A/N: I don't own any characters in this story. Naruto characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto and Mass Effect characters belong to Bioware.
The fourth Great Shinobi war had ended. Hinata Hyuuga was moving quickly through the wilderness with Sakura Haruno, Tsunade Senju and Kakashi Hatake as they searched for their friend and fellow shinobi, Naruto Uzumaki. Hinata knew that quite a few other ninja's were following behind them for the same purpose. Gaara, Kazekage of the Sand Village, and his siblings were leading the group behind them to find the man who so quickly vanished after he had managed to end the War.
Hinata thought back over the final battle she and the other's had witnessed between Kakashi, Naruto and the man Kakashi called Obito, who had been killed in an alternate dimension thanks to the teamwork of Kakashi's Sharingan and Naruto's Bijuu-Rasengan. They had made it there in time to see Obito get trapped and destroyed as Kakashi transferred both the Bijuu-Rasengan and Obito to an alternate dimension.
What did Naruto disappear for? Hinata could not shake the feeling she had that Naruto was hiding something from them. She worried about maybe he was injured to the point of dangerous exhaustion, seeing as he had been fighting in his Bijuu form for the past 27 hours. Hinata felt a small tear build up in her eye, but stifled the feeling of fear she felt for his safety.
"We'll find him Hinata. Don't you worry about that," Tsunade called out to her as they glided and jumped through the foliage.
"Hai, Tsunade-sama," Hinata felt a bit better for her long-time crush.
As they continued on, Kakashi called out "Pakkun's found him. Come on!" as he shifted their direction a bit.
They shortly reached a large, grassy field, which Naruto was standing in the middle of. As they approached him, he turned towards them, smiling, his cerulean blue eyes trying to hide his pain as they got closer to him.
What's wrong with him? Hinata ran up to him and threw her arms around him, almost tackling him to the ground. He managed to steel himself against her.
"Hey guys," She heard him say over her head as she grabbed him tightly.
Tsunade shouted out "Baka! Why did you run off?" Hinata could feel herself tense up at Tsunade's increased volume.
"It's a long story. One I don't have time to give just yet," Hinata loosened up and looked up at him. She felt the group that had been following them come up behind Tsunade. Gaara stepped forward to be at Sakura's side. Naruto looked down at her; the same, painful smile parted his face as he softly caressed her cheek.
"Give us the short version then," Sakura could feel her frustration building at her obnoxious teammate's antics.
"Short version? I'll try. To start, how old am I?" Naruto continued to stare into Hinata's pale eyes.
Tsunade bewilderingly answered him "You're seventeen, Naruto. Did you forget?" Hinata could feel her confusion as he asked the question. She was sure that the other's felt the same way.
"Actually, if my memories are correct, I am 31 years old this year," Naruto replied calmly. Hinata could feel her mouth drop open quite noticeably, which Naruto started to chuckle at.
Taking his laughing as a sign of a joke, Hinata pushed him away a bit. "That's not funny Naruto-kun!"
"I would agree, if it was a joke." Naruto still wore the pained smile as he continued to gaze into Hinata's eyes. As she stared, she noticed that his dark pupils were starting to faintly glow red.
"The easiest way to explain what is about to happen is that I am one soul inhabiting two bodies." Naruto finally broke apart their gaze. As he looked back at the group of shinobi, Hinata noticed that along his face, there were faintly glowing scars that were becoming more and more pronounced, the red lights from the scars seemed to be glowing brighter as the scars themselves elongated. She saw that the red light from his eyes was also growing in intensity as the scars crisscrossed his face. By the time the scars stopped getting worse, his face looked like it had been assembled from puzzle pieces.
What happened to you Naruto-kun? Hinata was terrified as she brought her hand up and traced the rigid scar tissue on his left jaw.
In a flash, he grabbed her hand, leaning his head into her touch, seemingly to try to etch her feeling into memory. He closed his eyes as he made his next statement. "In this life, I am Naruto Uzumaki, son of the Fourth Hokage and Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi." He paused, seeming to be torn between telling them and keeping quiet. Finally, he continued. "And in my other life, I am Commander Naruto Namikaze, Alliance Special Forces N7 graduate and first human SpecTRe."
Hinata could feel Naruto's body changing shape as he said this, almost like a Henge was disappearing and revealing his true form. She looked down, noticing that he was becoming much more muscular and a few inches taller. Hinata's shock silenced her as she felt these changes happening.
"What are you talking about? What is going on?" Kakashi was almost rendered speechless as he watched the glowing lines cover his teammate's face, intersecting to form strange nonsensical patterns around it. Kakashi also saw that Naruto's eyes were glowing red, with 3 small red dots in his iris making an upside down triangle shape around the red pupil.
"The short version is this. In this life, my enemies threaten the world. In Commander Namikaze's life, my enemies threaten this galaxy. Every single star in the sky represents a system that I am fighting to protect. The enemy I fight there has wiped out all life in the galaxy for eons of time. I have united all of the races of the galaxy together, and we are about to make our final push to stop them. At this point, my attention cannot be distracted by having a Shadow Clone live as a stand-in. I have to dispel the clone there and take up my mantle as Commander." Naruto looked down to gaze at Hinata again, still with pain in his smile. Hinata was completely shocked that Naruto was telling them this.
