Day 9:

-Thunder Country

Zeke opened his eyes. "I can't see anything." He began topanic, "Am I blind? Where am I?" He suddenly remembered, "Iria was carrying me, I think I'm with her."

"Iria. Are you there?"

"Yes, I'm right here. Glad you finally woke up."

"Where are we? Why can't I see anything?"

"We're in a cave, that's why you can't see anything." She breathed deeply, "I think we're safe, I haven't seen whoever was chasing us." After a prolonged silence, "Thanks for rescuing me, I actually didn't think you would come. I know that just thanking you isn't enough but…"

Zeke interrupted her, "It's fine, let's not talk about it."

They were both silent. Zeke reached down to feel his leg, remembering the pain of the mysterious ninja stabbing him. "I have so many questions; I don't know where to start."

"Well start somewhere."

"Why doesn't my leg hurt?"

"I healed it… mainly. You can't walk on it yet, but in about 48 hours you should be able to. You can't feel anything below the waist because I numbed it, but that doesn't mean its better, try to avoid putting any pressure on it."

Zeke tried to sit up, quickly gasping in pain as he collapsed back down.

"You're only numb below the waist, the rest of your body can still feel pain"

"Thanks for the warning." He paused, "Where is that guy? The one I fought."

"I have no idea, I think he's dead. I honestly thought you might be dead when I first picked you up. Sorry about throwing you off a cliff by the way. I panicked and it seemed like the only way."

"It probably was, that Zuso guy had the upper hand. Even with you restraining him he was still stronger than me." He paused, "How did I survive that fall by the way? My last memory is of me approaching the ground at an alarmingly fast rate. That fall should have killed me."

"I used my biotics to slow us right before we made impact, you were still knocked unconscious but you survived."

"Well I guess we both have had our lives saved then." He laughed, "And how about my face, was that spared? Will women still be stopped in their tracks upon looking at me?"

"I'm not sure about your face, but your ego definitely survived the fall." Zeke laughed again.

Several minutes passed without any sound, Zeke finally broke the silence.

"So are you entirely sure that ninja is dead? He seems like the kind of guy who could track us, and I'm really not in any sort of condition to fight him."

"I purposely crossed several streams to get rid of any scent and tried to avoid leaving footsteps. We should be difficult to track."

"Hopefully. Still, one of us should stay awake to watch at all times."

"I agree. Although you can't really lookout while lying on your back."

"I can listen."

"Well that's something I guess."

Zeke closed his eyes, not that it mattered, since it was pitch black anyways. He soon fell asleep, shivering as he lay on the cold rock. Iria stayed watchful and alert for several hours before eventually succumbing to the darkness herself.

-Streets of Konoha

Lyra's eyes swept over the streets, taking note of the people staring at her as she approached the root compound. Her hood and shawl covered every inch of her skin, something that clearly didn't make sense to her observers given the sweltering temperature. "They don't matter, just keep going." She passed through the outer building, making her way towards Danzo's chamber. Her heart was racing when she arrived at the door. "Time to find out if I'm stuck like this forever, I hope not… but I have a sinking feeling that I am." She breathed deeply before entering. No one was there.

"Danzo…?" The room was silent.

"Hello?" "I guess he isn't here. But he never misses an appointment…"

She exited the room, turning around as someone approached. A masked man passed by her, coming far closer than she was comfortable with.

"He's on the roof. He needs to talk to you about something urgent."

Lyra whirled around, "The roof? Why is he on the roof?"

"I don't know, but go meet him."

Lyra raced up to the roof, temporarily forgetting about her blue body related dilemma. She burst through the door leading to the roof, rushing towards Danzo.

He glared at her. "Did anyone see your face?"

She looked at the ground, "Um… no I don't think so."

"Don't look at the ground child, you aren't a scolded dog."

She looked him in the eyes. "No one saw my face."

"Good."

