A/N: Alright ladies and gentlmen, good news and bad news. Good news first. I'm fresh out of my ANOTHER surgery-hurts like hell!-and I managed to put this up here at points between the forced anesthetic. Bad news is I still have more surgeries ahead. Still, I'm feeling a bit better now. Really. I'm hanging tough though, having just come out of my first surgery...with two more to go! UUUUUGH! I'm on painkillers almost daily and I feel like crap, as to that effect. And with that...

...onto the next chapter! Many thanks to Uzumaki Crossover for helping me with this! Also a clarification, Naruto and Tali are eighteen, not sixteen. That was a typo on my part last chapter =D

"If you have an important point to make, don't try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time — a tremendous whack."

~Winston Churchill.

Karma

"Yo!"

Garrus Vakarian frowned, mandibles twitching as a distant, albeit familiar greeting reached his ears. Or what passed for ears on a turian. He'd never really been one for the study of anatomy. Intrigued, the turian poked his head out of the truck's innards just long enough to realize that someone was speaking to him. At first he thought it was Shepard. But when the voice spoke again, it had a masculine quality to it that the Commander distinctly lacked. Not that she wasn't authoritive in his eyes, he'd seen her take charge in a firefight before, but whoever this someone was, they sounded a great deal more...relaxed than the Alliance commander would ever allow herself to be.

"Workin' on the Mako, eh?"

To his credit, it only took him a second to realize that someone was none other than Uzumaki Naruto. Even less to discover the boy was somewheres above him, hanging off the main barrel of the turret much like a monkey would a tree; pulling himself up, only to lower himself down again a few seconds later. Ordinarly, that wouldn't have impressed Vakarian. What impressed him was the fact that the Phantom of the Terminus systerms was using the barrel to do chinups almost effortlessly. One-handed. With his armor on. Spirits, the strength it took for him to do that must've been a true marvel...and the boy barely looked as though he'd broken a sweat at all.

Were all humans so strange he wondered? Or was it just this one?

"Hello...?" he managed, slightly baffled as to how the blond had gotten up there without him noticing. Or Wrex. Or Ashley for that matter. He'd been down here for nearly an hour now, and spirits take him if he hadn't heard the elevator come down the shaft. Sneaky little bastard.

"You wanna get down from there? Can't have you breaking anything."

"Puh-lease." Naruto snorted, swinging himself up onto the turret once more knees bent double into his chest. "As if I would break something so awesome! This thing's built like a tank! Ya should've seen how many geth I flattened back on Therum with it." His benign grin began to grow as he continued to speak, gesturing more and more wildly to emphasi and indicate the slaughter of the many artificial intelligences. "I tell you, it was a bloody massacre. Even backed up over an armature, too. Had to make sure the godamned bosh'tet was really dead."

"So you're responsible for all these dents?" the turian's deadpann was barely concealed.

Naruto blanched, his fire fading in the wake of that steely blue stare.

"Just how many are we talking about...?"

"Over a dozen. And still counting!"

"Hey, it was an accident." despite his glee at having slaughtered so many synthetics, the boy at least had the wherewithall to appear apologetic for his destructive deeds regarding the mako. "Cut me some slack! It was my first time driving, and we only crashed once. There's nothing wrong with that! Just ask Ash!"

"That so, Williams?"

Halfway across the hold, a very unladylike snort graced their ears.

"Yeah, he tried to drive through a wall. Didn't work out so well. He's got the scar to prove it."

Naruto choked and instinctively moved to cover the small divet in his chin with a hand, almost falling off the turret in the proccess before catching himself. When he finally spoke, it sounded almost petulant.

"We agreed never to speak of that!"

"That was before the mining laser."

"What about after the ambush?" Naruto challenged, his witty reply garnering a sigh from the marine. "I seem to recall you getting knocked on your ass by a geth leaper back on Therum?" His veiled insult cut straight to the bone, three deck up, half the crew felt/sensed the sudden spike of killer intent resonating from the human woman.

"Alright, smartass...

"Oi oi, there's no need to come over here!"

