DISCLAIMER/ I don't own Halo or Naruto


"Dare to reach out your hand into the darkness to pull another hand into the light."

- Norman B. Rice


Chapter 4: The ever changing fate...


[Land of fire/ Konohagakure no sato]

Deep within a heavily populated village, sat a middle aged man in a rather large office behind a desk smoking a pipe. He was beginning to show signs of old age due to the small wrinkles on his face, but was still in his prime. He was wearing white robes, with a similar hat with a red front and a kanji on the front that read "Third."

He had spent his entire life and devotion for the hidden leaf village, and its people. This man is Hiruzen Sarutobi... Third fire shadow of the hidden leaf village and current Hokage. His power was so legendary, he is hailed as "The God of Shinobi" and had yet lost the title to anyone. His title of Hokage had been bestowed upon him at the very end of the first shinobi war many years before when he was only a teen with his squadron.

He vowed to protect the leaf village under his teachers dying wishes...

His own teachers consisted of Hashirama Senju, and Tobirama Senju. The first and second Hokage of the Hidden leaf in order, throughout his childhood and the end of the first shinobi world war.

Hashirama had perished during the early stages of the first Shinobi war, and Tobirama followed at the very end of it. It had been a depressing time, but Sarutobi pulled through like he promised to everyone.

Danzo Shimura, one of Sarutobi's closest friends was enraged (but not showing it) at not being placed as head of the village. While this was an understandable statement their friendship had begun to dwindle in the years... Creating a barrier between the Hokage and the head of the civilian council. Danzo is a respected member of the council, along as a powerful shinobi as well.

Today in Konoha, the second shinobi war was at its stirring point. Sunagakure had suppressed the series of attacks at Taki and was beginning to fall back, Kumo was aiming toward the Land of fire which was resulting in several konoha forces to defend the perimeter in the dense forests, and Kiri was having to pull itself out of Suna's grasp after it latest but mysterious loss weeks before.

The economy was at a rushing high due to weapon manufactures needing an assortment of weapons for the thousands of the Shinobi and kunoichi, but the human devastation was leaving a mark on Konoha... In the last few weeks over 11,131 shinobi had been slaughtered across the border and the number continued to rise... There had been over 723 missing shinobi who had never returned to their squadrons after failing to meet up with them on several occasions. It was either they had been captured by enemy lines, or had become deserters. But the details were never clear on deserters... They were met automatically branded missing-nin in that case if it were to happen.

While Sarutobi gave a tired sigh as he signed the 12 hundredth form today, and looked at the end of the desk to see another 20 pages needed reading through, he simply grumbled. All he had read about for the last few days was pieces of odd shaped metal appearing around he elemental nations, and continuing to appear around the shores or flowing down the river that connected to the ocean.

It began with a few, than a stack, next to a cabinet full of complaints. Sometimes he wondered how Tobirama-Sensei didn't lose his mind or patience under the constant amounts of paperwork. There was enough paper for an entire forest in here for crying out loud! The reading, the approvals, the presentation to the council, the presentation to the Fire Daimyo and the waiting period which consisted of 3 to 4 weeks to sign ANOTHER approval paper was very stressful.

Hiruzen was a very patient man... But when the papers piled up to rival the sky his wrinkles only deepened.

He however knew the importance of these papers was everything to the village. No matter how ridiculous these requests were. It was his job to maintain Konoha's welfare no matter what the cost was. It was his job to maintain the war over the horizon, and his job to keep Konoha from falling to Ame-

*KNOCK*

*KNOCK*

Came from the sound of the front office door.

"Enter." Hiruzen ordered as the front door to his office opened, revealing a silvered haired man behind a white styled wolf mask. His current attire consisted of a Konoha shinobi uniform that ranged from a Jounin flak jacket, a pair of leather gloves, a single white bandage wrapped around his left arm, black sandals, a red swirl on his left arm and an odd looking sach on his shoulder with red triangles at the bottom with the same red swirl on it. He didn't make a move other than bowing while displaying full respect to Hiruzen. "Hokage-sama." He acknowledged.

"What news do you bring wolf?" Hiruzen asked, knowing this could be another field report of a loss of life. He had signed over 700 in the last couple of weeks as they piled up on his desk. They were never easy to sign, but for the village you serve for, sacrifices had to be made to off the village for the greater good.

But that was job of being a Hokage.

"We've received news from Orochimaru-sama's unit that it had just entered the border of Kumogakure less than 2 hours ago." Wolf answered.

"Is that all wolf?" Sarutobi pressed for more information.

"None Hokage-Sama." Wolf replied while standing straighter. The tension in the room was calm. The sound of the wind through the window was soothing across the room.

"Wolf... I must speak with you for a moment." Sarutobi hesitated as his eyes scanned over the documents on the wooden desk.

"Hokage-Sama?" wolf questioned.

"Its alright to speak freely wolf, I need you to drop you base of cover for the moment." Sarutobi asserted as he pushed the document to the side that had been bothering him all day and rested his arms in a folding position. Wolf nodded as he slipped off his ANBU mask and sat it on the desk.

The face revealed a young man with a few stress lines across his face, but he had healthy skin. This man is known as Konoha's heroic white fang, but his given name was Sakumo Hatake. He was a respected ANBU member but recently was about to take part in the Jounin exams.

"Yes?" Sakumo asked with moderate concern stressing his voice.

"Do you have any news from Orochimaru?" Sarutobi questioned again.

"Yes.. I just-

"No... Not the status of the mission, how his squadron is."

Sakumo knew who he was speaking of in particular. While the subordinates were fresh out of the Ninja academy, one particular subordinate had leveled through the most of all.

Yet he acted immature and was a knucklehead most of the time living in his family's name.

He was one of two Senju bloodlines left along with his sister, making him a rare and important shinobi. His name was Nawaki Senju. His birthday was less than 12 hours ago his sister, Tsunade Senju, was a nervous wreck because of it. It was his first real B rank mission that took place outside the village, his team consisted of the top of his class and Orochimaru as his teacher.

While Sarutobi was certain that Nawaki wouldn't be harmed under his star pupil but he couldn't be 100% certain at the same time.. While Tsunade had faith in Orochimaru, she still loved her brother dearly and had hopes he would be alright.

Speaking of nervousness, that was what Sarutobi had been feeling within the Land of Cloud.

While there populace wasn't as powerful as their own, their military strength was nearly in par with their's. Making Konoha on a leg here against Suna, who was considered the weakest, Taki who was considered full of military surprises, Kumo who was strongest, and Kiri was was the most pained to fight.

But then there was Amegakure.

They were a serious problem from the very beginning.

"No news other than that." Sakumo sadly replied having the same feeling for the village.

"Oh," Sarutobi said as he switched his gaze to the drawer below him, opened it, and pulled out a white paper bag. He opened it slowly letting the paper crinkle and some tobacco to put in his pipe. "Then I know what to say to Tsunade." Sarutobi mentioned the 16 year old Senju heiress with a sigh. After her parents death, her little brother was all she had left.

"I'm sure they'll be fine. Have faith in them." Sakumo reminded to the Hokage.