"Alright so I'll get to the point. I needed you to take the form of an asari so you could infiltrate the Blue Nova." Danzo paused, "But before I explain why I need you to infiltrate the Blue Novas, I need to explain why they're here in the first place." He swiveled his head around, making sure no one was near. "The Blue Nova are here to colonize our planet. They mate by merging with the genetic material of their partner, allowing them to create offspring with the properties of both parents. By mating with people from our planet, they can make offspring with their biotic powers as well as our own chakra based powers. I've been giving them information about the various governments, ninja clans and individuals that they're interested in. In exchange, they're going to give Root a large amount of power within their new government once they take over."

"So… that's your plan?"

"Of course not. They aren't going to hold up their end of the bargain, they have no reason to and we have no way to ensure that they do. But it gets more complicated. There's another group known as Cerebus, they're attempting to obtain our biotic powers then leave with them. The agent they sent to this planet is a female currently living with a Konoha citizen named Uzumaki Naruto. Her mission was to be impregnated by him and then leave, carrying this planet's jutsu back with her. I'm not exactly sure what Cerebus intends to do after that but both groups appear to want a monopoly on our chakra. However, the Cerebus agent can't complete her mission since I injected her with a compound given to me by the Blue Novas, that compound will prevent her from becoming pregnant."

"So what are we going to do?"

"For now… continue to study the Blue Nova. Which means you need to infiltrate them so I can learn more."

"How exactly am I going to do that?"

"With a lot of care. I have compiled a log of all the information I have collected from them, it should be enough to fool them at least for a tiny bit. Fortunately, the body you are occupying is that of the second highest ranking asari in their organization, so they probably won't question you even if you seem to be acting strangely." He paused, "This is probably the single most dangerous job I have ever assigned to a Root agent. You're chances of coming out of this alive aren't great, but if you survive, you'll become my most trusted agent."

Lyra was silent.

"Is your silence a form of consent?"

"I don't really have a choice do I."

"No you don't. Not everything in life is about choices; this won't be the first time you're forced to do something against your will."

"When should I return to their compound?"

"Tomorrow morning. It appears that they have recently lost a commando named Iria, they believe she has gone rogue. You're going to assemble a small group of Asari commandos and track her down. On the way there you should be able to learn more about the Blue Novas from the commandos with you, but it will be extremely difficult not to give away the fact that you're not really Biara. However, a small group of asari will be easier to convince than an entire compound of them, which is why you will have to separate from them by going on this mission."

"So the purpose of tracking down Iria is to learn about the Blue Nova with a small group of them instead of the entire compound?"

"That's one objective, but there's a second. An agent of mine named Zeke has gone missing after being sent on a mission to determine the exact location of the Blue Nova compound, which he successfully did. After completing his mission he was chased by a Blue Nova, and I initially assumed he had been killed. However, I just received intelligence from an agent in the thunder country who has recently seen Zeke traveling with strange woman that he couldn't identify. I believe that the woman he is with is the asari who chased him after he located their compound."

"So you think that's Iria?"

"Exactly. Track down Iria and you should find Zeke too. You can kill Iria, I don't care about her. For Zeke, determine if he has gone rogue or if there is actually some beneficial reason why he is traveling with a member of the Blue Nova."

"And if he has gone rogue?"

"Then kill him too."

Danzo turned to leave.

"Wait a second! Am I stuck in this body forever?"

"I have no idea, but that's secondary anyways. Right now, you need to focus on tracking down Iria and Zeke."

"But…"

"Return when you have accomplished your mission."

Danzo left.

"And I thought things couldn't get any worse."

Lyra stared out across the city for several minutes before leaving the compound.

-Naruto's apartment

Miranda slowly opened her eyes. "Mmm… where…o right, I'm with Naruto." She was still for a while, resting her head on his chest. Her head was lifted rhythmically up and down as he breathed, coming to a rest as he lifted his head.

Naruto nudged her, "Hey."

"I thought you were asleep."

"I've been awake for a while."

