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Michael "TheZorch" Haney
"Nindo of the Force"
From the Author
You don't know the power of Procrastination!
Chapter 10
Jiraiya watched the dust plum from Naruto's speeder as the viewing platform slowly dropped. Shmi was completely beside herself with worry, he could feel her shaking. Both likely from fear, and from anger, and the Toad Sage really didn't blame her. Once they were on the ground he lead Anakin's mother away from the raceway. It wouldn't be a good idea for her to see Watto right now, and he was certain it wouldn't be good for him to see Watto either. Well, not good for Watto that is.
"Master Jiraiya," the old pervert recognized the voice and rolled his eyes before turning around. The Twi'lek smiled in that way that Jiraiya always found rather disturbing. Shmi paced with agitation at this sudden delay.
"Bib Fortuna," he returned the smile, fake as it was. "I hear you've been moving up in the Galaxy." The tentacle headed gangster seemed to inflate at that.
"So have you as I've heard," the Twi'lek stepped forward and held out a small satchel. Jiraiya regarded a bit apprehensively at first, then reached out to accept it. The satchel was surprisingly heavy for its size.
"With compliments from his exalted lordship Jabba the Hutt," Fortuna bowed. "Seeing Gardulla's discomfiture has made his lordship quite happy. He said to tell you that he hasn't laughed that hard in a century." Jiraiya laughed, scratch the back of his head in a very fake nervous gesture. He could feel Shmi's impatience at this interruption as if it were a palpable force.
Jiraiya returned the bow, "I am pleased to hear I've brought lord Jabba such pleasure."
He looked over at Shmi would appeared to be ready to explode. "You caught us at a bad time I'm afraid," he added, trying to sound polite. "But, the racer who crashed was her son, so we're sort of in a hurry."
"Oh my," Fortuna bowed to Shmi. "Then please, don't let me delay you any longer." The Twi'lek gestured for them to go, then Jiraiya saw his face turn suddenly very serious.
"Watch your back," said Fortuna, in a hushed tone. "Lord Jabba has forbidden assassins from accepting contracts on you, but that will not stop Gardulla from sending her own people after you. She wants both of your heads, that boy's especially." Jiraiya nodded, then turned to usher Shmi onward towards his waiting speeder.
Finding Anakin's crash site wasn't that hard, Naruto just raced towards the black smoke in the distance. He had the accelerator opened all the way and was kicking up a nice sized rooster tail of dust behind him. Naruto held on tight as he jumped his fourth dune. He could swear he almost hit a Jawa at some point, and scattered a nest of womp rats. The site of the crash looked worse than it appeared to be. The one engine Anakin's pod had been attached to was in unrecognizable mass of twisted metal billowing with black smoke. He stopped Anakin standing near it with a tool in hand trying to take parts off.
"Ani!" he brought his speeder to a stop, leaped off, and landed next to the little boy.
"There are still some salvageable parts on the engine," he heard the young Skywalker say as he grabbed and hugged him.
"Are you hurt?" Naruto looked him over, while Anakin was covered in dust from head to toe he didn't appear to have any injuries. Anakin just shook his head.
"I managed to save the pod, sort of." Naruto followed his finger to what kind of looked like a pod, if you looked it the right way.
"But are you ok?" he checked the boy's limbs and none of them seemed broke. How he could have walked away from a crash like this was beyond amazing.
Anakin shrugged, "The pod took most of the impact, I'm gonna be bruised up for a few days, but I'm not hurt." Naruto sighed with relief and turned to look at the engine.
"I can't believe you can actually salvage anything from that." he couldn't recognize the mass of twisted metal as anything familiar.
Anakin nodded and went back to work, "It looks worse than it is."
"If this isn't worse, than I'd hate to see what worse is." he said. In the distance he picked up the familiar hum of Jiraiya's speeder. Moments later it came barreling over the dunes. Shmi jumped off the back and was running before Jiraiya had a chance to bring it to a stop. Naruto dodged out of the way as she came zipping past.