Naruto continued. "I can jump between the lives that I live. Commander Namikaze died when I was 13. Slavers came and either kidnapped or killed everyone at the colony I lived at. Sasuke gave me grief about not knowing what it feels like to lose my parents. Little did he know that I knew the pain of losing people before he was ever born." He snorted as he glanced away from Hinata again to gaze at his friends that had gathered to find him. "I joined the Alliance Marines as soon as I turned 18. I became a highly decorated soldier and was eventually given the honor of becoming humanity's first SpecTRe.
"The day I was killed by the slavers 17 years ago, I must have been born here. I remember flashes, not much else until I turned three or so. The Commander in me had been found in time to save my life. At that point, I noticed that when I was awake, Commander Namikaze was asleep. While I slept, he was awake. We can both be awake at the same time, but it is mentally draining and causes me to lose focus in one world or another. I didn't really grasp how it was possible that I could do this until I learned the Kage Bushin, which allowed me to make almost exact copies of myself. Due to an accident with the Kage Bushin and the Rasen-Shuriken, I accidently destroyed my other self. I woke up as Commander Namikaze, and found that I could manipulate enough chakra there to create a shadow clone. After about a week, I learned that I could jump between my lives and finally was able to start to really concentrate on learning advanced jutsus." Hinata, while dumb-founded, realized that this was probably why he did so horribly in the academy as a child.
"What I do now is allow the shadow clone to live out one life, and I live out the other. Whichever life requires more of my attention is the life that gets the real me. I will create a clone in one world, and transport myself to dispel the clone that I left in the other to take up my place. Since the Kage Bushin's memories are absorbed by me when I dispel them, I am instantly brought up to speed on what they have been doing.
I am nearing the end of the war with the enemy that I have been fighting with for the past four years. We call them Reapers. We are currently in the middle of the final charge against them. My team and I are leading a squadron of soldiers towards what I hope is the final battle." Hinata was confused as to what Naruto was telling them.
Gaara was the one that asked the question now burning in Hinata's mind, "What caused the massive amount of scars, and why do they glow?"
Naruto looked at him, and then gently pushed Hinata a bit away from him. Hinata and the others watched as he unzipped his jacket, tossing it into the ground. His black undershirt went next, and then his pants and sandals. The last to be removed was his Konoha headband. He was left standing with only a tight fitting pair of black shorts.
Hinata heard a lot of the shinobi behind her gasp at the sight. All around his body he was covered in the same glowing scars that lined his face. His arms, his legs, his chest and stomach were all covered by the same network of nonsensical glowing scars. Hinata noticed, however, that the seal of the nine-tailed fox, while broken apart by the scars, was still predominantly displayed on his stomach.
Still trying to smile for his friends and allies, Naruto told them "Commander Namikaze… no… I died. I was killed in a surprise attack on my ship. I managed to save most of my crew, but an explosion knocked me away from the escape pod. My air tube had been severed in several places. When they found my body, all that was left was burned chunks of flesh." Hinata began to cry at the thought of Naruto dying. She stepped forward and threw her arms around his neck. She went to bury her face into his chest, uncaring about the horrendous scars, until she felt cold metal instead of his warm chest. She leaned back, sniffling a bit as she saw that his chest was now covered in a strange set of black and gray armor. It had a strange symbol on the right side of his chest, and multiple red lights around the armor. She saw his arms get covered in a golden glow as more of the strange armor covered his arms and eventually his legs.
"My clone here knew I had died, and continued on as if nothing had happened. I don't understand why it didn't dispel, and the only excuse I have at this point is that my soul used this clone as a host while my real body was found, and rebuilt exactly as I was. These scars exist because I was woken up before my body was completely healed. Kurama might be able to tell me more, but I gather he is just as disjointed about the experience as I am. I'm told that the more stressed I am, the more pronounced the scars are. And bearing the weight of being the galaxy's symbol of strength and victory? Very stressful indeed.
It's strange. I remember dying, I remember the cold of space, and then I woke up. To me, it was as if I had fallen asleep. But to everyone else in that life, 2 years had passed by. I was thrown back into the war with the Reapers, now rebuilt with machines that allow me to be stronger, faster, and more resilient to damage." Hinata looked up into his eyes a final time, before his head began to glow and eventually his eyes were blocked from hers by a strange visor that glowed with a blue light on its front. Hinata could see that the visor had what looked to be writing that would zip by quickly on its left side, and a circle with a cross through it that was over Naruto's right eye.
That is when Hinata felt it. A powerful surge of what felt like chakra was surging up through Naruto. She saw his eyes flash red, even though the visor. Naruto turned and extended his left arm out. She saw a blue light surround his armor and then what appeared to be a Rasengan appeared in his outstretched hand. It stayed in that location for a few moments then left his hand and expanded to show another Naruto that looked exactly how Naruto looked now. Exact same scars, exact same armor.
He was talking to a woman covered in light purple armor whose face was hidden by a purple helmet that had a hood around the top. Hinata could see her eyes glowing faintly through her helmet when she turned to look at Naruto. There was a very tall reptilian creature in blue armor that stood to her left, blocking Naruto every now and then when he shifted his stance. All three of these people turned towards the wide open space that was leading to a giant beam of light at the other end. Hinata noticed that she could not hear anything from the other side of the portal.
"And this is the end of my time here. Hinata, in the odd chance I survive this, I want to know if I could take you out on a date finally? I never got to give you an answer with all that happened after Pain's attack." Hinata swooned as Naruto asked her what she had been hoping to hear for what felt like her entire life.
Hinata was about to answer, when he put his finger to her lips, silencing her. Hinata could feel heat as her face quickly changed to a dark shade of red. He picked her up in his arms and carried her back to the group of shinobi behind her, setting her down to stand directly in front of Tsunade.