"I have complete faith in them knowing Orochimaru has them under his wing." Sarutobi stated. Orochimaru was his favorite student. While Tsunade was a specialist in medical skills she lacked proper genjutsu training. Then there was Jiraiya, while he was becoming a bit of a skilled shinobi, he lacked proper maturity. Orochimaru was a pure genius in all of the shinobi arts, in every way shape and form. He's patient, calculative, and creative at the same time. Everything Sarutobi had taught him, Orochimaru soaked it all in like a sponge.

It was scary in fact.

"Then you have nothing to worry about Hokage-sama." Sakumo replied kindly before grabbing his mask that was on the desk.

"I'm not worried Sakumo, just anxious." Sarutobi repelled.

"Of course." Sakumo said with a frown.

"I know in the life of being a killer there's the chance you will die, every second of ever day. I learned that when I was young and so did you." Sarutobi said rather loudly, attempting to get hie blood running.

"I understand Hokage-sama..."

"And more importantly wolf, I know very well I have to make decisions of the village for it depends on everything that it keeps its citizens safe." Sarutobi said as he rubbed his temples.

He was getting old. It was the job that was never getting old though.

"Why now though? In this time of need why now?"

"We've been at constant engages with other nations now for over two years." Sarutobi replied sternly. It had been over two years since Tsunade and Nawaki's parents had been killed. They were caught in the middle of the night by an assassin from the land of stone, or Iwagakure who snuck in on a mission. The mysterious man had entered the bedroom from the window and killed them both as they slept. He slashed both of their throats, and lit the room on fire to cover his tracks from Konoha. The assassin had gotten away after he completed his mission by trying to disappear into the dense forest that night.

Until he was confronted by an enraged Tsunade who had heard everything and smelled the smoke. She was so furious that she had leveled an entire mountain... and bashed the man's head in at the same time after almost 2 grueling hours of grueling fighting.

It was her first kill... But it wouldn't be her last. Tsunade who was only fourteen was mentally broken from it, and her brother who was only 10 at the time suffered a series of depression of it. After reports of his death went about, it turned out the man was actually a close relative to the Tsuchikage's personal adviser. This gave them leverage to try and start a war and they got one.

Tsunade and Nawaki's parents were head of one of the most renowned clans in Konoha, and killing them was like killing the Hokage himself. Their relatives were Senju's, one of the main reasons for all of the villages being unified in the first place, and the clans forming in several of the villages. Soon after Konoha began launching surprise attacks to Iwa, Iwa's treaty involved other villages to back them up, but soon they begun making deals with Konoha, and they would stab them in the back later.

It went like that for months... And they continued to turn on each other like rabid dogs, fighting and clutching for the last precious piece of meat.

That summed up the beginning of Second Shinobi World war.

"Is there anything else I should be doing?" Sakumo questioned the aging kage who closed his eyes and sighed. "No... In fact you can take the rest of the day off. My treat." Hiruzen said as he took a puff of smoke. Sakumo looked quizzically at him at the offer. The were currently in one of the bloodiest wars they had seen in years and he was just offered the day off for reporting a single message... Maybe the day was coming onto Sarutobi quicker than he knew. While he was a stern and serious leader of the village, he never really did get a single day off himself, let alone give any. It was one of those rare moments when you question whether or not they were the real person.

And in this life, you had to be careful who you trusted.

"Thank you for that, I was actually needing to return home to my wife. She's do any day now." Sakumo said with a side smile. If there was one thing he truly loved more than the village, it was his wife. He knew that was taboo since you were periodically told to make compromises for the villages well being, but he couldn't truly.

Sarutobi only nodded before saying. "Carry back to your day wolf... And Congratulations." Sakumo quickly replied. "Yes Hokage-sama." Before walking to the door and leaving to his home...

Sarutobi rubbed his temples as he looked outside to see a flock of birds flying off over the lush tree's. He then stood up before looking down at Konoha and seeing the citizens carry on with their daily lives, buying, selling, tellers, buyers, tailors, weapon sellers, and teachings at the academy. He could hear the thousands of citizens speaking outside as it carried throughout his office as he closed his window.

Fainting pure silence. He went back to his desk before looking over at the report forms from the office and mail room. He read and read and read each and every sentence and they all ranged around the war. It was becoming a colossal hassle to remain vigilant in the times such as these, but the shinobi were the villagers protectors, they were Konoha's beacon of hope and resilience. They proved to have the one true thing that would always prevail in anything, anyway shape or form... That would light through all of the deadness in the world and battlefield.

The will of fire.

It burned bright in some, but brightest in most of the Shinobi within the land of fire.

Sarutobi chuckled at the memory of his teacher. Tobirama was a stoic man who would never let the enemy get into his mental state.

His one true philosophy was "MIND-TECHNIQUE-BODY... If you can't control one... you can not control the other."

It was harsh but that was the overall estimation of being a killer for a villages safety. Tobirama was never someone to put down, but simply put you down for good. He never shuddered or challenged anyone through the attempts of selflessness, and was probably the most powerful water user in the land of fire. He was exactly like his element. Never letting anything stop him, he would simply faze around it no matter what. He was a true Shinobi in Sarutobi's eyes for his sacrifice at the end of the first war.

Sarutobi wish there was someone who shared the same ideologies as his teacher. It would bring a better attitude among the villages Shinobi and possibly bring this war to a closing.

But it wasn't like someone was going to drop from the sky.

Other than metal of course. Speaking of which, Sarutobi had to read that report of some reported "Orange eyed Monster" in Kirigakure.

XXXXXXX

John sneezed as he stepped off of the amour placement machine as it tightened all of the bolts into place holding the armor tightly around his frame. He had the most uncontrollable urge to wipe his nose from another oncoming sneeze.

He perceived the emptiness of the Infinity and could feel the cold air despite the armor touching his skin, as if the former occupants of the ship still lingered within the room. He never took notice to anything like this before but recently after doing absolutely nothing other than train, eat, sleep, and plan for counter measure, he really has been thinking. Overthinking about the negative possibilities.

He walked over to the gate and stepped over it, and then began walking down the near endless corridor. He picked up the pace a little and saw the massive opening at the very end leading to the bridge.

In the past few hours John had collected scrap pieces of alloy to compose a bridge from the back portion of the Infinity to the front. The stress of having to make jumps across constantly was beginning to put a toll on John's patience, but he fixed the problem. For the last few days he had tried to learn a few phrases in Japanese so he could at least communicate with anyone on this planet in case the UNSC were unable to be in contact yet. John would not truly believe the UNSC was overrun but the idea was beginning to make sense now. The times he would get sleep he had very dark thoughts of what was happening now that he was gone.

He wouldn't classify himself M.I.A. He was simply taking a while longer to make a reappearance into action , but he had to become locked and ready when refacing the Didact again.

He would have to no matter what. The Infinity would have to be lifted from the salty waters and be conducted to emergency repairs as soon as possible. If he could somehow bring it back to where it was originally constricted.

ut first things first the information would have to be said delivered to the office of naval intelligence within the next few hours... Manually. John would have to search beyond the galaxy... Since communication in the Infinity or anywhere else wasn't responding, he could only assume the worst... But if that happened... If the Didact had truly won... truly beaten chief and composed the galaxy to nothingness...

