Chương 45

But what Sasuke did next really broke both of their minds, for sure. Hand signs formed rapidly.

"... What is he doing?"

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu." BOOOOM. Massive flames exploded outward instantly. The cave illuminated violently while fire swallowed the unfinished armor, blueprints and workshop in seconds. Metal heated rapidly while smoke filled the chamber almost immediately. Tony and Yinsen both stumbled backward in complete disbelief.

"... HE BREATHES FIRE?!" Tony shouted. Yinsen looked equally horrified.

"... These children are demons..." He whispered unconsciously. Naruto immediately pointed proudly toward Sasuke afterward.

"SEE?! That's my teammate!"

"... Why are you proud like you did something?" Sakura asked. They had a load of questions but that could wait. Both of them wanted to get out of the cave first and ask questions later. But their itch got larger as they were going out of the cave system. Haku killed everyone on the way, but he did it so elegantly that no blood was spilled. But unlike inside the cave where Naruto and Haku handled things relatively cleanly... Zabuza handled things differently. Bodies covered the entire camp.

Broken vehicles, sorry, cut down vehicles. Destroyed tents and blood across the sand. And standing in the middle of it all was a gigantic man holding an absurdly massive sword over his shoulder casually. The blade itself dripped blood slowly onto the ground. Tony stopped walking entirely.

"... Jesus Christ." Even Yinsen looked pale now. Because this wasn't combat anymore. This was a massacre. Zabuza slowly turned his head afterward while grinning slightly.

"Took you long enough." Tony stared toward the sword silently.

"... Who the hell are these people?" He whispered again. That question perfectly summarized the last hour of his life. Magical children, healing powers, fire-breathing teenagers, clone armies..... And now apparently a giant shirtless swordsman who looked like he crawled directly out of a horror movie. Meanwhile Zabuza looked toward Tony briefly before scoffing.

"This weakling is the famous weapons maker?" Tony immediately frowned.

"... Excuse me?"

"Well didn't you almost die from one bullet. The same thing that you yourself made." Zabuza said.

"A creator dying by his own creation. That's poetic and fragile."

"Hey, I never created bullets. Old people did." Tony said as he couldn't understand what was going on in this guy's head. Who were these people? Tony Stark had been insulted many times in life. But getting called fragile by a seven-foot murder machine carrying an oversized butcher sword somehow hit differently. Before Tony could even reply more and ask them for a proper introduction, Rei finally took out a satellite phone calmly.

Unlike everyone else here, he actually remembered that the United States military was probably losing its collective mind searching for Tony Stark. The phone connected after several moments. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

"This is Allied Universal operative Delta-6." Rei spoke calmly.

"Target located and secured alive. One civilian survivor alongside him. Send extraction immediately." The military operator on the other side immediately became alert.

"You found Tony Stark?!"

"Alive." Rei repeated calmly.

"Coordinates incoming." Even Tony blinked slightly hearing that. He saw a child speak like an adult, and even use military lingo. What the hell? Soon the coordinates were sent. And thus came another round of mental destruction for Tony and Yinsen. Because once the call ended, the shinobi started dropping Transformation Jutsu one after another. POOF. Smoke appeared briefly. Tony genuinely stumbled backward slightly.

"... No." He pointed immediately.

"No no no, you don't get to do that casually!" Naruto grinned proudly afterward.

"Hehehe..." Sakura meanwhile looked mildly smug seeing Tony's broken expression. Yinsen honestly looked more spiritual than shocked now. Like his soul already accepted that reality itself was nonsense.

"... You can become other people..." He muttered quietly.

"Transformation technique." Kakashi explained lazily.

"Basic infiltration skill." Tony slowly looked toward him.

"... Basic?"

"Very basic." Sasuke nodded seriously. That somehow made things infinitely worse. Because if THIS was basic then Tony genuinely didn't want to know what advanced looked like. Still, they didn't remain there long. Within less than an hour, military helicopters finally arrived overhead. The moment the soldiers landed and confirmed Tony Stark's identity, the entire atmosphere exploded into controlled chaos.

