Mass Effect 2: Naruto's Mission
Written by I.K.A. Valian
All characters and material from Naruto are the property of Masashi Kishimoto.
All characters and material from Mass Effect are the property of BioWare.
Chapter Seven: The Citadel
Last Time
Omega. Deepest, darkest pit that can still support life. If you can call that living.
After receiving direction from the Queen of Omega, Aria T'Loak, Shepard went into the quarantined slums to find Dr. Mordin Solus, a Salarian Scientist. While she and her team were stuck inside the quarantine zone, Naruto got pulled into rescuing Archangel from all of Omega's big mercenary gangs, the biggest being Eclipse, Blood Pack, and Blue Suns.
While Shepard dealt with delivering the cure to the plague into the ventilation systems, Naruto befriended mercenary veteran Zaeed Massani. Together they snuck into Archangel's base and started fighting against those who'd "hired" them. Archangel, however, didn't totally trust Naruto, having met him when he was indoctrinated. After defending against all the forces that the mercs could throw at them, the Blue Suns boss, Tarak, attacked Archangel with a gunship. Naruto threw Archangel out of the way before he could be shot up too much, but in the process, took a missile meant for the Turian vigilante.
Naruto tried to make sense of the pitch black darkness he was floating in. The last thing he remembered was… well, now that he thought about it, he couldn't recall anything. What was he doing? How did he get here?
-ace him on the table! Mov-
A voice? Naruto tried to hear more, but it was really fuzzy. It was like the person talking was miles and miles away. They were probably not in this darkness, like he was. Maybe if he followed the voice, he could get back to the light. But… his body wouldn't move. It was like he'd turned to a statue. And he was so tired now too.
-it! We're losing him! Set to three hundred. Clea-
Pain! Like only one person had ever inflicted upon him. He remembered now. Sasuke had hit him with some lightning based attack… shoved his hand straight through Naruto's chest. It had hurt like this did. Pain throughout his whole body. What was the name of that attack again? He couldn't remember.
-amn it! Stop dying you son of a-
More pain! Another lightning attack? Naruto didn't know. It hurt to think! It hurt to try and move. He was just so damn tired. Always fighting. Against the hatred of the populace of his home. Against everyone's sneers and jeers. Against the label of loser. Against Pain. Against Madara, or Tobi, or whoever the hell he was. So much… fighting. He was so tired of fighting.
So he released his hold and let the darkness swallow him.
-all it Doctor. He's gone.-
"You little shit," snarled a deep booming voice. "I go to sleep for a few months and you decide to play hero and get yourself killed. Why couldn't you have chosen to be something less life threatening for an occupation? Something like painting or writing those shitty porn novels. Why ninja?" The great beast heaved a large sigh. "I'm pulling your ass out of the fire. Again. Stop trying to kill yourself! You can't fulfill your promise if you're dead."
Doctor Chakwas took a step back from the bloody mess that was Uzumaki Naruto. Two holographic prongs retracted from Naruto's chest cavity where his heart lay motionless. The holographic display floating over his body displayed his flat-lined heart-rate, lack of neural activity, and other now ceased bodily functions that would have indicated life. The boy was as dead as a door nail, as the saying goes.
Doctor Chakwas glanced at her assistant, a young man wearing an operating smock over his standard issue Cerberus uniform, and nodded. She tapped a button on the holographic display above the body and the computer automatically noted the time, place, and cause of death. Chakwas sighed despondently. She hated losing patients. The feeling of being a failure one experienced after losing anyone never got any better. Unlike a lot of her colleagues, she refused to let herself get used to the feeling. If she did, she feared that she would lose her edge. No, feeling like she could have done better only made her work harder the next time.
Chakwas turned around to the much better looking 'Archangel' on the table behind her. It was quickly revealed when his helmet was removed that the infamous vigilante was none other than Garrus Vakarian. The eponymous Turian had suffered numerous bullet wounds that, without the invention of Medi-gel, would have spelled certain doom for the former detective. However, unlike the mangled Naruto, Garrus would survive and recover. Quickly, at that. She'd personally seen the Turian survive worse… at the hands of the dead blond behind her, ironically.
Eeeeeeeeep-beep Beep Beep Beep…
"D-doctor Chakwas!" gasped her assistant. "The… He… Look!"
Chakwas turned. She took in a sharp breath. "What in the blazes?"
Naruto's body was glowing red. No, the red was coming out of Naruto and cover his body, like some kind of radioactive slime. As it did, the places it touched began to heal at an incredible rate. Shrapnel from the missile was pushed out as flesh repaired itself. Bones knit themselves back together as torn muscles reattached to tendons. Pieces of Naruto's body that had been utterly destroyed, like a large chunk of Naruto's left leg, simply regrew. Less than a minute later, the red glowing slime stuff started to retreat, and a whole, breathing, live Naruto was left in the place of the dead, cold, corpse.
"Wh-what was that?" cried the assistant, eyes wide in astonishment. "He just spontaneously regenerated all the damage to his body! That's impossible! It has to be! Right?"
"I haven't a clue," Chakwas said. "I'd read the reports from the mission to stop Saren… but I didn't think that… I thought Shepard and the ground team had merely been exaggerating. Like how Krogan can regenerate, but not at this level. This is… this is…"
"This is exactly why I wanted to shoot him when I saw him pull the helmet off." Chakwas jerked when Garrus spoke behind her. She looked over her shoulder and saw that the Turian, though bandaged, was awake and alert. "I've pumped more bullets into him and his clones than were shot during the Krogan Rebellions. It's just not natural. He's a monster."
"I… I…"
Chakwas laid a hand on her assistant's shoulder. "Go and get some rest," she said. "You've done well. It seems everything is alright now. I can take over from here."
"Ah… uhm… right." The assistant nodded. "Thank you doctor Chakwas."
Chakwas waited until the young man had left the med-bay before she turned to look Garrus over. The Turian in question was staring at Naruto as he slept peacefully, without a scratch on him. The grimace on Garrus' face gave the doctor a hint as to what he was thinking.
