Hi, I'm a fan of the Mass Effect trilogy, I loved the game, and I decided to do a crossover with this game. It will be in the Mass Effect universe, for those unfamiliar with the game, I recommend that you play it or learn about this game with my fic.
Those who read my fic "A demon in the shadows" I suggest you read this fic with caution, as there will be some spoilers, I will use some things of that fic, but to clarify, it will not be a sequel or anything. I will use various parts of that fic in this one only. (I mean things like the Apple of Eden and powers of Naruto; not all the powers that you will see in this fic will appear in the other one).
But let's leave this here and let's get on with the story.
Organic being talking. "Hello"
Organic being thinking. "Whatever."
Non-Organic being / Demon talking. "Assimilation completed."
Non-Organic being / Demon thinking. "Sure"
Jutsus. "Mokuton no Jutsu!"
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Mass Effect. Credits to their respective owners.
Prologue
Somewhere in the Elemental Nations.
In a large dimly lit room, there was a great roundtable with several seats around it, and on said seats there were several people. Everyone seemed to be significant and influential people and appeared to have looks of despair, fear, confusion, and many other sad feelings on their faces, as they looked at the only person that they believed who could save them.
Uzumaki Naruto, the supreme leader of the Elemental Nations; and the only person who could defeat hundreds of Reapers so far. "Naruto-sama, what are we going to do? Those things are indestructible; nothing we do is harmful to them. You and Kurama-sama are the only ones who can save us." One of the men who was there whispered.
Many at this began to whisper and to encourage their leader to go and kill all the invaders. "Besides, those things turn our allies into more of those things! And they are also quite resilient, please Naruto-sama, finish them all." Now a woman said.
Naruto, who now was around 50 years old, but still retained his 20 years appearance; looked at everyone in the room, "I understand what you're saying, and believe me that what I most want is to kill them all. They have already killed all my precious ones, many turned into those husks and those who have been lucky, have died in battle. But even if I wish it, I can't do it; there are hundreds of Reapers and thousands of their husks. I can't defeat all of them, not even with the ten tails of Kurama. Remember that I'm a mere mortal, and when I transform myself into Kurama, I attract a lot of attention; and fighting a dozen is hard enough, but a battalion of them at the same time is almost suicide. This war has been long enough; seven years is a long time."
Hearing the words of their leader the people in the room could not help being saddened. "So... Is this all? Will we just let them kill us or even worse, become one of them?" Asked another person.
Naruto upon hearing this looked at him and shook his head. "No, there is an alternative. I didn't use it because that would also mean our annihilation. I don't want to use this, but there is no other viable alternative. The reason I decided that the meeting had to be carried out in this place was this, today we will defeat the Reapers... but it will also be the end of all of us. I will use the Apple's Discharge to kill them all. But none of us will survive the attack; we all will die. But of course, I shall put this to a vote, you are the representatives of each front of the resistance that still stands, you are voting for them. "
Naruto then paused and looked at the expressions of each person who was in the room; some of them had looks of acceptance while others had looks of denial.
Naruto upon seeing these expressions asked. "What would you prefer? Become one of them, or die knowing that we could kill those bastards. What do you prefer? Now raise your hands those who agree on using the Apple to kill them."
Upon saying this, several people raised their hands, while some others were still fearful for this option, but as Naruto had said, it was preferable than turning into one of those things. So after a few seconds, all voted for using Naruto's solution.
"Well, the decision is made, now..." Nonetheless, Naruto stopped there. The reason? They all heard a mighty horn, the horn used by the Reapers when they were close.
Everyone in the room looked at each other while nodding, just to see the ceiling above them breaking into pieces.
Then they saw that a huge leg-metal tentacle broke through the roof, destroying the room's table. "Quickly! Get out of here! I will restrain that thing until I can get everything ready. Stay away from here as much as you can! Inform to those who are in the camp about what has happened here!" Naruto ordered, shouting to the people who were in the room that were standing up and wiping the dust from their clothes, then they nodded at the order of their leader.
Naruto then made a cross with his fingers and shouted. "Mokuton Bunshin no Jutsu (Wood Clone Technique)!" Instantly three wooden clones appeared from Naruto, all helping to get those people out.
Once outside, the wood clones looked at each other before nodding. They smiled and immediately they began to surround themselves with a chakra that was black and it started to grow and grow until it had taken the shape and size of an enormous fox with ten black tails and with several red lines around its body.
The fox was as tall as the Reaper, which was about 180 meters high. All the wooden clones had already turned into Kurama, as they all looked at one of the thousands of machines that were invading their planet.
Quickly one of them went on the attack because he realized that the Reaper started charging its most lethal weapon, the gun that was in its magnetohydrodynamic spinal.
The Reaper quickly fired the powerful laser beam at the Beast that tried to attack it, dissipating him instantly, but another of the clones had already moved to its right, clawing it and going through its kinetic shields without any problems. Leaving deep scratch marks on its head.
The Reaper quickly turned around to destroy that mighty beast, while attempting to reload its beam. Nonetheless, the clone did not allow it as he quickly enveloped it with his tails and claws, to squeeze the Reaper tightly, which was moving its legs as much as it could, to try to free itself from the pressure that Kurama was exerting.
Nonetheless, the poor Reaper could do nothing, and it ended up destroyed by the pressure of the tails that the beast had used.
The clone upon realizing this removed his tails quickly from the Reaper before finishing his Bijū Mode as he approached his companion who had also ended his transformation.
