I do not own Star Wars: The Clone Wars or Naruto. It is a dream of mine however.
He'd outlive them all.
That was the worst, he had to admit. Outliving everyone you knew, even your own grandchildren, was painful. Kurama's last gift of becoming the Kyūbi wasn't exactly what the blonde dreamed of.
But he got used to it. He dealt. That was what he'd always done. And that was what he'd continue to do.
But even he got tired of it. So he decided on a short sleep. Nothing too long, maybe a couple of centuries.
Naruto slept.
...
It was the noise that woke him; though if he was being honest, the rocks hitting him on the muzzle also had a factor in it.
Vibrating through the walls and making his canines rattle against each other, Naruto's cerulean eyes shot open to his dusty surroundings, only to begin desperately blinking out the sandy film.
A whine rippled through him as he shook his head, trying to fight off the nausea from the sudden wake and the dust, which was making him prey to a rather violent sneeze.
How long had he been asleep? A long time, if the weak feeling in his vulpine limbs was any indication. The giant fox put a paw on his nose in an effort to stop the sneeze.
There was something on his back paw. It stung, a little bit like a biting ant, and Naruto automatically swat it before he realised what he was doing.
Did I just kill someone? Naruto thought with wide eyes as he lowered his head down, making out a few dead bodies squashed under his foot. Shit. Hinata's gonna kill me. Wait! That one's still alive!
Relieved he hadn't killed everybody with a twitch of his toe, Naruto eyed the survivor curiously. He - if the plating was any indication - was wearing a strange soft of samurai armour and was holding what looked like a modified kunai-launcher in his shaking hands.
The samurai shot its kunai-launcher, a blue beam of light hitting the fox directly on the nose.
Naruto sneezed at the stinging pain, and watched with horrified bemusement as the man was blown off his feet and vaulted a few feet away, hitting his head and slumping. Ouch, Naruto winced That has got to hurt.
After eyeing the unconscious samurai, Naruto decided to leave him for now. To help him he'd have to change into his human form, and that was for more susceptible. Besides, samurai all had an ingrained hatred for ninja, so he would most definitely be unwelcome. Best leave the guy for now. He'd get up on his own soon enough.
I am kind of hungry though, Naruto admitted, glancing up at the sky from inside the crater he'd woken up in. I wonder if they still have ramen?
No, he thought, shaking his head vigorously as his thoughts turned to the unconscious samurai, who was looking rather tasty to his starved mind. That's like, cannibalism. Even if it isn't in this form. He licked his lips before slapping his face with a paw. Sage dammit! It doesn't matter if he looks tasty! Imagine what Hinata would think!
Naruto's ears drooped at the reminder of his Hinata-hime. The trail of thought worked though, as suddenly the samurai looked far less appetising than before.
Okay, he thought, glancing around before up at the sky. I could go up there and frighten the hell out of everyone or I could go back to sleep. Naruto wrinkled his muzzle. Eh, but sleep is boring.
He was about to leave when he remembered his unconscious samurai. He groaned inwardly as a little Hinata appeared in his mind's eye, looking disproving.
Looked like he'd be babysitting for a while.
...
Ram woke up, a light groan escaping his lips.
The clone's head was throbbing something fierce; concussion most definitely.
He'd been thrown, he remembered a large gush of wind and-
Ram's eyes snapped open to see cerulean orbs staring back at him curiously.
The scream built up in his throat but he bit his lip before it could escape. He prayed it wouldn't eat him, but those large teeth said that this creature was most definitely carnivorous and that didn't exactly fill him with confidence. With his helmet on, he could pretend he was still asleep...
The beast seemed to give a dismissive snort before looking up at the sky...where a ship was now descending, most definitely looking for him, Jolt and Skunk. The latter who were both dead.
Not good, Ram thought frantically as he looked at the beast, who was cocking its head, a gleam in its eye that looked far too predator-like for comfort. The ship couldn't have seen it, given the fact that its orange fur blended nicely with the canyon. I have to warn them...
His comm. was broken, so he screwed up his courage. "Sir!" he yelled, trying to ignore the fact that doing so called the beast's attention back to him. He waved his hands, making an 'x' motion. "Abort! Abort!"
