Chapter I: Graduation

Five year old Naruto Uzumaki was exploring the area known as the Forest of Death. Today was his birthday and he was trying to avoid the villagers that always seemed to attack him on this day. Most of the villagers stayed out of the Forest, even the ninja avoided it unless it was being used for the Chunin exams.

In fact the only person Naruto knew of who entered the Forest willingly was a woman named Anko Mitarashi. Naruto didn't know her personally but thought that she was kinda cool in a creepy bad ass way from the rumors he had heard. Since Naruto did not know what Anko thought of him, he had entered the Forest when she was at a restaurant that he heard she liked.

Eventually Naruto came to a small river with a cliff inside the Forest. Deciding to take a short break he walked to the edge of the river and started to get a drink. While doing so he spotted something on the edge of his vision. Looking towards it properly, Naruto saw that it was a cave carved into the cliff wall.

Curious, especially since Naruto did not see it at first, he stood up and walked towards it. As he got closer he saw that there was a strange orange light coming from deep within. Cautiously, Naruto entered the cave with the intent to find out what it was.

It didn't take very long before Naruto came across a large cavern within the cave. In the center was a bonfire with a stranger sitting before it. The stranger was sitting with it's face towards Naruto but was staring at the fire. Based on the body type, the stranger was clearly male.

However Naruto knew that this man was not part of the village. The reason why was quite obvious considering the man had sharp pointed ears and an almost albino complexion. The shoulder length white hair did not help maters either. When Naruto walked closer the man looked up and Naruto gasped in shock.

The man's eyes were a solid milky white indicating that he was blind. Running across his eyes from hairline to hairline was a long scar suggesting the source of the blindness. The face itself was covered in wrinkles and a thinly trimmed beard and mustache surrounded his mouth. The beard and mustache was the same shade of white as his long hair.

Suddenly the man spoke. "Greetings Naruto Uzumaki. Please have a seat. There is much to discuss and not a lot of time." Naruto sat down and some how knew to just wait for the stranger to start the discussion.

"My name is Quinstua Scancat. I am the last of a long dead race and soon will join my brethren within the Force. As you can probably tell, I am not from this world. In fact I come from a Planet far away from here in another galaxy. However my story is not that important. What is important is that you, Naruto Uzumaki, have a great destiny to accomplish.

I know why you are hated within the village and can tell you that reason if you desire." said the man now named Quinstua. "Yes, please tell me. Why am I hated by my own village." said Naruto. The man sighed and said in a sad tone. "It has to do with the events of the attack on the village five years ago. You see the Nine-Tailed fox is a being of pure chakra and therefore cannot be killed. Therefore it was sealed into you in order to stop its rampage. Now listen very carefully Naruto. The fox may be sealed within you but you are NOT the fox. The villagers fear what they don't understand and because of that are taking their fear out on you. This is wrong of them and is not your fault.

Unfortunately I do not know why you were chosen to hold the fox, only that you were. However if you will allow I will train you to protect yourself and to fulfill your destiny." When Naruto heard the strange man with pointy ears tell him that he was understandably scared. However after thinking through what the man said, Naruto came to realize that he was right and that the circumstances of Naruto's birth was not his fault. Thinking back Naruto asked a question.

"You mentioned I have a destiny. What exactly is it?" "All I know is that you are chosen to either lead the Elemental Nations into a peaceful era or destroy it entirely. The choice of which will be yours to make. However if you agree, I can train you in all I know so that you will be ready to begin your destiny." replied the man. "Very well. I accept whatever you want to teach me. Due to the fox sealed within me, most of the teachers at the academy refuse to teach me anything." replied Naruto.

The man smirked and waved his hand in front of Naruto. A second later Naruto fell asleep and the man stood up. As he did his form shimmered to reveal a man wearing a black robe with a hood pulled up. If one looked inside the hood they would see an old man with lots of wrinkles and sickly yellow eyes. He then turned to the back of the cave and spoke with a raspy evil voice. "Bring the ship around. We will leave with my prize immediately. Upon our return I want you to train the boy with everything you know. Once you deem him ready, I will take over myself and complete his training. When the time is right I will send him back here with the intent to claim this backwards Planet in the name of the Empire."

