Chapter 9: Operation Paladin

"I see. You're requesting the X-35 be sent to your location," asked Kaku on the other side of the phone.

"Yes. The time has come to use it. And I'll probably need to continue using it after this initial battle," replied Naruto.

"Very well. The X-35 unit will be sent to you in 5 minutes. All instructions are built in to the unit. Good luck." The phone line then went dead as Kaku had hung up.

Naruto waited on the ground with the Highwind stationed behind him. After exactly 5 minutes a glowing blue seal appeared on the ground in front of him. Blue lightning arced up from the seal and a small explosion of smoke appeared in the middle of the seal. The seal then deactivated and the smoke cleared away to reveal a white metal cube roughly a foot in size. The surface was covered in straight lines that looked like a maze.

All was silent for a moment before a part of the cube began to unfold itself. Soon the whole cube was like that. Then the cube began to take the shape of a much larger body. By the time it was finished, you would of never of guessed that it was a cube in the first place.

In front of Naruto was a sleek and very futuristic plane. The whole plane was the same colour as the cube. Naruto had never seen anything like this before. Apparently neither had anyone else. (Design is the same as the F-35 Lightning II)

Naruto jumped onto the right wing of the aircraft and watched as the cockpit slid open. He sat in the seat and waited. Then a screen unfolded itself from the front and on the screen it showed a young boy with sky blue hair and matching eyes. The boy grinned at him.

"Hello there! I'll be your friendly AI assist today! What needs blowing up?" he asked.

"Uhh..." said Naruto, unsure of what to say.

"Huh? You a new guy?" asked the AI.

"Uhh... yeah," said Naruto.

"Well then, I guess I'll switch to automatic mode then," said the AI before he closed his eyes and then opened them, his eyes now green.

'Uhh... Kyuu-chan? Care to explain this?" asked Naruto in his head.

"It's an AI meaning artificial intelligence. It helps you target, shoot and evade while piloting. It just changed to auto mode to make it easier for you to pilot the X-35," explained Kyuubi.

'Ah! I see,' thought Naruto. He then looked at the AI on screen. "I'm not ready to launch yet. There are still things I need to do," he said. The now green eyed AI nodded. "No problem! Just let me know when you're ready to go!" the AI said lively. The screen then folded back up into the front and Naruto jumped out of the cockpit.

"Ok then," the blond said to himself as he pulled out the scroll that had Inari's 'Letter of Introduction' as well as the lengthy list of summoning group jutsus. When he had read the scroll the last time he had just read the basic group section. There were advanced groups for specialised situations. As he was about to be in one soon, he thought he would find such a jutsu. "Let's see if there's a long range attack party in here."

After thumbing through it for a few minutes his finger rested against a jutsu that summoned 40 7-tailed kitsune bombardment specialists, 4 elemental attack squads; two fire and lightning, and one 8-tailed Captain. The group was labelled 'Long Range Bombardment Specialists'.

"Perfect!" Naruto grinned as he gathered enough chakra for 2000 KB's.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu: Long Range Bombardment Specialists!" he called out, slamming his hand onto the ground. A large cloud of smoke exploded in a 500 meter radius around him and when the smoke cleared, 80+ kitsunes stood in the field, dressed for battle. The dark indigo furred captain trotted up to me and bowed his head to Naruto, his ears laid back. The rest of the kitsunes copied their captain.

"My name is Gigas, Taichou and I'm the captain of 1st Company of the 9th Artillery Battalion," said the captain.

"Well met Gigas," said Naruto as the captain rose his head. "The enemy, codenamed Diamond Weapon or DW for short, will make landfall in 3 hours. It is up to us that it doesn't reach its target, Midgar, roughly 300 miles from here to the south-east. If defeat is not possible by us we are to at least slow it down until Midgar can retaliate via its energy cannon." Naruto then took out a battle plan map that he and his friends had been working on the past 2 hours from his coat pocket.

He pointed to an inlet that had a red line drawn to show DW's route. There were two green dotted lines on either side of the red line that in the real world would be 30 miles on either side. "You're forces are to occupy these green dotted areas and bombard DW from there. As DW moves you are to close the gap behind but keep your distance. We have no intel on DW's attacks so better safe than sorry. While you wear DW down, I and some more summoned help will grate it down from the sky. As soon as we get conformation that Midgar is firing their weapon, I'll order for a temporary retreat. If the cannon doesn't work then I'll summon in reinforcements, but let us hope it doesn't come to that." He looked to the captain. "Can you see any major flaws in this plan?"

