Well, what can I sayà After I published No Reading they suggested this a number of times but I always refused because I donÆt follow DC muchà Then I read a DCxNaruto crossover that sucked hard. So, I told myself: æHell, I didnÆt know much about Marvel eitherÆ. Before I began studying to prepare the Crossover. So, meet No ReadingÆs sister fic. A DC Crossover. Tag. Enjoy!
Prologue
ôNghàö
It was something incredible how one never finished learning in his life. About everything around him, about his own selfà In NarutoÆs case, about his body. Never in his life he would have ever thought that his body could feel so heavy. His arms, in particular. They felt like they were as heavy as lead.
ôHowà How can this beà?ö His opponent was probably having his same thoughts. Long gone was the immortal who controlled the mighty Kyuubi. The first Uchiha, the last Uchiha. Madara. Long gone was the man who could control time and space with his techniques so to appear basically invincible. Both he and his opponent were now reduced to one desperate struggle, punching each other till someone fell.
ôà Ehà Tired?ö Naruto this time remembered to pull back his arm, actually adding some more force into it. The hit was strong enough to sent MadaraÆs face jerking to the right, hard. One tooth and more blood came flying out of his mouth. The Uchiha was shocked for two seconds. But he retaliated immediately, gritting his teeth. He didnÆt possess much physical strength compared to his younger opponent, but he had experience. He knew where to hit to hurt him. A lot.
ôAhhh!ö Naruto let out a little scream when Madara hit him in the stomach. Right at the mouth, making him shot his head forward because of the enormous pain. The Uchiha finds enough strength for another blow. He joins his hands and hits Naruto under the chin with all the strength he manages to gather. ôà!ö Soreness, pain, damage. Everything concentrates in one blow that sends Naruto stumbling back and then falling on his back. So weak was the blow and the two fighters. Naruto falls on his back slowly, like a doll.
The blonde finds himself on the ground, staring at the nigh sky, where once was the ceiling of the enormous cave where the fight had started. Now it was just a huge, smoking, burned crater. The immortal panted heavily, and his head slowly started to look around. All destroyed. It had been really a harsh battle.
Young Naruto had learned of a way to defeat him just after the sacrifice of many of his friends, who had tried to come before him. Last, the only other living Uchiha beside him. A young prodigy that he had wanted to raise as his own, but his plan backfired when he and his team had turned on him. No matter, of course. The boy had fought well, but against him, all had been useless.
But he had managed to leave a message. A message that young Naruto had managed to understand. He left him the secret of the Sharingan. The Sharingan, the Magenkyou Sharinganà It wasnÆt simple illusion, or nijutsu. The Sharingan made the user able to manipulate space and time to a certain extent.
Tsukuyomi manipulated space and time, moving an enemyÆs consciousness inside an alternate dimension over which just the one possessing the Sharingan had complete control. Was it born with the Sharingan or it had been always there? He himself didnÆt know.
Amaterasu manipulated space. He opened a portal from the deepest recesses of the TsukuyomiÆs dimension, its hell on heart, and from there unleashed the black flame that never stopped burning.
Susanooà Uchiha Itachi really was unique. If it hadnÆt been for his illness, he believed he would have surpassed him too. Truly the strongest Uchiha ever. Susanno was a time-space jutsu, a summoning jutsu. It allowed him to summon the god of the TsukuyomiÆs dimension to do battle for him.
As for Madaraà His eyes made him immortal. He had learned to manipulate space and time no longer just in the other dimension, but time and space of his own body, so closely connected to it after centuries. In battle he manipulated his own space, shifting parts of his body away to avoid damage. He lived so long because he had learned that even his own body could be subject to the SharinganÆs rule in the TsukuyomiÆs dimension. And as such, he always could keep it young.
The boy had learnedà And had come prepared. At first, the boy had managed to hit him a few times thanks to his Frog Katas. Even he couldnÆt predict something invisible, such as nature chakra. It was invisible even to his eyes. But he had never been one for close range combat, after all. After he unleashed Tsukuyomi on his feeble mind just as he threw his strongest technique, the Rasen Shuriken, he thought to have the battle wonà But little did he know that he hadnÆt been aiming at him at all, from the beginning. Its target had always been the statue where the other eight Bijuu had been trapped into.
The statue shattered to pieces and dust, releasing the enormous masses of sentient chakra, who not possessing a body, needing time to make one back, obeyed their basic instincts. They lunged at him. He screamed as demonic chakra ravaged his body, burned him to its very core, but most importantly, it infected his body and the area around him with an evil, foreign chakra. It made him cut off from the Tsukuyomi, from the other dimension, disturbing the delicate flow that existed between the two. He couldnÆt use his full powers anymore, and god knew if he ever would be able to again.
From there, things had escalated. Without his invulnerability, Madara was just like any other Uchiha. Techniques upon techniques had been unleashed, destroying the landscape around them, till they ended up spent, hitting each other like tired brawlers after minutes of fightingà And that exactly what had happened.
ôAnfà Anfàö The last Uchiha looked around himself, observing the destruction, understanding its implication. Understanding that for the first time in his life someone had pushed him over the edge. Someone had de-structured him. Hurt him more than he could have ever thought. Made him weak and vulnerable. He slowly turned his gaze back to Naruto. ôYouÆre incredibleà Boyàö
ô...ö Naruto just kept on staring at the sky, while Madara slowly limped towards himà And then kneeled down, wincing in pain from his injuries and broken bones while he picked up a kunai from the ground. It was damaged, broken, but it would be enough to cut its throat.