Miranda sighed, running a finger along his chest. Naruto kissed her on the forehead before rolling of the bed. Miranda's eyes tracked him as he walked around the bed and picked his shirt up off the floor.

"I'm gonna go make breakfast, you want anything?"

"Sure."

"What do you want?"

"Surprise me."

She closed her eyes and fell back asleep.

Miranda's eyes flew open as Naruto's hand smacked her butt. She rolled over and attempted a mean stare but it somehow turned into a smile halfway though.

"Breakfast is ready."

"Well this is a predicament… I think I might be falling for him." She closed her eyes. "How did this happen?"

"Are you coming!?"

"Yeah I'm coming…"

Miranda rolled out of bed, putting on panties and the shirt she had borrowed from Naruto, the air felt surprisingly warm as she walked barefoot across the cold floor.

"I'm impressed, I thought ramen was the only thing you ate."

"I can make other stuff when guests are over… although you are the only guest I ever have." He paused, "Although you have been here almost a week, so I guess you aren't really a guest anymore, more of a resident." He smiled, saying something that Miranda didn't hear as she fell into her own thoughts.

"A resident huh… I could see myself living here. I'm happier here than I ever was with Cerebus. Not really sure how I would explain that to the Illusive Man. In fact, I'm not entirely sure if I can explain it to myself."

"So what do you think?"

"Uhh… what? O… um, I think breakfast was good."

"Breakfast? I asked if you wanted to go to the hospital, see if we can get your mind read by Inoichi again. They will want to do it eventually and since you have nothing to hide it will prove your innocence and finally get them off your back."

"Except I do have something to hide. But nothing remotely close to what they are looking for. I doubt they could determine or even understand anything about where I came from or my mission. Might as well get it over with."

"Yeah sure, might as well get it over with."

Naruto smiled, "I doubt it will take long. O by the way, Sakura came by earlier." He paused, "And… well this is going to be awkward so I'll just say it. She saw us having sex, but she didn't tell anyone. That's why I didn't want to do it the other day. She thinks it will reflect badly on her if we are caught while I am supposed to be watching you."

Miranda smiled, "Did you ask if she wants to join in?"

Naruto's eyes opened wide, causing an eruption of laughter from Miranda

"I'm just kidding. A threesome would never work anyways, I'm bad at sharing."

Naruto smiled. "So you want to go now?"

"Yeah sure."

Miranda finished dressing then followed Naruto out the door, heading down the bustling streets of Konoha.

"So… I'm sorry for bringing this up again, but what do you plan on doing if they say you're free to go?"

"I really don't know where I'll go; I have nowhere to return to. I guess I could stay with you for a while."

"A while? That means you'll leave eventually."

"I don't know… I really don't know. For once I'm actually telling the truth, I have no idea what I plan to do when all this is over."

"Can I come with you?"

She turned, "Come with me? Come with me where?"

"I don't know, wherever you go."

Miranda was silent. "Could I bring him back? No, that wouldn't work, the Illusive Man would never allow it. I can't stay here either, since they plan to destroy this planet once I'm done. Which of course means they'll kill Naruto, and everyone else."

Naruto interrupted her thoughts, "I know you said you have no past memories, but I'm really pretty sure there are things you aren't telling me."

"You have no idea."

"Yes, there are things I'm not telling you. Things I can't tell you. But it's nothing about me spying on this country or anything like that." She paused, "Different stuff, you wouldn't understand."

"Well you have to at least try and explain, you owe me that much." Naruto was clearly trying to stay calm but his voice was rising.

"Telling you wouldn't do any good, even if you had the information you wouldn't be able to change anything. I can't change anything either. Things are just going to happen a certain way and that's how it has to be."

Naruto turned around and left. Miranda watched in silence as he walked away.

