1 Return of the Dark

Himalayas: 2015

High within the mountain range known for the sheer cold and containing the highest point on Earth, Mount Everest, a cavern could be found deep within with only some candles for lighting and an array of artwork, weapons, maps, documents, books, and a large training area along with a small bed and table contained within. Within the training area, there were six individuals that were all male and looked exactly the same: they had black hair with red tips that was spiked out slightly and wild; a black tank top with a crimson flak jacket over it, crimson pants with black stripes, combat boots with realistic flames across the bottom, and fingerless black gloves with a crimson leaf emblem on the backs. If one looked closely, they could see five colors; Blue, Red, Black, Silver, and White; spiraled around the right arms of the individuals that went from their shoulders to under the gloves.

Currently, five of them were surrounding the sixth that had the addition of a black blindfold over his eyes. On a silent que, the five launched at the one, who bent back to dodge a kick before twisting and catching a thrown punch from another of the five. The one then judo tossed the puncher into another of the five causing them to poof away in smoke before he ducked down and mule kicked an attacker knocking him back. The one then did a handstand and twisted around swinging his legs like a helicopter spin knocking the other two away. He then leapt into the air and slammed his foot into one in a powerful axe kick that caused it to burst into smoke before he twisted caught a kick to his head before slamming the attacker on the ground causing it to poof before the one squared off with the last. The last one circled the one slowly before jumping and doing a drop kick, which was dodged by the one when he contorted out of the way and did a spinning axe kick breaking the last and causing it to pop in smoke.

The one stood straight before turning his head towards the bed as he heard clapping and he frowned, "What do you want, Yami?" The male asked as he removed the blindfold showing his pure crimson eyes that seemed to glow in the darkness and looked at the person on his bed.

Said person was a woman with pure black hair that was tied in a braid that ended just above her ass, black eyes that held both malice and mischief, a rather gorgeous body that made her look every bit of a goddess that she was with F cup breasts, a heart shaped ass, wide hips, slender legs, heart shaped face, and full black painted lips. To finish her look, she wore a black gown that flowed around her body showing it off since her entire cleavage was shown due to her dress going over her shoulders and covered her breasts but left her midriff and middle of her chest bare as it came back together just above her crotch and had a slit down the skirt part showing off her right leg and due to her sitting, he could see her black heels and stockings as well. One her ears she had to black studs for earrings and a black bangle on her right wrist and seemed to be amused at the man.

"Oh, come now Naruto-kun, can't I stop by and say hi every millennium or so?" She asked before she was pinned to the wall with Naruto's hand on her throat and black tendrils sprouting from his back ready to skewer her.

"Do not push me, Yami, your bastard of a brother destroyed everyone I ever cared about just because I decided not to be his errand boy and then retaliated when he sent his bitch of an angel after me. I have been alone in this world for millennia because your brother doesn't like being told no and you and your bastard husband didn't do a damn thing to stop him, so do not FUCK WITH ME RIGHT NOW!!" He stated before shouting angrily with his voice becoming darker at the end.

Yami was impassive on the outside but on the inside, she was impressed since his strength and power had come along so much since he was a boy, but then again it shouldn't be that surprising considering how long he had been around and had nothing to do but train and grow his powers. Shaking those thoughts away, she smiled at Naruto, "That's true, but some things have changed." She stated making Naruto raise an eyebrow but otherwise did not move, "Kami's power has been broken by a new band of gods called the Olympians and now Shinigami-kun and I are trying to regain some of our power, which is where you would come in." She stated and he frowned since he wasn't exactly thrilled at the concept of helping them out, "If you agree to be our Avatar, then we can regain our power and we will reward you." She stated and Naruto snorted before dropping her and going over to a table with a candelabra on it and some equipment.

"Don't speak to me as if it just happened, Yami, the Olympians have been around for a while and I can assume that you're here because Kami lost his godhood and you and Shinigami can stop being cowards and fearful of his retaliation should you decide to help me. However, you need me more than I need you since with enough time you and Shinigami will become mortal or just cease to exist while I'll still exist since my guests live outside your laws and boundaries. So, the real question is-" He stopped to turn and look at her, "Why the hell should I help you?" He asked as his eyes bored into her.

Yami, while not exactly thrilled with his input, couldn't refute what he was saying since at the time Kami was the most powerful and it would have been a long-drawn-out battle to try and help Naruto after Kami's little fit that would have done more harm than good and she knew right now Naruto could kill her easily if she pissed him off. With that in mind, she smiled, "You're half right. We could have helped and we are becoming mortal, but you need us too especially after you hear why you will want to become our avatar." She stated getting him to raise an eyebrow towards her, "You've already been somewhat fueling us since each time you had the Darkness consume a heart or drain dark essence you were unknowingly fueling me and each person you killed that deserved it was fueling Shini-kun since you were marked by his seal. As for why you would want to be our avatar, as our powers regrow, we will bring back the people Kami took away from you." She stated and Naruto froze before he growled at Yami as several of the candles went out and the darkness of the room seemed to grow in intensity.

