I'm a fan of the Mass Effect trilogy, I loved the game, and I decided to do a crossover. It will be in the Mass Effect universe, for those unfamiliar with the game, I recommend that you play it or learn about this game with my fic.

Those who read my fic "A demon in the shadows" I suggest you read this fic with caution, as there will be some spoilers, I will use some things of that fic, but to clarify, it will not be a sequel or anything. I will use some stuff from that fic. (I mean things like the Apple of Eden and powers of Naruto; not all the powers that you will see in this fic will appear in the other one).

This story is a translation, so the grammar may be a bit "inconsistent".

But let's leave this here and let's get on with the story.

Organic being talking. "Hello"

Organic being thinking. "Whatever."

Non-Organic being / Demon talking. "Assimilation completed."

Non-Organic being / Demon thinking. "Sure"

Jutsus. "Mokuton no Jutsu!"

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Mass Effect. Credits to their respective owners.

Prologue

Somewhere in the Elemental Nations.

In a large dimly lit room, there was a roundtable with several seats around it, and several people were sitting on them. Everyone seemed important and influential people, and most of them had looks of despair, fear, confusion, and many other negative feelings on their faces as they looked at the only person that they thought could save them.

That person was Uzumaki Naruto, the supreme leader of the Elemental Nations; and the only person who could defeat hundreds of Reapers so far.

"Naruto-sama, what are we going to do? Those things are indestructible; we can do nothing to harm them. You and Kurama-sama are the only ones who can save us," one of the men whispered.

Many at this began to whisper and encourage their leader.

"Besides, those things turn our allies into more of those things! And they are also quite resilient, please Naruto-sama, finish them all," a woman said.

Naruto, who now was around fifty years old, but still retained his twenty years old appearance, looked at everyone in the room, "I understand, and believe me that I want to kill them all. They've already killed all my precious ones. Many turned into those husks and those who were lucky died in battle. But even if I wish it, I can't do it. There are hundreds upon thousands of Reapers and many more their husks. I can't defeat all of them, not even with the ten tails of Kurama. Remember that I'm a mere mortal, and when I turn into Kurama, I attract a lot of attention. Fighting a dozen is hard enough, but a battalion of them at the same time is almost suicide. This war has been long enough; seven years is a long time."

The people in the room could not help being saddened. "So... Is this it? Are we going to let them kill us, or even worse, become one of them?" another person asked.

Naruto at him and shook his head. "No, there is an alternative. I didn't use it because it would mean our annihilation, but there is no other viable alternative. I decided to hold this meeting here to tell this: today we will defeat the Reapers..., but it will also be our end. I will use the Apple's Discharge to kill them all. None of us will survive the attack; we all will die. Of course, I shall put this to a vote. You are the representatives of each front of the resistance; you will vote for them."

Naruto then paused and looked at the expressions of each of them; some of them had looks of approval while others had looks of disapproval.

Upon seeing these expressions, Naruto asked, "What would you prefer? Become one of them, or die knowing that we could kill those bastards. What do you prefer? Now, those who agree on using the Apple, raise your hands."

Several people raised their hands, while some others were still fearful of this option. However, as Naruto had said, it was preferable than turning into one of those things. So, after a few seconds, everyone agreed with Naruto.

"Well, the decision is made, now..." Naruto couldn't finish speaking. The reason? They all heard a mighty horn, the horn the Reapers used when they were close.

Everyone in the room looked at each other while nodding, just to see the ceiling above them breaking into pieces.

Then they saw that a huge metal tentacle-like leg broke through the roof, destroying the room's table. "Quickly! Get out of here! I will restrain that thing until I can get everything ready. Stay away from here as much as you can! Inform those who are in the camp about what has happened here!" Naruto ordered, shouting to the people who were standing up and wiping the dust from their clothes. They nodded at the order of their leader.

Naruto then made a cross with his fingers and shouted, "Mokuton Bunshin no Jutsu (Wood Clone Technique)!"

Three wooden clones appeared from Naruto, instantly jumping to help in getting those people out.

Once outside, the wood clones looked at each other before nodding. They smiled and began to surround themselves with black chakra that started to grow and grow until it had taken the shape and size of an enormous fox with ten black tails and with several red lines around its body.

The fox was as tall as the Reaper, which was about 180 meters high. All of the wooden clones had already turned into Kurama, and they looked at one of the thousands of machines that were invading their planet.

One of them went on the attack because he realized that the Reaper started charging its most lethal weapon: a spinal mounted "magnetohydrodynamic" cannon.

The Reaper quickly fired the powerful laser beam at the Beast that tried to attack it, dissipating him instantly, but another of the clones had already moved to its right, clawing it and going through its kinetic shields without any problems. The attack left deep scratch marks on its head.

The Reaper quickly turned around to destroy the mighty beast while charging up its beam. Nonetheless, the clone did not allow it to finish as he quickly enveloped it with his tails and claws, squeezing the Reaper tightly, which was moving its legs as much as it could to try to free itself from the pressure that Kurama was exerting.