-Thunder Country

Iria squinted as she emerged from the cave, her eyes adjusting to the noon light. "I guess we were in there all night. Feels good to breathe fresh air." She scanned across the horizon, looking for any signs of danger. "Nothing there. No ninjas, no Blue Novas, no nothing." She closed her eyes and drew several deep breathes, the idyllic scene appeared almost unnaturally serene given how the last few days had gone. "Is it really over? Maybe if I just stay here and don't think about them, that ninja and the Blue Novas will cease to exist. Then I could stay here forever. Such malevolent forces surely couldn't exist in such a peaceful looking place." She sighed, "But pretending problems away doesn't work."

Her head whirled around as she heard footsteps approaching. "How did he leave the cave without me hearing?"

"Zeke you really shouldn't be up, your wounds are still healing."

"I'm not gonna die from walking 20 feet, I just need to stretch out a bit."

"Fine, but it's your fault if your leg gets worse. I'm not going to heal you a second time."

"You won't need to. It hurts pretty bad but I can walk a little bit, it's definitely getting better." He looked out across the country side, "Pretty beautiful out here isn't it? I almost forgot what sunlight looks like." He paused, "So you think we're safe?"

"I hope so."

"Yeah me too." Zeke sighed as he walked behind Iria, limping as he moved.

"You're limping on the wrong leg."

He froze

"You also can't feel pain below the waist."

Iria's hands glowed blue as he drew a kunai and rushed towards her.

"Zeke!"

Her biotic powers pushed him backwards, his illusion breaking. "I knew he wasn't dead." Iria focused her mental power, attempting to break Zuso's neck. "My god he is strong." His chakra control prevented her from killing him, pushing back against her biotic powers as he crept towards her inch by inch. She screamed again,

"Zeke! Help!"

Her concentration was broken as Zuso knocked her off her feet, pinning her to the ground as he knelt over her.

"I'm supposed to bring you back alive, but I'm sure dead will work if I have to."

Iria used all her mental power to push the kunai away from her throat as he slowly lowered it, pushing against her biotic powers.

"Please stop. I'll come with you, I'll pay you, I'll do anything. Please."

Zuso was silent as he forced the blade lower. A small stream of blood formed as the kunai sliced the side of her neck, it had taken everything she had to divert it away from the jugular. Zuso raised the kunai above him, the black metal gleaming in the sun as he prepared to stab down again. Iria pushed against his arm with all her mental power, closing her eyes to focus better.

"I can't stop him, his chakra control is too strong. I'm about to die." Her mind was empty except for that one solitary thought.

"Time has passed… why aren't I dead yet? And he isn't pushing down anymore."

Iria opened her eyes. Zeke's outline could be seen against the sun, one hand placed on Zuso's back, the other holding a kunai, dark red blood dripping off of it. The kunai stabbed downwards into Zuso's back, spraying red mist as it exited and entered over and over again."

"Zeke stop! He's dead."

He was breathing heavily, his eyes bulging as he continued stabbing. Iria rolled out from under the dead body, wrapping her arms around Zeke.

"Zeke calm down. He's gone."

"I… I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to be sorry for." Iria began to cry, her body visibly shaking. Zeke wrapped his arm around her, pulling her into him.

"Please stop crying, I hate seeing women cry."

"I've never been so afraid, I thought I was going to die."

"Well you didn't." He paused, "Come on, we have to keep moving, we can't stay here anymore."

"Zeke I'm tired of running. Let's just stay here for the night."

He looked over at her, she was exhausted and on the verge of tears.

"Fine… we can stay here for one more night." Iria slowly stood up, "Thanks for not being difficult." Zeke turned away as she walked back into the cave.

"We're not that different you and I" He walked over to Zuso's body, watching the pool of blood form around his body. "I've assassinated more people than I can count. The only difference between us is that I've never failed."

Zeke turned to walk away, gripping at his wound. "Shit, it reopened."

-Konoha hospital

Miranda walked into the hospital, checking in at the front desk.

"I'm here to see Inoichi."

