Author's Note #1: Hey everyone! I know I've been putting the A/N down at the bottom - and I'll try to keep it that way in the future - but I wanted to get one thing clear after some of the reviews I read. First, I'm excited and overjoyed to hear how people are already liking this so far, and I hope you all continue to do so! Second of all, however, I want everyone to understand that Halo: Iunctus is, first and foremost, a Halo story. What this means is, I want you to try treating it like its one of the novels. One that just so happens to have the Narutoverse mixed in. It also means there will be no pairings or anything like that. Not saying I might not do that as background for some of the other characters, but it certainly isn't happening with Master Chief. My goal is to remain as lore friendly as possible for both the Halo and Naruto characters. Not trying to sound mean or anything, but if you want a corny romance that wouldn't possibly fit in with the Haloverse, you're in the wrong place.

Thank you for understanding, and enjoy the chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own either Halo or Naruto. They are the properties and copyrights of Microsoft and Masashi Kishimoto, respectively.
If I did own them, this story would be the real deal. But alas, we can't have everything we wish for...

The Unexpected

The object was massive. Stretching at well over two hundred meters long and at least one hundred meters high, there was no doubt in Tenzō's mind the metal behemoth could have easily taken up an entire street's worth of space in Konoha. Then there was the enormous impact crater that had destroyed swaths of forest and knocked down an uncountable sea of trees. Its size alone would have annihilated up to a quarter of the village had the path of the falling mass been just marginally different. But it was not this information that had sent shivers down the Anbu's spine. What truly gave the man anxiety was what they had confirmed of the initial reports. The object in question was not a meteor of any kind and, unless the veteran shinobi's eyes were deceiving him, was most certainly not of natural origins. Not even considering the exterior's pale, greyish green color, the hull of... whatever in Kami's name it was, was too blocky and perfect to have not been crafted.

As Team Rho observed the colossus from the surviving treeline at the Northern edge of the crater, they seemed to be unable to look away from the large, white symbols plastered on its side. The strange characters, clearly some form of writing, made no literal sense to the five ninja. They had never seen anything like it. That did not, however, mean there was no significance. On the contrary, the very existence of the otherworldly language told the Black Ops team all they needed to know.

Tenzō carefully made his way to one of the nearby trees to his left before calling up it. "Mako."

The near instantaneous response came in the form of a kunoichi jumping down from the tree and landing in a crouch. She had ear-length golden brown hair and wore a porcelain deer mask over her face. "Yes, Captain?"

"Hokage-sama must be informed of our findings at once," he quickly explained as he held out his hand. Within it was a small, rolled-up piece of paper. "Take this message and return to the village."

Mako nodded her head, then took the paper note and gently placed it inside the breast pocket of her Jōnin vest. "Am I to be going alone?"

"No." The leader of Team Rho shook his head before bringing his hands together to create three hand seals. Tiger, dog, then snake. "Moku Bunshin no Jutsu." Not a moment later did wood start to seemingly grow out from his back, splitting off into four different directions. The 'branches' reached several yards before expanding into larger masses and begin taking shapes of people. When the pieces of wood detached from Tenzō's body, they shifted into more precise details and changed in both color and texture. Eventually, after only a few seconds, what looked to be four exact copies of the man were crouched behind the original. "One of my clones will escort you back."

The doppelganger farthest to the left stepped forward and walked to Mako's side. She stood up, nodded at the wood clone, then addressed the real man in front of her. "I won't let you down, Captain."

Tenzō was not given a chance to acknowledge her words before watching the Anbu speed off in the opposite direction of the object. Without a further wait, he turned his head to the side and spoke just loud enough for anyone within a couple dozen yards to hear him. "Akira. Nishi. Taro."

At his command, three additional figures ‒ two men and one woman ‒ came dashing into sight from the surrounding foliage. They all quietly stopped a few yards to the front of their leader and gave him a good look at their appearances. Akira, the first man on the left, had short, platinum blonde hair and a bear mask covering his face. The one standing in the middle, Taro, wore a hood over his head as the mask of a rabbit looked vigilantly at his captain. Finally, Team Rho's second kunoichi, Nishi, stood the farthest on the right. Her jet-black hair flowed halfway down her spine and the mask over her face adopted the design of an eagle. Just like Mako before them, all three wore the standard uniform of Konoha's Anbu Black Ops: black undershirt and pants, grey flak jacket and arm guards, spiked ninja sandals, and a Ninjatō trapped diagonally across the back.

"I'm assigning each of you a clone," the Anbu captain deadpanned, wasting as little time as possible. "Spread out along the border of the crater and set up a perimeter of observation posts. I want eyes on every piece of that object, but under no circumstances are you or anyone else allowed to approach it until we get word back from the Hokage. Understood?"

"Hai," was the response from his three teammates.

Tenzō nodded in satisfaction, then focused his attention on the single kunoichi. "Nishi. Once you find a good position, use your eyes and see if you can get a look on the inside ‒ if there's an inside."

She nodded her head slightly in understanding of her orders. "Roger."

He returned the gesture before turning around to face the metal behemoth resting in the earth about a hundred meters away. "Mako should return within the hour. Let's get a move on."

