Naruto Effect
Chapter 11
Uzumaki Naruto was currently in a very foul mood and not because he'd been sitting in a prison cell for the last hour. After being taken into the village by Kakashi, he was promptly marched over to the Torture and Interrogation section and left in the cell. No, being in the cell isn't what's bothering him. What's bothering him is that he's technically an S-Class missing-nin, former jonin, container of the demon Kyuubi, the son of Namikaze Minato, trained by the great copy-nin Kakashi and then later the Toad Sannin Jiraiya and yet he's been left in a cell on his own with just a pair of handcuffs holding his hands together and from what he could tell just a single ANBU guard outside. How insulting…I should be under at least triple the guard, I defeated Pein, Sasuke, Kabuto and Madara for crying out loud…he thought to himself as he looked around at his cell. Had he not given his word he'd answered their questions, he would have broken out already and gone for a bowl of ramen instead of waiting here like a common criminal just on that principle alone.
He also started to wonder how Shepard, Ashley, and Tali-chan were doing. He hoped that Tsunade was at least talking to them and hearing what they had to say. The village could definitely use the help given the shape it looked to be in from his brief walk from the gates, though at least it wasn't as bad as it was after Pein's attack he reminded himself as the sound of the outer door got his attention along with the pair of ANBU walking in.
"Uzumaki Naruto, please come with us and do not attempt to escape or cause any trouble," the first one directed.
"I understand," came from Naruto as the second one opened the cell and waited for Naruto to walk out of the cell. Flanked by the pair, he walked down the hall until he was led into a room with nothing more than a table and two chairs. Naruto realized that it was question time as he was silently motioned to sit down, which he did. The ABNU then quietly attached a chain to his cuffs and secured Naruto to the table before they then walked out. He began to wonder if they decided to play rough with him even though Jiraiya had taught him a thing or two about interrogations as did Anko during his time of being teamed with her. The door to the room opened and it seemed they weren't going to make him wait as a chunin he didn't recognize entered
"Hello," Naruto greeted the man who just put a folder down on the table and took out a paper seal. Walking over the man placed the seal on Naruto's forehead.
"This seal will ensure if you are telling the truth," he told Naruto. "If you lie you will get a shock."
"Not even a hello? Just straight to business, how dull…" Naruto commented, slightly annoyed at the unfriendly manner from this person. He also sensed the attempt at using killing intent on him but that wouldn't work; Naruto was long past the stage where something like that would bother him.
"You will only speak when spoken to!" said the unnamed man.
"But I just commented it was rude that you couldn't say hello," the blonde said in defense. He also didn't miss the muffled laugh from behind the mirrored glass on one of the walls. Naruto knew he was being a bit childish but this person deserved it in his mind given their attitude.
"I will be the one asking the questions here!" gruffed, the would be interrogator.
"Fine fine," Naruto said relenting.
"Now, what secrets did you give from our village?"
"None," Naruto answered with no reaction from the seal.
"Impossible, you must have given the outsiders something," the Chunin stated.
"Nope, they don't use Chakra nor did Taichou want to know anything outside of the village that she didn't already know," Naruto replied with no reaction from the seal.
"So, you're trying to claim you had no part in the attack on our village?"
"None, I didn't even know about it till a few days ago and we came here as soon as we did to find out what happened," though Naruto was really beginning to wonder about this guy. "You know, maybe if you bothered to ask the right questions instead of assuming I was behind this we'd get this done quicker."
"You will be silent!" shouted the man, obviously starting to lose his composure before taking a short breath," Now, tell us everything you know of these outsiders that attacked this village"
Looking at his interrogator, Naruto knew it was time to stick to his word and answer the question.
"I don't know much about them. They're called The Collectors and Shepard-taichou is trying to find their base to stop them from attacking people like us. I've only face them once myself. They are pretty much just walking bugs that have two legs and two arms like we do." Naruto started explaining, "They have flat heads with four yellow eyes, two on each side. Mordin-san thinks that it's just their armor but I'm not sure, they do have wings for limited flight during the time I fought them"
"Who is this 'Mordin-san'? Another outsider? Allies of these 'Collectors' like that woman who escaped the village?"
