Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Warhammer, or Mass Effect, this is a non profit fan fiction.

Just wanted to start off by saying that this is indeed a Naruto and Mass Effect crossover fan fiction, but to make things make more sense (mainly in my opinion XD) I will be adding Warhammer 40k fluff in here as well to explain Naruto, and yeah he's an alien but a very human like alien. All will be explain in the next few chapters.

Remember I would be very great full if you manage to read and review this.

Shepard could only watch with a small smile playing across his well worn and rough face as he watched the child play far below in a small garden area. The way he ran around carelessly with his Alliance Fighter model, possibly pretending or wishing to one day pilot such a vessel of his own. Though he knew it was only natural for a child, Shepard found it hard to believe that someone could be so carefree in such a hostile galaxy. One tends to have a bleak outlook on life most of the time when they know that everything they have come to take for granted will soon come to an abrupt and cataclysmic end. Shepard knew that it was his burden to carry, but to know what was coming and look around and see nothing being made ready was almost too much to bear.

Shepard forced himself away from the window at the sound of the door of his room opening. Walking calmly and confidently into his room was none other than James Vega, the incredibly muscled Marine that had been assigned as Shepard's liaison for the past few days. James stopped a few feet short of Shepard before executing a perfect salute, in respect of Shepard's predisposed rank.

"Commander." He stated evenly. Shepard offered a small smile, although he didn't look it, James was always a 'by-the-book' type of guy, never really going out of his way to speak to anyone he didn't need to.

"You know you're not supposed to call me that anymore James, I'm not Commander Shepard anymore." Said Shepard with a small chuckle. James didn't show any obvious outward reaction, though Shepard's trained eye noticed that it slightly irked James that a 'Superior-Officer' had called him by his first name instead of Lieutenant. He quickly recovered though.

"Not supposed to salute you either, we've gotta go, Defence Committee says they want to see you, now." All thoughts of further joking were swept aside at this new development. Quickly discarding a data pad the he himself didn't know when he had picked up, Shepard followed James outside and into the hallway. Almost immediately Shepard was taken aback with the sheer amount of activity going on outside of his room. Military personnel and aides hurried about in different directions, the voices of dozens of frantic people all flowed into one, incoherent mass of noise.

"What's going on James, everyone seems a bit busier than usual." said Shepard, his mind racing at the possibilities of what this could mean. They couldn't be here yet, could they? No! Someone would have told him by now if they were.

"Couldn't say, just got told that they needed you, and soon." replied the stoic James. Shepard managed a quick nod before starting to walk on ahead to catch up to James, only to stop in his tracks almost immediately sporting and ear to ear grin. Anderson, possibly Shepard's greatest friend was making a beeline straight to him.

"Anderson!" He exclaimed before tightly grasping the offered him in a furious handshake. James only managed to stand ramrod straight giving a tight salute.

"You're looking good Shepard, if only a little soft around the edges since I last saw you." said Anderson with a chuckle. Shepard just laughed, patting his stomach, unconsciously making sure that Anderson wasn't joking.

"How have you been holding up ever since being relieved from duty?" queried Anderson. Shepard managed a weak laugh.

"Can't complain, it's not so bad after you get used to the hot food and soft beds." Anderson smiled in return.

"Don't worry, we'll get it all sorted out soon." Although Anderson sounded extremely calm, Shepard still had to ask.

"What's going on? Why is everyone in such a hurry?"

"I just got word from Admiral Hacket, he's mobilizing the fleets, I'm sure word has made it to Alliance Command by now. Something big is headed our way Shepard."

Shepard came to a dead stop, not wanting to believe what he had just heard. He was almost too afraid to ask.

"The Reapers?"

Almost unnoticeably, Anderson stiffened at the question, it seemed be didn't want to believe it either, but then again, who would?

"We don't know, not for certain." If anyone else other that Anderson had said that him, Shepard would have been hard pressed not to laugh in his face.

"What else could it be?"

"If I knew that..." Anderson said, letting his words hang for a little.

"You know if it is them we're not ready, not by a long shot." replied Shepard.

"Tell that to the defence committee." said Anderson.

"Unless we're planning to talk the Reapers to death, the committee is a waste of time. We need to get something done now." shot back Shepard, surprising himself slightly at the sound of anger creeping into his voice. Anderson simply sighed.

