Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Law and Order II

Katma voiced the disbelief everyone was feeling, "You've gotten mixed up in some crazy cases before Uzumaki, but you really expect us to believe there's a mole in the Green Lantern Corps? That's impossible."

Lobo didn't like the fact they were questioning what Naruto was saying, "You should watch what you say lady. Things go down in differently and it's your boyfriend sitting in his cell and not the Ninja Man."

Katma turned to give the hunter a piece of her mind, but Naruto cut her off before she could get started, "He's right actually. This plan was well in works before I took over this sector; the moving pieces initiated with John as the target. Based on my investigation, the switch in Lanterns forced them to speed up their plans."

"That's still not a lot to go one. How are you so certain there is a mole?" questioned Superman.

"I wasn't at first. I thought that the smuggling ring was a part of a larger organized ring of criminal activity that was manipulating events. A burst of activity to attract our attention in one area enabled them to move and operate under the radar in another." explained Naruto. "There was one thing that tipped me off and made me look underneath the underneath. They were too clean; every activity went off without a hitch. Unless you had someone on the inside directing you to precise patrolling patterns of the core, no one can be that good. This scheme was running across multiple sectors. Someone was getting paid off for that knowledge, and only someone within the core has access to it."

"How is you being on trial, helping with figuring any of this out?" questioned John.

Naruto shrugged, "At this point, all we know is that for some reason they wanted a Lantern to take the fall for the destruction of Ajuris 4. So, I'm going to drag this out as long as I can."

"Perhaps, they want to discredit and plant dissension among the ranks of the Green Lanterns." suggested J'onn.

"Maybe, but that sounds like an awful lot of trouble for such a small goal." reasoned Superman. "The based on the rest of the information, it would seem like someone was trying to take down the core by manipulating the various Lanterns in positions to be killed."

"Then why set GL up to take the fall at trial? Why not kill him that way?" reasoned Flash.

"Because maybe this trial is all a part of some sort of endgame scheme to distract the entire core from something much bigger and much worse than killing off a few Lanterns." surmised Katma.

Naruto nodded, "I was thinking that, but why target the core? Unless you planned to launch some sort of assault on Oa, but that would be the dumbest plan in the history of dumb plans."

John scoffed, "You'd be better off committing suicide by black hole."

"Just what do you plan to do if the person behinds this intends for you to get executed?" questioned Hawkgirl.

Naruto shrugged, "If they can make it look like I blew up Ajuris 4, it's only fair for me to return to favor and out bullshit their bullshit if it comes to that."

Lobo's eyes lit up, "Oh, you're gonna use the fake dead clone gag?"

"Wasn't planning on taking it that far, but I like the way you're thinking." replied Naruto.

"How did he become a Green Lantern?" muttered Hawkgirl.

Katma shrugged, "The ring chooses the wielder."

"Alright, we're going to need to split up and cover our bases here." stated John. "A few of us need to go check out Ajuris 4."

"You three go ahead and do that." replied Katma as she indicated John, Superman, and J'onn. "We'll go rattle the cages of the other Lanterns and this Kanjar Ro fellow."

As the all moved to leave, Naruto called out to Flash, "Flash, stick with us. I'm going to need your help with dragging out the trial."

Flash shot him a puzzled look, "You want the fastest man alive to help slow things down? It's not gonna be easy."

Once everyone else had cleared out, Lobo turned to Naruto and gave him a nod, "Alright, let's hear it."

"Objection." firmly stated Naruto.

Lobo shook his head, "No, you need more umpf!"

"Objection!" declared Naruto.

Lobo shrugged, "Better, but not good enough."

"HOLD IT!" Naruto suddenly spun around and struck a pose with his left hand extended out, "OBJECTION!"

Lobo could have sworn he felt the room shake and an image of the word objection over shadowing Naruto, "That's it! Right there, the show stopper! Again!"

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The chief prosecutor sat in his office on his computer trying to rework his strategy for the case. He hadn't expected the defendant to be able to turn the tables on his key witness so effectively. He knew if the trial continued along its current path, there would be no way for him to recapture the emotion needed to convict. As a result of proceeding to trial in such a quick matter, there simply wasn't enough time to gather hard evidence. His next move was now to call in various scientific experts to provide credibility to Ro's testimony, but that at best wouldn't be enough.

"I need to find a way to discredit this Lantern." muttered the prosecutor.

His thoughts were interrupted by his phone ringing. As he turned away from his monitor to answer the phone, he didn't notice the static distortion of a robotic face appear on the screen for a second before vanishing. Once he hung up the phone, he found he had a new message in his inbox.

As the prosecutor read the message his eyes lit up with excitement, "Now this is something I can work with. All I need is for him to call one of his Lantern friends to the stand..."

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As Superman, J'onn, and John boarded the Javelin, the Martian voiced the question that had been on his mind since they left the courthouse.

"Is there any particular reason you want to investigate Ajuris 4?" J'onn asked Superman. "It may lend aid in proving Naruto's innocence, but I'm not sure it will help with the bigger problem."

"You never know, figuring out what happened on Ajuris 4 may lend a clue to who pulling the strings behind the scenes." reasoned John.

"That's one reason. The other is that someone wanted to make it look like Naruto blew up Ajuris 4. From Ro's testimony and the way Naruto discredited him, I've got a hunch on where to start." explained Superman.

"You going to let us know what that hunch is?" questioned John.

Superman shook his head, "Not yet, but I'm sure it will become clear for all of us once we get there."

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"So has Naruto always been so..." began Hawkgirl.

Katma smirked, "Strange? Weird? Bizarre? An Enigma?"

Hawkgirl let out an amused snort, "Yeah, let's go with all of the above."

"I'll just say this, that whole 'look underneath the underneath' thing applies to him as well." replied Katma.

Hawkgirl rolled her eyes, "Yeah, that clears up a whole lot."

Just as they reached cantina, the pair encountered a ticked off Arisia storming out.

"What happened?" asked Katma.