Nonetheless, the poor Reaper could do nothing, and the tails ended up destroying it.

The clone then pulled his tails away and ended his Bijū Mode as he approached his companion, who had also turned back into his original form.

"Those bastards are tough, but if they are alone, they are very easy to destroy," the clone that did nothing stated while smiling; the other one smiled as well. Nevertheless, their smile changed when they heard multiple horns coming from the sky.

They looked up expecting the worst, but they couldn't see much since the clouds completely covered the sky. However, they suddenly cleared up, revealing not one or two Reapers, but more than six hundred. All of them were of Sovereign-class, and they were descending as they sounded their horns loudly.

The people near the camp could not help but panic when seeing the number of machines. They had never seen so many at once; maybe they found out of Naruto's plan to destroy them. But that could not be possible, they thought. Who could have told them?

Then they saw their great leader transforming again while the two clones began to create huge balls of chakra in front of their snouts to destroy as many Reapers as possible.

Everyone encouraged the clones, hoping that the amount of chakra would be enough to kill them all.

Naruto's clones, who were within the cloak of Kurama's black chakra, began to increase the size of the Bijudama significantly before merging them, turning it into an immense ball that created a large shadow several kilometers around.

The Reapers broke their ranks quickly to avoid the devastating attack. But even though they were very advanced machines, they were not fast enough to dodge the attack that many of them their peers had witnessed.

The clones then released the Bijudama, which arrived at breakneck speed to the Reapers' location, creating a massive shockwave that shook the earth and caused great wind gusts, disintegrating at least half of them. Even their kinetic barriers at their maximum power could do nothing to withstand such an attack.

The clones then looked at each other, as the surviving Reapers landed. "Ha! It seems the boss is about to send them to hell," one of the clones stated while looking at his companion, who smiled while a Chakra claw came out of his stomach, pointing it at the Reapers who were charging up their cannons.

The clone then raised the middle finger of his claw, and although these machines did not seem to be upset about anything, the clone could tell that they were angry because everyone started strangely honking their horns.

Then they fired their cannons, but the clone dodged the beams barely as he began to laugh aloud along with the other clone, who couldn't dodge because of the laughter.

The other clone laughed even harder, just to hear a mighty rumble behind him. The clone looked back, like all the Reapers who had landed. However, upon seeing what came out of the building in front of them, which was a huge castle, they gave a jump and started flying away, but it was too late for them.

"Yes! That's it; you damn bastards! Your rampage ends today! Hahahaha." The clone laughed as he shot tiny Bijudamas at the Reapers who began to flee. They were not powerful attacks; he was just harassing them to slow them down.

A few minutes earlier in the castle's basement, Naruto was finishing the last thing he needed to have everything ready. "This amount of Chakra will be enough," Naruto said while clenching his fists. "I wish there was another way; I wish I could have saved them," Naruto whispered, thinking about his deceased wives, sons and old friends.

"It was a pleasure meeting you, boy. I don't know if I will disappear forever along with you, or if I'll be reborn after several years. But let me tell you that you're the human with the most guts, courage, and character I've ever seen. We've had a great life; we did everything we wanted before these bastards arrived. You surpassed everyone; you are the strongest. Hell, even stronger than my old father, but we never imagined that we could have such enemies. So you shouldn't feel regret; you couldn't save everyone even if you wanted it. Now, kill them once and for all, let them know that they should never have invaded this planet," Kurama stated.

Naruto said nothing; he just approached the machine in front of him.

The cylindrical machine was connected to several large and thick pipes that spread around the basement and went from the basement up to the castle's roof. Right in the middle of the machine was a small door.

Naruto opened it and made the Apple of Eden appear in his right hand. He put the sphere into the compartment and closed the small little door again.

"The Discharge has enough Chakra to wrap the entire planet and reach outer space to destroy those who are up there," Naruto spoke as he heard a mighty rumble. The pipes around the room began to whistle and glow in a golden color.

On the roof of the castle, a black metal rod of about fifteen meters in length began to emerge.

The glow of the pipes began to rise and said glow focused on the tip of the rod, creating a small ball of light. Then the light started to spread out, covering the castle while the expansion speed increased exponentially.

In the basement, Naruto saw the light beam coming. He closed his eyes and waited for his end before everything went dark.

Somewhere in outer space – Around a hundred thousand years later.

A woman around 30 years old with long blonde hair, thin lips, and small scars on her face was inside a spaceship. She had a white complexion and wore gray armor with the drawing of a red dragon on its chest.

This woman was 'the' Commander Shepard; she had just returned from a reconnaissance mission in a human colony where all its population had disappeared. She stood on a platform, and something instantly surrounded her, analyzing her shape and projecting it elsewhere.

Her image was projected before a man was, who was sitting in a chair with crossed legs and smoking a cigarette.

The man spoke after seeing Shepard's projection. "Shepard. Good job on Freedom's Progress. The Quarians forwarded their findings from Veetor's debriefing. No new data, but it's a surprising olive branch, given our history," the Illusive Man said as he moved his hands, thinking about an incident that involved the Quarians and Cerberus a few years ago.

