Ramen Doodles

By Andrew J. Talon

Disclaimer: I do not and probably never will own Naruto or any other copyrighted works mentioned in this story. I am not writing this for profit.

Author's Note: When I have writer's block, I often write a lot of random snippets of ideas, omakes, and continuations of other author's ideas that kind of petered out. As I'm afflicted with a bit of writer's block regarding Key Through the Heart (again), I've decided I'm not going to leave you guys in the lurch. Therefore, enjoy some writing I've been doing over at The Fanfiction Forum.

Here's another bit for a Star Trek/Naruto idea, more closely based upon the new movie.

This was it... Madara could feel it. Every setback, every defeat... All of Akatsuki laid to waste, every nation he had ruled, gone. All of it, gone.

And yet... Not a failure. Pein had done well. He had done the impossible-Bringing Madara the Tailed Beasts to be absorbed, their power made his own. Only Seven, but after a great deal of painstaking work, of tireless effort, here it was! The key!

He stood before the Statue, hand seals furiously flashing in front of him, so fast that even an Uchiha would have difficulty following along. The power of the Seven beasts hummed in the dark night, the full moon above completing the circle with the Earth below.

Chakra erupted from the statue, blasting high into the sky. The ground rumbled and groaned, and Madara's smile grew. The final piece of the puzzle was coming...

It may have been an hour, it may have been minutes, but there it was. There he came.

"Right on time," he said quietly, as four great Toads blasted their way into existence. Riding the tallest was the Nine-Tailed Brat, Sage Chakra burning in his gaze and blood.

"Madara," Naruto snarled. "What the hell are you doing now?!"

"Why... Winning, of course," Madara replied. Naruto leaped off the toad, spinning in the air to deliver a truly spectacular axe kick at the head of the ancient Uchiha.

It slid through him, leaving Naruto to only impact the ground below. He looked up with a snarl as Madara merely chuckled.

"Slow learner, Uzumaki... So slow, so very slow," he taunted. Naruto snarled and summoned up two Rasengans, slamming them both through Madara with enough power to drill a hole through solid steel. Neither did anything, Madara's smirk never wavering. Naruto growled and leaped back, crossing his arms over his chest and studying Madara intently.

"Don't bother... No one is dying here today. Everyone is." the ancient ninja stated. Naruto's eyebrows rose.

"What do you mean?! What are you talking about?!"

"This has been my goal from the beginning, Uzumaki," Madara stated quietly, Sharingan eyes locked firmly on the statue. "The end of it all. A new beginning."

"You're not making any sense! What are you doing?!" Naruto roared. Madara chuckled, and glanced at Naruto.

"Changing everything," he whispered. Naruto gasped as the Kyuubi's power began to blast out of him, a massive aura of the hate-filled energy leaving him, filling Madara and being sent into the great statue.

"NO! WHAT ARE YOU-! I'LL STOP YOU MADARA!"

Naruto summoned dozens of clones, all of them attacking Madara from every side. His punches, his kicks-They all connected, and Madara took the beating without the barest hint of resistance. A full-powered Shurikenrasengan was slammed into the villain, ripping his body apart and sending it flying everywhere.

His head bounced onto the ground, still wearing that damnable smile. Naruto breathed hard, feeling strangely winded. He looked at the statue-It was glowing, brighter and brighter to the point it was as though the sun was rising. He grimaced, raising his hand, hearing the toads shout, the ground rumble-

"Naruto?"

The blond started, blinking. He felt... Horrible. He released a small groan and leaned back in his seat. He was covered in cold sweat and queasy.

"Ungh..." He managed. "Sakura...?"

The girl entered his vision, sighing in the seat next to his. "Honestly... The things I do for you," she stated. She held up a device (Tricorder his mind whispered to him) and ran it over him, shaking her head.

"You're lucky you've got such a powerful immune system," she said. She smirked a little and pushed up a pair of glasses. "And that I know how to manipulate it."

"Sure got a lot of practice with your last term paper," Naruto grumbled, part of him absently wondering how he knew this. He looked around the cabin of the shuttle, looking at the other cadets all strapped in. Sakura sighed.

"Well, I didn't have a lot of choice... Nobody else would volunteer," the pink-haired medical officer said. Naruto managed to look at Sakura with a wry grin.

"And why exactly do I keep doing things for you?" He asked cheekily. Sakura snorted.

"Because without me you'd have been kicked out of the Academy a long time ago?" She said. Naruto winced.

"Oh c'mon, you don't do that much for me... I do apply myself."

"Only when I pester you," Sakura said. She shook her head. "Why do I stick my neck out for you?" She sighed. Naruto grinned at her.

"Because we're best friends, and that's what best friends do," he said.

"Stop using my words against me," Sakura grumbled. "You're still in big trouble over the whole Kobyashi Maru thing, you know?" She glanced at him. "I still have no idea how you pulled that off."

"I'm just that lucky," Naruto said. He groaned as another wave of dizziness hit him. "Goddamnit..."

"Hey, relax, it'll be out of your system soon," Sakura chided. She then turned to look out the window. "Oh... Oh my... Naruto, Naruto, look!"

"I'm looking, I'm looking," Naruto muttered, tilting his head to look up and out the window. For a while, all he could see were stars-Nothing in a familiar pattern he could discern. But then, a pure white shape inched it's way across the window, and Naruto sucked in a deep breath.

For once... He had nothing to say.

For years, he had passed by this ship, being built out in the wide plains north of his hometown. Once, he'd managed to sneak up right to the fence to gaze upon it, watch the welders at their work. Originally they had been going to construct her up in orbit, but the loss of the Raiden to unknown assailants had convinced Starfleet to adopt stronger construction methods. The only problem with those was that it required construction in a one-gee environment. A problem quickly resolved with the offer of the new Hi no Kuni spaceport and construction facility. There had only been one requirement for Starfleet's use of the facility-That they named the ship after the city that ran it.

She was cutting edge, the most advanced vessel in the fleet. She wasn't the first of her type, but she was going to be the first to actually do what the class was meant to do. USS Hokage was still undergoing testing, and USS Kazekage was acting as a testbed for newer technology.

Which left this ship, with the only differing name in the brand new Kage-class, to take up the torch into the 23rd century.

"Konoha," he murmured, almost in reverence as the beautiful ship swam into view, her large nacelles speaking of power, her wide saucer section of grace, and her engineering hull, of rugged dependability.

Konoha... He was here.

So... Why did he have that nagging feeling something was wrong?

Madara never wanted to rule the world. He just wanted to go back in time and change things. Whether or not he wanted this outcome is yet to be seen, but the fact is that this is how his meddling in the timeline has changed things.

Earth has gone to the stars. Ninja do not exist as we know them. Humans have met aliens, made friends and enemies. And through various events, humanity and other species have united together to form the United Federation of Planets. And one Naruto Uzumaki, son of Minato Namikaze, is hoping to achieve his dream of getting to command the ship his hometown built.

However, Naruto has the added hurdles of being the only one who remembers the old timeline, and the only one with ninja techniques available while Madara prowls the stars somewhere. Can he find out what Madara has done, and fix it? And given this future, does he want to?

Idea in a nutshell.