4 First Contact

-Las Vegas, Nevada-

-March 28, 2005, 1900h local-

The Black Widow. One of the boogeymen of the world's politicians and elites. There are no missions she couldn't handle. No person she couldn't assassinate No information she couldn't extract. No mission she wouldn't do for the right price.

Originally named Natalia Romanova, she's a 5'7 Russian woman with a face and body to die for. She has red hair and green eyes. Considered the best of the best of Russia's Red Room Black Widow program, a brutal training to create the perfect spies for Russia to use. Graduated in the program in 1999 at the young age of 14, she worked exclusively for Russia's intelligence agency, KGB, until she left and gone AWOL in 2001. She made a name for herself doing work for the highest bidder and having an almost perfect record until SHIELD took an interest in her a year later.

SHIELD sent their best agent to kill or capture the Black Widow. They sent Agent Clint Barton or Hawkeye. SHIELD was interested in the possible information the Black Widow may have on one of their high-value targets taken from one of her hits.

Barton finally cornered her in Minsk after almost a month of cat and mouse chase. When Barton saw her, he recognized something familiar in her eyes. While holding her at arrow point, he asked,

"You got a lot of red on your ledger. Want some help cleaning it up?"

That's what sealed the deal for the infamous Black Widow. She surrendered to SHIELD and offered to work for them in exchange for immunity. She went for six months of intensive accelerated course for SHIELD agents and passed with flying colors. Fury considered her as one of the best steals he got. Barton became her go-to partner due to the close working and personal relationship they developed in the past two years. She currently only takes her orders from Director Fury himself.

She is currently on her way to Las Vegas to relax and unwind. It's one of the perks for being placed so high up in the food chain. You can get vacation time for every top priority mission, although she doesn't do this often. Her latest mission is "taking care" of a Chinese spy working as an engineer in Stark Industries. The whole mission was a textbook operation except for the high profile position of the spy inside the company. His sudden disappearance would cause some reaction from the company.

She's driving down I -15 in her advance release, and SHIELD upgraded Koenigsigg CCX when she saw a man walking just pass Jean Sport Aviation Center. She usually would just drive past the guy, but all her instincts are telling her to pull over. She slowed down to a stop beside the guy, rolled down the passenger side window, honked her horn and asked,

"You need a ride?"

She observed the man as young as herself. Standing at 6'2 with a solid build, he wore a dark orange zip-up hoodie, black shirt, and cargo pants. She saw his piercing cerulean eyes, medium-length golden blonde hair with two longer strands framing his face, and finally, what might look like as whiskers by his cheek adding a wild vibe to his whole persona. He's looking awestruck at her car. It's still a little flattering to see someone appreciate a top of the line peak of human engineering.

When the man heard her question, he looked a little surprised and looked at her. He thought for a second and said,

"Are you talking to me?"

"Yes, I'm talking to you. There's nobody else here, right?" she answered in a playful tone.

The man scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.

"Hehehe, Sorry. Sure I would like a ride if you wouldn't mind."

"Come on, hop on in."

Natasha automatically opened the door. When the man settled in the chair, the door automatically closed, and she drove off.

"Thanks for the ride. I'm Naruto Uzumaki, by the way." The man, now known as Naruto, introduced himself.

"No problem. I'm Natalie Rockfort." Natasha said in response, using one of her aliases. The spy business is a pretty unpredictable profession. Even the smallest of slip-ups can lead to death. It's better to be safe than sorry.

Looking over the guy discreetly, she's looking for any sign of deception on his part. You don't get this good being a spy without being able to find out if someone is lying or not.

"Your parents must really like whirlpools," Natasha said conversationally. Due to her profession, She's fluent in over 20 languages, and one of them is Japanese.

"Hahaha. I guess. I never really thought about it like that..." Naruto said awkwardly. Trying to change the subject, he asked, "Where are you going, by the way?"

"Vegas. Trying to see my luck on the slots. How about you?" Natasha asked. She's still trying to pick up some information from him. "I notice your lack of luggage or even a bag." She added.

"Yeah, about that. I kind of lost it, including all of my cash. I am hoping to win at least a little bit to carry on..." Naruto laid out his plan. When she saw the skeptical look on her, he continued. "Bad plan? Yes. Stupid plan? Well, I don't know about that. I've always considered myself a little lucky. I mean, look at me, a beautiful woman just picked me up in an awesome car. I thought it only happens in movies." He said the last part in a sincere tone.

"Hahaha! Laying it a little thick there aren't you, whiskers. But I gotta say your not the only guy who went to Vegas to try their luck, but you're the only guy who walked all the way to Vegas to play." Natasha said, genuinely amused.

"I have no problems walking, but I kinda liked this. Traveling in style." Naruto replied, brushing over his new nickname.

Naruto then proceeded to look all over inside the car. He paid particular attention to the dash where the clock is. After the perusal of the interior, he asked,

"So, what do you do for a living?"

"I work for Stark Industries as a public relations manager. I just got off this afternoon. You?" Natasha answered, immediately using her cover story.

"I'm between jobs since I just moved here. I want to leave it all behind. I was a freelance contractor. Doing odd jobs here and there. Nothing special, really." Naruto said, telling a half-lie. Being a shinobi really meant being a freelance contractor that can be hired by almost anyone to do almost everything, even as mundane as painting a fence.

That answer set of alarms in her mind, but the only outward change visible is the subtle narrowing of her eyes. She used that excuse too many times before to not recognize it.

"He's not a spy or at least not an experienced one. No self-respecting would get caught unaware like this. So maybe an assassin? Or maybe an ex-military? I got too little information to know." She thought to herself.

