A/N: This story is rated M for mature content not suitable for children.
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Chapter 4: The Shadow of Dherain
DC Universe - Earth 2
The upper stratosphere of Earth 2 was an ocean of absolute silence, broken only by the low, cosmic hum vibrating within Naruto’s own augmented physiology. He hovered motionless against the black curve of the planet, the distant sun catching the deep gold, crimson, and dark blue of his armor. Down below, wrapped in a suffocating shroud of gray ash and ionized ozone, lay the ruined capital of Washington D.C., a pitiful monument to a civilization that refused to understand its own insignificance.
In his right hand, Naruto held Alan Scott by the collar of his uniform. The so-called Green Lantern was completely unconscious, his body limp, his breathing shallow and ragged. The ring on the mortal's finger, which tapped directly into the green, primal lifeforce of this specific world, was guttering like a dying candle, spitting out erratic sparks of emerald light that hissed against the cold vacuum of space.
‘Pathetic,’ Naruto thought, his blue eyes narrowing as his enhanced vision peeled back the miles of atmosphere to observe the scattering human insects below. ‘To expend the literal lifeforce of a planet just to neutralize a brainless, rotting bio-weapon. Steppenwolf didn't fail because this world was strong. He failed because he lacked the basic tactical competence to execute a slaughter properly.’
The thought of his adoptive father’s disgraced general brought a cold, sharp smirk to Naruto’s lips. Darkseid did not tolerate failure, and Steppenwolf’s decision to hide out in this primitive dimension for five years, playing god in the shadows while his planet-harvesting machines lay in ruins, was an insult to the throne of Apokolips. Naruto could already hear the agonizing screams that would echo through the elite torture chambers of Desaad once he dragged the old coward back by his heels.
With a sudden, violent flex of his leg muscles, Naruto broke his hover. The kinetic discharge tore a massive, roaring vacuum through the upper clouds as he descended toward the surface like a falling star. The air around him ignited into a bright crimson friction shield, but his Viltrumite biology, systematically forged and hardened within the literal Fire Pits of Apokolips, didn't even register the heat. To the mortals watching from the shattered streets below, he was a streak of blinding, divine light delivering their salvation.
He slammed into the cracked pavement of Washington D.C. with a deafening impact that rattled the foundations of the surrounding ruins, yet he controlled the deceleration perfectly, leaving Alan Scott completely unharmed as he laid the unconscious man onto a slab of fallen concrete.
"Lantern!"
The frantic cry came from Kendra Saunders, Hawkgirl. Her massive, synthetic wings beat the ash-choked air into submission as she dropped from the sky, her heavy boots skidding across the debris. Her dual Nth-metal pistols were raised defensively before she realized who stood before her. Her gaze locked onto Naruto’s towering, pristine form, her sharp, tactical mind immediately recognizing the sheer impossibility of what she had just witnessed. "You... you went into the upper atmosphere. You dragged him back before his oxygen could deplete. Who the hell are you?"
A violent blur of scarlet and gold tore through the dust cloud, settling into the form of Jay Garrick. The young Flash was panting heavily, the speed force static arc-lighting across his uniform as he stared at Naruto with wide, vulnerable eyes. "I couldn't even track your ascent. I’m supposed to be the fastest thing alive, and you moved so fast you virtually vanished from my line of sight. You called yourself Ultraman earlier, right?"
Naruto adjusted the heavy, velvet-textured cape draped over his shoulders, letting his stern, unyielding features soften into a perfectly tailored expression of noble, somber benevolence. It was the exact mask he had utilized during the early stages of his conquests on Planet 258 and Earth 242, the face of a tragic, powerful savior designed to strip primitives of their suspicion.
"I am Ultraman," Naruto said, his voice deep, resonant, and projecting a synthetic warmth that instantly commanded the room. "I am a traveler from the deep cosmos, born of a world that was erased from existence by the very same dark tide that broke your vanguard five years ago. I arrived in this sector of the multiverse too late to save your greatest protectors, your Superman, your Wonder Woman, but I will be damned if I stand by and watch this world bleed out a second time."
Jay Garrick’s chest tightened, a profound wave of emotional relief washing over his youthful face. "You know about the war? You know what happened to them?"
"I know the monster who orchestrated it," Naruto replied, his voice dropping to a low, dangerous growl that carried an edge of meticulously practiced righteous fury. "Steppenwolf. The butcher of the Fourth World. He is a parasite who gluts himself on the agony of mortal realms. I have tracked his specific cosmic radiation across three separate dimensional rifts. He is hiding here, on your Earth, waiting like a coward while his master's shadow grows long."
