Crimson Ties - Chapter 1 (Patreon)

Summary- In a world where Supervillains thrive and heroes are dispatched, all in all there was a lot of work to do. Particularly when LA's resident blonde vigilante enters the Phoenix program. Just what chaos would occur in a team full of criminals? Particularly with the red skinned demoness that seems to interested in him. (String powers) (Naruto/Malevola) (Naruto/Dispatch)

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Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Dispatch, or any other media I use in this story. They belong to their respective owners.

Crimson Ties - Chapter 1

The sun shone high above the city of angels, Los Angeles, the entertainment capital of the world. The heat was settling down in like a fire, which was only mitigated by the mid-day breeze swept in by the ocean. With a population of over 3.5 million, many people were walking about, enjoying such weather. Heroes, flying by, saving those from dangers that needed it. Being dispatched in moments of their calls, going wherever danger lay, whether that be providing first aid for an occurring car crash, saving a cat from a tree, or stopping a rampant supervillain from robbing the nearest bank. Heroes were always there to help those in need.

Surely, in such an eventful city, nobody would be able to ignore such occurrences, that was, of course… except for one person.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

A sound rang out throughout his apartment, room, one in which he only barely registered. The ringing pain seeped into him almost immediately, though it was only heightened by the active alarm blaring into his ear canals.

As he reached to turn it off, and missed.

"Fuck, come on…"

Beep. Beep. Be—.

"Thank you!" Naruto groaned, finally being able to hit the damn button.

It was in that moment that he was at a crossroads. Being at a point where he could either go back to sleep or wake up for the day. What time was it anyways? Hell, for that matter, he couldn't remember the day it was.

With a sigh, bright blue eyes opened themselves, seeing his apartment. Which was, by most accounts, a shitsty, not that he cared. Being filled with the bare minimum, with white walls, little furniture, a few dumbbells, and a pile of empty beer bottles and ramen containers off in the corner.

As he stretched himself, getting up from his mattress that laid on the floor without a bedframe, he groggily walked towards his bathroom. With the apartment only having a set of two rooms, that being his bedroom, and the connecting kitchen/dining room, he had leading to the door outside. Leading to countless amounts of apartments just like his in the complex. The rent was cheap, with a majority of the residents being either drug users, washed-up villains, or people with something to hide; he was the latter.

Reaching the bathroom, as he took a piss, he went straight towards the sinks to wash his face. Looking in the mirror, he spotted a familiar figure that was his own, that being a blonde male in his mid to late twenties, with tanned skin, a well-built, athletic body, and strange whisker-like markings across each of his cheeks. Dark circles were around his eyes, showing that he was severely hungover.

After he shaved his stubble, he took a quick hot shower, rinsing the drowsiness from himself. Though not his splitting headache, as he still felt his brain pounding against him.

"Damn… what the hell did I do last night?" he questioned, nursing his head as he left his bathroom.

And then, he became face-to-face with a man he didn't know sitting on his floor. A tanned man—not unlike his own, with long black hair tied in a ponytail and black eyes. He noticed a few peculiarities with his body, namely the fact that, unlike most people, he had about two more sets of arms than they would have liked. Though that wasn't the aspect he was paying attention to, seeing that the man was tied up in what could only be described as a strange, white, sticky substance around his torso and feet. He had never seen this man in his life.

As such, he could only question… why was there a person tied up in his kitchen?

"Who the fuck are you?" he asked him.

"Mmmmmm! Mmmmmm!" was his response.

Right, his mouth was covered, it looked like. So it wasn't like he was going to get an answer anytime soon.

As he made his way towards the confined stranger. Pulling what looked like a piece of cloth from his mouth, he reiterated his question.

"What the hell are you doing in my kitchen?" Naruto asked.

"Fuck you!" the stranger said with a glare.

"Alright then…" He shoved the gag right back into the man's mouth, letting him know he meant business. Waiting ten seconds, he pulled the wadded cloth back out. "Well?"

"Fuck man, do you have to keep doing that?" Naruto's glare told him all he needed to know. "You know, your socks taste like shit, I almost vomited in my mouth, it tasted so bad!"

"Huh?"

As Naruto looked at the gag he was holding, it was, as mentioned, a pair of his old socks that he had lying around. Go figure.

The blonde merely shrugged. "Alright, start talking!" Naruto ordered.

"Like hell!" And to emphasize the man's point, he opened his mouth, spitting a sticky substance that could only be described as a spider's web straight onto his face.

Naruto was not amused.

"Hehe! Take that, you bastard!" The man laughed.

The blonde was whipping the secreted fluid from his cheek, a scowl upon his lips. "Alright, you asked for this…"

"Asked for what?"

His response was Naruto taking the man and dragging him towards his apartment's balcony, of which he was on the 7th floor, as he hung him off to the side.

"Gonna talk?" was his only set of words.

"Look, man, you don't have the balls!"

He leaned him further off the edge.

"Alright, I don't have time to deal with this! Who the fuck are you?" Naruto questioned, and he wasn't joking this time. "You're a spider, right? Wonder if you got an exoskeleton durable enough to break your fall."

"Okay, Okay! I'll talk!" The man shouted. "My name is Kidomaru!" he answered, which only left Naruto more confused.

"I have no idea who the fuck you are," he said in a deadpan.

"At the docks, you were looking for my team. I stayed behind, and you took me down with your weird wire powers…" Kidomaru now explained, trying to jog his memory.

As it all came back to him. Right… that's what he was doing. He was investigating a group of supervillain drug peddlers who were popular in the underground. He encountered them late at the docks, and when the rest of his team escaped, Naruto took the man to his apartment so he could later question him.

This all was, of course, after he was shit-faced drunk at the time, though he was capable of handling a team of C-listers when things came down to it.

"Ah, now I remember… You tried to take my arm off," Naruto recalled. He pushed his thumb on a particularly delicate and fragile point on the man's shoulder.

"Ah! Ahhhh! Somebody, help me! This guy is fucking crazy!" Kidomaru shouted, nobody would come. Everyone in the area knew to keep their heads low.

"That's right, now are you waiting for me to talk about my daddy issues or some shit, or are you gonna tell me where the rest of your group is? Else my hand might slip trying to get it out of you," Naruto told the man.

Kidomaru gulped as he looked at the vigilante's grin.

He could tell the man was serious.

XXX

Warehouse 291.

A fucking warehouse. Why the fuck was it always a fucking warehouse? Didn't those things have like… any security? He felt like, if a villain wasn't staying in a warehouse, they were robbing a warehouse.

Nevertheless, deciding not to ponder the useless and sometimes downright idiotic ideologies and work ethics of the common criminal, he would much rather get to work.

Appearing at the dock, he was met with the view of several hundred crates of various reds and blues, finding enough grayish silver warehouses where he might get lost if he didn't know where he was going.

Honestly, at this point, he had half a mind to just open up any of the buildings; he knew he'd find a villain somewhere. But alas, things couldn't be that easy. This was getting rather troublesome, all things considered.

Now dressed in his sports combat outfit, which consisted of a set of black track-suit pants with a jacket on his torso with some orange on it, a pair of black combat boots, and a dark trench coat over it with a pair of orange fingerless gloves.

This was his 'Vigilante' outfit.

An occupation he's had for over a decade. Being the son of a former hero of Los Angeles, as well as a villainess, their union was rather unexpected, all things considered. Eventually, they settled down and had him as a child.

He was happy then. Life was good… up until things went down like they always did for a super like him.

"Just your average shitty superhero origin story," he remarked, not that he cared about being labeled a hero.

He wasn't a hero, far from it. Heroes were the ones in the spotlight, more responsible than he, or at least they should be. Nowadays, he wasn't sure that was the case, with the news always being quick to jump on the latest and most flashy 'hero' that came about. Not caring about whether they were truly good or just as bad as the villains they were defeating, whatever bumped up the numbers, he supposed.