Garrus felt the beginning's of a twitch in his mandibles as the Gunnery Chief swiftly reassembled her rifle and moved to join their little discussion, much to Naruto's trepidation. So there was someone he feared after all, it seemed. The poor human looked positively cornered up there on the turret, clinging to it white-knuckled as though he suddenly feared she'd tear him a new one, should he come down. How...ironic. It seemed human females could be downright intimidating in their own way, he mused. Good to know.

"What?" she asked, a tad too sweetly. "I just want to apologize." Naruto wasn't fooled. He only clenched the turret tighter. Was that genuine fear in those sapphire orbs? Garrus thought so.

"Y-You stay right there!" the young man hissed, arching his back like a cornered cat, artifical arm bristling menacingly. "I remember what you did last time!"

Garrus cocked his head at the chief.

"Last time...?"

"Lets just say I know a thing or two about payback." A wan smile danced at the corners of Ashley's mouth. "It comes from being a big sister."

Naruto made another hissing sound.

"One of these days Ash, I'm gonna prank the hell out of you so bad you won't be able to retalitate." A light shone in his eyes just then-a glimmer of amusement breaking through the fear he felt at righteous female fury facing forward. "Come to think of it, don't you have a scar on your-

Ashley's hand flew to her rifle.

"Ohhhh, you are so dead!"

Naruto casually activated his weapons arm, targeting her stomach in the same instant she lined up a shot at his face. Garrus glanced between the two, suddenly uncertain if he should intervene. Human customs always confused him; were they joking, or did they genuinely intend to shoot one another? He couldn't be sure.

A deep, throaty laugh boomed across the cargo hold; alleviating the tense standoff. "Ah, cut the kid some slack, Williams. He's been shot at enough for one day."

"Ya think?" Ash replied, lowering her weapon. Seconds later Naruto did the same, baffling Garrus entirely.

"Hey, is all this foreplay a thing with you humans? Because I think-

In hindsight, perhaps that wasn't the best choice of words. Both humans colored and shouted at him.

"Foreplay?!"

"Well if the two of you want to go at it, be my guest."

Whatever witty reply had been forming in the back of Garrus' brain vanished as Urdnot Wrex soldiered his way over to them. Now, Garrus was no slouch; he'd seen many a krogan in his day but the battlemaster was by far and away the most fearsome. Not to mention the largest. Naruto didn't seem at all concerned with having a potentially murderous krogan standing behind him; if anything he seemed heartened by it. Garrus on the other hand, was entirely uncertain. He hadn't yet had a chance to work with the hulking brute to a large extent, but from what he had seen and what Shepard had already told him-the alien was a force of nature made flesh. Not someone you wanted to get on their bad side.

"What're you pyjacks up to?" this addressed to Naruto.

"Just comparing old war wounds." The blond muttered with a pointed look, swinging to and fro from his perch. He threw out one piece of verbal bait, looking to see if the turian would bite. As far as he knew Turians had absoliutely nothing in common with humans except two of three things. The first was the desire for order. The second; pride. And the third; deep, deep down they loved a good fight just as much as the next guy. It was to these weaknessess that Naruto played, and he played to win with the one phrase that no man could withstand:

"Garrus here doesn't have any."

The ex-officer's eyes narrowed slightly. Ha! There's the bite.

"None that you can see."

"You mean like the gigantic stick up your ass?" Naruto grinned.

Wrex whistled at that. Ashely burst into hysterics before the turian could get a worde in edgewise. Garrus shot her a scathing look.

"What?" she blinked. "I thought it was funny."

"Riiiiight...

Wrex laughd again, the throaty sound of his mirth filling the hold.

"I don't know why you princesses are getting so worked up about your scars showing anyway," the krogan said. He spread his arms wide. "They should be worn like a badge of honor." His three fingered hand moved to trace a jagged line down his face, indicating his own injury. "See this? My old man gave it to me. Right before I buried my blade in his chest."

"Easy for you to say, big guy." Naruto groused, shuddering at the idea of such a wound. "You can regenerate! I can't! At least, not to the extent that you do...

