The hallway was too quiet.
Just the buzz of the overhead lights, one of them flickering with a soft electrical hum like it was struggling to stay alive. Lockers lined the corridor in chipped rows of blue, and the floor had that faint industrial bleach smell mixed with the sweat of too many teenagers packed into one building.
Sooraya Qadir walked with her shoulders tight, head lowered, books pressed to her chest. Her black abaya and hijab flowed quietly with every step. She tried to take the far wall, barely brushing the lockers, making herself smaller, thinner, and quieter.
It didn't matter much anyway.
"Hey," someone said behind her.
She didn't turn.
"Hey! I'm talking to you."
She stopped, jaw clenching, heart pounding. Not from fear. From the anticipation of it. She already knew what was coming. She always did.
Three of them. She saw their reflections in the trophy case ahead distorted in the glass. A girl with a ponytail chewing gum like it owed her money. Two boys flanking her. One in a hoodie. One in a varsity jacket. All smirking.
Sooraya kept walking.
"Where you going, Sand Witch?" the girl sneered. "Heard you blew up a science lab in Dubai. That true?"
Sooraya didn't answer.
One of the boys jogged ahead and blocked her path. "She asked a question. You answer when people talk to you here, got it?"
"Move," Sooraya said, soft but firm.
"Wow, she speaks!" the girl gasped with mock shock. "I thought you weren't allowed to talk to men or whatever."
Sooraya's fingers tightened around her books.
Keep walking. Keep breathing. Don't give them what they want.
The boy in the hoodie leaned against the lockers lazily. "Bet she's hiding bombs under that curtain."
The other boy laughed. "Nah, probably just ugly. You think she's got hair under there? Or just sand pouring out?"
The girl reached out suddenly and tugged at the edge of Sooraya's hijab.
Sooraya slapped her hand away without thinking. "Don't touch me."
For a second, everything stopped.
The girl's eyes went wide. Not from pain but just disbelief. No one had ever touched her before. Not like that.
"Oh," she said slowly, venom rising in her throat. "You've got some fucking nerve."
She shoved Sooraya.
The boys laughed.
Sooraya staggered back, clutching her books tighter. Her knees felt shaky. Her palms were hot. Everything around her seemed louder. The buzzing light above them, the slam of lockers a few halls over, the low thud of her pulse in her ears.
Not here. Not now. Please...
"You think you're better than us?" the ponytailed girl said. "Walking around like you're royalty. All covered up like you're scared of sunlight."
One boy stepped forward. "Let's see what happens when you take it off."
He reached for her again.
And then she snapped.
It wasn't a scream. It wasn't a war cry. It wasn't even loud.
It was quiet, a breath between heartbeats, a moment where time stood still.
Sooraya gasped. Her skin began to flake apart. First from her fingertips, then her arms, her shoulders, her face. Sand poured from her eyes like tears. Black and gold and blinding.
She dissolved.
And the storm began.
The hallway exploded into chaos. The lockers buckled outward. Glass windows shattered in sheets. The air filled with a howling roar like a desert wind amplified through a megaphone. The sand lashed out, shredding through backpacks, drywall, and skin.
The first boy was hit full in the chest and flung backwards like a rag doll, his jacket torn to ribbons before he hit the ground. The second boy tried to run. The sand caught his legs. He collapsed, screaming, his voice cut short by a swirl of grit that filled his mouth and lungs.
The girl? She screamed once, loud and defiant. Then she vanished in the cloud of sand.
Her body slammed into the row of lockers, denting them like soda cans. Blood misted briefly before being lost in the wind.
The lights burst in rapid succession overhead. POP, POP, POP, until the hallway was lit only by emergency strobes and the sickly amber glow of fire alarms beginning to screach.
Sooraya reformed in the center of it all.
The sand collected inward, spiraling around her feet like smoke as she blinked through the dust. Her sleeves reformed. Her hands solidified. But everything felt wrong. Her ears rang. Her heartbeat throbbed in her skull.
She looked down.
Blood. Dust. Shreds of clothes and burned paper floating through the air like snow.
She stumbled backward, hand over her mouth.
"I didn't… I didn't mean to… I'm so sorry.."
No one answered.
There was nothing left in the hallway but broken glass and silence.
And then panic. Distant screams. Sirens rising like wolves in the distance.
She ran.