He continued, "You and I have different methods, but I can't argue with your results."

Shepard replied, "You ever think about playing nice once in a while?"

"Diplomacy is great when it works, but difficult when everyone already perceives you as a threat. But more importantly, you confirmed the Collectors are behind the abductions."

Upon hearing the latter, Shepard crossed her arms and asked, "Why do I get the feeling you knew about them already?"

"I had my suspicions but needed proof. The collectors are enigmatic at best. They periodically travel to the Terminus Systems looking to gather seemingly unimportant items or specimens, usually in exchange for their technology. When the transactions are complete, they disappear as quickly as they appeared, back beyond the unmapped Omega 4 relay. Until now, we've no evidence of direct attacks by the Collectors," the Illusive Man replied as he puffed on his cigarette.

Shepard nodded and stated, "The Collectors are definitely a human enemy, but how do we know there's a connection to the Reapers?"

The Illusive Man crossed the other leg while placing the ashes of his cigarette in the ashtray beside him. "Their focus shifted to humanity only after you and the human fleet destroyed the Sovereign. The abductions are related, even if the Alliance and the Council refuse to believe it. I won't wait until the Reapers are on the march. We need to take the initiative."

Upon hearing this, Shepard stood firmly while carrying her hands behind her back. "If this is a war, I'll need an army or a really good team."

"I've already compiled a list of soldiers, scientists, and mercenaries. You'll get dossiers on the best of them." The Illusive Man replied as an orange screen appeared on his left, with several names. Nevertheless, he continued. "Finding and convincing them to work with you could be difficult, but you're a natural leader. I'll continue to track the Collectors. When they make their next appearance, I'll notify you and your team. Be ready."

Shepard raised an eyebrow and asked, "Miranda and Jacob aren't enough? How many do you need to keep me in check?"

"I've made it clear to Miranda and Jacob that you're in charge. You decide who joins your squad. Everyone else on this list was chosen for this particular mission. They are the best."

"I'll do the best I can with what you've given me," Shepard added.

"I'm sure you will, but before you go three things." He then paused to look directly into the eyes of the projection of Shepard. "First, head to Omega and find Mordin Solus. He's a brilliant salarian scientist. Our intelligence suggests he may know how to counter the Collector's paralyzing seeker swarms."

"I have not even started, and you're already giving me orders?" Shepard asked, crossing her arms.

The Illusive Man just looked at her and answered, "I'm giving you an indication; what you do with it is up to you. I'm sure you'll make the right decision."

Shepard nodded pleased and stopped crossing her arms to ask, "All right, what are the other things?"

The Illusive Man took a drag on his cigarette as he rose from his seat; then he turned his back to Shepard as he looked at the sun that was near his space station. "Our network found out that a Mass Relay suddenly appeared near the Shrike Abyss."

Shepard raised an eyebrow in confusion and asked, "What's so odd about it? It's probably just a dormant Mass Relay."

The Illusive Man shook his head and replied, "You're wrong; this Mass Relay is not connected to any other Mass Relay that we know. Indeed, it's not connected to this galaxy, but an unknown one."

This statement surprised Shepard. "Unknown you said? But why is it so important? Explain yourself."

The Illusive Man turned around again before sitting back in his chair. "That Mass Relay is connected to an unknown Galaxy, and as you know, the Mass Relays connect to other stellar systems. The stellar system that is connected to that Relay is not big. It has a single planet, and the Relay is just five hundred thousand kilometers away from the planet."

"You know well that going through an unknown Mass Relay can be a problem, remember the Rachni," Shepard replied.

"You're right, but Cerberus wouldn't risk contacting a species that could threaten the human race. This planet seems uninhabited, but this is where the interesting part comes," the Illusive Man answered.

Shepard raised an eyebrow but remained silent.

"We've detected a Reaper signal on this planet. It's quite old, and the signal seems about to disappear. I've tried to send some of my scouts, but something is surrounding that world. We don't know what it is, but it's an unknown element. It's like a protective barrier that completely covers the planet. Much more powerful than any kinetic barrier that we know. And passing through it is not straightforward, but a ship equipped enough might be able to get through."

"A barrier covering an entire planet? That's strange. How old do you estimate the Reaper signal is?" Shepard asked.

The Illusive Man took another drag of his cigarette before puffing out the smoke. "Around a hundred thousand years old."

Shepard led her fingers on her chin as she pondered aloud, "A hundred thousand years... Most likely that planet was attacked at a previous cycle. If you say that the signal is 100,000 years old, then the civilization that lived there is older than the Protheans. Surely, the beings of that planet left something so that future generations can fight the Reapers. Maybe that Reaper signal that you speak of has much to do."

The Illusive Man gave a half-smile and said, "Well, you know what you have to do, Shepard. Head to that planet and investigate that signal. If you find anything that could help us in the fight against the Reapers, bring it back with you. We will analyze it and create a weapon that can help us to defeat them."

