Mass Effect 2: Naruto's Mission

Written by I.K.A. Valian

All characters and material from Naruto are the property of Masashi Kishimoto.

All characters and material from Mass Effect are the property of BioWare.

Chapter Eight: The Revealed

Last Time

Naruto died but was saved at the last moment, once again, by Kurama. It cost him, though. Kurama will sleep longer still to make up for the effort. Naruto is on his own, but that never stopped him before.

While Naruto is unconscious, Shepard decides to head to the Citadel to contact the Council and give them an update on her status. Councilor Anderson had sent a message to Shepard asking her to come as soon as possible.

Before arriving at the Citadel, Naruto receives a communique from home. They asked Naruto to make contact with the Citadel Council on their behalf to set up an alliance against the Reapers. Naruto reluctantly accepts this task, having no love of politics, but driven to act out of loyalty to his home.

Naruto could only wonder what kind of technical know-how it took to build something as large and… just… impossible as the Citadel. He got a good overview of the Wards from the transport that Shepard and he took to the Presidium. The arms were filled with sky scrapers, or maybe they were space scrapers here. It was hard to tell because above his head was another arm of the station, also filled with space-scrapers.

The Presidium was no different. It was a poor substitute for a real planet with water and grass, but for a space station, this must have been the equivalent of heaven. The soft curve of the huge ring and the metal walls was the only reminder that this idyllic setting was artificial.

On top of the incredible scale and setting was the sheer number and variety of species living on the Citadel. Before setting down the transport on the Presidium, Naruto closed his eyes and reached out for any natural energy around him. The response he got was so overwhelming, he had to push as much chakra out of his system to prevent himself from absorbing any of the natural chakra. The Citadel was packed with life, as it turned out, and pushing all the effort to rid himself of excess natural chakra left him dizzy.

On the Presidium, Naruto followed Shepard past several beings, only a few of which were human, who went about their business at a very sedate pace. Shepard navigated around the wide walkways and bridges spanning a large river running through the Presidium until they arrived at the base of a long tube that ran up into the fake sky above their heads.

"This is the elevator that will take us to the Citadel Council Chambers," Shepard said as she hit the yellow holographic call button. While they waited, Shepard turned to Naruto and asked, "So what do you think of the Citadel?"

"It's incredible!" Naruto shouted. He turned and took a few steps away from the elevator door. As he stood there he watched the multitude of people of a variety of species that walked by. He thought of the immense size of the Presidium and the Citadel beyond that. Off a distance to his left was a gargantuan statue of a Krogan. Just in front of him was a statue of a Mass Relay. "I've never seen so many people living so close together like this before," Naruto said, a slight tinge of awe in his voice. "And it's not just humans, but aliens too. They're not trying to kill each other or anything. Back home, the only way the different nations came together was when the Akatski threatened all of them with war. I think more happened after that, but those memories are gone now. And how did you build such a big place in the middle of no where? This place is huge!"

"This station certainly amazing, though we didn't build it," Shepard said as she nodded. "To tell you the truth, the different nations of Earth didn't really come together until we were face with an enemy of our own, the Turians."

"What?" Naruto turned back to Shepard. "But that Archangel guy… Garrus? He's a Turian right?"

"What I'm talking about happened about thirty years ago," Shepard said. "Humanity had just learned about Mass Relays and were exploring beyond our home system for the first time. Then we ran into the Turians. The First Contact War followed, which didn't last long until the Council intervened and stopped the Turians before they could kill us all. But that common foe galvanized the Systems Alliance into taking the responsibility to govern all of humanity, instead of one country or another trying to lead as it was before the war."

"Wow… that kind of sounds like what I found when Sasuke sent me back home," Naruto said. "There was some new kind of government, or something, that all the shinobi nations belonged to. No one nation was the leader. I didn't really get that much info on it because I wanted to get back here faster."

At that moment the elevator arrived. Shepard gestured for Naruto to enter and followed behind. Moments later, the elevator started its journey, quickly moving through the false sky and revealing the rest of the Citadel. The five wards of the station stretched out like the Citadel were a giant claw grasping for whatever planet that lay before it.

