So, we're in the second chapter of the new Gundam Seed based story in the Hero Series. Just as to let you know, I kinda noticed that there are no reviews in this fic. Here's a question for you all:

Do you want this chapter, along with the story Stars of the Future merged into the Masked Hero With the Frozen Heart story?

So, without a further ado, Phase 02 is here!


Phase 02: The Race is On

Kakashi was angry at the ZAFT soldiers that decided to ruin the colony just to retreive some mobile suits and a warship to boot. He and Kurenai were also upset that Naruto was one of the soldiers that contributed to the collapse of the colony. As the Goddess and the Archangel were traveling across space, the copy nin then opened up a communications link wiht the Archangel. Murrue Ramius was the first one to answer the call.

"This is Archangel, over." Murrue said as Kakashi's face appeared over the television.

"This is Goddess. We would like to offer an assistance to your ship since ZAFT is on our tail as well." Kakashi replied. "We have been targeted by the ZAFT fleet that our friend is on."

"I hear that the pilot that piloted the Strike had a friend in the ZAFT forces. He was being convinced to join them. Likewise, I hear that the ZAFT soldier that you mentioned is being convinced to join you as well." the captain replied. "Well, our nearest point that we'll travel is the Artemis base."

"Artemis is not a good idea, but it's the only idea that is open." the copy nin replied again. "I heard that the prototype mobile suits that were stolen by ZAFT is being shipped to the secret organization that is responsible for our missing blueprints."

"So, you have the same problem then." Murrue said as the ship then received another signal. "We're getting a signal from the Strike."

"Probably bringing in the lifeboat that was from the ruined colony." Kakashi replied again as the link closed. He then turned to the crew and said. "We're going to support the ship that is ahead of us. That is the top priority if we want to entrap the ZAFT forces."

"Or more like entrapping Naruto and the Asuka kid." Kurenai replied as she typed something on the computer. "They are simply unstoppable, but even with the new machines that we may build, we have to come up with something."

The Goddess was sailing so fast that they didn't notice the Gamow nearby.


In the Gamow, the pilots of the Duel, Buster and Blitz were having a discussion with the captain about what really happened. As far as they were concerned, targeting a neutral colony for the machines that were built for the enemy was a reasonable choice.

"And they call themselves neutral?" Dearka said. "The idiots that called themselves neutral were building these things?" He gestured to the mobile suits. "Wow, that must be the most idiotic thing I've ever heard."

"I heard from Commander Le Creuset that Commander Namikaze is being targeted by that ship that was aiding the legged ship." Yzak said as he massaged his head. "They called themselves the Konoha Freedom Front."

"I may not have heard about them, but there was a rumor that Chairman Clyne and Representative Zala went to Commander Namikaze's hometown somewhere in the Arctic. A funny place to be living, if you know what I mean." Dearka replied. "And there's that issue with Athrun and the pilot of the Strike."

"Funny, seeing that he knew the pilot of the Strike." Yzak replied back. "So what the hell was his friend doing in that colony?"

"Well, he moved there, since he's an Orb national. From what I heard, Orb has accepted coordinators, right?" Nicol said.

"Well, no way is the Commander going to let this go. For sure, we may have to serve under Commander Namikaze himself and his fleet." Dearka said as they went back into the bridge. "We may be fighting those guys again if the time comes."

In the Exodia, Naruto was discussing a strategy with Koyuki and Yugito. The crew were also amazed at how they were grasping the situation.

"Well, we have the gray ship and the legged ship in sight." Yugito explained. "The Gamow and the Vesalius are pursuing the legged ship, so we should pursue the gray ship as well."

"Yes, but I'm worried that Naruto may get captured if that ship deploys the mobile suit and some couple mobile armors. The last time that we faced against them, it was so bad." Koyuki replied as Naruto patted her back. "Well, it looks like I'm also the target as well."

"Don't worry, Koyuki-san. We're not going to let them catch us offguard." Naruto replied. "So what is the reasonable strategy to go after the ship?"

"First, we lull it into a false sense of security. From what I heard, your mobile suit has the Mirage Colloid, right?" Yugito asked Naruto as he nodded. "That can be used to pull off a surprise attack on the ship."

"Yes, but there are the mobile armors that are piloted by Asuma-san and Gai-san." the blond replied. "Perhaps we should join forces with the Vesalius and the Gamow and take both the legged ship and the gray ship out."


The younger generation of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio were inspecting the supplies that were brought into the ship when Neji came up to them.

