Chapter 7: Chapter 7: Team Problems
Naruto wakes up with an annoyed expression. Kurama would be having his head for being so careless. It is a good thing that the demon isn't here to scold him. He sits up glancing around to see hills of sand in every direction. A sigh escapes the ninja. Fighting in the sand is so annoying. The stupid stuff gets everywhere and he has to be careful to not get any in his eyes. Afterward it takes him days to get all the sand out of his clothes. Rolling his neck, he stands up and begins to stretch out his limbs. Judging from the position of the sun he has been out for the past seven hours.
The mission had started off simple enough. A simple recon mission. The team was sent to Bialya to investigate a strange energy signal that popped up a few days ago. It was a large energy source that the Watchtower detected it but was unable to identify. Batman assigned them a mission to locate the energy source and find out as much information on it as possible. Putting the bio-ship in camouflage mode, it was too easy to sneak into the isolated country. Absolute radio silence was ordered so upon landing in the county Miss Martian sent up a mental link. This allowed everyone to communicate with each other via telepathy. It was that telepathy that was used against the team. Miss Martian was sent on ahead to infiltrate the enemy's camp. Next thing Naruto knows a foreign mental presence hacks the mental connection. If not for growing up with Kurama he would have never been able to sense the foreign presence. The moment he sensed the foreign presence he used his chakra to send a shock to his brain breaking the mental connection. Unfortunately, it backfired on him causing his body to go into shock and shut down. A good thing he didn't fall into a coma and wake up months later.
The ninja double checks all his gear. Naruto unsheathes his sword. This is the first time he will be using the weapon on the mission. He pulls up a mask in order to prevent sand from blowing into his mouth. Nothing worse than sand on the tongue. It is one of the reasons he stayed away from the Land of Wind. Sand is nice when on a beach, but annoying during a mission. 'Complete the mission or hunt for my teammates?' wonders Naruto.
Chances are that the entire team is in danger. Naruto doesn't know what the foreign presence wanted, but chances are it wasn't anything good. Not to brag he is sure that he was the only one that escaped the mental attack. That being said, if the team was captured than it was up to him to complete the mission. Everyone on the team knows the risk of being on the team. These missions are not kid games. Death is a possibility on every mission. If one is not prepared to die than one doesn't need to be coming on the missions. A ninja knows this from day one.
"You think too much brat. Get on with it already before I die from boredom."
A smirks is hidden behind the mask. It has been a long time since he thought about Kurama. The demon always hated when he wasted time overthinking matters. Kurama was a more fight now ask questions later. He misses the demon. 'I will complete the mission. I'll make my way to the camp,' decides Naruto. Channeling chakra to his feet, he runs across the sand not leaving a single footprint.
Biayla
Kid slides to a stop. "I can't go any further." Artemis climbs out of his arms.
"Thanks," she says. It looks like he was telling the truth about being Kid Flash despite the change in uniform. Only Kid Flash could move at such speeds. She has to admit that the black uniform looks much better than a bright yellow and red one that he always wears.
"No problem," smirks Kid. Kid lifts up his arm popping open his secret stash. His eyes widen upon seeing it is empty. "It must be over twenty-four hours or my stash wouldn't be empty." Stash may be empty but at least he is with a hot girl. The blonde girl may have a Green Arrow fixation, but she is hot.
An object comes down from above breaking the two apart. A roar comes from the object revealing itself to be a young man screaming anger. "Who is…" Kid is grabbed by the arm and spun around a few times before tossed into the side of the hill. Feral Superboy spins around charging at Artemis. Artemis shoots three explosive arrows in a row that do nothing to slow down Superboy. She dives out of the way to avoid being grabbed.
"What the heck is he?!" shouts Artemis.
Superboy is about to continue the assault when a tank shell strikes him. Roaring in pain, he turns to face the two incoming tanks. He leaps at the new threats. Artemis and Kid watch as their unknown attacker starts to rip apart the tanks. "Whose side is he on?"