"I trust Shepard's decisions," Chakwas said. "It was her decision to bring him along. Well… I assume it was. The Illusive Man had made the young man an offer. But from what I understand, Naruto here chose to come for his own reasons."
"I still don't trust him," Garrus said. "But… I won't doubt Shepard's decisions." Garrus growled and looked down at his hands. "My own decisions didn't turn out all that well. I just hope Shepard knows what she's doing. Joining Cerberus. Working with… that thing." Garrus glanced at Naruto again.
"I'm sure you can ask her about that in an hour," Chakwas said. "I'll be able to clear you then. You always did recover fast from light wounds."
Garrus grunted, though his fringe twitched from his amusement. "Yeah. A gunship lets loose with its mini-cannon on me and it's just a 'light' wound. If I'd taken that missile… I hate to say it, but I'd be dead if he hadn't tossed me out of the way. I really hate to say it."
"For what it's worth," Chakwas said. "It is my opinion that you should give him a chance."
Garrus shook his head. "I can't. I've nearly died too many times by his hands. You know. You were there." Garrus leaned his head back and closed his eyes. "Besides, there's no way to be sure he isn't still indoctrinated. When he shows his true colors, I'll be ready, with a mini nuke if need be."
"I can't say for sure if he's still indoctrinated or not," Chakwas said. "But according to my scans, he doesn't exhibit the altered thought patterns that are associated the condition. It's not much, but maybe there's some credit to his claim about being undoctrinated."
Garrus shook his head. He remained silent, however. Chakwas went about cleaning up from the, now, pointless endeavor to save Naruto's life when she heard it. It sounded like a soft fluttering of wings in the wind. Garrus was snoring.
Naruto awoke in a puddle staring up at the night sky. It took him several moments of watching one of these stars project a memory from his past before he recalled exactly where he was. He scowled as he sat up and looked around.
"Why the hell am I here?" Naruto asked. "And why can't it be the sewer? I liked that sewer!"
"Shut up, brat," said a booming voice. Naruto shouted in surprise and turned around to see the large iron gate of Kurama's seal. "Because you can't seem to stay alive for more than five months at a time, I have to sleep even longer now to make up the chakra loss."
"Whoa, whoa, wait!" Naruto jumped to his feet and ran into the cage, carelessly throwing the gate open as he ran up to it. The inside of the cage was the same as it always looked, like part of a sewer system with pipes coming in at odd angles and water draining onto the floor. Kurama lay at the center of the open space of his cage, his tails were slumped all around him and the giant fox himself lay on the ground with his eyes shut. He clearly looked exhausted. "What the hell happened to you?"
"Just because I have nine tails doesn't mean I can't suffer from Chakra Exhaustion," Kurama said. When he spoke, he barely lifted his head to give himself just enough room to move his jaw. His eyes stayed closed. And he spoke slowly, like someone who'd stayed away for a whole month and just couldn't stand being awake a moment longer. "Try not to die again. I don't have enough chakra to stay awake anymore."
"Hey!" Naruto shouted at the giant fox. "C'mon! Wake up? I need to ask you some questions!" He jumped up and down on Kurama's muzzle, pulled on of the nine tails laying about the room, tried tickling attacks, and then finally pulled out all the stops and launched a Rasengan at the nine tailed beast.
Kurama let out a long and loud snore.
"Argh!" Naruto threw his hands into the air. "Fine! I'm leaving! But I'll be back later and you better have some answers for me!"
Naruto stomped out of Kurama's cage and the iron barred door of the seal automatically slid back into place. Naruto sighed as he looked up at the star filled sky of memories above. He groaned to himself when he noticed the huge patch of nothingness around his last memory of Sasuke.
"I wish you hadn't just destroyed all that, Sasuke." Naruto took a deep breath and ruffled his hair. "Maybe if I knew what I did to these people, I could figure out how to make it right. Aw, screw it! I'll do everything I can, but I'm not going to kill myself for them." Naruto paused, considering everything that Kurama had just told him. Then the info clicked and he scrunched up his face in annoyance. "Crap, I just killed myself for one of them!"
"Destination locked in, Commander," Joker said over the intercom. "ETA to the Citadel: 18 hours."
Shepard nodded as she stepped away from the holographically projected image of the galaxy. "Thanks Joker," she said. She nodded at her fellow red head, yeoman Kelly Chambers as she passed her by. She exited the CIC and walked through the Armory to another door. This led her to a small corridor that connected the communications room and the laboratory to the armory. As she walked in, Shepard nodded at everyone present.
"Shepard." Shepard stopped at the head of the table at the center of the room and turned her attention from Miranda, Jacob, Mordin, and Zaeed to the blue orb that appeared over the table. "Doctor Chakwas has asked me to inform you that Naruto has made a full recovery. Garrus Vakarian will be cleared in the hour."
"Thank you EDI," Shepard said.
"Logging you out, Shepard."
"Synthesized voice. Simulated emotional inflections…" Mordin trailed off as he crossed his arms and began tapping his fingers quickly against his arms. "Not simple VI. Could it be? No. Maybe? Have to ask." Mordin dropped his arms and turned to Shepard as he asked, "Is that an AI?"
Shepard shrugged noncommittally. "This ship is equipped with an artificial intelligence."
"Shackled," Miranda interjected. "We were certainly not foolish enough to give it free reign."
"Hmm," Mordin nodded. "An AI on board. Non-human crew members. Cerberus more desperate than I thought. Illusive Man branching out maybe? Not so human-centric?"
"You sure seem to know a lot about Cerberus, Doctor," Jacob said. "As far as branching out goes, the Collectors are abducting tens of thousands of Human colonists. We'll do what we have to find, and stop them."
"Of course." Mordin nodded and then shifted topics. "Salarian government well connected. Espionage experts. Had top level clearance once. Retired now. Still… hear things from time to time." Jacob nodded sagely. Miranda narrowed her eyes but remained silent. "Informed of name only," Mordin said, "no knowledge of man behind it. Anti-alien reputation listed as problematic."
