Naruto: Gun Dream

Blanket disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Battle Angel Alita

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Having been a big fan of Battle Angel Alita since way back in the 90's I was surprised at how well the new movie turned out. This story was started before the movie and is based mainly on the manga. It was shelved because so few have even heardof the series till now. I updated it and added footnotes that reference things to minimize confusion but if you haven't read the manga then you will probably be lost. For those of you looking for additional information check out the Battle Angel Alita Wiki. The story starts in the original Battle Angel Alita series around/during chapter 30 which is about 9 years after the beginning of the series and the movie. All the years listed are both in E.S. (Era Sputnik) and C.E. (Common Era). Also, I'd like to thank Flameravenfor his input on this story. Here is chapter 1 of Naruto: Gun Dream. Enjoy!

{ } Signifies a foreign language

Chapter 1

Granite Inn, Cheyenne Mountain Complex, Colorado, E.S. 586 (2542 C.E.)

Professor Desty Nova was originally from the floating sky city Zalem*① above the Scrapyard (or Scrap Iron City). He is a highly eccentric, yet brilliant and creative genius who specializes in nanotechnology . The focus of his research is the study of karma (Karmatron Dynamics) which led him to pursue what can be considered hideous and inhumane experiments. He was cast out from the utopian society of Zalem due to his unorthodox and grisly research methods he undertook to unravel the universal components of karma. The one thing that remains certain is he holds his research in the highest regard above all else and will willingly sacrifice the lives of anyone to be able to further even the most trivial aspects of his studies….

….Which makes one wonder why anyone was surprised that he was willing to experiment on the dead as well….

Nova was looking at his latest prize; the mummified remains of an ancient Warrior Chieftain from Japan that was the seventh to hold the title of Hokage, or Fire Shadow. Nova didn't know the man's actual name and didn't really care either. All the Professor did know about the dead man was he was the ultimate warrior of his time period and that he possessed an energy called senjutsu that still circulated in the nearly perfectly preserved brain of the dead Hokage. Being the scientist and genius cyberphysician that he is; Desty Nova decided the still 'living' brain of the ancient warrior was a worthy specimen for reconstruction.

"Kyahahaha! Let's see if you can overcome the ultimate karma –that of death itself!" cackled Nova. "You'll need a body worthy of a warrior of your stature as well….the question is what will you do with it?" babbled the madman to the mummy of the Hokage. The Professor took a bite of flan and said "Mmmm….delicious!*②" before he started up a scanner to see how well the Hokage's brain would interface with the body that Nova was planning to use.

The Professor had been working on a prototype cyborg body he called Imaginos. It was based upon the body that the cyber warrior Alita once possessed called the Berserker body. Given Alita was one of the most dangerous warriors alive (if not the most dangerous) it seemed appropriate to Desty Nova to give this prototype body to the Hokage while he worked on an even more advanced Imaginos body for….future projects.

Using cutters; Nova quickly removed the senjutsu charged brain from the mummified body of the Hokage and injected it with masses of reconstructive nanomachines of his own creation. The goal was to grow a new body constructed of the modified Berserker body cells.

The computer showing the Hokage's brain soon was rattling off data.

Limbic system….Brainstem 74%….Cerebellum 93%….Cerebral cortex 98%...Brain restoration 100%

"Astounding!" said Professor Nova. "I could have made it work with only 50%. This brain is marvelously intact!"

Nervous system…. Eyeballs 100%….Spinal nerves 100%….Peripheral nerves 100%...Fabrication 100%

Nova took another bite of flan. "Outstanding! The new nervous system is already firing with senjutsu energy. The micro systems are completed. The karmitronic potential is unbelievable!"

Bodily system….Organs 100%….Skeletal system 100%….Skeletal Muscles 100%….Circulatory System 100%….Fabrication 100%

"The macro systems are nearing completion." pondered Nova. "Let's see what your appearance is Hokage….blonde hair, blue eyes, whisker like birthmarks. He has Asian facial features but the hair and eyes appear to be of Caucasian stock….Fascinating!"

