The man wearing the black cape and pointy-eared cowl with it's white slits for eyes..and a dark gray fiber costume with evidence of being stitched back together several times, which had a large symbol of a bat on it...sat across from Sasuke, sipping tea with him. "Listen, I know you don't believe me...and frankly if I were in your position I wouldn't believe me either. But you have to understand...not only is your Leaf Village in danger...but the entirety of this place you call the Land of Fire..and no doubt other countries as well." This man, who introduced himself as 'Batman' but also his true name: Bruce Wayne.

He explained that at the age of 9 he watched his wealthy parents be murdered in front of him by a mugger...and he dedicated his life to learning every fighting style known to the world he claimed he was from, as well as every science. He explained how he used the costume to not only keep his identity secret, but combined with his fighting abilities it made well to scare the pants off of criminals, even the most vile of them.

Sasuke had been roughly 3 months on his journey of repentance..and he had already encountered quite the number of situations, but none compared to this.

"I'm asking you to help us because not only will your own home be saved...but we need someone of your and your other two teammates abilities to assist us. We've got our share of warriors, an Amazonian warrior princess, an alien man who is practically invulnerable and can fly and shoot lasers from his eyes...we've got a man who can run so fast that he breaks the sound barrier and in fact is the key to me being here in your dimension...but we don't think it's enough...and we feel it's our duty to warn you and your friends before something terrible happens."

_________________

Well one thing was for certain even beyond the fact that he didn't quite believe this bat individual. Most people didn't go around dressed up like a bat. Most people didn't hide their faces with little slits, though it was no stranger than what some people wore. Sasuke had assumed that someone who needed to disguise his face would have instead done so by wearing a proper mask. It was common for ninja to be required to do so, but they usually used the sort that Haku or Kakashi wore if not some variant thereof.

The unusual get-up made it that much more difficult to accept the story that he was being fed here. Swallowing a bit, he then paused. "If you were trying to disguise yourself, then why would you tell me your true name?" Some, like the aforementioned Hatake Kakashi had indeed hid the appearance of their faces, but they still used their own names in the meantime.

"Out of curiosity, why wouldn't you have chosen someone besides me?" He figured that if Batman was everything that he said he was, and then he could have found any of the people in the village. He could have found anyone at all. "Maybe you see something of yourself in me, because of the penance that I'm doing?"

The way that he had phrased that question served to illustrate the fact that the Uchiha was starting to accept the other's unusual story. Swallowing a bit, he then began to stand from the area where he was sitting across from the other. "That has got to be it, huh? Well, if you truly have all of them and yet need more help, then I would be willing to accompany you." Though he never showed fear, an enemy that could defeat a crew like that must have been genuinely quite fearsome indeed. He still allowed Batman to see none of his emotions, though.

Batman smirked behind his cowl, "Because I trust you....and I hope you will trust me in return. After all, I already know your name, as well as your teammates and sensei. Believe it or not I was trained by what my world considers ninjas...though they aren't chakra-users and rely on stealth and weapons instead. They don't wear the kind of varying outfits you all do either, they strictly wear black masks and black armor...sort of a stereotypical ninja garb. Ninja are only known to be more than a myth where I come from, to a few."

Bruce nodded, "You're sharp in deducing that...but you also remind me of my second apprentice and adopted son..his name was Jason...despite all my best efforts I couldn't save him...for a long time I felt like a failure....I have his uniform hanging in my base...out in the open...where I have to look at it and remind myself to never let it happen again."

Batman nodded at Sasuke's decision to help him, "Good to know. Now how far is your village?"

_________________

For a time it seemed like the Uchiha shinobi had wanted to hide his look of surprise. He was honestly shocked that Batman had trusted him. He also wasn't sure out of all the people that he could have selected Batman would have instead gone with him. More surprise, however, came after Batman had seemed to admit that he had received similar training. That would have helped to explain a lot.

Sasuke, though, was a man of few words. His silence shouldn't have been taken as a lack of response, however. He was indeed very shocked by everything. Merely he was trained not to show that he had been so shocked, hence why he was acting the way that he was.