"This had better not be a joke, Yami, or I will show you just how much pain a mortal can take before they want death." Naruto threatened as his eyes began to glow more ominous and Yami just shook her head.

"I'm not joking; Naruto-kun, when we have a good portion of our power back that we could contend with one of the Olympians, we will start bringing your precious people back and we will not ask anything of you unless we have no other choice in the matter." Yami stated knowing how seriously Naruto took anything related to the people he cared about and he'd literally tear through an army to protect them or their memory.

Naruto was silent for a long while before he sighed, "And I'm expected to believe that all I have to do is just go back to fighting the bad guys like I did over the parts of the millennia I decided to show myself again and again and nothing else and you two are going to bring them back?" Naruto asked incredulously and Yami nodded, "Yeah…. Why do I feel that's a load of bullshit?" He asked eyeing her incredulously and Yami sighed.

"Fine, the world is getting more people with powers again as well as beings from other worlds and 'You Know Who' is worried that the world isn't being watched closely enough so he wants someone to tip the scales in favor of the Humans; you know how he always favored the race." She admitted and Naruto snorted and rolled his eyes.

"Of course, so you and the Olympians are basically screwed if things don't start looking up for the world and only you and Shinigami are taking it seriously." He stated before waving her off, "Go, I'll head back to the states soon enough, but if you betray me… well… you know what I'll do." He stated and Yami nodded before standing up.

"I'd never betray you, Naruto-kun, neither would Shini-kun… you know why as well." She stated before disappearing and Naruto sighed before he began packing up his getaway and sealing a large trunk away too.

"So many years you just left me alone, now you want me to come back into the spot light." Naruto mumbled to himself as he packed up before taking a cellphone with a seal array over it and dialed a number before hearing the line pick up, "Mr. Fox, I will be entering the country in the next week or so and would like the usual livable wage with some extra thrown in to let me get a place to set up somewhere." He stated and waited for a response, "No, I think I'll head on back to LA this time."

(I see, well I can send you all the relevant information on what's changed since you went out last). Fox stated on the other end and Naruto hummed a moment.

"Alright, send it the usual way and I'll contact you once I'm set up." Naruto stated before he got confirmation and the line went dead. Naruto put the phone down and sighed before he pulled some clothing out and changed before he put out all the candles and sealed the last of his items away before he disappeared without a trace.

Three Days Later: Private Jet

Naruto had gone to India after leaving his little retreat before taking one of his off the book's planes back to the states only now his hair was golden blonde with red tips and his eyes were a deep cerulean blue. As he sat in one of the seats with a bottle of Bourbon near him, he recalled how much of his life had turned out the way it did: Naruto had been born with the essence of Darkness itself inside him curtesy of Yami and was outcasted by most because of it and the fact that he had the strongest Biju in existence sealed in his body by his father. Things remained that way for over a decade before he began making his name known for the right reasons and then began defeating all the threats to the world and wanted the simple life afterwards with the women he had claimed as his mates and who gladly claimed him as the love of their lives. However, Kami wouldn't hear of it and wanted Naruto as his warrior forever to put down anyone that Kami deemed too big a threat to the world or in other worlds a threat to Kami's way of doing things. When Naruto refused, Kami sent his trusted warrior, the Angelus, in a new host after Naruto and Naruto put the bitch down and then tore the Angelus out and consumed it with his Darkness. Naturally, this REALLY pissed Kami off and the bastard had retaliated by decimating everyone and thing Naruto ever cared about.

As one would expect, Naruto retaliated and wiped out all of the followers of Kami and those that carried out his dirty work before he continued by destroying all the "holy" sites that were part of Kami's power and influence until nothing was left and then the world split apart and everything of the time, he first lived in was forgotten. Naruto's curse to bear was that the Darkness, the Angelus, Kyubi, and his own family's blood energized him and let him continue living without aging keeping him looking like an 18-21-year-old for the remainder of his unnatural life and this wouldn't have been so bad if he had his loves to spend the time with him along with his loyal friends/servants.

Anyway, after the world changed, Naruto made appearances here and there interfering in anything that caught his attention and keeping some places safe and sound for him to use while also finding any and all items connected to the Angelus or Darkness and building up an arsenal, library, and collection of items across history while making investments and other things in each country to give himself some finances and possible aid later on.

That leads to now, it had been over 25 years since he was last in the public eye in any notable manner, shape, or form, but now he was going to step back into the light and take on the world again to regain his loves and his brothers then he'd stick around for a while this time to see how the world would play out. Who knows, maybe he'd find some new loves and family in this world that has adapted and changed but most likely stayed the same. He just needed to see it for himself now.

Los Angeles

Naruto stepped off the plane and grabbed his one bag before walking towards the terminal since he still had to legally check in even if he could erase any record of him coming into the country. So, Naruto just waited while wearing a pair of crimson sunglasses, black cargo pants, combat boots with flames along the bottoms, a white button up shirt, a flak jacket vest, and fingerless plate gloves. Naruto was aware of several of the women staring at him since his clothes were form fitting and showed the body, he had kept that looked like a professional runner's only Naruto was far faster and stronger than any of them, but Naruto didn't care since he just wanted to get in and situated.