As the elevator climbed the Citadel Tower, Shepard glanced over at Naruto. She expected to see fear of the unknown, apprehension about the Council's reaction to him, and no small amount of grim determination to do this task he seemed dead set on accomplishing. She expected these things because that's what she was feeling, though for different reasons. Instead, Naruto had his eyes closed as he concentrated.

"Naruto?" She frowned in response to his seeming complete lack of concern for what they were walking into. He seemed to have been wound up pretty tight about this meeting so far. "What's wrong?"

"I don't know," he said so quietly it might have been whispered. Shepard found herself straining to hear what he was saying. "Something doesn't feel right. I can't tell why though." He opened his eyes, moved next to the transparent wall of the elevator, and put his hand on it as he stared out at the station and the fleets of ships moving through. "It's like a gut feeling that I usually get before something huge is about to go down," he said. "To name a few, I got this feeling when I was chasing Sasuke, when I was racing to save Gaara from Akatski, and when I was about to return to the village after Sage training with the Toads."

"What usually happens when you get these feelings?"

"A hell of a big fight that usually ends badly for someone," Naruto said. "The fight after chasing Sasuke nearly killed me and my friends, the fight with the Akatski nearly killed Sakura and did kill Gaara, and the entire village was destroyed by Pain before I'd even gotten back from my Sage training. After I returned, the fight that followed nearly killed me, and that was just to stop Pain. Pain ended up killing himself in the end after I talked him down."

"I take it that we should be ready for a fight then," Shepard said. She was dressed in civilian clothes, but she had brought a hand gun with her just to be safe. The C-Sec guards at the port security station hadn't bothered her about it. Sometimes it was good to be a SpecTRe. Naruto didn't need a weapon. He was one. "And here I was hoping that this would be a quick stop and then we could get back to fighting the Collectors."

Naruto kept his head down as he followed Shepard out of the elevator, past the avenue of trees very similar to cherry blossom trees, around a huge water fountain, and up several flights of stairs. He was now even more nervous about what was going to happen when he met the Council than he was before boarding the elevator. His gut was telling him that he was about to engage in heavy combat, his muscles and mind were tense with the anticipation, but for the life of him he couldn't figure out why.

He was reviled by every living being in this galaxy at this point. His first assumption was that the Council would arrest him and throw him in jail, or worse, have one of their SpecTRes kill him on the spot. But then Shepard assured him that they'd never actually seen any footage or pictures of him during his reign of terror, just reports of him, his description, and his name. That only meant there was a super small, minuscule, microscopic chance they wouldn't throw him in jail or kill him on the spot, which didn't improve his mood much.

The feeling in his gut was telling him that he wasn't going down without a fight. But wouldn't that be doing just exactly what they expect him to do? That would practically ensure that any alliance with the Council for the Shinobi was doomed forever.

No. He wouldn't jeopardize his people's chance at an alliance. But the idea of doing nothing while he was killed or arrested made his gut twist tighter than when Bushy Brows punched him. If nothing else, this whole experience was making him hate politics on a whole new level. Loathing would probably be a better description of his feelings.

It was at this point that Naruto blinked and suddenly became aware of his surroundings once more. He was following behind Shepard, who was walking slowly up a last set of stairs to some sort of summit at the end of a long hall. Ahead he could see four people standing on a balcony overlooking some kind of bridge that ended right before them. When Naruto glanced behind him, he saw a quaint park area with trees, a water fountain, and lots of pink flowering trees. But it was what he didn't see that set off alarm bells. The entire place was completely empty.

At the top of the stairs, Shepard waved Naruto back just before she stepped onto the bridge. Naruto stopped, but didn't drop his guard, as he watched Shepard walk to the end of the bridge in silence. The intensity of the heat in his gut felt like it had multiplied by a factor of ten. Something was very wrong here and the leery looks that he and Shepard was getting from the Council was making the feeling worse.

"Shepard," greeted the blue Asari. Naruto tried to remember the name he'd read, Tavia, Techna, Tutu, something with a 'T', but he couldn't remember. "I'm glad you could make it on such short notice. We have called you here to answer for your crimes. How do you plead?"

"Crimes?" Shepard said, her voice high in alarm. "What crimes? I just got here and I've been dead for the last two years."