Out the back stairwell. Past the gym. Through the broken fence behind the school dumpsters. Her shoes soaked in mud and blood. Her breath was burning.
Sooraya Qadir never returned.
She didn't stop.
Not that day. Not the next.
______
The black iron gates of Xavier's Institute for Gifted Youngsters creaked open slowly, revealing a long driveway flanked by trees older than the mansion itself. Birds scattered from the high branches as a breeze cut across the sprawling lawn, lifting Naruto's hoodie slightly as he stepped forward.
He didn't stop to admire the gothic spires or the ivy crawling along brick walls. He just kept walking, hands in his pockets, hood low, gaze sharp.
The front doors opened before he reached them.
Professor Xavier was already waiting inside the foyer, hands folded, and expression calm as if he'd known Naruto would show up before he even knocked.
"Welcome to the school, Mr. Naruto," he said, that usual calm smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. "I trust the trip wasn't too unpleasant."
Naruto stepped in, hood half-drawn, eyes scanning the marble floor and the grand staircase beyond. "We'll see. I've never been big on school."
He gave the professor a sideways look.
"No offense, Professor X."
Xavier chuckled. "None taken my boy. Most of my best students said the same thing at first."
The inside of the mansion was bigger than it had any right to be. From the outside, it looked like something out of an old boarding school movie. Ivy climbing brick, big windows, lots of history, but once you stepped in, it felt like the place just kept going.
The front hall opened into a wide corridor with high ceilings and old chandeliers that swayed faintly in the breeze from the air vents. The walls were wood-paneled, polished and dark, broken up by framed photographs and softly glowing wall sconces.
The floors were just as clean, so clean that Naruto's worn sneakers clicked faintly against the smooth tile as he followed Xavier deeper inside.
It smelled like lemon soap, old paper, and something else faint but distinct. A kind of energy that hummed just beneath the surface. Not chakra, not quite natural energy.. Something different. Something mutant.
They passed several classrooms. Some had their doors open, revealing chalkboards and whiteboards cluttered with equations and half-erased diagrams. Desks were arranged in rows, some scattered with notebooks or half-zipped backpacks. One room had a globe in the corner, still spinning slowly.
Farther down, they passed a wide library filled with warm light. The sun poured through tall windows and lit up the rows of towering shelves. A few students sat at scattered tables, heads down, completely focused.
Naruto caught a glimpse of one kid levitating a pen while reading. Another had earbuds in and a book spread across both hands, flipping pages without touching them.
Then came the common room. Sofas, beanbags, a pool table with half the balls still scattered mid-game. A TV was mounted to the wall, playing an old cartoon on mute.
Naruto saw two younger kids watching while sharing a bowl of popcorn. Nobody looked stressed. Nobody looked like a threat. Just kids being kids.
"Most of our students come here after moments of crisis," Xavier said as they walked. His voice stayed quiet, almost reverent. "Times when their abilities awaken unexpectedly. It can be traumatic. Dangerous. Isolating."
He paused by a window overlooking the training yard below.
"Here, they learn they're not alone."
Naruto glanced at the glass, watching a group of students jogging laps under the sun. A girl phased through a tree by mistake and doubled back, laughing.
"So this is where the weird kids go, huh?" he said, voice casual but not mocking.
Xavier smiled without missing a beat. "You'd fit right in."
He wasn't joking.
Naruto looked away, but he didn't argue.
__
Naruto followed Xavier through a set of thick, reinforced metal double doors into a space that looked more like a bunker than a school facility.
It wasn't just big, it was built for impact.
The room stretched wide, tall enough to fit a small aircraft if needed. Fluorescent lights ran in rows across the ceiling, humming quietly above padded flooring marked with faded yellow lines and sectioned zones. The air smelled faintly of sweat, scorched rubber, and disinfectant.
This wasn't a gym.
It was a training room, clearly designed for students who didn't just throw punches, they leveled walls.
The walls themselves were reinforced with dark metallic plating, some of it visibly dented or scorched. One corner bore a blast mark that spidered out across the wall like a shadow. No one had bothered painting over it. Probably on purpose.
Projectors and turret-style cameras were mounted near the ceiling, idle but tracking. A row of training dummies stood at attention along one wall, some in pieces. A vault door sat closed near the far end of the room, the kind that didn't open without biometric clearance. Naruto clocked it immediately.