"ANI!" she cried taking the boy into her arms.
"Mom, not in front of the ninja!" Naruto sighed, wondering if his mom would have been like this with him had she still been alive.
"Gaki, make sure these two get home." said Jiraiya. Naruto turned to look at him and wondered where his sensei could possibly need to go at a time like this.
He replied, "I don't have room on my speeder for both of them."
"Shmi will take my speeder," Jiraiya said.
Naruto looked in the direction of Mos Espa, the city was several miles away. "You're not walking all that way are you?" asked Shmi. Naruto looked at Jiraiya again, then grinned.
"I get it now," he said and Shmi gave him a funny questioning look.
"Just make sure they get home safe," said Jiraiya. Naruto nodded.
"No problem ero-sensei." he gave the old man a thumbs up, then the kage bunshin vanished in a puff of smoke. Naruto almost doubled over laughing.
Shmi exclaimed, "That was a shadow clone this entire time!?" Naruto finally regained his composure.
"I think ero-sensei is moving the timetable up a bit," he said. "And I don't blame him."
"Timetable for what?" Shmi asked, and Naruto replied with just a big smile. There was only one reason why Jiraiya wouldn't actually be here right now, and he only wished he could be there himself to see it happen.
Jiraiya stepped out of the shadows as Watto came flapping out of the cash booth, his sack of winnings in hand. The grizzled Toydarian gave him a sudden weary look. Jiraiya guessed the look on his own face spoke volumes of how he felt right now. In that instant he felt his kage bunshin dispel, and he smiled at the memory of the scene in the desert. His smiled must have looked disturbing because Watto suddenly turned pale.
"Just the old buzzard I was looking for," he stepped forward and Watto floated back away from him.
"What'a do you want, I'm busy, I gotta to check on the boy see if he's ok." the Toydarian demanded. He tried to sound confident but Jiraiya could see him shaking.
He folded his arms across his chest and said, "You mean you're more concerned about your winnings first, and then the state of Anakin's well being second."
"What'a is it to you," Watto pointed a finger in his face. "The boy is ah my slave. He is of no concern to you." Before he could say more a kage bunshin stepped up from behind and put a kunai to his throat.
Jiraiya said, "He is most definitely my concern, both of the Skywalkers are. You've been jerking those two around for far too long, and that ends today."
"They are still slaves, you kill'a me they go on the auction block!" Watto shouted, looking panicked.
"If my intention was to kill you, you'd already be dead before you even saw me coming." the kage bunshin whispered menacingly. The Toydarian visibly swallowed.
Jiraiya held up the satchel he received from Bib Fortuna. "You will sell the Skywalkers to me, and hand over their certificates of indenturement. I have eight million peggats here, that is four million each. Three times the price of any one slave."
"Why should I'a sells them to you? I'ma not obligated to make'a a deal with a knife at my throat." Watto growled.
Jiraiya smiled and pulled a small tablet out of his robes. "Because if you don't, I hand over these records to the Hutts."
"What records?" Jiraiya just smiled.
"Why, the undoctored version of your financial records," he explained and the Toydarian turned from a shade of blue to white. "Do you know what the Hutts do to tax evaders? I hear it's a rather slow, excruciatingly painful death."
Watto pushed past blade and reached out for the money. "Its a deal, the boy and his'a mother are yours!" Jiraiya pulled the satchel back out of his grasp.
"And, their certificates." he said. Watto produced a small data chip from one of his pouches and tossed it to him. Jiraiya tossed him the satchel.
"Nice doing business with you," he bowed before dispelling the kage bunshin and using shunshin to pop out of sight. The tablets, which were actually blanks, he later tossed into a nearby refuse can. The taxes thing was a big guess on his part, but it wasn't too hard to imagine Watto had been doctoring his books. Just about every dishonest merchant on Tatooine was skimping on their taxes to the Hutts in some way. It was a dangerous game, the Hutts respected such gumption. They knew people were skimping on their taxes, and if they were stupid enough to actually get caught then they deserved no respect. Only death.