"The crime of sedition and high treason of course," answered the Salarian Councilor. Naruto vaguely recalled his name being Vornigan, or maybe it was Vido. "Not to mention the theft of the Normandy SR1 and the murder of hundreds of Alliance Soldiers during the Battle of the Citadel."

"For shame, Shepard," the human councilor said. Shepard had told Naruto that Councilor Anderson was a good man. This guy really didn't look good at all, from the way he was glaring at Shepard. "For shame. I thought you were better than that. Now you have to be punished."

"Prison is too good for the likes of you," said the Turian Councilor. Naruto knew for sure that his name was Spork. Or was it Frook… now he wasn't sure anymore. "We've agreed ahead of time that you should be sent to your death in a fiery hell hole from which not even the likes of Cerberus can resurrect you, after which your remains will be scraped up and tossed into the nearest black hole with a nuclear warhead set to detonate after passing the event horizon. For what it's worth, it was nice having you work for us while it lasted."

Shepard stood like a statue in front of the Council. Her mouth hung open in shock while the Council stared at her with either looks of contempt or disgust. If Naruto had to guess, and he might have been going out on a limb with this guess, this wasn't what Shepard was expecting. In fact, it didn't make sense at all that a group as noble sounding as the Council would act like this, let alone Shepard's friend, Anderson. That was probably why he wasn't as angry as he normally would have been at these ridiculous accusations against the, clearly, innocent Shepard.

"And you!" Spork shouted. He pointed at Naruto. Naruto jumped at the ferocity of the shout.

"Me?"

"Where did you get those clothes? You look like an idiot! Why the hell are you just standing there?" asked the councilor. "And what are you even doing here? All Delta Company Troopers are supposed to be on the Presidium or the Wards. What's your identification number?"

Garrus walked onto the bridge, just behind Joker's chair, and looked out at the docks from the window. He released a sigh and said, "It doesn't seem to matter what I do, I always end up back on the Citadel."

EDI's avatar popped up next to Garrus and said, "The most accurate reasoning would be that the Citadel is the center of Galactic Civilization."

Joker snorted from his seat. "We have a saying on Earth. All roads lead to Rome. I guess all roads in space lead to the Citadel."

"That would be an impossibility, Mr. Moreau," Edi said, "there are no roads in space."

Joker rolled his eyes and sneered at the avatar. "Not like a stupid AI would know what a road even is."

"A road is a physical or philosophical path that an individual or groups may traverse," EDI said. "However, to assume that, as you say, all roads lead to the Citadel, as they did to Rome, is a fallacy. Rome built it's roads. The Citadel, however, did not build the shipping lanes or the Mass Relays."

Joker crossed his eyes and stuck his tongue out at EDI's avatar. EDI's avatar blinked out of view, no longer needed. Joker shook his head and went back to running diagnostics on his console.

"It's almost like you two are married," Garrus said. "How long have you been having these inane arguments with the computer, Joker?"

"As soon as it was installed," Joker said with a grimace. "I hate it. It'd be better without it."

"I can't say I'm all too comfortable with an AI watching our every move," Garrus said, "but at the same time, Cerberus has invested quite a lot of money into this venture. I doubt they'd do anything to make our lives more difficult… at least until after the Collectors are dealt with."

"Yeah…" Joker grinned and rubbed his back over his chair. "And leather seats!"

Garrus smirked as he went back to looking out the window. Then his body stiffened and his mandibles twitched back and forth. Joker quirked an eyebrow at the sudden tension in the air.

"Something wrong, Garrus, old buddy?"

"I'll assume that you haven't detected it yet because of how subtle it is," Garrus stated flatly, "but we're currently under a genjutsu."

Joker's eyes widened perceptibly. "What? Why would you even say something like that?" Joker entered several commands onto his console when EDI's avatar appeared.

"Only Ninja could cast the jutsu known as genjutsu, illusions that can manipulate the senses of organics," she said. "I was, unfortunately, not prepared to scan the Citadel, a location thought to be safe. However, after Mr. Vakarian stated his observation, I ran a scan and detected a massive field of chakra energy indicative of a genjutsu field. It would be impossible for a single ninja to encompass the entire structure of the Citadel with chakra, therefore it is logical to conclude that there are many ninja on the Citadel all working in concert to cast the genjutsu or chakra amplifiers placed throughout the station to magnify the abilities of one ninja."