ôYou could have beenà You would have the title of æStrongest NinjaÆ in the storyà If I didnÆt existàö Madara said, slowly, gaining lots of breath between each little sentence, while he grasped the kunai with both hands. ôBut in the endà You met meà IÆm the immortal, Uchiha Madaraàö He slowly raised it above his head, ready to strike, to deal the final blowà Then, he gathered all his remaining strength and breath to arch his body to put strength in his blow and talk with a loud tone of voice. ôEveryone will end like you, before me!ö
ôYeahà On their back, on the ground, perfectly stillàö Naruto said while Madara lowered the kunaià Only for his face to met NarutoÆs one, which shot from the ground along with his hands. ôThe perfect conditionà To gather some Sage Chakra.ö
ôàö His mouth didnÆt open till too much blood gathered in his mouth for him to keep it closed. Interesting how the bleeding came first. Blood flowing out of every pore of his body before the other effects of his wind chakra happened. A little tornado, a messed up æTitanic RasenganÆ that he had conjured in his messed up condition, that first damaged everything inside MadaraÆs body and then sent his body flying up in the air and Naruto flying back further on the ground, every hit hurting his body more and more.
He stopped a few meters behind, his whole body hurting, his breath rasped and his eyelids threatening to close. But he couldnÆt let them close. Not before everything was over. Not beforeà Before Madara fell to the ground, lifeless, no longer any blood in him to lose, his face distorted in a mask of terror and pain, no sound coming from it. He observe him a bit more, waiting for any signs of a reactionà A reaction came. His neck gave in, it bended and lengthened in an unnatural way. There was no way he was still alive, now. He let his head fall to the ground.
ôà Ero-Sanninàö Naruto says, feeling his eyelids close slowly, batting a few times. ôI couldnÆtà Find a way to makeà Everyone get a long, butàö He laughed a bit sadly. He was too injured, maybe even for the furball, to survive this. ôIà Paved the wayàö He said, his eyelids finally closing, while in that closed space something finally happened.
The massive energy of all the bijuu had warped and weakened the dimensional fabric around them enough for it to be a little disaster. But with the disappearance of Madara, yet another thing happened. Missing the only link it had to the real world, the Tsukuyomi dimension reacted in an awful way, desperately trying to call back its loose link. A small spark of black lighting suddenly became bigger and louder, till a crack formed in mid air, a strong wind surfacing as the crack began to pull in everything he couldà Including Naruto.
--
In the meanwhile, in another placeà In another universe. In another æmultiverseÆ. Long ago the people living in that universe had discovered that there instead was a æmultiverseÆ. Many ultimate realities different or similar to each other, but all with some kind of same base. What they didnÆt know was that their one wasnÆt the only multiverse existing. And then, it disappeared. Following an incident, a crisis, caused by a creature called the æanti-monitorÆ, the multiverse became a single universe, dubbed æEarth-OneÆ.
But now, another crisis has come into place. Something that has been building up for a lot of time before reaching the breaking point. A spirit of vengeance became crazed and started a foolish crusade against everything magic. Earth-OneÆs mightiest villains joined together in a æSocietyÆ, carrying together a plan to mind-wipe all heroes existent. Gods of Myth tried to escape that universe before the crisis happened, uncaring about the lives and planets they destroyed. A galactic war erupted because of a crazed cult for a demonic god. A satellite who was supposed to help monitoring heart meta-humans got hijacked and perverted, before he broke freeà And became ruthless.
A huge, terrible situation caused by the action of some of the survivors of those other universes who got erased in that old crisis. Alexander Luthor from Earth-Three and Superboy-Prime from Earth-Prime. They believed that the world that got saved wasnÆt the right one, seeing how it had degraded over the course of time. They started to devise a plan once Kal-LÆs Lois Lane fell ill. That gave them the time and freedom to escape their æprisonÆ that Alexander himself had created and started working on a plan. To build a machine to basically rewrite an universe.
The machineÆs material was the Anti-MonitorÆs body. Its keys were a few specific individuals, that Alexander collected thanks to the Society that he created posing as that universeÆs own Lex Luthor. Its fuel was the worldÆs magic, made astray and chaotic by the maddened Spectre. The one to re-map the universe and redirect the stray magic would be the satellite Brother I, now Brother Eye, made sentient by Alexander. They re-aligned the center of the universe itself so it would coincide with Earth-TwoÆs one. All this to find and create the æperfect earthÆ.
But of course, heroes are known for putting up a fight. All over the universe, heroes fought back. In the end, their plan got stopped. At the cost of many lifes. The most prominent one being the one of Conner Kent, who gave up his life to destroy the very machine that was supposed to destroy their universe. But Alexander had a back up plan. If they couldnÆt find the perfect earth, they would just create one from the one already existent. That was what the Society was always meant to do.
The back up plan was a massive prison break of every villainous meta-human existent on the planet. After that, a massive attack on Metropolis, SupermanÆs city. It falls, the other will follow suit. But thanks to a group of still in maybe affiliation, the heroes managed to get their defences ready in time. So, that plan failed as well.
The only risk left was the crazy Superboy-Prime who had his own back-up plan. Causing another big bang by making the center of the universe, Oa, detonate. Leaving him the only thing alive, the only æheroÆ alive in the universe. But the universe he wanted to destroy still havenÆt given up fight.
ôCold?ö The barricade he had found in his way was maybe the entire Green Lanters corp. ôYou donÆt know cold.ö He gritted his teeth before before breathing out extremely cold air, freezing and shattering two Green Lanterns. Their rings flashed green and departed at high speed towards the deceased guardiansÆ space sector, searching for their replacements. ôCold is being the only survivor of an earth that was erased from history.ö
He then turned his heated gaze in another direction, unleashing an inferno of heat with just a glance, unleashing it on more Green Lanterns that were to be his victims that day. ôCold is being imprisoned because you tried to do the right thing.ö He gritted his teeth again, turning his attention to the rest of the group. ôCold is what this universe has made meà Nnng.ö
ôCode fifty-four, lanterns!ö A peculiar thing about the Green Lanternsà There should be just one for every space sector. But earth has more than three individuals possessing that kind of power. One of them was Guy Gardner. ôExcessive force has been approved! And encouraged for this cry baby.ö Brash. Probably brave. But today, weak against his newest opponent, who ignored his green blast of energy although it hurt him and grabbed him by his throat.