"Oi, Mordin-san is cool and a friend just like Ashley-chan is." Naruto said, getting angry with the idea that those he consider friends are being accused to causing trouble in Konoha.
"A likely story coming from the likes of you." The Chunin spat but in checking the seal noticed that Naruto was in fact telling the truth. "How are you able to spill your lies and get past the seal?"
"Geez…you must be new. Can you call in Anko or Ibiki? At least they would be willing to have a proper conversation and know that I'm obviously not lying." Naruto stated dryly.
"Demons are known for being deceivers and liars," He spat. "I should just kill you now and avenge all those that were lost to you."
Without missing a beat Naruto just turned to the mirrored glass, "Uhh…didn't he just break the old man's law?"
"YOU WILL ONLY ADDRESS ME DEMON FOX!"
"Riiiiggghhhtttt…" Naruto drawled as the door opened and Ibiki entered and looked at the man.
"Leave, your job is done," he said in an even tone to the chunin. The man looked at Ibiki and then gave Naruto a hard look before bowing to Ibiki and leaving.
"You know, you need to find better people if that's the future of your unit," Naruto stated, "Where the hell is Anko anyway? I'd figure she'd be the one to talk to me" he asked though knowing Anko, talk would turn into yelling mostly because she'd be pissed that he took off. Despite her reputation, he found she really was quite the mother hen around him after their time together.
"Sadly, you are correct. This was to be his first go and I was hoping that you would offer a challenge despite being agreeable to the questioning," Ibiki explained. "Still, excellent job answering the questions while getting under his skin at the same time." he finished with a smile to Naruto.
"Thank you," Naruto said with his usual smile. "So, is there anything more you need?"
"You answered the important questions so that's all Hokage-sama really wanted. She needed to be sure you didn't give up anything even though we all figured you wouldn't. You can go back to your cell now as you lived up to your side of the deal. "Ibiki told him as the ANBU entered again and escorted him back to his cell, "and don't worry about Anko, you'll see her soon enough."
Naruto was once again annoyed sitting in his cell and this time it wasn't for the same reasons. Right now he was bothered because he had been there for the last two hours and now he was getting hungry. Knowing he gave his word, he also realized that Ibiki said he lived up to his end which meant that he could just leave now, especially given they're still barely keeping an eye on him.
The growling of his stomach only served to remind him that his decision was made. A quick few moves with his hands and the cuffs fell to the floor. Stomping on said cuffs to break them apart he took a couple of pieces and walked to the cell door and proceeded to pick the lock. You'd think they'd put me in a more secure cell he thought as his wriggled the lock and opened the door.
Just as he was about to walk out the door to the hall opened as the ANBU guard walked in only to be greeted by a quick punch to the face from Naruto knocking them out cold.
"Sorry ANBU-san but food calls," he said as he walked up and lifted the mask, hoping it wasn't someone he knew.
"OH MAN! I hit a girl." He said out loud to himself upon discovering the ANBU's gender, "Now I'm going to feel bad for the rest of the day…"
Picking up the now known female ANBU he took her over to the cell and carefully placed her on the bed before closing the cell door behind him and leaving the building. Even though he did feel bad he was still hungry and needed his ramen fix.
Tsunade was sitting in her chair looking at the three women in front of her. For the last three hours they had talked about the attack on the village and how it could have tied into Shepard's activities. Once Tali gave her idea about the attack, it suddenly made sense, especially given what the Collector's took with them when they pulled out. This is not good, not good at all she mused as she tried to come up with a means to protect the village while work out a way to protect Naruto. Now of course, she had sent for Naruto to be brought to her office so they could all talk and she could ask him directly about a few things that Ibiki's report had in it.
But first, Tsunade needed to clear something up with the three she was talking with in her office or more specifically, the young girl bearing a certain patch. But before she could ask a random chunin came running into the office.
"Hokage-sama!" he shouted, "Uzumaki Naruto has escaped from his cell!"