"Don't give me your answer yet. It gives me even more of a reason to return home. I have to warn you though, there is another woman. She's shy, but is an amazing warrior when on the battlefield with me. A lot like you Hinata." Naruto slowly backed away, his jaw set in stone, seeing Hinata look at him with anger. Tsunade steadied Hinata, who was still a bit shaken from all that Naruto had revealed about himself, and from the fact that Naruto had finally answered her feelings.
"I will part with all of you with the speech I gave my team in the other world." He went over to Gaara, shaking his hand, before going down the line of Kages and shaking their hands as well before he began to speak. As he spoke, he paced in front of the large group that had now gathered for him, his arms accenting his passionate speech.
"This war has brought us pain, and suffering, and loss. But it has also brought us together, as soldiers… allies… friends. This bond that ties us together is something the Reaper's will never understand. It's more powerful than any weapon; stronger than any ship! It can't be taken, or destroyed.
The next few hours will decide the fate of everyone in the galaxy. Every mother… every son… every unborn child. They're trusting us, depending on us to win them their future. A future free from the threat of the Reaper's. Expect no mercy, show no mercy. We fight, or we die."
Naruto finally looked away to stare through the portal at his other self. Hinata watched as the group began to run down the slope. She saw what looked like a giant squid floating off in the distance. There was a red beam that began to scorch the battlefield, destroying the strange metal carriages that were following Naruto and his group. The beam was also killing the other soldiers that were ahead of their group.
Naruto's whisper of "Harbinger" carried through to the entire group of shinobi as more soldiers and carriages were destroyed. One of the carriages flew up in front of the other Naruto. He dropped down and slid into the top of the now overturned carriage. He looked back at the gathered Shinobi. The viewing angle changed so that the group could see the reptile and the woman running just a bit behind to catch up to Naruto.
Another explosion happened behind the carriage the other Naruto was leaning against. Hinata watched as another carriage was effortlessly tossed over the carriage he was leaning against. They watched as the woman and the lizard looked up, and then quickly dived to the side. Another explosion happened, and Naruto said, "This is as good a chance as I'm going to get."
He vaulted himself through the portal, and then the sound from the other world deafened the entire group. They could hear the explosions now, along with a lot of rapid popping sounds. It was almost as if there were there with Naruto now in this other world, even though they were watching from behind the portal.
Naruto picked up the woman in purple while his clone in front of the tank dispelled into a cloud that quickly dissipated. The lizard stood up and started limping as fast as his wounds would let him towards the overturned carriage where Naruto's clone used to be. Both the woman and the lizard man were covered in blood. The woman was leaning heavily on Naruto as he carried her to the safety that the carriage seemed to provide.
Hinata could hear the woman and the lizard creature breathing heavily, their wounds looking to be quite severe. Naruto reached up with his right hand and put his first two fingers against his ear.
"Joker, I need an evac! Tali and Garrus are hurt, bad!" Naruto seemed frantic as he looked the two over.
The group heard a crackling sound, and then a different voice came out of what appeared to be the sky. "Sorry Commander. Harbinger and a few of the others are preventing us from getting back to you for the time being."
Naruto's face scrunched into a grimace for a bit as he started helping the other two spread some type of blue gel on the major wounds they had.
Suddenly, Naruto's face lit up. "Tali?" The woman in the helmet looked up at Naruto. "Garrus?" The lizard man did the same. Both continued spreading the gel over their wounds as they looked at him.
"I'm going to get you out of here. But, where you are going is so far away, there is no guarantee you'll be able to come back. I'm sorry for this." Both looked at him with anger and indignation as he pulled them into a hug.
"Also, I have never brought others with me through, so you may get a bit sick." The same blue light that covered him before cascaded around him again. Both of them, as well as the group of shinobi looked at Naruto in surprise. They were all blinded by a golden flash of light.
Hinata was the first to open her eyes. She saw Naruto kneeling in front of their group holding onto the lizard and the other woman. She finally noticed that the woman had three fingers on each hand and two toes on each foot. Naruto looked up at her, and motioned for her to come closer. Hinata reluctantly moved forward, instinctually kneeling down behind the injured woman. Gaara came forward and helped prop up the lizard man to Hinata's left.
"Tali, this is Hinata. The girl I told you about." The woman turned her helmeted head a bit to glance at Hinata. The glowing white orbs behind her mask looked directly into Hinata's own white eyes.
"Hinata, if she says yes, this is Tali Namikaze vas Normandy." Hinata looked at Naruto at the mention of Namikaze in the other woman's name. Tali, as she had been introduced, quickly looked at Naruto with what looked to be shock. Naruto smiled at her.
"Garrus, the man helping you is called Gaara. He is a very powerful warrior and the leader of his people. Try not to bleed on him too much," The lizard man spoke in whistles and clicks. Near the end of what he was saying there was some hissing as well.
"Yeah, yeah, you stubborn fool." Naruto smiled at the reptile man. "Gaara, the turian bleeding on you is named Garrus Vakarian. My brother since I met him 4 years ago. A lot like you." Hinata and Gaara looked at each other, confused that Naruto could understand what was said.
Naruto looked back to the destruction happening behind him in the other world. He stood up and started to turn to the portal before both Tali and Hinata reached up and grabbed his hand. He looked down at them, his face set in a grimace which softened when he looked at them.
"I'm sorry." He kneeled down and pulled them both into a hug. "I want someone to survive this." He slowly pulled their arms from around him, standing back up.
