It all happened so fast that if she hadn't felt the impact of rounds upon her shields Jane might have thought she had just imagined the sound of assault gun fire. They had been walking to Chora's den after checking in with Executor Pallin. Checking in with the head of law enforcement on the Citadel Naruto's idea given they were wanting to carry out an investigation into someone who had already proved that he was more than happy to hire someone else to try and take them out and also was a known politically-savvy adversary. That now seemed to be a very good idea seeing as they were under attack.

She didn't know how Naruto had done it but after explaining what their plan was, Pallin and Naruto had merely looked at each other for a moment before Pallin allowed them to investigate further into Saren, as long as they had a C-Sec member with them whenever they performed any investigatory work. This would allow for the evidence to be used in legal proceedings without fear of it being thrown out for being 'contaminated'.

Given they had been going to find Garrus anyway Jane was more than happy to agree, since the writ that Pallin gave them would allow them to act as conscripts to C-Sec under Garrus for the duration of the investigation. But it wouldn't cover them being attacked before they found Garrus. Drawing her shotgun against the new threat Jane was surprised when suddenly the Turian who had shot at her was downed by a familiar figure who descended left foot first onto the Turian's back, sending the Turian to the floor with shields shattering under the force even as Naruto spun in the air.

His foot slammed into the other Turian's jaw even as he turned with weapon ready, shotgun going off over Naruto's left shoulder as the young ninja then went to work with his fists, two blows slamming into the Turian's shields in less than a second, before they failed spectacularly. The Turian tried to back up even as Shepard and the others moved up to hem him in, but Naruto didn't give him any space and bodily threw the Turian into the wall next to him so hard he actually bounced off and rolled over twice before coming to a groaning stop.

Indicating for Kaidan to check the first Turian, Shepard kicked the second one's Shotgun away from him before turning to the Naruto that had counter ambushed them. Given his slightly heavier breathing, Shepard had a suspicion and decided to test it a moment later. There was the start of a cry from the Naruto next to her as she cuffed him round the head, causing him to explode into smoke a moment later, drawing a confused look from the Naruto in front of her.

"You are the real one I assume?" It was more a statement than a question and given Naruto's slight widening of the eyebrows Jane knew she was spot on. But she didn't elaborate any further than that, after all if she did tell him that she had based her guess on the fact that his clones didn't alter their breathing unless they were absolutely exhausted, then he would just make sure to cover that for next time.

"Good work on these two, though a little warning would be nice next time." The mixed compliment and rebuke made Naruto smile a little sheepishly even as Ashley and Kaidan finished checking them for weapons or other equipment, the two pistols, supply of Medigel and small stock of grenades showing that the pair had properly been prepared for battle rather than this being a random mugging attempt.

"Can your clones take these two to C-Sec whilst we move on? Even if they did try and kill us it is a bit heartless to leave them unconscious and bound in an area like this." It also might get them in Palin's good books and even the name of the person that hired them to try and kill her, but primarily because she liked to think of herself as having some morals.

Naruto nodded and a moment later a trio of clones appeared before shifting themselves into non descript humans, two of them staying stood over the bodies whilst the third flitted off back the way they had come, undoubtedly to get a hold of C-Sec and bring them here rather than try and take two unconscious Turians through the Wards. Jane also instructed the clones to take the Turians weapons, primarily to deter those she could already see skulking nearby, but also to stop the Turians from causing any trouble if they woke up.

If C-Sec wanted to take the weapons that was fine, but Shepard had always been a bit of an opportunist and if the opportunity to obtain a couple of extra weapons was there she would happily take it. Now all she needed to do was stop the real Naruto from baling at the first opportunity and leaving her stuck with a clone again...

Persona- Naruto

They had checked in with Harkin, the drunken layabout quickly fraying both Jane's and his own temper with his attitude, but the information about where they could find Garrus was very useful. Almost too useful in fact Naruto thought as he checked the last of the bodies in the clinic that the 5 of them had just cleared, Harkin was probably much better at intel gathering than everyone realised if he was able to keep such good tabs on any one person amongst the thousands in C-Sec.