"Nothing, just couldn't sit there anymore while the rest of those idiots sit around and bad mouth one of our own." replied Arisia. "It's like they forget than whenever anyone is in trouble, Naruto is always at the front of line to go bail them out. I had to leave before I couldn't stop myself from hurting someone."

"I guess there's no point asking for their help then. You can come with us; we're going after Kanjar Ro for some answers." explained Kat.

The blonde's eyes lit up, "As long I get a few shots in."

Katma smirked, "After we get the answers."

"You two go on ahead, I'll catch up in a minute." stated Hawkgirl as she marched into the cantina.

The former detective walked right up to table where the lanterns Galius Zed, Kilowog, Arkkis, Tomar-Tu, and Larvox were seated.

"Waiter, another order of rings over here!" called out Arkkis.

"Why aren't you helping or supporting your fellow Lantern at the trial?" demanded Hawkgirl.

Galius Zed scoffed, "We couldn't stand that farce of trial anymore."

"That piece of trash Uzumaki has made us all look bad." added Arkkis before he chugged his beverage.

Hawkgirl let out a snort of disgust, "I guess that shows how far loyalty goes in the vaunted Green Lantern Corps."

Zed rolled his eyes, "Get off your damn high horse, lady. If you had any common sense you'd steer clear of the lunatic too."

"Otherwise, his wretched stench will spread all over you." added Arkkis.

"Is that right?" questioned Hawkgirl. She suddenly brought her mace down on the middle of their table with authority, "You're nothing but cowards, the whole lot of you!"

After another whack on the table she turned her attention to Arkkis, who activated his ring and brought his arm up to shield himself as she hammered away at him with her mace. One overpowering strike knocked him out of his seat and into Zed, who also tumbled out his chair and hit the ground.

The owner of the restaurant caught sight of the commotion and scrambled over to their table from his seat, "Please, my friends! No weapons!"

Hawkgirl flung her mace away, casually embedding in a stone support column, "I don't need a weapon to take down these weaklings."

The angry Lanterns all deactivated their rings in response to the challenge. Arkkis charged the Thanagarian first, swinging wildly with a right-handed hay-maker that Hawkgirl ducked under before connecting with a left jab to his face. Her right hooked knocked him on his heels before she finished him off with a powerful uppercut that sent him flying across the room, where he landed back on the Lantern's table. Zed bounced across the room before launching himself at her through the air, but she ducked underneath him, clipping him with her wing and sending him crashing into the waitress station. Tomar-Tu managed to tackle the winged warrior, but she rolled with the blow and threw him off her and into the bar. Larvox rushed her, but Hawkgirl lifted the oddly shaped alien over her head and threw him into Tomar-Tu. Zed got back to his feet and launched himself at her again, but she ducked him completely this time as he flew across the room and slammed into the wall just to the left of Kilowog's head, who wisely decided to stay out of it. Arkkis made another run at Hawkgirl only to catch powerful left to the face that sent him crashing into Zed and sending them both through the wall. She stepped back and kicked the spherical shaped alien like a soccer-ball, sending Zed pin-balling off walls and various other objects around the restaurant. As Arkkis ran back in from the hall to rejoin the fray, Kilowog had seen enough. He formed a barrier between Arkkis and Hawkgirl with his ring, bringing the brawl to an end.

"This has gone far enough. Naruto would never turn his back on a friend in need. He's one of us, and I'm going to help him." declared Kilowog as he marched out of the cantina.

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In alley just outside the cantina, Kanjar Ro was having a heated conversation with one of the Manhunters. Unknown to either of them, Katma and Arisia were eavesdropping on the conversation.

"You told me that this was an easy job!" complained the space pirate. "I don't see that Lantern rolling over like a martyr."

"Do not concern yourself with the trial, its eventual outcome is irrelevant." reminded the Manhunter.

"Still, if this goes south, I'm going to be the one on the hook here!" ranted Ro. "I saw a couple of his friends depart on a ship to go check out Ajuris 4."

"Which of his friends were they?" questioned the Manhunter.

"The big guy in blue, the Martian, and the Lantern John Stewart." answered Kanjar.

"Kal-el and the others are of no concern to you. The improvements I made to your technology and security measures in place on the moon of Ajuris 4 will handle them." informed the Manhunter. "You need to continue to maintain a low profile. Your integrity as a witness cannot afford to be compromised any more than it already is. This case cannot conclude until all the pieces are in place."

"Fine, but if this starts going bad, I'm clearing out here." proclaimed Kanjar Ro before he stormed off back towards the courthouse.

"If this case goes south, fleeing custody will be the least of your problems, Kanjar Ro." stated the Manhunter once Ro was out of hearing range. The robot then disappeared down the other side of the alley. Once they were both clear of the area, the pair of female Lanterns emerged from their hiding place.

"There was something weird about that Manhunter. His voice didn't sound like it should." observed Katma.

"That's the least of our problems right now. We've got to warn John and the others about that moon." advised Arisia.

"You go do that. I'm going stick around here and tail some of these Manhunters." replied Katma. "We need to find out whose pulling their strings."

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Superman, J'onn, and John Stewart had already begun their exploration of the moon of Ajuris 4, unaware of the dangers that laid in wait for them. Superman and J'onn donned grey and gold spacesuits as the exited the ship to join John.

"Now can you tell me what's wrong with this picture?" questioned Superman as they stood over the edge of crater just outside the javelin.

"The echoes of our pasts, the tragic loss of life..." began J'onn.

Stewart cut him off, "No, that's not it. It's this moon. It shouldn't be here."

"That's right." affirmed Superman. "This moon is still in orbit of a planet that no longer exists."

"It can't be!" exclaimed J'onn as his eyes widened at the revelation. "This moon should have shot off into space the moment Ajuris 4 was destroyed."

"But it didn't, something is keeping this moon in orbit." asserted Superman. "I bet whatever is holding this moon in place is also responsible for what really happened to Ajuris 4."