Shepard snorted. "Don't kid yourself Professor. Humans still come first in the Illusive Man's eyes."
"This mission must be too big for them to handle alone then," Zaeed said, entering the conversation for the first time. "Otherwise he wouldn't have needed my services. Hell, Cerberus has you, the first bloody Human SpecTRe, working on this. I can only wonder what's got this Illusive Man's panties in such a twist."
"You could say that," Jacob said. "The Collectors are abducting human colonies out on the fringes of Terminus Space."
"For the amount of money Cerberus pushed at me to join this mission," Zaeed said, "it's better be more than that. Otherwise you're just wasting my time."
"Not simple abductions," Mordin said. "No. As the esteemed mercenary said, wouldn't need our services for simple."
"Entire colonies disappear without a trace." Miranda said. "No distress signals are sent and there are no signs of any kind of attack. There no evidence that anything happened at all, except every man, woman and child is long gone."
"Damn," Zaeed said. "I heard a few things about the Collectors. Never had to deal with them myself. What I did hear though wasn't pretty. Maybe I'll actually need to earn my pay after all…"
"Gas, maybe?" Mordin began to pace back and forth. "No," Mordin shook his head, "spreads too slow. Airborne virus? No. Slower than gas. Drugged water supply? No. Effects not simultaneous." Mordin stopped pacing and looked about the room with a smile. "Intriguing! Fascinating! No distress calls, no signs of resistance-"
"You don't need to stand there guessing," Shepard said.
"We've collected samples from the colony of Freedom's Progress, the last colony to be hit," Jacob said.
"We'd like you to analyze them and figure out how the Collectors did this," Miranda said. "And hopefully, come up with a countermeasure."
"Yes, of course," Mordin said, nodding. "Analyze the samples. Going to need a lab."
"There is a fully equipped laboratory in the starboard-aft section of the combat deck," EDI said, her voice coming from a speaker hidden somewhere within the room. "If you find anything lacking, please place a requisition order."
"Are you sure you wish to be involved with this?" Shepard asked. Miranda raised an eyebrow at Shepard's question, but remained silent.
"Of course," Mordin said. He enthusiastically waved his arms about. "Collectors present large challenge. Possible threat to whole galaxy. May not stop at humans. Now, can't risk being captured like colonists. Need to identify and neutralize technology. Which way to lab?"
"This way Professor," Jacob said. He held his arm out as he led Mordin from the communication's room. The door closed and the room was plunged into silence.
"That one's a bit excitable for my taste," Zaeed said. "They're usually the ones who bit it first. Never met a Salarian that didn't die too fast to matter."
"Underestimating Doctor Solus is not a smart thing to do," Miranda said. "He's not only brilliant, but he's quite deadly."
Zaeed snorted. "I'll believe that when I see it," he said.
"So, Zaeed Massani," Shepard said. She regarded the tall, muscular man, who's face looked like a bear gnawed on it for a while, for a moment silently. He certainly looked the part of badass mercenary veteran. Yes, he most certainly earned the veteran status. "Before I got onto Omega, I hadn't heard about you. As soon as I got back onto the Normandy, I found a convenient little email with your dossier mentioning that Cerberus had procured you services and you'd be joining our little mission. Care to explain how convenient that is?"
"You want answers, you'd best ask someone who knows," Zaeed said indignantly. "I was just finishing my last contract on Omega when I get an offer from Cerberus. Your "Illusive Man" somehow knew exactly where I was and said you'd be by shortly." Zaeed chuckled. "I thought I'd take that job hunting Archangel to pass the time. Figured I could kill a few mercs for fun."
"You kill mercs for fun?" Miranda asked.
"Are they good for anything else?" Zaeed asked in return. "I didn't give a shit about Archangel. Still don't. But he and I want the same thing. A lot of mercs dead. As long as he was pulling them all into one place, made my work all the easier. Imagine my surprise when up comes the kid. He not only leads me to Archangel, but he leads me to you. Brilliant turn of events, if you ask me."
"Since you were literally the only one left standing in Archangel's base of operation," Miranda said, "you've more than proven your skill in combat. And we did receive a dossier on you, even if it was delayed in arriving. Welcome aboard the Normandy, Zaeed."
"I assume my dossier included my arrangement with Cerberus?" Zaeed asked.
"No, they conveniently left that part out," Shepard said. She rolled her eyes and sigh.
"Good thing I asked," Zaeed said. "Picked up a mission just before getting the call from Cerberus. Thought you might be interested. You heard the name Vido Santiago?" Shepard shook her head in the negative. "He's the head of the Blue Suns," Zaeed explained, "runs the whole organization. Seems he recently captured an Eldfell-Ashland refinery on Zorya, and he's using their workers for slave labor. The company wants it dealt with."
"I'll put that on our list of things to do," Shepard said. "I'm sure we'll be by that region of the galaxy soon."
"Good," Zaeed said with a grin that was more terrifying because of the scars covering his face. "Get it out of the way so we focus on being big, goddamn heroes!"
"You all set up then?" Shepard asked.
"I'm hiding out in the port side cargo hold," Zaeed said. "Bit small, but it'll do."
"We could find something more accommodating, Mr. Massani," Miranda said. "You don't need to stay down there."
"I don't get along well with others," Zaeed said. "Most others don't get along well with me." The veteran mercenary shrugged and started to leave. "Let me know when you want to get some killing done," he said as he walked out the door.
Shepard sighed and glanced at Miranda. She had a frown on her face and seemed to be thinking hard about something. While Shepard would have liked to know what those thoughts were, the two of them weren't exactly beyond the frosty level of acquaintance.
After that short moment passed, Miranda pushed away from her spot and began to leave. "Commander," Miranda said as she passed. Shepard nodded back and then was left alone in the communication's room.