The indigo kitsune looked at the map for a few more seconds before he shook his head.

"Well then, deploy your forces as you see fit captain!" ordered Naruto.

"Sir!" said the kitsune before he returned to his company and relayed the plan to his soldiers.

Naruto sighed. "Now we wait."

Diamond Weapon was absolutely huge. It was roughly 70 meters high. Despite its large appearance, Diamond Weapon was roughly humanoid in appearance, with a distinct pair of feet, hands, shoulders, and a torso and head. It also possessed a covering over the back of its legs similar in appearance to a cloak or cape. There was a red glowing orb imbedded into its chest. It also had three golden eyes and a large red gaping maw.

DW had almost reached the shore. Naruto realised that now would be a good time to start the operation. Naruto turned to Gaara and nodded. He nodded back and pulled out his gun which had a special flare bullet inside. He pointed the gun into the air and fired. A long trail of red smoke was left behind as a red fiery spark rose up and hung high in the sky. Then dozens and dozens of blue fiery orbs were flung into the air with only one destination in mind.

The foxfire pummelled DW hard and fast, slowing it down considerably. However it was still moving forward.

"I guess that's my cue," said Naruto as he fed a large amount of chakra into the three Bahamut materias. They glowed brightly before three large dragons descended from the clouds above. Naruto recognised two as being Bahamut and Neo-Bahamut. The third one looked exactly like the Bahamut he had seen in his vision at Bugenhagen's observatory.

"Bahamut ZERO," whispered Naruto as the three majestic dragons swooped down and landed in front of Naruto.

"Are you the one who summoned us?" asked ZERO.

"Yes, I am!" called Naruto.

"It is an impressive feat to summon us three brothers at once," replied Neo.

"Thank you, but desperate times call for desperate measures!" Naruto yelled back.

"We have felt the disturbance," said Bahamut looking over his shoulder at the assault taking place. "I am guessing that WEAPON is our target?"

"Yes! That's right! I'll be fighting alongside you from the air!" Naruto called.

The three Bahamut brothers nodded. "Very well. We will assist you in this endeavour," rumbled ZERO before the three dragons launched themselves into the air and headed for DW.

Naruto ran over to the X-35 and jumped into the pilot seat. "Ok Ai! Fire it up!" he ordered.

"Yes sir!" said the green eyed AI as the aircraft sprang into life. Lights and sounds started up and the turbines roared into full gear. The jet lifted into the air vertically and hovered there for a second before the turbine flipped to a horizontal position and the jet sped into the air.

Naruto was blown away with how good this felt. The flight was smooth with little to no air resistance. In moments the aircraft was four kilometres into the sky and began to turn towards DW. A separate screen opened up next to the main one to show the Bahamut brothers on his tail. ZERO positioned himself below Naruto while Neo and Bahamut took his left and right.

"Ok! Ai, target DW!" ordered Naruto.

"Locked on!" replied Ai. "Weapons free!"

Naruto gripped the joystick and positioned the crosshairs on the main screen showing DW slowly struggling out of the water against the Foxfire bombardment. As soon as Naruto targeted the red orb in DW's chest area he pressed the trigger. Instantly a pair of blue beams fired from the bottom of the aircraft. The beams screamed through the air and hit their mark dead on. DW faltered for a few seconds before continuing. Naruto veered left and away to ready a second shot. As Naruto flew away he saw the Bahamut brothers unloading their Flare beams at DW.

At this point DW stopped dead in its tracks before its shoulders opened up and yellow energy began to charge up inside the shoulder areas and from the red orb in the chest.

"Shit! I should of guessed that DW wouldn't take this assault lying down," muttered Naruto before speaking. "Ai, DW is about to retaliate. Get ready to evade."

"Ready!" said Ai a moment later.

After several moments the energy finished charging before a massive volley of energy projectiles shot into the air, directly at Naruto.

"Get us out of here!" roared Naruto. The aircraft began to weave in and out of the projectiles that were coming up hard and fast behind him. The jet climbed quickly and escaped the danger area. It then flew upside down and righted itself correctly before descending towards DW as it was now trying to target the Bahamut brothers.

Naruto pulled the trigger again, this time targeting the head. The beams shot from the jet but DW turned to the side, the beams missing the head and impacting the ground a few hundred meters away from Weapon. The earth instantly liquefied to molten rock as the beams hit. The resulting explosion was huge, splattering Weapon with lava created from the beams.