"My village is not far the way that I travel. How do you travel, as you cannot use chakra?" That seemed to mean they couldn't merely jump from treetop to treetop. He wanted to hear more about this Jason, but there were more pressing matters to attend to for now. Apparently he would just have to ask later on.

Batman smirked, "Was curious when I could show you this...I didn't want to bring it out in case this world hadn't the same technology yet." Batman uncovered a two wheeled vehicle from a bunch of leaves and foliage. Hopping upon it and sitting down, he revved it a few times and the motorcycle began to rumble. "Lead the way..."

=Leaf Village gates=

The loud rumble and vroom of a motorcycle was heard at the city gates, and a strangely costumed man got off of a motorcycle next to Sasuke and the rumbling stopped.

A pink haired girl and a boy with blond hair were approaching, along with a man with silver hair and a mask over his mouth.

_________________

"What do you mean the same technology? I'm sure that our worlds have developed very differently." Well, apparently in spite of Sasuke having said this, he didn't seem to think that the motorcycle looked any different from what he was used to. Exhaling a bit, he raised his brow and actually did not seem to be terribly impressed. Once again, this had more to do with the fact that he was suppressing his response to it than any lack of impression. He, however, had decided to take his usual path through the trees back.

Uzumaki Naruto, meanwhile, decided to break from the rest of the group and put his fingers laced into his hair behind him. While the pink and silver haired individuals tried to catch up, it seemed this one was going to talk to Batman first.

This blond haired kid who introduced himself as Naruto Uzumaki and started rattling off several questions and poking at his cowl annoyingly, was apparently the very same one who had saved everyone in this village and potentially their world. "You must be Sakura and Kakashi...apologies...Hokage-Kakashi? My name is Bruce Wayne, however I have an alter-identity I use in order to destroy the corruption and injustice in my home city of Gotham...it helps with the intimidation of my enemies." Batman bowed respectfully.

"Sasuke has told me about you three...if possible could we discuss something in private?"

Naruto practically proceeded to drag Batman to the Hokage's office.

Once they were all in private, Sasuke would bring them all up to date on this man's story...including the idea of the Amazon warrior princess from an island inhabited solely by warrior women, and the alien man who could fly and use lasers from his eyes.

"The reason I have approached you and your village, is because it and this entire world is in danger. A being known as Darkseid held your village's and world's location inside a computer which listed potential targets. This being is known as The God of Evil and Darkness and is seeking something thoughout all reality....and will stop at nothing to find it."

"What is he looking for?" Kakashi asked.

"Something called the Anti-Life Equation....a mathematical formula that when spoke aloud subjugates and convinces everyone that free will and life are pointless...and they have no other choice but to submit to the speaker as their master."

_________________

Naturally the Hokage Kakashi rubbed the back of his head before he extended his hand to the other in greeting. This had all been a little bit awkward after all. He should have figured, though, that Naruto was going to react like that. Naruto had, of course, always reacted like that. "It is an honor to meet you, Wayne-san. Gotham is not in any of the nations, is that correct? It would have to be a place that is outside of my understanding."

The name was not familiar to any understanding of geography that he had. Regardless, they soon made it to the Hokage's office, though they would have even had Naruto not forced them to.

Eventually they were all listening to what was being said thus far, and honestly it didn't seem like anything that was out of the ordinary for them. It was just yet another evil thing that had come to threaten them. Sakura looked up toward Batman and decided to be blunt.

"You don't seem all that shocked. You must deal with this kind of thing a lot, am I right? Well, you know what? You've come to the right place, because we know how to take care of problems like this as well."

She shot a glare at Naruto who seemed to have offered a sweatdrop in return. Naturally he was sort of familiar with such threats on a level that Batman couldn't possibly have considered yet. Naruto was, in a way, an inhabited version of the creatures they so often fought.

Batman brought up a hologram from a device, of Darkseid's Omega symbol. "Where we come from there was a scientific theory that turned out to be true called the Multiverse. It says that any universe in existence such as yours or mine, is contained in a sort of bubble...among an ocean of other universes of infinite number."