"Damn it, EDI, you're supposed to be on top of these things," Joker groused. "Shit, we have to warn Shepard." Joker opened a channel and said, "Commander Shepard! Do you read?"

"I am receiving interference from within the Citadel on all frequencies," EDI said, then a sudden urgency entered her voice. "A fire wall has been erected around the Citadel's main computer within the last five nano-seconds. Attempts are being made to hack this vessel. The Normandy has been placed into lock down. Now deploying electronic warfare countermeasures." The lights within the Normandy dimmed slightly as several of EDI's dormant systems came on-line all at once.

"Shit!" Joker opened a ship wide channel, "All hands, we're under attack from an unknown enemy on the Citadel. Get to your stations everyone. Prepare to repel all boarders."

"Is there anyway to contact Shepard or the rest of the ground party?" Garrus asked. He left the window and made toward the Armory. "If not, I'm going in."

"Negative," EDI said as Garrus walked through the doorway into the Armory. "You haven't been cleared for duty by Doctor Chakwas. You were ordered to remain on the ship while the Commander was ashore."

Garrus grunted as he hauled a grenade launcher out of the weapon's locker and attached it to the weapon mount at his lower back. "I hope your programming doesn't expect me to just sit here and do nothing," Garrus said. "This was supposed to be a simple fly by, nothing dangerous. Now I'm the only combat ready man on the ship while Commander Shepard is out with only a hand gun. I have no doubts about her ability with a hand gun, but even Shepard can't fight off the entire Citadel."

Garrus let out a small 'Aha!' and pulled out a M-92 Mantis Sniper Rifle. Attaching I to the hard point over his left shoulder, Garrus turned and quickly made his way back to airlock. Joker glanced over his shoulder and gave a short salute.

"We'll hold down the fort here," Joker said. "As soon as they're done suiting up, Hawthorne and Goldstein will guard the door in case anyone tries to board."

"Once you enter the dock elevator, communication will be cut off," EDI said as the airlock closed and the decontamination cycle began. "I would suggest you find the source of the jamming and shut it down so that communication can be re-established. While you do that, I will attempt to free the Normandy from lock down, but I may require assistance from you once you take down the source of the jamming."

"I'm glad you see it my way now," Garrus said.

"I do not," EDI said. "However, your conclusions are logical. You are the only combat ready unit available to deploy at this moment. Combat readiness is less of a concern when the mission, and the ship, is at stake."

Garrus nodded and felt a small smirk. "Beggars can't be choosers, in other words. It will help that I've got experience dealing with rogue ninja in case I run into any of them and for dealing with the genjutsu."

As the door opened and Garrus exited the ship, EDI said, "I will be sealing the air-lock doors. Good luck, Mr. Vakarian."

Miranda casually strode up to the bar in the Dark Star Lounge and motioned toward the Turian handling the drinks. He wordlessly pulled a long tube of blue-ish liquid, poured the contents into a glass, and shoved the drink on a cloth toward Miranda. Miranda dropped a few credit chits on the counter and took the drink as she went to sit in a dark corner facing the door.

For the next several dozen minutes, Miranda sat and sipped her drink as she silently watched the merriment of the dancers, the idle chit chat of the people sitting at a nearby table, and the rest of the people milling about the floor. The music was loud, but not uncomfortable; a remix of some Salarian take on Human Hip-hop. Not a single thing out of the ordinary for a bar, really.

Finally, Miranda finished her drink. She stood, placed the drink on the bar, and left. As soon as the music was muted by the door closing behind her, Miranda lifted the cloth and noted the numbers "428591" written before she dropped it into an incineration chute and headed toward the rapid transit station.

A short taxi ride later, Miranda casually stepped from the vehicle onto level forty-two of the Bachjret Ward and made her way to apartment block eight. From there she took the elevator to the fifth floor and upon stepping out, made her way to apartment ninety-one.

Miranda raised her hand and knocked once, counted to four in her head, and then knocked five more times. Several seconds later, the door opened to reveal a man dressed in a white tunic and pants. His white hair and glasses did little to brighten the room behind him, which had not a single light source.