Shmi Skywalker slowly walked through her home. There were so many memories here. This place had been their home since Watto had won them from Gardulla, and now they were going to leave it behind. The walls were now bare, the contents of the shelves and cupboards boxed. Naruto had used that amazing ability to instantly create dozens, even hundreds of copies of himself, and what would have taken her and Anakin days to do was done in a few hours. They were free, she was still wrapping her brain around that. She and her son had been slaves for so long she wasn't sure what to do now. It wasn't that she was not grateful, truth is she was overjoyed. She was more at a lot of what to do with her life now that she was no longer in servitude to another, and there was Anakin's future to consider.
"Saying goodbye to the place," her benefactor walked in, a smile on his face.
"This place houses so many memories," she let a hand sweep over the counter where she did most of her work during the day.
"Time to make some new ones," Jiraiya said.
She turned to regard him, "Ani said something about you and Naruto were arranging a place for us to stay." Jiraiya nodded.
"You've done so much for us already," the things she'd done for them was nothing compared to the one act of kindness Jiraiya had done for her and Anakin. Yet, these who wayward souls she took in were willing to do more for her and her son and asked nothing in return.
"Shmi, you took us in when me and Naruto were strangers on this planet," Jiraiya said. "Before that, we only guessed at what might be out there in the stars. We didn't know anything about other planets and other intelligent life beyond just scholarly guesswork."
First contacts were rare, but they still happened from time to time. Shmi had only heard about them, but never imagined she's be involved in one until she met two strangers on the street of Anchorhead. "It must have been overwhelming," she said. "To suddenly be whisked away from everything you knew, and to be thrown into a environment where nothing makes sense."
"Nah," Jiraiya replied. "On the surface things might seem different, aliens look weird, but when that initial shock wears off you start to see the familiar. Tatooine really isn't that much different from our world. It's a lot dryer, but both have the same kind of scumbags. And, just like back home, they step all over the poor and defenseless the exact same way. At the same time, there are still good people, who despite all the bad shit around them still do what's right no matter what." Shmi smiled at that knowing he was talking about her.
She said, "This place wears most people down. I've seen good people turn bad because of what they've had to do in order to simply get by. If you're unfortunate enough to not be rich life here is incredibly harsh. You won't find many people in this world who are willing to help one another just because it's the right thing to do."
"Well, Naruto has this plan to change all that," she wasn't at all surprised given how selfless the young boy was. "It's a bold one, it's insane really, but I've seen him do the near impossible. There is something about him, he can change people. Even so called lost causes."
Shmi had heard some of this before. Some nights Jiraiya would tell her about his world, and about Naruto. There was something indeed something very different about the hyperactive blonde. It was just over six months since he arrived, but he was already respected by some and feared by others. He and Anakin both were special, they seemed born destined for greatness.
"What exactly is this plan?" she asked out of curiosity.
"Well, it goes like this…."
One Year Later
Ships were coming in from all over Tatooine. Word of Mos Sukui, the City of Salvation, was spreading like wildfire. Refugees, the poor, the downtrodden, they were all coming to seek the promise of a better life. What they found wasn't quite a paradise, but it was indeed better. The city could barely be called one in it's current state. It needed work, a lot of it, but the people were more than willing to do the work needed to make it a their home. As the population grew so did the building projects. The settlement went from a handful of small dwellings carved in the rock to several hundred. Within a few months Mos Sukui had a population of two thousand. Nobody was homeless, nobody went hungry, and there was more than enough water to go around. The majority of those who came to the city were skilled laborers who for one reason or another weren't able to find work. Now they had no shortage of things that needed to be done.
The story of a young boy and an old man venturing alone into the most inhospitable deserts of Tatooine, and returning not only alive but with three titanic krayt dragon carcases and their pearls became the stuff of legend. The Hutts gleefully bought the pearls, at outrageous expense, but they would make that back in black market auctions ten fold. The dragon meat, a rare delicacy, was expertly butchered and put into cold storage, and the priceless dragonhide was sold.