He turned to Naruto and Sakura and smiled slightly, "Your friend Sasuke here reminds me of a pupil I had. You three seem like good kids, strong ones too...I think we'll do just fine. So...do I uh...sign a contract or pay you money or someting?" Batman asked.

Kakashi shook his head, "No...technically this isn't an everyday mission...it involves the fate of our world..so I'm sending Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto to assist you and your friends."

Batman nodded and placed two fingers on the side of his mask, "Cyborg, we're ready..."

A hologram of a man who was half mechanical appeared out of thin air, "We'll transport you and the others in a minute...though I should warn you three newbies that dimensional warping can be a bit...uh..." The man seemed to struggle to find the right words until a man wearing a red and gold outfit with a lightning bolt symbol on his chest butted his head into the image: "What he's tryin' to say is try not to puke all over yourselves on the way!"

"Before you go, there's someone who wanted to see you off, Naruto." Kakashi spoke as Hinata entered and smiled. "I heard you're going on a special assignment...so I had Ichiraku pack you this!" She handed Naruto a large thermal heated case of several sealed cups of his favorite ramen.

Batman blinked, "That smells better than our world's version of it...it basically comes in a pack and you boil the noodles...and put beef flavored powder over them...I'm going to go out on a limb and say this Ichiraku stuff is more natural and has real meat and ingredients?"

_________________

Uchiha Sasuke listened carefully to what Batman was saying. It seemed to violate what he himself understood about the nature of the universe. There couldn't be more parallel dimensions than merely four. Height, length, width and time were the only dimensions that there were because anything else would violate the law of the conservation of mass and energy.

Regardless, per usual he felt it unnecessary to actually say anything. Naruto, meanwhile, just looked dumbfounded. He didn't say anything because he was busy gawking.

Meanwhile, Sakura looked up in reply to what the other had said. "Well, technically we are paid assassins if that's what you were asking about." Her words were interrupted by the appearance of Cyborg in that holographic system. Before she could say anything about that bit of amusingness, though, Naruto sniffing at that ramen that Hinata had brought interrupted her. Grinning, he seemed to dance with it for a moment. "Is this some kind of bribe to get me to go on the mission? I would do just about anything for this!"

Eventually Sasuke turned toward Batman with a raise of his brow. "Those sorts of rations exist in our world too; they are a cheap product. This is slow-cook ramen." He looked over at Naruto and rubbed his forehead for a moment. "Perhaps we should tell you that this blockhead has a certain addiction to it. It's like a drug to him!"

Well, what he was saying wasn't even a lie. It was entirely true.

Finally Sakura turned back toward him and placed some of her hair behind her ear again in the process. "Well, that man that you called Cyborg, is he actually one?" She figured that he must have had a glut of inorganic components grafted on top of his actual natural body, unless that was just a name for him that someone had given to him in turn.

That sort of thing reminded her of the sound ninja unfortunately.

Batman sighed and looked at Sasuke, "The Instant Ramen we have at my home world and country is cheap but it's one of those things that you mainly find in poorer homes and those living in near-poverty...because they cannot afford much else."

Batman nodded at Sakura's question, "He is, and he is constantly 'online' with every and any computer or electronic device in the world, he doesn't sleep...he can't...and he's constantly getting streams of data and analyzing it. He's kind of sensitive to it so...try to be tactful."

Kakashi waved as their vision was hit with a bright light, "Good luck! Make us proud!"

=Seconds later=

The four of them found themselves in an immense cavern with multiple vehicles, motorcycles, and a massive super-computer in front of them as well as numerous trophies presumably taken from Batman's various victories...and a row of glass cases with costumes in them...one of which was red and gold and had black pants and a black eye-mask...which was separated from the rest and practically in the middle of the room.

The gold engraving at the foot of the case said: "Jason Todd: A Good Soldier - NEVER FORGET."

"Did you retrieve these ninjas, sir?" A gray-haired gentlemen wearing a butler's uniform said from the side.

"Yes, this is Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, and Sakura Haruno." Batman pointed to each of the guests in the batcave in turn.

"Pleasure, my name is Alfred Pennyworth, Wayne family butler."

