A/N: Still I return again! Pretty quick update, eh?! Things have been absolutely crazy for me as of the last few months what with the surgeries and all, but now at long last, I feel I can devote my attentions to this fic anew as I've intended to do! Of course, now that they're not cutting me OPEN anymore to work on my heart I've also come up with a quite a few new ideas! I can promise ya'll that the next few chappys are going to be nothing short of absolutely brilliant! So sorry for the wait!

Now...

...behold the fruits of my labor!

"Is a Biju better than a Kaiju? I don't know. Why don't you ask their corpses?"

~Uzumaki Naruto (In answer to a reporter's inquiry)

To Make a Monster

-and then I tell the guy, that's not a Kaiju...that's my ex-wife!"

Stacker Pentecoost had never laughed so hard in all his life.

After rendering Onibaba little more than paste in downtown Tokyo and returning to the shatterdome, they'd been hailed as heroes. From their they decided to celebrate the only way men in their line of work knew how, partaking in an age old tradition that had existed since time immemorial.

They shared a stiff drink.

For once, he and Naruto seemed to be in complete agreement on the matter. And despite his earlier disdain for the man's plan, he felt his dislike for the whiskered warrior had mellowed somewhat since their victory at Tokyo. So much so, that he hadn't been at all opposed to the idea of sharing a few cups of sake with him. Then a few had turned into several, and he could now feel the beginnings of a much-needed buzz beginning to hover at the edge of his vision. It relaxed him. Loosened his tongue.

"You, my good man," he drawled aloud, the words rising over the din of the bar, slurring slightly after having ingested so much alchohol, "Are the most, insufferable, arrogant, and godamned idiot to walk this planet." An arm reached over and slapped his companion on the back, the motion causing the smaller man to lurch slightly in his seat. "And I mean that, with the warmest of affections." That one actually earned him a bit of laugh from the blond, his whiskered cheeks dimpling in a rare smirk.

"This coming from the man who said I was insane." he raised his hand. Stacker mirrored the motion.

"And you are." Pentecost countered with a sly smile as their glasses clinked together. "But at least you know how to fight."

"Phe! So nice to know that you're using me for my combat skills!" Naruto's retort was sharp, but the words were without rancour. "You weren't so bad yourself out there, ya know. I heard you piloted that thing yourself, did ya?" He jerked a thumb over his shoulder to where, even now, the mangled body of Coyote Tango could be seen only a few yards deeper into the shatterdome. The Jeager was wounded but not broken standing tall and unbowed, proud of her victory as techs worked to reattach her severed arm. This had been her tenth mission.

It might very well be his last.

Out of the corner of his eye he caught sight of another Mark I Jeager, Tacit Ronin, limping in for repairs of its by husband and wife duo Duc and Kaori Jessop. Unlike Coyote Tango this beast was sleek and jagged edges, as befitting of the name given it upon creation. Bearing two large, retractable blades on either of its arms, she was built for swift, fast strikes. Not fights of attrition. She'd been stationed near the miracle mile only a few out from Tokyo when damned Onibaba had just run up and over her. Then it had breached the city. It was a miracle she'd managed to come in at all.

The Mark I's were all well and good it was said, but with bigger and bigger Kaiju emerging from the Breach, they needed bigger, better Jeagers to combat them. They needed to evolve.

Perhaps if he'd had a better bot, he wouldn't have come so close to destruction today. Either way, it didn't change the fact that he owed this man his life.

"Well?"

"Hurt like hell," he answered, his voice dropping quietly. The simply act of moving was an effort-or was that the sake? "I've got the scars to prove it."

Naruto nodded sagely. "Its a bitch and a half fighting Kaiju all by yourself." He sighed and his shoulders rolled beneath his dark jacket, producing a harsh pop as the joints pushed together. Then, his eyes flahsed purple and he made a casual tugging motion with his hand. A vacant bottle shot off the rack nearby and smacked into his palm. If he was at all amused by the other man's shock at this unexplained bout of telikene, he did not seem to care. When the bartender shot him a look, he snapped something in Japanese, to which the man returned to cleaning his glass. Naruto sighed.

