CHAPTER THREE: Smuggler and his apprentice

A/N: Thanks all the reviews. Nothing makes an author feel good about himself other than many reviews. I got juice at least for one more chapter before some other project (BLEACH, Katekyo MOK II etc.) so let's take this away! I know this fic is supposed to be about the good anime not the crappy cartoon but I need to go through some events in the cartoon like in this chapter. And to make it clear, I use starwars dot wikia dot com slash wiki for reference so if you think that some of my information or 'fact' doesn't add, then you can take it up there because it's from there I take everything I have.

A/N: I believe that rank means something for a Jedi. Like youngling, Padawan, Knight and Master. The change is greatest when Padawan is made a Knight, as Padawans many are held back by their masters cause they lack the maturity or for whatever reason. So like Anakin was owned in II and HE OWNED in III was similar to Naruto Kiba fight. Kiba was a Padawan. Still taught by a master and relaying on them in strength. That's why Kiba was beaten so easily. This was for my man Impstar and his review. Thanks man, I really appreciate your effort. Enjoy the chapter.

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CHAPTER BEGIN

"I kissed a girl and I liked i~t. The taste of her cherry chapstick~. I kissed a girl just to try i~t. I hope my boyfriend don't mind it." Quiet humming and signing came over the sound of welding. A purple Twilek woman in a protective gown, that didn't fail to bring out her beautiful curves, was sitting next to a messy workbench full of metallic parts, tools, wires and such, while wearing goggles in her head as the sparks flew around. She had the most excited smirk as she took another tool from one of the hovering mechanic droids that swarmed around her and the little operation room she was in.

She took of her goggles and took a look of a mechanical arm she had been working on.

"Excellent work, Ma'am." One of the droids commented her work.

"Here." She offered it to it and stood up. "I need you to go and varnish it. I need it to be ready by the time in finished with the chip." She stepped to another workstation and leaned into a microscope and pressed few buttons in the computer and started working again. "Little bit… right… no no no no! Left. Le~ft. There!" She pressed for the final time and leaned back and stretched and yawned loudly. "Hnnn!" Then she pushed her chair away and it rolled over to the other side the room to a machine. She pressed few buttons and a tray came out and on that tray was a small computer chip. She snapped it away and started look at it. "Is she just good or is she just stunning? What you think, baby?" She whispered to herself so intensely that she didn't hear the clanking sound that was coming closer and dark figure that walked slowly according the sound. It came closer and closer. Droids turned to face it and quickly scattered in fright.

A metallic arm stretched forward, over her head. "Is it done?" The arm banged the table loudly and the heavily metallic sound demanded, making Hiina to jump upright in shock and turn around hastily. Then she sighed relieved.

"Ooh, General Grievous. What a surprise." She smiled widely but her jaw was visibly tightening. "In my workshop. Uninvited. Again."

The cyborg general ignored her and roamed around the room, scaring the droids and pushing things aside. "I asked you; have you finished it!"

Hiina shot a glare at him. "Don't question me with that tone!" She shot back. "I'm not your henchman."

"But you are my mechanic!" Grievous pointed his metallic finger at her. "So I suggest that you won't temp me or I will kill you with this claw!"

The Twilek didn't even flinch but took a step forward, closer to the man… what was left of him. "You wouldn't dare. You know that my Naruto would destroy you if I even get a scratch on my lekku." She smirked smugly. "He's very protective you know."

"I do not fear your pathetic boyfriend!" He yelled.

"Maybe not but he is your 'counts' second in command when you're just my plaything." She pointed even more smugly. "Or how many Jedis have you killed since you last bothered me?"

The cyborg huffed angrily and turned away. "Is it done, I asked!"

Hiina rolled her eyes. "Yes! I have it here!" She showed the chip she had just finished. "This should be enough to finish my latest design."

"Then finish it! I'm starting to get tired of this waiting!"

Hiina didn't respond to that. Just turned around and put the chip on the table. "But I have to admit that this is exciting to see my biggest work in action like this." She brought out a blueboard which was used to draw and show plans. Grievous's new body was currently on display. "When I sold my design CB-503, I never thought I would ever see it again." She glanced over her shoulder happily. "This is really exciting. You see these lines here! With this new chip I can increase efficiency of your brains significantly."

"How?" Grievous asked starting to catch up as he studied the plans of his future body.

"Well, with your current body, CB-654, you're restrained to limitations of your original body but with my 800 I'm able add two more limbs into your body like this." She pressed another picture where Grievous had four arms. "This will increase fighting abilities surely."

"Interesting… (COUGH COUGH)." He turned away. "Can't you do anything to this!"

