Injustice Book 2: Darkness in the Light (Naruto + Young Justice Crossover)

Chapter XCV - The Secong Gen YJ

"Normal Speech."

'Normal Thought.'

"Demon Speech."

'Demon Thought.'

"Other Speech variants."

Location/Time.

-X- Line Break -X-

Saturday 10th October, 19:00.

Rhode Island,

Happy Harbour,

Mount Justice.

Many things had changed within Mount Justice and the team of young heroes that resided within it. All of which stemmed from their clash between the Justice League ten months ago and the aftermath that followed. For some, the changes came even before that, that clash only hammering home the truth of the world they lived in and the dangers they had faced.

Each of the members of the team had been forever changed by those incidents, no longer able to look upon the world in the same way as before. In a way, they were scarred, possessing a wound that would never leave.

But there was no way to change that, to remove it.

All they could do was change themselves and that's what many had set out to do. However, such changes did not come without consequences and one such consequence was disagreement.

A disagreement between student and mentor which tore the team apart and left a hole yet to be filled, until today. Standing beside M'gann, arm wrapped loosely around her shoulder, Connor watched as Kaldur with the help of Zatanna and Rocket led the new members of the team around the cave of Mount Justice. They had been at it for about half an hour now, making sure everyone would be aware of where things were as many would be staying here for the foreseeable future.

There were four members, each replacing the four members who had left the team a few months ago. These members were Donna Troy, Garth, Tula and Rose Wilson. Each of them would be replacing the four missing members, Dick, Barbara, Wally and Artemis. Barbara had left the team for personal reasons, distancing herself more from her career as Batgirl to pursue her education further. Though there were still sightings of Batgirl on the news every now and then showing she hadn't quite left the life behind just yet.

However, Dick, Wally and Artemis had left to form their own team of heroes, or Dick had and the other two followed him. They were doing pretty well for themselves, more well-known than they were, but that was because their team was a more covert operation whose entryway into the public attention had been delayed till it was deemed necessary by the Justice League.

The Teen Titans the new team was going by, Dick leading it with Wally, Artemis and a few others being a part of their ranks. They were small still nor overly powerful, but that was never really much of a problem considering their threats were low-level at this point in time.

'The question is, what's going to happen with our team now?' Connor wondered to himself, looking up the members of their new team.

Before they had a good lineup and formations. He, Naruto and Kaldur was the heavy hitters, Wally and M'gann the all-rounders who could swap in and out of any position while Dick, Barbara and Artemis had been the long-range specialists and tech support. Even when Zatanna joined the lineup hadn't changed with her joining the long-range fighters where there had been a pretty big weakness that M'gann had to cover. Even when Raquel joined she took a defensive role.

Even further amongst them was further formations.

In the front runners, Connor had always been the main tank, Naruto the one that fought at midrange using his tails as well as hit and runs tactics to cause distractions. Kaldur meanwhile had been the supporter, using his magic to help cover them. Even with Naruto, gone things hadn't changed and while they did suffer massively, things managed to find a rhythm.

Amongst the long-range fighters, Barbara and Dick had been the tech support as well as the main tacticians. But they were also the ones that protected Artemis and Zatanna from danger when all else failed.

However now they were missing three of their long-range fighters as well as one of their midrange fighters, Wally who was often the guy used to get people out of harm's way. More often than not rushing around the field, moving people out of an attacks range and only rarely getting involved in the action.

Donna Troy had similar powers to Wonder Woman and while unsure of just how powerful she was, it was obvious Donna was a front line fighter along with him and Kaldur. Not a huge thing, though it did disrupt their teamwork a bit. Rose was another problem, she didn't really have much in the way of long to mid-range skills meaning she would be another close-range fighter along with him. But unlike Naruto, was one that didn't possess the powers to keep her on their level.

Garth and Tula on the other hand did possess magic, but again, where they would fit in was unclear at this point. 'This team is a mess at this point. I miss the old one.' He thought to himself with a slight frown. 'Just hope Kaldur with the help of Canary and Tornado can help sort something out.'

Connor was well aware that Kaldur was a smart guy with a good head on his shoulders. But when it came to intelligence, especially tactically, Kaldur just wasn't a match for Dick or Barbara. Those two were on a different level with only Wally being a possible rival to them, of his maturity didn't limit him as it always did.

And Naruto, he has just been an anomaly. Not stupid, but not smart either, Connor would wager that in terms of IQ alone he'd probably be just as if not smarter than him. But Naruto just had a knack for planning and he could think on his feet really well, more so than anyone he'd seen beside the Justice League.

'Maybe it's because of all the pranks he pulled as a kid.' Connor remembered the tales Barbara had told, Naruto as well about his childhood pranks with his mother. 'I mean he did bring down Black Masks criminal empire on his own in what, a month? Maybe less? I just don't think Kaldur's quite as good as them, but at least he recognises that.'

Connor seriously doubted he could do much better and nor did he want to. He just liked hitting things and that was all he was really good at. Leading people never took his fancy nor did he ever fancy doing so.

There were always plenty of more capable and willing people out there that wanted to lead.

"I'm off to go train," Connor murmured, placing a kiss upon M'gann's temple before turning and leaving. 'I'm not letting Naruto get any far ahead of me than he already is. So wherever you are and whatever you're doing, you better not be slacking off Naruto.' That thought made him smirk, a short, quiet laugh escaping his lips. 'Knowing that idiot he probably doesn't even know what it means to slack off.'