AN: I'm honestly not sure which I'm more surprised by; how fast I'm getting these out, or how many of you awesome people are reading. Thank you all so much for your views, liking and favoriting this story, and for your reviews. They mean a lot to me.

Also, just so you are all aware there's another Naruto/Star Wars story I may be writing soon. I'm not going to writepost it until I get deeper into this story, but Lawrence Helmbain offered me a challenge that gave me a few different ideas on something closer to a Sith Naruto. I'm fairly sure I'm going to be taking some things and using them where they weren't meant to be, but then details. Regardless, for those of you who like this story, keep an eye out for when I'll be posting that one as well.

So, without delay, let's dive in!

The masters watched as the two younglings who'd shown their skills and succeeded in each of their duels stood across from each other. All could tell that there was some form of familiarity with each other's stance, and each seemed to regard each other with a familiar smile.

Several of the masters smiled at the way they regarded each other. There was a competitive, cheerful and silently happy look to each of them as they sized each other up. Each of them was more than competent from what they'd seen, and they both knew it. Yet their expressions were those of two who harbored a healthy rivalry, one without anger or malice, but with healthy competition. It was a refreshing sight for them to see.

Hearing the doors opening, several masters looked to where the newcomer was arriving. All those who were thinking to take a padawan and those where were observing to see the progress of this year's younglings were already here. As such, each of them was confused until they saw the two who entered.

"I apologize for my lateness. I was in the middle of a conversation with Feemor that went long when we were informed of a promising young Makashi student. I was intrigued, and decided to come see if these rumors were true."

"Master Dooku. Unexpected, your arrival is." Yoda regarded the man with a gentle smile, having not seen as much of his old apprentice in a long time. Perking up slightly, he noted and happily regarded the man with him as well. "Feemor, a pleasure to see you as well it is."

"Master Yoda." The soft spoken Jedi Knight smiled to the diminished master, looking between the masters with a hesitant look. "I apologize if my presence is unwanted, I can just –"

"No. No. Stay and sit a while. Much to see there still is." Yoda said happily, patting the seats on the opposite side of himself.

Dooku followed his direction, sitting next to him with a smile. Feemor slowly followed, having been in this room several times, but still feeling off being here. The next question coming was seen from miles away, but still made him wince regardless.

"So Feemor, have you thought about taking on a padawan of your own?" Mace asked, glancing to the man with a curious look. "Although much has happened, you are still highly regarded by Master Qui-gon."

"…soon master. I simply…"

"Alright it is. No pressure we place. In time, an apprentice you'll find." Yoda said, cutting them off to allow Feemor a chance to breath.

The young man gave Yoda a thankful smile, still uncomfortable with the question posed. As he glanced to the arena, he raised an eyebrow as he took note of the two combatants. "I've seen them around before. Are they graduating this year?"

Yoda nodded, eyes going between the two as they pulled their blindfolds over their eyes, lightsabers still not activated as they began pacing around one another. "To rank of padawan they hope to achieve. Another year they have, yet eager they are."

"How curious." Dooku watched their steps, silently taking note of each of their forms. "A Makashi stylist verses a Niman stylist. How curious. Still, while I will stay to see the finale, this battle is already decided."

"Certain of this, are you?" Yoda asked, noting what Dooku had already seen, but knowing there was more to it than that.

"The boy is considered a nuisance, and a troublemaker, but his skills aren't bad in the slightest. However, I know the reason behind his choice of style as well. He will not defeat her."

x-=-x

There was quite some time before the two began the actual duel. Each of them paced the circle silently, breathing slow and level as they reached out to each other in the Force. Silence permeated the air as the tension built, their desire to begin building.

The distance between them was closed in a flash of their sabers activating, fierce flurry of blows trading between the two as each danced around each other. Neither was willing to get into a saberlock, but both wanted distance for now. Each strike moved from tip to center of their sabers as they danced in blue glow became a sphere of power and danger.