"Then I'll need a ship to cross the planet's barrier. I can't use just any old one."

"Well. You don't need to worry about it; your request has to do with the last point. I've found a pilot I think you might like. I hear he's one of the best. Someone you can trust." Then a blue screen appeared in front of the Illusive Man, who touched something on that screen and finished the communication with the Commander.

Shepard then saw that the orange dome that had surrounded her started to go down, just to hear the voice of an old acquaintance.

"Hey Commander, just like old times, huh?"

Shepard smiled at the voice as she turned around. "Joker…"

She approached her former pilot and shook hands with him. Then they began to walk up the stairs to leave the Communications Room.

"I can't believe it's you, Joker," Shepard stated as she followed Joker somewhere. She did not know where they were going, Joker only said to follow him.

Joker smiled and replied as he looked back. "Look who's talking. I saw you get spaced."

"I just had a lot of luck. But how did you get here?" Shepard asked.

"It all fell apart without you, Commander. Everything you stirred up; the Council just wanted it gone. The team was broken up, records sealed, and I was grounded. The Alliance took away the only thing that mattered to me. Hell yeah, I joined Cerberus," Joker stated as he approached their destination.

The Normandy Reborn - Soundtrack

"You really trust the Illusive Man?"

Joker smiled as he looked down through a window, seeing a big spatial hangar, not brightly lit. "Ha! I don't trust anyone who makes more than I do. But they aren't all bad. Saved your life. Let me fly. And there's this..." Joker replied.

Shepard then looked at the hangar and heard her former pilot say: "They only told me last night."

The lights of the hangar began to light up slowly, revealing an elongated ship with two propellers of the same shape on each side, but the most remarkable thing was the "SR2" inscription around the ship.

"It's good to be home, huh Commander?" Joker asked.

"I guess we'll have to give her a name," Shepard replied.

Joker couldn't help smiling, and then they headed to the hangar and boarded the Normandy SR-2. Once inside, Joker took control of the ship and flew away in the cosmos.

Aboard the Normandy.

Once Shepard thoroughly inspected her new ship, she walked to the Command deck and found Miranda and Jacob there.

"Welcome to the new Normandy, Commander," Jacob said, a man with a dark complexion, a mustache, and a beard on his chin. He wore a black Cerberus uniform.

Shepard took a few steps forward, and Miranda said, "I've looked over the dossiers; I'd strongly recommend starting by acquiring Mordin Solus, the salarian professor on Omega. We know the Collectors use some type of advanced technology to immobilize their victims. We'll need him to develop a countermeasure to protect us." She was a stunning woman with long black hair and delicate facial expressions.

Shepard nodded. "You're right. Without that countermeasure, we'll be helpless if we ever run into the Collectors."

After saying those words, everyone could hear a synthetic voice saying, "Acquiring Professor Solus seems like the most logical place to start, but I strongly recommend investigating the Reaper signal first."

"Who are you?" Shepard asked while looking at the ceiling of the ship.

Upon saying that, a small projection appeared on the table that was behind Shepard; it had the shape of a ball with a neck, and it was entirely light blue.

"I'm the Normandy's artificial intelligence. The crew likes to refer to me as EDI," the AI answered.

"Hmm. Okay, but why do you think we should do that first?" Shepard asked. She wasn't bothered by the AI.

EDI replied, "According to the report of the Illusive Man, the Reaper signal decreases by every passing second, so we should investigate it before it is too late, Commander." Then EDI's projection disappeared.

"Commander, we're done with the preparations for the launch. Whenever you want, select a destination on the Galaxy Map in the CIC, and I will trace the course. We've already added the coordinates of the Mass Relay that appeared near the Shrike Abyss, if you want, we could go there right now. Trace your course to Shrike and we'll go to that Relay in the old-fashioned way. I hope you have enough money to buy fuel, Commander," Joker joked by the speakers.

Shepard smiled and walked towards the Galaxy Map. "Well, we'll go there immediately. Let's see what we find on that planet. Hopefully, you can get through that barrier, Joker."

"Needless to say, Commander. My baby and I will go through the 'impenetrable' barrier without any problem." Joker answered.

Shepard nodded and ordered everyone to prepare themselves. So they did and she went to the galaxy map to select their destination. Once the ship was close to the Mass Relay of their current system, the Element Zero of the core wrapped the Normandy and sent them to the Shrike Abyss.

Once there, Joker manually steered the ship to the new Mass Relay. It took them several hours, and upon arrival, the new Relay took them to their new location. Nobody knew where they were. It was as if this galaxy had appeared out of nowhere since there would have been records of it otherwise.

Besides, something was blocking the Normandy's sensors. Nevertheless, Shepard only cared about the Reaper signal and whatever they could find on that planet.

Shepard then went to the cockpit where Joker was arguing with the ship's AI.

"How long before we get there?" Shepard asked.

Joker looked at Shepard and answered, "In a few minutes, the planet is not far away from the Relay." He paused and pressed a button on the dash. "This is your pilot speaking; I suggest everyone hold on to something because we are about to have a pretty bumpy ride."

