Out of the Unknown

by axellon2008

Naruto discovers a crashed starship outside his village and his life is forever changed. Under the unorthodox tutelage of a Sith Lord's spirit, he will learn the technology and history of a larger galaxy that he, and no one else from his planet, ever knew existed.

11. Chapter 11

AN: I don't own Naruto, or Star Wars

x-x

36.7 BBY – Current Year (Naruto is twelve)

Chapter XI:

x-x

A person with a bag over his head was dragged down the hall by two ninja in dark cloaks. Both had unique headbands with the symbol of Kirigakure etched into them and each had a breather mask and one arm that had a gauntlet with clawed fingers. Only their free hands were holding the struggling and tied man as they might have poisoned him with the claws.

Down the hall they dragged the man by his arms until they reached a set of doors. One of the pair let go of the hostage they had kidnapped and opened the doors, while the other dragged the person into the room. The man was placed into a kneeling position and the bag on his head was removed.

Tazuna looked around at the dark room he was in. Red satin curtains were covering the windows and he looked to the short man standing in front of him with sunglasses on. The man motioned to the two ninja and said, "Gozu, Meizu, leave us." and both brothers left through the door they had just entered.

Despite having his hands tied, Tazuna attempted to stand and attack the man who he had hated for nearly half a decade. However an unknown force prevented him from standing. They looked at each other, Tazuna glaring and Gatou with no readable expression. Something wasn't really sitting right with Tazuna and it concerned the man before him. Gatou was acting differently. He remembered the man with a slightly different voice and not so composed or calm but more arrogant.

"I suppose you want to know what you are here for?" inquired Gatou.

"Your going to kill me." stated Tazuna and he was rather certain of that fact.

"Kill you?" questioned Gatou, "Why would I do a thing like that. Not when I have a use for you." Gatou finished and stepped forward while extending his hand and placing it on Tazuna's head.

x-x

Five days later

x-x

Naruto sat on the right-hand side of the Sandaime while filling out and going over all of the paper work concerning the missions. It was one of the most boring jobs in the village but he was there for a reason. The Sandaime was in the process of handing out as well as examining new missions that were arriving. Anyone could request a mission and while some came personally to make the request, many more missions were sent in scrolls. These missions had to be examined, filed by rank and importance, and then would make their way to the Hokage for decisions on whom to send to complete each mission.

Not every mission that was sent was given proper consideration. Some were given preference because they came from the Fire Daimyo or a previous client while others were not considered at all because of past problems with the client.

Although he didn't want to be there, his Master had given him instructions on a secondary objective before moving to the new base. Naruto was to wait for a specific prospective client to show up and then do everything in his power to insure that his Master's plan proceeded smoothly and without failure. He had waited the entire morning, took a break for a ramen lunch, and then waited most of the afternoon before the doors to the room opened and the correct man stepped in. Unfortunately for Naruto, that man was holding a bottle of liquor and already seemed rather tipsy. He refrained from having his eye twitch at the possible problems that could come from this dilemma.

"So you'd like to request a C-rank mission, Tazuna-san?" inquired the Sandaime as he looked at the forms in front of him that had just been filled out. The handwriting was rather sloppy so he wanted to be sure he had everything correct.

"Thas right, an R-rank mission." Tazuna slurred slightly.

It was difficult to not think about hurting the man in front of him as Naruto tried to sit calmly. The Sandaime was a little amused as it had been a long time since someone had come in to request a mission while being intoxicated. He thought perhaps he should wait until the following day but perhaps now was the right time as he could ensure that nothing else would happen on the mission as he had never had a client from Wave Country before.

"So, as I understand it, this is just a simple protection mission from bandits and the like, until you get back to Wave Country?" asked the Sandaime.

"Nope. I mean yes." responded Tazuna while nodding his head.

"You also put down that you specifically wanted Hatake Kakashi to take on the mission?"

"Who?" Tazuna responded back and the Sandaime raised an eyebrow at the man.

'One job. This idiot had one job to do and he's messing it up.' thought Naruto and he difficulty keeping his anger in check. Deciding to postpone the plan until the subject was back in his right mind again, Naruto spoke up, "Perhaps we should wait until Tazuna-san is...no longer so impaired so he can properly request a mission. He could be fit in tomorrow morning after he has slept and before he starts drinking again, so that he can properly answer questions."

The Sandaime nodded and told Unimo Iruka, who was sitting on opposite Naruto on the Sandaime's other side, to fill in Tazuna for the morning. The man was led out of the building to a local hotel to stay the night and sober up.

After a few more hours of working, everyone else was dismissed. Naruto left the Hokage tower knowing he would have to come back in the morning to make sure everything went smoothly, and although he would rather do anything else but that job, he had little choice in the matter.