ôYouÆre rude and offensive, Guy Gardner.ö The crazy kryptonian said, while trying to break his neck with his hold, the only thing preventing it the force field created by the ring. ôI wonder who your ring is going to go to.ö
ôHis ring stays with him.ö Superboy-Prime cried out in pain as a green blast of energy cut through his armor and his arm, making him lose his grip on Gardner, courtesy of another one of the earthen Green Lanters. Hal Jordan. The kryptonian retaliated immediately, by lunging at the Green Lantern.
ôDonÆt pretend youÆre a good guy now. I saw what you did, Hal Jordan. YouÆre one of the most awful.ö He punched him in the face, with a strength that was enough to shift a planetÆs orbit. ôYouÆre a maniac!ö
But interference, intervention, came in the form of two blurs of red and blue that impacted him æfaster than a speeding bulletÆ, making him travel through space with them. He recognized the two faces. Superman of Earth-One, Kal-El. Superman of Earth-Two, Kal-L. ôWhere do you think youÆre going? Where?!ö They kept on pushing him, and he retaliated by punching them in the face. They didnÆt let up, neither of them. ôYou canÆt send me back into the speed force. YouÆre not fast enough.ö
His first thoughts were of course to the way they had imprisoned him first. But it took the efforts of all the Flash from past and future to do so. Then, suddenly, his vision was filled with green rocks. A smirk came to his face. ôOh, I see where youÆve brought me now. To the place this Krypton exploded.ö He then laughed in their faces, lowly. ôBut this Kryptonite isnÆt from my universe. It wonÆt hurt me. All youÆre going to do is kill this Superman.ö He said, looking at Kal-El with an amused smirkà Before laughing again. ôI mean, did you think these rocks would stop me? Hahahahaha!ö His laughter boomed again in the silent abysses of space. ôDid your really?ö
Nothing. Not a reply from his opponents who just kept on pushing him forward. That finally hit him as strange. They were just pushing him, holding him in place while looking at himà No, not at him. Just forwardà And he understood why, finally, when he felt an immense heat on his back, coming from behind him, feeling it on his skin even through his armor. He turned aroundà And found that their aim hadnÆt been the kryptonite fieldà But the red sun right behind it.
They dove straight through it, all three of them. The corona, the core, the nucleus burning their very skin and flesh during those we seconds of travel, before they got out of it. The two SupermanÆs hold broke and the three of them fell through the atmosphere of a nearby planet, slamming into the ground, creating three small craters.
ôàö The first to recover is Kal-El. He slowly crawls out of his own hole, and slowly gets back on his feet, his whole body hurting. Such a silenceà It really was over? But at yet another price? First Conner, nowà His eyes shifted to his Earth-TwoÆs counterpart still form. ôSupermanàö
ôDIE!ö He suddenly screamed in pain when heat-vision suddenly started to burn through his skin, hitting him in the back. He fell to his knees still screaming as Superboy-Prime let him know that he was still alive and kicking. ôDIE AND LEAVE THIS UNIVERSE TO ME!ö He said keeping on focusing his heat vision on him, wanting him to burn aliveà Before it began to fail him. The power and the range began to lessen little by little, like a car suddenly ending without fuel. His mouth opened, his whole face a mask of disbelief. ôMy heat vision?! WhatÆs happening?ö He said, his hands going instinctively for his head, worry getting a hold of him as Kal-El got a break to recover.
ôYouÆre losing!ö And Kal-L gave him the latest news, including the one that he too was alive and kicking, by slamming his fist at full force in his face, sending him flying for a few meters. Superboy-Prime at first didnÆt react, too dazed, too confusedà Too hypnotized by the sight of his own blood flowing by his nose.
ôMy armoràö He finally began to understand. ôThat red sun destroyed my armor.ö He started to breathe heavily, downing on him just what the effects of that trip through the sun had been. His glare settled on Kal-Là Who unfortunately, had two disadvantages. They were both Kryptonians, but he was older. And the red sun had started to take away his own superpowers as well. ôYou.ö Superboy-Prime sprung forward, æspearingÆ him, grabbing him by the waist and throwing him to the ground, rage and madness possessing him completely. ôYou took my superpowers?!ö
Then, he began to unleash his fury. Pinning Kal-L to the ground he began to hammer at him with both his fists, without mercy, without letting up. ôYou said the earth was dark and corrupted! You saw it all happen! You saw our sacrifice become pointless!ö He kept on throwing fists at his face, caving it in, blood flowing freely from the older SupermanÆs body, drenching his clothes and fists. ôLois died because of them! My earth died because of them! You have to understand why IÆm doing thisàö
ôUnderstand, Superboy?ö His right fist, ready to get lowered and hit its target again, got stopped by the wrist by a hand. A hand belonging to the now recovered Kal-El. Earth-OneÆs Superman pulled him away by his Earth-Two counterpart and threw him to the ground. ôYouÆre willing to destroy everything and everyone to feel what?ö Rage was now evident in his voice too, filling his every word. ôSpecial? Needed?!ö
ôI am special!ö On his face, Superboy-Prime took a hold of a big piece of Kryptonite laying on the ground. He turned around and smashed it against Kal-ElÆs face, sure that on him it would be effective in debilitating him. ôIÆm the only one who can rescue this messed-up universe!ö The blow was effective indeed. Now Kal-El ended on the ground as well, Superboy-Prime hands a vice around his neck, trying to pop him. ôIÆm the only one who knows how to make it right. I will be its greatest hero! When youÆre goneà I will be Superman!ö
ôà Superman?ö Maybe it was his pretentious words. Maybe just willpower. Kal-El seemed to be able to ignore the effect of the Kryptonite. His right hand shot forward to SuperboyÆs chest, grasping hard his symbol. He then pushed hard with his legs, ripping it off cleanly. ôYouÆll never be Superman! Because you have no idea what it means to be Superman!ö
ôYes, I do.ö Superboy-Prime landed on one knee, breathing heavily, blood marring his face. ôIÆm from Krypton! A better Krypton than yours ever was!ö
ôItÆs not about where you were born.ö Superman stood tall above his opponent, grasping tightly with his hand the symbol he had just stripped him of. ôOr what powers you have. Or what you wear on your chest.ö
ôSHUT UP!ö The younger Kryptonian reacted and send a left straight at SupermanÆs chin, with the last of his strength, it seemsà But it was time to end it. Because Kal-El felt his own strength starting to fade as well.
