He stepped back from the window with a sigh.
Behind him, the ramen on the stove hissed sharply, the pot rattling as the water crept toward a boil. Naruto didn't turn. He already knew he'd let it go too long.
Outside, smoke twisted upward in thick black strands, darkening the skyline. It poured out of downtown and climbed high enough to catch the last of the sun, smearing the clouds a bruised orange-red.
Naruto narrowed his eyes and followed the movement instinctively, his focus locking onto the disturbance before his mind fully caught up.
Something streaked past the edge of a high-rise, fast but uneven, carving a crooked line through the air.
He recognized the energy almost immediately: Mark Grayson.
Naruto tracked him as he came into clearer view, the blue suit catching the light, yellow gloves flashing as Mark fought to stay steady. Invincible. That was the name people used and spoke with awe and confidence.
Naruto didn't buy into it for a second. At least not from what he was seeing right now.
A low sound slipped from his throat as Mark zigzagged through the sky, flying like a baby bird that hadn't learned how to properly flap its wings yet.
His turns were wide, delayed by hesitation. His lift surged and dipped without warning, never fully stable. Every correction came too late, arms flailing as he tried to force momentum back under control instead of letting it flow.
He was strong. That much was obvious.
But strength alone wouldn't save him if he couldn't even make use of it.
Naruto watched as Mark sloppily overcorrected again, barely avoiding a collision with a building before pitching upward too sharply.
The motion threw him off balance, and for a split second he looked less like a hero and more like a kid thrown into a deep water, kicking hard and hoping instinct would keep him afloat.
Naruto exhaled slowly, his eyes never leaving him.
Flying wasn't about singular force. It was about feel, and Mark Grayson hadn't quite found it yet.
Below him, the thing he was fighting barely budged.
The machine stood nearly ten feet tall. Its armor was ugly and crude, just slabs of industrial plating welded together like it had been built in a basement by someone with too much time and little conscience.
Every inch of it looked designed to inflict a maximum amount of pain.
Its arms were even worse. Saws, pneumatic claws, and rotating cannons bolted on with no concern for balance or elegance.
The ramen boiled over behind him, foam spilling onto the burner, but Naruto stayed where he was, eyes fixed on the window, watching a fight that was already going wrong.
Mark's fist slammed into the mech's chestplate, and the impact rang out like knuckles dragged across a steel vault door. The sound echoing down the street.
It seemed to have barely any effect.
A claw snapped upward and caught Mark midair, it's metal fingers locked around his waist with a sharp hiss as the hydraulics engaged. Judging by the look on Mark's face there was no give in its grip, or space to twist free.
"Wait!" Mark yelped, and then the world shifted violently.
WHAM.
The mech swung him sideways and smashed him into a parked sedan. The car crumpled with a tortured scream of bent steel, its frame folding inward as windows burst and alarms shrieked to life.
"Okay, ow. OW."
The claw tightened.
WHAM.
It drove him straight down into the street. Asphalt shattered beneath his back, spiderweb cracks racing outward as chunks of pavement leapt into the air like shrapnel.
"Ah, god, stop!"
WHAM.
Again, but harder this time. The impact felt personal, as if the machine were trying to pound him through the road and into whatever lay beneath it. The street groaned in protest, dust and grit erupting in thick clouds with every strike.
Mark's voice cracked into a strained, breathless groan. "Don't worry! I'm good. Totally… got it.. under control!"
High above the street, Naruto sighed and shifted his weight against the window frame. The glass vibrated faintly with each impact below.
"How embarrassing," he muttered.
He still didn't move. It wouldn't do any good to expose himself now.
The mech drew its arm back once more, gears whining as it prepared another blow. Dust and debris rolled through the street in heavy waves, grit and shattered glass spinning through the air and settling over twisted metal and broken concrete.
He closed his eyes, just for a moment.
______________________
"Yo."
The memory slipped in without asking.
That voice came first. Warm, and almost irritatingly sincere.
Rows of desks followed. He could feel the dull scrape of chair legs against school tile. The smell of cheap pencils and stake bubblegum that had been forgotten on the back side of a chair for too long.
A kid dropped into the seat beside him like it was the most natural thing in the world.
"I'm Mark. Mark Grayson. Nice to meet you." he said with a smile.