It took full two hours to form the new Imaginos cyborg body for the Hokage. Desty Nova watched with rapt attention as every last detail was reconstructed. "This has been even more successful than I imagined. It's beautiful!" he thought aloud. Noticing the brainwaves were active but not conscious; the Professor wondered aloud, "What are you dreaming about Hokage?"

….

Dreamscape….

Uzumaki Naruto was dreaming about his life in Konoha. It was all going by in a blur….

His first days as a genin...his trip with Jiraiya….The Fourth Shinobi War….His wedding day to his beautiful Hinata-chan….Boruto's birth….Himawari's birth….Becoming the Seventh Hokage….

Then Naruto remembered the sad day when Hinata passed away peacefully in her old age. He was so broken that he wanted to die with her. As it turned out he outlived her by twenty years thanks to the well known Uzumaki longevity. He lived to see his grandchildren and great grandchildren born. Even a great-great grandchild was born that was his namesake. When Naruto passed on himself he was well over 100 years old and simply went to bed one night. He never woke up….Naruto had a good life. He was satisfied. Now he could be with his beloved Hinata-chan once more….or could he?

Dreamscape end….

….

Naruto's blue eyes fluttered open to the land of the living for the first time in over 1,000 years.*③ He slowly took in his surroundings and saw he was in some kind of medical laboratory. Then he saw a man with wild gray hair wearing a bizarre and elaborate pair of glasses. They looked almost like a ballroom mask to Naruto. Seeing the man was just staring at him with a strange smile on his face, Naruto said, {"Hello? Where is this place?"} in Japanese.

The Professor's smile widened and he said, "Marvelous! An old dialect of Japanese….Your brain should be able to understand modern English now thanks to my nanomachines. Can you understand me Hokage? Tell me your name. I'm Professor Desty Nova."

The blonde blinked and said, {"I can understand you Nova-sensei. I'm Uzumaki Naruto."}

Nova said patiently, "Try it again in English Naruto."

"Oh! I'm Uzumaki Naruto of Konoha Professor Nova." said Naruto. "Where are we?"

Desty grinned and said, "Excellent! We're in my lab in the Granite Inn. What's the last thing you remember?"

The Seventh Hokage paused and said, "I remember going to bed….I thought I died in my sleep….WAIT A MINUTE! HOW AM I ALIVE?!"

"Kyahahaha!" cackled the Professor. "You're alive because I brought you back to life Uzumaki Naruto! The Seventh Hokage was the mightiest warrior of his time period and now he walks the Earth once more!"

Naruto's blue eyes were the size of dinner plates. "You used Edo Tensei on me?!"

Nova laughed again and said, "I have no idea what this Edo Tensei is. I revived your brain and created a new machine body for you. Isn't it fabulous?"

The blonde sweat dropped….Then he looked at his hands. They were smooth like when he was young but were the color of polished steel. "What the hell…?" he whispered. Then Naruto fainted.

When the former Hokage came to; he had a billion questions about this 'machine body' that he rattled off at mach speeds but Nova seemed quite pleased to brag on the Imaginos body….

….

"Your new body relies on nanomachines and mimics the human body down to the cellular level." said Professor Nova. "I created it. You are now a nanomachine based organism. I call your new body Imaginos."

Naruto was trying to figure out why he comprehended the term nanomachine and asked, "How do I know English and all this other stuff? What about Konoha?"

Nova took another bite of flan and cackled. "Kyahahaha! Don't sweat the details. I figured you'd need to know things to survive in this era so I installed the data when I revived you….As for Konoha, you died around 1,000 years ago so it has long since crumbled into dust." Then Professor Nova got a rictus grin on his face and said, "What to see your original body? It's mummified."

The blonde looked disturbed but then said, "Show me." 'I should be able to tell if I'm a thousand years old….'

Professor Nova placed his hand on Naruto's shoulder and pointed to a casket like box. He said, "Your original body is….right….over….there…."

Naruto gently got to his feet and crept over to the container. When he peered in he saw the shriveled up remains of his original body and gasped in horror. "That's….me!" he said hoarsely as he noticed the top of the skull was neatly sawed open.

"Kyahahaha!" cackled Nova. "This is all that's left of the original you Naruto! Fantastic isn't it? The only thing I could salvage was your brain which is marvelously intact. Any other questions?"