Kid picks up Artemis. "I don't want to stick around to find out." In a burst of speed he runs in the opposite direction.
Biayla
'I chose the wrong trail to follow.'
Naruto cleans the blood from his katana before sheathing it. All around him are unconscious or badly injured Biayla soldiers. Three jeeps are burning releasing black smoke high into the air. He begins to tie up the soldiers as he thinks about his next move.
The original campsite was abandoned, but he was able to pick up various scents. The problem was that those scents led in several different directions. So he picked a scent and tracked it. It led him to a small battalion of Biayla soldiers. He took them out with little difficult using a fire jutsu to take out the jeeps and heavy artillery before taking on the soldiers. The soldiers are fortunate that heroes don't kill or all of them would be dead. Not killing is a concept he doesn't understand, but as long as he works for the Justice League he will abide by their strange traditions. There would be far less villains in the world if the Justice League permanently silenced their enemies.
A familiar scent hits Naruto's nostrils. Tying up the last soldier, he begins to track the scent. It takes him five minutes to find the source. Lying on the ground behind a large rock is Aqualad. Naruto places a hand on Aqualad's neck. Aqualad is barely alive. Another scent hits his nostrils followed by a dozen others. 'Superboy,' sniffs Naruto. Soldiers, at least a dozen of them are with Superboy. He picks up Aqualad and heads in the direction of Superboy. Sounds of fighting soon fill the air. Naruto crouches down watching as Superboy is captured by the Biayla soldiers. The soldiers are using strong steel cables to bind Superboy's arms, but the clone is fighting back.
A large wave of negative emotions hits Naruto's senses. He turns his head to look as a man wearing a hood steps forward. The man lowers his hood to reveal nasty pale white skin. His brain is visible though a clear dome over it, with some strips of skin over the dome. Three red lines are seen on each cheek. Naruto watches as the man gives a simple command and Superboy stops struggling. Superboy falls face first unconscious. 'A mental attack. He must have been the one to attack us,' thinks Naruto. As much as he desires to complete the mission, he can't let a comrade die. Aqualad is a good leader that treats him fairly. Naruto needs to find the others they will know how to help Aqualad. In a cloud of smoke Naruto and Aqualad vanish.
Nighttime
Robin ducks under a dune of sand. The GPS marker he planted led him straight to this location. He spots a large machine. 'That explains why I placed a GPS marker here,' thinks Robin. Looking around he notices that the place is deserted. He leaps down landing next to the machine. The moment he touches down on the sand several soldiers burst out of the sand weapons poised at him.
"The Queen wants him alive!"
A smirk appears on Robin's face as he drops a couple of smoke pellets. Black smoke fills the area blinding the soldiers. Robin expertly moves around in the smoke taking out two soldiers. Spinning around he tosses a couple of bird-a-rangs knocking the gun out of another soldier. The smoke begins to clear as Robin delivers a spin kick taking out a third solder. "Forget this, open fire!" Boy Wonder flips backward to avoid a barrage of bullets.
"I'll take those!"
A high speed blur rips the guns out of the seven soldier's hands. Kid comes to a stop dropping the weapons. Robin smirks upon seeing a familiar face. The two work together in perfect tandem to take down five of the soldiers. Robin is about to attack two more when a telekinetic force sends the two soldiers slamming into each other. 'That is new, who is she?' wonders Robin looking at Miss Martian.
One of the soldier tries to make a run for it. An arrow sails through the air bursting open to shoot a net out capturing the soldier. "KF good to see a familiar face," smirks Robin.
"Hey Robs," smirks Kid. The two slap hands. "Memory loss?"
"Six months, let's hogtie these guys and compare notes," says Robin.
It takes a few minutes to tie up all the soldiers. "So anyone know what is going on?" asks Robin.
"She seems to have the answers," Kid gestures at Miss Martian.
Miss Martian smiles at the team. "Well, I don't know exactly what happened to make us lose our memories, but I do know that we are a team."
