sleep. As Kara lost consciousness, Zor-El stated Jor-El was right about Krypton being doomed, and he had built a rocket to save her. Ignoring her protestations, Zor-El placed Kara in her vessel together with a Sunstone recording his last words, and launched her into space right before Krypton's explosion.

Kara's rocket reached the Solar System, and per its programming, it spent two decades orbiting the Earth's sun as its passenger remained in stasis.

After a while, Kara's pod crash-landed in Siberia. Kara stumbled from her craft only to be suddenly surrounded by gigantic armed robots that tried to subdue her. Kara instinctively fought back, displaying powers she didn't know she had when Superman showed up all of sudden.

Confused about her current situation, her strange powers, and the arrival of a stranger wearing her family's crest, Kara demanded to know who he was. When Superman identified himself as her cousin Kal-El, Kara became enraged, thinking he was an impostor, and she attacked Superman. The two exchanged blows all the way from Siberia to the Great Wall of China, where Kara realized her fight was endangering the people nearby. She stopped fighting and agreed to listen to Superman.

Nonetheless, Kara refused to believe him when he told Krypton had been gone for decades. Kara flew back to Siberia, hoping her pod held some clues, but she found instead a holographic message from a man called Symon Tycho inviting her to his space station. Kara flew to the space station only to find out it was a trap designed to test her abilities. Kara destroyed Tycho's weapons and found her pod, but she was weakened by chunks of Green Kryptonite stuck to the hull.

Kara was captured by Tycho, who intended to tear her apart in order to study her physiology. However, he was overheard by one of his employees, who broke Kara out. Kara fought her way out of Tycho space station and retrieved the Sunstone he had stolen. Unfortunately, it was too damaged to provide answers. Feeling hopeless, Kara wondered if her new powers would allow her to fly back Krypton.

Kara left Earth, heading for her home-world. On the way, the Sunstone led her to a spatial portal which took her back to her hometown Argo City, now a deserted city protected by a bubble shield and orbiting a blue star. Exploring the ruins, Kara finally confirmed that Krypton was gone and her family and friends dead. Overwhelmed by grief and fury, she cried out and started to tear the city up. Her rampage was stopped by a mysterious woman named Reign, who claimed to be a worldkiller. Reign defeated Kara, pinning her to a wall and left, challenging Kara to follow her back to Earth.

Despite her weakened state, Kara managed to break free and fly back to Earth to fight Reign, who was leveling New York City in the meantime. Kara engaged Reign, but the Worldkiller revealed she had three partners.

After a tough, exhausting battle Kara won against all odds, beating the worldkillers back. Before leaving, though, Reign warned Kara that she would return one day... and there was a fifth Worldkiller she hadn't met yet.

Right after the battle, Kara met Siobhan McDougal, an Irish girl with a gift for language and music. Both girls befriended each other quickly, and Siobhan offered to help Kara, letting her stay in her apartment for a while until her Kryptonian friend was ready to face her new world.

Siobhan turned out to be Silver Banshee, one of the strongest magical villains on earth. She used to be a villain but had calmed down and started living a normal life. She sympathized with Kara and shared her story once they got closer.

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Centuries ago, Siobhan was born in the McDougal Clan, an Irish clan where the first-born children inherited the powers of the Silver Banshee and ascended to leadership through a mystic ritual. When her father died and she was next in line, her uncle and brother opposed her on the grounds of not wanting a woman to lead the clan. While performing the ritual without her uncle's consent, her brother interrupted the ritual, botching it and causing her to be sent to the Netherverse for centuries. Eventually, the entity known as the Crone bestowed her powers of the Silver Banshee so that she could extract her revenge on her brother and uncle while also testing her.

The Banshee first appeared in Metropolis in search of an arcane book. Superman, being very gung-ho in this early part of his career, confronted her right away, believing that her touch was deadly and that his invulnerability would save him. It was not her touch, however, but rather her voice that proved to be her deadly weapon, and she nearly killed him. Superman recruited J'onn J'onzz, who deduced that Banshee's power was tied to visual cuing. Superman allowed everyone to think he had died and had J'onn assume the shape of his "ghost." Convinced that she was fighting Superman's ghost, the Banshee could not harm the Martian and fled.

