Day 6:

-Just outside the thunder country

Iria inspected the checkpoint, watching as the guards escorted travelers into little huts, looked at their papers and then granted them passage into the country or denied them. One brave soul tried to sneak through without any authorization, guards swarmed all over him, eventually dragging his bloodied body away from the gates.

Zeke spoke up, "So… how are we going to get through?"

"I don't know, I wasn't expecting this. You're the one leading us, is there some way we can get in without passing through a guard station?"

"I don't know the land of thunder very well, but they are very guarded and every road into the country will probably have a checkpoint." Zeke paused, "They look even more paranoid than usual, I wonder if something happened?"

They watched for the next hour, trying to think of a way to get through. Iria finally said something, "I have seen a few people get in without any papers, what if we say we don't have any but that we mean no harm, we look innocent enough. We could also bribe if that might help."

"If we don't have papers they are going to inspect us and realize very quickly that you are blue and clearly not human. The situation will get ugly fast." He smiled, "But don't fret, it should be fairly easy if we follow my plan."

"You have a plan, I'm impressed. You don't seem like the think ahead planning type. So what is this plan of yours?"

"You walk up to the guard station, take your clothes off and prance around in front of it. While they are distracted, I run through. Then you figure out a way to get yourself through."

"What a brilliant plan. It can't possibly fail and doesn't at all sound like that was dreamt up by a five year old."

"I'm smart like that." Zeke suddenly became extremely focused. "But on a serious note, the guards appear to rotate every thirty minutes. When the next rotation happens, I'll bunshin into one of the guards then kill and dispose of him. You approach me a few minutes later, I'll pretend to look you over then let you in. Then I follow you a few minutes later. But before we do that, we're going to have to make you look like a human." Zeke smiled, "Blonde or brunette?"

"What?..." Iria had no idea what was going on.

Zeke gazed at a roughly 25 year old woman walking down the road about 100 feet away, he suddenly made a seal and gestured towards Iria, she immediately took on the form of the woman.

Iria looked herself over, "I'm impressed." She paused. "But going back to your plan. What happens if they see you or you make too much noise? What happens if there are more guards on the other side? In fact we don't even know what's on the other side."

"The huts are pretty hard to see into, I'll be fast and silent, they won't hear or see anything. It isn't perfect but I don't have any better ideas, do you?"
Iria didn't like the plan at all but she didn't have a better one "No… that's better than anything I can think of."

They waited until the next guard shift, then looked at each other and nodded. Zeke joined the stream of people heading towards the huts, quickly taking note of how scared they all looked. "This definitely doesn't seem normal. Why is the thunder country denying so many civilians, they clearly don't pose any sort of threat." Zeke was eventually grabbed and led into one of the huts.

"Hey there, nice day for a border crossing." The guard stared back at him with crossed arms and a rather nasty expression, "So…" Zeke whipped his head around as three more guards entered the hut, two large and rather brutish looking men stood on each side of a cute and extremely young looking female ninja.

One of her escorts spoke up, "Is this him?"

"No I don't think so but let's search him anyways." The female ninja walked over and immediately began patting him down, feeling for any weapons.

"I didn't know you thunder country ninja were so generous, offering free touching by cute female ninja. Do I get a strip search too or does that cost extra?"

"You want a strip search? That can be arranged." The female ninja snapped her fingers. Zeke was immediately knocked to the floor, where he received a rather intimate searching from the two male escorts.

"He is unarmed."

"That is now the third time some form of that joke has gotten me in trouble, I should really stop using it."

The original guard spoke up, "Are you three done yet?"

"Yeah we're done, this isn't him." The three guards walked out.

"So they are searching for someone or something, I figured as much."

The guard spoke up again, "Show it to me."

"I was already strip searched, you had your chance to see it."

The guard sighed, "I mean your papers."

"I guess guards aren't allowed to laugh."

Zeke reached into his pocket like he was preparing to take something out, as he did so, he placed his hand on the guards forearm for about a half second then removed it. The guard didn't seem to notice. Zeke suddenly leaped at the guard, repeatedly stabbing him with his kunai. The guard tried to shout and fight back but no words came and his limbs didn't move. Zeke shoved his dead body into the corner of the room, quickly looked him over before using illusion jutsu to take his appearance. "No alarms or shouts… I guess that means no one knows." He counted out 45 seconds then signaled to Iria, "Next up!"