The orange loving blonde was shell shocked but a thought occurred to him, "You dug up my grave?!"

Desty suddenly was broken out of his train of thought and said, "Actually someone else did a long time ago….I stole your body from a museum."

"I was dug up and then stolen….then desecrated…." said Naruto in a flat tone. "Unbelievable…."

"Like I said; don't sweat the details!" said Nova in a chipper tone. "Karma has brought you here and now you must go forth and do what you have to do. Destiny awaits!"'

The Hokage said gravely, "I carve my own destiny."

Nova smiled eagerly and said, "I can't wait to see what path you forge then. There are whole worlds awaiting you…."

….

Factory Farm 28, E.S. 588 (2544 C.E.)

The beautiful cyborg warrior Alita had spent eight years working as a TUNED*④ Agent in the Badlands*⑤, hunting down rogues and criminals of all kinds. Gone were the glory days of Motorball and running around the Scrapyard. Now she was the first TUNED Agent and was codenamed A-1. Joining the Ground Investigation Bureau (G.I.B.) as an Agent had been a deal with the devil. Alita's life was spared but in exchange she was at Zalem's beck and call. Over time the dark haired cyborg woman had come to resent the G.I.B. and particularly their leader Bigott Eizenburg for his callous attitude towards her and the other surface dwellers.

Alita had sadly come to the point of viewing herself as little more than a slave and began to revel in combat and bloodlust as a means of drowning out her despair….Alita's own fatalist view of herself and her situation was eating away at the woman's soul. The sad but beautiful warrior had no idea what awaited her on the next mission….

The one thing Alita did like about being a TUNED Agent was she had top notch gear. Her body armor was composed of a dark gray body suit with light green armor. The armor protected her torso, shoulders, upper arms and sides of her thighs. The rest of the armor consisted of a pair of knee-high armored boots. The body armor had a holster for a TUNED pistol and containers for the various supplemental weapons: arachno bombs, firefly support weapons, laser bug communication devices, lice probes and missile bees*⑥. She carried other standard weapons such as knives and grenades. Alita also had a special back holster for the Damascus Blade which was her close combat weapon of choice. Over all of this she wore a tan desert cloak for camouflage in the Badlands. Lastly, she had a TUNED rifle for this particular mission. It was a 12.7mm semi automatic battle rifle that was very useful against armored targets.

G.I.B. Chief Bigott Eizenburg sent Alita to Factory Farm 28 to look into what was going on. Her orders had been curt as usual from Eizenburg: "A-1, Go to Factory Farm 28 and investigate. The Farm has gone silent. Find the problem and deal with it. That is all." Alita was less than thrilled but received a set of printed orders that gave her some details to work with….

Farm 28 was located far north of the Scrapyard and was fairly isolated in the desert except for the train line that ran roughly north/south to the Scrapyard and Zalem. It went silent three weeks ago and all attempts to make contact with Farm 28 had failed. The main concern was bandits or terrorists had taken it over. There was also some fear that it was Barjack*⑦ revolutionaries but their area of operations was in the southwest rather than the north so that was unlikely. Regardless of who was responsible; Alita had a situation to resolve. She was a few miles south of Farm 28 when she hopped off her Mobile Unit (a single wheeled motorcycle) and was searching the settlement with a pair of binoculars for signs of a battle or some form of military force occupying the area.

That's when she saw some sort flag flying above the Farm that she did not recognize. 'That isn't the Factory's or Barjack's flag so whose is it?' wondered Alita. 'It's blue with three white spears aimed horizontally across it. Did bandits take over? I guess the only way to find out is to enter the Farm proper….' After checking her data computer she found no matches for the strange flag and decided to assume they were hostiles. Inspecting her combat gear over once more; the TUNED Agent crept forward stealthily….

….

Uzumaki Naruto had spent the last two and a half years on a personal training trip that ranged all over the Badlands regions formerly known as the United States and Canada. His nomadic life on the road had really opened his eyes to the true nature of the world. During his (relatively brief) stay at the Granite Inn two years ago he'd learned a great deal about Professor Nova and his deranged experiments. He'd also met Nova's lover/bodyguard Eelai who was (for lack of a better description) a morbid sex fiend. She had lamented more than once that it was such a shame that a man as handsome as Naruto was a cyborg because to her, flesh is everything. Getting away from that sick pair was not all that difficult as Professor Nova was very enthusiastic to see Naruto forge his own destiny and sent him on his way.