As soon as he finished speaking, a tall man wearing black armor and a helmet walked out of the shadows. On his chest was a square box that held all kinds of lights and buttons. A heavy breathing could be heard coming from the mask like helmet before a deep voice spoke. "As you wish Master." With that the man exited the cave to carry out his masters wishes.

Five minutes later, a small imperial ship lifted out of the Forest of Death and left the Planet. Nobody within the village knew of Naruto's forced departure and when it would become known it would be too late to stop it. Darkness is in store for the Elemental Nations. And no one will be able to stop it...or will they.

Time Skip: Seven years later.

Naruto Uzumaki stood next to the man who he saw as an older brother. Before them was a funeral pyre with the same man who wore the black armor all those years ago laying upon it. As it turned out Quinstua Scancat was actually the evil Emperor Palpatine who wanted a younger more powerful apprentice in order to steal his body for his own. The purpose of that was to extend his life even further than he already had by using the Force.

Unfortunately for the Emperor, he had Naruto stationed on the original Death Star at the time Princess Lea was held prisoner. Luke Skywalker managed to find him and rescue him from the clutches of the Empire. Ever since then, Naruto and Luke treated each other as the brother they never had. Luke and Naruto trained together with Yoda and learned everything they could of the Force.

Thanks to the training he received from Vader and the Emperor before Luke rescued him, Naruto already knew some of the more powerful Force moves such as Choke and Lightning. However he promised Master Yoda that he would only use them to defend himself and others if there was no other way. Yoda took him at his word and so far he has kept it and had not had to resort to those moves since his conversion to the Light side.

Just recently Vader had converted to the Light side as well and helped destroy the evil Emperor. Unfortunately, Vader took to much Force Lightning into his suit from the Emperor and died shortly afterwords. Right now, Luke was paying respects to the man who turned out to be his father before the Emperor turned him to the Dark side.

Luke turned towards Naruto and said. "Now that the Emperor and the Empire is gone, what do you intend to do?" "I'm going back to my home world to try and rejoin my old village to become a ninja. I plan on using my skills with both the Force and my lightsaber to protect my old village from both within and without." replied Naruto.

Luke held out his hand and said. "Very well. But make sure you take good care of yourself. I have a feeling this will be the last time we see each other so good luck out there." Naruto shook Luke's hand before turning towards his personal ship that looked like those used by the Jedi before the rise of the Empire. Before he could climb into the cockpit however he was stopped by a shout of his name. Turning around he saw Han Solo running up to him.

"Hey kid, I heard your going back to your home world. Is this true?" Naruto nodded his head and wondered what this was about. He soon found out when Han reached down to his ankle and unstrapped the spar blaster he carried. It was an older model that was once used by the Naboo during the Clone wars. How he got a hold of it nobody knew. Once unstrapped, Han held it out to Naruto and said. "Here take this with you. It only has a range of 75 meters, but you never know when it will come in handy. It has both a stun and kill setting though so be careful with it."

Naruto took it and saw that the ankle holster could also be strapped to a belt. After seeing this, Naruto attached the holster to the small of his back. He was dressed in a dark red version of the old Jedi uniform with a blood red robe with hood lowered. His feet were covered in black combat boots and an armored glove covered his right hand to the elbow. There was nothing wrong with his hand or arm on that side, he just thought it was cool.

His blond hair was wavy and reached his shoulders while framing his face. His face was smooth having lost the whisker like marks long ago. His eyes however held the most change. What once was sapphire blue was now sickly yellow with a red trim. Master Yoda told him that by the time Luke rescued him, he had already gone too Dark to change his eyes back to their natural color. He could spend the rest of his life secluded in peaceful meditation with the Light side of the Force flowing through him, and he would still die with the eyes of a Sith. Naruto was not concerned as he thought it made him look intimidating and would help hide his true identity from the villagers of his home world when he returned.