When Iria entered the hut he only spent about two seconds pretending to look her over before ushering her through. His ears straining, listening to the silence and hoping it continued, "Please get through unnoticted."

"Zeke!"

"Shit! Something went wrong."

Zeke bolted to where the voice had come from, then slowed as Iria came into view. "What the hell is going on...?" Guards were everywhere but so were mysterious ninja in black outfits.

"Were under attack!" Some guard rushed up to him, "We need to secure the safe room immediately, follow me!" Zeke ignored him and rushed towards Iria, preparing to kill the black ninja that were rapidly surrounding her. Fortunately that wasn't necessary, Iria raised her hands and sent them all flying. The two sprinted into thunder country, hoping to escape unnoticed in the chaos.

-Naruto's apartment

Naruto woke up first, immediately rolling over and kissing Miranda. "Probably should have told her that I have to bring her to the hospital today. O well, I don't think she will care too much. Besides, I don't think she actually has anything to hide." He gently nudged her, waking her from sleep. She rolled over and looked at him, "Hey you."

"Hey." Naruto paused. "I forgot to tell you this yesterday but Sakura wants me to bring you into Konoha hospital, someone wants to run more tests or something."

"I thought that wasn't happening for a few more days. Are you sure she said today?"

"Yeah I'm sure. I don't really know why they have to do it, it's pretty clear that you're just a random civilian."

"Did she say it HAD to be today? Could we delay it a few more days?"

"No… I think they want to do it today. Is that okay?" Miranda seemed a lot more hesitant than Naruto imagined she would be.

"Yeah, I guess its fine."

"I guess I don't have anything to fear, if anything, they will see more images that don't make any sense to them. More images of space, the Cerebus headquarters and whatever else they see."

"Okay good. Sakura wanted me to bring you over this morning, are you ready to leave now."

"Yeah sure, I'll be ready in a moment."

Naruto waited by the door as Miranda got dressed, "So… if they do determine that she is innocent, is she going to leave…? I really hope not, she is my best and pretty much only friend." Naruto's train of thought was interrupted as Miranda brushed by him on her way out the door,

"You coming?"

"Yeah right behind you."

The two walked briskly towards the Konoha general hospital, it was early in the morning and the streets were largely empty. A few pigeons and some stray dogs provided their only company. Miranda looked over at Naruto.

"You've been silent and kinda depressed looking since we left, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, just thinking about things."

"Like what?"

"Personal things, I don't really want to talk about it right now."

"You can talk to me."

"Well… it's personal, but it's also kind of about you. I'll talk to you eventually but I feel like I need think about it more before I do that."

"You're afraid I'll leave if they tell that I'm free to go."

Naruto stopped in his tracks, he avoided eye contact as he replied, "Yeah pretty much." He paused, "Its not that I don't trust you or anything, its just that I'm not really sure what incentive you have to stay here once you don't have to. And honestly… your pretty much the only real friend I have. I know this sounds incredibly selfish but I really don't want you to go."

Miranda wasn't really sure what to say, she certainly wasn't going to return to some other country on this planet since she wasn't from here to begin with. But she was eventually going to return to Cerebus. Originally, she no absolutely no problem with that and was actually looking forward to finishing this mission as fast as possible. But that desire to leave was slowly eroding. She wasn't sure why it was eroding but the desire was definitely less than it used to be. It now seemed rather obvious to her that she didn't want to leave because of Naruto.

And suddenly it hit her, she remembered the second part of the mission that she hadn't really been thinking about. Once she became pregnant and left, Cerebus was going to destroy the planet, killing Naruto and everyone else here. She was opposed to that before meeting Naruto but she was now completely against it.

"Are you okay, you've been staring into space for a while now."

"Yeah… i'm fine, it turns out I have some thinking to do myself." A sad look spread over her face, "I promise I won't leave in the next few days and that I'll say goodbye before I leave if I eventually have to. Why don't we talk about this later when we have both had more time to think about it."

"Okay."

They continued walking towards the hospital, both looking significantly less happy than they were only moments earlier.

-Thunder country

Iria finally stopped running, signaling for Zeke to stop too.

"Think we lost them?"

"I don't think they were ever chasing us to begin with."

"Yeah, possibly not. Although I seem to remember you bolting out of there like a bat out of hell."

"Well yeah, I'm not stupid, they might have been chasing us. Although I think they were probably too preoccupied to bother."