Naruto glanced at him once and nodded in acknowledgement. "Naruto Uzumaki."
Mark leaned back in his chair, arms spreading wide with easy confidence.
"Welcome to Reginald Vel Johnson High. Where dreams go to die and the vending machines only steal your money on Tuesdays."
Naruto had raised an eyebrow but said nothing, his attention drifting back toward the window and the stretch of sky beyond it.
Mark did not seem bothered by the silence. He leaned forward again and held out a hand.
"If you need someone to show you around the city or whatever, I got you. I'm usually not this social, but you kinda looked like you could use a helping hand."
That had caught Naruto off guard.
He was used to feeling ulterior motives from people the moment they got close. Fear, suspicion, anger. With Mark, there was none of that. He was sincere in his approach.
"Sure." Naruto replied.
_____________
Back in the present, Naruto opened his eyes.
The mech was advancing on him now, its heavy steps cracking what little pavement remained intact. Its mechanical joints screamed as overheated metal ground against metal, steam bleeding from vents along its frame.
Mark lay in the crater it had carved him into in the street, coughing hard as he tried to push himself upright. Blood streaked down the side of his jaw and dripped onto the asphalt below.
"Guh… dammit," Mark wheezed. He spat red onto the ground and braced his hands beneath him, his arms shaking violently. "I can… I can do this."
The mech didn't hesitate as it's claw swung again.
Mark barely managed to lift his guard before the blow slammed him back into the ground and sent his body skidding across the broken street.
He rolled to a stop against a shattered curb, gasping as pain caught up to him all at once.
"C'mon, Mark," he groaned, forcing the words through clenched teeth. The bravado was still there, but panic seemed to bleed through the cracks.
"Get up. You're Invincible, remember? Invincible…"
Naruto sighed, and rubbed the back of his neck.
"Tch."
He rolled his shoulders, feeling something familiar stir beneath his mind. It was a weight he had hoped to leave alone dead and buried.
He really didn't want to do this
But there were worse things than stepping in, and he could already see where this ended if he stayed put. He hated owing anyone a debt, and he hated even more the thought of never being able to repay one.
Right now, if Mark died, that debt would never go away.
Naruto slid the window open. Hot night air rushed in, thick with smoke, sirens, and the sharp scent of burning metal. Without hesitation, he stepped off the ledge and let gravity take hold of him.
He hovered in the air for a moment, effortless and completely still.
Then he disappeared in a blur, there was barely even a sound. One instant he was there, and the next he was gone, a thin streak of gold cutting cleanly through the sky before the window could even finish pulling in the wind.
Behind him, the ramen sat over. Froth spilled onto the turned off burner, hissing softly as it cooled down. Dinner would have to wait. Again.
____________________
Mark slammed into the mech's side shoulder first. The impact rang out across the street, sharp and heavy, but the machine barely shifted its stance.
His teeth clenched as he unleashed a tight flurry of punches. Clang. Clang. Clang.
For a brief moment, the mech staggered. Its massive frame leaned back, joints grinding as if it had finally begun felt the weight of the hits.
Then it replied in kind. A piston driven arm snapped forward and caught Mark square in the ribs. The sound was brutal, metal slamming into flesh with enough force to empty the street of it's breath.
Mark flew backwards.
He smashed into the hood of a yellow taxi, caving it in with a crunch, bounced off at a bad angle, and tore straight through the front window of a bakery. Glass exploded outward as he hit the floor face first and disappeared into a cloud of flour, splintered wood, and shattered display cases.
Across the street, civilians screamed and threw themselves behind a news van.
High above them, Naruto hovered with his arms folded. Wind tugged at his orange and black hoodie, the fabric rippling in the chaos below. His expression of apathy never changed.
He watched the mech stomp forward, arm plating grinding as it realigned. He watched it scan the street, targeting systems searching for the next threat.
Behind the ruined bakery counter, Mark coughed into his palm and tried to push himself up.
Naruto exhaled sharply through his nose.
"This is really pathetic."
The air around him shifted.
He descended instead of falling, dropping faster than gravity should have allowed him. He touched down without a sound, his hands still tucked into the pockets of his hoodie.
The pavement cracked anyway. Fractures spread outward from beneath his shoes, spiderwebbing through the street.
The mech froze mid step. Its sensors snapped onto him.