The fact that Naruto had years and years of diplomatic experience as the Seventh Hokage was the only reason he didn't attempt to take Nova's life for the sick experiments he conducted. Frankly, Nova reminded the blonde a bit of Orochimaru from his first life with the stuff he did. As much as Naruto felt he owed Nova for a new life and body; the blonde hoped to never interact with the insane Professor again….or Nova's girlfriend for all that matter. After that Naruto remastered his chakra and sage techniques which (to his shock) worked perfectly with his new cyborg body. It took almost a year and a half to do so. The blonde also desperately tried to contact the Toads and the Tailed Beasts to no avail. It left him in a state of depression for some time but Naruto decided that going to Japan (eventually) might provide him with some answers. Lastly, the blonde trained his new body to use the Gama Kumite*⑧ at speeds that he could never achieve as a flesh and blood human.

Naruto's appearance had changed quite a bit too. His hair was back to being the spiky blonde it had been when he was younger (for some reason it grew like real hair) and he had a very short tail tied in the back. Naruto's whisker marks had become more defined and took a metallic appearance. He changed his clothes as well. The vibrant orange, black and white were gone. In their place were tans and creams for desert camouflage and a tan cloak with a hood and goggles for protection during sandstorms. Weapon wise the blonde had multiple six pronged shuriken and throwing knives as well as a katana. Naruto found that virtually every bladed weapon known to man was exported from the Scrapyard (though he'd never entered it himself). Most of the former Hokage's heavy firepower was his jutsus although he was considering getting a sniper's rifle of some sort for hunting….

The spiky haired blonde made his living off of the land or sometimes bounty hunting when he needed larger amounts of cash. In his travels he got a flat black car left over from olden times*⑧ that he picked up from one of the Factory Farms. He used it to get around the Badlands even if it was in extremely weather beaten condition. As it happened Naruto was headed southwards towards Farm 28 to resupply when he noticed something odd. His sensory ninjutsu detected a huge amount of anxiety in the air around Farm 28 and he thought, 'What's with all the unease I'm sensing? I'd better find out….' Then he noticed a blue and white flag above it. Naruto had seen the flag before out on the east coast that was outside Zalem's direct influence….A necropolis known as The Core….

….

Farm 28 was occupied by a group known as the Scorched Earth. The well armed faction of brigands was made up of cyborgs of various types. The leader of the group was a three meter tall cyborg named Sherman. He was olive colored with his arms decorated with four blue stripes painted horizontally around them. His lower body resembled a treaded tank like vehicle but from his torso up he looked like a human being wearing body armor and an army style helmet. Sherman was also perpetually smoking a cigar. Naruto slipped into town and spotted Sherman easily enough as he was twice the size of everyone else. 'All of them have those blue stripes but the more powerful ones have more stripes than the smaller ones. The majority of them have one stripe. Is it a ranking system?' pondered the blonde.

"What have we here?" thundered a huge cyborg from behind a house Naruto was on. The cyborg was built like a coal burning stove with arms and legs. He was two meters tall and almost as wide. He had no visible head and had three blue stripes on his arms. Aside of that he was black. "It looks like someone is outside of their house when the Farm is locked down." he said.

The blonde sweat dropped, 'I was so busy eyeballing the stripes on these people that I missed this guy. I must really be getting sloppy in my old age.' "What can I do for a walking coal bucket like you?" asked the ninja.

The cyborg growled, "I'm Furnace dipshit. Your smart mouth just bought you a ticket to hell." he pointed his stubby arms towards Naruto and revealed a pair of flamethrowers. "Burn!" said Furnace as he unleashed a torrent of flame.

Everyone in Farm 28 saw and heard the belch of flame on the north end from a distance. 'What the hell is Furnace burning now?!' thought the members of Scorched Earth.

….

