Naruto Effect

Chapter 6

Uzumaki Naruto could easily be said to be one of the most traveled shinobi from Konaha. He's traveled distances and to lands that only the likes of Tsunade and Jiraiya had possibly seen. The only other person who could have come close was Kakashi and that was simply because of the number and nature of missions the man had taken over the years. From the largest of cities to the smallest of fishing villages, Naruto thought he had seen it all until he stepped foot on the massive structure called, 'The Citadel.'

The sheer size blew him away, as he swore the place could hold the entire population of every elemental country put together and still have room for more. Add to that all the numerous transports flying around, ferrying people to various spots among all the brightly colored lights and sounds it all nearly overwhelmed him.

"Is it always this busy?" He asked just in general awe.

"No, it's actually quiet," Tali said. "You should have seen it before the attack."

"Attack?"

"A former SPECTRE allied himself with the Geth and the Reapers and led an assault on the station," Tali continued. "That was until another SPECTRE and her team stopped him and saved the day." His friend said with a grin, or at least a perceived grin. Naruto had come to learn how to read his Quarian friend's body language and movement to tell things that people would normally see only when you can see their face. Subtle head movements, the expression with her hands, the little giggles or laughs were all signals to him. Naruto had dealt with his old sensei Kakashi and his masked face for years, so he figured he had a bit of a head start when dealing with the girl.

"No way."

"Yup, so don't be shocked when we're talking with people if they call me a SPECTRE," Shepard said as their transport landed at the docking area. Getting out, Naruto followed the girls as they walked to what looked like a check-in station similar to what was in Konoha. Instead of stopping, they walked through the door and stopped just before the officer.

"Hold on Ma'am while we run a scan," the officer said before there was an issue when some beeping sounded, which didn't seem normal from what Naruto could tell.

"Is there a problem?" Shepard asked.

"Umm...well, the scanners are picking up an energy field from him," the guard said pointing at Naruto, "and the scanners are screening him as a Geth." he answered, clearly looking very confused and embarrassed.

"Does he look like a Geth to you?" Shepard asked.

"Why would I, being a Quarian, be traveling with a Geth?" Tali added which confused Naruto slightly. Guess I should ask Tali-chan about that later.

"No ma'am and no, I wouldn't think so but well, new procedures and policies…."

"Let me talk to Bailey and we can sort this out, but I assure you he's not a Geth," Shepard continued authoritatively.

"Well, alright I suppose," the guard finally said, clearing them to enter. A quick walk through the doors and they reached the desk of who Naruto presumed was 'Bailey.'

"Ah, welcome back Commander," the man greeted while punching some buttons on his console. "Yes, I see where the problem is. Your boy here is giving off an energy field that the scanners haven't seen before so they're saying he's a Geth."

"I'm not a Geth," Naruto stated flatly.

"Course you're not kid but we have to be careful after the attack and all," he replied, hitting a few more buttons. "Hmmm…this is odd."

"What is odd?" Shepard asked, peaking her interest.

"We have no records of him at all. It's like he's just popped up out of thin air."

"Probably because Naruto hasn't been anywhere other than his own world before."

"Wait…Did you just say Naruto? That's you, the kid from Shin?" Bailey said looking at him. "Well, well, that explains much…"

"How did you know he was from Shin?" Shepard asked. She knew it wasn't common knowledge yet and she doubted that Anderson would spread it around, even though she sent him a quick report before arriving, until she at least met with him and the council.

"There's been a rumor floating around about some kid from the newly discovered world Shin303 that killed a bunch of Geth with his bare hands," Bailey said. "You should ask you Quarian friend about it Shepard, since her people have already given the boy a new nickname. No offense kid but I thought you'd be bigger," he finished.

"None taken," Naruto said with the wave of his hand, more perplexed then the others.

"Well there, all set. You shouldn't have any problems from now on, though I hope you'll behave yourself while you're here."

"Taichou has been very clear about that Bailey-san," Naruto said, leaving them confused at what he just said. Instead of trying to figure it out though, Shepard knew that they should just get going, so with a quick thanks to Bailey she led them out to the nearest elevators to take them up to meet with Anderson and council.

The ride in the transport gave Naruto another small glimpse at how massive the Citadel was. From what looked like the run down dark streets of Ame, they came to a bright, sunny and green part that reminded him of Konoha. After getting out, he followed the two girls into what looked like offices and they walked down to reach a room where he assumed this 'Anderson' they were suppose to meet was.

