"Are you sure you want to do this?" She asked her son. His blue eyes sparkled in excitement.

"Of course, I want to!" He exclaimed rolling his eyes at his red-headed mother, "It's a once in a lifetime opportunity, and besides we could really use the money."

She sighed, "I know Naruto." She slumped in her seat at the dinner table, "I'm just not comfortable having you so far away. I still need your help here." She gently rubbed her swollen stomach.

"Then come with me."

"Is space travel really good for pregnant women?" She laughed and rubbed the back of her head.

He shrugged, "Things have gotten better."

"I know." She sighed and looked at him again. He looked so much like his father her heart hurt. "I make no promises."

He gave her a smile, "Besides the twins will love this new place, believe it!" He chuckled, "Now eat up before it gets cold."


Kushina didn't sleep that night. Not that she could on most nights, being pregnant made ones bladder very small and easily filled. The thought of letting Minato's son leave to take his place as another Colonist in a, more than likely dangerous, new world made her tremble from effort trying to keep from crying. She had gotten so used to having him as the man of the house. He was there when she had made the decision to incubate the twins. He was the one who held her as they told her out of all the eggs donated and sperm that was saved, only two were fertilized. Only two kids made from her late husband. She wanted to cry, if only they had found the body earlier more of the sperm could have been collected and saved.

Naruto was her lifeline, her only connection to her late husband. She couldn't let him leave her. Not with twins. Not in this slump she had no idea how to get out of.

She breathed deep and forced herself up off the bed. The smell of eggs came from down the hallway, her stomach rumbled. She sighed and slipped on her robe, loosely tying it around herself. Slipping her feet into a pair of puffy white slippers, she made her way down to the kitchen. She clutched at the railings while she hobbled down the stairs.

"Good morning." Naruto chirped from the stove. His chest was bare letting her see the white scars that littered his skin, two elongated ones ran down his back on either side of his spine. Her heart hurt from the reminder that he had just barely gotten out of that fight alive. She was just lucky to have one of her two boys back from that fight. His sleep pants hung loosely on his hips and a white apron covered his front. An oval ring marked the delta of one of his shoulders, his right one. That was where the beast had sunk its teeth in leaving it's venom behind.

"Morning." She muttered and took her seat at the table lost in her memories. It had only been two years after she had married Naruto's father when it had happened. They were doing their part as citizens of Barch, it was the law that all males over the age of sixteen were to hunt. It was to keep the town safe, to give more to the food supply, and to take out rogue experiments.

The unfortunate one they had come across was the bio's latest 'upgrade' to the human psyche. He had been altered with DNA and radiation that split and changed his own DNA until he barely resembled human flesh. However he was far from human, venom ran rampant in his blood and the last victim of his bite had died not two minutes after the infection settled. It had drained the victim til he was a husk of what he had been before. The skin had been pulled taut over his bones, each of his ribs could be counted, his spine could be seen through his stomach. His eyes had bled and melted, his tongue bloated and broke his windpipe delivering the killing blow.

When Naruto had been bit they had told her to be thankful to even have the chance to say goodbye. She had cried herself to sleep in his arms that night expecting him to be gone in the morning, getting prepped for cremation. She had not been expecting him to grow. The venom had reacted to something in his DNA triggering a growth spurt, almost two feet in one night, muscles broke and healed over and over expanding his muscle density. The doctors had been floored, tests were run for a few years until he was eighteen. He was normal for the most part. He could lift about over two times his own weight easily, run faster than the hover boards top speed, he could jump higher than a kangaroo, and he had lots of extra energy affected his sleep cycle. If he couldn't burn through all that energy before bed, he couldn't sleep. The doctors had called the energy 'chakra'. She had caught a few doctors murmuring about how only one other case was made before. A woman was infected in a different colony that had developed a chakra system as a defense, antibody of sorts.

She looked up out of her thoughts as eggs were placed in front of her, over easy with a sprinkling of pepper and salt on the top. Naruto just gave her a soft smile, he was more than used to how she would go deep into thought whenever she saw his scars. He didn't say anything as he poured her a cup of fresh milk. He walked away a short distance to put the milk back into the fridge.

"Thank you." Kushina said quietly. She took a sip of her milk and almost made a face. The twins weren't going to let her have a proper breakfast today, "Could I just have water today?" She said just as quietly as before.

He gave another soft smile, "They don't want it today?" He chuckled a little bit before taking her glass and replacing it with a glass of water, he himself drank the rest of the milk.

