"Well the country you're currently in is called America or the United States, the whole idea behind this country is that there really isn't a restriction on certain skin colors or languages....it's what's called a melting pot meaning there's no specific ethnic group and any sort of culture is welcome. It's mainly divided so to speak, by skin color and culture traditions..language too but most everyone in this country speaks at least a bit of English. Caucasians are white, African Americans are black, Hispanics are tan, in fact speaking of which...Ninjas and martial arts here are traditionally a Japanese culture. But America ain't the only country here, and for a long time there was a lot of discrimination based on race until people wised up. There still are individuals who think their race is superior to another though."

Harvey pointed to a map on the wall of this country: America. "America is divided up between 50 states which have their own smaller government leaders, but the main guy who runs it all, with support from courts and politicians and such, is the President. One is elected in a voting process every four years."

"Our country's been in an on-off war with terrorists who believe their god has given them the right to slaughter our country and any others who don't share their religious beliefs. It all started back in 2001 when they attacked one of our cities and killed thousands if not millions of innocent people."

Harvey frowned at the question: "His name's Ra's al Ghul, which translates to the Demon's Head. He's the leader of a ninja cult called the League of Assassins. His reasoning is that he believes humankind has overstayed their welcome, and he wants to restore the balance of nature by wiping out vast amounts of humanity and purify the world."

_________________

"What language are we speaking right now? Is that this English that you mentioned?" It sounded a bit odd to Sasuke, but something must have happened. The language that he was speaking back in the other world that he originally came from sounded no different, but he certainly never learned to speak English. Then again, for all he knew languages in the Shinobi World and here were the same with different names. That would have made at least some sense to him. Maybe this Japanese the other spoke was something similar to the language that he had learned. "Martial arts are associated with one culture? What, did no one else ever learn to defend themselves?"

Well, one thing was for sure Sasuke thought. He wasn't going to involve himself in this world's political issues. Naruto of course hadn't understood everything that was said really, but Sasuke just figured that it would have been awful for them to get tied up in the affairs of an entirely different world. He had planned to stick to what they were here to do and stay with that.

Eventually, though, Haruno Sakura looked up with a smirk. The case of Ra's al Ghul - the Demon's Head - certainly had sounded like it was much more their style. This sounded like a problem that they would have been able to correct. Ironically it was actually Naruto who had decided to talk next. "Hey, well, I don't know about everything us, but I appreciate the background information. Believe it! Still, I think that this Demon's Head dude would be the one that we would have the most success taking care of. I mean besides the mission that the Bat-guy originally called us here for. Or does this have something to do with that?"

For what it was worth, it also sounded like the one that didn't just involve the sorts of problems this cultivated on its own. Nevertheless, Naruto was pretty clueless with the way he had elected to phrase his questions!

Harvey blinked, "Well...yeah you're speakin' it. And as for defending themselves, there are classes you can take on unarmed self defense all around but some people just carry pepper spray or a gun." Bullock shrugged and sighed in a slightly annoyed way at Naruto's enthusiasm,
Batman entered the room and said: "We're leaving, he has nothing else to tell us."

When they exited the GCPD building a boy with shaggy black hair and wearing a black outfit with a blue streak on the front and a mask over his eyes landed in front of them from a rooftop. "Who're these guys? New recruits?" Nightwing asked.

"Something like that, this is Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura...and this is Nightwing....aka Dick Grayson who was my first adopted son and student, do you need something?" Batman asked.

"Yeah, I do." Nightwing held up a photo of a man wearing a red helmet and a motorcycle jacket running down a sidewalk. "He's taken control of the drug trade in the Narrows, which until now was Black Mask's turf...they found Mask's thugs dead, execution style."

"Sionis must be pretty ****." Batman commented. Nightwing nodded, "Already this new guy's made a name for himself, and Sionis has put a price on his head. He's calling himself the Red Hood...just like you-know-who used to." Nightwing said.

Batman turned to the three ninja, "How experienced are you three at dealing with deranged psychopaths?"

=Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane=

The laughter bounced off the walls as they all walked past big thick iron doors with small barred windows on them. They came to a cell door all by itself, it had a number on it...but underneath it it said: 'Name Unknown - Joker'

The guard unlocked the cell door and locked it behind them, they were soon face to face with a man with green hair, chalk white skin and blood red lips. The man was bound in an orange straightjacket with chains and shackles and padlocks on it.

He looked up at them, his eyes lingering on the trio of ninja longest. "Aren't you going to introduce me to your three new playmates?"