"I remember that first one in San Francisco. Big bugger. Curved head. What was his name...?"

"Trespasser." the chief supplied.

"Right, right. Trespasser." his head tipped in acknowledgement. "Anyways, I remember biting down on the bastard and suddenly, my mouth was on fire. I'd never felt anything like that. Took everything I had to wrestle him out of that bay and into deeper waters to finish him off. If I'd made a mistake he would've had me for dinner. And then there was the last one." His eyes took on a harsh, jaded look, as though he were experiencing some unpleasant memory. "Onibaba clobbered me into a building about five minutes before you came along. If you hadn't been there...

Now it was Pentecost's turn to nod.

"There are some things you can't fight." he said. "Forces of nature. Acts of God. You see a hurricane coming, you get out of the way. But when you're in a Jaeger, suddenly, you can fight the hurricane. You can win." At Naruto's measuring gaze, he ammended his statement. "I suppose the same thing applies to that damned fox of yours."

"Amen to that." Naruto raised his bottle in toast.

"Shame about your partner, though." His words sobered Pentecost just a bit. Tamsin...wouldn't be joining them. Her brain had been rattled around a bit too much; the resulting seizure left her in the ICU. She'd live most likely, but she wouldn't be piloting another Jeager anytime soon. Stacker was certain he had worse news coming; piloting Coyote Tango alone had put an immeasurable strain on his body as well. Coupled with the lack of radiation shielding, alongisde the damage he'd sustained today and, well...the docs said it didn't look good. All those missions, the nuclear core slowly burning at him. All those hours, he'd burned.

"I'm not going to be able to work with you again, am I?" Naruto's unexpected inquiry almost caught him flatfooted. Almost. Because Pentecost realized that it was true. His day in the Jeager program-at least as a pilot-were most likely numbered. Amazingly, he felt shame. He'd realized too late that Namikaze Naruto wasn't some conceited ego-maniac on a power trip. He cared about the world and what happened to it. It would have been well within his power to simply stay hidden and let Onibaba obliterate Coyote Tango. His disgust for the Jeager program was unparelled. All he'd had to do was wait.

Instead he'd stepped in; and because of that, he, Stacker Pentecost, still drew breath. He owed him the truth, at least.

"Probably not."

"Damn." Naruto muttered, his eyes turning dark. "And here I was just starting to like you."

"You'd make one hell of a pilot yourself, you know."

"No, no, no, no," he shook his head vehemently the motion sending his bangs swaying side to side. "You're not sticking me in one of those metal death traps unless I've got no other choice. I like having a feel for where I'm going. Hands on, ya know? Reaction time's better that way. And having someone else rooting through my brain? No thank you."

"If you say so."

Naruto glanced back at him from his perch on the stool. "I do say so."

Inevitably, the conversation drifted toward other topics. One most notable.

"So those eyes...

The man blinked, those rippling, rimmed eyes of violent violet fading away, returning to his true blue.

"Our latest product," the words, and the lie, flowed from his mouth smoothly. Almost painfully easy. "Guess you could say I'm prototyping it. Allows me to push and pull object as I see fit. Wholescale." He waved a hand once again and the sake bottle shot back onto the shelf. "Its still got a few bugs to work out. Headaches, dizziness mostly."

Stacker whistled.

"Handy."

"You have no idea." the blond chortled softly to himself.

Another awkward silence hung between them shortly thereafter.

"So, the girl you rescued...she seems to like you?"

"Mako, you mean." Naruto replied, his voice dropping. "Yeah. Talked with her a bit on the way back. Bit of a chip on her shoulder. I have someone looking after her back at my place now." By someone he meant a clone-though the pilot didn't know that. Now that was a tricky bit, there. If the world learned he could make copies of his own being, well...that was a can of worms he didn't feel like opening.