_________________

Naruto would have soon grasped, considering how open they were with their relationship in public now, Hinata out of more than just thanksgiving for having sent that ramen along. He threw his arms around the other individual and kissed her in a passionate way that probably came from being way too close to Jiraiya and Kakashi for all those years. After he pulled back, Hinata was blushing quite brightly.

"Na-naurto-kun..." Naruto turned around at the mention of his name and gave her thumbs up. "I'm gonna come back in one piece. I got to for you!" He then blinked a bit, and Hinata knew what was really bothering him. That was the fact that she wasn't coming with.

A few seconds later, after Batman had explained the situation about ramen to Sasuke and the case of Cyborg to Sakura, they were in another time. Well, at least this had seemed like another time. Sakura was originally going to say Cyborg's state interested her as someone with a medical background, but she never got a chance to.

They were quickly meeting someone else new.

In turn all three of them bowed.

Naruto then jumped around and started to look at everything. "A long time ago I actually used to ride a motorcycle!"

Sakura was quickly chasing after him, "Hey, wait, don't touch anything, you don't know what's going to happen in this place if you do that!"

Meanwhile Sasuke merely looked back toward Alfred. "You'll have to excuse the two of them. This happens an awful lot with the three of us."

Alfred raised an eyebrow at Sasuke, "Do tell?" he said as he glanced over and Sakura and Naruto running around. Alfred approached Batman and cleared his throat to gain the other's attention, "Commissioner Gordon has moved Lex Luthor to the GCPD headquarters as you requested, it took some string pulling and he stressed this was a one time thing that he wouldn't be able to give you this chance again."

Batman smirked, "One of the richest men in the world..confined to a small interrogation room...sounds like fun."

Soon the group found themselves meeting a rather fat man wearing a weather stained trench coat and smoking a cigar outside of a building with the words Gotham City Police Department (GCPD) on it. "Bullock, where's Gordon?" Batman asked.

"He had to skedaddle, you know how they've been breathin' down poor Jim's neck about lettin' you do these interrogations...even though we don't record 'em."

_________________

Commissioner Gordon must have been something like a Hokage of the village, thought Naruto. That would have made sense with the title that he was given. Sighing softly, he looked back up and raised a brow. Well, at least the conversation got him and Sakura to stop running around the Bat-cave.

Soon enough they were meeting someone who seemed to need to loose some weight. Sasuke leaned up to whisper to Batman for the meanwhile.

"Remember, the three of us may not look it, but we are paid assassins. If you need anything interrogation wise..."

Apparently Sasuke was suggesting that the three of them weren't above torture, but he didn't want Bullock to hear. It made sense, though, considering the history of the ninja and all. Surely someone like Batman could have appreciated this, and wouldn't have taken any offense to anything that was being said here really.

Batman smirked at Sasuke and said quietly back: "I'll be sure to call you in, the way this works is me and Lex'll be in this small square room...you and some other cops'll be behind a two-way mirror, on our end it'll just look like a regular mirror, but on your end it'll be like looking through a window." Batman turned back to Bullock, "Has he said anything yet?"

"Yeah, keeps askin' for his lawyer and repeating the same crap all his rich types say. 'Do ya know who I am? I'll have you fired and your family thrown out on the streets.' blah blah blah." Bullock said, tossing away his cigar and stomping it out.

Batman nodded and Bullock led them to the interrogation room, "You three kids come with me over here, you get to watch the show." Bullock chuckled as he led Sakura, Naruto and Sasuke into a dark room where they looked in through a sort of window to see a bald man wearing an orange prison jumpsuit with a number on the back and front.

Batman entered the room and sat down across from this man. "So...they've decided to play their bad cop?" Lex scoffed.

"You do know this is a violation of my rights, detective!" He called in through the glass. "I can have everyone involved in this living in the poor house living off of booze and canned soup!"

"Hey." Batman said, "Bullocks not in here....I'm in here...so you got somethin' to say you'll say it to me."

"Like I said, if my lawyer isn't present I have nothing to say to you, vigilante." Lex sneered.

Batman casually sighed and stood up, walking behind Lex and standing there for a moment before kicking his chair out from under him and causing him to slam his chin on the table on the way down. "H-hey you sonofa-I have rights!" Lex said before he was grabbed in a headlock and started struggling.