When it was his turn, he stood before the TSA Agent who was looking over the passport he gave, "Purpose of your trip here, Mr. Kazama?" She asked as she looked at Naruto intently and Naruto removed his glasses.

"Business and to hopefully catch up with some old friends." He stated calmly making the woman look at him before nodding and stamping his passport before handing it back to him before he left the terminal.

After taking a Taxi to the industrial part of town, Naruto walked to an old abandoned warehouse that had a fence and razor wire around stating that it was private property and hazardous. Naruto merely jumped over and went to the door before slapping a seal on it making it glow and overtake the whole building before, he then entered. Naruto looked around and nodded to himself seeing several piles of scrap and old machinery and created several dozen clones to begin cleaning up and finding what could still be used.

While they did that, Naruto decided to check out the city since it was pretty much night out. With that in mind he flexed and the shadows of the area formed over him putting him in a black armor with a red long-sleeved shirt under it, black cargo pants, boots with flames over them, crimson fingerless gloves, and a black trench coat with a crimson Hidden Leaf Emblem on the back. *

On his face, he had a black swirled mask with a crimson eye hole and his hair went black too. The mask was inspired by one of his opponents from his earlier lifetime named Obito since it covered his face entirely except for the eyehole and Naruto wanted his other eye covered since it was useful but only if it was in complete darkness. Once he was dressed, he left in a swirl of darkness while the clones began setting things up as they cleared the area.

Streets of LA

Naruto was above the streets standing there letting his training in the Sage Arts let him feel everything within the city and was searching for anything he needed to stop or if someone with a dark enough heart was around for him to consume. He found one of the former within a minute or so and stood before vanishing again.

He reappeared in an alley just as three thugs were cornering a young woman with the middle thug having a knife, "Please, I'll give you the money I have, just please me alone." She pleaded as two of the men smirked but the third was grinning darkly at her.

"I have a better idea, you give us your money and let us have some fun before we decide to gut you open." He stated before he heard something behind him and saw someone dressed in black slamming his two goons into the ground knocking them out. He tried brandishing his knife but was sent flying back when the figure appeared in front of him and punched him before he hit the wall knocking him out.

Naruto turned to the woman, "Are you alright miss?" He asked with his voice taking a deeper tone than it was without his mask before he was glamped by the woman as she thanked him repeatedly. Naruto merely stroked her back as she calmed down, "Feeling better now?" He asked and she nodded before he moved away and tied the two up before grabbing the third and started walking away with him.

"Wait! Why are you taking him?" She asked and Naruto paused before he sighed.

"Because his soul is tainted with so much blood and death that he needs to be stopped now. I can see into his very soul and his disgusts me to no end so I must put him down before he does anything like this again since he has a knack for avoiding jail. You see, you were not his first victim, he has raped several women and young girls over the last 2 years and has no remorse and has been evading prosecution for a long time even when the evidence says it's him so he needs to be stopped now. Those other two were satisfied to just rob you but they were afraid he'd turn on them and kill them before they could do anything since he had the knife. While I despise their cowardice, that is not enough reason to kill them." He stated calmly turning back towards the woman to let her see in his eye that he was serious.

The woman frowned since she was a bit of an expert on reading people after knowing a guy from her hometown for so long and could tell this guy was dead serious, "I see, but who are you?" She asked since she had never seen or heard of a person dressed like he was before.

Naruto was silent for a moment before he spoke his old codename when he helped militaries and what was a significant rank in his time, "Kage. You can call me Kage." He stated before taking the man and disappearing in a swirl of darkness.

The woman looked around in confusion before sighing and pulled her phone out to call the police and report the two there and this strange new guy in town.

With Naruto

Naruto standing on a building using his Sage senses again while his darkness manifested as two strange pitch-black eel-like creatures with red tribal markings over them coming out of his back and over his shoulders and the left one went over the thug's face and opened its maws before the thug gasped as a dark essence was sucked out him before the right one launched forward and into the thug's chest and tore his heart out before it began eating it. Naruto then did a simple fire jutsu to burn the body away before he took off after hearing gunfire at the nearby bank.

Once he reached an overlooking building, he saw that several thugs with guns were having a standoff with the police with them using columns for cover while the police were pinned behind their cars with one injured and trapped between the fields of fire. Frowning to himself, he Shunshined down to the injured officer and grabbed the car she was behind before flipping it so the top was facing the bank.

Naruto then turned to the officer, "Hang on to me." He stated and the officer nodded before Naruto lifted her into his arms and grabbed the car and dragged it behind him as he moved back to the other officers, who were laying down suppressive fire. Naruto gave the officer to the others before he turned and kicked the car sending it towards the bank causing the thugs to move out of the way as it smashed into the columns.

