Sith'ari
Sayonara
A/N: The title is Japanese for goodbye. A reminder, Horuset was Naruto's Sith name and thus will be treated as one of his aliases.
Keep in mind a bit that in this chapter I tried to make you remember that Naruto was still pretty much a human/mortal. Read this chapter to see why and don't review till the end.
This might be a defining chapter of whether you should take a break from reading this story or not, cause this is a lengthy story, ten chapters and we haven't even finish the first arc yet...then again I took a pretty long break.
So yes, if you don't like story now come back...next year...around mid year too, not early. And if you still don't like it, well I am 100% sure now that this story isn't for you. Good luck finding the one you like in that case.
This chapter is extra long. So find a good, comfy place to read. Some other important notes at the end.
Three years. It had been three years since his rise as Horuset, and now he could felt it, his destiny was near...or maybe it was just because he felt connected to the Force.
Naruto was meditating in perfect silence, no sound could be heard. As he sat in absolute stillness, he was observed by a famous Sith Lord, Ludo Kressh.
As Naruto continued to meditate, he began to recall the reason why he was training with another Sith rather than his supposed 'master'.
The reason was not because he held a grudge against her and had tried to find a new master, no. Despite his hatred towards her, he would not lie and deny that there was no better teacher than XoXaan on Korriban, at least. She was a powerful Sith and held more knowledge and wisdom than most Sith, being one of the first. And he couldn't help but feel she still had something left that she could teach him.
Yet she still had some flaws as a teacher. She was not well-versed in the art of combat. Luckily she aware of this and allowed Horuset a privilege he would never expect. She allowed him to roam Korriban and meet with other Sith who would teach him in the art.
The first Sith Naruto went to was, somewhat unsurprisingly, Darth Bane. Despite his dismissiveness, he agreed to teach Naruto in the art of combat. When inquired later, the reason for this was because Bane would convince Naruto to follow his 'Rule of Two'. Expectedly, Horuset wasn't convinced. He still saw the wisdom in the 'Rule of Two', however.
One thing he considered greatly was the secrecy 'Rule of Two' had. Bane was right about one thing, Sith that had failed always announced their presence. If he were to succeed, he must do so secretly or at least start so. He had already made enemies by simply being a Sith. If he were to declare himself to the galaxy, he would end up dead before accomplishing anything. Suffice to say, he would consider his Sith to be somewhat more secretive than the old Sith.
In any event, Bane was not his only teacher, obviously. After the blonde finished with him, he sought out other teachers, and he found many. Apparently, every Sith spirit on Korriban had witnessed his power rise three years ago, which made it easier for him to convince them to teach him.
Their reasons, however, were varied. Some were more deep and philosophical reasons, some were, like his master, for Sith to survive, but most were trying to exploit him as usual. As for Ludo, his reason was similar to his master's: wanting to see the Sith rule once again.
All in all, Naruto learned much from them both in combat...and belief. It appeared that being an apprentice of an open-minded Sith tended to cause him to be curious about other Sith's own agenda. Each Sith had their own way, each Sith carved their own path, and each Sith had something to add to Naruto's pool of thoughts.
"Focus, boy!" Ludo yelled, sensing that the blonde's thoughts had wandered.
Naruto focused, and his meditation went on. [1]
xxx
A ship landed on one of many hangers of the spaceport of Dreshdae, and two of its passenger stepped out. Both wore armor from head to toe. The design was famous enough for anyone who saw them to recognize who they were, the Mandalorian. [2]
"Still can't believe we stopped on this rock to find recruits," the tall warrior in green armor complained. "I mean, I understand we're trying to increase our number, but come on. Here? Really?" The warrior in red armor looked at his comrade.
"We need some fuel and food anyways if we want to make it to the command ship, might as well look for more recruits while at it. Almost got enough to make up for a squad," he told his friend. "Besides, the harsher the planet they're on, the tougher they are," he said. Then laughed at his own remark, while his partner silently stood still, causing an awkward scene.
The green warrior sighed. "Well at least I got to walk on ground again," he said, and he began to walk into the spaceport. His partner soon followed.
xxx
Naruto exited the cave that was Ludo Kressh's tomb. He turned around one last time and bowed to the ghost of Ludo. This was his last day training with him, so he paid his respects to the older dark lord.
After the Sith lord retreated back into his tomb, Naruto turned around before he began running back to his home, and with his chakra's help he would be back at his tomb in 5 minutes or so, another perk of having chakra.
As Naruto continued to run across the valley, his mind drifted to his past training once again.
He remembered the perks Kurama mentioned. Apparently, when he absorbed his father's chakra, not only did he gain Kurama's other half back, he also received his old man's memories as well. All the immense knowledge of the Kage his father possessed was now his.
Despite that, there were still some jutsu he was incapable of using. The so called 'Sage Technique' and 'Summoning Jutsu' were those, besides that he was able to use the rest of his father's arsenal with some help from Kurama, of course.
Speaking of Kurama, the new power he'd gained three years ago, the Tailed Beast Mode, as he would like to call it, was incredible. He could moved across the field in less than a minute, he could lifted a boulder that weighed nearly a ton, with little effort, and he could create an attack that could annihilate a planetary defence, the tailed beast bomb.
The attack could easily be classify as a WMD. Which was why he would never use it. [3]
Because to do such thing would draw too much unwanted attention, not only from the Jedi, but the whole galaxy. In galactic history, there was never a single being that was capable of laying waste to the planetary force single-handedly. If he were to draw such attention, he could expect the whole galaxy to unite and kill him out of fear.
He hated to admit it, but he was not invincible. He couldn't take on the whole galaxy on his own, and even if he succeeded in such a task somehow, what then? It did not look like people would immediately bow to him, more a single man could not watch over that many assets.
To shorten it up, he, alone, was not capable of watching over the whole galaxy or even conquering it in the first place. He needed followers, lots of them.
But he stopped those thought for now because he was back at his home. As soon as he entered, he was tackled down by Zedra. She began licking Naruto's face while Naruto smiled at the sight of his friend. She had grown to a size where he could use her as a mount.
"Alright, girl! Alright!" he said joyfully as he stroked her head. He got up from the ground and walked in. When he was inside, his smile faded, and he shouted. "Master! I am back!"
Within a few seconds, XoXaan appeared. Naruto stood still and let his master observe him.
'She will probably ask me of my training and then tell me to go find another 'support' master,' he thought. This pattern had been repeated for about two years now. It had begun to get tiresome.
"Yes...you are ready," XoXaan said.
Naruto's eyes widened in surprise. 'That was unexpected and very sudden.'
"You are ready for the final test," she said. Naruto tightened up a bit at those words. "Come to my chamber to discuss your tasks."
His master disappeared. Naruto walked down to her chamber, and she appeared once again.
"The first task was the test of power, sorcery, and lore. Within the Sith academy was a hall once used to sacrifice Jedi, but since there are none of them here, seek the most Midi-chlorian rich person you can find and then sacrifice them in that chamber." XoXaan gestured with her hand. A phial flew out of one of the boxes and stopped in front of Naruto. "When the ritual is finished, there will be some drops of blood that were touched by the darkside of the Force, put them in this phial as a proof." Naruto took the vial.
"The second task was the test of craft, concentration, and, hmm, shall we say 'creativity'." When she finished, Naruto's lightsaber flew from his belt to his master. She then used the Force to disassemble the weapon. She separated the saber crystal from the other parts before reassembling the lightsaber. She threw the unuseable weapon at Naruto, and he caught it. "Make your own lightsaber crystal," she said plainly.