"Those bastards are tough, but if they are alone, they are very easy to destroy." The clone that had done nothing stated smiling; the other one smiled as well. Nevertheless, the smile changed when they heard multiple horns coming from the sky.
They looked up expecting the worst. The clouds completely covered the sky, but suddenly all the clouds cleared, revealing not one or two Reapers, but more than sixty. And all of them were of Sovereign-class, slowly descending from the sky, while their horns sounded stronger than before.
The people who had come to the meeting seeing this amount of the machines could not help but panic. They never before had seen so many at once; maybe they had found out of Naruto's plan to destroy them. But that could not be possible, they thought.
Then they saw that their great leader transformed again while the two clones began to create huge balls of chakra in front of their snouts to destroy as many Reapers as possible.
Everyone after seeing this encouraged Naruto, hoping that that amount of chakra could be enough to kill them all.
Naruto's clones who were within the cloak of black chakra of Kurama began to increase the size of the Bijudama significantly before joining them, turning it into a huge ball, which created a large shadow in several yards around.
The Reapers after seeing the attack broke their ranks quickly, to avoid the devastating attack. But even though they were very advanced machines, they were not fast enough to dodge the attack that many of them had witnessed. Nonetheless, this was much more massive, and hence much more powerful than those attacks that they had already seen.
The clones then fired the Bijudama, which arrived at high-speed to the Reaper's location, creating a massive shockwave in the air that shook the earth and caused great gusts of wind, disintegrating over 40 Reapers in its way. Not even their kinetic barriers at their maximum power could do anything to resist such an attack.
The clones then looked at each other, as the surviving Reapers landed. "Ha! It seems that boss is about to send them to hell." Stated one of the clones looking towards his companion, who smiled while a Chakra claw came out of his stomach, pointing it at the Reapers who were charging their cannons.
The clone then raised the middle finger of his claw, and although these machines did not seem to be upset about anything, the clone could tell that they were angry because everyone started honking their horns in a different way than they used to do, and they fired their cannons. Nevertheless, the clone dodged the beams barely, as he began to laugh aloud along with the other clone, who had no time to avoid, because of the laughter, the beams that approached him.
The other clone seeing this laughed even harder just to hear a mighty rumble behind him. The clone looked back, like all the Reapers who had landed. But upon seeing what came out of the building in front of them, which was a huge castle. They gave a jump to return to the air, but it was too late for them.
"Yes! That's it; you damn bastards! It will be your end! Hahahaha." The clone laughed as he shot some tiny Bijudamas at the Reapers who began to flee. They were not powerful attacks; rather they were attacked to annoy them and slow their escape down.
A few minutes earlier, in the castle's basement, Naruto was finishing the last thing he needed to have everything ready. "This amount of Chakra will be enough," Naruto said, clenching his fists. "I wish there had been an alternative; I wish I could have saved them," Naruto whispered, thinking about his dead wives, sons and old friends.
"It was a pleasure to meet you, boy. I don't know if I will disappear forever along with you, or if I'll be reborn after several years. But let me tell you that you're the human with most guts, courage and character I've ever seen. We've had a great life; we had done everything we had wanted before these bastards arrived. You surpassed everyone; you are the strongest. Hell, even more powerful than my father, but we never imagined that we could have such enemies. So you shouldn't regret, you couldn't save everyone even if you wanted it. Now, kill them once and for all, let them know that they should never have invaded this planet." Kurama stated in Naruto's mind, who upon hearing this stood up before approaching the big machine in front of him.
The machine was connected to several large and thick pipes, ranging in all directions of the basement where he was. He walked a bit before stopping in front of the machine, which was cylindrical in shape and went from the basement to the ceiling.
And right in the middle of the machine was a small door. Naruto opened it, and he made the Apple of Eden appear in his right hand. He put the sphere into the compartment and closed the small little door again.
"I charged enough Chakra so that the Discharge wraps the entire planet, and reach the space to destroy those who are up there," Naruto said again, just as he heard a mighty rumble while all the pipes that were in the room began to whistle and start to glow to a golden color.
Then, on the roof of the castle, a black metal stake of about 15 meters in circumference with an elongated tip at the end began to emerge.
As the thing that emerged from the ceiling began to glow, the glow started to rise and focus on the tip, creating a small ball of light that increasingly grew. Then it slowly came off from there, slowly covering the castle, as it as it expanded itself more and more, increasing the speed of the expansion by each passing second.
In the basement, Naruto saw the light beam coming, he just closed his eyes waiting for his end, and everything went dark.
Somewhere in outer space – Around a hundred thousand years later.
In a spaceship, there was a woman of about 30 years old with long blonde hair, thin lips, and small scars on her face. She had a white complexion, gray armor, but with a drawing of a red dragon on the chest, which extended to the left shoulder of her armor.
This woman was 'the' Commander Shepard, she had just returned from a reconnaissance mission in a human colony where all its population had disappeared. She stood on a platform, and something instantly surrounded her, analyzing her, taking her shape, and projecting it elsewhere.
Her image was projected to where a man was, who was sitting in a chair with crossed legs and smoking a cigarette.
The man spoke after seeing Shepard projected before him. "Shepard. Good job on Freedom's Progress. The Quarians forwarded their findings from Veetor's debriefing. No new data, but it's a surprising olive branch, given our history." The Illusive Man said as he moved his hands, thinking about an incident that involved the Quarians and Cerberus a few years ago.
But then he continued. "You and I have different methods, but I can't argue with your results." The Illusive Man finished.
Shepard replied. "You ever think about playing nice once in a while?" She asked.