Attached to his black belt on either side was a pair of lightsabers that were designed like the one Obi-Wan Kenobi used in Phantom Menace. The blades however were different colors all together. The one on his right side had a red blade as it was the very first one he made before Luke rescued him. It held sentimental value to him so he kept it. The left side one had a green blade and was made alongside Luke when he built his own lightsaber after loosing the one given to him in a duel with Vader.

After attaching the blaster to the small of his back Naruto thanked Han and got into his ship before setting the coordinates and taking off. It would take one month of flying through hyperspace to reach his home world. In the mean time he entered a meditative state and let the Force flow through him. He was finally returning home in order to become a ninja.

Time Skip: One Month Later

Naruto's ship lowered into the atmosphere of his home world. Using his computer monitor he found a large clearing in the middle of a lush green forest. Not wanting to draw attention to himself, Naruto placed his ship into hover mode about three hundred feet above the ground.

He then opened up the cockpit and jumped to the ground while using the Force to slow his fall and land softly. Once on the ground he pressed a hidden button on the armor of his glove. A second later a small screen lifted off the glove and revealed a small full keyboard underneath it. After typing in some kind of command, Naruto closed the screen and raised his hood over his face while turning towards the source of Force Signatures that he sensed.

As he walked in that direction, his ship above him closed the cockpit and flew back into space to land on the dark side of the planets moon. Half an hour later Naruto came upon a large open gate that had a stylized leaf symbol above the entrance. Knowing this to be his old village, Naruto continued on his way and waved his hand over the guards to prevent them from stopping him.

With that out of the way, Naruto continued on towards the Hokage tower. He remembered the Third Hokage as being one of the few who liked him despite the fact that he once held the Nine-Tailed Fox within him. Ten minutes after entering the village saw Naruto walking through the Hokage's office door after using the Force on the secretary to prevent him from being seen.

The moment he was through the door, a Dog masked Anbu had him pinned against the wall with a kunai against his throat. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you where you stand for just walking in here unannounced." said the Anbu. Before Naruto could say anything the Hokage stood up with his own kunai in hand and said. "Stand down Dog. I would like to question the stranger myself before any rash actions are taken."

The Anbu nodded before releasing Naruto and fading back into the shadows of the room. The Hokage then sat back down but kept the kunai on his desk in plain view before speaking. "So stranger, what brings you here? Especially since I was not informed by the gate guards to any new visitors to my village."

Naruto bowed politely before stepping closer to the Hokage's desk and taking all three of his weapons off his belt and placing them on the desk. Once he was unarmed, Naruto stepped back to his original spot and spoke. "Those are all the weapons I have on my person. If you want to have me searched to prove this statement I will of course cooperate." The Hokage nodded and a second later Naruto was assuming the position against the was while being patted down by the Dog masked Anbu once more.

"He's clean. There are no weapons of any kind on his person." said Dog before disappearing into the shadows once more. The Hokage then hid his kunai once more and place all three of the strange looking weapons in a draw in his desk. He then waved Naruto to have a seat and said. "Your weapons will be returned to you when you leave the office. Now once more. Who are you and what is your purpose here?"

At this time Naruto lowered his hood and let his face be seen. The instant he did the Hokage gasped and ran around the desk before bringing Naruto into a hug. Once released from the hug Naruto asked. "You remember me. How is it you recognize me?"

"I was there on the night of your birth Naruto. It would take a lot more than long wavy hair and an eye color change to make me not recognize you. Although I am curious about the loss of whisker marks on your cheeks." said the Hokage. So Naruto told his story from the day he was kidnapped by Palpatine and ending with his return to the Planet.

The Hokage learned quite a lot. From what he was told, Palpatine and Vader took him to another Planet in a far galaxy where he underwent experiments to make him stronger and faster. He also underwent vigorous training under both members of the Sith to learn skills that no other person in the village knew.