Leaning down and grabbing the bridge of her nose she muttered "Damn brat, he could have at least waited," before turning to the chunin. "We'll have to find him before he decides to cause trouble."
Shepard then just raised her left arm and activated her Omni-tool and it came to display some information. "I think I can help with that," she said as she walked towards the window.
"Oh, how so?" Tsunade asked, genuinely curious as to how Shepard would be able to track the boy.
"After an incident I had a tracker implanted in him," she replied. "I find it's the best way to keep tabs on him since he has a habit of wandering off." She finished with a smile and was a bit caught off guard when Tsunade snorted a comment about it.
"He gets that from his idiot Master, Kami rest his soul." the blonde woman finished with a hint of sadness in her voice, "Some days I think it would be best if I put a leash on him."
Not wanting to broach a sore subject, Shepard started looking out the window and then pointed off in a direction. "He's over there and staying put by the looks of it. It's about…"
"You don't need to tell me, I know exactly where he is," Tsunade said in a near exhausted tone, like she's done this before. "Shizune, please go to that ramen shack and drag the brat back here no matter how much he protests," she said in an annoyed tone.
"Of course Tsunade-sama," the dark haired woman said as she slipped out the door.
"Well, since we've got a few minutes how about we talk about some lighter subjects," Tsunade stated.
"Like what?" came from Tali.
"Glad you asked," Tsunade said with an eerie smile and she stood up from her chair, "Like why you are wearing Naruto's clan patch? Usually that can only mean one thing."
Before Tali could answer, Shepard stepped forward and looked right at Tsunade. "She'll answer only if I get to also ask a question or two."
"Ohhhh…" mouthed the blonde hair woman, "and what would you be asking?"
Walking up, Shepard slammed her hands onto the desk and leaned in to look straight at Tsunade. "Like why the hell Naruto knows nothing of his mother and why the fuck you and your village have messed him up in the process over it and for what his idiot of a father did to him the night he was fucking born?"
From behind Ashley Williams watched with slight amusement at her commander's antics before elbowing Tali and whispering, "And people say I have temper issues…"
It's good to be home was what Naruto thought as he slurped down his third bowl of Ramen. After having arrived at Ichiraku Ramen he was immediately grabbed in a hug by Ayame who then promptly scolded him for being away for three months without telling them as he thankfully found out that the civilian public was told he was on a long term mission. Guess Baa-chan decided to cover for me even though she listed me as a missing-nin he thought to himself. After explaining and covering himself, it seemed to placate the waitress and she happily gave him a free bowl of ramen. Now he was just about to order another bowl when someone from behind him tapped his shoulder.
Turning to see who it was, "Oh, hey Shizune-nee-chan," he greeted before he completely froze Ah crap…
Completely ignoring the young man, Shizune looked at Ayame, "Is he all paid up?" she asked.
Ayame just nodded as Naruto was trying to figure out the best way to escape. He knew there really was no hiding now since he's never been able to evade Shizune if she's after him. He then felt a tug on his collar as Shizune promptly dragged him out of there.
"You're not taking me back to the cell are you?" he asked.
"No Naruto-kun, Tsunade-sama wishes to speak with you," she said. "I just hope the ramen was worth it."
"Any chance you can let go of my collar?"
"No."
"You're mean," he said with a pout hoping that he could weasel his way out of her grip and get away.
"That didn't work on me when you were twelve so it won't work now," she said as they continued to the Hokage tower.
As they reached the tower and began the walk to Tsunade's office, Naruto tried to ignore the snickers from some of the other shinobi as he was dragged past them. When they reached the door, Shizune seemed surprised that there was no one outside the door.
"What's wrong?" Naruto asked.
"Sakura should be out here…" she answered, "I hope nothing is wrong," as she led Naruto into the office.
Upon entering Naruto tried to figure out what had happened in there. Shepard was seated in a chair with Sakura down on one knee and using her healing jutsu on what looked like a black eye. He could also see debris from what appeared to be various objects that were tossed around along with Tsunade's desk being broken in two, like someone had punched their arm through. Then there was finally Tsunade, who was standing up with a bit of a smirk on her face and what appeared to be a red mark on her cheek from what Naruto could guess was a punch to her face.