—

"Looks like your luck is still holding up after all." Cortana watched as Chief walked to the side of the upside-down Warthog, paying no mind to the irregular angle of the floor due to the Dawn's crashed position, and began examining the four-wheeled all-terrain-vehicle. The barrel of its armament, an M41 Light Anti-Aircraft Gun, was bent, rendered the belt-fed weapon useless. Otherwise, the M12 Force Application Vehicle seemed perfectly fine and usable, the coat of pale UNSC green nano-programable paint not even suffering a single scratch.

Seeing the essential lack of damage, the Spartan crouched down and grabbed hold of the cabin before pulling upwards and flipping the Warthog back over on its wheels. The monstrous strength provided by his augments and power armor made the effort relatively easy. He leaned inside the driver's side and quickly read over the fuel gauge on the instrument panel. "There's half of a tank left."

"It's more than we started with," the AI declared. "Let's keep looking around ‒ there's bound to be more equipment that survived."

Master Chief and Cortana had entered the Dawn a little over a quarter of an hour earlier. Having immediately gone on the search for any surviving weapons and tech, their first destination had been the armory. Surprisingly, it had suffered little damage with most of the dozens of UNSC standard firearms still resting within their weapon racks. It was from there the Chief had obtained both the MA5C Assault Rifle and BR55HC Service Rifle currently attached to the magnetic clamps on his back, as well as the M6G Magnum pistol hanging from his right hip. The ship's hangar had been the next planned stop; the hopes of finding a usable vehicle, possibly even a Pelican, had been alluring. Which brought them to their current situation.

The Chief wordlessly stepped away from the FAV, then shifted his gaze to his surroundings. All around the seven-foot-tall Spartan II stood the remnants of the Forward Unto Dawn's hangar and its inventory. Once valuable and lethal military hardware was now splayed haphazardly across the bay. In the farthest portside corner, two D77H-TCI Pelican transports were piled over each other, the first missing a whole wing while the other seemed to have the entire cockpit ripped off. On the opposite side of the large, open room was a de-tracked M808B "Scorpion" Main Battle Tank flanked by a few trashed Mongoose quad bikes. The barrel of the MBT's M512 90mm Smoothbore Gun suffered from a sickly crack at about a third of its length, the rest of the gun tube beyond hanging off by a sliver of distorted metal. If there was an instance of the Chief's luck kicking in, however, it was the three intact Warthogs scattered throughout the hangar, including the one he had just finished inspecting. Though he had yet to closely investigate the other two, he was sure they would be just as well off as the first. The incident with the UNSC frigate Daedalus from the early years of the Human-Covenant War came to mind.

Although their hopes for an aircraft had been ruthlessly crushed, at least the two castaways had a viable form of planetside navigation. Now their objective for the future was relatively simple and straightforward: find a way back to Earth.

"Well what do you know," Cortana suddenly said aloud, causing Master Chief to stop in place. "A Covenant supply cache." As the Spartan focused his vision, he confirmed the AI's claim. Directly ahead of him, illuminated by his helmet's dual headlamps, was a standard Covenant supply case laying in the middle of the floor about thirty yards away. The eight-foot-tall purple weapons crate had fallen on its side, the horn-like protrusions at each topside corner of the rectangular object facing him. "It must have been left behind during the assault on the Ark."

The Chief waited not a second to make his way toward the case. Once he was standing over it, he leaned down and pried open the egg-shaped lid covering the contents. Wherever the purple sheet of metal flew and landed after he tossed it to the side was not of his concern. What did grab his attention was what his actions revealed. Resting inside the supply cache was none other than a small variety of Covenant weaponry ranging from Plasma Rifles to Carbines. Sitting just below the rack of weapons was a compartment filled with a set of four plasma grenades. The second he noticed this, the Spartan immediately reached down to take them. The small, purple balls of explosive death that could stick to anything like guerrilla glue were always a welcome addition to his arsenal. He could have cared less about the guns at that moment.

"Alright, I think we can leave further scavenging for later." Cortana's tone left no room for debate on the subject. "Time to head to the bridge and see if we can get the Dawn's power back online."

Chief, satisfied with his findings, stepped away from the supply crate before nodding his agreement. "And if we can't?" It was a purely objective question without a hint of pessimism. As always, he wanted to be prepared for any possible outcome.

When she answered, it was almost as if the Spartan could feel the smirk behind her voice. "Then you better be ready to be a grease monkey."

Master Chief was most certainly not amused with the implication.

—

Nishi had no doubt in her mind the metal behemoth was man-made. The alien characters and foreign banner featuring something akin to an eagle drawn on the surface provided more than enough evidence. How the object had even reached the heavens, let alone crashed down to the Earth, was a complete mystery. But whoever, or whatever, had constructed the marvel must have possessed power comparable to Kami himself. It was just so large! What could have given such a colossus ‒ a metal one at that ‒ the ability to fly? It boggled the Anbu's mind to the point she almost felt the need to turn religious. 'Almost' being the keyword, but it went to show how much of an impact the situation had on her. She could only guess what was going through the heads of Team Rho's other members.

Through her eagle mask ‒ oh, the irony of that ‒ she continued to observe the object from her hidden position in the dense branches of a tree. She had reached this spot, located on the opposite side of the crater from Tenzō, only a few moments ago and had yet to see anything new worth reporting. Then again, Nishi had not begun using her most prized possession and weapon. That which likely made her this mission's most important asset. The Byakugan.