"Ah, Shepard. Good to see you again." The man greeted, "and I take it, this is the young man from Shin303?" he said looking at Naruto.

The years of Shizune's Lessons in Manners kicking in, Naruto dropped into a bow. "Uzumaki Naruto, former Jonin of Konoha. It's a pleasure."

"I'm Councilor Anderson of the Earth Alliance," the man said, extending his hand to Naruto and happy that the younger man took it and shook it. "I've heard some interesting things about you."

"We heard from down in C-Sec," Shepard said, less then pleased.

"Yes, there are stories going around about your friend but that can wait as the Council is about to join us," Anderson finished as the holoprojectors activated and the council leaders appeared.

"Commander Shepard, I must admit, we were surprised when you forwarded your report about your contact with the people of Shin303," the female that Naruto guessed from his datapad studies at being an Asari.

"I'm still a SPECTRE even though my status isn't on the best of terms with the Council right now," Shepard answered. "And discovering a new planet with a population is big enough news that it shouldn't be held within one organization."

"Don't take it the wrong way Shepard," the one Naruto assumed to be a Salarian as the third was clearly a Turian. "We were just surprised. Your report was quite interesting to say the least. Would you say the population is open to trade or to have further talks?"

"If you want my honest opinion, then I would have to say no. Their society is polite but they have little interest beyond their own boarders. Even with the Geth on their world, the group I encountered showed little or no interest in dealing with them as long as their own homes were safe." Shepard finished hoping that her assessment didn't upset Naruto too much.

"Yes, we are aware of your engagement with the Geth and the fact that you allied yourself with this 'Gethslayer'," said the Turian.

"Gethslayer?" came from Naruto who was surprised at the new name he somehow earned.

"Yes, it came as much of a shock to hear of one that supposedly defeated an army of Geth on his own with his bare hands." The Salarian said before realizing who he was talking to, "Shepard, is this the one in question?"

"I thought he'd be bigger" the Turian stated

"He fought a number of Geth, yes, but he wasn't alone. I do not know where these rumors are coming from but they are not from me," Shepard answered hoping to end this topic. Why do I get the felling this is 'him' playing games with my crew again Shepard thought to herself.

"Very well, then we will leave you be and once again thank you for the report," they said as they then vanished and the projector deactivated.

"Well, that went better than the last time," Shepard remarked in surprise.

"I think they're just surprised that you sent the report. In fact, so was I."

"Do you really think my dealings with Cerberus made me forget about everyone else?"

Anderson looked at her a bit surprised, "No, it shouldn't and I apologize for even thinking that" he said before turning to Naruto. "So I guess it's correct to say that that name is news to you?"

"I've been called many things, but not that."

"I wonder who started it," Tali pondered. "You don't think it's your people doing it to find you do you?" asking her blond friend.

"I think I have an idea," Shepard said and turned to Anderson. "It was good to see you again but we should be going. We have a few things to take care of before we head back out."

"It was good to see you Shepard." he said and began walking towards his balcony.

Shepard then stopped and turned as if she just remembered something "One more thing" she began to ask "Why was Ash on Horizon?"

Arriving back in the Wards area of the Citadel, Shepard said she knew what they needed to do and where they should go. After years of being used as a pack mule by Sakura, Ino and even Tenten that one time, Naruto knew that shopping with women wasn't going to be as easy as it appeared. Shopping with Tali and Shepard was exactly the same as it was with his former friends, hitting four shops it wasn't until they hit the fifth that Shepard declared they had found the shop they wanted. In his younger days he'd question about the first four stores but after the numerous beatings at the hands of Sakura, he'd learned to keep his mouth shut.

Standing around, he knew he wasn't really needed, so he went to stand outside as he wasn't technically wandering off but he was just getting out of their way as they looked through the consoles and talked to the shop keeper. He knew Shepard was in a bad mood after talking to that Anderson fellow so he decided to hold off asking who this 'Ash' person was for the time being. He also knew she was ticked off at that other official that entered the office though he couldn't blame her. The man was as rude and condescending as the old bats Homura and Koharu were to him back in Konoha. He also seemed to be as disliked like that pair since his calling the man 'Prune face' earned more laughter than anything else. Bastard's lucky I didn't kill him where he stood for what he said about my home and baachan.