"Don't forget the fact that Kanjar Ro said they were laying a trap for Naruto on this moon." reminded John. "If Ajuris 4 really exploded like it supposed have, he shouldn't even be alive to tell the tale. He was outside his broken ship when it happened. The backlash from such an explosion would have sent him hurtling into space with no protection and killed him."

"Then we will definitely find what we are looking for here on this moon. Let's spread out so we can cover ground faster." ordered Superman.

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After the riveting examination and cross-examination to open up the trial, the case took a detour into the mundane aspects of the trial. The prosecutor had called in several scientific experts in effort to open the door for Ro's full version of the events. However, well timed objections and sharp cross-examination rendered the gains on this front minimal. Naruto's gut told him to keep the case on the current path, attacking the complete lack of evidence that he did not commit the crime to drag things out. However, after constant urging from Flash he decided to call Kilowog as a character witness.

"Naruto Uzumaki has put his life on the line to save his fellow Lanterns, innocents, and even strangers. That's just the kind of guy he is, and I'm proud to call him a friend." Kilowog told the Tribunal.

Naruto nodded, "Thanks, Kilowog. No more questions for this witness."

"Councilor." spoke the Tribunal Chief, indicating the prosecutor could begin his cross-examination.

"Kilowog can you tell me exactly what a Green Lantern does?" inquired the prosecutor.

"Oh that's easy, we catch bad guys." replied Kilowog.

"Commendable, but how do you know who the bad guys are?" questioned the prosecutor.

Kilowog shrugged, "Um, we just do?"

"Don't you use some sort library or book of criminals?" reasoned the prosecutor.

Naruto didn't like where this line of questioning is going, "Objection! I hardly see how this line of questioning is relevant to the case."

"My line of questioning goes towards the capabilities of the defendant to commit the crime." asserted the prosecutor.

"We'll allow for the moment councilor, but provide some relevance quickly." ruled the female judge. "The witness may answer the question."

"Oh yeah, we have the bingo book. It's a comprehensive list of criminals, fugitives and whatnot. Every lantern has access to a digital version via their power ring." answered Kilowog.

"So anyone who appears in the bingo book is for certain a criminal of some sort. There's no ambiguity to this." clarified the prosecutor.

Kilowog nodded, "Yes, that's right. A lot of the bounty hunters are using their own version of it. In fact the entire concept came from Naruto. The idea originated from his home planet."

By now Naruto had realized where this line of questioning was headed, but there was nothing he could do to stop it.

The prosecutor pressed a button on his console, bringing up a document on the viewing screen, "I would like to introduce into evidence Article 11, which is a page from the defendant's personnel file on record with the Green Lantern Core. It is a page taken from the Bingo Book of the defendant's home planet."

"Objection!" declared Naruto.

"On what grounds?" questioned the female Tribunal judge.

"Primarily that it's going to make me look bad, but I'll go with relevance." replied Naruto.

"Overruled." echoed the Tribunal in unison.

The prosecutor read the excerpt, "Listing for criminal Naruto Uzumaki, moniker the Green Goblin. He has SSS-Rank and a bounty of 1 billion Ryo, the highest ranking and bounty in the book along with a flee-on-sight order. He is listed as a known traitor, deserter, murderer and the terrorist directly responsible for the theft of a national monument and the destruction of the moon."

The entire gallery gasped in shock at this revelation and the dull murmur of the crowd soon morphed into a load roar as the raw fury of the crowd surged to surface once again.

"Order! Order! We will have order!" declared the head of security.

"SILENCE!" commanded the tribunal chief. The crowd immediately settled down at his command, "We will have no more outbursts. Continue your questioning counselor."

Naruto had no choice but to object again, "Objection!"

"On what grounds?" questioned the third judge.

"The evidence is not only highly prejudicial, but also bears no relevance to case." argued Naruto.

"The probative value outweighs the prejudicial, and the evidence is highly relevant. It establishes a previous pattern of behavior for the defendant and also lends credence to the capability of defendant to commit to the crime. He opened the door for this line of questioning." reasoned the prosecutor.

"The objection is overruled." ruled the Tribunal Chief. "You may continue your questioning of the witness councilor."

The prosecutor turned to Kilowog and cut right to the heart of the matter, "Who gave you the right? Who entrusted a man of obvious suspect integrity with ability to wield such an incredibly dangerous and deadly weapon?"

"We did!" rang out a collection of authoritative voices.

Everyone stared in disbelief as five of the Guardians entered the courtroom intent on protecting one of their own. Naruto let out a sigh of relief. Despite the controversial revelation of his past, he was safe for now thanks to the guardians. However, the others still needed get to the bottom of this and fast. The blond didn't fancy having even more of his secrets revealed as this played out.

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On the moon of Ajuris 4, the three heroes continued their scouting of their respective areas with two of them coming up empty.

Superman had found nothing in his search area, "I hope you both are having better luck than me."

"No, all quiet on my front. I'm seeing nothing but craters." replied John.

"I have definitely found something, but as to what I can only begin to imagine." informed J'onn.

"Hold tight, we'll meet at your position." replied Superman.

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Back on Ajuris 5, Katma had been following the movements of the Manhunters closely. There was nothing as overt as the meeting with Kanjar Ro, until the all suddenly moved to a central location at once. The mechanical peacekeepers all filed into an empty warehouse, where they lined up like a platoon of soldiers in front of their leader. The head of the Manhunters spoke to his brethren like a general rallying his troops for battle.

"It is time brothers, time to avenge a thousand years of grievances. It is time to regain our power and dignity!" proclaimed the head Manhunter.

The gathered hunters let out collective roar of approval to his sentiments.

"The plan was worked out flawlessly so far. With the help of our new brother, we have sown dissension amongst the Lantern Core and stained their reputation forever. Furthermore, we have succeeded in drawing out the leader of our most hated enemy away from their stronghold and home planet of Oa. Yes, they're here, the Guardians!"

"Destroy them! Destroy them all!" roared the gathered hunters.

"No my brothers, not here, not yet. Our destiny lies back at Oa, but rest assured, the Guardians will burn! For we are the Manhunters!"

