5 An Anomaly

Location: Somewhere Unknown

Date: January 3rd 2011

-x-

Dark. That's what would best describe the room. No lights were on inside; no light came in outside. The only sound made was that of a computer engine werring. Suddenly, the door opened, allowing light into the room that revealed it was a simple room with a computer and a monitor on a simple flimsy table. Stepping inside, a man closed the door allowing darkness to fill the room once more. Making his way to the chair, the man sat down before pressing the power button to the computer tower. A bright fluorescent light invaded the darkness, showing the man sitting in front of the now on computer screen. The clacking of computer keys could then be heard, as a video popped up in the middle of the screen. The man watched avidly as the video showed a blonde in his late teens, fighting a group of men, taking each out with quick precision. As more men came in, the blonde suddenly caught fire, yellow flames licking his form, surrounding him completely as he moved faster than the camera could ever hope to follow. One second he was there, the next he wasn't, the group of men now dead or unconscious on the floor. The man took a moment as the video ended, before playing it again, only this time in slow motion.

-x-

Location: Kansas City, Missouri

Date: March 23rd, 2011

-x-

"So now Clint's being dragged into the mess in New Mexico? Before you know it they're gonna be asking us to head down there." Naruto said as he sat in the upper tier of the Kauffman Stadium, his voice slightly drowned out by the sound of the cheering audience. The blonde was wearing a recently bought royal blue jersey with the word 'Royals' emboldened across the chest, "I still don't see the big deal about this 'war hammer that can't be picked up.'"

"The big deal is that nothing can pick it up. That's pretty impressive considering the kind of tech SHIELD has for that kinda stuff." Sitting next to him was Natasha, herself wearing a light blue t-shirt with a yellow crown decorating the chest. The top of her head was covered by a plain blue baseball cap, her hair pulled into a short ponytail. Her legs crossed in her small, and rather uncomfortable seat, she sipped at her large cup of lemonade before saying, "and Director Fury hasn't contacted you in almost four months, I doubt he's gonna call you any time soon"

Naruto took a sip of his soda, "Yeah well, I needed this vacation anyway." Putting his soda between his feet, Naruto propped his legs on top of the vacant seat in front of him, "I can't seem to find any leads on finding the Inhumans anyway. I've got more clones scouring the planet than I've ever had before and I'm still coming up empty."

Suddenly one of the men at bat socked the ball, sending it hurtling in a high arch towards the right side of the field. When the ball passed the fence and landed in a lucky fan's grasp, the crowd, including Natasha, jumped up in a massive cheer as the man rounded the three bases before making back where he started, a few of his teammates there waiting for him. As the crowd calmed down, Natasha sat lowered to her seat, looking at Naruto as she did, "You were supposed to get to your feet and cheer. Now everyone's looking at you like you're an idiot."

Naruto was about to respond before a sudden invasion of memories bombarded his head, "Dammit." He cursed.

"Well damn. I honestly didn't see that coming…like at all." Kurama said in bewilderment.

Natasha looked at Naruto in confusion, thinking Naruto was mad about what she said, "I was only joking Naruto, jeez."

Naruto blinked before shaking his head, "No, no. It's not that. A Shadow Clone popped and gave me some information I didn't want to hear, that's all." He finished his sentence by leaning back in his seat, rubbing the side of his face in agitation.

Natasha clapped her hands along with the crowd when another player hit the ball and made it to first base, "What kind of information?" Natasha asked.

"The out of this world kind."

-x-

Earlier with the Shadow Clone in Kamar Taj

-x-

"It's been a while, Naruto." Sitting in a seiza position, the Ancient One didn't bother looking up from her cup of tea, "I thought the day you left would be the last I would see you."

The clone rubbed the back of his head, "Yeah…I've been pretty busy." Looking around the room, it looked the same as it had three years ago. The only difference being the new students he could see walking around, each soaking in the information they were receiving.

"Mmm." She hummed with a nod, "I've heard of your little exploits around the world. Quite the interesting abilities you have." Her words held no hostility, rather only as smooth and tranquil as usual.

Giving her one of his smiles, Naruto said, "Yeah…I'm pretty interesting."

"What're you doing here Naruto?" The Ancient One asked, "It's obviously not about the creature you're harboring in your body." The woman spoke with a tone as though she were talking about the weather.

The clone's lackadaisical expression tightened at the mention of his inner Tailed Beast, "And how exactly do you know about that?"