"Tsunade-sama! What happened here?" Shizune asked in her usual shocked and annoyed voice upon seeing the crazy things that happen in the presence of her master.
"Just a minor difference of opinion Shizune, no harm done," Tsunade stated calmly.
"And you tell me to be on my best behavior?" Naruto commented and earned himself a death glare from Shepard and her one visible and working eye. Tsunade could only chuckle to herself at the woman in front of her Kakashi was right, she does glare like Kushina before deciding to tell Naruto what he needed to hear.
"Naruto, I'm about to brief you on what I just told your comrades," Tsunade said in a serious tone.
"Be strong when you hear this little brother," came from Tali who also spoke in an oddly serious tone for her.
"Ok…" Naruto said slightly confused as to why they all looked concerned, well all except for Sakura who wasn't looking at him at all while she was still healing Shepard's eye.
"A week ago while we were in the midst of talks with those from Ashley-san's Alliance the village came under sudden attack from an unknown force that was confirmed by Shepard-san to be these Collector's. Of course, we couldn't completely defeat them with their technology and other powers but we held our own." Tsunade stated proud of her Shinobi during the battle, "However, we were not without our losses nor did they leave empty handed. They took with them two prisoners….."
"No…." Naruto said as it took all his strength to keep from falling over as he realized who they took as they were the only prisoners held inside the village because they were too dangerous to be left anywhere else.
"Yes Naruto, they took the prisoners Uchiha Sasuke and Yakushi Kabuto with them and departed." Tsunade finished verifying Naruto's fears.
"Why? Why those two out of all people in this village?" he ask, not fully understanding why them if anyone.
"They were being moved at the time for further questioning about an old lab in the sound that was found when by sheer luck those Collector's found them." Tsuande explained, "according to the team that was guarding them after they were overwhelmed by the Collector forces they apparently offered those two a means of escape in exchange for hunting down and killing and I quote, 'the human with red energy'."
"Which team was it?" Naruto then asked.
"Naruto-kun that isn't import..." Shizune tried to say but was cut off.
"WHICH TEAM!" he shouted.
"Team 10 under the lead of Mitarashi Anko was in charge of the move." Tsunade began. "Yamanaka Ino suffered a broken arm while Nara Shikamaru suffered a broken leg. Akimichi Choji and Anko on the other hand weren't so lucky."
"What do you mean?" Naruto asked again.
"She means that Sasuke attacked them all, despite being blind," Sakura said, speaking for the first time but still not looking at Naruto, "He did it because, according to Ino, it was the best way to send you the message that this time you can't stop him. That this time he wants to take away everything you care about before he kills you." She finished in a near sob. "He killed Choji. He nearly killed Shikamaru and really hurt Anko Naruto…"
By this time Naruto was on his knees trying to absorb all that was told. His friends were hurt. One was killed and one he considered a very close friend, a kindred spirit and as close to an elder sibling as he could get was seriously hurt. "It's my entire fault, its Pein all over again…" he started.
Tsunade quickly walked over and knelt down in front of his and pulled him into a hug "It's not your fault, never think that. Think about what to do about those two and how we can stop them," she told him.
"I want to see Anko first," Naruto said quietly.
"Of course, Sakura can show you there since we need to talk about other things and Shizune will be doing an autopsy on the body of one of those Collector's we managed to recover," Tsunade said.
"Tsunade, could I bring in one of my people to assist in the autopsy as he's studied their technology and is helping with counter-measures for their technology?" Shepard asked.
"That would be fine, I'm sure Shizune would welcome the help," Tsunade stated as her assistant just nodded in agreement. "I'll have a team escort you to a spot where you can meet with your team and bring them here."
Tapping her communicator, Shepard called up to the Normandy, "Miranda, you can head down now with Mordin. I've got a bit of a surprise for him…" she said as they left the office with Tsunade to meet with the team while Naruto and Sakura went away to the hospital to see this Anko.
