Chapter 23

A new bright day started but Jaime was not looking so sunny as he felt the change in the way the team was interacting with him.

It wasn't all of them but he didn't like that gaze. It felt like they thought he was going to turn on them if they weren't watching him.

If that wasn't bad enough, last night's mission had been a failure as it seems the aliens had covered up their tracks after noticing their operative Green Beetle got captured.

'Such thoughts are unnecessary. Not every objective can be achieved on the first try and avoid getting affected by pointless emotions, they get in the way of your combat capabilities.' The blue scarab called Dija said through the mental link as Jaime was in his blue beetle armor as he didn't want to share his normal life identity with anyone.

'This wouldn't have happened if you had allowed them to link with you.'

'Preposterous, I would never allow such a breach of security no matter how much you trust them.'

'What's the point of such hardheadedness, it's not like they need your so called technology?'

'You are just a child if you couldn't even think beyond that. They could easily leave something inside that could affect us when they want. I don't trust that Bat to just check and leave.'

Jaime couldn't deny that he also expected something like that from Batman and stopped arguing with his companion as it will only make the relation strain pointlessly.

'Let's just practice and get our powers right. According to the data, an enemy with similar power almost defeated Dreamer while he took us out without any resistance.'

'That's your fault for not understanding what I want.'

'Then try to work together properly Dija. I obviously have no knowledge about the many weapons you can produce so explain things instead of trying to force me in the middle of combat.'

'Affirmative, finally you are showing willingness to learn.'

'There is no other choice now. I don't want to feel that powerlessness again as thoughts of my family dying cross my mind.' Jaime replied as he clenched his fist remembering the events of yesterday

It was a momentous occasion but he had been unable to stand out and prove himself while his seniors shone like bright stars in the darkness.

He felt fear and had been unable to sleep last night because of nightmares keeping him awake.

The thought that if some of the heroes had been missing than his city might have ended up missing from the map.

Dija felt his emotional turmoil but couldn't comment on them in an understanding manner. It had lived for thousands of years but in the end it wasn't human and never understood the point of expanding so much into emotions.

"Hey bro, what's got you brooding?" Impulse appeared beside him as he stood outside the training zone

Looking at the boy from the future, Jaime guessed that he had ended up becoming a monster at some point since this guy wouldn't bother with someone like him.

It was Dija's observation and it made sense, which is why he had started being extra careful with outsiders because the only way such a thing would happen is if Dija got hacked.

'Atleast he doesn't see me with suspicion.'

"Just thinking about training."

"Want my help? I know a lot about futuristic weapons."

"Do you really want to give so much power to a suspicious individual?"

"Where is this suspicious individual you speak off because I only see a friend in need." Impulse said cheekily

His words made Jaime feel better even though he wanted to feel depressed.

"Okay, what do you have in mind?"

"How about training with Dreamer? He is still training for two more hours so we could get his help for combat practice."

Reminded of Naruto, Jaime was interested as he was grateful for the shout out during the meeting last night as he was about to have a nervous breakdown.

"Let's see if he doesn't mind."

"You don't the guy at all do you? He wouldn't mind fighting with anyone of us because he loves helping others and it also helps him improve his skills so never hold back on asking him unless you see him acting weird."

"Weird?"

"Lost in thought about emotional things and he will get extra violent if you disturb his thoughts with you getting broken bones as thank you."

"Are you speaking from experience?"

"Nah, it's from Kid Flash's experience but no worries those things are very far now." Impulse replied as they started moving and arrived near their location after exiting the base

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Naruto was meditating while three clones were practicing close combat and 100 clones were controlling the wind far from this location.

The two clones fought each other while the third one watched them with a focused gaze as he realized that a different point of view might get him extra details that would have been missed.

His powers were back in full form after last night's sleep and he felt that his chakra system was feeling extra lively as his reserves seemed to have increased from this explosive use of Senjutsu.

His body had been saturated with Senjutsu chakra for days since his arrival but last night it was hit by a flood and he could see the affect on his base body.