Hiina sighed. Some people just didn't appreciate her extremely high IQ. So she enjoyed dressing like a stripper. That didn't mean she was a genius mechanic. "No. Not yet at least. I believe you have those coughs because you still have your own lungs that were ruined in the explosion and based on what says here:" She turned around and pulled up the status report to the blueboard. "That eighty percent of your lung capacity was ruined when your body was burned. The person who installed you to your new body managed to decrease the damage into fifty percent by using biomechanic transplants but unfortunately he couldn't do anymore than that. Why, I'm not sure…"

"Then finish that operation now! (COUGH COUHG)!" The cyborg yelled before starting to cough again.

"I can't do that!" She yelled and twirled in her chair to face him. "If you haven't noticed, I have a degree in mechanic science! Not in biological!" She brushed her lekku over her shoulders. "I left the university before I could finish all my studies." 'That professors groping was just going a tad too far when he tried to slip his hand inside my dress.' She added in her mind. "But don't worry. These droids are all designed for this very purpose and will help me to install you into your new body without delay."

"Isn't there anything you can do!"

Hiina rubbed one her head-tentacles thoughtfully. "Well… I could write a description for some cough drops. I have an undergrad in pharmaceutical medicine."

Grievous stormed out of the lab, throwing droids and desks aside.

"Maybe I should describe something for those mood swings too…" She whispered quietly as she signed her droids to start cleaning up the mess the 'general' had left behind. She returned back to her work and started to inspect the new body parts.

After a while, another droid quickly hovered next to her. "Ehm… Ma'am." It started carefully.

"What?" She snapped back without tearing her goggles away from the mechanical arm she was holding. "I'm busy."

"I'm a very well aware of that, Ma'am!" The droid answered respectfully, trying to correct its mistake.

"And what have I said about little droids who don't listen to my orders?" She continued warningly.

"We… get the honor of becoming new spare parts." The droid gulped.

"Yes." She nodded acceptably. "Then why are you still here?" She glared through her goggles.

"But-but-but there's a message coming to you from Yavin 4!" The droid covered itself with its tiny hands.

Hiina dropped the arm she had been working with and squealed excited like a little girl who had found out that she was going to have a pony for Christmas. "Ooh!" She rushed through corridors into the small communication room and quickly pressed the flashing button.

"Yo!" Smirking Naruto came into view. And shirtless, Hiina noticed.

"Naruto!" Hiina squealed. "Are you okay? Where are you? How're you doing?"

The smiling blond was holding the small communicator disk in his hand. "I'm fine. Still on Yavin 4, finishing my training." He answered and sat down on something. "I just wanted to see how you are doing. So, since you're alive, may I presume that Grievous is in spare parts somewhere?"

"I wish." She muttered and sat down next to the figure, leaning closer like he was actually there. "That maniac is driving me crazy! I wish I would have someone… more compliant test subject than him." She smiled seductively to the hologram.

Naruto cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Well, but consider him as an ultimate road test. If your… toys can survive him, then there's probably nothing they won't survive."

"They are not toys!" She snapped agitated for his lack of respect to the science. "They are highly skilled and advanced technological miracles! Made my me!"

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Sure. Whatever you say, hun."

She pouted and looked away. "How long do I have to stay here?" She whispered suddenly.

"Until this war is over."

"But I don't want to be here! I want to be with you!" She turned around looking desperate. "This… this… hideout stinks!"

Naruto sighed. "Hiina, we've talked about this. It's either that I dump in Kimer. And you rejected that idea, didn't you?"

She huffed. Naturally she had rejected that middle-of-nowhere hell-hole. Kimer was a jungle planet in the Wild Space, somewhere in the Rishi Maze system without any electricity, space travel, settlement or even any intelligent lifeforms. It was far from everything and didn't hold any kind of importance to anyone. Financial, political or even strategist. So the chances that anyone would be bothered by it were slim to none and so a perfect place to stay hidden in this war. And she would never go there in a million years. She would rather stay in that hide-out and work for that maniac Grievous and she knew it. Unfortunately, he knew it too.

"Have you finished testing my new droids?" She asked, trying to change the subject.

"What test?" Naruto asked. "What droids?"

She sighed sufferingly. "Dooku himself told me that you offered to test my new BX-series commandos!" She explained. "Ring any bells?"

((A))

"Nope. It doesn't. There must've been some misunderstanding." Naruto shook his head confused. Then he heard how a horde of battle droids were approaching his position. "Anyway, it appears that my break is over. I'll contact you soon. Bye." He stood up in a middle of a jungle clearing that was full of crushed, slashed, broken, or simply destroyed droids. He was now stepping over the exact commando droid Hiina had just talked about. It was twitching and tried to complete its mission by raising its blaster, aiming at the targets revealed back and pull the trigger.

Naruto activated his lightsaber and deflected the shot back to its sender without even looking over his shoulder. The blast went straight through droids head, shutting it down completely.