Without any further delays in its deployment, the kunoichi focused her chakra to her eyes, which would have normally been characterized by their white and featureless irises that lacked pupils. However, as chakra flowed through, the pupils started becoming more distinct and the veins in her temples bulged through the surrounding skin. The changes had transpired in less than a second and were hidden behind her mask. A piece of porcelain covering the ninja's face, though, did nothing to hinder the abilities now at her disposal. Such abilities included, but were not limited to, an expanded field-of-view that stretched around to nearly three hundred and sixty degrees. Additionally, her enhanced vision now had the capability to see through objects of nearly every kind of material. This dōjutsu, which belonged solely to the bloodline of her clan, now allowed her to look inside and learn everything there was to know about the mission's objective. It was the absolute perfect tool for the task at hand.

Or... it was supposed to be.

When Nishi attempted to look through the outer shell of the metal object, somewhere near its center, she was shocked to learn how badly distorted her vision became. It was as if her target had been crafted from a substance so dense even her Byakugan had trouble penetrating it. After putting in some extra effort and chakra, she eventually managed to pierce through and reveal what lay beneath. But that was as far as she went, for it only led her to encounter yet another wall of the equally solid metal. The Anbu became even more confused when she noticed the two layers were separated by at least a half-dozen meters of dark, lightless space. She shifted her sight to the left and right before realizing it was a kind of hallway or corridor. There was no way to measure it exactly without something to compare it to, but it appeared to be plenty tall and wide enough to fit a handful of people standing side-by-side. All along the walls and ceiling were various signs of damage, whether that be loose plates of metal that had been torn off or what looked like electrical wires sticking out from the openings they left behind.

This new predicament both interested and aggravated her. On one hand, she discovered a few more details that would be vital for her coming report. On the other, however, she was at a standstill. Her vision had already become significantly blurred, making further attempts deeper inside what could have only been some sort of vessel problematic. She knew from the current distortion alone that trying to puncture farther would result in a picture completely clouded in darkness. And all of this didn't even take into account the lack of illumination within the interior. Simply put, there was no looking through anymore walls.

With a frustrated groan, she refocused her vision outside of the hull and began studying the entirety of its surface. From her viewpoint, she could see the object in all its glory. Its length spanned well over two hundred meters just as Tenzō had estimated and its widest point stretched about a hundred and fifty meters across. One end of the object, likely the part that first impacted with the Earth, was slightly dug into the ground, leaving the structure somewhat poking out of the dirt at approximately a twenty-degree angle. This meant the other end of the object was elevated off the ground by several dozen meters. Furthurmore, the metal behemoth leaned at a slant of about ten degrees. Even with this considered, however, Nishi still guessed the overall height of the object stood over a hundred meters. It was taller than the highest point of the Hokage tower. Figuring her estimations were satisfactory until exact measurements could be made later, she shifted her sight to the side of the colossus that had been slightly buried.

Initially, as she looked upon all the crippled metal, she assumed the damage before her eyes had all been caused by the crash. After all, the object did fall who knew how many kilometers from the sky. It was only safe to think the part that hit first would have been completely obliterated. However, after several long minutes, she could not seem to focus her attention somewhere else. There was a nagging feeling in the back of her mind; something just didn't feel right with what she was looking at. Then, as if getting hit in the head with a hammer, the realization dawned on her. The area of the hull she was currently focusing her vision on had not simply been destroyed from the impact with the Earth. The damage was too clean. It was almost as if the entire object had been... cut. Like a knife through butter.

Her eyes widened in shock at the meanings behind this. Whatever had damaged the massive vessel, if that is what it truly was, was not of natural origins. Which only begged the question: who, or what, could have caused such destruction upon something that already appeared to be mighty? Nishi didn't have the answer, but one thing was for certain. The Hokage needed to be informed of this development as once. Before she had the opportunity to call for Tenzō's clone assigned to her, however, something else caught her attention. Something in one of the less focused areas of her vision. Movement. Responding immediately, she shifted the focus of her sight to the roof of the object where the hull formed into a relatively small box overlooking the top-half. Almost like a blocky hump. She then again went through the process of piercing through the dense metal with her vision before stopping in her tracks. What she saw once finished was a display completely different from the one she'd seen before.

Inside was what appeared to be an open space equal in size to a large living room. However, all around the room were these strange... they almost looked like computers. But if that was what they were, they were not any computers she had ever seen in her life. The ones she was familiar with each had just one big, bulky monitor and all were equipped with a mouse and keyboard, while these were otherwise embedded into metal tables and counters and numbered in the dozens. In the middle of the room stood one table larger than all the rest, featuring a solid computer screen that completely covered the top surface. Also, there was a complete lack of a mouse and keyboard at any of the stations where seats had been built. And that brought up another matter. The dozen or so chairs scattered around the room, all of which were bolted down to the floor, seemed to be perfectly able to fit an average sized man.

Then the kunoichi saw the very thing that had alerted her to begin with. And even with a vision blurred by the thickness of the room's encompassing metal, the sight completely and utterly shocked the Anbu. Standing inside the doorway of the only entrance in the back of the room was what she could only describe as a giant, olive green demon. It had two arms and two legs, and at first glance looked like a man. A closer inspection revealed it was anything but. The distortion did not yield her from seeing the single, gold eye resting over its face nor did it hide the lack of a mouth, nose and ears. The top of its head emitted two beams of a bright, white light, shining in whatever direction the thing faced. Nishi watched in near terror as the entity walked into the room, moving its head from left to right as if searching for something, and dwarfed all the equipment it passed by. Assuming everything had been meant for use by normal sized people and then comparing it all to the figure, the entity must have stood about two meters tall. Possibly even taller.