"Is that so?" Ashley adopted a look of feigned innocence. "You mean I can kick his ass, let him heal, and do it again?"

"That's assuming ya can catch me, sis." Naruto returned with a ghastly grin, reminding everyone in the room just who he really was. "Phantom of the Terminus Systems? The man who destroyed an entire space station by himself? Crashed it into one of the Kahje's moons? Ring any bells? I'd beat you with one arm tied behind my back, and that's if I'm feeling lazy."

Ashley took the hint and shrugged it off; water down a duck's back. It wasn't arrogance that fueled her confidence, rather, a genuine desire to see what the young man was capable of. It must be something, she mused quietly, if he's that cocky. But seriously? Destroying a space station? Who does that?!

"Is that a challenge? I love a challenge."

That earned her a glower.

"Oh, is that so baka onna-

The blonde's diatribe dissolved into a string of Japanese syllables that left his fellow human's translator scrambling to keep up and her cheeks a robust pink-no mean feat for the marine-and two aliens in the dark. When at last he ceased, a slight pall fell over their unlikely quartet. Wrex wore a perverse grin, Ash looked like she'd swallowed a varren. Naruto appeared to have swallowed a "canary" as the human saying went leaving poor Garrus utterly at a loss.

At last he gave voice to his confusion, mandibles twitching into the human fascimile of a frown. "The hell did he just say?"

"Believe me Vakarian, you do not want to know."

"Hell, with that body of his, I'm convinced the kid's half-krogan." Wrex said. "And that's not even possible!"

"Oi!"

"What?" the mighty reptile rumbled. "Its the truth."

Garrus wasn't quite sure how he felt about that; the possibility of Naruto being even more dangerous than he'd originally anticipated left him ill at ease, to say the least. The boy already had a geth-shifting weapon arm where his right should've been and he was a powerful biotic in his own right, but the prospect of him having even more tricks up his none-existent sleeves was not a pleasant one.

"Wait wait wait." Ash piped up, her hazel eyes shining with sudden interest. "So whiskers here can up and heal like you?"

"Nothing major like a hand, but yeah." came the reply.

"So if I kick hiss ass, he'll just regenerate."

"Bah!" Naruto stuck out his tongue. "You couldn't fight your way out of a paper bag, Williams!"

"If you say so..." she risked a glance back at the enigmatic boy, still grinning mirthfully. Garrus simply shrugged.

"You gonna get down from there, kid?"

"Yup, I was done exercising anyway."

As he looked on the Phantom vaulted off the barrel and landed in a crouch beside him, biotics flaring to cushion his landing. Ah. Now it made sense. Naruto's legendary title didn't just refer to his bloody battles, or the cold ruthlessness with which he dispatched his foes, or even the color of his eyes when he manipulated dark energy. His biotics were quite literally, crimson. The Crimson Biotic indeed. An oddity to be sure, given most biotics, were a blue-black, not the chaotic reddish-white that surrounded the blond just now. Crimson, hah! The thought almost elicited a dry chuckle from Garrus. Almost. But then he remembered how effortlessly the boy had lifted Kaiden off the ground, and he hesitated. If he could do that without even lifting a finger...

"Say, weren't you with T'soni a few minutes ago?" he asked, frowning. "How did you get down here without us noticing?"

"I was," Naruto smiled mysteriously. "And now I'm here. Still got a few tricks from my Ninja days."

"The hell's a ninja? Some kind of human delicacy?"

It was like flicking a switch; for a second boy's expression faltered. Naruto wanted to smile, the dry, sardonic manner in which the turian said pretty much everything made it all the more amusing. But the pain his head aborted that roguish grin before it could ever be born. As if he wasn't worried enough already. It still hurt to know he was the last of his people, not really even a shinobi at all anymore thanks to Cerberus. He could still use his techniques to an extent, but...it hurt realizing the age of the ninja would most likely die with him.

"Didn't they wield swords and wear armor, or something?" Ashley asked.

"No no, those are Samurai." his smile returned en masse, leaving Garrus to wonder if he'd just imagined it. "Shinobi are much better!"