Kendra Saunders stepped forward, her wings flaring aggressively as her survival instincts screamed at her that something about this "Ultraman" was far too perfect. "That’s impossible. The World Army’s high command confirmed five years ago that Steppenwolf perished during the final battle when the terraforming spires were sabotaged by Batman. His energy signature vanished from our global sensors."
Naruto let out a low, rumbling chuckle that sent an instinctive shiver down Kendra’s spine, a sound that carried the weight of a wolf listening to a sheep explain the perimeter fencing. "Dead? A general of Apokolips does not die simply because a mortal human detonated a localized machine, Hawkgirl. He went underground. He is using your global division, your petty political infighting, and your absolute blindness as a shield. If your World Army truly believes he is dust, then they have already written your execution orders."
Before Kendra could retort, a harsh, agonized groan cut through the tension. Alan Scott stirred, his fingers twitching against the rubble as the green flame of Earth's planetary core slowly migrated back into his nervous system. He forced his eyes open, the emerald glow within his irises flickering weakly as he looked up at Naruto.
"He’s... he's telling the truth, Kendra," Alan rasped, coughing up a small plume of gray ash as he pushed himself up onto one shaking elbow. "When I channeled the green... when I reached into the structural fabric of the hemisphere to pull that undead abomination into orbit... I felt it. It wasn't just the monster's corruption. There is an anomaly. A massive, heavily shielded pocket of alien cosmic energy bleeding into the tectonic plates. It’s localized. Deep within the sovereign borders of Dherain."
Naruto’s blue eyes flared with a brief, genuine spark of satisfaction. Dherain. The rogue military dictatorship governed by King Marov. It was exactly the kind of isolationist, heavily fortified nation a disgraced New God would use to establish a proxy stronghold while reconstructing his forces.
"Then the luxury of debate is over," Naruto declared, reaching down to grab Alan Scott’s arm and pulling the massive Green Lantern to his feet with zero visible effort, further demonstrating his effortless physical superiority. "Your World Army is a bureaucracy of paper and fragile iron. If you alert them, they will deploy troops, trigger a global political crisis, and give Steppenwolf the exact window he needs to slip through your fingers again. We must strike the heart of Dherain now."
"Hold on," Jay Garrick stammered, stepping into Naruto’s path with his hands raised. "Dherain has an automated airspace defense grid that can rip conventional aircraft to pieces, and they’re not part of the global coalition. We can't just launch an unsanctioned meta-human invasion on a sovereign country!"
Naruto looked down at the young speedster, his gaze turning so cold, so heavy with absolute, unyielding authority that Jay instinctively stepped backward, his breath catching in his throat.
"When the predator is sharpening his blade at your throat, boy, sovereign borders are nothing but lines drawn in the mud by men who are about to die," Naruto said, his tone dripping with the absolute certainty of an apex predator. "Stay here. Tend to your wounded. Rebuild your defenses. I will dismantle Dherain myself."
Without waiting for their consent, Naruto launched himself skyward. The sheer, violent displacement of kinetic energy tore a thirty-foot crater into the street, the atmospheric shockwave shattering the remaining concrete structures within a three-block radius and leaving the three Wonders staring into the empty sky in absolute, paralyzed awe.
The Skies Over Dherain
The flight across the Atlantic took Naruto less than three minutes. He cut through the sky at speeds that warped the air into a shimmering envelope of compressed plasma, his mind drifting back to his previous deployments. He compared the fragile infrastructure of this Earth to the worlds he had already broken for Darkseid. He thought of Planet 258, the world where he had encountered the bald human whose physical limits seemed to expand with every blow.
Naruto’s knuckles whitened slightly at the memory. That fight had been a true test of his dual heritage. He had been forced to drag that creature all the way to the rings of Saturn, unleashing the raw, unfiltered cosmic energy he had absorbed during his thousands of hours bathing within the Apokolips Fire Pits. Even with his Viltrumite healing factor executing cell regeneration at a sub-atomic level, that bald mortal had managed to crack his armor before Naruto finally tore his head from his shoulders. And the psychic sisters of that world, Tatsumaki and Fubuki, had fought with such venomous, elegant defiance before he broke their wills and marked them to ensure his lineage would inherit their telekinetic gifts.
Then there was Earth 242, the realm of hidden magic and archaic bloodlines. A world where men fought with sticks and old words, completely blind to the fact that their "magic" was nothing more than a localized, malleable atmospheric anomaly. He had spent six months systematically breeding their elite witches, blending their esoteric energy manipulation with his own indestructible genetic makeup to create a future generation of magic-wielding New Gods for his father's armada.
‘And now, I am wasting time cleaning up Steppenwolf’s garbage on Earth 2,’ Naruto thought, his sneer returning as the jagged, snow-capped peaks of the Dherain mountain range materialized on the horizon.