"I remember Batman telling me to keep radio silence. He must be our leader," smirks Robin.
"How do you know it is not my mentor?" Kid taps his chest. The moment he touches his uniform it changes to his usual yellow and red. "Whoa…" The other members of the team begin to tap their chests but nothing happens. Kid keeps tapping his chest.
"Will you stop touching yourself?" glares Artemis. Kid ignores her outburst. "How do we get our memories back?"
"I can connect our minds together and use our memories to piece together everything." The world around them begins to change. It takes them into Miss Martian's mindscape where the team is surrounded by various images. "I will have to go into each person's mind…"
Robin smirks, "to get information from each perspective right? Just do it."
Artemis gains a nervous look. "You are going to look through all our memories?"
"No, just the ones pertaining to the mission and the last six months."
Kid comes up beside Artemis taking her hand. Artemis glances at him and he gives her a reassuring smile. "Fine, but only the last six months and only what you need," says the archer. Miss Martian nods.
The team begins to remember Batman giving them a mission to Biayla. It continues on showing them landing in Biayla. Superboy placing the marker. Naruto going on ahead to check the perimeter. Aqualad giving out orders and then the world goes black. The team is soon back in the real world with surprised looks. "Kaldur, Naruto!" gasps Robin.
"Forget Naruto, we need to find Kaldur. Being out in a desert can't be good for a guy with gills," says Kid. "We can search for the ninja after we find Kaldur…"
"Here."
All of them spin around to see Naruto carrying Aqualad over his shoulder. Gently, Naruto lowers Aqualad down on the sand. Robin and Kid rush over to Aqualad. "He is suffering from extreme dehydration," says Robin. "Miss M call the bio-ship."
"It is too far out of range," says Miss Martian.
"Can you telekinetically fly him to the ship?" suggests Kid. "If he doesn't get medical attention soon…"
Miss Martian shakes her head. "I can't, I have to find Superboy. Six months ago he wasn't even alive. He is running on base instincts."
"Superboy is invulnerable, Kaldur…"
A scream comes from Megan as she senses Superboy in pain. "Superboy!" Miss Martian is about to fly off, but a blow to the back of the head knocks her out cold. She falls forward onto the sand. Robin, Kid, and Artemis look at Naruto in shock.
Naruto points at himself. "Carry leader, find ship."
Robin nods. He begins to track the ship. "It is a mile from our current location due east." Naruto picks up Miss Martian before walking over and picking up Aqualad.
"Lead," orders Naruto. Robin takes off running in that direction. Naruto easily matches the speed even carrying two people.
"That guy really creeps me out," says Kid. Artemis scowls chasing after the two. Kid shrugs following the team.
Bio-ship
Robin stares down at Kaldur. He is lying on a bed hooked up to an IV. Kaldur's vital signs are beginning to stabilize. Relaxing, he heads to the cockpit where Naruto, Kid, and Artemis are waiting. "Kaldur will be fine," says Robin.
"Great, so now what?" Artemis folds her arms across her chest. "Do we complete the mission, rescue Superboy, or call in the League?"
Naruto types rapidly on the consul. A screen appears in front of him. He begins to speak in Japanese and his words are instantly translated into English. "The enemy have a person that can use psychic powers. He hacked the mental link using it to wipe out the team's memories," explains the ninja.
"Why do you still have your memories?" asks Robin.
"I sensed the foreign presence and broke the connection. I was unable to alert the team as the mental backlash from forcefully breaking the connection shut down my brain for seven to eight hours," answers Naruto.
Kid munches on a chocolate bar. "So where does that leave us?"
Naruto hits a few more buttons bringing up a map of Biayla. A red dot blinks on the map. "That is the enemy location. Superboy is currently imprisoned by the enemy. We can't leave him in enemy hands or the psychic might steal vital information from his mind."
Robin gains a hard look, "if they haven't done so already."