"Let's just say I'm well versed in the topic." She said before taking a long and exaggeratedly loud sip of her tea, "It's obvious that the creature doesn't hold any evil intent. Otherwise I would have never allowed you in this temple."

"I swear, if that woman calls me a creature one more time, I will reach out from this seal and rip her spine out with my teeth." Kurama growled out in anger.

The clone looked at her with a flinch, "Yeah he doesn't really like being called a creature. I guess you can call him Kyubi." Naruto knew how sensitive Kurama was about his name. It was one of the few things the guy had left, and he wouldn't share it with just anyone.

The Ancient One looked at him in slight surprise, "So he's not only sentient, but you can communicate with him on a whim as well." Taking a moment, the woman then said, "Well allow me to apologize to this Kyubi."

"Apology not excepted." Kurama grumbled.

"He's says thank you and that he excepts your apology." The Naruto clone chuckled with slight apprehension.

Taking another sip of her tea, the ancient woman said, "So why are you here Naruto? It's quite clear that you're not here for small talk and tea." As she finished her sentence, she reached over to an empty cup and the pitcher of tea before pouring the tea into said cup. The now full cup of tea was then handed to the blonde chakra construct.

"Yeah I have a couple questions. Honestly, I never planned on coming to you to begin with, but I'm at the end of my rope here." Naruto said, his game face on as he continued, "Have you ever heard of the Inhumans?" he asked.

She didn't look up from her cup of tea as she said nonchalantly, "Oh, you mean those people on the moon?"

Staring at her for several seconds, waiting for her to show some sign of her having made a joke, the clone eventually blurted out, "What?"

She looked up, eyebrow raised, "The Inhumans are a race of superhumans who live on the Blue Area of the Moon."

"You're shitting me right?" When her face remained its usual calm he asked, "How the hell do you know this?"

"My title of the Ancient One isn't for show Naruto. I have lived a very long life, and in this long life I have learned many things. Is it really that hard to believe that I would know of these Inhumans and where it is they live."

Standing there with a completely dumbfounded look on his face, the clone finally said, "Dammit." Before popping out of existence.

-x-

Back with Naruto and Natasha an Hour Later

-x-

Naruto and Natasha were driving along the busy streets of downtown Kansas City. The towering buildings to their left and right stood tall just under the clouds. The city may not have been as big as say New York City or Boston, but it was still rather nice in appearance. Not that that could hide the city's rapid increase in violence and murder, but that wasn't why they were there. They were there to have a good time until the eventual time came when Natasha would be called back into SHIELD's services.

As the two came to a stop light, Natasha looked at Naruto from her spot in the passenger seat, "That was fun, I've never been to a baseball game to actually watch the game." When Naruto didn't answer, only looking forward with a distracted look on his face, Natasha reached across the car and snapped her fingers sharply in front of his face, "Hello?"

His eyes widened in slight shock, Naruto looked at Natasha as he said, "Were you saying something?"

The red head sighed, "What's going on with you? You're acting really weird."

Moving forward when the light turned green, Naruto said, "I'm sorry Natasha, I just got a lot on my mind."

"Anything you want to share?"

Naruto shrugged, "You know those Inhumans I've been looking for?" Seeing Natasha nod he continued, "Well, turns out they live on the moon."

Natasha chuckled, thinking that he said some kind of joke. As her laugh died, she saw that Naruto's face was completely serious, "You're not joking? Seriously?"

"Nope."

"Well…what are you gonna do?"

Naruto once again stopped as the next light they came across turned red, "I'm gonna go talk to the person who talked to my clone, get as much information as I can, then go from there. Maybe if I can find a way up there, or get one of them to come get me. I don't know, I'll figure it out. I know that."

"Can't you just use your chakra cloak to get up there? You can fly, you use your wind air breather thing you use to breath underwater so you should be able to do in out there, and your cloak can protect you from the dangers of space itself."

Naruto sighed as he started to go forward, "Yeah, I thought about that, but I'd have to test it out firs-"

"Naruto, watch out!" Kurama bellowed in warning.