The ship couldn't hear or see him, he realised, watching it land where Jolt and Skunk lay, squished underneath a big footprint. He stumbled to his feet, head still throbbing, and hurried over as he saw General Windu, Commander Ponds and Lieutenants Trapper and Hawkeye step out.
Ram doubled his pace as he saw the Jedi order Trapper and Hawkeye to head in the direction of the beast. "General! General!"
Immediately, General Windu glanced up at him and looked at him with relief, before his face turned into concern. "What is it soldier?"
"Get back in the ship," Ram panted, forgetting for a moment he was talking to his superior, instincts taking over. "We have to go. Now."
The General opened his mouth to answer, but was interrupted by a shout from Hawkeye and Trapper. Ram's heart sunk as he heard blaster bolts - they'd definitely found the beast.
The ground shook and a loud rumble reverberated off the walls - a deep, fear inducing snarl. Hawkeye and Trapper managed to return, running full speed, faces no doubt white beneath their visors. A moment later, they all stumbled as a paw shot down and crushed their ride. Two cerulean eyes glared down at them.
"By the Force," Ponds breathed, gun going slack in his hands.
Ram agreed wholeheartedly.
...
Naruto was annoyed.
The little non-snack he'd fondly named Ramen in his mind had brought friends, which was perfectly okay.
The fact that they were attacking him with their lightning weapons was not okay.
It didn't help when the man who looked like he belonged in Kumo pulled out a lightning sword and hacked his toe with it.
It stung, Naruto didn't appreciate it.
Before he could retaliate, Naruto was distracted by a buzzing around his face. The fox snapped his jaws at it, gaining a sadistic pleasure as he managed to capture its wing in his teeth. A small man jumped out and attacked him another lightning sword while a little metal can barrelled into his nose.
Naruto decided right then he should have left Ramen down there, Hinata Angel or no.
...
"Not good," Anakin chanted as he jumped down; dodging tails which were swinging a little too widely and smashing into the side of the crater. "This is not good at all."
"You can say that again Skywalker," Master Windu said as he and the clones took cover from the falling rocks. "Have any of those brilliant plans your Master praises you for?"
"Working on it," Anakin called before turning to Artoo, who had wheeled his way over. "Go up top and alert Rex. Try to stay away from the tails. And the teeth. And the claws."
Artoo beeped sardonically.
"And for us?" Commander Ponds asked.
Despite the situation, Anakin let a grin form on his face.
...
I really should have just transformed back into human form in the beginning, Naruto thought as he rubbed an eye with his paw tiredly. Those lightning swords hurt like Kakashi's chidori.
The Kyuubi let out a rumbling sigh. It was too late to transform now.
Since they're samurai, they won't be able to get out of the crater. Well maybe the sword wielding ones, he thought with a frown as his mind went back to the lightning swords and those who wielding them. They were jumping around like shinobi. But there wasn't any techniques and they didn't even try talking to me. That's weird, considering the tailed beasts are common knowledge now. How long have I been under?
Deciding to go up and see for himself after a few minutes weighing pros and cons, he stood on his hind legs, towering easily to his full height. He was just tall enough to be able to poke out his head and front paws, and found himself staring at rows and rows of metal cubes, all which his senses told him were some sort of weapon. A samurai was standing next to the annoying metal can, babbling gibberish at his arm.
...Sage dammit. Why does this always happen to me!?
...
"I can't believe that worked," Mace muttered as he jumped off the hovering boulder. Skywalker did the same on his own boulder, grinning like a loon despite the fact that he was drenched in sweat. The clones all shakily sat on the ground, not at all happy with their pseudo ride.
Not that Mace could blame them. Travelling up the crater by having two Jedi use Force on the opposite boulders like a demented escalator was not the safest thing to do. One lapse of concentration and they all would have plummeted.
"I told you it would,"Skywalker replied infuriatingly. "However, I think the beast might be following us up any moment now. Rex!"
"Yes sir?"
"Do the Dugs have any information on that thing?"
"They call it a Zillo Beast. Apparently it is what brings the apocalypse. Their sources are on paper I might add. They were thought to be extinct."
"So a millennia old apocalypse bringing beast? I can roll with that," Skywalker muttered. "What are they planning to do?"
"Kill it through poisoning it. That's what their ancestors did. They say if you don't help in killing it, they won't sign the treaty."
