A/N: Now, I don't usually put these at the start but there are a couple of things I just want to clarify with people before we get into the chapter properly. Three reviewers have pointed out to me a giant plot hole that I had somehow missed entirely when I wrote this story, the fact that Naruto would still be a teenager at best at the time of the chuunin exams.
This of course would make the harem a bit of an issue and therefore I have had to 'bend' the graduation age of the Naruto universe a little bit. In my AU, during non wartime the children attend a civilian academy till the age of 10 and then attend the ninja academy for 3 years. With Naruto failing twice that would put him at almost 17 now, so sorry if this is a little disappointing for people by diverging from canon I apologise but not a lot more I can do about it.
Secondly to avoid any other confusion, Nirali has given Naruto a translator which is what she was going to mime to him at the end of her PoV, so that is how he is now able to understand Jane and the others.
Finally, big shout out to PageOfMind for betaing this chapter, wouldn't have been nearly as happy as I was with them!
Thats all for now, hope you enjoy.
Shepard's first thoughts as she awoke were of pain, every part of her body ached like she had just finished three days of PT followed by trying to keep up with a Krogan in a drinking contest. Given that level of discomfort, it took her a few moments to remember what had lead up to her being in this sorry state.
With the bombs dealt with, they had moved through into the space port in time to encounter another wave of Geth soldiers. Obviously the Geth knew their attempt to flatten the spaceport and the beacon with it had failed and therefore were attempting to deal with the intruders physically.
Jane had to give it to Naruto. Even if the boy didn't have the slightest idea what these 'metal men' were or how they worked, he was very skilled at taking them apart using strange knives and his spear when he managed to get in close with them. His clones, as Naruto called them, were also very useful as distractions and decoys, moving ahead of the main group to scout for traps and ambushes.
The fact that they were somehow relaying info back to him given his precognitive awareness of their enemies movements was a further boon and something that Jane was going to ask him about after they secured the beacon, but given the general evasiveness and hostility that Naruto showed whenever she or one of the others got anywhere near him it had not really seemed like the right time.
That thought brought the last few minutes of her memories back with sharp clarity. As she heard the sound of raised voices, a combination of the two caused her to awaken entirely, eyes snapping open as she scanned the room quickly before she moved.
The view of overhead medical instruments, as well as the chemical smell made it clear that she was in the med-bay. Now she was fully cognisant Jane could hear 2 voices raised in argument, both familiar to her and arguing about her from the sounds of it.
"As I've told you previously, the med bay is for authorised personnel only, it's bad enough that I had to post two guards on the door after we initially removed you from here. But according to Dr Chakwas you were back in here in minutes with no one outside any the wiser and as captain of this ship such a security breach cannot be ignored..." The rather resigned tone of Captain Anderson reminded her of when they had first worked together whilst she was still in the N7, it was nice to hear it being directed at someone other than herself for once.
"I don't care if you're the Lord of the fricking universe you bastard, it's bad enough you dragged me away from wherever we were, through space and to see this Council that I have never heard of. You still haven't explained to me where I was when I woke up, how I got there or what the metal men were doing, even if I believe you when you say that my friends weren't there when I was found. Shepard-leader's (Translation of 'taichou' which is about as respectful as I can see Naruto being.) actions mean we are honour bound and I will not leave her side unless she tells me to."
Though the first burst had been rather fiercely stated, by the end of his outburst Naruto sounded a lot more serious and calm, the connotations of what he said really hitting home with Jane as she composed herself before sitting up and speaking.
"I don't know if pushing you away from the beacon after you rescued Ashley means you are whatever this honour bound means Naruto, it is not as if you can say I saved your life or anything." Now she was sat up Jane could see the two men stood at the end of the bed, Naruto's face lighting up a little as he turned to face her with a hint of a smile that seemed far more at home there than the frowns and blank looks he adorned during the mission.
"Shepard-leader, you are awake!" Then as what she said sunk in Naruto shook his head but the smile didn't fade. "And of course it counts, after all as far as we were concerned that energy from the beacon could have killed whoever it came into contact with and you still saved me whilst risking yourself. If we only agreed someone saved our life by them dying for us it would be a lot harder to pay them back. Kami only knows I have enough of them to pay back that I cannot physically do, so I'm afraid you are stuck with me captain."
Despite his apology Naruto didn't look even slightly sorry as a cough from Anderson brought both of their attention back to the captain as he did his best to remain professional despite obviously being pleased Jane had awoken.
"Despite whatever debt you feel you need to pay the Commander, Alliance Regulations do not allow for children to ser..." That was as far as he got before Naruto cut him off, the boy looking seriously angry for the first time since Jane had met him.
"I am not a child dattebayo! Just because I haven't had my growth spurt yet... I am almost 17 and I have been a ninja for almost 7 years, which means I probably have more fighting experience than most of your crew." (A/N: Before people explode at this number, it includes the time that Naruto spent at the academy, including the two years he failed before passing on the third time.) Ninja? Given his clothing and fighting style Jane doubted that he was a ninja by their definition, though it could be a designation given to him by whoever it was that trained him to be the child soldier he obviously was.