Nightwing opened his mouth before Joker continued at Batman: "You look good, working out? Could probably use a bit of sun....but who the hell am I to talk? Ha HA ha ha!"

Batman tossed the photo of the new red hood onto the table between them, "He's calling himself the Red Hood, what do you know about him?"

Joker looked in close at the picture and snorted, "That he has horrible taste! When I wore that number it was classy! More flashy maitre d than motorcycle fetish." He sighed, "You kids today.."

_________________

Considering that they were able to understand the language, they all just assumed that either something had happened when they were transferred into this dimension. Alternatively it could have been that languages between the two worlds were just so similar that it didn't matter. Either way, the comments about self-defense were far more interesting. Sasuke blinked and tilted his head. "...what is a gun? A weapon that uses gunpowder?"

Batman unfortunately, interrupted the far more important question that he had just fielded apparently. It would have seemed like they were going to have to leave in the middle of all of this. Exhaling softly, Naruto did his best to compress his enthusiasm.

Sakura bowed to Nightwing as she met him, but of course Sasuke and Naruto did in turn as well. Each of them took a look at the photograph for the time being. Scratching the side of his head, Naruto looked up at Nightwing. "Wait a sec, where is the Narrows?"

It would have looked like soon enough his question was answered with another question. He actually offered a smirk in reply to that. "Dealing with deranged psychopaths? I've trained under them." Sasuke then, in turn, offered his own rare smirk. "I was abducted by one. I think this should go fine."

Well, it certainly had seemed like none of them were afraid of following along, and sure as day the three of them went along of course. Weirdly they didn't react all that much to the Joker. That would have been surprising in its own right, but they were just so used to squaring off against unusual enemies that this didn't really faze them.

What would have been more surprising was the blow up by Naruto over what he was saying. "You know I used to dress like that, don't you? I'm sure I could pull it off just fine!"

Sakura then struck him upside his head with a sneer. "Wait a moment, don't make this all about you!"

Batman didn't have anything to fear really. It had looked like, if anything, there might have been a bit of derangement on their behalf.

Soon enough they had calmed down, however, which probably indicated that these personality traits weren't going to end up becoming a major issue. They were just a bit more extremely expressed than what those who were in Gotham were used to. Eventually, though, they were going to prove themselves as three individual capable warriors in their own right.

In fact, Batman probably noticed the fact that all three of them had taken note of any way that the Joker would have used their presence for an escape and carefully moved into defensive positions.

Nightwing leaned down and stuck a finger in Joker's face, "If you're behind this in any way, we WILL find out."

Joker cackled, "Oh bird-boy! You're so much less fun now! All grown up and in your big boy pants!" He turned to Batman, "Still..he's better off than his replacement right? What was that kid's name again? Jaso-AHG!" Batman had yanked Joker from his chair and slammed him against a wall..and begun strangling him.

Joker, despite being choked, managed to smile: "Ya gonna do it this time? Or are ya just gonna put me in another body-cast for six months?"

Until Nightwing placed a hand on Batman's shoulder, Batman continued strangling the villain..before releasing him. Joker fell to the floor and panted, "So disappointing...but anyway...this new Hoodie? If I were behind this, do you REALLY think I'd go through so much trouble and not make sure ya KNEW it was me!?"

_________________

All this time Naruto had probably been viewed as pretty silly. It made sense, since he often couldn't be taken very seriously. Nevertheless, he soon wised up quite a bit. Turning around toward Nightwing, he sneered. "No one makes fun of my friends, believe it!" After having said this, presumably to both Nightwing and Joker together, he faced the Joker with an entirely different look in his eyes.

Sure, Batman might have been strangling the Joker. Surely Batman didn't need any help doing that. It didn't mean, though, that Naruto didn't want to help out. He really couldn't stand people who were going to mock those he cared about.

Unfortunately, ninja training was a bit different than that of Batman's presumably. He simply offered a direct punch at the Joker's face, rather than using the finesse that the other had. "I can make copies of myself, so I don't think you want to try that again."

Ironically even the more demure Sakura nor the proper road-to-redemption Sasuke did anything to actually stop him from doing this at the moment.

Joker laughed, seemingly unaffected by Naruto's threat or punch. "Ha HA Ha HA! Where'd ya find these kids, Bats? This blond one's got some fight in him, I like that!"

Batman frowned and turned with Nightwing to the door, the guard came and opened it as Joker taunted them: "What? Leaving so soon? What's wrong!? Was it something I said!? Ah, be sure to come back and visit soon! Visiting hours are listed in the lobby!"

