Chapter 8
Shepard stood in the middle of the Uchiha main house glaring at Garrus who had just failed at another attempt prank on said Commander. It just wasn't the same without Naruto.
"Can you prove that it was me?" Garrus asked as he looked at her with the best puppy dog eyes he could manage.
"I saw you do it!" Shepard yelled at him. Ashley was to the side laughing at her Turian friend she had seen him start the prank and warned Shepard about the whole thing. "That's it you and Naruto are not allowed to pull any more pranks!" She continued to shout.
"Oh come on it's just harmless fun!" Garrus shouted back.
"Garrus it is fun but there are limits and I guess Naruto needs to learn these limits." Shepard grinned an evil grin. There was a knock on the door and Miranda went and opened it to find an Anbu member standing out the front.
"Can I help you?" She asked.
"Commander Shepard please report to the Hokage it is very urgent." The Anbu replied as he disappeared Shepard looked around and nodded to Garrus who stood up and left with Shepard to the Hokage tower. Tsunade had a very distant look on her face like the one she had when she found out about the news on Jiraiya
"Commander good to see you, but unfortunately this is not good news." Tsunade sighed as she rubbed her forehead.
"What do you mean Lady Tsunade?" Shepard asked.
"It's the stupid council they want Naruto to stay in the village and say that he is not allowed to leave with you." She sighed again.
"But you're the leader of the village can't you do something about this?" Garrus asked Tsunade looked over to the Turian and smiled a sad smile.
"I wish I could but unfortunately Naruto is head of two clans now. The Uzumaki clan and the Namikaze clan."
"Isn't there any other clan members that could take his place for the time being?' Shepard asked.
"No he is the last of both clans and by village law he is meant to be stuck in this village until his first son can bare a child."
"So there is nothing that you can do about it?" Shepard asked as she started to feel like he was being taken away from her just like everyone else in her life. First it was Alenko then members of the Normandy crew, then if it wasn't for Naruto she probably wouldn't have got Ash back either and now she was losing the most precious person to her.
"There is something that I can do." Tsunade told her and she perked up at that. "You see Naruto wasn't here long enough to say he was a citizen of the hidden leaf. So therefore he is still a missing nin which means he has no alliance to any village."
"But won't people come after him then?"
"They will but there are two things stopping them from killing him, firstly he is the head of the two most powerful clans in the five ninja nations and he won't even be on the planet he will be with you guys." Tsunade smirked at them. There was a tap on the window which was a messenger bird. Tsunade opened the window and looked at the letter and she was shocked.
"Is everything alright Lady Tsunade?" Garrus asked.
"I wish it was. Naruto's last mission has gone wrong in so many ways."
"Does he need backup?" Shepard asked and Tsunade nodded. "Where are we headed then?"
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A few hours Earlier Naruto had reached the edge of Wind country where he was escorting Gaara back to the hidden sound village when they were ambushed by s-class missing Sand nins who had fled to the hidden sound after Gaara had become the Kazekage. All five of them were quite powerful but both of their honour meant that they would not run from a fight and they both knew it.
"So what do we do?" Gaara asked the now thinking blonde.
"Well I could always tag out with Kurama and let him take these guys out. Sometimes it helps to have a friendly relationship with your biiju. Then what?" Naruto replied. Gaara nodded at his reasoning when he spoke once more.
"Well I was getting sick of the job of being the Kazekage anyway to much paper work." Gaara smiled as the missing nin surrounded them both.
"What are both of you discussing!" One of the nin shouted he wasn't a patient man by any means.
"Nothing my good man but there are a few things that me and my friend must discuss so how about you be on your way and let us settle things." Naruto responded with a smile which took the others off guard and all of them missed Gaara's hand signs.
"Sand Style Sand burial!" Gaara called out and before any of them knew it three of the missing nin were killed by suffocation from Gaaras attack. The other two were already in combat with Naruto, he was in his armor which made it slightly more difficult for him to move but managed to stab one of them in the eye making him cry out in pain as Naruto stood over him with one of his pistols in his hand and pointing down at the guys skull.
