Notes: Ahsoka Tano, Talizorah, Liara T'soni and Aria T'loak storylines needs to be plan more before anything

1209 hours, August 21, 2528 (military calendar)

Maelstrom Temporary Base

Desert, Planet Harvest

The fleet had pulled out of the combat area before they could sustain any further damage to a discreet location in the desert. As there was no natural landmarks or cities nearby, no other forces would think to come here. They also scanned and cleared everyone and thing for trackers to make sure the Covenant didn't let them go to track them later. They had found and destroyed two of them placed on the hull of a ship.

Blending in with the desert as much as they could they had all the ships on the ground as crews and droids performed repairs on everything. While most of the ships sustained minimum damage, the 'Gate of the Summer' has sustained massive damage and needed a lot of work. It would be eventually ready for travel but only very light combat. So, it will be placed towards the middle rear of the formation.

Currently aboard the 'Elemental's Sanctum' the Admiral, Captain's, and other important personnel were having a meeting on the current events. The other personnel including Dr. Halsey, Tsunade, Sakura, Tenten, Hinata, Shaak Ti, Tsunami, and Kora. The topics going over started off with casualties which followed up with each crew status. The next were repairs, scouting parties, and the current situation of Harvest.

It was known that while they were lucky, they have sustained a low amount casualty across the board. Scouting parties have turned up with no sign of enemy activity which was good for them. Finally, the current situation of Harvest. The UNSC and Covenant have both called in reinforcements which has caused the battle to increase both in space and on the planet. The best plan for now was to lay low while they fight and then make jump when an opening is made. After basic repairs have been completed of course. With the meeting be wrapped up Naruto took the time to check in on his Captain's to see how well they are adjusted before he attended the next meeting.

After checking up on a few he walked up to Aoba to see how he was doing. His crew toke a pretty hard hit after all. "You doing, ok? You got busted up out there" he started as Aoba just scratched his hair a bit in frustration a bit.

"Yeah, we will survive. I knew fighting the Covenant would be difficult but not this much. How does the UNSC stand a chance against them in large groups? Their tech and numbers alone make things so difficult. Makes me wonder how we are going to stand against them?"

"Hit and run tactics for now while we catch up in the tech department. I don't think we can outman their large numbers at the moment. Unless UNSC puts a gun in each man, woman, and child's hand. But-"

"-yeah. We will still lose the space engagements due to their tech advantage" he finished as Naruto just placed his hand on his shoulder to calm him down a bit.

"Don't worry about that at this moment. Just focus on getting your crew back up to working order. Report back to the Admiral if you need any further assistance" he replied as the man nodded and walked off. Feeling a tap on his shoulder he turned around to see Kurenai waiting to speak to him.

"Ah Kurenai. How are things? I know that was a rough battle, but the reports told me you handle it pretty well" he smiled as she nodded.

Trying to look as best as possible in that standard Maelstrom uniform which was a black version of the UNSC uniform. "Yes, these past couple of months have been amazing for me. The respect, financial stability, friends, adventure, and the crew. It is almost everything I had hoped for in the UNSC"

Raising an eyebrow at that he questioned the "Almost?". What could she be missing in this company? Did he forget something that was missing for everyone else as well? This could be disastrous if so. But was he missing?

"Almost" she started as she blushed a bit. "The one thing I'm missing would be a relationship. My final plan was having a stable job and a family. One kid, maybe two" she explained as he finally understood.

"Oh! Thank God! I thought I was missing something for everyone. I am trying my best to improve things for everyone as fast as possible. But as for a relationship, that shouldn't be a problem. There are plenty of decent people around for you to meet and mingle with. This is not the UNSC. As long as your relationships doesn't affect your work, you can see anyone you like" he answered as Kurenai blushed a bit more and looked away at his denseness.

It seems she would have to take a direct approach to this. "Well, what if I want to go out on a date with the leader?" she said as Naruto looked at her confused. "You mean Admiral Hiruzen? I don't think his wife would like that at all" he questioned

"Ugh, the main leader. You! I would like to go out on a date with you some time" she fully explained as it dawns upon him. "You want to go out on a date with me? You do know my situation, right? I have three kids right now as well as being involved with others". 'And a bunch more kids on the way'

"Naruto. We are Elementals. Our cultural is different from the Humans who started up at Earth. We are ok with being in a large relationship as long as every person is involved. Well, it's more for the clans who go with this, but you are from a clan as well. It's only a date to catch up with each other. Maybe something would come of this and maybe not" she finished with a shrug. After all there was a Hyuuga who had 20 wives and a Uchiha who had 10. How they managed it was most likely the clans support. Elementals just really didn't care. Do what makes you happy.