"And besides, if what I have read up on these Spectre things is true, then Jane might become one and become separate from the Alliance anyway." Suddenly Naruto's defiant tone faded a bit and he looked almost wistful as he spoke the next sentence.
"Also, from what Nirali-chan has told me I am technically way older than any of you, so I don't need you trying to order me around!" That comment caused Jane to raise an eyebrow in confusion, what was Naruto talking about? Anderson obviously saw her look and seemed to come to a decision, gesturing to one of the marines who seemed to be there solely to keep an eye on Naruto if their focused gaze was anything to go by.
"Go and get Serviceman Bhatia soldier, I think the commander will need to hear both sides of this tale first hand." As the marine saluted and turned to go out of the door Anderson turned back to Jane with a serious look on his face. "You have been unconscious for two days Shepard and in that time I have had the pleasure of doing my best to get some information out of this one, just as he has been determined to spend that time either browsing the extranet for all the information available, or doing his best to avoid me where he can."
Naruto pulled a rather impolite face at this rather pointed comment and Jane found herself smiling almost despite herself even as her headache continued to throb rather incessantly. Anderson either didn't see the face or was ignoring it as he continued.
"Despite my reservations about his validity, if what Mr Uzumaki claims is true then his survival on Eden Prime is even more important to the council than the beacon, not that this will mean they won't try and pin it's destruction on you of course. But we will get to that particular bombshell in a minute, I think it is best if we discuss what happened with the beacon Shepard, what do you remember?"
Despite her urge to know what the hell Anderson was talking about regarding Naruto, Shepard knew an implied order when she heard one, so she did her best to remember the last minutes of Eden Prime and more importantly the vision that she had gotten through the beacon. Whilst Anderson looked mildly worried by what she was telling him, Naruto looked really excited.
"That sounds like what happened on my world, perhaps the beacon is like Ino-chan having put a memory in it or something." Somehow Jane doubted it, the thoughts felt almost entirely alien to her. Then her mind caught up with her and she looked at Naruto in what she hoped was a serious questioning face rather than the more unprofessional confusion she was feeling, she had a strange suspicion where this conversation was going.
"No I don't think so Naruto, and why would one of your friend's memories be inside the beacon? Unless this is some kind of hallucination?" Anderson shook his head at her obvious askance, a knock at the medbay door indicating the arrival of this Bhatia who would hopefully break whatever prank these two were trying to pull on her. Indicating to the marine to open the door for a woman probably in her late thirties early forties, Anderson had gained some of his usual good humour back.
"That is what I thought at first as well Commander, but given what Mr Uzumaki can do as well as what Serviceman Bhatia has told us... I suppose I should let you tell her Serviceman..." Given the nervous look on the woman's face as she began her tale, her body language indicating she was expecting some kind of negative reaction to her words, Shepard knew that weird visions of destruction and mayhem on a massive scale might not actually be the weirdest thing she was going to have to deal with today.
*Line Break*
The remaining time until they reached the Citadel had been interesting for the crew of the Normandy, given the large number of blonde haired clones that had been swarming every deck of the ship investigating, questioning and generally making a nuisance of himself as he did his best to learn more about the universe he had come to exist in.
Even the Naruto who had been in the med-bay when she had awoken turned out to be a clone, poofing away as Anderson had tried to have the marines escort him from the room, proof if any was needed that Naruto still did not trust any of them.
Despite this rather sudden increase in activity aboard, Jane had found herself relatively undisturbed as she did her best to carry out an investigation on the body of Nihilus in the cargo area of the Normandy. Whilst she would have preferred to carry out the investigation in situ that was beyond her control now so she would do her best with what she had.
Whilst Naruto being perched on top of the Mako watching had been slightly irritating at first, when she had been trying to reconstruct the crime scene that irritation turned to awe as Naruto not only offered to help but spawned several more clones that would take up the positions of the geth corpses in the nearby area, before they became corpses of course.
Two of the Geth were ruled out as relevant from the after action reports, Ashley had taken down before finding Nihilus, but that still left four Geth that had been killed presumably by Nihilus. As she looked around at their positions, Jane came to the same conclusion she had come to when she had originally looked over Nihilus' body in the Med-bay, speaking out loud to provide insight to Naruto in case he hadn't gotten the same hunch.
"These Geth didn't kill Nihilus, that much is clear." To her surprise there was no question or agreement from Naruto and when she turned to face him she found herself looking at Nihilus, fully dressed in his battle gear and reading from the datapad that held most of the evidence reports from the ground.
If she didn't already know of Naruto's shape changing abilities Jane would have been a lot more on edge, something that obviously upset the 'henged' ninja as his smirk faded and he spoke up, his voice sounding more than a little weird coming from Nihilus' jaws.