A left hook. A skyscraper would have crumbled. A right straight. A whole cityÆs glasses would have shattered. A left straight. That city would have been hit by a small earthquake. Another right straight. The ground would have opened in a fissure. Last hit. A powerful, left upper-cut. The echo of the ækraakÆ reached far, far away, miles in all directions. Superboy-PrimeÆs body flew in the air, a few feet above the groundà Before he fell, completely spent.
ôItÆs about what you doàö Superman said, his last strength spent, his breath heavyà The kryptonite starting to drain his very life force. He fell on his knees. ôà ItÆs about action.ö His knees and arms couldnÆt hold him anymore. He fell on the ground, face first in the dirt, fragments of kryptonite all around himà
ôThere they are.ö Before countless flashes of green light started to obliterate or transmutate them, ending the threat to his life. He didnÆt bother to look up, or maybe he just couldnÆt. He just kept his eyes closed while the whole Green Lantern corps and his other allies who could fly through space freely like him arrived on the planet.
ôLet me down now, John.ö One of the in particular was eager to land, seeing the form of her adoptive father on the ground, far more bloody and injured than the other two. Kara, alias Power-Girl. From Earth-Two, like Kal-L. The Green Lantern complied to her wishes while the other created a holding cell for the now unconscious Superboy-Prime. The menace finally over.
ôSuperman?ö The Martian Manhunter went to Kal-El, helping him back on his feet.
ôIÆm okay, JÆonn.ö He replied, even if he couldnÆt stand without leaning on the green martian. But his concern was for someone else. ôHowÆsàö
ôKal!ö Power-Girl had reached Kal-L, kneeling down beside him.
ôKaraàö His breath and voice were rasped. His body battered and injured. His life ending. He was dying. And yetà The Superman from Earth-Two was smiling. ôWe stopped himà Superman stopped him.ö
ôYouÆre going to be fine. You have to be fine.ö Kara said, feeling tears starting to gather in her eyes.
ôItÆs okay.ö Kal-L said, still smiling, assuring her that it was okay if he faded away.
ôNo. DonÆt leave me alone, Kal. Please, donÆt leave me alone again.ö She couldnÆt believe the injustice of it all. She had found someone understanding her and her memories after so longà And now the people that had given them those memories were all going away. She sniffed and put a hand to her face, holding it, trembling. ôIt canÆt end this way.ö
ôKaraà I finally understand.ö The dying kryptonian continued. ôI know what Lois was trying to tell me.ö He raised his right arm and hand, moving it to her left cheek. She held it close, tears now falling freely.
ôWhat are you talking about?ö She said, confusion joining sadness in her.
ôIÆll always be with you, Kara. Even if you canÆt see me. IÆll always be here.ö His strength began to give away for good, his hand retracting. Kara didnÆt let go of it, grasping it softly with both her own hands. ôItÆs never going to end. ItÆs never going to endà For usàö His gaze then wandered to the sky above, now darkened, myriads of stars shining brightly aboveà And yet, his gaze fixed on a single one. The brightest of all of them. Shining stronger than any other one. A single, final word came out of his mouth, realizing that she had been waiting for him. ôLoisàö He said, his final breath being the fuel of those words. His hand finally fell limp along with the rest of his body. Kal-L diedà Peace, freedom and love all finally in his grasp, as the people left behind cried him. A whole universe thankful. Thankful to a true hero. Thankful to Superman.
--
ôàö He felt like he had not opened his eyes in ages. And it took him a bit of time to gain focus on his surroundings. Mostly because of the surroundings themselves. His vision was just filled with black, filled with many bright, shining small white dotsà Then, other colours began to came into play. Red waves, yellow streaks passing byà He got back in a sitting position, looking around. ôà Where am I?ö
He slowly got back on his feet, recognizing that he didnÆt recognize his surroundings at all. It reminded him of the night skyà But it was more deep, biggerà And he was like he was into the night sky. There was no ground under his feet, just more space. And why he could see his reflection too? ôà What is ità Uh?ö
He then noticed something else. Those streaks of light, of various colours. Those werenÆt just lights. He could seeà Human shapes inside them. And while at first they were far away, some were now passing right beside him. Two on his sides. One green and one azure. ôH-Hey!ö He shouted, since he had seen clear human shapes inside those streaks of light. He instinctively shouted at them since they had passed by him a bit too close for comfort. ôWatch where youÆre going, idiot!ö
Suddenly, one of those two streaks stopped dead in his tracks. It stopped running. The azure one. And then it turned around towards him. He could finally make out a clear shape as the figure inside the light faced him. It was a boy maybe older than him. Definitely taller and more in shape than him, with short hair on his head. His choice of clothing was strange. Some kind of long sleeveled pants and a pair of shoes the likes of which he had never seen. And finally, the only thing he could make out a colour of because of how dark it was. A short-sleeveled black t-shirt, with a symbol on its chest. Probably dark red. The symbol wasà A big æSÆ.
ôàö The figure was staring at him and Naruto was just staring back. It was so normal, it felt so normalà He didnÆt know who had approached the other. All he knew was that the distance between them suddenly lessened, from a few tens of meters to maybe less than one. He didnÆt know exactly. ôà What is it?ö The blonde suddenly asked.
The S-boy suddenly extended his right arm and hand, opening it wide, the palm facing up. Naruto blinked and just stared at the extended appendage. It wasnÆt the pose for a hand-shake. He stared at it for a while before the boy moved his hand up and down briefly. Naruto blinked. ôMe too?ö The boy nodded. Naruto didnÆt understand but complied, extending his own right arm and hand, palm open towards the sky. The boy suddenly raised his own arm and turned the hand around, just to move it down towards NarutoÆs open one, slapping it loudly. Naruto got confused by the strange gesture, staring at his hand in confusion. He then raised it to stare at the boy, to find that he was æwalkingÆ away. ôH-Hey?! What was that all about?!ö
ôTag. YouÆre it.ö Those were the only words he heard before the azure figure disappeared in the darkness that once more took a hold of his sensesà
Prologue
ôNghàö
It was something incredible how one never finished learning in his life. About everything around him, about his own selfà In NarutoÆs case, about his body. Never in his life he would have ever thought that his body could feel so heavy. His arms, in particular. They felt like they were as heavy as lead.