Naruto then raised his hand and a swirl of darkness came up and blocked the bullets from the thugs as he walked towards the bank before he moved faster than anyone could track and kicked one sending him out into the open as Naruto broke the gun over his knee. He then moved again and slammed two of them into each other before tossing them out into the open and broke their guns as well before going after the rest of the thugs.

Within a minute, Naruto had the thugs lying on the ground unconscious for the Police to take and had a pile of destroyed weapons before an armored truck plowed through the rear gate and came around and was aiming right at Naruto, "I got you now you son of a bitch!" The driver exclaimed as he slammed down the accelerator and aimed it right at Naruto.

Naruto merely looked at it before forming a blue sphere in his hand the was the size of his palm and slammed it into the front of the truck as it came in range. The sphere tore right through the armor, hood, and the engine before stopping at the cab with the truck formed around Naruto. While the onlookers were all gobsmacked at what they saw, Naruto walked around and tore the door off before pulling the driver out and tossed him with the others.

Naruto popped his neck before turning to leave, but was stopped by one of the police, "Hey! Who are you?" He asked as Naruto rolled his eyes and just looked back at him.

"The name's Kage, LA is under my protection now." He stated before disappearing and reappearing on another building and continued his own style of patrol.

Two hours later

Naruto had finished up his patrol while having some clones out and about just in case of any late/early type people tried anything. At the moment, he was next to a large generator type item and was currently working on it mechanically while a clone was doing some Fuinjutsu to turn the generator into a chakra running one to be his power supply for the place to avoid attention being drawn to him.

Behind him, another clone was working on an in-house garden with a seal being put on the ceiling to let sun rays in on them to help them and a storage seal in the planters that were connected to a large tank that would feed the plants water when the soil dried to a certain point since Naruto loved his plants and it was one of the few things, he had to occupy him over the millennia.

On the wall to Naruto's right, which was the left most wall as you walk in, there was a large weapons wall under a cage with the weapons ranging from guns to swords, axes to staves, knives to tomahawks and each had a dark aura around it. These were weapons that had absorbed some of Naruto's darkness, had been crafted by Naruto using his darkness, and/or had been used to kill many people and thus had become more tainted over time. The reason they were locked under a cage wasn't for their protection, it was to protect anyone that may try to touch them since it may not end well for their lives, let alone their souls.

Next to that was another smaller caged wall with different yet still deadly items on it from the time of the Elemental Countries as well as the Hiraishin Kunai that his father had created, though someone in the know would notice that two particular "swords" weren't on the wall.

Beside that was another wall mount of weapons but this was a range of all kinds of weapons and some showed they were very old. This was Naruto's memory/trophy wall that he built over the years and it had many famous weapons/weapons of famous individuals with each being marked and the years in which it was used including Blackbeard's Cutlass, George Washington's Sword, General Putnam's pistols, and more.

To Naruto's left, was an oak bed that could fit two or three people with a couch and TV in front of it with the TV being on a small table and it was currently showing the new, (Tonight, LA has gotten a few appearances of a brand-new hero to the scene and one that has decided to make Los Angeles his home and protectorate. At long last, the city of angels has its own hero to call its own. His name? It's Kage, which our experts say means Shadow in Japanese. The following footage was taken by one of our cameramen and nearby cameras at the scene of tonight's bank robbery). The reporter… well… reported as footage of him saving the officer and defeating the thugs and the armored truck played, (In addition to this bravery, we have reports that state that this new hero also saved a young woman, a miss Lana Lang, from being mugged and raped by three individuals. However, we also have reports that Kage also took one of the men with him to apparently kill him since miss Lang reported that he stated he could see the sin and darkness of the man's soul and that the man was unredeemable and would commit such acts again since he had apparently already done so in the past. Based on the description miss Lang gave of the third perpetrator, our sources have confirmed the man, whose name we do not have, was wanted for no less than a dozen rapes and murders and always got out of state before he could be prosecuted. So far, the Police have not found a body, which poses the question of what exactly this new hero has done with the man's body?) The reporter stated before it broke to another story and Naruto turned it off.

"I'm the least of people's worries, lady. You should be more concerned with the people who let these other people go free." He muttered as he kept working on the generator while some clones were still going through the junk and scrap that was still in the warehouse while two other clones were at anvils with hammers making some of the scrap into other things he could use or even sell.

He finished up one last bolt before slapping the generator and it started up getting the few still working lights back up and the two clones by the anvils sighed in relief, "Oh thank the Universe, it sucks using lightning and fire chakra for welding." They stated as they pulled up an Arch Welder and plugged it in with one continuing to hammer on the anvil while the other began welding some other pieces together.

While they did that, Naruto went to his bed and pulled his laptop out and began reviewing the information that Fox had sent him and he was both intrigued and annoyed by the heroes of the current world. Intrigued since their powers and capabilities were admirable, but annoyed because none of them had the heart to put an end to the enemies that needed to be put down once and for all. Naruto was all for second chances and letting someone turn over a new leaf, but after the second or third let down he was done with you and if you crossed him, he was going to put you down one way or the other.

