0900 hours, April 23, 2528 (military calendar)

Maelstrom Base

Fire Country, Planet Elemental

A UNSC pelican came down onto the bustling landing strip. Personal were being loaded into the ships as a few ships were already in the air hovering and waiting for the rest of the fleet to take off. The squad stepping off were impressed to see such coordination from an upstart corporation. Even as one of them spoke about it they were still in amazement.

"You don't see this every day from a civilian company. Maybe from the large companies or the UNSC but not an upstart. Guy is good" muttered a marine stepping off with his bag as another marine slapped him over the head in anger.

Turning to the other marine he could see anger in her teal eyes as her face show the amount that she displeases about this assignment. "We wouldn't be on this fucking assignment if you didn't screw up Kiba. We were scheduled to go into ODST training. To become part of the elite until you fucked up" she glared.

"How was I supposed to know that fucker was there waiting for them Ino! It was supposed to be secured for the officers and then that fuck appear from nowhere and cut them to pieces!" he yelled back. The elite de-camo right behind the officers they were to protect for evacuation and cut them in half. Maybe he should check the area before letting them go there. The smoke and rubble messed with his nose so he couldn't sniff them out. Shit happens!

"Give it a rest Ino. What's done is done. No use crying about spilled milk. Let's go meet the man in charge and get his mission over with. I would rather be on the front lines then be here" spoke up another female gaining the groups attention.

"Yes mam" called out the squad in variety of tones as they followed her walking to a group of personnel waiting for them. Stopping in front of them the female gave them a salute.

"Second Lieutenant Sasuki Uchiha reporting as ordered. To my left is Lance Corporal Ino Yamanka our medic, PFC Kiba Inuzuka, and Sergeant Shino Aburame. To my right is Lance Corporal Sai Shimura, PFC Lee, PFC Omoi, and PFC Karui" she introduced.

Looking at the squad Naruto raised an eyebrow at a few names as he recognized some of them, but his eyes were focused on two people at the moment. "Please to meet you. My name is Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze and its good to see you again Kiba" he introduced as Kiba's jaw dropped.

"No fucking way! Naruto! I haven't seen you since you were back in the military with the boys. Wait you are the one in charge of this company?!" he exclaimed as Naruto nodded to his shock expression.

"While you decided to stay in the military me, Shikamaru, and Chouji decided to get out. I created and built this up and now they work for me" explained as Kiba looked down in sadness. "I wanted to get out, but my mom denied me and whipped my ass for trying. Like she literally denied my request to leave and then beat my ass" he explained as Naruto laughed at him before something occurred to him.

"Wait, you wouldn't happen to know a Hana, would you?" he asked as the man nodded. "Yeah, she is my sister. Mom let her leave but wasn't going to allow me for some reason. Why do you ask?" he asked as Naruto pointed up to one of the frigates in the air hovering.

"She is in command of one of my ships" he stated as his jaw dropped. "Dude you have got to get me out to join you. Please!" he pleaded as Naruto shook his head no. "I seen your mother before. I'm not fucking crazy enough to go against her" he finished before signaling the group to follow him with a wave of his hand.

Heading for the 'Majestic Fox' he continued. "Sasuki, we will be boarding the Majestic Fox monitoring the operation. 'Gravekeeper's Last Journey' will perform the collection while the whole fleet will be providing protection. Admiral Sarutobi onboard the Elemental's Sanctum will be charge of the fleet's defense. Our hope is for none of the Covenant to come back while we perform this operation. Do you have any questions?" he finished walking on board the ship while looking over to her. Dressed in combat uniform with her black hair in a ponytail she replied with a simple "No".

"My secretary Aayla here will escort you all to your rooms for your stay. We will be lifting off momentary. Lieutenant when you are fully settled in come meet me on the bridge" stated Naruto waving for his secretary Aayla to come escort them to their room. The group looked in shock at the woman before noticing there were other species onboard moving about as well. There were even little robots performing routine maintenance and checks.

Separating from the group he entered the bridge to see his crew at there stations. In a chair near him was Shikamaru looking at the bridge operations in a board look. Anko was over to his right operating a computer doing god knows what but she was keeping out of trouble so that's good enough for him. He was sure Zabuza and Haku were in the training room training now, and he knew Chouji was cooking in the kitchen. "Shikamaru when we are ready take us up" he ordered sitting in the captain's chair as the man nodded and looked at his pad for a few minutes before it lit up green.

Giving out a yawn Shikamaru looked down the room. "Alright everyone let's take her up. We have clearance to launch" he ordered as the pilots gave a "Yes sir" and pulled back on the wheel causing the ship to start its lift off.