The Illusive man replied. "Diplomacy is great when it works, but difficult when everyone already perceives you as a threat. But more importantly, you confirmed the Collectors are behind the abductions."
Shepard upon hearing this last crossed her arms as she asked. "Why do I get the feeling you knew about them already?"
"I had my suspicions but needed proof. The collectors are enigmatic at best. They periodically travel to the Terminus Systems looking to gather seemingly unimportant items or specimens, usually in exchange for their technology. When the transactions are complete, they disappear as quickly as they appeared, back beyond the unmapped Omega 4 relay. Until now, we've no evidence of direct attacks by the Collectors." The Illusive Man replied as he puffed on his cigarette.
Shepard nodded and said. "The Collectors are definitely a human enemy, but how do we know there's a connection to the Reapers?" She asked.
The Illusive Man at the question crossed the other leg while placing the ashes of his cigarette in the ashtray beside him. "Their focus shifted to humanity only after you and the human fleet destroyed the Sovereign. The abductions are related, even if the Alliance and the Council refuse to believe it. I won't wait until the Reapers are on the march. We need to take the initiative." The Illusive Man stated, moving a little from his seat.
Shepard when hearing this stood firm while carrying her hands to her back. "If this is a war I'll need an army or a really good team," Shepard replied.
"I've already compiled a list of soldiers, scientists, and mercenaries. You'll get dossiers on the best of them." The Illusive Man replied as an orange screen appeared on his left, with several names. Nevertheless, he continued. "Finding and convincing them to work with you could be difficult, but you're a natural leader. I'll continue to track the Collectors. When they make their next appearance, I'll notify you and your team. Be ready."
Shepard at this raised an eyebrow and asked. "Miranda and Jacob aren't enough? How many do you need to keep me in check?" She asked.
"I've made it clear to Miranda and Jacob that you're in charge. You decide who joins your squad. Everyone else on this list was chosen for this particular mission. They are the best." The Illusive Man replied.
"I'll do the best I can with what you've given me," Shepard added.
"I'm sure you will, but before you go three things." He then paused to look directly into the eyes of the projection of Shepard. "First, head to Omega and find Mordin Solus. He's a brilliant salarian scientist. Our intelligence suggests he may know how to counter the Collector's paralyzing seeker swarms."
"I have not even started, and you're already giving me orders?" Shepard asked, crossing her arms. The Illusive Man just looked at her and answered. "I'm giving you an indication; what you do with it is up to you. I'm sure you'll make the right decision." He replied.
Shepard nodded pleased and stopped crossing her arms to ask. "All right, what are the other things?"
The Illusive Man at this took a drag on his cigarette as he rose up from his seat; then he turned his back to Shepard as he looked towards the big sun that was in front of him. "Our network found out that some years ago a Mass Relay suddenly appeared near the Shrike Abyss."
Shepard after hearing that raised an eyebrow in confusion and asked. "What's so odd about it? It surely is another Mass Relay for use as a connection to the others Mass Relays of the Milky Way."
The Illusive Man shook his head and replied. "You're wrong; this Mass Relay is not connected to any other Mass Relay that we know. Indeed, it's not connected to this galaxy, but to an unknown," He answered.
This statement surprised Shepard. "To an unknown you said? But what's so important? Explain yourself." Shepard asked.
The Illusive Man turned around again before sitting back in his chair. "That Mass Relay is connected to an unknown Galaxy, but as you know, the Mass Relays connect to other Stellar Systems. However, that Stellar System that is connected to that Relay is not very big. It has a single planet, and the Relay it's only five hundred thousand kilometers away from the planet."
"You know very well that entering to an unknown Mass Relay can be a problem, remember the Rachni," Shepard replied.
"You're right, but Cerberus would not risk contacting a species that could threaten the human race. This planet seems uninhabited, but this is where the interesting part comes." The Illusive Man replied.
Shepard raised an intrigued eyebrow but remained silent. "We have detected that there is a Reaper signal on this planet. It's quite old, and the signal seems to disappear, I have tried to send some of my scouts, but something is surrounding that world. We don't know what it is, but it's an unknown element. It's like a protective barrier that completely covers the planet. Much more powerful than any kinetic barrier that we know. And passing through it is not straightforward, but a ship equipped enough might be able to get through. "
"A barrier covering an entire planet? That's strange. How old do you estimate the Reaper signal is?" Shepard asked.
The Illusive Man took another drag of his cigarette before puffing out the smoke. "Around a hundred thousand years old," He replied.
Shepard hearing this information led her fingers on her chin as she thought. "A hundred thousand years... I think it's most likely that the planet you are speaking about was one of the planets that were attacked at a previous cycle. If you say that it's 100,000 years old, then the civilization that lived there is older than the Protheans. Surely, the beings of that planet left some kind of help so that future generations can fight the Reapers. Maybe that Reaper signal that you speak of has much to do." Shepard expressed after several seconds of thinking.
The Illusive Man gave a half-smile and said. "Well, you know what you have to do, Shepard. Head to that planet and investigate that signal. If you find anything that could help in the fight against the Reapers. It is best that you bring that with you, so we can analyze it and create a weapon that can help us to defeat them. "
"Then I'll need a ship to cross the planet. I can't use just any old one." Shepard added.
"Well. You don't need to worry about it; your request has to do with the last point. I've found a pilot I think you might like. I hear he's one of the best. Someone you can trust." Then a blue screen appeared in front of the Illusive Man, who touched something on that screen and finished the communication with the Commander.