The human male walked in the wilderness that was chosen as his training site until further notice. For a full week now, he had been trying to survive this planet and endless lines of different kind of battle droids and other creatures this planet could provide. Before that, he had been at the main Temple, receiving training from his new master, Count Dooku. It had been over a month since his show-down with Kiba. One month since his final meeting with his old master, Jiraiya. And one month since the disturbing vision he had then.

He still didn't understand what it was about. Was he the master? Or the apprentice? Was he going to give the order? Or fulfill it?

"There he is!" The droids yelled and started blasting when they recognized their target. Naruto simply walked forward, deflecting all the blasts absentmindedly that kept coming with just one hand. These small fries were nothing to be worried about. He was worried more about how Dooku was planning to win the clone army with this junk? Well, it wasn't his problem now so he disregarded that thought when he heard the ominous rolling sound.

Droidekas! Four new destroyer droids with shield generators came from forward, starting to blast him. Naruto had to jump back to take a proper ground but still used only one hand to deflect blasts around. Then he noticed how two more those new monkey droids came out of the trees, blades shining ready. Between two fires, Naruto summoned his other lightsaber and jumped to face the monkey droids while he kept blocking blasts with his purple one. When he was right front of the couple of them, he activated his mothers lightsaber and the red blade went through the first one, taking it down. The second one managed to slash his face but he was able to pull his head in back time to avoid any serious injury. They landed on a tree where they engaged a furious combat, the droid dodging his lightsabers droidekas kept blasting, not caring about their ally in battle. One two blast too many he fell down to the ground but manage to shift his body so he landed on his feet. The droid was right on his tail.

When Naruto heard a bunch of supers coming behind him, he figured it was enough waiting around. He went offensive. He used Force to freeze the commando droid on its place, impelled it with his mother's lightsaber and used him as a shield as he rushed towards droidekas. Superbattle droids appeared from the bushes and started blasting and Naruto had to use his other saber to defend his rear when he charged.

Front of the droidekas, he threw the commando droid over them who blasted it into pieces in second and searched for Naruto who used Force to leap on a nearby tree branch and continue over to other side so both destroyers and supers were at the same side. He deflected the blasts while waiting for supers to come into his range and slowly, they formed into a one single line so they could maximize their firepower. When they were all in place, their target used Force to jump high and while in midair, he threw his lightsaber and guided it with Force and cut the feet of those supers. Then he landed so hard that dust blew out of the ground. Droidekas and some supers who still had some mobility in them kept firing at him as he backed away, using both hands to deflect attacks when he felt a big tree right behind him. He summoned his lightsaber where it had dropped twirled around, cutting the tree in half. It came down fast and hard onto the destroyers and even their shields could handle a massive, hundreds of years old tree coming down with its full weight. It crushed destroyers and twitching supers right under it.

Naruto put his lightsabers away and swept some sweat off his forehead and sat down, leaning on to the tree. "This is surprisingly wearing when you do it all day." He glanced over his shoulder when a silvery walking stick came into view with a speeder and landed next to him. "What is it, AE?"

A protocol droid AE-11 nodded stiffly. "Sorry to disturb your training, master but there's an incoming a message from Tantive. I believe it's from Count Dooku."

Naruto stood up immediately. "I will go and take it in the Big Chamber." He stepped on the speeder and the droid quickly took controls. It flew him over the tall Massassi Temple, where he had set his own personal quarters when he felt like using them. When they hovered over the Temple, the droid shook its head. "I don't think this that convenient way to enter the Temple, master. I would like to suggest-" But Naruto jumped over the railing and landed onto the windy roof. Then, with confident steps he entered the Temple.

He soon made his way to the Grand Hall, to the altar, where he had set up a holoprojector. Soon as he stepped front of it, Dooku appeared there. "Naruto." He said quietly. "How was your training?"

"It has been most welcome, master." Naruto nodded. "But I'm afraid these droids don't offer me much challenge anymore."

"That I'm relieved to hear." Holo-Dooku nodded. "I was hoping you would feel that way now."

"You have a task for me?"

"There is a hero rising in the mid of this war. And every hero is a standard around which our enemies will gather. We need to get rid of that hero before it's too late."

"Anakin Skywalker." Naruto whispered.

Dooku raised an eyebrow. "You're well informed."

"Just a lucky guess." Naruto said quietly.

"You've been well trained, my apprentice. So I can trust this mission to you."

Naruto waited. The vision was about this moment. He should brace himself. He would need to accept the mission eagerly.

"I want you to go into Rattatak as my representative." Dooku finished.

"As you wish." Naruto nodded before he blinked. "What?"

"There is a gladiator tournament in Rattatak. Many skilled fighters will attend. I need you to go and recruit the strongest of them." After Naruto kept staring at him without a word, he added: "Is there something wrong?"

"Not one thing, master." Naruto bowed his head. "I shall leave immediately."