Another thing he noted was the various beautiful women on both the villains and heroes' side and idly wondered how many would potentially join his family since his wives all told/ordered him to find others to love and be loved by and there weren't many to catch his attention over the millennia since Naruto liked strong yet kind women that he knew he could love and watch his back regardless of what they faced. The ones that had caught his attention had become his loves too and he lost them to Kami's wrath and other things that he couldn't change at the time.

Now though, now he had the chance to bring all of his loves back and his other precious people, but that wouldn't stop him from finding others since there was no telling when Yami and Shinigami would keep their promise and his loves told him before that they never minded more sisters.

Shaking those thoughts away for another time, Naruto read over more of the information before he decided to get a couple hours of sleep.

Next Night

Naruto was sitting on a ledge of another building letting his sage senses find anything he needed to concern himself with while clones back at his base were setting up the items, he had purchased that morning which included computer components, scrap, light bulbs, wiring, tools, various building materials, some home security cameras, and more. Naruto had also scouted several abandoned properties as well planning to buy them later once he had another major source of income coming his way, which he planned to do via forging weapons and other items as well as writing stories about his life over the millennia knowing that anyone that could confirm or know it was truth was dead or was going to be on his side once Yami and Shinigami began bringing them back.

He broke from his musings when he felt a spike in three chakras before green fire blasted out of a nearby park and Naruto stood before he phased out of existence and headed towards the area. When he arrived, he found an interesting sight of a dark-skinned woman with green hair and a green outfit standing beside a dark-skinned woman with pure white hair and wore an icy blue and snow-white outfit and both were facing off against a pale woman with blue hair and lips and wore a blue one-piece strapless outfit with frost around her. All three's outfits showed off their bodies quite well and Naruto knew some models would kill to have their bodies.

He also knew that these three were Fire, Ice, and Killer Frost respectfully with the first two being heroines that didn't seem to have a main place to stay and the third was a "villain" but Naruto knew she was mainly doing everything to get funding to cure herself since she was the victim of an accident that changed her and people shunned her afterwards. It idly reminded Naruto of the lives Jinchūriki, or demon containers, lived since they didn't willingly become what they were, but they had to deal with it afterwards.

Looking around them, Naruto frowned seeing the park almost ruined since there was ice and burn marks everywhere and the three looked a little rough as well. With that in mind, Naruto flipped through some handseals before he stuck his hand out between the three.

The three were about to clash again when they saw blackened ice rise up between them and form a figure eight around them trapping them inside. Frowning, the three tried to use their respective powers, with Fire literally becoming on fire, to get out. However, the two ice users found that they couldn't control or break it and Fire found she couldn't melt it.

They then turned to the side as one wall gained the appearance of Naruto there, "I must say, your powers are impressive even if they aren't as strong as mine." Naruto stated looking over them as they frowned.

"Who the hell are you?!?" Killer Frost asked while the other two were wondering as well.

"I am Kage, you three are fighting in my city and destroying the park here. I do not like that." He stated as he gazed over them intently and the three would be lying if they said they weren't unnerved by his gaze.

"We were only trying to stop her." Ice defended making Naruto look at her and his one eye showed he wasn't in the mood for excuses or reasons.

"Then you should have led her or let her get away from the populated area!" Naruto growled as the ice prison suddenly grew colder and shrunk in size, "Do you have any idea the number of people you endangered should one of your attacks have missed and hit one of the nearby buildings?!?" Naruto argued clenching his hands and the two heroines had the decency to look somewhat ashamed and Naruto turned to Killer Frost and saw that despite her cold appearance she wasn't too keen on causing mass casualties.

Naruto let the silence remain for a long moment before he walked out of the wall to Killer Frost making her tense as he looked her over and walked around her, "Hmm, how interesting." He stated making her frown.

"What? Never seen another metahuman before?" She asked ready to turn him into an icicle should the opportunity present itself.

"Hehehe. You're not truly a metahuman, kid, but you aren't full Human either or at least a normal Human." He stated since he felt the familiar cold aura of the Yuki clan and wondered if perhaps Haku's clan had survived beyond just her in his young years.

"What the hell does that mean?" She asked in both confusion and slight irritation since the guy sounded like he knew something about her and was calling her a kid.

Naruto merely chuckled, "It means that if you can behave yourself, then the next time you visit my city I may be willing to tell you about your family history that you're not aware of plus something else that I know you've sought for a long time and I can help provide if you cooperate." Naruto stated vaguely but the message was clear as Killer Frost widened her eyes in shock before narrowing in anger.

"You better not be messing with me or I'll freeze you before I start snapping pieces off." She threatened and Naruto merely chuckled.

"Lady, you couldn't beat me on my worst day with your ice powers, but I'm not lying or messing with you." He stated as he waved and the circle of ice, they were standing in came down, "Feel free to leave, but if you come back for answers then you had better be on a better behavior since I don't care for others endangering innocent people." He stated before turning to the heroines still in his ice and Killer Frost quickly took off.