Word on the street spread quickly that Naruto and Jiraiya had also paid for and freed all of the slaves in Mos Espa, and that they all left together for parts unknown. There was much speculation and talk, but soon rumors started spreading about a new uncharted settlement. Months later, even the Hutts were beginning to take notice. A new financial power rising on Tatooine, which they didn't control. This new power was defended by an unstoppable army of blonde haired demons. Bounty hunters and assassins were sent to deal with these upstarts. Few returned, and those that did refused to ever go back to face the blonde monster with the crimson eyes.
From his modified T16, Naruto had a great bird's eye view of Mos Sukui. He smiled at seeing so much activity. Homes and shops were being hewn from the stone walls of the valleys that extended out from the central area like spokes on a wheel. The Jade Falcon's old landing site was now home to the Kibokage Tower. It was modeled after the Hokage Tower back home, but was built using local materials rather than wood. Wood was hard to come by on Tatooine, and expensive. Naruto had agree with Jiraiya that the expense was too much. They weren't hurting for money, but also weren't wasting it either.
His personal landing pad was next to the tower. Gently Naruto brought his craft in and sat it down with practiced expertise. Jiraiya had commented on his elemental affinity likely being wind, which probably explained why he became so good at flying so quickly. Naruto wondered if that was why he learned the Rasengan so quickly, also.
The guards at the tower, members of the city's all volunteer security force, greeted him happily. Naruto waved back, then mounted the stairs that wound their way around the inside of the tower's base. Midway up was the Kibokage's office. Jay Two served as a secretary just outside the office. The ancient protocol droid greeted him as he pushed his way past the door to the office. Jiraiya sat inside behind a computer terminal. It was better than the stacks of papers he'd seen Tsunade deal with back in Konohagakure. The windows behind him affording a good view of three of the city's canyon streets.
"Ah, you're back," he nodded as Jiraiya noticed him. "So, how was it?"
"Kinda boring," Naruto replied. "The Sand People must not attack caravans anymore. I saw plenty of bantha tracks, but not one Tusken Raider showed up."
His sensei laughed, "They've learned when you're around it isn't worth the effort. You're too good at your job."
"Speaking of job, ero-sensei, how are things going here?" Naruto asked, he'd been away from nearly a week and was hungry for news.
"Slow, we knew starting up a shinobi village from scratch with people who have no knowledge of chakra, and have never heard of ninja before was going to be hard." Naruto nodded, they had discussed this before.
"The youngsters are taking to the training faster than the adults," Jiraiya added. "There is some progress, the kids are able to pull off a partial henge the other day. At this rate it could take us years before we have a suitable number of ninja." Naruto didn't envoy Jiraiya his job. He had to manage the settlement and train the first generation of shinobi both at the same time.
Thankfully, he had help. "Is that Naruto's voice I hear?" he turned to see Shmi's smiling face. To him she was more than just one of Jiraiya's advisors, she was family. She was the mother he never had, and Anakin was the brother he never had.
"Yep, I'm back," he smiled. "Is ero-sensei behaving himself while I'm gone?"
Shmi laughed, "Don't worry, I'm keeping a good eye on him." He blushed as she gave him a hug.
He saw Jiraiya slump in his chair, "She won't let me get away with anything. It's like she's a clone of Shizune, or something." Naruto laughed.
"How is Anakin doing?" Naruto asked wondering about his adopted little brother.
"He's literally taken over the mechanics pool," said Jiraiya. "There were a couple of old hulks the veteran mechanics were wanting to write off as unfixable. He got them working in three days, by himself. They let him run the place now, and he's actually pretty good at it."
"Ani will be glad to see you home." said Shmi.
Naruto shrugged his shoulders, "Don't know for how long, I'm the only ninja that can go out on mission right now. Ero-sensei says it's going to be a while before the trainees are ready."
"We're not working you too hard are we?" he shook his head at her concern.