The rogue nation was a sprawling fortress of black iron, industrial smokestacks, and heavy artillery batteries. King Marov believed his automated defense grid made him untouchable to the World Army, but to a pure-blooded Viltrumite, the radar arrays and surface-to-air missile silos were nothing more than toys.
Naruto didn't even bother utilizing stealth. He tilted his body downward, converting his massive flight momentum into a singular, localized kinetic spear. He dropped from the heavy storm clouds directly over the central military compound, bypassing the outer shields entirely through sheer, raw velocity.
CRASH!
He slammed through the reinforced titanium roof of the primary subterranean testing hangar, descending like a god of ruin. The structural ceiling caved inward, sending thousands of tons of twisted steel, concrete dust, and debris raining down onto the polished floor below. The alarms within the facility didn't even have time to trigger before Naruto stood erect within the crater, his posture straight, his blue eyes scanning the vast chamber with icy detachment.
With a silent mental command to his internal Father Box, the civilian disguise vanished into a pixelated shroud of dark-matter particles. In its place, his true conqueror’s uniform materialized, the deep, regal blue bodysuit tailored from Apokoliptian micro-weave armor, the gold gauntlets catching the flashing red emergency lights, and the blood-red cape pooling around his boots.
"Intruder!"
A squadron of heavily augmented Dherain elite guards rushed into the hangar, their high-frequency plasma rifles locked onto his position. They didn't recognize his armor, but they recognized the threat.
"Fire!"
A volley of superheated plasma beams tore through the dust, striking Naruto directly across his chest and shoulders. The air grew thick with the stench of ozone and melting metal as the concentrated energy washed over him. But as the salvos ceased, the soldiers froze in absolute, primordial terror.
Naruto hadn't even raised a hand to shield himself. The plasma had completely dissipated against his bare skin, leaving his uniform completely unmarked, his flesh completely unblemished.
"My business today is not with insects," Naruto said, his voice carrying a localized sonic vibration that shattered the visors of the soldiers' helmets, causing them to drop to their knees as blood seeped from their ears. "Where is the master of this house?"
He didn't need their answer. His advanced hearing picked up a rhythmic, metallic whistle echoing from the grand training hall located at the western apex of the subterranean complex. It was the sound of a weapon slicing through the air with lethal, practiced precision, a sound that carried the unmistakable genetic frequency of the Fourth World.
Naruto stepped out of the crater, walking past the groaning soldiers without giving them a second glance. He followed the scent of blood, hot iron, and old Amazonian oil until he reached a massive, vaulted courtyard constructed from solid obsidian stone.
In the center of the arena stood Fury.
Naruto paused in the archway, his predatory gaze locking onto her with absolute, clinical precision. She was a stunning specimen of genetic hybridization, the biological daughter of Steppenwolf and the late Wonder Woman of this universe, raised and forged under the brutal conditioning of Apokolips. Her dark hair was pulled back into a tight, utilitarian braid, highlighting her flawless, statuesque facial structure. She wore the signature crimson and gold battle armor of Darkseid's elite Furies, her long, muscular legs and toned core shifting with a perfect blend of Amazonian combat grace and New God ferocity as she systematically dismantled a wave of heavy, automated training drones.
She swung a massive, obsidian-headed battle spear with one hand, while her other hand manipulated an electro-whip that crackled with enough voltage to liquefy a conventional meta-human. With a single, fluid pivot, she drove the spear through the core of a drone, her muscles rippling beneath her armor as she tore the machine completely in half, her breathing rhythmic and controlled.
‘Incredible,’ Naruto thought, a dark, carnal appreciation twisting his features. ‘Steppenwolf is an idiot, but his genetic contribution to the Amazonian line has produced a magnificent weapon. She is far too valuable to be left in the hands of a runaway coward. She will make a perfect vessel for my heirs.’
Naruto stepped into the courtyard, his heavy metal boots clicking deliberately against the obsidian floor, the sound echoing through the vast space.
Instantly, the training drones deactivated. Fury spun on her heel, her Amazonian combat reflexes taking over before her mind could even process the nature of the intrusion. Her blue eyes flashed with murderous intent as she spotted the unfamiliar warrior standing in her sanctuary. Without a single word of warning, she snapped her wrist, sending her electro-whip tearing through the air like a striking viper, aiming directly for Naruto’s throat.
Naruto didn't flinch, nor did he attempt to dodge. He simply reached out with his right gauntlet, catching the superheated energy cord in his bare palm. The high-voltage electricity arced violently across his armor, lighting up the courtyard in a blinding display of blue plasma, but his Fire Pit-hardened skin didn't even blister. He clamped his fingers shut, anchoring the whip with a level of physical mass that defied the laws of gravity.
