Naruto: Lord of Spines

By Uncle Joe

Edited by (You guessed it) Dirty Reid

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN EITHER NARUTO OR STARCRAFT. I OWN NONE OF THIS, NOTHING MENTIONED WITHIN THIS FICTION BELONGS TO ME. ALL I GET OUT OF IT IS FUN; NO FINANCIAL OR MATERIAL PROFIT.

Okay; little timeline for Starcraft fans so you don't get confused. I am a Starcraft fan, but I have not read the books so I'm guessing about some parts of Kerrigan's past. So here's how it goes.

READ THIS PLEASE I DON'T WANT NEEDLESS QUESTIONS

This story starts 12 years before Starcraft the first game. When it begins, Kerrigan is eight, reducing her age by six years and I'll cut all Starcraft characters ages by six years to make up for it. Now here's how it goes. Twelve years before Starcraft (the first game) Naruto arrives in the Starcraft universe and Kerrigan, who is eight, finds him. He's taken into the Ghost program. And seven years later Kerrigan, but not Naruto, is rescued by the Son's of Korhal. So she'd be fifteen and Naruto is seven. Five years later, they meet again.

That's all I'm gonna say, just to avert confusion.

YOU WANT A HISTORY OF THE WORLD? LOOK IT UP ON WIKI, IT'S WAY TOO EXTENSIVE TO DESCRIBE!

Also, when I started this fic, no crossover existed between these two different stories. So yeah, originality to the max. However in some minor research I did while writing this fic, I found a pure Starcraft fic (no crossover) called 'The Lord of Spines' by reptilia28 which is basically the same concept. So I mentioned it just in case, since reptilia28 doesn't mind me doing this fic like this. Also, check out his fic; it's pretty good. I am also borrowing the name of said fic because it's just really cool.

Naruto: Lord of Spines

Minato suppressed his grief as he watched dozens of his ninja die with a single swipe of the Kyuubi's tail. The massive fox chuckled darkly as it continued its rampage towards Konoha. Minato had been able to figure out why it was there, but had no time to tell anyone. It was there to wipe the Uchiha clan off the face of the earth, thanks to the first clan member, Uchiha Madara, summoning the fox and disturbing its long slumber with some weird genjutsu.

But Minato was able to feel a small bit of happiness: his wife was alive at least. It had been a difficult birth, but she would survive, despite blood loss. He supposed in some far more tragic story, his wife would die in childbirth, or would rush out after the birth and die under the Kyuubi's claws. But this was life which could be extremely tragic, ironic or surprisingly normal and uneventful.

He snorted to the giant toad beneath him "Tonight is lively, isn't it Gamabunta?"

"HAHAHA! I always liked your sense of humor Minato. I know what you're planning my friend. And you were the best damn summoner I have ever had. It was an honour to know you, Blondie." Minato chuckled as a few tears ran down his face. Gamabunta may have always been grumpy and talked like a Yakuza gangster, but he was a damn good man... uhh, toad. He cradled his little son Naruto in his arms. Around the little guy's neck was a necklace made of silver with a leaf symbol resting on his chest. A stylized leaf on the front and on the back was carved the name that was deemed safe; Uzumaki Naruto.

He grinned as the boy giggled; he had found it amazing when they entered the battlefield and Kyuubi's massive killing intent washed over them. Little Naruto had frozen for a few seconds and then returned to normal, apparently shrugging it off and forgetting the fear. It would be a good trait when he started to wield the monster's chakra. Minato only wished he could see his little boy grow up. Minato sighed and dismissed the depressing thoughts. He sat down and placed Naruto in his lap and began to do hand seals.

Kyuubi paused sniffing the air, something was wrong. She (No NaruFemKyu sorry) turned and spotted a blonde man sitting on top of a giant toad's head doing hand seals. She immediately knew what was happening, and charged towards the pair. But despite her incredible speed, it was too late. She screamed in pain as her soul was torn out of her body slowly. She managed a pained leer as she planned her revenge.

"NAMIKAZE MINATO! YOU MAY HAVE SEALED MY FATE AND MADE ME MORTAL, BUT I SHALL HAVE MY REVENGE! THE BOY WILL NEVER KNOW HIS MOTHER'S LOVE!"

Minato's eyes widened as he felt the Shinigami shoved its hand in his chest.

"He will leave this universe, Namikaze, and never know love. He will die alone and cold. Savor your hollow victory while you can human! HAHAHA!" the Kyuubi's laughter was cut off as it was finally ripped from its boy and shoved into Naruto, sealed away for the rest of her life. When the boy died, so would she.

Minato coughed as he slowly died. The Shinigami was giving him time for a reason it could only comprehend. Sarutobi landed lightly in front of the slowly dying Fourth Hokage. "Minato what is…?"

"I failed, old man."

"What?"

"Kyuubi she was sealed, b-but it took Naruto…s-somewhere" he coughed violently "T-tell Kushina-chan... I'm sorry..."

Sarutobi cried quietly as the hero fell from his knees. "Wherever you are Naruto, good luck."

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(A few minutes later)

A tall, lithe girl with a shock of long red hair head snapped up as something…called to her. Her watcher noticed that the eight year old girl in front of him was suddenly distracted from taking the thousand yard shot on the firing range. He frowned as the girl stared off into the distance. He knew her psychic abilities had been greatly repressed since she was admitted to the program when she was six. And before that, she had been terrified of her abilities, even though her potential was massive.

The reason she was terrified was an accident when she was six that had caused the death of her mother and made her father effectively brain-dead. She stood, leaving her weapon behind and wandered almost aimlessly to the north. Blake growled. He knew the scientists that studied her mental abilities would give him hell if he didn't let her follow this intuition. He signaled to the two marine contingents that were with him on guard duty to follow him as he pursued her. They followed her for fifteen minutes before Blake heard a sound. Apparently one of the marines was able to hear the sound as he swore fluently in what sounded like two different languages and charged past the group ignoring the shouts of the sergeant.

Blake swore, "DAMMIT! PRIVATE HICKS, GET THE FUCK BACK HERE!!" Hicks ignored him; he glanced over his shoulder at Sergeant Johnson who shrugged an odd gesture in his powered combat suit.

Hicks stopped on a hill about forty feet in front of them, frozen staring at something.

"SEARGENT! IT'S A BABY!" Lieutenant Blake and the Sergeant shared a glance that said 'What the fuck?' and charged ahead, coming to a stop on either side of Hicks. They stared down at the weirdest sight they had ever seen. A blonde-haired baby was staring back up at them. It had been screaming, but had stopped upon seeing the three men. It stared up at them with these huge blue eyes and oddly scarred cheeks. Kerrigan arrived and she didn't pause like the men. She knelt down and picked up the child, cradling it in her arms.

Blake stared as Kerrigan's glazed over eyes snapped back into sudden focus.

"What?" she then stared down at the baby in her arms and did what any girl her age would do: Giggled and tickled the baby's scarred cheeks. The baby cooed and squirmed in her grasp. She looked up at the two stunned marines and the single lieutenant.

"I don't know what happened! Something called me here. I think…I think his name is Naruto." Blake raised an eyebrow then pulled out a radio.

"Drop ship Delta One, come in, over." He said into the radio.

"This is Delta One, we read you, over." Came the slightly static reply.

"We need pick up ASAP; something really weird is going on here. Tell the eggheads to send a couple of the mentals and a forensic team out to this beacon to investigate all they can."

"Roger, will do."

Blake nodded to himself. "Private, go back to the firing range and pick up the gear. Then double time back here." He commanded.

"Yes sir." Hicks saluted and bolted off.

"What the fuck is going on here Lieutenant?"

"I don't know Sergeant, but it will mean more paperwork for me when they find out." (Yes, an evil no matter what universe you're in.)

The sergeant chuckled and lifted his visor while pulling a cigarette pack out of an ammo pouch and offering it to Blake. Blake pulled two out and popped it into the sergeant's mouth, knowing how hard it was to not crush a cigarette no matter how fine the control of power armor was. He pulled out his trusty Zippo, lit both their cigarettes and inhaled deeply. He stared down at the baby and wondered what was gonna happen to the kid in the future.

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Naruto had landed in a harsh world as he would later grow up to learn. The world he landed on was a training facility for living weapons of the Terran Confederacy, which was the ruling government of all human worlds in their sector of the galaxy. Little did they know that they where not alone…well, at least the majority of Humanity knew or thought they where alone.

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Two weeks later

The scientists had taken the newly dubbed 'Naruto' away from Kerrigan at first, but when he wouldn't stop crying, they eventually returned him to Kerrigan's charge after about two days and he calmed down.

Blake stared down at the child in the crib as he giggled and played with a large crude rattle that the Marines on the base had made. They had also made a crib out of scrap metal and lined it with scraps of cloth they used to make their comfortable and durable PT clothing. The scientists had at first been stumped. The older and more advanced Psychics kept on base to help teach the young potential Ghosts had investigated the area where he had been founded and concluded very little.

What they had found was surprising; they claimed they felt the residual effects of a massive psychic entity in the area. They surmised that some kind of entity had transported the kid there from god knows where, and it was very intelligent, immensely powerful and completely and utterly evil.

That had surprised the scientists that the psychics had claimed whatever had sent the boy there was evil. The forensics had found a small amount of blood on the boy's stomach which was a very similar DNA match to the boy's, but not identical. Identified as a parent, and most likely male, it was concluded that the father had tried to defend the boy from the evil entity. How he got the cheek scars was unknown at that point.

But this theory was blown out of the water when a Ghost graduate had blown a gasket at Kerrigan for apparently taking extra milk rations for the boy. He had made to grab the boy, but his left had touched the child's stomach and he just died. Later an autopsy would reveal his heart had been crushed by some unknown force.

At first it was thought that Kerrigan had done something with her repressed mental powers. But the oldest psychic on the base named Max had said different. He had been there when it happened. He had told everyone, even Kerrigan, to back away from the boy and had then hovered his hand over the boy's stomach.

Blake had been there when a strange tattoo appeared on the boys stomach for about twenty seconds and then disappeared when Max sat down, sweating profusely and panting in exhaustion. Well, everyone had thought it was exhaustion until they saw him shivering and his eyes were wide.

Blake would never forget what happened next.

"Something in that boy killed him." everyone had frozen.