Naruto regarded Sheeka with far more focus than he'd regarded any of his other opponents. Of them all he had a lot of fun with, and he'd been able to mess around with Shii-cho. Sheeka hadn't done that; she'd fought straight out with Makashi and struck down each and every opponent she'd had as quickly as possible. Even though some of the other younglings had practiced and trained in Makashi, none had done so as much as Sheeka.

Form VI, Niman, was a powerful form in the hands of a good saber user. It utilized the other forms strengths in a way where it had no strength or weakness, and gave freedom to the user to utilize them as they wished. However, there was one form that was not included in the mashup of forms.

Form II, Makashi.

There was an advantage that Naruto should have had though, in that the form encouraged the use of the Force. Without that, Naruto would need to use other tactics to win. Much sneakier, and much more elaborate planning would be needed.

As such, Sheeka's bladeword was smooth, parrying and dancing around Naruto's strikes at the moment. Naruto's face was twisted into a frown of concentration, while Sheeka's was a smirk of confidence. Naruto's footwork was all but falling apart, and with a fierce thrust she claimed her victory. In that moment, she was reminded of the reality that was fighting Naruto.

Never expect things to be as they are.

As such, she wasn't ready for him to fall over onto his back, his 'bad' footwork kicking his front leg out just as she began her thrust. She didn't overextend, using only the needed effort, but the shock was tangible. Before she could move, the Force billowed out and she had only a second to backpedal before she was struck in her leg by a spin kick.

"Nawuto that's not faiw and you know it." Sheeka said with a growl in her voice.

"Who said I was fighting fair? I'm not able to use the Force to throw you around, so I'm improvising." Naruto said; his frown from before now a very feral grin. "Besides, I'm always the best kind of challenge."

Before she could say anything to the contrary, she was stepping forwards to engage him again. Right as their blades met she felt the shift in how they met and deftly sidestepped, the hum of Naruto's lightsaber cutting through the air where she had once stood. Right before she took a breath, she realized that the attack had come from the side rather than the top and had to duck under another blow.

"Oh cwap."

The flow of the battle had shifted, and Sheeka hated it. Their group had sparred on multiple occasions, and the battles were never set into any sort of pattern. Occasionally one of them would triumph while the others fell, but there was one consistent that they could count on; Naruto was going to do something weird and stupid, and it had a fifty-fifty chance of throwing everyone off.

This was one of those times.

She knew how to keep her feet under her thanks to the amount of times she'd had to fight him, so she was able to keep from being overwhelmed. Naruto didn't mind her keeping up with him, relishing in the chance to continue to show off his skills. Sweeping his sword around, the blade came in an uppercut that barely missed her face as she hopped back.

She could feel the heat of the battle getting to her, a sheen of sweat dripping down her face. The Force warned her to the slight bits of sweat that had come from the both of them and likely from other competitors. How long had these battles been going on? Drawing on the Force, she tried to expel the tension and exhaustion from herself as she shifted to a low guard for defense.

Naruto had a bit of sweat gleaming down his face as well, his breathing far less heavy though showing that he could still keep going. He didn't bother calling on the Force for what she was, his natural stamina more than enough to last for quite a bit. Moving to a high guard, he paced the arena as he prepared himself.

"You're always the most observant of our group…and the hardest to fight." Naruto said with a chuckle. "I'm so glad it was you that I got to fight in the end. You're the one that always gives me the most trouble."

"Yeah…well you'we the one I wanted to fight last too. I've been to tiwed to do anything aftew if I'd fought you fiwst." Sheeka muttered, shaking her head. Unlike Naruto, her steps were smaller and more coordinated. She was going to need to be more reactive so that she could break apart his moves and take advantage of any opening. Any real opening at least.

High guard had little to no defense, but if she moved in at the wrong time she'd end up getting her saber knocked out of her hand and lose. As such she was grateful that she was in a low guard and able to knock his next strike to the side, keeping from a direct confrontation. Unfortunately she was too late to remember that Naruto wasn't fighting by normal customary rules. As such when she moved out of the way, she wasn't able to avoid the hilt of Naruto's lightsaber on the backswing.