"What took you so long?" the man asked. "We've been cut off for days."

"Precautions had to be taken and I was otherwise occupied," Miranda said. "Besides, I rather enjoyed the drink." Miranda motioned into the apartment. "Perhaps we should take this inside?"

The man pulled the door open fully and stepped back. Miranda used the light from the hallway to illuminate her path until the man she'd come to see closed it. As soon as the door clicked shut and the locks clicked into place, the room lit up as bright and white as any other Cerberus base. The Cerberus gold and black logo was on the wall, the door, and every other surface that might tell anyone who looked exactly which organization operated out of the room.

"Where's everyone else, Stanley?" Miranda asked as she moved up a large holographic console projected in front of a wall. The large screen in front of the keyboard was filled with numerous video feeds streaming in from all over the Citadel… or they should have been. Over half of them were filled with static and the rest were distorted like someone or something had fudged oily fingers on the lenses of the cameras. "What do you have to report? And what does the rising levels of ambient energy around the Citadel your last report mentioned have to do with this?" Miranda gestured to the video feeds. "Everything looked fine out there."

"Smoke Cell is out gathering supplementary data at the moment," the Stanley said, "but I'm certain of my conclusion. It looks fine out there, but the cameras don't lie." Stanley closed his eyes and rubbed his face with his hands. "About a month ago, I sent a report to the Illusive Man regarding the rising levels of ambient energy around the Citadel. The energy was less harmful than low levels of infrared radiation and there wasn't even enough to feel on your skin. Despite this, the Illusive Man ordered us to find the cause of the rise and determine if it was hostile to the humans living here. We determined that the energy itself was a variant of Chakra about a week ago and then about three days ago, communication on private channels was cut off. The official explanation is that some idiot caused a feedback loop and blew an entire com array designated for private com-lines. But my men found no damage to the com arrays, they were just shut down and the power conduits were dis-engaged."

Miranda was silent for a moment. She took a step back from the console, crossed her arms, and tossed her head to sent her hair behind her back. "So, what is your conclusion then? The Illusive Man wasn't pleased when you failed to report in, even if it was through public channels. He wants to know what happened and why?"

"The answer is it's not good," Stanley said. He rubbed his face and his body went slack. Miranda glanced and noticed that the man did, in fact, have dark bags underneath his eyes. "We've been driving ourselves crazy trying to figure out what the hell is going on around here, but we finally figured it out just a few hours before you arrived. The entire Citadel has been put under one massive genjutsu, or whatever that mind control ninja thing is called. It's like nothing we've ever seen and nothing in the records about Uchiha or Haruno say they were capable of anything like this. Maybe on a small scale they were, but nothing like this. If everything we see and hear and touch and smell and taste can't be determined to be real or not, then any report I make to the Illusive Man is likely to be compromised, no matter which channel I use to send the report. I couldn't take that chance."

"A genjutsu surrounding the entire Citadel? That's…" Miranda paused as she actually considered the possibilities and then logistics of what she was told. From her research, she knew it would take hundreds of ninja who would all have to be extremely skilled in chakra control, something even she knew little about, to practice genjutsu. Uchiha and Haruno were both trained from a very young age to control chakra, so their ability to do so wasn't in question. But that only accounted for two of the needed 'hundreds' to pull something like this off. Maybe Naruto and his clones could pull it off, but in her research she'd found a sound recording of Sakura saying that Naruto's chakra control, wasn't. And that assumed that Sakura and Sasuke had a hand in this at all, which she highly doubted. That meant hundreds of ninja were now on the Citadel or that someone had manufactured a way to execute a genjutsu without a ninja, which was a much more terrifying prospect, if more plausible.

"I've done a little study of Chakra," Miranda said, "or what information exists about it. There is a way to break a genjutsu. Several ways, in fact. If the attacker is weak enough, then you could cut off your chakra and break the connection with the genjutsu caster. That wouldn't work in our case because we don't have chakra."

Stanley nodded. "Another way would logically be to stop it at the source. I sent my men out to take readings at different sections of the Citadel to see if we can determine where the field is weakest, or to maybe find a way to track the transmission back to its source," he said. "The hope is we can shut the signal down or get an unrestricted message out. Heh, hope. We've been using stims and hope to keep ourselves awake and get this research done."