Shepard then saw that the orange dome that had surrounded her started to go down, just to hear the voice of an old acquaintance. "Hey Commander, just like old times, huh?" Someone asked her.
Shepard smiled at the voice as she turned around. "Joker…" she said with a smile as she approached her former pilot to shake hands with him. Then they began to climb the stairs to leave the Communications Room.
"I can't believe it's you, Joker." Shepard stated as she followed Joker somewhere, she did not know where they were going, Joker only said to follow him.
Joker smiled at this and replied as he looked back. "Look who's talking. I saw you get spaced." Joker replied as he turned a corner.
"I just had a lot of luck. But how did you get here?" Shepard asked Joker who replied. "It all fell apart without you, Commander. Everything you stirred up, the Council just wanted it gone. The team was broken up, records sealed, and I was grounded. The Alliance took away the only thing that mattered to me. Hell yeah, I joined Cerberus." Joker stated as he approached their destination.
The Normandy Reborn - Soundtrack
Shepard then looked at him questioningly and asked. "You really trust the Illusive Man?"
Joker smiled as he looked through a window, which was a big spatial hangar, not brightly lit. "Ha! I don't trust anyone who makes more than I do. But they aren't all bad. Saved your life. Let me fly. And there's this..." Joker said with a smile as he looked into the Hangar, just like Shepard
"They only told me last night." Then the lights of the Hangar began to light up slowly, revealing an elongated ship with two propellers of the same shape on each side, but the most remarkable thing was that there were the inscription "SR2" in several places.
"It's good to be home, huh Commander?" Joker asked.
"I guess we'll have to give her a name," Shepard replied, just to get a smile from Joker while they headed to the hangar and boarded the Normandy SR-2, and once in there go to some point of infinity at full speed.
Within the Normandy.
Once Shepard thoroughly inspected her new ship, she walked towards the Command deck where Miranda and Jacob were. "Welcome to the new Normandy, Commander," Jacob said, a man with a dark complexion, a mustache, and a beard on his chin. He wore a black Cerberus uniform.
Shepard at this took a few more steps to enter the Command deck, there Miranda said. "I've looked over the dossiers; I'd strongly recommend starting by acquiring Mordin Solus, the salarian professor on Omega. We know the Collectors use some type of advanced technology to immobilize their victims. We'll need him to develop a countermeasure to protect us." Miranda stated. She was a stunning woman with long black hair and delicate facial expressions.
Upon hearing this, Shepard nodded. "You're right. Without that countermeasure, we'll be helpless if we ever run into the Collectors." Just after saying those words, everyone could hear a robotic voice saying. "Acquiring Professor Solus seems like the most logical place to start, but I strongly recommend to go and investigate that Reaper signal."
"Who are you?" Shepard asked while looking at the ceiling of the ship. Upon saying that, on the table that was behind Shepard, a small projection appeared, it had the shape of a ball with a neck, it was entirely light blue.
"I'm the Normandy's artificial intelligence. The crew likes to refer to me as EDI." The AI answered.
"Hmm. Okay, but why do you think we should do that first?" Shepard asked.
EDI replied monotonously. "According to the report of the Illusive Man, the Reaper signal decreases by every passing second, so it is best to investigate it before it is too late, Commander." Then EDI disappeared again.
"Commander, we're done with the preparations for the launch. Whenever you want, select a destination on the Galaxy Map in the CIC, and I will trace the course. We've already added the coordinates of the Mass Relay that appeared near the Shrike Abyss, if you want, we could go there right now. Trace your course to Shrike and we'll go to that Relay in the old fashioned way. I hope you have enough money to buy fuel, Commander." Joker joked by the speakers.
Shepard smiled and walked towards the Galaxy Map. "Well, we'll go there immediately. Let's see what we get on that planet. Hopefully, you can get through that barrier, Joker."
"No need to say it, Commander. My baby and I will go through the 'impenetrable' barrier without any problem." Joker answered.
Shepard nodded and ordered everyone to prepare themselves, so they did and she went to the galaxy map to select their destination. Once the ship was close to the Mass Relay of the system in which they were now, Joker moved closer, and the Element Zero of the core wrapped the Normandy, sending them at higher speeds than light towards the Shrike Abyss.
Once there, Joker manually steered the ship to the new Mass Relay. It took them several hours, but upon arrival, it did the same as first. They almost instantly arrived at their new location. Nobody knew where they were. It was as if this galaxy had appeared out of nowhere since there would have been records of it otherwise.
The other reason they did not know where they were was because something was blocking the coordinate systems of the Normandy. However, the only thing that mattered to Shepard was the Reaper signal. She did not care to know in which galaxy they were; the only important thing was to see what the signal was, and bring it with them if it could help them in the fight against the Reapers.
Shepard then went to the cockpit where Joker was discussing with the ship's AI. "How long before we get there?" Shepard asked.
Joker upon hearing this stopped discussing and looked back to see Shepard. "In a few minutes, the planet is not far away from the Relay." He paused and pressed a button on the dash. "This is your pilot speaking; I suggest everyone hold on because we are about to have a pretty bumpy ride."
Shepard upon hearing this quickly held herself on something in the cabin, just to see through the cabin's window the planet that the Illusive Man had said, besides the barrier that covered the entire planet, it certainly was impressive.
Shepard upon seeing this with her own eyes thought that that barrier was from the ancient inhabitants of the planet and that they had left the dark blue barrier to protect whatever it was in there. Perhaps a weapon powerful enough to destroy the Reapers. Also, there were several remains of ancient ships, very, very old around the planet.