"We cannot kill it, especially if it's the last of its kind," Mace interrupted. "It's innocent."
"It killed Jolt and Skunk," Ram mentioned.
"After you shot at it?" Mace asked, raising an eyebrow.
Ram shrugged his shoulders, admitting that it probably was in self-defence. Or at least something along those lines. He didn't think that the blasters actually hurt it.
"So you don't want us to kill one life form, despite the fact that not getting this treaty could kill hundreds?" Skywalker said incredulously.
Mace stood by his beliefs. "Yes."
Skywalker sighed. "Rex. Get me the Chancellor on this comm."
...
Beams of light came out and hit him in the muzzle.
Naruto blinked slowly, a little surprised that it didn't hurt. He was feeling drowsy - of course! They can't defeat me with raw power so they're going to put me to sleep. Definitely one of the ninja's plans.
Not wanting to fall back into the crater to go back to sleep, he pulled himself out, watching as all of the cubes wheeled backwards. His tails flailed a little, knocking a few cubes over. Shit. I'll pay for that.
Ishouldtalktothem, he thought drowsily as he stumbled, destroying a few of the weapons that couldn't get out of the way in time. Ishouldtalktothemandtellthemthatputtingmetosleepisnotcool. Idon'twannagotosleep...
He opened his mouth, intent on telling them this, but all that came out was a massive snore.
Naruto fell gracefully into a pile of tails, snoring loudly.
...
It had been decided that the Zillo Beast would be packed up for scientific study. The fact that its fur could withstand lightsabers and blaster bolts just seemed to annoy it, they decided it would be a good idea to see if they could create some sort of armour from it.
Anakin clapped Master Windu on the shoulder. "How's your conscience?"
Windu shrugged it off. "I don't like this," he muttered. "Something feels...wrong about what we are doing."
"It's alive," Anakin said, raising an eyebrow. "What more could you want?"
"It was meant to live out its life on an uninhabited planet, not in a research facility."
"And it will. Eventually," Anakin said. "Just after we figure out how the fur works."
"I have a bad feeling about this," Windu said, staring at the creature who was still growling in its sleep.
Anakin rolled his eyes. It was only one animal life form. You didn't hear Anakin complaining over Snips' diet. "We got the treaty signed and the beast is still alive. I, for one, say that is a job well done."
...
It was cold when Naruto woke. There was the faint buzzing he likened to electricity wires and he opened his eyes to see he was being restrained. Test subject, his mind produced hazily. A small fish with legs was looking at him. Kisame must have had relatives.
It was speaking to him, and a metal can (not the same annoying one) came and took some of his blood. He could feel them tugging at his fur, and he growled irritably at that, shaking his head a little.
The fish lady (he fairly certain it was a girl) spoke to him apologetically in the gibberish language. Then she spoke to her arm, where a ghostly picture of an old man appeared.
Though he didn't understand the words, he could understand the inflection in them. He had been ordered to execution.
Sure enough, not a few moments later, some disgusting green powder was put in his mouth. A poison no doubt. Ineffective to a demon on his caliber. It still tasted horrible though.
Naruto felt like vomiting and he reflexively wretched out his tails, knocking down the walls as he did so. Alarms filled the air, shrill and demanding, but Naruto ignored them as he padded his way outside through the new doorway he'd created to get some fresh air. It was there he had to stop and stare for a moment. Buildings...buildings taller than him everywhere.
I don't think we're in Konoha anymore, he thought wryly as he looked around for a sight of a Hokage building. People were screaming at his feet, but he ignored them.
There was a large round building over to the north, bigger than every other building nearby. That was probably his best bet.
Now I have to work out how to get there without crushing everyone, he thought, before glancing up at the rooftops. Guess I'll be travelling shinobi style. Hope these buildings are strong enough.
With a leap, he landed on top of the building, using a little bit of chakra to soften his landing. The roof still creaked dangerously, but it stayed upright. A good start, at least.
Making his way over, he refrained himself from attacking the annoying flying vehicles that were fettering him with lightning techniques. While annoying, it wasn't exactly harmful. He kept his tails closely pinned together, as he knew that if he let them free they'd probably be swinging around and destroying the buildings beside him.
That old guy was probably the Hokage, Naruto reasoned to himself. Most likely trying to use my fur and blood to create stronger techniques. That's what I would do, if I didn't know I was sentient. I'll just have to make it clear that I am.