Weapon roared loudly before it concentrated its fire on one of the Bahamuts, Neo. As Neo was much larger than the original, he also wasn't able to escape the new volley. The energy projectiles slammed into Neo and he quickly dissolved into Lifestream energy. The link between Neo and Naruto disappeared, telling Naruto that Neo had gone back to the Lifestream.

The two brothers left over charged in with renewed energy and pummelled DW with Mega and Tera Flare. Naruto came about and was about to target DW again when he heard a crackling come through the comm link that connected him to Cait Sith.

"Naruto! It's time to go! Rufus is firing the Sister Ray!" said Cait.

"Sister Ray?" asked Naruto, confused.

"It's the name they came up with for the Mako Cannon," replied Sith.

"What a lame name. Who named it?" asked Naruto.

"Scarlet," was the answer he recieved.

"Should of known. Thanks for the update," Naruto replied before he flipped out his phone and called Gigas. After a few moments he picked up.

"What are your orders Taichou?" he asked.

"It's time to retreat. Midgar is firing the cannon," ordered Naruto.

"Rodger that!" he said before hanging up. Naruto then directed the jet away from the battlefield and settled it in flight near the Highwind.

After 20 minutes of evacuating DW focused its next volley at the direction of Midgar. There wasn't anything they could do about that and took comfort at the fact that Weapon would be hard pressed to actually hit anything from that distance. Then a streak of white and blue appeared from the direction of Midgar. It was a shot of pure Mako, the energy heated up to white hot from the flight, leaving a glittering blue trail behind it. The shot went completely through DW, not faltering even for a second. DW was thrown back from the velocity and skidded to a halt, the earth crumbling underneath it's heavy form.

Naruto then spoke. "Ai, can this jet go into space?" he asked.

"Yes, it can," replied the AI.

"Can you mauver the jet into a position so I can see what that shot will impact?"

"Can do!" said Ai before it kicked in the afterburners and the craft shot into the sky and beyond. Thanks to inertial dampeners, Naruto wasn't squished to a pancake. After several moments of intense speed the craft settled into a controlled orbit. The craft flipped upside down so Naruto could see the thin blue line crossing the north western sea that separated the Eastern Continent with the Northern one.

"Hey Naruto! Where did you go?" asked Cait.

"I jetted into space to see where that Mako shot is going. You might want to broadcast what I have to say on speaker," said Naruto. He waited for a second before Cait Sith gave the OK.

"Hey guys. At the moment I'm tracking the trajectory of the Mako shot. Seems it's on a collision course with the Northern Crater. I guess Shinra wanted to shoot two birds with one bullet," said Naruto as the burning line of Mako roared over the Forgotten City. "The shot just sped over the Forgotten Capital. ETA is thirty seconds."

The Mako shot raced over the Northern mountains and impacted the barrier that Jenova had thrown up over the crater. The Mako grinded on the barrier for three seconds before the barrier was dispelled completely.

"The Mako shot has impacted the barrier and has succeeded in removing the barrier. The Northern Crater is once again open. I repeat, the Northern Crater is now open. I'm now returning to the Highwind," Naruto reported before he opened his phone and dialled Gigas.

"I'm returning to the Highwind. Meet up there," Naruto ordered before he shut off his phone and steered the jet plane back toward the planet's surface.

"What happened to... Jenova?" asked Cloud. He was still having a hard time remembering that it was Jenova who was at fault, not Sephiroth. And blaming someone you've been blaming for years is a hard habit to break.

"It's still alive, I reckon. The Mako shot only dispelled the barrier. Northern Crater remains untouched," explained Naruto.

Everyone was back on the Highwind. Gigas had left the party as he and his battalion wasn't needed anymore.

"How bout we go to the Crater and see if we can get rid of Jenova and free Holy to do its thing," suggested Naruto.

"I think that's a good idea!" agreed Aeris.

"Wait!" said Cait. He seemed to be not entirely focused, as if he was trying to be in two places at once. "Hold it!" he said angrily. Naruto then realised that whoever was operating Cait was dealing with something on his end. His suspicions became clear when Cait said, "Scarlet! Heidegger! What's going on?"

A voice crackled through the speaker on him. It was Heidegger. "Strange. I can't reach the President!" he said.

"Not the President. To Sister Ray!" replied Cait.

Scarlet's laugh was heard clearly. "What is it Reeve? You're speaking strangely," she said, finally identifying the person in charge of Cait Sith.

"None of that matters!" replied Reeve. "The reactor's output is increasing all by itself!"