"Do you have any idea what nation those ninja were from or why they suddenly attacked the guard station?"

"I have absolutely no idea but I don't think it matters to us."

Iria smiled, "Are you going to stay disguised as a guard forever."

Zeke returned to normal form, "Better?"

"Definitely a little less attractive, but acceptable because it will draw less attention to us."

"To us? I'm pretty sure we planned on splitting apart once we got into the thunder country. In fact, your exact words were, "I need to get far away from here and you will help me. In exchange, I will release you when we are far enough away." I'm pretty sure in another country qualifies as far enough away."

"Shit, I was afraid of this. I definitely can't get by without him."

"I meant farther than this, besides I still have my biotic powers and I can restrain you if need be."

"You aren't the only one with "powers" I didn't get into Root because of my good looks. I plan on leaving and there isn't a whole lot you can do to stop me, unless you plan on not sleeping until I leave."

She knew he was right, her biotic powers weren't very effective when she was asleep, he could pretty easily kill her or escape, and permanently restraining him clearly wasn't a viable option.

"And what if you can't get through the guard station by yourself, or what if those black ninjas attack you?"

"You're grasping at straws."

Iria glared at him. "What's so exciting in Konoha that you have to get back immediately? You're probably going to pick up where you left off, flirting and getting rejected by pretty women. You could save yourself time and do that with me."

Zeke smiled, "You know me too well." He thought for a few seconds, "Tell you what, I'll continue traveling around with you if you make a promise."

"This can't be good… O well, I don't really have a choice"

"What's the promise?"

"When this is all over, you have to go on a date with me"

"A date? Just one?"

"Yep, just one."

"Okay, I'll make that promise."

Zeke held out his pinkie. Iria stared at it, "Is this some bizarre Konoha tradition?"

"We made a promise, now we have to pinkie shake."

"Pinkie shake? That sounds like something only children would do."

"It is something only children do, adults usually use binding legal contracts for their "promises", but we don't have any way to make one of those so we'll have to settle for a pinkie shake."

Iria stuck out her pinkie and sealed the deal

"Good, then I'll continue traveling with you."

Iria gave him a wry smile "I'm glad."

"Honestly, traveling around in the thunder country sounds like more fun than going back to Konoha and dealing with Danzo."

Zeke and Iria continued down the road, heading towards whatever town that road led to.

-Konoha General Hospital

Sakura waved to Naruto as he left the room, she then turned her attention to Miranda. She stared at her for a second like she was some kind of exotic creature, "Wow… she is really beautiful, almost unnaturally so, I hadn't really paid attention to her before." Sakura snapped back to attention.

"So I figure I should tell you why you're here."

"That would be nice."

"I'm actually not allowed to tell you a whole lot. Actually, I don't think I'm supposed to tell you anything but I will anyways." Sakura gathered her thoughts before continuing. "Shortly after you arrived in Konoha, you were seen talking to a man named Danzo. I can't really go into detail, but Danzo isn't trusted, we need to make sure you aren't somehow involved with him."

Miranda thought hard, trying to remember who Danzo was, the name was definitely familiar. "O right, he was the one I met in the library."

Miranda spoke up, "I don't really remember my conversation with Danzo but I do remember thinking he was definitely plotting something. Frankly, he seemed fairly evil."

"Fairly evil is an extremely polite way of describing Danzo. And yes, he is definitely plotting something, but he is always plotting something. However, we think his plans might be more significant than usual."

Sakura continued, "So are you willing to let Inoichi look into your mind again?"

"I'm not involved with Danzo in any way so I have nothing to hide."

"Well… I do have the Cerebus mission to hide, but I don't think they can learn about that just by looking into my mind again."

"Okay, so I'll take that as a yes. Follow me please." Sakura walked out of the room, gesturing for Miranda to follow. Miranda was led into a small windowless room with a small table and two chairs in the center.

"Inoichi will be in a minute." Sakura quietly closed the door.

"I really hope I know what I'm doing. If they somehow learn of my mission the whole thing could be compromised." Miranda's heart was racing, "Should I make a run for it? I can probably come up with some excuse for why I had to leave. No… I doubt I would make it out of here anyways. They are extremely polite to me but would probably restrain me if I tried to escape" The several minutes felt like an afternoon as Miranda anxiously waited. Her fingers tapping loudly on the desk were the only sound.