-MGM Grand Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada-

-March 28, 2005, 1715 local-

"It looks like we're here. What's your plan?" Natasha asked while stepping off the car and walking to the back to pick up her luggage. Naruto followed her to the back of the vehicle.

"I don't really know. I might walk around for a while and maybe get lucky and find a chip or cash on the ground. Happened to me before."

She took the bag from her trunk and closed it. She then walked over to the valet and then proceeded to move towards the hotel's front of the entrance.

"Well, good luck to you. I hope we get to see each other again."

"Same here. Thanks again for the ride." Naruto said and finally walking to away.

Natasha then walked to the front desk to book a room. She immediately got one, and after signing in her information, she headed to her room. After checking in to a hotel room and sweeping for bugs, a habit she picked up from her work, she took her phone from her bag and turned on its encryption feature. She then called Fury.

"Hello, Romanoff. How's your vacation?" Fury greeted in a gruff voice.

"All is well, boss. I'm in Vegas right now, going to play some craps for a week..." Natasha said. "But that's not why I called. I need someone checked through the system."

"Ok. What's the name, and why should I run him or her." Fury asked with a touch of curiosity. Natasha's phone has access to its database. The only explanation she would let him run the check is if there is something about the person he needs to know about.

"Him. The names Naruto Uzumaki. 6'4, blonde hair, blue eyes, possibly Japanese ancestry due to his name..." Natasha described. "Picked him up near Sloan on my way to Vegas, walking by the side of the road. Oh, by the way, he has whiskers." She continued.

On the other side of the line, Fury is inputting the details on his computer when he suddenly paused and said,

"Excuse me? Whiskers?"

"Yes, whiskers." Natasha said in a deadpan tone.

"Don't tell me you're making me search for him because of whiskers." Fury said in a tone of disbelief.

"Come off it, boss. I'm asking you to run him since he's walking by the side of the road with nothing but the clothes on his back. Didn't even look a little sweaty or fatigued, considering where I found him, he must have been walking for hours."

"So, maybe he's from the military?"

"No, too young, he looked like my age. Late teens early twenties. He also said he was a freelance contractor who just moved to the US to leave it all behind. That's what caused me to be wary of him."

"That should be easier. If he moved here, he should have a record somewhere." Fury was saying when he heard the computer ping. On the screen, it says NO MATCH FOUND. "Romanoff, there's no match anywhere in the system. Maybe he used an alias."

"Fuck..." Natasha said under her breath. "I'll send over my car's interior camera feed, can you match the face. I just got feeling about him." Natasha said, hoping to find something about the guy.

"I'll see what would come up. You're really hung up on him, huh." Fury said with a teasing tone. "Oh, and by the way, don't fly to DC. Head straight to New York. Your team would meet you there."

"Team? I rarely operate with a team, especially on local soil."

"It's not that kind of op. You'll lead the relief team sent to New York to investigate an 083 event that happened in Central Park. POTUS is riding my ass about it since it happened. I'll send you the details."

"Roger."

"Don't cut your vacation. Coulson and Barton are on site. Relax for now."

"Thanks, boss. Good night." Romanoff said then hanged up the phone. She remotely downloaded the video from her car then sent it to Fury.

"Who the hell are you?" Natasha mused to herself, and then she went to bed.

-Las Vegas, Nevada-

-March 28, 2005, 1730h local-

"Achoo!"

"Ooohh. Somebody's thinking about you. Maybe it's the nice girl you met." Chomei teased.

"Don't get started again on that Chomei, and next time don't start shouting and interjecting the whole time when I'm talking to someone. Confuses the hell out of me." Naruto complained.

"Sorry. But you got to admit she's one beautiful woman. Well, at least for a human."

"I won't dignify that with a response." Naruto answered with a grin, remembering the woman who helped him. It looks like he picked up some things from his godfather.

"You know she's lying, right?" Kurama asked.

"Oh yeah, big time. The only truth she said is that she was going to relax here."

"So, what are we gonna do?" Gyuuki asked

Naruto looked around while walking down the sidewalk. Looking left and right, up and down, he took in his surroundings. Huge buildings in all shapes and sizes. Bright lights everywhere. People. Lots of them. He guessed its normal in this world's cities. It's like Tanzaku-gai multiplied by 100 and placed in Suna.

What really catches his eyes are the women. Scantily clad, exotic, and beautiful. Ero-Sensei would definitely feel like he died and went to heaven.

"We need cash. Any ideas on how to get it?"

"We can pick the pocket of someone." Kokuo said.

"Underground fight. I saw some posters of fights. If there are legitimate ones, there sure are to be underground ones." Son Goku added with excitement.

"Or you can turn back and play at the casino, see if Lady Luck loved you so much she followed you across universes." Kurama suggested.

"All good points, but we need money for the last 2. Underground fights would need an entry fee and casinos like the one we came from have high buy-in. We're going to do all three in that order to get big money." Naruto decided.

He walked down a secluded alleyway, looked around to check for people, and made 20 shadow clones, all henged in disguises.

"You guys spread out and gather information. Find underground fights with high prize money and one of those guys that can make a fake identity, the more expensive it is, the better. We might need one of those. Dispel when you find one." He ordered the clones.

The clones nodded shunshined away. He then created another 20 clones and ordered,

"You guys pick the pocket of anyone who might look like a rich guy you come across. Just get the cash then return the wallet from where you took it. We'll meet back here in one and a half hours."

The clones then separated to find marks. Naruto learned to pickpocket since he was a kid. His harsh living conditions due to the hatred of his village resulted in him learning how to do it just to stay alive. Getting punched, choked, or stabbed when he gets caught certainly made for a powerful motivator.

Walking out of the alleyway, he just continued his stroll down the sidewalk and just enjoying the view.