"So, do we have enough food to sustain ourselves?" he asked.

"More than enough, depending on how much Chouji eats. Plus, that ship may not have enough food to sustain themselves, plus the refugees as well." Ino said.

"We have to give some of our supplies to the Archangel. It's only natural that we help them." Neji stated. "Although, the water supply situation can be dire, unless we can pull off a Suiton jutsu."

"We can't even create a Bunshin, not while in space." Shikamaru drawled. "I don't know what is the situation with the princess of Orb aboard that ship."

"So, we need to get more supplies then." Chouji said as he went into the kitchen. "I'll prepare dinner then."

"I'll help you, Chouji." Ino said as she and Shikamaru went into the kitchen as well. Neji then went back into the hangar as he went into his mobile suit and started to type in the system. As he was typing, he sensed Hinata and Kiba coming towards him.

"Neji-nii-san, we have the ship detecting the ZAFT fleet." Hinata reported as she looked around the hangar. "Wow, there's only your mobile suit and the mobile armors that Asuma-sensei and Gai-sensei pilots."

"Then again, Gai-sensei is not the one for shooting duels." Neji replied as he got off the mobile suit and joined them. "Kiba, have we detected the mobile suits that ZAFT is deploying right now?"

"Not yet. But it seems that we're heading for a Eurasian base." Kiba replied. "I bet that Tukhachevsky guy is in league with the Eurasians and their secret organization." Both Hyugas loked at him. "Seriously, how did Naruto and the rest of the ZAFT forces knew that we were building these machines?"

"That is what we are discussing as we speak." Neji said as they entered the bridge. "I'll launch in the Reaper to help with the supply delivery."

What Neji did notice about the differences between the Archangel and the Goddess are that the Archangel's space is a bit smaller than the Goddess. Not to mention that the ship's layout is different. As he helped with the delivery of food into the hangar, the mechanics were helping with the delivery. As the Strike had also joined them, it too brought in a shuttle containing the refugees. One of them was a redhead with a pink dress. Neji bowed to her as she gave a nod of recognition and looked at him.

"You're that guy that we saw back in Heliopolis." the girl said as she shook Neji's hand. "I'm Flay Allster by the way."

"Neji Hyuga, and I'm from the Goddess." Neji replied as he led the redhead into the the cafeteria and joined the rest of the refugees. Kira had joined them later on as Sai and the rest of the Heliopolis students had seen them. "I brought food with me."

"So, we should lead you to the bridge so that you can talk to the captain." Sai said as they led him into the bridge. "Here is the pathway into the bridge."

"Good luck, Neji." Miriallia Haww replied as the Hyuga entered the bridge only to be in a middle of a discussion between the captain and the pilot.

"Ma'am, I'm here to report that the food supplies are being delivered." Neji reported as a blond haird man then saluted back to him. "Mu La Flaga, I presume?"

"You got it right, kiddo." Mu said as he and Murrue turned to look at him along with a black haired woman. "You must be the Hyuga genius, right? I'm surprised that you can pilot the mobile suit the same way as Kira does."

"Well, I just knew since I am a member of the Konoha Freedom Front." Neji replied as Mu sighed.

"I ran into this kid, Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze at Endymion. He was clever, but I noticed that he's not that of a jolly person. These days, he starts to act more like that bastard Le Creuset." Mu said angrily as Murrue and the other woman turned to him.

"Well, we thak you for the aid that you gave us." Murrue said as they saluted to him and he saluted back. "Good to see in the uniform too."

"Thank you." Neji replied as he then left. "One of you guys reminded me of the captain of our ship. He is like playing by the rules."

"That I'm glad to meet him if the time comes." the woman replied as she sontinued to speak. "I'm Ensign Natarle Badguirel by the way."

"Nice to meet you." Neji replied as he exited from the bridge.


The visits between Le Creuset and Naruto were becoming rare, as they were busy plotting strategy for the upcoming pursuit. Only this time, it was the older masked man that came over to the Exodia and he was amazed at how the designs were efficient. Naruto then spotted him and saluted to him.

"Well, Naruto. Have you been having nightmares lately?" Le Creuset asked as Naruto shook his head. "That's great. But I have come over to your ship since we need to discuss the possibility of you commanding my team for a while."

Naruto looked at him with interest. "Maybe I can do that. Right now, there is my current team with a couple of GINNs, some GINN HM I and a CGUE. Koyuki-taichou has a couple of GINNs and a CGUE, period."