"How can you move in that?" Gaara asked.
"Well you know, its a bit hard but you get use to the limitations of it." Naruto smiled again, the other nin was on the ground cowering as he watched Naruto pull a trigger on the strange weapon and watched as his friends head exploded seconds after.
"You, tell the people back in the village that I have decided to resign." Gaara said as he stepped next to Naruto. Both of them watched as he nodded his head and ran off towards the hidden sand. "So what now?"
"Well..." Naruto grinned.
"Well what?" Gaara asked.
"I saw you checking out Miranda the other night so why not come on this mission with me you get cool gadgets." Naruto smiled. Gaara had to turn his head away he did find the Cerberus officer rather attractive and they both had some things in common there fathers wanted them as a legacy that would be remembered and they both found each other fascinating, they could learn much from one another. "So what do ya say?"
"Well I guess I have no where else to go now I'm just like you a missing nin." Gaara responded.
"You just want the super cool gadgets and to be a hero the whole galaxy would know of because that is what sold me." Naruto grinned and Gaara had to laugh at Naruto's point that the gadgets that he had were quite awesome and the whole hero charade. That was just the start of there troubles they travelled around not wanting to go straight back to the hidden leaf and wanting to make some trouble for some bandits that Gaara had heard about in the last few months that had come into a massive crime organisation in a short period of time. That was were the trouble started and in a big way. They had no idea that some other villages had infiltrated the organisation already and they completely wiped out a third of the entire organisation in just over an hour after scouting out there surroundings. That's when shit hit the fan. There was a powerful missing nin that founded the organisation and he was on a par with Naruto this caused trouble because when they met the whole organisation was fighting shadow clones along with Gaaras sand clones. So when the big boss came out Naruto went straight for him not knowing of his strength.
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Sakura and Sasuke were leading the group that consisted of Shepard Garrus and Ashley they weren't able to use chakra to enhance there speed so they were travelling at a slow jog to keep there energy encase they needed to enter combat. Sasuke was concerned he knew that Naruto would never back down from a fight and the leader of the organisation had even beat him, sharingan notwithstanding. Garrus knew what Naruto was capable of but had no idea what anyone else on this planet could do so he was on his guard along with Ashley she wouldn't admit it but she actually liked Naruto. Shepard was the most worried she didn't want him losing any sort of control out here.
And that's when they heard the explosion and the burst of red and black energy that went into the sky and they all saw a red head jumping back from tree to tree.
"Gaara!" Sakura called out. Gaara looked over his shoulder and if he could show some sought of emotion his jaw probably would have dropped but he kept his cool and slowly dropped to the forest floor and approached the little group.
"What are you doing out here?" Sasuke asked.
"Well..." Gaara started.
"Is Naruto with you?" Shepard asked.
"He was with me until a few moments ago." Gaara sighed.
"What do you mean was with you?" Garrus asked.
"Well you see..."
'ROAR'
"Does that answer your question?" He continued.
"How many!" Sakura ordered.
"How many what!" Garrus yelled at her.
"Tails, she wants to know how many tails has Naruto took the form off." Sasuke answered.
"Tails? Ashley asked at once.
"All nine. Naruto is his full biiju form," Gaara reported, "He shouldn't be too much longer."
"We don't have time to waste here!" Shepard ordered.
"What aren't you telling us Commander!" Garrus yelled.
"Don't worry, Garrus, he has full control of the fox's power. Has had for the last 3 years!" Sakura shouted at the Turian.
"As Shepard said we don't have time for this he in full biiju mode at the moment, and we need to get the fuck out of here." Gaara said after he was done catching his breath. "
There was another explosion and three mutilated bodies hit the ground around them leaving indentions in the forest floor. There was another Godly roar and another explosion and they got the first sight of Naruto in his Biiju form off in the distance. The golden energy created the image of a massive fox with several black marks on its body.
"Is that Naruto?" Ashley asked. "He has control right?" She asked again.