"Ok, sure. Let's go out on a date. Well, when we are out of this danger zone" he smiled as she nodded. Saying goodbye, she left the meeting room like the captains leaving only Hiruzen, Dr. Halsey, Tsunade, Sakura, Tenten, Hinata, Shaak Ti, Tsunami, and Kora.

With them being the only ones left they all sat back down at the table and resecured the room for the next part of the meeting. Some that could change the course of many lives. It started with addressing the elephant in the room.

"You knew about Project Jinchuuriki and toke part of it. I remember you in the training I was in Hiruzen. I didn't want to say anything about it as I was still going through my memories but now is a good time to bring it up" stated Naruto looking over at him as the man released a deep breathe and placed his crossed fingers on the table.

"So, you unlocked those memories. Yes, I was a part of a group that approved the project. With the many experiences of war, it seemed like this would be a good idea. You have not fully seen the worst of what humanity could do to each other and I hope you never do. But I have. They were going to go along with this project regardless of if I agreed or not. At least with me taking part of it I can at least have my hand on the steering wheel. I put my best effort to make sure you were well toke care of and when I had enough supporters, I put in to shut the program down. With the program shut down I had the chance to directly take care of you, which I did" he explained as Naruto understood as much as he didn't like it. He had no choice in the matter so he did the best he could.

"It doesn't change the fact that you kept this hidden from him. Why did you do that?" questioned Catherine as he glared at her.

"I didn't tell him because I didn't want to distract him from his current goals. I don't want him to become another person I failed like my student. But you have no right to judge me on this. After all you are the creator of the Spartan project" he answered back making her frown.

"The spartan project?" questioned Tsunami confused like Naruto, Sakura, Tenten, and Shaak Ti.

Seeing their confused expression and knowing they will find out about it; she gave them a brief explanation. This included the kidnapping and replacing kids, the training, the surgery, and their purpose. "It is also a reason why I am performing favors for ONI and you. I hoping to make up for my past mistakes" she explained as the group frowned a bit but said nothing on the subject.

"Well, at least you are making up for this project you conducted. I would like to hear about it more, but we have other things to talk about. Like what to do on the two things we brought with us" said Naruto

"Simple you keep and study it here" answered Tsunade as Catherine agreed with her much to the others confusion.

Explaining she continued on "like with Hinata with ONI, there are other people in our study and research who would use the knowledge we found for their own gain. A gain to save their skin and leave others for dead. But from what you had done in the past and most recently I trust you with this. We will send in what knowledge we gain when we first started but all future knowledge, we gain from them would stay with you"

"Alright. Let's use the time we are staying here to work on those two strange devices. Hopefully we can get them working" finished Naruto signaling for the meeting to end as everyone had a lot on their mind and a lot to do. With everyone understanding the current situation got up and left for the exit before Tsunade grabbed Naruto and pulled him to the side.

Seeing no one looking or paying attention she brought him in close and gave him a long kiss much to his shock before releasing him. "That was for saving me" she finished before walking off leaving a confused Naruto to stare at her swaying hips.

"It seems you are a chick magnet" spoke up Kora as Naruto couldn't help but to agree. He didn't know if it was a good thing or not. But he could think about it later. He wanted to spend some time with his kids before help looking over those forerunner devices.

Few Hours Later

Naruto could be seen walking into the lab to look at the group connecting the sphere to a power source to attempt to bring it on and failing. A few others were trying to understand the forerunner box as it was just doing nothing, and they didn't understand how it worked either.

"So, no luck?" asked Naruto walking up to Tenten who was looking at the box as he tried to push back the events of Tsunade's kiss and Catherine's project to the back of his mind.

"No nothing yet. We don't even know what it's purpose yet. Or even how you got it" answered Tenten as Naruto stood next to her looking down at the box as well. Getting a strange feeling he knelt down and placed his hand on it.

As if it recognized him the device started showing blue glyphs all over it showing its activation gaining the rooms attention. Slowly the box transformed a bit to slowly open its content as everyone peered down to look at the objects inside. One was a large metal forerunner shaped egg that glowed blue with forerunner glyphs. Another was the same but shaped like a cube. Reaching up a hand he touched the cube causing it to light up blue before it gave out a blue scan that went over the whole ship.

With the scan over on the top of the cube opened up to project an image of a female in a white cloak with a white mist coming off of her.

"Hi there. I'm the forerunner A.I. 'Precious Justice'. I assume the form most pleasing to the human eye. Its nice to meet you my reclaimer" she finished staring directly and only at Naruto

"Oh, the fuck no!" shouted Kora from the a nearby projection

Glossary of Today's Mentions:

Maelstrom Fleet:

Phoenix-class modified colony ship (Elemental's Sanctum) – Admiral Hiruzen Sarutobi

Paris-class frigate (Gate of the Summer) – Captain Aoba Yamashiro

Final Note:

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