"That is interesting." Le Creuset replied as he and Naruto went into the bridge where everyone saluted to the two officers. "Now, we have all come here to discuss the possibility of capturing the Strike."

"Le Creuset-san, it would be up to Athrun to do that though." Koyuki said truthfully. "But the other team members would not be so hesitant to kill him."

"Well, having a talented pilot on our side would enhance our fortunes." Le Creuset replied. "But from what I heard from Naruto, it's the boy that was created from that project in which your future fiance was a byproduct." Koyuki blushed at this information. "Don't worry about it. Athrun is engaged to Lacus Clyne, and I'm not sure if Naruto is also being pursued personally by one of the women in that Front."

Koyuki's face then turned serious. "Well, we can't do anything about it until we get any more information."

"We may as well try to shake off our targets for now. But it looks like they're heading towards Artemis. If my memory serves me right, this is where Alexei had his contacts in the Earth Forces." Naruto replied as the electronic table activated. "Here is where we are." He pointed to the point where the ship is located. "And here are the legged ships. Both of them would be most likely to aim for Artemis since their supplies are low, thanks to our actions."

"Well, you're right. So, the question is, how do we overcome the Umbrella?" Le Creuset asked them. Yugito then recounted a data entry about one of the Gundams, and was thinking about it. Finally, she snapped her fingers and went on to the database. "You found something?"

"Well, if memory can serve me right, I'd say that the Blitz Gundam would do the trick. But since our contacts within the secret organization has connections to the Earth Alliance, we may have to stage a fake battle." Yugito said as she and Naruto typed in a data on the Umbrella. Just then, the Gamow had met up with them as Yugito opened a link with the captain of the Gamow. "Sir, should we proceed in attacking the legged ship?"

"Of course, but your ship will take care of the darker version of the legged ship." the Gamow captain replied. "We'll have the Duel, Buster and the Blitz launch. You guys better launch the Commando, Tsukuyomi, Guillotine, Ballista and the Blitzkrieg to combat."

"Roger that." Yugito replied as Naruto and Koyuki rushed towards the gate of the bridge. "You guys better not get killed."

"Okay, kancho." Naruto replied as he and Koyuki went with Le Creuset to the bridge to launch in their mobile suits. The Commando then went into the launching pad as it was ready to launch. "This is Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze, Commando taking off!"

"This is Rau Le Creuset, CGUE. Taking off as well."

"Koyuki Kazahana here, Guillotine. Launching!"

The mobile suits then took off into the depths of space as the Archangel and the Goddess had detected what's going on.


"Mobile suit detected!" Hinata reported as the incoming ZAFT machines tore after the Archangel. "Where's Neji-nii-san?"

"I'm already out." Neji's voice crackled through out the link as he cut it off and tore after the Commando.

"We are to disable the Commando and the Guillotine. Any other machines can be killed of course." Kakashi ordered as the Goddess activated its weapon systems. They then saw the Exodia activating its weapons systems along with the Endeavour, Lawrence, Firebolt and Thunderbird. "Aim the Gottfrieds at the lead ship." The Gottfrieds were aimed at the incoming ship. "Fire!"

The beam weapon fired its round as the Exodia dodged the incoming attack. Yugito was gritting her teeth as the ship that she had captained had nearly caused damage. Just then, the Endeavour had made some contact with the ship.

"Captain Biggsfront here, come in Captain Nii." Amanda's voice said as Yugito picked it up.

"Captain Nii here. We need to divert our forces to attacking the Archangel. We can attack the gray ship while the Firebolt and the Lawrence can attack the legged ship, and the Thunderbird can stay to protect the Vesalius and the Gamow." Yugito ordered as the ZAFT fleet then went into action. "Now, Tchaikovskys, fire!"

The Tchaikovskys then fired its round as the Goddess dodged the attack. In the mobile suit battle, Neji was battling all five machines at the same time while activating his Byakugan.

"Damn." Neji gritted his teeth as the Reaper fired its beam rifle at the Blitzkrieg dodged its attack. Shinosuke then yelled out a war cry as the Blitzkrieg got out its beam saber and slashed at the Reaper. "Now, c'mon!"

"Die!" Shinosuke yelled as he attempted to slash at the incoming mobile suit, but he kept on missing. Amaya on the other hand, was busy bombarding the Archangel with her missiles and her long cannon. "Amaya, can you hear me? Aim for the engines!"