Naruto looked to his left as his danger senses went ballistic just in time to see a massive box truck steam rolling towards him, slamming into the upper left side of his car. Out of instinct, he reached his arm over Natasha protectively as the car spun violently, glass flying everywhere, pelting his face and upper body with the sharp shards. The car finally coming to a stop, Naruto could feel his head spinning as he looked around before looking at Natasha, who was looking at him as well. Blood was steaming down the side of her face, dripping down and staining her shirt. Looking around, Naruto could see that the windshield, while not broken, was surrounded by thick and thin spider web cracks, with it probably only taking a tap to cause it to shatter. Looking around further, Naruto could see people looking at the wreck in shock, yet no one seemed to want to come to their help. The sound of a door opening caught his attention, with a man jumping out the box truck that smashed the crap out of his rental car. The man was wearing tactical SWAT gear, with a plastic Halloween like skull mask covering his face. The man then pulled out a M29 Assault Rifle, before walking over towards the back of the truck.

Lifting up the latch, the man threw up the back door. With four quick thuds one after the other, four men came around the corner, each pointing their own M29's at Naruto's car. Suddenly, another person jumped out the back of the truck. When he revealed himself fully, the man wore similar tactical gear as the others, only his had a grey and white color scheme rather than the other's simple black, with a hood pulled up over his head and a mask only metal rather than plastic covering his head and face. On the man's right arm was a circular shield that covered most of his arm and side, with an Arming Sword strapped to his back. In his left hand, pointed at Naruto and Natasha, was a M319 Grenade Launcher.

"You've gotta be fucking kidding me." Naruto muttered as he unbuckled his seatbelt. Leaning forward, he unbuckled Natasha's before grabbing ahold of her in a hug.

Thump!

BOOM

In an earth shaking explosion, the car was enveloped in flames, the force of it sending metal, glass, and fire flying in every which direction. Lowering the grenade launcher, the leader of the group waved his shield occupied hand towards the ball of metal and fire, signaling the rest group to begin to unload their guns at the car in a chorus of rat a tat tats

With the sounds of gun fire and explosions came the screams of civilians, all running away as fast as they could from the mayhem. Eventually, the men ran out of bullets, causing them to eject the empty magazines and reload their guns with new ones.

As this was going on, Naruto looked up from his hunched over position on top of Natasha, saying, "Who the hell are these guys?" The two were several yards away from the car and the hit squad, with Naruto now looking at the men's backs. Getting up and helping Natasha to her feet as well, Naruto turned the still stunned woman around as he said, "Nat, you gotta get outta here, call Fury, make sure these guys don't target civilians. Do you hear me?"

The red head seemed to finally get her bearings as she said, "I can help you Naruto, don't think I can't help you."

Naruto smiled before planting a firm kiss on her lips, "I know." Suddenly, bullets began to crack against the sidewalk besides them, "Just go, I got this!" The red head didn't need any more incentive, sprinting away from Naruto as she pulled out her now cracked phone.

Naruto, knowing Natasha was safe for the time being, Body Flickered towards the assholes that were shooting at him. Appearing behind the first guy he saw, Naruto gave a great heave before slamming his fist into the man's mid-spine, sending the man flying into the side of the box truck, his body hitting it with so much force the truck tipped over at its side with a loud, resounding boom. Turning towards the rest of them, the group could now see that his eyes were yellow in color, with his iris the shape of a rectangle. The color along his eye lids had changed as well to a burnt orange.

"Who's next?" Naruto demanded, loving the power Sage Mode gave him.

"Why don't you just use my Cloak, brat?" Kurama grumbled, wanting this to be over with.

"I've been using your chakra too much lately Kurama, I haven't really challenged myself, just bulldozing through every fight with a power that is to be honest just plain over kill on this world." Naruto thought.

"Fine, whatever. Don't come crying to me when these men nearly kill you."

Naruto didn't have time to respond, to busy was he Body Flickering away as the men opened fire on his position. Appearing above the men, Naruto extended both hands out as Rasengans began to form in each hand. Gathering wind chakra at his foot, Naruto used that as a push off to send himself flying towards the ground, the two balls of pure chakra drilling into the back of two unsuspecting men, driving them into the ground with enough force to create two human shaped craters. Raising his arm up, Naruto caught the butt of a rifle, before pulling it out of the man's grasp. Straightening his body, Naruto inspected the M29 for a moment before using his strength to twist and bend it into itself, rendering the weapon useless. Seeing the man he took said rifle from, Naruto dashed forward in a burst of speed, bringing his body parallel to the ground as he kicked the man square in the face with a Dynamic Entry, snapping his neck on contact.

Landing on his feet, Naruto turned to see the last two men standing, the last crony pointing his gun at Naruto wearily, and the other standing back away from the group, looking at the scene before him with a nonchalant stance.

The man in charge looked at his last man as he said, "The task is still at hand. Do not hesitate. All that matters is that we finish the task given to us. Nothing else."