The room was alive. Not just in motion but with purpose.
Clusters of students moved across the floor in loose formations. Some sparred in pairs, exchanging blows with gloves and shin pads.
Others were working solo, locked into personal routines, punching pads, controlling abilities, or cycling through drills called out by a bored-looking instructor with a tablet.
Most of them looked like normal teenagers. A couple didn't.
Naruto kept his hood up as he stepped in. The temperature dropped a little as the door sealed shut behind them with a faint hiss.
Xavier rolled slightly ahead, his voice calm, but deliberate. "We keep a structure down here. Each student gets two hours of monitored training a day. It gives them control and keeps accidents from happening somewhere less... forgiving."
Naruto looked around as one student accidentally sent a foam dummy flying across the mat. "Yeah. Better than tearing through a dorm wall, I guess."
"Exactly."
A sharp red beam lit the far side of the room.
Naruto's head turned automatically, his reflexes still wired tight. The laser had come from a lean kid in black training gear. He stood with squared shoulders, one foot forward, hands steady at his sides. His visor gleamed crimson.
The beam hit a moving dummy, it was a clean shot but clipped too high. The target twisted awkwardly before spinning to a stop.
The kid let out a breath and adjusted the dial on the side of his visor. "Still drifting."
He glanced toward the new arrivals, noting Xavier first, then Naruto.
"Professor," he said with a respectful nod.
"Scott," Xavier replied. "We've got a visitor today."
Scott's eyes though hidden seemed to scan Naruto quickly. His stance didn't change either.
"Hey," he said simply.
Naruto gave a slight nod. "Nice glasses."
"They keep me from blowing holes in the ceiling," Scott said, deadpan. "Most days."
Naruto looked up at the ceiling noticed the reinforced plates between the lights and smirked. "Sounds like a fun ability."
Scott just shrugged. "Depends which teacher you ask."
Naruto liked him instantly.
Scott stepped aside to reset his target. As he did, another gust of movement swept across the room, a blur of frost racing just past them.
Naruto turned again alert now as the blur curved into a wide arc, trailing ice behind it like a skating rink was forming mid-air.
A kid in a hoodie slid into view and nearly wiped out near the edge of the mat.
"Bobby!" one of the instructors barked.
"I meant to do that!" the boy yelled back, laughing.
Xavier didn't even flinch. "That's Bobby Drake. He thinks better when he's in motion."
Naruto raised a brow. "What's his thing?"
Xavier smiled. "Ice."
"Whoa, new face!" he said, grinning. "You another teacher?"
Naruto blinked. "Do I look like a teacher?"
"Nope. That's why I asked."
Xavier cut in before Naruto could answer. "Bobby Drake, meet Naruto. One of my esteemed guests."
Bobby offered a mock bow. "Resident ice guy. I'm cool. Literally."
Naruto raised a brow. "You done practicing that line, or should I come back in five?"
Bobby laughed. "Oh, I like him already."
Above them, something shifted. A soft gust of wind moved through the room, not from the vents, but from above.
Naruto looked up instinctively.
A figure dropped from the rafters with fluid grace, wings wide and steady as he glided down to the mat. Large, white-feathered wings stretched behind him, catching the light like polished glass. He landed softly, knees bent, weight balanced, the kind of landing that came from doing it a thousand times before.
The boy stood, folded his wings with an absent motion, and gave Naruto a friendly nod.
"Hey."
Naruto blinked. "Okay, not gonna lie that was kinda cool."
The kid smirked slightly. "Thanks."
Naruto gestured toward the wings. "So... I'm guessing flying's your thing?"
"It's useful," the boy replied, casual. "Gets me out of awkward conversations."
Naruto grinned. "Fair enough. I usually just pretend I didn't hear people."
"Warren Worthington," he said, offering a hand. "Most people just call me Angel."
Naruto shook it. "Naruto."
"Welcome to the weirdest school you'll ever walk into."
"I've been in weirder," Naruto said. "But this is definitely top three."
Not far off, leaning against the wall near a column, a girl stood with her arms crossed. Auburn hair with a sharp white streak down the side, black gloves, dark jeans.
She wasn't exactly hiding, but she wasn't exactly trying to join the conversation either.
She watched Naruto for a moment, her gaze steady, then looked away like she hadn't been watching at all.