Then chief would beat him with the last alternative. Since Blades, guns, and explosives didn't do any type of damage to the Didact, and physical contact was out of the question since he was much stronger than chief, then there was only one thing that had one chance. It was something John had thought, but threw the idea out thinking it was absolutely insane, but what choice did he have now? He would resort to use the Halo rings as seen as he git a hold of the activation index key, he would fire it. If that didn't kill Didact then nothing would. If all else failed, John wouldn't quit until every last molecule within him was vaporized.

But he wouldn't forget of Del Rio, he would not forget him of his treachery.

He was the man responsible.

While the Didact was the one who did everything, Rio was the cause of it all. What had John done to deserve such a fate? All he wanted to do was stop the Didact, who proved to be an armed and dangerous being who would not go down easily under marines alone.

Del Rio wanted to play the 'know at all captain' card, and be the one who made his decision final, and not respond okay when the higher ups got mad him. Del Rio was an arroogant fool who believed in only himself, and because of his treachery to humanity, everything was lost because of him.

John would make sure that Del Rio would pay for his crimes.

Call it whatever you want, revenge for his race, or vengeance to Cortana.

The simple devotion to aster Chief's life now was not only make the Didact suffer in the most unimaginable way possibly for eternity, but to make Del Rio pay for his crimes severely. Even though he outranked him, was the United nations space commands senator, and had control of several smaller fleets, John would find a way to bring him down once and for all.

Not because he only had to for his crimes against humanity, but because John wanted that to happen to him.

Today, John had a major recall of all the vehicles stationed on the INFINITY to make sure they were fully operational in the plan for counter attack against the Didact. There were 1,064 M12 force application vehicles, 14 D79H-TC Pelicans, 6,078 M808B main battle tanks, 122,343 M274 Ultra-light All-Terrain vehicles, 32 M510 Siegework/Ultra-Heavy Mobile Anti-warcraft weapons Platforms, 3,078 HRUNTING/YGGDRASIL Mark IX armor defense systems, 3,232 F-41 Exoatmospheric Multirole Strike fighters, and finally 10 Strident class frigates. However, due to the crash an assortment of all of the fighters had sustained some portions of damages to the wings, and some sustained heavy internal damages.

One of the frigates was flyable, but due to the major section of the unloading bay being submerged in hundreds of feet in sea water, nothing was leaving from that part of the station anytime soon until John patched the breach and emptied the water.

He would also have to make note of the odd occurrences that happened days before in the battle he fought against his attackers. They didn't prime any explosives he had never seen before. He didn't see a single shell casing or gun present during the skirmish, and couldn't identify the cities government affiliation. He saw men and women perform such deadly "illusions and or powers. Or maybe they were some type of unspecified mutant powers, but there were many things unexplained from that day. John had taken mental notes and searched for anything that could help him understand this planet better.

He imputed the images he saw from his helmets camera in, and got zero results. He searched for anything related to what they said or this word "JUTSU" they kept shouting about as they attacked him and left him nearly defenseless. He was lucky all they used were water and simple fire. If they were capable of using those two, who knew what else they could do.

In all of his military career and assaults on enemy lines ranging from extraterrestrial armies, a parasite with thousands upon thousands of minds linked together, and godlike beings with no pity for humans except themselves.

John-117, the hardened veteran who though he had seen it all, but was without a doubt at a loss for words

He was interested when he found thousands of excessive information from that search. Apparently the word, "JUTSU", was a type of mystical arts for the warriors once known as the Shinobi or "NINJA". At first John thought this was a hoax, since it wasn't possible for people to be able to do such things involving magic. It was only after reading information that it only got harder to take in and understand. It was also related to a mystical life force known as Chakra.

Chakra was said that it inhabits all beings cells individually, signifying their life and mind, and those who were able to mold their chakra were able to unleash a mystic art known as Ninjutsu.

Ninjutsu ranged from walking on water, hard surfaces such as ceilings, exhaling fire, and casting illusions known as genjutsu. Nothing was mentioned though of the use of hand seals. There was so much more to read about on these topics... But John thought this information was irrelevant to his cause and had enough..

But it didn't leave his mind though...

John made his way over the bridge he had constructed from pieces of spare alloy in the water and molded them together by using a high powered blow torch. The bridge was 125 meters long with equaled to 410 feet, and had a width of 13 meters. It was 90 inches thick and provided much more support for heavier things for the time being. It wasn't the best bridge but it would do for the moment. It had taken John a good 43 hours to build it and a trying to keep it standing.

As he walked across the sturdy bridge, he heard another crash of the ocean's waves rock against the war vessel far down below. Since he was practically in the middle of the choppy ocean the oceans current was at it's strongest, and would constantly beat against it's steel alloy hull. Not enough to cause damage but it would create a tremendous amount of noise that benefited to John not getting enough sleep.

When John would walk outside the deck at night and wait for a transmission, he would see many boat's among the horizon. Some big or small traveling on the water through the fog, but for some reason they would always steer clear of the Infinity. This was good to him though and wouldn't draw attention to him.

He was not used to being near the ocean for some odd cause, it gave him a bit of nostalgia from his childhood which consisted of him spending his afternoons laying on the beaches on his home world Eridanus II. When he was a kid he would often bury his legs up to his knees in the warm sand and feel the small particles between his fingers. He would always look down past the ocean and see the industrial district moving those massive pods with the cranes as the sun was setting showing only their outline in the distance.

Then when it was time for dinner, his mother would call him from across the beach as the tide crashed against the surf. His mothers radiant smile, her sweet sincere voice, and the feeling of her arms wrapping around him when he ran to her...

John blinked a few times, trying to jog his memory back into place as he walked down the quiet halls to the launching bay... Forgetting of his dead past and remembering his current mission.

XXXXXXX

John strapped himself tightly in the D77-TC Pelican and was ready to venture out into space. He wasn't in the mood to take any time for launch sequences and needed to get off the planet as fast as he could. The Didact had begun composing New Phoenix after being awoken after just a few hours, and it had taken John around 5 days to sum up that this planet wasn't going to help with information. This planet was unregistered in the Unified Earth Government. It was hopeless if he could turn it into a base and bring forces down to fight against him. Now was probably the best time to leave.

John also needed to locate engineers to repair the Infinity internally since it was its last hope and defense against the Prometheans. From looking through documentations of the Infinities construction, it was built in the Oort Cloud system. One of the main reasons for the long wait was to try and fix communications to the Infinity and then after that, it was waiting for a signal of some sorts. Anything that would help or show that the military was still active or the reformed Covenant was taking action against STORM.

John was skeptical of taking a Pelican into deep space exploration, but other than this his options were down to nothing. While the massive frigates were moderately undamaged, they wouldn't be taking off until a new launching pad was repaired for it to raise them, or there wasn't a massive hole letting saltwater in and flooding it.

John prepped the engines as he flipped the switches on the left hand side, and awaited the force field to open up at the end. The engines turned on and the blue force field disappeared after a few seconds, and signaling John it was time to take off. John wanted to keep the power off and on standby due to the fact the Infinity had an emergency generator that was running. It could run as long as it was getting sunlight radiated on it but after the salt water damage in the engine room it was down to a few years. He would have to work with what he had and not be hasty with his decisions. Billions of lives were on the line.