Alita was at the south entrance to Farm 28 eying the two guards there. The dark haired warrior thought to herself, 'The people are locked down in their own homes so I can't just charge in with all guns blazing. It would put innocent lives at risk. It will have to be done surgically.' She eyed the Damascus blade and thought smiling, 'Fortunately I have just the right tool for the job. Now if I could just distract them momentarily I can strike.' That's when she heard Furnace try to set Naruto aflame in the distance.

The two guards quickly turned around to face north. "What is Furnace up to now?" asked one.

The other shrugged and said, "I feel sorry for whoever made him mad. Think one of us should check?" He got no answer and looked at his buddy. His fellow guard's head was missing and blood was pouring out of his still standing body. The living guard's eyes widened in terror and he froze up at the grisly sight.

Alita appeared in a blur in front of him before taking his head too. She grinned at the sound of screaming and tearing metal on the north side of town. "It seems a fight has broken out. How convenient." she whispered under her breath. "Time to get to work…."

….

Furnace was missing an arm as he tumbled backwards it the street. The sphere of energy the blonde shoved into his left side shredded his thick armor like paper and his left arm and flame thrower were blown to smithereens. "W-w-what the hell?" screeched Furnace. "My armor is bulletproof. How did you-?"

The blonde stood there with another rasengan forming in his hand. "He said, "There is always someone stronger than you coal bucket. You're going down for good."

Furnace was trembling but luckily for him several other members of Scorched Earth arrived and opened fire on the Hokage. Naruto seemed to blur out of existence and Furnace watched in disbelief as his squad started being blown away with fist size holes in them where their chest cavities had been. The cacophony of tearing metal and the screams and cries of the dying filled the black painted cyborg's ears. When Furnace stumbled to his feet he ran from the blonde demon and didn't look back….

Naruto saw Furnace run away screaming and considered chasing him for a split second. The blonde decided it wasn't worth it and thought, 'I need to drive these creeps out of the Farm….'

….

Down in the south end bullets were flying everywhere as Alita hacked and slashed her way through the opposition. A larger cyborg with a rotary cutting blade tried to bisect the speeding girl but found his cutting blade and his arm attached to it were completely dismantled in a split second. He turned to try to find the TUNED Agent but three armor piercing rounds blew his head off before he could react any further. He hit the ground dead before Alita landed nimbly behind the wreck and holstered her pistol.

"Aren't you something girl?" said a female cyborg with six lanky legs tipped with blades. She had three stripes like Furnace did. She sprang at Alita lightning fast as the TUNED Agent drew her Damascus blade and flipped to the roof of a nearby building. The woman stood on her rear legs and lunged forward with her for front blades flying. Alita blocked or deflected all the blade strikes before flipping over the insect like cyborg and removed one of her rear legs with the Damascus blade. The woman stumbled but then righted herself and spun around to face Alita. "Damn you little bitch!" growled the woman as she launched another bladed assault on the TUNED Agent.

Alita spun and whirled about avoiding the flashing blades. The insect cyborg woman hissed as the dark haired warrior flipped onto the insect's back and smashed her to the ground with a brutal Panzer Kunst heel drop. The woman's body wasn't designed to take such punishment and the thin armored shell ruptured from the impact killing the Scorched Earth member instantly.

'I'm making good progress but I can't allow them to take hostages!' thought TUNED Agent A-1 as she tore into the fodder with her Damascus Blade….

….

The TUNED Agent and the blonde ninja busted into the central square of Farm 28 at the exact same time. Realizing she was also fighting the Scorched Earth; Naruto saw that Alita was about to get jumped from behind and launched three shuriken that slew her would be attackers. At the same Alita opened up with her pistol and fired high velocity rounds into some of Naruto's opponents….Alita flashed Naruto a savage smile. It was obvious she was enjoying herself amidst all of the carnage….

Scrap metal and blood were flying everywhere when Sherman rolled onto the scene crushing remains of the destroyed members of the Scorched Earth. He roared at the two speed demons, "STOP RIGHT THERE! I don't know who you are but you won't survive crossing me! Prepare to die!" As he spoke a Gatling gun turret emerged from the top front of his tank like body. He rotated his body in the general direction of the two warriors who had stopped to size Sherman up.

Naruto sensed with his sage powers where Sherman's brain was and how many enemies were left. He whispered to Alita, "The enemy has cleared out to give their leader room. His brain is below the human shaped torso inside the tank body."