"Some massive entity; old, powerful, wickedly intelligent, and evil beyond all reason is sealed somehow into his body. When the boy touched the seal, it perceived a threat to its vessel and had used the boys still developing mind to lash out and kill him." He paused and wiped sweat off his brow. "It won't hurt Kerrigan, since she isn't a threat. It's dangerous. It can't hurt the boy or even escape, or harm innocents. It's contained almost perfectly, except it can lash out when the child is in danger just like then, but something unexpected happened."

Kerrigan was currently holding Naruto tightly to her chest as he fell asleep, and was staring at Max as he continued to talk.

"The beast, I guess you could call it, used his mind to lash out. Since that was its only outlet, using the boy's body would have killed him. But it also somehow advanced his mind. I have no doubt he will develop psychic abilities, but not any I've ever seen before." He nodded and stopped talking, obviously done with his info. "Oh, and his cheek scars are marks of its containment. And I think they should be referred to as whiskers."

"One more thing," everyone who had thought he had finished looked at him again "He's not from this Universe."

"What, like a different dimension?" asked a marine.

"Yeah, something like that."

Blake shook his head and dismissed his musings as he stared down at the boy, wondering what would happen to him in the future.

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Seven years later – Naruto now Seven years of Age

Naruto groaned as he finished the large obstacle course. He was on Tarsonis now, even though he wished he was still on Vyctor 5 where he had been raised. Only one marine from his home had been transported with him; Lieutenant Hicks, who had been assigned as his trainer in physical fitness, hand to hand combat, knife combat, and using a rifle. The trained warriors had nothing but respect for a seven year old boy who could beat the course in no protection; just as they did in twice the time they did which was a feat in itself.

A group of marines in full armor had been watching him from the shade of a few trees. The area was large with a few trees, plenty of grass, and the massive wooden obstacle course. The only mar on the landscape was the telltale metal bulge of a half buried defense and fall out bunker.

Kerrigan had been ordered to remain behind. Even though she was considered unique with the potency and potential of her psychic powers, she had not been special enough to warrant being transported to the top secret facilities on Tarsonis. The reason he was there was not the monster contained within his body that was deemed inaccessible, and therefore of no interest, it was his unique psychic abilities. Ghosts always had telepathy and a small amount of precognition.

Naruto however, only had the small amount of precognition. His abilities were classified as war or battle orientated; pyrokinesis and telekinesis. The pyrokinesis was unique to him, as the ability to control fire had never been seen before, even though it was very poor.

He could pull off only one feat which was incinerating everything within a ten foot radius of himself. His telekinesis abilities were massive. While it had been seen before, the best most psychics with it could do was flick a light switch within five feet of them.

Naruto could lift hover cars and push assault tanks off course within two hundred feet of himself, though he couldn't do anything else while he was concentrating. He could also snap necks and implode hearts of his enemies.

He was currently lying down on the grass, recovering and thinking about Sarah, his big sister. Well, he would never tell anyone, but he only called her his big sister. In reality, he was convinced he loved her, though it was only a childish crush.

He knew the marines would never let him live it down if they found out, especially Christopher Hicks. That man had a wicked sense of humor. He chuckled as he heard said marine approach him.

"Speak of the devil. Hey Chris, what's up?" Several of the Marines had seen the lieutenant. And knowing how the man operated had merely waved at him. As far as Hicks was concerned, if they weren't on parade or in battle, he was just one of the boys. It was funny; he had the attitude and demeanor and even looks of a career sergeant, but had been promoted to officer anyway.

He was broad shouldered, heavily muscled, and would have been handsome if not for the stubble on his chin and cheeks, coupled with the burn scars on his face that he had received from a rogue ghost trainee blowing up a Firebat's (flame thrower trooper) napalm pack. He would have died from that, had Naruto not taken the brunt of the blast earning the then privates eternal respect and friendship. Naruto, with his strange ability to heal any and all wounds, had survived without any scars.

None of the Marines stationed on the Tarsonis post had believed the tale until Naruto was shot accidentally. And while they attempted to stop the bleeding the boy's body had instantly healed, pushing the bullet out as it did so.

Naruto noticed Hicks grim expression. "What's wrong?"

"The base on Vyctor 5 was hit by the Sons of Korhal. The official story is that Kerrigan died there." several of the marines swore, knowing the boys connection with the woman. Naruto was at first in shock, unable to comprehend when what had been said registered.

"Wait... official?"

"Yeah. What really happened was she joined up with Mengsk and his boys"

"W-why the hell would she go with them?"

"They where experimenting on her again apparently under Rumm"

Naruto lay still for a few seconds with a blank expression on his face. Hicks paled, knowing what was coming.

"MARINES! Double time it! Clear the fuck out!" they didn't have to be told twice. They evacuated the field quickly, and arrived at a nearby bunker. Hicks made sure everyone was in, and he slammed the door shut as he felt the air change. "LOCK IT DOWN!" the Marines were already on it, as none of them wanted to die just yet.

They were just in time when an immense heat could suddenly be felt inside the bunker. Christopher Hicks sighed in relief. No one had been hurt in this. They were the only ones out on the training ground. He waited a few minutes before checking the temperature gauge, which showed that the outside temp was only a few degrees higher than it had before the blast.

He turned the hatch lock and opened the steel door. He looked out and whistled. The awed voices behind him were a testament to what they saw.

"Well, he's never done this before." the area had been glassed. All the Marines had seen this when walking over old nuclear test sights. The area all around them was perfectly flat. Trees, rocks, outcroppings and the obstacle course were all completely gone. The grass had been burned away, and the rather sandy soil had been superheated into black glass.

One of the older Marines swore "Fuck me sideways, the eggheads are gonna love this. Shit, take some pictures boys; we can show off that our little 'Ruto can flame more faster than that stuck up squad of Firebats." the other Marines chuckled. There was a massive rivalry between the common and hardy Marines and the uncommon Firebats. Though most were reformed criminals, the Firebats were all once pyromaniacs, and tended to get other Marines killed when they charged into combat and got blown up when their tanks got hit.

Hicks walked slowly out. He may be a lieutenant, but as a former Marine, he was allowed to wear the full battle armor the same as his boys. So while able to observe the devastation, he wasn't suffering any discomfort from raised temperature or cut up feet from ground as sharp as glass. He grimaced to spot a small patch of none damaged ground and an unconscious seven year old boy lying in the exact centre of ground zero.

Hicks knew he had to report in. He groaned as he switched his inner suit communications over to the base frequency.

"This is Hicks, I informed Pyro" he spat out the codename for Naruto like it was rotten food "about the defection of Red (Kerrigan) as expected, he used his pyrokinetics to relieve his grief. Unlike the last few times, the devastation range is way bigger than twenty feet. I estimate without any actual measurements that it ranges to about one hundred square feet and the heat generated was enough to destroy all things higher than ground level within range, except for Bunker C2. And the heat was enough to glass the ground, a lot like a nuclear explosion."

"Hmm... all has been noted. Bring the boy in. End communication." Hicks nodded as one of the marines picked the boy up and positioned him carefully on the shoulder of his power armor.

"Okay boys, back to base. Mason, no one will blame you if you fall behind since you've got the boy." Mason nodded, though it was hard to tell. The power armor gave Marines a hunched appearance, since the head of the Marine was not sky lined like on a normal person. The motion of a nod was impossible to see. He had his visor down too, just like all the others so they couldn't be seen anyway. Experienced marines had found a crude way around this problem by bobbing their whole body.

Hicks grimaced, already suspecting that Naruto would now be experimented on, now that he was old enough. He was right.

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In the next five years of Naruto's life, Hicks was promoted to Colonel and was never actually transferred, but given command over all marines and other defense personnel in the hidden science facility on Tarsonis.

Naruto had gone through hell though. In his eighth year, he was informed of the beast in his belly and had spiraled into a massive depression. He was cured of this depression when Hicks beat it into him literally that he wasn't a monster. It was soon learned that after the child's first two years, the beast could no longer 'defend' the boy, as it had that first time, and could only heal him as it had done all along.

Soon after, experiments were done on suppressing and eventually enhancing his physical abilities. The suppressing didn't work, as it required microchips and other pieces of technology to be placed inside his body to suppress his psychic abilities. Thanks to the beast, this didn't work. The chips and other items where broken down and destroyed inside his body. This was, naturally, much to the joy of the scientists that were looking for an extremely resilient test subject and served to greatly anger the scientists that where searching for a way to control all psychics.

Thus the scientists who focused on improving the already advanced humans in the Ghost program were given sole custody of the now nine year old boy. He was put on all the standard Ghost drug programs, as well as some experimental ones. That's when Doctor Cross took over.

Doctor Cross surmised that Naruto could be the beginning of a new type of Ghost, instead of a silent assassin who used their psychic abilities to ensure their kills. He proposed a front line warrior who used his psychic abilities to crush and kill large numbers of the enemy. So the scientists used all the drug enhancement programs they had available which was far more than standard Ghost training facilities. They ended up enhancing Naruto's physical attributes to a point far beyond that of veteran Ghosts.

He could keep pace with a standard jeep while running flat out on an even surface like a road. He was stronger than most marines while they were in their powered armor. And by the age of twelve, Naruto was considered a master of hand to hand and knife combat. So was born Naruto, the ultimate living weapon of the Terran Confederacy.

He was also extremely proficient with the standard Ghost rifle, a 25mm C-10 Canister Rifle. He, unlike many Ghosts, had inherited a marine-like trait; an attachment to a particular weapon.

The weapon he was attached to was a gift. Something Sarah Kerrigan had given him before he was transferred and she defected to the Sons of Korhal. It looked like the standard Ghost Rifle and had the same attachments and performance abilities of a meticulously maintained weapon.

What was different about the weapon was the stylized patterns on the weapon. The stock of the gun had a raised design of a nine tailed fox, the same one that Kerrigan had once seen in a dream while hugging a five year old Naruto like an overgrown teddy bear. His name, as well as hers, was engraved on the hilt in English.

Naruto would never know that Hicks had long ago kept the necklace he was found with when he was supposed to dispose of it. Hicks fully intended to give it back to Naruto when the time was right. This, unfortunately, would be far too soon for anyone's comfort.