By the time he'd made it to the Hokage building, it was difficult to move without crushing anyone. Climbing up, he spotted the Hokage escaping on a flying vehicle. Not giving up, a paw shot out and grabbed it, halting its progress.
He looked at the terrified people within and spotted the Hokage who was looking with horror up at him.
What should I say? Naruto wondered as he stared at them. How do I make them understand?
When he'd just decided on, 'Ordering people to death is not cool, old man' the Kyuubi was distracted by two lightning swords attacking his ears. They twitched irritably and Naruto automatically dropped the ship to swat them before he realised what he was doing. Thankfully, they managed to jump out of the way in time.
Okay, this is getting out of hand, Naruto thought irritably, eye twitching slightly as he reached down and quickly plucked the shinobi with the blue lightning word by the back of his clothes. "Oi kid. Can you stop and let me speak for one minute without trying to kill me?"
...
"Padmé look out!" Anakin pushed Padmé to the side as the paw came down, no doubt to crush them. However, he was surprised when he was picked up by his collar and help up to the beast's mouth, which had opened to reveal fanged teeth.
It's going to eat me, Anakin realised, lightsaber going slack in his hand. That's really not how I planned on dying.
And then it spoke. It wasn't a roar, or a growl, but a gibberish that was most definitely a language.
Now that Anakin recognised that, the beast didn't look angry as much as annoyed. It sort of looks like Snips when I wake her up in the morning.
And that was when it hit Anakin. "Oh Force," the Knight muttered. "This beast is sentient."
Scouring his brain for what Obi-Wan had told him about misunderstandings and negotiations with different languages, he deactivated his lightsaber and bowed as much as he could while being held up like a disobedient child. "Uh, humble apologies sir. I am Anakin Skywalker. I'm sorry for the misunderstanding."
...
Naruto snorted a little, rolling his large eyes and putting the man back on the ground. He couldn't understand the words, but he could easily interpret the 'Oh shit, we've made a huge mistake' expression.
Deciding to get this over with, he pointed to himself with a clawed thumb. "Na-ru-to," he announced clearly before gesturing at the little ninja.
The man looked a little startled before pointing to his chest. "An-a-kin. Na...ruto?"
Naruto nodded. "Anakin. Anakin. You're a little bastard with that lightning sword, Anakin."
...
This changed things, a lot. Anakin glanced up at the newly named Naruto before down at Threepio, Padmé, the Chancellor, Yoda, Aayla and Artoo.
He put his hand up in the classic 'stop' sin.
Naruto nodded his head in agreement, sitting down on his haunches, tails settling down. HIs eyes trailed the ships that were still hovering around his face, but he made no move to hit them.
He'd never made any move to hit them, except at the very beginning Anakin realised. We've really stuffed up...
"Okay," Anakin said as he jumped down next to the others. "Anyone have an idea how we're going to deal with this?"
"It's sentient," Padmé had to point out. "We can't do experiments on a sentient being."
"I must agree," the Chancellor said, looking a little ashamed. "I admit, I had not realised. It does not look more intelligent than the common nerf."
"Learn something, we all did," Yoda hummed. "Apologise, we must."
"Of course," Palpatine said, turning to Threepio. "Droid, do you understand it?"
"Of course," Threepio said. "It has a similar origin to Basic. Also, Master Ani, the Zillo Beast wishes you would stop using your lightsaber. He says it's rather irritating and is almost as bad as the fowl tasting green powder.
Anakin grimaced sheepishly. "I have a feeling he isn't very happy we've woken him up."
...
Naruto glanced down at the Hokage, Metal Man, Anakin, and the pretty lady. They were an odd group, Naruto had to admit.
Anakin spoke, and then Naruto was startled to hear the Metal Man translate.
"We apologise humbly, Naruto-sama. We had not realised you were sentient."
Naruto took a moment to think of a reply, hyperaware of the fact his pause made them shift uneasily. "Do you promise that you will no longer attack me?"
"It was never our intention to harm you. We only tried to stop you from hurting our citizens," Anakin replied through Metal Man.
Naruto barked a laugh. "That old man over there ordered my death. I might not understand the words, but I know an execution when I hear one. That is why I came here to speak with him. Tell me again you do not wish to harm me."