"Kinetic Shields to the maximum." Shepard heard EDI say. They then were in front of the planet, more specifically, the Barrier that surrounded it.
Joker didn't wait and advanced until the tip of the ship touched the barrier, instantly, they realized that everything inside the ship began to shake violently, and everyone did their best not to fall to the floor due to the shaking.
"Kinetic Shields at 60% and decreasing rapidly." EDI spoke again and Joker at this growled and increased the ship's speed, but it was hard, it was as if a wall of gum had been slowing them down.
"What will happen when we run out of Shields?" Shepard asked EDI, who answered. "The most likely outcome is that we will end up like the other ships that tried to break through the barrier."
Shepard nodded, and sweat fell from her brow when she heard EDI say that the Shields were at 22%.
"Come on, come on, baby. I don't wanna lose you again." Joker said trying to push further the speed of the Normandy, which was beginning to get almost through the barrier. It was quite thick and that was the reason that they were having problems.
"Shields at 5%. Redirecting the core energy to the shields." EDI said again as she tried to give some power to the shields.
Everybody in the ship began to feel that the temperature increased slowly, making everyone starts to sweat heavily; but it has been only for a few moments since the temperature returned to normal. "Shields recharged to 45%," EDI said, causing a momentary sigh of relief on the crew
"Joker, hurry up, I don't think EDI can do that again," Shepard said, wiping the sweat from her forehead.
Joker at this growled loudly. "GRRR, almost there, almost there... Just a few meters..." He said between grunts, the ship was still shaking inside, and everyone was still holding on to keep from falling.
"AAAAAAAAAAAARRRGGGH!" Joker growled one last time before smiling, realizing that the shaking stopped. "Hehehe. Done, Commander. I told you that my baby could do it." Joker stated with a smile.
Shepard smiled back as she approached Joker to slap on his shoulder. "Good job, Joker. Now enter its atmosphere and land near ..." But Shepard has stopped since an alarm sounded all over the ship while red lights flashed on and off.
All then felt a tremor inside the ship, which made many to hold on again to keep from falling. "What happened, Joker? I thought we already got through the barrier." Shepard asked looking to Joker, who was pressing several buttons on the board in front of him.
"I-I don't know; nothing is working. None of the controls are responding." Joker replied trying to regain the control of the ship.
EDI didn't know what was happening either, so she had decided to remain silent. But then EDI realized that something pulled the ship strongly towards the land, and just when she was about to inform them on this, she realized that all those standing on the ship had fallen to the floor, and those who were sitting, showed signs of feeling a lot of pressure surrounding them.
"What the hell is happening?!" Shepard shouted, due to the enormous pressure she felt surrounding her, as she tried to get up from the ship's floor. Joker also attempted to get up from his seat, but he was also feeling the same. "I... don't… know! Argh. It seems that something is pulling us rapidly towards the land. Hold on! It won't be a soft landing!" Joker shouted with signs of pain on his face.
Maybe if they had not received space training, it was most likely that the entire crew would be dead right now due to the pressure.
"Maybe the planet's gravity is higher than we thought." EDI indicated, but not even she knew what was happening because she could not analyze the planet even though she tried, something was blocking the analysis systems of the Normandy. It was as if someone had been preventing this planet from being analyzed.
Upon entering the planet's atmosphere, Joker noticed that purple clouds covered everything, no land was visible.
The Normandy continued falling, reaching the clouds, which flashed upon realizing the Normandy's presence.
Now Shepard was very nervous, she had seen many things in her life as a soldier of the Alliance, and she knew that something or someone was on this planet, and it was not happy with their visit. She was not stupid. It would be best investigating that signal quickly and leave the planet to avoid casualties.
Shepard then surrounded herself with her biotic cloak, making an extraordinary effort to stand up, and she managed to do it. She got to her feet, but with difficulty. Then she slowly approached Joker to look through the window.
She only saw purple clouds as they descended, it seemed that there was no end. Besides, there were a significant amount of lightning around the place. However, after several minutes, they could descend the endless clouds, just to see the land.
Joker looked with a great effort toward his Commander, who nodded as she tried to sit in the seat next to him. Nevertheless, before she could, she felt that everything returned to normal.
Joker didn't wait for any second and quickly retook the Normandy's controls to stabilize her and decrease the speed of descent before landing without any problems.
When everyone on the ship realized that everything was over, they could not help letting out sighs of relief. "Whew. Good job, Joker. How close are we of the Reaper signal?" Shepard asked.
EDI replied. "Approximate distance... 600 meters." Shepard raised an eyebrow. That close? She believed they landed far from their destination. "Do you have any information about this planet?" Shepard asked.
"Atmospheric and temperature conditions are similar to Earth. My sensors can only detect that, sorry Commander." EDI answered again.
Shepard raised an eyebrow again. "You sure of that? I don't think this weather is friendly." Shepard replied, looking through the window to this new planet.
Everything was very dark; no illumination, there were no trees or lakes and the land was of a strange bluish color. "Yes, I have reviewed the analysis a thousand times, and I have not encountered any problems. The weather on this planet has a similarity to Earth in a 99.9998%."
Shepard at this did not discuss any further, she just nodded and turned around, just to see Jacob and Miranda at the exit of the cab. "Get ready, we'll investigate the signal and we'll immediately get off this planet." Both Miranda and Jacob nodded and quickly went to prepare themselves to their cabins.