The walk to the hospital was in utter and complete silence. No chatter, no playful banter, not even Naruto trying to flirt with the girl beside him. Just a quick walk as Naruto took the time to look around and see the village recovering again from an attack. Don't care what Baa-chan says, it's still my fault. He thought as they walked into the hospital.
As they reached Anko's room, Sakura stopped before the door, "I'll wait out here. Don't try to run off." She said coldly as he walked past and into the room.
Entering the single bed room, he could see Anko lying in it and the only sounds were her breathing and the beeping of the monitors.
"Nee-chan…" was all he could mutter when a hand reached up and took hold of his.
"Don't tell me you're going soft," came the very weak voice of Mitarashi Anko.
"I'm sorry I wasn't here," was all he could say to her.
"Don't be. Most likely you'd be here now instead of me," she said and taking a breath continued, "You know what you'll have to do now."
"Yeah…" was all he could say.
"Then don't worry about me and go do what you'll do best and stop them from hurting anyone else."
He could only smile as he wasn't used to Anko of all people giving him a pep talk. She then motioned from him to come closer and as he did he got a very hard smack to the head getting him to say, "Ow."
"That's for taking off with some weird foreign chicks," she said, "now go and apologize to Pinky and your other friends and don't come back till you have those bastards' heads on pikes. Better yet, bring me their internal organs in alphabetical order."
Smiling he responded "Hai Hai Anko-nee-chan" and turned to leave before hearing the shout.
"And tell them to bring me some dango!"
Leaving the hospital Sakura noted where they should head as she had been told the place where the shuttle would be landing. Once again it was a quiet walk as she didn't even spare him a glance during their journey to the gate Guess I deserve the silent treatment he thought as they reached the gate and saw Tsunade, Shizune, what was left of team 10 along with Shepard, Tali and Ashley waiting for the shuttle.
"How is Anko?" Shizune asked. Despite their personality difference she generally got along with the other woman especially since they generally agreed with things that concerned the blonde that called them, 'nee-chan.'
"She seemed fine," he said. He noticed that Sakura had walked off and was talking with Ino as she and Shikamaru had yet to acknowledge him. He then felt a tug on his arm as Tsunade pulled him aside to have a quick chat.
"Did you apologize to her yet?" she asked him while motioning towards Sakura.
"No, I have no idea what to say," Naruto replied as he really didn't know how else to explain it.
"Geeze brat, just say you're sorry to her," Tsunade said, annoyed that Naruto was being unusually dense about it.
"She won't even look at me Baa-chan."
"Just give it time. You hurt us all by taking off. You hurt her. You really hurt her." Tsunade said in her soft voice she used on Naruto when she was really disappointed by him, which was very rare," it didn't help that your friend Tali is walking around with your clan patch. We all naturally assumed you got married while you were gone for whatever reasons. Imagine how Sakura felt when she heard about that."
"Baa-chan, you know better than anyone if I am going to marry someone it's going to be..." but he was cut off as the sound of the shuttle. As it landed the pair walked up to join the rest of the group and they watched as Miranda Lawson, Mordin and Samara got out before the door closed and the shuttle lifted off and left again. Introductions were made by both parties as Samara started the conversation in her usual firm and proper manner.
"I assume that since the child is free that his legal issues have been cleared up?" Samara stated to Shepard, "if not then I am more than willing to speak on his behalf."
"I'm sorry, the child?" asked Shizune, unsure who the blue skinned woman was talk about.
"Yes, him," she said pointing at Naruto, "The child. Is that not what he is?"
"Oh no," was all Naruto said as he covered his face with his hands as he heard Ino try her best not to laugh out loud.
"The Child huh? I'll have to remember that one," Tsunade said with a smile. "Professor Solus-san is it? Please follow Shizune as she will take you to where she will be conducting the autopsy"
"Yes yes, thank you," he said as he began to chatter away at a mile a minute to poor Shizune about everything to do with the body as the paired walked away and into the village to begin their work.
"Now then, let us head into the village as it will be some time before they are finished and we need to be patient," Tsunade stated as she and the rest of the Konoha shinobi turned to look at Naruto.
"Hey! Why are you all staring at me," he protested.