"How so?" this from Wrex; the grizzled old krogan jumping at the chance to learn more about the blonde's race.

"Well for starter's we're...um, badass!"

"Badass." Ashley's deadpann was barely concealed.

"Hey, I'd show you if I could! Not my fault if I didn't have a chance back on Therum!"

"So... a mining laser, huh?" Unaware of the brief slip, the former cop chortled at the mention of the mission. "Wish I could've been there. I would've loved to see the look on their faces." This time, Naruto didn't have to force a smile to his face. He'd seen Shepard's expression firsthand; priceless didn't even begin to describe it.

"What can I say, I'm a people person."

"People person my ass! He almost brought the mine down on our heads!"

Wrex laughed. "It was glorious!"

"Hey, we survived, didn't we? Besides-

Ashley's smoldering glare silenced his diatribe before it could even begin.

Silence hung between the quartet after that; neither could think of anything more to say.a long moment, and Naruto was just about to wander away back to engineering when Garrus' flanged voice rang out. "So, you're a sniper, eh?" He reached up and behind his back, the mantis rifle unfolding into his taloned hands. "Care for some target practice?"

In a heartbeat the blond had his own rifle out, the Black Widow extending to its full, devastating length in hand.

"Oh, somebody's cocky. You in on this Williams?"

"No thanks." the Gunnery Chief waved their invitation away. "I know better than to get involved in a dick-fighting competition."

"Trust me, this won't be much of a contest."

Naruto raised his weapon in response. A warrior's salute, a challenge: Bring it.

"Twenty creds says Uzumaki gets within a centimeter of the first shot." Wrex rumbled.

"What? No way." Ashley snapped back, but there was a light of interest in her hazel eyes. "Nobody's that good. Fifty says he misses by an inch."

"You're on."

Together they erected up a crude target at the other end of the hangar, a thick piece of durasteel painted with a red bullseye, and took their positions. Garrus was the first to take the shot; inhale-exhale-sight down the target and squeeze the trigger. The hangar bay sizzled with the sudden discharge of weapons fire, his shot striking the target with an eclcectric crack. Beat that, he mused to himself Naruto didn't even wait for the reply or give one of his own; even as the turian rose from his crouch he took his position, dropping to a kneeon the mat.

BANG!

His rifle bucked from the shot, its stock kicking back against his armor with all the force of a mule. Naruto didn't even flinch. His expression said it all.

The turian made a humming noise that seemed to be equivalent of a human's whistle. "Damn. That's not even a centimeter off my first shot. Not bad for some punk kid out of Omega. See if you can do it again or if that was just luck."

"Ha!" Wrex chortled, reptillian orbs narrow with glee. "Time to pay up, human."

Grumbling, Ashley fished a hand into her belt and forked over his winnings before stalking away, muttering hoarsely beneath her breath. "Damned swindler...

Naruto flashed a predatory grin at her retreating form before returning his attention the turian.

"Wanna see if I can do better, Garrus?"

"There's no way."

"How much you willing to bet?"

Garrus folded both arms before his armored plating. "A weeks worth of incendiary rounds."

"I'll take that bet!" Wrex pounced on the opportunity to make more money. "A belt of grenades says he blows right through the target and the plate behind it."

"Wrex, that's a Widow he's got there, not a damned peashooter. No deal."

"What's the matter, turian? Scared?"

Garrus grimaced. Why did he have the feeling he was being deceived here? But if there was one thing his superiors had taught him, it was to never back down. Even in the face of overwhelming odds such as this. There was no way Naruto could make the shot, he told himself. Besides, the kid's arm had to be aching after firing the Widow just once...

"Fine." he growled. "I'll be happy to take those grenades off your hands."

Wrex's grin was nothing short of menacing.

"We'll just see about that, Vakarian."

"Um, guys?" Naruto piped up from his crouch, his tone flecking with annoyance, his visage expressionless beyond the opaque visor. "Can I take the shot now or what?"