"No man escapes the Manhunters!" bellowed the Manhunters in unison.

Katma abandoned her surveillance at this point, she'd found out all she needed to know. Whoever this 'new brother' of the Manhunters was, had to be the mole. There was no doubt in her mind as she made her way back to the courthouse to get Naruto to put an end to the trial.

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John, Superman, and J'onn stood facing the massive complex device the Martian found hidden within a fissure on the surface of the moon of Ajuris 4.

"Do you have any idea what this is? Some sort of weapon?" asked John.

"It's not a weapon." replied the Martian. "When I was a child on Mars we had small toys called illusitrons. They could project crude images over objects and even empty space."

"And you think this is a larger version." asserted Superman.

J'onn nodded, "Despite the difference in size, the engineering principles seem to be the same."

Stewart wasn't buying it, "How can an illusion generator hold this moon in place?"

"You're asking the wrong question. All along we've known that someone wanted to make it look like Naruto destroyed Ajuris 4. What if that's exactly what they did?" questioned Superman. "It would explain why this moon is still in orbit."

"This entire thing can't just be hoax. People would know if Ajuris 4 is just sitting right there, hidden from the universe." countered the Lantern.

"There's one way to find out for sure." interjected J'onn.

John pointed his ring at the massive piece of machinery and fired a blast of Lantern energy. Cracks appeared on the ground in front of them as the area started to quake. The reason why soon became evident as four massive robots tunneled to the surface from underground. The four massive green and gray machines stood nearly nine feet tall, with a pair of them sporting drill bits for hands and the others having massive pliers-like pincers.

"Interesting welcoming committee." quipped Superman.

One the pincer robots leaped at Superman, swinging its arm down to crush the Kryptonian. The man of steel easily caught the incoming limb before turning and throwing his massive foe into the nearby rock wall. He quickly followed up with a power punch to put the machine out of commission for good. The pair of drilling robots had attacked the Martian Manhunter, trying bore a hole right through J'onn. The Martian made himself intangible and managed to confuse the two machines into attacking each other, knocking them both out of commission. The Lantern also had an easy time with his robot, forming a massive construct sledge hammer with his power ring and bashed the machine into oblivion with half a dozen hits. Thinking that was the end of the security installments the three never noticed the half a dozen more of the massive robots preparing to leap down into the fissure from the moon's surface and ambush the trio. Just as they leaped off the cliff they were cut down by a construct buzz saw courtesy of the arriving Arisia. The trio of heroes looked up just as the robotic body parts started raining down around them.

"What are you doing here, Arisia?" asked a confused John.

"Came to warn you about the trap here, but it's a bit too late for that." replied the blonde.

"How did you know there was a trap?" inquired J'onn.

"Kat and I were listening in on a conversation between that pirate Kanjar Ro and one of those Manhunters. This one was really strange though." informed Arisia.

Superman prompted her to elaborate, "What do you mean by strange?"

"His voice, it didn't sound like normal. The Manhunters all pretty much sound the same, but his was distinctly different." explained Arisia.

"So, the Manhunters are behind all of this? That still doesn't make any sense." muttered John.

"I'm pretty sure that's why Kat stuck around to keep an eye on them." remarked Arisia.

"Either Manhunters are the moles, or the mole is pulling their strings to cover his own tracks." surmised J'onn.

"I'd put my money on the latter." commented Superman. The odd symbols branded on the chests of the robots they just defeated in combination with Arisia's description of the strange Manhunter gave him the sense of déjà vu, he just couldn't figure out why. It was as if the answer was right in front of him, but he was missing the one piece of the puzzle that put it all together.

"We still need figure what this machine is doing so we can shut down." reminded John.

Arisia turned and fired a beam of light towards a chunk of debris from Ajuris 4. It never reached as it hit some sort of barrier that rippled as the beam of light reflected off into space. The barrier continued to ripple, revealing itself to be masking a spherical mass identical in size to Ajuris 4.

"Well, I guess that answers that question." muttered a stunned J'onn, as the others absently nodded in agreement.

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Back on Ajuris 5, one of the Guardians had taken the stand in defense of Naruto.

"You provide the Green Lanterns with their power, but are you in control of it?" questioned the Prosecutor.

"It is true we Guardians control the Lantern Core's power source, but the individual Lanterns have complete autonomy with their power rings." replied the Guardian.

"So not only do you serve up great power to madmen like Uzumaki on a silver platter, you also a free from any liability. If something goes wrong, it's not your fault." argued the Prosecutor.

"You misunderstand, we give the Lanterns autonomy because we trust their judgment." explained the Guardian. "And you are mistaken about Lantern Naruto Uzumaki being a madman. The actions taken by him on his home planet were approved by us. A being had nearly brought the Anti-Life equation into full effect on the entire population of the planet. Lantern Uzumaki's miscasting as a villain on his home world is a side effect of damage wrote to the psyche of the people of Seijin before he could defeat this entity."

"Yes, we'll gladly take your word for it. After all, it's not like you wouldn't do whatever is necessary to protect not only one of your own, but the Lantern symbol as well." retorted the prosecutor.

"Objection!" exclaimed Naruto is disbelief.

"Withdrawn, I have no further questions for this witness. How much more can we hear? We demand an immediate judgment." demanded the prosecutor.

"Objection! All the facts have not been heard in this case." proclaimed Naruto.

"Unless you plan on taking the stand, I see how no further testimony could become relevant to this case." countered the prosecutor.

"If that's what it is going to take, then fine." replied Naruto.

"You do realize you will be subjecting to the same standard as Kanjar Ro for testimony. Any and all experiences will be open to questioning." informed the female judge.

"I will testify." affirmed Naruto.

"Very well." declared the Tribunal Chief. "We will take a short recess and then return to hear your testimony."

"You reek of desperation." snarled the prosecutor as he glided past Naruto on his platform.

Naruto pretended to clear his ear out with his pinky, "I'm sorry, did you say something?"

As he lowered his platform to the floor level, Flash and Lobo approached him.

"You can't be serious about testifying." asserted Flash.