Naruto yawned loudly and stretched. His body felt like he'd been sitting in one position for hours and ached all over his body, including some places that weren't necessarily supposed to ache. Like his liver, or whatever organ was in there. How could he even feel pain there in the first place?
Naruto blinked a few times and sat up. He wasn't expecting to wake up in a hospital like room. Why was it always hospitals? Why couldn't he wake up in his bed for once? That'd be nice. Just once, he'd like to fall unconscious from some badass heroic move and wake up in his bed like nothing had happened.
"Ah, I see you're finally awake." Naruto turned his head to look at the older looking woman sitting at a desk on the other side of the room. The two of them were the only ones in the med-bay at the moment. "I do believe that we haven't been introduced yet. I am Doctor Chakwas, medical doctor of the Normandy. I served on the original Normandy with Commander Shepard when she was fighting Saren and the Geth."
Naruto grinned and hopped out of bed. He was wearing a long white robe made of a cloth that was rather soft. The white hem of the robe swished back and forth as Naruto moved closer to the Doctor.
"Nice to meet you," Naruto said. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto… wait, you said you were on the original Normandy?"
"Yes," Chakwas said, "I'm afraid your infamy proceeds you. But I'd like to give you the benefit of the doubt in regards to your intentions."
Naruto grinned as he felt like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He really was trying to prove he wasn't going to go nuts and kill everyone, but he hadn't realized how hard it was going to be. It's not like he hadn't dealt with stuff like this before, but at least then, the people were calling him a monster because of what he was carrying, not what he'd actually done. Regardless, Naruto was genuinely happy that at least one person wasn't judging him so harshly.
"Thanks," Naruto said. "I swear I'll make everyone believe I'm here to help. I'll just stick it out until everyone can see what I'm really like, just like the villagers." The idle thought that he'd had to watch nearly all the villagers die and the village get destroyed before the villagers finally started believing in him. Naruto swallowed and pushed that thought away. "Maybe I'll do it better than that," Naruto said a little nervously. Thankfully, Doctor Chakwas didn't catch the way his voice wavered, or didn't think enough of it to inquire.
"For a good thirty seconds there, you were dead, you know," Chakwas said. "Then a red energy like nothing I've ever seen covered your body and you fully regenerated. I'll be studying the readings of that for weeks. It might even lead to some advancements in the field of tissue regeneration."
"Oh… uhh…" Naruto scratched the back of his head and grinned.
"That's a good thing, Mr. Uzumaki."
"Oh, awesome!" Naruto grinned some more. "I'll take your word on that."
Chakwas looked at Naruto curiously for a second. Then she asked, "You wouldn't happen to know what that stuff was, would you?"
"Oh, that was just Kurama's chakra," Naruto said as a matter-of-fact. "He's a nine tailed demon fox sealed in my gut by my dad, the Fourth Hokage."
"Is that a fact?" Chakwas asked. She arched one of her silver eyebrows at Naruto. "I happen to have some samples of chakra that I've studied that Sakura was kind enough part with. That red stuff looked and acted nothing like it."
"You knew Sakura too?" Naruto asked.
"And Sasuke," Chakwas said with a nod. "However, that doesn't answer my question. If that was chakra. Why was it red? Why was it different than Sakura and Sasuke's chakra?"
"I told you," Naruto said as he wrinkled his face in annoyance. "It's Kurama's chakra. He's a tailed beast. They got tons of chakra… well, they normally do. Kurama seems to have used most of it up recently, but he wouldn't tell me why before he went back to sleep."
Chakwas sighed. She really didn't believe Naruto had a demon sealed into his gut that was capable of miraculously healing injuries so severe that they would kill any other person, except perhaps Shepard. Still, he was being adamant about it, so perhaps that what he believed it to be. No sense pushing him on it if he didn't know what it was.
"Uh… This thing is nice and all," Naruto said as he pulled on his robe, "but why am I dressed in this? What happened to my armor?"
"I'm afraid it was destroyed by the blast," Chakwas said. "What was left of it had to be surgically removed, since it was fused with your skin. The remnants of it were taken to the armory for Operative Jacob, to see if he could do anything with it."
"Aww, man," Naruto's shoulder slumped. "Well, it was nice while it lasted."
"Don't worry too much," Chakwas said. "I'm sure you'll get a replacement soon enough."
"Hmm… do you think they could change a few things?"
"You'd have to ask Jacob," Chakwas said. "I'm afraid I don't know the first thing about maintaining armor."
At this point the door to the med-bay slid open and Shepard entered. When she saw Naruto was standing, she grinned, though it was obvious to Naruto that it was a mixture of happiness and fulfilled expectations. She knew he'd survive a direct missile blast! Just what the heck had happened that she would expect something like that?
"Commander Shepard," Chakwas said. "Come to check up on the patient?"
"I have. Naruto, you've been asleep for the last twelve hours," Shepard said as she came to stand in front of Naruto and the Doctor. "I'm happy you survived. I'd hate to have to face Sakura alone if I had to tell her that you died under my watch."
Naruto grinned as he chuckled nervously. He could sympathize. Being on the receiving end of Sakura's punishments over the years gave him a good idea of what she'd do when he finally found her, and in that scenario, he'd be alive. He shuddered to think of how she'd react to learning he'd died. Knowing her, she'd probably use Edo Tensi on the mercs who kill him and torture them to death, several times, for starters.
"I came to see how you were doing and to thank you for saving Garrus," Shepard said. "He's one of my good friends and a valuable member of the team."
"Garrus who?"
"Archangel," Shepard said. "His real name is Garrus Vakarian. It's ironic that you were the one to save his life because when you were indoctrinated, you seemed to have it out for him pretty bad."
"As I recall, Wrex sustained more injuries than Garrus did," Chakwas said.
"Yeah… I suppose crushing one of his hearts with your bare hands would count as more damage," Shepard said, tapping her chin with one finger. Naruto swallowed loudly and took a nervous step back. He'd crushed someone's heart with his bare hand. "But," Shepard continued, "he's a Krogan, so he had two hearts. And the first one was repaired eventually. He even said he wanted a rematch after that."