The turian's mandibles started to twitch, feeling that he knew what was coming next. As he closed his eyes, he heard the Naruto grumbling to himself and sure enough, the booming crack of the Widow reverberated the hangar with a thunderous clap. Time seemed to unfold in slow motion, the powerful round ripping through the target before plowing onward and obliterating the plate behind it. There was a silence as Naruto raised both his head and the half-helm, allowing himself a good long look at the perfect shot.

"Gotcha." he grinned.

Garrus hissed in defeat. "Spirits...

"Haha!" Wrex roared in triumph, his red eyes showing nothing but sweet, sweet satisfaction. "Pay up!"

But before the turian could fork over his incendiary rounds, the loudspeaker blared, demanding their attent

The two looked at themselves for a moment, trying to put together the pieces of information the other had just provided. There was only one real answer, as Garrus snapped his talons upon putting the puzzle together Naruto's raised eyebrows showing the same solution. In unison, they blurted out the answer.

"Shepard."

"Naruto," As if on cue, the Commander's voice came over the intercom. "Liara, I need you prepped; were about to hit Feros. You too, Wrex."

Said blond rose, rubbing his now aching shoulder. Garrus had been right, the recoil on a Black Widow was a bitch to deal with. And he'd been wearing armor!

"Bout damn time." the krogan rumbled, brushing past him with a grin. "All this target practice makes me want to shoot something. Looks like she's going for a full biotic squad this time." That thought rallied the smirk to do its best to retake his face from the pained expression that currently held it, but both gave way to surprise and momentary fear when a sharp voice interrupted his musings.

"Stubborn blond bosh'tet! I cannot believe you! Blowing holes in the ship like that!"

He blinked, realizing his vision was a little blurry, and saw the familiar form of a slim quarian standing before him with her hands on her hips as if she had been summoned by his thoughts. The deep, translucent colors of her visor smudged with traces grease and other indications of her trade told him Adams had been helping her acquaint herself with the Normandy. Good. Ships were more her thing, anyway. He loved to tinker but a ship like this-the majesty of her inner workings-was utterly lost on him.

"Hey, it wasn't my idea to blow holes in the ship." he chuckled. "That was Garrus."

"You're kidding."

"No no, I shit you not." he chuckled, mimicking a certain mercenary. It was his idea in the first place."

"And now Shepard's taking you to Feros."

"Yup."

"Where Geth have been sighted."

Naruto shrugged. "Hey there's nothing to worry about. I've got Wrex with me." his eyes widened a touch suddenly. "Unless you're jealous of Liara?"

"I- what? No! I mean... no, I didn't mean to say you shouldn't go. I was just thinking and..." Tali sighed in exasperation, still tripping over her own words. "Keelah, how do you do this to me? Go ahead. Go. Shoo. Blow up a few geth for me." A broad grin split Naruto's face and she suddenly found herself embraced, grabbing his shoulders to support herself when she was set back down on her feet, finally getting a kiss on top of her visor for good measure.

"Love you too, Tali," he said, giving her a final hug.

"Nervous?"

Liara started in surprise,her pale cheeks flushing a visible violet as Naruto's voice breathed in her ear. He looked completely resplendent in his crimson-onyx armor standing beside Wrex-armed to the teeth with nearly every weapon imaginable. Every bit the confident biotic, a confidence she had sorely lacked throughout her life. Perhaps that was what drew her to the young human; she was but a moth, captivated by fire in his eyes whenever he spoke, helpless to do anything but listen. Perhaps she wanted a bit of that confidence, that charisma, to rub off on her.

"I...yes."

Whatever the case, she found herself nodding as they prepared to disembark; wondering just how he could be so calm, especially with the four of them cramped close together within the airlock. Naruto's elbow rubbed unintentionally up against her when he shrugged, eliciting yet another bout of flushing and sputtering on her part. Ahead of them, Shepard smothered a small chuckle. The commander was hard to get a read on as well or so Liara thought; she was a powerful biotic in her own right, but there was a certain...aloofness to her at times that made her seem distant to her crew. Naruto was different.