"What are you going to do with her?"

"Dunno." the young man answered, his glassy blue eyes staring into his reflection on the pristine countertop. "She's got no parents; lost them when Onibaba hit. The only family she does have is an abusive uncle-and I only know him because the man used to work for me before I kicked his ass to the curb. Kami, she's just a kid. Can't put her in a situation like that; and you can't trust the foster system, not these days." He seemed to contemplate his own words for a moment longer, a strange look entering those icy orbs. He didn't like that look. It spelled trouble. "No, I think...

Oh dear.

"I'll look after her myself."

His declaration caused Stacker to choke on his sake. He sputtered.

"You? Raise a daughter?"

"Hey now, I never said she'd be my kid or anything-

He never had a chance to finish that sentence.

Scarce had those words left his lips than a Chinese man with a bowtie, suspenders, and a ducktail haircut barged into the bar. Naruto frowned at the interloper. The man's expression was a look of palpable tension and anxiety, the nervous energy radiating from him enough to immediately set him on edge. He clutched a stack of papers in one hand, the files fluttering in the breeze he created as he hurried over to the two men sitting alone at the counter.

"Tendo?" Pentecost frowned at the sight of him, suddenly sober at the sight of his old friend. "What's wrong?"

Naruto blinked.

Ah.

Tendo Choi. He worked in the Loccent upstairs. If he was down here, then it must be important.

"The funding just came through from the PPDC." he said quickly, his dark eyes cutting from him and straying to Naruto in unspoken sign. "They saw today's footage of Onibaba...and well, they're backing the project. Its been greenlit." Pentecost took a moment to proccess those words. Damn. He bit back a rueful sigh. So the bureacrats were going through with Naruto's plan after all. It wasn't unexpected, but it still didn't make the old pilot happy. To his credit, the man didn't seem all that smug about it. Still stung, though.

"Well, then." Coughing, he cleared his throat. "I suppose congratulations are in order-

-for both projects." Tendo finished curtly.

The men exchanged a startled glance.

"Both?"

A nod.

Naruto started laughing. "Well, damn. That's surprising!"

"They want you to get started right away." To his surprise, one of those files was thrust at him. "Here's the list of available candidates." He leafed through it quietly and saw a few names of worthy mention, if only for a passing glance. Jodie Holmes. Isaac Claarke. Samus Aran. John Shepard. Jack Ryan. Raleigh and Yancy Beckette. Their ages and backgrounds varied. Wildly. Bemused, he closed the file, resolving to go over it at a late date. As he closed the file, he realized Tendo had just passed one to Pentecost. The tech was smiling.

"You've been promoted, sir." he saluted sharply. Stacker blinked. He hadn't heard about that. It wasn't the rank of Marshal, not yet, but it was something. A position of command.

"Hell of a way to take me off pilot duty."

"Hey," Naruto laughed again. "Look on the bright side! Now I won't have to pull your scrawny ass out of the fire again!"

Moments later, Pentecost joined him in his laughter.


Raising a little girl was not easy.

Emphasis on the "not!"

It was easy enough to keep her clothed and fed, and she didn't lack for human contact or entertainment. That, however, was where everything snowballed.

Mako was a very inquisitive girl, and right away he realized she'd developed a keen interest in both Biju and Jeagers. Naruto wasn't entirely sure which worried him more. The idea of having her in one of those Jeager's someday or the prospect of having a malevolent construct of chakra trapped inside her, feeding off of her anger. But she was determined to learn as much as she could about the strange entities that had saved her life in Tokyo and quite frankly, the kid didn't know how to take no for an answer.

So Naruto, to his own gall, answered those questions as best he could-and took her with him when he traveled to the Shatterdomes as much as possible. It was an inevitability that she'd see something sooner or later, something that she was not meant to see.

Approximately one month after he'd taken her under his wing, little Mako Mori saw one of those things.

She saw another Biju.