Something for him to investigate further at another time, the information Dr Michel had provided them meant that they had an actual tangible lead, though given their potential source was unknowingly trying to give her damning information to their enemy without realising it that might mean nothing. Garrus and Shepard were all for storming back to Chora's den and dealing with Fist until they found out where this mysterious Quarian was, but the memories of two of his clones that he had received in the last few minutes made Naruto a little more cautious about the potential backlash...

*Clone One Memory*

"I have stationwide reports of a vigilante who has taken out over a dozen muggers, drug dealers and other unsavoury characters in a matter of 3 hours, despite the net distance between the different events being far then would be possible by a human not using the taxi-car system and knowing where each event was going to take place in advance. It is almost as if there were in fact multiple copies of the same person scattered throughout the Citadel..." Executor Pallin gave Naruto a nonplussed look at this point, something Naruto could understand now that he had looked the Citadel up a lot more on the Extranet.

Each of the 5 arms that made up the Citadel's main body had 40,000 odd C-Sec officers serving as a mixture of the police and other emergency response units, and right at the top of that pile was the Turian sat in front of him. The only reason the Executor had time to deal with him in person was that each of the arm districts ran themselves pretty much independently, leaving the executor primarily to control the funding of the overall organisation, the joint operations between the different groups and of course the C-Sec 'Royal Guard' who protected the Presidium and the Council chambers.

Given the rather ridiculous responsibilities of the man's tasks, Naruto could see how Palin was a little upset with him rocking the boat with his extracurricular work, but he felt he had to defend his actions a little at this stage.

"What else was I meant to do Executor-san, let those people get away with what they were doing? Someone could have gotten killed if I had ignored it..." Palin seemed to be a little less upset at his protest which was a good thing, but then he seemed to remember something else that had no doubt been mentioned in the reports.

"And the fact that all of the individuals in question had been stripped of their armour, weapons and money before being tied to various objects with 'Present for C-Sec' inscribed in some kind of pen into their foreheads? By the Primarch Uzumaki one of them was a Krogan!" Ah, so the boss's other clones had reverted a little to their pranking ways, understandable given his frustration at things.

And the weapons etc were a good start on making some money of his own so that he wouldn't have to keep scrounging off Shepard all the time, though telling Pallin that probably wouldn't earn him any plus points. So Naruto fell back on an old trick of his he had used with the Sandaime Hokage back when he had been a child.

"Eh, no idea what that is about, I am sure I had nothing to do with that occurring Executor-san." True in the strictest sense, this particular clone had nothing to do with it. Palin seemed to realise the game he was playing and sighed in frustration before flicking something across the table to him, a silver badge that Naruto had only heard about when he had been looking up the organisation on the internet...

"Well, if I can't stop you from doing these things on MY station I can at least make sure you do it properly. You are now a contracted C-Sec agent and will be able to stop crimes in progress, though no more taking people's gear unless there is a valid reason for such actions understood?" Looking down at the little badge with a giant grin on his face, Naruto had nodded his head. He was going to have a lot of fun with this...

*Clone One Memory End*

Yeah, best Naruto let the Executor know of what they were planning, even with Garrus and now him there to make the thing slightly less illegal, the fact they had already killed half a dozen people and not even started did not bode well for a bloodless incident to come. And if that was going to be the case, then there was someone else they probably wanted along for the ride...

*Clone Two Memory*

The clone had been in the Presidium C-Sec building when he had heard mention of trouble at Chora's den being discussed by a C-Sec officer, as he and three other officers escorted a particularly well scarred Krogan from the holding cells.

"And stay away from Chora's Den Wrex, you are already in trouble for the incident upon your arrival, anymore and..." The C-Sec officer stopped as the Krogan merely turned and cast him a glowering look, the officers reaching for their weapons as he growled.

"You'll do what dog? I could take you all down before you hand a chance to use those weapons and you know it. Let Fist know that I am coming for him, and just pray you aren't the one he calls for help from when I do..." The Krogan was certainly interesting, and dangerous enough to cow four officers of the law into backing down inside their own bloody HQ. If he was going to be aiming for Chora's den then it was best if the boss knew right away...