There was a...warmness about him, an openness that made you want to spill your life story to him. During her brief conversations with him she'd already learned much; despite his bloody reputation in the Terminus he was ready and willing to speak to you whenever you asked. She believed he was involved with Tali, the quarian's body language indicated as much, but despite that, the asari still felt herself sucked in whenever she lay eyes on him. Goddess, she should not feel like this, and yet...and yet...

"Earth to T'soni?" Liara started for a second time as Naruto waved a hand before her visage.

"I apologize. I am not accustomed to prolonged combat." she admitted weakly, touching a hand to her pistol. "But I suppose I need to learn...

"You'll see soon enough, princess." Wrex rumbled. Geth make for good target practice."

"Oi oi," Naruto returned, "That's no way to talk to a lady. Its probably just jitters, is all.

"Just stay behind me." he soothed. "My shields can take a beating, so don't try to be a hero."

"A-Alright."

"Ready, ladies?" Shepard barked.

"Hey, Wrex and I are not-" Naruto found himself cut off as the doors whooshed open, exposing them to the planet's dry atmosphere. Immediately, he was on edge.

"Can I say for the record, that I think this is a...

"Godamn bad idea!"

Naruto spat and swore virulently as he vaulted over a table, rolled between a Prime's legs, and bounded under cover, all the while his visage a rictus of searing, white-hot fury. Feros, she said. Harmless, she said! What a bunch of bullshit! Geth had opened up on them the instant they'd set down, then they were running errands for the leader of the colony, Fai Dan, then Shepard had the bright idea to take the Mako out to the tower in order to remove the Geth and their jamming. It had seemed so simple at the time. Sadly, they'd neglected to account for the sheer number of enemies. It had been one thing to simply flatten them with the Mako's bulk and superior shields, but on foot?

That was another story altogether.

A spray of white hot projectiles chewed after him, devouring the ground for yards in either direction, deflected only by the stubborn walls of his barrier; mere millimeters away from ripping through his shield and tearing through Liara's thinner protections behind him. He could see her cover crumbling, shields buckling with each stray shot that slammed into her slender body. Grunting, the blond thrust his aritifical arm outward, shearing through the nearest geth in a trail of white hot plasma.

Ka-ching!

That was the sound of his own shields buckling, and the blond made haste into cover with the others.

"Got a better idea, Shepard?!"

She gritted his teeth and returned the favor. "What do you think would happen if you hit that wall with a warp?"

The blonde's brows lifted. "Something bad."

"Do it. I'll provide a distraction, but you're only going to have one shot."

"I'll only need one," he replied grimly.

The two exchanged fire once more and when the Prime pulled away slightly she flung a grenade. As she did Naruto reached out with a subtle nudge of bitoics, giving the flying projectile juuuust enough torque to send it skittering across the stone at the Prime's feat. The massive synthetic made as if to step away, but when no explosion was immediately forthcoming, it faltered. Its massive head swung this and that-momentarily baffled by the prescence of the seemingly inert grenade, unaware of Liara popping out of cover to fire a well-placed shot-

Boom.

Everything flared a brilliant cherry red as the "dud" exploded, peppering the sinister synthetics with white hot shrapnel and flaming debris. At that very instant-tumbling end over end-three more grenades exploded just over their heads, blowing their heads away like paper in a typhoon.

Which is exactly what it sounded like, the wind howling around them.

She could she the Geth's head tilt in confusion then surprise as they struggled to auto-correct, a string of unintelligible gibberish trying to pull away but not reacting quickly enough. A bundle of dark energy lashed out from Naruto's fingertips and into the bulkhead, metal crumpling like it was being crushed by a great fist. A split second later he yanked down and a faint pop was heard. Smoke and sparks began to pour from the vents as the blond forcibly ripped the wall from its fastening and abruptly dropped into a barely controlled dive to the right.

The savage urge burned white-hot inside of him, and he let it free.

"Two down, assholes."

That was when his Ominitool shrieked to life.

Zaeed Massani was having a godamn good day.