Naruto approached the heroines as his ice shattered and the two looked at him wearily before he simply walked past them and placed his hand on the ground before he sent his chakra into the ground healing the scorch marks and melting the ice.

Once it was done, Naruto nodded sighed and began walking away causing Fire and Ice to look at each other before they followed him, "Uh… any particular reason you just let a notorious criminal go?" Fire asked as she and Ice followed Naruto.

"Because A) she hadn't done anything yet, B) she's just trying to get back to normal and has no other way to do it since the people that could do it aren't exactly lining up to try and help her, and C) because I didn't feel like beating her unconscious or incapacitating her in some other method and then letting her get taken to prison." Naruto stated nonchalantly as he idly fixed more damage that was done to the park before continuing to walk before, he tossed them two masks and they raised eyebrows in confusion before seeing several officers and camera crews there and knew he was working to hide their facial identities, which is why they quickly put the masks on.

Naruto ignored many of the questions coming his way before he paused at one, "Kage, why did you let Killer Frost, a notorious criminal, go when she should have been arrested?" A reported asked making Naruto stop before he turned towards said reporter.

"Because there was no reason to punish her when she hadn't done anything wrong in this city. Even if she had, I would have simply taken whatever she had stolen and returned it as she is merely trying to get back to how she was before." He stated calmly making several of the people blink while more questions were coming in at once.

"Kage! How can you justify her actions that are criminal and unlawful?" Another reporter asked.

"Because the real crime is the fact that all of our supposed Great Humanitarians and Leading Researchers have never once offered her a chance to be studied and possibly cured and no one has ever offered her help in funding her research to turn herself back to a normal person. The fact that many people ignore this, sickens me to no end. Yes, she has done wrong, but that is no reason to alienate her to the point she becomes the monster that everyone fears she is. The fact that no one has offered her a chance to become normal again, which she desires above all else, is infuriating and she can serve the time for her crimes either during or after her curing process or even before to get her full cooperation and this is applicable to more than just Killer Frost. I plan to correct these outrages whenever I am given the chance. There's enough hate in the world already without us adding onto it." He stated seriously and with a tone in his voice that people could tell he was passionate about what he was saying and it was hitting home for the two heroines beside him.

Without another word, Naruto walked away before leaping up to the rooftops and disappearing with the reporters all resuming their questioning of the police and Fire and Ice made themselves scarce to avoid the questionings. The two looked for Kage to talk with him more, but found it was to no avail and decided to retire for the evening while making mental notes to look him up the next time they were in LA.

With Killer Frost

Killer Frost, or as she used to be known Crystal Frost, was currently making tracks from LA since she knew she couldn't handle Fire, Ice, and the mystery man named Kage and was planning to lay low before heading to a different city. However, the words Kage spoke were still ringing in her ears and she couldn't fight the curiosity that she felt even if her better judgement screamed against it.

She stopped as she landed near a river and saw her reflection as a sole tear went down her cheek and froze along the way. She missed being her old self known as Crystal Frost, but there was no one left that remembered her as she was and certainly no one willing to help her turn back and now comes this guy who claims to know something about her and can maybe help her and wasn't lying. She knew this since she had become an expert on reading people and it showed clearly in his eye that he wasn't lying to her.

She stood there staring at her reflection for what felt like hours to her before she sighed, "I guess… I'll have to hear him out next time I decide to hit LA." She stated before taking off again not noticing she had been releasing tears that didn't freeze.

Back in LA

Naruto was back in his meditative state after having stopped several minor events and had fed his darkness plenty of both darkness and hearts due to several being gang members that were LONG overdue for a trip to the afterlife and left some of the bodies this time as a message. Naruto idly made a note to go after their main locations on their turf and put the fear of God into the ones that survived… if any did that is.

Shaking those thoughts away, Naruto stood and made 10 clones to patrol the city while he returned home for the night knowing that the coming week was probably going to be problematic since the gangs that had lost members that day weren't going to take it lying down.

He also needed to check on the seals he put in place to expand the warehouse interior to accommodate more of his large quantity of items as well as reinforcing the walls since a few were less than satisfactory as the clones found after clearing some of the crates and scrap left behind before they began breaking down the machinery left behind. It also reminded him that he needed to finish up some more of the shopping he had planned for fixing up and upgrading the warehouse even further.

With that in mind he returned to his home/base and was glad to see the seals and other security he set up was working fine. Once he entered, he sat on the couch and tapped a seal on the table making a bowl of hot ramen pop out and he sat back and ate while a clone popped giving him all the latest information that he would need to know and sighed since it was going to still be a while before this place was fully functional, but there was no rush and he could earn some money while he worked on the place.