"Sure you got rights..lots of them...sometimes I count them myself just to make me feel crazy...but right now you've got information that I want...and I can promise you all I have to do is put a little more pressure and you'll be paralyzed.."

Lex's screams were muffled as Batman squeezed him and Lex's face turned red.

"What did he offer you to sell us out, huh? Tell me what you told him and how he's been in contact with you or I'll break your neck and you'll be shitting in a bag the rest of your life, come on!" Batman threw Lex against the brick wall, the billionaire gasping for air.

Lex coughed a bit as he lay there, struggling to get back up.

_________________

Naturally Sasuke could have heard what Batman was saying quite clearly. However, that didn't mean that Bullock would have been able to hear it. The Uchiha clan member was going to stick to the plan, though he wasn't entirely sure whether or not everything would quite go as planned. "We have two-way mirrors where I'm from as well." He hoped that Batman didn't think that everything was totally foreign to him even if technology had developed along separately lines where they were each from.

Regardless, soon enough Sasuke was watching as well along with the other two from across the mirror. Bullock was leading them, and Sasuke was thankful of the fact that Bullock hadn't really seemed to hear any of the things from before at all.

Honestly Batman seemed to have the situation more than under control, though. Naruto started to get up, but Sakura put a hand on his arm and helped him back down. He rubbed where she had touched for a moment and swallowed before he looked in the other direction again.

"Uhh, you shouldn't make that too much of a habit. You know that Hinata isn't going to like it." It was true, Naruto thought. He didn't want to do anything that would have made the other think he was cheating on her with anyone.

Eventually Sasuke had made a motion that indicated that he had hoped that the other two were going to keep quiet. He wasn't entirely sure how soundproofed this room was. For all he knew they couldn't have ever heard anything from the other side, but he wasn't going to take that chance at all.

What was going on now, of course, was already too important to jeopardize it with anything. He was taking things just as seriously as he might have back home. Regardless, he gently yawned a bit and settled down.

Sakura looked over at Sasuke and blinked before focusing again on Lex. Even with that head lock that Batman had him in, this all seemed like it was still pretty serious and that they should have been at the ready at all times. Despite that, though, Sasuke clearly appreciated the fact that Sakura had taken a moment to look at him even if he did what he could to avoid admitting the fact that he had liked her taking a moment to look at him like that. Swallowing, Sasuke just stood at the ready.

If all interrogations were like this in the world that they were now in, things would probably go fairly easy enough for them. That would have helped when it came time to actually act like the historical ninja that they could have been.

Lex sighed and glared up at Batman, "Are you ready to talk?" Batman cracked his knuckles threateningly. Lex sighed and propped himself up into sitting position on the floor. "Y'know...in retrospect I probably deserved that."

"Ya think?" Batman growled.

"You put your entire world and possibly universe in danger and you put an entirely different one at risk for your obsession with beating Superman."

Lex glared, "Do you have any idea what relying on heroes does to this society? We always expect someone to swoop in and save us, so we never bother to take the initiative to work harder or avoid trouble ourselves! If mankind is going to rely on a savior to come rescue us every few minutes, we are doomed as a species. I don't know about you but I would prefer this world to die in a final glorious war..than succumb to apathy towards our own future."

"If it's any consolation we're not all going to die, humankind is a bit more resilient than you give them credit for, and don't worry...you'll never be remembered as a hero..just a selfish coward who betrayed everyone on this planet. But if you have any humanity left in you at all...you'll tell me what we're dealing with...right now." Batman said.

Lex grit his teeth but then sighed, "The being known as Darkseid is of a race known as the New Gods and rules the war world of Apokolips. I managed to get pieces of information regarding these things using Kryptonian alien technology that held archives of history. Unfortunately for you the data I retrieved was corrupted and only managed to decipher a name and a location before it cut off..." Lex sneered.

"Which was?" Batman pressed.

"Kalibak.....Earth...." Lex said.