It had started when he'd picked up this job; signed up at the last mintue to take down some Cerberus fuckers of some sort. But instead, they'd found a stowaway

Now, three mercs-his allies mere milliseconds before-lay dead at his feet, and he found himself staring at a wild looking girl with crazy tattoos and smooth auburn hair, her head completely covered in the messy brown locks, writhing as though they were alive now with angry biotics. He'd pulled her out of a vent mere moments before-but instead of shooting her as his compatriots had demanded, he'd shot them instead. Subject Zero, they said. Just a godamned girl, he'd said. Which brought

"Who tha' godamn hell are you?"

"...Jack."

"And how da' hell do you know the kid?"

Jack rocked back on her heels, simulatenously torn; both between answering the man's question and sending him sprawling with a shockwave. She'd tossed out Naruto's name in desperation, hoping to buy a second or two to better defend herself, praying that his bloody reputation, and her implied affiliation would slow them long enough to escape from scar-face over there, and his goons. Now, the latter regarded her with something akin to amusement and annoyance all wrapped up in one scowling package. As she looked on, a tiny smile broke out on his chiseled face, like a crack etching along a stone surface.

"Wait, you're that girl!" he laughed, a hearty har-har that put the biotic instantly on edge. "The one he keeps blabbin' about. Jackie!"

Jack glowered.

"What's it to you, dumbass?"

"Shit, he helped me take down Vido! Godamned bastard. Said something about betrayal deserving death. If yer with him then that makes you alright in my book. You wanna talk? Kid left me his omnitool number just in case." He touched a hand to his wrist, summoning forth the holographic interface. "The hell?" his scarred face knotted in calculating confusion as he tapped in a command. "What's the kid doin' on Feros? Nevermind got 'em, better make it quick."

"Wha?"

Just like that, the channel opened, cutting off any blustering attempt at denial. Static squealed through the link, broken by intermittent gunfire and the distinct hum of biotics. Jack felt her heart lurch into her throat. He was in trouble. Wherever he was, whatever he was doing

"Not a good time, Massani."

"Got a girl here who says she knows you." the mercenary grunted.

"It better not be Liselle."

"Listen for yerself." Zaeed harrumphed, thrusting his arm at Jack. Subject Zero hesitated all of an instant before speaking.

"Dumbass?"

"The hell is this?!"

Swearing softly, she tried again.

"N-Naruto?"

There was a silence, broken by the peppering sounds of gunfire.

And then.

And then.

"Jack?"

With that word alone, her carefully constructed world fell apart.

A/N: And there we have it! Jack and Naruto are dangerously close to meeting up, but will it actually happen?! WHO KNOWS?! Anything may happen! I enjoyed writing this chapter to be honest-the words just flowed and it was easy to keep everyone in character. A little bit of camraderie between the crew just before they leap back into the fray, and we get to see that Naruto and Wrex are all but swindler's when it comes to things like gambling. One of my favorite scenes, tbh.

But ultimately, this fic is about to take a hard turn into the unknown, and not everyone will be making it back from this little joyride...

Anywho, I worked extremely hard on this one with blood sweat and tears, so I hope to hear what you think! Pairing is up in the air! YOU DECIDE! And on a final note, thank you to everyone offering emotional support in regard to my health woes. Its greatly appreciated! An awful lot is going to change in this story soon! Look forward to an epic prank next chapter...provided my health holds out.

So...in the immortal words of Atlas...

...Review, Would You Kindly? And of course, enjoy the preview!

"Have you ever faced an Asari Commando Unit before?" Benezia asked gravely. "Few humans have."

Naruto's only response was a physical one. The air crackled with chakra, not just his own, but that of his former tenant, an eerie mixture of scarlet and onyx. a threat, Shepard knew at once, Naruto wrapped in tendrils that ebbed and pulse dangerously. They looked like snakes, writhing and ready to strike. Shepard winced, lifting her hands in defeat, letting him walk away.

"She's mine," he hissed.

Another blow, and then his hand was around her throat, crushingly tight, the tips of his fingers digging into the sensitive folds at the back of her neck, lifting her clean off her feet. She froze, breath caught in her chest, not daring to move lest he do more damage there. Her wide eyes locked onto his wild blue ones.

"BENEZIA!"

Hope you enjoyed! R&R! =D