With the increased noise from the ship's engine the 'Majestic Fox' began lifting from the ground heading for the sky. With the other ships following its lead it toke off from the sky and into orbit. With the ships now in orbit Hiruzen started giving orders for the ships to get in formation. The two phoenix classes side by side and the mining ship behind the two. The frigates were spread out around the three in a defensive sphere. The 'Majestic Fox' pulled into the middle of everything just a bit behind the two phoenix classes. Once the ships were in formation the systems with Kora's assistance linked up and performed a slip space jump in unison.

Going through the jump, it must have felt like 30 minutes or so when Naruto heard the door opened up from the side and a figure entered. Sitting down on a chair next to him was 2nd Lt Sasuki. She watched as the crew moved about their tasks. "You keep a tidy ship and fleet" she started crossing her legs to look at him.

"I do. I need everything to be in working order to continue my growth"

"You have made large growths since you left the military. With the war continuing the way it is we could use your assistance. Would you consider rejoining the military?" she asked. With his leadership and his growing fleet, he could make a difference in the war.

"Not at this moment. I have my own goals to accomplish but I will help where I can. What about your story? You are part of the Uchiha Corporation. Why did you join the military?" he questioned. With the Uchiha's power and outreach she could do anything so why the military.

Crossing her arms now she gave the simple answer. "Because I want to". While a simple answer it did explain enough for him. She most likely wanted to control her life and do her own thing. He could respect it. It would take some time to reach the location. Due to their starting location, it would be 2 weeks. With her emotionless self its going to be a long trip.

Week Later Naruto's Private Quarters

Sitting by a computer he was on a video call with Sakura and Tsunami. Tenten was in the background working on her next project through her pad. It was good to see them in high spirits. Especially Sakura who at the moment was showing him her new drug made for his situation. "Yes, that's correct with this new drug you can have sex with a very strong chance of not knocking the person up. She just has to take this pill before the act. I have already sent the instructions to the medic on the ship for them to produce it".

"Wait why do you send it them for now? I am happy that you got it done but I'm confused about this" he asked as the door opened up for Anko to step through and close the door behind her. Tapping a button on the side she locked the door.

Smirking Sakura explained to the confused Naruto. "This is so you don't knock her or anyone else up for some time. And this is also revenge for the last few nights. I can't handle you alone. Get him Anko!" she shouted at the end as Anko speared him into the bed.

Pinning his arms to the bed Anko straddled him. "I waited too long for this and now you are all mine. I already took the pill so I'm ready to go" she grinned as Naruto looked back at her with an amused look. "I'm all yours? You sure about that because I think you were set up" he finished as his smirk took predatory

Week Later

Sitting down in his command chair was Naruto looking smug and proud. Looking to the side he saw Anko's chair empty and smirked even more. 'Serves her right, thinking she can take on the king' he thought before. With what we have done he wouldn't be surprised if the new pill failed for her.

The crew was looking forward to exiting the jump after 2 weeks. While a slip space jump from Elemental to here would take months to travel there were what people like to call streams in space. While very rare and hard to find could be used with their slip space drive to cut down the travel time to certain areas. It was lucky that what ever method the Covenant used to move didn't allow them to track or use these streams. It was also why he accepted this mission. Without streams he would have denied it as it would take 2 ½ months to get there. Not a good idea for the company at this moment.

He had token time to get familiarize with the UNSC squad that came with him. It was good to catch up with Kiba and find out from a more personal experience about the status of the war. He was the type of guy that gives it to you straight which helped him find out what was really happening. They were getting fucked up. The technology was vastly superior to ours. Plasma weapons, shielding, and camouflage beyond their current tech. Massive fleets of these aliens outnumbering our own. The only thing we had on the Covenant in terms of space battles were range. We can hit them at farther distance, but we can't take a hit from them up close or outrun them for long. Information that he passed up to gramps

"Sir we are exiting the jump in 20" spoke up Kora from his command chair as he nodded and look right at Sasuki. From what he learned about her through discussions was that she was a woman of little words. More like a woman of action if anything. Very serious and stoic. Always about the mission and repelling the Covenant. He could respect it but wish she actually just pulled the stick from her ass and talk like a normal person.

"Exiting i 1" counted Kora as the blue lights disappeared in a sudden stop as they came across their destination. Planet Daylin orbit. Pulling up images of the area they could see the massive graveyard of ships all around. While mostly UNSC there were also alien looking ships that must be the Covenant. The planet itself just looked dead. Even with the sun shining down on it, all you could see is darkness. Its as if the planet has become death itself.

"Close is clear. No contact from any other lifeforms. Shall we begin our operations?" asked Kora to which Naruto looked at the planet and graveyard in sadness before clicking the button to commence the operations. While looking on as the ships got into place something else tug on his heart. He saw the wreckage of a civilian transport ship. They weren't even going to all the civilians the chance to escape.

Final Note:

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