"Ok if we are going to rescue Superboy shouldn't we wake up Miss Martian? I mean she has telepathy powers to battle the psychic," says Kid.
"She was willing to let Aqualad die in order to save Superboy. Her emotions make her a liability. I do not believe she will help in the mission," states Naruto.
Artemis glances at the unconscious Miss Martian. A part of her wants to stand up for the alien girl, but the rational part agrees with Naruto. She blew up at Wally for almost getting them killed while hunting for Kent Nelson and Miss Martian almost did the same thing to Aqualad. "He is right. She acted no better then you when we were at the Tower of Fate," says Artemis. Kid gains an affronted look.
"Yeah but she is…"
"Naruto and Artemis are right. Miss M was about to rush ahead without knowing anything about the enemy. She had her mind wiped once and it could have happened again," says Robin coldly. "We will do this without her. What is the plan?"
"We need to take out the psychic," states Naruto. "I will cause a distraction forcing the psychic out. Robin will sneak inside to find out the location and status of Superboy. Kid, once I am engaged with the psychic you will be responsible for disarming and taking out the soldiers with your speed."
Artemis narrows her eyes, "what do I do?"
Naruto stares straight at Artemis. "I won't be able to fight a psychic for long. If this psychic is powerful enough to wipe out six months of memories chances are he will be able to break through any mental defense I am able to create. While Kid is keeping the soldiers off me, you will act as a long range specialist. I believe I can prove a big enough threat to hold the psychic's full attention. I want you to use an explosive arrow to disable the psychic."
"That's insane! If you are caught in the blast that will take you out too!" exclaims Artemis.
"Artemis, none of us can fight a psychic attack. At least not in our current condition," says Robin. "You need to take the shot. Even if it means Naruto getting caught in the blast." Kid glances at Naruto gain a bit more respect for the ninja.
Artemis stares deep into Naruto's eyes. She gains a hard look. "Alright, but you better not die." Naruto nods.
"There is one more thing," says Naruto. "If Superboy is still in his feral state, you can't free him."
Kid groans, "great so we have to rescue Superboy without rescuing him?"
Robin frowns, "if we do free him that will just give us another enemy to fight. You heard Miss M, Superboy is running off animal instincts. So how do we subdue an invulnerable tank without being crushed?" The team looks at Naruto. Naruto has an idea but knows that the team isn't going to like it.
Enemy Camp
Superboy screams in pain. The scientists up the charge electrocuting the clone. Psimon stands off to the side watching in amusement. He expected so much more from the clone of Superman. Guess the copies are never as good as the original. The Light will reward him greatly for capturing the Superboy weapon.
Explosions from outside interrupt the villain's thoughts. Psimon frowns. Using his telepathy, he scans the minds of the soldiers outside the tent to see fireballs raining down from the sky. The fireball target the jeeps and tanks setting all the heavy weapons ablaze. "Looks like Superboy's friends have decided to show up," smirks Psimon.
Outside the tent, soldier scramble to grab their weapons. A black blur moves around stealing weapons from the soldiers much to their confusion. "You won't be needing these," smirks Kid. Running up a hill a good distance away, he drops the weapons before speeding back down into the enemy camp to steal more weapons.
Robin uses the confusion to sneak into the shadows. A smirk is on Boy Wonder's face as the plan is going off without a hitch. He sneaks up behind a couple soldiers taking them out with dual blows to the back of the head. Tying them up, he explores the nearest tent to find it empty. He keeps on moving knowing that he needs to find Superboy.
