章 33: Hectic Two Days
-Natasha's Safehouse, New York-
-February 1, 2007, 0300h local-
Natasha had a long and tiring two days. After testing Clint's bow, a still exhausted Laura rushed down the stairs carrying a crying Cooper. The explosion was apparently loud enough to wake up Laura and the baby. Add to the fact that Lila was continuously asking what's shit, and you got the recipe for an angry mother.
Fearing for her safety, Natasha took a page from Naruto's playbook and made a hasty retreat. She quickly packed her bags and said goodbye. While boarding the quinjet, she can see the pleading look on Clint's face for her to stay behind, but her instincts are telling her to go, and that never steered her wrong yet.
If that's bad, the next one's worse. Natasha foolishly decided to go to work the next day. She went straight to her 'office' to get some peace, but the universe must've decided to pile it all on her that day.
~Flashback Start~
"Come in!" Natasha shouted after she heard a knock on the door. The door opened slightly and Coulson peeks through the gap.
"Fury wants a report." Coulson announced.
"Alright..." Natasha replied with a sigh. She stood up and walked out of the room, making sure she locked it behind her. Coulson started walking towards Fury's office while Natasha walked beside him. "Anything interesting happened when I'm out?" She inquired.
"Not really. Just some agent who decided to take out an arms dealer without orders." Coulson responded with a shrug.
"Damn. Saw that, didn't you?" Coulson just gave her a blank stare. "Of course you saw that. I'm just going to report with you there, so I don't have to repeat everything."
Coulson went straight inside Fury's office after doing a biometric scan. Natasha followed behind him, and she saw Fury reading and leaving notes in a folder while sitting on his desk. When she and Coulson sat down on the guest chairs, Fury laid down the reports and closed the folder. That's when she saw the title of the report, although it didn't clue her in on anything. The title on the folder, 'Avengers Initiative.'
"Nice to see you, Romanoff. How was your date?" Fury asked in a friendly tone, which just made Natasha all the more nervous.
"Nothing out of the ordinary boss." Natasha answered in a straight forward tone.
"Oh, so taking out Klaue is a normal thing?" Fury retorted with a raised eyebrow.
"Let me correct myself—nothing out of the ordinary for Naruto." She answered back.
"Enlighten me by answering some of my questions. What happened to the emergency band?"
"The thing short-circuited after the jump, but I think Naruto knew about it because he's the one who told me to contact you."
"I guess he's also the one who caused your phone signal to jump all over Rome?"
"My signal's jumping?" Natasha asked, genuinely confused.
"Well, that answers that..." Fury blurted out. "So, where did you go?"
Natasha internally panicked. She can't really say where they went since it might expose Leon to SHIELD.
"I don't know. Naruto teleported us in an alleyway behind the restaurant. All I know is that it's a kind of family restaurant with private booths, and it's far away from the center since it's quiet." She lied through her teeth.
Fury studied her for a moment. Trying to find any indication of her lying but gave up quickly since she's one of the best liars there are.
"What happened after?" Fury proceeded.
"We exited outback the Naruto teleported us again to some treeline. I only knew where we were in Durban because I squeezed out of Naruto..." Natasha reported. "I can't say anything else, boss." She weakly added.
"We are the only one's here and the room is in a communication blackout mode. You can say anything here and it won't come out." Fury claimed.
"I can't say, boss." Natasha pushed back.
"I order you to report the events in Durban." Fury said with authority.
"I'm invoking Article 8, subsection 14 of SHIELD Agent handbook."
Natasha's retort took Fury and Coulson back. Article 8 talks about circumstances where an agent can disobey a direct order. Subsection 14 is about when an order would cause certain, immediate death to the agent.
"What can you tell me that happened after you arrived in Durban?" Fury tried to find a workaround.
"Naruto doesn't only deal with military and law enforcement. He also has some 'private' customers. Like PI jobs, I guess..." Natasha helpfully added. She needs to give them something to get them off her back even a little bit. "Oh, and if you haven't heard it yet. Laura just gave birth. Naruto and I help her." She added.
"Damn. Mozel Tov to him. I'll add a three-month undercover mission on his file..." Fury mused. Clint is one of his best agents, and giving him some concessions would go a long way. "I expect you to provide me with an unofficial written report of what you can say..." He ordered, thinking about how a written report might reveal something new. Fury took a piece of paper from inside the folder and handed it over to her. "Moving on. I want you to read this for me."
Natasha scanned the paper. As she read through the paper, she realized what Fury wanted to do and she doesn't know how to feel about it.
"You want to assemble a team of enhanced that can fight against Naruto?" Natasha asked weakly.