Shepard did as he suggested, seeing the planet that the Illusive Man had spoken about through the cabin's window. There was indeed a barrier covering the entire planet, which was quite impressive.

The commander thought that the ancient inhabitants of the planet had put the dark blue barrier to protect whatever it was in there. Perhaps a weapon powerful enough to destroy the Reapers. Also, several remains of ancient ships were around the planet.

"Kinetic Shields are fully operational," EDI said.

They were in front of the planet, more specifically, the barrier that surrounded it.

Joker didn't wait any longer and moved the ship forward until the tip touched the barrier.

They soon realized that everything inside the ship began to shake violently, and everyone did their best not to fall to the floor due to the shaking.

"Kinetic Shields at 60% and decreasing rapidly," EDI informed.

Joker growled and increased the ship's speed, but it as if a wall of gum was slowing them down.

"What will happen when we run out of Shields?" Shepard asked.

EDI answered, "The most reasonable outcome is ending up like the ships that tried to break through the barrier."

Shepard nodded, and sweat fell from her brow when EDI said that the Shields were at 22%.

"Come on, come on, baby. I don't wanna lose you again," Joker said while trying to push the speed of the Normandy, which almost went through the barrier. It was quite thick and that was why they were having problems.

"Shields at 5%. Redirecting the core energy to the shields," EDI informed as she tried to give some power to the shields.

Everybody in the ship felt that the temperature was increasing, making everyone sweat heavily. But it only lasted for a few moments since the temperature returned to normal.

"Shields recharged to 45%," EDI said, causing a momentary sigh of relief on the crew

"Joker, hurry up, I don't think EDI can do that again," Shepard spoke, wiping the sweat from her forehead.

Joker growled loudly. "GRRR, almost there, almost there... Just a few meters..."

The ship was still shaking inside, and everyone was still holding on to keep from falling.

"AAAAAAAAAAAARRRGGGH!" Joker growled one last time before smiling, realizing that the shaking stopped. "Hehehe. Done, Commander. I told you that my baby could do it," Joker stated with a smile.

Most of the crew clapped, while Shepard approached Joker to slap on his shoulder. "Good job, Joker. Now take us to its atmosphere and land near..."

Shepard stopped mid-sentence since an alarm sounded all over the ship while red lights flashed on and off.

All then felt a tremor inside the ship, which forced many to hold on again to keep from falling.

"Joker? I thought we already got through the barrier," Shepard said while looking at Joker, who was pressing several buttons on the dashboard in front of him.

"I-I don't know; nothing is working. None of the controls are responding," Joker replied trying to regain control of the ship.

EDI didn't know what was happening either, so she decided to remain silent. However, the AI noticed that something suddenly pulled the ship, and it was quickly leading them to the ground.

Just when she was about to inform them of this, she realized that those who were standing fell to the floor, and those who were sitting showed signs of feeling a lot of pressure on their bodies.

"What the hell is going on?!" Shepard shouted as she tried to get up.

Joker also attempted to get up from his seat, but he was also feeling the same pressure. "I... don't… know! Argh. It seems that something is pulling us rapidly towards the ground. Hold on! It won't be a soft landing!" Joker shouted with a pained expression.

If they had not received space training, most of the crew would be dead right now.

"Maybe the planet's gravity is higher than expected," EDI indicated, but not even she knew what was happening because the Normandy's sensors were still blocked. It was as if someone had been preventing this planet from being analyzed the moment they arrived in this galaxy.

Upon entering the planet's atmosphere, Joker noticed that purple clouds covered everything; no land was visible.

The Normandy continued descending, reaching the clouds, which flashed upon realizing the Normandy's presence.

Now Shepard was nervous; she had seen many things in her life as a soldier of the Alliance, and she knew that something or someone was on this planet, and it was not happy with their visit. She was not stupid. She thought of investigating the signal quickly and leave the planet to avoid casualties.

Shepard then surrounded herself with her biotic cloak, making an extraordinary effort to stand up. She got to her feet with difficulty, and then she slowly approached Joker to look through the window.

She could only see purple clouds as they descended, and they seemed endless. Besides, there was a lot of lightning. After several minutes, they finally descended the endless clouds and saw the ground.

Joker struggled to look at the Commander, who nodded as she tried to sit in the seat next to him. Nevertheless, before she could sit, everything returned to normal.

Joker quickly retook the Normandy's controls and stabilized it before landing it smoothly.

When everyone on the ship realized that everything was over, they could not help letting out sighs of relief.

"Good job, Joker. How close are we of the Reaper signal?" Shepard asked.

EDI replied, "Approximate distance... 600 meters."

Shepard raised an eyebrow. That close? She believed they landed far from their destination.

"Do you have any information about this planet?" Shepard asked.

"Atmospheric and temperature conditions are similar to those of Earth. My sensors can only detect that. I'm sorry, Commander," EDI answered.

Shepard raised an eyebrow. "You sure of that? This weather doesn't look too friendly," Shepard stated while looking through the window.