"Oh," Chakwas laughed lightly. "I remember. As soon as he was able to move, he was bugging Sasuke for a fight and Sasuke just walked up onto the ceiling of the hangar to get away. Wrex was running around for a good hour trying to figure out how to get him down."
"He eventually settled on using Pull," Shepard said with a smile as she relived the past. "I'd never seen Sasuke loose his cool as much as he did in that moment. I thought for a second he screamed, but he was all business as soon as he touched down. Wrex got his beating and everyone was happy."
Naruto was thoroughly confused by this point. Who was Wrex and why was he happy that Naruto had crushed his heart? Why was he bugging Sasuke for a fight? Why was Sasuke ignoring him?
"Those were hard times," Doctor Chakwas said, almost sadly. "But there were a few good days."
"Naruto," Shepard said. Naruto jumped. Shepard grinned and said, "We'll be arriving at the Citadel in a few hours. Unless you have some pressing business to deal with, you should probably remain on board the Normandy…"
"Huh?" Naruto frowned. "Why?"
"The last time you were there, you were attacking the Citadel with a fleet of Geth and a Reaper," Shepard said. "It's well known who you are, even if no one saw you. I doubt the Councilors would take kindly to seeing you alive, let alone walking around freely."
"Ah," Naruto said. He gave a nervous chuckle and scratched the back of his head. "I'll have to find some way to make it up to them, then, eventually. I don't have anything to do here, though. The information that Cerberus gave me about Sasuke and Sakura only mentioned that they passed through the Citadel a long time ago. Any leads here would probably have dried up by now."
"Very well," Shepard said. "Try not to blow the ship up while I'm gone."
Naruto nodded and quickly walked from the room. As he passed by the common area he noticed that the crew was staring at him. Rather than the guarded looks of mistrust, though there was still plenty of that, he saw a few stares of awed fascination pointed his direction. Hmm… maybe taking a missile wasn't such a bad thing after all.
As soon as he finished cleaning himself in the showers and dressing in a clean set of his ninja clothes and armor from home, Naruto was left with nothing to do for several hours. And they hadn't even reached the Citadel yet. He'd stopped by the mess hall after dressing, but the green and yellow goop that the chef had told him was food didn't sit right in his stomach. He needed real food. So he'd come back with some hot water and unsealed several instant ramen cups.
As he drained the last of the chicken flavored broth from the last cup, Naruto sat back on the couch and stared out the window at the space flying by outside. It was oddly relaxing to stare out the window at the stars, so many more than he could recall seeing from the top of the Hokage Monument, his own father's head in fact. At that moment, he felt really and truly small and insignificant.
It was a strange feeling. Very much unlike when all the villagers would look at him with those cold, unfeeling eyes. That was… worse, in a weird sort of way. Staring out into the black abyss of deep space made him feel small, yes, but connected as well. As if to spite the fact that he was so very small the universe still shone its light on him in some sort of effort to make him a part of it. That notion made this feeling of insignificance vastly different than anything he'd ever felt before. It was… humbling.
Poof!
"What the hell?" Naruto shouted as he jumped back as a cloud of smoke exploded in his face. His head jerked from side to side to see if anyone had snuck up on him to attack him or play a joke on him. But he was completely alone in his room. This brought his attention back to where he was sitting moments before.
There sat a scroll. On it, Naruto clearly could see a wax seal with the word 'Shinobi' pressed into the wax. Naruto picked up the scroll and immediately noticed a seal underneath the wax seal. It took Naruto an additional five minutes of staring at the scroll and wondering for the light bulb to go off in his head.
"Ooooooooooooh!" Naruto said intelligently. "It's a scroll from the toads! I knew they hadn't forgotten about me! I wonder how they're doing. I should probably go see them one of these days. Or summon Gamakichi."
Naruto bit his thumb and smeared his blood across the seal. The black ink glowed red for a moment and then the wax seal cracked. Naruto grinned as he unrolled the scroll. The grin slowly dropped as he inspected the inside of the scroll.
"This isn't from Gamakichi…" Naruto said, almost sadly.
Naruto,
I can only hope by now that you've found Sasuke and Sakura, or that you've found a lead and are headed to them. Unfortunately, things have changed. We've received new information that points to the Reapers coming here, to our planet! We, the leaders of the Shinobi Planet, don't think letting this happen is a good idea.
"Yeah," Naruto muttered. "But why the hell do these Reapers want to take our planet? It's in another dimension!"
After six months of study, we finally figured out where and when you are. Remember that tracking seal we placed on your arm? We used that to lock onto your location in time and space. We've never seen any results like it before, but our best guess is that you are not in another dimension. You are simply very, very, very, far away, as best we can tell. Astronomy was never my strong suit and the people who know what they're talking about don't know how to describe your location yet.
Naruto pulled back his left sleeve and saw the black squiggly marks of the circular seal inside of a square box just below his wrist. It still looked fine to him. "I guess getting blown up doesn't effect the seal."
We used five Kages worth of chakra to reverse summon just a simple scroll to you in the hopes of opening up at least a one way channel of communication. Don't be stupid and try and reverse summon something back to us. The chakra requirements are ridiculous and you would, even with all the Nine-tails chakra, die from chakra depletion. I'm sure you remember what happened to me on our first C-rank in Wave…
When we figure out how to do this with less chakra, we'll let you know. In the mean time, go about your mission to find Sasuke and Sakura. Once you find them, we, the entirety of the Shinobi Planet are assigning you a new mission. We don't know whether Sasuke will join you, or where his allegiance lies at all for that matter, but you and Sakura are here by ordered to contact the Citadel Council of the galaxy, present the treaty of alliance sealed below into this scroll, and open up diplomatic ties with the races who also defend against the Reapers.