"After you finish with both tasks, come back here for the final task," she said, and without any further words disappeared. Naruto did the same and left her chamber before he went to his.
He grabbed some necessary items for the trip: several daggers, all the credits he had, and a pistol he'd looted. He walked out of the tomb. He turned his head to Zedra.
"Might take a while," he told his hound, whom barked. With that, he took off.
About ten minutes later, he arrived at his destination. He was about half a mile away from the only spaceport on Korriban: Dreshdae. He continued to walk on normally to the port. After all, he did not want to get any unwanted attention from using his abilities.
While he walked into the spaceport, Naruto remembered the first time he'd heard of this place from his master. XoXaan kept many secrets from him, but this was a very unexpected one. There was a way to connect to the wider galaxy here on Korriban, and his master did not bother to tell him. Then again, he might be tempted by lust of travel or something else. It would result in him leaving Korriban.
As he entered the outskirts of the port, he was greeted by a H'nemthe, a species of reptilian with a beak-like mouth and four small horns.
"Hey, kid." A female H'nemthe attending the meat stand greeted him.
"Hey Hi'koom, how's business?" Naruto greeted back.
"As usual," she replied, and Horuset nodded before he walked on.
The first day he was here, he tried to get information about this place by using credits he had to buy some stuff from the merchants. While they were preparing the item, he would inquire about the port and the planet even, if he sensed something less suspicious on them.
The first merchant he went to was Hi'koom, since then he became her regular, mainly because he got sick of eating creatures in the valley. He would trade anything of value he hunted with her in exchange for rarer meat.
He walked on and finally stopped in front of a tavern with a front sign that said 'The Drunken Side'. Naruto entered.
Inside, the cantina was rather dim-lighted with a metallic wall and floor; it did not give any classy feeling that it was supposed to. The place had rather few tables and only two bar counters which was less than it should have had judging from its size. It had obviously seen a better day. There were a few patrons at the time, mostly regular drunks, pathetic.
He approached the counter in the middle of the bar, with a Geonosian, a species of brown two-legged bug with wings, taking care of it. Naruto sat down, and the bartender came to take his order.
"As usual, Catic," he told him. The bartender, now identified as Catic, nodded and walked to get Naruto's drink.
The first time he was here, Catic suspected him of carrying a bomb or something alike to the point that he took out his sonic blaster and told Naruto to take off his exterior clothing. The Geonosian examined him. After finishing, he allowed Naruto to order as if nothing had happened.
But judging from the background of the place and a fact about any off-world Geonosian, it was understandable. Any Geonosian found away from their home world used to be a gladiator because it was the only way they could escape their caste system, which bonded them to their world. So it was pretty understable if they would be overly paranoid, not to mention he was the owner of this place.
The owner soon returned with a glass filled with purple liquid. Naruto laid some credits beside the drink, which the bartender took, before he grabbed the glass and gulped down his drink. Now to find his targ-
"Getting drunk early today, Naruto?" A seductive feminine voice called to him. Naruto sighed in annoyance. He turned around to meet the owner of the voice.
In front of him was a Laquine female, or rather...female-looking hermaphrodite. Laquine were very similar to baseline humans in bone and muscle structure except they had two big rabbit ears, a muzzle instead of a nose, a small rabbit tail, and fur covering their whole body, they had normal teeth though.
Laquine was a fine example of how varied the races in the galaxy could be, because they had three genders: male, female, and hermaphrodite, which meant there could be female-looking Laquine with both sex organs and vice-versa. [4]
"Hi there, Louise" Naruto said uncaringly and received narrowed eyes and a displeased looking from the rabbit.
"I told you not to call me that, it's just Kelly," she said dryly.
"Whatever you say, Louise," Naruto said mockingly with a smug smile on his face.
"You're probably the only person here who dares call me that, but I kinda like it," she said teasingly and sat down beside Naruto.
Naruto tried not to look at her mainly due to her body. It was what most people would call 'bombshell'. She had a buxom, curvy body, which did not make it easy for Naruto to speak to her. He might be a Sith, a cold blooded, ambitious killer, but he still had his sex drive.
Worse, she had some kind of smell coming off of her. It was some type of body modification that made her body naturally smell like honey. She also modified the color of her fur from whatever it was to black and yellow stripped. If he didn't know any better, he would have said she had a bee fetish.
Whenever he was near her, it was always too distracting to use the Force abilities properly. He needed to get rid of her before he could pinpoint who would be a perfect sacrifice, and unfortunately, she was not Force-sensitive enough for him to use.
'Need to make her go away,' he thought.
Due to her body modification and, surprisingly, strong will, a basic mind trick would not work on her. Killing her would result in complications, not to mention he did not want to kill an...ally...ugh, how did he got himself into this situation...
xxx
Naruto was wandering around the spaceport. His tactic of buying and then chatting with the merchants to gain information was working well. They might not trust him, but they were not suspicious enough to bother.
Now where should he try next?
A few blocks away was a building more tidy than others in the port. That could be something worth checking. He walked to the building and entered.
Inside was a medium sized office. The metallic wall was painted in a light gray color. The floor was covered by a blue rug. Few decorations were placed around the room. In the middle of the room was a table and a receptionist, behind them was a door leading somewhere.
The receptionist, whose species Naruto had never seen an info of in the terminal back in the academy, spotted him. She gave him a look that was a borderline between curious and suspicious.
"Hello there, welcome to the Commerce Guild. Can I help you?" she asked him, in a half professional and friendly tone, and while she had not intended to, her voice was very seductive. But rather than replying, Naruto was distracted by another thing.
'Her body, by Adas, her body,' Naruto thought as he could not take his eyes off her breasts.
"'Sir', my eyes are up here," she said in annoyance. Naruto regained his senses.
"Um, yeah, um." Naruto was stunned by the older woman. Her figure, her voice and...by Adas what was that sweet scent in the air!
'Can't...think...straight.'
'Is this what humans call...puberty?' Kurama said in curiosity, but Naruto was trying to control his thoughts.
The receptionist narrowed her eyes.
"Kid, if you don't have a business here, I will have to ask you to leave. If you do, please take a seat," she said and gestured to one of the two seats in front of her desk. Naruto, still blushing, stiffly walked to the seat and sat down. "So what can I do for you, blondie?" she asked.
Naruto only blushed and said nothing. Inside his mind, Kurama groaned.
'By sage, this kid could kill his father, two strangers who could have family, and is willing to commit genocide in the future, but he fell powerless before an alien chick? Human male. Fine, I will step in.' Kurama gave a pause before said to Horuset.
'Alright kid, focus on my voice and repeat after me: I am here to shop.'
And as if he was a robot, Naruto repeated every word.
"I am here to shop," he said and caused the woman to raise an eyebrow.
"This is the Commence Guild building, the only thing we have for sale is investment," she replied.
'Y-yes, invesment! I am here to..um...invest for my future education!' Kurama said, and he swore if the runt repeated that, including the 'um' part, he would lose tons of respect for him.
"Y-yes, invesment! i am here to..um...invest for my future education!"
"..." At this point Kurama wished his bar gate would come back for a second so he could bang his head against it.
"Oh! So you're planning on your future, good for you and lucky as well, the guild have some scholarship offerings," she said. "Of course, you would need to complete an exam, which would also cost you money," she finished.
'Um, um, yes, I would like that,' Kurama said.
"Um, um, yes, I would like that," Naruto repeated. The fox sighed.