Naruto pointed to his ear, where a radio piece was hidden, "I've been listening in on the others checking out Ajuris 4. They already figured out the problem, so I've got that in the hip pocket now."

"All this court crap is boring, I wanna kick some tail!" growled Lobo.

"The feeling is mutual, but we still need a few more pieces of information to get the bottom of all this." responded Naruto. He then guided the pair over to where the Guardians were seated.

"I appreciate the support, but how did you know to come?" asked Naruto. "Until they revealed my history, there was no need for you to show up. Your timing was way too convenient."

"We received a distress message from John Stewart about them utilizing your record with your home planet against you." explained the Guardian who testified.

"John hasn't been here for a while, he's off investigating Ajuris 4." muttered Naruto as his eyes narrowed. "That message was a fake."

"A fake that was sent by the Manhunters to lure you away from Oa." informed Katma as she and Hawkgirl arrived back in the courtroom to join the conversation.

"If the Manhunters are headed back to Oa, then we must return there immediately." declared one of the Guardians.

"Back to Oa? They've been there before?" questioned Katma.

"We created the Manhunters." admitted the Guardian.

"Say what?" blurted Flash in disbelief.

"It was before the Lantern Core. We thought robots would make good peacekeepers, but they were flawed. They were unable understand the subtle gradations between good and evil." explained the Guardian.

Naruto shook his head, "And you didn't scrap them all together?"

"We reprogrammed them for lesser duties like tracking hunting, and guarding. They didn't show any objections." replied the Guardian.

"Not out loud anyway, but enough for someone twist them up like a bunch of windup toys and set them loose on Oa." remarked Katma.

"Round up the rest Lanterns lurking around here and book it back to Oa." stated Naruto as he tossed Katma his extra radio piece. "John and the others are on channel 3. Flash, Lobo and I will catch up after I finish things up here in minute."

"Sound plan Uzumaki, but I think your forgetting something." reminded Hawkgirl as she nodded towards where his ring was being held as evidence.

Naruto cocked an eyebrow at her, "Did you really think that I would hand over my real ring when I know I'm innocent?"

The Thanagarian narrowed her eyes, "That ring wouldn't happen to be some sort of secret explosive device would it?"

Naruto rolled his eyes, "No, it's just some toy lantern decoder ring. Explosives aren't my only method of diversion."

"Not your only method, just your favorite." remarked a smirking Flash.

Katma, Hawkgirl, and the Guardians immediately departed leaving Flash, Lobo, and Naruto behind in the courtroom. It was only a few more minutes until the Tribunal returned from their recess expecting to hear Naruto's testimony.

"If the defendant would please take the stand, we will proceed with your testimony." ordered the female tribunal judge.

"I've changed my mind, I will not testify. I cannot testify." stated Naruto to the shock of the gallery.

"If you will not testify then we have no choice but to render immediate judgment." declared the Tribunal Chief.

"You're not going be rendering any type of judgment. In fact you're going to let me walk right out of this courtroom in about five minutes." declared Naruto.

"And why would we do such a thing?" sneered the prosecutor.

"Because, I'm not the real Naruto Uzumaki." In a bit of sleight of hand Naruto peeled back the sleeve of his suit jacket to twist his watch, when in reality he was accessing his power-ring hidden in his sleeve. The result was his transformation in a glow of green light into a blue skinned, orange haired reptilian alien, "I'm Special Agent Vrakone, Internal Affairs! This entire trial was one big sting operation to expose a leak in the justice department."

"Impossible!" exclaimed the tribunal in disbelief.

A couple of Internal Affairs agents leaped out of their seats in the gallery, "Wait, a minute you told us you were really from the Bureau!"

Naruto nodded, "Yes that was also part of my cover identity. I actually work for Ajuris Central Intelligence!"

A couple of Allied Bureau of Investigation agents jumped up, "But you told us you were the Department of Ajuran Security!"

"He told us he was from the Bureau." countered a DAS officer.

"Who are you really working for?" demanded the prosecutor.

Naruto paced back and forth on his platform, "You want to know who I'm really working for? This was supposed to be deep, deep, deep cover, but fine...I'm from the AFP, I'm an Ajurale!"

"The Ajuris Federal Police? An Ajurale!" they all exclaimed in disbelief.

Up in the stands, Lobo barely held back his laughter while Flash wished he had some popcorn to enjoy the show.

The disguised Naruto pointed out the window behind them, "Look to the right out of that window there. What do you see? That is the People's Democratic Republic of Ajuris 2. I didn't know who I could trust, so I had to throw everybody off the trail. It was only thanks to Lantern Uzumaki and his connections that we could pull this off and discover that the Manhunters had gone rouge. That information you received about Lantern Naruto Uzumaki was completely fabricated. We left the bait for the Manhunters and they took it."

"That's all fine and dandy, but it still doesn't explain what happened to Ajuris 4. Someone must answer for that!" demanded the Prosecutor.

Naruto smirked, "Ajuris 4 is right where it's always been, what you see is an illusion provided by none other than your star witness Kanjar Ro."

Right as he said this, the illusitron back on Ajuris 4 was destroyed by John and Arisia, causing the blue planet to reappear in the skyline of Ajuris 5 to the shock of the prosecutor, the Tribunal, and the gallery. Ro tried to make a run for it, but he was immediately held up by security personnel.

"Why go to all this trouble? What was the point?" questioned the Tribunal Chief.

Naruto glanced around the room shiftily, "I shouldn't have even told you this much, I could lose my Ajuralehood."

"You're what?" exclaimed the prosecutor in disbelief.

"My Ajuralehood!" declared Naruto. "Listen, the truth is I was doing it all for my home, the black, the gold..." he turned and glanced at the Ajuris 2 World flag before proudly thumping his chest. "...and the orange! Now if you'll all excuse me, the job is not done yet. I've got some robots on the loose that need to be recycled into to toasters."