"W-w, wait a minute," Scarlet stuttered nervously. "That's not wise! It must cool for 3 hours or it won't work. Reeve, shut off the machine!"

"We can't do that! It's inoperable!" replied Reeve, fear now creeping into his voice. Then someone new spoke up. It sounded like someone was talking to Reeve on the phone. "Someone has switched the machine over to mainframe operation; manual control," he reported. "We can't operate it from here."

"What about the mainframe? Who!" demanded Reeve. No one seemed to respond so he spoke to someone in the room, most likely Heidegger. "Hey! Call the mainframe!"

There was a pause before Heidegger spoke up. "Hey! Why are you giving orders?"

"I don't give a damn about the details!" Reeve almost roared. There was another pause before a very familiar voice came through Cait Sith.

"Ha, ha, ha... Just you wait, Sephiroth," came the disgustingly superior voice of Hojo though a phone. "I'll give you all the Mako you want."

"Hojo, STOP! The cannon, no, Midgar itself is in danger!" yelled Reeve.

"Ha , ha, ha... One or two Midgars? ...it's a small price to pay."

"Hojo! HOJO...!" yelled Reeve but it seemed that Hojo wasn't listening.

After a few moments Hojo's voice filtered through the speaker. "Show me... Sephiroth. It should be near... Ha, ha, ha... Go beyond the powers of science... Before your presence, science is powerless... I hate it, but I'll concede to it. Just... let me see it. Ha, ha, ha..."

"Man! Hojo really reminds me of Orochimaru," muttered Naruto.

"YO!" said Barret loudly. "Do somethin'! Ya big cat!"

Sith bowed his head. "We're sunk. Hojo's doing this on his own..."

Then a startled cry came from Reeve's end. Sounded like Scarlet. Then Heidegger spoke up. "I don't like this..." he said in a suspicious voice. Everyone in the room came to the same conclusion. Reeve had been discovered.

"You're busted Reeve!" said Barret.

"Too late trying to hide it now..." Heidegger said on Reeve's end.

"Can't you stop the Mako reactor?" asked Cloud.

"...We can't stop it," said Cait solemnly.

"You're from Shinra, ain't ya? So why's it impossible!" asked Barret.

Cait stayed silent.

Then Cid stepped forward. "We came a long way to get here. You better not double-cross us now!"

"I want to save the planet too! I know that I can't make you trust me, but I can't shut off the reactors. All hell will break loose if that happens. The reactor valves can be turned off but the reactor's have made paths in order for the energy to be mined. If the valves are shut off..."

"Then the pressure will build inside the reactor until something gives out, causing an explosion. Most likely many times bigger than the explosion that was cause from the No.1 reactor we blew," Naruto finished as he put all the pieces together.

"Damn!" said Barret as he caught on.

"But we should shut down the cannon. Perhaps we can shut off the reactors from this mainframe that they're talking about," said Aeris.

"That's right!" said Sith.

"We must stop Hojo first!" said Vincent.

Cait then got that far off look again as he tried to explain the plan to the other two Shinra executives. "Looks like Naruto and the others are on their way to stop Hojo. Stay out of their way!"

Heidegger laughed. "Don't be so ludicrous! I don't recall you giving me any orders! The Peace Preservation will give their best effort to make the enemy retreat! Because of them, I... I...!"

"That's a private matter..." said Reeve.

"The President is dead! Now I'm doing things my way!" Heidegger said with a tone of finality. He then laughed with Scarlet joining in. She then spoke up. " Heidegger! Now I'm going to use the new weapon!"

There was sounds of a small scuffle. "Hey! Wait!" called Reeve in surprise and defiance. There was silence before Reeve spoke softly. "Naruto... Cloud, everybody! Sorry... but you'll come, won't you!" he asked pleadingly.

"Of course! We'll come right away," said Naruto.

Cid then turned to the pilot he was training. "Hey! I'm leaving the ship in your hands!" The pilot nodded.

"Well Operation: Paladin was a success. Now let's get to Midgar!" ordered Naruto and the ship turned around, it's new destination in mind.

After half an hour of flying in the airship, the Highwind approached Midgar.

"Even if we get in there, Midgar's under martial law!" said Barret, stating the obvious. "There's no way we could slip into the slums."

"How bout we parachute off the deck of the Highwind?" asked Naruto.

"That's just what I was about to say!" said Cid.

"Ok. Everyone! Get ready. We're parachuting into Midgar!" said Naruto and everyone rushed to the deck.