"Roger that!" Amaya said as she tore after the Archangel, even though Neji was unable to come after her. But Amaya then found herself surrounded by the Moebius Armor piloted by Asuma and Gai. It was then that Mamoru and the other pilots rushed to her aid. "Mamoru-sempai?"

"Amaya, we'll deal with the mobile armors. You go on dealing with the Archangel." Mamoru ordered as the Ballista went away.

In the Gamow, the Duel was about to launch as Yzak was itching to go into battle. He, Dearka and Nicol were about to take off when the Exodia's communication slink linked up to their system.

"Gamow, you are to get your mobile suits to engage the gray ship." Yugito's voice thundered throughout the system.

"Yzak Joule, Duel. Launching!"

"Dearka Elsman, Buster. Taking off!"

"Nicol Amalfi, Blitz. Let's do it!"

The three Gundams then tore off after the Archangel as Amaya was suddenly busy with the Strike, which had just launched.

"Yzak, you are to engage the Strike while the Buster and the Blitz are to help me with blasting this ship apart. Do you copy?" Amaya ordered.

"Roger that!" Yzak said as they broke up to do their respective orders. He spotted the Strike as he fired its beam rifle at him. Just then, the Aegis had appeared into the fray and fired its beam rifle at the Strike, while Athrun was trying to speak to Kira.

"Kira! Please put away your sword!" Athrun said. "We're not enemies! Am I right?"

"We're not enemies, but I just want to protect my friends! I'm not part of the Earth Forces." Kira replied. "What about you? I thought you didn't like the concept of war."

"That was before I lost my mother in the Junius Seven Incident." Athrun replied.

Meanwhile, the Commando was still leading the other remaining machines in dealing with the Reaper as Naruto activated his gun barrels and fired at the same time at Neji.

"C'mon, Neji! Can't you at least give up and go back?" Naruto asked.

"It's a matter of bringing you back." Neji replied as he aimed his beam rifle at the gunbarrel. In a nick of time, his shot had missed the gunbarrel and Naruto then got out his beam saber and slashed at the Reaper.

"You guys, go bombard the gray ship." Naruto said as the other machines tore off after the Goddess. "Itachi, you're in charge."

"Roger that." Itachi replied as they went to search for the ship. The Tsukuyomi went along with the Blitzkrieg to look for the weakness of the gray ship as they were ambushed by a powerful beam cannon coming from the Goddess. "Damnation. It looks like we're stuck for a while."

"Well, it can't get any worse, can it?" Shinosuke asked as he saw Naruto and Neji dueling each other. "We may have to pull off the attack on the gray ship another day."

As the Goddess dodged every move that the two Gundams had launched its attack on, it aimed its Gottfrieds at the Tsukuyomi.

"Gottfrieds, fire!" Kakashi yelled as the Gottfrieds fired. The Tsukuyomi dodged the beam as it fired its beam rifle. "That must be one tough machine."

Neji's voice suddenly crackled in the link. "That machine is the Tsukuyomi! It belongs to Itachi Uchiha!"

Everyone on the Goddess gasped as they heard this information. So the gaki had teamed up with the infamous clan killer, and that it was going to get worse. Luckily, the Moebius Zero that Mu was piloting had managed to damage the Vesalius.

"Damn you. Mu." Le Creuset said to himself as the Vesalius suffered a mild damage. The Strike and the Reaper then returned to their respective ships as the ZAFT mobile suits also returned to the ship. But Athrun wasn't lucky, and they were about to find out why.

When Naruto went to land the mobile suit in the Exodia, he was surprised to see Koyuki and Athrun at the same time. He gestured for the two of them to go follow him into the bridge. Naruto then went up to the blue haired Zala and patted him in the back.

"Athrun, what's wrong?" Naruto asked.

"Well, I almost got Kira to join us, but he somehow managed to escape." he replied. "If he can only see the error of his ways, he and I would be fighting side by side."

"I am in that situation as well, only this time it's the opposite. My old friends telling me to leave ZAFT and join them." Naruto replied as Athrun looked at him. "As far as I'm concerned, Kira and I are in the same situation, only it's the opposite."


The bastion of the organization has been seen from a distance. As the vanishing Gundam successfully overcome the defenses that the Eurasians pull up, it is only a matter of time before the secret organization can reveal its true colors.

Next on Mobile Suit Gundam Seed: The Heroes' Battle: The Invisible Enemy

Blitz, charge towards an impregnable fortress!