Hey, thanks for the review!

And the reminder.

Yes, so everyone knows, I don't own any Naruto characters or Halo characters.

Thanks for reading all, and feel free to leave reviews!

Chapter Two: Short Notice

---Back at Base---

Commander Ytruin sighed and smoothed his grey hair for the fifth time that minute. He stared out the window at the beautiful meadows of safari grass. New Napora, the most recent and technologically updated city on earth, was where Base 93 was located… and that was where Ytruin currently stood.

But the beauty of the outdoors hardly made him happy. He shook his head and picked up his coffee.

"Darn. They aren't gonna take it well," he said, seemingly talking to himself.

"If only I'd been given more notice…" he shook his head again, sighing roughly, then slammed his coffee cup onto the table, spilling a little with the force.

"What am I gonna tell them, Jinx? K-07 is going to be mad as a hornet!"

The super-computer that was in the room, Jinx, suddenly popped up as an image in front of the Commander, on a little podium. She crossed her arms.

"Well, Gui will take it well. I think he's wanted this secretly for a while," she said thoughtfully.

"And Kakashi…" She spoke slowly: "Well, he's pretty good at taking orders…"

Ytruin frowned at her. "Good at taking orders, but will he be tolerant of them? Three is an awful lot to put on a team."

Jinx nodded, hands on her hips.

"Maybe it is, but ever since the New Spartan program has started, that's the way it's been. K-07 knew that he would have to take on a squad sooner or later. I think he'd only be unhappy because of the short notice. Besides," she continued cheerily, "you know what he's like… perhaps if you gave him certain students…" she smiled at Ytruin, as he picked up his coffee and took another sip.

"Anyway, you can't be sure he won't enjoy having some kids around! Even if he doesn't let it show, he may actually be looking forward to this. The profiles of these students are very interesting…"

Ytriun sighed again, then put his free hand on his hip thoughtfully, biting at his lower lip. He paused a moment, then nodded.

"We get to bring 12 out of the twenty-seven most recent young Spartans here, and the Admiral is allowing us first choice… an incredible privilege and opportunity… but only available if we choose them soon! I have to have them chosen by tomorrow evening, and I don't even get to see them in person first! Only these info cards…" he trailed off as he flicked a switch that made an image of a card with a picture on it pop up next to Jinx.

Jinx brushed back a bit of her messy black hair as she observed the card. "Hmm… that's an interesting one."

Ytruin blinked and looked at the card. "I chose it randomly," he said as he observed the boy on it. He frowned.

The Spartan was wearing grey armor with a dull green tint, but the visor of the helmet was completely black. No emotion could be seen in the Spartan's stance. Also, the armor had tiny holes on the hands, and the visor itself was a unique shape.

That fact alone clearly marked the Spartan as an 'Aburame' type, one of the larger and closer-knit groups of Spartans… though definitely nowhere near as annoyingly private as the Hyuga type.

"Spartan Aburame Shino… he doesn't have his code name yet," Jinx said casually. "Interesting… usually the Aburame don't stray to far from the nest, but he's on the list of the twenty seven to choose from."

Ytruin rolled his eyes. He knew Jinx well enough to know that she was about to rant…

"The Aburame have a very special ability, as many 'clans' do. They have the ability to communicate with and control tiny, deadly poisonous red beetles that grow inside their bodies. Recently, they have experimented on these beetles (Humanely, of course… what Aburame would hurt a bug? Anyway,) and made mutated ones that feed on enemy shields and plasma, when told to. That's why the armor has tiny holes in the hands; the beetles can go through the shields that protect the Spartan with no problem, but they'll eat away at the plasma shields of jackals. They're highly effective against grunts and jackals, but heavier armored beings are a bit of a pain…"

She looked at the Commander quizzically. "You know, he wouldn't be such a bad idea…"

Ytruin looked up from the newspaper he had been side-glancing at on the table. He almost looked surprised that Jinx was done talking.

He nodded, then flipped to another card. "You know what, Jinx? I think I'll let all four of our A-class Jonin help choose their students. I know that at least one of them has been looking forward to this for a long time."

Ytriun straightened. "Tell them to meet me here in one hour. That's about the time K-07 and G-11 should be back." He began to walk towards the door.

Jinx nodded and began to send out the signal order, her image disappearing from sight.

"I'm going to take a peek at the cards in my room; I'll be back in half. And Jinx," he said, turning to face her.

She popped back up on the image platform, a questioning look on her face.

"Tell K-07 it's important… don't be late."

Jinx smirked and nodded as Ytruin left. K-07 was well known for being as late as possible without getting in trouble. His timing never failed to surprise her, yet he always completed his missions as commanded.

Jinx didn't know him well, and so didn't know when or why he had formed that habit; after all, Jinx was the youngest super computer there. She hadn't even chosen a Spartan for herself… but now, she'd probably have to choose a squad.

She shook her head and made her image disappear. It was going to be a long day…

(Coming soon: Chapter three: Squad Up!)