Naruto's eyes grew wide and his mouth dropped open. What the hell was he reading? How did they know half of this stuff? Why were they asking him to do something… no, he could see why they were asking him. He was the only one here they could contact. But that they trusted him with something as important as representing everyone on his planet. Their very lives.
It was almost too much. He hadn't earned this at all, but he couldn't deny them this. The survival of everyone on his planet depended on whether he could be a good politician. For some reason, that made him feel like he was about to take a written test without knowing a single thing about the subject matter.
"I am so screwed," he breathed.
Naruto, I realize this is a lot to ask of you. You were never good with politics, preferring to just rush in head first and punch the offending party in the face. But if you truly want to be Hokage, you'll have to master this too, and that means fighting with words and ideas. You're good at bringing your ideals to the table, time to learn a new way to do it. You and Sakura, and maybe Sasuke, will be our Ambassadors to this new galaxy. Your words will either make or break an alliance between our peoples, but know that our survival likely rests in working together with as many people as we can to stop the Reapers. If you can't figure it all out, I'm sure Sakura can help. Good luck.
-Hatake Kakashi, "Acting" Hokage
-Senju Tsunade, Representative of the Lands of Fire
-The rest of the Shinobi Congress
"Shepard!"
"Approaching the Relay now," Joker said. He input a command into his console and said, "Initiating transmission sequence."
Naruto moved up to the window on the bridge and stared in awe at the giant mass relay. He'd already seen the Omega Four relay up close, but that one wasn't active at all. This one was alive with energy in whites, blues, and purples. The structure itself resembled a clothes pin with what Naruto could only describe as a planet sized Rasengan at the base of the inside of the two arms. It was incredible to watch two rings spin around the pulsing sphere of white energy like he had seen his clones do when creating a Rasengan.
"We are connected to the relay," EDI announced. "Calculation of transit mass and destination complete."
"Relay is hot," Joker said. "Acquiring approach vector."
"That thing is massive," Naruto said as the Normandy flew at blinding speed toward the Mass Relay. "What is that thing spinning around? It's like a giant Rasengan!"
"Quiet, Naruto," Shepard said. "Let Joker concentrate."
"Oh, hehe, sorry." Naruto grinned apologetically at Joker, who rolled his eyes and continued to do his work.
"Approach vector acquired," EDI said. "The board is green."
"All stations secure for transit," Joker said. "Approach run has begun."
The Normandy tilted to the starboard as Joker turned her to run parallel to the arms of the relay. The giant ball of energy inside the spinning rings pulsed as energy built up around it. Electrical spark like tendrils of blue-white energy reached out from the relay toward the Normandy as she flew past the relay.
"Hitting the relay in three, two, one…"
More and more tendrils of energy lanced out from the relay to the Normandy. The energy danced over the Normandy's hull as the ship became enveloped in a deep purple cone. With a jolt, the Normandy suddenly accelerated past the speed of light.
Naruto gaped at the intense swirling mass of lights outside the window. The whole ship was vibrating as if it were alive with the energy of the relay. And then, just as suddenly as it started, the ride was over.
The Normandy decelerated as it hit the mass effect field of the Widow System relay. Joker then piloted her into a vast cloud that glowed with the light reflected from the star of the Widow system. Naruto's eyes widened marginally when the clouds of gas parted and the Citadel was revealed.
"Wow…" was all the young man was able to mutter as he took in the reality defying scope of the space station that acted as the hub of galactic civilization. It's five arms were open, like a claw ready to grasp whatever flew into them without letting go. At the center of the arms, connecting all of the arms was a ring with a single tower sticking out of it toward the center. As the Normandy swooped in toward the five arms of the station, it passed by thousands of ships of many different makes and origin. The largest one looked like someone mixed a plus sign with a toaster oven.
"That's the Destiny Ascension," Shepard said when she noticed Naruto staring at the Asari Dreadnought. "Still the flagship of the Citadel Fleet."
Joker snorted. "Still don't see how size matters all that much."
"Are you kidding," Naruto said, "that thing's gotta be a hundred times bigger than the Normandy."
"During the Battle of the Citadel, it was the Normandy SR1 at the head of the Arcturus Fleet that saved the Destiny Ascension," Miranda said. She and Jacob stopped next to Shepard as they joined the wait for the Normandy to dock. At Naruto's blank look of incomprehension, Miranda tried again. "Without all the smaller ships, that big one would have been utterly destroyed."
"And the Council along with it," Shepard muttered. "I'm just hoping they'll appreciate the effort."
"They did give Humanity a seat on the council," Miranda said.
"For all the good it did us," Jacob muttered. "In the end, its people like us who have to go out and do all the hard work."
"You sound almost bitter," Shepard said. "Something on your mind Jacob?"
"No ma'am," Jacob said, his back straightening slightly. "I'm just frustrated. I'm not a big fan of politics. Just gets in the way."
Naruto grimaced and went back to watching all the ships pass by the ship. He really didn't need a reminder of why he was coming along with Shepard into the Citadel. After speaking with Shepard about his new assignment, she'd made a few suggestions about how to deal with the Council and their expected anger at him.
"Naruto," Miranda said. He glanced back at her and noticed she and Jacob were studiously looking back. "When did you get that?"
Naruto looked down at his red cloak with the black flames on the bottom fringe. One of Shepard's suggestions was to dress as best as he could to give a better first impression than he made the last time. The only other clothes he had from home were his black and orange jacket, orange pants, and his sage cloak that he'd fought Pain in. It was damaged in that fight, but had somehow gotten fixed. He wasn't sure when, so he just assumed it had happened during one of the memories that were erased.
"I got this after I completed my Sage training," Naruto said. "It's the only other thing I have to wear from home besides my normal clothes. Shepard said I should be dressed good when I meet the Council."
"Shepard?" Miranda said sharply. "Do you really think this a wise thing to do?" Naruto cringed. Then his head hurt from his confusion. Why was Miranda concerned about his welfare? "He's no good to us dead or in prison." Ah… that's why.