The man nodded quickly, pointing the gun more firmly as he said, "I understand." Before firing off a set of shots at the blonde juggernaut. Said blonde disappeared in a dash of speed once again, appearing right inside the man's guard as he palmed his face before slamming the back of his head into the street bellow, bursting his skull open like a watermelon as blood sprayed across the ground.

Seeing he was now alone, the leader of the group adjusted his arm so that the shield was positioned in front of him, before drawing his sword out from behind his back, crossing the blade in front of his shield.

"You're fighting skills are very impressive, supernatural even. But no matter how powerful you are, I must complete the task that was given to me." The hooded modern knight said.

Naruto looked at him with skepticism, "What the hell are you, some kind of taskmaster?"

The man bent his knees in preparation, "That's exactly what I am."

-x-

With Natasha

-x-

"Who the hell is this guy, sir?!" Yelled Natasha as she weaved through the crowd of panicking people, forced to yell over the yelling and screaming from everyone around.

Nick's voice through the phone could barely be heard over noise, "From the description you gave, I'll have to say it's Tony Masters. He's the only one I know who could pull this off that uses a sword and shield in combat."

"Tony Masters?" she asked, "As in, Ex-SHIELD Agent, Tony Masters? Why the hell would he want to kill Naruto? The guy's a legend, but he has to know he's out gunned."

She could practically feel Fury's head shake in a negative as he said, "Once the man is given a 'task' he doesn't stop until said task is completed. It's the reason we gave him his codename. That and his abilities."

"What 'abilities?'" Natasha asked as she looked back where she came from, a pillar of smoke peeking out over the top of the buildings.

"He was born with ability to absorb knowledge instantaneously, whether it be language, mathematics, scientific theory, even physical movement. The man is capable of watching you fight once, and learn your style and copy immediately. You give him something to know or learn, and he'll have it mastered in an hour. These reasons are why we gave him the codename, 'Taskmaster.' Sadly, his abilities come with the drawback that should he learn new information, he will immediately forget something else. Say he learns to speak French, he may then forget where he was born, or how to speak English, or hell, even his name." Fury explained, a slight tinge of admiration and pity in his voice.

Natasha, her eyes still on the cloud of smoke, said, "You better win, Naruto."

-x-

With Naruto and Taskmaster

-x-

Naruto dodged the swing from Taskmaster's sword, before using his hand to press against and stop the man's bum rush using his shield. Tony swung his sword again, with Naruto catching his wrist mid swing, causing a dead lock between the two that quickly turned to a battle of brute strength. Naruto was surprised at the hooded man's strength, being much stronger than any Earthling he'd fought before, but even without his Sage Mode he'd still be able to out strengthen him. Naruto slowly but surely began to press forward, causing Tony to take steps back as his arms began to stress under the pressure. Having enough of the deadlock, Naruto used his Natural Chakra enhanced strength to throw the man up like a rag doll, sending him flying in the air, with Naruto keeping ahold of the shield in his hand before chucking it away from the fight.

Taskmaster flipped in the air, sheathing his sword mid-flip, just in time to intercept Naruto, blocking each punch and kick with ease before giving a spin kick to Naruto's side, causing him to block and be pushed away towards the ground. As his feet hit the ground, Naruto charged at the near the ground Taskmaster. Just as Tony's foot touched earth, Naruto's fist was in his guard heading towards his chin. The hooded man easily swatted the punch away, before the two entered a vicious dance of fists, elbows, knees, and kicks. No matter what Naruto tried however, Tony kept pace with him, dodging and evading any move he made and vice versa. Seeing that they weren't getting anywhere, the two jumped back from each other, the strange color draining from Naruto's eyes as he caught his breath.

"It's been a long time since someone has been able to keep up with me." Naruto said, "You're pretty damn good." He complimented, getting back into his stance.

Taskmaster nodded as he said, "You're the most challenging task I've had to complete. Your style actually took a while for me to read." He then got into his own stance.

It was when Taskmaster got into his stance that Naruto realized something. The bastard was using his freaking fighting style, "How the hell do you know my style?! No one on this planet knows that style but me!" This was the Toad Kata, taught to him by Grandpa Sage Fukasaku. There's no way this guy could know it. Suddenly a thought struck him, "Do you have the Sharingan?!" He yelled dramatically as he pointed an accusing finger at Taskmaster.

"The Sharingan?" Tony asked in confusion.