*Clone Two Memory End*

A quick search on the extranet by one of his other clones had highlighted the Krogan Warlord's infamous and bloody career that stretched back almost a millennia. When it came to battle experience and body count, Naruto doubted anyone could claim to have more than Wrex did. And now they had a common enemy, though Naruto hoped that Wrex would see it that way as he called out to Shepard to tell her of his plans. If Wrex decided they instead were competition, then it wouldn't be Fist they had to worry about...

*Timeskip*

Luckily Wrex had decided that extra help wouldn't be an issue, especially when Jane had made it clear that she wasn't trying to get in on the bounty money and merely wanted information from the man. Naruto had offered to keep searching the Wards whilst they stormed Chora's Den, given his still rather pathetic accuracy with the guns everyone seemed so fond off and Pallin's 'request' that he not use his spear unless absolutely necessary, he would most likely be as much a spectator as an asset. He had some jutsu he could use of course, but the more of those he could keep under wraps the better.

Jane had given him a long look that reminded him of Sakura-chan when she wasn't entirely sure if she trusted what he had said, a look that still struck him with phantom terror that he had done or said something that would set off the Cherry Blossom's rather short emotional fuse. Guessing what it is Jane wanted he promised he would keep in touch via the comms and that he would be the one coming back. That seemed to confuse both Garrus and Wrex but Naruto was fine with that, the two aliens only just on first name terms with him would have to somehow stick around for quite sometime before he gave them anything else.

With Shepard's taciturn approval Naruto had jogged off whilst the others made their move towards Chora's Den, the sounds of fighting and gunfire letting Naruto know quite how prepared Fist had been for trouble. Another strike against the Council and C-Sec's internal security, given Pallin had only given approval for the raid 20 minutes ago and the paperwork would probably not be cleared for the next couple of hours, but they could worry about that once they found this Quarian and had her safe from any other reprisals Saren might have in store.

Given there were thousands of Quarians in the Ring Wards alone, the idea that he would be able to find the one they needed was laughable given the lack of distinguishing features the body-suited aliens had to offer, but given that if Fist hadn't already met and killed her then she would not be in Chora's Den then having people spread out through the station would be beneficial if Fist did know anything useful about her.

"Naruto." Jane's voice over the comms was a surprising relief to Shepard after the minutes of silence after the fighting, he had originally been worried that they had been overwhelmed by Fist's security.

"Yes, Shepard-taichou?" Whilst waiting for her continue speaking Naruto created another clone, which would act as a relay to the other clones on the station when it dispelled.

"Fist is talking, seems he still has this Quarian under the impression that he works for the Shadow Broker. She has asked to meet with the Shadow Broker in person which would never happen, but Fist has claimed that he has arranged it at a secluded location in the wards, I am sending you the location now. The meet is in 10 minutes, which is cutting it close from the Den. What is your ETA?" Looking at his omni-tool, a present from Jane that worked a lot better than the original piece of outdated crap Udina had presented him with, Naruto realised that he was nearly at the location she had highlighted.

"I can be there and set up in two minutes Shepard-taichou. What are your orders if the Quarian arrives before you do?" There was a murmured discussion on the other end of the line before Jane spoke once more.

"If possible, warn the Quarian and then keep her hidden and safe until we arrive. If that isn't possible and as Fist claims there are assassins from Saren waiting for her, deal with them however is necessary but keep that Quarian alive." Easy enough orders then, now to go check out the ambush site...

*Line Break*

Persona- Tali

Turning into the alley that Fist had told her the Shadow Broker's agents would be waiting to vet her and then lead her to the Shadow Broker himself, Tali seriously regretted ever taking that data off the Geth's memory banks. Since then she had been hounded halfway across the galaxy and even now was constantly looking over her shoulder in case one of saren's men had finally managed to track her down.

There were three people waiting for her in the alley, a Turian stood in an obviously impatient manner and a pair of Salarians leaning against a power unit a little further down. The Turian noticed her arrival and gestured with his arm.

"Did you bring it?" That question brought Tali up short for a moment, this wasn't how Fist had said things were going to go.

"What about the Shadow Broker? And where is Fist?" There was a sinking feeling in her stomach as the Turian sighed and shrugged in a very uncaring manner.