"Don't look at me, Miranda," Shepard said. "He's the one who asked for it. I already told him the consequences of his actions, but he insisted. Some kind of orders from his home planet. He wouldn't elaborate, just that he had to talk to the Council on official business from home."
"Damn man," Jacob said. "You're about to stir up some serious shit."
"Hehe…" Naruto laughed nervously. This wasn't really doing anything good for his nerves. He was this close to sending a clone to do it instead of going in person. Sadly, clones could only do so much before they reached a limit, and at that point became a poor substitute for the real thing.
"Citadel Control is requesting identification," EDI said.
Joker opened a com channel from his console and said, "Citadel Control, this is S-S-V Normandy. Requesting permission to land."
"Stand by for clearance, Normandy," replied the operator on the other end. "Normandy, we're reading you as registered to Cerberus. Please stand down and prepare to be impounded."
"So much for waltzing right in the front door," Miranda said. "We should probably leave before their fleets try to capture us."
"Hang on to that thought," Shepard said. She stepped up to stand next to Joker's seat and nodded at Joker. He hit a button on his console and nodded back. "This is Council SpecTRe Agent Jennifer Shepard. Requesting permission to dock and a berth. Council ID is XO774523."
"Copy that, Agent Shepard," the operator said. "ID number confirmed. Please be prepared to verify identity upon arrival. A berth has been cleared for you in Zakera Ward."
"Roger, Citadel Control," Joker said. "Normandy out." He hit a few more commands on his console and relaxed a bit. "Zakera ward, huh? Why couldn't we get something nicer, like the some place on the Presidium? I mean, we did save their sorry asses from a Reaper, the Geth, and Saren."
"Maybe I can get Anderson to put in a good word for us," Shepard said. "I'm just glad my ID is still good. I doubt the Council left my SpecTRe status active after spending two years being dead."
"They probably have standing orders to allow anyone claiming to be a dead SpecTRe to land and verify their identity so they can arrest the impersonators outside of their ships," Jacob said. "It's much easier to chase someone down on foot than it is to chase a ship around the Citadel."
"Hey," Naruto said, "I've heard that term a few times, but what is a SpecTRe? You just got us a landing place when it sounded like they wanted to arrest us a moment ago. Are you some kind of secret agent or something?"
Shepard smiled and shook her head. "Not exactly. Before I started my search for Saren and, well, you, I was inducted into the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance Agency. It's a group that answers directly to the Council. As an Agent I can do what I want when I want without fear of being arrested or prosecuted. SpecTRe Agents do what has to be done in order to get the job done."
Naruto frowned. "It sounds like you're all a bunch of thugs to me," he said. "What's to stop you from abusing your powers and making everyone hate you and the council?"
"Funny you should ask," Miranda said, "the answer, of course, is the Council and other SpecTRes. The council has full authority over the SpecTRes and can revoke SpecTRe status if the agent becomes a danger to the Council."
"Saren was a SpecTRe before I was inducted," Shepard said. "He might not have been a threat before he was indoctrinated, but he was a threat when I came onto the scene. And it's not like being a SpecTRe gives someone free reign to do whatever they want. We have a responsibility to protect the innocent and the galaxy. If you fail in that duty, you'll be dealt with. I'd like to think most of the SpecTRes take their duty seriously…"
"Most do," Jacob said, "though they can't really help falling prey to their emotions and prejudices. They're mortal just like the rest of us. They just try to hide it better."
"Hmm…" Naruto tilted his head as he contemplated the idea. A group of people who are above the laws that act as protectors of the galaxy. They do what they need to do when they need to do it to keep the galaxy safe. There's a lot of room for corruption in a system like that… but he could see the benefits of having someone with the power to solve problems right away instead of having to wait for the red tape to clear.
"Logged," EDI announced to the ground party in the airlock's decontamination chamber. "The commanding officer is ashore. Flight Lieutenant Moreau has command."
"You know," Shepard said, "the more things change, the more they stay the same."
"In what way, Commander?" Miranda asked as the four of them left the Normandy and entered the Zakera Ward port. It was basically a long line of ship berths with an elevator placed opposite every fifth boarding ramp. A common avenue connected all the boarding ramps.
Shepard shook her head. "Never mind. Naruto and I will head to the Presidium to meet with the Council. I get the feeling they'll have some questions for me. You two know your assignments, right?"
The four of them stepped into the open elevator just in front of the Normandy's docking ramp. As soon as the door closed and the lift began to rise, Jacob activated his Omni-tool and read through the list displayed. "You want us to go shopping," Jacob said. "Fill up on food stocks for the crew. See about weapons and mods that we might need. Anything specific you want us to keep an eye out for?"
"If you can, look for any HMWSR," Shepard said. "I doubt you'll find any, but I would really like a replacement. Even if it has to be modded to hell just to get it back up to the specs of my old one."
"Kind of attached to the hardware, Shepard?" Miranda asked with a wry smile.
"That rifle saved my life more than a dozen times," Shepard said. "It was the only one that never jammed up on me too. Some guns they just make right. The 92 Mantis I'm using now is alright… but it doesn't really pack the punch I'm used to."
"We'll look out for one," Miranda said. "Don't keep your hopes up though. Each of those HMW weapons were made specifically for SpecTRes out of prototype technology."
"If we can't find anything close enough, we'll just have to make up for it with mods." Jacob crossed his arms and bowed his head in thought. "It might be possible to modify the Mantis your using now to up the power and damage if we pull out the Kinetic Stabilizer and the Combat Optics and replace them with a Scram Rail and a higher caliber barrel. You'd be reducing the number of shots you got per thermal clip, but you'd be putting holes in things you were only denting before."
"Uhh…" Naruto wiped the drool from his face. "Sorry, you lost me after 'It might be possible…' Why can't you just run up and punch them. I mean, I know how useful explosions are and I throw my kunai all the time, but these guns just seem to lack the power a punch or a kunai to the face have."