Fury’s eyes widened slightly as she yanked on the handle of her weapon, only to find that she was attempting to pull against a literal mountain. Naruto’s posture remained completely relaxed, his arm extended as he looked down at her from across the arena.
"Who are you?" Fury demanded, her voice a low, dangerous snarl as she abandoned the whip, her fingers gripping her battle spear with white-knuckled intensity. "You wear the armor of Apokolips, yet your signature is foreign. Speak, before I decorate this floor with your entrails!"
"Your father is a failure, Fury," Naruto said, his voice echoing with a cold, absolute authority that seemed to lower the temperature of the room. "He hides in this dirt world like a wounded dog, keeping you tucked away in the dark while his master's empire marches on. I am here to correct his mistake."
"You dare insult the general?" Fury screamed, her pride as a warrior overriding her tactical caution. "I have slaughtered the greatest champions of this world! I tore the wings from their heroes and watched them beg! I will take your head for this blasphemy!"
She launched herself into the air, her Amazonian physiology allowing her to clear the distance between them in a fraction of a second. She brought her heavy battle spear down with both hands, channeling every ounce of her hybrid strength into a singular, downward strike designed to shatter Naruto from skull to heel.
BOOM!
The spearpoint struck Naruto directly at the crown of his head. The sheer, cataclysmic force of the blow generated a localized shockwave that pulverized the obsidian floor beneath Naruto’s boots, sending a massive ring of dust, shattered rock, and pressure lines tearing across the entire courtyard, collapsing several supporting pillars.
Fury landed gracefully, a cruel, triumphant smirk pulling at her lips as she prepared to view the crushed remains of her opponent. But as the dust settled, her smirk froze, turning into a mask of profound, unadulterated shock.
Naruto hadn't moved an inch. His knees weren't bent, his shoulders weren't hunched, and his golden hair was completely intact. The celestial steel tip of her spear was pressed firmly against his forehead, completely bent, warped, and split open from the sheer, reality-defying density of his skull. He looked at her through the broken smoke, his blue eyes completely calm, carrying an aura of absolute, uncontested dominance that made her knees feel heavy.
"My turn," Naruto whispered.
Before her brain could register the need to retreat, Naruto’s hand shot forward with a velocity that bypassed the visual spectrum. He gripped the shaft of her spear, snapping the forged metal like dry wood, and delivered a straight, open-palm strike directly into the center of her chest plate.
The impact sounded like a detonating artillery shell. Fury was launched backward across the length of the arena, her body tearing through three separate reinforced support columns before embedding itself deeply into the solid stone wall at the far end of the facility. She collapsed into the rubble, coughing up a thick torrent of crimson blood, her heavy chest plate completely caved in, her lungs gasping for oxygen that wouldn't come.
Naruto materialized in front of her instantly, his movement so smooth it looked like a tear in reality. He reached down, his large, gold-armored fingers wrapping around her throat and lifting her battered body out of the debris, pinning her against the wall.
"Unhand... me..." Fury choked out, her hands clawing desperately at his iron wrist. Her hybrid strength, capable of shifting mountains, felt like nothing more than a child's struggle against his pure-blooded Viltrumite anatomy.
"Look at me, girl," Naruto commanded, his voice vibrating with a dark, suffocating malice that paralyzed her nervous system. He leaned in close, his lips nearly brushing against her ear as she trembled in his grip. "Your father hid his shame from Darkseid. He hid you because he knew you were the only thing of value he had left. He thought he could carve out a petty little kingdom in this sandbox and play king. But nothing escapes the eyes of the Omega."
Fury’s pupils dilated with a sudden, primal horror as the absolute truth of her situation settled into her chest. "You... you were sent by... the dark lord?"
"I am Naruto Uzumaki. The Last Son of Viltrum. The New God of Dominance and Cruelty," he whispered, letting his raw, unfiltered energy wash over her entirely, letting her feel the weight of twenty conquered worlds. "Your father is a dead man. His army belongs to me. His world belongs to me. And you..."
Naruto’s free hand moved slowly, his fingers tracing a cold line down her cheek, stripping away her pride and leaving her completely exposed to his absolute authority.
"...you are going to help me break him," Naruto finished, a cruel, predatory smirk crossing his features as he watched her resistance crumble. "And once Steppenwolf is dust, you will take your place where you truly belong. In my quarters, bearing the bloodline that will bring the rest of this multiverse to its knees."
Fury stared into his eyes, her breath coming in ragged hitches. For the first time in her life, her warrior spirit did not scream for vengeance; instead, a deep, primal sense of absolute submission washed over her, an involuntary thrill at the realization that she was no longer serving a runaway coward, but stood in the presence of a true master of ruin.
Chapter End
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A/N: I appreciate everyone's support. Talk to you later.