When Metal Man translated, they all looked stunned as they turned to look at the Hokage.
...
"Excuse me?" Padmé said politely, and Anakin winced at that tone. Padmé used that tone when she was angry, really angry.
Palpatine didn't wince, but Anakin could tell it was a close thing. "We were unable to extract its fur without large amounts of pain. I thought it would be best to end its misery."
"It wasn't your decision to make!" Padmé said with a heated glare. "And now you can see why. You ordered the execution of a sentient innocent being!"
"It was for the greater good," Palpatine said, standing by his decision. "That fur would have stopped thousands of men dying. Tell that to this Naruto."
Threepio bobbed his head and spoke. Naruto listened patiently before he nodded his head. Rumbling a reply, Threepio spoke again.
"Sir Naruto says that he understands your reasoning. He says that as a leader of his own - I believe it was village - he can accept it. However he doesn't condone your actions and would like payment for his time spent under you care."
"We would be honoured to do anything for him, in limits of course," Padmé said, glaring at the Chancellor.
Naruto bared his teeth. "I'm hungry," Threepio translated. "And it's getting hard to convince myself not to eat you."
Anakin automatically took a step back, and he wasn't the only one.
"All citizens are not permitted to be food," Palpatine said as sternly as he could to the vulpine that towered over them.
Naruto snorted. "I don't want to eat them," he rumbled through Threepio. "I want food. Real food. Do you still have ramen?"
...
Naruto basked in the incredulousness that was thick in the air. Oh yeah, he still had it.
"You mean the noodle dish?" Metal Man asked.
Naruto nodded grandly. "That's the one. It's one of the three conditions of forgiveness. One is for you not to attack me, the second is you let me go free after all of this and the third is a hundred bowls of ramen."
There was conversation for a moment before Metal Man spoke again. "How big is a bowl?"
Naruto barked a laugh as he realised they thought he'd be eating in this form. Grinning a fanged grin, he put his paws together in the kai symbol, cancelling his transformation with a large puff of smoke.
...
All of them coughed and spluttered at the smoke, and Anakin used the Force to push it away. Rubbing watery eyes, he realised he couldn't see Naruto anymore. For a moment he panicked, until he saw a whiskered blonde man cloaked in red robes where the fox had once stood. He looked around Anakin's age, and had familiar cerulean eyes.
Naruto waved cheerfully. "Yo!"
"You can turn into a human?" Anakin blurted out, mind feeling like it was going to burst at the impossibility of it all.
Once Threepio translated, Naruto looked amused.
"I am human," Naruto said through Threepio. "Well, I was born human, at least. As for bowl size." Naruto made the size of a standard bowl with his calloused hands.
"I'll get Obi-Wan to tell Dex," Anakin said as he tapped his comm. "I never thought I'd be so glad that Dex cooks obscure meals."
...
Naruto was lead to an office inside the Hokage building, escorted by the Hokage, Anakin, Padmé (the pretty lady), Threepio (Metal Man) and two samurai. He instantly recognised Ramen by his chakra signature and tapped his head. "How's the concussion?"
Ramen looked startled as Threepio translated, hand flying to his bandaged head. He gave a light shrug and nodded to Naruto.
"You look less scary now," Threepio said for Ramen. "And it's pretty good, sir."
Naruto smiled before saying solemnly. "Sorry about your friends. I was a bit disorientated when I woke up and you guys were like biting ants."
Ramen nodded, mumbling a forgiving reply.
A bowl of steaming hot ramen was put in Naruto's hands by a bearded man called Obi-Wan, and Naruto grinned before pulling out a pair of chopsticks. Snapping them apart, he muttered grace before devouring the food of gods hungrily.
...
"I didn't think it was possible to eat that fast," Anakin said as he stared at the vacuum that had magically appeared in Naruto's mouth.
As if sensing what he was saying, Naruto sent a mock-glare at him and ate even faster.
Palpatine was the first to snap out of staring after they had watched in silence Naruto devour a hundred bowls in under a minute when Naruto gave his thanks.
"You're welcome Naruto," Palpatine said. "Now, I must say, this is a precarious situation. The plan was originally to send you to an uninhabited planet, but that was before we found you were sentient."
