AN: I wanna do a sort of side story of this AU. Nothing big, but look out for it.

Chapter 4

Exploration ships were cheap, simple to make, and easy to operate. It helped that the alteans were fast learners, fast to the point where it was kind of scary. Naruto in particular had taken to learning how to operate the ship after Shepard left. He couldn't go with her and her crew, not yet at least. He had other responsibilities, but that didn't mean they weren't going to stay in touch.

Shepard was hunting Saren who was clearly a danger to everyone. He wanted to be kept in the loop about this for a couple reasons. The biggest being that if the turian was coming here then they had to be prepared. Prepared to fight the geth and husks.

At the moment however, Naruto was speaking to the human delegate. Lacey Evans, an American woman raised on Earth, and one of the foremost experts in alien relations. As far as her clients knew, she was retiring due to health reasons.

"I must say your culture isn't what I imagined it would be when I was recruited." Lacey said. "Your culture is so vibrant and in tune with nature despite having this level of technology."

"It's our only home so we respect and value it, it's a simple thing to do really."

"Well, it seems that there's a lot we can learn from you about respecting our home planet." She said with genuine concern for Earth. "It's something every species should learn."

"I heard that some of them don't respect the planets that they colonize, that's what Shepard-san said at least."

"Some do, but others do not and end up wiping out native animals, flora, and fauna." she said.

"A reason for my people to get to the planets in our cluster first." He said. 'The seeds can probably make certain planets livable.'

"Of course, the cluster is altean territory after all." She said. "I hope that your people understand that we simply want to help your people."

"Before the rest of the galaxy finds out about us, you're giving us a fighting chance." Naruto said. "Something we'll actually need, and that will make people a bit more suspicious."

The blonde sighed, his people were right to be suspicious, but there was something else. Civilians and shinobi alike wanted to see how strong these humans were. Diplomacy was fine, but they needed to see their strength in action. Not knowing was making everyone fidgety. At the end of the day battle was the only way to show if one was worth their time.

Hopefully a chance would arrive soon otherwise they would have a problem.

3 Weeks Later – Konoha – Rhapsody

The first exploration ship was ready to depart after some modifications to suit their needs. It was only through certain promises was Naruto allowed to go. The other kage were against him leaving the planet and it took some convincing to get them on board. In fact he would be leading the exploration mission.

"I honestly can't believe this is happening right now." Naruto said. "It's been years since I led an exploration mission."

"Can't believe they decided to send me." Shikamaru said. "Seriously this might take us weeks to complete, months at worst."

They had the most recent ship but their destination was still weeks away. They had no mass relay to use so they were doing this the old fashioned way. Stuck on this ship together for weeks.

'I wonder how Shepard is doing?' he wondered. "Look, I'm the one who suggested that the most competent people be sent." – "If you're going to be mad at someone then be mad at me, not Kakashi-sensei."

"Not mad, just nervous."

"Oh, I'm that case I totally understand how you're feeling." he stated. "The way they looked at us when we waved goodbye."

"Wasn't just them, it was a live feed so every village got to see us off." – "They're betting a lot on us finding a habitable world so we can expand."

"Makes sense since most of our world is water with very few continents, not to mention people want to have more kids." Naruto said with a smile. "Ahh, I'm gonna miss my babies!"

"Babies?" Shikamaru sighed. "Correct me if I'm wrong but one of them is about to turn 40 while the other two are turning 21 in a few months."

"Yeah, but they're still really young compared to us and I don't know how long they'll actually live." He said.

"They're half altean, not to mention they're classified as vastaya so don't worry about that kind of stuff." Shikamaru said. "Still, I almost forgot about our population problem."

Overpopulation wasn't a massive problem per say but many who wanted children were advised not to. This was causing problems that could hopefully be fixed very soon. This expansion would surely help in increasing their population.

The sudden feeling of the ship starting, caught their attention. It was time to sail into the unknown where nothing was certain and everything was a mystery.

2 Week Later – Rhapsody – Altean Cluster – Dragons Maw Nebula

For two weeks they'd sailed across the void that was space. The crew of 120 managed to keep their cool thanks to the training they received. Not to mention their captain was supportive and naturally likable.

The ship was fine and their sleeping quarters had been adjusted so that they were a bit more comfortable. Bad sleep meant possible screw ups and that couldn't happen. Getting stranded out here was a death sentence after all.

They'd dropped satellites at certain points so that they had a line that would give them communication with the home world. So far things were going great, especially with them finding a planetary system.