"They're just scared, none of them have seen what you've seen, we've all reviewed your reports, seen the data you collected, but it's all just theory to them, me I believe you Shepard. You've been there, in the trenches, fighting them, you know what they're capable of."

Shepard scoffed slightly. "Is that why they grounded me? Took away my ship so I couldn't stir up any more trouble for them?"

Anderson rounded on him immediately, pointing at him accusingly. " You know that's not true, the shit you've done, any other soldier would've been tried, court marshalled and discharged. It's your knowledge of the reapers that kept that from happening, they know that they need you if things go south."

James sat off nervously to the sidelines, feeling slightly vexed at being so close to the two means argument.

"That and your good word?" Countered Shepard. Anderson seemed to calm himself down quietly berating himself on such a childish argument with a long time friend.

"Yeah, I trust you Shepard you know that and so does the committee." Shepard choked down a laugh.

"I'm a soldier Anderson, just a very skilled grunt, I'm not a politician." Despite himself, Anderson met Shepard's smile with one of his own.

"I don't need you to be either Shepard, I just need you to do whatever the hell it takes to stop the Reapers." With that said, Anderson started to walk off, Shepard turned back to see if James was still with them in case he had decided to leave when Anderson had started to do his job for him.

That's when he saw it, though if you asked him, he would never be able to tell you exactly what it was because he wasn't sure himself. It was as if something was ghosting them, he could feel it. It was like an itch that couldn't be scratched, it was there but it wasn't. Every time he was sure he had caught a glimpse of it, it would disappear away into the air. It was like a small ripple in the air, like heat waves you could see in the distance on a hot day, but that couldn't be right it was quite cool inside the Alliance Command building. He was violently pulled out of his thought process by Anderson's hand pulling on his shoulder.

"What is it Shepard?" asked Anderson, sounding slightly worried himself.

"I, I'm not sure. I know it sounds crazy but I think someone is following us. Someone who doesn't want to be seen." He managed to explain. Anderson looked at him sceptically for a second before brushing it off quickly.

"Don't worry Shepard, it's just nerves getting to you. Besides if someone cloaked had entered the building and breached this far they would have set off over a dozen different alarms."

Shepard finally, after a few moments of deep thought, managed to move himself from his rooted position and follow Anderson once more, but he still couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched, by something that should not be there.

Rounding a corner further down the hall they came to a larger room. Off to the sides, military staff ran their hands across holographic key boards furiously, trying to cope with the incoming data. Men and women rushed about the place on errands unknown, but they all shared one thing in common. They all seemed worried about something, as if the data they were transporting had impart some portion of knowledge onto them, something they wish they had never known.

"Their expecting the two of you Admiral." Said a female officer before quickly moving on again. Shepard turned to say goodbye to James, knowing he might not see him again, all depending what happened in the next few minutes. He offered out his hand to the Marine, noticing his reluctance to act so casually with a Superior Officer, but he took the hand nonetheless.

"Keep yourself safe James, these are some strange times." said Shepard.

"You too Commander, good luck in there." replied James.

Behind Shepard, Anderson was having a small conversation with an aide, before an old friend decided to make an appearance. A woman wearing a tight, light blue body suit, sporting a small skirt section along with hardened, raised shoulder pads. She wore her long black hair out, with a small portion of the left side of her face covered. She carried herself with a sense of authority as well as grace. She was Lieutenant Commander Ashley Williams.

"Anderson!" she called out happily, causing the Admiral to turn and identify the caller. That was when she saw him, even though it was only the back of his head, she was sure. She had followed him to hell and back on more than one occasion. It warmed her heart to finally see him again, their last encounter of Horizon still leaving a foul taste in her mouth.

"Shepard!" The sudden use of his name caused the man to turn, when he identified the one who called his name, his smile was almost instantaneous.

"Ashley?" he asked, even though he knew who it was already. Their small revelry a seeing each other again was cut short by Anderson.

"Lt. Commander, how'd it go in there?" he asked, referring to the woman's earlier meeting with the committee. She managed a small sigh of exasperation.

"I can never tell with them, I'm just waiting for orders now."

The same aide from before walked up again, she seemed more hurried, almost as if her career was riding on getting Anderson and Shepard into the committee now. Politicians, Shepard laughed to himself, they always think they are the centre of the universe.