"Not him, someone like him. Someone not on our side..." Fury answered. "We don't know who or what else is out there. Naruto may not only be the only one out there with his power level. Hell, chances are, there's someone stronger than that guy. I want to be prepared for any eventuality. I want to have a symbol that humanity can really behind when dark times are upon us." He finished, but everyone heard the underlying message. If Naruto turns, they'll take him down.
"This is not a long list, boss and let's be honest, Barton and I are barely enhanced and the other guy is a loose cannon." Natasha reasoned.
"I know. That's why I want to know if Naruto is a viable option on this team."
"Power-wise, more than qualified. But on the personality side, there's a problem. Naruto might look like he loves the spotlight, but he thrives in the dark. The same problem with Barton and me. You won't get your symbol with us. Beside Naruto is even more predictable than the big guy."
"Do you have any idea how to make him join the Avengers Initiative?"
"You need to make him want to join. Any other option would either reject the offer or make him an enemy, and we both know the last one is the worst outcome."
Fury thought hard about Natasha's statement. Everything Romanoff said was true, but with Naruto's appearance, it opens a whole new ballpark of things SHIELD needs to deal with.
"That's all, Romanoff. I'll be expecting your written report by the end of the day." Fury said, dismissing her.
~Flashback End~
The following day isn't much better. She was in her office again when Naruto decided to do a surprise visit before going to Wakanda. It would have been a cute thing to do with other girls, but Natasha is a world-class spy.
As soon as Naruto played 'guess who,' she drew her gun and shot Naruto multiple times in the gut. The sound must've resonated outside since the alarms for an attack started blaring.
Good thing Naruto is immortal and can take multiple hits from a 9mm, or she would've been cleaning buckets of blood from her office.
Naruto gave her a quick kiss before he started writing something down on a piece of paper and left it on the table. He then grabbed her hand, and the next thing she knew, she was in Wakanda again.
Everything went a little bit more subdued than the first visit. She can feel the underlying tension in the air, especially from the Border Tribe members.
As expected, she and Naruto were 'interviewed' while sitting on the lie detector chairs. Nothing new came except she now knew that Naruto kept leaving packages for the king just to mess with him. She could see King T'Chaka between pissed and entertained.
The underlying tension in the room only lifted after Naruto gave everyone a taste of his cooking, even her, and she has to admit it's the best thing she ever tasted. When Naruto revealed the name of his restaurant, that's when she realized that the hottest new fast food, Shokugakure, is owned by Naruto. As expected, The Tribal Council quickly approved the opening of the restaurant, checking one of Naruto's request. The Royal Family would even help in its construction.
The next request was also approved. Apparently, everyone wanted to see if Naruto can damage or destroy a piece of pure vibranium.
~Flashback Start~
The Tribal Council, Royal Family, Dora Milaje, Guards, Wakandan Scientists, and Natasha are on a troop transport 10 m of the ground. Fifty meters in front of them is Naruto without his Kimoyo beads, playing around with a ball of pure Vibranium with a diameter of a foot. They can clearly see him through a holographic projection screen attached to the transport.
"Your Majesty, with all due respect, no one can destroy pure Vibranium. It can only be changed from one form to another. It's the perfect representation of the law of conservation of mass." A scientist told King T'Chaka.
"You know that, I know that, we all know that. But there's nothing lost in this 'experiment.' Either he destroys the ball and we learn something new, or he doesn't and we just took a pleasant stroll outside the city." The King answered.
Naruto kept tossing the ball around until he placed it on the ground. He removed his jacket and shirt and put it somewhere behind him, which then disappeared, leaving him in his black slacks and boots.
"I still can't figure out how he does that. The largest thing I saw him do that was his motorcycle." T'Challa said a little loudly, probably to answer everyone's question. He's the one holding on to Naruto's Kimoyo beads.
Natasha studied Naruto's body. She saw black marks running everywhere on his abdomen and forearms. The characters are similar to the ones visible on the knife, so the tattoo might not just be decorative.
Naruto picked the ball again held it close to his chest. With his free hand, he did a single hand sign and said something. Black flames erupted around his body, covering everything. The fire was so hot that they could feel it burning their skin even from 50m away. They were forced to move back to the troop carrier until they were half a kilometer away.
From that distance, they can see the grasses turning into ash, the rocks and soil melting, and the air forming small flashes of lightning probably due to the formation of plasma by the superheated air. The only one they can see not affected by it was Naruto.