Kushina stayed quiet gently nibbling at the eggs her stepson had made for her. The kitchen was absolutely silent except for the coffee machine.

Naruto cleared his throat after Kushina had finished her last bite of egg. "Have you made a decision yet?"

Kushina put down her fork and crossed her fingers in her lap. "I can't survive here without you." She admitted in a quiet voice, "I don't want to, but it's for the best right?" She looked up at him. He was leaning up against the sink, ankles crossed, and arms folded across his chest. "When are you going?"

"The volunteer center opens at ten." He gave her a shrug. He pushed off from the sink to collect her dishes.

She gave a little nod to show she understood and watched him place the dishes in the sink, "I'll get them." She pulled herself up out of her seat and waddled to the sink. He had backed away knowing that she would not like it had he put up a fight. "We'll both go at ten then." She said right before turning on the sink.

He gently touched her shoulder, "Are you sure."gruffly nodded and soaped up a rag. He squeezed her shoulder as a reply.


At ten right on the dot Naruto and Kushina stood outside of the center. They stood among some of the newly made hunts, several boys just at the age of sixteen were dressed in dark hues, dirty browns, musky greens, and a few lines of black stood stark on their faces. They were waiting in line for a musket, ammo, and a guide. There were others there that weren't dressed for the hunt. Several of them were dressed in light colors, tan, white, and light blue. These were the ones waiting for work. The ones that weren't able to get in the right work line. If it had been any other day, Naruto would have been in that line. There were also women dressed in Yukatas waiting for the incubation period. On any other day, Kushina would have been one of them. They weren't the only ones dressed in black and red hues of their settlements colors, though. He recognized the Might family, or well their children. Tenten and Lee stood up at the front of the line.

The Haruno's girl stood next to the Uchiha triplets, Sakura was her name if Naruto remembered correctly and the triplets were Sasuke, the boy, and the girls were Itachi and Shisui. Next to them their twin cousins, Madara, and Izuna, stood with their hands joined, both girls were blank-faced but their bodies said they were a little scared. Naruto remembered going to grade school and challenge school with them, it had actually been about five years since then, though. Sasuke had gone on a few hunts with him since the doctors had finally let him out of the hospital though. The Hatake family seemed to be sending out their oldest twins, Sakumo, and Kakashi, who were about a year older than him, despite being girls because of their family name they had taken some hunts along with himself before.

It seemed as the more known families from Barch were sending their children, the Might family, the Uchiha families, the Haruno family, and the Hatake family. He could almost bet that none of them knew that the only Uzumaki's in Barch were volunteering for Sector Seven. There were a few others standing in the line but none that he could recall from school. Some were vaguely familiar from some of the hunts he had gone on, as that was the 'odd' job the Minds had assigned him most of the time.

"Looks like we aren't the only ones." Kushina whispered to him. He chuckled lightly and nodded. His temperament had changed since the attack, Sasuke had been annoyed with him throughout school but could now stand to have a conversation with him, Kakashi had been floored with the change and Sakumo had just rolled with it, Kushina would look at him sadly sometimes when she would remember how he could talk for hours about nothing in particular or about ramen. His ramen fetish didn't die but it toned down quite a bit since then.

His chuckle had caught Izuna's attention, though, she had turned back to look at him then faced the front before taking a longer double take. "Uzumaki that you?" She called out to them through the mostly silent crowd. Her voice caught everyone else's attention, though.

"Yeah, you're Izuna right?" He nodded her way only now noticing how short she was compared to his six foot nine status.

Her eyes were a little wider than usual while she nodded politely. "When did you get that tall?" Sakura asked from her five foot even status.

He shrugged, "About five years ago, just after graduation."

"That shouldn't be fair." She pouted. He could understand where she was coming from, she used to be one of the tallest kids in school til about their fourteenth birthday then she became the shortest because her body had refused to grow.

"Sorry." He raised one shoulder in a half-shrug.

The speakers to the building started to hum with life causing the meager attention that had been brought on his shoulders back to the building, "Welcome to the Center, all those seeking employment please enter through door number one. All those seeking the hunts or are registering for the first time for the hunts please enter through door number two. All those planning for birth, pregnancy, or motherhood please enter through door number three. All those seeking a place for Sector Seven please enter door number four. Thank you for your service." The soft female voice funneled through the speakers as the doors began to open.