"Probably because you are the impatient type, little brother," Tali said as Naruto noticed Ino give Sakura a quick elbow before saying something into the pink haired girl's ear. Great, now I'll have deal with both of them when explaining me and Tali.
Turns out the collected group from the Normandy, Naruto included, were going being housed in Naruto's old building as Naruto up to when he left was the only occupant. It worked out since it was easy for ANBU to set up watch points to make sure none of Konoha's 'guests' were to walk around alone. Miranda noted that it was probably their way of saying it's the best way to keep an eye on them though Tsuande didn't exactly confirm nor deny Miranda's suspicions. Naruto did he best to play peace maker and assured the Cerberus officer that the ANBU wouldn't do anything as long as they were not given reason to.
Of course, this led to problems for Naruto himself as Shepard insisted on seeing his own apartment and as soon as she did it led to a large amount of scolding from not only the red headed commander, who sounded less like the Taichou he knew and more like a mother, but as well Tsunade, Sakura and even Tali about its state, all forgetting the fact that he wasn't around for the last three months to clean it. Finally getting through that and getting everyone settled in for the night as the next day would involve more talks, along with Miranda and Samara taking a trip to the archives to research some of the village history as they waited for Mordin and Shizune to finish what would be guessed to be an all night and all day job with the autopsy, Naruto was able to slip out and finally go for some ramen.
After-all, three bowls is never enough but he didn't expect to have his pink haired team mate accompanying him to Ichiraku's Ramen.
"Why are you following me" he finally asked Sakura who had been quiet the entire time they had been walking from his apartment.
"Tsunade-sama was very specific in that I should keep an eye on you and keep you out of trouble and that's exactly what I'm doing" she answered in a not so friendly tone, "and you're paying for my ramen too" she finished, already knowing their destination.
"Now wait a second I didn't agree to…." But was cut off when there was the appearance of two people and a large dog.
"Yo," Naruto started in greeting to Shino and Kiba along with Akamaru.
"Don't yo us!" Kiba shouted, "You're finally going to get what's coming to you!"
"What the hell are you two talking about?" Sakura asked, annoyed at the pair in front of them. It had been a long day and she was hungry too along with hoping she can get to the whole bottom of what is really going on with Naruto and that Tali girl Not that I really care she tried telling herself.
"Tell'em Shino," Kiba said, "You can't be protected anymore."
"We feel that in light of what has happened that old debts must be settled before the outsiders return and you obviously leave" Shino began, "Why you ask? Because the honor of our teammate demands it"
It never ends Naruto thought to himself hoping that they would have gotten over what happened between himself and Hinata all those years ago, "What do you guys want? I'm hungry and want to get some ramen before Ichiraku's closes"
"We propose a spar to settle our differences. Us against you, no restrictions and no wager. Just a simple means by which for us to do what we are required to do. You would do no less yourself if our roles were reverse and Sakura was the one dishonored" he finished.
"And if I say 'fuck you there's bigger things to worry about'?" Naruto asked.
"Then we shall bring into question Hokaga-sama's decisions regarding this matter along with your mental fitness in including a foreigner into your clan. There will be others that support us in this matter and it would cause problems for not only you but your friends as well along with the Hyuuga demanding a political marriage between Neji and Sakura. "
"Hey! Don't you tell me who I can and cannot consider as family bug boy," Naruto shouted at Shino before turning to Kiba, "and you should know better than to threaten my precious people dog boy, especially Sakura-chan."
"Then you agree to the terms?" Shino asked calmly.
"Oh please, "Sakura started, "you both know that Hinata is just sore because Naruto rejected her. Just tell her and her clan to get over it and get over it yourselves," Naruto may be an ass but in this case I won't let them pull this crap on him. Not now. He was honest with her and did what he thought was best and she's still being a cry baby over it with everyone she thought as she recalled what happened years ago between the pair after they finally talked about Hinata's confession. On one hand while Sakura didn't see the harm of one date for the girl but she respected Naruto's thinking that it would be wrong to even give Hinata the idea there was a chance when he simply didn't feel anything more than just friendship with her. On the other hand, Sakura wasn't exactly ready to forgive Naruto yet, at least until he apologized, and begged, and grovelled a bit but this was a bit much for these two to pull – especially now.