"yeah," Sakura explained, "he went through a series of training to get control. Well that's what Lady Tsunade told me. "According to Kakashi-Sensei, he gained full control during the battle with Tobi, the real leader of Akatsuki.
It was then that the sounds of battle had ended, and the fox form slowly receded. Naruto landed on the ground, and fell to one knee, catching his breath. It was at that moment that the last of the bandits found him, and held a kunai to the blonde's neck. That bandit got shot in the head with a shell from Shepard's gun. Naruto finally lost consciousness as Garrus bent down and picked the shinobi up.
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To say the least, the reports left a sour taste in the mouth of the Hokage. The destruction of the criminal organization was on her list of things to be done. So, she was thankful that Naruto was able to take care of that particular situation, but his condition, when he got back, was another thing entirely. She had never seen him in such a case of chakra depletion. She was sure that the Kyuubi was helping him heal, but she still thought of the unpredictable knucklehead as a grandson, so she kept close track of his condition. According to her best estimates, Naruto would be out for a few days.
It was four days later, that Naruto woke up. He got the release from the hospital, and walked out.
"Jane?" Naruto asked as he entered the room.
"Naruto your back!" She yelled as she wrapped her arms around him,"I thought you would still be in the hospital." Naruto placed his arms around her returning the hug.
"I got released this afternoon, I'm so happy that your ok," He told Shepard as she sobbed into his shoulder.
"I don't want to lose you Naruto I can't lose you I don't think I wouldn't be able to take it." She cried even more.
"I'm not going anywhere Jane." He smiled at her and did one thing she was not expecting kissed her full on the lips. She was completely shocked she was not expecting it but soon returned the kiss with more force then Naruto started with pushing him up against a wall. They finally broke the kiss after a few minutes and both looked in each others eyes.
"What was that for?" Jane asked as she rested her head on his chest.
"I figured were to short lived a species. might as well make the most of it." He smiled down at her. "Go get some rest, I say we leave in the next two days. We have things that need done." Shepard nodded her head and headed for her door. She leaned up against it half her body inside and her other half outside with the Japanese style door resting between her breasts and she looked at Naruto with an innocent smile.
"Sleep with me tonight?" She asked and Naruto made his way over to her and nodded as he bent down and kissed her again and got into bed and genuinely slept in each others arms the entire night.
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"What's going on in here!" Garrus shouted sarcastically as he walked in on Naruto and Shepard gaining everyone's attention that made them all curious and Garrus just had his usual shit eating grin on his face as he saw Shepard sit up in bed groggily as she wiped the sleep out of her eyes. Naruto was still asleep to her side. "So what is going on?" He asked with all seriousness.
"I'm actually not sure." Shepard replied as she scratched her head. "Things just kind of happened last night."
"Bow chicka bow wow." Garrus replied still smirking. "Anyway, Joker is hobbling back to the Normandy with the rest of the crew, they said that they will pick us up tomorrow around midday." Shepard nodded and glared at Garrus who took it as his que to leave and did so as Shepard once again was warmed with Naruto's embrace and sighed in relief. Naruto shifted in his sleep and Shepard couldn't help but run her fingers over the whisker marks on his cheeks and a slight purr could be heard as he tried to nuzzle into her hand and she had to suppress back a cute little giggle. Naruto's eyes opened slowly and looked at Shepard who was smiling back at him.
"Morning Naruto."
"I didn't do it!" He shouted out of impulse as he sat up quickly. Shepard laid a hand on his shoulder and pulled him back down to the bed and laid her head on his shoulder.
"You need to learn that if you wake up with a woman by your side that you didn't do something wrong. Ok." Shepard told him and he dumbly nodded his head.
"Wake up love birds!" Garrus shouted.
"Were up!" Shepard yelled back as she reluctantly stood up from her position on the bed. "What is it Garrus."
"Lady Tsunade said that Tali is ready to come out of isolation." Garrus smiled slightly.
"Are you serious?" Garrus nodded his head. "Naruto get dressed were going to be the first people in the galaxy to see what a Quarian looks like in over four hundred years." Shepard smiled. Naruto was up in seconds ever since he had met Tali he had wanted to know what she looks like under the mask. Garrus and Naruto walked side by side as Ashley and Shepard walked behind them.