'It seems the mind control and specifically the placement of suggestions in the subject has less than desired results when the subject gets inebriated.' Naruto noted. It wasn't as if Tazuna had started spilling secrets about Gatou or what they were up to. The suggestions were still there, as even while drunk, the man had filled out the correct forms in the correct way and put everything down he was supposed to. In a way it did make sense as even if the subject was under their control, with an impaired mind they had difficulty acting on the suggestions and orders they had been given . Even when questioned, he did come up with some of the right answers but they needed to be coaxed out of him.

The following morning would likely bring more success. Naruto walked to his apartment and then he would go to the hideout and contact his Master to inform him of the setback. They had already set up a method for Naruto to leave the village for an extended period of time without anyone noticing. The extra time was needed to further whatever plans his Master had for leaving Wave Country. He wasn't sure exactly what his master had in mind but would help in any way that he could.

x-x

Tazuna came in the following morning and answered all of the questions that the Sandaime asked with no problems. The man told the Sandaime that he wanted Hatake Kakashi because someone had told him that they man was the villages best and he wanted the best to protect him. The Sandaime did inquire a little farther but Tazuna produced satisfactory answers.

Naruto waited until right before lunch for Team Seven to show up. They were supposed to be there for a mission several hours earlier but were late.

x-x

After knocking, Kakashi was allowed to enter the mission room and his genin followed him. They were the only genin that he had ever passed and had been a team for several months. He did wish that the members got along a little better. Sasuke would never open up to his teammates and Sakura was only interested in Sasuke and not in being a ninja. The final member of their team was Shin who was an interesting boy with a sense of humor. The boy was added at the last minute to the list of graduating genin. He didn't exactly know where Shin had come from, as the boy was added by the Village Elders from a program that was no longer used, specifically Root.

While he had initial concerns, Shin did not act like the emotionless ninja that Root ANBU were trained to be. The boy still had emotions and was a good fit for his team. He had yet to find any evidence that the boy was reporting to anyone but it was likely that the elders chose the boy to be placed on his team to keep tabs on the last Uchiha.

His lone eye looked at the Sandaime, Iruka, and then onto the other person sitting in the room. The boy very much reminded him of his sensei, except for the marks on his face that identified him as the container of the Kyuubi. A small part of him wished that he had at least some role in the boy's life but he was always busy with ANBU. From what he heard, the boy had accelerated through the academy and would soon take the special jonin exam. He had also heard that ANBU had an interest in him but were waiting to for a little while longer before inviting him.

The Uchiha massacre had made most people in the village question how young was too young for advancement. Primarily it was the civilians that questioned it but some ninja also had concerns. No one was really sure why Itachi had killed his family but some believed that the boy had been promoted too fast and had not been ready for the work or for missions. It was likely that it was one of the reasons why it had taken so long for Naruto to be allowed to take the special jonin test and why ANBU was holding off on recruiting him.

Looking to the boy, he could see a coldness and uncaring in the blue eyes. The emotionless face betrayed very little and the boy appeared to be studying him just as much as he was studying the boy. Naruto's eyes narrowed with a slight glare but before Kakashi could figure out why, he was brought out of his thoughts when the Sandaime began speaking.

"You have been requested for a mission, Kakashi. Its one of the simpler C-ranks, so I was wondering if you believed your genin ready to take on a harder mission?" inquired the Sandaime while holding the mission scroll that he had just approved earlier in the morning.

Kakashi looked at his group and could read their postures, expressions, and feelings like an open book. Sasuke wanted the higher ranking mission no matter what it entailed, Shin was excited about leaving the village on a mission, and Sakura felt that Sasuke deserved a higher ranking mission.

"I believe they're ready for a C-rank." Kakashi said and the Sandaime smiled and nodded. With a word to the door near the desk, the client entered with another bottle of liquor in hand, but Naruto's thoughts were elsewhere.

He was still trying to figure out the very brief feelings from Kakashi when the man looked at him. There was regret and sadness mixed with several other feelings. That was not something that he was used to nor received from more than a handful of people in his lifetime. He couldn't read very much of man's thoughts because the genin that surrounded him were all thinking so many different thoughts and had such strong emotions. By comparison, the emotions from Kakashi were much muted and it was difficult to glean much of anything form the man. It was also possible that Kakashi had a very closed and protected mind like many other people he had encountered in the village, such as the Hokage sitting next to him. Naruto only managed to pick up on emotions from those people and not thoughts.

The question remained of, 'What did the man regret?' and he couldn't be sure at that point. Coming back to the situation at hand, the client walked out of the room with Team Seven. It was just about break time for lunch so the Sandaime and Iruka started leaving while he continued a little bit of busy work. The plan was going perfectly so far. He just needed to complete the final part of it. Moving to the pile of mission scrolls, he found the one that had just come in the previous day.