Naruto leaped from his platform down to the passageway leading underneath the gallery, exited the courtroom on a dead sprint. He was quickly joined by Flash and Lobo, as he slipped on his power ring and switched back to his normal features and Lantern uniform.

"Lobo, you still got that boom tube on your ship?" asked Naruto.

"Yeah." replied the bounty hunter.

Naruto nodded, "Good, we can beat everybody there. You should probably loan Flash an energy blade too."

"I'm pretty sure you just pulled a Kaiser Soze back there." joked the speedster.

Naruto and Lobo just shot him a blank look.

"Kaiser Soze! The Usual Suspects? Kevin Spacey?" Flash shook his head, "You guys need to get out more."

"No, what we need to do is send these Manhunters to the scrap yard." declared Lobo.

Naruto let out an almost sinister laugh, "Some idiot thought it would be a good idea to make a play on the Guardians and Lanterns right in our own backyard. I feel obligated to introduce them to my particular brand of hospitality by shoving my foot right up their ass."

A vicious grin formed on Lobo's face, "You're in fine form today Ninja-man! Those tin cans won't know what hit 'em!"

"Wait you figured who's behind all this? When?" asked Flash.

Naruto shrugged, "Well, I didn't actually it figure out, my ring did. After the bingo book nonsense, I had it analyze on all pertinent facts and it came up with one name..."

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"...it's Brainiac. The designs on the robots back on Ajuris 4's moon were his emblem, I'm sure of it." asserted Superman. He and J'onn were shielded by Arisia's ring as she and John led them back to Oa.

"But, why would Brainiac be behind all this?" questioned Arisia. "It doesn't add up."

"His goal is to fulfill his programming by consuming all knowledge in the universe and destroying it in the process. What could help more with that then both the knowledge and power of the guardians." reasoned J'onn.

"I doesn't matter why he's doing this, we need to shut him and those Manhunters down for good." declared John as he picked up the pace with his ring.

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Due to the trial and other various incidents across sectors, practically the entire core was off base at the moment, leaving only half of the Guardians as the only line of defense against the Manhunters invasion. The furious battle raged on, with the remaining guardians powering the automatic defense systems of the Core's stronghold. The various guns and laser turrets were able to destroy Manhunters with a single blast, but the sheer numbers of the robotic invaders were overwhelming. The Guardians were barely managing to maintain their current positions protecting the central core. Manhunters soon spread out to break into the interior of the towers housing the larger canons and hacked in their circuitry to bring them under Manhunter control. This was the scene that Flash, Lobo, and Naruto arrived to as they stepped out of the boom tube portal.

"So what's the plan?" asked Lobo.

Naruto concentrated more on the task at hand, "The central core is protected by a double force field powered by the guardians. With them only at half strength, the barriers can be broken down easily. We start kicking ass and cause enough havoc to turn their attentions away from the Guardians, and once the others show up we head them off before they can reach the core."

"Fine by me, winner's choice and loser buys!" declared Flash as he blurred across the ground towards an area heavily invested with Manhunters. The robots were hacked to pieces before they could even contemplate reacting, and the Manhunters firing from a distance at the speedster found all their blasts deflected by his energy blades.

With Flash doing his damage at the ground level, Naruto took to the skies flying up to a point high above the battlefield. As the Lantern hovered in the air, a shield of spiraling energy formed around him. The green energy span faster and faster until it emitted a blinding pulse of light. Once the light died down in Naruto's place was a massive flat vortex of spiraling lantern energy.

The Manhunters were puzzled by the sight of it, "This ability is not recorded in our databases."

"It doesn't matter, blast him out of the sky!" commanded another.

The Manhunters fired energy blasts from their staffs at the vortex, only for the blasts to be instantly deflected as soon they approached the spiral. As the spiral reached maximum spinning speed, it began to emit medium sized crescent shaped blasts of energy. First one, then two, then four, eight, and continuing to escalate exponentially. Each attack was on target, at least two colliding with every Manhunter within the vicinity with explosive results. Naruto's Green Spiral Flash attack wiped out over seventy Manhunters in one swoop, but the Lantern didn't stop there. One the spiral attack completed, he formed a humongous construct of a warrior toad and executed the food cart destroyer technique on a dozen other Manhunters.

As toads rained from the sky, the bounty hunter Lobo unloaded his full arsenal on his rival hunters. Lobo had first opened fire with a pair of assault rifles, blasting through every robot in his path. After emptying the mag of the rifle in his right hand, he unwound the chain wrapped around his right wrist and start swinging around the large gutting hook at the end of it. Robot heads, legs, arms, and torsos were instantly destroyed upon contact with hook as it swung around widely. Not satisfied with that, after empty the mag for the other assault rifle, Lobo whipped out a grenade and chucked it right into the middle of a stationary group of Manhunters opening fire on him. The explosion sent a robot head whistling past Naruto's head up above.

"Watch it!" shouted the blond in annoyance.

Superman, J'onn, Arisia, and John arrived amid the havoc being created by Flash, Naruto, and Lobo. For the moment, the majority of the Manhunter forces had turned their attention away from breaking to the central core to deal with the current chaos caused by Flash and company along with the incoming reinforcements. Superman peeled away from the others, utilizing his strength and invulnerability to plow right through Manhunters. Arisia and John cut down the enemy numbers with concentrated laser blasts of Lantern energy. J'onn became intangible and phased into the Manhunter controlled canons, drawing fire away from the ground assaults of Flash and Lobo. The tide of the battle had changed, with only the superior numbers of the Manhunters keeping them on even footing. The advantage quickly flipped into the favor of the Justice League and the Lantern Core upon the arrival of Katma, Hawkgirl, Kilowog, the remaining Guardians, and the other Lanterns from Ajuris 5.

"Kilowog, take the south tower! Arkkis and I will take the north!" commanded Galius as the three lanterns split away from the main group. Hawkgirl made a beeline for one of the Manhunter controlled canons, skillfully dodging incoming fire before bashing the turret to pieces with her mace. With arrival of the cavalry turning the tables of the Manhunters, Lobo, Flash, and Naruto proceeded with the second part of their plan.