Stumbling forwards, she kept her grip on her position and turned around. She felt Naruto charging forward, and sensed it was likely the last strike of the match. Stepping forward she prepared to engage in the clash, only to slip on some of the sweat and stumbled forwards. There was a sound ahead of her that caught her off guard, but before she could think on it, her head collided with something really hard and the pain and exhaustion caused her to pass out.

Next to her, Naruto was in a similar position. Having also slipped on the moisture around him, his head had collided with Sheeka's roughly. Both of them lay sprawled out, completely out of it. Then, with a groan of pain, Naruto gripped his head and slowly sat up. Barely holding his grip on the floor, he eventually got to a seated position and picked himself up.

"…um, winner Naruto Uzumaki."

x-=-x

Silence permeated the room as they considered what just happened. The masters all spoke softly, evaluating what they'd just seen. It had been an unexpected, and unprecedented shift in events.

"…how…interesting." Dooku said with a small sliver of a smile on his lips as he closed his eyes. "Of course, what is seen by the eyes is deceiving. How naïve of me to have believed that."

"The mind of a youngling, perplexing it is." Yoda said, smiling at Dooku's humbled expression. "Naruto in particular, a difficult mind to challenge it is."

"Their skill in combat is certainly something to be admired. However," Mace shook his head as he reviewed the fight once more. "Naruto's victory was only because he used moves not taught by the Jedi Order."

"If you don't mind me saying so," Feemor paused as he had everyone's eyes on him. "…isn't that the point of Niman? To use everything one can learn, so as to avoid being defeated by being what other people expect? To be unpredictable?"

The masters nodded, each knowing that Feemor was right, but also not liking the fact that Naruto's move wasn't what they saw out of normal lightsaber combat. It was cheating what they knew, but it was also a tactic that anyone who wasn't a Jedi would use. Many a Jedi had lost their life because they'd underestimated a technique like that. It wasn't something they wanted to have to teach the younglings, but was a reality that many of the masters here had discovered.

Dooku closed his eyes, the recent battle on Galidraan where so many had died under his 'command' fighting the True Mandalorians played through his mind. Techniques designed to kill Jedi had been engraved in his mind as he recalled the dangers they posed. It was a very real thing, and perhaps it was for the best that at least one Jedi, or even a few, were able to understand that there was more out there in the world and more possibilities than just the belief and techniques of the Jedi. He himself was looking into understanding more, trying to understand what he could do to prevent things like that from happening again.

"He'll make a good student for certain. And if he doesn't, he will learn the hard way what it means to be my apprentice."

Most of the masters jumped at the voice, startled by the cold voice that came from seemingly nowhere as An'ya Kuro slowly faded into existence in the middle of them all. Her eyes stared piercingly at Naruto, the boy kneeling next to Sheeka as he tried to make sure she was alive, or at the very least 'not dead' from the blow to her head. Already her mind was going through what she could go over with him, and knowing what he'd learned so far gave her a clear-cut idea of where she could take him.

"Dark Woman." Dooku would never admit it aloud, but her appearance terrified him for a brief instant. In that moment, he could think of a plethora of ways in which she could take out the entire room. In another, he realized that he hadn't even begun to consider how one would do things like that with the Force. What would happen if a Force user decided to do exactly what she did, and then… "I didn't expect to see you here. I…am to suppose that you're here to become a master to one of these students?"

"Naruto. I've already spoken to the council, letting them know that I was waiting till the Force told me to return." Tapping her chin gently, she considered what she'd seen of his performances. "He is much less refined than I thought he'd be by this point honestly, but then if he's been practicing Niman it's likely that he has far more hidden up his sleeves in terms of skill seeing how we don't test the full extent of a youngling's skills."

Feemor blinked as he considered that. "But, younglings don't learn more than what they're taught by the instructors. I mean, there are some who receiving mentoring but even so mastering the skills and learning them are two separate things."

"Oh, I never meant that he mastered them by any stretch of the imagination. There's so much more refinement to be done before anyone can even possibly conceive themselves a master at any such thing." Pointing to Naruto, her eyes took on a sharp, almost pleased look. "That boy is ready to learn anything. To master everything. And I'm more than willing to break it into him the way I best know how."