"Garrus, first round was on you. Don't forget!" Garrus hissed back at him as Naruto started to run and jumped through the portal again. He continued to run towards the giant blue beam of light. Like before, the sound during the exchange when Naruto was in the shinobi world was quiet. As soon as he returned to the other world, the loud shrieking and gunfire returned.
Naruto continued to run towards the beam of light. Hinata, Tali and the others saw the red light from the being Naruto called Harbinger come directly for Naruto.
"NARUTO!" Hinata and Gaara shouted out while Garrus and Tali made their calls in their own language. Naruto saw the beam too late to avoid it. The portal went black.
Tali's body started to be wracked with sobs. Hinata could feel her own body shaking along with her. They embraced tightly, sorrow for the man they loved overcoming their jealousy for each other. Hinata could faintly hear Sakura and Tsunade start to cry as well.
As they cried for what seemed like an eternity, Hinata felt the one called Garrus reach over and tap her on the arm. She looked over at him, listening to him click and point to the portal. She glanced over, and saw that the image had returned. It was just a barren landscape that showed now, with a lot of burned remains left over on the ground.
One in particular caught her attention, almost immediately silencing her cries of pain. She nudged Tali with her shoulder, and pointed out the moving body. Tali turned her head, and saw that Commander Namikaze was standing up from the attack. He was hurt but alive, using one of the destroyed Mako's to keep himself upright. He held a Carnifax pistol in his right hand.
Hinata also noticed quickly that he was in very bad shape. From what she could see, it appeared that he was bleeding from his left side and the armor that had been around his lower arms was gone. The armor on the side that had been facing the beam, his right, appeared to be melted in places. His lower left leg and foot were completely exposed as the armor covering them was gone as well. The visor he had been wearing was lost. He started to cough, turning around and leaning against the carriage as he did so.
The entire group gasped in shock. Naruto looked like a corpse walking. There was blood coming from his mouth, ears and his left eye. The right side of his face appeared to be somewhat burned. The left side of his stomach was no longer covered by armor, and appeared to be cut up severely. He looked down at the wound, closing his left eye, and then clutched at the blood flowing out with his left hand as if to stop it from leaving him.
He grunted as he pushed himself off the carriage and started to shuffle towards the beam. "He doesn't give up, does he?" Sakura said as she walked up behind Hinata.
"Of course not. Apparently his stubbornness has been around since before he was ever born here in our world," Tsunade watched on with the others in shock, watching as his left foot left blood imprints in the ground as he trudged on. Tsunade knew that Naruto was bleeding out, but did not vocalize this for the others, not wanting them to be burdened with that knowledge.
A gunshot snapped them out of their shock as Naruto's left shoulder snapped back and blood sprayed backwards. He raised the weapon in his hand and gunned down the abomination that had shot him. His right arm went up to try to cover the front of the wound, not doing much good against stopping his blood from seeping out. Tali clutched at Hinata's arm, sitting up a bit straighter. Slowly, she pushed herself up. Hinata helped her stand on her feet. Gaara helped Garrus do the same. Hinata looked down and saw that the gel that they had rubbed on the wounds had sealed the wounds and was actively repairing the damage.
A loud TWANG was heard and Hinata glanced up and saw the portal emitting a bright white light. She brought her hand up and shielded her eyes. She heard a loud THUMP followed quickly by a grunt. She lowered her hand, and saw that Naruto was now surrounded by hundreds of bodies and other various body parts.
She brought her hand up to her mouth, sickened but the site of what surrounded Naruto. She watched as he pushed himself up and looked at the pieces.
They all heard a powerful voice come through the air. "Commander, are you there?"
"Anderson? Where are you?" Naruto replied as he worked on standing up.
"It appears to be some kind of bridge. Where the hell are you?"
"umm…" Naruto looked around again, "Apparently, in a horror movie." Hinata could hear his breathing become harsher.
"Then I'm just a bit ahead of you. Start walking soldier! Catch up to me."
"Yes sir." Naruto slowly shuffled to the door in front of him. Hinata and Gaara gasped as the door supposedly opened by itself. Everyone watched as Naruto limped across the very same bridge that the man called Anderson had been talking about. Naruto began to climb a long set of stairs before he reached the top.
The room was quite strange. There was a giant window in front of the room that overlooked what appeared to be hundreds of lights. There was an orange tint to the walls and floor.
In front of Naruto was a podium. Leaning heavily against the podium was a dark-skinned man wearing an outfit that faintly resembled the Jonin uniform of the shinobi world. He turned to look at Naruto, but as he turned, he started to jerk, as if he was fighting against himself.
"Sir?" Was all Naruto could say before he clutched at his head.
"Naruto!" Gaara and Hinata shouted, while Garrus and Tali called out to their friend and lover.
"Namikaze, so glad you could join us. Look and see what I have accomplished!" Another man came up behind Naruto, but he was hideous. The lower half of his face appeared to be melted away, revealing blackened cords and what looked like darkened muscle. Parts of it and his eyes were glowing blue; much like Naruto's eyes and scars glowed red.
"You fool! You think you can control the Reapers, and look at you, they already control you." Naruto managed to shout back as he continued to clutch at his head.
"No Commander. You're wrong once again. I can control them! Just like how I can control you if necessary." Hinata watched as Naruto slowly brought his pistol up to aim at the man called Anderson. Naruto was struggling against himself and tried to bring his arm down, but he could not stop himself from pulling the trigger.