Miranda remained silent as Stanley rubbed his face again. He took a few quick breaths, straightened his back, and moved up to the console. As he began to enter commands, he said, "They're supposed to transmit the data back here through several relays to make it look like random chatter on the public com, which are the only communication channels open anymore. But it's been several hours already and I'm beginning to worry."

With one more command, the surveillance feeds cut out and were replaced by a single image of the Citadel and its five wards. Twenty small blue dots were scattered along the different parts of the Citadel, one of which was located on the Presidium.

As they waited for one of the blue dots to light up and the computer to run its analysis, Miranda studied the map of the Citadel. It was a really massive structure housing billions of people of all races and that didn't include the Keepers population, which no one really knew. To create a genjutsu to fool all the different species, especially the chakra resistant Turians, was impressive.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

"OPEN THIS DOOR!" Shouted a gravely Turian voice from the hallway. "This is a C-Sec raid! Open this door or we'll bust it down, Cerberus Dogs!"

"I'm sorry, Jacob, but I can't get you anything more powerful than a M-97 Viper," said the man sitting to Jacob's left at the bar. He wore a large coat to hide the Alliance uniform he wore underneath. His brown hair and plain face blended in well with the other occupants of the bar. "Something big is going down on Earth. It's been hell getting enough weapons for the third fleet alone. I'm sorry I can't help you more than that."

"It's alright, I understand," Jacob said. "I'll take what I can get. Right now, we got a bunch of M-92's and they're not doing so hot with the increase in barrier technology. Being able to put several shots into someone rather than just one is better than nothing."

The man sighed. "Look, I don't want to leave you hanging. I'll send specs for a heavy pistol the Alliance has been tweaking. It's got better power than a Carnifex and a laser sighting for easy targeting. It's not protected by any FRM, so you'll be able to manufacture as many as you want. I'll have a couple of Vipers sent over to your ship as well, but not more than five."

Jacob grinned. "Thanks man, I knew you'd come through." Jacob stood and put down several credit chits on the bar. "Drinks are on me."

"Jacob, I don't know what you're getting into, but the boys of the Corsairs are with you."

Jacob nodded and left the bar. He turned right once he was outside and started to make his way back to the dock. He'd taken care of everything he needed to and all that was left to do now was rendezvous with Miranda and then meet up with Shepard on the Presidium.

He had just walked passed an alley when a three fingered hand darted out and grabbed him. His senses went into overdrive as adrenalin made everything seem like it was moving several times slower. He pulled out his handgun and aimed it at the person who'd grabbed him before he even saw who it was. It wouldn't be the first time someone tried to mug him, even on the Citadel, but he wasn't going down without a fight.

"Easy there," Garrus said. "I know we just met yesterday, but just to be safe, I'm not going to hurt you."

"Garrus?" Jacob said. He lowered his gun and gasped in slight fatigue as the sudden adrenalin rush wore off. "What the hell man? Why'd you do that?" Then Jacob noticed the sniper rifle in the Turian's hands and the grenade launcher attached to his lower back. "And how did you get in here with weapons? They let us through with hand guns and only because Shepard pulled rank."

"I'm former C-Sec," Garrus said. "They still haven't fixed several holes in security in the year and a half since I left for good. Not that I'm complaining." Garrus chuckled and hefted the M-92 he was holding. "But we don't have time for this. The ship is under attack. It's been locked down and someone is blocking all transmissions. And on top of that, there's a Citadel wide genjutsu in effect, doing what, no one knows. I'm going to go fix the com problem and hope that Shepard isn't already knee deep in whatever is going on here. This," Garrus waved the rifle in his hands, "is for pulling her ass out of the fire when we find out that she is."

"I would have thought that you would have more confidence in the Commander," Jacob said.

"Oh I'm very confident that Shepard will find all the trouble in the world," Garrus said with a slight grin. "In fact, I can almost guarantee it."

Jacob blinked a few times in silence as he watched Garrus check to make sure his gun was in working order. "Damn…" Jacob said, he checked the heat level of his pistol and the number of extra thermal clips he had. "Do you know where the jamming is coming from or who's attacking the ship?"