Seeing that Taskmaster had no idea who he was talking about, Naruto sighed in relief, "Oh thank God." Wiping the sweat that had begun to build along his temple, he continued, "But seriously, how the hell did you poach my moves?"

"Perhaps if you weren't a task I would tell you. But there's no point in telling a task when said task needs to be completed."

"Can you say task one more time?" Naruto drawled as Nature Chakra once again entered his system completely, entering Sage Mode. "Let's see if you dodge this you fucking bastard." Naruto thought.

Naruto then charged towards Taskmaster, the two once again starting their dance. Swatting the double punch sent towards his chest, Naruto threw a couple punches of his own that were dodge as well. The two taking a pause, Naruto and Taskmaster sent two identical hay makers towards the other's face. Time began to slow to a lull, Naruto swerving his head out of the way of Taskmaster's punch, and Taskmaster doing the same. Naruto could feel the wind off the missed punch as his pass his head, his own fist clearly missing Taskmaster as well, the man thinking they were about to enter another stalemate before he was sent flying violently. Taskmaster's body lodged itself into a nearby car door, the car metal contorting around his body, the glass shattering and digging into the back of Tony's head and neck. Taking several aggressive steps towards the downed Taskmaster, Naruto got in front of him as he began to get up. The man drew his sword and took a desperate swing at the blonde, only for said blonde to punch the side of the blade with his open palm, snapping it in half, before Spartan kicking him even further into the car.

"Doubt you saw that coming asshole." Naruto muttered as he looked around the mayhem they had caused. Cars on fire, smoke everywhere, bodies littering the ground around them. Naruto looked back at Taskmaster, the man getting up from his body sized dent, "Was all this crap worth it? Your men getting killed, the civilian causalities, the property damage, fighting me in general, all that so you could complete whatever 'task' you were given. Let me guess, it was to kill me wasn't it?" He hypothesized.

Taskmaster stumbled as his body was hunched over in pain, "The task was never to kill you." He muttered as his body straightened.

"Then what for? Why cause all of this destruction if it wasn't to kill me?" He demanded.

Taskmaster got back into the Toad Kata, "To test the anomaly that is Naruto Uzumaki."

Naruto narrowed his eyes at Taskmaster, "So you tried to kill me, you nearly killed Natasha, and you killed and hurt all these people…to test me?" When Tony nodded, Naruto growled, "I'm going to kill you."

Naruto then charged at the still Taskmaster, his fist drawn back and filled with Natural Energy. As he came closer, Naruto realized something was wrong. Taskmaster hadn't moved since Naruto's exclamation of his intent to kill, his body as still as a statue. Slowly coming to a slow yet on guard walk, Naruto finally made his way in front of the hooded man. Waving his hand in Taskmaster face, he was perturbed to see the man make no motion of acknowledgement, not even as he began to snap his fingers an inch away from his eye. Looking around them, Naruto was astonished to see that time seemed to have stopped around him completely. Birds were frozen in midflight, flames that were usually in constant motion were now motionless, and people still running away from the fight were caught in midstride.

In a flash of purple light, a figure in the shape of a human appeared, completely covered in said purple light. The light eventually died down, revealing a man that looked to be around Naruto's height. His appearance was very strange, the strangest he'd seen while on this planet so far. The man wore a loose green shirt that was held to his body by a pair of purple shoulder pads that was connected to a matching utility belt. The loose shirt sleeves were tapered off by the same color of purple gloves that went up to his lower forearms, and along his legs were thigh high boots that match the gloves in material and the outfit's purple color. The man's head was covered by a purple helmet, with circular grooves where his ears would be, along with on top of the helmet itself. The only part that showed his skin was his face, which was a metallic blue in skin tone, with two lines running down his forehead to his cheeks, then ending at his chin. His irises were missing, leaving his eyes an eerie white all the way through.

"Well, if it isn't the anomaly." The mystery man said, "You've been making quite the ripple in this timeline."

"Anomaly…" Naruto said, testing the words as he looked at Taskmaster, the man having called him that not that long ago, "So you're the one who sent this asshole and his crew." He declared.

The man smirked, "You'd be correct. Tony Masters, aka Taskmaster, has proven to be a very reliable mercenary in several different timelines, this one being a bit more serious than the others."

Naruto narrowed his eyes, "So what do you want?"