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Deep inside the central core the main barrier had already fallen. Only the shielding around the entrance to the core battery remained, and outside it stood the head Manhunter and Brainiac himself, having shed his Manhunter disguise for a modified version of the Manhunter body customized to his preferences with his normal face. The head Manhunter stood guard, as Brainiac used energy draining devices embedded in his palms to drain the weakened Guardians of their remaining energies to fully unlock the central core. Their attention was suddenly diverted to the side section of wall where they heard a loud smashing sound. Cracks appeared in the wall, and a second smash followed the first, causing a section of the wall to blast open. Through the newly created opening stepped out Flash, Lobo, and Naruto.

"I hope this isn't a private party." quipped Flash.

"You are too late; you can't stop us! No one will until we have gained what is rightfully ours, the power that the guardians stole from us! They betrayed us and tried to deny us our destiny, but they have failed!" declared the head Manhunter.

"Is that all you have to say, some whiny crap about the Guardians? They're your last words, you know?" taunted Flash.

Before he could even utter a retort, the Manhunter found himself paralyzed. The reason why soon became evident as his enter body suddenly split in half vertically. Flash quickly jumped into action again, this time slicing and dicing the two halves of the robot into spare parts in the blink of eye. Naruto vaporized the remains of the lead Manhunter with a blast from his ring.

"One down, one to go." proclaimed Flash.

"I will not fall as easily as that inferior machine. They were merely stepping stones to grant me access to all of the core's power and knowledge." asserted Brainiac. "They provided the means for me to plant a copy of myself within the core's mainframe and slowly but surely consume the readily available knowledge. Now I will consume the core's power which will grant me access to all the knowledge of the guardians. In the process I will eradicate both the guardians and the Lantern Core as you have now become obsolete. It is too late for you, I already possess the power 10 green lanterns."

Naruto snorted in disbelief, "Strength of ten Green Lanterns? Do you really expect us to believe that?"

"Believe what you will." replied Brainiac. "You cannot defeat me, surrender now."

Naruto smirked beneath his mask, "No man comes into another man's home and starts telling him what to do. You're out of line! We're not here to bow down to your demands; we're here to fight! So go ahead and do whatever it is you came here to do!"

"Very well, I will terminate you all." responded Brainiac.

"You two go help the others. The three of us fighting this one metal head is like using one of my C4 Tags on an anthill. Besides this is Lantern business first and foremost." ordered Naruto.

A brief look of surprise and recognition flashed across the faces of Flash and Lobo before they immediately turned and hauled ass outta there, in anticipation of what was about to happen.

"No, you will not leave. You will all perish here." declared Brainiac as he fired a deadly energy blast from his eyes at the two fleeing the scene.

Naruto deflected the blast away from them with a barrier shield, "You're fight is with me. The others are of no concern to you. Got it, you toaster headed factory reject!"

"Very well, you will be the first of many Lanterns to fall this day." declared Brainiac.

Naruto let out a condescending chuckle in response, "It's a good thing you machines can't understand fear. If you had any sense at all, you'd all be running away from this planet as fast as you could."

"With all the energy I have absorbed from the guardians, you are no match for me. No one on this planet is." countered Brainiac.

"Well if you really think you have the strength of 10 green lanterns, then prove it. Will all that power, one strong blow now should be enough to defeat me easily." retorted Naruto.

"I have upgraded this android body to a level significantly beyond that of a normal Manhunter. Plus, I have the advantage of studying battle footage and getting readings on your strength capabilities from you battle with the Manhunters back on Earth." asserted Brainiac.

Naruto grinned beneath his mask, "You are as much a machine as they were, besides this bluff about your strength I don't see any reason while you'll do any better than them. You may have studied my battles back on Earth, but I held back significantly in order to prolong that battle."

"Now you're bluffing." challenged Brainiac.

Naruto shrugged, "Maybe, I am? Hard to tell."

Brainiac assumed a battle position, "Enough of this talk."

Naruto did the same, "Yes! Let's go!"

The artificial being charged the Green Lantern, moving to deliver powerful right handed punch. The blow connected, but to Brainiac's surprise, Naruto latched onto his body and suddenly glowed green as his skin turned transparent like a construct. Brainiac had no chance to defend himself as the now revealed clone suddenly exploded in a bright flash of green light.

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Flash came speeding out of the compound housing the central core putting everyone nearby on alert, "Move it people, this place is gonna blow!"

John, who had been about fly into the central core compound via a hole in ceiling, froze in his tracks, "What?"

"Move it, John!" shouted the real Naruto as he came rocketing out the hole dragging Lobo along behind him. On instinct Stewart followed just as the explosion hit and a shock wave of energy sent the trio crashing into the roof of a neighboring tower. Smoke and debris poured out of the central core from the aftermath of the explosion. After regaining his composure Naruto had his ring to scan the area of the explosion and found no trace of Brainiac.

"Please tell me you did not set off explosives inside the central core." grumbled John as he staggered to his feet.

"The central core can afford to withstand a big it, I had make sure there was enough power in that blast to vaporize his body in one shot." defended Naruto.

There was a sudden rumbling from the central core battery causing John to shoot a glare at Naruto, "Central core can afford to take a hit big hit? Bullshit!"

Lobo directed their attention up into the sky behind them, "That wasn't us..."

A distorted image of Brainiac's face suddenly overshadowed the energy that shot out from the central core battery into sky. It started off slightly distorted before quickly stabilizing. The remaining guardians had just reached the core battery as Brainiac established control before draining them of their energy.

"All is lost..." gasped the last Guardian to lose consciousness. John and Naruto flew back in through a hole in rooftop and landed in front of the battery just as he lost consciousness.

"We were too late before, he'd already managed to get inside to the core. That other body was merely a diversion." muttered the blond.

"I am now everywhere. I am everything. I cannot be beaten." proclaimed Brainiac.

John wasn't fazed, "You are a fool. The battle was over before it ever begun if this was your endgame."