"So what happened last night Commander?" Ash asked.
"I'm not sure, one minute we were talking then the next he kissed me, and I can tell you I have never been kissed like that before." She smiled with a dreamy look on her face.
"I'm not talking about that I want details of last night!" She ordered in a whisper.
"Nothing happened." Shepard replied.
"Are you serious I would have, I mean have you seen that kids ass its like it was carved by a god or something look at it!" She said as her eyes were glued to the backside of Naruto, Shepard couldn't help but look either and had to smirk as a blush covered her face. "I can't believe you didn't get with that."
"What! Since when do we talk about each others love lives!" She shouted a little too loudly making Naruto and Garrus look back at them with questioning looks.
"It's nothing just admiring the view." Ash smirked and they continued on there way. "How about you just yell out to the whole god damn planet that were talking about what could have been your steamy hot night with one smoke-n ass guy." She chuckled.
"Oh shut up, lets go see Tali already."
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For the past three days Tali had been under constant tests but was assured by Tsunade and her assistant Shizune that they could bring her immunity to bacteria and all other diseases back up to at least eighty percent so that she would not have to wear her environmental suit all the time and could breath pure oxygen again and it was all a success. The young Quarian was so excited to be out of her suit without the risk of getting sick that she ran around the hospital room practically naked in nothing but a dressing gown. Shizune said that she should rest but she was to excited and Tsunade said that it would cause no damage and she could rest later. Tali had told her that she was forever in her debt and Tsunade just waved it off saying she was a friend of Naruto's and there was no need for thanks. Tali collapsed on the bed when she was finally out of breath her long dark purple hair covering her face as she was laying face down giggling. This is what Shepard and the others walked into find.
"Tali are you ok?" Shepard asked and Tali instantly looked up and everyone gasped. She was completely beautiful, her skin was a light shade of purple, her eyes were completely white with an eerie glow to them. Her long dark purple hair came down past her shoulders and she had the most beautiful smile you could ever lay your eyes on.
"Shepard look at me I don't need my mask or my suit!" Tali said jumping for joy.
"Tali, your beautiful." Shepard replied and Tali blushed a light shade of red.
"Y-you mean it?" And Shepard nodded her head along with everyone else in the room, both Naruto and Garrus had to pick up there jaws off the floor when the both first saw her and are still trying to keep them in place.
"How can you hide such a beautiful face from the galaxy is beyond me." Naruto smirked making her blush even more.
"Thank you Naruto."
"Are you ready to move out Tali we leave tomorrow." Shepard asked.
"I would like to stay in the hospital one more night to say thank you to everyone who helped me." She smiled and Shepard nodded.
"We will come get you tomorrow then." Tali nodded and continued jumping around for joy and enjoying the touch of everything new on her face that she had never felt before. The others left her to her joyful jumping and since they were the only ones left along with Gaara in the village they decided that they would spend the last night that they had together and have fun as they didn't know when they would be able to relax again if ever but they would at least spend one last night having fun and that's what they did. Shepard for once in a long time didn't have Reapers or mission objectives on her mind, Garrus didn't have the memories of the betrayal he had survived through. Ash didn't have the usual mission or military priorities to deal with, Gaara for once smiled a genuine smile to have new friends and that he no longer had to do thrice-damned paper work and he said as much and was happy that Naruto recovered from his overuse of Kurama's chakra. Naruto, he was happy for the first time since Jiraiya had died, he was smiling happily and the others could tell that this was not a fake smile or a mask to hid behind but it was the true Naruto.
Tsunade had ordered all the Anbu to the front gate during the day to make sure no council members tried anything with Naruto leaving or Gaara for that matter. She was sad to send him off again and this time she knew that there was a chance that he would never come back. Sakura and Shizune were by her side talking aimlessly waiting for the rest of the group to arrive which consisted of Garrus and Naruto who were already twenty minutes late as the Normandy was already there. Shepard had been talking with Tsunade . Kakashi arrived and made sure that he kept well away from Tsunade after Naruto's little prank that he pulled and Kakashi was unable to get a word in edge wise when Tsunade had started yelling at him about it so he got blamed for it and was unable to get Naruto back.