It was not long before the Banshee returned, still looking for her prize, which was apparently a book taken from Ireland. Superman managed to trick her twice into not killing him, this time by masquerading as the Batman. Then the Banshee's brother Beven showed up, claiming that she had committed some terrible crime against their clan. The Banshee again withdrew in a flash of light and finished with family business before settling down as a musician.

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Other than Silver Banshee, Kara had gotten close to the Titans and was somewhat fine with her cousin. Though, it was still very strange with him being older now and his selfless spirit for the human species. She just didn't feel home with Clark because he had never lived on Krypton and didn't seem to care about getting it back.

It had been three years since she arrived on earth and she had mostly moved on from her early problems. She was not the emotional child that cried for her dead parents, but she still felt lonely from time to time. Earth just never felt like home especially with all the criminals trying to harm her and not letting her live peacefully.

There was no law on her side and she was an outsider. She only stayed because the Universe was an unknown place while Clark was on earth. She was just scared of wandering space alone, knowing the dangers.

However, she still imagined going out and finding her place. She envisioned going on a space journey with her friends where they could live freely. Unfortunately, her friends had no such thoughts and she was stuck in a dilemma.

That feeling became less prevalent once she met Emperor and he gave her the earrings. It helped her relax and destroyed her nightmares. After that she met with Gilgamesh, the most charming male she had ever laid her eyes on.

She imagined that her past self on Krypton would have been star struck, but her current self didn't feel interested in romance. Nonetheless, he turned out to be a very good person who was easy to talk to and he made life better.

Unlike her other friends that weren't always available, Gilgamesh met up with her every day and showed her different ways to have fun with their super powers. Within a short time, Kara took him as a close friend and trusted him with her story.

Though, he never told her his own story and told her to wait for some time. Kara was made curious by those words and his smile.

Before arriving, Naruto had already told Kara to meet up with him and she was looking forward to hearing his story. Kara stood on the beach on an abandoned island where she watched the fishes swimming under the sea when Naruto appeared.

"Emperor? Why are you here?" Kara was not expecting Emperor to arrive on the random island, so she was confused and on guard. Unlike the other heroes, she didn't care about him killing criminals and was happy with what he had done. However, that didn't absolve him of being suspicious.

"I am here to meet you, Kara. I sent you a message before coming, so why the surprise." Naruto replied as he landed on the beach and walked closer while a barrier covered up the Island.

Hearing his words and seeing his armor disappear, Kara was shocked.

"You are the Emperor...Why did you do all of this?" Kara stepped back to take in the revelation and looked at him suspiciously. She just couldn't understand why he did all of it, if he was the Emperor.

"I am the Emperor, and isn't it obvious….Sigh, Kara you need to remember my words and actions from both sides. I did all of it because you are good person and a hero. I need heroes and good people, so I wished to get close to you before this day. I wished to help you overcome your dark thoughts. It is that simple." Naruto replied gently with a sincere tone to calm her down. He really didn't wish for her to break.

"You lied to me. You pitied me all this time." Kara cried thinking that Naruto had only been doing it all out of pity and not genuine feelings. Sometimes emotions really made it hard to comprehend properly and even made people half listen according to their perception.

It was not the first time for such illogical situations and it was not the last time. Naruto closed the distance between them and captured her in a hug.

"Kara, calm down. I have never lied to you except for my name. Remember, I could have told you a false back story but I didn't. I told you to wait, and I have never pitied you. The only people I pity are people that have died to unfair situations or people that can never do anything to provide for themselves. I have always been real with you and thought of you as close friend. Feel it, do you see any lie? Do you want me to bring Raven here to check? Do you want to bring anyone else to confirm my words? I will allow it."

Kara tried to struggle but Naruto's physical strength was beyond Large Planet while she only had planet level of strength at the moment. His words and tone struck her soul and heart as Naruto connected with her using chakra.

It made her think normally and she realized that his words were the truth. She was letting her sense of betrayal cancel everything good about the relationship.