The whole process took a toll on the fox sealed within him until eventually the fox was absorbed fully into Naruto's chakra system. As of now the fox no longer exists and Naruto has a much higher chakra reserve than most ninja in the entire Elemental Nations. After Naruto's story the Hokage sat back and smoke his pipe before saying.

"I see. So you want to rejoin the village and become a ninja. I will allow it on one condition. You will need to change your last name to something else. The entire village thinks that Naruto Uzumaki is dead and I believe it would be best to keep it this way. However I have an idea on your name change."

Naruto nodded his head and said. "That is perfectly acceptable. What did you have in mind?" "Do you know who your parent's are?" asked the Hokage before going any farther. At Naruto's nod he continued. "And what is your thoughts on your father?" "I know he was a great man and a hero to the village. He did not want to place the fox inside me but had no choice and he also couldn't ask another what he wasn't prepared to do himself." stated Naruto.

"Indeed. In that case I suggest you take up your father's last name. From what you told me you are perfectly capable in protecting yourself from any enemies he might have had. As for the villagers themselves, we can say that you have been on a special solo training trip and have recently returned to the village. I am sure no one will question it." replied the Hokage.

At that time a ghostly couple appeared in the office. The first was a tall man with spiky blond hair and blue eyes. A leaf head band was around his forehead half hidden by his hair. He was wearing the traditional Jonin outfit with a white trench coat over it. The coat itself had red flames around the bottom edge and the Kanji for Fourth written across the back.

The second was a woman with long red hair and green eyes. She wore a head band around her forehead as well but it had a swirling vortex as the symbol. She wore the traditional Anbu uniform and had a pair of katana strapped to her back. These were Kushina Uzumaki and Minato Namikaze. The Hokage could tell they were dead since they had a slight blue tint to them and were see through.

"We think that is an excellent idea. In fact I taught Naruto both of my techniques so him knowing them will bring credence to the fact that he is my son. I also propose that instead of a solo training trip, he was training with myself. I will of course allow myself to be seen throughout the village every now and then. Make sure it is known that I am only a ghost though and cannot effect the living world." said Minato.

"You can also tell them that I am his mother and that I also taught him some skills. We will change my last name to Namikaze as well since no one but you and the Sannin knew of my marriage to Minato. I will also be around the village every now and again. However since we are dead it will not be very often and even when we are we cannot do more then observe." said Kushina.

"Very well. I will have the story passed around the village. Now as to your joining the ninja ranks, a graduation exam will be starting at the academy in one hour. I will give you a pass in order to take it with the other kids your age. Where you are placed will depend on how well you do on the exam. Will this work for you." said the Hokage. Naruto nodded and stood up and said. "Yes that will be fine. Where will I be staying while in the village."

The Hokage reached into his desk and took out Naruto's weapons before returning them to their owner. He then took out a set of keys and passed them to Naruto and said. "Those are the keys to the Namikaze residence. I am sure Minato here can show you the way." Minato nodded and said. "It would be my pleasure. We can only stay in this realm for two hours at a time after that we will disappear for at least a week before we can show ourselves again."

After writing a note, the Hokage passed it to Naruto before speaking again. "This is the note to give to the academy instructor in one hour. I will have your story spread throughout the village by that time. For now you are dismissed." After placing all his weapons in their normal spots, Naruto took both the keys to his new home and the note from the Hokage before bowing in respect to the Hokage and leaving the office. He only had an hour to check out his new home and get to the academy for the graduation exam after all.

An hour later saw Naruto Namikaze, as he was now known, walk towards the room number that held the graduating class of the academy. The house that he now lived in was a decent size and held all the basics that he would need. He left the blood red robe that he usually wore at the house but left the rest of his outfit as is.