"Okay, we are offering three programs for people in this sector of space right now, all supported by the University of Coruscant," she said and gave him a datapad, which Naruto took stiffly.
Kurama saw through Naruto's eyes. Luckily, he listened to Naruto's lesson about Basic and was able to understand what was on the datapad.
The first program was 'Ship Engineering'. Yeah, he did not take Naruto for the engineering type.
The second program was 'Mid-rim and Outer-rim political nature program'. The kid was interested in trying to understand how the galaxy at large worked. This might be a good one, but let's see the last one first.
The last program was 'Archeology'. Now that something Naruto would have interest in. What Kurama was wondering, was why the study of something like this would benefit or be of interest to a group of businessmen.
'What do you think?' Kurama asked Horuset.
"What do you think?" Naruto repeated and caused Kurama to rest his face on his palm.
"Well," the woman began "If you want a more stable job within the Guild I would say choose something of a political nature, but if you want more pay and to still have place within the Guild you should choose engineering. Archeology is not very...steady, the Guild seems to only be supporting it because they wanted to exploit any discoveries made by archaeologists, plus it is not a very stable job, and they might stop supporting you mid-way through your study," she finished.
Kurama was thinking over her words, what should he choose?
"Oh, I forgot to mention. The first two programs cost 80 credits to enter the exam, while the last one costs 50 credits to enter the exam." Now he did not need to think twice.
'The last one.'
"The last one."
"Are you sure?" she asked.
'Yes.'
"Yes."
"Okay then," she said. "Are you registered on any system or planet?" Kurama, at this point, was, as humans would say, too tired to deal with this shit. He could only force himself to answer simple yes or no.
'No.'
"No."
"Then I will have to register you to the system. Please give me your basic information," she said and put on a more professional tone. "What is your name?"
'Naruto Uzumaki,' Kurama said plainly. He did not care if the boy wanted to come up with a fake name or wanted to use Horuset. He was not going to do everything for this kid.
"Naruto U-" the word seemed to trigger Naruto back to consciousness.
'Finally, you're back,' Nine-Tailed said and wondered if Naruto remembered what he'd told him to say.
"Um, where is the closest bathroom?" Naruto asked. The receptionist pointed to the bathroom to the side, and Naruto immediately walked into it.
He went to the nearest sink and washed his face.
'Fuck...what was that?' Naruto asked his companion.
'Puberty, stupidity, or something else entirely...heh that rhymed,' Kurama answered.
'Thanks for taking over, kinda,' Naruto thanked him.
'Ah, so you saw what happened.'
'Yeah, I will have to use my mind trick on her. It's a shame, I want to practice my skill of persuasion. Mind trick can't always help me.'
'Just don't make me do that again,' Kurama concluded. Naruto mentally nodded before he stepped out of the bathroom. He took the seat and looked straight at the receptionist, and this time he had prepared himself not to be charmed.
"You will forget our previous conversation," Naruto said while waving his hand in front of her.
"Wait, what do you mean forget our previous conversation?" she said with a suspicious look.
'What?! The mind trick didn't work? Does that mean she has a strong will?' Naruto thought. He was expecting some reply from Kurama but received none. 'I need to fix this or she might think I am a Force-user, maybe...'
"I am just trying to see if you are a Jedi, after all my mind was tricked every times I looked at you." He flirted, or tried his best to look so. He did not know why he chose to flirt of all the things he could do, might be because the girl looked like the type that would enjoy flirting. [5]
The older woman was shocked for a second before smiling slyly as she leaned forward, which give Naruto a view of her cleavage.
"If you ain't illegal, I would go on a date with you after work. Cute is a good perk, but already knowing a pick up line at this age? Now that is a true born charmer." Naruto was relieved that the woman bought his trick, but now he felt his mind drifting away again.
'If you make me go through that again, I will activate the Tailed Beast mode!' Kurama warned. This seemed to help Naruto regain his focus.
"Anyways, like I said, you are too young, plus this is a working hour. Let's finish your business first, and then maybe we could agree to meet later and even then you still needed to wait a few years," she said and dropped the subject. Naruto nearly sighed in relief. "As you were saying, your name is Naruto, correct?" she asked.
Horuset was able to restrain himself from making a scornful face. He hated anything that had to do with his old life. Unfortunately, Kurama did not seem to care about it. He'd already said the name, turning around would cause too much suspicion, the least he could do was not saying his surname.
"Yes, just Naruto, no surname," he said. The woman then wrote something down on the terminal.
"Alright then, next question."
15 minutes later
It was finally over. He had said any information about himself he was inquired, without revealing the sensitive part along with modifying some as well.
"Alright, we're finished. Let me register you into the system." That caught Naruto's attention.
"Register?"
"Yes. It's pretty common on a backwater world like Moraband here to have a lot of non-registered citizens of the galaxy" The woman explained.
'Moraband? Does she mean Korriban?'
"That was why the Guild provided the registering service to anyone who associates with us. And...we are done. Now your name and history will be in the database of every Republic planet. Congratulations, kid! You are now an official citizen of Moraband and the Republic!"
Naruto was staring at her, expressionless, again. But this time, it was not the stunned by a tremendous impression kind of staring, it was the type of stare that people made when they could not believe what they had heard.
Despite his expression, his mind was actually thinking of this issue. He'd had no idea it was a citizen registration, he thought it was just a company record. Then again, he could not use the Force to read her mind or intention due to the unknown aroma that was still affecting him. As for his opinion on his registration, he would say he thought of it as a two-edged sword.
On one hand, if he remained anonymous until he went up to the galaxy at large, it would give him much secrecy that could work to his advantage, and no one would able to link him to any plans or crimes he committed. But it would make him a more doubtful identity, since he had none at all.
And on another hand, now that he was registered, it would give him a more 'clean' and trustworthy position. He could establish his asset in the light without fear of creating suspicion, especially now that he was associated with the Commerce Guild, a legitimate business owner. Yet if his secret or his plan were to be revealed, it would cause him most of his asset. It was a dangerous game.
But no matter what his opinion, it was already done, and he had to live with it. Might as well make the most out of it.
"Um, Naruto? Moraband to Naruto." That regained his senses. The bunny woman was waving her hand in front of Naruto. Now he realised how awkward the situation was turning, more than before actually. He needed to change the subject. He cleared his throat.
"So, umm, why do you call this world 'Moraband'?" Naruto asked. "I thought it was Korriban."
"Oh, so you were wondering about that," she said and put on an amiable smile. "You were raised by your grandmother in the dessert, right? Korriban was this planet's old name. After the Sith were defeated by the Republic, they changed to Moraband, maybe to make people forget, I guess. Your grandmother must be very knowledgeable to know of it, it's not common knowledge," she finished.
Unknown to her, the grandmother part was modified from the truth. One of the things she asked was his parent and guardian. If he answered that he was an orphanage it would look too suspicious, so he told her XoXaan was his grandmother and that they lived in the desert. A more believable story and not far from truth either.
After he heard that, a little rage stirred up inside Naruto. Of course, the Republic and its Jedi pets must be so frightened of the rise of the new Sith lord that they deleted all major information about Korriban and even changed its name.
Then Naruto's rage was gone and replaced with satisfaction. He would really like to see the look on their horrified faces when they knew of the Rule of Two's Sith existence, and then their even more terrified faces when they knew of him.
But now he had other things to do rather than daydreaming.
"So...are we finished?" Naruto asked the receptionist.