"I thought that perhaps if we worked out Nihilus' movements we could work out what happened taichou, but what makes you certain that this wasn't a Geth? I can't imagine a colonist having either the ability or the motive to off a Spectre who is alert and in the middle of a warzone..."
And that was the rub that she would have to solve before they reached the Council, with the witness reports of another Turian and Anderson's claim that this Saren was another Spectre, Jane was going to have to be impeccable in her report otherwise she or even Naruto might well end up taking the stick for the incident. That was if this wasn't a giant Council Black ops operation to destabilise human interests of course, if that was the case they were all screwed.
"Nihilus was shot with a mass effect round at nearly point blank range from behind, which matches up with the witness account, no it's in this section, you were on the photo evidence." Breaking from her rather pessimistic train of thought to help Naruto as he struggled to find the witness statement of the dock worker she was talking about Jane was glad that whilst the young man, as she didn't want to call him boy anymore after his rather aggressive reaction to Anderson doing the same thing, was definitely more powerful than her in hand to hand combat and very dangerous given his clones, was an absolute rookie when it came to technology in any form.
Even the automatic doors had supposedly spooked him at first when they had brought her back aboard the Normandy, and his lack of technical aptitude wouldn't be disappearing for a while it seems.
Given the stories he had told her in their breaks from the investigation of what some of the other ninja from his world had been able to do and had done from the little history of the elemental nations he was able to remember, Jane was glad that Naruto for all his penchant of irritating Anderson to the point of an aneurysm was understanding enough or trusting enough to not go postal on them for the loss of his friends.
If someone like Naruto had thought they had been involved with their removal, Eden Prime would probably be little more than a lifeless hole in the ground now.
Not a positive train of thought, but as she saw Naruto fist pump in celebration as he managed to singlehandedly move from the witness report to the scans that had been taken of the area's surfaces, Jane could see that despite the large amounts of emotional pain that Naruto was in, his spirit wouldn't allow him to wallow force his anger onto others if they didn't deserve it, bearing the emotional burden instead like a badge of pride on show for the whole world to see.
*line break*
Stepping out off the docking Bay Area with Ashley and Naruto in tow, Naruto now dressed in heavy armour that had been modified for his size though his still kept his jacket and spear to complete the look, Shepard was surprised to find a pair of heavily armed C-sec officers waiting for them, the Turian of the pair speaking up in what he obviously thought was an official tone.
"Commander, I have orders to take that thing into custody." He nodded his head at Naruto, either not noticing or not caring about how Naruto stiffened at his term of address, hand twitching towards the spear at his back.
Trying to defuse the situation before the officer carried on and made Naruto do something he would regret, as well as finding out what was going on, Shepard stepped between them,.
"On what grounds do you want to take him in, I know that he can't have done anything to warrant..." She paused as the other C-Sec officer, a rather nervous looking Salarian, held up a data pad with official looking writing on it.
"Directly from the council, given what has been claimed by the... Subject, it has been decided that further questioning needs to take place in order to validate your claims." If something about the situation hadn't smelled fishy before it sure as hell did now, the Council were to see them in a few hours anyway, why would they want Naruto taken in by C-Sec?
And more importantly, why would the Council let anyone know about Naruto since the communication from Udina had been that the whole thing was to be a secret until the Alliance and the Council claimed otherwise.
She was about to state as such when help came from an unexpected source, Ambassador Udina himself coming through the doors behind them with his escort. Whether he had been able to hear the conversation through the door or one of the others had patched him into the comma Jane didn't know, but it was definitely the first time that she had been glad to see the politician in person.
"If that were indeed a Council mandate for Mr Uzumaki's arrest it would have to have my signature attached to it as the Alliance's ambassador or failing that an Admiral's consent, of which I am without doubt certain you have neither. So what we are going to do instead is find out whether this is an illegal attempt to detain an Alliance citizen without just cause and faking a Council mandate, or whether you pair are C-Sec members at all..."
Jane had to admit that she underestimated Udina given how quickly he had turned the situation around on the C-Sec officers, who looked at each other for a moment before going for their weapons as two other Turians in the background drew assault rifles.
Before the Turian could finish drawing his shotgun Naruto was inside his guard, spear slamming into his shields and deflecting off to the side, but the blunt force of the blow still knocked the Turian off of his feet as his shields collapsed.
The Salarian started turning in a mix of shock and anger at his comrade being downed so easily only for Udina's guards to mow him down in a concentrated blaze of fire that Jane and Ashley were happy to contribute to. As Naruto's spear put the gasping Turian out of his misery with a thrust to the neck, the other attackers seemed to reconsider their attempted ambush and broke into the screaming and panicking crowds that made up the docks travellers.
Definitely not the way she wanted their first trip to the Citadel to start out...
A/N: Quite amused and impressed that this story has already made it into the top 5 of my most liked and followed stories, though I do think I have to review all my other stories to try and work out what has worked so well for this one and not my others.
Hope you liked the chapter, will diverge from canon throughout this as Naruto's appearance will interest more than just the Geth. Review and let me know what you think.