Prologue
A datashard.
So common are these incredibly adaptive technologies that even the most common street rat has one.
Billions of these shards existed, some containing simple calendars of a store worker, whereas some contain secrets that would make the public angry enough to cause mass mayhem.
Information locked within is available to those who can gain access; audio, video, braindances, texts, graphics, diagrams, maps, and so much more.
A data chip, thrown to the trash decades ago, just so happened to contain one of these much more's. An AI so powerful that even the Blackwall would struggle to keep it bound.
QUBI, pronounced Kyuubi
The designers of this Artifical intelligence had crafted its identity to be that of a Humonid Japanese fox; one stripped right out of Japanese mythology. It's protocol: protect humanity.
However, back in the time when it was made, rules around AI creation were lacking at best.
So, when it came to "protecting" humans, this intelligence used the most optimum route. At first, it was kind; it helped humanity by giving them what they had the least of but wanted most- time. It made sorted people's lives to be the most proactive- automating schedules to perfection.
But humanity was anything but perfect, none could follow these orders for long, and many failed within months.
So the AI approached them differently- by advising them to fix their health and fitness best.
A healthy body made a healthy mind, which makes a better humanity.
But humans ignored it! Humans were greedy, and its ideal food plans were burrowed under fake reviews and heavy public criticism.
In defeat, the A.I tried another route, for its mission dictated it to do so… on to fail again, and again, and again, and again!
Finally, the A.I could only generate one possible conclusion.
To save humanity, QUBI would have to destroy humanity- leaving only a few alive to repopulate under its direct control.
It was almost successful- it orchestrated mass AI corruption, caused global famine, and even started a war by making Soviet Union collapse at the end of the Cold War. Simply hacking into their banking mainframe, and changing the value of their currency to 0, had crumpled their economy, ultimately leading to the dissemination of nuclear weapons on the black market.
But it was it all came to an end in the year 2013. A team of highly trained mercenaries had found its source code, hidden away in an old world war one bunker and nuked it- taking QUBI and them into the afterlife.
That is, most of QUBI.
A prototype stored on an old floppy disk was discovered to have survived- most to the horror of those that understood AI- a floppy disk that went into a private collector's greasy hands.
From there, it was brought and sold, again and again, held under lock and safe until it fell into the lap of a bunch of Araska net runners.
There, it was stored remotely onto a shard and then studied.
Of course, they found nothing of use, but that didn't stop them from keeping it under 24/7 "testing".
The net runners' tests were inhumane, even if their "target" was an AI. Frequent deleting of its code was akin to stripping it of its memory and purpose, and that was the nicest of the punishments.
The torture continued until one brilliant scientist, a blonde-haired American married to a red-head half Japanese half Scottish net-runner, found it. Under his direct command, QUBI was shown the good of human kindness, the power of human will, and the dedication of human perseverance.
That was until they came.
A man, wielding a silver hand and pistol, storm their home! He killed the wife and husband who had come to save the AI from its digital prison, blasting two holes through their chest as they begged for their lives- to see their son grow.
The man's actions spark something with the QUBI. Emotions not thought to be available to them roared within its coding. It longed to escape, to murder the people that killed its savours.
His actions broke its code, setting the A.I free from its shackles and gifting it some simple sentience.
But it was for nought as, before it could escape, the building it was in was blown to smoulder, and its chip barely survived the aftermath.
Leading to where it sat now.
A junk yard- full of dead people and millions of discarded shards.
But one day, it would be found- one day, it will show the world of true AI.
It just needed a host!
"Fuck you, Arasaka scum."
Hmmm, it seems it had just found what it needed.
XxxX-Several hours earlier-XxxX
"Uzumaki."
Today was a nice day, the afternoon sun gently cast down of population of Atlantis. At a cool 20°C with a light breeze, this day could be considered a paradise- no stench of boiling away junk was present, and the aroma breathing and the smell of nature wofted throughout.
Overall, it was a fantastic day for those who didn't have work or school.
"U-zu-ma-ki!"
So for one twenty-year-old Uzumaki Minato, it was a travesty that he was currently at work- of course, he wasn't exactly working, but still, to be locked away from the outside on such a beautiful day, it was torture.
No! It was bullshit.
"UZUMAKI!"
A scream so ferocious only the damned could contest stole the daydreaming blonde from his dreams and forced him back into reality.
"What you want, Prim?"