"Nah," he said. "It's boring sometimes, but it's not hard work. At least I'm not chasing lost cats or pulling up weeds." That last sentence brought back fond memories of home. He wondered how everyone was doing back home. Often he wondered how they would react when he and Jiraiya didn't return home when expected.
"Speaking of ready," said Jiraiya. "I finished it."
Naruto immediately perked up, "You did? When?"
Jiraiya replied, "Three days ago, I tried using it. Took almost all of the strength I had, but I managed to summon a small toad. I gave him the message scroll for Gamabunta and the sealed scroll for Tsunade. That's assuming the toad got back to Mount Myoboku."
Naruto groused, "I thought we were going to wait until I got back. That was pretty dangerous, ero-sensei, you said the summoning amplifier seal would require my chakra reserves to power it up." The seal in question was something Jiraiya had been tinkering with for months. It was built in the basement of the Kibokage Tower from their cortosis ink, the same ink they used to make exploding tags and sealing scrolls.
"I got over excited and you weren't coming back for several days," said Jiraiya. "The effort put me on my back for two days. Shmi gave me a good scolding if that makes you feel better."
Naruto grimaced, Shmi was a pretty docile woman, but when she got riled up she had a temper to rival Tsunade. "I gave him a good talking to, what he did was extremely reckless. If what you two explained about how it was supposed to work, the drain could have serious hurt him or killed him." she said, and he saw Jiraiya wince.
"He was reckless, but I hope it worked." he said.
"It won't get us home," Jiraiya said. "Won't even help us find out where home is, but at least I hope we can let everyone know we're ok. Assuming Gamabunta passes the message along."
Far far away on a distant world….
Tsunade waited for everyone to arrive. Kakashi was on time for once, the members of Team Kurenai and Team Asuma were also gathered. Her apprentice Sakura was also here with Shizune. These represented all of Naruto's friends and mentors, all gathered together by his request. The message had come via toad a day before with a scroll written by Gamabunta himself explaining the circumstances of how they received it in the first place. She unsealed the scroll and read through the instructions Jiraiya had written on how to use the strange device that had been stored in the scroll.
She ended up watching the first recording at least a dozens times before Jiraiya's explanation of what happened finally sunk in. Unless something changed, he and Naruto would not be coming back home. The additional items Jiraiya had sent back in the scroll helped to give evidence to his claims. She'd never seen anything like the devices he sent her. In his recording, he walked through instruction on how each device worked. These devices were small, but they were far beyond the level of technology they had in the elemental countries.
"I was going to say something, but I think I'll let Naruto's message speak for itself." Tsunade said as she sat the playback device on her desk.
"Understand, what he's about to say might sound impossible, but the toads of Mount Myoboku confirm they are true." she added. This raised a murmur from everyone, and nervous looks from both Sakura and the pretty young Hyuuga heiress whom she suspected has a crush on the boy.
"Sensei, is Naruto ok?" Sakura looked very worried. Tsunade suspected that she too harbored some feelings for Naruto, but was conflicted by her feelings for Sasuke.
"I'll let him explain that." she replied, and activated the device.
A gasp of surprise came when the image of Naruto sprang to life in the middle of the room. He stood in his black and orange body armor, his twin vibroswords on his back. On his forehead he wore a hitai-ai that had two symbols, the leaf insignia for Konohagakure, and another that looked like twin stars. He looked different, it wasn't just the clothing, he seemed more buff and he had a slight tan.
"Hey everybody, " he waved, Tsunade noticed Hinata eyes tear up. "I hope this message gets to you all. Ero-sensei and I don't know if this the summoning amplifier seal he's making will work or not. There's no way to know if we can summon a toad this far away from home."
"Hokage-sama, what is he talking about?" asked Kakashi.
"Just listen," Tsunade replied and the recording continued.
The image of Naruto turned very serious, "We are very far away from home. We don't know how far, and truth is we're kind of lost. It ain't as simple as just walking in the right direction to get back. We aren't on the same planet anymore."
To Be Continued