"Admiral." She said, sound much more insistent this time around." Anderson simply nodded to her showing his acceptance of the situation. It seemed to put her at ease. Anderson made a curt nod to Ashley before walking past her towards the doors into the Committee chambers. As he walked past, Shepard gave Ashley a warm smile, the same smile that had seen her melt under his gaze dozens of times over. She managed to return it but with a somewhat small blush on her cheeks.

When Anderson and Shepard walked through the large automatic doors they closed almost immediately after, but it still wasn't quick enough to stop the passage of a small, almost infinitesimal blur, nothing but the most advanced security camera's would ever be able to pick it up, something that Alliance Command was known to house, but the time for concern of detection had long since passed.

When they walked through the door and into the committee room, Shepard was almost literally given the spotlight. All activity in the room stopped in the span of five seconds, men and women stopped work at his arrival, all clearly eager to watch the proceedings that were soon to follow. Massive television and computer screens dominated the side walls of the room, a stark contrast to the enormous window at the far end of the room which acted as the sole source of natural light for the vast space. The view was stunning, Vancouver was one of Shepard's favourite places on Earth. Growing up in the slums of New York made a person think that anything was better but Vancouver was a thing a beauty. The extravagant curves of the towering skyscrapers, showing evident influence of Asari architecture in their wondrous designs.

An imposing desk sat near the end of the room, some ten metres wide, clearly where the Committee would be sitting, and true enough to Shepard's thoughts, three figures slowly made their way towards the table, two men and a slightly elderly woman.

They each sat with poised grace, holding an air of authority about them, like someone who got their own way enough to think it was deserved, something Shepard despised.

The bald man at the centre cleared his throat in preparation to speak, and it seemed that everyone in the room was sitting on the edge of their seats, already hanging on words not yet spoken.

"Admiral Anderson, Shepard, it's good to see you." he said, his voice conveying a sense of respect towards the two great men standing in front of him. Shepard didn't want to play around, he had to know if what he thought was true, though his truly wished it wasn't.

"What's the situation? What's going on?" he said. The woman on the right spoke up next as an aide walked up to Shepard and handed him a data pad with countless articles of data streaming down, impossible to read it all in such a short period of time.

"To tell the truth, we were hoping you would tell us." She said, and although she tried, she failed the fully hide the worry from entering her tone of voice. The man on the far left picked up where his fellow Defence Minister left off.

" The reports coming in are unlike anything we've ever seen. Entire colonies have gone dark, we've lost contact with everything beyond the Sol relay." Shepard fought to hold onto the data pad, it almost slipped from his grasp at that last announcement. He didn't want to believe it, he didn't want it to be happening, not yet, they weren't even close to being ready, and just when the Alliance was starting to trust him and take his claims seriously. The man in the middle nodded his agreement with the Minister to his right.

"Whatever it is, it's incomprehensibly powerful." Shepard had to steel himself for what he had to say next because they were words he never wanted to hear or say himself.

"You've brought me here to confirm what you already know, what I've been trying to tell you for the past 6 months. The Reapers are here."

His statement was not meet graciously. Off to the sides of the room, frantic shouts and horrified murmurs broke out amongst the war hardened men and women. The Defence Ministers themselves shared a look with each other before giving a slight nod, they had to wait a few moments for the sounds of scared people to subside. The female minister spoke up, but her tone had changed dramatically, no longer was it the voice of a strong leader, now it sounded more like a two week rookie on their first tour.

"Then how do we stop them?" She asked nervously. Shepard almost scoffed at the question.

"Stop them? This isn't about tactics or strategies, this is about survival. The Reapers are more advance then we are, more powerful, more intelligent. They don't fear us, and they will never take pity on us."

"But there must be some way..." she let her words hang, expecting Shepard to answer. If he was completely honest with himself, it was not a question that he had a definitive answer to. In fact it was the one question that he had asked himself over and over again. How do you defeat a fore such as the Reapers? He was sure that countless other Galactic Civilisations had fallen before the Reapers. Who was to say that this would be the first time they were defeated, that they meet a challenge that even they couldn't stand up to. Every time he asked himself the question, his train of thoughts would always end up at the same place. Thinking back to those times, he had his answer. He moved forwards getting himself within a few metres of the Minister's desk, staring each of them in the eye one at a time before speaking.