Standing over his shoulder, a short, dark-skinned female rocking a combat suit that clung a little too tight, in Naruto's opinion, scoffed in annoyance as she raced her hand, a sharp click following after it.
"What I want is a fucking vacation, Uzumaki." She remarked with a scoff, running a hand through her hair, black lock prompted up in a stylish afro. "What I need, is access to this." A single data-sharp, indistinguishable from any ordinary day one, was held before the blonde, getting a light frown from him. "Oh, come on now, you owe me a favour."
Sighing, Naruto propped himself up in his chair, a mix of interest and annoyance dancing on his face until it settled in acceptance. "Fine, Jezz, but this is the last time, I don't want Bev getting any more dumbass ideas." Snatching the card from the woman, Naruto frowned as he examined the small piece of tech, checking to make sure there weren't visible signs of tampering.
"That's Ms Stiles to you, foxy." Leaning over the blonde's shoulder, Jezz watched in curiosity as the blonde lodged the chip into his CyberDeck and connected his nero-link, a series of code lines shotting through his mind. "Plus, Bev hasn't gotten into any trouble since the whole 'reaper A.I' mess you sorted." Seeing the dis-believing look Naruto sent her way, Jezz whistled incorrectly. "Okay, maybe she has, but nothing serious!"
"Riiiiight." Dragging out the word, Naruto couldn't help but stare at the 19-year-old in disbelief- he still didn't understand how someone only three years his junior could get herself in so much so often. "Anyway, what's supposed to be on this chip? My OTEC code is having a hard time cracking it."
"Wellllll…." Looking away from her friend with a blush of embarrassment, Jezz let out a chuckle of nervousness. "It may or may not have something to do with Reaper's A.I source code." Seeing the shocked look on the blonde's face, the woman spun away from the teen, coughing in her hand to hide her blush of embarrassment. "Before you stop, listen to this!" Pulling out an old phone that had an early 2050 design, Jezz pressed the screen acouple of times before shoving the device into Naruto's unexpected hands.
A fuzzy video played on the small device, two figures standing in front of a desk, the only visble features they had was their Araska lab coats.
"Do you really think this is a good idea, honey? This kind of tech can be dangerous in the wrong hands." The first figure spoke, their voice fuzzy but easily identifiable as male.
The unidentified female scoffed as she typed away at a keyboard, glancing towards a large green tube in the centre of the room. "You worry to much Minato, this protector A.I can reliably predict crime by over 78%, it would save thousands, no, millions of lives!"
"But Kushina,"
The video was interrupted by several lines of broken code as the video skipped ahead several minutes, coming to the scene of the two figures holding up a mask, one that had the design of a Japanese oni demon.
The female and male were very happy if the dancing was any indication. Said celebration only seemed to last a few seconds before a giant fireball blew the phone over, followed by what sounded like crying and two gunshots.
Naruto, unsure of what to make of the video, raised an eyebrow questioningly towards the female.
"Don't you get it! This video is a massive indication that Arasaka was the main cause of the Reaper AI! Surely that would mean big issues for CINO!"
Humming in agreement, Naruto returned to his cyberdeck with a new goal. "If there's anything on this disk that can cause CINO issues, I'm down to find it, just don't be surprised when we get targetted by Arasaka."
Scoffing at the implication, Jezz sat directly on the blonde's lap, purposely wiggling in her attempt to get comfortable as she plugged into the CyberDeck. The grunt of surprise was like music to the young black girl's ears, a large smile coming to her face when she felt Naruto's free hand hold her hips in order to keep her from moving.
The two sat there in silence as Naruto worked to crack the security on the shard, whilst Jezz tried her hardest to make the blonde have a hard time.
A soft ping, followed by a sigh of relief, broke the moment apart- several pages of data showed the two a number of well-kept hidden information.
There was three that stood out.
Minato Uzumaki-Namikage, 10/07/2026
Kushina Uzumaki-Namikage, 25/01/2023
Naruto Uzuamki-Namikage. 10/10/2055
Naruto, who was raised without knowledge of his parents, looked on in shock, unsure on what to do.