Naruto's psychic abilities had advanced massively in control, radius, and strength until Cross discovered an effective measure of suppressing his mental powers. It was a microchip that both benefited Naruto and hindered him, effectively tricking his apparent selective healing ability. Said healing ability had stumped them before when it had rejected hindrances to the boy and allowed beneficial experiments to be successful.

He was reduced to moving things and burning things within five feet. His previous massive powers were suppressed, and could only be released when codes were given to release different restriction levels. (Think Alucard)

He was never sent to any real hot zones, but several times he was shipped out with his familiar marine squad, who was almost like a family to him, to different worlds to hunt down and kill Bandits and dissidents.

But exactly five years after Kerrigan had been freed from the Confederacy's will, and exactly twelve years after Naruto had arrived in their universe, all hell broke loose.

An old, technologically advanced, and immensely powerful race known as the Protoss arrived in the Koprulu sector with a massive fleet and obliterated the rim world of Char Sara. When the Confederacy had mounted a rushed defense, the aliens had retreated without a fight. Naruto, despite being considered one of the best warriors of the entire confederacy, was kept out of the fight and remained stationed on Tarsonis.

But after the hit and run attack, a new threat was found. It was identified as the Zerg. These creatures were vastly different from the Protoss. They were a hive mind race and extremely aggressive, who had apparently infested the colony on Mar Sara. The Zerg were by far the most diverse species anyone had ever seen. While identified as a single race with an apparent hive mind system like certain types of insects, there were many different kinds of Zerg. They ranged from simple worker drones, to cannon fodder like creatures known as Zerglings, or far tougher beings called Hydralisks and many more.

The Zerg had an odd military like structure. The Zerg swarm was split into many different 'broods' that were identified by ranging color patterns on the shells and exoskeletons of the creatures. Some were more like research colonies while others where to be openly feared as vicious monsters that slaughter all in their path.

Naruto had read the reports on how a colonial Marshal Jim Raynor and a colonial Magistrate, merely named Jack, had been arrested for 'interfering' with a base's operations and 'destroying' Confederate property, along with a charge of disobeying orders. Reading between the lines, Naruto had grown to like the audacity of this Raynor and his friend, who had somehow rescued the base before it was overrun and destroyed before it had fallen into enemy hands.

Shortly after that, a report of a red-headed Ghost operative working for the Sons of Korhal had lifted Naruto's spirit. The report originated from a decimated Alpha Squadron base on Antiga Prime. Then shortly after that, Mengsk was accused of using some 'evil' technology which was most likely pilfered from the Confederacy to lure the Zerg swarms onto the unsuspecting Confederate forces on Antiga Prime.

All hell had broken loose until only one real bastion of Confederate strength remained: Tarsonis. The now traitorous General Edmund Duke had been sent with his newly christened Norad 2 to destroy the orbital Platform of New Gettysburg and place these 'Zerg Beacons' on the platform, bringing a massive wave of Zerg to the planet. Resistance was short-lived except for a few pockets of resistance.

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Naruto, now 12 years of age...

Naruto swore heavily as he shot yet another lone Hydralisk from his prone position on a hill in the centre of their Pocket. Naruto, along with twenty Marines, led by Colonel Hicks, had managed to get out of the science facility before it was overrun. They had tried to make it to a nearby spaceport, but it had been completely destroyed. They had settled down in a lightly populated valley to try and find a place to evacuate or as one sergeant had so rightly put it: "Get the fuck off this infested ball!"

The reason Naruto was taking potshots at wandering Zergs? Simple; they were surrounded. But by picking off individuals, you made any eventual breakout easier. Naruto sighed when he saw a rather battered power suit with a large gash in one of the shoulder pads, walking methodically towards him. It was Hicks. He'd gotten the gash when a Hydralisk played dead when it was heavily wounded, and jumped him when he got too close. Naruto had remembered hesitating as the monster's jaws snapped open and shut centimetres from the colonel's visor, and inches from his face. The colonel had ignored its bladed arm in his shoulder pad, and had calmly held its head away while another marine moved up and caved its skull in with a precise rifle butt strike.

While there was now doubt, hundreds of different Zerg species that had yet to be named or even seen. The Hydralisk was one of the nastier customers you'd come across. It had no legs but rather a long snake like appendage which is sat upon rather like the Medusa of legend. The body then curved back to reach the torso. Its head sat forward on its body giving it a rather hunched appearance. The head had a long armored shield extending from the neck up and an ugly face at the end which appeared to be permanently set in a murderous grin with a healthy amount of drool. (All pictures of all types of Units have links in my profile. Some may be missing but most aren't)

Why were they so nasty? Two reasons. Because of the two ways they attack. One, razor sharp claws on the two limbs most beings would consider hands. And two, the upper part of its torso would flip up revealing hundreds of incredible sharp spines which could be fired with enough force to pierce battleship armor. (You want a better description? Look them up please. I will try, but they won't do the actual creature justice). Plus their hides were hard to pierce. Like all Zerg, the hardened exoskeleton of all Zerg races made them hard to kill. When coupled with their ability to regenerate, Zergs were anyone's description of true monsters.

Now back to reality...

Naruto watched as Hicks approached, worry and determination clear on his face. Naruto remained prone as Hicks kneeled next to him. "Naruto I need you to do me a favor."

"Anything colonel." The young blonde replied.

"The Sons of Korhal have a small base about twenty miles from here. They're fighting the Protoss, who are trying to destroy the Zerg."

"What the fuck?" Naruto looked up at Hick's scarred face, wondering if he was screwing with him. His grim expression said no.

"They apparently want to make sure the Zerg wipe the Confederacy from the face of the planet. I don't know why; they've won already. Anyway, I want you to go by foot and find them there. It's your best bet of getting off this rock."

Naruto was about to nod, but he hesitated "Wait, my best bet?" he repeated.

"Yes yours Naruto. You're going alone. None of us here are going anywhere. This world will be our grave." Hicks was prepared for Naruto to jump up and strike him, screaming obscenities and demanding to die with his friends. What he got was not something he expected. Quiet tears streamed down the boys face.

"Why Hicks, why can't you come with me?" Naruto whispered.

"All of us together wouldn't make it out of here alive. You're the only one stealthy enough to do it. Plus we voted that you have to go. Not a single vote against us staying and you leaving with a chance at survival."

"But-but why?"

"One of yesterday's scouts reported a swarm of about a thousand strong headed this way which should be here late tomorrow or the day after.."

"But…"

"Naruto, they have blue hides."

Naruto froze. The brood Surtur was identified in many ways. Firstly by a distinctive blue tint to their hides, as well as one irrefutable fact: They where the most dangerous and vicious of all identified swarms. They acted as a cleanup bomber unit, destroying all remaining resistance and anything else that got in there way. Whether it be abandoned structures, or friendly Zerg. And the only thing that kept them in check was the mass of the entire Zerg swarm keeping them contained until they where released.

Naruto was suddenly very calm. He knew how bad the situation was... well, bad was an understatement. They were pretty much doomed. But now it was certain death. All they had to do was wait.

"No, I'm not leaving. I want to die with you guys." Naruto had thought he had won the argument when Hicks gave a heavy sigh.

"'Ruto we know where those Korhal boys are, due to intercepted radio transmissions. We also know one other thing; Sarah is with them." Naruto looked up at Hicks in shock and then away in shame, tears streaming down his face. He had no choice anymore; he had to go. He had to leave his friends to die.

"Naruto?"

"Yeah?" he asked dejectedly.

"Two things. One of them is this." Hicks held out his hand. Though if one knew the workings of marine armor, one would know it wasn't actually his hand. Marine armor protected the hands quite well. The marine's human hands manipulated the suits hands from inside the 'wrist' of the suit. There was a necklace resting on his 'palm'.

"We found this on you when you arrived in this universe. There are ancient Japanese words on the back, which state your name as Naruto Uzumaki. Or as they would have put it, Uzumaki Naruto." Naruto had always known he wasn't from this universe, but he had never really cared. It didn't affect him since all he needed were his friends.

"My name's Uzumaki?" he asked confusedly.

"No, no, I mean the ancient Earth Japanese put their surnames first for some weird reason. Anyway, the second thing…" he paused "Find her Naruto. Find the woman who holds your heart and be happy. You deserve that." Naruto gasped at Hicks knowing how he felt, but dismissed it as he got to his feet and Hicks followed him. Naruto felt like hugging the marine, but it wouldn't really be reasonable in the armor. Naruto was wearing a modified standard Ghost uniform. It was a form-fitting armored bodysuit with a lot more armor on the arms and legs than normal, as well as the normal goggles, but they where painted orange. He couldn't get red, his favorite colour, so he opted for the next best thing.

"Aww fuck it." Hicks chuckled as Naruto launched himself forward and awkwardly hugged the marine, who lightly patted the boy on the back.

"Naruto, you have to go now."

Naruto nodded and wiped away his tears. He walked down the hill past piles of rubble, and hauled himself on top of the makeshift defense wall. He turned around and saw all twenty marines lined up in ranks facing him. Sergeant Owens tossed him a pack full of supplies, ammo, food, etc.

"MARINES SALUTE!" yelled Sergeant Owens. All the marines saluted in perfect unison Naruto returned the salute. The stayed in the salute for a few moments before dropping their arms. Naruto turned to jump over the wall when Hicks' voice rang out.

"When you see Kerrigan, give her a kiss for each of us eh? And not just a peck, put some tongue in it boy." Naruto blushed crimson and turned back to yell at his oldest friend when Owens spoke his mind.

"And when you're old enough to screw her, remember all those magazines we showed you eh?" Naruto's face turned a reddish-purple as laughter filled the clearing.

"SHUT THE HELL UP ASS WIPES!" The marines laughed harder.

"You know what Owens? I'm gonna do page one hundred and four of that book you've got." he smirked when every single marine froze in shock. He laughed and jumped over the wall, knowing he would never see his friends again, but he would always remember them.

The marines had all frozen. Even the colonel. As they had all read the sergeant's special little book at least a dozen times apiece. The Colonel whistled tunelessly. "Think he can pull it off boys?"

One of the privates named Troll, for his immense strength and extremely ugly face, frowned making him seem even more grotesque. "I dunno sir, Naruto ain't all that flexible."

The Marines nodded in agreement but Owens pitched in once again.

"He might not be, but it'd be a nice way to die." the Marines howled with laughter and set about their final duties. Checking weapons and ammo, readying their final trap, and praying or consoling themselves in some way. The colonel brought out a bottle of twenty year old scotch, pouring every man a glass then throwing away the empty bottle.