"If we are going to have any chance of surviving this, of truly defeating the Reapers, then there's only one thing we can do. We all have to stand together, put aside petty differences and take the fight to the Reapers." his words were spoken with true conviction, even managing to calm some of the more scared individuals in the room. The centre minister who seemed to be the senior, both by age and experience, looked Shepard in the eye critically, as if to see if he himself believed the rousing words he had just spoken. Finding no lie is Shepard's eye, he spoke up, deadpanning the thoughts of the remaining two ministers.

"That's it? That's our best plan?" The ministers words hung in the air like a stale smell, no one commented, Shepard couldn't think of anything else to say, he had nothing else to say, what could he. There was no logical means to fight the Reapers, they were simply too powerful. Luckily for him the need to speak any more was dealt with for him.

"That, Minister, is the only option available to us. The Reapers have taken other form of response from us." The words were carried throughout the entire chamber, so well heard in every corner of the room that it was impossible to pinpoint the speaker. Almost infuriated by the sudden interruption in their conversation, the leading Minister rose from his seat, his face red, awash with anger.

"Who said that? Identify yourself!"

Almost immediately, the fuming Ministers question was answered. In the space between Shepard and the three ministers, a figure began to take shape. It was obvious that whoever it was had been using a cloak of some kind, Shepard was well versed in the use of cloaks due to being designated as an Infiltrator by Alliance Military, but he had never seen a cloak that was so absolutely perfect. The synthetic implants granted to him by Cerberus during his reconstruction had allowed him to spot a cloaked enemy almost immediately, but this was different. Someone had been standing not 3 metres in front of him and he had not been able to see it. The transition of the figure's cloaked state to that of visibility was seamless. Gasps could be heard throughout the room when people got a good look at the figure.

The figure was revealed to be that of a man, slightly taller than that of the average person and incredibly lean and slender, but despite his fragile build he exuded an almost palpable aura of strength. He wore a form fitting white and black combat suit that left none of his neck showing, the shoulder pads, gauntlets and boot were all made of a strange looking white ceramic material thought he bulk of his outfit was comprised of cloth, but it looked denser than normal fabrics.

Emblazoned upon his right breast and belt was a golden stylised eye, outlined in a deep blue shedding a single tear of beautiful cerulean. On the left portion of his upper arm was a collection of strange symbols etched into the fabric of his combat suit in exquisite stitching. Though it was what was placed upon his cheat that drew attention. A beautifully smooth, red gem stone, easily the size of Shepard's fist, was fixed to the centre of his chest. The gem itself was inwardly lit by glowing, and seemingly moving, specks of orange light. On his back he sported a pair of sleek and archaic swords that seemed to hum with energy, their edges faintly glowing white.

His features were patrician and extremely elegant, in simple terms, one could say that he was beautiful, he didn't look a day over 25. He sported a set of face plates that covered his lower jaw either side of his mouth and chin, looking strangely similar to the new Delumcore Overlay system Shepard had read about on the extranet, though this man's was obviously more advanced and streamlined. It featured a built in communications system as well.

His eyes were a vibrant, bright blue, perfectly contrasted by his creamy yellow head of close cropped hair. That's when Shepard saw it and he inwardly cursed himself for not noticing it sooner, the man's ears, while only slightly, came to a prominent point. It was then that it hit Shepard, it had taken him a while but he had added it all up. The strange clothes, the odd weapons, the height and un-naturally slender build, and the ... pointy ears, this man was not human at all.

People around the room quickly returned to their senses from their surprised daze and it seemed that everyone that had a weapon, was training it directly at the man. It was the man's un natural calm in the situation that confused him, there would have to be at least thirty weapons pointed at him and he didn't seem slightly phased. Was he that confident in his abilities? Shepard almost failed to see the small smile that was shown on the man's features.

"That would be Minister, but I apologise, I meant no disrespect. I was merely agreeing with Commander Shepard on his plan against the Reapers." he spoke utterly calm, his voice serene, influential, dangerous. Anderson was the first to formulate a reply.

"Who, or what, are you?" The man turned to regard Anderson displaying a genuine smile, one that someone would give to a friend or someone who they wished to know as one.