"Well, there is still the matter of payment. The guild expects you to pay at least half of the entering money now and another half after the exam. Since you also need to register, you also have to pay for it as well," she said.
Naruto eyed the woman suspiciously. Now he began to sense some foul play, then again he should expect something like this from the business man...woman...rabbit...whatever.
"Is there a reason why you did not tell me this before? Especially to the kid that may not be able to afford it?" Naruto asked in an intimidating manner. The rabbit woman smiled guiltily at him. He gestured at her pointing finger for Horuset to come closer. He leaned his head in, and she leaned in as well before whispering into his ear.
"I can't talk about that here," she said and pointed at surveillance camera behind her. "But if you really want to know, maybe we could meet, so I can explain." She moved away, and so did Naruto. "Anyways, the total credits you need to pay is 75 credits now, 50 for registration and 25 as frontal payment for the exam."
Naruto sighed, this time loudly. He had the credits necessary to pay the fee, but it was nearly all he had, 90 credits. Well, he could not simply refuse to pay, and the alternative would be a loan with an interest rate.
His hand reached into his pouch and took out 75 credits. He laid the credit chips on the table and crossed his arms while smiling as he saw a shocked face on the yellow furred woman. Then the table was turned, and Naruto was the one doing the shocked expression while the woman smiled.
"Thank the Force. You have the credits," she said with a relieved smile. Naruto, while curious, did not inquire the woman further right now, but maybe he would take on that 'date' she had offered to know what was going on. [6]
The woman took the credits before typing something into her terminal.
"Now we are all done. You don't have a communication device, right?" she asked. Naruto nodded. "In that case..." She pulled out a piece of paper and wrote something down. "Here." She handed him the paper. [7]
On the paper was some kind of numbers.
"What is this?" Naruto asked as he flipped the paper to see if there was anything else written on it.
"Since you do not have any communication device or terminal, you will need to enter this code on our site on HoloNet later through your device to identify it. That will be our way of contacting you when the time of the exam comes, which could take a few years since you are not at the legal age to enter that exam." Naruto read the back note before he looked at the rabbit woman.
"Will that be all?" Naruto asked. The woman nodded. He got out of his chair before walking out the door. He was back on the street of Dreshdae once again. As he began to walk on, he took out the paper and read what was written on its back one more time.
'If you want to talk, come find me at a bar called 'The Drunken Side' after 17:00 Standard Time.' [8]
xxx
...and the rest was history.
He met Kelly afterward and knew her name and why she did not tell him of the pre-paid. Apparently, the executives of the guild 'discourage' its employee to give details to its customers unless inquired. Kelly was against the idea of ripping people off, but she was forced to under heavy supervision.
She was not happy with her job, but she just wanted enough money to buy a ship and get off the world. He discovered that she was a spacer who got stranded on Korriban and was working toward getting a new ship and going back to space.
Naruto, seeing an opportunity, befriended her. She traveled a lot which would make her a veteran about the galaxy at large, not to mention he would finally have some ally out there rather than enemies. He learnt a lot about the galaxy's current state from her. He also learned a bit about Kelly's personal life...well, a lot...no, he learnt too much actually.
The most shocking thing he learned was Kelly's sex and her...libido. They did not get into a relationship or anything, but still...he would rather not think about it. Her gender, hermaphrodite, was a surprise, considering she was from a mammal species, but acceptable, the libido on the other hand…
'Kid, you lost your priorities, again,' Kurama reminded Horuset. Naruto snapped back from his memory and began thinking of a way to make Louise go away. Luckily, today the universe was on his side.
"Hey there...you look...pretty," a drunken voice called to them.
He and Kelly turned to the owner of the voice. They saw a man in a spacer suit holding a bottle of liquid. Naruto immediately sensed something odd about him, he was not human. He hid something, but whatever it was, it did not matter. For this man was a Force-sensitive, who could be use for his sacrifice. Anzat.
"Hey there...lady," he said and gulped down his drink from the bottle. "How about you...ditch your...kid for a...second and...come with...me...instead?"
Instead of feeling annoyed or insulted, Naruto, instead, had to contain his laughter. The man was drunk enough to mistake Kelly for his mother, and he knew all too well what Kelly did to people who insulted her age.
She walked up to him pretending to be smiling. The man smiled back, but soon his smile faded when she punched him and sent him crashing into an empty table.
'Perfect,' Naruto thought. 'I don't even need to knock him out myself.'
Then he heard shouting. He and Kelly looked at the source to discover the knocked-out man's friends were coming to attack them on behalf of their buddy. There were five of them, Kelly would be no match for that number. So he did what any ally would do, step in.
Before the group could reach her, he threw his glass into the head of one among them. The hit knocked him out completely. The other four turned their heads toward Naruto. Three of them charged at him while the last one continued to charge at Kelly.
When the first man, a Gotal, reached him, Naruto moved his fist at high speed and punched him in the face, knocking him away. The second one charged in like the first one, and he uppercut him into unconsciousness. The last one came from behind with a stun baton. He tried to hit Naruto in the head, but in the mid-way of his swing, Naruto grabbed the man's wrist before using his superior strength to yank him down to a lower level before kneeing him in the chin.
With the last one knocked out, Naruto turned to his friend. Kelly was standing over the body of the one who had charged at her, he was unconscious. Suddenly, his companion's expression turned to alarmed. Naruto looked behind to see that the first Gotal had pulled out his blaster pistol.
At that moment, everyone took out their weapon; Kelly pulled out her hidden pistol; Catic took out his sonic blaster; Catic's co-owner of the bar, who was attending another counter, took out his blaster as well. Naruto, however, knew that he could dodge the shot and counter the man easily.
His hand reached for his throwing knife hidden in his pocket and prepared to strike back once the shot was fired. As expected, he heard the blaster sound and could feel, through the force, the heat of the energy beam moving. What he did not expect was that the Gotal wasn't the one who shot, it was the one that died.
Horuset turned to the direction where the bolt flew from. There stood two men holding a blaster rifle, covered from head to toe in an armor Naruto recognized. The design was much different from what he saw in the console, but there were no mistaking the T-shape visor on the helmet. These two were Mandalorian warriors.
"Sorry to interrupt, but it would be a shame to see a fine fighter die because his opponent decided to cheat." The Mandalorian in red armor spoke in a hardened tone. Beside him was another Mandalorian in green armor. Naruto did not say anything. Two warriors walked closer to Naruto. They stopped in front of him, then the red warrior extended his hand.
"The name's Uvaqv Spar," he introduced himself. Naruto was hesitating for a while before shaking the man's hand.
"I am Davluc Blahebb," the green one said in a bit lighter tone than his companion. "We saw you fight back there, pretty impressive. So we would like to ask, would you like to join True Mandalorian?" Davluc asked. [9]
"Dammit, Dav! That was too easy! We need to test him first!" Uvaqv countered.
"Yeah, no. We don't do that."
"...shabla," the red warrior said in a language Naruto presumed was Mando'a, Mandalorian's language. [10]
"Shut up," the green warrior replied before turning back to Naruto.
"Sorry about that. He likes to make people panic or try to. Anyways, like I said, you fight well, with us you could train to become a real warrior. That's why we are offering you the opportunity to become Mandalorian. And besides, no offense, you don't look like the type who has anything to tie you here," the man finished.
Naruto just read through their minds. They did not lie. They were really offering him a chance to join Mandalorian. It seemed the universe was truly on his side today.