((A))

Outer Rim Territories, Guter Wade, Rattatak. A red rock in the middle of the space. Narutos ship flew through the atmosphere into a deep chasm and into a platform. A model landing. And all thanks to the droid pilot he had in his own ship.

The ramp opened and Naruto stepped out dressed in his usual long, brown jacket.

A doorman was there to greet him and lead him into the Cauldron. The fights had already begun.

Naruto and his guide walked in the balcony, reserved just for him. There he had an excellent view on all the gladiators.

"I'm sure that you will be most pleased of what we have to offer." The guide answered as Naruto sat down.

"We'll see." Naruto muttered mostly uninterested. He didn't enjoy watching this kind of game. He would've wanted more to participate. But his master believed that they could find an assassin strong enough to kill Skywalker here, so he should keep his eyes open.

There were even few plausible candidates, given the chance. But against Skywalker or any other Jedi of his caliber… it was unlikely that anyone was that good. He was ready to resign himself when he felt a disturbance in the Force. Right next to him.

"Impressive." He applauded. "You mask your presence well. Flawless timing, perfect control, you have great skill in infiltration. My host would applaud your abilities, immensely. However, I'm not here looking for a spy."

In the seat next to him, where the guide had sat just a moment ago, a cloaked figure who was sitting there, turned towards him before standing up and jumping into the Cauldron. Amongst all the other gladiators.

Naruto felt himself smirking. Perhaps this trip hadn't been such a waste of time after all.

The figure landed on the arena, threw of her cloak, revealing a native Rattataki female. Naruto could feel her using the Force to throw away her enemies, then quickly using the flame throwing droid to her own advantage, using it to eliminate half of the gladiators without any real effort. Then, jumping over the droid, and using Force to crush him with the ceiling. There was explosion and the whole arena fell silent as the remains of the droid scattered among the remaining gladiators.

Others looked at her surprised but she countered with a simple inviting wave.

Gladiators decided to ignore their own fights and unite against this one enemy before she would destroy them.

Then this new fighter proved her abilities with the Force again as she dropped rocks from the ceiling on top of them. Only one to survive was a lone wampa that almost managed to attack. But it was killed by the giant bolder attached to the chain, carried by a Flog. This seemed to be the first, true challenge to this new assailant as she was forced to dodge another attack and draw her own lightsabers. Blue and green.

One moment later, the monster fell dead as lightsabers cut through its skin and abdomen.

The fight was over. And Naruto had found his agent. Or rather, an apprentice of his own.

He clapped his hands together. He was the only one to do so as everyone else were stunned out of sudden turnout of the battle.

"Impressive. Most impressive." He nodded, trying carry out some of that grace his master seemed always to have with him. "You're much stronger than I had sensed."

Assajj Ventress bowed her head. "Dark Side is strong in me. For I am a Sith."

Naruto laughed quickly. "You have guts. I'll give you that." Then he slowly narrowed his eyes. "But you are not a Sith." He leaped over the railing into the arena, using hand to support his landing. Then, slowly he circled around the young woman. "You wear the trappings of the Sith, you fight like the Sith, but all that can be imitated. You lack a vital quality found in all Sith. Sith have no confusion. No fear. And I sense lot of both in you."

"You're just a fool who knows nothing of the Dark Side!" She said in anger and activated her lightsaber. But before she could take two steps, Naruto raised his hand and gave the girl a taste of the true power of the Dark Side using the skill he hadn't used for years. Gathering the Dark Side inside him, his eyes turned red, his Sith Tattoos surfaced and his aura changed as he raised his hands and shot the deadly lighting out.

((A))

In Corusant, inside the Jedi Temple, young Merilian female shot her eyes open in sudden pain. She had been sweating through a horrible nightmare. If it was a nightmare. She panted quietly, trying to calm herself. Then, when she believed, she had calmed down she took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "Minato." She whispered sadly.

((A))

Assajj felt the terrifying pain going through her body, numbing her in the process and in a matter of seconds, the welcomed darkness took her and she felt limb.

Red-eyed Naruto finally stopped and slowly stepped forward before smirking satisfied. "I have found my apprentice."

He took unconscious body away to some side quarters, where a holoprojector was waiting for him. He contacted Dooku.

"Naruto. I believe you have good news." The blue Dooku appeared on top of the crawling disk. "Have you managed to find suitable candidate?"

"Of course." Naruto nodded and presented what he had found. "She is very capable, strong in Force yet unfinished with her training."

Dooku rubbed his chin and thought. "I must assess her abilities myself first."

"I have prepared for that." He nodded and the crawling projector disappeared into shadows.

While waiting his new apprentice to wake up, he took a look on her lightsabers. "Typical Jedi lightsabers." He muttered uninterested. The other one was seemingly older than the first one. "I can sense your old masters will inside." He whispered before placing them back on the table. Clear and visible. Everything was ready. He walked up the stairs into shadowy upstairs.