Naruto noticed. "Who's that?"
Bobby slid up beside him, still balancing on the edge of a fading ice trail. "That's Rogue. Don't take it personal, she's not big on new people."
Naruto shrugged. "Everyone is like that until they meet me."
The girl looked over again. Her voice was low, but not unfriendly. "I'm Rogue."
Naruto smiled. "Cool name."
She raised an eyebrow. "You'll probably rethink that once you hear what I do."
He gave a playful shrug. "I've been blown up before. I think I'll live."
She huffed softly, half a laugh, half a sigh and looked away again. But she didn't seem annoyed.
Just careful.
Near one of the support walls, a girl phased straight through a locker, muttering under her breath as one of the overhead sensors blinked red and let out a quiet beep.
"Stupid projector always catches me," she grumbled, adjusting her shirt.
She turned and spotted Naruto. "Oh, hi. Didn't know we had someone new today."
"Just visiting," Naruto said, giving a small wave.
She jogged over, brushing loose strands of hair out of her face. "I'm Kitty. Kitty Pryde. I walk through stuff. Still working on not setting off alarms while I do it."
"Solid ability," Naruto said. "Probably helps you win a lot of games of hide and seek."
Kitty laughed. "You have no idea."
A heavy thud came from the back corner of the room.
Naruto turned and saw a broad, blue-furred teen lifting what looked like a modified weighted dummy with one arm while scribbling something on a clipboard with the other.
He adjusted his glasses, dropped the dummy gently, then began jotting down numbers.
Xavier gestured toward him. "That's Hank."
The boy looked up. "Yes, Professor?"
"This is Naruto. He's visiting."
Hank McCoy gave a quick nod and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Nice to meet you. Sorry I didn't say anything earlier, I was trying to track impact velocity."
"You're doing science during a workout?" Naruto asked, genuinely curious.
"It helps me think," Hank replied, deadpan.
Naruto smiled. "Alright. Respect."
He looked around the room again. A winged kid who could fly. A girl who walked through walls. One who couldn't be touched. Another who turned the floor into a skating rink. And a scientist who could probably bench-press a car.
And not one of them felt like a show-off.
They were just... kids. Practicing. Figuring themselves out.
Naruto liked that.
He could see it already, these weren't just students.
They were survivors.
And maybe something more than that.
Future heroes.
From the side, another voice chimed in, older than the others, Irish accent low but clear. A tall boy leaned against the railing near the stairs, drinking from a bottle.
"You got the welcome committee yet?" he asked Naruto.
"Something like it."
"I'm Sean. But most people here call me Banshee."
Naruto nodded. "Got it."
Sean grinned. "Try not to make Bobby laugh too hard. Last time, he iced the whole hallway."
"Hey!" Bobby shouted. "That was one time!"
The room settled again. Students went back to training, talking, resetting drills. Nothing flashy. Nothing dramatic. Just effort. Repetition. Focus.
Naruto took a moment to look at all of them, not their powers, but their faces. They were kids. But not ordinary ones.
Kids who'd seen things, maybe done things, and were still trying to figure out who they were in a world that made them pick sides too early.
Xavier watched him quietly.
"They're not soldiers," he said. "Not yet. But one day... they may need to be."
"How many more like them are out there?" Naruto asked, not looking away.
"More than you'd believe," Xavier said. "And not all of them are lucky enough to find a place like this."
Naruto kept his hands in his pockets.
"Then maybe it's time someone brought the fight to the ones hiding them."
Naruto's senses alerted him as he narrowly ducked an iceball.
"You'll have to forgive them," Xavier said. "They're still... learning restraint."
Naruto smirked. "No worries. I've been around worse."
"Logan would agree with that," Xavier mused.
"Who's Logan?"
"One of our more... seasoned instructors. He's out on a classified mission right now."
Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Hopefully next time I come back I get to meet him."
The Office
The door to the professor's office swung open without a sound, and Naruto stepped inside behind him, taking it in with a slow glance.
It was quiet. Not heavy like a war room, but calm in a way that told Naruto this place was used for difficult conversations. Not just paperwork and lesson plans.
Bookshelves lined the walls, packed with old hardcovers and leather-bound volumes. Maps of the world were framed and hung behind Xavier's desk, some marked with ink at specific coordinates.