"Why did you hide your identity?"

"You already know the answer, Kara. I could never sit with you in my real form, and we were not close in the beginning. We might still have become close friends, but I would have dragged you into pointless conflicts." Naruto replied while not sharing the main fact that he was not strong enough at that time and he was still cautious of everyone since he wasn't invincible.

It was a fact that only Konan knew and he didn't want it to spread at this moment. Once things settle down, then the world could see the real picture.

Kara wanted to deny it but she knew it was right. Interacting with Naruto in his armor would have been a completely different game, though she found the Emperor side very nice as well.

"Why now? Are you here to make me submit to your rules?" Kara asked with a harsh tone, though she had mostly calmed down and stopped struggling in his grip. She was having a hard time keeping her anger at him.

"I think we are ready to work together now, so I am here to recruit you. This way, the distance between us would lessen and we can help each other out. I believe that you are extremely important to my cause, and I feel the need for your presence. You are a good friend, and I wish for that to continue. I will have more work to do from now on, so we won't be able to meet up like this every day." Naruto replied with a smile and a gentle tone while painting a picture in her mind. He was enticing her to accept, accepting her importance in all manners and reminding her of their bond.

Kara took in his words and understood his point. She knew all about Naruto's goals from his interviews and accepted those views. The Kryptonian Society was close to what Naruto envisioned, though her society was also not without their flaws and criminals.

Regardless, Naruto was making a world that she could appreciate.

"Did you get close to me for this?" Kara asked pointedly with her eyes staring into those purplish eyes.

Naruto expected such questions so he avoided making relationships with that goal as the core. It would be extremely disrespectful to many people and counterproductive.

"No, my main goal has always been to help you. I believe that the only reward for good is good, so I reward good people and get close to them as they deserve my friendship. Though, it does depend on the person where our relationship ends up. Relationships have degrees of closeness and I feel that we are lot closer than most people.

Is that enough? Or, are you really so ready to find an excuse to hit me and berate me?" Naruto asked with a smile and pinched her cheeks.

Kara felt the desire to punch him for that knows it all look. She really should have made the connection between both personas since they were very similar except certain points.

"I just want to put that smile away." 'And, I also don't want it to go away.' Kara muttered as Naruto let her go and she hit his chest lightly with her fist.

"I doubt that can happen. I am a very positive person, and I am confident that I can convince you. It would be better for you to give in now, Kara. I can be very persistent." Naruto walked forward while Kara stepped backward slowly as she looked at his confident smirk.

It was dripping with certainty.

"Are you coming on to me? Or, is this just a friendship thing? I thought you were an abstract being." Kara asked with a little smile as her anger and distrust had fallen away with those words. The words weren't just words, as they were his reality and belief. All of it was communicated from soul to soul, so Kara understood without any alterations because of her own perception. The real message was message was communicated directly.

Though, she did question his very being now. Emperor had said he was an abstract being, a concept. He was the Will of Humanity, so it was kind of unknown where this was going.

"I am a being of flesh, just like you. The things I painted for the world were things that needed to be said, so people would act cautious around me. Though, I am the Will of Humanity and Emperor of Mankind. The title just isn't literal, as it is symbolic at the moment and can change soon. Just like the immortals of the different pantheons, I will represent Humanity as a whole."

Kara looked at him in a dull manner, "Seriously, I think we need start from the beginning. I don't know anything about you."

"You know I am human, an immortal human with a good cause."

"Right, a good man with a very manipulative tongue."

"Agreed, so what is your decision?"

"I AGREE, is that good enough?" Kara shouted her answer as she pushed him away because they were too close. Her answer was obvious from her previous words but he wanted her to say it.

"It is good enough. I am extremely delighted to have you on board, Kara. Please, take a seat and we will have a nice talk about each other. Though, I apologize that I can't share too much at this moment. You will just have to unravel the mystery of this Emperor."

"Ooooh, you are just impossible." Kara couldn't help herself and pounced on him, but Naruto ended up teleporting and a chase started across the Island.

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A.N. Hope you enjoyed