"Haven't you realized yet?" Miranda asked. Naruto gave her a blank look. Obviously, no, he hadn't. "Humans in this galaxy don't have chakra. We don't run up to punch things because we'd get killed before we even got close. Only biotics who've mastered the Charge ability can do that, and even they are put into mortal danger if they don't get out of the enemies ranks fast enough."
"But… But what about that purple and black stuff you guys use," Naruto said, motioning toward Miranda and Jacob. "It's like the gravity jutsu that Pain used when I fought him. I thought that's what you guys were using."
"No," Jacob said. He held up his hand and the purple glow of a mass effect field surrounded his arm. "This is biotics. We have little nodes of element zero attached to our nervous system. It lets us make mass effect fields when we concentrate. Same thing that lets the Normandy move, but much smaller scale."
"So then, you're not using chakra at all?" Naruto asked as he tilted his head to the side with a frown. Miranda and Jacob shook their heads. "You coulda fooled me. I mean, with those biotics, you could do some badass stuff. Pain leveled our entire village with this high gravity jutsu called Shinra Tensei. Oh, but wait… he needed the Rinnegan to even use moves like that… you don't have a Rinnegan, do you?"
"Sorry," Shepard said with a half smirk. "You lost us at 'You coulda fooled me.'" Naruto hung his head in defeat. Shepard and Jacob chuckled. Miranda simply watched on in amused silence. At that moment the elevator slowed to a stop and the door opened with a soft ding. "Come on," Shepard said. "It's time to face the music."
"Yes?"
"I have some new information for your target and an update on mission parameters. She'll be exiting the Citadel Tower on the Presidium in three hours, if all goes well. The meeting may end sooner or later than that, depending on the enemy. She'll have a blond companion, bring him too. In fact, he may be just as important as the primary target in ending this."
"So the plan's now to wait until after the 'Council' has had their way with her and her companion before stealing them away. Got it. Anything else boss lady?"
"No, that's everything. Good luck."
"Thanks, but I'm the best. I don't need luck."
Note from the Author
Wow. This chapter could have easily continued on for another five thousand words. I don't know what it is about this story that makes me want to write so damn much, but I'm not going to question it too much if it's getting me results. I believe some of the questions that you've had are answered... sort of, in this chapter. As always, more will be revealed as time goes on.
Though there was much less action in this chapter, that was intentional. My intention was to give you the chance to catch your breath after the action last chapter while at the same time using the lull in action to showcase the fact that Naruto is still getting used to all the amazing sights and things of the new galaxy. I've also taken the opportunity to plant some plot seeds for the future. It is my hope that the surprises revealed in this chapter only make you ask more questions.
Review Corner
LeadStrategist, the truth is I hadn't actually thought of how Garrus would react all that much up until I wrote it. When I did, I just went with my gut instinct on how someone who was supposed to be dead and gone had come back to life. Someone who was responsible for some of the greatest physical pain that Garrus had to endure in all his life. I'm ashamed to admit that I hadn't thought the full scene all the way through, but now that I am, I'm wondering if Garrus should have reacted much more violently than he did. As you said, he did just lose his team and was fighting non-stop for over a day. The man's gotta snap sometime. As far as your question about Chakra, that will be revealed in the due course of the story.
MEleeSmasher, I don't want to spoil the story so I will not be commenting on how I'll bring Naruto's parents into this. But rest assured they will be. As far as resurrection techniques go, all the tech in the mass effect galaxy is essentially based off of reaper tech, since they built the Mass Relays and the Citadel, which is what all technology in the galaxy is based off of. Chakra resurrection techniques, as you said, have a really high cost and I'm not sure there's a way around that, though it is something to think about when you mix Reaper tech and chakra. What kind of possibilities lie there, and not just for resurrection techniques/technology?
Sasuke changing from the emo villain into hero is something that happened in the prequel to this story. How and why it happened is a secret to everyone... for now. I actually had forgotten about how Naruto realized he could have been in Sasuke's place if their roles were reversed. Something to think about for the prequel... and you got your sage mode cloak. I was planning on pulling it out this chapter too. Ironic that you asked about it for the last chapter, XD.
Ozzman40k, as you can see, even when Naruto tells people about Kurama, they don't believe him. As far as anyone knows, Naruto just has this amazing ability to use Chakra unlike Sasuke and Sakura. They don't have experience with ninja in general and only Shepard would likely believe Naruto about the fox until Sasuke or Sakura backed up Naruto's claim. Naruto is suspect, after all.
Wonijs, only three days left until March 6th, (2012. For future reverence, this is when Mass Effect 3 was released)! While it's true that Naruto's usually proven himself through his actions, he can usually also supplement that by talking his enemies out of being enemies. Or just running away instead of fighting on. In this case, Naruto told Garrus off and Garrus just shrugged and pulled the trigger point blank range. The only reason Naruto isn't dead because of a bullet to the brain (and that's assuming Kurama couldn't save Naruto in time) is because he's damn lucky (don't gamble with the boy, you'll lose) and the Blood Pack blew the barricade in the lower levels. The shockwave from the explosion threw Garrus' aim off and saved Naruto's life. That luck is the only reason Naruto wasn't shot. His talk no jutsu just didn't effect Garrus. But, like you said, he proved himself a little more every time he saved Garrus life, and then took a missile for the Turian. That's gotta say something good about Naruto's intentions, even if his talk doesn't work.
AnInappropriateName, that was not my intention. I was trying to show Shepard as unconcerned for the dozen or so guns pointed at her, because what are a few guns to all that crap that went down before she died? Miranda and Jacob going back to back bad-asses, cause they've been in worse situations before. Naruto was supposed to be standing slightly out of the way while he mentally complained that only one guard was pointing their gun at him. Thanks for pointing that out though, I'll have to go back and take another look at that part.
To the rest of you dear readers who have reviewed, faved, and alerted, thank you very very much. And all of the rest of you are just as awesome. Thanks for reading chapter Seven of Mass Effect 2: Naruto's Mission. Hope you liked it.