Shepard did it as well, she went to her cabin and once there she put on her Blood Dragon Armor. Then she went out of there before going to the ship's hangar, where Jacob and Miranda were already waiting for her.
"Remember that we are here to investigate the signal only. Don't get distracted, if you see something hostile, shoot to kill. We don't want surprises, right?" Shepard asked as she checked her M-8 Avenger.
Jacob and Miranda nodded, and they also checked their weapons. Then they saw that the Hangar's door slowly began to be opened. They quickly put their oxygen masks on; they could not believe that this planet had similarity with the weather of the Earth.
When the back door of the ship opened, a strong gust came from outside. Shepard did not flinch because of her helmet, but Jacob and Miranda had to cover their faces a bit due to the strong gust of wind.
"Shepard here, we're about to descend. Joker, check that everything is working in the Normandy. I want everything to be functional in case we need to leave this planet." Said Shepard through the intercom.
"Aye, Aye, Commander," Joker replied, just to see them descending from the ship's platform and take a few steps on land.
Once Shepard stepped on solid ground, she felt a chill; she didn't know why but she had a bad feeling. She then looked ahead and saw a castle. Well, which presumably remained of a castle.
This edification quickly caught her attention because it looked a lot like one of those castles that were in the Middle Ages; perhaps the ancient inhabitants of this planet were not so different from them.
"Shepard here, the signal appears to come from inside the castle, we'll take a look. Copy Normandy?" Shepard asked through her intercom.
She only got static as a response through the comm. Shepard repeated what she said, but again, static.
She looked back to see her ship, and she was surprised by what she saw there, or better said, by what she didn't see there. The Normandy was gone; there were not even traces on the ground that the ship had landed.
"Normandy, Shepard here. I didn't give the authorization to take off." Shepard said again into her communicator, but again there was no answer.
Jacob and Miranda to hear what Shepard said quickly turned around, only to see the same as Shepard. "What happened, Commander? Where's the ship?" Miranda asked.
Shepard growled and made the sign move on as she took the rifle from her back to point it forward as she began to walk slowly. "I don't know. I think this planet had something to do with it. Let's move, maybe we'll find the answers we're looking for in that castle."
Within the Normandy, Joker could hear Shepard's voice, but though he tried, he couldn't communicate with them. "Joker, it seems that the barrier that surrounds the planet is now surrounding us. Maybe that's why Commander Shepard believes that we have left the planet." EDI reported appearing in a table next to Joker, who upon hearing this growled as he crossed his arms.
"Then we'll have to wait for the Commander to find what she's looking for. There's still a few minutes left until our shields recharge completely. So we'll just wait a few minutes, and if the Commander doesn't return, then we'll have to get through the barrier again and then pick them up. "
EDI at this began to make noises until she replied. "I recommend not to do that. I have done some analysis to the barrier, and the results indicate that the ship will not resist as it did in space. This barrier is much more corrosive."
Joker at this quickly turned his head to look at the figure of EDI, and when he was about to contradict her, he saw something that worried him through the screen that showed the exterior.
"Commander! If you can hear me, get inside the castle and hide. Did you hear me, Commander? Hide!" Joker only growled when he realized that Shepard did not hear his warning, but he just stood by and watched. Shepard could take care of herself.
Returning with the Commander and her team, they were going slowly towards the castle; there was a door, which had seen better days. Then Shepard motioned her team to go to the gate, but they suddenly heard some strange grunts.
Shepard knew those grunts; she met them on her visit to Eden Prime to get the Prothean Beacon. Therefore, she quickly turned around and ordered. "Husks! Fast! Get into the castle." Shepard commanded as she began to shoot some bursts of her rifle at the Husks, which were appearing out of nowhere.
Jacob and Miranda quickly nodded and gave supporting fire as they retreated to the castle. They climbed a small hill that led to the entrance of the castle, which was surrounded by what once was presumably a river.
They kept firing, but the Husks were increasing in number, it was as if they were endless. "Commander! I'm about to run out of ammo, and we can't resist much with our biotic powers. We must get inside!" Miranda exclaimed while reloading her M-9 Tempest.
Shepard quickly nodded, and she began to run towards the castle, jumping the small strait that separated the castle hill.
They did not stop, and they immediately went through the battered door. "Hmm, we must block the way, or they will enter," Jacob said looking towards the entrance.
Shepard nodded and surrounded herself with her biotic cloak. Then she threw a powerful biotic attack at the ceiling, bring it down. The ceiling was ancient, and for that reason, it could not resist that power. "Come on, this won't contain them for long..." And Shepard stopped there, since she could hear many horns, such as a boat, but much more powerful.
"What's that?" Shepard asked anybody before looking through a window towards the sky, where these horns were sounding. "Reapers..." Shepard whispered
"Commander, can you communicate with the Normandy now? Those things will destroy us." Jacob said looking through a small window to nearly a dozen of Reapers descending from the sky.
Shepard at this tried to communicate again, but she only got static. "Damn, we've come too far to stop now; we'll investigate the Reaper signal no matter what. I'm sure we'll find something important in this place. Follow me; the signal is coming from the lower part of this location."
In the Normandy, everyone was in their positions if the Reapers decided to attack them, and Joker knew that this situation was becoming more complicated. "Come on. Hurry up, Commander." Joker said resisting the impulse to go to the castle and pick his crew up.
Joker then saw that several of the Reapers started charging their primary weapons before firing at the castle, this almost made him start-up the ship, but he didn't because EDI's voice stopped him, reminding him about the barrier that was still around the vessel. Joker just growled and continued watching; it seemed that the Reapers couldn't see them, he thought that the barrier had something to do with that.