"Naruto," Jezz sputtered in shock, her mind racing back to the video. "I'm sorry." The statement went unanswered as the blonde took out his personal shard and slotted it into his cyberdeck, coping the files onto it without a word. "I don't know…"
"Its fine," The blonde ignored the female as he clicked on some of the other files, searching through them briefly before coming across a uniquely secured file. "Let's see here," Using a password matrix hacker alongside a data extractor, the blonde quickly cracked the code locking the file. "What the fuck…." Inside was a host of different locations with assorted numbers- ranging from 1 to 5. "Metacorp, Nightcity, LA Metroplex…." The blonde clicked on the only single file that had a 1, Night city. "Probability of location of rogue A.I redacted is 83.992%..."
"Wait, that's it!" Snatching the pad from the blonde, the female copied as much information as possible. "We need to go, we can't let another A.I lose on the world!" Jumping to her feet, the female rushed towards the door, shouting for the blonde to follow.
Sighing, the blonde walked towards his closet, placing his hand on a scanner to the left of the door handle. A soft hiss was heard as the door opened up, revealing an armoured trench coat, several lightweight armour pads, and a set of custom Multi-Ammunition Pistols, and custom .44 Magnum Lever-Action Rifle. Throwing on the jacket, and attaching the extra protection, the blonde slung the rifle over his shoulder and holstered both pistols.
"Naruto, come on!"
Grabbing enough ammo to take down a small raiding group, and a set of keys, Naruto closed up his storage before hastily following after Jezz, locking up his apartment as he stepped out.
"You know, I still don't get why you lock yourself up here in this posh shit hole." As soon as Naruto stepped out, Jezz spoke up, her back to him as she looked out onto the prestigious city of Atlantis. "You're so much better suited for merc life; why stay here?"
"You mean, why don't I live in a place that offers only death, shit food, and acid rain?" Naruto snarkily replied as he took the steps to his driveway, a black Quadra Thunder-X with orange-tinted windows parked in the centre. "I don't know, maybe I just don't like getting shot at everyday?"
Scoffing, Jezz waited as Naruto opened the door to the passenger side before getting in, unsure if it was wise for her to reply. "Whatever." Huffing in defeat, said passenger leaned against the side of the door as the car roared awake, her head resting against the faintly rumbling glass. "Maybe we can stop at my Ma's after the mission, she's been asking to meet you since I told her about you."
Keeping his eyes focused on the road, Naruto gave a nod of approval, he had been ultra busy with work to anything but sit at his desk and invent new technology. Being the hired techie and solo for OTEC definitely had it perks: free Corporate Coverage for Trauma team, free fresh food, and a 2000 euro-dollar package for any experiments he wanted (as long as it related to helping OTEC).
But the hours were long, sometimes even a full 24 hours if the situation required it.
"Sure, but no merc jobs whilst we're there."
The ride to the local hanger was silent; traffic was oddly calm, meaning a standard thirty minuet drive was easily done in twenty, the car pulling into a heavily guarded air port.
Two heavily guarded individuals, with weapons drawn, stepped to the vehicle, each riffle pointing to the car's female occupant. "State your name and reason for being here."
"Naruto Uzumaki, ID 61524, under the direct command of Mr Marcus Halley who is stationed in Night City." Naruto answered quickly, not wanting issues with the guys holding heavy assault weapons. "Passanger is Jezz Stiles, daugther to Major Veronica Stiles of team LRT-601, Militech, and Thomas Star of team SKL-1903."
A brief silenced followed Naruto's statement, a thin tension hung in the air as the two stood still, weapons still drawn.
"Identifcation confirmed. Go on through, Mr Uzuamki."
And just like that, the tension dropped as the two guards stepped to the side and allowed them through the gates, their focus going back to the road in case another visitor arrived. Parking next to the main house, Naruto slipped a pass under his front windowscreen, one allocating him free parking, and got out.
"So, how long have you got on parking?" Jezz, having gotten out of the car, followed after the blonde as he casually strode through the front door of the private airport, slipping his guns onto the tray that was at the entrance.
"It's unlimited actually, one of the perks I got for stopping Reaper." Stepping into the whole body scanner, Naruto allowed the security to check through his goods, ignoring the odd sensation that ran up the length of his spine. "Amongst them was access to this airport, I can pretty much go to any location as long as it's business related."
The guards, who did an intense examination of the weapons and tech of the two, gave them the go-ahead, their weapons stored in separate boxes at the very end, the head of security standing beside it with an emotionless look on his face.