Nothing John hadn't been through before except for this time.

He didn't know whether O.N.I was still active or not from the 5 day onslaught that he had been absent for. He wasn't certain that O.N.I was even in control at this point.

Guess this was one way to find out for sure.

With the accelerator pressed down at full force, the Pelican's wing engines activated, causing it to lift up off the floor and speed through the entrance towards the outside air for the first time in over a week. John pulled the throttle back, causing to the pelican to rise up with it's nose pointed to the sky. John looked on the scanner seeing nothing besides the empty ocean.

The ocean was so far below now as he kept ascending, he suddenly made a few degrees right turn. While the Pelican turned, he observed the Infinity. More importantly, the the moderate repairs he had made to it. They weren't the greatest but it was a good start. What needed to be done now was repair the few holes in the hull, empty out the sea water, clean and repair the rear engines, reboot all the systems, and many more things that he couldn't list out.

The Pelican rose higher until it began to enter the first part of the lower atmosphere.

John looked over the side and saw the Infinity become smaller and smaller until all he could see was dark speck in the middle of pure blue with land in the great distance. When he looked further into the distance all he could make out was a massive gray and dark cloud covering the continent.

Something though registered in John's mind from the previous five days. Looking to the side of the control pad, the Pelican's air synchronizer began to scan the air quality outside. This would give John the explanation to what gave the outside world it's vivid color. Pressing a single small button it began to activate the small vacuum on the outside engine. Once the vacuum began it entered a small vial next to John. He waited for the results of the contents in the air while still traveling faster into the sky. He wasn't worried if there were any hazardous chemicals in the air since he knew there wasn't'. It wasn't lethal since he had been breathing it for nearly a week. If there was something detrimental to his health it would have happened by now.

After a few seconds, the results came onto the screen in green lettering. John looked closer to the wording and and read. "Normal Air quality containing no substitutions." This notion left John wondering. He wanted to know if there was something causing these strange colors, but to his shock there wasn't anything. In fact the air was pure. Too pure. Like it hadn't been exposed to pollution or exhaust from factories.

John continued to press further into the atmosphere as the sky became darker and darker with each couple hundred feet per second. He maintained the

And just like that, he was off the planet.

XXXXXXX

Like always the vast vagueness of space always gave John a feeling home. Everything was exactly the way he had pictured it. Utter blackness with the odd colors of galaxies beyond the glowing stars that littered everything around him for light years ahead. He could see the moon that was probably miles away from him, but that wasn't his current though on it. His though was that the moon was strangely bigger than he remembered... Almost tripled in fact.

Space to him was peacefeul. He had spent the majority of his life traveling from planet to planet training, fighting, and surviving while being transported. He had never truly observed space during anytime but now his eyes were scoping anywhere for a visual of life.

Anything. Signs of a rouge vessel or a single satellite station containing marines, scientists, Spartans, or anyone who know of the status of Earth. If they were part of the trade federation then they could pinpoint him directly to Earth or even Requiem. John looked on the outside wings through the window and nearly forgot to activate the Anti-freeze. Anti-freeze was distributed to the engines since the atmospheres temperature could drop below zero. If it wasn't added then the engines motors and gear would solidify and cause him to crash. After doing that he then pressed the active distress beacon. The distress beacon was at the bottom base of the Pelican's hull and it could reach miles beyond imagination.

He was around a few miles out of the planets reach and nearly away from it for good. John located the "AUTO PILOT" by searching for the left three blue knobs that would keep it at a constant pace and swerve around any unwanted asteroids or space debris. He activated auto pilot and pressed the instant messaging beacon. He sounded the microphone and awaited the red blinking button to activate a connection and send a voice message

UNABLE TO ESTABLISH CONNECTION

John was becoming uneasy at the moment. The connection to probably one the most simplest receivers wasn't responding. John's hand clicked the button again and was met with the same description on the lower blue screen written in white letters. He activated the hover boosters and stilled the Pelican's base for a moment. Aleting his attention, John tried to reboot the system and see if he could possibly gain a simple connection.

He waited.

UNABLE TO REBOOT CONNECTION WITH SELECTED FREQUENCY. PLEASE CONSULT RELAY ENGINEER

John could only assume the worst at this point. If a decent connection was out of the question then he had to assume the Navy along with the military had suffered a massive besiege from the Promethean's and the Didact. The only logical plan John could think of now was his mission from the very beginning. Returning to Earth. It seemed to be the most reasonable and the only possible thing he could do now. That's were ONI was and were the most of it's government was located. He thought of returning to Earth if the coordinates were correct and if he had enough fuel to locate any type fueling station within the systems map. If he could do that then he could very well pilot straight to earth.

Speaking of which, he only had enough fuel for about halfway the trip. John activated the mini-hologram map on the center right side of the Pelican's dashboard for Earths coordinates. After pressing "ACTIVATE", the map turned on for a few seconds before reading 'LOADING'...

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...

...

...

...

...

UNKNOWN GALAXY AND UNABLE TO ESTABLISH FREQUENCY

ERROR

ERROR

ERROR

ERROR

ERROR

John growled angrily before switching the map off roughly. Quickly activating the boosters the jets roared pushing it slightly forward through the empty vacuum of space. John directed the Pelican over the planet and pointed it further into the distance. He began speeding forward as far away from the planet. He was set to finding AND locating earth one way or another.

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

But for some reason he felt so tired.

Like the energy had literally been drained out of him.

John groaned for a moment before nearly falling forward but keeping himself up vision was becoming hazy and his eyelids were becoming heavier than he could imagine. To his will, he tried to bite his lip to try to keep himself awake getting a bit of blood to leak down his chin inside the helmet.

But the extreme case of fatigues was becoming too much for him to handle himself... He continued to try and fly forward and past the planets gravitational pull so if he did pass out he wouldn't be stranded. Further and further, his vision became worse. His arms began to gain an unimaginable weight from the stress and all he could do was moan as his world turned black.

John finally slumped forward. Hitting the front of his helmet on massive keyboard roughly, before passing out in a deep sleep.

And the Pelican shut off mysteriously. Before it began descending back to the planet he was trying so desperately to escape from. It entered the atmosphere and continued to fall, gaining a sudden speed within seconds.

XXXXXXX

The same feeling from everything before this took over John's frame as he felt the tightened grasp hold every being of him. All he could hear was a loud ringing and taste blood in his mouth. When he opened his eyes he saw that the area was the same as before tried to look around but this time he could move his head. The groundless area was pure white void with different glows in the distance. He looked down and saw his arms and legs that were stiff as a board and saw that he was standing on nothing. He tried to release himself from the invisible bindings, but felt nothing move besides the muscles in his neck.

He held the same combination feelings of fatigues and being weightless.

The area had the look of glowing lines in the distance running in a downward direction and counting until it disappeared in a silvery mist below.

He continued to struggle against the phantom chains that held him in place. Attempting to heave his arms apart of to pry his back forward all proved useless until he stopped to take account of what was holding him in place. He looked down to see nothing even holding him. Ignoring the obvious invisible force. Then he tried again. And again. And again. And again. Until he began looking around and trying to listen for anything distinctive.