Knocking on the door, Naruto waited to be called on to enter. When he did he gave the note from the Hokage to the instructor and waited while observing the rest of the class. In his opinion the students were nothing special. After reading the note the instructor spoke up. "Alright class listen up. We have a new student joining us for the graduation exam. I will allow him to introduce himself."

Taking that as his cue Naruto spoke. "My name is Naruto Namikaze. I am the son of the late Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze and his wife Kushina Namikaze. I have been away from the village on a training trip for the past twelve years. My likes are training and meditating and my dislikes are those who hurt others for no reason and those who are evil. My dreams for the future is to see that the village remains at peace."

Naruto then took a seat near the back next to a boy wearing a high collared coat and sunglasses. The boy nodded to Naruto in greeting and said in a logical monotone voice. "Hello my name is Shino Aburame. It is nice to meet you." Naruto nodded back and said. "Nice to meet you Shino. I hope we can become friends." Shino nodded and said. "That will be acceptable. Would you like a tour of the village after the exam. I know of a good place to eat where we can get to know each other." "Sure. I just arrived in the village today and have only seen from the gates to the Hokage tower and here. Lets meet outside the academy after the exam and hang out." replied Naruto.

Shino nodded and turned back to the front to pay attention. "For our new student, my name is Iruka and I will be giving the graduation exam. The exam will be in four parts. The first part is a written test and counts for twenty percent of your final score. The second part will be an accuracy test that will be conducted outside. After that will be a sparing match to determine the your overall rank in the class. Finally we will conduct the jutsu portion of the test. The jutsu portion is the most important part and will determine if you graduate or not. You will be asked to preform the three basic academy jutsu. For extra credit you may preform other jutsu to gain more points towards your final score." said Iruka.

With that the test papers were passed around before Iruka told the students to begin. The written portion took thirty minutes as there weren't that many questions. When the written test was over, Iruka called the class to order and led them outside to begin the next portion.

The accuracy portion of the exam was next and they had to throw kunai and shuriken at a target at a range of 70 meters. Since the entire class seemed to have their own supply of shuriken and kunai, Naruto was forced to improvise.

As soon as he was called to take the test, Iruka asked. "Naruto, where are your kunai and shuriken?" "I don't own any. However I will be taking the exam anyways." Was the reply Naruto gave. Before Iruka could ask what Naruto meant, Naruto reached behind him to the small of his back and extracted his Naboo blaster.

Pointing it at the target, he quickly pulled the trigger fifty times. A bunch of red blaster bolts shot forth and decimated the target. When the smoke cleared, Iruka saw a small smiley face in the center bulls-eye of the target. With a sweat drop Iruka declared that Naruto passed the exam. As Naruto walked back to his classmates he examined the blaster. With a frown he realized that the bolt cartridge was almost empty with only three shots left. He then realized he would need to upgrade it if he planned on using it more in the future.

Shortly after the accuracy exam it was time for the sparing matches. After half an hour it was down to the final match. Naruto himself vs. Sasuke Uchiha. Sasuke was a boy with black hair in the shape of a duck's behind and black eyes. He wore a blue short sleeved shirt with a popped collar and the Uchiha clan symbol on the back. A pair of white arm warmers covered both forearms from wrist to elbow. He wore a pair of beige shorts and the usual ninja sandals with his right leg wrapped in ninja tape.

As they stepped into the sparing ring, Sasuke smirked and said. "You should just give up now loser. I don't care who you are or who your father is, but I am an Uchiha and I am the best in this class." Naruto just stood there with his arms crossed over his chest and didn't respond. Sasuke saw this and frowned before getting into the Uchiha clan style.

When Iruka began the match, Sasuke charged at Naruto and threw a left hook at his face. Naruto for his part did not move an inch. Just when it looked like Sasuke was going to hit Naruto, he jumped back and rushed again from another angle with the same result. Even when Sasuke rushed Naruto from behind, Naruto just stood there before Sasuke jumped back just inches before contact.