It was supposed to be a simple test run in Russia. Kaiju had hit here before and failed so it had been deemed a low risk area to conduct an open air test.

Naruto, along with the newly commissioned Cherno Alpha, piloted by duo Sasha and Aleksis Kaidonovsky, would personally oversee the results of nearly twenty-eight exacting days of excruciating tests of the Bijuu Program. Today was meant to be a controlled test for a full body transformation under controlled circumstances. Jumphawk helicopters hovered only a yards or so out, observing with their cameras. Mako was likely watching as well, glued to a televistion in the Shatterdome. This was the perfect chance to show the world that they could protect it.

The Kaiju saw fit to change that.

It was a massive category two. Codenamed Hammerhead, for the blunt intrument that made up its skull. More then two thousand pounds of nasty and over thirty-five feet of not good. One of the largest yet. It seemed to know exactly where they were; now it was making a beeline for them. Now it would be Shukaku's first forary against an enemy Kaiju.

"Bogey incoming! On your six! Making landfall!"

Naruto sighed into the headset, his breath fogging in the harsh winter air.

"Roger."

"He's coming in fast!"

His eyes tracking as the surf began to froth only a few miles from the shore. "I see 'em, Tendo...looks like we're done with this test. Cherno Alpha. Keep the big boy busy for a minute while Isaac and I put our dress blues on." He didn't wait for the Russian's response caustic response. Tugging off his headset and loosening his jacket, he felt his eyes flash red. Dread chakra coursed through him. Then his gaze shifted to the man standing at his elbow. His face still bore telltale signs of grease from the engine he'd been working on, his shaved head fresh with the scars from the last experiment.

"Ready, Mr. Clarke?" he asked of his fellow jinchuuriki.

The younger man offered a rueful growl of his own, shivering inside his coat. "Don't have much of a choice then, do I?"

"Not really, no."

"Balls."

He was the Biju Program's very first and stellar candidate. Isaac Clarke. An engineer. American. Someone who'd lost his girlfriend in Sydney, Nicole, to the Kaiju. Not much of a talker, but, not introverted like some. No combat experience to speak of either prior to his induction in the program.

That was nominal. It meant he wouldn't be likely be able to hurt anyone unless he went Biju. And so, for the first time in age, Naruto began the long, painful proccess of extracting the One-Tailed Racoon from the twine of his soul. The procedure had left him wracked with debilitating spasms for nearly a day. But they passed, and no one was the wiser. No one knew that there was no serum, that he was actually taking a massive beast of chakra and malice and shoving it into a human body. Now that he finally could, he was almost reluctant to do it. This wasn't a burden shouldered lightly. But Isaac insisted.

Mr. Clarke became Shukaku's host the very next day. Recovery time took three days.

Shukaku was by far the most troublesome of the biju, but as such he was also the weakest. His body made of sand gave him an advantage on dry land, making him nearly indestructible. Put him in the water and...well, they results weren't pretty. Regardless, his body was more than capable of resisting the Kaiju's toxic blood, and so long as the host retained control of his adled mind, he was quite sane. He was also the most unpredictable. Naruto had an understanding of a sort with the other seven; they knew if they crossed their master, he'd reach into their minds and break them like glass.

But Shukaku...who knew what was going through the madman's mind at this moment? When a Tailed Beast was extracted from him, he found he lost all control over it and its brain. He could only hope the tanuki knew better than to make a bid for independence now that its owner had finally let go of the leash.

Isaac had displayed most promising results after the transfer-reigning in the madness and psychoisis that came with being the host of the Ichibi. There had been no signs of instabillity beyond the inital discomfort of the merger and forging of chakra coils. He'd slept soundly, and woken feeling alive and refreshed. The only indication that Shukaku was within him at all were the tellltale raccoon-like rings around the eyes. He'd gained the control of sand as expected, something the engineer had marveled at. Now it was time to put it to the test.