One sun, one moon, and three planets. This had to be some kind of galactic luck because no other race could discover something like this so quickly. They were currently orbiting the farthest planet which they decided to name, Shimo. The reason for this was simple, it was covered in snow.

"So, we sent the probe down three hours ago and from what we're seeing, there are sizable pockets of warmth, but it'll still be too cold." Shiho said. "Even for you."

Shiho being here was a surprise for sure, but welcome due to her intelligence. While she rarely left her department building, she had jumped at the chance to work as the ship's analysis/science specialist.

"They're -35.3 Celsius while the rest of the planet is at the moment…-167.2 Celsius." She stated.

"None of our suits can handle that temperature, inside those warm spots maybe but not the rest of the planet." Naruto said. "Still, put it in our records to send back home, good job by the way."

"Thanks captain." Shiho said before getting back to work.

Walking out, Naruto sent a message to the pilot to head to the next planet. Miina, the little girl he'd met years ago, was the pilot for the ship. Miina looked to be in her twenties and was a beauty to look at. A beauty that he treated like a little cousin of course.

"Shouldn't take but a couple hours with our current speed." He said. "You know I think it's best if we find a planet with no intelligent or sapient life, we need to find somewhere to make a colony first."

'Basically you need land that hasn't been claimed by anything, that shouldn't be a problem since intelligent life takes a long time to develop.' Kurama said.

This was true and a good thing when it came to claiming land. They wouldn't take over something that already belonged to someone else. They could always negotiate with any natives if possible. Of course they would be cautious and abide by the protocols that were made. Shepard did and things were working out so far.

The hours passed quickly and they reached the next planet. A single probe was sent down to investigate the area that was deemed suitable. The probe was custom made and similar to the ones they used to investigate the sea on the home world. It would separate into six individual drones with each one having a wide scan radius. This took approximately two hours before they received data along with pictures.

What they saw was completely barren, the atmosphere wasn't suitable for life, and there was some kind of toxic material that covered the ground. It seepes into the air and the ground, releasing some kind of chemical that degrades what it touches.

"Send the data home, and destroy the drones; we can't risk bringing something dangerous onto the ship."

Miina nodded and sent the data to the homeworld before detonating the drones. The drones disintegrated into dust within seconds. This way nobody would be able to reverse engineer their technology or use it against them.

"Hopefully the third planet will have some promise." Naruto said. "I actually have a good feeling about this one."

Miina nodded and proceeded to the third planet. With Naruto taking over so that she can get some sleep. She'd been going on for 35 hours straight, and needed a break. Not to mention something to eat.

Six hours later the ship reached the planet. The look of it was all too familiar and Naruto smirked. He could sense a large amount of quintessence coming from the planet, it definitely had life on it, but that's all he could tell.

Sending a probe down, he linked up with the cameras on them so he could see what they saw.

What he saw reminded him of home minus the trees that reached the clouds. It was mostly untamed nature, plants he hadn't ever seen before, animals that were foreign to him, it was all beautiful. Even the shore line was beautiful.

Aside from the animals, there didn't seem to be any intelligent life anywhere. The drones hadn't found anything, but that could change once

they actually set foot on the ground.

"Everyone to their stations, we'll be landing in 12 minutes."

Naruto broadcasted this to the entire ship, prompting everyone to get to their stations. For most they were prepared to fight if need be. Or flee if they had to. Either way they were about to make history.

Planet ???

As a precautionary measure Naruto ordered that they stay away from the forest. They didn't know what was in there and Naruto wasn't going to take the risk yet. For now they would stay on the field where they landed.

It hadn't taken them but a few hours to set up an outpost that consisted of five modular buildings. They weren't overly large and were made to withstand a high amount of damage. There was a particle barrier surrounding them along with guards.

The latter wore advanced, form fitting armor that took inspiration from the alliance military armor. They had guns, but like Naruto they found them to be too easy. This was one of the reasons Naruto wasn't a fan of guns. They made killing easy and that made murder easy.

Of course they were all for sentry guns that could shoot down hostile ships. All in all guns had their uses, but were kind of ugly.

"We finished setting the tower up with minimal damage to the ground." Shikamaru said. "Everything has been set up but it'll take us a couple more hours to set up a stable connection with the homeworld."

Naruto simply nodded.

"Overall everything is proceeding in the best case scenario."

"The crew was getting nervous until I reassured them that nobody was going to die this early." Naruto said. "I think the future is looking bright."