"IDENTITY UNKNOWN. THREAT UNKNOWN," it droned.
"ELIMINATE!"
The cannon mounted on its arm rose and locked into place.
Naruto didn't blink as it fired.
A lance of plasma ripped through the air and slammed into his chest, detonating in a blinding explosion of light and sound. The shockwave flipped a car onto its side and set a streetlamp ablaze. Windows shattered outward as flames licked across storefronts.
Smoke swallowed the block.
When it finally thinned, Naruto was still standing where he had landed.
He was unharmed despite the fact that one sleeve of his hoodie had burned away, the fabric curled and blackened at the edges.
Steam drifted off his skin in slow coils. Beneath the scorch marks, faint golden lines shimmered where the blast had struck, glowing like heat trapped under stone.
He lifted his gaze and looked at the mech.
The machine reeled back, its systems visibly struggling to process what stood in front of it.
Naruto stepped forward and glided towards the mech with a punch.
His fist drove straight into the mech's chestplate and sank deep. The sound echoed down the street like a steel drum being torn apart. The force ripped through the machine's core and hurled it backward.
It smashed into the pavement, skidded down the block, and crushed three parked cars as if they were made of wet cardboard.
Behind the shattered bakery counter, Mark dragged himself upright. Flour coated his hair and shoulders, and blood ran down his temple. He leaned against the wall, staring out into the street at the newcomer.
"…What the-," he breathed. "Is that Naruto?"
The mech was hardly finished, and even wrecked and screaming it refused to stay down, dragging itself upright with a grinding shriek as coolant poured from ruptured seams and hissed against the street, its armor glowing hot from the inside while sparks sprayed from joints pushed far past what they were ever meant to handle, every system clearly screaming in protest.
It let out a warped screech and spun up whatever weapons it still had left, a saw blade hissing as it locked into place while the last remaining claw flexed open and closed in short, uneven jerks that looked more angry than precise.
Naruto sighed, annoyed more than anything.
"Because of you," he said, voice flat, almost tired, "I can't even enjoy my food."
He lifted one hand and caught the blade mid spin.
The saw howled as it chewed uselessly against his palm, metal teeth shrieking as they failed to dig down, the vibration running up his arm before the blade buckled inward with a tortured groan, the housing collapsing under the pressure of his grip.
Naruto crushed what was left, let the twisted metal fall to the pavement, and stepped in close without any hurry.
His knee drove straight into the mech's midsection, and the armor folded inward like foil.
The machine staggered back, balance breaking, and when the claw came down in a wild, desperate swing Naruto ducked under it, shifted his weight, and tore the arm free in one smooth motion.
He turned with it and drove the jagged limb straight through the mech's back, ending it with a clean, effortless thrust that shut everything down at once.
On the sidewalk, Mark was in awe.
"That guy.. He ripped it apart like a play-toy. Like, seriously, what the hell is he?"
The mech started to whine, the sound climbing higher and higher until it was almost painful to hear, and the center of its chest began to glow a deep, angry red.
"SELF-DESTRUCTION ACTIVATED!"
Naruto stared unconcerned.
Mark stumbled out of the bakery, limping hard, coughing as dust burned his lungs and his ribs screamed.
"Wait, Naruto," he shouted, waving one arm. "Hey! it's gonna blow, man, you gotta get out of there!"
It was already too late. The core flashed red and a wave of heat pulsed outward.
The explosion felt like a dying star, heat and pressure ripping down the street in a violent wave that shattered storefronts, peeled concrete from the road, flipped cars onto their sides, and sent power dying across the block in a cascade of sparks and popping lights.
Then there was silence and a thick, suffocating smoke that swallowed everything.
From the center of it, a figure stepped forward: Naruto.
He was still standing as ash clung to his blonde hair and tanned skin.
Sparks drifted lazily off his arms, and what was left of his hoodie hung from his shoulders in scorched, heavy tatters that looked soaked and burned through.
He glanced down at the wreckage scattered around his feet, twisted metal and shattered pavement still glowing faintly from the heat.
"Who are you?" Mark questioned.
Naruto finally spoke, his voice calm and flat, like he was talking about the weather. "It's better if you forget about this. Forget about me too. If anyone is concerned, I'm just a normal kid."
