1320 hours, September 19, 2527 (military calendar)

1 Day Traveled in Space

With the ship placed on auto pilot the crew was in the conference room relaxing. Shikamaru and Chouji were playing cards at the table as Sakura used another table to do some small reading. On the couch was Naruto, Tenten, and Tsunami watching the tv on the wall. They were watching a classic movie by the name of Godzilla vs Kong. They were towards the end with Godzilla vs MechaGodzilla when the news station cut in.

We are sorry to break the current schedule but within the last few hours reports of the alien group known as the Covenant have attacked the Planet known as Geroist. With a population of 30 million the UNSC are currently engaged with the enemy fleet as evacuations of the planet are underway.

The group stopped what they were doing to show images of some of the ship battles taking place in space. Numerous flashes of light went off, but you could tell that a lot of explosions were taking place on the UNSC fleets side. The picture changed to show videos of someone on the ground filming ships extremely high in orbit with a well pictured camera. Explosions were once again seen as the clouds covered the sight of the battle. It was quite for a second before the clouds were shoved away as a UNSC frigate on fire came rushing down to the ground towards the camera man.

You could see the man panicking as the camera jumped a little but as the viewed looked down a inhuman roar was heard as a energy like sword came from thin air and jabbed forward. You could hear gurgling as the camera fell to the ground before hearing a body nearby fall as well. More panicked screams were heard in the background before in the distance of the view you see the ship smack into the ground and the connection was cut back to the reporter.

I…ah..ah ah, we can't show that on public tv! Wait, WE DID!? SHIT!

With that the news was cut as the regular programming came back on tv. Even though the Godzilla movie was playing no words were said. Everyone was still in semi shock until Naruto broke it by saying "well shit".

"Do we even stand a chance against them?" questioned Sakura holding her arm to stop it from shaking a bit. As a doctor she knew that the man who was stabbed had zero chance of living and if he was lucky got hit in a major organ so he would die quickly. If not, he would die slowly if the impact of the ship didn't kill him.

"Honestly, right no we do not" answer Shikamaru. "They have numbers and technology advantages over us. We are catching up slowly in the technology, but will it be fast enough and that's still not going to solve the number issue as well" he finished leaning back to rub his eyes

"As much as I would like to make a change on the war, we are a small crew at the moment. We need to grow a lot more in order to make a difference" said Naruto thinking about what to do.

"Or we need a Mechagodzilla" spoke up Tsunami pointing at the said monster whipping Godzilla's and Kong's ass for a minute.

"With the right supplies, training, and tests you could create one. Along with many other interesting things" added Tenten pulling out her pad to start getting work on that as Naruto laughed it off.

"Slow down there. We need to grow a lot more before you can put to action your massive number of ideas" he stated as Tenten looked at him confused for a second.

"Wait you are willing to give my ideas a chance? Because I have so many ideas that I would love to get into but none of the time. Some of the ideas come from the past that were given up on too early"

"Sure, you are part of the crew so I don't way you can't give them a shot in the future. But first we must understand are enemy more" as Shikamaru interrupted him

"Wait you want to fight the Covenant?"

"Fight? At this moment no, but I want to be prepared and survive. If comes down to it fight as well but we won't have to for some time. We are pretty far away" he answered clicking a few things on his pad to load a file to the holo deck.

On the holo deck a loading sign was shown until files on the Covenant had appeared on the screen. Moving forward he pressed a few things on the deck as it showed the species.

"Alright these are the known species of the Covenant" he started as he explained each one with the holo deck projected it as he did. "The grunt as we like to call them. Small and cowardly but very dangerous in numbers. Don't let them out number you. Ever. Elite's are the muscle of the group. Tall, strong, athletic, discipline, and very dangerous. Jackals which are considered the scavengers but with a deadly aim. Pretty much a transformed bird. Hunters are the heavies. Massive, strong, and always come in pairs of at least 2. Rumor has it that there was even a pack of 3, but still, that's just a rumor. And finally, brutes. Strong, big, and savages at times. An angered brute is a bad day for everyone. I will send files for you to study on your own free time" he stated sending the files from his pad to everyone else

"How did you get this information?" questioned Shikamaru looking through the files

"I have connections. But our focus is the mercenary group known as Gato's Syndicate. It is well known that this guy had used underhand tactics and shady dealings to build his business. He even has his own fleet of ships that move about in this sector. The UNSC can't touch him because they can't get proof on it. We must avoid as much as we can but be prepared to fight if needed. They are the biggest threat around Marinis" he finished standing up and heading to the cockpit to see how much time is left until they arrived.