4 Weeks Later – Planet Calum – Eros Colony

Fourteen hours of day and fifthteen hours of night with the latter getting extremely cold. In terms of life, there was nothing intelligent so it was safe to say that they could officially claim this planet as their own. Sure it was disappointing that there was no intelligent life, but at least they could colonize without any interference.

"We have a firm understanding of this world and its overall ecology." Naruto said. "Official colonization can be started at any time."

In front of him was the holographic image of the Hokage who was relieved to hear this. It was finally time to officially claim a planet as their own. Housing, scientific, military, and storage units would consist of large modular buildings that would be dropped from orbit. They were supposed to be insanely durable.

"How long do you plan on staying?" Kakashi asked. "Establishing a proper colony will take some time so you can leave at any time."

"We'll stick around for a little while, I assume that you're sending some of them here as well?"

"Yes, and they've taken on the species name, ningen." He stated. "There's expected resistance, but nothing we can't handle." – "The amount of surrendering is more than expected, their situation was much worse than we thought."

"If I had been allowed to–"

"Don't, they aren't 'children' anymore, speaking of which yours are on their way." – "In total there are going to be 85 ningen, you'll need to make water accomodations for 25 of them."

"What's their ETA?"

"Two weeks thanks to the upgrades, just remember that they're still adjusting to everything and these volunteers are aware of the risk that comes with colonizing a new world." Kakashi said. "Also, these are some of the same people who knew the truth."

"They must've been in danger once people found out their involvement with us, sending them here is good thinking." – "What about the Milky Way situation?"

"It would appear that our introduction is coming earlier than expected, the turians decided to stick their noses where they weren't welcomed." Kakashi stated. "The ships guarding our system looked 'suspicious' and were fired upon so now the council is demanding answers, we gave the Alliance the go ahead to reveal us."

The beeping of an incoming call caught their attention. The caller was Naruto's favorite human.

"I take it that's Shepard?"

"Yes." Naruto said, failing to hide his enthusiasm.

"Call me back when you're done, good luck." The older man said before hanging up, prompting Naruto to accept Shepard's call. Her hologram materializing within seconds.

"Good to see you haven't forgotten about me." Naruto greeted.

"Couldn't if I tried." Shepard responded. "Good to see you Naruto, how's the exploration going?"

"We're about to start colonization on the planet I'm currently on, we've named it Calum." He answered with a smirk. "We have people on the way and everything."

"Including some ningen?"

Her tone had changed, it wasn't exactly one of disapproval but genuine curiosity.

"I assume you disagree with the way my people handled them?"

"Anderson told me the specifics that he got from the five kage, your people didn't enslave them or treat them bad, but you did baby them since three of your kids lived there." – "Half alteans half ningen, I wasn't aware you were married."

"I'm not, their mother died while giving birth to them, the strain was too much on her body and altean children do drain some of the mother's quintessence."

It didn't take a genius to figure out the rest, and Shepard wasn't a sociopath so she felt some guilt for bringing up his kids.

"Let's go to another subject, like the turians getting the council involved." He said. "What the hell happened there?"

"Ugh, the Alliance being quiet made the turians uneasy and when Garrus wouldn't act as a spy, they decided to act on their own." she explained. "So now we don't have a choice, but to respond."

"Buncha idiots, getting involved in things that don't involve them, this will come to bite them in the ass later." – "What about Saren?"

"That's the thing, there have still been attacks on human colonies, but Saren himself has only been seen once before going underground." She explained. "We have proof of him ordering the geth and the rachnai queen we rescued even mentioned him, but the trail goes cold after that."

"Well, he must have a lot of places to hide." Naruto said. "No doubt he's biding his time, waiting for the right moment to act, if he comes here then we'll find him." – 'And make him wish he was dead.'

Naruto smiled.

"So, how is everyone doing?"

"The news of what happened has them nervous and they're afraid of repercussions because we found the planet, and didn't tell the Council." – "Tali actually asks about you."

This caused Naruto to perk up, he had been exchanging messages with the quarian until the Rhapsody left the homeworld. They were too far away.

"Liara can't decide if alteans are more intriguing that the protheans or vice versa, Rex misses the food, and Garrus is saying that your planet is somewhere he'd want to retire to."

That sounded about right.

"Kaiden wants to visit again, and Ashley is still on the fence about the situation as a whole."

Yep, just as expected.

"Honestly, I miss you guys, sucks you can't be here to see this planet; it's beautiful." – "In fact I think quarians would like it, maybe in the future we could subtly integrate maybe…120 into the colony."