It was this scene that Garrus, Naruto and Kakashi happened upon when they finally arrived. Naruto then walked over to Sakura, Tsunade and Sasuke, looking like he had a few things to say, and wanted to get them off his chest before he left.
"There's a good chance I won't be coming back. I have some serious feelings for Jane, and I want to stay on the Normandy with her. Grandma, I know I said, a long time ago, that I wanted to become Hokage, but dreams do change over the years."
"Naruto..." Sasuke started.
"Give me a minute, Sasuke" He told Uchiha who immediately backed down, "We weren't the best team in the village, Sakura, Sasuke, but you two became like the family I never had. I want you two to defend this village with all you have, and help prepare the nations of our world for the coming of the Reapers. I'm trusting you two with this. Grandma, when it comes time to choose a new Hokage, Sasuke, Sakura or Kakashi would be your best choice."
"That won't be happening," Tsunade told the young sage, "You see, I just got the message from the Tsuchikage, Raikage, and Mizukage. They're calling for a stronger alliance. While Kakashi, Shizune and I handle that, I'm sending a team with you, Naruto. Your team."
"Team 7 rides again, Dobe," Sasuke smiled, "Like it should have been long ago."
"Ok, but you and I do need to talk when we get on ship," Naruto told the Uchiha.
"That went well." Kakashi said.
"Don't I know it" Tsunade sighed as she told Shizune to get back to the Hokage's office and get everything ready for an upcoming meeting of the great nations.
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Aboard the Normandy Naruto went to his quarters with Sasuke. He actually missed the Normandy in its own little way it was his home. Garrus wanted to speak with him about some things and Shepard had told him that they needed some time before anyone spoke with them and Garrus decided to show Gaara and Sakura around the ship but Miranda had already taken the liberty of doing so and left Garrus alone doing nothing and Garrus alone doing nothing was a dangerous combination. The course of the Normandy was set for Illium for the Justicar and the assassin which Joker wasn't all to pleased about. In the Shinobi's quarters, Naruto and Sasuke looked out the window at the stars when the Uchiha finally spoke up.
"What's on your mind?" Sasuke asked.
"You and Sakura," Naruto replied, "Is anything going on between you two?"
"It has been for a year," the Uchiha told his friend, "After I came back, it took me some time to get back in shape from that beating you gave me. She helped me, and we took that time to talk, a lot. I realized that I have feelings for her, and we started dating."
"Good. Now, what I said back at Konoha's gates is true. I do have feelings for Shepard. Strong ones. Even after we finish this mission, I doubt I'll go back to Konoha."
"You've seen a lot out here, haven't you?"
"More than you can imagine, Teme. Anyway, Kelly will bring you, Sakura and Gaara some datapads to get you up to speed on galactic civilization. Also, Jacob, Garrus and I will get you outfitted with armor and weapons. We can modify the armor to allow for chakra use."
"Let me guess, even though we all look alike, Shepard and her crew can't use charka?"
"Yeah, but they have their own strengths. Their technology is centuries ahead of ours. Combine their technology, with our chakra, and it'll be a deadly combo. The reapers won't stand a chance."
"What are the reapers?"
"According to Jane, they're a machine race that wipes out all galactic civilization every 50 thousand years. They wiped out a race called the Protheans, 50 thousand years ago, and they're coming back soon. Jane is trying to get the galaxy's races to unite to take them on."
"And bringing us Shinobi with abilities that are beyond their own, into the mix."
"We've never seen a reaper, but I know with my complete susano'o, and you with Kurama, we could cut a swath of destruction through most anything."
"Just what I was thinking, Sasuke." Naruto turned to his friend, and the two shinobi bumped fists, "Who'd have thought that we'd save more than just the shinobi world? We're going to wind up saving the whole damn galaxy."