"No! Not this time. Not since he's a missing-nin," Kiba stated while pointing at Naruto.
"Kiba is correct. Naruto is currently still listed as a missing-nin and our clans must question why he is walking free much less in the company of foreigners who were a part of the attack on our village as well as that of the Hokage's apprentice."
"This is nothing more than blackmail and you guys plan on using a spar as a chance for you to try and beat the hell out of Naruto for Hinata's sake," Sakura replied as she deduced the 'underneath the underneath' of what was really going on, "Naruto was right, Fuck you since there's bigger problems going on." She finished effectively answering for Naruto.
"Screw you Toots!" Kiba shouted not thinking about who he was talking to and forgetting about Sakura's legendary temper but before she could reach for her gloves Naruto raised his hand to stop her.
"So, I fight you two in this 'spar', you stop this nonsense and we end this crap between you two and me once and for all?" he asked.
"That would be acceptable but you will not win. Why? Our teamwork will overpower someone even of your level."
"Naruto, you don't have to do this. I can get Tsunade-sama to stop this…" Sakura said turning to Naruto but was cut off by his shout.
"I accept!" he said and then with his trademark smirk, "Let's get wild!"
Authors Notes: and here we finally have chapter 11 all done and done. No real reason or the delay other than GT was being super slow (thus why I can't update as fast as I want to) for some reason. I can't really ditch her as a beta either like a few have suggested in Pm's/emails. I really don't want to sleep in the yard so like you all I'm stuck waiting for her to clear chapters too. It's funny, people complain about me updating too fast now they complain about me taking too long along with heaping praise on other authors in this section for everything they do while I seem to be getting the short end on the stick. Oh well, nothing I can do I suppose, people are strange and all that.
As for the last chapter, and excuse the rant here – I knew that people here were fickle but given the reviews, messages, emails and other reviews I was pointed to in other stories it seems folks really didn't like that little turn with Naruto and Tali among other things. Lots of hate for Sakura too. Let's go over a few things – since I plan to keep the characters in character it makes sense for Naruto to still pine for Sakura since he's been chasing her since forever. Also, I have implied from the start that there has been something with the pair so this idea of it being "forced" is really silly and just unneeded. Finally, I haven't said if that's where it's going or even if that is going to be it since I haven't announced any real pairings at all. For all you know I could be planning on Naruto and Tali to change their mind or even doing a harem of gals with him despite GT's objections. But what do I know; I'm just the author...
ah well, ignore the above as everyone goes through their "I'm annoyed and need to vent" point and this is mine.
So, now that I'm done ranting like an idiot, to the three or four of you that are still reading this story, there isn't really much to tell about this chapter. The prison break part was slightly different than originally planned as at first Shepard and Tali went to break him out only to encounter Sakura and Anko planning on doing the same and the group getting to his cell to discover he left to go get some ramen. There was also a slight revision near the end since it really didn't make sense at first after I wrote it and sadly that meant for Mordin and Samara to lose some of their lines but they'll get them back (and more) in the next chapter. To the person who asked about the description of the Collector's I hope I did a good enough job in this chapter. The scene with him being questioned was extended to fit that in and I think it worked. Originally Shikamaru was killed as well but I decided at the last minute to spare him for now. Sasuke was originally not suppose to appear at all in the story but GT suggested him to at least be mentioned and thus I felt he'd make a good adversary for Naruto especially at this point in time and it's working out given where I am writing wise. Kabuto was another addition and it makes sense given how the recent chapter I wrote (chapter 21) has gone and the role he has to play in that. Can't say any more because that would be SPOILERS! and they are bad.
One final thing - remember what I said about that I do things intentionally. That means if something seems off to you then I must have a reason for doing such so either wait and see if I explain it in a bit or fire off an message to me before you leave a review about it. I may have done a simple mistake or I could be building to something within the story.
Anyway, thanks for reading (how many of you are left) and see you next time.