The woman looked up, "Right this way please, I believe he is expecting you." Miranda followed the receptionist, walking through the white halls of the hospital. "This building is surprisingly modern compared to the rest of the city. Still has that same creepy white corridor hospital feel though, I guess that transcends culture and technology. "

The receptionist knocked on Inoichi's door, "Miranda is here to see you sir." She smiled at Miranda then hurried away. Miranda shook Inoichi's hand as he greeted her, directing her to a chair. He sat behind his desk for several moments staring at her, finally speaking.

"So the last time I looked into your mind, I saw a variety of confusing images. I saw a strange man with glowing blue eyes and what looked to be some sort of flying orb that you entered. But strangest of all, you appeared to be in outer space. I don't know what to make of the images I saw and thinking about them for several days has only confused me more." He tapped his fingers on the table, looking up at the ceiling. "I need to look again. Hopefully I can see a larger picture and gain a better understanding of the previous images I saw."

"The images were clearly wrong, I obviously haven't been in outer space. Seeing the same false images again won't achieve anything."

"There's no way he will be able to figure anything out, but I'd rather not run the risk."

"Maybe… but I still need to look."

"But there's no useful action to take even if you do see those bizarre images again, so why bother in the first place?"

Inoichi paused, thinking to himself. "I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do if I see the same images again. But it isn't my choice, I have to do this. Besides, we can't let you leave Konoha until you are cleared as a non-spy."

"Well I guess we should get this over with then."

Miranda followed Inoichi down the hall, heading into the examination room. She sat down on the bench, anxiously starring up at Inoichi as he put his hands on her head. His face slowly went out of focus as she passed out.

Miranda's head snapped back as she gasped in air, her vision slowly coming back into focus. A nervous look spread across Inoichi's face as he stared at her.

"I wasn't able to see anything."

"So I can go?"

"Yes you're free to go, but you still can't leave the city until the Hokage says so."

"But I'll be able to leave soon."

"Yes I think so. But I don't make the decision."

"I understand."

Miranda smiled at Inoichi as she left the room, rapidly exiting the hospital. "His eyes were anxious; he definitely didn't look like a man who didn't see anything. But even if he did see more images of the Illusive man and outer space, there's no way he could understand any of it."

She walked down the street, heading towards Naruto's apartment. "He's probably telling the higher ups what he saw. Not that they'll understand it either. Either way, I need to finish my mission and get off the planet as soon as possible. It will be a pain if the Konoha government sees me as a threat and tries to take me captive."

Miranda froze as the image of Naruto turning his back and walking away entered her mind. "Guess I have to do some thinking before I see Naruto again." Miranda walked the streets of Konoha for several hours, trying to untangle her knot of feelings regarding Naruto. But the more she tried to think about her confused feelings the worse the knot got. As the sun began to set on Konoha Miranda sat down on a park bench and sighed as she looked up at the fading light.

"Well, I seem to be stuck in my mission. I've had sex with Naruto several times but my biotic method for making myself pregnant doesn't seem to be working. Is there something about this planet interfering? No… that doesn't make sense, I've never heard of the atmosphere or chemicals or whatever else of a planet having that kind of effect. Is it possible that the natives of this planet aren't compatible with me for some biological reason? Hmm… that seems unlikely too, the Illusive man wouldn't have made such a basic mistake that would make the entire mission pointless. So then what could it be…?"

"And then there's the other issue… I still have no idea what to do about Naruto. I'm supposed to let him get me pregnant and then leave, but I don't think I can do that. And I definitely don't think I can just leave and let Cerebus destroy the planet after I do. But why…? I've always been heartless, why am I so hung about this particular mission?" She closed her eyes and breathed deeply, "That's a stupid question. I can't bring myself to carry out the mission because it'll kill Naruto, whom I seem to be falling for." It was fully night when she opened her eyes. "Realistically, I think the only thing I can do is get myself pregnant and then bring Naruto with me. Although the Illusive man definitely won't allow that. I do have leverage over him though, since I'm the one who will be pregnant. He needs the child and he can't get that without my consent. He definitely won't like it though, I'll have to be careful but I think I can pull this off. But before any of that I have to figure out why I'm not getting pregnant. Actually, before that I have to make amends with Naruto. What should I say to him? I guess I'll have to tell him the truth eventually so I might as well do it now. Or I could…"

"Miranda?"