"To Naruto! May he find what he's looking for," he paused, obviously not done "and get his brains fucked out for the trouble." the Marines cheered and drank. All of them prayed for their friend's safe journey.

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Naruto paused slightly behind a pile of rubble. He'd only moved a mile without any problems with nineteen more to go when he ran into them. He could feel the bastards. There were twenty Zerglings on the other side of the hill. He wasn't entirely sure how to deal with them when he heard a distant rumble. He glanced over the wall and saw the Zerglings were distracted by something.

They were blocking his only route. He popped up and fired a shot before hiding again. One Zerglings down, the group was now milling around, confused. Naruto shot up again and fired. Unfortunately this time he was spotted and did the only thing he could do. He stood his ground and fired again and again as the Zergs rushed towards him.

He reduced the numbers by nine when they were ten feet from him. He shot one more when he heard a loud whine in the air and the Zerg swarm faltered. The was a hollow boom and a large ball of blue energy slammed into the massed Zerg swarm, killing all but one who was disabled. Taking advantage of this, Naruto shot the last Zerg and looked around for his savior.

He froze in terror. A large quadrupedal vehicle stood about twenty feet from him. A light blue glow was visible at the top, evidence of it having just fired. He quickly identified it as a Protoss Dragoon. Heavily wounded Protoss templar their warrior caste could still serve their people by being encased in these heavy walkers, who provided anti air and anti ground assault back up for the far more common Protoss Zealot, also of the Templar caste, a hand to hand warrior.

Naruto knew he was in trouble. He didn't really have a chance against this half Protoss, half machine. But he was in luck; the Dragoon swayed slightly, a completely unnecessary motion. Naruto stared trying to figure out what the hell it meant when he remembered the bobbing motion marines used to nod. He bowed at the Dragoon, and something on the side flipped out, making him tense, preparing to jump away when he heard a deep rich chuckle.

"You're a good fighter child. May the Khala protect you in this forsaken place, En Taro Adun." Naruto laughed in relief and amusement as the Dragoon began to walk away.

"May the Khala protect you as well, friend" the only response he got was another chuckle.

Naruto wasn't entirely sure what the Khala was. He supposed it was some sort of religious thing like those Christian groups saying Godspeed and all that. Ghosts where raised atheist, so he had no real experience with religion.

He shook his head, clearing it of unnecessary thoughts and got moving again. He looked down at his gun to expel the almost expended clip when he noticed the rather light clip was already in a pocket and a full clip was in the gun. He stopped wondering when the hell it had happened then realized what he had done. It had happened to the sergeant once. He had fired off an entire clip once on a firing range then had ejected it and reloaded while talking to a newbie. He had then reached for a new clip and had been surprised to find he'd already reloaded. In short, he'd done it by reflex.

As he walked, he pulled out the almost empty clip and pulled out the last two rounds. He inspected them. C-10 canister rifle rounds weren't exactly the prettiest of things. They were not shaped like conventional bullets, they where just like the name said; canisters. Unlike bullets, which pierced the body and shredded the insides, C-10 rounds exploded on contact and the shrapnel generally shredded the target. They were excellent anti personnel weapons, but crap against armored units like Goliaths (walking bipedal tanks) and assault tanks (you figure it out).

The canisters were small and loaded in the same manner as normal bullets. They also had a small brass jacket like any other bullet. So basically they where flat fronted explosive bullets, that where about 25 millimetres long.

He popped the two bullets into a side pouch, as he had been taught to later use them and any other spares to load an empty clip. When his hand dived into the pouch on his left cheek for a ration bar he felt something in there that he didn't recognize by touch. He pulled out a rather normal looking black book with the words 'Vacation Bible for the average marine' printed on the front in gold letters. He flipped it open and read a small scrolled note on the inner cover.

Hey Naruto,

I'm not sure when you'll find this, but I'm sure you will. Anyway, this book is special. It's not supposed to exist, and is effectively banned. So naturally, everyone wants it but can't have it. This book is special, as I got it from my sergeant, and he got it from his, and it is every possessor of this book's duty to add more notes to it where they see fit. This will help you greatly in life, and make sure to pass it on to someone you deem worthy. Now open it up and have a look. Keep an eye on the margins for helpful added tips. Now, remember that this book is very old. It may look new because every ten years or so, it is the possessor's duty to reprint it with all added notes added into the text. So there are fifty blank pages in the back for you to use, and don't forget the margins.

Yours sincerely,

Christopher Hicks

Naruto raised an eyebrow and turned the page. He stared and stared then flushed red.

He sucked in a deep breath.

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"HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICKS!!!"

Sergeant Owens's head snapped up. "You hear that sir? It sounded like Naruto, and he sounds pissed."

"Yes it was Naruto, and I suspect he found my little present," all the Marines were listening now.

"The little black book." there was a collective gasp. That book was fabled. They knew their colonel possessed it, but only Owens had ever seen him with it.

"I believe he will use it well, and it might as well make it off this ball."

"Sir, was it updated recently?"

"Yes. Just before all hell broke loose here. That book is a legendary piece of history boys. It was originally a pamphlet issued to all marines about three hundred years ago. However it was deemed a waste of paper and never done again. A young private started it by writing down all the things in it into a book and adding more and more until he passed it on. That's what's been happening ever since. I compacted it, and it's now almost one thousand pages long."

One young private raised his hand. "Sir, what exactly is the book? Not even the guys seemed to know. Its just 'The Book'?" he asked, using his hands to make quotation signs when he said 'The Book'.

Hicks chuckled "Well son, it is the most extensively written collection of techniques in recent history on how to pleasure the female body."

"So the legends were true." everyone looked at Owens who had whispered the words. "It was said that the book is almost constantly revised as the possessor discovers new things to do, or different way to do something, or just even more detail on a certain action. My god, if he reads the thing cover to cover, no woman will be safe from the soon-to-be sex god who will be come to known as Naruto." there was a collection of nods.

"Uhh colonel, how much did you add?"

"Well, each possessor is required to reprint the book and add in all their collected notes, and then leave fifty blank pages for the next. The one I gave to Naruto was the third time I reprinted it, since I filled it up twice." There was a collective gasp and all of them where looking at their smirking captain in awe.

"Okay boys time to get back to work." they nodded, well bobbed, and got back to setting up their little trap for the Zerg.

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Naruto chuckled slightly at Hick's wicked sense of humor. He stared down at the book for a few seconds before sighing heavily, blushing slightly, and putting it back in his pouch.

He continued to move at a rather leisurely pace... if you consider moving so fast you blur slightly to the normal eye and flitting from rubble pile to rubble pile to give yourself cover leisurely. He traveled a fair distance without any problems when disaster struck.

It wasn't disaster in the form of enemies or danger from the environment; it was disaster from within Naruto's own mind. He got cocky.

He didn't remember an important lesson of warfare; it is important to be confident, but being overconfident will get you killed.

Naruto grinned as he moved, thinking of meeting up with Kerrigan. He was so caught up that he missed a slight movement to his left a short distance in front of him. The first clue Naruto had that alerted him to the fact he was under attack was a massive pain in his left shoulder. He was stunned from the blow as the force of it sent him flying backwards. as he came to a stop he quickly checked his left shoulder. A large spike was sticking out of it, he recognized it.

"FUCK!" he shouted as he pulled it out and rolled away as more Hydralisk spines were shot at him.

Naruto rolled into a crouch and then jumped away as more spines were shot at him. Hydralisks were known to have only twenty or so in the actual pouch-like section that fired them. But they were re-grown inside their bodies in seconds so a constant pace of fire could be kept up. No reload time.

He jumped again. While in mid air, he fired a shot that glanced of the Hydralisk's carapace. But it was sufficient enough to force the Hydralisk to turn away for a second. That second allowed Naruto to pump a shot into its less well-armored skull, killing it. Unfortunately for the blonde, it was not alone. A low rumble and a sudden depression in the ground where the centre started to crumble away was the telltale sign of a Zerg that had buried itself; a common practice for the freaks from another planet. But this was not the worst part; it was happening all around him, and that was really bad. Naruto ran for it.

He only realized how bad it had gotten when he heard a slithering sound and a glob of some red substance shot past him. A small amount touched his shoulder and burned him. It was only when the rock it landed on began to melt that he identified his attacker.

"A Defiler! DAMN IT ALL!" he spun on his heel and spotted the Defiler. It was a large centipede-like creature with large pincer jaws and spines on its side.

A Defiler was essentially a walking toxin factory. When he had turned 180 degrees, he fired the shot, exploding the head of the Defiler. He backpedaled and fired again and again as Zerglings dug themselves up and rushed towards him. He shot the last one a few feet from himself when a growling and unnaturally deep voice spoke from nearby.

"For the Overmind." he stopped and turned to the left.

A thing was running towards him. He'd heard rumors about these damn monsters, but never seen a picture of them. An Infested Human or Terran, the thing was a former marine that had become infested by the Zerg, and now sported several new razor sharp appendages, as well as random tendrils hanging from certain parts of its armor. It ran towards him, steadily getting closer. Naruto raised his rifle and fired as soon as possible.

Its knee exploded. The C-10 canister had taken its leg off completely. Naruto thought it was over and that he was lucky he stopped it ten feet from him. He wasn't so lucky at all. The young Ghost's eyes widened when the former human laughed then seemed to swell in places. It laughed again and the world went white.

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A pile of rubble shifted and a low groan could be heard. Stones rattled as a battered and bruised body sat up dispersing the rocks and other debris that had buried him.

"What. The. Fuck?"

That thing had exploded. Naruto dismissed trying to figure out what had happened for more immediate issues such as checking his wounds and getting all his shit together. He took in his surroundings immediately after he found his gun and his backpack a short distance from himself. He looked like he was in a residential area if the corpses of civilians and rubble that looked like dwellings was any indication. He spotted a relatively untouched structure. It was apparently a local convenience store with a sign saying 'Uncle Joe's Store Next Door. We stock plenty of cold beer." (I do too, mmm; VB Aussie brand)

Naruto grinned at his good fortune. That store would have food and things he could make crude medical supplies out off. He picked up his stuff and limped over there. The short walk of about fifty feet proved how badly wounded he was. He entered the store to find that there was no power and no front windows, but a small room with no windows and an out of the way door, which was obviously a break room, due to the small cot, table and chair. He set his stuff down and got to work.

He supposed he was in shock and that's why the third degree burns didn't hurt him other than hampering his movements. He found what he really needed; the only real medical supply he needed with his healing abilities; whiskey.

He grabbed a bottle and shuffled back to the break room. He got inside and blocked the door with the table. He had to drop the whiskey bottle on the bed, as his left hand had stopped working. He could feel twinges of pain starting to run through his body. He knew it was going to get far worse real fast. He sat down on the bed and grabbed the bottle. He couldn't open it so he smashed the top of the bottle against a wall.

He held the jagged edge to his lips and drank heavily, ignoring the sharp edge slicing into his lip. He finished about three quarters of the bottle when the pain hit. He cried out and curled up on the bed, shuddering in agony. The whiskey kicked in and he passed out, the remnants of the bottle smashing on the floor.

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Back at the marine encampment...

Hicks swore loudly, the Zergs were here. "Fucking blue-hided bastards." The Surtur swarm was here to play.

His marines were already firing from cover, but it wasn't doing any good. The Zerg weren't advancing in waves, but en masse; one thousand monsters charging twenty marines.

"MEN TO THE ALAMO!" the marines abandoned their posts and entered the single standing building, which was an old school.

The men stood at the windows as the swarm approached, fifty feet.

"Boys," all heads turned towards the colonel "It was an honour fighting with ya. Any last words?" they all nodded grimly.

Twenty five feet.

"Yes sir;" said Owens "BURN IN HELL YOU FUCKERS!" the marines laughed.

They were at the windows. Men screamed as claws slashed into them. Hicks pressed a button and grinned 'Goodbye Naruto... my son.' The world died.

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Naruto, lying passed out and healing on a bed five miles away, shifted in his sleep as the ground shook. He would never know the true fate of his friends, and would forever wonder about it. If he had gone outside, he would have seen a mushroom cloud from the micro nuke the Marines had found and used. The nuke glassed the entire valley and incinerated all the Zergs that where attacking.

Twenty good men took out one thousand monsters at the cost of their own lives. But in that single moment, none prayed for their own salvation. All prayed for the survival and prosperity of a single twelve year old boy they all saw as a little brother, a nephew, or even a son. Their sacrifice would go unremembered and unknown. They didn't care, Naruto would always remember them.

Naruto stirred slightly in his sleep, some subconscious nudge telling him what happened. A tear streaked down his pained face. A whisper could be heard. "I'll miss you guys." he fell into a deep sleep once again.

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Naruto groaned. He'd gotten drunk once before when he was eleven, and had seen the results of a large fire sweeping through a small community on Antiga. He had gotten drunk to destroy the memories of the corpses of families, but most particularly the memories of setting the fire in the first place under orders. It didn't work. He only woke up with a mild headache and no other symptoms. When Hicks had figured out that an eleven year old kid who drank him under the table literally had woken up with only a small headache, he had been pissed. He put Naruto through the most vicious training session in his life.

It was the same now; small headache, no other side effects. He sat up and checked himself out. No wounds, some permanent scars on his hands, and what felt like one on his face. His clothes were gone. He walked back out into the store naked and found the sturdiest clothes he could and dressed himself up.

He ended up dressed in some sturdy khaki pants with several pockets, a black shirt and a leather fur rimmed jacket simply because he thought it looked cool. He grabbed some food, some essential supplies, and some other things too.

Naruto got back into his room, blocked the door, and settled down. He was healed, but still weak. He'd give it another 24 hours before he moved. He settled down on the bed and spread out what he'd picked up. Some packets of sealed meat, but he wasn't sure what kind it was. Cows were rare and reserved for officials of the Confederacy, so he figured it was some local animal, probably one of them lizard things that ate nothing but grass and roots. He tore open the packet after reading it was sandwich meat and pre-cooked. He grabbed a slice and chewed on it slowly as he checked his other stuff.

Three boxes of matches plus a Zippo (These things will outlive mankind) some more meat, a few fruits that weren't rotten, which meant he had salvaged two apples and a single can of cold beer, a small flash light, a pack of batteries for it, a couple of newspapers and a couple of books, and finally, a small metal case which he tucked into a pocket of his new jacket. He picked up a piece of glass which was reflective and he checked out his image. He whistled; he had one nice scar.

It started on his right cheek and cut across his whisker marks, then up just under his eye, across the bridge of his nose, and up to the left side of his forehead stopping just before his hairline (Think Squall, but longer. I don't own this either). How he got it without losing an eye, he didn't know. But he did know where it had started, as the beginning of the scar on his cheek was deep enough to create a blackened furrow on his skin and tapered off to a thin white line on his forehead.

He hoped it made him look more attractive, because he knew some scars did, but he wouldn't know. He wasn't an expert on such things. He pulled out the small metal case, flipped it open, and pulled out a long thin cigar. He looked at it for a second before putting it in his mouth (You know that snipping thing they do in the movies? Lets imagine it was pre done.) he lit a match and ignited the cigar, sucking on it (Yea I know, bite me.) to make sure it caught. He sucked in the smoke and coughed violently for a few seconds before spitting.

He sighed and tried again this time getting used to it.

"Not bad." his voice was slightly muffled by the cigar in his twelve year old mouth. It wasn't like it was going to kill him. He opened the beer, took the cigar out and drank "To you guys. May you find Valhalla." it wasn't commonly known, but a good portion of marines, despite having been subjected to Neural Resocialization, which generally eliminated religious beliefs, believed in the Old Norse version of warrior's heaven.

Minus the gods, they just believed in a place good soldiers go when they die. He finished the beer and continued to slowly smoke the cigar, starting to really enjoy it. The addictive qualities were unknowingly being neutralized by the fox in his belly. He picked up his remarkably intact belt and pulled out the little back book. He idly flicked threw it and then on a whim skipped to the end.

On the last page was another message:

Hopefully, dear new possessor of the Book, you read the small message detailing that you skip to this page before you read the book. Now, you should already know a small amount of history to this book and that will be all you need to know. But here is a list of rules you must follow, and the last owner would have deemed you the kind of man that would follow the rules.

1. Never ever hand it to another male, ever it must always be with you. It is acceptable to let a woman you are sleeping with regularly like a wife or girlfriend to read the book so they can point out things for you to try.

2. This book is designed, written, and intended for very specific and unfortunately rare men. It is not designed for men who will use this book and its contents to seduce women, fuck them, and walk away. This book is to entice women, and use the skills and techniques recorded in this book to give pleasure to them, simply for the sake of giving her pleasure. You must be the kind of man who gains emotional and mental satisfaction and pleasure for giving physical pleasure to a woman.

3. You must pass it on to another male, just like has been described. It is also your duty, if you, can to record new techniques or different ways to do things, and then add them in when you get this book reprinted.

4. The man you hand this too must be younger than you, as he will have more chance to actually use it. The one to own this book next should preferably be a teenager, or if you must, a man in his early twenties. The youngest recorded owner of this sacred tome was 14. If you are younger; CONGRATS DUDE. Please update this piece of information as well.

Yours in providing Orgasmic wonder,

Vance "Van" Wilder the 43RD

He started to read the book from the first page, blushing slightly the entire time. He finished the stogie, wondering if he was now addicted and polished off the beer, ate some more food and went back to sleep.

(Now Naruto smoking a cigar and drinking a beer will seem odd for a twelve year old, however you must take certain things into account. 1 he grew up with marines and they wouldn't care. 2. He is doing it mostly to honor his friends who he believes have fallen. 3. His world has just ended so he felt like it.)

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Naruto woke up suddenly. His first thought was that he'd only wake up this suddenly if there was a threat. He got up, grabbed his rifle and listened, ignoring the cold floor on his bare feet, or how he was naked from the waist up. Something was moving about in the shop. he moved the table that was blocking the door as silently as he could. He listened he could hear something shuffling around a few feet from the door.

He held his rifle awkwardly in his left hand, his finger on the trigger and balanced it on his hip. He opened the door with his right hand. As the door opened into the room, which he thought absently, was extremely convenient, he leaned left with his gun poking out of the door and he glanced in. Whatever it was, it was tall but slightly hunched over. He aimed ready to fire.

"Somebody help me, please." he froze at the whisper, lowering his gun. He swung the door all the way open and saw the owner of the voice.

It was a woman, cradling something in her arms. She spotted him and gasped. She smiled and staggered over to him, tears starting to stream down her face. He saw what she was carrying the body of a five year old boy.

"Help my boy, he's hurt. Please, sir." Naruto nodded and gently took the boy as the mother handed him too her. He guessed her to be about twenty-five. He set the boy down on the bed, too baffled to immediately notice his condition.

He looked at the boy. 'Aww, damn.' he was clearly dead. No pulse, he wasn't breathing, as well as the blue lips and glazed over empty eyes were all signs. He glanced at the mother who was standing behind him with an extremely hopeful expression on her face. She was smiling wide, and was almost glowing. Naruto turned back to the boy, and tried to spot a means of death. He noticed some light bruising on his ribs and pressed there, gently feeling one of the lower ribs on his right side shift around.

'Damn! Punctured liver! He would have died fast.' he turned and looked at the mother, who suddenly looked worried. "C-Can you help him?" he stood and shook his head, not trusting his voice. She lunged forward, screaming incoherently, obviously going to grab her son. He caught her and held her as she struggled. She soon stopped and started to sob. He idly noted she was rather short, only being an inch taller than him, even though he was 5'2" and tall for his age.

"I-I'm sorry miss; he's dead." she stiffened and pulled back to stare into his eyes.

"No." he barely heard it. "No…No... No… NOOOOOO!" she started screaming and buried her face in the crook of his neck. Naruto was thoroughly uncomfortable with the situation. A hysterical woman was aghast, and she was pressed against him. He did the only thing he could: He wrapped his arms around her.

They stayed like that until she couldn't cry anymore about an hour later.

"I-I'll go bury him. You stay here ok?" she nodded absently and sat on the edge of the bed as he lifted the body and walked out. He walked about twenty feet from the building, found a small ditch, set down the body, and quickly covered him with rubble.

He walked back and noticed she was out in the store again. She was sitting on her knees and hunched over.

He walked up. "Hey." nothing. He touched her shoulder and gasped when she just slumped over. "Fuck." she had stabbed herself in the chest with his knife. "Oh, Goddammit Naruto you fucking idiot! Never leave a possible weapon near someone who is in this condition! YOU FUCKING IDIOT!" he sighed, leaned down, and pulled out his knife.

He looked at her, and then at his knife, and tossed the bloodied knife aside. He'd had it for three years, and it had served him well. But he could never use it again now. It would remind him of this, and he couldn't handle that. He lifted her cooling body and carried her to the same place as her son. He did the right thing and dug up her child, found a bigger crater, and buried them together.

He walked back, gathered his stuff, put on his shirt, left his knife, and trudged out. As he walked, out he spotted something that made him fly into a rage; a Zergling was trying to uncover the corpses. He raised his rifle and charged, the sound of his heavy boot steps caught the vermin's attention. It looked up just as he pumped a shot into its head.

He stared, then shook his head and focused on his main objective: Surviving. He walked away without looking back.

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Naruto glared at nothing. He'd traveled fifteen miles and swore he could occasionally hear what sounded like gunfire. But he'd run into a significant problem: A small Zerg Hive (in the game any Zerg base is called a Hive cluster even if they don't have a Hive) blocked his way. He had cover up until it, and cover continued beyond it. But all around was just rubble, just not enough of it to hide in. He was screwed and he knew it. Whatever cerebrate which had been heard of, but never really seen, that was in control round here was one smart bastard.

The base was small. It was a single hatchery with three sunken colonies; living buildings that used tendrils under the ground to strike any nearby on foot enemies. It had a couple of scourge, which were basically flying anti-air bombs, and about forty Zerglings. Not much, but too much for one kid.

He groaned. There was no way around the base, and he had no chance of sneaking through it. He'd have to double back at least five miles. But he got lucky; salvation was at hand.

There was a whining sound in the air and he'd dismissed it as part of the Zerg's hives ambient noise. But it was approaching, and obviously not part of the Hive. There was a rattling sound that sounded like rapid gunfire and one of the sunken colonies exploded in a fountain of gore and a couple of screeching Zerglings.

There was a new sound that came along a second or two later. Something was humming; something that glowed and was moving very fast collided with one of the Scourge, destroying it and another of its brethren in the ensuing explosion. Then he saw the attackers; Protoss scouts. The main aerial fighter of the Protoss fleet might have been named a scout, but it was strong enough to face the main air fighters of the other races. Six Protoss fighters devastated the base which had no anti air protection. Naruto knew some reinforcements would arrive relatively soon. He had to move.

He got to his feet and sprinted forward, hoping to cover the couple hundred metres to the next crater field as quickly as possible. He was rushing across the 'creep' the fleshy organic substance that covered the ground around any and all Zerg buildings when he heard an odd crumbling sound.

It sounded oddly like digging; "Shit!" he prepared to bolt as he recognized the sound as a Zerg coming up from under the ground. But the problem was that the sound was all around him. He stopped his sprint and quickly came to a complete stop. He was surrounded. His mind blanked in horror as he was surrounded by at least a hundred Zerg, Zerglings, Hydralisks, a handful of Infested Terrans, and a single Worker Drone.

A certain part of his brain which was always calm and detached noted the drone looked a lot like a crab, but with fleshy protrusions like the webs between the toes of a frog. His stared changed to a look of despair then to one of rage.

"You bastards..." Naruto began, quivering with rage.

"YOU FUCKING BASTARDS!" the Zerg stared impassively, apparently perfectly willing to let him make the first move. The infested humans chuckled.

'Kerrigan. Oh god Kerrigan, I'm gonna see you if it's the last thing I do.' he grinned.

The Zerg en masse shifted slightly, sensing something was off with their prey. A single Zergling charged. He died instantly. Though the Zerg didn't really have faces that could show any emotion they where surprised as they looked on the burning carcass of one of their own.

"You won't keep me from her. No one will. NO ONE CAN!" The Zerg as one charged.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

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The Protoss scouts returning from their mission tumbled in the air, due to extreme turbulence. The lead Protoss named Neratul activated his communicator with a thought, "Templar, please send this communication directly to the adjudicator."

"He is out in the field dealing with a human attack. He can't be reached, flight leader." The Templar replied.

"Well patch me through to him somehow; this is important."

"I'll do what I can flight leader. Hold on a moment." The comm. went static.

Neratul waited, as he could feel his pilot brethren anxiously waiting for permission to go check out the disturbance.

"This is Tassadun. What was so urgent flight leader?"

"Adjudicator, we completed our search and destroy. Minutes later we encountered severe turbulence due to physic backlash. Requesting permission to turn back and check the epicenter of the event." He frowned when he heard a sigh on the other end... Well as best a Protoss can frown with a face that was bare of nothing but skin, eyes, and a pair of protrusions for eyebrows. No one except the Protoss knew how they eat. (To be honest, that sort of thing doesn't come into bearing in the game, since you don't see anyone eat. I figure they gotta have a mouth somewhere, but no idea where.)

"I'm sorry Flight leader, but we need you to be back here as soon as possible. The humans identified as the Sons of Korhal have already destroyed a large portion of the Auriga base."

The leader swore (Again Protoss don't have any swear words I am aware of, so I'll just put it like this. Also, Zerg don't have a language, and humans... well that's obvious.), then prayed for a few moments for forgiveness before leading his flight back to base. Had they investigated, it wouldn't have mattered. Upon arriving home, Neratul and his flight were obliterated along with the rest of the Protoss air support by a nuclear explosion. The Protoss where stranded.

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Naruto took in great heaving breaths; sweat drenched his clothes and ran down his face, only to steam soon after due to the intense heat of the air. The entire Zerg base had been glassed. Nothing was left. Naruto looked around and cried out at spotting a single Zerg.

He frowned when he noticed the drone, and that it had changed color. It was brown now. It was frozen. He walked up to it and it still didn't move. He tapped it and fell on his ass in shock when it crumbled into dust.

"Well shit!"

He kneeled down for a second, still panting. He waited for a few minutes before he stood to his feet and started to trot away. He knew he was relatively close to the base since he'd been heading in its general direction this entire time. He traveled for a few more minutes when he began to hear distant gunfire.

He crested a small hill and immediately ate dirt. While six Zerglings weren't a whole lot, walking into the middle of them was still a bad idea. He prepared himself checked his gun and jumped to his feet.

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The woman was glad her cloak was on and had been fully charged before she went out onto the field to scout. Sure, she was Mengsk's main representative at the last real human base on Tarsonis and technically in charge, but the former Magistrate, who only ever gave his name as Jack, had proved to be an excellent strategist and was constantly watching the enfolding battle and sending down new battle plans to counteract. The man was a genius. Even from high in orbit in a little lawn chair he'd carried all the way from Mar Sara in the War Room of the Hyperion. He would watch the battle on the main screen and would send down split second minute changes to the overall plan that generally saved lives, or caused massive devastation on enemy weak points.

However she was generally supposed to stay at the base. Jimmy was the front line soldier. "Damn him, trying to play the knight in shining armour while I'm supposed to be some damsel. That I didn't need." She grumbled.

Right at this moment by thinking of her only male friend, she was suppressing thinking of her little brother. She had at one point, after Tarsonis's infestation, had seriously considered where he could be. All she remembered was him being sent to some special facility. She'd then asked Mengsk about it, and he had confirmed her darkest nightmares; he had been on Tarsonis.

Not even Raynor had been able to get through to her as she sobbed herself to sleep. Her oldest friend, her first friend, and her little brother. Her Naruto was dead... and she had helped.

Her almost permanent state of depression was probably why she was scouting alone; a little bit of a death wish. She was glad to encounter the half dozen Zerglings.

'Good, an excuse to kill something.' she ignored the little psychic tingle, dismissing it as what always happened when she was close to Zerg forces. She was in the process of lazily raising her rifle when there was a clatter of rocks and the first Zergling exploded.

Five more rifle shots followed. and in her slight shock she registered them as C-10 rifle shots. The last shot took out the legs of the final Zergling. Her eyes widened in shock when a tall man walked calmly towards the wounded Zergling, casually lifted what appeared to be a heavily customized rifle, and fired a single shot.

She took in his appearance. He was tall about as tall as her, but looked really young. He moved with almost no sound, almost like a Ghost; every move precise and efficient. Nothing wasted. He moved like a warrior. Like a predator. It was obvious he was a trained warrior, but he sure as hell wasn't wearing normal ghost attire.

He was dressed in sturdy civilian clothes. A pair of khakis pants, combat boots, a black shirt, and a fur lined jacket (Bomber jacket. You know, stereotypical fighter pilot jacket.). He had an army belt with several pouches, and a large, obviously stuffed, backpack that was torn and weighed down by rocks, twigs and some camo netting, obviously to reduce the outline so if he had to go prone with it on he wouldn't look suspicious.

He glanced around when his face was clearly in her direction. She gasped loudly and took a step back.

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Naruto grinned as he looked at the dead Zerg. He looked around and heard a sound. He dropped his bag, brought up his gun, and aimed it at where he thought the sound had come from. Now that he concentrated, he could feel something there. He didn't know what the hell it was. He hoped to whatever gods existed it wasn't some kind of Zerg that could become invisible.

"Oh god," he glared at seemingly empty air as a female voice spoke "Naruto." his eyes widened and his gun lowered slowly.

"Who the hell is there?" he heard a sob.

"D-don't you remember me?" there was a shimmer in the air and a figure appeared.

Long luscious red hair, bright beautiful light blue eyes (I dunno what her real eye color is but I saw a pic with this eye color and it was hot.) a sculpted face and a voluptuous body. Her curves couldn't be hidden by the slightly bulky, even if body hugging, Ghost suit.

"S-Sarah!" she nodded, tears streaming down her face, a massive smile threatening to split it open. Naruto did the only thing he could do:

He fainted.

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The Gate guard, Private Daniel Carter, was shocked to say the least when he spotted through his telescope every S.O.K (Sons of Korhal) soldier's wet dream: Lieutenant Sarah Kerrigan. He got a good look at her face while he could, and boy, did it confuse him. Her eyes where all red and puffy like she had been crying (This is one hell of a telescope ok) but she had a massive, happy smile on her face.

She also looked like she had someone slung over her shoulder.