"They will be here, now where is evidence?" So either Fist lied to her or the Shadow Broker decided not to bother with an exchange, either way Tali needed to leave right now.

"No way, the deal is off." The fact that this didn't seem to surprise or upset the Turian was another warning bell joining the half a dozen others that were going off in her head as all three of them suddenly drew pistols in an obviously menacing manner. Tali went to palm the grenade that had been in her belt for this exact reason, calculating mentally the distance between where she was stood now and the nearest cover, when suddenly her world vision spun.

A moment later she found herself collapsed on one of the walkways overlooking the alley even as the three assassins opened fire at where she had been standing. As she moved to right herself from the strange half lying position she found herself in, Tali froze as a hand covered the lower half of her face visor, the feeling of someone else pulling her to them in a firm but not overly threatening manner a new and rather unique sensation.

"Shh, don't move or they will hear you Quarian-chan." The voice was obviously male and her internal communications display showed he was talking a human language called Japanese, and despite the plethora of questions about how she had gotten to where she was and who he was Tali did as he asked.

The assassins were still searching the nearby hiding places for her when suddenly the male holding her in place spoke once more, though this time it obviously wasn't to her.

"I have the Quarian. There are three of them Shepard-taichou, want me to take them out?" Tali didn't hear the reply but by the Krogan roar that reverberated around the alleyway (after all there was no other species in the galaxy that could be quite that terrifying with a simple noise), followed by the sharp staccato of gunfire made it clear that whoever this person was working with had decided to sort things out for themselves.

The grip on her visor and waist suddenly released and Tali took the opportunity to rapidly move away from her erstwhile saviour/captor, turning to look at who it was she owed her rescue to. The first impression she got looking at the blonde haired human in front of her was that he was quite young even by the standard of the few humans she had interacted with since starting her pilgrimage.

But even in a crouched position he had a confidence that made her wary even as his eyes shifted between her and the fight below. She went to grab her pistol, more to reassure herself that she had some defence left as opposed to trying to threaten him, but her hand met an empty holster.

"Looking for this Quarian-chan?" Her frantic panicking abated slightly as she saw the human holding her pistol in his left hand, not even slightly contrite as he held it out to her with a cheeky grin on his face.

"Apologies, but I didn't want you to do anything stupid when I grabbed you Quarian-chan. Now, judging by the fact that those guys just tried to kill you I think I would be safe in saying you need a hand correct?" As she took back her pistol with slightly shaking hands, her delayed response to the life-death situation she had been in, Tali knew without asking that the man was not asking and more telling her that he and whoever this Shepard was had business with her whether she liked it or not.

But given that her last shot of evading Saren by going to Fist had failed terribly it wasn't like Tali had any other options, not that she could probably get away from this guy if she wanted to, given how easily he had held her in place and spirited her away from the ambush. Still, even if she knew that this man might well kill her for it, Tali would rather die quickly as opposed to walking into yet another trap naively.

"You're not with Saren are you human? Not that I am ungrateful for you saving me or anything and even if you were I am sure that I wouldn't be able to stop you if you did want to hurt me..." Oh Keelah, she was babbling again, this is embarrassing. Luckily the human didn't seem to mind as he grinned at her before shaking his head.

"No, in fact he is part of the reason why Shepard-taichou is here, we are in fact trying to gather evidence against him..." Evidence he obviously already knew she had otherwise they probably wouldn't be having this conversation. The human paused for a second before looking down and speaking again.

"Looks like they are done Quarian-chan, so I think we had best get back down there. But not a word of where we went to anyone okay?" Tali nodded a little distractedly, a small part of her mind noting that it would be hard for her to tell anyone how they had got up there given she had no idea, for the most part she was more assessing the 30 foot drop and quite how the human intended for them to get down...

*Line Break*

Persona- Jane Shepard

"And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." The woman's voice reverberated around the Council chambers after the damning rendition of Saren's boastful comment, even now after having heard it half a dozen times Shepard was absolutely giddy at sticking it to the bastard.