Four days later

Several police cars and a SWAT truck were around an apartment complex as they had a bit of a hostage situation with one of the local gangs that apparently wanted Kage to come in for what he did to some of their members. Naturally, there were several reporters there all giving their own takes on the situation, "We're live-in downtown LA as the police have sealed off the area as a portion of the local gang known as "Los Muertos" or "The Dead" have taken up residence in an abandoned apartment building. Apparently, they hijacked a bus full of people before bringing them here to be held in an attempt to get the new hero Kage's attention after he apparently killed a few members of their crew/family. So far, we have not seen any trace of Kage yet and it begs the question on if he will show or not." Just as the reporter finished speaking, gunfire broke out inside the apartment building along with various screaming people on one of the lower floors.

"¡Cuidado! ¡Detrás de ti!" [Look out! Behind you!] Someone shouted from inside, which was clearly heard due to the SWAT equipment set up to try and gain the advantage through listening, as more gunfire echoed out on the floor before an explosion went off shattering a few windows. The building was quiet for a few moments until the next few floors suddenly lit up with gunfire like the one below them with more screams being heard from inside.

The police were all rooted in place not really wanting to go in and see the apparent massacre that was going on inside since something or someone powerful or skilled and dangerous was dealing with the Los Muertos members and they didn't want to get in the way of whatever was causing the screams and so much gunfire. The few higher ups in charge were also hearing from the snipers that were in position that they couldn't see anything in the building besides the occasional splatter of blood on the windows.

"¿Por qué no mueres?" [Why don't you die?!?] They heard screamed from inside before silence echoed out from the building and no one dared to move or breathe. The silence was then shattered as a window on the top floor was shattered as a body was sent out it and it fell straight down onto one of the cop cars and the officers approached the body and saw that there was a blade sticking through the lower back before they rolled the body over.

Upon doing so, it revealed that the body belonged to a Lieutenant and enforcer of the Los Muertos named Rodrigo Cortés aka El Carnicero [The Butcher]. Said man had gained that title after having literally butchered anyone that was ever captured that crossed the Los Muertos and was the one sent to deal with anyone that pissed off the higher ups of the LA branch of the Los Muertos cartel and the man loved his machete to deal with anyone and everyone that he was sent after. Currently, the machete was through the stomach region of the man's corpse.

However, there was one other VERY noticeable difference from how he usually looked: His chest cavity was ripped apart and showed his heart had been removed forcibly. A few of the rookie officers had to move away and empty their stomachs while even some of the veterans looked disturbed by what they were seeing and the reporters were trying not to look while they reported.

Everyone then turned as the front doors opened and the hostages came out with some looking completely fine despite having blood splattered on them and others looked completely shaken with what had happened in there… whatever it was.

Medics and officers took the hostages away to get checked out and questioned and a pair of officers with the ranks of detective moved to enter with their guns drawn. One was a grizzled man with a scruffy face and an eyepatch over his right eye and had a harness over his uniform that consisted of jeans, combat boots, flak jacket, long sleeved shirt, and thick coat all a gun-metal grey. He also had a lit cigarette in his mouth before he flicked it away as he moved with military like precision.

The other detective was a dark-skinned man with a buzz cut hairstyle and a scruffy face. He wore boots, black jeans, a red muscle shirt, bullet-proof vest over the shirt, black leather jacket with a red tribal design on the back, and fingerless gloves on his hands. Like the previous one, he also moved with military like precision.

The two entered the building side by side just as they had done previous times working together and moved through the lobby/entry area finding nothing there but a body in the middle of the stairwell indicating that he was thrown, pushed, or fell from one of the higher floors and landed there and, based on the blood pooling, he was either alive or recently dead when he hit.

Turning to the stairs, the two climbed up the first flight and paused seeing the decimated bodies, hundreds of shell casings, and guns lying about. Some of the corpses had bullet wounds, others had cuts and stabs, and still others were broken/torn/ripped/cut apart in ways that defied normal explanation. The other noticeable thing was that the corpses that they could see clearly all had similar chest wounds that Cortés had in that they didn't have their hearts anymore, "I don't like this Snake. While these bastards deserved what they got, I can't help but feel this is above our paygrade." The dark-skinned detective stated in a deep voice while looking over everything impassively since he and his partner had seen worse in the military.

The now named Snake grunted, "I agree Heller, but we still need to look around if to see if who or whatever did this is still here." He stated with a gravellier tone of voice than the now named Heller, who hummed in thought before nodding. They continued through the next couple of floors finding more of the same until the last floor where they found five Los Muertos members unconscious and tied to the railing above the stairwell and from the looks of them, they were merely recruits put into this situation as a test and hadn't been marked by the cartel yet.

They then noticed that one was still somewhat awake and moved over to him as Heller began scanning the area and Snake tried to get the man to focus, "Hey! Are you alright? Who did this?" He asked as the man groaned slightly and looked at him.

"Please, keep him… keep it away from me." He stated in a tired yet panicked voice before he passed out again.

Snake frowned before pulling up his radio, "We need EMTs on the top floor and body bags on all the others." He stated before hearing an officer give confirmation on the request before both he and Heller turned as the sound of something eating was heard before a sigh.