The round tore through Anderson's side. He collapsed. "ANDERSON!" Naruto shouted out, trying to move against whatever the other man was doing to him.
"Don't you see Namikaze! I CAN control them! I can control the Reapers!" The man was gloating about whatever this accomplished.
"No," Naruto calmly pointed out, "You are their tool now, converted to think that their way is right."
"NO!" The other man roared. "I CONTROL THEM! THEY FOLLOW MY ORDERS!"
"Look at you. You're indoctrinated. You're not in control of them; THEY are in control of YOU!" Naruto's venomous outburst shocked every shinobi watching. Garrus and Tali, however, knew how forceful their Commander could be.
"No… I…" The man started to stutter.
"Look at yourself! Look at what you have done! You've turned humanity against itself, jeopardized everything you once fought to protect!" Hinata watched as Anderson began to slowly crawl towards a small set of stairs as Naruto and the other man argued.
They continued to argue for a bit longer, and finally, the other man's shoulders slumped. He walked over to the podium that Anderson had been leaning against and pressed a button. The lights across the way from them began to move, until there was nothing but blackness. Hinata could see stars twinkling out in the distance. She also saw a huge blue orb in front of them, covered in white swirls and large spots of dark green on it.
The man turned, saying "I tried Namikaze. I tried. If only you could see it like I do," before he raised his own pistol up and put it to the side of his head. A loud BANG echoed through the area, startling Hinata and Tali as the man's body dropped to the ground.
Tali wobbled, crying out in her language as she steadied herself. Garrus pushed off of Gaara, and stood on his own two feet as well. They looked at each other, then back to Hinata and Gaara. Both bowed to the two humans, and then walked towards the portal. They each respectively put their hands on the entrance, seeming to press their hands into glass. Tali turned around and motioned towards Hinata and Gaara to step forward.
Hinata slowly walked towards them, her legs still seeming unsteady at what she was witnessing. Gaara had stood up and gently pushed her forward. She jumped a bit, before walking forward quicker and grabbing Tali's outstretched hand. Garrus kept his left hand up on the portal, and moved a bit so that Gaara and Hinata stood between himself and Tali.
Tali took Hinata's hand, and held it up to the portal. Garrus motioned for Gaara to do the same. As soon as Gaara completed the connection, there was another flash of blue light, and then all 4 of them were standing behind Anderson and Naruto, who had slumped down to sit and lean against the orange-lighted stairs next to him.
"Commander." Anderson slightly nodded towards Naruto. Tali and Garrus looked at each other, and then rushed over to the wounded soldiers. Hinata and Gaara followed shortly after.
"We did it," Naruto said as he continued to stare out over the opened window. Tali and Hinata kneeled down and tried to start patching Naruto up while Garrus started to patch up Anderson. Gaara looked confused as to what to do.
"Yes we did. It's quite a view." Anderson continued on, seeming to ignore the turian trying to patch him up.
Naruto chuckled, "Best seats in the house."
"Tali," Garrus called out. Hinata and Gaara looked at him in shock. Garrus looked them over, and asked "You can understand me now?"
Gaara replied, seeing Hinata in shock. "Yes, apparently we can."
"Interesting," Garrus said as he stopped trying to help Anderson.
"Tali? Tali, we're not here with them," Garrus said as he and Gaara watched Tali and Hinata try to patch Naruto's wounds.
"NO! I'm not losing him again!" Hinata could hear Tali's pain as she tried frantically to save the man in front of them. Hinata noticed that her hands passed through Naruto as she tried to patch his wounds. Hinata, like Tali, refused to give up, even though deep down she knew that they could do nothing to save him.
Garrus continued to watch them, before standing up and gently pulling Tali away. Hinata could feel herself get the same treatment from Gaara.
Tali started to cry as Garrus pulled her away. "NO! I lost him once; I can't live through that again Garrus!"
"Tali, we are not there with him! It appears that we are there, but cannot physically interact with anything here. Look back through the portal." All four of the people looked and saw themselves still touching the edge of the portal.
Hinata was also trying to bring herself to stop crying as she saw that there was no way to save Naruto as they were. Her knees collapsed as the weight of the knowledge sunk in. Gaara put a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"God, feels like years since I just sat down." Anderson started to nod off, like he was asleep.
"I think you've earned a rest." Naruto replied. He glanced over, seeing that Anderson was keeping his head down. "Anderson?" he called out, prompting Anderson to respond with a small mumble and bring his head up slightly. "Stay with me! We're almost through this."
Anderson's head rolled a bit, before his head slowly crept down, seeming to nod off again.
"You did good son. You did good. I'm, proud of you." Anderson's head finally stopped trying to fight against gravity and he stopped trying to lift his head.
"Thank you sir." Naruto's own head was leaned back, staring out the open window. When he didn't hear Anderson reply, he turned to look at him. "Anderson?" He called out a final time, but the other man never replied.
Hinata could see the sadness in Naruto's eyes as he slowly looked away to glance back out to the sight of the stars. He glanced down to his left side and pulled away his hand. Gaara saw that the entire arm was covered in blood. Hinata was the next to see the arm. She could no longer hold onto her cries, putting her hands up to her face and trying to hold in her tears. Tali's sobs got even louder when she saw the wound. Garrus quietly cursed.
"Commander? Commander?! Do you read me?" Everyone in their group who were watching over Naruto jumped in fright, not expecting the loud, gravelly voice that came through the air.
Naruto's head snapped up.
"I'm… I read you." He said as he slid over to his left side, trying to push himself up to his feet again.