A few antique-looking globes sat in the corners, next to a case full of chess sets. A single plant rested in the window, alive but struggling. Naruto wasn't sure if that was intentional.
The room smelled faintly of dust, ink, and aged paper.
In the center was a wide, uncluttered desk with a touch display sunk into the wood. Folders were stacked neatly beside it, color-coded with tags, each one marked with identifiers, initials, dates, codenames, nothing specific unless you knew what to look for.
Xavier tapped the screen. A low beep echoed, and a satellite map came into focus, grainy, greyscale, shot from high altitude. The location was remote.
Dense woods, no nearby towns. Only one road led in. Most of the fencing was overgrown with brush and trees. The facility itself was rectangular, long, concrete, and worn down like it hadn't been touched in years.
"This was a state-run rehabilitation center," Xavier said, his tone steady but cold. "Shut down nearly a decade ago after allegations of negligence and funding abuse. The building was supposed to be condemned. Sat empty for years."
He pressed a button on the side of the console. The view zoomed in, revealing power signatures coming from within the compound, faint outlines of heat signatures, vehicles, and buried infrastructure beneath the surface.
"A couple years ago, the property was quietly acquired through a shell company. We traced it to Essex Corporation. They've denied everything."
Naruto folded his arms. "And you think they're keeping kidnapped mutants there?"
"I don't think," Xavier said. "I know some of them are."
He didn't elaborate how. But Naruto had a feeling the professor wasn't just looking at satellite maps to find these people. Whatever method he used, it wasn't something he was ready to share.
"We detected faint signatures... scattered and erratic," Xavier continued. "They come and go. Short pulses. Fear. Confusion. I can't tell how many are in there. But I know some are children."
Naruto frowned, stepping closer to the screen. "You sure this isn't some kind of off-grid boarding school? Weird woods. No phone towers. Could just be shady and rich."
"There are no student records. No permits. No medical licenses. No digital footprint. The people who go in don't come out. And I've seen enough to know when something is being hidden on purpose."
A second image popped up. Heat signatures. Overlaid wireframe schematics. Entry points, electrical feeds, structural weaknesses. Xavier had been studying this place for longer than he'd probably admit.
"Any chance they're moving the kids?" Naruto asked. "If they know you're watching?"
"They don't know," Xavier said quietly.
Naruto looked at him, eyebrows raised.
"I'm very careful."
The words hung in the air. Naruto didn't ask what that meant. He already knew better.
Xavier folded his hands in front of him. "It's not just about who's inside. It's what happens if the public finds out. The wrong leak, the wrong image and every mutant child becomes a target. Fear spreads faster than truth."
Naruto looked out the window. The sun had dropped lower now, casting a pale orange over the campus lawn. Students were walking between buildings, laughing, talking, like any other school. It was almost easy to forget what kind of world waited outside the gates.
He turned back to Xavier. "So. What do you want from me?"
"I need someone who can get in quietly," Xavier said. "Someone who doesn't set off alarms. Someone who's not on any list. And more importantly, someone who doesn't hesitate when lives are on the line."
Naruto stared at the display. The compound looked small from up here. Contained. Manageable.
He knew better.
"I'll do it."
Xavier nodded, unsurprised.
"But I do it my way," Naruto added. "No comms. No overwatch. No backup team coming in behind me trying to 'de-escalate.' I go in, I find them, I bring them out. If anyone gets in the way... they won't get a second chance."
Xavier didn't blink. "You'll be heavily outnumbered. They won't expect a rescue, which works in your favor. But this won't be clean."
Naruto's voice was quiet, but firm. "None of this ever is."
The professor watched him for a moment, then finally nodded. "Then may fortune guide you, Mr. Naruto."
Naruto turned for the door.
"Don't wait up."
The front doors of the Institute creaked shut behind him. The sun was dipping low now, turning the sky to orange and blue. Wind whispered through the tall trees, and the gravel crunched under Naruto's feet as he made his way down the long driveway.
Kurama stirred.
"So," the fox rumbled. "You going to enlist your little human friends for this one?"
Naruto didn't answer at first.
Then, with a sigh, "No."
"Why not?"
He looked up at the darkening sky.
"Because this one's different. They're taking kids, Kurama. Doing things to them. And if someone gets caught in the middle while I'm cutting through that mess..."
He shook his head.
"This is something I have to deal with alone."
____________
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