A hero's debut was always the biggest story a reporter could make, that was, of course, discounting the hero's death. That always made the top pages; there was never anything else.

A vicious cycle that his family was put through, just another origin story.

But at this point, he was over it by now, the reporters trying to look into his father slowly went away, as his father fell back into obscurity for the outlets that printed a thousand pages a minute.

He fell out of the limelight, well, that was good… it was where he thrived.

As he laid his hand around a particular warehouse.

"291… This one."

As he got to work.

XXX

In the warehouse.

"Come on, where is that arachno-dickhead?! We've been waiting hours for him to return!" A voice yelled out angrily.

Inside the warehouse, there were three figures, the speaker of whom was a slightly short (4'10) woman with long dark pink hair, brown eyes, and a black ball cap. She wore a pair of blue jeans, a plain white t-shirt that she tied at her naval, and a black sports bra underneath.

The next was a slightly taller, pale man with long light grey hair that converted one of his eyes, as he wore a plain grey hoodie and pants. Although the strangest thing about his appearance was the fact that he, like Kidomaru, had extra appendages around his body. Namely, a second set of arms at his back and even another head behind his own, which was actually his twin brother, who had the ability to fuse himself into his body.

The final guy was a large, over 6 and a half feet tall, overweight man with an orange mohawk and orange eyes. He wore a wife-beater tank top and red cargo pants. Given his size, he did not doubt that this man was the group's 'strongman'.

"Come on, Tayuya, a woman shouldn't talk like that," Jirobo, the largest of the group, reprimanded, much to the female's anger.

"Tch, oh yeah, well you shouldn't be going for fourths at the all you can eat buffet, but here we are! I'm swearing like a fucking sailor, and you look like you're one good punch away from leaking hamburger helper all over the fucking floor, fatass!"

"Hmmm… well, at least I'm not rude."

"Rude? Well, I'll show you rude when I shove my flute straight up your fucking—"

"Enough, the two of you," came the voice of the 'third' occupant within the room. As he then turned towards their pink-haired companion. "Tayuya is right, Kidomaru has been gone for too long; it's best to assume that he is in a ditch somewhere," Sakon told them.

As Tayuya kicked a spare can on the ground, its sound crashed throughout the room. "Damn it! I knew we should have just jumped the fucker, leave it to Kidomaru and his tiny dick to end up screwing things up!"

"Relax, this just means there is more money in the game for us, and if that blonde bastard comes along, well—"

Squeltch!

As in an instant, several golden threads showed themselves surrounding the group, slicing through Sakon's arm in two. Though it would see with the rest of the group, Naruto wasn't so lucky, as Tayuya was able to react in time, dodging the incoming onslaught, as Jirobo's body was durable enough to sustain the damage, using his arm as a shield, as he found it wrapped in wire completely.

"Ah!" Sakon and Ukon yelled, gripping at his severed, bleeding arm with a grimace. "Fuck! He's here!" Looking all about to try to find a trace of their enemy.

"I don't give a fuck that he's here, we'll fucking kill him!"

"Hmmm…" Jirobo scowled, removing the strange wire from his arm as he did so.

"Where is he?!" Sakon shouted, not seeing a trace of the man. He looked up, and he looked around. All he could see was the darkness of the crates nearby, the lights flickering off, reducing their visibility.

"That's the thing… I'm everywhere!" His voice sounded.

"I got 'em!" Tayuya shouted, as right then Naruto appeared, attempting to deliver a vicious haymaker towards the woman, which she ducked, as Naruto threw a knee into her stomach.

As he went to follow up on his attack, only for Jirobo to speed towards him, Naruto backed off, trying to go back into the shadows, avoiding the large man for a more focused assault.

"He's trying to isolate us! Group up!" Sakon tried to say, not that his teammates didn't listen.

"I don't care what the fuck he's trying to do, I want his dick mounted to my wall!" Tayuya shouted, wiping the excess blood from her mouth.

"You know, I'm with the big guy, swearing like a shitty d-list underground rapper doesn't do anything for your likability," Naruto told her, which only got her madder.

"Fuck you! I'll show you my fucking musical talent, dickhead!" As she then took out her flute, getting ready to play a soundly tune.

"What the hell are you trying to do? Because I'll warn you, I'm not the type to use Beethoven to help me fall asleep."

Such a response was enough to cause a smirk to form on the girl's lips. "Oh, well, I'm just going to do this, ya knit fuckin' bastard!" As she sounded a song on her flute.

Crash!

As a nearby crate exploded to life, it revealed a giant monster, easily dwarfing the size of Jirobo. It had giant muscles, pale skin, and a blind fold upon its face, appearing like a giant monster who had taken all of the steroids.

"Say goodbye to my doki, bitch!" Tayuya grinned.

"Damn, and here I thought tubby was the ugliest one in the group."

"Hey!" Jirobo complained, as if he was actually hurt.

"It was a close contention, don't worry. The pedo-looking twink isn't doing much better!"

"Grrrr… Hey!" Sakon called out.

"I mean… Is he wrong?" Tayuya questioned as Jirobo shook his head.

"You all aren't fucking bastards, can't you see that I'm bleeding here!" the white haired male shouted.

"Right. So we'll kill this guy and take you to an underground doctor," Jirobo told him, as if losing a limb were a simple thing, not something to be taken lightly.

"I think that's going to be easier said than done…" Naruto's voice rang out, still hiding. But inside his mind was moving a thousand miles a minute, thinking of the situation before him. At this moment, he might have gotten a little over his head. Right here, he was fighting two powerhouses, as well as two obvious supers. Things weren't looking good.

Now, a normal person would retreat, but he knew that if he did that now, tracking the group down again would be next to impossible. With the elimination of Kidomaru, they would begin to be more cautious with their actions and try to lie low for the time being; he couldn't quite allow that.

Tayuya blew her flute once again, seemingly giving orders to the giant monster she had labeled as a 'doki.' He kept himself low, hiding in the field of many crates that surrounded them. A smirk etched itself onto the woman's face as she continued to play her song, the sound waves bouncing all around the building, alerting her to every location of every object in the warehouse.

"Found you, Fucker!" she shouted, as her doki rushed for Naruto's location, tossing and knocking around every nearby crate that could get in its way to reach him.

"Shit!" Naruto shouted, dodging the giant behemoth.

"Jirobo, now!" Tayuya yelled as the orange-haired man rushed towards Naruto as well to intercept him.

"Double shit!" he shouted once again, as he dodged Jorobo's vicious swipe, ducking in a roll right between the slower man's legs.

It was then that several golden threads showed themselves from his fingertips, his signature ability, the ability to spawn forth threads made from an unknown energy that were able to cut, as well as wrap around objects, allowing him to control their trajectory and position to wherever he wanted.

As he pulled on the wires, revealing the trap he had been setting up, his threads moving from the ceiling and the walls to attack both Sakon/Ukon and Tayuya, though it seemed the white haired male had learned from his lesson, as he was able to jump out of the way just in time. Tayuya wasn't so lucky, as she was then mounted to the wall by her torso, unable to break herself free.

As she continued to struggle to escape, trying to pull and push onto the string to no avail."Fuck! Hey, 2-in-1, get me the hell out of this damn thing!" She yelled, struggling.

"Alright, alright, you don't have to yell!" He said. The set of twins moved over towards her, pulling on the string as well, but it was a task that proved harder than most.

"Damn it! Just— Just give me my damn flute over there!" the girl, having dropped it when Naruto attacked her, and the androgenous male did just that.

Speaking of the blonde, he was out here fighting Jirobo—though he was lucky that Tayuya's doki was unable to move, now that he had incapacitated the user, though he was going to suspect that it wasn't going to be that way for long.