"It's not working. The Crucible isn't firing. Something has to be wrong at your end!"
He managed to stand, saying "I'm not sure, what to do," He managed to take 3 steps, passing through the group, startling Hinata and Tali as he walked through them. He collapsed to his knees, still trying to reach the podium, however the blood loss was finally taking its toll. He dragged his broken body forward, leaving a streak of red as he continued his mission. He was almost to the podium when he started to reach up and mumbled "I don't know what…" and then collapsed on the ground finally giving into exhaustion.
"NARUTO!" Hinata and Tali ran over to their fallen lover, followed closely by Gaara and Garrus.
They gathered around his stilled body. Hinata could hear Tali's sobs as she attempted to hold the man in front of them. Hinata was in just as bad shape, holding onto Naruto's other side.
A glowing white line appeared in a rectangle around Naruto's body. The ground panel Naruto was laying on lifted up, whisking everyone higher up into the darkness of the top of the room.
Get up. The entire group jumped in surprise at the sound of the voice when the panel stopped moving. It sounded like a child, but Hinata could pick out faint whispers of what sounded like Naruto and another female in its speech.
Get up. Naruto shook his head awake. He slowly pushed himself up. Hinata and Tali stared up at him. Garrus had pulled Gaara up to his feet already. Naruto stood up, clutching at his side again, still holding onto his pistol as he looked at the being in front of him.
Hinata and Tali stood up as well, standing behind Naruto as he looked down at the child in front of them. Hinata looked around Naruto to get a good look at whatever this thing was. It resembled a child, but its body whispered in and out of existence with a blue mist.
"What are you?" Naruto asked it.
"I am the Catalyst." It replied.
"I thought the Citadel was the catalyst?" Naruto sounded confused.
"No. The Citadel is part of me."
"I need to stop the Reapers. Do you know how I can do that?"
"Perhaps. I control the Reapers. They are my solution." The child of the mist turned away and started walking towards a giant machine. Naruto started to follow the child, limping as he went. All four of them followed Naruto, Tali and Garrus watched on with massive interest, while Hinata and Gaara were confused as to what was happening and what this Catalyst was talking about.
"Solution? To what?"
The being replied simply, "Chaos." It lead Naruto to look over a large battle over the very same planet they had been watching down below. "The created will always rebel against the creator. But we found a way to stop that from happening. A way to restore order for the next cycle."
"By wiping out organic life?" Naruto continued to stare at the being. Hinata and Gaara looked at Naruto in shock, then quickly glanced to Garrus and Tali. They both nodded, but held their respective talons and fingers up to their mouths, silencing any questions the other two had.
"No, we harvest advanced civilizations. Leaving the younger ones alone." The Catalyst looked back at him, and then turned around again. Naruto and the others followed it. "Just as we left your people alive the last time we were here."
"But you killed the rest?"
"We helped them ascend, so they could make way for new life. Storing the old life in Reaper form." Hinata thought back to what Naruto had said about his enemies, the Reapers, destroying all life. So, the Reapers are each a civilization that has been harvested? Hinata quickly thought to herself.
"I think we'd rather keep our own form." Naruto told the Catalyst.
"No. You can't. Without us to stop it, synthetics will destroy all organics. We've created the cycle so that never happens. That's the solution."
"But, you're taking away our future. Without a future, we have no hope. Without hope, we might as well be machines, programmed to do what we are told."
"You have hope. More than you think. The fact that you are standing here, the first organic ever, proves it. But is also proves that my solution won't work anymore."
"So now what?" Naruto was somewhat hunched over, still clutching at his wounded side.
"We find a new solution."
"Yeah, but how?" Naruto stumbled a bit. Both Hinata and Tali reached out to grab him, even though their arms passed through his chest. He managed to catch himself before he fell.
"The Crucible changed me. It created new, possibilities. But I can't make them happen. I know you've thought about destroying us." Naruto look up to his right, at a giant set of pipes that were bathed in a red light.
"You can wipe out all synthetic life if you want. Including the Geth. Even you are partly synthetic."
"But the Reapers would be destroyed?" All four of the people who were with him were shocked. Hinata could not believe that Naruto could consider his own death as an option.
The Catalyst took a bit to respond. "Yes. But the peace won't last. Soon, your children will create synthetics, and then the chaos would come back."
"Maybe," Naruto seemed to be in deep thought as he said this.
"Or, do you think you can control us?" the child asked him. Naruto looked up to his left. Hinata and the others looked as well, seeing a bunch of cables that ran into the floor that was bathed in a blue light.
"Huh. So, the Illusive Man was right after all?"
"Yes, but he could never have taken control, because we already controlled him." Hinata's mind quickly flashed to the man who had shot himself just a bit ago at the mention of them controlling someone.
"But I can?" Naruto looked back to the child. Hinata moved a bit to stand at his side, while Tali took up a place as his left.
"Yes. You will die. You will control us, but you will lose everything you have."
"But the Reapers will obey me?"
Tali was the one who spoke next. "Naruto, we have been trying to destroy these things for the past four years. Don't even consider it!"
"Yes." The Catalyst seemed to respond faster to that question than to Naruto's previous one about destroying them. "But, there is another solution."
"Which is?" Naruto's breathing started to become ragged.
"Synthesis." Everyone looked at the blue beam of light that was in front of Naruto as the Catalyst said this.
"And that is?" Naruto asked as he looked back to the Catalyst. The others quickly glanced back down to the Catalyst.