As they soon made their way back to the batcave, Alfred met them at the door. "Sir, I found this in a package addressed to you." Alfred held up a lengthy parcel to Bruce, who opened it to reveal a bloodstained hunting knife with a note attached:

"Bruce, this is for you to find out who I really am. I know you can test it for DNA, go ahead. Tell Alfred I said hi." Below this on the note it was signed 'Red Hood'.

"Whoever he is, he knows who I am...and he's offering his own identity right here." Bruce placed the knife in a containment case where it was scanned into the supercomputer.

It was scanned through a database until a name popped up that made Bruce's eyes widen and his hands clench the sides of his chair:

"Jason Todd."

_________________

Before Batman decided to turn around, Naruto pulled out a sharpened kunai knife. However, when he thrust it, he didn't thrust it at the joker but instead into the upholstery of a nearby chair. He continued to do this while being laughed at. Sasuke turned around and knew immediately what he was doing. "Naruto, stop, he's insane. You're not going to threaten him like that!"

As a result, Naruto ended up angrily sheathing it and again they were all headed out for the time being. Naruto himself, though, ended up looking at Batman again to address the reason that he had been doing this. "A sharp knife doesn't hurt as much going in, believe it!"

Well, it would take Naruto to turn something that serious into something silly. Sakura rolled her eyes before she again looked toward him before they made their way in. Eventually the name came up. "Is that the name that the Joker was trying to pronounce before?"

Sasuke and Naruto, of course, stopped having any fun that they might have been having either and looked straight at each other. This all suddenly seemed so much more serious than it had moments ago.

Batman was staring at the glass case memorializing Jason Todd in the center of the room now. "Yes, it was. After Dick went onto his solol career as Nightwing after we fought alongside each other for some years...I got another apprentice, he was a homeless kid named Jason Todd..."

"I knew if I didn't take him in, he'd either starve or become another criminal...and I knew what it was like to be alone." Batman said, still facing the robin costume in it's case.



"When he was around 16, we stumbled upon Joker and his thugs robbing a pharmacy...Jason jumped the gun and ended up being captured by Joker...who kept him in a warehouse in the mountains, beat him repeatedly with a crowbar and eventually set a bomb to go off with him inside when I arrived to save him."

_________________

Swallowing deeply, Sasuke put his hand against Batman's shoulder if he would have been allowed to do so. He knew what it was like to be someone who was very tough and yet have a softer side that was marked with tragedy. "I'm sure we have something that we wish we could rewind the clock and redo. I'm currently living through a period of...redemption." Naruto swallowed and looked back at Batman. "Did Joker ever stand trial for his crimes?" He figured that someone who did something like that surely would have gotten death, but considering what they had just seen, well, it honestly looked like Joker wasn't at all on death row.

Then again, even Naruto had ultimately figured that the justice system here was probably softer than that in the Land of Fire. It had a tendency to be quite a bit more swift with the Hokage running around and all!

Batman sighed, "He's legally unfit to stand trial due to his insanity....I capture him and he gets put straight back in a padded cell...until he escapes. It's been on my mind that he's manipulating the system...he's certainly not unaware of what he does."

"So you've found him..." A regal voice said from the shadows, a man with brown hair and a pointed goatee stepped forward.

"Ra's...I knew you had something to do with this." Batman glared.

Ra's al Ghul looked sad, "Not directly, no. Do you remember the last time we came into battle?"

"You were planning to blow up banks and topple the world trading market." Batman sneered.

"Quite so, and to keep you off my trail I hired the Joker....it was made to look like you and Todd had stumbled upon a common robbery. But I underestimated his madness....and he murdered your pupil. As penance, I have never made war with you again....and I recovered Jason's body...the one you buried was a false made of plaster."

Bruce's eyes widened and he clenched his fists, "What did you do?"

"You know that I have been kept alive for thousands of years due to repeatedly bathing in the waters of the Lazarus Pits? They not only can restore one's youth and vitality...but they can also...revive the dead."

"However, when I submerged Jason Todd's body beneath the waters....he came back...damaged." Ra's said sadly.

_________________

Honestly, something inside Naruto gave him a few thoughts that he didn't exactly like, but he was soon shoving these ideas from his mind as he instead went to focus on something else about the issue. "If he's not unaware, than isn't he not insane?" Of course the individual who was now standing behind them quickly interrupted his thoughts and comments, along with those of the other two.

Of course, Sasuke initially wanted to respond with violence, and he was ready to do so. Naruto and Sakura were merely standing at the ready, but he was having the roughest go of placing his feelings totally behind him. Swallowing deeply, he was able to get himself under control so that he would have been able to listen quietly.