He watched how Assajj woke up and quickly stood up, examining her surroundings. When noticing her weapons, she turned her back to Naruto in shadows, giving him the opportunity he sought. He activated his own lightsaber and jumped into action, aiming to slice her back.

Assajj jumped high into air and summoned her lightsabers and landed on top of a table and took her stance. Naruto was on top of her again and she jumped away, Narutos saber slashing the table in half. Now he really saw the fruits of his own training. His senses were in their top form. Calmly, looking as she landed few feet's away and Naruto leaped forward, pushing her back, using only one hand to keep her on the edge. After two steps, she managed to hold her ground and they end into a block. "Really, if you were a Sith, wouldn't this fight be over?"

Ventress grimaced and pushed forward when she realized that her opponent was using only one hand and easily blocking all her attacks. She leaped back and used Force to pull a pillar, aiming it at Narutos back. He simply turned around and slashed it into half's.

"Enough." He shook his head disapprovingly and snapped the lightsabers from Assajjins hand using Force, throwing them far side of the room. Then finishing it all with a powerful Force push and crushed her to the floor.

When she struggled to stand up, Naruto pointed his lightsaber at her chest. "See. It's not that easy when facing a real Sith."

"So finish it!" She dared him.

"We have other use for you." He smirked and deactivated his lightsaber. "What do you think, master?"

Dookus hologram looked down from the top of the stairs. "Impressive. The child has great skills with a lightsaber. You've found a promising apprentice, son. She will serve our cause well."

Ventress quickly stood up and looked at the hologram. "I am honored." She bowed her head.

"This is my master, Count Dooku. A true Sith Lord. Darth Tyrannus." Naruto introduced Dooku as the crawling disk walked down the stairs.

"Naruto, do you think she is ready for the assignment?" Dooku asked and the Rattaki female turned to face him. To her surprise, he shook his head.

"Not quite, master. Even though powerful, she is not ready. Her skills have dulled in the lack of a master to push her forward."

Dooku gently rubbed his beard. "Fine. My master has informed me that Republic will move on Muunlist 10 in two weeks. You have two weeks."

Naruto bowed his head. "Thank you, master."

"Remember, Naruto, that disciple reflects on their master. Their success is your success. And their failure is your failure." He closed the comlink.

Naruto snorted quietly as he stood back to his full length, 1,75 meters. He had to look slightly up to see his new apprentice's eyes. They looked at each other for awhile. "What do I call you?" He asked, covering his nervousness pretty well. This was his first student ever and she was practically his peer.

Ventress bowed her head again. "My name is Assajj Ventress. Student of Ky Narec. Enemy of the Republic and the corrupt Jedi."

"Good." Naruto turned so his jacket flapped. "I'm Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki but from now on, you will call me 'master'. Come, my new apprentice, we shall see if you're truly worth my masters praises." He put his hands into his pockets.

Ventress stood up quickly, recognizing a chance to become stronger than ever before. Her master was strong, hiding it under that roughian look. She quickly followed him when she remembered her lightsabers and used Force to pull them back to herself.

She followed Naruto to his spaceship that quickly took off and head back to Yavin 4.

((A))

In the Jedi Temple, Barriss, in her nightgown was meditating. She had woken in the nightmarish vision and was unable to sleep again. She had walked out of her quarters into the Gardens to clear her mind.

As she sat there for a while, she heard footsteps.

"Barriss?" She heard a voice asking her.

"Sakura." She opened her eyes and faced the pink haired young woman wearing bandages over her arm. "What happened?"

"This? Just a stupid mistake!" She waved her hand dismissively. "This booty hunter bit me really hard when we subdued him."

"You mean 'bounty hunter', right?"

"I know what I said." Sakura said simply. When Barriss stared her for a moment, she waved her hand again. "You don't want to know. So, what are you doing down here, at this hour?"

"Meditating." Barriss answered. "I had a… vision in my sleep. I need to mediate on it now."

"A vision?" Sakura nodded impressed. "I see. What was it about?"

"It was… nothing." She looked away quickly before turning back and offering a smile. "What brings you at this hour?"

"I was on my way to the nursery." She nodded at the way. "My master put me on babysit duty while I'm here. She herself is in Hypori with Master Mundi and others. Do you want to join me when I do my rounds downstairs?"

"No, thank you." She shook her head. "I should head to my quarters. I can meditate later."

"Whatever you say." She waved her healthy hand. "I'll see you later."

Barriss walked through the Temple, wondering rather aimlessly. She couldn't shake off the feeling her vision had brought with it.

Before she knew it, she was standing on top of Temple roof, looking at the moons and stars that were visible. This had been one of her favorite spots when she was a youngling and she would drag her friend with her to look at beauty of the night sky. He would doze off after few minutes but she could just watch and watch the stars forever. The wind made her shiver and she rubbed her arms to get warm.