"You're bluffing is meaningless. Surrender now, the power of the core is under my control." declared Brainiac. "Wait, what are you doing!"

Naruto had lifted his hand into the air, absorbing the power from the core into his ring.

"What's the matter? Not so confident anymore? It sure was a different story when you were sucking the life out of the Guardians!" taunted Naruto.

"I am Brainiac, I cannot be beaten. You have lost, the core is mine!" defiantly proclaimed Brainiac,

"Not on my watch! You want this power, you gotta go through us!" bellowed John as he joined Naruto in absorbing the lantern energy into his ring.

"Count me, in too!" announced Katma as she dropped down from above and joined them.

"Don't forget about us either!" declared Arisia as she and Kilowog were right behind Katma.

"You are only delaying the inevitable. I cannot be defeated!" proclaimed Brainiac.

"Let's go people, you know the drill!" barked John as he began the oath. "In brightest day, in blackest night..."

The electrical image of Brainiac overshadowing the Lantern Core began to distort as they absorbed more and more power into their rings. Katma, Arisia, Kilowog and Naruto all joined John in the chant, "No evil shall escape my sight! Let those who worship evil's might..."

"No! Th-t-this can't be ha-hap-happening to me! Cannot control, cannot c-con-concentrate! I am Br-b-brainiac! I will b-b-be back!" cried out Brainiac as he was absorbed into the power rings along with the rest of the Lantern Energy.

The five Lanterns to aim with their rings and fired a massive collective blast of energy back into the core as they finished the oath, "BEWARE MY POWER, GREEN LANTERN'S LIGHT!"

"Nooo!" cried out the last remnants of Brainiac within energy as he was purged from the core. Kilowog and Arisia added as nice touch with some fireworks sparking off from the core in celebration of their victory.

"Hey! That still only counts as one!" shouted Flash.

Having regained their powers from the core battery's reboot, the Guardians approached Naruto, "Once again you have performed a great service to the Green Lantern Core. Thank you, Naruto Uzumaki."

Naruto waved off the praise, "There's no need to thank me; I was just doing my job, nothing more, nothing less. And besides I couldn't have done it without the rest of these guys or the Justice League either. It was a team effort, all the way around."

Arisia shook her head in disbelief, "The guy saves the Guardians and the Green Lantern Core from possible total annihilation, and shrugs it off likes it's another day at the office."

Kilowog shrugged, "That's the poozer for ya."

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The Manhunter uprising had turned into a complete route. Not a single machine survived, as the parts of their dismembered bodies laid all over the central stronghold of the Oa. The Lanterns from the cantina had gathered around Hawkgirl, impressed by here handiwork on the battlefield.

"You sure are some fighter lady." complemented Zed.

"Yeah, but we already knew that." added Arkkis.

As Naruto walked past them to join the rest of the league and Lobo, they stopped him.

"I guess we were wrong about you, Uzumaki. We should have known better." admitted Zed.

The gathered Lanterns waited for a response, but Naruto simply made a show digging into his ear with his pinky and flicking away some earwax. He then looked up, startled as if he'd just noticed them, "Oh, I'm sorry. Did you say something? No? I'll be on my way then."

"Ooh! It burns doesn't it!" taunted Arisia as she arrived with Kilowog to rub it their faces. All their heads dropped immediately, knowing they wouldn't hear the end of this one for a long time.

As Naruto approached the League they all noticed the thoughtful look on his face.

"Are you alright, Naruto?" asked J'onn.

The blond waved him off, "I'm fine. All's well that ends well and something or other. I just wanted to say thanks to all of you. I only got the ball rolling; this was a team effort from everyone. You guys really went beyond the call of duty today. And even though I don't have to say it, still I want say thank you and not just on behalf of the core. I personally am very grateful for all of your help."

Hawkgirl smirked, "Watching you squirm in court? I couldn't pay for better entertainment."

Superman simply smiled, "Anytime."

Flash grinned and patted him on the back, "Yeah, what are friends for? Especially friends who pay for dinner!"

Naruto grinned, "Oh, so you did worse than Lobo? You're buying!"

"There's no way either of you chumps out did the main man's grand total of 107!" interjected Lobo.

"107? Hah, I got 142!" gloated Flash.

Naruto swore, "Shit! I got 142, too!"

"Aw man, we tied? Well, I killed the lead hunter, so this is my win." reasoned Flash.

"No way! I got Brainiac, who was behind it all. It's my win!" countered Naruto.

"Trust me on this, GL. Let me take this win, I've got the perfect place in mind. We're going back to Earth and we're going to get kicked out of an Applebee's." proclaimed Flash.

Naruto and Lobo shot each other a blank look before deadpanning, "What's Applebee's?"

Flash simply chuckled and wrapped an arm around their shoulders, "Gentleman, you've got a lot to learn about the great treasures of the universe. But, have no fear! I, the great Flash, am here to show you the ropes!"

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After the riveting examination and cross-examination to open up the trial, the case took a brief detour when Naruto called Flash to the stand.

"Now, where were we two weeks ago on Friday night at 7pm?" questioned Naruto.

"We were at Asashi Ramen in Star City. We'd just stopped that bank robbery and both had 15 bowls each, good times." recalled Flash.

"That's right. Now could you enlighten the court to the house rules of Asashi Ramen?" asked Naruto.

The speedster narrowed his eyes, "Well, it's not just an Asashi Ramen house rule, it's a universal law of all Ramen serving establishments: no evil will come from a lover a ramen. It just can't happen."

"So based on this fact, there's basically no way I could be guilty of the accused crime." asserted Naruto.

Flash nodded, "Absolutely no chance."

"Objection, this is absolute nonsense and has no admissibility in court." interjected the prosecutor.

"Blasphemer! Heathen! Show your true face demon!" shouted Flash. Out of nowhere, the speedster pulled out a holy water container filled with ramen broth and began sprinkling it on the prosecutor, "The power of the broth compels you! The power of the broth compels you!"

A/N: Alright, it took me way too long to update this chapter, but hey shit happens in life. So enjoy the super long update with omake, and review!