After registering what her eyes had just witnessed, the Anbu did the first and only thing she could think of. She warned her team. "Captain!"

—

The Forward Unto Dawn's bridge was, for lack of a better term, a disaster. Tech and other various equipment that had either not been bolted down or had been ravaged by the ship's crash into the planet were scattered all over the place. Several number of terminals were either cracked open or outright gutted of their wiring and essential hardware. Shattered glass littered the floor, and the table in the center of the room normally housing a map of surrounding space was practically broken in two, an inch-wide fracture splitting it right down the middle. Even forgetting the fact half of the ship was missing, it would have taken a whole engineering crew just to repair everything in this room. "I'm positive the Dawn's bridge is never going to seeing action again, Chief."

The Spartan nodded in agreement as he attempted to interact with a console that appeared somewhat usable. He didn't receive any feedback, as expected, but it was always worth to make sure. "But that isn't why we're here."

"No, it isn't," Cortana confirmed in monotone. "Drop me into a control terminal that isn't too beat up ‒ hopefully I can still get the auxiliary power back up and running."

Master Chief quietly complied by walking up to the closest computer that wasn't worse for ware, then ejected the chip in the back of his helmet and inserted it inside one of the console's ports. He started becoming weary of the continued silence and darkness when nothing happened after several moments, but soon took notice of a low whirring sound echoing throughout the room. It steadily rose in volume before sparks began flying from the many exposed electrical wires and a few dim emergency lights lit up the bridge in a crimson red.

His AI's companion's blue holographic form erupted from the console not a moment later. "There's not much juice left, but it's something."

Turning off his headlamps, Chief looked around to get a gist of the room's condition before turning back to Cortana. "If you can restart the Dawn's SOS, how long can you keep it running?"

She put her hands on her hips and spent no more than a second in thought. "Assuming nothing else breaks down and we keep it running nonstop, it won't last more than seven weeks."

"That's it? Are you sure?"

He was expecting a simple and straightforward response from her, but instead the UNSC AI's hologram suddenly turned red before glitching erratically. When she spoke, it was loud, heated, and seemed to echo in an electronic static. "Of co-course I'm sure!"

The Spartan showed his surprise with a slight twitch of his eyebrows and by taking barely a quarter of a step backwards. "Cortana?"

A fraction of a second passed before her figure returned to its normal blue-purple coloring. She instantly released an unnerved gasp as she regained control of herself and a frightened expression crossed her face. Her hand lifted to hold her forehead and her widened eyes intentionally avoided the Chief's concerned stare. "I... I'm sorry." She now spoke with a weak, almost fearful voice. "I didn't mean..."

"Cortana," he interrupted. Although speaking slow and calm, he still managed to display the tiniest hint of worry for his companion. "What was that?"

She refused to reply at first and kept her gaze planted on the floor. However, she looked back up to meet his after he continued to send a questioning stare. Chief had never been one to be impatient when it was needed and he could have waited hours if that was what it took to get answers. Fortunately for him, the minds of Artificial Intelligences could never possibly wait for such an extended period. For them, a single minute felt like hours. Unfortunately, Smart AIs such as Cortana often behaved as Human as the real deal. Her body language managed to forcefully relax enough to extinguish most of the visible panic when she finally answered. Most of it. "I'm sorry. It was a corrupted runtime. I'm fine now."

The Spartan knew she was lying. He was far from gullible and just because he wanted to hear a confirmation from her did not mean he didn't know what the problem was. Especially when they had just finished discussing it an hour ago. Cortana, one of the few remaining people who he considered a friend and comrade, was beginning to suffer from Rampancy. He didn't understand the exact intricacies of the condition, but he knew well enough what it meant. She was essentially 'dying' right before his eyes and this did anything but sit well with the Master Chief. Right now, there was only one solution: Get back to Earth and find Dr. Halsey. It was that or lose someone he was not willing to give up on.

Don't let her go, Johnson had said. Don't, ever, let her go.

"If we keep the signal active for twelve hours per day-"

"We can double the time by another seven weeks," she finished. When she was done speaking, her eyes settled on that orange-gold visor of his. Though the rest of her figure did not show it, the two orbs of blue light staring back at him told what she was unable to admit. She was worried. And scared. "We drifted in uncharted space for over four years, John. Do you really think another fourteen weeks will be enough for someone to find us?"

The drop of the Spartan's head was so minuscule, so unnoticeable, only she would've been able to pick it up. "We have to try."

It took a couple seconds, but Cortana eventually responded with a soft smile. Before she could say anything in return, however, something gave enough distraction to cause her gaze to focus behind him. "What's that?"

Chief turned around in response and attempted to find whatever she was looking at. Almost immediately he noticed the feint shine of a small object barely hidden beneath a yard-long plate of warped bulkhead. Moving to investigate, he reactivated his helmet's headlamps for better visibility before lifting the plate, tossing it to the side, and revealing something he had not expected to find. On the floor near his feet was a narrow piece of purple and silver metal just slightly longer than the width of his hand. Having instantly recognized the device, he picked it up without hesitation and motioned to show Cortana. She reacted to its reveal by placing both hands on her hips and twitching her lips in a half-smirk. "Seems Arbiter forgot one his toys."