"What are you doing here, padawan?" She turned around to see her master Luminara standing there, in her own nightgown. "Is anything wrong?"

There was no point hiding it from her. "I saw him, master." She whispered. "In a dream."

Luminara looked at her for a moment before stepping next to her. "Minato?"

She nodded slowly. "He was angry. Sad. He was… hurting someone. He was excited. It's all so confusing…"

"Anything else?"

Barriss closed her eyes. "He… he is slipping into further darkness… Like he were walking into a very deep and dark lake. I could feel it every step. What does it mean?"

"That our worst fears have come true." Luminara looked into the distance. "Minato Namikaze is one of two Sith Lords. The apprentice." Barriss looked away quickly, hiding her face, like trying to reject what she had just heard. "I know it's hard for you to accept, but the boy you once knew is gone. The Dark Side has taken a hold of him and this Sith must be destroyed. Remember what he did to Inuzuka." Kiba had been brought to Temple for emergency treatment. He had some severe internal injuries and it had taken awhile in a bacta tank to heal all that. Luckily, when he was released, he screamed like bloody murder, demanding to have a chance to face Minato one more time. Luminara gently touched her padawans shoulder. "Best thing for you is to let go of any feelings you have for him and when the time comes, save him from himself."

"Master means… killing him?" Barriss whispered.

"Minato you knew would have never wanted himself to be used as a tool of the Dark Side."

"But what if he can be saved?" Barriss faced her master. "If one can turn to Dark won't they be able to turn to Light again?"

Luminara shook her head quietly. "Don't let yourself to be manipulated by him. You said it yourself. He is slipping into darkness. It's too late for him."

When she didn't respond, master knew it was over and she walked away. "You should get some sleep. We have an early day tomorrow."

"Yes, master." She said with hollow voice.

Luminara left her student alone under the night sky.

"You are wrong." She whispered suddenly as lonely tears traveled down her face. "Everyone is wrong. There is still some good in him. I know. I just know."

((A))

Assajj Ventress struggled through the jungles of Yavin 4, heading towards the Temple. All the exercise and humid air had made her sweaty and tired yet she went on. She needed to deliver the stone in her pouch to her master before next dawn and still be alive. And it wasn't too easy with every carnivore in the moon chasing after her. Normally she would have just turned around and slashed them into bits with her lightsabers. Expect her master had taken them. She needed to survive without her weapons. To make her stronger.

She had to turn around, used Force to throw of some felines that had managed to sneak up on her. She slammed them through a tree so hard that they broke their spines. Then suddenly, a commando droid jumped out and started blasting her. She had to dodge the blasts by somersaulting, trying to get ahead.

When she launched herself high in the air, she used Force to break the branch the droid was sitting on so it crashed down. It wasn't enough to end it. The droid landed firmly but it took a second to recalibrate its aiming system which gave Assajj enough time to land next to it upside down, bracing her hands into the earth and use her nimble legs to deliver a sharp kick into the droids neck, sending its head flying.

She jumped back up and swept some sweat off her forehead. Then she took a look of the sun. It was about to start setting. Without further delay, she continued her run.

((A))

"I told her to find a certain rock from the far side of this jungle. It's three day trip into one direction." Naruto explained as he looked at the projected image of his apprentice. "She only has until tomorrow or she will fail."

"Impressive." The real Dooku nodded approvingly. "You have proven yourself to be an excellent teacher. Her skills have improved. Don't you think?"

Naruto didn't answer but kept looking at the hologram of his running student.

"What is it?" Dooku asked.

"I have my doubts if she is ready for this mission." He answered and walked down the altar. "She is strong, but Skywalker isn't a weakling himself. Perhaps I should…"

"Naruto," Dooku placed his hand over his shoulder fatherly. "part of being a teacher is to believe your student. And besides, I don't think you would be that effective in this mission."

"You don't think I could finish him?"

Dooku looked at him sideways. "Something like that, yes." Noticing his dissatisfaction, he smiled. "Patience, son, patience. You will soon have your first assignment. But let us wait until your apprentice will reach her goal."

Naruto glared over his shoulder. "I heard you've taken another acolyte."

"Your ears serve you right." Dooku nodded. "Like few others I've found in this galaxy that see through the corruption of the Jedi and are willing to help us in our goal."

"I heard Quinlan Vos is one of them."

"Something bothering you with that?"

Naruto didn't say anything for a while as he kept his eyes in the hologram-Ventress. "Am I one of those 'acolytes'?"

"Of course not." Dooku shook his head convincingly. "They are merely pawns that I use in order to win this war. You, you are my apprentice." He stepped right front of him and placed both of his hands on his shoulder. "Like a son. Like my own heir."