He looked at his HUD to try and see where he was in or when he was. He also kept an eye out if there were any floating eyeballs this time. The location was unknown, terrain was unknown, elevation was unknown, the air quality was even unknown.

The armored soldier then tried to shift at least one of his fingers upward to see if he could at least try to press the gravitational stabilizers on his armor. If he wasn't anywhere with surface then maybe he could be in an area with zero gravity. With all his might, John tried to force his forearm to bend a few centimeters to tap the button under his wrist. He gritted his teeth and a low growl escaped his lips as he inched closer and closer, all from just barely moving.

"It's not going to work you know." A calm voice said suddenly said behind John. He eased his actions as he slowly turned his head and was met with a man. This man looked abnormal though to say in the least. He was met with the sight of a middle age man with pale skin that could match his own, around his mid 40's, very lean build, long pure white hair with a few strands holding beads, but what really stood out about the main were two things. His eyes held no iris, giving him the term naked eyes a whole new meaning and an appearance of an alien like being, Next was the only feature that drove John to wonder who in the hell he was speaking to. On the man's head were two identical horns side by side.

He held a dull gaze at John who focused on the man in front of him with absolutely no emotion. John also saw the man was wearing a white cloak that cut around his midsection showing he was wearing black pants, and black boots. The cloak had odd insignia's around the neck where the line went down on both sides, and a high standing collar. They were black with a single dot in the middle. He lastly, had a staff on his back in a diagonal fashion with a cross end.

"You are the culmination of a thousand lifetimes of planning? I must say that's interesting when you don't have any access to chakra," The figure said as he stepped forward only a few feet away from the Master chief before continuing. "But I mustn't argue with the flow of the peace... Or fate in that matter." He finished before waiting for the spartan to answer.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

But didn't get any except the Spartan's visor staring directly at the horned being. Still and cold like, with no humor present whatsoever.

"You don't have to be in denial... I understand what is going on." The pale man said as his face didn't even shuffle a muscle.

Chief still didn't answer. Not feeling at liberty to utter a word.

The man continued. "Your system is filled with valor, extreme audacity. And you are perhaps the luckiest spirit I have ever come to witness, but I sense no fear. Fear is what manifests our minds..." The pale man then came closer to the unresponsive Spartan. "But I sense none in you. I also sense something else within your mind." The figure said as he squinted his eyeballs. "I see a man with more machine than his mind..."

"Who or what are you?" John finally asked as his arms were still strapped to the sides.

The man stood still looking up at Chief's orange lined visor before turning his back to him. John was however trying to possibly think of an escape method.

"My birth name, Hamura Otsutsuki. And what I am is of no importance." The man revealed to be Hamura said before turning his full attention to Master Chief. "And I brought you here to stop you from leaving the world..."

John was about to reply until he was interrupted by Hamura. "You are given the chance to stop the killing, or to postpone it for brightness to take effect." Hamura said

"Let me down..." John said in a low tone not wanting to play prisoner for the third time. He didn't have a plan yet, and this was probably the most rational one he could think of. Hamura looked at him for a second before blinking his eyes.

John then felt the gravity's pull toward the void. At first he was expecting to fall into nothingness but instead, he felt his knee's hit the floor making him go into a kneeling position. Staring at the clear floor all he could see was practically nothing. Not even glass or energy based, but he managed to hit a solid surface. Cortana once told him of light becoming solid for photons, but he thought this only applied to forrunner tech. Not this.

John looked up at Hamura before standing fully, towering over the short man. Hamura didn't stutter or flinch. John applied a more anger pressure to the man by standing fully straight up and saying. "Now, talk."

His mind set was getting back to earth but instead he winds up in a pocket dimension with an unknown being and then being suspended in absolutely nothingness. His wonderment to know where he was was beginning to become old, he had ended up in so many odd places before and this was becoming pointless to even ask anymore.

"Your attempt to leave the planet almost altered the plan." Hamura claimed with a shake of his head in disappointment.

"What plan?" John questioned sternly. This whole disaster was part of a plan? Was Del Rio not ever responsible? John had tried to look over the surveillance footage but due to the impact of the crash, it was nearly unreadable, but John was gonna give the former A.I the benefit of the doubt. There were no other explanations to his armor's lock up other than pure coincidence.

John had double checked his armor's schematincs once it was on the lock in stations, and the only problem with it minus the partly destroyed helmet was nothing at all.

Hamura didn't answer... He simply looked at chief with an aloof look of not caring whatsoever. Chief asked again. "What. Plan?" He was tired of the waiting, tired of the unknown questions...

He WANTED answers.

"You had met my brother earlier... Hagoromo. He said you were the one." Hamura said while Chief suddenly found himself several feet away from him in the blink of an eye across the void.

Chief didn't move as he stared and continued to listen.

"The pillar of prophecy... The one who would aid the child of prophecy in his time of need and be there for him when the time calls. My brother felt shifts in the balance of the universe, someone changed something, but one conclusion opened to another beginning... Thus, a new story was born, but a hero needs a pillar to hold him up when he is in need. From beginning to ending." Hamura stated afar from Chief who took a step forward

"I don't want any part of it. My mission is to protect humanity. And this isn't my world..." John said as he stood like a statue.

"I know it isn't... But what gave it away?" Hamura questioned coyly.

"It took time to figure it out... And reality for me to know this wasn't my world." John said simply. "But I have to get to Earth... Lives are in danger." John stated seriously as he tried to remember what he was doing before he passed out.

"Lives are in danger here as well." Hamura countered as he looked into the orange visor and deep within the soul of John-117. "Things beyond everyone's control, even mine. That will take place in the next coming years... And only you know of it."

"Its my duty as a soldier to defend humanity." John claimed silently in his "Dead and Serious tone".

"This is humanity we're speaking of."

John said nothing as he turned around and began scanning the area for a corner space to leave from. He thought of maybe he entered a sub pocket dimension between his reality and the other one, and if he found the right one. He might be able to return to his world after all and save his hardships throughout and in.

"And then what... Will you try to end the Didact?"

Hamura watched as The Master Chief stood completely still like a statue. He had hit a raw nerve with that comment before continuing."The galaxy brought you here to stop someone, far worse than the Didact from happening and coming to be. It is significant that you stay... And if that doesn't happen, and the prophecy isn't true or fulfilled... Then all hope is lost forever, and reality will be nothing more than a dream." Hamura said to Chief.

"The world you live in is created by chakra, and those who use it for glory, also use it for pure sinful needs... But you were summoned here for a reason... Many reasons." Hamura said as he remembered what had happened in the everlasting time period within the spirit world. Time meant nothing in here. What seemed like a millennium seemed like an hour. What seemed like yesterday was today. What was then is now.

"The Didact will not come here...And you won't escape..." Hamura warned.

John in the meantime was not moving from his position.

"The how do I return?" It wasn't becoming repetitive, but really his soul mission. Humanity was probably- NO. He wouldn't let theses thoughts cloud his mind, not now...

"You can't..." Hamura said before appearing behind John suddenly but not making him flinch.