Back at the castle, Shepard and the others began to descend several stairs at full speed; the whole castle was collapsing due to the attacks of the Reapers. Reaching the basement was their priority.
They continued walking down stairs; they were spiral-shaping stairs. After about four minutes of walking down the stairs, they spotted the end. They were very deep underground, and they realized of this because they could no longer hear the sound of their horns or their cannons.
Shepard then turned her Omni-tool on, which indicated that the signal was very close to them, more specifically within the tunnel that they saw when they finally descended the stairs. Then, they turned their night sights on with their Omni-tools to be able to see, as everything was very dark.
"Don't separate, we are only at 200 meters from our goal," Shepard told the others, who nodded and followed her from behind.
Shepard then kept going, all this while looking at her Omni-tool, until she realized that this began to fail, while some lines of static appeared, which was unusual in an Omni-tool. "What the hell is happening?" Shepard asked.
Jacob and Miranda didn't know how to answer because their Omni-tools were also failing. "Well, let's keep going, maybe it's because we're deep under the ground, we descended several meters after passing the stairs," Shepard concluded.
They walked a few more meters until they realized that there were three paths before them. More specifically, three caves. "Everyone, choose a path, I'll go to the right one. Check if your communicators are working between ourselves. Let me know if you find anything." Shepard said to Jacob and Miranda, who nodded and checked their communicators, which were smoothly working between them.
"Okay, let's go." Shepard said, and everyone went into their respective tunnels, which were completely dark. However, thanks to their night sights, they could see clearly. Shepard could tell that this was still part of the castle. There was no doubt that the ancient inhabitants of this planet were great builders to keep these tunnels stable after so many years. Nevertheless, Shepard was intrigued; the residents of this planet did not seem very technologically advanced.
She did not know why the Reapers invaded them, maybe they had discovered something important, something that alerted the Reapers, and perhaps, that something was where the Reaper signal was, if she could get that, whatever it was, then the galaxy could be saved from the imminent Reaper invasion.
Shepard walked through the hallway, then, after a few minutes, she said through her communicator. "Looks like I've found something; return to my position," Shepard said as she put her rifle on her back since she saw a room that was strangely glowing green.
She came in and what she saw there surprised her. "A Prothean Beacon... What is this doing here?" Shepard asked herself, walking slowly towards that elongated object, of almost two meters height, but very thin.
Shepard got closer to the Beacon. If this one were equal to that one of Eden Prime, then this beacon contained some information to defeat the Reapers. Even though her first experience with one of these beacons was not at all pleasant, she would touch it for the benefit of the galaxy.
She then stood in front of the beacon; she began to stare at it and sighed as she approached with her hands out. She then touched it and in an instant, everything changed around her. Shepard was now seeing images of people, humans fighting the Reapers.
However, what most surprised Shepard was what these humans were capable of doing. They could control the seas, the skies, and the earth. She saw animals of the size of a building helping the humans to fight the Reapers; they managed to defeat some of them. Nonetheless, they could not do much.
She then realized that all the people began to lose morale, letting themselves be killed or be turned into one of them. Nevertheless, all that changed when a person appeared, a very tall man with blond hair. He had whisker marks on his cheeks and was approximately 20 years old, but Shepard could tell that he was much older by the look on his face.
Though Shepard could not hear anything, she realized that all the people started cheering to the man who just appeared, and she also realized that confidence in them had returned.
The following events Shepard witnessed were things she will never forget. That man, no, that God in the body of a human did things that would seem even ridiculous and unthinkable.
Shepard saw him creating vast forests out of nowhere, wrapping and crushing several Reapers of Sovereign class, as well as various types of what she could see, elemental attacks.
She also saw him doing the Reapers float against their will toward a black ball in the skies. Attracting them there and crushing several Reapers, turning them all into hugely balls in the air.
He even turned into a huge black ten-tailed fox, capable of doing with his claws only, significant damage to the Reapers. Clawing and causing deep holes anywhere those powerful claws struck.
She also saw him creating Gigantic Balls, which formed in front of his snout before seeing him throwing them and causing catastrophic damages.
At this point, Shepard believed that some deity decided to put a stop to the Reapers and their carnage around the universe, but that did not explain why the Reapers still existed. Therefore, she just stood by and continued watching.
She then saw the deity falling into despair countless times. Shepard could tell he lost many of his loved ones, but his depression only lasted what seemed a few days. Shepard then saw him, even more, determined. For each of his loved ones he lost, Shepard realized that he destroyed dozens of Reapers, maybe in a state of anger and vent.
Shepard was sure that this man could destroy all the Reapers; he seemed to do it very easily. However, they were too many, and more and more of the loved ones of that person died, and Shepard saw him more and more discouraged; until the point that he was fighting with less intensity than in the beginning. But still, everything he could do was amazing.
But then Shepard saw that the resistance forces of that planet decreased increasingly, and though that man was very powerful, he couldn't save them all.
Then everything changed again, and Shepard realized that the man was now in a sort of war council, talking to some people who looked desperate and seemed to request the help of this man.
"We will defeat the Reapers... but it will also be the end of all of us." Shepard finally managed to hear. That statement caught her attention. Therefore, she paid more attention.
Nonetheless, she couldn't because everything was disappearing; she was slowly getting away from what could be the only source to defeat the Reapers.
"Nooo!" Shepard shouted putting all of herself to try to see what had happened next; she made a great effort, using all her willpower to try to see.