Out of the corner of his eye, he watched Cherno Alpha level Hammerhead with an overhanded blow, sending the Kaiju sprawling into the surf. Faster than he could follow, the beast was back on its feet. A clawed arm of muscle and sinew lashed out, the heavy forearm swatting Alpha away as though it were a child's play thing. The Mark I staggered backwards aways, but much like the stubborn Russians who piloted her the warmachine refused to fall. Instead it rallied, steadying itself and shifting into an offensive stance.

Hammerhead shrieked a challenge and both bot and monster collided.

That was all he had time for before he felt the pins and needles coming on, pain consuming him as a new body began to fight its way free of his human form. He barely paid attention to the transformation anymore; his attention was instead fixed firmly on Isaac. Nothing could prepare you for that first change.

The man didn't so much change as he did dissapear, vanishing in a typhoon of sand. By the time Naruto had finished, Shukaku was looking him dead in the eye. Nothing happened. The towering tanuki just stood there, its gold eyes regarding him intensely. There was a tense silence between the pair.

"Isaac?" he shot a thought at him. "You there?"

A growl.

"In...control...

Good. Now stay put. he growled out a mental command. Hold the line. If you get wet, you're useless. Without so much as another word, he bounded forward and into the fray.

Kurama was something else in a fight.

Whatever he'd thought about Naruto and the last week of hell he'd put him through, Isaac had to admit that the fox was a beauty. It moved faster than a Jaeger, hit harder than a Kaiju, and made moves that even the most talented pilot couldn't have kept up with. Tailed Beasts were magnificent, and the Nine-Tailed Fox was in a class of its own. He wished he had a partner like that-and then as soon as he had that thought, he felt a strange guilt, as if he were being disloyal to Shukaku. Somewhere in the back of his brain, something twitched. Stirred.

He ignored it.

Kurama took on Hammerhead before it could deliver a crippling blow to Cherno Alpha, slamming into the Kaiju with a barrage of clawed swipes that staggered it and forced it away from the distressed Russians. Blows to the beast's head beat it down toward the water, and before it could recover, the fox caught it flush with its tails and flattened it against the seabed. Already the fox had dealth more than enough punishment to killl off most of the previous Kaiju they'd encountered. But not Hammerhead.

The shark-like alien gathered itself up and came right back at Naruto. They were close enough to the shore that Isaac could see the battle. Simultaenously, with his new height, he watched Sasha and Aleksis, wordless and in perfect Drift, storm back into the fight. Husband and wife each charging forward as Naruto and Hammerhead ripped into each other. Finallly, it seemed as though Hammerhead had enough. Sensing that Cherno Alpha was about to close in on it, the beast swung hard to the right with the larger hand, striking its foxy foe in the snout. Hard.

Naruto was briefly knocked off balance by the Kaiju's brutal counterattack but he didn't go down. The ferocity of his counterattack sent Hammerhead stumbling back toward shore. And in the next instant, Cherno Alpha was on them. The Jaeger threw a sweeping hook with both arms, a smshing pincer attack as the energies of the Sparkfist bloomed across the knuckles of each gauntlet. Hammerhead tried to turn and get out of its way-but succeeded only in presenting a wider profile for the attack.

Cherno's Sparkfist tore twin holes in either side of the beast's back. Blue blood spattered the waters.

From there, their battle dissolved into little more than a brawl.

Jaegar and Biju hammered away at the Kaiju together in surprisingly flawless tandem, blood spraying Hammerhead to crackle on Cherno Alpha's armor, boil on the sea and in Naruto's fur. But they didn't stop there. As one they relentlessly drove the hulking toward shore; and Isaac realized, toward him. He struggled to maintain his concentration, alll the while becoming more and more aware of the growing migraine in the back of his skull; as though something were physically pounding on it from the inside out. He knew that if they kept this up, the Kaiju would try to preserve itself, or at the very least, do some damage before it died-

Sure enough, Hammerhead broke and ran way towards the city, choosing to gallop away from the twin titans pounding on it in favor of the one guarding the cost. It bolted. Towards him. Isaac froze. He knew his orders were to remain stationary. But when he saw that beast...he saw Nicole. Her dead, mangled body, sprawled out over the wreckage that'd once been their apartment. Something snapped.