Everything was very dark; no illumination, there were no trees or lakes and the land was of a strange bluish color.

"Yes, I have reviewed the analysis a thousand times, and I have not encountered any problems. The weather on this planet has a similarity to Earth in a 99.9998%."

Shepard didn't discuss the topic any further; she just nodded and turned around, seeing Jacob and Miranda at the cockpit's entrance.

"Get ready, we'll investigate the signal. I want to be off this planet as soon as possible."

Miranda and Jacob nodded and went to their quarters to get ready.

Shepard went to her cabin as well, and once there, she put on her Blood Dragon Armor. Then she went to the ship's hangar, where Jacob and Miranda were already waiting for her.

"Remember that we are here to investigate the signal only. Don't get distracted, if you see anything hostile, shoot to kill. We don't want any surprises, okay?" Shepard asked as she checked her M-8 Avenger.

Jacob and Miranda nodded, and they also checked their weapons.

The hangar's door slowly began to open, so they quickly put their oxygen masks on; they could not believe that this planet had similarities with the weather of Earth.

When the back gate of the ship fully opened, a strong wind gust came from outside. Shepard didn't flinch because of her helmet, but Jacob and Miranda had to cover their faces.

"Shepard here, we're about to descend. Joker, verify that everything is working in the Normandy. I want everything to be functional in case we need to leave this planet," Shepard spoke through the intercom.

"Aye, Aye, Commander," Joker replied, just to see them descending from the ship's platform and take a few steps on this planet's ground.

Once Shepard stepped on solid ground, she felt a chill; she didn't know why but she had a bad feeling. She then looked ahead and saw a castle. Well, what remained of a castle.

This building quickly caught her attention because it looked a lot like a castle from the Middle Ages; perhaps they had a lot in common with the ancient inhabitants of this planet.

"Shepard here, the signal appears to come from inside the castle. We'll take a look. Do you copy, Normandy?" Shepard asked through her intercom.

She got static as a response. Shepard repeated her words, but again, static.

She turned around to watch her ship, and she was surprised by what she saw, or better said, by the lack thereof. The Normandy was gone; there were not even traces that the ship had landed.

"Normandy, Shepard here. I didn't order you to take off," Shepard said into her communicator, but there was no answer.

Jacob and Miranda quickly turned around when they heard that.

"What happened, Commander? Where's the ship?" Miranda asked.

Shepard growled and signaled to move forward. She took her rifle and pointed it forward as she walked towards the castle. "I don't know. I think this planet had something to do with it. Let's move, maybe we'll find the answers we're looking for in that castle."

Inside the Normandy, Joker could hear Shepard's voice, but he was unable to communicate with her.

"Joker, the barrier that surrounds the planet is now surrounding us. Perhaps that's interfering with the communications and made us invisible to those outside," EDI reported while appearing in a table next to Joker, who growled and crossed his arms.

"Then we'll have to wait for the Commander to find whatever she's searching. There are still a few minutes left for our shields to charge up completely. We'll just wait, and if the Commander doesn't return, then we'll have to get through the barrier and pick them up."

EDI began to make noises until she replied, "I recommend not to do that. I have analyzed the barrier, and the results indicate that the ship will not resist as it did in space. This barrier is much more corrosive."

Joker turned his head to look at the figure of EDI, and when he was about to contradict her, the screen that showed the exterior showed him something that disturbed him.

"Commander! If you can hear me, get inside the castle and hide. Did you hear me, Commander? Hide!"

Joker could only growl when he realized that Shepard did not hear his warning. But it wasn't as if Shepard couldn't take care of herself.

Back with the Commander and her team, they were going slowly towards the castle; there was a gate that had seen better days. When Shepard motioned her team to go to the gate, they suddenly heard some strange grunts.

Shepard knew those grunts; she heard them on her visit to Eden Prime to get the Prothean Beacon. Therefore, she quickly turned around and ordered, "Husks! Fast! Get into the castle." Shepard commanded as she began to shoot at the husks, which were appearing out of nowhere.

Jacob and Miranda nodded and gave supporting fire as they retreated to the castle. They walked up a small hill that led to the entrance of the castle that was surrounded by a dried canal.

They kept firing, but the husks kept increasing in number. They seemed endless.

"Commander! I'm about to run out of ammo, and we can't hold out much with our biotic powers. We must get inside!" Miranda exclaimed while reloading her M-9 Tempest.

Shepard nodded and ran towards the castle, jumping the small strait that separated the castle hill.

They only stopped when they went through the gate.

"We must block the way, or they will get inside," Jacob said while looking at the entrance.

Shepard nodded and surrounded herself with her biotic cloak, throwing a powerful biotic attack that brought the ceiling down.

"Let's go; this won't hold them for long. Now..." Shepard couldn't finish speaking because the sound of powerful horns interrupted her.

"What's that?" the commander asked nobody in particular before looking at the sky.

"Reapers," Shepard whispered

"Commander, can you communicate with the Normandy? Those things will destroy us," Jacob stated while seeing nearly a dozen Reapers descending from the sky.