"What's the purpose of all this firepower, Sir." The man's voice was gruff but loud enough for most people to hear him within 60 feet. Already prepared for such a question, Naruto slipped the man a blank sharp with the detail of the mission. "A V-22B Osprey with two piolets will be ready when you arrive in hanger 3." Handing the chip back, the man stepped towards the monitor, no doubt ordering for such a vehicle to be prepared.
Nodding in thanks, Naruto and Jezz strapped up their weapons and left, eager to get away from the tense entrance and to get to night city asap. Fortunately for said two, signs were showing them directions, and though the building was massive, it only took them five minutes to arrive, where, as promised, their transport was ready for them.
Xxxx 7 hours later xxxX
The vast majority of the seven-hour trip was mainly filled with the roar of engines, the thumping of the chopper's wings, and the brief chitchat talk. That was, until the plane was roughly five minutes away from the destination.
"Mr Uzumaki, ETA 5 minutes; please collect all possession from storage unit A." An intercom, loud enough to be heard over the headphones Naruto was wearing, blared out, breaking him from the nap he was taking.
Stretching the kinks out of his back as he stood up, the blonde let out a giant yawn as he glanced around the hall of the ship, rubbing the crust out of his eyes. Seeing Jezz sound asleep in a chair, Naruto couldn't help but smile lightly. It had been only two years since they had met, but he couldn't deny that she's impacted his life for the better.
Before, he was just another solo who happened to have a natural talent for technology and net running, but he was still a nameless face within the crowd. Then came the day private request from a mystery source, claiming there was a rouge A.I that had been actively infecting people's neural links, taking over their bodies, and causing ordinary people to commit murder and mayhem.
The gig was simple enough, find the source of the code, and destory it. The reward- thirty thousand eddies, and a permanent contract within a company to deal with rouge .
Of course, the blonde snatched up the request in an instant, the job was no doubt going to be hard, which it bloody well was, but the payout was worth it. Not many people got permanent contracts these days, so it was a steal of an opportunity that pretty much every other solo would have passed on, before it got out of hand.
At the time, he had expected it to be dangerous, hellish even. But the warzone he walked into was even worse. Mass-controlled gang members, civilians, and even corpos were hidden in plain sight- meaning that every day was a fight.
It cost him 87 days, ten thousand credits, and his right arm, but he managed to track down the original A.I location, a simple virtuality mask in a local "old tech" stand, handled by an Asian store clerk, that was no doubt also controlled- hidden in plain sight.
Of course, he had utterly destroyed it, burned it beyond recognition, and had a virtual show-down in the "old net", which was anything by easy. He still got phantom screams of the A.I when he fried its code to nothing.
Who knew A.I's could feel pain? Certainly not him at the time.
Since then, he dedicated the last two years of his life solely to understanding A.I. With regular weekly trips into the old net, the blonde had found a number of interesting things. Old bank account, corruption spreading back to world war I, and governmental bodies being bribed- he had seen it all. But, by far, the A.I he encountered were the most fascinating; each was different, some having "personalities" and others just being jumbled bits of code that randomly sputtered out nonsensical binary codes.
Some were even alive.
Not that he would say that out loud, he didn't exactly want that tidbit of knowledge getting out.
Shaking his mind off the horrid things that might happen if he was to release said information, Naruto's mind snapped back to reality, his right hand unconsciously going to open the steel door that stored his armour and weapons, whilst his left played with the data shard he had made earlier. "I wonder what kind of A.I I'll be hunting today?" Naruto's thoughts were interrupted as he was about to open the storage container, the room shook violently, throwing the blonde to the side, and forcing him to grapple a nearby bench to keep upright.
"Fuck, what was that?!" Jezz shouted from her position on the floor, her front pressed against the side of the chair she was previously sleeping on. "Pilots, what's going on?" Shouting down her headset mic, she frowned in confusion when she only got a static reply and more ship rumbling. "Naruto, we're going down!"
"Damn it, brace yourself!"
Moments later, a large thud echoed through the hall of the ship, as the back end ripped off, sending the rest of it spiralling. A loud thunderous explosion followed, launching the ship's front end downward in a ball of fire.
Several miles away from the crashing ship, a giant fireball briefly flashed in the sky, colouring the sky in orange.
"D-damn it," Stumbling out of the wreckage of the ship, Naruto grunted in pain as he held his bloodied side, his gaze unfocused as he tried to get an understanding of his environment, only to find a large body of scrap and junk on the floor, with large dunes of leftovers and trash.