Lo and behold, Master Chief was currently holding none other than a Type-1 Energy Weapon, otherwise known simply as an Energy Sword. A weapon that had been feared by UNSC Marines for decades, its curved hilt, shaped much like a flattened 'w', contained an advanced storage module and pair of magnetic field generators that ware capable of projecting two ionized blades of deadly plasma. For thousands of years even before the Human-Covenant War, the Sangheili prided the Energy Sword as the signature weapon of their people's nobility. Its blades were famed for their ability to cut through any known material and were even capable of blocking projectiles. Worthy of both disdain and praise whether it be on or off the battlefield, it was truly a weapon to be feared in skilled hands. Chief may not have been a master swordsmen, but he was certainly satisfied to have it in his possession. "We can use anything we can get."

"Don't get too excited, Chief," Cortana remarked sarcastically, her smirk growing slightly bigger. "You can thank the big Elite if we get back home."

The Spartan narrowed his eyes ever so slightly as he placed the Energy Sword's hilt on his left hip, opposite of his Magnum. "When we get home."

Any other person wouldn't have noticed the glare, but Cortana was more than experienced enough to see the little, near microscopic changes that sometimes cracked his normally cold demeanor. Master Chief very rarely ever showed emotions, but when he did it was in the subtlest of gestures and movements that often took an AI or fellow Spartan to notice them. "When we get home," she corrected, albeit a bit halfheartedly, before moving on. "I finished rebooting the Dawn's surviving comm dish and have it operating at eighty-four percent efficiency. It's ready to begin transmitting the SOS at your command, Chief."

He simply gave one of his usual, no-nonsense responses. "Do it."

"Done," she declared with a faint smile. On cue, one of the terminals at the front of the bridge began repeating the words of the distress call, giving evidence to the beacon's restart.

Mayday. Mayday. Mayday.
This is UNSC FFG-201 Forward Unto Dawn, requesting immediate evac.
Survivors aboard.
Prioritization Code Victor-Zero-Five dash Three dash Sierra-Zero-One-One-Seven.

—

"What in Kami's name are you going on about?!" Though his bear mask kept Akira's face hidden, it was not hard to picture the incredulous scowl he wore beneath it and the glare aimed at Nishi. "A giant, two-meter-tall, one-eyed demon? That also happens to have its entire body colored green? Do you even hear what you're saying?!"

"I know what I saw," the eagle-masked kunoichi shot back maliciously. "My Byakugan doesn't lie!"

Akira crossed his arms with a snort. "Forgive me if I don't believe your idea of a metal ship that could fly and is home to a giant, green demon! And if those eyes of yours are so perfect, why the hell couldn't you look deeper inside, huh?"

Nishi lightly gasped at the attack on her clan's dōjutsu before giving her furious retort. "I already told you! If the material is too dense, my vision becomes distorted! They can't see through everything!"

"But you said it yourself," he declared with another snort. "Your vision only went through a wall less than a meter thick before it started going bad. There's no way that crap is that dense, so it has to be your eyes!"

That was the last straw for the female Anbu. With a vicious growl highly uncharacteristic of her family, she reached for her kunai pouch and pulled out one of the blades halfway. Her Byakugan activated at the same time as well. "Another word about my clan's eyes..."

Her teammate was completely taken aback by the kunoichi's threat and his head snapped slightly back on instinct, but otherwise he held his ground. In fact, he seemed to grow angrier as his hand went for his own weapon pack. "You wouldn't dare!"

"Enough!" Both Anbu jerked back at the booming voice that echoed over them. When they turned to face its origin, they saw a crossed-armed and obviously very angry Tenzō standing above in the branches of the nearest tree. Seeing them freeze at the sight of him, he went on to drop to the ground with an aura of rancid hostility. "You two are supposed to be Anbu! So please, tell me why I'm seeing the two of you bicker like a couple of Genin fresh out of the Academy?" It was then he pointed to the kunai in Nishi's hand. "And why you would draw a weapon on your comrade?!" The eagle-faced ninja quickly returned her blade to her pouch, but otherwise remained quiet as her gaze shifted to the dirt. Akira followed similarly. Not getting a response from the two, however, only served to infuriate Tenzō more. "Need I remind you two..." His left hand raised to his cat mask and slowly, millimeter by millimeter, began to slide it to the side. "... of the consequences."

The sight of this action caused both subordinate Anbu to jump back in fear and collectively voice their answer. "No, Captain!"

"We need not a reminder," Akira claimed franticly.

Tenzō ceased the movement of his hand, but continued to keep it in place. "Do you understand the errors of what you've done?"

"Hai," they both said, loud and clear.

"Are you sure?" The Anbu captain slid his mask another centimeter to emphasis his point.

"Hai! We understand, Captain!"

As if at the flick of a switch, Tenzō suddenly rearranged his mask back in place and dropped his hand before adopting an eerily good-natured tone. "Good to hear." He paid no mind to the fact his abrupt change in demeanor caused his two subordinates to sweatdrop. "Now I believe you have something to report, Nishi?" Of course, he already knew the gist of it, but it never hurt to go over everything again. Especially with the news she was bringing.