Precisely 20 seconds after the flames appeared, it died down. They can finally see the aftermath of what happened. Naruto was standing on top of a lake of lava 20m wide, in his right hand was a pile of dust. He did another hand sign with his free hand and this time, cold air blasted everywhere. The lava he was standing on immediately solidified. The wildfire he started also died down.
"Great, Bast. How can anyone survive that?" T'Chaka exclaimed in awe.
"What did he say before the fire erupted?" T'Challa asked.
"I think he said Amaterasu." Okoye answered.
"The Japanese Goddess of the Sun." Natasha added weakly.
"A fitting name." T'Chaka replied.
"Your Highness, the fire burned as hot as the surface of the sun..." A Wakandan scientists voiced out. "And it doesn't appear to be it's hottest since the temperature keeps on climbing."
As the scientist was speaking, Naruto, now wearing a shirt, was jogging over to the transport. He leaped onto the carrier when he was a few meters out.
He walked over to stunned scientists, grabbed his hand and opened his palm.
"Look into this for me, will you..." Naruto said while dumping a handful of black dust to the man's hand. He walked over to her side and finally noticed all the stares on him. "What? Is there any dirt on my face?"
~Flashback End~
Natasha could have punched him silly right there and then, but his obliviousness just makes him all the more endearing. She hates that she started to fall quickly, but there's nothing she could do against it
Naruto's 'experiment' spurred the Wakandans into a fervor. They consider Vibranium as a sacred metal and with good reason. It's used in almost every part of their lifestyle and the reason why they have advanced so much.
The Royal Family held a small 'gathering' as a celebration for the new 'friends' of Wakanda. Well, it's more like they're trying to bribe Naruto to do more tests and jobs for them. She just happens to be with him.
Naruto went bat shit crazy during the party. He managed to out drink in the party, even T'Challa, who she now knows has a more similar skillset to Captain America.
They decided to leave when the party was dying down. But before they could go, T'Challa pulled them aside.
~Flashback Start~
"I have a job for you." T'Challa said to them when they were sufficiently out of the way.
"Let me hear the details first before I give my price." Naruto replied.
"I want you to find my Uncle Njobu's son."
Naruto thought about it for a second and pulled out a folder from behind him.
"Are you going to contact him?" Naruto asked seriously while lifting the folder.
"Yes. I intend to bring him home." T'Challa asserted.
"Damn. I can't give this to you in good conscience."
"Why?" T'Challa asked with a slight snarl.
"How can I put this lightly? Hmm..." Naruto mused. "Oh, I know. He'll destroy Wakanda."
"What?"
"His whole life, he prepared for one single purpose. Be the King of Wakanda and basically take over the world. Of course, it's for fighting racism against dark-skinned races, but Wakanda would inevitably fall if he becomes king."
"So, what do you want me to do!? Just forget about him?"
"Nah. I'll make contact with him. We just need to keep anything Wakandan as far away from him as possible until be change his world view."
T'Challa thought about it, and Naruto's plan made the most sense. It would eventually bring back a member of the Royal Family while keeping Wakanda safe.
"Alright. Thank you." T'Challa said with a bow.
"Hold up! I haven't said my price yet." Naruto interjected.
"Right. Forgot about that. So what's the price?" T'Chall sheepishly replied.
"A copy of how a Vibranium suit could be made."
"You want to know how to make a suit? Not a suit itself?"
"I was going to ask you to make Natasha a suit, but I have another material in mind. I just want to know how you make one, so I have an idea." Naruto explained. Natasha, who was listening in on the conversation, perked up. Having a suit made of Vibranium would be awesome, but the mystery material Naruto said indeed piqued her curiosity.
"I can do that, but I want monthly updates about it. I'll call you over the Kimoyo beads in a month so you could pick it up." T'Challa replied after a moment of thinking.
~Flashback End~
Natasha can't believe what happened in the past two days, but the most shocking thing that happened was after Natasha brought him to her safehouse.
One thing led to another, and now she's lying on the bed with Naruto beside her. Both of them naked.
"What are you thinking?" She heard Naruto asked.
"Just how crazy everything the last two days have been." She responded. Naruto gave out a small chuckle.
"So, what happened to the second and third date?" Naruto continued.
"I thought this was the second date?" She replied. Naruto pulled her closer to him and hugged her.
"This is not the second date. This is more like a business trip or something. You still have to plan for our second date." Naruto answered while kissing the top of her head.
"Yeah. You're still going to teach me how to build a bike..." She said while looking straight to his eyes. She then turned around and mounted him. "But, in the meantime, I have more enjoyable activity in mind." She finished before kissing him deeply.
週次パワーステータス
-- 推薦
ランキング 
-- 推薦
チケット