"Just stand still!" Jirobo cried, as Naruto weaved in between his attacks. He could tell the man was strong, of course, he could easily tell as such just from his height and build, and if he were to get hit by one of his strikes, it would probably hurt like hell—he elected not to get hit by them.

"Yeah, how about… no!" Naruto shouted as he molded another set of threads, launching them right towards Jirobo's leg as he was adjusting his weight, causing him to fall over onto the floor with a crash. As the male tried to weave his golden wires around the giant, he was unable to—only being able to wrap them around Jorobo's mouth. Turning, he heard a whistle from his far left. He saw Tayuya had once again regained her flute, the monstrous doki once again being on him.

"Rahhhh!" It shouted as it tried to swipe its large hands down onto Naruto.

Luckily, he was able to create a giant wall of his thread to intercept the swipe, should he end up on a smear on the floor for his troubles.

"Don't you guys ever give up? Come on, why can't you three make this easy on me?" Naruto complained, not that he was expecting them to do so.

"Not a chance in hell! Doki, rip his balls off!" Tayuya shouted as she played her flute, giving her monster such orders.

Naruto grimaced at the thought, as Jirobo finally managed to get up from his bindings, ripping the string off of his face with a grunt.

"It's the end of the line!" Sakon yelled, ready to get in on the action himself, as the three surrounded him.

As his response, Naruto merely threw his hands out, extending his golden string. "You guys are pretty annoying… No way in hell am I gonna be taken down by a couple of C-list drug peddlers."

"Hey! We also make some of the products too!" Tayuya argued.

"Oh please, none of you look like Jessie or Walter… well, he might look like Skylar," Naruto said, pointing right at Sakon.

"Hey!"

"What? You know it's true," Naruto shrugged. "Guy looks annoying as hell."

Tayuya thought about it. "...well, you think that's bad, you should hear this guy's music tastes."

"Tayuya, I'll have you know, dubstep is a real music genre!" Sakon shouted.

"Yeah, really shit," she snorted.

"She has a point, dubstep is only really good when you're half-drunk at a shitty EDM concert," Naruto told him.

"Man… you're so fucking right! He took us to this one festival in San Francisco and—"

"Enough!" Sakon finally shouted, getting sick and tired of the discussion being moved towards him. "Can we just get back to fighting this guy? Look, it's 3 against one and—"

"Hey!" A voice from Sakon's own back shouted. This was his twin brother, Ukon, who was more or less semi-permanently within his brother's body due to their unusual powers gained from their twin birth.

"Right… four of us."

"If we count Ukon, why don't we count my Doki? He's sure of a hell of alot better than your fucking cuddle buddy over there!"

"Do we count Tayuya? She's pretty much useless at this point," Jirobo pointed out, much to the female's ire.

"Useless?! I'll show you useless when my foot goes up your—!"

"Will everyone just shut the hell up! Who cares about how many people we got! The point is, we have more people than him! So we should win! There! How's that for math?!" Ukon yelled, finally having had enough of his incompetent team. Seriously, where the hell was Kidomaru when you needed him? With him gone, it was seriously lowering their Average IQ within the group.

"Yeah, maybe in quantity, but seriously not head-space," Naruto pointed out, and to emphasize his point, he showed them his hands, which he had been silently working out a way in his head to stop each of them.

As he smirked, jumping into the air and using his string to launch himself to the other side of the room, reeling where exactly he had planted his thread… right on Jirobo, when he had swiped at him earlier, directly wrapped around his forearm.

"What the?" Jirobo questioned, seeing as his hand was enstared, as Naruto pulled, sending the man stumbling forwards.

The trajectory of that landed his fist right in the middle of Sakon's face, an unfortunate turn of events to be sure, especially given the fact that his body was sent flying towards a wall, as he was knocked out.

"Ummm… Oooops?" Jirobo said, looking at his fist that had just launched his de facto 'leader' straight into unconsciousness.

"Good going, fat for brain! Now what the hell are you going to do?!" Tayuya shouted.

"Hmmmm… how about this?!" As Jirobo swung his tethered arm back, he pulled Naruto with all of his force.

"Oh fuck!" the blonde yelled, not being able to let go of his threads in time, as he was sent across the room again.

"There, wasn't that easy?" Jirobo said, sending a look towards his female companion, who only gave him the middle finger in return.

Naruto's body was sent skidding across the warehouse's pavement, being sent through a stray wooden crate nearby, erupting it into splinters.

"Ahh… That's going to— you know, that's going to hurt right fucking now, that fucking hurts now," Naruto groaned, taking himself up from the rubble.

"See, he's all tired now, can't do anything," his orange-haired opponent said.

"Whatever, let's just fucking finish him, before he gets up!"

"Too late," the orange head pointed out.

To see Naruto, slowly, getting up from the ground, having used his powers to strengthen himself before he hit the ground, not that it helped much. He still felt his body aching; he could still feel his bones creak, and his muscles cry out as soon as he got up.

Though he was certain of one thing. Jirobo hit like a truck, and he was sure he didn't want to get hit by that guy again.

"You know, you guys are really annoying…" Naruto told them, as blood started to leak from his mouth, which he wiped with his sleeve.

"Oh yeah? And what are you going to do about it?" Jirobo questioned, thinking the blonde was already down for the count.

"Hmmm… let's see, how about this?" He told them, as his golden wires started to reveal themselves from his fingertips, weaving them, framing them around as he flailed his arms in all sorts of directions. Shooting his web-like constructs of gold around, as they slashed in every which direction.

Boom!

Instantly, every object within a 20-meter radius of Naruto was torn to shreds, including his opponents.

"What the—" Jirobo tried to say, as he found threads attacking his body and forearms, which he used to shield himself.

Naruto's blonde hair shadowed his eyes as he got close to Jirobo, who threw a punch Naruto's way, who merely ducked under the large man, not aiming for him in the slightest. Weaving around him to attack his gian't companion, seeing as how he saw it as the easier threat, and something that would only get in his way if he were to attack Jirobo directly.

Such a faint was enough to catch Tayuya's control of her doki slightly off guard, as she reacted late, her Doki trying to grab his smaller figure, but it was too late. He was already too close.

"Let's see you try this!" Naruto told them, as he did something unexpected, something they wouldn't have been able to see coming. That was, he created a weapon, weaving his golden strings like light into form within his hands. As he made a spear, a lance of great proportion, driving it right into the Doki's chest, right where its heart would be.

Unfortunately, like most objects, the Doki was more of a puppet than anything, something that Tayuya used her musical-based talents to control. So it wasn't like destroying its 'heart' would do much of anything against it, luckily… that wasn't Naruto's plan, as he smirked.

Pulling his arm back, his string weapon embedded into the puppet warrior, the strings unraveled, exploding the Doki's insides completely.

Squeltch!

A tearing sound reverberated around the warehouse, courtesy of the Doki's body literally tearing apart from the inside out. So much so that its torso was severed from its legs, it it fell to the ground. Bisected.

"No shit, he just did that!" Tayuya said in disbelief, her strongest asset being utterly defeated by this man—monster! All she could say, he was like a monster.

"Tsk," Naruto sounded, as he then turned towards Jirobo. "Let's see if you can do better…" he said with a glare.

"Hmm…" Jirobo growled, taking the challenge.

As the blonde rushed for the man, using his smaller size and better speed to get close to him, weaving around his powerful strikes. Naruto uses his threads to stun and disorient the man, trying to slow him down even more. Jirobo took and shunning his wires away whenever he could, but even he found they were too much, several wrapping around his legs and forearms.

"Why, you little!" the orange-haired man shouted in anger, trying to catch Naruto, who was weaving around him, but it was to no avail.

The blonde was silent as he moved around Jirobo's back, as he did the unthinkable. Climbing and jumping upon the man's back, wrapping his string around the man's neck to try and choke him out.