"Add your energy to the Crucibles. Everything you are will be absorbed and then sent out. The chain reaction will combine all synthetic and organic life into a new framework. Into a new DNA." Naruto looked down for a bit.
Garrus's strong voice shouted out "Commander, you cannot force that choice on everyone! You can't force the entire galaxy to become like that!"
"I… don't know." Naruto looked back to the Catalyst.
"Why not? Synthetics are already a part of you. Can you imagine your life without them?"
"And there will be peace?" Naruto asked it. Tali and Garrus appeared horrified, while Hinata and Gaara managed to grasp enough of this choice to understand that everything in the galaxy would be changed. That everyone in their world would be changed to be how like Naruto is. Part man, and part machine.
"The cycle will end. Synthesis is the final evolution of life. But we need each other to make it happen. You have a difficult decision. Releasing the energy of the Crucible will end the Cycle, but it will also destroy the Mass Relays. The paths are open. But you have to choose." The Catalyst's form whispered away, and to the left and right of Naruto, pathways rose up from below the walkway they were standing on.
Naruto's head dropped, his shoulder's slumping, clearly looking defeated. Hinata tightened her grip on his right arm, and saw that she was able to faintly feel his torn up and burned arm.
"Naruto," Tali called out to him, "Don't believe it. Controlling them won't stop them, and forcing everyone to change is not the way to go about this either." Hinata saw her grab his hand. "You have to destroy them, my love."
"Tali's right, my brother. You have to destroy them. Hell, our enemies killed you once, and all it did was piss you off." Garrus attempted to put his hand on Naruto's shoulder. Miraculously, this time, it stayed. Naruto seemed to relax, almost as if he could feel Garrus's taloned hand on his shoulder.
"Naruto, I don't know much about what is happening, but forcing us to change because a ghost told you it was the best choice? I know my friend would not accept that as the correct option." Gaara mimicked Garrus, putting his right hand on Naruto's other shoulder.
Hinata didn't know what to say, so she just said what was on her mind, "Naruto, like Gaara I am completely lost as to the burdens you bear and the decision you now face. But, I do not believe that that being is right. I know it said that all synthetic life would be destroyed, and that you yourself were partially synthetic, but I only think it was telling you that to make you think that the other two options were right. Please, destroy your enemies, and come home. You have a date with me, remember?" Hinata's eyes began to water as she tried to be strong for Naruto. She looked over to Tali, and could see a faint smile that squinted Tali's eyes a bit behind her mask.
Naruto surprised them all by exhaling slowly. He breathed in quickly, and started mumbling to himself. The quiet in the room they were in, however, carried his words to them as if he were shouting them out. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry… EDI." Naruto turned to his right, once again passing through Hinata as he lurched away from them towards the tubes that were lit with a red light.
"I'm sorry everyone. I know you can't hear me, but I want to get this out of my system anyway," Naruto said as he shuffled towards the red tubes. He wobbled a bit as he stood in front of them.
"I'm sorry, but the first round's on me Garrus. We've been to hell and back, but I think I'll get there first. I know you said you'd buy the first round if Heaven had a bar, but I'm going to beat you there, so I'll be the one buying.
Gaara, I know you are a great leader for your people, so I want you to become the greatest Kazekage your village has ever seen! Do this for me as well, as I'll need you to live out my dream of becoming Hokage, since I don't think I'll be around.
Tali, we first met when you were about to be killed by a couple of goons. I'll be honest; I think I started liking you way back then. You were always so cute when you started talking to me and got so nervous. I've always been kind of dense about my own feelings. After I came back and you finally told me how you felt, I've never been able to shake the feeling that you should be with someone better, someone who wasn't a freak Cerberus experiment. Sorry about that.
Hinata, I'm sorry I didn't tell you how I felt sooner. Honestly, I was always nervous around you with how you fainted every time I tried to talk to you. Plus, like how I felt about Tali, I always felt like you could do better than me. You could've had any of the other shinobi in our class, but for some reason, you picked me, the 'dead last' of our graduating class."
He raised his arm, his hand shaking under the weight of the weapon in it. "I hope that all of you can understand why I lied to you about coming home. I have the blood of hundreds of thousands of lives on my hands after Bahak. And with this choice I have made, a few hundred thousand more will join the stains already coating my arms. That amount of blood can't be washed clean.
I'm almost ashamed to admit it, but I never fought to protect the galaxy. I fought to protect the lives of the ones I care about. I have sacrificed almost everything I am, and if all it takes to protect you from this threat is for me to sacrifice what I am slated to become, then I will gladly forfeit my life for my brothers and lovers."
Hinata and Tali were the first to try to run up the pathway to Naruto, even though they heard the heavy BOOM erupt from the weapon in his hand, which was quickly followed by a resounding CRACK from the device in front of him. There were several more reports, and then the glass exploded. Hinata and Tali watched as Naruto was thrown to the side from the blast. They then felt themselves get thrown backwards as their vision went dark.
She felt soft, prickly grass from the ground when she woke. The familiar hands of Tsunade brought Hinata out of the darkness.
"Tsunade-sama?" Hinata asked, trying to clear her head from what felt like a fog.
"Hinata? Are you ok? What happened over there?" Tsunade seemed to be in a state of panic.
"Weren't you watching through the portal?" Hinata could feel her thinking become faster.
"No. Once you all touched the portal, it went black and all of you looked to be asleep while standing. We could see your eyes fluttering around behind your eyelids. All four of you collapsed about 20 minutes ago."