Alita thought, 'Does he have satellite support as well?' "I can confirm that the Scorched Earth Members are pulling out and heading northwards. As for the leader's brain….I'll take your word for it." She grinned and said, "I'll take high to get rid of the 'human' body."

The blonde nodded. "I'll take low and disable the Gatling and then we can both wreck the treads."

….They both vanished in blurs as Sherman opened fire with his Gatling gun.

Alita drew her Damascus Blade and leapt up on tank body to engage Sherman's upper body. He reacted faster than she anticipated and blocked with his own heavy sword. The pair locked blades for a split second before Sherman realized his sword was being scored and he turned it to deflect the Damascus Blade away from him. The dark haired warrior slid by in a shower of sparks as the upper body turned to face her. After three rapid strikes did little damage Alita said, "Missile bees -Fire!" and a small swarm of the cyborg missiles wreaked havoc on Sherman's upper body and riddled the tank hull with shrapnel.

Down on the ground Naruto was playing cat and mouse with the Gatling gun turret. Other than getting directly behind Sherman's tank body there weren't many areas Naruto could hide from the line of lead the Gatling was spraying all over. Finally deciding he'd had enough, Naruto attacked the stern of the tank body with a futon rasengan as soon as Alita jumped clear to let her missile bees do their job. Naruto's attack blew a tremendous chunk of armor off of the rear of the tank and exposed the engine powering the treads. The now damaged and smoking engine started spewing coolant and oil all over the place before it burst into flames and stopped running. The tank like cyborg stopped dead in his tracks as the power to his treads ceased to exist.

The now immobile Sherman was cursing up a storm as he tried to reroute his power systems so he could move again. The burning tank body was aflame from front to back by now and soon Sherman was screaming for help so his brain case wouldn't burn up. Alita and Naruto had no idea how to extract the brain case and twenty minutes later Sherman fell silent as his brain was broiled alive. The other members of Scorched Earth got the idea that their leader was dead and hastily retreated knowing they'd lost this battle….

….

"They're out of my sensory range." said Naruto.

Alita had been in contact with the G.I.B. and agreed. "All I can tell is the left headed east. I wonder where they are from."

"They're probably from The Core on the other side of the Eastern Mountains." replied Naruto. "I saw that same flag out there before. I have no idea what they are doing out here though."

"The Core huh?" pondered the dark haired cyborg warrior. "Oh! I haven't introduced myself. I'm Alita; what's your name?" she asked with a smile.

'She's really cute.' thought the blonde as he returned her smile with his own. "I'm Naruto; I guess you'd call me a bounty hunter and traveler of sorts."

Alita and Naruto shook hands. "You've got some serious skills Naruto." complimented the beautiful cyborg. "What kind of a fighting style is it you use? I've never seen anything like it."

The former Hokage replied, "It's called Gama Kumite. It's an ancient style from Japan. What style do you use Alita? You were incredible out there."

"It's called Panzer Kunst." answered Alita. "It's a cyborg specific martial art."

The cyborg pair was soon eagerly discussing martial arts in detail and generally having a good time talking about a bit of anything and everything….

….

By the next morning the people of Factory Farm 28 were out of their homes and the wreckage from the battle was being moved to a junk heap near the southern entrance to the farm. Mercifully, though the people there had been scared for their lives and several beaten up by the Scorched Earth, no one died and the injured were going to recover. The Scorched Earth's goal was unclear but they wanted Factory Farm 28 intact as well as the people there working. Whether or not it was a coordinated attack with others or a runaway group under Sherman was unclear. Hence the G.I.B. had called Alita….

….Chief Bigott Eizenburg was less than thrilled at the report from Agent A-1. On the one hand she'd done an admirable job (with outside help) taking on an army of cyborgs of unknown origin but at the same time a few had slipped through their fingers. Alita was at her Mobile Unit in contact with Zalem and was listening to her 'superior.' He said, "You did an adequate job A-1. However, the threat of the Scorched Earth is not over and you didn't capture any of them to interrogate. We need to find out who they are and exactly what they want. What about this 'ally' you've acquired? Can you question him?"