A couple of the masters flinched worriedly as they all had hellish ideas of what she might do. There were horror stories about what her students went through, even though there was no grounds to prove any of them in the slightest.

"Isn't that true about most every youngling?" Feemor recalled his own time as Qui-gon's apprentice, his own mind had been so bright and filled with hopes. He'd been so bright, and wanted so much and…

Shaking his head, he froze as that thought washed over him, and his eyes stared at the younglings again. He'd thought that he'd make a good master at some point, but after what happened with Xanatos he'd been considered as a failure by his master as well. It had made everything that Qui-gon ever said about him being a good master feel null and void. But these children weren't looking at this the same way he was; their eyes were filled with hopes and dreams the likes of which he'd forgotten. Feeling Master Yoda's gaze on him, his head fell slightly. "Master…"

"Much insight, working with younglings gives, mm?" Yoda's wrinkled, knowing smile crossing his face as he saw a new spark of hope within the Jedi Knight. Perhaps he'd take on a padawan, and pass on the skills and training that had been at one point bestowed to him.

x-=-x

"Naruto, can you get me the data for the Chommell Sector?"

"Yes Master Tahl!"

Naruto sprinted through the archives, dodging Bant and sliding under a table as he raced to where the nearest access port was. Quick keystrokes brought up the sector, and a few seconds downloading it onto a data card was all it took to finish the relatively simple task. Turning to Bant, he made a throwing gesture to her. "Bant, catch!"

"Oh no you don't! I won't play part in that again." Bant said, grinning as she stepped back. "You get it to her yourself."

Naruto pouted, rolling his eyes at her defiance. "Oh come on, it was one time."

"It was many more times than that, and I'm pretty certain that multiple times you did it on purpose."

"I did not…well, not the first few times. Those I was trying to stop it but you made it curve into your head." Naruto scratched the back of his head, already on the move to where Tahl was standing, her own hands moving over the keyboard of another further computer. "Here you go master."

"Thank you Naruto." Tahl didn't move, her hands moving with a gentle motion as she brought up the sector where her next mission was going to be.

When Naruto finally approached her, he found himself pausing and looking from her to the computer. "…wait, master? Why'd you ask me to pull up the Chommell Sector if you can do it? And…that's, not the Chommell Sector. Is this a delivery then?"

"Sort of." Tahl admitted, patting his head. "It's for another Master and her new padawan. I just want to make sure that it's ready for when she gets here."

Tahl's ability to view her surroundings in the Force had grown in leaps and bounds over the last six years, to the point where she had gone from needing her 'seeing-eye droid' to being able to move around the temple freely, participate in lightsaber sparring, and even point out things to people who were supposedly able to see far better than her. She'd even been able to extend it to the point where she could sense the world around her in a way that allowed her to see completely around her. It had made life rather difficult for Naruto, as he couldn't sneak up on people around her without her giving away his position.

Naruto shrugged, not sure what else to think of the information as he placed the data card on a table. "Oh, okay then. Well getting information like that isn't all that hard, so I guess it gives me something to do when I'm not practicing."

"Practicing? Oh you mean the doppelganger technique?"

"Yup!" Naruto preened at their remembering his technique, the technique having been a life saver on a couple of occasions.

"How's that been going Naruto?" Bant asked, a worried look in her eyes as she too recalled some of what Naruto had done with the technique. He'd completely run circles around the two of them before he'd had his access to the archives revoked for a couple weeks. He's been very upset about that and had done all he could to avoid doing that more in the future.

Naruto looked to her, pointing at her. Before she could try to think of what he meant, his voice came from directly behind her. "It's going great!"

Jumping in the air, she brought her hand down sharply. Not seeing that coming, Naruto grunted as she smacked his jaw and knocked him to the floor. Slamming down headfirst, the other Naruto flinched as he rubbed his head. "Ow, what was that for?"