"Admiral Anderson, a pleasure to final meet you in person, I have heard much about you and your exploits. Though as the matter of your questions, they are both unimportant and presented at the wrong time, there is not nearly enough time for me to explain. But I digress, we have much more pressing matters at hand. As Commander Shepard just stated the Reapers are definitely here."

The Ministers looked ready to ask their own questions but they were immediately interrupted. A ranking communications officer off to the left side of the room spoke up.

"Admiral, we've lost contact with Lunar Base." she said worriedly.

Anderson tore his gaze away from the new arrival to regard the Ministers.

"The moon? They couldn't be that close already." He said, not believing what he was hearing. The female Minister echoed his thoughts.

"How did they get past our defences?" she asked rhetorically. The communications officer spoke up again before more conversation could start.

"Sir, UK headquarters has a visual." That got everyone's attention, they all looked up to regard one of the massive computer screens mounted on the wall.

An image quickly formed on the screen. A soldier was standing on camera wearing full battle gear. It took a few instants for the sound to catch up but when it did it was terribly. The soldier was clearly trying to speak but his words were garbled and distorted by interference. Explosions rocked the camera, flames dominated the space behind the man, pieces of stone and dirt were being thrown around in the background. There was a sudden loud noise, like that of a low orchestral gong accompanied by a quick flash of red before the signal was cut out completely, the soldiers last words would never be heard.

People all around the room were suddenly on their feet, eyes glued to the screen and expressions of horror playing out upon their faces. The screen quickly faded out to an image of a large city being ravaged the huge and mentally imposing figure of a Reaper. It's laser weaponry lashed out across the buildings like the judgemental fingers of an angry god. The first video was soon accompanied by another, and another until at least a dozen different scenes were being played out across the sing screen. Shepard looked over by chance and thought he saw the unidentified humanoid almost on the verge of tears. The different range of emotions being played out on his face and in his eyes was moving. To see someone of a different species so affected by Earth's destruction was not something he thought he would see so vividly.

Anderson was once again the first to break the silence. "Why haven't we heard from Admiral Hacket?" No one seemed to be able to answer him. The leading Minister was the next to speak, seemingly directing his words at Shepard, ignoring the arrival of an un known alien for the time being.

"What do we do?" he asked in desperation. Shepard was for one of the few times in his life at a loss for words. He was hoping that they would have more time than this, more time to prepare, but that liberty was taken away from them now. He rounded on the Ministers and walked purposely towards them.

"We do the only thing we can do, we fight, or we die." Though the Ministers made no reply it was evident that they didn't like it. They all shared worried glances at one another, all unsure as to what to do. Anderson made his way over to Shepard, placing his hand on his shoulder.

"We should get to the Normandy." He suggested. This idea however, was shot down by the unidentified man.

"There is no time to make a safe extraction." he said without even bothering to look at them.

"What makes you say that?" inquired Shepard, curious as to what he meant. The man didn't bother with a reply he simply raised his hand and point out the window towards the sky. Everybody followed his directions to see a terrible sight.

"My god..." breathed the female Minister.

The sky outside had darkened considerably since the start of the meeting. A think grey cloud hung over the city outside, arcs or insidious red lightning crackled across the underside of the cloud before it came. Quickly falling from within the cloud came a Reaper and like the crushing hand of god, it smote the cityscape with its landing. Smaller building were crushed completely by the Reapers massive legs while towers were toppled, sent sprawling to the ground below. The 'face' of the Reaper, if it could be called that, seemed to turn to regard the building they were currently in. That was when they heard it, the sound from the video earlier, like that of a gong. The underside of the Reaper started to glow a bright red, and that was when Shepard understood what the sound heralded, the attack of a Reaper.

"Get back from the window! Now!" Screamed the man, clearly knowing what was about to happen, but it was too late, the laser flew from the Reaper and struck the massive glass window, vaporising most it whilst the remaining glass fragmented inwards, shedding the ministers and closer staff. The blast lifted the massive desk up into the air and threw if towards everyone else. People ducked for cover but for them it was too late, large portion of the roof were collapsing as well. Shepard, Anderson and the humanoid managed to duck under to avoid the desk but the concussive aftermath of the explosion sent him flying sideways into the far wall. He tried to fight it but was quickly pulled into the sweet embrace of unconsciousness.