Kill!

Isaac roared in defiance. Then he spat.

Hammerhead suddenly found itself engulfed in a web of wind and air. The air bullet burst from the Tanuki's mouth with all the force of a tactial nuke, its shockwave bodily picking it up and blasting its body back towards the water, hurling Naruto and Cherno Alpha away as well, hurling the pursuing pair into deeper waters. He didn't notice. Didn't care.

Isaac-Shukaku-gave chase without hesitation, wading into the shallows after his prey. Those giant, clawed hands crushed down on Hammer with all the fury of a great and dark tempest the beast's blood bursting up to lash at his visage as he struck and struck. He could crush this Kaiju. Annihilate him. His prey. Yes. His prey. He would crush him, kill him, kill him KILL HIM-

"Get out of the water now, you godamned idiot!"

Isaac blinked, baffled as Naruto's mental shout pieced the red haze of bloodlust. Something was wrong. He couldn't move. His body, so large and bulky, suddenly felt stiff. Slow. But why? What was...oh no Too late, he saw what was wrong-realized that the biju was falling apart around him, its sandy body compromised by the deeper water and blood. He'd been told to stay out of the water. His strength -his power- was draining away before his very eyes, and while the chakra remained, it was nothing if not given form.

Land.

He had to get to dry land. Now. Before his body fell apart completely.

Shukaku lurched backward, struggling to get away.

Hammerhead knew and recognized the weakness in an instant. It saw him. Knew exactly where he was within this rotting coffin of sand. Even as Shukaku turned it lunged forward, tackling him into the shallows. Naruto was shouting at him to fight, telling him just to hold on a little longer until they could get there. And Isaac was.

He was left fighting for his life...and losing.

It seemed Hammerhead was finishing the job that he had started-furiously ripping away pieces of Shukaku's wet, sandy body. Its claws punctured he head in which he resided in several places. Isaac could no longer lift his arms. He was crippled, and after a final blow from Hammerhead severed Shukaku's head he began to sink. It didn't give him the time to get away. A leathery hand reached down-closing around his small body. Then it squeezed, bringing him up to his mouth. Dangling by one leg, he could see Naruto closing. Only three yards away. He wasn't going to make it. Isaac closed his eyes, the fear falling away.

Nicole...

There was no pain when he died.

Just a faint discomforting sensation of falling, more discomfort as those teeth closed on him...

...and then Isaac Clarke was gone.


Naruto couldn't remember the last time he'd mourned.

It had been-what, ages?-forever since he had cared enough to be saddened by a comrades death. That was what Isaac had been. A comrade. A pupil. The man had his own share of problems, but he never told anyone about them. He was quiet. Kind. Reserved. Mako had spoken to him once. And now he was gone. They'd crushed Hammerhead and returned to the Shatterdome with only one casualty.

Isaac Claarke.

He couldn't even revive him. Hammerhead had digested the jinchuuriki before they'd torn it to pieces. And even if that were an option, it would raise to many questions. Shukaku was sealed within him once more. That damned Kaiju had only gotten a taste of its power. But a taste was worrying enough. The damned things were learning. Adapting. If this continued who was to say that they wouldn't be losing Jaegers? He hated it. This awful crushing sensation in his chest, stiffling him from where he lay in his bed.

It would've been easy to return to his temporary quarters in the shatterdome and crash there rather than take a train home. Instead, he'd come here. He couldn't stand to be in the dome right now. The guilt, it nagged at him. Ate him up inside. Another death on his hands. I feel old already, godamnit. How many more of these will I have to go through...

They called him a hero. He didn't feel like one. He felt...

Sorrow.

Was that what this was?

"Naruto...?"

"?!"