"You could spend the next millennium searching for earth... But you will not find it. You won't. It's pointless. But concerning with you though. that won't be any problem at all." Hamura said making John turn slowly and looking down before asking.

"What does that mean?" John thought this man had said something wrong. His mind had been through too much and anything seemed to be possible at the moment. He just wasn't getting the understanding of the riddle

"You could waste... MILLIONS OF LIFETIMES searching for you organization in space... And you won't find them... But in your current state that is all you really have... Time, and time alone, for all of eternity...." Hamura claimed. Making John try to process the riddle but not clearly understanding the ghost like being. John looked at him before saying. "I don't understand."

Hamura sighed before taking a step back and rethink a way to pronounce what he was saying to the spartan. "The pillar of prophecy is not as strong as the child of prophecy...But luckier than him and everyone else... But in order to achieve how lucky you were..." Hamura paused for a moment. "You were bestowed, a gift."

"A gift?" John questioned. This seemed to be a scary thought since he couldn't really understand what Hamura was gesturing.

"Yes, a gift like no other, a gift that will make you different from everyone else... Most of everyone. You age no more.." Hamura said making Chief take a step back. " You will walk on the planet as an ageless savior. You won't ever die of old age. Seeing you has taken different highlights of the word machine. You lack humanity, and seem to have little to no faith for anyone. Always relying on yourself. But when you fail you silently wallow in your own failures like a cowardice fool"

The Master Chief was standing with his fingers slowly moving forward. "Are you saying I'm... Immortal?" It wasn't anything he could reach or grasp around had become from worse. To horrible in a matter of days. And this just topped it all off.

"It wasn't my decision... But after entering a different area to another in a matter of seconds, combined with your heritage... It accumulated it all up to immorality. But know this, you can still perish from wounds sustained in battle..." Hamura said as he felt as sudden pressure in the air. "Our time has been cut short. Know this spartan, every life you save changes the balance, whether good or for worse. But do not give up. There are and will be chances you can get home." Hamura stated suddenly breaking the ice.

Master chief's head shot up before he asked suddenly. "How?"

Hamura didn't answer immediately... But when he did he closed his emotionless eyes and said.

"Time will tell... But remember... Become a man... Not machine." Hamura finished as the world around John darkened to the point of being absolutely being nothingness...

"Wait!" John said loudly before trying to step forward and grasp the man. His fingers grasped nothing and he felt an unimaginable burning sensation at the base of his skull. He touched it lightly before it began to grow. It only grew...

And grew...

And grew...

And grew...

Until the point John felt as if his entire skull was on fire...

He then fell backwards...

And he fell...

And he fell...

And he fell...

Letting gravity pull him down into the dark abyss below John only closed his eyes, believing his time was finally up...

...

...

..

..

.

.

THUMP!

"Uhhhhggggg." Came from John lips as felt his back smash into the ground hardly, resulting the wind to be knocked out of him. Either he had fallen asleep while falling or the fall was never that bad to begin with.

He layed on the ground for a few moments to ease the overcoming sense of vertigo that was consuming him. After consulting with his mental equilibrium, he opened his eyes to get the view of green leaves on tree branches up above, and the star filled night sky.

He sat up observing where he was and it was no where he recognized. He could hear running water a few feet from him, the sound of crickets, and he was currently sitting in the middle of a dense forest. The sky was partially clear with a bit of a white haze added to it, and stars could be easily seen through the clear sky. There was a very soft mist touched, just barely, to the area around him.

Or smoke from the thickness and speed it was traveling with the wind. Quickly pressing his hands down and standing up. He looked around to see that several of the tree's in a straight line had slash marks. Some were split in half from the trunk with numerous broken branches. There was the smell of smoke in the area, scorch marks and he could make out yelling in the distance.

John sat down for a moment, thinking of what just happened. What Hamura had said to him. He would never be able to get back. This was probably the biggest blow to him in days. All his planning. All his devotion and everything else had absolutely been pointless. He didn't know what Hagoromo or Hamura were. If they weren't Forerunners, or gods, then what on earth were they? John was out of ideas at the moment but that didn't really matter to him. What really mattered was what they told him.

He was immortal...

He would never die of old age.

Never become sick.

Never grow old.

At first in John's senses, he didn't quite care or even have the though to understand it, it didn't have a strong impact on him, but after thinking it over. It didn't feel right. Even though he was given the chance to die in battle from wounds, he didn't feel like he deserved it. Billions of humans had died with meaning, yet he wouldn't. That's if someone killed him though. He knew he would die in battle even though he was claimed by his own drill instructor that he was "Unkillable". Then again, becoming immortal was never on his to do list. His to do list consisted of returning to service to fight against anything that posed a threat to humanity and extinguish it. Until that was completed he couldn't die.

Not yet.

But until then he desperately needed to get back to the Infinity.

John looked around again until he saw his Pelican across the river. What alarmed him though is that it looked like it had crashed next to a lake in the thick mud. John got up once more and raced through the rushing river to observe the damages. The 5 foot deep water's that raced downstream would have easily swept any medium sized man but due to John's excessive weight and heightened muscles, he carelessly jogged through the waters without any signs of difficulty.

Once he came up to the side of the Pelican's hull he began assessing the damages. He quickly saw the engine was smoking, the wings were scratched up but no signs of significant damage, and the tree's along with the mud softened the impact. John went around to the back and examined the insides by pulling down one of the fuse boxes. He saw it wasn't heavily damaged internally so that was good, but after looking through one hole he saw that many of the crates holding weapons inside went over to one side of the hull, and this caused the Pelican to sink in the mud a few inches, making it unable to properly lift off.

It would need a tremendous amount of force to remove the 15 ton flying craft and prime it for take off. John closed the side compartment with a slight push and went toward the back of the Pelican's loading hatch. Prying his hand's underneath he tried to get a solid grip to pull it out, but couldn't clutch onto anything. He placed his hands underneath further and began pulling inward while pushing his feet down.

As he pulled with a minimal of his strength he got negative results but the sound of the creaking metal. Next he tried hauling it with a good fraction of power and saw the Pelican move slightly and creeks in the metal.

John finally tried to jerk it out with all he could, but heard a very unsettling squashing sound below him. He looked down to see he was sinking in and and his feet were now ankle deep in the mud. Stepping out while rubbing his hands together, he heard more yelling in the distance become even louder. He looked at his HUD scanner and saw 17 blimps on it just barely outside the 25 meters coming towards him.

Thinking that someone could be in trouble he decided to investigate it. He walked over to the side hatch of the Pelican and opened it's weapon lock box. He reached for the first weapon inside which happened to be a SRS99-S5 Anti-Material sniper rifle with infrared scoping. He thought of replacing the weapon for something a bit original and easy to handle. While the SRS99-S5 Anti-Material sniper rifle was extraordinary for long range it was terrible for short/medium range combat, and it was very loud.

However, since it was night, anyone who was caught tin the scopes view would be outlined, strengthening John's already superior vision. Anyone who would be detrimental to John would have to sneak around him, if only it were that easy of course.