Still shocked at the amount of people and size of the place, his years of training all his senses suddenly kicked in as his nose detected a familiar smell. A smell he doubted he'd ever smell again. Forgetting that he was not supposed to wander off, he began walking, trying to follow and find the source of the smell. Maybe it's just something similar because there's no way there would be any here. Quickly walking down the stairs to the next level, he saw a small booth like area where the smell was coming from. Stepping closer he noticed that everything looked like what he thought it was and as it should be. No Way...

"Ah, hello," the cook chimed, noticing Naruto. "Would you like to try some Ramen?" he asked kindly.

"Do you have Miso flavor?" Naruto replied with a smile.

Working their way through the crowd, Shepard made sure to try and keep an eye on the young man with them for fear he may wonder off since the last thing they needed to do was lose him in the wards. She wasn't fearful of his safety per say, he was a trained fighter and she had seen him in combat and knew he could probably take on all of C-Sec if need be. It was just she didn't really want people to know that a fully trained Shinobi was on the station, especially one like Naruto who could and would get roped in by a sob story from anyone and get into all sorts of trouble.

Reaching the one store she knew sold armor; Shepard began the fun task of finding the right one for Naruto. Looking through the list she saw something that could work but needed to ask his opinion. "Hey Naruto do you think that…" Then she noticed he was gone, "damn it, where did he go?"

"He must have wandered off," Tali said slightly embarrassed that she lost track of her friend and team mate.

Turning to the shop keeper, "I'll take all of these, please have it delivered to this ship," Shepard instructed, handing him the dock info for the Normandy before turning to leave with Tali behind her.

"I told him specifically not to wander off," Shepard said in a huff. "Where the hell did he go?"

Looking around, there was no sign of him at all. He wasn't in any of the other shops on that level and it didn't appear he was milling about close by. She was about to check with the Normandy when she overheard a pair of Asari women chatting as they walked by.

"…taking on a Krogan like that. That human boy must be out of his mind…" the first woman said.

"Excuse me," Shepard said as she ran up to the pair. "Did you say there was a human fighting a Krogan somewhere?" Hoping beyond hope that said human wasn't who she thought it was.

"Not fighting. The Krogan and the boy are having an eating contest down a level at that Human food stand," the woman said shaking her head. "I'm quite shocked that one of your race could actually think they'd ever out eat a Krogan."

"What kind of food was it?" asked Tali who was mildly curious

"I believe it was something called 'Ramen', have you heard of it?" the second Asari answered.

Years later the pair of Asari would go on to tell their children and grandchildren about the time they watched a human female turn completely red with rage.

By the time the girls got to the Ramen stand, they noticed that quite the crowd had formed watching the two combatants duel. By Shepard's quick count Naruto was up by one bowl, having eaten a total of ten while the Krogan was on its ninth. Placing her hand on Naruto shoulder she was happy to see him flinch.

"Uhh….hi," was all he could say sounding much like the kid who just got caught, which was pretty much what Naruto was.

"We need to have a talk but later," she started and then looking at the Krogan who looked like he was about done and then back to Naruto. "What brought this on?"

Slurping down the last of his bowl before slamming it down on the counter and asking for another, Naruto looked back at Shepard. "A disagreement over Ramen. Instead of fighting with our fists we decided to fight with our stomachs," he then finished with a grin and thumbs up.

"I submit," suddenly came the call form the Krogan as the crowd broke into a cheer and it seemed that some went so far to place bets on the outcome.

"What were the stakes Naruto?" Tali asked, only guessing what he might say.

"Loser pays and winner gets bragging rights," Naruto responded proudly.

The Krogan paid the chef, who was obviously happy at the business he got, then got up and walked up to Naruto surprising all be extending his hand, "Good going kid. You won this time," and after Naruto took his hand he pulled the young man close. "But next time we fight in real battle and you won't be so lucky."

Not missing a beat Naruto just smiled and said, "Wouldn't have it any other way." Then feeling a tug on his ear he was dragged off by Shepard. This isn't going to end well he thought to himself as he was being pulled away.

The smack to the side of his head was almost as hard as the one's Sakura would give him to the top of his head.

"I specifically told you not to wander off. Do you know how much trouble you could have gotten in?" Shepard started, going into full lecture mode. Naruto just stood there while she kept ranting while he watched people walking by and giggling about it.

"Are you listening to me?"

"Yes yes, I shouldn't have wandered off," he said in trained response.

This time the smack to his head wasn't as hard as before but it still got the point across. He watched as her expression changed and it wasn't one of anger but seemed one of sadness.

"I'm disappointed in you. I thought you could at least follow orders. I can't have you going off like that in the middle of a critical mission much less something as simple as being here," she said very calmly. "I think I was wrong in thinking you were ready for this…" she trailed off quietly.