_________________

For the time being it had just looked like Shinobi (and of course a single kunoichi) Team 7 was going to have to stand by. They weren't on the other side of that glass. Sakura had noticed that Sasuke had been fingering a kunai the moment that Lex had said that in retrospect he deserved it. Naruto was oblivious, which naturally meant that someone who wasn't a ninja couldn't see it if he couldn't.

The rest of the information that was being shared, though, was quite a bit of a shock to say the least. They weren't entirely prepared for a threat on this scale, which was ironic considering what was before.

Naruto looked back toward Sakura for the time being.

"They're talkin' about whole worlds in there!"

That of course had earned him a whack on his fingers.

"I don't know what the war world of Apokolips is any more than you do. However, I also don't know if they can hear through that glass or not!"

To be honest Sakura actually doubted that there was any chance that they could have. She figured that there probably was enough distance between them, and they were able to hear things only through the aid of engineering.

However, she wasn't going to take any chances. As for Sasuke, he was merely a man of few words and was mulling this over. Assuming that they were on the Earth, this story about Kalibak as he had called it certainly did sound distressing and he wanted to collect as much information about the situation as was humanly possible. Ironically, he was the one doing the best job of being a ninja in terms of information collection in spite of the fact that he was the one with a sort of criminal background.

"Don't worry, they can't hear us, this room is sound proof." Harvey Bullock commented from beside them. "So you three are the ninjas he brought in, huh? Ninjas must be different where you're from..here they all wear the same thing, black masks and black leather armor." Bullock bit into a doughnut and offered a box of various kinds to the trio, "They say he was trained as one...but his teacher was using him to lead an army to slaughter Gotham in some sort of ethnic cleansing and when he wouldn't do it they turned on him."

Naruto reached for a jelly-doughnut and examined it before biting into it, "Wow...he's a ninja!?" He said through a mouthful of it. He swallowed, "Uh...he mentioned someone called the Commissioner? Is that Gotham's hokage?" The blond haired youth asked Harvey.

"Not sure what ya mean by Hokage, but he's the leader of the GCPD..the law enforcement...y'know...peace keepers?" Harvey smiled, "The GCPD used to be corrupt as all hell...the commissioner was a man named Loeb and Jim Gordon was a lieutenant at the time. Jim never played along with Loeb's game, he was the only honest cop on the force and had an uphill battle. Then he showed up..." Harvey pointed at Batman in the other room. "He started exposing the GCPD's corruption and taking down the thugs and criminals that most of the officers back then were either turning a blind eye to...or taking bribes from...including Commissioner Loeb."

"He showed us that this place is our home and it's up to us to make sure it's a decent place, and pretty soon people could take their kids to the park to play without fear of being hurt or robbed. He gave this city hope, and soon the corrupt officers were exposed and Loeb was thrown in jail...and Jim took his place and cleaned this place up from his end."

_________________

Naruto grinned a bit and then stuck out his tongue. "See, I knew this was gonna be okay. We could have been talkin' the whole time." Sakura then immediately leaned over toward Bullock in the process. "You shouldn't have said that. You should have just told him that they could hear through the glass. Believe me, it would have made it easier on all of us." Naturally those comments made Naruto just stick his tongue out at her again once he settled into the chair once more. Sure, this was a new and more mature version of himself, but some things really never did change.

When the going got tough, though, he surely would have sprung straight into action right away. Besides, anyway, he had a doughnut to concern himself at this point!

Haruno Sakura heard what Harvey had said about the Commissioner's position and then shook her head. "I am sorry to hear that there's corruption involved. Where we're from the Hokage is the head of a ninja village that we live in. Considering that ninja don't officially exist it's amazing just how much power the Hokage does wield."

Meanwhile, though, Sasuke focused on something else that was said. "Could you explain to me the division of ethnic groups here? Where we're from, they're primarily divided by language."

He was concerned about the issue involving Gotham's proposed ethnic cleansing, but he needed more information before he could have actually understood the issue. After all, the division of ethnic bloodlines here was probably pretty different from what he was used to. Different societies at different times choose various paths to divvy themselves up.

"Bullock, why did he want to slaughter Gotham, and is any of that still a threat?" Even if it was in the past, he figured that he should have learned as much as possible about everything for the time being to ensure that he had a solid command of the situation.