The kunoichi nervously nodded, then immediately began explaining the details of the previous observation done with her Byakugan. For five minutes, she told of the dense metal that seemed to greatly hinder the abilities of her eyes, the way the object appeared to be cut clean on one end by some unknown force, and the strange room filled with alien computers sitting at the top of the behemoth. However, what she spent the most time detailing was the final thing she saw. The giant, green 'demon' that had no face other than its one gold-colored eye. When she finished her recollection of events, she had fully expected the possibility of her team captain ridiculing her much like Akira had earlier. However, Tenzō instead did the complete opposite. He took her entire report completely seriously and remained in a deep, quiet thought even after she had finished. Eventually, after a full minute, he released a soft sigh before addressing Nishi. "How sure are you that damage isn't natural?"

The female Anbu waited only a few thoughtful seconds before she replied. "I think I'm pretty sure."

He shook his head in dissatisfaction. "This information is too critical for halfway answers. You need to tell me you are one hundred percent sure, because we can't risk dedicating to it if you're not."

Even through the porcelain mask, Nishi somehow managed to lock gazes with Tenzō. After several long moments that felt like an eternity, she finally gave a nod. "I'm sure, Captain."

He kept silently observing her for several more moments before giving his own slow nod of the head and crossing his arms. "Alright. So what else do we know about the object itself?"

Akira traded glances with the kunoichi beside him, then shrugged. "Not much, other than it's somehow made of a metal dense enough to disrupt the Byakugan, it fell from the sky, and it has strange writing painted on the sides."

"All correct except for one," Tenzō said matter-of-factly. "It's not all made of metal." The bear-masked ninja merely motioned to peer at him questioningly, while the eagle-masked woman appeared to understand where the captain's train of thought was leading. She was about to speak like she knew what he was going to say, but her team leader stopped her early with a dismissing raised hand. "Nishi told us herself she saw electrical wires all throughout the interior of the object. Then there was the heavily damaged room with the computers. The only explanation that makes sense is the object was once a powered structure."

Nishi didn't seem nearly as disturbed about the revelation as her teammate, which made sense considering she found the discoveries leading up to it. She had likely come up with a similar hypothesis. Akira, meanwhile, looked very much flabbergasted. "Captain, can you really make such a radical assumption based on what she thought she saw?"

Tenzō instantly shot a bitter glare at the man. "I will not have myself or a subordinate of mine second-guessed by one of our teammates. Am I clear?"

The bear-masked Anbu's condescending tone and attitude disappeared as he dropped his head and nodded. "Hai, Captain. Apologies."

Without acknowledging Akira's remark any further, Team Rho's leader went on to readdress both Anbu. "Now that we're starting to get an idea of what this thing is, all we're left with is the-"

"Captain," came the interruption, but not from the ninja standing in front of him. Instead, the captain lifted his gaze to the branches of a tree about ten meters away. Standing on one of the lower, but longer wooden limbs was the fourth team member, Taro, adorning his rabbit mask. He was the only one among the group who wore a hood over his head, adding to the seemingly cold and emotionless aura he gave off, even for Anbu standards. His words were in monotone as he stared indifferently at the small gathering. "My Kikaichū are stirring. Something unknown is happening with the object."

Hearing this put the ninja below him on full alert, with Nishi activating her Byakugan as an immediate response. Tenzō dashed about twenty or so meters away to a bush at the closest edge of the crater and crouched behind it. He raised his hand to the side of his head and began taking advantage of one his Wood Release's most strategic capabilities. Communicating with his clones. "See anything?"

"Negative," was the response from his three clones scattered around the impact site. Their voices, identical to his own, sounded as if they came from his head like what one might think of telepathy.

Akira, the only member of Team Rho who did not possess any sort of unique reconnaissance ability, followed his leader to the bush before crouching low to the ground a couple meters to the right. "What's the word?"

"Nothing," Tenzō declared disappointingly. "My clones aren't seeing anything new, but if Taro says something's wrong..." He let the statement hang, knowing the man at his side would understand.

Nishi's slightly panicked voice from behind soon grabbed their attention. "Captain!"

"What do you see?" The leading Anbu's question was stern and direct as he turned to look at her. She ran up towards him and stopped about five meters away. He kept his minor concern in check and ignored the tone of her voice for the moment.

"Inside..." She paused as she fumbled with the words. "The interior of the object... it's all red!"

Tenzō became confused when he tried to process what she said. Red? That didn't sound right. Was she seeing blood? Bodies? Or was there something going wrong with her eyes? "What do you mean?"

Nishi took a deep breath to attempt calming herself down and lightly shook her head, though the later gesture was due to disbelief rather than dismissal. "When I looked inside before, everything was dark. But now there's these... red lights everywhere. And..." She suddenly gasped and her hand subconsciously raised to her chest. "The demon!"

The Anbu captain shifted closer to her, then placed his hands on her shoulders. "Look at me, Nishi. Focus." He was not speaking with an uncaring and demanding voice. Instead, he was trying to share his strength and composure through it. "Are you watching it right now?"

The kunoichi looked up into his cat mask and hesitated no more than a second. "I was... but now it's gone. It moved too deep inside."

Tenzō returned his hands to his side, feeling she was no longer in need of the support. "Can you tell me what it looked like?"

"The same as before," she said with a small nod. "It's entire body was green and it had no face. No mouth, ears, nose, not even hair on its head. Only one big, golden eye." She shuttered at the memory. "And it was giant. It must have been at least two meters tall, and had to duck when it walked through a doorway."

He made sure she saw him nod as he continued listening, wordlessly telling her he believed what she said. "You said it walked. I'm assuming it had two legs?" She nodded a 'yes' in return. "What about the rest of its body? Did it have two arms? Five fingers in each hand?"