"I don't know who it is. Presumably the one who's cast the genjutsu is the one who's attacking, but I know that the jamming is coming from Presidium," Garrus said. He leaned up against the wall and peered out in to the street with his eye to the scope of his rifle. The street, which moments before had been full of people walking about, sitting, eating, or otherwise going about their daily lives, was now strangely empty. The street was filled with that gut twisting silence that something was not right there. "Damn. They're on to us."

"What?"

"The street's are empty all of a sudden," Garrus said. "They're probably setting it up for a trap."

"How can you know that?"

"It's what I'd do," Garrus said. "We'll have to find another way to the Presidium."

Garrus glanced up and down the street again before pulling back into the alley. Then he glanced up and a grin formed on his face. "Ever gone mountain climbing," he asked Jacob.

Jacob followed Garrus' gaze and saw a pipe running up the side of the building. His assumption about what Garrus meant were quickly confirmed when the Turian walked up the pipe and started to climb. In short order, Garrus had ascended a dozen yards and didn't look like he was going to slow down.

Jacob shook his head and began to climb.

"Huh?" Naruto asked intelligently.

"Have you met before?" Shepard asked under her breath.

Naruto shook his head. "Even if I did, I probably wouldn't remember something like this. What the hell is Delta Company?"

The Turian councilor shook his head and glared at Naruto. "Look, I don't have time for this bullshit. Stop fucking around and take Shepard to processing. Master wishes for her information to be extracted as soon as possible."

"Yeah… I'll get right on that," Naruto said, "as soon as I figure out what the hell you're talking about."

All of the Councilors were now glaring at Naruto. He swallowed loudly but refused to budge from his spot. It was like something in his head was screaming at him to do something, anything, but his body refused to move. It was like the first time he'd stared down Orochimaru in the Forest of Death during his Chunin Exam, without the fear or the overbearing pressure from the Snake's killing intent.

Something about that comparison tickled the back of Naruto's mind. He frowned and focused on his surroundings. Yeah, now that he was looking for it, he could definitely sense it. There was the din of a genjutsu all around him. Now that he was feeling it, the feeling in his gut made a little more sense.

Jiraiya had always told him that they shared a similar disposition toward genjutsu, though after some experimentation, it became clear that Naruto was much worse than his wayward mentor. That didn't stop Naruto or his teacher from ever having to confront genjutsu in a fight though. Unfortunately, Naruto didn't have any chili pepper bombs with him at this moment, but there was always the tried and true way to get rid of the genjutsu.

Without warning, Naruto raised his hand, a kunai already in his fist, and he slammed the knife down into his leg. The pain was intense, but short lived, as he immediately pulled the kunai back out. The ache and sting immediately began to heal, but that was the last thing on Naruto's mind.

Shepard already had her hand out, probably to apply medi-gel, but Naruto stopped her. She looked at him like he was crazy, both for stabbing himself and then for stopping her. He simply shook his head and looked up at where the 'Council' used to be standing, now replaced by a single, blond woman.

She was slender, with a large bust, and a holographic visor over her left eye. Her blond hair was short, but Naruto could just make out a short braid behind her head. The one thing that stuck out at Naruto, however, were the bright blue eyes and three whisker marks on each cheek.

"What the hell? You look exactly like my Sexy Jutsu," Naruto said with slight wonder. He'd seen his transformation before, but never like this. This one was dressed, first of all, and he distinctly didn't remember ever making a clone and having it transform into a girl. That could only mean that he was looking at another ninja transformed to look like his girl form. "Who are you and why did you transform into my sexy jutsu and then put clothes on? It ruins everything!"

"What are… you…" The woman narrowed her eyes. Then her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open as abject terror filled her. "You! You're him! You're you! You! UZUMAKI NARUTO! DIE!" Without missing a beat, she quick drew a handgun from her hip and fired. The bullet screamed through the air and went straight into the middle of Naruto's head, right between the eyes.