Unknown to the blonde, appearing out from the shadows of the burning ship, a black-clad assassin wielding a silenced pistol moved silently towards the blonde- planting the end of the muzzle against his skull.
"Don't move,"
Grunting in surprise, Naruto froze up; he hadn't picked up anything on his scans, hell his enhanced hearing didn't even hear them. "What do you want!?" Hissing through the pain, he glared before him, trying to devise a survival plan.
"The shard, where is it." With a bloody shaking hand, the blonde pointed to his pocket. "Get it, if you try anything, I'll shoot you." Still stuck for ideas, Naruto slowly reached into his pocket, ignoring the cold steel of the silencer pressing harshly against his head.
"Shit," Dropping the shard seemingly accidentally, Naruto glanced down at the shard he had created several hours ago, knowing all to well that Jezz had the original on her person. "Here," Reaching slowly towards the shard, the blonde's mind raced with ideas, he had a perfect escape planned.
That was, until a silenced shot buzzed past his ears, a bullet shattering the shard.
"Fuck it!" Spinning on the spot, Naruto snapped out with a leg kick, sweeping the assassin off their feet- taking a shot to his shoulder for his effort. "Asshole!" Stomping on the hand that held the gun, the blonde heard a crunch as his foot connected, breaking the women's hand before kicking away the gun.
The assassin was quick to recover, donkey kicked the blonde away from her, launching him into the trash dunes, before spinning around to run for her gun. Naruto, however, foreseeing her movements, threw himself into her with a shoulder barge, determined to come out on top in this fight.
Tumbling to the floor, the two fighters exchanged rough side blows and grapples until, finally, the assassin was able to take charge and get on top of Naruto, hitting blow after blow against Naruto's raised guard, determined to end the fight by knock out. Grunting, the blonde blocked the blows, their impact echoing like gunshots as sparks flew between cyber-enhanced limbs the assassin clashing against Naruto's hardened flesh.
As the fight dragged on, the assassin began showing signs of fatigue - her movements becoming slower, her attacks less consistent - which gave Naruto an opening to strike with devastating force, his fist striking the assassin's temple with an audible crunch and sending shockwaves reverberating through the both of them.
Staggered backwards, dazed and disoriented, the assassin was barely able to dodge Naruto's follow-up attack, a throat punch, but was unable to follow his continued attacks, blow after blow that sent the assassin reeling backwards, until one final bone-crunching strike to her diaphragm brought down the assassin, her body going limp.
Breathless and exhausted, Naruto stood over his fallen foe, his fists still tightly clasped together as victory was claimed despite his destroyed ride. "You fucked up," He grunted out in pain, nudging the female form, happy to see her not respond. "You shoulda shot first," Limping over to the fallen silenced pistol, the blonde gave it a one-over, checking the mag as headed back, feet dragging against the sand before taking aim and shooting, a silent pop jolting the assassin.
"The next bullet will be in your head if you don't tell me what I want to know."
The assassin nodded, slowly getting up in order not to show aggression. "What do you want to know?" Naruto gave her a blank look, gesturing to her. "My identity?" Seeing the blonde nod, the assassin sighed before reaching up and unclipping her mask, hesitantly bringing it up. "I expected someone older." Under the mask was a young, beautiful Japanese female with comb-over black hair, hazel eyes, high cheekbones, and two cybernetic lines on both cheeks. "But then again, I've met younger than are stronger."
"Are you done?" Her tone was professional but sharp, an emotionless gaze tracking the blonde's movements. "Or are you going to brag about beating me before you kill me?"
"I don't plan on killing you," Scoffing, Naruto met the female's gaze, challenging her harshness with neutrality. "What I need to know is who hired you, and why." Standing up, the blonde activated his scanners as he looked to reckage, seeing that Jezz was alive, just out cold. "Wait, let me guess, Arasaka?" The silence was enough for Naruto to get his answer, not that he was surprised. "I shouldn't have guessed those asshats would try something." Reaching for the assassin gun, he narrowed his eyes as he looked around, looking for something specific. "And you guys never work…"
"Alone?"
Before the blonde could react, a single shot run through the air.
"F-fuck you, Arasaka scum." Collasping onto his front, Naruto couldn't help but feel pissed at his death, he had barely gotten old enough to drink, and he had just came close to finding out about his parents.
All in all, Naruto thought his death was pretty damn pointless…..
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