A flood of memories hit Naruto as he recalled this is how Kakashi, Jiraiya and even Tsunade would talk to him when he did something really stupid. He hated letting people down and as is, he's still carrying the guilt over failing Sakura the first time. Now he's gone and let down another 'precious person'. Maybe I should tell her to leave me here so I can find my way home he thought to himself for a moment.

"Naruto," Shepard said, breaking him from his thoughts. "Let's go and head back to the ship. I think we're done here," as she turned to leave and then stopped.

Naruto noticed she was looking to her side and following her eye line as he saw what Shepard was looking at.

Despite her misgivings about Naruto's need to help people, Shepard herself usually went out of her way to help folks when it was within reason. Spotting a C-sec officer practically being ready to slap the cuffs on a Quarian, she decided she had to at least find out why. Last thing she needed was Tali going off and doing something potentially stupid, especially after giving Naruto the semi-riot act for doing something extremely harmless. Walking up, she could see a young Quarian girl, or at least that's what it appeared in comparison to Tali, with a human C-Sec officer and a short Volus with the girl proclaiming her innocence.

"I keep telling you I didn't take it," the girl practically screamed.

"Lies! You had to have stolen it, everyone knows what your people are like," accused the Volus.

Walking closer and drawing the attention of the three, Shepard asked, "Is there anything I can help with?"

"I'm sorry but you really should mind your own business civilian," the officer said, obviously growing frustrated.

Annoyed at being brushed off so quickly, Shepard decided to be a bit more proactive. "I'm a SPECTRE so let's see if I can help solve this issue," she said before continuing. "What do you think happened here?" she asked to the officer.

The officer sighed and then said, "My scans say she doesn't have the credit chit but she could have stashed it somewhere for later. You know how these people are."

"What!" Tali exclaimed understandably offended, "What do you mean by 'these people'?"

"Hey, I'm just stating the facts," the officer replied defensively.

Ignoring the man Shepard turned to the Quarian girl, "What happened?"

"I was just looking at the ships as I always do in the evening, I really like them, and then I bumped into this Volus outside one of the shops. Next thing I know, he comes running up with C-sec, ready to haul me away," she explained.

"I take it you're on your pilgrimage and that a ship would be your offer to the fleet?" Tali asked in a friendly tone.

"That's right though, it's not going as well as I hoped." The girl replied.

"Did you see him drop the chit?" Shepard asked, hoping to get some hint.

"No, but it is possible," the girl responded

"Bah! You took it. Your people are nothing but thieves and vagabonds who let loose the Geth on us all," the Volus chimed in. That got Naruto's attention as he was unaware of the Geth's full origin. Looks like that part was left out of my education he thought as he made a note to himself to speak to Tali about it later. He wouldn't judge her by whatever she would tell him. He was the last person who should judge someone for something that's possibly out of their control as he remembered his own burden.

"Keelah, Its closed minded people like you, you little bosh'tet, that are the reason the Quarian people have a hard time," Tali chastised, looking like she was about to hit the Volus.

"Tali, calm down," Shepard interjected and then looked at the shorter Volus, "Is it possible that you misplaced or dropped the chit?"

"No, I am not that absentminded, this is how pickpockets work," he accused. "She clearly took it as there is no other explanation."

Watching all of this quietly, Naruto could tell that the girl wasn't lying. Those eight months of being teamed with Anko on missions taught him much about how to read people, especially those who are trying to hide something. Changes in pitch in the voice, body movement, hand gestures, even breathing were all clues that Anko showed him to look for. As much as he thought the woman was crazy, he truly did value her lessons and friendship, though he'd never tell about the time she took him to a brothel and had a girl strip in front of him while teaching him said 'lessons'.

What bothered him more was how the officer was clearly just ready to believe the short fellow. A tap to his arm brought him out of his musings as Shepard was now looking at him.

"Do your thing you did on the ship with the data pads and visit all the shops and find out if the Volus dropped his chit," she both asked and ordered.

"You got it," Naruto said stepping a few steps away before shouting, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu" and six Narutos appeared out of thin air.

"Go to all the shops on this and the above level and ask about a Volus who dropped a chit," he ordered the clones as they nodded and ran off.

"Wow," exclaimed the Quarian. "I've never seen anything like that before."

"He's got all sorts of tricks," Tali said. "It's normal for people from Naruto's world."