Tony meanwhile finally got separated briefly for emergency treatment while Yinsen got placed onto another medical stretcher carefully. And then came Rhodey. James Rhodes practically stormed out the moment he saw Tony alive.

"... Tony." For once, the man genuinely looked shaken. Tony simply smirked weakly afterward despite everything.

"Hey, Rhodey." Then immediately after checking Tony quickly, Rhodey turned toward the supposed Allied Universal mercenary group.

"... How the hell did you people find him?" Rei remained perfectly calm beneath the disguise.

"Allied Universal will submit the full report officially." Rhodey frowned slightly because that answer basically meant: Classified. Still, right now he was too relieved to push harder. Tony Stark was alive. That alone mattered more than anything else. Meanwhile Tony and Yinsen both remained unusually silent throughout the entire extraction regarding the shinobi. Soon they arrived at the base and they got separated. Tony took a military plane with Yinsen in tow.

Of course, he handled the logistics of Yinsen's identity and took him under refugee status and also "life savior of Tony Stark". The other plane was the private jet of Allied Universal and flew together with the military plane to LA. Since Tony lived in LA, and promised he would come to meet them once he got to know that they also had a home in LA, there was no point for them to go to New York for a few days. Sakura and Sasuke still didn't have the talk with Tony as they still needed the customized weapons.

While on the plane, Kakashi couldn't help but ask.

"You took quite the gamble to show him our abilities." Kakashi said. He was new to this world but wasn't ignorant. Even in their world, sometimes some shinobi were hunted just because they brought destruction. Haku was the prime example of that.

"Both of them don't seem like bad people from what I could see and even if they spoke about us, nobody would believe them. Children making clones and breathing fire. They would be put in a psychiatric ward if they opened their mouths. This world is more skeptical than you imagine it to be, sensei.." Rei replied. Kakashi couldn't help but smile a bit under his mask. Rei really knew how to play mind games with people. No wonder, he was able to survive in this world too and make such an empire, in such a short time.

Soon they were back in LA and on their way to their other home there. Naruto and others were happy to be back near the sea again, while it was the first time for Haku and Zabuza. The more they saw and experienced, the more they became numb. By now, they had realized that this would be their home world, and thus it was better to just accept and move on. As expected by Rei, Yinsen was taken to the hospital while Tony came directly to give an interview.

That famous interview where he said that he would shut down the industries. Of course, Rei wasn't going to miss the opportunity and had already told Allied Universal to short Stark Industries stocks. Allied Universal was also asked to do this without using their name on it as Rei didn't want the IRS on their ass, in the name of insider trading since it was Allied Universal who rescued Tony.

Steve meanwhile had said that the FBI had contacted them and asked for a detailed report and Rei had already made a fake report of how they rescued Tony and sent them a copy and also a copy to Tony and Yinsen, so that if the FBI, or in this case, SHIELD asked, they had their asses covered. But Rei was pretty sure SHIELD wouldn't ask Tony, nor would Tony read a fake report, but Yinsen was a different case and thus he needed to be up and running with the fake narrative.

Both of them didn't need to be told that their presence was a secret and they would continue to keep the secret. The next morning in LA was surprisingly peaceful. Ocean breeze flowed through the balcony while sunlight illuminated the expensive coastal neighborhood quietly. Naruto and Sakura were still asleep after exhausting themselves the previous day while Sasuke was already outside practicing with shuriken and occasionally trying to mix chakra with modern firearms again.

Honestly, Rei was beginning to suspect Sasuke's true passion in life might become military-grade weaponry. Meanwhile Kakashi was sitting on the couch reading while Haku quietly prepared breakfast. And then suddenly a loud engine echoed outside the house. Naruto instantly woke up screaming and running to the living room.

"Are there enemies?"

"No.." Rei replied while looking outside the window.

"It's Tony." And right on cue, a sleek expensive car stopped outside the house casually. The car door opened. Tony Stark stepped out wearing sunglasses, expensive clothes and enough confidence to irritate entire governments.