"H-hey! Get off of me!" Jirobo shouted, pulling on Naruto's string with all his might, as he tried to stop Naruto from suffocating him. The blonde, using all of his strength to do the same, remained on the man's back as he tried to suffocate his opponent.

Jirobo's body failed to try to shake him off, even slamming his back into a nearby crate to try to knock Naruto down, but he still held strong.

"Ack!" Naruto shouted, as he could feel his muscles burning in the exertion. This would be his only shot at taking the large man down; he wasn't sure he would be able to use the move he used to take him down as he did with the Doki.

It was a battle of Naruto's determination and Jirobo's strength, the blonde string user pulling with all his might as the string reached his opponent's neck, slowly suffocating him, depriving him of oxygen.

"Rahhhh!" He cried out, feeling every bit of force Jirobo used to try to pry him away. His shoulders wanted to give out; even now, he could feel his bones being pulled, but he didn't relent.

And just then, when he felt his own body start to give way into unconsciousness from pushing himself… Jirobo's eyes fell to the back of his head, as he started to fall onto the ground, taking Naruto with him in a heap.

Silence was all that remained, and Tayuya couldn't believe what had just happened.

"Did he just…" She couldn't help but question. Did they win? Right now, she didn't feel like a winner, nor did she think that any of her other companions did. Each one of them was unconscious, her Doki bisected in two, and where the hell was Kidomaru? Surely he couldn't be… dead, now could he?

Even now, she didn't know; she didn't have an answer to her question, as she was the only one conscious in the warehouse that they had taken as their own unique little hideout. Such a nice warehouse it was, ready to take in whatever fresh supervillain it wanted easily. Yet here, she was alone.

"Aghhh… my head," Naruto groaned out, his voice breaking all the quietness of the room.

And it seemed she was proved wrong.

Tayuya couldn't believe it. Naruto was still conscious, even after taking down their entire group. As his body started to rise, at first it was slowly, like a zombie, the undead turning about, walking as if it were among the living. Audible creaks and moans made themselves known, and she heard them all. His body moved upright, twisting and turning, and his body adjusted, and then he saw her.

"Damn, almost forgot about you," he said in his undead form, his arm a few inches too far from his shoulder than where it should be. He noticed this, as he told hold of it, an audible crunch was heard as he realigned his broken figure.

Tayuya's brown orbs started to widen as she started to take hold of her flute, ready to play some sort of song that she hoped could hope to stop the man.

"I'll be taking that…" Naruto said, as he used his strings to take hold of her flute, and with it her only chance of escaping that night.

She wanted to scream, fear starting to leak into her, though for the first time that night she was silent, an oddity for the sailor-mouth wearing girl to be sure, and an unwelcome one.

Naruto got so close she could see the slight amount of blood dripping from his head, not that he minded, as he smiled towards her. Actually smiled! Such an expression was enough to nearly cause her to piss herself.

Then his rugged voice rose, "You are so used to making noise? Well then, let's talk… I'm looking for a man with blood red eyes. Have you seen him?" He spoke in his inhuman tone.

Truly, a monster indeed.

XXX

Nothing…

Absolutely fucking nothing.

Not a word about what he wanted to find. Not a rumor of the man he was hunting, nobody.

He would say he was shocked, but he wasn't. In all his years of searching for the man who killed his parents right in front of him, nothing had turned about. There wasn't any police reports, any evidence that the man even existed. Hell, if it wasn't for him seeing the man with his very own eyes, he wouldn't believe him to be real. Just a ghost, a specter of the night. Well, he was beginning to find out just how big the world really was; who was to say a ghost hadn't been the one to kill his parents? And he would be just the man to find him.

Nevertheless, those C-listers had been tough, tougher than usual thugs, and they were well coordinated. The only reason he had been able to take them on so easily was that they were missing their leader. Otherwise, if they had a good tactician, he would find it all the harder to take them out.

Speaking of Kidomaru, he merely tied the man up somewhere for the police to find him, giving them a call, keeping him far enough so as not to give him any suspicion of the matter. As he merely did the same with the rest of his crew, locking up Tayuya, Jirobo, and whatever Sakon and Ukon were, he was lucky not to be able to see what they could do. Calling the police to bust out what they could; he already got what he wanted, or lack thereof, and didn't need the crew anymore.

So that begged the question: where did he go afterwards?

Well, his body was still aching, and his shoulder might very well have been broken after pulling out such a feat of strength against a man who could toss people around like ragdolls. So he went to the best place he knew could soothe his soul, the bar.

Pulling up in a shady pub east of the bay, within Torrence. 'The Sardine,' or whatever it was called, was a shitty villain bar where the lowest of the low resided, and he fit right in.

Giving the man at the door a sizable sum to let him in, he was met with the harsh smell of alcohol, sweat, piss, and a whole lot more he would rather not want to register at the moment. As villains alike gave him a passing glance, not that he cared, the noise of harsh underground music filled his ears, probably from some shitty upstart duo that nobody had actually heard the name of.

As lizard men, people with enhanced cybernetics, assassins, thieves, crooks, and scoundrels filled his surroundings. Hell, there was even a demon woman he could see off in the middle, doing the round-ups, and arm-wrestling at a table over there. Some people he knew, some he didn't; he didn't quite have the energy to identify them all, and if he were going to make a list of all of their crimes, he might as well be here the rest of the night—not that he wasn't already planning on it.

It was getting rather dark, all things considered, and his little rendezvous with the sound three—formerly four, had eaten at most of the daylight.

So now all he was left to do was to sit and along the bar, and tend to his wounds. Walking up to the nearby barstool in the back, he made quick work of getting the bartender's attention, a rugged-looking street urchin who would probably get his head popped off from saying the wrong words one day. As he quickly downed the shittiest whiskey money could buy, the familiar burn laced his throat, though he didn't care to taste the concoction so much as shoving it down his throat as fast as he could.

Placing the emptied glass down onto the bar, a hefty sigh escaped his lips.

He cast a small glance up towards his left, looking at the television mounted to the wall, one that was going over a pretty sizeable news story. As he narrowed his eyes, looking at it, he saw the usual pretty newswoman reporting in what seemed to be a suburban area.

"This just in, numerous reports of an unidentified flying object exploding within the sky reached our way earlier this morning. The aircraft has since been identified as the Giant flying mecha-suit belonging to Mecha-Man, the third-generation hero who protected the greater Los-Angeles area from the bulwark of organized crime. Though the unfortunate causes of such a disaster are still unknown, as well as the condition of the superhero who risked his life time and time again. We have gotten reports that he was found alive, though in critical condition, as he was rushed to the downtown hospital for emergency treatment, where he resides today. Let's go to some of the interviews we conducted on such an event…"

Naruto stopped paying attention to the news feed after that, just a bunch of unknowing civilians who didn't know any better, trying to speculate about what happened. Trying to say that Mecha-man's suit had been 'hijacked' or 'taken over by aliens' or it had been a 'self-inflicted stunt to prevent the FBI from gaining a hold of the futuristic tech of the mechsuit'. It was all a bunch of bullshit; he had better use of his time than listening to it.

He did know about Mecha-man— knew of him at least. After all, who hadn't? At least for those who lived in the downtown San-Francisco area. Everyone heard the tale, one of a man who made an entire mech-supersuit in a time when supervillain crime was on the rise, as he singlehandedly lowered the crime rate by at least 80% in his area. Though it would seem one day he bit off more than he could chew, leading him to die in such a mechsuit. Later, his son would take the reins, taking hold of a bigger area and joining a team of superhero folk alike called 'The Brave Brigade.' Only he would later perish the same way— being betrayed in his suit by one of his former teammates, leading to the Third generation of Mech-man. And if rumors around town were to be believed, it was only a matter of time for this third one to die within the suit.

"Eh, par for the course, I guess," he muttered, more to himself than anything.