Mark swallowed. "But that's not true? You're not just some kid. You're a hero! You're like me."
Naruto stopped.
He turned his head slowly, and when Mark saw his face up close, the bored look was gone, replaced by something cold that made something in Mark's stomach tighten.
Those blue eyes locked onto him, and there was no humor there at all.
"I'm nothing like you," Naruto said quietly. "And I'm never going to be like you. Take that as a compliment."
Sirens were closer now, echoing through the wreckage, and a news drone hummed overhead, its camera sweeping the street in wide, curious arcs.
Mark opened his mouth, then closed it, because whatever he had thought he was going to say did not feel right anymore.
Naruto watched him for another second, long enough to make the silence uncomfortable, then turned away and walked into the haze of smoke and flashing red lights before disappearing.
Mark stayed where he was, planted in the middle of the ruined street, ribs screaming every time he breathed, watching the quiet kid from homeroom stroll away through wreckage and fire like he had just finished a late grocery run.
"You could've at least stepped in sooner…" Mark muttered, half to himself, half to the empty street.
Mark stood there for a few seconds longer, chest rising and falling as his brain tried to catch up with reality. He finally let out a shaky breath, winced as pain flared through his ribs, and shook his head.
"…That guy is scary."
__________
The room was dim and cold on purpose.
Cecil Stedman stood with his arms crossed in front of a wall of monitors, his face hard and unreadable as the footage rolled without sound, angle after angle of the same event playing out again and again, the street buckling, the mech tearing through concrete, the explosion blooming outward, and then a teenage boy stepping out of the smoke like he had just walked through a bad rainstorm.
Donald stood beside him with a tablet in hand, scrolling through dense columns of data that never seemed to end, his thumb moving automatically as the clips looped back to the beginning.
They watched the cannon fire again. They watched the blast swallow Naruto whole. They watched him still standing there when it cleared, untouched.
"So," Donald said after a moment, not looking up, "you still think he's just some lost transfer student?"
Cecil did not answer right away. He scratched at his chin, eyes fixed on the screen like he was trying to wear a hole through it.
The footage replayed again. Naruto moving through the mech with clean, efficient motions that wasted nothing, no hesitation, no panic, just action after action stacked on top of each other like he had done this before and knew exactly how it was supposed to end.
Donald tapped his tablet. "Energy readings were inconclusive. We ran them through everything we have. Whatever he is doesn't match any known profile we have."
"Was he wearing a suit?" Cecil asked.
"No."
"Any kind of weapon?"
Donald shook his head. "Nothing."
Cecil let out a slow breath.
The image froze on Naruto's face, firelight and sparks reflecting off his eyes, the hoodie burned nearly to nothing, and what stuck out was not anger, excitement or even fear, just the look of what seemed to be a massive inconvenience to his night.
"What's his name?" Cecil asked.
"Uzumaki Naruto. He enrolled at Reginald Vel Johnson High about a week ago. Transfer paperwork checks out on the surface, but it's forged clean. No digital trail past six months ago. No guardians listed. No emergency contact. Nothing."
"How long has he actually been here?"
"About half a year, give or take," Donald said. "We missed him because he didn't give us a reason to look."
Cecil rubbed the bridge of his nose. "So we've got a walking unknown with that level of power going to school with Mark Grayson of all people."
"Yes, sir."
"And he keeps his head down until a death machine tries to level a city block."
Donald nodded. "Teachers say he's a quiet and polite kid. Kind of odd. No friends. No known disciplinary issues."
Cecil snorted. "Kid takes out a military grade weapon like it's nothing, and his biggest crime is being antisocial."
On the screen, Naruto turned and disappeared into the smoke.
Donald glanced at him. "Do you want me to send someone to confront him?"
Cecil thought about it for a second, then shook his head. "No. Just keep your eyes on him. Satellites, drones, passive surveillance only. If he goes to a yoga class I want to know about, but no contact yet."
Donald hesitated. "If he's that strong, then just watching him might not be enough."
"If he's that strong," Cecil cut in, voice flat, "then poking him is the fastest way to turn curiosity into hostility. Let him think he slipped under the radar. Let him stay quiet."
He straightened, jaw tightening as he looked back at the frozen image on the screen.
"And let's hope," Cecil added, "that he wants to keep it that way."
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