Naruto cocked his before he nodded to Threepio, speaking his fast paced language before crossing his arms. "Precarious in the fact you don't want this information getting out and damaging your status," Threepio translated. "I get that. You also mentioned you were at war, which means stability is important. Things will end up hidden from citizens during war. It's standard procedure for keeping things calm and away from the enemies."
"You know warfare?" Obi-Wan asked, curious.
Naruto nodded calmly. "I am a shinobi," he said through Threepio. "In other words it means I'm a mercenary. I do assassinations, body guarding...anything really for the right price."
"So a bounty hunter, of sorts," Palpatine said, his nose crinkling slightly in disgust. "Money is your drive."
Anakin exchanged a glance with Obi-Wan. If they let Naruto free as a bounty hunter, the Separatists would pay an arm and a leg to have him.
Naruto didn't take offence, just laughed. "No, no. The money from the jobs is to pay for my village," he explained, which calmed the tension in the room. He smiled gently. "When you're as old as I am, money seems a bit pointless." He scratched a whiskered cheek, giving a yawn. "Thanks for the meal again. If you could point me in the direction of the nearest woods, I'd be happy."
"I'm afraid there are no woods on this planet, Naruto," Padmé said, smiling apologetically. "However, on my planet, there are some. If you don't mind being careful, you are welcome to make yourself home on Naboo."
They watched as Naruto's eyes widened in a show of surprise. Then was suddenly next to Padme, engulfing her in a hug that span her off of her feet. They were all stunned at the sudden movement, but Anakin was the first to snap out of it, jealously rearing its head as Naruto kissed her cheeks.
Padmé must have sensed it, as she coughed politely, a small blush dusting her beautiful face. "Quite a warm thank you."
Naruto laughed sheepishly, putting her back on the ground. "Right. Sorry about that. Beautiful princess like you and I couldn't resist." He winked as his gaze flickered over to Anakin before back to Padmé. "Of course, I can see that you're already taken."
While Anakin was frozen Padmé recovered extremely quickly. "I'm afraid you're mistaken there."
"Oh?" Naruto said, raising an eyebrow. "Well then, congratulations anyway. Twins though, that'll be hard as a single mother."
"T-twins?" Anakin mouthed, falling into a chair as his knees gave out.
Padmé's eyes were wide as she stared at Naruto. "What? How?" she stammered.
Naruto tapped his nose. "I can smell them, and sense them. One boy, one girl, extremely strong, chakra wise. Almost as strong as Anakin there and the old man," Threepio translated.
"Chancellor Palpatine?" Obi-Wan said, exchanging a glance with Anakin, brows furrowing in confusion. "But he's not..."
And then, at the same time, the two clicked. Palpatine obviously sensed it as he suddenly leaped back, a red blade coming into existence.
"We've been played," Obi-Wan muttered, activating his own lightsaber.
"I trusted you!" Anakin said furiously, charging with his blue blade ready to strike down.
The Sith cackled, parrying the blow with ease and doing the same to Obi-Wan. "You're all fools. You're not strong enough to defeat me!"
It was true, Anakin realised in horror as they continued to fight. The Sith Lord was at least five times stronger than Dooku, who could defeat both Obi-Wan and him in combat. They stood no chance.
He let out a sharp cry of pain as his arm was cut off - thankfully, the mechanical one. Now he only had a shoulder on that arm, and it hurt like hell. Obi-Wan was distracted by his pain and was brought to his knees with a blast of Sith lightning, pain resonating through the Force.
The Sith was monologuing as he continued to fry him, talking about how he was going to take Anakin as an apprentice and had been tailoring him for years. If it wasn't such a bad time, Anakin would wonder why all villains seemed to do that. But he didn't have time to think, not that he could anyway. There was so many sounds that were pounding in Anakin's ears: Sith monologuing, Obi-Wan yelling, Padmé screaming, the clones fighting off Palpatine's personal guards, Threepio muttering "oh dear" - wait what?
It was then that Anakin remembered that Naruto was in the room. The blond was currently standing protectively in front of Padmé, blocking blaster bolts with a metal sword that seemed to pulse with the Force. At least she would be safe. Even if he and Obi-Wan died. She, and their children, would be safe.