They had only met that once, but he had managed to piss her off more than anyone that wasn't a Batarian. Of course, the Council had to verify the recording that Tali had submitted to Executor Pallin, an idea from Anderson to further remove the idea this was a human crusade against the Spectre. But with Pallin's word and with no signs of tampering the Council had no recourse other than to admit they were wrong this time. Probably why the Council rooms had been cleared of everyone but Ambassadors and other high ranking Council race members.

"You wanted proof, there it is." Udina for once was selective with his wording, but his smugness was easy to hear even as the mutterings of the ambassadors started up with earnest, obviously this kind of embarrassment to the Council and their little force of operatives didn't happen very often.

"This proof is irrefutable, Ambassador. Saren will be stripped of his Spectre status and all efforts will be made to bring him to justice." When the Turian finished speaking the Asari spoke with a slightly disbelieving tone tinging her melodic voice.

"I recognise that other voice, the one speaking with Saren in the recording. As much as I don't want to believe it, that is the voice of Matriarch Benezia." Shepard was not as up to date with Asari culture as he would perhaps have liked, but anyone with an obviously powerful title like Matriarch was not someone he wanted on Saren's side.

"I am unfamiliar with the term Matriarch and this Benezia Councillor, would you please enlighten us?" The Asari nodded, tone firmer as she spoke of the culture of her people.

"Matriarchs are powerful Asari who have entered the final stages of their lives. They are revered for their wisdom and collected experiences, often they serve as guides or teachers to my people. Due to their hallowed status, Matriarchs are venerated by many young Asari who will follow their path almost without question. Matriarch Benezia is one of the most powerful biotics of her generation and her teachings have given her many followers. If for whatever reason she has allied herself with Saren, then she will give him a formidable array of resources to wield in addition to his established Spectre network."

Shepard felt like turning and smashing her head against a wall, an ex-Spectre with an army of geth and allied with a very powerful Asari with a sizable force of her own and centuries of experience? This day just kept getting better and better. The Salarian spoke up in the ensuing silence, obviously eager to shift the focus away from what was quickly becoming a rather major political embarrassment for him and his colleagues.

"I am more interested in Saren's mention of the Reapers in the recording, obviously if he was on Eden Prime for the Beacon as has now been proven, he is trying to gather information on them. Captain Anderson, Commander Shepard, what do you know about them?" Anderson took a step forward and Shepard let his superior speak, he could tag on any other information the captain didn't mention at the end.

"Only what Tali here managed to extract from the Geth data core along with the recording about Saren." The mention and gesture to the nervous Quarian girl had the Salarian narrow his eyes in distaste whilst the Turian full on frowned, the two's expressions making Tali look like she was about to bolt.

As Anderson carried on speaking Shepard was both slightly amused and surprised when Naruto moved from slightly behind her and to the left, stepping across purposefully to stand between Tali and the council, crossing his arms and giving a blank stare as the Turian focussed on him whilst the Salarian looked away a little uncomfortably.

"The Reapers are an ancient race of machine that wiped out the Protheans before suddenly, they vanish from the known galaxy." Seeing her chance to interject with her own view as Anderson finished speaking, Shepard spoke up, her eyes never leaving the Turian Councillor's own after the Councillor looked away from Naruto.

"The Geth seem to revere the Reapers almost as Gods and whether using the Geth for his own ends or because he actually believes he can do so, Saren is becoming their Prophet for the Reapers return. Whatever this Conduit is that Saren mentions, it is obviously key to bringing them back. That is why he attacked Eden Prime, he is searching for it and the Beacon was a clue." The Councillors looked unconvinced even as Shepard spoke, but that was unsurprising as it was one hell of a tough sell, but it was certainly how it looked based on what she had seen thus far.

"Do we even know what the Conduit is that they are searching for?" The Salarian was at least being objective if skeptical about the whole thing, which was something Shepard could certainly respect and appreciate given the almost unthinking denial from his compatriots. Seeing Anderson glance at her it was obvious Jane was to field the question.

"No we don't, but does that really matter Councillors? Saren believes it exists and has shown that he will happily destroy entire colonies in his attempts to find it." The Turian almost didn't speak at that comment, seeming to second guess himself for a moment before uttering a response in an incensed tone that truly showed the man was now under pressure.