The workless lined up in a straight line in front of the first door closest to the tracks. The hunts were lined up at the second one, the birth mothers at the third one, and he and the other colonists to be at the fourth door. Today the other three doors weren't being used. Those were made for the graduating, the starting, and the elderly.

One by one they entered the doors, swiping their ID chips in over the scanner. Naruto swiped his wrist over the scanner when it was his turn, the scanner pinged, "Uzumaki Naruto of Barch." He entered the open room.

A woman dressed in gray, the minds color, came to fetch him from the room. "You will be tested, from physical strength to mental capacity, much like your graduation test before a uniform, supplies, job, and results will be provided for you. Your petty cash will be granted after the tests, your seat on the transmitter will be saved. You will be leaving at the end of the week. Thank you for your service." The woman bowed slightly before ushering him into a white walled room.

The walls spoke to him in the same soft females voice from the speakers at the front of the center. "Please close your eyes and empty your mind. We will begin with your mental test." He closed his eyes and settled into the seat that sat in the middle of the room. "A series of pictures will flash on the wall, please name what kind of grouping is being used to include there pictures."

He opened his eyes, the wall showed a white and black spotted dog panting at the gate of some home. Following that, a tall tan and brown giraffe reaching up to eat from its feeder. The next one was a black and orange spotted frog clinging to a leaf. "Spots." Naruto said out loud.

"Correct." The screen went blank, "Next group."

The wall showed a woman sitting in a meadow on a blanket with a wide brim sun hat, a pink sundress spread over her body and tinted glasses rested on her face. Orange poppies grew in the meadow around her. The next picture had a girl smiling through a vase of freshly cut flowers, most were white with a few red and pink accents. The girl had bright blue eyes and long black eyelashes, the smile was toothy surrounded by bubble gum pink lips. The next picture had a woman stretched out on her back in the shade of a tree. She had long black curly hair that surrounded her face in a dark halo, a pale pink bow rested in her hair, an orange sun dress cloaked her body, her feet were bare. Little white daisies printed her belt around the bodice of the dress.

"Female, pink, flowers."

"Correct." The screen went blank, "Next group."

A man in a tall hat held a cane at his side in the black and white photo, he had a large mustache that covered most of his lower face. The next one was a boy about the age of two standing next to a vase that held canes, umbrellas, and above it had a key holder against the wall. He had his finger rested over his top lip and black eyes.

"Black, male, cane, mustache."

"Correct." The screen went blank, "The screen will now show you a series of events. Each event, however, is not in order. You must put them in order from start to finish."

The screen now showed a woman placing a steaming pie on the window seal. The next picture had the same woman toiling in the garden pulling weeds. The next had the woman standing at the oven. The next had the woman grounding wheat into flour. The next had the woman planting seeds. The next had the woman making dough. The next had the woman harvesting the crop.

"Five, two, seven, four, six, three, one."

"Correct." The voice answered. "Now we may begin level two."


Naruto stood from his chair, his brain feeling more used than he had during the graduation test. "Thank you for your service." The walls echoed before a door slid open from his left. A man dressed in gray stood in the doorway.

"Please follow me." The man then turned and walked to the right. Naruto hurried after him. "We will begin your physical test. In this next room please remember that nothing is real. The room will 'think' on its own. Adapt to your make and build. Please under no circumstances are you being forced into this. The test will start when you say begin and it will end when you say adjourn."

Naruto nodded to the man to show he was listening. They came to a stop in front of a room with a glass wall where observers such as this Mind could watch from as he took his test.

"Please put on this helmet and then enter the room." The man took a cyber helmet off of the hook that was next to the door. "You may remember these from Tai class in Challenge school. This is used in the same way however it will not go through the steps with you."

Naruto took the helmet from him. The weight was light, the color was a shiny silver with a black visor for the eyes. A tiny stem hooked off the back end. He put the helmet on and entered the room. The helmet shuttered to life. He could feel the stem move and condense to fit against the top of his spine. The visor sparked to life. "Begin." Naruto said dropping down into a defensive stance.

The room blurred away and soon he was in the forest. He recognized the area instantly. His senses heightened and he looked around him just waiting for something to jump at him. He had been here before, this was the same place they had sent him during the graduation test. Except it was daylight then, now only the moon filtering through the canopy was his only light. He felt more than saw his enemy. There were at least ten surrounding him. He loosened his stance just slightly and that triggered them into motion. The first one came from in front of him. He could see the sleekness of its coat and the fangs that dripped with venom. These were cyotes, genetically engineered coyotes mixed with wolf and snakes. This was Orochimaru's invention before they lynched him long ago before sector six had been settled. They were made for the sole purpose of meat. They were big, bigger than camels from sector one, or the home planet. The venom was just a side effect that snakes DNA added to them.