Shepard tried to communicate, but she only got static. "Damn, we've come too far to stop now; we'll investigate the Reaper signal no matter what. I'm sure we'll find something important in this place. Follow me; the signal is coming from the lowest part of this place."

Inside the Normandy, everyone was alert in case the Reapers decided to attack them, and Joker knew that the situation was turning dire.

"Come on. Hurry up, commander," Joker said while resisting the urge of going the castle and pick his crew up.

Several of the Reapers then started to charge up their weapons before firing at the castle, which almost made Joker start-up the ship. However, EDI's voice reminded him of the barrier that was still around the ship.

Joker just growled and continued watching; it seemed that the Reapers couldn't see them, he thought that the barrier had something to do with that.

Back at the castle, Shepard and the others walking downstairs at full speed; the whole castle was collapsing due to the attacks of the Reapers. Reaching the basement was their priority.

After about four minutes of walking down the stairs, they reached the bottom. They were deep underground, and they could tell because they could no longer hear the Reapers.

Since it was quite dark, they turned their night sights on with their Omni-tools.

Shepard then looked at her Omni-tool, which indicated that the signal was inside a tunnel that was near them.

"Stick together, our goal is 200 meters away," Shepard told her companions, who nodded and followed her from behind.

Shepard walked forward while looking at her Omni-tool, but it suddenly began to fail. Some static-like lines appeared on it, which was unusual in an Omni-tool.

"What the hell is happening?" Shepard asked.

Jacob and Miranda didn't know how to answer because their Omni-tools were failing too.

"Well, let's keep going, maybe it's because we're deep under the ground," Shepard concluded.

They continued walking until they realized that there were three paths before them.

"Choose a path. I'll take the one to the right. Check if your communicators work between us. Let me know if you find anything," Shepard spoke.

Jacob and Miranda nodded and tested their communicators.

"Okay, let's go," Shepard said, and everyone took a path.

The commander could tell that this was still part of the castle. There was no doubt that the ancient inhabitants of this planet were great builders to keep these tunnels stable after so many years. Nevertheless, Shepard was intrigued about something; the ancient inhabitants of this planet did not seem very technologically advanced.

She did not know why the Reapers invaded them, maybe they had discovered something important, something that alerted the Reapers, and perhaps, she could find that something where the Reaper signal was. If she could get that, whatever it was, then the galaxy could be saved from the imminent Reaper invasion.

After a few minutes, she said through her communicator, "I think I've found something; return to my position." Shepard put her rifle on her back since she saw a room that was glowing green.

She entered the room and what she saw there surprised her. "A Prothean Beacon... What is this doing here?" Shepard asked herself as she approached the artifact.

Shepard got closer to the Beacon. If this one was equal to the one in Eden Prime, then this beacon contained some information to defeat the Reapers. Even though her first experience with one of these beacons had not been pleasant, she would touch it to help her galaxy.

She stared at the beacon and sighed as she approached one of her hands. When she touched it, everything around her changed. Shepard was now seeing images of people, humans fighting the Reapers.

However, what surprised Shepard was the capabilities of these humans. They could control the seas, the skies, and the earth. She saw building size animals helping humans to fight the Reapers; they managed to defeat some of them. Nonetheless, they couldn't do much.

She then realized that people began to lose morale; they just let themselves be killed or be turned into one of them.

Nevertheless, everything changed when a person appeared, a very tall man with blond hair. He had whisker marks on his cheeks and was approximately 20 years old, but Shepard could tell that he was much older due to the look on his face.

Though Shepard could not hear anything, she realized that all the people started cheering on the man who just appeared, and she also realized that their confidence returned.

The following events Shepard witnessed were things she would never forget. That man, no, that god in a human body did things that seemed ridiculous and unthinkable.

Shepard saw him creating vast forests out of nowhere, wrapping and crushing several Reapers of Sovereign-class, besides using several elemental attacks.

He also made the Reapers float against their will toward a black ball in the sky. It attracted them and crushed them there, turning the Reapers into huge spheres that remained suspended in mid-air.

He even turned into a huge black ten-tailed fox, capable of causing significant damage to the Reapers with his claws only. Clawing and causing deep holes anywhere those powerful claws struck.

She also saw him creating Gigantic Balls in front of its snout before throwing them and causing catastrophic damages.

At this point, Shepard believed that some deity decided to put a stop to the Reapers rampage, but that did not explain why the Reapers still existed. Therefore, she continued watching in silence.

She then saw the deity falling into despair countless times. Shepard could tell he lost many of his loved ones, but his grief only lasted what seemed a few days. Shepard then saw him more determined than before. For each of his loved ones he lost, he destroyed dozens of Reapers, maybe in a state of anger and vent.

Shepard was sure that this man could destroy all the Reapers on his own. However, there were too many of them, and more of his loved ones died.

Shepard saw him getting more discouraged until the point where he fought with less intensity than in the beginning. But still, everything he could do was amazing.