ôHowà How can this beà?ö His opponent was probably having his same thoughts. Long gone was the immortal who controlled the mighty Kyuubi. The first Uchiha, the last Uchiha. Madara. Long gone was the man who could control time and space with his techniques so to appear basically invincible. Both he and his opponent were now reduced to one desperate struggle, punching each other till someone fell.
ôà Ehà Tired?ö Naruto this time remembered to pull back his arm, actually adding some more force into it. The hit was strong enough to sent MadaraÆs face jerking to the right, hard. One tooth and more blood came flying out of his mouth. The Uchiha was shocked for two seconds. But he retaliated immediately, gritting his teeth. He didnÆt possess much physical strength compared to his younger opponent, but he had experience. He knew where to hit to hurt him. A lot.
ôAhhh!ö Naruto let out a little scream when Madara hit him in the stomach. Right at the mouth, making him shot his head forward because of the enormous pain. The Uchiha finds enough strength for another blow. He joins his hands and hits Naruto under the chin with all the strength he manages to gather. ôà!ö Soreness, pain, damage. Everything concentrates in one blow that sends Naruto stumbling back and then falling on his back. So weak was the blow and the two fighters. Naruto falls on his back slowly, like a doll.
The blonde finds himself on the ground, staring at the nigh sky, where once was the ceiling of the enormous cave where the fight had started. Now it was just a huge, smoking, burned crater. The immortal panted heavily, and his head slowly started to look around. All destroyed. It had been really a harsh battle.
Young Naruto had learned of a way to defeat him just after the sacrifice of many of his friends, who had tried to come before him. Last, the only other living Uchiha beside him. A young prodigy that he had wanted to raise as his own, but his plan backfired when he and his team had turned on him. No matter, of course. The boy had fought well, but against him, all had been useless.
But he had managed to leave a message. A message that young Naruto had managed to understand. He left him the secret of the Sharingan. The Sharingan, the Magenkyou Sharinganà It wasnÆt simple illusion, or nijutsu. The Sharingan made the user able to manipulate space and time to a certain extent.
Tsukuyomi manipulated space and time, moving an enemyÆs consciousness inside an alternate dimension over which just the one possessing the Sharingan had complete control. Was it born with the Sharingan or it had been always there? He himself didnÆt know.
Amaterasu manipulated space. He opened a portal from the deepest recesses of the TsukuyomiÆs dimension, its hell on heart, and from there unleashed the black flame that never stopped burning.
Susanooà Uchiha Itachi really was unique. If it hadnÆt been for his illness, he believed he would have surpassed him too. Truly the strongest Uchiha ever. Susanno was a time-space jutsu, a summoning jutsu. It allowed him to summon the god of the TsukuyomiÆs dimension to do battle for him.
As for Madaraà His eyes made him immortal. He had learned to manipulate space and time no longer just in the other dimension, but time and space of his own body, so closely connected to it after centuries. In battle he manipulated his own space, shifting parts of his body away to avoid damage. He lived so long because he had learned that even his own body could be subject to the SharinganÆs rule in the TsukuyomiÆs dimension. And as such, he always could keep it young.
The boy had learnedà And had come prepared. At first, the boy had managed to hit him a few times thanks to his Frog Katas. Even he couldnÆt predict something invisible, such as nature chakra. It was invisible even to his eyes. But he had never been one for close range combat, after all. After he unleashed Tsukuyomi on his feeble mind just as he threw his strongest technique, the Rasen Shuriken, he thought to have the battle wonà But little did he know that he hadnÆt been aiming at him at all, from the beginning. Its target had always been the statue where the other eight Bijuu had been trapped into.
The statue shattered to pieces and dust, releasing the enormous masses of sentient chakra, who not possessing a body, needing time to make one back, obeyed their basic instincts. They lunged at him. He screamed as demonic chakra ravaged his body, burned him to its very core, but most importantly, it infected his body and the area around him with an evil, foreign chakra. It made him cut off from the Tsukuyomi, from the other dimension, disturbing the delicate flow that existed between the two. He couldnÆt use his full powers anymore, and god knew if he ever would be able to again.
From there, things had escalated. Without his invulnerability, Madara was just like any other Uchiha. Techniques upon techniques had been unleashed, destroying the landscape around them, till they ended up spent, hitting each other like tired brawlers after minutes of fightingà And that exactly what had happened.
ôAnfà Anfàö The last Uchiha looked around himself, observing the destruction, understanding its implication. Understanding that for the first time in his life someone had pushed him over the edge. Someone had de-structured him. Hurt him more than he could have ever thought. Made him weak and vulnerable. He slowly turned his gaze back to Naruto. ôYouÆre incredibleà Boyàö
ô...ö Naruto just kept on staring at the sky, while Madara slowly limped towards himà And then kneeled down, wincing in pain from his injuries and broken bones while he picked up a kunai from the ground. It was damaged, broken, but it would be enough to cut its throat.
ôYou could have beenà You would have the title of æStrongest NinjaÆ in the storyà If I didnÆt existàö Madara said, slowly, gaining lots of breath between each little sentence, while he grasped the kunai with both hands. ôBut in the endà You met meà IÆm the immortal, Uchiha Madaraàö He slowly raised it above his head, ready to strike, to deal the final blowà Then, he gathered all his remaining strength and breath to arch his body to put strength in his blow and talk with a loud tone of voice. ôEveryone will end like you, before me!ö
ôYeahà On their back, on the ground, perfectly stillàö Naruto said while Madara lowered the kunaià Only for his face to met NarutoÆs one, which shot from the ground along with his hands. ôThe perfect conditionà To gather some Sage Chakra.ö
ôàö His mouth didnÆt open till too much blood gathered in his mouth for him to keep it closed. Interesting how the bleeding came first. Blood flowing out of every pore of his body before the other effects of his wind chakra happened. A little tornado, a messed up æTitanic RasenganÆ that he had conjured in his messed up condition, that first damaged everything inside MadaraÆs body and then sent his body flying up in the air and Naruto flying back further on the ground, every hit hurting his body more and more.