"Yes. It looks like a normal man at first, but then you see the eye and the color of its skin-" She didn't finish, however, when her head abruptly turned to the side. "Someone's coming!"

Tenzō reacted by reaching into his weapon pouch and pulling out a kunai in the blink of an eye. "Who?"

She simply turned around and looked back into the deep woodlands of the Land of Fire. Curiously, however, she did not tense up in a defensive manner. "Konoha."

—

"Are you sure about this?" Master Chief was sitting in the driver's seat of the Warthog they had acquired earlier as he asked the question to his AI companion. He did not have doubts or a lingering worry in his voice. He simply wanted to be sure the actions the two were about to undertake were what she wanted.

"We're not going to learn anything staying inside the Dawn, Chief. The more we know, the better our odds."

The Spartan wasn't denying that fact. He fully understood the necessity of exploring the areas of land surrounding the crash site, whether it be for basic supplies such as food and water or be it scouting for any... natives. It was highly unlikely, but if there was a population of sentient beings on this world, the first course of action would be to find out if they even exist. Next would be to learn if they are potentially hostile. And then if that happens to be case, the last step would be to prepare for conflict and possibly neutralize the threat. There was no room for taking needless chances in an unknown ecosystem. "I just thought it might be too soon."

Cortana sighed. "There isn't much of the ship left to be salvaged. The fusion reactor seems to be functional, but it's been completely cut off from the electrical grid. And then even if we do get it connected and pumping power, there's nothing to put it to good use towards besides the beacon. The slipspace drive is out of commission and don't even get me started on the weapon-"

Master Chief realized the AI was beginning to lose track of her thoughts and attempted to rectify that immediately. "Cortana..."

"Yes," she asked a bit too innocently, cutting herself off in the process. When she was met with nothing but the motionlessness silence of the Spartan, her attitude seemed to gloom slightly. "Sorry... back to the point, we have better chances at progress if we go outside and explore for a while ‒ who knows what we'll find that we don't know. If the problem with the Dawn's fusion reactor is fixable, then it shouldn't take any longer than a week to repair it. That gives us more than enough time before the auxiliary power is depleted."

He had to admit, she made a convincing argument. Although he would have liked acquiring the near limitless supply of power the reactor could have provided, allowing the distress signal to play all throughout the day and night, it was not a current necessity. Getting a handle on the environment they would be surviving in for the foreseeable future, on the other hand, was. Chief gave a nod as both an acknowledgement and sign of surrender in the dispute, then reached over to the passenger seat and picked up a small, remote-like device. Above the zero-to-nine number pad on the front side rested two button guards, one red and the other green, while on the top end stood a half-foot-tall black antenna. "Ready?"

"How much C-12 did you use?"

"One Damage Pack," he admitted nonchalantly. C-12, or Composition C-12, was a common plastic explosive in the UNSC military usually used for combat demolitions. A successor to Composition B, an explosive developed during Humanity's Second World War, C-12 was an incredibly powerful substance. Just one four-inches-cubed block could level a five-story building, while two medium-sized packages called Damage Packs were capable of burning through three meters of the Titanium-A armor used in starship hulls. It was also malleable enough to be molded into any shape required and stick to nearly every surface, much like its 21st century ancestor C-4. However, it was highly volatile unlike C-4 and its more stable relative, C-7. Due to this, its combat applications were often restricted to Special Forces, such as ODSTs and Spartans.

"That should be more than enough." The Forward Unto Dawn's armor thickness averaged out at sixty centimeters, so one C-12 Damage Pack was perfectly able to blow a hole big enough to fit a Warthog. As to why they couldn't just use the hangar doors... "It's a pity we couldn't get the doors working, though. They might've been fixed given enough time, but..." She watched Chief raise the device in his hand, a remote detonator connected to the Damage Pack plastered on the bay door about fifty yards away, and lift the red button guard with his thumb. "You always had a knack for blowing things up."

John-117's response was simple. He pushed the button and did what he did best: make something explode.

—

"Kakashi Hatake," Tenzō said aloud as he watched the silver-haired man approach from the trees. The Jōnin was wearing the standard woodland-green flak jacket of Konoha with his usual navy blue pants and long-sleeved shirt underneath. The lower half of his face was covered by a mask while his left eye was hidden beneath his forehead protector, both articles of clothing being the same color as the rest. His kunai pouch was strapped to his right thigh, while white bindings were wrapped around his ankles and shins. Currently, his visible right eye was closed in a genuine eye-smile. "I wasn't expecting the Copy Cat ninja to be our backup."

"Tenzō. Fancy meeting you here," Kakashi greeted a bit cheerfully. However, not a moment later did his eye open in a narrow expression of cold seriousness. "Hokage-sama felt the need to do so after receiving a rather interesting report." He walked passed the Anbu captain and stopped near the truck of a tree at the very edge of the crater, his gaze never leaving the massive object farther ahead. "What can you tell me about this thing, other than what Mako already told us?"

The leader of Team Rho came up to his side before speaking. "The short answer? Something out of this world, and it might not be an exaggeration." The silver-haired ninja raised a curious eyebrow to this, but allowed the man to continue speaking. "The long story is, well... complicated. One thing we know for absolute sure is the outer shell consists of a highly dense metal. It heavily distorts a Byakugan after only several dozen centimeters of penetration."

Kakashi's hand raised upward and began rubbing his chin. "That material can't be natural."