"But you did that thing again." Bant pointed to Naruto, then to the doppelganger, or was it the original? "Dang it all Naruto, you can't do this to me. You know how much I hate not knowing which one of you is the real one!"

"Haha, I'm the best." The Naruto on the floor said seconds before he faded away.

"Don't worry, I don't make you have to guess which one is the real me…not until you get better at guessing at least." Naruto smirked, his hands behind his head as he chuckled softly at her annoyed expression. "Oh come on, it's been years of me trying to get this down to be perfect. You'd have thought you could tell which was the real me by now!"

Bant had a retort in mind, but it caught in her throat as she saw the person approaching from behind Naruto. Recalling the last time she'd seen them, she slowly waved her hand dismissively. "Don't worry Naruto, I'm sure just having a bit more time will help me figure it out. What do you think Dark Woman?"

Naruto's eyes narrowed, staring at Bant as he tried to tell if she was bluffing or not. "…no. No you can't be serious."

"Can she?"

Standing completely straight, he turned on his heels and found himself staring up at an old familiar face. His eyes held a twinkle in them as he addressed her with glee. "Master Kuro!"

"Indeed." Kuro nodded, not actually looking at Naruto as she walked over to Tahl. "Do you have the data card prepared?"

"Of course. Naruto has it right there." Tahl pointed over her shoulder, directly at said object.

Naruto looked between her finger and the data card. "Master Tahl, you're ability to 'see' is really awesome. Maybe one day I'll be that good at sensing stuff."

"Maybe. But then, you have other training to take care of don't you think?" Tahl asked, recalling all that she'd seen him going through. He'd done so much to try and learn everything all at once in the beginning, that he'd ended up stumbling over his own feet and got frustrated by his lack of success. "Remember how long it took for me to sort you out last time you tried to do something like that?"

"…we do not speak of it." Naruto muttered, remembering how that fiasco had ended up.

"But we do remember it." Bant said, huffing as she recalled what had happened. "I still flinch whenever I hear –"

"I said we do not speak of it!" Naruto said, anger mark on his forehead as he jabbed a finger at her.

Kuro glanced to Tahl, unspoken question getting a shake of her head. It was like Naruto said; they do not speak of it.

Realizing she'd get no answers from them, she decided it wasn't worth it to press the matter. "Well then…in that case, it's time I depart."

Snapping back to her, Naruto's eyes were wide wish shock. "But-but you just got back! I thought that when you returned that we –"

"Grab the data card. We're heading to the Chommell Sector in one hour. Grab your supplies, and I'll meet you in the hanger." Kuro turned on her heel and made her way out of the archive, moving quickly in the direction of the hanger bay.

There was an all-consuming silence between the three of them as they took in what had just happened. Slowly, Naruto pointed to himself in confusion. "Wait…I…what?" Taking it in, he jumped as it finally clicked. Letting loose a loud whoop of excitement, he raced forward and made a wild dash to his rooming to get his stuff ready. "Yes Master Kuro!"

Bant shook her head at how that had transpired. "It'd be just like Naruto to get a weird master. Then again…maybe she'll be good for him. Actually get him to use his head for more than polishing the floors."

"Be nice Bant. Naruto's come a long way from where he once was." Tahl said with a soft laugh. "If anything, he's right. You're perception abilities should be leaps about where they currently are seeing how I'm you're master. Perhaps we should change that with a training session at some point?"

"…um…" Bant wasn't sure what to make about that, but could sense that she wouldn't be let off the hook so easily. "Y-yes master. Of course."

Her back still turned to her padawan, her smile grew slightly larger. While she wasn't being vindictive, she had grown a bit of a soft spot for the young man. He had a lot of potential, and his game of playing hide-and-guess was something that was so strange and out of the norm for what other people normally learned. He made everything with an extra dash of fun and excitement that no one else could match.

And if it meant that she was to remind her student to enhance the skills that would allow her to beat Naruto in the games, while teaching her life-long useful techniques, then that was just a bonus.

x-=-x

Deep in the darkness of space, a small freighter flew towards its destination in the distance. Onboard, the pilot gently tugged at his collar as he tried to focus on the mission at hand. Taking a deep breath he shifted the controls on his ship to bring it in from the dark side of the moon, just out of range of the planets sensors. With careful, practiced motions, he began his decent onto the planet.