Not only could he finally leave his master, he also got a ticket off-world that didn't involve criminal activity or bowing his head plus a chance at gaining his first asset; an army of them. To refuse would be stupid, but he needed to finish his test first, so he could take whatever knowledge XoXaan had left from her. After that, he needed to clean up any evidence of himself within his master's tomb. He did not want someone to track his record to here and discover that he was a Sith.
"Sure, give me a day though. I need to sort something out first," Naruto said. They nodded.
"Understandable. We will be waiting at dock five until tomorrow morning, no later than that though. We need to get back to our command ship," the grey warrior said. They both then walked up to the counter to pay Catic their drink and then walked out.
"You two clean this up," Catic said to him and Kelly. Both of them frowned.
xxx
"That was the last of them," Kelly said as she put the last unconscious man on the ground. They needed to haul all the guys they had knocked out, plus a dead body, into the nearby alley as Catic commanded. "So are you really going with them?" Louise asked Horuset.
"Yeah, I will take any chance to get out of here," Naruto replied.
"Won't your grandma worry about this?" she asked.
"She's ill. Won't be long before, you know..." Naruto answered.
"You're really cold towards her. I mean, I know you both don't like each other, but come on, you two are family," Kelly said. He might lie to her about XoXaan being his grandmother, but he did not do the same about their relationship. He told her they hated each other.
"Once she's in the grave, then I will make peace with her," Naruto said.
'But it's gonna take more than a grave to keep her from rising up again,' he thought.
"Well, try not to be so hard on her. If what you said is true, then she is near her death bed. You should let her find some comfort," she said. Naruto sighed. Kelly always acted like a big sister to him, an unwanted big sister, but big sister nevertheless. Not that she could influence him though.
"Anyways," Kelly said, trying to change the topic. "You will be leaving tomorrow, right?"
"Of course, it might be my only opportunity to leave Moraband with pride, I need to take it," he answered bluntly.
"In that case…" Kelly said before walking up to him. Naruto had no idea what she was about to do. That was why he nearly had a heart-attack when Kelly kissed him on the lips then pulled away. "Well, nobody can prove my crime now." She licked her lips before her expression turned a bit sad. "Goodbye," she said before walking away from a still dumbstruck Naruto. [11]
When Naruto regained his senses a few seconds later, he felt something in his hand. There was a piece of paper in his hand, written on it was a number and a note.
'Call me if you miss me, Kelly.'
Naruto closed his eyes and smiled before putting the note in his pocket. Now, however, was time to get to work. He picked up his target, the one who started the brawl. He carried the man on his shoulder before using chakra to help him walk up to the building roof. From there, he stealthily moved through the rooftops of spaceport to his destination, the Sith academy.
xxx
The night had fallen on Korriban. Inside the deepest part of the Sith academy, an apprentice laid a sacrifice upon the abandoned altar.
Naruto examined his victim. Now he needed to know what ritual he must perform here. He scanned the room, looking for any clue of what he must do here. There were some red glyphs on the floor surrounding the altar. Naruto went on one knee to see the ancient letters closer.
After reading it, he came up with an idea of what the ritual might be, but he needed to confirm it. He continued to look around before he saw some words written on the wall in Sith language. When examined closer, he finally knew what ritual he must perform. The ritual of enchanted blood; the ritual that turned the blood within the heart of the sacrifice into Force enhancing drug.
He rested his hand on the man's forehead before he began chanting. The dark energy gathered in his hand, then it slowly forced its way into the man's skull; into his head, his mouth, and his ear. The man's body rocked on the altar. His cheeks opened, and a tendril, on both sides, popped out. It began to swing wildly like the rest of his body.
Now Naruto understood his strange feeling earlier. It appeared this man was part of a mysterious species called Anzet. They were a force-sensitive species that fed on the Living Force of other people, killing others in the process. He paid no further attention to his victim's race and focused back on the ritual.
Soon the body decreased its shaking rate and finally came to stop. Then he screamed. He screamed a terrified scream, loud and horrified at the top of his lungs. That was Naruto's signal that the ritual was at its most important phase.
He took out his dagger and, without a second to waste, impaled the Anzet in the heart. The scream stopped as the life began to fade from the man's eyes. Naruto twisted his blade in the man's heart a few times before pulling the knife out and let his sacrifice's soul leave its body.
Horuset took out the phial and laid it on the bare floor. He hung his bloody dagger above the glass container and let the darkside, enchanted blood drip into the phial. The phial was full after three simple drops, and Naruto closed the phial before putting it into his bag. He looked at the remaining enchanted blood on the blade.
'What a waste,' he thought.
After all this trouble, he did not want to waste any resource he got, but what could he do with it? Maybe…
A drop of blood fell down the tip of the blade, but before it hit the ground, it stopped. The drop flew up to Naruto's eye level. Looking at the blade, Naruto used the Force to remove the liquid from his weapon, then formed them into a small, red globe.
Now that the blonde thought about it, maybe this blood might be of some use after all.
In his second test, he must create a lightsaber crystal, a process that without a machine could take hours, and time was not something he had right now. With this blood as some starter material, he would shorten the time, even just a little, and enchant his crystal all at the same time.
Yet he was still worried he might not finish everything tonight, unless...
He made a hand seal before he said, "Shadow Clone jutsu"
Five copies of himself appeared.
"Two of you, go back to the tomb and begin clearing up evidence. Two of you, go back to the port and keep an eye on the Mandalorians, if they are about to leave, one of you expel to let me know. And lastly, you take care of the body and, um, make me a blood soup while you're at it. I didn't have my dinner yet," Naruto ordered.
They all nodded before taking some items they needed and going to perform their respective tasks. Naruto sat down and concentrated on the blood globe. It would take three hours at least to finish the whole process, from forming the carbon in the air to stabilizing the crystal.
xxx
Four hours had passed since he started crafting the crystal. Step by step, the crystal finally came into shape, and now it was finally at the end. All he had to do was stabilize it. As he put on the last touch, he felt a sense of pride swelling up in his chest. He had come so far, from a runt living like a rat to a warrior ready to take on the galaxy.
He levitated the lightsaber out of his bag. The lightsaber disassembled in mid air. The crystal flew into its position and, steadily, the lightsaber was reconstructed. When it finished, Naruto took the saber and ignited it. The crimson plasma blade appeared. The color remained largely similar to his master's crystal, but more like shade of blood rather than normal light-red.
'Does everything I use have something to do with blood?' he mused to himself.
Now that he focused back into the real world, he smelled something; it smell good too. He turned to the altar. The body was gone, and he looked to the entry to see his clone holding a cup of blood soup made of Anzet blood. He picked up his bag and walked up to the clone.
"Is it done?" he asked.
"Yes, I made the blood soup out of the body, every drop, then burned it to heat the soup," the clone said before handing him the cup. "Can I have some?" the clone asked. [12]
"Just dispel so you can join me and enjoy the sensation," he told him.
"Kinda not fair," his clone replied.
"Kinda true." At that, the clone sighed and dispelled itself.
With the clone gone, Naruto gulped down the soup. He would try to enjoy its taste more if he was not in a hurry. He quickly finished his meal before making his way out of the academy and heading to his home for the last time.
xxx
He arrived at his home. His three clones were sitting around a big bonfire with Zedra when he returned.
"Is it done?" he asked them. One of them pointed at the bonfire, and Naruto could see several of his unnecessary utilities burning in the fire. Another clone pointed to a large, leather backpack stuffed with things Naruto planned to bring with him.
"Good, you guys can rest now," he said. They all nodded, then dispelled. Naruto looked at Zedra. He, of course, planned to bring her with him, as she was probably the only one who would obey him unquestionably.
