Injustice Book 1: A Journeys Beginning (Naruto + Batman Comics crossover)

Chapter XXVI - Practice Makes Perfect

All these question and what ifs had driven Naruto slowly crazy as he sat in his apartment to the point he went out once more. Not to fight crime this time, but to instead give out his new gloves some practise. He couldn't exactly use them in a fight if he didn't know how they worked.

Again, Naruto had questioned if the Talon was telling the truth about his history as an orphan. But either way, unlike with Batman there was no matter of differing ideals that stopped Naruto from using these gifts as his own. He and the Talon – if he was being truthful – had similar ideals and Naruto was going to use these to help him carrying out his own plans.

Whether the Talon could be trusted or not was unknown, but Naruto would do his best to ensure that no innocent person would die when the Court made their move. And to do that, he needed to get some practise in.

It was pretty easy to be honest, they simply allowed him to use open palmed strikes in order to cut opponents. Not to mention there were interwoven plates on the back that would be perfect in adding that little extra power behind each punch. As well as blocking knife strikes, certainly better than his current gear.

The biggest use he had found in them was something he discovered purely by accident and it was how Naruto found himself in his current position suspended in the air with the fingers on both hands digging into the wall. The metal claws in the gloves having carved deep groves into the wall that slowed his descent till it came to a halt altogether.

It had been purely accidental; Naruto had just been practising.

A mix of training his stamina as well as his parkour skills in order to allow him to last longer in a chase while simultaneously improving his ability to jump from one roof to the next. And he needed it, if his fight against Robin a few weeks ago had taught him anything, it was that he lacked the ability to keep up with Barbara, Robin and Batman in terms of speed as well as skill and in Batman's case, strength as well.

He had been doing alright as well, only messing up a few landings, but nothing a quick roll couldn't solve.

Then he had just misjudged how big the gap was.

It wasn't an impossible jump; Naruto had covered bigger distances before. The only difference this time being that he hadn't put as much force as necessary into clearing the distance and so, as he flew through the air and gravity took hold, slowly bringing him back to the ground, Naruto realised he wasn't going to make it.

As a result, he reached out to see if he could grip hold of the edge.

He hadn't, his hands instead missing by mere inches and so, began to plummet to the ground below.

However, the claws in his glove had dug into the wall, tearing up small groves as his descent slowed down to a halt. Remaining there in mid-air, Naruto released a breath before laughing.

'Let's not do that again.' He thought, but despite the fear that had clutched him, Naruto couldn't wipe the big smile still on his face. The fall while terrifying had been exhilarating.

Moving a little, Naruto braced his feet against the wall and wiggled his left hand around, eventually pulling it free before stabbing it into the wall a bit further above him. And as he slowly started to climb his way up the side of the building, Naruto couldn't help but marvel at just how sharp these claws were.

-X- Line Break -X-

Monday 20th April, 21:00.

New Jersey,

Gotham City,

East End.

Landing in a crouch, Naruto rose to his full height and looked around the rooftop warily. With his arms down by his side, but his body loose, he was ready to move at even the slightest sign that something was wrong.