Such a warm words were enough to convince Naruto and he nodded. "You know that Quinlan Vos is just using you." He said when they both turned to look at the show and sat to a comfortable chairs watching as Ventress was now crushing hordes of beetles with Force but the numbers seemed to be too great as she struggled to back away.

"How can you be so sure?" Dooku asked. "I made him kill his own great-aunt in deep anger."

"Yet my guts tell me that he is just using you." He glanced at him. "He wants the same as all your acolytes."

"And what would that be?" The old man asked intrigued.

"To find the Two Sith Lords and take their places." He smirked. "And that would be me and you."

Dooku laughed. "You consider yourself as a Sith Lord?"

"Hardly. But I know that the rest of the Galaxy does. After Naboo, Jedis made sure to let everyone know that you're the master Sith, and I'm the apprentice." He chuckled. "I hope master Sidious doesn't take it too personally." Then he closed his eyes and continued with serene voice. "Two there should be; no more, no less. One to embody power, the other to crave it. That is the Rule of Two."

"When your power eclipses mine I will become expendable. This is the Rule of Two: one Master and one apprentice. When you are ready to claim the mantle of Dark Lord as your own, you must do so by eliminating me." Dooku finished.

"Darth Bane who instituted the 'Rule of Two'." Naruto opened his eyes. "I'm a Sith. Not a Sith Lord. My former master didn't believe in that Rule."

"That mysterious Pain, I believe?"

"Yes." Naruto nodded. "After I met him, I became one of his… Paths."

"Path?" Dooku confirmed with ridiculing voice. "You became one of his 'Paths'? What a humoring idea."

"You may laugh all you want to, but we weren't just a group of psychos. Or yes, we were but we were some serious psychos with serious power." Naruto chuckled to the memory. "Deva, Animal, Asura, Human, Naraka and Outer. Six Paths of Pain." The blond man closed his eyes. "I became Animal, thanks to my natural connection with them." He looked at the hologramn with empty eyes. "Have you heard of the 'Tragedy of Rossa System' in the Expansion Region?"

"Yes. It had six habited planets which all faced near total annihilation. There was no explanation for these disasters." Dooku wondered out loud.

Naruto bit his teeth bitterly. "Yes there is. And we were it."

"Surely you're joking." Dooku chuckled. "Six men can hardly annihilate six planets of their habitations that easily. It happened in weeks."

"You don't know the power of the Pain." Naruto whispered and stood up hastily, starting to walk around nervously. "The six of us, released a hell on those planets." He paced around the altar.

"Tell me." Dooku said.

Naruto shook his head hastily. "I'm not ready to do that. Face those memories." He turned around. "We… I did some horrible things during my time as one of the Paths. I need to face them someday… but not now."

"As you wish." Dooku nodded. "Whenever you're ready."

The young man gulped. "I can tell you one thing. We had a 'reason' why we terrorized those planets."

"Really?"

"We were testing."

"Testing?" Dooku raised his eyebrow.

"We were testing if our powers were enough." Naruto whispered with surprisingly weak voice. He leaned towards a wall.

"Enough for what?"

The young man glanced over his shoulder. "Enough to destroy a planet in one go."

"Were you?"

"No." Naruto whispered. "After the sixth planet fell, our leader realized that we were too weak. He said that we all should go our different paths, get stronger and study the Force and come back when he would call us." He tightened his fist. "I have made a promise… to correct those mistakes. And never go back to that monster again."

Dooku watched the boy was struggling with himself. "That Twilek has really made a number on you, hasn't she?" He chuckled to Narutos sudden expression.

"Why would you say that?" He asked rather uncomfortably.

Dooku smiled. "When I left the Order, you were a happy child, eager to learn and travel freely. Then I saw you in Geonosis, where you were that happy child, grown into a cheerful man who enjoyed his life and freedom." Then his face darkened. "Now, I saw something I never even imagined coming from you. Such darkness that lies within you when you suddenly talked about your past." Then he smiled again. "Only way for a man to escape such darkness would be by a woman's gentle touch."

Naruto smiled back. "Thank you, master." He calmed down and sat back into his chair. "But I will still hold onto that promise to correct my mistakes." He looked at the old man next to him. "And helping you, to bring peace into the galaxy, is the first step."

((A))

Ventress reached the Temple just before time limit would have expired. Panting and sweating, she walked inside the Temple, into the 'Big Chamber' like her master liked to call it. It was like it had been when she had left it for her mission. Holoprojector, a camp bed, open cans of food and such. "Master?" She called out gently. Then suddenly she leaped forward when she felt a lightsaber coming from behind. She turned in the ground, taking support from the floor and she saw her master, holding his purple lightsaber. "Master?" She asked again but he didn't answer. He just charged ahead.

She immediately knew that this was another test.