"Hello." Miranda looked up, "Hi there." Inoichi's warm smile and pleasant demeanor contradicted what he was here to do.

"So, shall we get started?" His smile was annoying friendly.

"I'd prefer he just scowl at me, at least then I wouldn't feel like I was being investigated by a friend."

"Yeah, I'm ready."

He put his hands on her forehead and closed his eyes. Miranda began to lose focus, she couldn't form thoughts or keep her attention on anything. A brief moment of panic occurred as she felt herself going unconscious.

"Thanks for your cooperation." He smiled again, "You can leave now, we'll tell you if we need to speak with you again."

"I can leave? I thought we were just starting. Guess I blanked out."

Miranda stood up, smiling back at Inoichi before leaving. She struggled to look calm as she walked out of the hospital, fighting the urge to sprint out of the building. "I don't have anything to worry about, they have no idea why I'm here and I doubt they will be able to figure it out." Miranda wasn't doing a particularly good job convincing herself, "But what if they do find out why I'm here? Should I try to get out of Konoha? No, that wouldn't solve anything if I haven't accomplished my mission yet. The Illusive man is far scarier than anyone on this planet, better to piss off the locals than get on his bad side. Besides, I doubt they would make any rash decisions purely based off of confusing images that they saw in my mind, at the very least they would bring me in for questioning again." Miranda breathed deeply, finally convinced that she was safe, at least for the moment. She took the long route back to Naruto's, slowly walking through the streets of Konoha.

-Outskirts of unknown town

After nearly an hour of silence, Zeke spoke up. "We've been passing a lot of people lately, we must be nearing a town."

"You're probably right, do you think we should stop?"

"Yeah I guess so, we should find out where we are and come up with a plan at the very least." Zeke spoke up again, "By the way, why haven't we been using that map projector thing of yours, it would make traveling a lot easier."

"Oh you didn't notice, I threw it in a river before we left Konoha."

"Threw it in a river? Why?"

"My former comrades may have been able to track me down if they knew the location of it."

"It serves as a beacon?"

"I don't know, but knowing the people I used to work with, that wouldn't surprise me at all. Better to be safe and not have it with me."

"So I guess we have to find our way like regular folk."

"Yep."

As the town came into sight Iria looked herself over making sure she still looked like a human, "Does this illusion of yours ever wear off?"

"Only if you take physical damage or if I dispel it."

"Good to know."

The two walked towards the village.

"So I've been wondering something. You could have chosen any women in that crowd when you were picking someone to use for your illusion. Why did you choose her?"

"Blondes put out more than brunettes."

"I was afraid you would say something like that."

Iria looked around, the town was a decent size, nowhere near the scale of Konoha but still pretty big "Soo… any idea where we're going."

Zeke turned to her, "We aren't going anywhere at the moment, is there someplace we should be going?"

"We should probably try to find out where we are and get directions."

"Directions to where though, we haven't planned where we are going."

"Yeah that's true, I guess we should stop for a while and plan."

Zeke reached into his pocket, "I have enough money for an inn, that's probably the best idea."

"I'm not sleeping with you if that's what on your mind."

"Well I'm not paying for two rooms so I guess you get the sofa."

"You wouldn't make a lady sleep on the sofa would you?"

"If she didn't split the cost of the room with me, I would definitely consider it."

They walked for a few more minutes, "Hacienda by the bay… doesn't look like a hacienda and I don't see any bay, but it seems like a decent enough inn."

Zeke paid for the cheapest room available, got the key and walked up the stairs to the third floor. "Here we are." Iria immediately made a face as they walked into the room,

"Did you purposefully buy the crappiest room available?"

"More or less."

Zeke stretched out on the bed, "Well I don't see a sofa so I guess you'll have to settle for the floor."

Iria sighed, "Well… the bed is big enough, I guess we can sleep on opposite sides."

Zeke sat up, "I'm hungry, and I can't plan on an empty stomach."

"Yeah me too."

"So… any chance you have any money to split the cost of food?"

"Nope."

"O well, I guess you'll have to make it up to me by going on two dates instead of one when this is over."

"Fair enough."

They walked out the door several minutes later, spending only a few moments searching before they found a decent looking pub. Zeke tried to put his arm around Iria as they approached but his request was denied.