"Which adds to the idea of it being an artificial structure of some kind," he agreed. "But that isn't even the gist of it." He pointed to a part of the object that appeared to be slightly buried into the ground. "That end there? Nishi claims that the damage looks too clean, like it wasn't caused by the impact. In her own words, it looks like an entire section was simply... cut off."

This new information caused the Jōnin's eyes to widen as he stared at the Anbu in disbelief. "How is that possible?"

Tenzō shrugged. "No idea. If that metal is as dense as we believe, it must be incredibly durable. And for a hundred-foot-tall slab of it to be sliced like a stick of butter?" He shook his head in a mix of both awe and confusion. "I don't want to know what did that damage."

Kakashi's head tilted down as he closed his eye and released a long, deep breath. "That's a lot to take in. Even harder to believe."

"You haven't heard the worst part," the Anbu claimed, once again making the silver-haired ninja's eye go wide. A reply wasn't made, though, so he explained further. "About ten minutes before you arrived, Nishi said she saw... something, inside. Neither of us are sure what it is, but she wouldn't stop calling it a demon. Said it stood two meters tall, had one gold eye, and a completely green body ‒ frightened her good whatever she saw."

The description provided made Kakashi more than a little skeptical. However, the sheer fact that something managed to so well terrify an experienced Anbu agent, and someone of the famed Hyuuga clan at that, shook him up good. It wasn't every day you saw such ninja display raw emotions like fear. Things like anger and shock? Yes. But real, unadulterated fear? It was hard to imagine, even for a veteran shinobi and ex-Anbu such as himself. He turned his eye to look at the leader of Team Rho and opened his mouth to speak, but he was unable to say the first word. For at that moment, a large fireball chose to erupt from the back end of the metal colossus.

—

Master Chief stepped on the gas pedal as soon as the Warthog's engine roared to life, sending the vehicle from zero to sixty miles-per-hour in a little under four seconds. Nothing more than lingering particles and smoke in the air stood in the way between it and the hangar bay's brand new opening. It was a straight run and if either the Spartan or Cortana were normal Humans, they wouldn't have realized they were outside and falling through the air until they were already halfway to the ground. Their undeniably superior reaction times, however, denied them of that thrill. Chief was already preparing for the drop the second they flew passed the opening in the Dawn's armor, shifting his weight backwards to balance out the front-heavy transport. The Warthog's rear wheels only barely hit the dirt first as it touched down.

Now back on somewhat solid ground, with the terrain beneath being morphed and ragged from the ship's crash into the planet, the Spartan lifted his foot off the gas and placed it on the brake. The FAV's momentum dragged it onward for only about a dozen meters before it skidded to a halt. When the dust settled, Cortana was the first to speak her mind. "That was fun." There was a clear hint of sarcasm in her voice. "But it wasn't as death-defying as falling from orbit."

"I thought you liked crazy," Chief retorted, recalling what she had said four years ago before they shot themselves out of Cairo Station's airlock above Earth.

She seemed to remember that bit of dialogue as well. "Only when you have a really big bomb aimed at a Covenant assault carrier."

He gave a simple grunt in response. It wasn't exactly good times when that occurred, but it was nonetheless a fond memory. It was simpler then; fight the enemy, complete the mission, win the war. Johnson and Miranda Keyes were still alive, too. Now they were stranded on an uncharted planet and trying to find a way back to Earth in a race against time. Survival in the wilderness was easy for the Spartan, as it wasn't something he hadn't trained for and experienced in the past. However, Cortana's slow descent into rampancy changed everything. They could not afford to stay here for too long.

Master Chief quickly recomposed his thoughts, then was just about to step back on the gas when something tripped off the motion tracking sensor in his helmet. Noticing this instantly kicked in his combat instincts and he was already outside of the Warthog with his assault rifle raised before more than two seconds passed. His Heads-Up Display, or HUD, was showing the blip to be at his three o' clock and a little less than one hundred meters away ‒ the sensor's maximum range. Using the vehicle as cover, he crouched just low enough where only his head and the MA5C in his hands remained visible. What he saw when his eyes focused on the detected target, however, was enough to confuse even him.

Standing out there in the field created by the Dawn's impact crater was a man, wearing what looked like a green flak jacket and navy blue clothing underneath. His spiky, silver hair flowed gently in the breeze and, though most of his face was hidden by a piece of cloth and a kind of headband, his dark grey eye said he was undoubtedly Human. Even Cortana sounded shocked. "Now this was unexpected..."

CHAPTER END

Author's Note #2: If you're reading this story, then I'd like to think you're either a gamer or just a really big fan of Halo and/or Naruto. If it happens to be the former, then I'd like to invite you and everyone else who enjoys gaming on PC to my Discord server, 'DeadlyRecon's Hub'! Anyone who enjoys Multiplayer games, whether it be Battlefield, DayZ, Rust, ARMA, CS:GO, or so on, is welcome to join! I also use the server to meet and communicate with my Beta Reader(s), so if you'd like to join us, then you're more than welcome to as long as you meet this site's requirements for Beta. If you want to receive an invitation, type up a review and let me know so I can PM you the Instant Invite link. That's it for now, and thank you for reading my latest chapter!

From this point on, I'd also like to make a special thanks to my new Beta Reader, Daniel. He has been, and will continue to be, incredibly helpful with anything Halo-related. He's been great so far, and hopefully he'll manage to fend off any future Writer's Block I might get hehe xD