Nobody knew why Sasuke wasn't hitting Naruto and Sasuke himself was pissed that he couldn't hit the loser. Every time his fist was inches from contact it was stopped by what felt like a brick wall. It actually stung like he hit one but he refused to show. Naruto himself was smirking on the outside while inwardly thinking. 'Don't underestimate the power of the Force. That was the first lesson Vader taught me, and he is correct. With the right application, nobody can land a physical attack on my person. Of course I have to be standing still and conscious for it to work, but that's not really a problem. When I attack I don't let up anyway so defense at that point is useless.'

Naruto was getting bored however and asked. "Is that all you got. Because if it is, you are about to lose in the next five seconds." "Why you. I'll show you who will lose." shouted Sasuke as he rushed Naruto again. At that time Naruto started to count down from five. When he reached two, Sasuke was right in front of him. At one, Naruto was suddenly behind Sasuke and placing his hand on Sasuke's back. Finally at zero, Sasuke flew out of the ring and landed in a heap against a tree.

As a result, Sasuke lost the match and ended up second place overall in the class rank. Naruto himself gained rookie of the year despite not doing much in the fight and the fact that he wasn't in class until this day. Finally it was time for the jutsu portion of the exam. This was the part that Naruto couldn't wait for.

On the walk to Naruto's new house, Minato and Kushina told him to show one of each of their skills in order to show credence to the fact that he was their son. Naruto smirked at that and knew exactly what he would show the class. He decided to leave the fact that he could manipulate the Force a secret so any enemies he had would be surprised. The Force push he used on Sasuke could be explained by a very strong physical push since his hand did make contact with Sasuke's back at the time.

The three jutsu that was required turned out to be the clone jutsu, the replacement jutsu, and the transformation jutsu. After that they were asked if they were going to show any other jutsu for extra credit. When it was Naruto's turn he made the required hand sign and made three perfect clones of the normal variety. Thanks to the fox being fully absorbed into his system and the amount of control needed to use the Force, Naruto had perfect chakra control despite his massive reserves.

After the clones disappeared, Naruto then proceeded to preform the other two jutsu perfectly as well. When Naruto was done with the basic jutsu, Iruka asked. "Are there any other jutsu you want to show for extra credit?" Naruto turned towards Iruka and said. "Yes. I would like to show two jutsu and will need two separate training logs." Iruka nodded and pointed to the set of three training posts at the edge of the field they were using.

Naruto walked to the middle one and held his right hand in front of him where everyone could see it. A moment later a rapidly spinning ball of blue chakra could be seen formed in his palm. Naruto rammed the ball into the post while shouting, "Rasengan." The attack hit the post dead center and tore through it for a few seconds before Naruto let the attack disperse. When he did a hole big enough for a bowling ball to fit into was shown in the wood.

Naruto then walked to the left and stood about thirty feet in front of the left most post. With his right hand he called his left side lightsaber to said hand and ignited it causing a green blade to emerge. The blade itself was three feet long with a ten inch handle. Naruto held the blade in a reverse grip and formed a half ram sign with his left hand.

"Ninja Art: Sword of Shadows." As soon as those words left his mouth, Naruto appeared to shimmer for a moment before he turned his blade off and replaced it on his belt. The instant he let go of the handle, the left training post fell to pieces. If one looked closely they would see that the cut edges were blackened as if burned and a red outline surrounded the black edges.

Iruka, as well as the rest of the class stood there in awe at what this boy was capable of. Shino himself thought it was a good idea that he planned on making friends with the new guy. Sasuke just seethed and wished the power of this boy was his so he could kill his brother and avenge his clan.

Shortly after Naruto showed his jutsu, Iruka led the class back inside and called up those who graduated. Most of the class graduated and received a leaf head band, including Naruto himself. Naruto tied his head band around his forehead where it belonged and took a seat to await further instructions. "Congratulations to all those who graduated. Return here tomorrow at eleven am to receive team placements. Until then dismissed." Naruto then stood up and headed to the front of the academy to await Shino so that they could hang out and get to know each other and become friends.