Being silent wasn't priority though, but it would be best if he remained under enemy radar. When looking in the box for ammo he saw a dark pole. Upon looking at it closer he saw that the bole was a suppressor. While it did indeed coat sounds from a certain length it greatly limited the weapons accuracy as well. Seeing that John was going to be in close quarters with the numerous tree's and he could keep the sound non-existent it would be a win-win situation.

He took the suppressor out and tightened it on the barrel of the sniper rifle. Noting that the rifle was even longer now he would have to be careful and not catch it on anything.

John loaded a fresh magazine into the rifle and watched as it linked to his HUD. He could only carry 16 rounds of this weapon so he would have to use it sparingly. He then reached for a M392 DMR battle rifle. This was a very precise weapon and John was a near expert when it came to operating it. Even though he preferred the semiautomatic weapons he thought precision would stump everything else tonight. After collecting a couple 15 round magazine cartridges he locked the black hatch to the weapons box. Before opening it again and looking inside. At the very bottom of the weapons box was a single canister of BIOFOAM.

As of recently, his biofoam injectors needed to be refiled but he hadn't figured out how to do that as of yet. Grabbing the canister and clipping it on the back of his waist, he then closed the weapons box. Turning around to get a full view of the dark forest, he jogged over to a tall stone near the river bank and climbed it. He activated his night vision inside his helmet since the lights on the would attract unwanted attention.

His vision went from dark to illuminating green within seconds and everything became clear as crystal. Even though he could see clearly in the dark the helmets night vision created a dark green outline across any living thing. Granting him a cleaner shot to the target.

John steadily turned the safety off the sniper rifle before he looked toward his scanner and saw the major activity was happening toward north, approximately 146 feet into the forest. This was good though, he was an expert at taking advantage of his surroundings and known for tuning the tables against his targets.

He slowly slid down the rock by trudging slowly on its side for a few meters, before he walked off it and back onto the grassy ground. Stepping over a log while listening carefully, he checked the ammo once more and saw he was full. He wouldn't be taking any grenades since that would bring the whole forest on top of him.

His HUD beeped loudly alerting him of someone presence. Crouching down behind a rock he looked over to the distant tree's to see a three men. All wearing white vests that looked heavily threaded with gray lining. Squinting his eyes he saw that they all wore headbands with 3 strange oval-like circle's in the middle, and also had their faces covered with cloths, and wore dark pants with boots.

John however caught the sight of three rapid approaching targets from the right. He looked through his rifles scope to assess the battle about to begin. Placing his finger off the trigger guard and on the trigger itself, he felt the hardened pressure in the air. The strong blow of the wind blew through the branches above him making them creek softly while a few leaves broke off.

His lips felt increasingly dry, and in attempt to give them moister he licked them while straightening his lining with the rifle.

He always did this before an engagement. He measured the wind velocity, which was 13 mph east, so it wouldn't cause the bullet to veer off course. He took note where the men were standing and any possible routes they might take so John could easily pick them out one by one if given the chance. He then checked the distance between them and calculated through the scope it was about 17 meters. The three men didn't know what happened until a silver wire shot down stabbing the ground making them jump back slightly. One of them saw the wire was holding those explosive notes.

"(Sore wa amushda) IT'S AN AMBUSH!" One of the ninja yelled as the note blew up, causing a dust cloud to form and chunks of rocks to go flying.

John had installed a sound detecting subtitles/voice analyzer in his helmet to re-establish what they were saying if he was ever caught outside the Infinity again, which was a good thing to. The words said went through configuration through a voice recorder, and last it was said back to him in proper English.

He didn't have time to realize it until he saw a small man try to slash at the garbed man who saw it coming, and skillfully leaped away out of the knifes slash. John had to be a bit amazed by the mans acrobatic moves and muscle strength, But only then did John get a closer look through the scope and see that small man features and build was almost childlike...

Until what he saw was true. That man he saw was a boy...

Just a child in fact, looked no older than 13.

Why on earth was a kid fighting in a battle like this? This gave John the same feeling of being recruited back when he was only 7 years old. Being forced into fighting for humanity's survival against almost anything. He never fought against it though. He was simply intrigued with the basis of becoming a Spartan and leaving for Reach. He never regretted his decision since that day.

Until 6 weeks ago that is. Everything had become a the worst of many failed lifetime achievements...

John watched as the child dodged a punch from the man, but kicked him in the face and lept back falling toward the ground. John wanted to intervene but saw the boy stick... Stick like a spider, to a tree trunk by standing on it, before leaping off, performing a couple rolls in the air and landing gracefully. John saw another presence and looked to see a tall thin man approach behind him.

"(Yūshūna sakuhin Nawaki-san wa, watashitachi wa isshun no tame no jikkō-ji ni sorera o motte iru) Excellent work Nawaki-san, we have them on the run for the moment." The man's physical description could be described as two words.

Utterly unnatural.

He skin was pure white putting John's pale skin to shame. He had long black hair that went down toward his lower back, his nose was long and pointy like the branch of a tree, a narrow jaw that was pointed, a long angular like neck. And even though it was dark The Master chief swore the man's eyes looked just like a snakes. The color was around was green but the iris... It was just like looking into the eye's of a snake. His eyes also had purple lines going down the bridge of his nose giving a odd sight to see. He was wearing a dark green vest, a black body suit with long sleeves that covered his entire hands, bandages around his ankles that went up his knees, black sandals, and a headband with a swirl on it.

The boy who had light brown hair, peach skin, blushes on his cheeks smiled widely at the skinny man behind him. "(Anata ga sensei arigatō) THANK YOU SENSEI!" The boy said loudly and enthusiastically. The boy was wearing a dark blue shirt with a tan under longsleeve hoodie combo, with baggy tan cargo pants that went down to his ankles, a pouch wrapped around his waist, a similar headband to the pale man, and finally a bandage wrapped around his leg. The boy Nawaki looked nothing of a killer, let alone a fighter.

From John's observation he was loud, inexperienced, and a walking target with those type of clothes on...

In all said and shown... This kid wasn't going to last an hour.

The man looked at the boy Nawaki however and looked into the forest before saying. "You take first inspection Nawaki-san, we have them now!" Nawaki nodded before running off toward where the men had run off to. Just as John was looking through his scope he saw something in the dirt approximately 30 yards away from him...and saw a half covered explosive tag in the dirt.

Acting on pure instinct, John jumped straight and over the boulder. He sprinted forward through the brush and past the tree's like a bullet. His feet created small craters while he ran forward to stop the boy from getting himself killed in an explosion. The boy was racing almost like an athlete, he was probably the fastest kid John had ever seen, but dumb for not watching where he was running himself into. John himself had superior genes since he was a foot taller than everyone else when he was a kid, an excpetion for Sam, but he wasn't the fastest.

That was... Kelly.

Getting his thoughts out of the dark, John saw the boy was about to be snuck up on by a man sitting in one the branches in a tree 32 feet above. He was looking down and began performing rapid hand signs. John took this as a warning and fired at the man while sprinting.

BBBBZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ-SNAP

The silencer had done its job and ceased all of the major sound in the area besides a small yet barely noticeable snap. The man's fast paced hand movement was halted as a 114MM sized bullet punched through skin, blood, tissue and caught him directly above the left breast striking his heart, killing him almost instantly. A throaty grunt escaped his lips before flying towards the ground and against a tree. He smacked the head first against the tree's bark, snapping his head backward at an unnatural angle and slumped down to the side.

John however paid no mind to this and kept running as the boy neared the explosive tag...

3 feet away...

John grunted as he kicked the forward almost nearing the speed of an actual bullet before he jumped forward and had his arms reached out to push the boy out of the way...

A few inches...

The boys foot was directly above it now. His foot came down until it was too late.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMM

Orochimaru knew his task like the back of his hand. His overall patience had been wearing thin as of all day, but due to the conflicts within the world mistakes were bound to happen... But as of right now he didn't know what to call it. He didn't know what happened, but one minute he see's one of his subordinates run off to chase down the other Kumo in the area for integration, but instead he see's a massive dark blur take out Nawaki, and enormous detonation of an explosive tag in the same place.

Orochimaru covered his eyes as the flame and dust grew over the area, nearly tousching him.

"Oh no..." He wispered in a rasp.

After the fire's ceased a bit, he walked a few steps but was nearly caught by shuriken flying through the air. He dodged shifted upward and saw 12 Kumo nin jump down upon him...Orochimaru looked up as began to gather his chakra for a snake clone.

"Nawaki will have to wait..." Orochimaru thought grimly as he rushed forward to fight off the Cloud nin...

XXXXXXX

"No..." John muttered as he looked down upon the unconscious boy in the dry dirt.

His right hand was hanging off by a clump of ripped flesh and the bone was sticking out. It began to bleed profusely like a river. John acting quickly as he untied the headband around his forehead and wrapped it very tightly around the boy's arm, hopefully to stop the bleeding. Looking down John too account that the flesh on his legs were nearly burnt off, and John could see the burnage was nearly to the bone and the nerve damage was nearly untreatable.

His torso was covered with burns. Small pieces of rock embedded into his flesh, some deeper than others. If they weren't removed properly or in time, they would be infatuated with infections in only minimal time. But looking over the boys overall injuries it would be the blood loss before the infection took even a slight effect. John reached for a biofoam canister around his utility belt on the back and noticed he only had one. He would have to make this count.

He looked at his scanner and saw the men from before were advancing in another direction, but a few more were advancing toward Chief's way. Chief looked at the boy before feeling for a pulse on the side of his neck and using the sensitivity of the armor's fingertips.

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

(Thump)

"He's alive..." John acknowledged in his mind slowly but took notice to the boy's obvious deadly distress. He carefully gripped the boy's small frame and leaned him up against a tree to sit him up right. The boy had a black left eye beginning to form from chief crashing into him and knocking him out possibly, but if he hadn't he wouldn't be here by now. John twisted the canister and pointed it at the boys burns.

Biofoam is used to heal cuts, lacerations,contusions, burn and electrical burns, but the pain of using it was described as "thousands of tiny knives stabbing" or 'Fire ant's crawling underneath your skin.' John hoped the boy, Nawaki was his name wasn't going to wake up.

Ever so slowly, John opened the nozzle and began applying the white medical cream to his knee and left a white stripe down his leg toward his foot. Nawaki's face contorted slightly to the pain. Then it began to twitch rapidly. John did the same thing on the other leg quickly and noticed the biofoam was almost dry in the canister. He let the biofoam slowly spread across the boys shins and let it cover the charred skin.

Nawaki began to groan silently from the burning sensation as he was still knocked out. John used what was left in the canister on Nawaki's stump hand that was still hanging. Nawaki began to groan louder from the agonizing the sizzialing sensation that was burning his nerves.

His sensor beeped and John held his gloved hand up to the boys mouth as several men race by up the tree's. John then hard the boy began to silently scream as he noticed he was waking up. His eyes began scanning everywhere around him, he was pale as all color had left his face, and he looked extremely tired...

Then he saw Chief.

And the Master Chief looked back at him...

The boy's face scrunched up, like he was trying to process something before his eyes closed again and his head slumped to the side...

John felt slight panic as he felt the boys neck again... But felt nothing. He couldn't see or hear any breathing signs from Nawaki. John placed the boy on the ground before trying to resuscitate Nawaki by lightly pumping his chest to stimulate oxygen through his lungs. The blood loss was beginning to take it's toll and this boy was beginning to succumb to his wounds. Until something registered in John's mind.

He had a chance to save the lives of his team but he failed. He had a chance to save the lives of the Infinity but failed that. He didn't know whether Roland's life could have been saved or not but he had a slim chance to deactivate him to probably take him back to earth but failed again. He had a chance to save Avery Johnson from 343 guilty spark, the Earth from the composers rays, Cortana from the Gravemind AND the Didact. Keyes from the flood, Miranda from the Prophet of truth, and Halsey from herself.

He had chances to save all of these men and women who impacted his life for greater and everyone elses, but he failed to do so... Miserably. It seemed when it came to save those close around chief, they would surely be killed in different ways. But when it came to the mission, the overall goal at hand he would succeed. After numerous examples and feelings of the quarrels he came to a conclusion that maybe his good luck.. was bad luck to everyone close to him.

Was that truly the reason why? Was his luck the cause of it all?

John was always praised by allies in the past because of it. But the covenant wouldn't deny him the demon title he was given after killing thousands of Covenant forces. But in retrospect, he had plenty of names he had given to the Covenant. Murderers, killers, blood suckers, monsters, family rippers, planet genocides, prophet's bitches, the names went on forever. To a toll though, his luck had never gone against him, but aybe it was the bad luck to everyone.

The death kind of karma.

Looking down at the poor defensless boy, John tightened his lip and denied the fact this boy was dead, knowing he could have done something about it. He had taken many hours of field medical training and passed with flying colors, this wasn't an exercise when he could redo it, this was reality. He was never appointed as medic though. He was a killer, not a healer. He could have been faster he thought. This boy was probably dead of blood loss, his hand was almost off, and he was probably suffering from a concussion from Chief's blow to push him.

This would not stop him. He knelt down reached behind the boy and picked him up. He held him close and looked in his scanner for anyone who would get in his way.

HUD: 7 targets directly in front/ 4 on left/ 2 on right/ 1 above

John stepped up and began walking toward the trunk of the tree with a DMR in one hand with the butt of the stock pinned on his chest for recoil. John needed to get to the Pelican and take this boy to the Infinity for medical treatment. Even though he didn't know this boy, he wouldn't let him die gruesomely or be left here to die alone. Besides, it was his duty as a soldier to evac any civilians, and this kid fell under that category under section 2 page 3 sentence 4 of the U.N.S.C . Spartan regulation handbook. But he needed to- no.

He had to hurry.

Looking up through the scope, John aimed the DMR at the first man in the tree positioning himself to drop down below. Wanting to take the element of surprise away from them. John aimed at the man's head by aiming down his sights and pulled the trigger.

He wouldn't fail the life of this kid...

Not by a long shot.


AUTHORS NOTE: Please leave a review of your thoughts of what you read. Also Please state anything wrong or if there was anything I could fix up. Reviews are greatly appreciated and ideas are needed.

-SHIPWRECK5897