Naruto lands in the middle of the enemy. In a quick motion he draws his sword taking out three soldiers in a single swipe. Gunshots ring out, but he uses the sword to deflect the bullets. He moves at high speeds that are a blur to the soldiers. Another six soldiers fall. Naruto heads straight towards the tent where he smells the scent of the psychic. Drawing several shuriken, he tosses them straight at the tent. The shuriken sail true slicing through the tent. A telekinetic force erupts blasting the shuriken away. Naruto pauses outside of the tent. "Strange, I don't remember sensing your mind with the others." Psimon exits the tent with a smirk. "Oh well, in the end everyone does as Psimon says." As Psimon was talking Naruto began to flash through hand seals. "Your powers are useless, Psimon says Stop!" Naruto's entire body freezes up. Psimon walks over towards the frozen Naruto. "Now it is time for you to…" An arrow embeds in the sand next to the two. Psimon's eyes widen as it beeps two times. The arrow explodes engulfing them both in the blast.
"Shit," Artemis slides down the sand hill. She notches two arrows taking out two soldiers. "Come on, be alive you idiot." A black blur runs past her towards the smoke. Kid spins around at high speeds creating a tornado that blows away the smoke. It reveals a badly burned Psimon with his left arm bent at an awkward angle. "Where is he?!"
"Here." Artemis and Kid spin around to see Naruto walking towards them. His shirt is burned on the right side and pants are little torn, but otherwise he is absolutely fine. Artemis sighs in relief.
"Dude, how did you escape the explosion? You should be burned worse than that," exclaims Kid. Naruto understood what Kid said but had no intention of reveal his secret. The truth was that the jutsu he was planning to use was the Replacement Jutsu. Psimon's mental powers froze him the moment he reached the last seal. Correction, he stopped intentionally on the last seal letting Psimon capture him. Artemis shot the arrow at the right moment. Psimon lost concentration on his mental command for a second upon seeing the arrow and that second gave Naruto the opportunity to cast the jutsu. He was still burned a bit by the explosion but the burns were minor. Most damage was to his clothes.
Robin pokes his head out of the tent. "Hey guys, talk later and help me with Superboy!" Naruto runs past Artemis and Kid into the tent. Inside the tent all the scientists and soldiers are out cold. Naruto's eyes land upon a large metal sphere being contained in a cage. "I had to shock him pretty bad to knock him out. I have no idea how long it is going to last," says Robin. Superboy is chained to a table and stood up as if being crucified.
"Great that means if we free him and he wakes up before we reach the ship he is going to go crash and squash us," complains Kid.
"Move fast," says Naruto.
"Not the best plan but only one we got," Robin hits the button releasing Superboy's shackles. Naruto catches Superboy. "That sphere thing has a living presence by the way."
Naruto walks over to the sphere placing a hand on it. A strange series of sounds come from the Sphere. Kid whispers to Artemis. "What is he doing?" Artemis nudges Kid in annoyance.
"Release, take," says Naruto. Robin releases the restraints on the sphere. "Move…out." The team moves swiftly with the sphere following.
Mount Justice
Naruto, Kid, Robin, Artemis, and Miss Martian stand in front of Batman. Batman stands directly in front of Miss Martian. "You allowed your emotions to cloud your judgment which could have led to a death of a teammate and your capture. Personal feelings towards each other are to be dealt with on your own time, but when you are on a mission you work as a team not on personal desires." Miss Martian lowers her head with tears brimming her eyes. The Dark Knight walks away from the girl. He takes a few steps backs before looking at the other four members of the team. "Being able to regroup and come out with a plan even when the deck is stacked against you is something few are able to accomplish. The mission may have been a failure, but you gained a new level of trust and teamwork. That is a success on its own," states Batman. Kid and Robin bump fists. "Dismissed."
Artemis rushes over to Naruto. "Wait," Naruto turns to look at her curiously. A screen is next to her translating her words. "Why did you choose me? I mean Robin could have used one of his explosive weapons to take out that Psimon. How come you choose me?"
"When it comes to long range capabilities you are the most skilled on the team." A smile appears on Artemis's face. "I trusted you to be able to take that shot," finishes Naruto. He turns away heading towards the Zeta Tubes. In a flash of light he disappears. Artemis smirks. At least one person on the team trusted her without any doubts. Perhaps ninja-boy wasn't so bad after all.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone