Naruto Effect

Chapter 26

Kakashi couldn't help but have a feeling of Déjà-vu as he was being healed by his student while the girl was scolding him at the same time.

"Geez Kakashi-sensei, one kick and it takes you out? I thought you were a special Jonin?" Sakura chided and joked with her former sensei.

All he could do is groan like he did when Tsunade healed him after he succumbed to Itachi's Tsukuyomi all those years ago.

"Any injuries?"

"Tali is the worse off but she's stable for now though we need to get her back to the village as soon as we can move. She's still in danger," Sakura noted in what Kakashi had grown to recognize as the girls 'very concerned' voice, "The rest are just bumps and bruises with Naruto suffering from the obvious chakra exhaustion."

"What happened to Sasuke?" he asked to his student, "Did Naruto kill him?"

He knew that someone finished off Sasuke as he could not detect any hint of his Chakra and there was no way the Uchiha would have back off and fled. Not now and not at this point.

"Naruto did beat him but," and he saw as the medic paused for a few seconds, probably trying to keep herself composed, "Shepard Taichou finished it."

That caught the copy-nin off guard. He didn't expect the red headed woman to directly enter the combat much less be the one to finish off the rouge nin. Then again she's almost as unpredictable as Naruto at times.

"Sensei, let's go back and see everyone," Sakura started to break his musing. "I'm sure they want to see that you're fine as we get ready to leave."

With a nod and a Shunshin the pair poofed from one side to the other and rejoined the group. When he arrived he surveyed the scene. First he saw Naruto leaning on a rock with Tali in his armed as the girl was clearly asleep. She noticed that Anko was chatting away with the one called Jack and the blue skinned woman. He finally noticed Shepard, standing off on her own and looking out onto the water, probably dealing with the aftermath of what she did.

Of course Kakashi didn't have to look hard to notice Sasuke's body slumped against the valley wall, blood stain to one side showing from which direction the gunshot came from that killed him, confirmed it was one of the off worlder's weapons that did it.

He watched Sakura head off to attend to Tali and Naruto and decided that it was the best time to talk to the woman who was standing on her own.

As he walked over to her, he tried to figure out what to say. This was different than even teaching as the woman was a professional soldier so she already knew about how to deal with killing but still, it must be different for her having to kill one Sasuke's age, especially given how close she had become with Naruto.

Of course he got beat to the punch when it came to speaking.

"Are you mad at me for killing your student?" she asked, not turning to look at him.

"No," Kakashi replied, uncomfortable with the direction of the talk. "I was going to ask if you're alright."

"I'll deal, even if it was just a kid," she answered.

"Still, you shouldn't have done it, it should have been me."

It was then that he did something very uncharacteristic for him as he walked up from behind and wrapped her into an embrace.

"What are you doing?" she asked but not fighting it.

"Taking a page out of Naruto's book again," he replied.

Kakashi heard her chuckle but felt her lean in.

"I'm sorry but I couldn't sit back as he was goading Naruto into becoming like him. Naruto doesn't need any more blood then he has on his hands especially that of a former member of his squad."

"I understand. The Sasuke we knew died long ago," the copy nin answered as he just held her as they both looked out over the water. He then let her go and began to walk back to the group.

"Give me a minute and I'll come back," she said as he continued to walk back, letting her gather whatever it was that she was dealing with.

Rejoining the group, Samara looked over as asked a question.

"What should we do with the body?" she asked in reference to the remains of the Uchiha, "Are there any ritual or rites that need to be carried out?"

"Team seven will dispose of it," Kakashi announced with a louder voice than he was using as he got both Sakura's and Naruto's attention. The pair stood up, carefully moving Tali as she was still unconscious and walked over to join their former jonin Sensei. Kakashi then turned to Anko and gave a quick nod which she returned in understanding.

"Ok people, nothing to see here, let's give them some space," Anko called while waving her arms to move the Normandy crew away form the area to give Team Seven the privacy they wanted.

"What the hell is going on?" Jack asked, confused and annoyed at being bossed around.

"They want to say goodbye in their own way to their teammate," was the answer given as Anko turned back to see Kakashi use a Kanton Jutsu on the body as the three remaining members of the original team seven began to pray over the flames.

Thinking of team members, Shepard suddenly realized something

"Has anyone seen Legion since the fight?"

After scaling the rock face of the valley wall, the collected group of ladies began their search for the missing Geth. It didn't take long to trace its whereabouts from the point of the explosion that took the Geth out of the fight.

"Found him!" Anko shouted out while looking down at the body. "He looks totally trashed too."

Shepard walked over, followed by the others as she inspected the Geth. Most of the damaged seemed to be located around Legion's head area and his single eye had a crack in it while part of his body looked to have taken damaged from the shrapnel that came with the exploding kunai after the tag was ignited.

"Legion… Legion," Shepard called as she reached down and shook the Geth. "You still with us?"

They watched as the eye started to light up and the little flips around it start to move.

"Shepard-commander, I still function," Legion stated. "But I have suffered some damaged."

"We should be able to have you fixed up," Shepard told the Geth. "Can you stand?" she finished as she extended her hand to her teammate.

"Indeed, the Geth will be analyzing this battle data for quite some time."

"Don't worry, Red head here put down that little bastard so you won't have to worry about him ever again," Anko chimed in.

"That is excellent news. Thank you Sexy-Anko," the Geth replied earning some raised eyebrows from the rest of the collected group.

Turning back to the purple haired woman, Shepard simply asked "Sexy-Anko?"

The leather coat special jonin just tried giving an innocent smile and shrugged her shoulders at the question.

Before anyone could say anything more, the roar of the engines from the other shuttle got their attention as Ashley Williams was waving at them from the shuttle door as their ride back to Konoha had arrived.

Tali'Zorah vas Normandy awoke to find herself staring up at a white ceiling. This didn't spook her. What was scaring her was that she realized very quickly that she was completely out of her environmental suit. There was a moment where she actually panicked before she calmed herself and started to think. Being out of her suit only meant one thing to the Quarian, the one thing she had been told since she was old enough to hear her parents speak to her – she died during the fight and has now awoken in the afterlife.

That was the general idea until she realized she was also wearing a hospital gown. Ok, this gown doesn't make sense. Why would I wear a hospital gown if I'm dead?

Her thoughts began racing, trying to figure out an answer until a familiar voice got her attention.

"I see you've finally woken up," came the voice of the godaime hokage, Tsunade who was standing nearby while looking over her chart. "How do you feel?"

Tsunade had heard from both her pink haired apprentience and Naruto about Tali's beauty but being told and seeing it herself were two different things.

She could give all the girls in the village, including me with my genjutsu, a run for their money if she didn't have to stay in her suit all the time.

"Umm…fine I guess, though I don't think I'll last long without my suit," Tali admitted knowing that while it's nice to be outside her suit that she was probably dying, so they must have given her a chance to be outside it for her remaining moments. "How long do I have till I pass?"

"Pass? You're not dying or anything," Tsunade answered while waving her hand and then started to explain to the Quarian. "You my dear are much tougher and stronger than you give yourself credit for. Add to that the treatment Sakura gave you and even the doctors among your people would be surprised about how strong your immune system is right now. In case you've forgotten, you've got five of the best medical minds I've known, myself included, on your side and here now to help you."

Tsunade then smiled and raised her hand and with a small flick what appeared to be nothing but air began to glow blue as Tali discovered that she and her bed was completely surrounded on all sides by what she guessed was a chakra field.

"We've also placed you in a completely sterile environment while your suit is repaired and we tend to your injuries. You're not the first with a compromised immune system we've dealt with before."

Tali could have sworn she heard the leader of the village giggle but she didn't care. She never would have believed she could be outside her suit much less be safe outside of it. Her mind began to race with the possibilities that this could mean for her and her people.

"You seem to be doing well so I'll be back to check on you later, though if you're up for it, Sakura would like a word with you."

"Yes, thank you," Tali said as she rubbed her arm and felt odd feeling her own arm with her own hand. "Thank you for everything..."

With a smile and a nod, Tsunade turned and left as Sakura came in and grabbed a nearby chair and sat down.

"Thank you for helping me Sakura," Tali started before the girl could speak.

"It was my pleasure Tali," Sakura answered happily. "I wanted to talk to you about something."

"What is that?"

"Well, it's an idea that Naruto and I had and we wanted to run it by you before we asked anyone else."

"Where is he anyway? Tali asked, not used to the sound of her own voice minus her suit.

"Shepard-Taichou took him up to the Normandy to help her deal with something."

The person who was known as "the Illusive Man" was known to be patient. He had to be with his plans not only for Cerberus but for humanity as a whole. That said, he still had not heard from Shepard after she opted to destroy the Collector base at the Galactic core. He knew it had something to do with those Shinobi and while he wouldn't let it on, if one was running rogue, then it could be a threat to his plans given how powerful they proved to be.

If only he could find some that would work for him…

It was then that the Holographic-communicator from the Normandy requested a connection.

"Ah Shepard about time you…" but he stopped when he noticed it wasn't Shepard staring at him. No, it was someone he hadn't expected to speak to face to face for a while yet.

It was Uzumaki Naruto, the famed 'Gethslayer'.

"Ah, Naruto. I was hoping we'd get to chat at some point," he greeted the young man in front of him. "You may address me as "illusive man" if need be," the man finished as he stood up form his chair and walked forward towards the holographic image.

"Save it," came the reply from Naruto. "Let's cut the crap and stop trying to fool each other."

"Now, now young man, no need to be hostile," Illusive man started. "We are all on the same side after all…"

"Are we?" Naruto spoke in a mocking tone. "If we were, then why has my village been attacked after someone started spreading rumors about me and my people."

The illusive man knew that this young man had a temper, hell he could see it in the young blonde's eyes that this wasn't an idle chit-chat. Still, better keep the young man on his side for now, last thing he needed was to lose a valuable asset over an emotional response to a tactical maneuver.

"I admit that perhaps that was not the best move but at that point in time we needed all the help we could get and I needed to make sure our enemies knew that you were out there," he stated before lighting his cigarette and taking a puff. "While I regret the loss of life your people suffered, they have also proven that they can be great allies and that is something we all will need. The Reapers are coming and now they're coming for you and your people as well as everyone else in the galaxy."

He watched the young man in front of him shake his head before he reached behind his back and hold up what appeared to be a scroll.

"And that's the exact type of answer I should expect from you," Naruto started with a look in his eyes that made the Illusive man realize why this young man was one of the most dangerous people in the galaxy. "You have been deemed as a threat by my village and my hokage has decided that you must be dealt with for the safety of our people."

Getting angry, the Illusive man raised his voice as he responded to this. "Now wait just a damn a minute Naruto. You need me just as much as I need you. You can't threaten me at this point. Not now, not with the Reapers on their way."

"Oh, this isn't a threat. Hunter-nin teams will be catching a ride with Shepard-Taichou and from there they will begin the task to hunt you down and deal with you." And then Naruto gave a small smile, "and I'm sure other villages will be joining suit once they hear about this."

The Illusive Man could only stare at the young man while he tried to come up with a response.

"Oh, and if you think about trying to use Shepard-Taichou or anyone else on the Normandy as a means to stop this then I'll come after you personally and you know I will get to you," Naruto said and then finished the conversation with a single statement. "Let's see how 'Illusive' you really are now that you've got hunter-nins after you."

And at that point the holographic communication ended and the Illusive man could only sit back in his chair and ponder his next move.

After-all, there had to be a way he could use this turn in his plans for humanity.

Walking out of the Briefing room, Naruto saw Shepard standing there waiting for him.

"How'd it go?" she asked as she purposely stayed out of this one.

"Went as good as one could expect Kaasan," he replied to the commander, not fully realzing what he had just called the Commander. "I just wish Tusnade-baachan didn't want to go this far," he finished in a somewhat regretful tone.

"I'm sure when you eventually sit in her chair you'll have to make the same decisions," the commander answered him before smiling and looking at him. "So I get upgraded to 'mom" now?"

Naruto just stood there and began his usual nervous tick of scratching the back of his head with his hand, "Ya well, I know you aren't her but you are like one to me and well…"

"It's alright. I'm glad you think of me as such," Shepard replied. "But just know that just because I look like her that I'm not her. I'm me, Jane Shepard and not Uzumaki Kushina."

"Hai Hai," Naruto replied with a mock salute.

That was when Shepard walked closer to him and hugged him. It lasted for a minute or two and then she did something else.

Grabbing him in a headlock, she began to question him on something that she wanted to ask for the last little while.

"So now you're going to tell your 'mom' why you've hooked up with two women at once."

"Ow ow ow ow!" Naruto cried out as he wondered if maybe she really was more like his birth mother and Sakura-chan.

They're all angry and violent.

"WHAT WAS THAT YOUNG MAN?"

That evening in the village, there was a celebration taking place with the team from the Normandy joining in the festivities. It turned out to be a celebration for a pair of reasons, the first and foremost being their victory over the Collector;s and the second was a bit of a surprise for Naruto and Shepard when they returned.

It was a celebration because Tsunade had officially named her successor and the next Hokage of the village. It came to no surprise to anyone from Konoha who was named though it did catch Naruto off guard. After-all, it was his life long dream that had evolved from simple acknowledgement to becoming the person to protect and to guide his people towards a path of peace.

Yet he still couldn't believe that it was him who was named the next Hokage.

Jane Shepard just stood beside Tsunade and was happy to see that the people from her crew were getting along with the various people here. She watched as Ashley and Tali were talking with Sakura and some of the med-nin's friends, Kasumi doing the same with some of the older Shinobi and Grunt taking part in various Shinobi strength activities yet she could see the Krogan was enjoying himself.

"I guess this means you won't let me take him with me when we go?" Shepard commented to the Slug Sannin with a small smile. She really did want Naruto to become a permanent member of her crew but Shepard knew that taking him away now wasn't right.

"Only if he turns it down," Tsunade responded. "Which is highly unlikely."

"It's going to be different now isn't it?" Tsunade commented while she looked up to the stars above, "I know the other villages will want access as well and people like that Alliance will want to open trade with us?"

"I believe so but that doesn't mean you have to change everything." The Commander replied, "Just means the world just got a bit bigger for you."

There was a moment of comfortable silence before Tsunade excused herself to speak to a few of the officials who were in attendance. Despite their disagreements over some things, mostly related to Naruto, Shepard liked the older woman. It was then she found a drink being held in front of her by a gloved hand.

Taking it, Shepard merely looked to her left and knew who brought her the drink but couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed in the person who gave it to her.

"I hope this isn't what you meant by 'taking me out for a drink'?" she addressed to Kakashi in an annoyed tone.

Chuckling as the she took a sip of the sake Kakashi replied in his usual playful manner. "Well seeing as you are leaving shortly, I didn't know if you had the time," he began. "Plus I didn't expect you would be holding me to it."

There was more silence as the pair just watched as an impromptu dance broke out as members of her crew and the villagers all took part with music being played.

Ah, the hell with it Shepard thought to herself while looking over the man beside her again.

"Do you live nearby?" she asked.

"Uhh, yes, my apartment is about a block away," Kakashi answered, not sure why she was asking. "Why did you want to know?"

That was when she turned and looked him right in the eye.

"Let's go," she said simply and evenly.

"Umm…right now?"

"Yes Kakashi, right now," as she grabbed him by the arm and started to get him moving.

I hate to think what she would have in store if we went for dinner…was the last thought Kakashi had as he walked away with the red headed commander.

It was a few days later as things within the village began to return to normal; it was about time for the Normandy to get back on their mission. The first shuttle with most of the crew plus the hunter-nins that Tsunade had assigned for their mission was already headed up. The hunters were not a part of her crew, Shepard was just asked to give them a ride to the closest station and let them begin their mission.

Even Jack noted she wouldn't want to mess with the Hunter-nin's given how they looked with the white masks and robes.

I'll be curious if they do find him Shepard thought as the shuttle to land to take her and Tali back to the Normandy. Looking around again she had come to like this village and knew she would be back many times again and she looked back and saw Naruto, Sakura, Tali, Tsunade, Kakashi and many of the other Shinobi gathered to see her off.

It definitely made her regret having to leave.

"Commander Shepard," came the voice of Tali addressing the commander.

"Are you ready to go Tali?" Shepard asked but noticed that Tali wasn't prepared.

"I've decided to stay for a bit longer," the Quarian answered. "I want to help set up the communication system for here and the Normandy, plus I've got other reasons to stay," Tali finished looking away as she reached out and took hold of Naruto's hand while he had Sakura holding onto his other arm.

Shaking her head, she walked up to her Quarian friend and just hugged her before asking again, "Are you sure this is what you want?"

"Yes Shepard, this is what I want," Tali replied and affirmed again her wishes.

"I guess I have a reason to come back sooner than later."

Nodding, Shepard turned and walked towards the shuttle before looking at Tsunade, "Make sure they behave."

"I'll do my best," Tsunade said with a smile. "Just know that you and your crew have a safe place here. I'm sure the gaki will honor it too."

Nodding again, Shepard then looked at Kakashi. Without speaking she just smiled at the man and knew her eyes relayed what she wanted to say to him.

Don't die, we're not done yet.

That was when she walked up to Naruto as Sakura and Tali both backed away to talk with Tsunade briefly and to give them some privacy.

"So, this is it?" Naruto started, trying to hide the fact that he wasn't happy about Shepard leaving.

"Yep, I won't be around for a bit to save your sorry butt," the commander replied jokingly as she reached out and ruffled his hair, much to the young mans annoyance. She then closed the gap and pulled him into a hug before whispering into his ear.

"Take care of yourself and be a good leader," she started. "I will be back to check up on you to make sure you're behaving."

"I will Kaasan," was all he could say, trying to keep the tears from forming. "if you need me just call and I'll come with as many Shinobi as you need."

Releasing the hug, Shepard began to walk into the shuttle before saying. "I'll keep that in mind but first promise me something."

"Sure thing," Naruto said with a smile.

"Make sure I get an invite to the wedding," she said as she watched him, along with Sakura and probably Tali all blush at the mention of 'wedding.'

Reaching the shuttle door and stepping inside, she turned around and addressed the Shinobi.

"I'll be seeing you soon."

And with that the door to the shuttle closed, it lifted off to head back to the Normandy as Shepard took her seat inside the shuttle.

She wouldn't let anyone see that she was crying.

In deep space outside of the known galaxy, several objects began to power up as lights began to turn on and they began to move again. The Reapers were preparing to return to the Galaxy and consume all organic life again just as they'd done many many times in the past over the last 50,000 years.

This time, one Reaper in particular was replaying a message it got from it's vessel within the galaxy. Not a message but a threat and a promise. While normally these idle threats from organics were dismissed, the one called Harbinger couldn't dismiss this one after seeing what this organic was capable of.

"I'll be waiting and ready for you and your machine bastards."

Harbinger then knew where its first destination would be when they all began to cull the galaxy

Uzumaki Naruto. I shall enjoy consuming you…

Author's Note:What is this? Another update so soon. It's a weird case of GT clearing both 25 and 26 at once and me finally getting the time to sit down and go over her notes for 26 as the original plan was a double update to finish out the story but I got caught up in other stuff and only managed to get 25 out. So consider this a late "Black Friday" special and enjoy.

And so here we are my friends, the end of the story. I admit, it's not really much as it's still too "happy" for the end of the last chapter which was why I broke it off and expanded the general ideas into their own chapter. So, the big question is 'why did you go with everyone living?". My answer is simple and lame at the same time – it seemed weird if I did anything else. I had a version where legion died and it felt like I was killing him for the sake of killing him. I had a version where Tali didn't make it but that was depressing and very much ruined the flow of the story. So I went with this, everyone lived and in the end Tali stays in Konoha for a bit. It gives me something to work with if I opted to do a sequel or a side story.

The ending I was never fully happy with and went back and forth for a bit on the idea of Harbinger making a clone body of Naruto or Sasuke for it to use or even going out there with the idea of Sasuke and Kabuto releasing Orochimaru from that Genjutsu Itachi put him in but GT felt (and rightfully so) they were all clichéd ideas. So the end is where I put it and I hope its good enough that I tied up the loose ends but left everyone with enough to want to come back should I do a sequel. There should be enough little things there to make it at least worthwhile.

And that leads to the big question – sequel. I will say that I won't rule it out and I have a few ideas but right now until we see how both the story of Naruto goes and how Mass effect 3 turns out I can't say for sure what will happen. I may do a few side stories to cover the DLC that came out for Mass effect 2 but even that's not concrete yet. I kinda want to write something else away from the "Naruto effect" universe for a bit before jumping into it again.

And that's should be it.

So to all those who were with this from the very beginning, to those who disliked it and voice their opinion, to those who assisted me with my many many errors and to those who have recently found this and enjoy it – Thank you for coming on this ride with me.

and a very very big thanks to GT whose critical eye and writing talent really helped me in the areas I'm weak in and kept me on the straight and narrow as best she could and whom I could not have done this without. Now do a good thing for her and go read her stories.

Thanks for reading and I hope to see you for the next story!