"I simply wanted to observe you, I've seen what you can do with that fire armor of yours, but I wanted to see what you would do against someone that was your equal in hand to hand combat." The man said, folding his arms behind his back as he spoke, "You truly are interesting, Naruto Namikaze the alien from another dimension. In no other timeline have you appeared or even mentioned. It's truly rather vexing."

"Who the hell are you?!" He demanded. This guy knew way too much, and was talking about things that went completely over his head.

The man extended his arms out from his back in a dramatic motion, "I go by many names and many titles, but you may call me Kang, Kang the Conqueror. It's truly a pleasure to meet you."

Naruto dashed in front of Kang's face, throwing a punch with all his might at the man's face. Kang's smirk stayed in place as he caught the punch with ease, the force of it however causing the ground behind them to quake and split open with a solid boom. The pause on time was still in play however, as the debris froze in midair. Naruto looked Kang in the eye in complete shock as the blue skinned man's grip on his hand tightened, causing Naruto to actually flinch from the pain. Suddenly, the gloves around Kang's hands glowed a strange purple before the glow enveloped Naruto, causing his to suddenly feel weightless. The green and purple man then threw Naruto away from him with a single hand, the glow around Naruto disappearing allowing Naruto to feel the weight of his own body once again as he crashed into one of the buildings, his body bursting through the wall, the debris and smoke eventually freezing in time.

"You'll have to do better than that, 'Maelstrom!'" Kang called out, resting his hands on his hips as he did, "You'll be fighting people stronger than me in a few years."

A flash of yellow flashed out from the hole Naruto made, before he landed on the ground in front of Naruto in a crouch, the ground cracking under the weight of his fall. Looking up, Naruto said, "Don't call me that." Giving his arm a testing flex, he continued, "And trust me, I can do better."

"Oh I know you can. The feats you will perform in this timeline's future are quite amazing." With the snap of his finger, a purple barrier appeared around the block they had been fighting on before flickering away. With the flickering away of the barrier, time began to move forward again. Birds began to move, fire began to flicker, and people began to run, as the sound of chaos surrounded them once again. Taskmaster moved his arms to block the punch that had been aimed at him earlier, only to be thrown off by Naruto not being there. Looking around, Tony saw that is employer was facing off against a now chakra cloak using Naruto.

"I'm sorry to say that the task hasn't been completed yet, Mr. Kang." Taskmaster said, almost sounding apologetic as he did.

Kang smirked, "It's fine, consider the task completed, I've seen all I wanted to see. Thank you."

Taskmaster nodded, before turning towards Naruto, "Perhaps we will meet again." He then turned around, limping away as he did.

Naruto scowled, "Do you really think I'm gonna let you get away after all you've done?!" Just as he was about to dash towards Taskmaster, Kang pointed his hand at Naruto, a bolt of energy shooting from his fingertips. The energy bolts plowed into Naruto's chest, the force of it sending the blonde flying back in a massive tumble.

"It's not Mr. Masters' time, Naruto Uzumaki." Kang then extended his right arm out as he cracked the knuckles in his hand, a portal opening up to reveal an average looking car as he did, "Here's your transportation Mr. Masters."

Naruto narrowed his eyes as Taskmaster got in the car, turning it on as he shifted the gear into forward, "No-" He then disappeared in a burst of speed as another bolt of energy cracked the pavement behind him. He then appeared behind the interfering Kang, a Rasengan in his hand. Naruto shoved the ball of chakra towards the blue man, only for a purple force field in the shape of a sphere appearing around Kang, neutralizing the attack effectively, "You gotta be fucking kidding me!" Naruto yelled in frustration as he saw Taskmaster's car driving away in a mad rush from the scene of the crime, disappearing around a sharp corner.

"I'm not here to kill you Naruto Uzumaki. My role in this timeline is only as an observer." Kang folded his arms behind his back once more, a circular pad appearing below his feet, lifting him up off the ground as he looked down at Naruto condescendingly, "However, should you prove to be the catalyst to this dimension's demise, I will travel to the day you first arrived, and eradicate you."

"What the fuck are you talking about, what is happening right now?!" Naruto asked, pulling at his hair in frustration.

"Nothing, Naruto Uzumaki. Nothing at all. You just continue your search for a way home. Look for a woman by the name of Magik. She is an Inhuman living as an outcast in Russia. She is an important key to your journey." With that, his body was surrounded by a purple light before disappearing in a bright flash, "Good luck…" His voice echoed out.

The cloak around Naruto disappeared as he thought, "What the hell just happened. Who the fuck was that guy?!"

"An anomaly Naruto. An anomaly."