He stopped a few meters behind, his whole body hurting, his breath rasped and his eyelids threatening to close. But he couldnÆt let them close. Not before everything was over. Not beforeà Before Madara fell to the ground, lifeless, no longer any blood in him to lose, his face distorted in a mask of terror and pain, no sound coming from it. He observe him a bit more, waiting for any signs of a reactionà A reaction came. His neck gave in, it bended and lengthened in an unnatural way. There was no way he was still alive, now. He let his head fall to the ground.
ôà Ero-Sanninàö Naruto says, feeling his eyelids close slowly, batting a few times. ôI couldnÆtà Find a way to makeà Everyone get a long, butàö He laughed a bit sadly. He was too injured, maybe even for the furball, to survive this. ôIà Paved the wayàö He said, his eyelids finally closing, while in that closed space something finally happened.
The massive energy of all the bijuu had warped and weakened the dimensional fabric around them enough for it to be a little disaster. But with the disappearance of Madara, yet another thing happened. Missing the only link it had to the real world, the Tsukuyomi dimension reacted in an awful way, desperately trying to call back its loose link. A small spark of black lighting suddenly became bigger and louder, till a crack formed in mid air, a strong wind surfacing as the crack began to pull in everything he couldà Including Naruto.
--
In the meanwhile, in another placeà In another universe. In another æmultiverseÆ. Long ago the people living in that universe had discovered that there instead was a æmultiverseÆ. Many ultimate realities different or similar to each other, but all with some kind of same base. What they didnÆt know was that their one wasnÆt the only multiverse existing. And then, it disappeared. Following an incident, a crisis, caused by a creature called the æanti-monitorÆ, the multiverse became a single universe, dubbed æEarth-OneÆ.
But now, another crisis has come into place. Something that has been building up for a lot of time before reaching the breaking point. A spirit of vengeance became crazed and started a foolish crusade against everything magic. Earth-OneÆs mightiest villains joined together in a æSocietyÆ, carrying together a plan to mind-wipe all heroes existent. Gods of Myth tried to escape that universe before the crisis happened, uncaring about the lives and planets they destroyed. A galactic war erupted because of a crazed cult for a demonic god. A satellite who was supposed to help monitoring heart meta-humans got hijacked and perverted, before he broke freeà And became ruthless.
A huge, terrible situation caused by the action of some of the survivors of those other universes who got erased in that old crisis. Alexander Luthor from Earth-Three and Superboy-Prime from Earth-Prime. They believed that the world that got saved wasnÆt the right one, seeing how it had degraded over the course of time. They started to devise a plan once Kal-LÆs Lois Lane fell ill. That gave them the time and freedom to escape their æprisonÆ that Alexander himself had created and started working on a plan. To build a machine to basically rewrite an universe.
The machineÆs material was the Anti-MonitorÆs body. Its keys were a few specific individuals, that Alexander collected thanks to the Society that he created posing as that universeÆs own Lex Luthor. Its fuel was the worldÆs magic, made astray and chaotic by the maddened Spectre. The one to re-map the universe and redirect the stray magic would be the satellite Brother I, now Brother Eye, made sentient by Alexander. They re-aligned the center of the universe itself so it would coincide with Earth-TwoÆs one. All this to find and create the æperfect earthÆ.
But of course, heroes are known for putting up a fight. All over the universe, heroes fought back. In the end, their plan got stopped. At the cost of many lifes. The most prominent one being the one of Conner Kent, who gave up his life to destroy the very machine that was supposed to destroy their universe. But Alexander had a back up plan. If they couldnÆt find the perfect earth, they would just create one from the one already existent. That was what the Society was always meant to do.
The back up plan was a massive prison break of every villainous meta-human existent on the planet. After that, a massive attack on Metropolis, SupermanÆs city. It falls, the other will follow suit. But thanks to a group of still in maybe affiliation, the heroes managed to get their defences ready in time. So, that plan failed as well.
The only risk left was the crazy Superboy-Prime who had his own back-up plan. Causing another big bang by making the center of the universe, Oa, detonate. Leaving him the only thing alive, the only æheroÆ alive in the universe. But the universe he wanted to destroy still havenÆt given up fight.
ôCold?ö The barricade he had found in his way was maybe the entire Green Lanters corp. ôYou donÆt know cold.ö He gritted his teeth before before breathing out extremely cold air, freezing and shattering two Green Lanterns. Their rings flashed green and departed at high speed towards the deceased guardiansÆ space sector, searching for their replacements. ôCold is being the only survivor of an earth that was erased from history.ö
He then turned his heated gaze in another direction, unleashing an inferno of heat with just a glance, unleashing it on more Green Lanterns that were to be his victims that day. ôCold is being imprisoned because you tried to do the right thing.ö He gritted his teeth again, turning his attention to the rest of the group. ôCold is what this universe has made meà Nnng.ö
ôCode fifty-four, lanterns!ö A peculiar thing about the Green Lanternsà There should be just one for every space sector. But earth has more than three individuals possessing that kind of power. One of them was Guy Gardner. ôExcessive force has been approved! And encouraged for this cry baby.ö Brash. Probably brave. But today, weak against his newest opponent, who ignored his green blast of energy although it hurt him and grabbed him by his throat.
ôYouÆre rude and offensive, Guy Gardner.ö The crazy kryptonian said, while trying to break his neck with his hold, the only thing preventing it the force field created by the ring. ôI wonder who your ring is going to go to.ö
ôHis ring stays with him.ö Superboy-Prime cried out in pain as a green blast of energy cut through his armor and his arm, making him lose his grip on Gardner, courtesy of another one of the earthen Green Lanters. Hal Jordan. The kryptonian retaliated immediately, by lunging at the Green Lantern.