It seemed, after all, like some of that news that was being shared with them was positive anyway, so it was probably good that they had elected to not act just yet.

Sasuke blinked a bit and looked toward him. "Wait a moment, why are you telling us this now? How did you get in here anyway? I thought that his facility was supposed to be a total secret."

Ra's smirked at Sasuke, "I trained him, of course I know who he is...it is out of respect for him I have no divulged that information to anyone outside of the League. I'm informing you of this now because he escaped the day we resurrected him...and I have thought him dead until I heard of this." He turned to Bruce, "Bruce, you were my greatest student...do not let your feelings for the boy cloud you vision."

Bruce clenched his fists tightly, "Get. Out."

"Very well, I have done what I came to do." Ra's vanished into the shadows.

=Somewhere in Gotham City=

Jason stood within a rundown apartment, his helmet cast aside to reveal his tousled black hair and eyes. Lightning flashed outside and he realized he was not alone as he whirled around and aimed a gun directly in Batman's face. "I knew you'd show up!"

"Jason...I'm sorry.....I know I couldn't save you....But let me help you-" Batman said quietly.

Jason frowned, "You think THAT'S what this is about!? That you couldn't SAVE me?"

_________________

The biggest thing that Sasuke was concerned about at the moment was the fact that this place was supposedly secret. Considering that someone else knew about it, regardless of who it was, concerned him greatly. He didn't like the idea of anyone else knowing where they were despite the fact that this other individual surely had to know Bruce Wayne. "Are you sure we don't have to move or something?"

Sakura shook her head and frowned. "I don't think that we could just do that..."

Well, the three of them had of course accompanied Batman for the time being, but they were still hanging in the rafters. It was the result of their own training that taught them to behave so differently. Regardless, each had a shuriken, and they were all trained on Jason. If he moved that firearm, then he would have felt a rain of steel before he could do anything to Batman.

They weren't going to be the first to move, however.

Jason continued, lowering the gun to his side, "Bruce I forgive you, for not saving me...but why...why in the hell-" He kicked a nearby closet door open to reveal Joker tied to a chair. "IS HE STILL ALIVE!?"

Joker looked up and cackled as he hopped the chair out, he was dressed in his purple outfit, apparently having escaped from Arkham earlier. "Gotta give the boy points! He came all the way back from the dead to make this shindig happen! So who's got a camera!? First me and the kid, then the three of us and then one with the crowbar-"

Jason smashed Joker in the back of the head with the gun, sending both he and the chair to the floor before kneeling down and pressing the gun against Joker's head. "You be as quiet as possible...or I'll put one in your lap first."

"Party pooper! No cake for you!" Joker muttered.

Jason stood back up and said to Batman: "Ignoring what he's done in the past, blindly and STUPIDLY ignoring the thousands who've suffered, the friends he's crippled! I thought...I thought I'd be the last person you'd let him hurt."

"If he had done that to you, if he had taken you from this world I would've done NOTHING but search for this pathetic pile of evil death-worshiping garbage! And sent him off to Hell!"

"You don't understand...I don't think you've ever understood.." Batman sighed.

"What? Your moral code just won't allow that? It's too hard to cross that line!?"

"NO!" Batman shouted, "...It would be too damn easy! All I've ever wanted to do was kill him, there isn't a day goes by I don't think about subjecting him to every horrendous torture he's dealt out to others...and then finally end him. But if I allow myself to go down into that dark place, I'm afraid I'll never come back."

_________________

For the time being the three of them continued to watch from above. They figured that Jason was a smart individual, but for every drop of intelligence that he had they had experience with hiding in the shadows. Regardless of how they had acted, they were of course ninja. Sasuke and Naruto both felt their ire go up after having seen the Joker, but they did their best to keep that under control. They didn't need to reveal themselves so quickly.

Eventually though, they had enough of listening to all of this. The three of them each threw their shuriken to make more of a distraction than anything as they leaped notably behind Jason and even the chair that the Joker was tied to. Looking about, Sasuke frowned and shot a glare at Jason.

"I think that this conversation might be a bit more equitable considering that we're here now." Sasuke figured that saying that would make it so that Jason and Batman would have had to speak on equal terms, considering that Batman now had backup.

Naruto frowned and looked at Sakura. "Isn't this a great opportunity to get rid of Joker?"

Nodding a bit, Sakura sighed, "I think that Batman is kind of like Sasuke though. Didn't you hear what he had just said? He's sort of on his own journey of redemption probably."