She didn't have any arms of her own and she was tired so she leaped towards the altar, using the cans and the bed as a distraction as she made towards the window.

He used Force to push all things aside he suddenly felt blast coming through his old camp bed. He slashed through the mattress and saw how his apprentice had found a droid blaster and used it to even the odds. Calmly, Naruto made his way forward, while deflecting blasts away from himself. When his apprentice realized that he wasn't even slowing down, she stopped and quickly searched for something to use. Then she saw the lightsabers that were waiting on top of her. They weren't hers but they would have to do.

She leaped high, throwing the blaster to give herself a second more to reach those weapons. Naruto dully slashed through the gun and jumped after her. She knew she wouldn't reach that pair of lightsabers in time so she used Force to pull them into her hands. And not a moment too soon as Naruto had nearly cut her in half with his own. She managed to block him with her new pair of weapons and push herself back and land on the altar when Naruto landed on the floor, looking up.

Slowly, they watched each other and she took her stance. Her new red lightsabers against his purple.

Naruto took a deep breath and relaxed. Then slowly, he lowered his weight point and took some support from the floor with his hand and slowly switched the crib into a reverse on his lightsaber, taking it behind his back. Style of the Rat.

The hall fell silent and Assajj could feel the dangerous aura around him. She sweated under his hard gaze that wouldn't let her eyes go. She could feel everything in the room. The gentle draft. The hot sunshine in her back. Humid air. She gulped.

Then he charged, coming upwards from very low angle fast. The Rattaki forced herself to calm down. She had the higher ground. She was the victor. She raised her right lightsaber first and then her left. Then, waiting for the right moment when he would be on her reach she brought the right one down first with all her might. Then he changed his path by stepping right, blocked that blade and pushed it to the left when she suddenly twirled around and used her left to stab backwards. He dodged it and kicked her leg, pushing her down. Before she could somersault back up, Naruto pushed her down with Force and jumped front of her and pointed his saber at her chest.

The hall fell silent. And then a quiet clapping sound filled the void. "Good. Very good." Dooku stepped to the altar and Naruto stepped back. "Excellent work, child." He nodded approvingly and she quickly stood up and bowed her head. "I see your master has used this time well."

"Master is a good teacher." She said her head bowed down. "And I'm honored of the praises I receive."

"Good." Dooku nodded. "Now that your training is finally complete, we believe it's time for your task."

She looked up when Naruto stepped up. "There is a Jedi named Anakin Skywalker that needs to be… dealt with." He explained.

"Jedi." Assajj grit her teeth. "Their order is a fading light in the Dark. Corrupt and arrogant. They must be punished."

"Indeed." Dooku continued. "It will be your task."

"I shall not fail." She turned on her heels and left the Temple in such haste.

Naruto and Dooku watched her go. "She will be more than a match for the young Skywalker." He glanced at his own apprentice who kept looking at the disappearing ship. "Naruto?"

"Nothing." He shook his head. "Did you have something for me?"

"Yes." The old man nodded as he made towards his own ship. "I need you to leave to Hypori system and oversee our new General in action."

Naruto nodded. "As you wish, master." He started walking towards his own ship that was parked right next to Dookus. "AD! Come in here! I need you!"

"Yes, master!" The protocol droid/piloting droid hurried after him.

"Move you piece of aluminum." He said angrily. Here he was going. To his first battle when his first apprentice was doing the same. 'Did Jiraiya feel like this when I did my first solo mission?' He chuckled quietly. "When are we scheduled to arrive?"

"In nine hours, sir." The droid answered.

"Fine. I shall rest until then." He leaned back in his chair and dozed off.

CHAPTER END

CHAPTER EPILOGUE

Back in one of the Grievous's hideouts, one of the mechanical droids was searching for its mistress. She wasn't in her workshop. She wasn't in her quarters or in the communication room. She wasn't anywhere to be found and the little guy was starting to get worried when it decided to check her rooms for one more time.

He entered the small bedroom, right next to workshop and scanned it. There were no signs of her.

"BLUAAH!" A sick voice came out of the bathroom and the droid hurried to assist.

"Are you okay, Ma'am?" It asked carefully when it opened the door.

Very annoyed looking Hiina took her from the toilet with most frightening glares so far. "What you think you little piece of scrap metal… hn-hn-hn BLUAAH!" She stuck her head into a toilet.

"Should I get the medical droid, Ma'am?"

She didn't have time to answer when she threw up again. And this time there was distinguish sign of blood with it. The droid didn't wait anymore but hurried to the communication panel and contacted the medical bay and wished that it wouldn't be too late whatever it was.

EPILOGUE END

A/N: I know! I know! I did the most shittiest cliffhanger possible but that's what I thought was best. I hope you enjoyed the chapter like I did and it wasn't too confusing with all the fight scenes. I will soon return with a new chapter. See you then!