"Unexpected, right? I heard people who witnessed the explosion thought it was the end of the world. Can you believe that? The explosion, not the end the world, that's pretty plausible," A voice spoke, it was feminine, though holding a strange accent he didn't quite recognise.

As the blonde turned his head, and if he were any less of a man, he would have done a double-take. Though he looked at the woman, staring at her, keeping her eyes on her frame.

To put it simply, her form was easily inhuman, ethereal in a way, though not angelic—not at all— quite the opposite, in fact. As she seemed more like a devil than anything, a demon, or a succubus, and a part of him, he would admit, he was ensnared.

She was, without a doubt, one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen, perhaps even the most beautiful, if he were being honest. She had red skin, smooth like fire, and just as crimson. She was tall, taller than him even, and if he were judging correctly, she was about 199cm or about 6'6 (which was taller than him by at least half a foot). With dark midnight hair as black as the night, and all-seeing, pupil-less, bright yellow orbs that seemed deeply inhuman stared back at him. She had two horns protruding from her head, pointed red ears, and a long red tail with a pointed end at her back that seemed demonic in nature. As the woman was dressed in nothing but a plain white leotard, jean shorts, and black high heels, something that did nothing to hide her figure. Evident muscles, thicc hardened legs and thighs, wide hips, slim waist, and rather sizeable bust that her shirt made no notion of concealing.

He looked back up at her, after taking note of her body, though she seemed to take notice of this. As a smirk graced her dark red lips, which showed nicely across her heart-shaped face, though she didn't comment on his staring, just letting him know he had been caught was enough for her.

As Naruto recalled her words, remembering what she had initially said to him, "Maybe, though I'm not really an arbiter of such an event. Though— I'm sorry… just who are you?" he questioned, narrowing his eyes slightly.

It wasn't like he was some sort of childish schoolboy; he could hold a conversation with the woman, even if she was—without a doubt—very attractive to him. Having a sort of illicit allure, like a child clamoring to a cookie jar, holding an incentive in such forbidden action.

The woman sat next to him, towards his right, on a nearby barstool. "Ah, right, forgot to exchange those, name's Malevola, and yours?" She introduced. He found it oddly fitting, and he should have expected as such, given her appearance. I mean, it wouldn't be all that common for someone to name an actual demon something normal, like Susan, or Helen. No, her name was unique, utterly fitting her greater-than-exotic appearance.

"Naruto," he told her, his hand itching towards his empty glass container, feeling it far too empty for his liking.

"Ha!" a small giggle reached his lips, a sound that wasn't all too feminine, or all too masculine, but something in between. "So that's your name? Doesn't it refer to some type of Ramen ingredient?" She questioned, 'Malevola,' as she introduced herself.

"Hey, what's wrong with ramen?" he shrugged, not being bothered by his name in the slightest, and besides, it wasn't like he hadn't heard the joke before.

Malevola's lips quirked into somewhat of a smile, "Well, I didn't say it was a bad thing, it builds character. And besides, doesn't your name also mean Maelstrom? That's not a bad name, amirite?"

It was time for Naruto's lips to rise, "Better than the name 'Malevolva' for a demon woman?" he questioned.

"Half-demon, actually," she corrected.

As Naruto raised an eyebrow, "Oh, is that so?" Idly, he wondered how that quite worked out, but it seemed Malevola was more than willing to share."Yeah, dad got roped into a summoning ritual by some cult who kidnapped him, ended up meeting my mother, sold his soul once he died, and about nine months later, I was born. Mostly my dad raised me, but I talk to my mother every now and then, so it's not too bad," she explained.

Though it still left one kind of question in his mind about the whole ordeal, "what kind of person is willing to sell their soul to get into bed with a demon?" he said, more to himself than anything.

"My mother looks pretty much exactly like me, you do the math," she told him.

"..."

His silence was more than telling, as he gave Malevola another once over, and he indeed was realizing that the woman in front of him was perhaps one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen.

Yeah, he could totally understand someone selling off their soul for a woman like her.

A small part of him wondered if he, too, could do the same… although he realized that notion was stupid, and cast that thought to the side in favor of more productive, easier thoughts that wouldn't get his soul taken. Yeah, that would probably be the best; he still had a job to do, and he'd rather such an even not get in the way of it.

Though he cast his gaze to the side, he felt a little hotter under his collar than he would have liked.

"Cough cough H-hey waiter, can I get another glass?" he signalled, coughing into his fist to try and relieve some of his tension.

"And another!" the woman at his side signalled, Malevola noticing his slight amount of nervousness, as she smirked at such a reaction.

"I'm coming, I'm coming… lucky bastard…" the bartender told them, pouring them each another glass of the shittiest whisky money could buy, muttering the last part to himself more than anything. Why was it always the blondes who had the best luck? What he wouldn't give to bag such a piece of demoness ass like that, he thought to himself, wallowing in his pity.

As both of them took hold of their cups, they downed them without a second thought. Though it was worth noting that Malevola had finished her cup of iced bourbon slightly faster than the blonde, a task she took great pleasure in pointing out.

"Not bad, could use a bit more work on ya," Malevola told him.

As Naruto too finished his drink, "Yeah, well, you aren't so bad for yourself." In more ways than one, in his vast experience in participating in one of the world's oldest pastimes, he could count on one hand the number of people who could outspeed him when it came to the activity. And if the feeling he got about the woman was correct, she would also give him a run for his money as far as tolerance was concerned.

The blonde continued to sink into himself and his company, as he noticed the news broadcast only continued with the story it had been telling.

"This just in, it would seem that we have gotten word on Mech-Man Blue's status from the hospital, as it would seem that after being taken to the ICU and given emergency surgery, the doctors have confirmed that the most dangerous time has since been upon us. Though it is unclear when he might wake up, and even if the Third-Generation of Mecha-man will be able to return to active hero-duty, seeing as how his mech suit was destroyed in its explosion. Reporters have yet to confirm whether anything was found within the wreckage, finding that… "

"Wow, would you believe it, I know a guy who was taken down by the guy, real pain in the ass that fucker. I know he would've liked taking a crack at the man, shame the guy's takin' a sleep right now," she mused.

"Yeah, a shame…" he mentioned, playing with his glass, thinking of the situation.

"You know the bastard?" she asked with an eyebrow.

Though Naruto only shook his head, "Not personally, no. But I've come across people who faced him and described him as a real monster in that armor. Just suppose it's to be expected given the suit's history, sucks that he'll probably have to quit, but at least he didn't die in it."

"I suppose you're right. Guy probably had some balls to go out there so many times, facing off against supervillains as he did. You know, one time I heard he had to face off a guy that was a wall— a literal wall! Madman tried to attack a baseball stadium like some kind of fucking idiot."

Naruto snorted, "You think that's bad, I once fought a guy who fought with nothing but condiments."

"Bet that must have sucked, dinnit!"

"Like you wouldn't believe, my shirt smelled like ketchup and mustard for weeks!"

"Hahaha!" Malevola laughed; he found himself laughing as well. Something he hadn't quite done in a while, he didn't mind the feeling.

As soon as the laughter died down, both were left with a comfortable silence between them, one that was soon broken by the demonic woman he had taken companionship with.

"Well then, you seem like you get around. Who was the strongest guy you've taken out, you reckon?" she wondered.

Naruto thought about it, though he knew what the answer was for him. "I once fought a guy who could turn into a pretty big snake, dude was fucking nuts with all the shitty things he did. Tore up kids and shit. You?"

"Wow, he should be glad you got to him before I did… as for mine? I fought a pretty big guy who resembled a crocodile in the sewers. Once he caught sight of me realized he wanted a piece, and wouldn't take no for an answer, so I made quick work of him," Malevola recalled.

Naruto whistled at her answer. He was pretty sure he had heard about an event like that, some giant killer crocodile man terrorizing women, among other things. Nevertheless, he was glad the man had been put down when he did.