He was slowly climbing to the level of his strongest form before arriving in this new world and by the end of the month he should have comfortably surpassed that level.

After that the process would most likely speed up because his understanding of the powers would have increased and he would have reached a higher level in his skill from Asura.

His clones weren't just fighting here only as even Kushina was in combat with his clone with lowered stats in the Titan tower while Kara fought his clone in Veritas lab and Raven fought him in her mental domain.

There was no way he was taking a time out after seeing the danger all around him especially since there was no rest for the wicked and they attacked at opportune moments.

"Good morning guys, up for some training?" Naruto asked as he opened his eyes that were glowing golden with an inner green as he was trying to go further with his chakra enhancement

Normal chakra enhancement never went further than the surface as it covered the body, the organs and bones.

Now Naruto aimed to go deeper as he finally had better chakra control to work with and a higher level of regeneration.

He was aiming to use his Senjutsu chakra to mix with his cells and strengthen his base. According to the estimates by Kurama and even Veritas this should put him in the physical range of normal Superman by the end of the process.

But obviously it came with risks, if he was not slow and careful he might end up destroying all his cells resulting in death.

Hearing those words, Naruto got right into it as he couldn't wait to increase his survival chances. If it wasn't for Impulse, these were not the steps Naruto would have taken as he wouldn't have cared too much about power.

He would never have seen Asura or got his knowledge or Hashirama's knowledge that had improved his healing factor and Senjutsu.

"If you don't mind, also thank you for yesterday."

"No problem" Naruto replied as he made two more clones for the boys while going back to his meditation as he needed focus for this process

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Jaime walked away with one of the clones while Dija told him to at least learn how to break a clone or he would be very disappointed.

But that wasn't an easy process since they still had trust issues and Jaime didn't understand such complex things at the moment.

"This time we don't have other people to worry about so you can attack without holding back. I will stop when you want to so just say the word." Naruto said as he knew that Jaime could have done something when he got captured but everyone else would have gotten killed if he tried to blast his way through the golden prison

"I will try my best." Jaime replied as his arm turned into a canon

"Never try to shoot your opponent from this distance unless you are fast enough or the foe is unaware or shocked." Naruto's voice reached his ear before he found himself flying through the forest as he had been kicked in the abdomen

'That was so terrible. Please don't ruin our name.' Dija complained

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On the other hand there was sad little Lagoon boy who had good dream of becoming of JL member soon but got the bad news in the morning.

Megan broke up with him to get back with Connor.

She apologized for playing with his heart and explained that she just didn't see him that way even if she enjoyed spending time with him.

It was a bitch move and Megan knew it but there was no helping it because even he wouldn't want to be in a fake relationship.

It all made sense but why did she have to play around with his heart.

Why couldn't she have stayed single like Connor?

Slapping the bitch, Lagoon boy left the base and roamed the sea to calm his nerves. He really couldn't handle seeing them again so went back to Atlantis for a time.

Really now that he saw it, none of his team members were close to him and most likely saw him as a nuisance.

That was probably his fault so he wasn't going to blame them.

'I guess our new hero did treat me with some kindness.' Lagoon-boy remembered that Naruto had said things about love before Megan came to talk with him

He probably knew what was happening and wanted to help him out by giving him things to think about.

Lust is about getting what we want, love is about seeing another person become the best they can be. While lust is about finding satisfaction, love is about bringing satisfaction to another.

If infatuation is a match and lust is a wildfire, then love is the steady burn of an oil lamp. It has the same spark, heat, and light of the other two, but it is not quick. It endures.

Thinking about his words, LB could see that his love had been a mix of infatuation and lust but that didn't mean it didn't hurt getting dumped.

It made him feel inferior and he had been feeling inferior even before this day because of the knowledge that she had a boyfriend before him.

'I learned my lesson and next time we go for a girl that has not been in a relation or I will end up carrying the extra baggage again.' LB thought as he reached Atlantis

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A.N Hope you enjoyed