And it was worth it. Shepard saw that blond man placing a golden spherical object into a machine, which began to glow.
Shepard then realized that on the roof of the castle in which she was now, appeared a kind of cannon, from which a beam of light came off, which slowly covered the entire landscape. Meanwhile, the Reapers fled to avoid that light beam, whatever it was. Nonetheless, Shepard knew it was a weapon capable of defeating them.
How did she come to that conclusion? Naturally, she saw that the light beam wrapped some Reapers, causing them to stop functioning and fall to the ground like rocks. The effect did not happen only where the castle was, but rather everywhere, even outside the planet, destroying all the Reapers who were stranded in space, making them mere junks.
And even though Shepard wanted to see more, she could not; she wanted to know what had happened to the man who defeated the Reapers. She wanted to know what happened in the end. However, she could not because she felt that her head started burning, taking her in an instant out of that vision or whatever it was.
Shepard instantly felt that she returned to where she was before; she realized that the Prothean Beacon was no longer there, which was strange.
The next thing that happened was that she fell to her knees, as she felt that something was trying to get inside her mind. Something was telling her to stop trying, to give up and no longer continue.
Nevertheless, Shepard did her best to ignore what was whispering those words, and she pushed herself to the limit to ignore that. "I won't! I'll stop them even if it's the last thing I do!" Shepard exclaimed while making an effort to stand up.
"Interesting..." Shepard heard the voice of a person in the room; she could not identify where that sound has been coming from since she still felt that something was trying to manipulate her. "W-Where are you? Who are you?" Shepard asked, taking her helmet off to hold her head as she turned around slightly.
"I'm here... I'm everywhere. As for whom I am, that's not important. What I want to know is, what are you doing in my humble abode and what do you want from this place?" The voice asked, a male voice, which could be heard quite wise, and it conveyed an indescribable power that Shepard had never felt before.
Shepard then turned around, since she felt the voice behind her, but when she turned, she saw no one there. "W-We detected a Reaper signal in this place; w-we came to investigate *gasp* with the hope that it would help us defeating the Reapers."
"Hope? ... There is no such thing as hope, not with them. There is no way of defeating them; you're just wasting your time." The voice replied.
Upon hearing this, Shepard shook her head and answered. "Y-You're wrong; there is hope. I saw it… I saw how the ancient people of this planet were able to defeat them..." Shepard refuted.
Shepard then heard a laugh; laughter charged of mockery and sorrow. "Hope in reality is the worst of all evils because it prolongs the torments of man."
Shepard shook her head again, and this time, she took a few steps with difficulty as she looked in all directions. "Y-You're wrong; the hope is our future. Without a future, we have no hope. Without hope, we might as well be machines, programmed to do what we're told." Shepard replied and instantly she felt that that which was trying to get inside her mind stopped.
"Interesting... You're definitely someone interesting, Commander Shepard. I think I've made a good decision to allow you to enter into my planet." The voice replied again.
Shepard could not deny that she was surprised that this person knew her name; this planet was out of her galaxy. She did not believe that she was known in other galaxies.
"How do you know my name?" Shepard asked, shaking her head to pull away that feeling of discomfort that remained in her head.
However, the voice just ignored her question. "You definitely surprised me; you've managed to resist my influence. I used the same intensity that the Reapers used to indoctrinate their victims. There's no doubt that you have a very powerful mind, plus a willpower I haven't seen in many millennia." The voice stated, but actually, he used a little more intensity than the Reapers used, all in order to test Shepard.
"Millennia you said?" Shepard asked now less painfully. Nevertheless, she was surprised again; did this person want to indoctrinate her?
"Yes... Millennia. You are not the first one that came here. But you're the first one who reached this far..." The voice replied again.
"What are you?" Shepard asked, and just then, she heard a voice behind her. "The correct question would be. Who are you?" Shepard then quickly turned around and whom she saw there surprised her.
"My name is Uzumaki Naruto, and welcome to my world... Commander."
Notes:
Done! I hope you've enjoyed this Prologue, and I hope you give it a chance.
Try not to draw too many conclusions yet, I'll explain many things in the next chapter. Just tell me what you think of the Prologue. I would like to know your opinions.
Well, the fic starts in Mass Effect 2. I recommend to people who don't know the game to you buy Mass Effect 1, it is fascinating, but I did not start from there since I did not see it appropriate. I didn't see it necessary to add the history of the Geth and Saren.
Well, I decided to make Shepard a woman, for those who don't know, Shepard is her last name, nobody knows her real name (maybe the creator of the story) Everyone refers to her as "Shepard" or "Commander" I see no point in giving her a name.
It is most likely that this will be a FemShep X Naruto. Nonetheless, that will have to wait a while.
Well, as you have noticed, Naruto is more than 100,000 years old! And I tell you he did not lose time in these 100 thousand years. In the future, I will give all the explanations, but for the moment, you just have to relax and wait for new chapters, which will take a while to be published.
I will update this story occasionally only; I'll be more on the lookout for my other fic, "A demon in the shadows." If you have not read it yet, I recommend you read it ;) you will not regret it.
Special thanks to crimsondragonkiller for being my beta reader. He did the corrections to this chapter. All the credits to him.
Add me as your friend on Facebook. The link is on my Bio! Sometimes the mail alerts don't work, and for that reason, you may not know when I update the chapters. Add me ;)
Happy new year to everybody :D
Well, that's all; please leave your reviews to let me know what you think of this project.
Greetings and until next time.