2 Days later

Approaching the gray and green planet you could see that the planet was less populated and defended as Elemental. There were some defensive platforms but no mac cannons in sight. At the most you may see a UNSC Frigate or two moving about. Flying past them they entered the planet with the destination being Marinis city. Entering the city having the population of 45,000 people they pulled up to pad 2 to see the escalator rig set up, lift set up, and the material scanner already on the side waiting for them. Landing down with a soft thud the crew came down.

Approaching the people waiting down below Shikamaru talked to a few for setting up the refueling and liquid changes. Tsunami was signing off on the delivery that Chouji was downloading from the ramp with a few clones. Off to the side Tenten was with Naruto moving the directing the clones on moving certain equipment into the ship for her to install. With some chakra pushed through their body the clones were lifting pieces of the lift equipment into the bay to install on the ceiling. With careful guidance from Tenten and loads of clones the lift was installed within a few hours which allowed for Tenten to use it immediately to install the excavator on the LSVR. Luckily the scanner was an easy install. Just installing a satellite dish to the button of the ship and connecting it to the systems in the ship.

Within 5 hours they have finished what they needed to do and were off flying through the air using the scanner to find any rare metals to excavate. The beauty of this was since they had a ship, they could scan a lot more. This also allowed them to be pickier about the location to which they were. At the current moment the 'Laughing Fox' was parked next a small mountain with the LSVR working on excavating rocks nearby. Shikamaru was manning the operation with Naruto, his clones, and Chouji brought in the excavated materials into the ship for Tenten to use the recycler for. Off to the side of the recycler neat piles of different bars of material were piling up. Sakura was manning the comms while Tsunami was monitoring the radar and scanner.

Stopping from going to get another pile of rocks the comms went off in his ear. "Naruto, we have a group of unknown vehicles approaching our location. They are not showing any ID tracker to show who they belong to" radio in Naruto

"How far away are they?"

"They are 10 minutes out"

"Copy, Chouji, Shikamaru get back on the ship to arm up. Shikamaru and Tenten will overwatch from the roof of the ship. Chouji you will be at the top of the ramp" called out Naruto back in the comms as he headed back up the ramp into the ship. Opening one of the storage units he saw a rack of riles with magazines and rounds to the side. Grabbing a battle rifle, he used the sling to let it hang from his chest as he grabbed a few magazines to put in his pocket. Grabbing another two battle rifles he passed them over to Tenten and Shikamaru with a set of 7 magazines each who left for the roof hatchet. Taking an assault rifle with 7 magazines he passed them off to Chouji who left for the ramp.

Closing the storage door, he walked back to his room to grab some more things. From his personal stash he grabbed a combat belt that he placed around his hip. Grabbing from his pocket he placed the magazines in the pouches on it. Next, he pulled out a tan pouch to place on the back of the belt and finally a black wakizashi to strap on the back waist.

Walking down the ramp passing Chouji who was taking cover by the side he walked up to the front and waited as the sound of some vehicles were approaching. Within a few minutes three warthogs came into the clearing stopping a few feet away. Jumping out the vehicles was a total of 12 men armed with different rifles.

"How can I help you?" questioned Naruto stopping their approach to the ship. One person who seemed like the leader stepped forward.

"You seem like you are new around here, so I'll make it simple. We are part of the Gato Syndicate. You forgot to pay us your taxes and protection money. This ship and all your valuables would do very nicely" he smirked as his group laughed behind him.

"And if I file for an exemption and tell you to kick rocks?" questioned Naruto as the man stopped smirking and reached for his gun on the side only for Naruto to appear in front of him grabbing his hand.

"What-ELEMENTAL!" he yelled out as Naruto used his other hand to palm thrust him in the chest sending him flying back hitting the warthog and landed behind it.

Numerous cries ranged off as the other members moved their guns to aim as the Shikamaru, Tenten, and Chouji laid down covering fire killing 3 members in surprise. Naruto jumping back and to the side reached into his pouch and flung out a kunai stabbing another in the head while hip firing his battle rifle at another two. Within seconds 6 people were dead as the last 6 scattered for cover behind some rocks.

To provide himself some more cover he formed some more seals and toke a deep breath to unleash a large fireball at the scattering group. The smart ones of the group scattered even more while the ones not as smart decided to stay hidden behind some rocks and died in the explosion of fire.

As rocks rained down from the sky and smoke covering the area one member could be seen coming out of the smoke only from a round from Shikamaru to pierce his brain. Another member was hiding behind a rock only for a shadowed silhouette to appear behind him with a blue glowing fist of chakra. Looking back wide eyed he was unable to say anything as the punched was unleashed in a small explosion.

The leader of the group could feel his ribs crushed as he rolled over on his back. Reaching once again for his magnum on his leg he was stopped as a boot stepped on his hand. Looking up he could see Naruto looking down at him.

"Thanks for the gun and vehicles. We appreciate Gato's kind gifts" was heard before his vision went black forever.