Caterpillar

A new Bounty

Whether Orion noticed his disrespectful tone or not would remain a mystery because he answered to Naruto's question without pause, right away:

"I need you to kill my father."

From day-dreaming happily about the girl he was in love with to being told to assassinate someone's father it was too much of a jump.

"I beg your pardon?"

Momentarily, he thought that he heard wrong.

"You want me to kill Highfather? I don't kill everyone, bub. Look here and read what it says."

Taking out one of his business cards, he pointed with this index finger at the part where it said he took assassination bounties but for "scumbags only".

Orion shook his head.

"Highfather is not my biological father. My real father is Darkseid. Previously, Apokolips and New Genesis had been locked in a war for tens of thousands of years. However, an uneasy truce was established when Darkseid and Highfather exchanged their newborn sons. Darkseid's son, me, was given to Highfather and vice and versa."

The terms of the non-aggression pact between the two societies of gods were not known to the general public. Naruto had not known about them until then either. The gods were generally shrouded in mystery and not much was known about them besides some of their feats. In the first place, the new gods lived in a different dimension altogether.

"Why ask me of all people? Better yet, why not do it yourself?"

Orion said bitterly:

"I've tried to kill Darkseid my entire life. But I couldn't. He is too powerful and always surrounded by his nigh-unbeatable army and countless Parademons. And now with the truce between Apokolips and New Genesis, invading Apokolips by myself could spark the start of a new great war. I'll never do something like that. I won't spit on Highfather's efforts to maintain the peace."

"But, although a mortal, you have enough power to even destroy a planet, without the use of technology. That is a feat I could never replicate. You could destroy Apokolips and Darkseid together."

Naruto sighed.

"I'm afraid I'll have to refuse this bounty."

Orion immediately became angry.

"Why?" he shouted. "Billions of innocent people were massacred by Darkseid and his army in his crusades. You have the power to end it all! Why aren't you doing anything?!"

In contrast, Naruto was as calm as the water of a still lake. He could not just willy nilly destroy a planet. He nearly paid with his life for amassing that much power before. His power was restricted by the environment. He grew stronger the more power he siphoned from the world. But it could also work against him like it did on the Psions' planet.

"There are limits to my power. There are certain conditions to be fulfilled in order for me to obtain that kind of strength. If those conditions are fulfilled, then yes, killing Darkseid, or you, or anyone really, would be like killing chickens. Otherwise, I can't defeat a god like Darkseid, to say nothing of his army and those mutated beasts you call Parademons."

If he were to fight anyone on Myoboku, on his untainted and pristine planet, he could stomp even on gods like they were bugs. On a planet like Apokolips, however, a wasteland of fire and smoke, he would be nowhere near that level.

"But even if I was strong enough to do it, I would still not accept your bounty."

Though Orion's head was covered by the winged silver helmet he was wearing, Naruto could discern that his face was contorted in anger. The new god had some very pronounced anger management issues.