As the woman looked over to her side, paying attention to one of the nearby tables that had opened up, a place where he had previously seen the woman competing in arm wrestling matches with some others.

"What do you say about proving if you're not all talk, eh? How about a bit of a match?" she proposed, getting up. "That is… unless you think I'm too much for you to handle~." the demoness teased.

"Sure, why not? I'm game." Naruto shrugged, though he had seen the woman make quick work of the men she had been facing. He only hoped he could do better in that regard.

And soon enough, the two were at opposite ends of one of the tables, hand in hand, a smirk lacing Malevola's features. As Naruto paid attention to her outstretched arm, one that was well muscled, even more so than his. Now, don't get him wrong, he was no slouch, and regularly worked out whenever he could. But in terms of sheer physicality, Malevola even had him beat. He wondered if a part of it was her demonic genetics, but he wasn't one to blame them entirely. No, he could tell that her physique was mainly built from the woman's own efforts, which only made her more alluring.

"Think you can keep up?" She questioned haughtily.

"Bring it on," Naruto smirked as well, though inwardly he knew that it would be a challenge, even for him. He wasn't quite one to overpower his opponents, not when it mattered most, usually using his abilities when it came down to it— that and his quick wit and cunning— to give him an edge.

His lack of hesitation was something that only fueled Malevola's vigor. Now, usually the men she faced were overconfident and brutish, often overestimating her abilities, and that gave her the edge when it came down to it. The more ignorant and bigoted men thought that they could never be taken down by a woman, even one as big and as hard-working as her, so they didn't even have to try. She hated people like that; thoughts didn't mind the man before her. Because, unlike those men, he recognised the threat before him, and could only be more enthusiastic about it.

'Not bad, let's see what else he's got,' she thought to herself.

A countdown was ignited, and there were a few onlookers who turned their heads, not entirely paying attention but not looking away. The smartest among them doubted that Naruto would stand a chance against the woman, having seen her take down men twice his size in such a contest. So it was easy money to bet against him.

'3…2…1…'

Both pushed on one another, and immediately, Naruto felt the intense pull in the opposite direction, as he too tried to push as best as he could. His muscles buckled almost immediately as his elbow ground into the bar table, made of a mix of shitty wood and an unidentified sticky substance that clung to him. Though he wasn't paying attention to that right now, as he felt himself push even harder. Using his biceps, his brachialis, his triceps, and his deltoids, and pretty much every other muscle he could manage to pull the edge out.

As Naruto's own muscles flared, burning with ignition, but he wasn't even sure that was enough, Malevola's own hand coiling around him even harder, sinking deeper into the action, neither budging. The blonde felt his shoulder starting to give in, as his own eyes locked with the demoness' pale yellows, and he didn't know how, but even without her pupils, she could tell there was a taunting glint in her eye, as if she knew how much pain he was feeling. Seeing the small amount of sweat boil down his brow, she noticed this and could tell he was feeling troubled. Which only fueled her ambition, a grin forming upon her black lips.

Naruto's hand moved slightly, not for the better, then again, then again. Naruto truly felt himself on the back burner, and he was slowly losing his steam.

"You seem troubled," Malevola pointed out. "Aren't you going to give up so soon, are we?" she teased, Naruto locking into her gaze.

Then, as if gaining a second wind, Naruto's hand righted his position, moving his arm back into the middle as their game was begun anew.

Malevola was actually surprised by this, trying even harder. 'Alright, maybe there's more to this guy than I thought. I like that~' she thought licking her lips.

But even so, under Malevola's enhanced demonic strength, he still wasn't a match, and he was slowly leaning once again. He noticed this, Malevola noticed this, and even the crowd noticed it. It was only a matter of time. Naruto was still slightly injured from his earlier battle, and even if he was 100% he wasn't sure he could beat her when it came to pure physicality.

With a grunt, Naruto gave his final bit of strength, Malevola doing the same, matching it.

And what happened next was truly unexpected…

Crack!

As their table shattered under both of their strength, it was torn apart under the pressure and split anew, much to their shock.

"Whoa, never seen that happen!" Malevola pointed out as both let go of the other.

"Yeah, kinda glad it did, not sure how much longer I could've held out," the blonde admitted.

"I'm just a little surprised you lasted so long. How'd you do it?"

"What?" Naruto blinked.

"C'mon, I've seen guys double your size not last as long as you did. Out with it, let me know what you did, will ya?" She pointed out.

"You got me…" he admitted, he said, raising his hands placatingly. "You see this…?" Naruto questioned, gesturing to his fingers stretched out towards the air, as the woman narrowed her gaze.

Eyeing the blonde, as she saw, nearly imperceptibly, several small golden threads that she had missed outstretching towards a nearby wall, one directly adjacent to the direction where Naruto had been pushing.

So, he had been using his threads to adjust his grip and keep himself in the running? Not bad.

"Alright, neat trick. I'll bite, what can you do?" She wasn't going to reprimand him, not here, of all places. This was a villain bar, where you used pretty much every advantage you could to win. It followed the rules of 'if you aren't cheating, you aren't trying,' and if you didn't spot a cheater, then it was a fair game. Of course, if you did get spotted cheating and manage to piss off the person you were going against, then that was your business, and you had to face the consequences.

"I can create these threads around my hands and fingers; they're actually pretty useful. I can create objects, or just use them to stick to walls and stuff or just help me pull or push things," Naruto explained.

"They're sharp, aren't they?" Malevola noted, before taking the threads into her fingertips, feeling their sharpness. "Wow… not bad," she whistled.

"Yeah, they're actually pretty strong, and I can make them pretty thin so that not many people end up noticing them."

"Alright, you showed me your trick, guess I should show you mine…" She reasoned. "You see that bottle over there?" as she pointed towards a bottle of high-end liquor behind the bar. He nodded as she smirked. "Watch this, babes."

And he watched the bartender go off in another direction, which gave the woman just the chance that she needed to take hold of it. Seeing a small red portal forming under the bottle, like a tear through space and time, and the universe itself was changing to fit her needs—the bottle disappearing, as a similar portal arrived right next to Malevola. Within a second later, she had the bottle in her hand, a smile upon her face as she caught it.

"There we are, right as rain," Malevola said, opening the bottle, as she took a sip of it. Giving a harty moan, as the liquid ran down her throat, he watched it go down, her throat convulsing as it did so. "Want some?"

"Alright?" Naruto shrugged, taking a hold of the bottle and guzzling it down much the same as she did. The earthy concoction tastes about a hundred times better than the shitty whisky he had been drinking. "Hoho! Damn!" he couldn't help but say.

"I know, right?" Mal grinned. "Knew I'd have you clocked for someone who knows how to have a good time!"

"Oh?" Naruto raised an eyebrow. "What makes you say that?"

That only made Malevola smile more, "Tis' the nose," she said, pointing to her red nostrils. "We demons can sniff out interesting people, people with high life force—or other demons, of course. Sure, most of the time it's so we can steal their souls, but I got the feelin' you'd be better than all of these other blokes," she said, pointing towards the rest of the others in the bar.

"Fuck you!" some of them shouted.

"Yeah, well, go fuck yourselves as well!" Mal shouted, sticking her tongue out as she gave them the finger. Naruto saw that it was rather long, much longer than he expected— likely due to her demonic heritage— though he didn't comment on it. No, he was more concerned about Malevola's words, thinking on them.

As she turned to him again, "So anyways…"

"I'm… not sure how I should feel about all that, demons being attracted to me wanting to steal my soul," he admitted.

"Well, who says I'm attracted?" Malevola teased.

Naruto felt a literal gut punch in his stomach. Coughing nervously into his fist, "W-well, I didn't mean—" As he felt a hand rub against his forearm.

"Well… who says I'm not~?" she said seductively, licking her lips with her rather sizeable tongue.

Naruto felt small under her gaze, like he would be devoured right there and now, having his soul sucked deep within… and perhaps something else.