Naruto dropped to the ground as the cyote leaped at him. He stabbed up at the creatures sternum with a closed fist the bone snapped and the cyote gave a pained sound, then pivoted and shoved his shoulder into its ribs breaking them. He jumped away from the cyote and landed a roundhouse kick against the side of another cyote smashing through its rib cage. He launched himself up and over another one that was lunging for his head. He landed on it's back and quickly snapped its neck. The cyote tumbled to the ground dead. The others followed him, their blind eyes glinted in the moonlight. He didn't wait for the next one to lung and quickly ducked under the closest muzzle. He kicked up at its throat. He heard the crunch of its windpipe and quickly rolled out from under it. He jumped high as another tried taking his head off, he flipped mid air and aimed a downwards kick to its spine. He hit with a terrifying crack as bone caved in, it's heart and lungs smashed beyond redemption.

The other cyotes backed off then. As he stood back up on the back of the fallen one, he let out a growl of his own. He bared his teeth and got ready to pounce once more. The five cyotes left turned and ran as fast as they could from him. He could feel something breathing down his neck as the scene changed, not by much, though. He ducked down low and somersaulted away from a swipe of an almighty brown bear. He rolled back to his feet and charged the bear. He smashed both fists into his stomach, almost literally throwing the bear away from him. He followed after quickly and brought his heel down and through the bear's skull.


Naruto panted as the room spun back into focus, the stem of the helmet detached from his spine. He stood up from his crouch rolling his shoulders. "Well done." The room spoke, "Please wait to remove the helmet until you are out of the room. Thank you for your service." He was starting to get sick of that females droning voice. He did as he was told though and exited from where he had come in from. He pulled off the helmet and handed it over to the Mind.

"Now is the medical test." The man extended his hand from himself to indicate the direction they should be traveling, "It must be thorough but not overwhelming. Remember this is your own free choice, saying no will not hurt your chances of embarking the Transmitter at the end of the week." Naruto nodded to be polite as they made their way down the hallway, "From here another of my brothers will take my place as your escort. Thank you for your service." He told Naruto at the entrance of the med bay.

"Uzumaki Naruto?" A woman wearing red scrubs asked through a surgical mask. Her hands were covered in white gloves and held a pad, clear safety goggles covered her eyes.

"Yes." He nodded down to her.

"Right this way, please. We need to draw blood, check heart rate, blood pressure, and all the fun stuff today." She said in a chipper tone leading them further away from the door. They walked past many 'offices' where other 'patients' sat with other red scrubbed nurses running their tests. Each looked like a cubicle for very little, if any at all, privacy. "Please sit." She gestured into an empty cubicle.

He followed her instructions and sat in the plastic covered chair, the padding wasn't as soft as the first chair he had to sit in today but it was for making sterilizing easier on the nurses.

"First, we will take your blood pressure then your pulse." The nurse set down her pad, "Please roll up your sleeve and stick your arm out, for me."

Naruto rolled up the sleeve to his black blazer trimmed in red, Barch's symbol of a red dragon chasing its tail sat over his breastbone. He stuck his arm out as the nurse wrapped his arm with a band.

"Now this may pinch a little, please tell me if it hurts too much." She smiled, her eyes wrinkling at the corners letting him know her expression. He gave her a nod of understanding. She hummed a little as pressure started to build up around his bicep. Soon it leveled out at a constant and slowly the pressure reduced again as the pad pinged for the nurse. "Alright now, do I have your consent to draw blood?" She asked unwrapping the band from his arm.

"Yes."

"Very well. This will pinch but should not hurt. Please let me know if it hurts any." He nodded as she tied a rubber tube around his bicep, and took a sterile needle out of a drawer. She took a cotton swab and some rubbing alcohol, dabbed it over the junction between his bicep and his forearm. "Alright in we go." She inserted the needle and pressed the button on the end. He felt no pain, nothing as he watched his blood drained from his arm and into the syringe.


This has been mildly edited for major Grammer errors I had just simply ignored when I first posted this. I will continue editing the next couple of chapters before working on the next chapter.

I put this off for far too long.

Edit 6-29-2016