The resistance forces of that planet decreased considerably, and even though the man was powerful, he couldn't save them all.

Then everything changed, and Shepard realized that the man was now in a sort of war council, talking to some people who looked desperate.

"I decided to hold this meeting here to tell this: today we will defeat the Reapers..., but it will also be our end." Shepard could finally hear something, and that statement caught her attention.

Nonetheless, she couldn't see more because everything was disappearing; she was slowly getting away from the only source that could tell her how to defeat the Reapers.

"Noo!" Shepard shouted, putting all of herself to try to see what happened next - and it was worth it.

Shepard saw the blond man placing a golden spherical object into a machine, which began to glow.

Shepard then realized that a kind of cannon came out from the roof of the castle in which she was now, and a beam of light came off of it, which slowly spread out. The Reapers fled to avoid the beam, whatever it was. Nonetheless, Shepard knew it was a weapon capable of defeating them.

How did she come to that conclusion? She saw the light beam wrapping some Reapers, causing them to stop functioning and fall to the ground like rocks. The beam also destroyed the Reapers stranded in space.

And even though Shepard wanted to see more, she couldn't; she wanted to know what happened to the man who defeated the Reapers; she wanted to know what happened in the end. However, she felt her head burning, forcing her to get out of the vision.

Shepard noticed she returned to the room, but the Prothean Beacon was no longer there, which was strange.

The commander then fell to her knees since she felt that something was trying to get inside her mind. Something was telling her to stop trying and give up.

Shepard did her best to ignore those words; she pushed herself to the limit to ignore that. "I won't! I'll stop them even if it's the last thing I do!" Shepard exclaimed as she struggled to stand up.

"Interesting..." Shepard heard the voice of a person in the room; she could not identify where the sound came from since she still felt that something was trying to get inside her mind.

"W-Where are you? Who are you?" Shepard asked, taking her helmet off to touch her forehead as she turned around slightly.

"I'm here; I'm everywhere. As for who I am, that's not important. I just want what you are doing in my humble abode and what you want from this place," the voice asked. It was a male voice, which sounded wise and conveyed an incredible power that Shepard had never felt before.

Shepard turned around since she heard the voice right behind her. However, she saw no one there.

"W-We detected a Reaper signal in this place; w-we came to investigate *gasp* with the hope that it would help us in defeating the Reapers."

"Hope? There is no such thing as hope, not against them. There is no way of defeating them; you're just wasting your time," the voice replied.

Shepard shook her head and answered, "Y-You're wrong; there is hope. I saw it; I saw the ancient people of this planet defeating them."

Shepard then heard a laugh; laughter charged with mockery and sorrow. "Hope in reality is the worst of all evils because it prolongs the torments of man."

The commander shook her head, and this time, she forced herself to take a few steps forward as she looked in all directions. "Y-You're wrong; hope is our future. Without a future, we have no hope. Without hope, we might as well be machines, programmed to do what we're told," Shepard replied, and she instantly felt that whatever was trying to get inside her mind stopped.

"Interesting... You're someone interesting, Commander Shepard. I think I've made a good decision in allowing you to enter my planet."

The fact that this person knew her name was a bit shocking since this planet was out of her galaxy. She didn't believe that she was known in other galaxies.

"How do you know my name?" Shepard asked, shaking her head because of the feeling of discomfort that remained in her head.

The voice ignored her question. "You surprised me; you've managed to resist my influence. I used the same intensity the Reapers use to indoctrinate their victims. There's no doubt that you have a very powerful mind and an amount of willpower I haven't seen in many millennia," the voice stated.

"Millennia you said?" Shepard asked now less painfully. She was surprised again; was this person trying to indoctrinate her?

"Yes, millennia. You are not the first one to come here. But you're the first one who reached this far," the voice replied.

"What are you?" Shepard asked, and just then, she heard a voice behind her.

"The correct question would be: who are you?"

Shepard quickly turned around, and the person she saw there shocked her.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto, and welcome to my world... Commander."

Notes:

Done! I hope you've enjoyed this Prologue, and I hope you give it a chance.

Try not to draw too many conclusions yet, I'll explain many things in the next chapter. Just tell me what you think of the Prologue. I would like to know your opinions.

Well, the fic starts in Mass Effect 2. I recommend the people who don't know the game to buy Mass Effect 1. It is fascinating, but I did not start from there since I did not see it appropriate. I didn't see the story of the Geth and Saren necessary.

Well, I decided to make Shepard a woman.

This fic will most likely be a FemShep X Naruto. Nonetheless, that will have to wait a while.

Well, as you have noticed, Naruto is around 100.000 years old! And I'll tell you that he did not lose time in these 100.000 years. I will give more explanations in the future, but for the moment, you just have to relax and wait for new chapters, which will take a while to be published.

I will update this story occasionally only; my other fic "A demon in the shadows" will have my priority. If you have not read it yet, I recommend you read it ;) you will not regret it.

Happy new year to everybody :D

Well, that's all; please leave your reviews to let me know what you think of this project.

Until the next time.