The two quickly moved towards the sound that occurred from one of the back apartments and stood beside the doorway before Heller entered first and then Snake and they saw nothing. No person, no creature, no strange phenomenon, nothing but a rundown apartment with the broken window. However, their instincts that they had honed over years of combat experience warned them that something was there even if they couldn't see it and Snake noticed there was some blood on the floor, "So, two of LA's finest have come to see my little extermination." Naruto's deeper voice echoed over the room making the two go back to back.

"Kage, I presume?" Heller asked as he looked around and knew it was going to be bad if they had to fight the city's apparent new hero. Not because he was a hero, but because of his skill and power making it a pretty much suicide mission with just the two of them.

"Yes, though we have encountered each other before: Lieutenant David "Solid Snake" Smith and Sergeant James "Reaper" Heller." Naruto stated seeing the two stiffen as he knew their names, ranks, and code names for operations.

"Really? Refresh my memory if you'd be so kind." Snake stated as he wanted to know if this so-called hero was an enemy of theirs or not.

"10 years ago, in Afghanistan. Those insurgents ambushed your unit and had you pinned down before someone began attacking the insurgents making them stop focusing on you and allowed you to get away while all the insurgents were killed just after you left." Naruto stated since he had been passing through the area just to stretch his legs and found the attack in progress and decided to step in.

He watched amusedly as the two men widened their eyes knowing they'd have been dead or at least would have lost most of their unit if he hadn't interfered, "Yes, that was a close call for you, wasn't it?" Naruto commented as he looked at the two.

"Yes, it was, and now you are here waging your own war on the criminals?" Snake asked as he knew someone with that level of skill to take down the insurgents and now this whole building without getting a hostage hurt meant that he was either extremely skilled, powerful, or both.

"Yes, and why not? You certainly would do the same. The only difference is that I can tell who is innocent enough to get a chance at redemption and who just needs to be put down. Case in point, those five tied to the railing: They were new recruits and their only crimes are killing other gangbangers and even then, most of the times were in self-defense because the gangbangers attacked them first. However, this is only the start since I will break apart the gangs from head to grunt and make sure that the innocent people of this city are safer than they currently are." Naruto informed as he appeared before the two from the shadows, "I would appreciate cooperation on your and the police's part that way I can find and eliminate the key players and then leave the grunts for you all to round up since they will have a great deal of in-fighting to take the open positions which will result in their forces being dwindled down even further and the outside influences of these groups will lose their connection and it will be more costly than productive to try and bring any veterans they have to reestablish their trade here or make a loud statement about interfering in their investments." Naruto stated and explained and the two had to give him that since it was part of the work they had done overseas before: breaking down an enemy hierarchy by taking out the leaders and letting the grunts and normal soldiers clean up the lower ranks. Main difference was that this time, they were the normal soldiers in this situation.

However, both had to admit they were highly annoyed and angered by the gangs that were slowly taking over the city and they didn't want to even try and count the number of officers that had fallen to the bastards. However, they weren't exactly thrilled with possible mass murder of the groups either even if it was looking like it would be the only way to stop them… Though for part of them it was the cleanup and paperwork.

Naruto stared at them for a few moments before speaking again, "Your answer does not have to be right away, but make no mistake: I will be bringing them all down regardless of if you decide to help me or not, so try to steer clear if you get near the fighting." He stated as he stepped back into the darkness of the room with the sounds of others coming up the stairs being heard, "You'll hear from me again." Naruto stated before vanishing into the shadows with Snake and Heller relaxing as other officers arrived, though they all looked a little green.

Snake sighed and holstered his pistol before taking a cigarette and lit it before taking a few puffs, "Secure this place and bag and tag everything." He ordered of the other officers, who nodded and holstered their pistols before moving about to do as ordered while Snake and Heller began heading down the stairs and outside to think on what just happened.

With Naruto

Naruto was standing atop the Wilshire Grand Center with a squad of clones behind him before he flicked his fingers and the clones spread out in search of the key players of the three gangs and learn their routines, number of guards, weapons, favored bases, and everything else he needed to ambush them and remove them from this world and feed his darkness along with Shinigami and Yami. Then he'd could see about branching out to the other cities.

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AN: 1) Think Blade's outfit with a few amendments

As I stated above, you will get the full information on this Naruto after the "Secret Origins" episodes of Justice League when the league wants to recruit Naruto.

For you Crackdown players, yes, I am having the three gangs from the game in here since I wanted Naruto to have something specific to do in LA besides facing an occasional villain that goes to LA. Since many just have him stop a few petty crimes and then it's all heroes or villains visiting the city at some points. I wanted Naruto to actually have an objective and mission to do for/in the city and it gives him a reason to go to other places as well besides sightseeing.

Yes, I took Snake and Heller from Metal Gear and Prototype respectfully since I could see them being his "in" on the Police like Gordon is for Batman. Snake may get the robotic arm, but Heller will not gain his powers.

And yeah, I know Naruto's Hero name isn't very original, but I figured his powers plus the fact it is the highest rank a ninja can achieve back in his time as a ninja made it fit better than something cheesy or bleh that I could have tried.

Well… That should be it, I'll see y'all next time.