ôDonÆt pretend youÆre a good guy now. I saw what you did, Hal Jordan. YouÆre one of the most awful.ö He punched him in the face, with a strength that was enough to shift a planetÆs orbit. ôYouÆre a maniac!ö
But interference, intervention, came in the form of two blurs of red and blue that impacted him æfaster than a speeding bulletÆ, making him travel through space with them. He recognized the two faces. Superman of Earth-One, Kal-El. Superman of Earth-Two, Kal-L. ôWhere do you think youÆre going? Where?!ö They kept on pushing him, and he retaliated by punching them in the face. They didnÆt let up, neither of them. ôYou canÆt send me back into the speed force. YouÆre not fast enough.ö
His first thoughts were of course to the way they had imprisoned him first. But it took the efforts of all the Flash from past and future to do so. Then, suddenly, his vision was filled with green rocks. A smirk came to his face. ôOh, I see where youÆve brought me now. To the place this Krypton exploded.ö He then laughed in their faces, lowly. ôBut this Kryptonite isnÆt from my universe. It wonÆt hurt me. All youÆre going to do is kill this Superman.ö He said, looking at Kal-El with an amused smirkà Before laughing again. ôI mean, did you think these rocks would stop me? Hahahahaha!ö His laughter boomed again in the silent abysses of space. ôDid your really?ö
Nothing. Not a reply from his opponents who just kept on pushing him forward. That finally hit him as strange. They were just pushing him, holding him in place while looking at himà No, not at him. Just forwardà And he understood why, finally, when he felt an immense heat on his back, coming from behind him, feeling it on his skin even through his armor. He turned aroundà And found that their aim hadnÆt been the kryptonite fieldà But the red sun right behind it.
They dove straight through it, all three of them. The corona, the core, the nucleus burning their very skin and flesh during those we seconds of travel, before they got out of it. The two SupermanÆs hold broke and the three of them fell through the atmosphere of a nearby planet, slamming into the ground, creating three small craters.
ôàö The first to recover is Kal-El. He slowly crawls out of his own hole, and slowly gets back on his feet, his whole body hurting. Such a silenceà It really was over? But at yet another price? First Conner, nowà His eyes shifted to his Earth-TwoÆs counterpart still form. ôSupermanàö
ôDIE!ö He suddenly screamed in pain when heat-vision suddenly started to burn through his skin, hitting him in the back. He fell to his knees still screaming as Superboy-Prime let him know that he was still alive and kicking. ôDIE AND LEAVE THIS UNIVERSE TO ME!ö He said keeping on focusing his heat vision on him, wanting him to burn aliveà Before it began to fail him. The power and the range began to lessen little by little, like a car suddenly ending without fuel. His mouth opened, his whole face a mask of disbelief. ôMy heat vision?! WhatÆs happening?ö He said, his hands going instinctively for his head, worry getting a hold of him as Kal-El got a break to recover.
ôYouÆre losing!ö And Kal-L gave him the latest news, including the one that he too was alive and kicking, by slamming his fist at full force in his face, sending him flying for a few meters. Superboy-Prime at first didnÆt react, too dazed, too confusedà Too hypnotized by the sight of his own blood flowing by his nose.
ôMy armoràö He finally began to understand. ôThat red sun destroyed my armor.ö He started to breathe heavily, downing on him just what the effects of that trip through the sun had been. His glare settled on Kal-Là Who unfortunately, had two disadvantages. They were both Kryptonians, but he was older. And the red sun had started to take away his own superpowers as well. ôYou.ö Superboy-Prime sprung forward, æspearingÆ him, grabbing him by the waist and throwing him to the ground, rage and madness possessing him completely. ôYou took my superpowers?!ö
Then, he began to unleash his fury. Pinning Kal-L to the ground he began to hammer at him with both his fists, without mercy, without letting up. ôYou said the earth was dark and corrupted! You saw it all happen! You saw our sacrifice become pointless!ö He kept on throwing fists at his face, caving it in, blood flowing freely from the older SupermanÆs body, drenching his clothes and fists. ôLois died because of them! My earth died because of them! You have to understand why IÆm doing thisàö
ôUnderstand, Superboy?ö His right fist, ready to get lowered and hit its target again, got stopped by the wrist by a hand. A hand belonging to the now recovered Kal-El. Earth-OneÆs Superman pulled him away by his Earth-Two counterpart and threw him to the ground. ôYouÆre willing to destroy everything and everyone to feel what?ö Rage was now evident in his voice too, filling his every word. ôSpecial? Needed?!ö
ôI am special!ö On his face, Superboy-Prime took a hold of a big piece of Kryptonite laying on the ground. He turned around and smashed it against Kal-ElÆs face, sure that on him it would be effective in debilitating him. ôIÆm the only one who can rescue this messed-up universe!ö The blow was effective indeed. Now Kal-El ended on the ground as well, Superboy-Prime hands a vice around his neck, trying to pop him. ôIÆm the only one who knows how to make it right. I will be its greatest hero! When youÆre goneà I will be Superman!ö
ôà Superman?ö Maybe it was his pretentious words. Maybe just willpower. Kal-El seemed to be able to ignore the effect of the Kryptonite. His right hand shot forward to SuperboyÆs chest, grasping hard his symbol. He then pushed hard with his legs, ripping it off cleanly. ôYouÆll never be Superman! Because you have no idea what it means to be Superman!ö
ôYes, I do.ö Superboy-Prime landed on one knee, breathing heavily, blood marring his face. ôIÆm from Krypton! A better Krypton than yours ever was!ö
ôItÆs not about where you were born.ö Superman stood tall above his opponent, grasping tightly with his hand the symbol he had just stripped him of. ôOr what powers you have. Or what you wear on your chest.ö
ôSHUT UP!ö The younger Kryptonian reacted and send a left straight at SupermanÆs chin, with the last of his strength, it seemsà But it was time to end it. Because Kal-El felt his own strength starting to fade as well.