Taking a deep breath, he relaxed as he took it down slow. Pressing a few buttons, the control panel began showing the path he needed to take to fly under the radar to avoid detection. Although there were plenty of ways in which to be found, he'd found from two previous trips that avoiding their security on the route provided not only proved to be the most profitable, but the easiest as well. Whoever it was that got them this information was very skilled; something he could appreciate in his line of work.

As he turned, he heard some of the loose cargo in the hold shifting slighting as the artificial gravity shifted to help him arc around the final level of sensors that were allegedly on the planet's surface. The idea of what he was doing was rather silly in hindsight seeing how there were many other legal ways to get this done. However, he certainly wasn't complaining, as he was getting paid, and that's all that needed to matter in the end for him.

As he got closer, something caught his eyes that made his body go ridged. Eyes darting to the flashing light on his console, he worried silently that he'd made a mistake and been caught. No, that couldn't be. He was the best at what he did for a reason. But then, mistakes happened. Perhaps they'd moved a tower to somewhere closer to his landing site? That would be most unfortunate, and would require him to turn back.

Worriedly, he flipped the channel, knowing he couldn't leave the channel silent for too long without drawing suspicion from whoever was on the other line. To his relief, he saw a familiar face rather than the face of an enemy.

The voice was simple, straightforward, and demanding. "Report."

"I'm on route, everything is going as planned. The pathway provided is proving to be a great boon to us. With this I should be able to get the final survey information." The man said, his voice a bit more quiet than he'd have liked, but then he was still on the lookout for patrols or other such forces that could throw a wrench in their plans.

"Good, very good. I want you to keep me updated, as to the status of the project. Your report is promising captain. I most certainly hope, that our faith in you was not misguided."

Shaking his head sharply, he scowled. "No, not at all. I'm simply ensuring that everything is in position. The Chommell Sector may have its independence from the Republic in some matters, but there's only so much that they can keep from the universe. Soon we'll have the final pieces to show to your people, and they can make whatever choice it was you wanted them to make."

"Careful now. If I didn't know better, I'd suspect you of some sort of treachery…"

The threat hung in the air, but both of them knew it was purely unnecessary. "I'm just here to do my job and get paid. If my job involves me helping you get a profit than what do I know. I'm just here to drop these off, sit back, and make sure everything gets done right without them being alerted to your presence beforehand. Or at least, the wrong people."

"Mm, yes this is true. If you are found, you are to leave at once. We cannot have you or your information traced back here. Should you fail, two surveys of the world's plasma core should be more than enough to convince the people of my planet to take action. Am I understood?"

The pilot bowed ever so slightly, blond hair falling over his face. "Of course Viceroy. As you have been informed…I am yours to command."

AN: Alrighty then! This was an interesting chapter to write, and it's made me very happy to do it because there's so much extended universe out there that's just kind of...floating. I'm not going to get nearly all of it added to the story seeing how much I'll be using for certain parts, but there's so much I can use. For example, Feemor is a real Jedi; he's the first apprentice to Qui-gon who he dismissed as a success because of Xanatos, despite being a Jedi Knight at the time. Things we can all learn.

Also, to those who said that "balance is boring"...yeah. It is. But then, that's what the Jedi push. Balance and control. So sorry to disappoint anyone looking for a Uber God of All Time Naruto, but this Naruto isn't going to be Yoda level by age 13; he's gonna put up a good fight and make Jedi concerned for the boy's mental health though. After all, it wouldn't be Naruto if he didn't do something over the top and stupid. Plus, while it is Naruto, it's in the Star Wars universe. It needs a good build up, because to many people are doing stuff from the shadows, so the fighting (it'll be there) isn't always the main focus. Don't worry. It'll come.

So, hopefully I helped quell anyone who was worried that the story won't eventually pick up, and I'll see you all in the next chapter of From Darknes!