"Zedra, go to our usual spot at Dreshdae and waited for me there. If I do not make it there by noon then…" His voice trailed off. He was powerful, more than his master no doubt, but she made up for it with experience and wisdom. Even now he still did not know what his master had in store if she decided to fight seriously. So far he had never won a single spar against her. Then again, he only used his skill and Force power and no chakra at all.
"Just go and wait for me. If I am not there by noon, then you are free," he said before turning his back on the hound and walking to face his master. Zedra only looked at him, seemingly shocked, then she howled. Not until he had nearly reached his master's chamber did the baying finally stop.
He took one deep breath before he entered to confront his master. As soon as he entered, his master appeared. It seemed she had expected him.
"Is it done?" she asked him. He nodded.
The boy laid out the two items he was asked to make. His master levitated them closer for observation. She quickly scanned through the phial, then shifted her eyes to the lightsaber. The blade was ignited by the ghost. Her expression seemed amused.
"You used the leftover blood, didn't you?" she asked. The blonde nodded. "As expected," she said before she deactivated the saber and threw it back at him.
"Today you have proven that you are not a mere savage or a mindless drone that belongs nowhere else but in the front line of battlefield with the only purpose as canon fodder. Today you have proven that you are a Sith, a real Sith with wisdom and knowledge that separates you from other lowly darkside vermin. But…" His master narrowed her eyes.
"Are you a master...or an apprentice?" she asked before a malicious smile formed on her face. "You knew it, did you not? That I still have some secrets left to teach"
Naruto nodded sharply.
"Good, now make a clone of yourself," she commanded. Naruto cautiously obeyed and made a shadow clone. His master lunged through the air and possessed the clone. She had done this before.
When she started training him in combat, she came up with a strategy of using clones to spar with him so she could physically fight him. Now he believed it was going to be more than just sparing.
Once she took over the clone, her right hand reached for the phial before she drank down the crimson liquid. When the container was emptied, XoXaan threw it away.
"With this blood, I now have the power that of when I was alive." She walked closer to him. "At this point you can guess what the third test, correct?"
"Of course, it's pretty much a tradition of Sith by now," Naruto said with a savage smirk. He readied himself to lunge at his master any moment now.
"Ha, you really are my apprentice, but…" She stood in front of him, then she lifted her hand, which began to glow with a blue aura. "We wouldn't want any cheating, would we now?" she asked. Before he could defend himself, she stuck him in his stomach.
At that moment, Naruto felt nearly all of his strength gone. He collapsed down to his knees while holding his gut.
'What...di-did she...'
'She disabled your tenketsu?! Impossible! No one beside a Byakugan user can even see it!' Kurama said in shock.
"That was because I did not see it, Kurama," she replied. With her having taken over the clone, she was also able to hear Kurama. "I sense it through the Force. Your chakra has a unique energy, yet it still...exists in harmony with the Force, but like a diamond among gold, it can be easily picked out."
"The Force still flows within you alongside your chakra. And through them I was able to sense your chakra flow, and with the eight years you gave me to study it, I was able to do what I just did. Disable your chakra node, or tenketsu as you called it, and render your strange power useless," she finished. [13]
"Tha-t still doesn't e-explain how yo-u can stop it," He pointed out. His master looked at him, a bit disappointed.
"Try to use your brain even in the face of danger. Think carefully now of how I did it," she told him. Naruto panted a few times.
"Th-hrough th-e F-force," he answered.
"Correct, like I said, the Force and chakra within you flow in harmony with the Force. All I need to do is...disrupt, to put it basically, that harmony in a specific location to mess up the whole system," she finished.
'She's right. She aimed for the big node at your gut...and to think there were others who can mess around with tenketsu, I am shocked,' Kurama remarked.
"Enough of it. Now get up and fight like a Sith, if you are one," she said. Her hand extended to the right, and a lightsaber flew out of an urn. It landed in the clone hand and activated. She pointed the lightsaber at him. "Prepare!"
xxx
"Prepare!"
XoXaan shouted before dashing at Naruto with a sheathed blade in her hand.
Today's training was different from before. It was the first time he had a chance to spar with his master, and with the help of the clone, she could finally attack him physically without using the Force.
Yet within five seconds after she dashed at her apprentice, she was able to knock Naruto down with a strong kick in the leg.
"That was horrible," she said. "Get up."
Nine-year-old Naruto did as he was told. "I am sorry, master. I was j-"
"Stop excusing," she ordered him. He nodded. "Now try again...but this time, you attack first and try to make me lose some balance while keeping your defend up" The blonde nodded. She breathed in. "Prepare!"
xxx
With the word said, Naruto gathered some extra strength through the Force, then leaped at his master, with both his ax and saber drawn. She was able to dodge it easily by sliding to the side. Naruto swung his ax at her, trying to throw her off balance.
XoXaan was able to block the attack and kicked her apprentice in the gut and sent him aback. Horuset, however, still retained his balance, and when the force from the kick was gone, he ran back at her.
XoXaan jumped backward, but her apprentice was still able to catch up and...
xxx
… jabbed his dagger at her, but she was able to block it. His other hand, occupied with a sword, swung at her, but due to the weapon's weight, she was able to catch his wrist.
"Always attack with heavier weapon first, so your opponent has to put more effort into blocking it and leave an opening for you to use your lighter weapon."
With both his attacks blocked, Naruto jumped a bit and gave his master a double kick in the stomach, creating some distance between them. Soon he ran up to her again and…
xxx
...swung his ax at her. XoXaan halted the attack with her lightsaber. The ax was made of special material, it could withstand the energy blade, but the blood-poison would have no effect on the clone because it was part of him, and this poison would never harm its owner.
With an open, Horuset tried to use his lightsaber to strike her. Before he could, however, his master sent out a chain of lightning at him.
It sent him flying, but he was able to land on his feet and turned to face his master. She had created some distance between them.
Naruto adjusted the position he was holding the ax. He placed his head closer to the ax head. He ran forward at his master. She prepared to take any hit. The apprentice sent a wave of Force at her in an attempt to push her off balance. It was able to distract his master.
When he was in the range, he began rapidly assaulting her with hit after hit from both his weapons, none seemed to pass her defenses. He needed to overcome her, he needed to…
xxx
"Control my central line, trying to force me to be in your control range." Naruto swung both his weapons at his master in horizontal from left and right, controlling his master's position. Finally, XoXaan blocked one of the attacks and used the chance to dodge away from her apprentice's range.
"Good, but could be better," she said. Naruto headed for her, but his master pulled his leg with the Force and made him collapse. Yet, he did not waste anytime for his master to gain more advantage. He leaped at her and continued his assault.
"Yes, destroy my focus with surprise," she said as she continued to block her apprentice. "Adjust your grip, you're holding it too tight." As his master said, he loosened some grip on his weapon, too much. She struck him at his hand causing him to drop his sword.
"Now too lightly," she said as she kicked the sword away.
Naruto tried to recover it with Force, but he suddenly felt a pain in his head and then a kick at his gut. "Don't focus away from enemy, they could use the Force against you," she instructed. Naruto rolled away and recovered his lightsaber, before charging in and continuing his attack...
xxx
...each strike was harder than the last, each blow more accurate and faster. Naruto was recovering some of his strength lost when his chakra node was shut down; he could still not feel his chakra, however.
The room was not that big, he was able to force his master around by controlling her position with the direction of attack. He could not break her defense, but she would slip eventually. Then it happened, she swung down in vertical, which left him a split second for an opening. He used that opening and struck her lightsaber, forcing her to drop it.