He waved to her as she strode past, a tall young man slung over her shoulder. She waved back, her hand blurring in her enthusiasm. She giggled and it turned into full blown laughter as she walked past, her cargo groaned as he slowly started to come too.

Daniel shook his head in bewilderment. He figured scuttlebutt would tell him what the hell was going on. He settled down to continue his shift.

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Kerrigan grinned like mad as she stared down at Naruto's sleeping form as she waited for the base doctors to get back to her on his physical condition. She wondered where he got the scar on his face that seemed to make him look dangerous even while sleeping.

As if on cue, a doctor walked into the room at just that moment.

"Well what can you tell me doctor?" she asked hopefully.

"From what we where able to discover on our own, not a hell of a lot. Just his overall health, which is top notch." Kerrigan frowned; they had to have more.

"However, after recording his name and DNA, we fired them off to the fleet and received a large data file in return. Seems Mengsk had a file on him. Real detailed too: where he was, what he was trained in, etc."

"What?" the doctor froze. Her tone was dead.

"Uh, Mengsk seems to have had an extensive file on this boy for awhile."

Kerrigan growled. Mengsk had known! He had known all along where the person she was looking for had been, and had lied to her face about knowing anything! She felt like shooting him, but had other things to deal with right at the moment.

"So what has been done to him?"

"Well his physical attributes are far more enhanced than even veteran Ghosts, so he's stronger, faster, and a hell of a lot more resilient than you, Lieutenant. His apparent healing ability has rendered him immune to a massive amount of toxins, but he has to be exposed to them first so he can develop an immunity."

The doctor paused as he leafed through a file.

"His training was far more intense than normal, as he was obviously being molded into a weapon. It worked to an extent, as they tried to eliminate his emotions, but it didn't work. He only has one implant unlike most Ghosts. Like you, it suppresses his abilities, and apparently was designed to have release states. The implant however, also aides him, as his healing ability destroys any hindrances on his body or mind. The chip enhances his thinking speed. He thinks slightly faster than the most humans."

"That's it?" she asked.

"Yeah." He replied shortly.

"Thank you, you're dismissed." She said with a wave of her hand.

"Yes ma'am."

The doctor walked out, leaving a young woman who was flying through a storm of emotions. Love, joy, excitement at seeing Naruto again, grief, rage, and hate towards his suffering, those who had done this, and those who had kept this from her respectively.

Her eyes widened and her thoughts flew out the window when the only other occupant in the room groaned.

Naruto groaned and rolled over, natural instincts to stay in a warm safe bed overriding his intelligence and training. He felt a hand on his shoulder "Five more minutes..." he moaned.

"Get up." Kerrigan told him.

"Uuuuhhh, noooo."

"Come on, get up."

"Fuck off."

SMACK!!!

"OOOOWWW!"

Naruto sat bolt upright, holding his stinging cheek and glaring around the room.

"How dare you speak to a lady like that!" then he noticed who else was in the room. And unfortunately, he spoke before it fully registered what was going on.

"Pfft, lady my ass."

SPLASH!!!

"AAAAAAAAIEEEEEEE! COOOOOOLD!!"

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Naruto both loathed and loved what was happening right now. He had been ranting about getting cold water poured on him, and how it was wrong when Sarah, to shut him up, ran a hand across his cheek. He purred.

God he hated that. When she first learned about it, she had spent an entire day giggling herself hoarse as she stroked his cheeks. However that was not his only weakness. She switched from running her hands across his whiskers to running them through his hair. He groaned loudly and his right foot started twitching, Kerrigan giggled a surprising sound from a woman that battle hardened.

"I win." She declared in victory.

"Damn you..." said Naruto half-heartedly.

However Naruto was not without his own weapons. He snaked a hand around her, shot it under her shirt and tickled her back. Kerrigan gasped and stiffened; Naruto knew Kerrigan was ticklish in many places... well, pretty much all over, except her lower back. Touching her there made her stiffen up like she had been electrocuted. At least Naruto could partially resist having his whiskers messed with, but Sarah was effectively disabled except for some minor struggling when tickled there. (No joke I know someone like this)

"Noooooo! I thought you forgot!" she cried, with that sentence broken up by gasps giggles and one groan.

The door opened.

"What the...?"

Naruto froze; he suddenly realized how bad their position looked. They where standing inches from each other, he was soaking wet, her hand was fisted in his hair, and he had one hand under her shirt on her back while his other held her remaining hand away from them both.

Currently, a burly looking sergeant was looking at them both while frozen in the doorway.

"Uhh, Lieutenant?"

Kerrigan blushed lightly jerked herself away from Naruto.

"What is it Sergeant?" she asked brusquely.

"Uhh," he shook his head for a second before focusing "The Protoss are gone. After we destroyed their air power, they were about to be overwhelmed by the Zerg when a Protoss ship in orbit shuttled them out of there. Now the Zerg seem to be amassing to attack us."

Kerrigan nodded, touched Naruto on the arm before quickly exiting, leaving a bewildered noncom. The sergeant turned to leave.

"Hey sarge." Naruto called.

"Yeah kid?"

"Can you show me where my stuff is?"

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A few minutes later, Naruto stood in a slightly battered but clean jacket, his khaki pants, and all his other paraphernalia. He was currently performing a weapons check as he stood just outside the door of the communications building.

Groups of marines, tank drivers, goliath and wraith pilots ran to and fro around him as they prepared to defend their base, as well as evacuate, their mission completed. Naruto however was worried, his gut was telling him something bad was going to happen. He also had always been connected to Kerrigan, and now that they were in close proximity again, he could sense her emotions.

While she was alone in the com room she had gone from worry, to extreme nervousness, then to terror, and she had finally settled on both hopelessness and rage. The door shot open and Kerrigan appeared to be crying.

Naruto didn't ask anything. He just waited.

"No rescue. Mengsk is abandoning us and the planet."

Naruto simply watched for a few more seconds before wordlessly hugging her, then climbing on top of a nearby tank.

"OI!" he shouted as loud as he could. Almost everyone in the immediate area turned towards him.

Someone tossed him a bull horn.

"You guys don't know me, and frankly, I'm just some kid. So you're unlikely to pay attention anyway, but listen up. Evac is a no go." this stopped everyone, and there was some mutinous muttering.

"Mengsk has left us here to rot."

Men began shouting, and a small scuffle broke out.

Kerrigan climbed up next to him. "SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

"Alright guys, lets face it; we're fucked." Kerrigan glared at him momentarily.

"Frankly, a lot of you are probably thinking of running or shooting yourselves or some shit like that, well I say screw that." he glared around at all who where listening, which was currently everyone on the base, whether in person or via radio.

Hicks had once told him quietly that he would be a good leader, as people almost instantly liked him and could respect him. Well, when he wasn't being an idiot.

"I don't give a damn what you decide to do, but I know what the last thing I want to do; I'M GONNA TAKE AS MANY OF THOSE FUCKERS AS I CAN WITH ME!!" the men were still undecided. Naruto didn't know how he knew, but he just knew he needed to do something either scandalous or crazy to gain their respect, and get them to fight to the last.

"Wait a second," all eyes where on him once again "there is one other thing I'd like to do before I die." eyebrows where raised and Kerrigan crushed a feeling of nervousness that came from nowhere…apparently.

Naruto turned towards Kerrigan a large smile on his face, "Sarah."

"Yeah?"

Kerrigan's eyes went as big as saucers as Naruto stepped forward and kissed her.

Every single soul that saw what happened thought the same thing: 'He's dead.' well, except some of the female pilots who where wishing he was older.

Naruto stepped back took in Kerrigan's shocked expression and jumped off the tank.

"WHO'S GONNA RUN FROM THESE SHITHEADS?!" he saw many of the marines grinning sadistically as well as one Firebat who was laughing, making several people including other Firebats back away from him slowly.

One sergeant stepped forward.

"You may be just a kid, but you got a pair on ya." he turned around "All right you sorry sons of bitches; lets get ready to sell our lives as dearly as possible." Several other commanders of soldiers, pilots, tankers gave similar speeches and headed off to prepare.

Naruto grinned to himself as he watched them go. He froze when someone tapped his shoulder. He turned and chuckled nervously at Kerrigan's blank expression. She raised an eyebrow and he spilled the beans.

"W-well I've l-liked you f-for y-y-years now a-and I figured s-since we're dead I'd just, I dunno, kiss you, I guess..."

He looked away blushing heavily; he didn't expect a light kiss on the cheek and a hand ruffling his hair.

"Idiot, it's just weird to be kissed by someone you see as a little brother, especially when you're twenty and he's twelve. You could've given me some warning."

Naruto chuckled and rubbed the back of his head. Kerrigan smiled at him and turned away, her hand lingering on his shoulder until distance made her pull away. Just as her hand left him, she spoke.

"You weren't that bad either." Naruto's eyes almost popped out of his skull. His head whipped towards Kerrigan so fast he almost got whiplash. She walked…no, sauntered away, enticingly swayed her hips. She stopped a short distance from him and looked over her shoulder with a smirk. The smirk grew wider at his dazed expression.

Oh, she so knew what she was doing.

While Naruto gathered himself and walked off to gather as much ammo as he could, Kerrigan was approached by a group of female pilots. Kerrigan paused, wondering what they where gonna say.

"You certainly have a fine young man there. You're lucky he isn't older, otherwise you'd have stiff competition." said one of the older drop ships pilots.

A fresh faced wraith pilot stepped forward "Yeah, from us."

Kerrigan was going to laugh it off until she noticed their serious expressions. "That young man crossed Zerg infested territory to find you Lieutenant. One of the nurses mentioned how he muttered in his sleep about finding you. That's some serious love he's got for you girl. And since we're all gonna die here, you might as well enjoy it while you can."

Kerrigan's eyes narrowed. "You're not suggesting that I…"

She was cut off. "No! Of course not. If you had a few years then you'd be fine, but he's much too young now. Just enjoy the comfort of someone who loves you, that's what we plan to do." To Kerrigan's slight surprise, they all turned away and walked off, most heading towards the marine barracks. Only two didn't; the two that had actually spoken to her. The walked together back to the Starport. Her eyes widened further when they wrapped their arms around each other and held themselves close.

'So the rumors are true...' she shook her head and walked back to the command centre to get her gear.

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Two hours later.

Naruto sighed. After he'd grabbed extra ammo and Kerrigan had gotten her gear, they'd just enjoyed each others company. The caught up, talked about anything and everything, except their coming doom.

Both their com units crackled to life. "They're coming." was the simple message.

Naruto sighed again and quickly got to his feet, offering a hand up to Kerrigan who took it.

"You know Sarah," Kerrigan glanced at him "I have no regrets."

"Why's that 'Ruto?" she asked.

"I got to see you again."

Kerrigan grinned as the strolled towards the frontline "You know how corny that sounds?"

"Yeah, but it's true."

"Yeah, same here Naruto."

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Naruto stared. Roughly one hundred marines, twenty Firebats, four assault tanks, four goliaths, and a squadron of wraiths were all they had. What did they face; thousands upon thousands of Zergs, rushing their position as fast as they could go.

"Great."

The tanks morphed into siege mode and began to lay waste to the Zerg. Dozens of Zerg died with each shell that exploded. Wraiths swooped in, causing widespread destruction with their strafing runs.

The Zerg struck back. Hydralisk fired their spines into the air, bringing down two Wraiths. The scourge did the rest. Dozens of them flew in and impacted with the Wraiths, the flying sentient bombs blowing all human air support out of the sky.

They continued to advance at an incredibly fast pace, mostly because about 90 percent of their force was Zerglings, with scattered Hydralisks and Ultralisks. They were within range now. The goliaths started to fire their auto cannons first, then the marines joined in.

The Zerg died by the hundreds, but still they came on and on. The first line was within fifty feet when the first wave was incinerated by the Firebats. Then they were upon the first line of defense. Screams tore through the air as sharp claws, spines and teeth tore through heavy armor and into naked flesh.

The next line of defense started to fire into the mass, knowing that any still alive would be glad to receive a bullet.

They where overwhelmed just a quickly.

Naruto raised his rifle and started to take out some of the bigger Zerg, greatly enjoying the loss of cohesion in their movements due to the loss of their leaders who where more or less control conduits.

The last line was breached; an Ultralisk, a huge elephantine creature with blade like tusks, rushed through the ranks, crushing both friend and foe. Its massive tusk blades shredded a siege tank like tinfoil. Naruto lowered his rifle and sighed. He was surprised about how unemotional he was about the whole thing.

He turned on his heel and ran back to the position Kerrigan was in. On his way he reached out with his mind and batted aside a few Zerg in his way. The final line of defense wasn't really a line of defense. As soon as the last survivors were there, everyone on it broke and ran, intending to hold out in fortified buildings.

He kept running right alongside Kerrigan. He glanced over his shoulder and saw the Zerg overrun the last position. He grinned and pulled out a small remote from his jacket pocket. He pressed the button.

BOOM!

The front mass of the Zerg were devastated.

Naruto quickly pulled Kerrigan into a random building as a group of Zerglings rushed past. He slammed the door shut and retreated deeper into the single room building.

"Now what?"

Kerrigan just looked at him with a lost look on her face. "I suppose we die." She said in a resigned tone.

"Yeah..."

As if to punctuate this sentence, the ground trembled.

Naruto sighed but froze when he heard a slithering sound. Something heavy slammed against the door. Naruto raised his rifle and fired a shot through the metal door without thinking about it, his reward was a pained shriek.

He grinned and got a split second warning as he dodged sideways as a Hydralisk spine shot through the door.

He glared at the door until a pained groan behind him caused him to turn.

"No..."

Kerrigan was hit.

"NOOO!"

The spine had driven into her stomach; a fatal injury.

He managed to catch her as she fell. Kerrigan gazed up at him and smiled.

"Least I got to see you again, eh runt?"

He pulled her close, unable to cry. "Shhh, we'll be fine soon Sarah"

She passed out.

Naruto released his rage.

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The Overmind watched its children obliterate the last human bastion with little interest. He had learned much from the humans, and believed itself ready to face the mighty Protoss.

Though the mass of hardened carapace, flesh, and energy was millions of miles away, it could perfectly see what was happening on the surface of Tarsonis.

As it continued to watch, beginning to grow bored with the mindless destruction that was common of his young, he felt something. He felt a psychic pulse of mental anguish. His full attention was now on the area when it happened.

The Overmind was stunned as it recoiled in slight pain from the psychic backlash of rage that seemed to engulf the entire planet. The giant entity would never know that every psychic within the planets orbit died due to the massive overload.

Then it happened.

A small, seemingly inconsequential building seemed to implode then explode. The Overmind watched in awe as a massive vortex of fire erupted out of the building. What induced this awe was that the fire was mental in origin; the age old being had never seen such a thing before.

Then the fire began to move. Faces appeared in the flames of vicious snarling animals then seemed to fade back into the vortex. A strand of fire broke off from the whole and it was easily fifty feet thick and a hundred feet long. A snarling fox head appeared at its tip before it launched forward and obliterated a large pack of Zerg. It twisted and turned like it was alive, killing even more Zerg.

The tentacle of flames retreated and once again joined the whole, the vortex…shifted. It changed from a twisting tunnel of flame to a wall.

The Overmind was puzzled; why go from attack to defense? Then it saw the top had a curved crest. It wasn't a wall; it was a wave.

The wave crashed forward and obliterated thousands of Zerg. The flames suddenly died.

Silence filled the former battlefield.

The Overmind quickly sent out more Zerg to find the source of the fire. To its immense surprise, it was a human boy.

Next to the comatose boy was a heavily wounded older human woman.

The Overmind used its massive mental presence to gauge them. What did it find?

"My children..."

It sent an Overlord to pick up the Overmind's latest subjects.

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Naruto awoke. He had no idea where he was. He felt nothing, saw nothing. He began to panic when he felt a pulse.

Kerrigan. He could feel her so close and she was alright. He calmed minutely.

He slept.

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(A few months later on the Planet Char)

Naruto arose from his sleep. At first, it was the same as last time; darkness and no sense of anything but self. But then he began to feel. Kerrigan.

He could feel her, but she felt... different. Then he felt the others. First a few, then more and more until they were countless. Some large, most small, and one huge entity. He didn't know how to describe them. He could feel them like they were part of him... or maybe he was part of them.

Suddenly he could feel again. He was someplace warm, surrounded by a thick, and rather sticky liquid. The liquid pulsed and it shifted.

'Is this what it's like to be born?' he wondered as the liquid pulsed again and again. He felt himself moving violently and he suddenly had all his five senses back. He staggered and almost fell as he landed on his feet. He sucked in great lungfuls of air and looked around.

A spike of fear lanced through him as he realized he was in the middle of a Zerg hive. He started to panic.

"Be still my child." Said a great, ethereal voice from an unseen speaker.

He calmed, no longer afraid for some reason.

"You have woken before your counterpart. She will awaken soon and all will be explained then."

Naruto stood almost perfectly still as he waited. He didn't question, he just obeyed. The perfect soldier.

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"Your other half is about to be reborn."

Naruto nodded, trusting the voice and presence he just identified as Father.

He turned and spotted a large, upright fleshy sack. It pulsated and shuddered for a few minutes before erupting in a spray of torn flesh and thick liquid. She stepped out.

Naruto stared and stared.

What shocked him the most was how unsurprised at her overall appearance was. He was surprised at how human she still looked.

Why was he surprised?

Simple.

She was obviously part Zerg now. Her old body armor was mostly in tatters, but the heavy body armor still protected her torso. Her legs and arms were left bare, but her shoulders were still covered. Her skin had changed from a light brown to a greenish brown, leaning heavily towards green. Her hair was no longer a vibrant red but now a deep brown. It was also hardly hair anymore.

Her hair at first glance looked like it had been turned into dreadlocks, but was in fact a set of deep brown, closely packed tentacles that simulated hair. She also had new weapons apparently. Her hands were covered in the same substance that Zerg hides where made of, but sharpened into claws as well as long wing like appendages coming out of her back.

In truth, they looked like the bones for bat wings. But what was missing was the membrane in between. They moved and shifted seemingly on their own and Naruto guessed they were deadly weapons.

Then he studied her face. It was still the same, except her beautiful light blue eyes had changed to a glowing yellowish red. (Saw this in a pic of Starcraft 2. Freaky ass eyes man.)

Naruto then decided to check himself out.

He looked down and gasped, the gasp drawing Kerrigan's attention.

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Kerrigan had already taken in her new form and her greatly rearranged mind, due to her infestation with the Zerg Virus allowed her to accept her new form readily. She was now staring at Naruto. Where she was mostly human and had very few Zerg-like features, Naruto obviously had a lot more.

Naruto had been almost as tall as her before the change. Quite a feat for a 12 year old. Now he towered over her a good head in height. He still had his old Ghost armor covering his waist and lower stomach, as well as his thighs. His upper torso was covered by heavy plates of chitin armor, as well as his upper arms and shoulders.

His hands were covered in vicious armor claws, much like her own. But he had further spikes growing over each joint and inch long spikes coming out over his knuckles. His forearms had four long bony growths on them, one on each side of his arm, forming a square. The answer to what they were was given when they moved free of the shallow groove provided for them in his arms and extended. They looked just like the bony growths on her back, except more spike like instead of looking like blades.

They were very long, and were clearly designed to provide a short range (relative to his body, the things are like 3 feet long) stabbing attack whereas her 'wings' were designed more to slice.

His feet were covered in hardened chitin, the same as her but the spiked toe and heel were defiantly not like hers. She then looked up to study his face.

He had the same kind of hair as her but it was a dull blonde, his face was still the same with its whiskers and long scar.

"My children."

"Yes father?" they asked in perfect unison (line from Lord of Spines Reptilia's fic)

"You are two parts of a whole. Kerrigan, my Queen of Blades; a leader in the swarm, and my ultimate agent and representative."

"Naruto, my Lord of Spines; the ultimate warrior and soldier of the swarm."

"You two are two parts of a whole. You will forever be connected to each other, and connected to the swarm."

"Rejoice my children, for you will show the universe the Power of the Eternal Swarm."

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PHEW its over, biggest chapter I have ever written hope you enjoyed it.

There will be many chapters before Naruto goes back to his world but he will. Oh yeah, he will be with Kerrigan and one more woman, but that's it….a first for me, eh?

Oh and about that little black book and some more of Naruto's stuff…don't be so sure he's lost it, so don't worry he'll get it back just couldn't find a way to bring it into this chapter.