20 minutes? We've been out that long? Hinata frantically sat up, looking over and seeing Gaara, Garrus and Tali slowly sitting up like her.
"Where's… where's Naruto?" Hinata asked, trying to stand up and managing to do so with some help from Tsunade.
"He never came back through the portal Hinata." Sakura was the one who answered her.
"NO!" Hinata shouted out as she turned to face the portal, finding to her dismay that it was gone.
"No," Hinata could feel her pain threaten to crush her; "No, no no no no" was all she could repeat as her tears billowed out.
Hinata felt slender arms wrap themselves around her shoulders. She looked up into the glowing eyes of Tali. Hinata could not see her face through her helmet, but she knew that Tali was in just as much pain as she was.
They held each other, taking comfort in the arms of the only other woman who could understand the depths of their pain. They knew that the man they loved was gone forever.
Garrus could only feel anger at the Commander's death, cursing whatever machination brought about this ending for his brother. He happened to glance back, and saw a small portal re-open, slowly expanding as the wind in the area grew stronger. His mandibles and mouth dropped open in shock. There, sitting in the middle of a ton of rubble, was what looked like a piece of N7 chest armor that had been badly burned. Garrus squinted at it, and saw it rise sharply.
He really doesn't know how to die, does he? Garrus put his talons on Gaara's shoulder, and turned him around. He went over to the two crying women and helped them to their feet.
"Garrus, I can't go on without him," Tali told him.
"You won't. Come on!" He shouted the last bit to get the other girl, Hinata's, attention. They both looked back and saw that the portal had re-opened. He saw Hinata and the red-headed boy, Gaara, were looking at them strangely again.
The translators only worked on the other side of the portal? I wonder why? Garrus lead the group back to the portal towards the still-breathing body of their friend and Commander.
They reached the portal, and this time, Garrus pushed his hand through, feeling the portal try to force him back
By the Spirits you will not prevent me from saving my brother again! Garrus pushed through the portal, tripping on something and falling onto the rubble on the other side, feeling the hard texture on his right mandible before he attempted to push himself off the ground.
Tali fell down next to him as she had crossed over with him. They quickly stood up, seeing that they were surrounded on all sides by mountains of concrete and bent steel beams.
Garrus heard the other two humans land as they pushed themselves through the portal as well. He and Tali turned around and helped them to their feet.
He lead them towards Naruto's breathing body, and found to his surprise, another boy with him. The boy couldn't have been older than 17 or 18, but he looked a lot like a younger Namikaze without the scars. The boy was wearing a pair of black shorts and a black tee shirt.
"Naruto!" The two kids shouted and rushed to the other boy that was with Namikaze. Garrus noticed that both of the men laying in front of them were bearing the same burn marks and wounds.
Tali kneeled down, lifting Namikaze's head and placing it in her lap, putting her hand on his chest to feel the contractions of his lungs.
The scarred, older Namikaze spoke as his eyes shot open, "Hinata, Tali, I'm not sure how this happened, but it appears that my lives have been split. I am no longer Naruto Uzumaki and Commander Namikaze. I can throw or between our names now. We are separate entities finally. I have to ask you, Hinata, for a favor."
"Anything, Namikaze-san," Hinata had done the same as Tali for the younger Uzumaki man.
"We've known nothing but war and strife in our lives. Promise me you'll take care of him, and help him with his loneliness?" Namikaze was looking at her with pride.
"I promise you this Namikaze-san, he will never be alone again." Hinata had a strange determination at that statement. She and Gaara picked up Naruto's unconscious form and put one arm around each shoulder as his blonde head dropped forward.
They had almost reached the portal when the Commander called out to them again, "One more thing." Gaara turned the group to look at the Commander.
"I don't know when he will awaken from his injuries, but take heart. He will come back to you." He looked up to Tali, quietly telling her, "Once they cross that portal, I'm going to go into a coma from the wounds I have. Like what I told them, I have no idea when I will wake up, but I will come back to build you our house. I'm sorry, but it probably won't be be on Rannoch though," Her Naruto seemed to be very sad about his promise to her being unfulfilled.
"My home, Commander, has always been where you are, so it no longer matters to me where we decide to build our house, so long as you're there. You got my people their home world back. I may not be able to live there, but my people who are there now can start over.
And don't worry; I'll wait for you, my love. I'll wait until you come back to me." Tali caressed his scarred face as he smiled at her. He brought his hand up to touch the side of her helmet, watching her lovely face smile at him from behind her helmet.
"Thanks," he whispered to her, before shouting once again to the group of kids that were still looking at him. "Goodbye you three. Help him reach his first dream of becoming Hokage, and his second, of starting a family!" He shouted out to the group of shinobi. Hinata blushed a very bright red and nearly fainted at his statement. Gaara saw her predicament, and quickly pushed their group back through the portal.
Commander Namikaze continued to stare into Tali's eyes as the other group left through the portal, which slowly closed behind them. Once the portal was gone, the Commander's eyelids dropped halfway, his mouth stayed open as his arm dropped to the ground.
"I'm going to try raising someone on our comms to get an evac from wherever we are. You keep an eye on him, all right?" Garrus told her as he started to climb the rubble to get a better idea of where they were stranded.
Tali watched as Garrus stumbled up the rubble, the thumb on her left hand slowly stroking the scarred face of her lover. Once he made it to the top, she looked back down at the wounded man she would now and forever call her husband. I'll wait as long as I need to for you to come back, she thought to herself, certain that the other girl, Hinata, was thinking the same thing about the man she loved.