She frowned, looking toward either of them. Technically there was still some of her healer's notion in the back of her mind anyway. Sakura didn't want to get anyone hurt in the process, but she wasn't exactly opposed to defending herself either. It looked even to her that this Joker had to go, but she completely understood where Batman was coming from and didn't want a fight with Jason.

Jason clenched his hand on the gun and bit his lip hard enough to draw blood, "Who are they supposed to be, my replacements?" He demanded of Batman. "No! It's not like that!"

"Then you brought them here to kill me! To take me out because Ra's told you how his little fountain of youth turned me rabid, huh!?" Jason shouted. Batman approached, "Jason, please listen-"

"Shut up!" He drew another gun and threw it to Batman, who caught it.

He then slammed his foot down on the chair that held Joker and got the villain in a headlock, pressing the gun against his skull. "You KNOW I won't use this!" Batman said.

"This is what it's all been about! ALWAYS! You, me and HIM! If you want this to stop, you're gonna have to kill me!" He said, his eyes glancing to the three ninja.

They would see tears forming in Jason's eyes, unimaginable hurt and pain showing in them.

"Jason...please..." Batman pleaded, stepping forward.

"I'm gonna blow his deranged brains out! Now it's time for you to decide! It's HIM OR ME!"

_________________

Fortunately there was one other aspect of ninja's training that would be useful here. Technically ninja were always considered to be paid assassins. They weren't anything more than that really. However, that didn't mean that they weren't more than capable of disarming someone. Taking the opportunity that was created by the fact that Jason was crying as well as focusing on Batman, the three of them reacted quickly. Naruto grabbed Jason's back as best as he could have while Sakura and Sasuke moved to immobilize his arms, doing their best to kick the gun out of his hands in the process.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes, sneering at the other. "Now don't you think that if we were here to kill or replace you that we would have done so already? Listen to reason. You're not in a position to do anything but." He then non-verbally issued some advice to Batman. His eyes went toward Joker, which showed that he had seemed to think that the other might have taken this time to actually put through an escape. It didn't seem like something to put past him at all.

"SCREW YOU!" Jason screamed at Sasuke as he struggled to escape.

"Ooooh! Lookie what kind of goodies I got for being such a goood boy!" Joker said as he turned to them, having been crouched down by the fireplace near what appeared to be several boxes of C4 and some wires.

He held up a detonation switch in his hand, and the gun Sasuke and Sakura had kicked from Jason with the other. "First things first, though!" He promptly shot Batman in the stomach and chest three times with the gun just as the dark knight turned around. "Wouldn't want him spoiling the fun now would we!?"

"You three weirdos may have found a way to win...but everyone within this blast radius will STILL LOSE!" Flipping the detonator switch, a countdown began..much to Joker's chagrin. "Awww, that's no fun! Why is there always a countdown on these stupid things!?" He growled.

Rushing over to the three ninja who had Jason restrained he got in their faces while laughing: "BING BANG BOOM! WE ALL GO OUT TOGETHER!? DON'T YOU JUST LOVE A HAPPY ENDING!?"

Jason kicked Joker in the chest, causing him to drop the gun and stumble back. The Clown Prince of Crime laughed as he tripped over a loose board and smashed through the window, falling from the third floor to the pavement below.

"Let go of me you morons! I can disarm it!!" Jason shouted to his captors.

Batman, even with his three bleeding bullet wounds, nodded at them to do as he requested.

_________________

Regardless of what Jason had said, Sasuke didn't let him go just yet. That being said, he didn't at all do anything to hurt him either. He had wanted to make sure that he didn't inflict any undo pain in the process. Restraining him was an act of mercy in the hopes that they could have prevented more people from getting hurt in the process. The three of them, though, immediately let him go as soon as Batman had said so.

Something inside of Naruto was still really holding out. He had hoped that Batman was wearing bulletproof armor. Of course, he hadn't really seen firearms before, but he had assumed that it would have been possible to at least stop the penetration of one, similar to the way that it was with arrows. Some small amount of hope was there. If someone was shot wearing armor, they could still bleed merely because of the force of impact.

Swallowing after she had let go, along with Sasuke, Sakura looked back into Naruto's eyes. She nodded slowly and smiled. In the middle of all this, in spite of what was going on, she was smiling.

Naruto for just a split second seemed offended. How could she have possibly smiled through any of that? It didn't seem possible.

What would have made her happy?

It was the fact that she had a trick up her sleeve: her healing prowess would still work in this world too. She was sure of it.