Naruto started slightly at the voice, his head turning to regard little Mako Mori as she emerged from the door opposite him, her body clad in a pair of pink pajamas. Her tiny hands stuggling to shut the iron latch behind her. He rose slowly-quietly-and pushed it shut for her before it even occurred to ask why she was here. The hour was late. She should be asleep. Yet here she was anyway. Part of him wanted to usher her back out the door and return her to her bed across the hall. He stubbornly quashed it.

"Why are you here?" he yawned.

"I had another nightmare." she whispered.

"Ah." He didn't need to ask what it was about; he already knew.

With a soft sigh, he beckoned her to come all the way in. Mako wasted no time whatsoever-all but bolting across the room and clamoring into his bed before nestling herself under the sheets. Naruto laughed softly. This wasn't the first time she hadn't been able to sleep. She nestled into his chest, staring up at him with those wide, dark eyes.

"You're sad." it was not a question.

"Hai."

"Is it because your friend died?"

So she had been watching the televison, then.

Naruto considered that for a moment. Isaac was just another soul caught up in this war. He'd let his anger and pain and grief get the best of him, and because of that, he'd made a mistak. A fatal mistake. Still, Naruto felt he'd played a part in the man's death. He should've been more cautious. They should've done more tests. "He was a good man." he said at last. "He was willing to become a monster to protect the world he loved."

"Why do good men die?"

"Good men mean well, Mako." he sighed. "We just don't always end up doing well."

She was silent for a bit after that. Nearly a full minute of peace and quiet. Naruto thought she'd fallen aslep. So he was completely unprepared when her sleepy little voice piped up once more.

"When can I do that?"

"Hmm?" his eyes drifted open.

"Fight the monsters."

Naruto groaned. This again.

"Why are you so bent on this?"

She muttered something beneath her breath.

"Nani?" he muttered in Japanese. "What?"

"Kamei no tame ni. For my family's honor."

He felt the beginnings of a frown dawn on his face. "You'd honor them with your death?"

Her face colored and she squirmed her head deeper into his chest.

"That's different."

"Chigau no?" Naruto snapped back in their native language. "Yoi ka warui kai? Different how? Better or worse?"

Nobody did embarassment like the Japanese. Mako blushed right to her hairline and bowed her head several times.

...gomen." she relented.

"Someday." he promised her. "Someday you'll be able to do what I do."

"M'kay...

Her breathing evened out slowly, her eyes drooping in sleep. The jinchuuriki sighed and held her tight.

"Someday, Mako." he murmurred. "Someday."

Time marched on.


(Roughly a week later...)

Naruto frowned down at his protege. His new recruit.

He circled her, much like a shark would its prey. Quiet. Cautious. Appraising her. If she noticed his attention she gave no indication of it; her eyes remained fixed straight ahead-her concsiousnss latched not onto him or herself, but the target erected only a few feet away; a solid block off concrete painted with a bulls eye. She was the youngest of his recruits, painfully thin beneath the black, skin-tight bodysuit she wore. Anything lesss and the chakra might not flow properly in a new jinchuuriki about to make their first transformation.

She was only seventeen years old.

"Are you ready, Jodie?" he asked.

She nodded once, the motion sending her brown tresses bobbing to and fro. Naruto continued to circle her in slow stride, his crisp footfalls echoing sharply with each step. He was painfully aware that they weren't alone in this space; that several members of both the Jeager teams, as well as his own were watching this moment. They were wary of another failure.

"Its not too late to back out," he warned, his words echoing in the empty halls of the shatterdome. "No one's making you do this."

"I want to do this...sir." she added, almost as an afterthought.

"Very well." he'd given her the chance. Now it was time to see what she could do. "I want you to access one tail of chakra."

She nodded, her eyes branching with strain. "Like...this?"

Blue fire engulfed her body, tendrils of otherwordly energy working in tandem to form the cloak. And remarkably, it held.

"Now," his gaze turned toward the target. "Go."

She twisted and the block of concrete shattered into a fine powder. Applause rose from the bridges. Naruto permitted himself a small smile.