He kicked it away before trying to strike at his master. She was able to dodge the attack and jumped back before trying to recall her lightsaber. During this process, he pointed two of his fingers at her and, by using the Force, created pain within her head.
It halted her attempt to recall her weapon for a second, but she was able to withstand the distraction and recalled it. Nevertheless, that few seconds were enough for Naruto to catch up to her again and continue his assault.
His master's strong point was her ability to utilize the Force, not her combat skill. If he could force her in continuous fighting, she would be worn down eventually. Then suddenly, she inhaled and screamed. Naruto was sent back by the sheer force of the scream. This scream was enchanted by the Force, even now it was disrupting his mind.
Naruto threw his lightsaber at his target and caused her to stop the scream and block. The apprentice had enough, now he regained his strength. He dropped his ax and quickly caught up to his master.
He held his lightsaber with both hands, increasing its striking strength, and started attacking his master.
xxx
Now Naruto was on the defensive. His master disarmed his dagger while continuing to attack him, giving him no chance of recovering it. Now he only had his sword and was harassed constantly, exhausting him.
Soon, with a single strong swing, XoXaan broke his defense and put her blade near his heart.
"That was not bad, but you have much to learn," she said and pulled her blade away. "Remember our lesson today well. It will serve you for the trial to come..."
xxx
Naruto's attacks became more relentless, powerful, and deadly. His master was now on the defensive. He was gaining on her, and she was losing her control and her stamina. His strikes started causing his master to stagger. Finally, her defense broke.
Naruto stepped forward.
And jabbed his lightsaber into his clone heart. It disappeared in a puff of smoke. [14]
He took several deep breaths. That duel was very exhausting, especially without chakra. But he did not celebrate yet. He turned to his master's holocron. Stood in front of it was his master in her ghost form.
"Congratulations, you have become a Sith in your own right." Naruto did not say anything. His mind wandered off.
'After all these years, finally,' he thought triumphantly, and then remembered he needed to hurry.
"I need whatever secrets you have, now!" Naruto demanded.
"Hmm, already lost your respect. I'm already disappointed with you." Naruto rolled his eyes at her remark.
"Our relationship as master and apprentice has ended. Now we're just, hmm, I think the word would be an acquaintance," he said while holding his chin.
"I am a little surprised you did not intended on destroy my Holocron," she said.
"It did pop up in my mind, but I wouldn't gain anything from it. Rather, if you still exist in this world, you will be of some use to me." Naruto bluntly explained his intention. He had beaten her. There was no reason to talk as if she was higher than him anymore. "But whatever the case, I need your secrets, now!" Naruto demanded again.
"Very well, sit down," she said, and Naruto obeyed. "There are two techniques I kept away from you. The first one was the power to rip or implant knowledge and memory from another, willingly or not. Now you are wondering why I did not teach this to you to make your lesson easier?" [15]
Naruto nodded.
"Well, the technique could cause permanent brain damage to your victim, and I am more than aware that nurturing you is like raising a snake, so of course, I would not teach you a technique that will stop you from absorbing my ideas and knowledge." Naruto was silent at her answer. It was understandable, for he would do the same, but that did not mean he had to like it.
"And the second technique?" Naruto asked, wanting to speed things up.
"It's a more powerful darkside healing technique that I was researching when I was alive, and truth be told, I did not finish developing it, but you might have better luck and more time. So I shall pass what I know to you. If what I believe is true, then this ability will allow you to reattach severed limbs by simply putting it together or fix your inner organs by putting them in the right position," she explained.
"Basically, I can fix myself up by simply putting my parts back together with this ability," Naruto shortened.
"Yes, now listen up, and you might want to take notes on the second power." Naruto immediately took out a paper and a pencil from his bag.
His master began explaining the steps of the first technique. It was surprisingly simple, but it would still take some practice before he could use it properly.
He would rather not try to drain his master's knowledge, mainly because this was the first day he had even heard of this technique, well officially at least. He did see some reference to it in Sith text from time to time but paid it no mind. Because of that, if he made any mistake when he tried to take his master's knowledge, all the 7000 years of wisdom would be gone in a second. Unacceptable loss of resource.
In any event, he would be sure to practice this power in the future. It seemed very useful. As for the second technique, it was a mess.
The majority of this technique was theories rather than practice. Plus, if he did not learn from the best darkside healer there was, he would surely be confused by the sheer complexness of the theories and how to make it practical. His master only experimented with it a few times, all ended in disaster. He needed to make an extra note to not try it himself until it was fully developed.
As his last lecture came to a close, he felt a clone suddenly dispelled. It did so not because the Mandalorian was going to leave but to reminded him it was only two hours before dawn, the time when they were going to leave. A few minutes after the clone dispelled, his last lesson finished.
He got up from his sitting position.
"I guess this is my last lesson," he remarked.
"Don't be ridiculous, Horuset. Life is about learning, even if you're not learning from master or teacher, life and the Force will teach you. The difference though...is the price,"XoXaan said dangerously.
"But at least now I don't have to put up with you anymore," he said and turned around to leave, but before he left the chamber, he turned back one last time. "Do you think we will meet again?" he asked.
His master looked surprised before she narrowed her eyes and the corner of her lip formed into a smile.
"Who's to know. The Force works in a mysterious way," she said before closing her eyes and disappearing with a smile still on her face. Naruto simply walked away.
When he was back on the higher floor, he went to check in his room to see whether there was anything left. There was nothing, not a single trace of his existence here was left. Well unless someone decided to take a DNA scanner here and scan the place.
Yet there was one last thing he needed to take care of. He stood in front of the gate that sent him here.
'What should I do with this?' he thought.
'If you can come through it, so can the others,' Kurama said.
'There must be some way I can disable this without destroying it,' he thought as he examined the gate. As he put his hand on the device, he used the Force to locate where its weak point was. He found it to be underneath the stone that worked as its outer layer.
With the power he possessed, he creaked open the sandstone cover and discovered the panel. He opened the panel. He saw several wires, and without hesitation, he started pulling the wire without damaging anything. With most of the wires disabled, he was sure the device was disabled until he would come back with a force and power to take his revenge. Until then…
He left his room for the last time. As he came out of the tomb, a strong gust of wind and sand hit his face, but he did not feel annoyed or want to cover his face. Rather, he felt...sad.
For seven years, this place had became his home. The red stone of the valley, the golden sand of the desert, and the hot wind that flowed through the sky. He would miss all of it, he would miss Korriban. Suddenly, he felt something roll on his face, a drop of liquid, a tear.
He could remember the last time he cried, when he became XoXaan's apprentice. And now when he stopped being her apprentice, he cried again. The irony was strong with his life. He wiped away his tear. A Sith crying...well he would not say it was impossible, but the thought of such a thing happening was still...ridiculous.
He looked up at the sky of Korriban one last time. There were no city lights nearby, so he could clearly see the stars in the sky. As he observed the beauty of the cosmos from Korriban, his eyes caught something.
A strange green star, shining brighter than the rest, suddenly disappeared. He blinked in surprise and minor amusement. It was rare to see the phenomenon of a star dying in front of your eyes.
He should count himself lucky to see such a thing, yet he felt like…this was not unusual, unnatural. As he stared at where the star once was, he felt as if...as if someone or something threatening was staring back at him from that dead star.
'I have a bad feeling about this.'
xxx
In the distant galaxy, billions of light years away from our own.