There it was, a not so subtle invitation, a message that Tali should hear. Quarians were welcome, a limited number because of the stigma they faced, but they would be supported. Tali would hear of this.

"The council might not like that." Shepard said.

"Oh then then they'd definitely be welcomed."

Simultaneously piss off the council and help the quarians, a dream come true.

"So are–"

"Captain!" Shiho exclaimed as she ran into the comm room. "We detected foreign ships of unknown origin, they're heading here!"

"Damnit, how many?!"

"Six, what do we do?"

"Ready those defense guns, erect the particle barrier, and prepare for battle!" He ordered. "Shepard, I don't suppose you can help us?"

"Help, how are we supposed to help?" – "We're all the way in the Athena Nebula."

"Brace yourselves for wormhole travel, I'm bringing you here."

"You know what, fuck it, hurry up before those ships close in on you guys." Shepard said. "Shit this is gonna get us in trouble."

She hung up and Naruto ran outside. Activating his rinnegan he was able to see the ships, there were indeed six, and they were heading this way. Without a word he flew into the air before the particle barrier could be turned on much to the confusion of the others. He flew higher and higher, creating an air bubble around him as his left the planet's atmosphere. Once he was high enough he did something he hadn't needed to do in years. He activated one of the unique abilities of his rinnegan.

The sclera of his left eye turns galaxy-patterned and the iris turned bright blue with a dark crescent moon design, two white orbit-like dots at both sides and the other big planet-like pupil in the center. The Senrigan, with this he could perceive everything that is currently happening and all that has happened in the past, even events in different dimensions. And right now he was able to see the Normandy.

Naruto made ten hand signs.

"Six Paths sutairu: Chōkyori wāmuhōru!"

Using an enormous amount of chakra and quintessence, he opened a wormhole so big that everyone saw it. Then after a few seconds, the Normandy flew out much to the complete and utter shock of everyone.

On said ship, everyone had been taken back by how sudden it felt despite being warned.

"Commander, would you accept my resignation?" Joker said. "Seriously this isn't good for my heart!"

"Sorry, but you're in this for the long run just like everyone here." Shepard said. "Now about those ships?"

"Yeah, thanks to these new scanners we can get a visual, hold on." He said.

Bringing up a screen the two paled. One was the size of a dreadnought while the other four were half that size.

"Bloody hell." Shepard said. "What do you think?"

"Hit and run tactics, that's the best we can do unless–"

Boom!

The four ships began firing on the dreadnought-sized ship without mercy. Crude evasive maneuvers were made as the larger ship tried to get away. The ship entered the atmosphere with the other ships following close behind.

Naruto ushered for the Normandy to follow him as he flew towards the falling ship. They followed not knowing what the blonde was thinking.

"I'm gonna stop the ship from falling, you guys distract those ship!" He yelled before speeding up. "Alright, just gotta stop the ship from falling, easy enough." – "Okay, not easy."

The ship was falling fast so he sped up until he was under it. A massive golden chakra hand came out and grabbed the ship. Then another and another, and another until there were one-hundred in total. Each one had an iron grip on the ship.

"Concentrated Almighty Push!"

He needed to slow it down as much as possible while he and Kurama kept the chakra arms strong. He needed more chakra.

"Concentrated Almighty Push!"

The arms pushed back prompting Kurama to put more chakra into the arms. Naruto used the jutsu over and over again, his chakra and quintessence were being drained at a rate he hadn't felt in years. This was insanely difficult, the blonde went into his vastaya form on pure instinct.

The sound of the defense guns caught his attention along with the sight of two enemy ships falling to the ground. Good they were winning so now all he needed to do was save the ship. He needed more power. Activating his nine tails chakra mode he pushed harder and harder until he let out a roar that reached the heavens. His tailed beast mode took form.

Those in the ship and on the ground were now looking at a massive beast with nine tails. The alteans recognized it, but the Normandy crew and those in the ship didn't either. As far as the latter could tell, this was some kind of monster.

The last two enemy ships eventually fell to the ground, they didn't blow up and the pilots were alive. They had a lot to answer for.

Eventually Naruto was able to slow down the massive ship enough so that it wouldn't explode on impact with the ground. The strain caused him to fall onto his ass once he touched down.

"Fuck me, I haven't had to strain myself like that in years!" He exclaimed. "I have to start training again, shake this rust off."

"It's been a while since I saw that form."

Naruto turned around and saw Shikamaru.

"You scared most of the young ones, they've never been in the presence of something that powerful." – "No doubt the Normandy crew saw that display."