She was a survivor, this one. Tough as nails, with something to prove. A young girl, from San Francisco. Jodie Holmes was her name, as he recalled. The second candidate of their Biju Program. She would be serving as the host of the Niibi. The Two-Tailed cat. Matatabi. In the end, the PPDC had chosen to back both the Biju and the Jeager plans, leading to the increased production of monstrous robots as a whole, and the first of many promising students for him. Backed by a colossal amount of support for his own plan, he was certain it wouldn't fail...

...though he wasn't certain about subjecting Mako Mori to this. She wanted to fight. She was just a child and she wanted to destroy the ones who'd hurt her so.

The girl had a lot of anger in her thanks to the loss of her family; and hate, was the last thing you wanted to bring when merging with a Biju. But Jodie, seemed different. Eager. Hopeful. She hadn't lost anyone to the Kaiju. And her unique...gift, allowed her to merge with a tailed beast despite lacking chakra coils. That was the stickler right there. He couldn't create chakra in a body that didn't have it. The biju, when bonding with a host be they young or old, had to carve them from scratch.

The procedure was painful, to say the last.

But Jodie was alive. Only a day after being bonded to Matabi she was up and about, walking again. Damned if she wasn't determined. Her body trembling with the strain, she managed to hold the chakra at bay, bend it to her will.

"Good, good." he soothed her, his hand daring to brush her shoulder. "Just stay calm. I know its a bit much to take in. Don't chase the rabbit. Its a lot like piloting a Jeager...minus the electronics and that neural handshake gobbledy gook. She's trying to work with you, but the chakra itself has a mind of its own. You need to reign in your emotions, maintain control. Think positive thoughts. If you don't, it will most likely-

He ducked as a tail swept over his head, shattering a walkway. He sighed, pinching the brow of his nose.

"That!" he called as Jodie's left foot swung downward from the sky, dragging a trail of blue fire with her to the ground.

"Sorry!" she cried!

Naruto sighed.

This was going to take a fair bit of work...


A/N: There we go! My first official NarutoxPacific Rim Crossover! Not sure if Naruto is going to get his own jeager or not. I'll leave that to ya'll. Pairing is NarutoxMako, folks! Hope ya'll enjoy all of the insane monster fighting action that is to come! Also, a fair bit of humor, as you'll see. It explores what happened before the movie and of course, during it. And trust me folks, this won't be alll sunshine and roses. We're gonna see some death here, and a few familiar faces from other genres, as you'll see...and we get to see Raleigh next chapter! I wonder whether or not his brother will die...guess that's up to you, folks!

So...in the Immortal Words of Atlas...

...Review, Would You Kindly? And of course...enjoy the Preview! Surprise! Phew, I'm gonna take a nap now, all this writing is wearing me out...

(Preview)

'You're running out of time, Naruto.'

The last shinobi paused, his arms still fully extended from the pushup. 'You're running out of time.' The voice came on yet again, it seemed to be everywhere and nowhere at once. Pain flared in his skull. Something wet dashed against the bare skin of his neck. Even then, he thought it was just sweat from the workout. He only had three of the nine biju locked within him, and it was important to keep himself in shape. Top form. He had to be. He didn't want to think that anything was wrong. He couldn't accept that. Not after all these years. He wouldn't.

"Naruto-kun?!"

-until Mako yelped. When had she gotten there? Had he blacked out?

He suddenly realized he was on the floor, that his arms had given out. His face was pressed into the mat. He couldn't move. That'd never happened before. Soft hands rolled him over to his back. And then, just like that-he had free reign of his body again. He found himself staring up at his star student, Mako, the young woman's eyes wide with fear.

"I'm fine," he soothed her. "Fine."

She gasped softly.

"You're bleeding...

Naruto blinked and touched a hand to his face, frowning down at the blood pooling from his nose. In all his lives and rebirths, he'd never suffered through something like this.

"Well," he murmurred...

...that's not good."

R&R =D