Alita frowned. 'Adequate job huh? Why I ought to-' (Cough) "His name is Naruto and I'm sure he would answer questions without an interrogation Chief. Besides, he already told me he'd seen the Scorched Earth's flag before."

The G.I.B. Chief's eyebrows raised curiously and he asked, "Did he say where he saw it…?"

"Naruto said he saw it at a place called The Core out past the Eastern Mountains." answered the beautiful cyborg.

Eizenburg turned a bit pale and said, "The Core is a huge necropolis in the northeast. If you are to investigate then you'll need a guide. Is this Naruto character willing?"

The dark haired warrior was secretly enjoying watching Eizenburg sweat. Putting on a doubtful face she said, "He's a pretty tight fisted type. Naruto's services won't come cheap." 'Hah! Naruto would probably go just for the adventure from what I can tell.'

The G.I.B. Chief nodded to himself and said, "This is a real threat to Zalem's security. It needs to be dealt with swiftly and decisively. Offer him triple the chips that we pay a standard mercenary but not one chip more."

It took all of Alita's willpower not to break into a full blown smile. 'Turning the screws on Eizenburg is fun!' she thought evilly. Taking a somber tone she said, "I'll do my best Chief."

"Make sure you do A-1." said Bigott wondering how he was going to justify the expense to his superiors. He signed off.

….

Alita went back into Factory Farm 28 with a silly grin on her face. 'Hopefully Naruto will come along just to travel. I think we could have some fun together adventuring. Of course offering him an obscene amount of chips won't hurt….'

She soon found Naruto outside the local vehicle and machinery repair place getting his car looked at. She found the old black V-8 powered vehicle somehow fit Naruto's free spirited personality. Given they were considered heroes by the locals; Naruto was offered supplies and a tune up for free. He'd offered to pay for it but the people of Farm 28 wouldn't hear of it. Likewise Alita had been treated like a queen. However, she had other things on her mind right now; a certain blonde cyborg for instance….

Alita waved down the former Hokage and smiled when he waved back happily. "Hey Naruto; I have another job to do." said the beautiful cyborg. "Want to tag along? The pay is good and the company isn't bad either."

Naruto raised an eyebrow and said, "Tell me about this job Alita…."

….

POSTSCRIPT:

*①: Zalem was known Tiphares in the original English translation for those of you unfamiliar with the name. It is located approximately over Kansas City in the states of Missouri and Kansas.

*②: Professor Desty Nova is obsessed with flan in the manga.

*③: I just rounded off the timeframe to 1,000 years. The current year is E.S. 586 (2542 C.E.) and I'm placing the Shinobi Era during the Warring States Period of Japan (Circa 1467 C.E.-1600 C.E.)

*④: TUNED is an elite force of agents created and overseen by the Zalem Ground Investigation Bureau (G.I.B.) which carried out various missions on the Earth's surface, as people of Zalam faced exile if they left the floating city.

*⑤: The Badlands is an umbrella term for the vast desolate and sparsely inhabited desert surrounding the Scrapyard. Other than the Factory Farms and bandit bases, no other settlements are shown to exist in the Badlands. Bandits are a constant threat, requiring travel to be made by convoy.

*⑥: All of these weapon's descriptions are on the Battle Angel Alita Wiki. Suffice it to say describing them all in detail here would take a whole chapter by itself.

*⑦: The Barjack is a rebel army whose objective is to destroy Zalem and with it, the Factory and the Scrapyard. They initiated a large scale revolt, the Barjack War, which raged from ES 585 to present.

*⑧: Toad Style Taijutsu

*⑨: This is based on the V8 Interceptor from the movie Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior. (It fit right in to the whole post apocalyptic desert image and besides; how many times do you get the opportunity to give Naruto a hot rod?)

Well, that lays down the basic premise. NeonZangetsu also wrote a Battle Angel/Naruto crossover based on the movie. I haven't read it yet but I'm sure it's good. Anyway, hopefully this one will take off. If it doesn't I'll eventually put in my One Shot file. I'm rereading the original Battle Angel Alita manga and The Last Order manga to brush up my knowledge. I don't have Mars Chronicles yet but I plan to buy them eventually. See you next time. Blue out. 3/16/19