She made him feel like a small virgin schoolboy, and he didn't know why. It was just something about her that set him on edge in the best ways possible. A part of him wanted to turn away, but Malevola's red fingers moved his head to meet hers, grasping his chin.

"Hey!" A voice called out to them.

Though he didn't give him a mind, he liked this woman. And he could tell she made him feel crazy.

"Hey!" they called out again.

"A little busy here!" Naruto told them, trying not to ruin the mood.

"Fucker, I'm talking to you!"

Both of them realized this wasn't something that they could ignore, as Naruto's head turned.

He saw two men, who were covered head to toe in black clothing, emphasis on covered. As two men with matching dark purple clothes, a vest with a white shirt underneath, and a bandana around their mouths and heads, one of them wearing sunglasses, the other wearing seeing glasses.

"Can you guys please go somewhere else? I'm not really in the mood…" Naruto, he told them, as he tried to talk to Malevola once again. "Now, where were we?" he said with a smile.

"How cute~" Malevola winked towards him.

"Like hell we'll go somewhere else!" one of them said, trying to reach for Naruto's shoulder. The blonde dodged it, an angry look on his features, as Malevola looked on curiously, wondering who these people were.

A thought Naruto reciprocated, "Alright, I'll bite, just who the fuck are you guys?"

"You mean you don't remember us?" the glasses-wearing one said in a gruff voice.

"My name is Yoroi, and that's Misumi!" the other one introduced.

"Yeah, still not ringing a bell," Naruto told them, genuinely not knowing what he had done to these guys.

"You fought us, about two months ago," the male named 'Yoroi' said.

"In an alley," the other added.

"That… doesn't narrow it down," he told them honestly.

"Yeah! Well, maybe this will jog your memory!" Misumi shouted angrily as he lifted up his mask, revealing the fact that both of their faces were grotesque and misshapen.

"Wicked!" Malevola shouted.

"Yeash!... that's not a face your mother can love," Naruto recoiled at the sight. "Who did that to you?"

"Yeah, you did this!"

"You tied us on top of a wall, and we ended up falling face-first! All because we were trying to ring out the bank on 21st street!"

"Oh yeah…" Naruto said, recalling the incident, two idiots in purple and white outfits trying to rob a bank, he tied them up. And they probably fell because of all the squirming. Inwardly, he shrugged; it wasn't his problem that they were afraid of heights.

"How are you doing, by the way?" the blonde asked.

"Horrible!" They both shouted.

"And it's all because of you, Gold Weaver!" Yoroi spat angrily.

"Well, I don't know if it's entirely my fault—"

Slam!

Naruto was surprised to see a fist fly by courtesy of Malevola, whose fist smacked right into Misumi's glasses-wearing face. It was strange, his face was alot more malleable than it was supposed to be, nearly coiling around the demon woman's fist as she punched him, knocking him back.

As the man stumbled right into a man who looked like a dragon. "Watch it, bub!" the man said, pushing him into another man next to him.

"Hey!" the other drunkard shouted, pushing the man away as he took a swing at the dragon man, which set off a chain reaction of more fights, leading to the whole bar getting entangled in a large fight. With people kicking, screaming, punching, doing lines, drinking and pretty much everything that you would expect them to do in this kind of joint.

Naruto turned to her, looking, but she merely shrugged. "What? It was going to turn out like this anyway!" she reasoned.

"I suppose you're right," The blonde sighed, though he could see her reasoning and neglected to comment on it.

"Why you fucking bitch!" Yoroi shouted, charging for Malevola, who did a spin kick that sent him flying.

"Whoa," Naruto whistles at his trajectory.

"Rahhh!" she roared. As he saw Malevola retrieve a giant crimson sword from her portals, she leaped into the fight.

"Alright then!" Naruto shrugged, deciding he might as well get in on the action. Just in time, as a man with a fish face got real close and personal to him.

Forming a pair of golden gauntlets woven by his threads into his fists, he sucker punched the fish man so hard he was knocked to the ground in an instant.

"Let's go have some fun!" he smirked.

Jumping into the chaos.

XXX

Some time later.

Naruto was drunk.

Drunk enough that he couldn't quite make out where he was, and what he was doing.

It was dark, the moon sorely risen. He had left the bar and was now merely walking on the sidewalk. He didn't know where he was going, and he didn't quite feel like heading towards his apartment, or even turning in for the night. Merely taking in the cold California breeze across his skin, strolling in the hours of moonlight.

It was a shame; he had lost track of Malevola in the bar fight, not knowing where she went. She was interesting, among other things, though as far as he was concerned, he might end up coming across her again. Just as long as things remained interesting in his life.

His body ached, his muscles even more sore than they had been. Taking a few stray shots when he hadn't been expecting them at the bar, not to mention his earlier injury, taking out that gang he had met. A part of him felt like he would collapse right here and now; it wasn't the first time he had woken up in an alleyway, so he thought he might as well take refuge in one.

But he couldn't find himself going back to his home, so he moved along. Trudging upon the sidewalk without a care in the world, the stars above him were among the night sky. It was a full moon out tonight, perfect for a night of wandering around. The wind flows through his blonde locks, grazing his tanned skin.

In many ways, he felt in his element, not having a care in the world. Although he supposed that might just be the alcohol talking in his system.

Round up a few burglars or no good criminals, maybe even find punks in a gang that he could take down, and ask them a few questions. Maybe steal a few dollars, or whatever they had taken— whatever they had on them, really, he wasn't going to complain, just enough to make ends meet, pay for booze and food, or whatever he wanted. Hell, it wasn't like they were going to use it where they were going.

After he went to call a dispatcher or the police or whoever it would be to round the people he caught up with—which he'd usually do all day— then he'd head to the bar. Or go and drink back in his place, wasting the night away.

Then he'd wake up and go and do the same thing over and over again.

At least that bar fight was interesting enough, threw some of the monotony away in his life. Though there were always punks like that, trying to get revenge. Someone for their brother, someone for their father. Everyone wanted a piece of him; it seemed it was expected.

He just… didn't know how to feel, the melancholy of it all. The lack of substance.

Looking at the distant moonlight and the clouds in the sky, he wondered if everyone felt such a way. Taking down fools without a purpose, aimlessly looking for ghosts and people who didn't want to be found.

"To be expected, I suppose," he spoke, more so to himself than anything. It wasn't like there was anyone else there with him.

So he shuffled, moving away at a brisk pace. No destination in mind, through the cool night air.

Shatter!

The crash of glass breaking entered his ears, as the blonde's head snapped in the offender's direction. Naruto just sighed, 'evil never rests,' he supposed, probably another drunkard trying to score a couple of bucks late at night.

"Evil never fucking rests…"

When he came to find the area that had been broken into, he was shocked to see it was a rather large building, one primarily with a brick exterior, two stories, a large gated area with a playground outside of it, and a large glass window at the front.

That's right, if that sounded familiar to anyone, that's because it should be.

Because it was a school, a fucking school.

Just what kind of idiot would try to break into a school?

He saw a single shadow, a lone figure at the entrance of the locked door. A slightly smaller male with gruff, messy-looking dark hair, black eyes, and strange red triangle tattoos on his face. He made him out, just the type of fool he would be looking for.

Well, he might as well get a slight kick out of taking the guy down, maybe throw away a bit of his melancholy. '

XXX

A few minutes earlier.

Kiba Inuzuka couldn't believe his luck.

It was easy, so easy to break into the place.

Hell, he wondered why it was so easy. Didn't they get government funding? All the tax benefits or some shit. Didn't they have any security system? Because all he found was nothing.

Climbing the fence had been child's play, and using a nearby rock to break one of the large windows had been ingenious. And using Akamaru, his trusted and beloved dog, to go through the hole and open the door for him had been easier than pie. There wasn't anything that could stop him now, his evil works done in the dark hours of the night, nobody had seen. Nobody had ever known about his presence.