Millions upon millions of creatures were rampaging through a planet, destroying everything in their way and consuming it. Above the atmosphere of this world was a fleet of organic ships composed of several tendrils and tentacles.
A little distance from the planet, another fleet of organic ships. Their tendrils covered the green sun of this system and drained it of its power. While the sun would not be distinguished, it would never burn as bright again till it died.
On one very ship was the 'mind' of all the creatures on the planet. The hive mind so to speak.
As it commanded itself to continue destroying and consuming everything on the planet, one of the more 'elite' creatures caught sight of a reddish-orange star flashing its light brighter than anything on the sky.
Normally it would ignore such a trivial thing, but its animal instinct told it differently. It felt that there was someone or something staring back. All the havoc on the planet suddenly came to an abrupt end when all the creatures stared up into the sky and at the orange star.
As the grand, collective mind of the race thought about this, it came to a conclusion. That star would be where their consuming path would lead them. For whatever could stare back from a billion of light years away...it would like to see what it was and add it to their biomass. [16]
xxx
Arc 1
Beginning
End
Arc 2
Vode An
Begin
xxx
Alright, there is no way I can easily said this. A month ago Bangkok, my home city, was just attacked by a terrorist bomb. It would not bother me that much if it was not for the fact that both the targets were where I had been before, hell I was at one of the targets just a day before the attack.
It made me really aware how...easily I could die. Thailand, while better than my neighbor countries in security, isn't the safest place to be.
So this is what I have to ask. If there were nothing updated on my profile for a full year, like no new stories, no update to any of my stories, or even a note to tell you that I quit or take a break then...I am...you know...if that ever happens someone take my works and continue it.
My 'Night Haunter' documents are with its beta, InquisitorMarek. And this story's documents, at least the last 4 chapters, are with hmweasley. Contact them if that ever happens, though I wise it didn't, but like every wise man said 'You don't know when you're going to die'. God, why do I feel like I am jinxing it?
[1] I planned this for a while, and I believe most of you already caught that plan even before this chapter. Anyways, XoXaan seems pretty open-minded for a Sith, it is possible she could think of this. I mean she trained Darth Krayt who pretty much made his Sith work 'together' toward a common goal, and she did not hate him for it. Now that is open-minded.
[2] From several ways for Naruto to leave Korriban that I thought of, this one seemed like the best to spice things up for the story. After all, I never saw a Sith Mandalorian before, not in a mixing nature at least.
[3] Naruto is not invincible. Even in the series he still has a record of losing. Imagine him taking on the whole Star Wars universe by himself, truly impossible.
[4] Only Catic and that meat seller are OC. Kelly is not. And yes, she is not from Star Wars, because I am sure you people already tried to look it up. But where did she come from?
Well I don't like revealing my grand plan for the story just yet. If you end up knowing where she came from, first, please don't tell people by review it out; second, don't question my...private life or how I found the story she came from...
AND NO, SHE WON'T HAVE ANY DEEPER RELATIONSHIP WITH NARUTO. THIS IS NOT A HAREM STORY.
As for what will happen to her, well, let's just say someone has a further role in the story.
Hint: the hint of the grand plan is within this note.
[5] Terrible pick up line, I know. I am not an expert, never like using cheesy lines.
[6] He already made tons of enemies by simply being a Sith, and he realizes this. He needs to start making allies, and the sooner, the better.
[7] More common writing material in SW was called Durasheet, but I don't want to confuse the hell out of you people so I used paper, which is still used in SW btw.
[8] If you asked 'what the hell is this?' or 'why does Naruto look so weak to a woman here?'. The first question's answer was this part is a comedy, last chapter had a son kill his father. I needed to ease some tension, this story isn't all grimdark.
As for the second question, well as I stated on the a/n, I like to show you that Naruto is still a human, more a teenager man. He was not above being charmed by a beautiful woman unless he tried not to. Not to mention he had never interacted with any living person before until today, and Kelly suddenly overwhelmed him with smell, sound, and picture. Basically put, he was not prepared.
[9] Now you might wonder 'wait why the 'good' Mandalorian and not the Death Watch?'. Well two things.
Good and evil is more subjective than most people realize. True Mandalore is still Mandalore, just because they have higher moral doesn't mean they will not commit any atrocity. Not to mention mercenary will always work for the highest bidder.
As for why it was not the Death Watch, it's pretty simple. It would be boring. When lesser evil is put together with greater evil, the lesser will be absorbed into the greater. Naruto would just become Death Watch, do things here and there, kill Tor Vizsla, become leader of the Death Watch, and have an army of soldiers that would follow him without question; boring, generic, and short.
But if he goes with the True Mandalorian on the other hand, now that will be interesting. A group of people with a concept that was alien to Naruto, a group that follows the spirit of the Mandalorian code and not just the strongest, a group that was very diverse and has more personality than just fighting and conquering and imagining Naruto has to cope with all of that while making them his resource and hiding the fact that he was a Sith. Ha! Now that was something worth writing about.
[10] Might feature more of Mando'a, but I don't want to repeat the same mistakes I did with Sith's language, so I will be careful with this one.
[11] She will be back, and yes, I am aware about Naruto being in illegal age to date.
[12] The concept of eating other sentient species is in most of the sci-fi stories, including Star Wars. Besides if it is not human, then it is not cannibalism. Cannibalism is only used when you eat your own kind, which in this case isn't. Also there IS a real life blood soup, it is just not made out of human blood. Want to know more? Too bad, not related, look it up on your own.
[13] A little detail that Force and Chakra are not the same thing...this allows me to explore more of the options to write this story and more...possibilities.
[14] I tried to switch between the past and present sequence like in one of those martial arts movies. Tried an experiment to see if it works. Tell me if you like it or not, or if it works, so I can fix it and never do it again, or I might do more if positive.
[15] I can't remember what this power is called. Can anyone tell me?
[16] Foreshadowing, woo, foreshadowing! This is an enemy worthy of being final boss. That will be all I have to say for now. And no 'it' was not OC, but you will not find 'it' on the Star Wars wiki, and no, not because Lucas Art decided to make the material 'non-exist', like 'Star Wars Christmas Special'.
Also you might be able to guess what those are if you look at another fandom I am a very active member of.
Character profile (update):
Name: Naruto Uzumaki (Uzumaki Naruto, in native tongue). Horuset, Darth; Sith name.
Species: Human (Shinobi-Sith)
Gender: Male
Sexual orientation: Hetrosexual.
Age: 12
Homeworld: Unknown. Adopted: Korriban
Allegiance: Sith (Himself)
Profession: Sith Master
Birth date: Native; 10, October, year unknown. Basic; around 30 Yelona-15 Relona, 64 BY
Religion: Sith
Relationships: XoXaan, master. Zedra, pet. Minato Namikaze, father. Kushina Uzumaki, mother.
Appearance: Blonde hair. Whitish yellow skin. Blue eyes. Unique: a twin pair of whisker marks on each cheek.
Bio: Born on an uncharted planet appearing in the Outer Rim of the galaxy. Naruto Uzumaki's parents sacrificed themselves to protect the infant and their village by sealing a creature of immersive power, the Nine-tailed fox, inside their son. Years followed, Naruto was put through a number of abuses due to the being inside him.
On his fifth birthday, he ventured out of his birthplace to seek refuge. He eventually found a device which transferred him to Korriban where he met his master, XoXaan, and trained in the art of Sith.
At the age of thirteen, he finished his training and went off world to seek power and allies he could use for his quest for vengeance.