A left hook. A skyscraper would have crumbled. A right straight. A whole cityÆs glasses would have shattered. A left straight. That city would have been hit by a small earthquake. Another right straight. The ground would have opened in a fissure. Last hit. A powerful, left upper-cut. The echo of the ækraakÆ reached far, far away, miles in all directions. Superboy-PrimeÆs body flew in the air, a few feet above the groundà Before he fell, completely spent.
ôItÆs about what you doàö Superman said, his last strength spent, his breath heavyà The kryptonite starting to drain his very life force. He fell on his knees. ôà ItÆs about action.ö His knees and arms couldnÆt hold him anymore. He fell on the ground, face first in the dirt, fragments of kryptonite all around himà
ôThere they are.ö Before countless flashes of green light started to obliterate or transmutate them, ending the threat to his life. He didnÆt bother to look up, or maybe he just couldnÆt. He just kept his eyes closed while the whole Green Lantern corps and his other allies who could fly through space freely like him arrived on the planet.
ôLet me down now, John.ö One of the in particular was eager to land, seeing the form of her adoptive father on the ground, far more bloody and injured than the other two. Kara, alias Power-Girl. From Earth-Two, like Kal-L. The Green Lantern complied to her wishes while the other created a holding cell for the now unconscious Superboy-Prime. The menace finally over.
ôSuperman?ö The Martian Manhunter went to Kal-El, helping him back on his feet.
ôIÆm okay, JÆonn.ö He replied, even if he couldnÆt stand without leaning on the green martian. But his concern was for someone else. ôHowÆsàö
ôKal!ö Power-Girl had reached Kal-L, kneeling down beside him.
ôKaraàö His breath and voice were rasped. His body battered and injured. His life ending. He was dying. And yetà The Superman from Earth-Two was smiling. ôWe stopped himà Superman stopped him.ö
ôYouÆre going to be fine. You have to be fine.ö Kara said, feeling tears starting to gather in her eyes.
ôItÆs okay.ö Kal-L said, still smiling, assuring her that it was okay if he faded away.
ôNo. DonÆt leave me alone, Kal. Please, donÆt leave me alone again.ö She couldnÆt believe the injustice of it all. She had found someone understanding her and her memories after so longà And now the people that had given them those memories were all going away. She sniffed and put a hand to her face, holding it, trembling. ôIt canÆt end this way.ö
ôKaraà I finally understand.ö The dying kryptonian continued. ôI know what Lois was trying to tell me.ö He raised his right arm and hand, moving it to her left cheek. She held it close, tears now falling freely.
ôWhat are you talking about?ö She said, confusion joining sadness in her.
ôIÆll always be with you, Kara. Even if you canÆt see me. IÆll always be here.ö His strength began to give away for good, his hand retracting. Kara didnÆt let go of it, grasping it softly with both her own hands. ôItÆs never going to end. ItÆs never going to endà For usàö His gaze then wandered to the sky above, now darkened, myriads of stars shining brightly aboveà And yet, his gaze fixed on a single one. The brightest of all of them. Shining stronger than any other one. A single, final word came out of his mouth, realizing that she had been waiting for him. ôLoisàö He said, his final breath being the fuel of those words. His hand finally fell limp along with the rest of his body. Kal-L diedà Peace, freedom and love all finally in his grasp, as the people left behind cried him. A whole universe thankful. Thankful to a true hero. Thankful to Superman.
--
ôàö He felt like he had not opened his eyes in ages. And it took him a bit of time to gain focus on his surroundings. Mostly because of the surroundings themselves. His vision was just filled with black, filled with many bright, shining small white dotsà Then, other colours began to came into play. Red waves, yellow streaks passing byà He got back in a sitting position, looking around. ôà Where am I?ö
He slowly got back on his feet, recognizing that he didnÆt recognize his surroundings at all. It reminded him of the night skyà But it was more deep, biggerà And he was like he was into the night sky. There was no ground under his feet, just more space. And why he could see his reflection too? ôà What is ità Uh?ö
He then noticed something else. Those streaks of light, of various colours. Those werenÆt just lights. He could seeà Human shapes inside them. And while at first they were far away, some were now passing right beside him. Two on his sides. One green and one azure. ôH-Hey!ö He shouted, since he had seen clear human shapes inside those streaks of light. He instinctively shouted at them since they had passed by him a bit too close for comfort. ôWatch where youÆre going, idiot!ö
Suddenly, one of those two streaks stopped dead in his tracks. It stopped running. The azure one. And then it turned around towards him. He could finally make out a clear shape as the figure inside the light faced him. It was a boy maybe older than him. Definitely taller and more in shape than him, with short hair on his head. His choice of clothing was strange. Some kind of long sleeveled pants and a pair of shoes the likes of which he had never seen. And finally, the only thing he could make out a colour of because of how dark it was. A short-sleeveled black t-shirt, with a symbol on its chest. Probably dark red. The symbol wasà A big æSÆ.
ôàö The figure was staring at him and Naruto was just staring back. It was so normal, it felt so normalà He didnÆt know who had approached the other. All he knew was that the distance between them suddenly lessened, from a few tens of meters to maybe less than one. He didnÆt know exactly. ôà What is it?ö The blonde suddenly asked.
The S-boy suddenly extended his right arm and hand, opening it wide, the palm facing up. Naruto blinked and just stared at the extended appendage. It wasnÆt the pose for a hand-shake. He stared at it for a while before the boy moved his hand up and down briefly. Naruto blinked. ôMe too?ö The boy nodded. Naruto didnÆt understand but complied, extending his own right arm and hand, palm open towards the sky. The boy suddenly raised his own arm and turned the hand around, just to move it down towards NarutoÆs open one, slapping it loudly. Naruto got confused by the strange gesture, staring at his hand in confusion. He then raised it to stare at the boy, to find that he was æwalkingÆ away. ôH-Hey?! What was that all about?!ö
ôTag. YouÆre it.ö Those were the only words he heard before the azure figure disappeared in the darkness that once more took a hold of his sensesà