-Naruto's apartment

Naruto walked quickly towards his apartment, he wasn't entirely sure why the knot in his stomach refused to away, he didn't think Miranda was going to leave him, if she was going to she probably would have left already. His brain knowing that didn't matter to his stomach or heart, which was still beating rapidly as he opened the door. "Good, still here." His heart rate slowed.

"You alive?"

Miranda flipped over, "Yeah I'm fine. Just resting." She sat up, rubbing her hand across her forehead as she yawned.

"You know, it's rude to drool on other people's beds."

Miranda didn't respond, or give any indication that she had heard. "So… how was your visit. Did they finally prove your innocence?"

Miranda finally looked at him, "O, no… not really, nothing happened."

"Nothing? Something had to have happened, either they think your guilty or they think you aren't so," Miranda interrupted him.

"They read my mind again, then let me go. I'm sure this will all be over soon, I'm just annoyed that it's taking so long."

"But there's nothing to be worries about right? You're innocent so they will eventually stop bothering you. Right?"

"I don't know. They should. But I have a bad feeling."

"Why? There is nothing to be nervous about, you're innocent and they will eventually."

"Slow down a minute, getting this worked up won't solve anything. Yes, I'm innocent, I don't have any reason to be nervous but I am anyways, I'll get over it."

Naruto seemed to be calming down. "So you're staying?"

"Yes. But you're suppose to pretend to be worried about me not just about whether I'm staying or not."

Naruto was silent, "I'm sorry, I really am worried about you, but… we've kind of become close, at least I think so, so I kinda freaked out when I thought you might leave."

"Yeah I know, I didn't mean to say that." Now it was Miranda's turn to be silent.

"He's right… we are becoming close. Shit… this wasn't supposed to happen. The mission was supposed to be easy, have him get me pregnant then leave. Simple and easy. So why did it turn into this?" Miranda didn't want to admit it, but she already knew the answer to that question. "It turned into this because I allowed myself to become attached to him. But why am I attached to him…? He is half my age and about as charismatic as your average krogan." Miranda sighed, "Probably because he is the first person who truly seems to care about me for reasons other than my body or my rank in Cerebus."

Having devoted pretty much her entire adult life to Cerebus, she hadn't really had time to reflect on the state of her life. It was kind of pathetic that she couldn't think of a single person who cared for her, other than this strange yellow haired boy.

"Miranda? You've been starring into space for a while"

She snapped back to attention, "Right sorry about that. Where were we?"

"Nowhere really." The awkward silence extended for several seconds.

"So, what are you planning to do exactly? They haven't proven your innocence but you think they will soon. Are you planning on staying?" Naruto looked down, a depressed look on his face, "I'm sorry for focusing on it, but the thought of you leaving is stressing me out."

"Yeah, I can understand that I guess." Naruto's anxiety was palpable. "Honestly, I'm not really sure what I'm going to do. Staying here with you seems like the best option for the moment. I have no idea where I'm from so it's not like I can leave and go home."

"I really don't like lying to him like this but I don't really have any other options. Not like I can say, "Yeah I'm staying until you get me pregnant then I'm returning to space." O well, might as well enjoy this while it lasts, since I probably will be leaving within the week, at least I hope so."

Naruto gave her a half smile, "Well… that's something I guess. I'll try not to think about it."

Naruto looked around his apartment, "Looks like my ramen stash is exhausted, wana go out to eat?"

"I'd love to."

-Thunder country

Zeke stumbled out the door, his arm slung over the equally drunk Iria.

"Don't ever come back!" They both tried to run but neither had the coordination required, it took five minutes and three falls to travel the 500 feet between the pub and their hotel room.

"What do you think got him so bent out of shape?"

Iria collapsed onto the bed, dragging Zeke down with her "Probably when you meant to head for the bathroom but actually entered the kitchen and threw up in their sink. Or when you did it again fifteen minutes later. Either one really."

"Good point." The rest of Zeke's sentence trailed off as he passed out on the bed, Iria fell asleep several moments later.

-Root compound

Danzo opened the letter, before reading he looked at the bottom, seeing that it was sent by Iria. "I'm sorry master, I don't think I'll be returning. The Blue Nova compound is located at the intersection of Glendale and Citrus Street. The building looks inconspicuous but it's the right one. When the asari mate the offspring gains the "powers" of both parents. I have more information to share with you but I don't have time at the moment. I fear this is the end of my service under you." Danzo smiled, "Its just the beginning."