Anakin grasped his lightsaber in his remaining arm and jumped between Obi-Wan and the Sith, blocking the lightning. It was a little difficult, he was off-balance, in pain, and using his left hand. Already at a disadvantage, Sith easily disposed disabled him, slicing off his other arm as he did so.
"I will make you feel anger," The Sith crooned, and pointed his hands at Padmé. "Say goodbye to your wife, Anakin."
"No!" Anakin shouted, but it was too late. The lightning was already flashing towards her-
-Padmé disappeared in a puff of smoke.
The Sith looked as confused as Anakin felt, and he lowered his arms slightly. Then there was a choking sound and Anakin's eyed widened to see Naruto's sword sticking through his back. The blond looked annoyed. "I should have figured you were a Danzou," he muttered before slicing his sword through the Sith's neck. The head rolled down onto next to Anakin, yellow eyes staring up blankly. An embrace enveloped him, and Anakin looked up numbly to see Padmé's obnoxious headdress. He sank into her arms, enjoying her embrace. Naruto's pointed cough made them look up to him. He spoke again, and Threepio, who Anakin had all but forgot about, waddled over. One of his eyes wasn't working, and large scorch marks from bolts were across his chest, but he spoke normally nonetheless. "I'd just like to point out that if I'd known he was evil, I would have stepped in before he severed your arms." The blond nodded towards his arms which lay on the floor, next to the unconscious Obi-Wan. "But it's kind of difficult to tell what's going on when you don't understand. When I saw him attack your girlfriend, I kind of got the fact he was evil. Though the monologuing was also a big clue."
"Thank you," Padmé whispered.
Naruto smiled sunnily. "Beating bad guys is what I do, princess," Threepio translated. "Though if you ever want to leave Anakin, let me know. I think I'll have to decline on your offer to go to your planet though." He looked a little wistful. "I did just kill your supreme leader after all."
And before they could reply, he jumped out of the window. Padmé ran over, looking down, before shaking her head. "He's fine," she assured Anakin. "He's defying physics by walking down the building, but he's fine. Do you think that's the last we'll see of him?"
"Definitely not," Obi-Wan said, apparently having woken back up.
"I was going to tell you I swear Obi-Wan," Anakin blurted out. "Padmé she's-"
"Your wife, I know," Obi-Wan said, rolling his eyes at Anakin's stunned face. "Who do you think covered for you every time you disappeared off the Senator Amidala's apartment?"
"Uh, not to interrupt or anything," Padmé interrupted. "But the Grand Chancellor's head is sitting on the ground, and we're in his office. Naruto took out all of his guards, but we really should move before someone finds us in such a compromising position."
Both the Jedi flushed a little at being so distracted, before nodding in agreement. Anakin realised after a moment he was of little help, considering he was missing his two upper limbs. "Uh..."
"Perhaps you should go to the hospital, sirs," Ram said. "I've contacted General Windu and the Jedi Council as well as Senator Organa."
And that was that.
...
"Yo!"
Anakin and Padmé jumped apart from their kiss at the sound of a familiar voice. "Naruto!?" Padmé said in surprise.
Naruto grinned. "Hey Princess, Anakin," he greeted in Basic, though he had a slight accent. "Nice to see you doing well."
"Nice to see you're still alive," Anakin said, secretly relieved.
"I decided to drop by," Naruto said with a shrug. "There's a search for me, I noticed."
"They want to thank you, for taking out the Chancellor," Padmé said. "You did the Republic a great service."
Naruto laughed. "I just killed an old man. Nice arms by the way Anakin."
"Thanks," Anakin said, flexing his two metal arms, which were gloved to look like normal hands. "How are you?"
"I'm good," the blond said, leaning against their balcony. "I've taken up a job as a bounty hunter. I collected one on this Gunray guy not too long ago."
"We know," Padmé said exchanging a glance with her husband. "And you wouldn't happen to have collected Dooku's too?"
"Maybe," Naruto said, smiling secretively.
"I'm glad," Anakin said suddenly. "It's like a weight's been lifted off my soldiers. No more Chosen One."
"Prophecies are a load of bull," Naruto agreed. "Say hi to Obi-Wan for me."
"Will do," Anakin promised. "Oh and Naruto?"
"Yeah?" the blond asked.
"How does Luke Naruto sound to you?"
Naruto's eyes softened, and he smiled brightly. "Perfect."
...
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