"Eh, it's fine, I don't have to tell them about Kurama." Naruto said. "This however…"

Naruto stood up, now a bit taller than Shikamaru.

"I'm too sore to turn back so I'll be stuck this way for a while, but it's whatever really." – "I'm more worried about the people on this ship."

On said ship, the inhabitants were freaking out. They weren't going to die via explosion, but there was no way to know what the alien outside the ship would do with them. The one with horns saved them, and their pursuers had been shot down. Even so their situation was already dire and they couldn't be picky, not when they'd suffered so many losses already. They would have to take a gamble.

The ship's door opened and someone walked out. Standing at 5'9 was a humanoid being with blue scales with them becoming a much lighter shade underneath her jaw as they went lower, two dark blue horns that went backwards, long yet curly light blue hair, and purple eyes with slit pupils. A snout, a long tail with various decorations on it similar to those on the horns, five clawed fingers, a noticeable chest that was partially revealed due to the clothes, and prominent hips. The being wore a white robe that looked like it was made of a silk-like material, the design reminded him of priestess garb, but a little bit more revealing. There were various other female features, but they didn't want to assume.

"Greetings, can you understand me?" Her voice was very feminine. "I am Poval, guardian of my people's faith and representative of my species, the Lacerta."

Poval eyed the two aliens. They looked so strange and so frail. They had no scales, their faces were odd, they had pointed ears, and she had to wonder why one had horns, tails, and claws while the other didn't. Maybe some kind of social structure thing?

"We can understand you perfectly." Naruto said.

'An accent, how interesting.'

"I am Naruto Uzumaki, the Captain of the Rhapsody and current leader of this colony." The blonde said.

"Shikamaru Nara, I'm his second in command." Shikamaru said, his shadow possession ready to restrain the alien.

"Welcome to Planet Calum." Naruto said this with a smile. "I assume there's a reason your ship was being attacked?"

"Yes, we're refugees on the run from the Canis, they've been hunting us for four cycles now." She said.

"Why?" Shikamaru asked. "You say you're refugees so I assume your planet was attacked?"

"Yes." Poval answered. "The attack was sudden and so relentless that we didn't have time to react, this ship is the only one that survived the attack." – "We weren't a space faring until we made the escape ships."

"I see, but what about your planet?"

"We were told to not contact the homeworld once we left, but I was given information about a mutation bomb that would destroy all life on a planet." – "My people were sore losers, but now we're desperate so please help us."

She prostated herself much to their surprise. Either she was really good at acting or her people were in really bad shape.

"These are the attackers." A kunoichi said while dragging one of them forward. "They call themselves the Canis."

The pilot had a head reminiscent of a dog along with light brown fur, brown eyes, and floppy ears. His expression was that of pure fear, he'd seen what the one with horns had turned into, and it was like nothing he'd seen before.

"You, why were you attacking these people?" Naruto asked. "Don't lie to me or I'll know, and you don't want to get on my bad side." – "Even in my weakened state, I can still tear out your throat with teeth and claws."

"We-we were ordered to by our boss, he wants the lacetra wiped out completely since their planet was harvested of all life and resources."

"How?"

"The tree, they called it the Shinju, it–gak!"

Naruto's hand wrapped around the man's throat and he lifted him into the air. Shikamaru dared not stop the blonde, not to mention the name Shinju sparked some bad war memories. The god tree was a monster all its own and they didn't need another one.

It suddenly clicked in Naruto's mind, this was the warning that Kaguya had been talking about. The Shinju they knew wasn't coming back, but apparently there was another one.

"Who planted it?"

"The–the Ōtsutsuki clan planted it after they attacked us, then forced us to surrender."

Naruto stopped listening.

'The Otsutsuki clan is alive, they must've left before the genetic sealing, but Kaguya must've been left behind.' the blonde rationalized. 'She likely hid for years before emerging again, but where did the divine tree of our world actually come from?' – 'Did her clan plant it, could they be the reason for the genetic sealing?'

Naruto dropped the Canis man and glared at him. The hatred rolling off of him was clear, and Shikamaru was ready to subdue his friend. Or at least try to talk him out of murder.

"Tell me, what's your superior's name?"

The dog-like man gulped.

"Momoshiki Otsutsuki." – "He's not someone you wanna cross especially when he's angry!"

Before anything else could be said, a black spear went through his head, ending his life instantly. The material was all too familiar to Naruto and Shikamaru.

"Indeed I'm not someone you want to cross."

Here he was, another Otsutsuki that needed to die, and Naruto would happily oblige.

Chapter 4 End