"Listen to yourself Commander. You think that Saren wants to bring back an armada of machines that wiped out all advanced life in the galaxy 50,000 years ago? It is impossible nonsense. It has to be. If the Reapers do exist, where did they go? Why would they leave after completely winning what must have been a costly conflict for them? And there has been no trace of their existence other than a few garbled texts obviously written by mad men? If they were real, we would have had to have found something!" Obviously the Turian was more focussed on quelling the panic that would arise from the existence of a galaxy cleansing machine attack, rather than trying to prevent the possibility of it happening.

Shepard sighed, she could already see where this was going, but had to try and get it into their heads quite how big a deal this actually was.

"Regardless of whether or not the Reapers are still around, the fact that Saren is searching the galaxy for them is proof enough we need to take action, better to have taken action needlessly than have been caught unawares." The Asari shook her head, which didn't really surprise Shepard all that much.

"What you are proposing is different to the issue of dealing with Saren. I will admit we were wrong about Saren and you proved that, for some reason he is after this conduit device, but we do not really know why. The Reapers are obviously just a myth Commander, one that Saren is using both to utilise the Geth as well as to hide his true purpose, whatever that may be." The Salarian seemed a bit unsure of the Asari's words but kept his mouth shut as the Turian councillor weighed in.

"Not that it matters any more, Saren has been stripped of his title, resources and manpower. Whatever he hoped to achieve will be difficult whilst he has no means to achieve them." Shepard actually couldn't believe the Turian's comment given what they had just discussed, barely restraining herself from losing all control of her temper and letting rip with what she thought of the 'honoured' Councillors opinions.

"I'm sorry Councillor-sama, but if that is your opinion I think we have just been listening to two very different conversations." All rage dissipated from Jane's shoulders as her new best friend spoke up for the first time since the hearing had begun, Jane enjoying the slight look of concern that passed over the Asari Councillor's face before she too turned to look at the young ninja.

Though Naruto's pose was the same as when he had moved in front of Tali before, there was now a rigidness of his body that spoke of anger he was doing a magnificent job of keeping from his voice as he gestured around the room almost mockingly.

"I can't speak for all of these good people of course, it might be my translator that acted up. So to clarify Councillor-sama, Saren has an army of Geth that whilst of an unknown size is certainly large enough to prevent the Quarians from trying to retake their home. This is with them having the largest single fleet in the galaxy of course. In addition he has a ship that is larger than the Destiny Ascension along with a wizened Asari and her own band of followers, again of unknown size and skill." Whoever taught Naruto to ovate needed to give her lessons Jane decided as he paused for just a moment to let the true magnitude of what this now Ex-Spectre had to command, before Naruto gave his final blow of his impromptu speech.

"Is that what you meant when he had no resources or manpower that humanity needed to be worried about Councillor-sama? Or did I get a mistranslation of all of that?" There was silence for several moments as everyone in the chamber tried to work out whether Naruto had in fact pointed straight at the elephant in the room they had all been ignoring, or merely pointed at the footsteps and let everyone else make their own conclusions.

The Council seemed to have learnt their lesson from last time about reacting instantly to Naruto's unsubtle jibes hidden in his 'attempt to clear up a possible mistranslation', god she was going to have to use that one at some point in the future. Instead the three of them spoke quietly for a moment before the Salarian spoke up a little hesitantly.

"You definitely do not hide your feelings or mince your words young man, even if you do better at veiling your accusations now, something I think my fellow Councillors are not used to. I agree with you, this is a threat we cannot simply ignore but you must understand, we as the Council cannot bring the Galaxy into turmoil rashly. Even with the threat Saren poses to humanity's colonies." The grin that appeared on Naruto's face showed the Salarian's mistake, the words lighting a fire in Udina as he whirled back to face the Council from where he had been watching Naruto approvingly, voice loud and angry.

"Enough, I have had it with the anti-human resentment shown here, you have in effect given this lap-dog of yours enough power and resources to damage humanity's interests for decades if not centuries to come, and now you say you will do nothing? You might as well be giving Saren's attacks against us your personal blessing!" Shepard had to admit Udina had a surprising gift for altering the tone and meaning of a conversation to his advantage, even if he was just rehashing Naruto's material from the last Council meeting.