"Alright, Akamaru, let's get to work!" He told his trusted companion. A small dog with white hair and brown ears, who was merely just a puppy, as he yelped in response. "Alright, let's find those punks' stuff and teach 'em a lesson."

"Yip-yip!" Was his loyal dog's response.

"You know, you two have got to be some of the dumbest thieves I've probably ever seen, and one of you is a dog," a new voice called out to them, as both Kiba and Akamaru turned towards the offender's voice. Only to see a strange-looking blonde male with torn-up clothing and a small amount of blood on his figure, the dog growled at the sight of him.

"Shit! It's the feds, Akamaru. Why didn't you warn me they were coming?" Kiba shouted towards his dog, who made himself look small in response. "Come on, Akamaru, we're supposed to be a team here! You're my ears and nose, I'm the brawn, we got to work on this!" he complained to the dog.

"Right…" Naruto said, with a dumbfounded look on him at the two. Okay, he knew he had fought some idiots before, but just how stupid were these people?

"See! Even he cowers in fear at our might! Look at him just standing there! See, Akamaru, we're practically unstoppable!" Kiba pointed, standing amidst the lockers of the school entrance.

"Uh-huh… you know I'm going to regret this, but what are you two even doing here? This is an elementary school, right?" He said, nursing his already growing headache.

The dog-like man merely beamed at his question. "Ah, so you want to know my secret evil plan, do you? You want me to monologue!"

"I mean, I'd certainly move this along…" he shrugged, not really caring what this guy had to say, but it might give him a laugh.

"Well, that's exactly what I'm going to do!" Kiba announced. "You see, this isn't just a school I've decided, no! Not in the slightest! It's actually an active resting place for the most evil creatures in the entire country!"

"Cats?" Naruto asked with a yawn.

"Children! I mean, look what they did to my poor Akamaru!" he pointed at his dog, showing that he had a small bit of his hair ruffled on the side of his right ear.

"And that is…"

"They threw rocks at him! They tortured him, a group of school children, when I wasn't looking!" Kiba told them, as the dog yipped. "And so I'm going to find them through their smells and put stink bombs in all their lockers, that'll show them! Mwahahaha!" he reasoned, giving a courteous evil laugh as he did so.

"Who the fuck is this guy?" Naruto whispered to himself more than anything. He wasn't drunk enough for this shit. I mean, he could get going against animal abuse, but this was just too far. What kind of nutjob broke into an elementary school late at night just to get back at a few kids?

"And now all that there is to stop me is you! So here we go, face the rath of Inuyasha!" Kiba announced, as Naruto grew even more confused.

"Inu— whoa!" he was interrupted, as Kiba charged towards him, growing large claws and fangs as he did so, which only added to his already feral appearance. Naruto wasn't expecting him to move so fast, and as such, he could only dodge to the side to avoid him.

The dog-like man only continued on his follow-up, turning around and immediately slashing at him, trying to aim for his chest, his face, his legs, everywhere—like a wild animal. Naruto was forced on the backstep, trying to gain some distance on the canine male, but he wouldn't let up, slashing and clawing and biting at him every which way, which only brought Naruto deeper and deeper into the school. Though he did see one opening, even in his intoxicated state, when Kiba slashed a little too far, as he went to the left, leaving that side of him open. Which was just enough for him to strike and take him out.

And he did just that, landing a hard punch straight to the male's face, a glob of spit flying out of his mouth as he crashed onto the ground in a heap. His body slumped onto the ground, leaving Naruto to feel the situation was very anti-climactic.

"Well, that's that," Naruto sighed, righting himself and his unusual stance to a more upright position.

"Rrrr…." Akamaru growled at him, barking with a snarl.

"What are you looking at? He was an idiot," Naruto shrugged, the headache he was forming already coming back.

"Oh…" A mumble came from the dog-like male's body.

"You're still awake?" Naruto questioned.

"Of course I'm fine, I'm Inuyasha!" As Kiba bounced back onto his feet, a large bruise upon his face for his efforts. "Though I'll admit that blow was pretty good! I've decided, you're going to be my nemesis!" he said dramatically.

Naruto just sighed, "Look man, I'm not looking to be anyone's 'nemesis' or whatever, I just want to get this over this, so can we just get this wrapped up?" he asked, and to enphasize, he pulled on his fingers, revealing the threads he had conveniently tied around the man's legs, hoisting him up onto the ceiling by his feet.

"Arghh!" Kiba shouted, squirming, "What the hell is this?!"

"It's just a nice little binding I got you in while I go and call the police… maybe then they'll be able to help you," Naruto whispered the last part. He didn't know how deranged this person was; it was honestly just sad at this point.

He didn't know if they should lock him up or send him to a shrink or something, but it was obvious he wasn't well off in the head.

"Rrrr—Rah!" Akamaru roared, charging for his leg and biting him.

"Ahhh! What the hell!- you little shit!" Naruto yelled at the anklebiting who was gnawing at his ankle, trying to shake it off of him.

"Nice job on distracting him, Akamaru, now let's get him!" Kiba shouted, using his larger-than-average claws to cut his wires, charging straight for Naruto once again.

"Huh?" the vigilante said, looking over to the main.

"Fang over Fang!" Kiba shouted, and what Naruto was expecting wasn't for the dog-like man to start spinning in his place, becoming a giant drill-like tornado— and it was heading straight for him!

"Oh fuck!" All Naruto could say at such a proximity, it wasn't like he could dodge—being inside such a small hallway and all. All he could do was merely try to form a wall of thread to protect himself from the collision.

Crash!

The tornado sounded, knocking over numerous walls and lockers, kicking up dust everywhere as rubble crashed from the ceiling.

"Okay… what the fuck was that?" Naruto questioned, lying in the midst of the rubble.

"Ha! It seemed you had fallen for my two-pronged Fang-over-Fang attack!" Kiba mocked theatrically. "Nobody can ever defeat me, not even my most bested rival! None can stand against my might."

"Hmmmm!" Akamaru whimpered.

"What's that, Akamaru?-shit! We gotta go!" Kiba announced, running off.

Naruto was too injured to do anything as his body groaned in pain. Seriously? What kind of low-level thug bursts into a tornado to go after you? He was already injured before that point, having fought two major battles earlier that day, this being his third if you included the bar fight.

And even now his body was starting to give out.

And that's when another figure came, "Hello, it would appear you are injured, small blonde fellow," they sounded, their voice upright, heroic even.

As Naruto turned over, he saw a rather large man, though he was more bulky than tall, with slicked black brown hair, blue eyes, and a thick mustache. As he wore a superhero outfit that consisted of a sleeveless blue and red body suit with red arm warmers and boots, and a large red and gold cape.

"I received a disturbance and was dispatched to this location. Tell me, this is a school, is it not? And you are not supposed to be here, am I correct?"

He recognized this person; it was the alien superhero known as 'Phenomaman,' probably the strongest hero this side of Los Angeles, maybe even the west coast entirely, and he was right here.

Great, just about his luck.

Naruto inwardly weighed his options; he could try to run, though this guy would likely catch him, given the speed difference and the fact that he was already exhausted. He could try to reason with the man, though he doubted that would work— looking at this man, he could pretty much already tell he was either too ignorant or too foolish to listen to him.

"I'm not drunk enough for this shit…"

The blonde elected for the third option. He was feeling rather tired at the moment and went to sleep.

"Fear not, blonde fellow, it would appear your intoxication has incapacitated you! I shall cull your rampage of this education facility and take you to the authorities at once!" he told him.

Yeah, he wasn't drunk enough.

He had had enough of idiots like them today; he just wanted to go to sleep right now.

And so he did.

End Chapter.

Like many, I'm also jumping on the Dispatch train. Something I've been talking about for a little while.