"Wait!" the Quarian said suddenly surprised. "That's THE Naruto?" Then holding her hand up and speaking quietly, "he's the Gethslayer?"

"So we've heard," Shepard said dryly.

"Oh wow…" the girl beamed then looked to Naruto. Before anything more could be said though, Shepard noticed Naruto close his eyes and a small smile form on his face before he walked up to everyone again.

Looking at the Volus he informed the group, "You left your chit at the Salarian's shop. He's holding it to be able to return it to you."

"Well, I suppose that's fine," the Volus said before turning to walk away but was stopped when Naruto grabbed it's shoulder and spun it around to face him.

"Hey, apologize to this girl right now," Naruto insisted. "You have no right to treat her like that and especially say those things about her people!"

Naruto then turned to the C-Sec officer and gave him a firm push, "And you, you're supposed to uphold the law and treat people fairly, not use your position to bully people around."

"Maybe I should run you in," the officer said, trying to threaten the shinobi.

Clearly amused by Naruto's actions, because she would have done the exact same herself, Shepard spoke up, "You actually think that you could subdue and bring in the Gethslayer? I'd like to see that."

"Whatever," the officer said closing the case and walking away, trying to hide the fact at the mention of 'Gethslayer' he soiled himself. The Volus didn't say anything more other than a very weak apology before leaving as well in a hurry.

Turning to the Quarian girl, Shepard asked, "Are you going to be ok now?"

"Yes, thank you all for helping," she said gratefully. "I didn't realize things would be like this away from the fleet. Oh, by the way, my name is Lia'Vael nar Ulnay."

"You'll find for every bad person, there are three good people to meet." Tali informed encouragingly.

"You'll be able to take care of yourself from here on out?" Shepard then asked, concerned for the girl's situation.

"I'll be fine, it's won't be easy but I can stay at the Turian shelter and hope to find a job," she confirmed and then turned to Naruto, "can I give you a hug, umm, as a thanks for helping?"

"Uhh…sure," he said, confused as he let Lia give him the hug.

"Oh wow," she giggled, bubbling over with elation. When the hug lasted longer than a few seconds, Shepard grabbed Naruto by the ear and with a tug made him break the hug and started to drag him away.

"Come on lover boy, let's get back to the ship," she said trying to hide her amusement at the situation.

Watching him walk away, Lia looked at Tali, "Tell him thanks again. He really is something special isn't he?"

"Yes he is," Tali replied thoughtfully. "Keelah Se'lai Lia'Vael," she finished before heading in the direction to join her friends.

Author's Notes: and here we are, done early so consider this a late Easter gift. This chapter was a pain to write. Unlike the other chapters that I wrote over a day or two I nearly spent a week on this one. Nothing seemed right and I'm still not 100% happy with it yet it's one of GT's favorites so go figure. Anyway, originally instead of the Ramen eating contest Naruto wandered off and met Emily Wong, saved her from Blue Sun's then helped her expose an underground fighting ring followed by doing an interview. It just didn't feel right (felt very cliche too) after writing and at this point Gt also started telling me that Naruto wasn't being "naruto-ish" enough in the story so I scrapped it and went with the light hearted Ramen eating contest to which she also agreed that it was better than the original idea. Please excuse me if shops are misplaced but I'll use my "author's latitude" card here to cover that. Also, the line about Anko taking him to a brothel was a bit more...risque originally but I decided to change it. While it was funny it was also a bit much and Gt 'suggested' it be changed and she's the boss in our household :)

Worry not, Emily Wong fans, she is still making an appearance down the line so I didn't forget about her, just shuffled things around. Keep in mind, it's only chapter 6 now and I'm currently writing chapter 16 so there is plenty of time for her and other characters to show up (including Kasumi Goto as I've now got a great way to bring her in but it will be down the line when she pops up as I'm actually writing it now) since it looks like it's going 20+ chapters now.

Translations:

SPECTRE - short for "SPECial Tactics and REconnaissance" they're an elite group that reports directly to the Citadel council and are charged with protecting the stability of the galaxy by any means necessary. Kinda like ANBU in a sense.

Taichou - loosely means "captain" but can also mean "commander"

baachan - loosely means "Granny", "Grandma" or "old lady"

Keelah - "My god" or just simply "God".

bosh'tet - means either "bastard" or "son of a bitch" as I've seen both applied to the word.

Thanks for reading (I mean it since I never expected this many people to actually like it) and see you next time!

edit 4/8/2010 - fixed a minor typo, thanks to the anon reviewer who caught it.