Naruto didn't seem to mind though, the ninja allowing the focus to shift from him to the Ambassador, his work seemingly done for the moment and now content to become lost in the crowd once more. Even with very few humans in the room this time there was a lot of angry murmuring now, primarily from the races like the Volus and the Elcor who had always been in the shadow of the Council and were now obviously wondering if there was a reason for that.

"I would remind you of who you are speaking to before you accuse us so blatantly of corruption and wrongdoing Ambassador Udina! We have not and will not give Saren any such support that you have alluded to, but for us to strike out into the Terminus blindly and without direction would be worse for everyone, including humanity. What I was going to say before your brazen attempt at mob politics hit the stage was that there is another option, one that does not involve fleets or armies directly." The Asari obviously realised that the Council were very quickly being backed into a corner, from which they would only have had were two very unpleasant and far reaching ways of dealing with the problem.

So she was trying to take the third wildcard option that Jane had almost entirely forgotten about given the events since Eden Prime, the Turian Councillor realising at the same time what the Asari was implying and obviously not happy with it in the slightest.

"No! Humanity is not ready for the responsibility..." The Turian though obviously incensed trailed off quickly as the Asari turned a baleful glare in his direction even as grumbling erupted in the watching crowds once more. She assessed the tension in the room before whispering across to the Turian, Jane only catching it as she had her suit microphone trained on her.

"This situation is already a political nightmare as it is, if we are seen to do nothing now the Alliance could well break from the Council if not worse! This way we do not risk Galactic war and give humanity what we were going to give them anyway!" Judging by the cheeky grin and wink from Naruto after she heard that Jane had no doubt he had heard the same as she had.

And somehow Jane got the idea that this was what his intervention had been in aid of in the first place, to push the Council into a corner where they would promote her to a Spectre rather than just try and brush the whole thing under a rug. With that the Asari looked over to the Salarian Councillor, who nodded quickly before turning back to face the four humans and the others. The Turian looked like he was going to refuse for a moment but then all three typed something into the console in front of them, the Asari Councillor speaking up a moment later.

"Commander Shepard, step forward." A glance to Shepard's right and a quick nod from Anderson told Shepard, this was about to be the big moment she had been told to expect upon landing on the Citadel from Eden Prime. Stepping up so that she was stood next to Udina, Jane looked around to see the viewing platforms quiet and in obvious anticipation of what was to come.

"It is the decision of the Council, having reviewed your actions both on Eden Prime and before that, to grant you all of the powers and privileges of the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance branch of the Council." As the Council carried on an obviously scripted and well practiced intermix of short speeches, Jane couldn't help but feel a little cheated.

Even with everything she had done, all the achievements and sacrifices she had gone through, her promotion was now based on political intrigue and what was essentially blackmail. Even as she put on a fake smile and said her acceptance of the offer, Jane berated that rather depreciating thought, her thoughts turning more positive as she turned to face the crowd and her eyes locked with Naruto's.

The young ninja gave her two thumbs up before joining in the clapping and somehow, that made the whole ordeal somewhat more bearable...

A/N: Another case of Naruto probably being a little politically OP but at the same time even when I played ME for the first time I was wishing for the opportunity to take the Turian to task for his blatant dumbing down of the threat, so it isn't exactly political genius territory...

So we now have a Spectre, though admittedly it is one that knows full well her promotion was more to stop a potential intergalactic war as opposed to her skills. So her new employers are going to find her far from the kowtowing servant they might be praying for, especially with a C-Sec authorised Naruto to back her up.

The whole scene about Naruto and Pallin was pretty much the executors way of turning Naruto from a vigilante into a sort of P.I. This is both because Pallin realises that Naruto will be more help to him and C-Sec if he brings him 'on side', and also because he knows Naruto will do it regardless.

So as there is no proof that it was Naruto that did it (Henge, gotta love it) other than his semi admittance and also the fact that the vigilante struck so quickly over such a large area (Council classified secret!), there really wasn't many other ways Pallin could deal with it...

Let me know what you think.