Note From the Author

Wow it's been a while. I apologize for the delay, but life happens. Among the causes for delay (all of which I won't get into but these are the highlights) are work search, chores, writer's block, and Mass Effect 3. And then after Mass Effect 3 came the writhing agony of dealing with the ending, which pales in comparison to the rest of the game. Plenty of people have voiced their opinions already. Mine align close enough to those unhappy with the ending that I don't think they require repeating. For the uninformed, without spoilers, the ending sucks, but the game up to that point is made of win. Pure win. My favorite new gun is the M-99 Saber. One-shot kills for all Cannibals is just awesome. Multiplayer isn't too bad either, I kick ass as an Engineer (my drone kills shit) and can pretty much solo with a Vanguard (Nova + Biotic Charge = Domination). I still want a new ending though.

In this chapter I introduce a several new concepts at once. I already got a note from one person who was very perceptive. I'm interested to see if anyone can decipher the clues I'm laying out now. This chapter also marks the beginning of a new arc, the divergent point from canon ME 2 plot, because I've got to get Naruto doing good stuff to clear his name somehow. I'll be mixing and matching things to make the story flow better than "Here's your next mission. Do mission. Here's your next mission. Do mission. Colony in trouble. Do mission. Recruit mission. Loyalty mission. Loyalty mission. Final mission." That may work well in a video game, but it won't work well for this story. You may have noticed how I essentially recruited 3 people in one chapter last time. Similar things will happen in the future.

Review Corner

BlueBakaNinja asked about Sakura and her reaction to Naruto acting weird (indoctrinated) and Sasuke fighting with Shepard (for the good of Humanity). Quite a role reversal. A some of you might guess, that would probably have taken some getting used to. How, I'm afraid, I can not reveal until later and must currently leave to your imaginations.

Anakin Mario Son43, I imagine Joker would be the one in charge when Shepard and Miranda are both off the ship. Miranda's the executive officer, so she'd be in charge when Shepard's off on missions and what not. And you gotta remember, there aren't ranks in Cerberus. Not like in the Alliance anyway. Plus, I doubt anyone else but Joker would take care of the Normandy as good. Also, thanks for adding this story to the Crossover Section of Mass Effect Story Recommendations on TVTropes. It's an honor. If anyone would like to check it out, the address is /FanficRecs/MassEffect.

MElee Smasher, Naruto's upgrade will be awesome. If the battle with the Collectors during the final run of the final mission was a throw down in the game, it'll be curb stomp in favor of the Normandy with Naruto's upgrade. He'll probably need Mordin, Garrus, and Tali's help to implement it though. You'll just have to wait and see what it is though.

LeadStrategist, I think you could say that there will be plenty of 'ninja' in the coming chapters, based on that last scene there. I hope some of your questions have been answered in the chapter and I look forward to revealing what happened to the Council in coming chapters. And what they think of all this "Reaper" business. Yes, I used the quotes.

Tinchek asked me how much time has passed since team seven fought with Tobi, which also is how long since they appeared in the Mass Effect universe. It is indeed two years for Sasuke and Sakura. Naruto, however, arrived in the universe a few months before Sasuke and Sakura, and Sakura arrived before Sasuke. Then Naruto got sent back to the Shinobi Planet, ten years after he left, from The Battle of the Citadel. Then when he goes back, it's been two years since that occurred. So all that boils down to Naruto being 17-18ish, Sakura being 18-19ish, and Sasuke being 19ish in this story. Tinchek also asked when the message that the Konoha found in the Omnitool sealed in a vault for several decades came from. It's clearly a message of Harbinger talking to Naruto, since he calls Naruto by name, and Harbinger was only introduced during Mass Effect 2, which was at that point, in the future. However, if I told you good readers all the answers, then there's be no mystery and then no fun. So I'll let you figure this one out.

Speedy Spazz, thanks for the note. You made me wonder if just having the names Sasuke and Sakura in the description turns a lot of people away or just the hardcore fanatics who loath those characters. If it's just the hardcore fanatics, then would it be better to not appeal to them? If it isn't hardcore fanatics, and just a lot of people tired of reading about Sakura and Sasuke and Naruto, why are they reading Naruto fanfics in the first place? Either way, I don't think I'm going to change the description any time soon, but I do want you to know you broadened my horizons a bit there.

To the rest of you dear readers who have reviewed, faved, and alerted, thank you very very much. And all of the rest of you are just as awesome. Thanks for reading chapter Eight of Mass Effect 2: Naruto's Mission. Hope you liked it.