Miranda's head whipped around, startled by the sudden conversation. "O, hi Sakura. Sorry I didn't hear you coming."

"No worries. So um… what are you doing out here?"

"Well, that's an interesting question. I'm out here because Naruto and I had a fight and I'm currently deciding what to say to him to fix the situation."

"O… well do you know what to say yet?"

"Kind of." She sighed, "I think he might need some time alone though before I see him again."

"You wana sleep at my place?"

"At your place?"

"Yeah, sleep at my apartment for the night, then deal with Naruto in the morning."

"Are you sure that's alright?"

"Yeah it's fine."

"Thanks a lot."

The two of them briskly walked to Sakura's apartment, not talking much along the way. Sakura entered first when they arrived, pulling a mat out from under her bed. "Here, you can sleep on this."

"Thanks a lot."

Mirana collapsed onto the mat, barely waiting for Sakura to put the sheets down first.

Miranda closed her eyes, "God I'm exhausted."

Sakura dropped down on her bed. "Yeah… me too."

After several minutes of silence Sakura spoke up. "So um… why are you with Naruto?"

"What do you mean? I'm with Naruto because you told him to watch over me."

"Well… no that's not what I mean. I meant why are you… well… umm…"

"O right… Naruto told me that you walked in on us. Sorry about that."

"It's fine. I was initially pissed off but I don't really care anymore." She sighed, "Why him though?"

"I've been asking myself that question lately. I think it's because he genuinely seems to love me, and I genuinely seem to love him. Which sounds extremely cliché, but you have to understand, due to the circumstances of where I come from, I've never had a single normal relationship in my entire life. So this is a first for me, meeting someone I can actually be open with and get the same from them. I'm sure you can understand."

"I understand the first part, about having never had a relationship." Sakura sighed, "That's the main reason why I was annoyed in the first place. I work all day getting bossed around by my superiors and have no time to ever do anything else. I don't have time to take a single day off let alone find a boyfriend. Seeing Naruto shirking responsibility and having fun instead of working pushed me over the edge. But I've calmed down now."

Miranda smiled. "Taking orders from superiors and working all day was the story of my life until recently. Just like you, my situation prevented me from ever having any time for myself. Its fun in its own sort of way, I achieved a lot and don't regret it. But I'm glad it's over, at least for now."

"Yeah… that's how I feel too. I don't want to give up medicine, but it would be nice to eventually have a break at some point."

They were both silent.

"By the way, you seem to remember your past pretty well for someone with no memory."

"Shit… I shouldn't have said all that."

"Well, I don't actually remember anything, just vague recollections of past events. But I still don't remember…"

Sakura interrupted her, "Its fine. I really don't care where you're from. Your whole story of hitting your head and losing your memory was pretty obviously false right from the start. Getting amnesia from head trauma basically never happens, at least not with mild trauma like you had. But really… I don't care. It's fine."

Miranda was silent

"Does Naruto know that you don't actually have amnesia?"

"He's starting to suspect."

"Are you going to tell him?"

"I have to eventually."

They were both silent.

"So what are you going to do? Are you staying here in Konoha? I assume they'll release you eventually."

"I can't stay here. I have to go back to where I'm from."

"Any chance you'll tell me where that is?"

"I'm afraid I can't. But I have no malevolent intentions with regards to Konoha so it doesn't really matter."

"If only that were true."

"I guess that's all I'll be able to get out of you."

"I'm sorry, but I can't tell you anymore."

"It's okay."

Miranda sighed, thinking to herself for a while before falling asleep.