The mission was rather easy and the client had requested just a single ninja. What Konoha didn't know, and he did know, was that the mission was requested by his Master and was completely fake. Plagueis had created the mission to give him an excuse to leave the village to complete their plans. It stated in the scroll that the mission would take almost two weeks to complete and he was going to use his current position to secure the mission for himself by placing it on the very bottom of the pile, despite the mission being marked as 'Urgent'.

When they were done for the day, the mission would be 'found' and someone would have to perform the mission. He would put his own name forward, as by that time, the Sandaime would want to quit for the day and a good number of the available ninja would already have assignments. Naruto would only need to give a mission report when he returned from Wave Country concerning the fake mission and not have to worry about being discovered or having an absence in the village.

x-x

After informing his Master that everything was proceeding as planned, Naruto left early the next morning on his mission,. Plagueis in turn gave him additional instructions to be completed before arriving in Wave.

As he walked down the path towards the coast of Fire Country, he kept what senses he had open for the individuals he was looking for and also thought about what his Master might be planning and what he knew or could guess about it. It was apparently training in skills that he would need and he was to use the Force to help him discover what his master might be up to.

He already knew what they wanted with Hatake Kakashi but he didn't know what Plagueis wanted with the two individuals he was going to pick up.

He also didn't know what his Master needed with the Sith text that he was carrying with him in a scroll and that he had retrieved from the hideout. 'What's in those texts that he would need?' was the main question that was going through his head. He knew the texts contained information on several topics such as: Sith alchemy, Sith spawn, the creation of weapons, and a few other minor topics.

The only answer that he could come up with was that his Master wanted to use the texts to create a Sith spawn. Plagueis would be traveling to a new location and no one could be trusted there at this point. His Master would need some kind of protection because Zabuza had not wanted to extend his contract and Plagueis wasn't sure he could control the man with his limited powers. That meant that someone else would have to protect his Master during the time before he traveled to Snow Country which would likely be a couple of months. Gatou had practically owned Wave Country and had numerous bandits, thugs, to order around so it wasn't a problem but Snow Country was owned by someone else and they had nothing there.

It made sense to make sure that his Master was protected from a double-cross while in a new location. Gatou's samurai were of no help and if Zabuza didn't want to continue employment, then that left the two individuals that he was currently going after and could feel just in the range of life-sense ability.

x-x

Gozu and Meizu were submerged in a puddle on the road from Konoha to the Fire Country coast. No matter what help Tazuna was able to acquire, they would still have the element of surprise. With a civilian client with them, whoever Konoha sent would have to travel down that dirt road and they had arrived earlier in the morning to wait because they couldn't be sure when Tazuna and the ninja would pass by. They had been waiting over an hour before they could finally hear someone coming down the road.

Unfortunately, it only sounded like a single person and unless Tazuna was unable to get ninja, it was likely that this wasn't the person they were waiting for.

"You can come out Gozu and Meizu, I know you're there." stated Naruto to the puddle while standing a good distance away.

The puddle didn't move but he could feel the confusion and alarm from the brothers within. In a burst of speed, both quickly jumped out of the puddle and stood across from him as the puddle quickly evaporated.

They both looked at the cloaked figure and did recognize the description from what Zabuza and Haku had said. It was likely that this person also worked for Gatou but they didn't let their guard down. From what Zabuza had said, the boy had fought and nearly defeated him, so it was unlikely that they could face him by themselves.

"I'm guessing that Zabuza sent both of you to take care of Tazuna?" Naruto stated rhetorically. He didn't receive a response, only surprise but continued, "Plans change however. Tazuna has managed to get Hatake Kakashi to protect him. Neither of you will be able to beat him but he'll likely be here in a half an hour so your welcome to try."

Both brothers glanced at each other about the information and then looked back at him. He could tell that they were worried and continued, "Zabuza does not wish to continue his contract with my Master, however, there are positions for you both, if you want them."

Again they looked at each and both nodded in agreement. They wanted to know more and Naruto knew that the situation was going to work in his favor.

"What's the offer?" stated one of the demon brothers and they both eagerly waited the response.

"My Master is wiling to offer both money and power in exchange for your services. You can either take the deal or wait here for Hatake-san and continue with your mission." stated Naruto and he could feel the brothers thinking it over. If they were smart, they would realize that they couldn't take on a jonin of Kakashi's level but if they didn't, he would just have to persuade them.

"What kind of power?" the other brother asked.

Naruto smirked slightly, "Something you can't get anywhere else and that would give both of you a great advantage over anyone you faced." he said and although he didn't know what exactly his Master had in mind, he knew enough to make the offer enticing.

The Demon Brother's nodded and they followed Naruto back to Wave Country.

About half an hour later, Team Seven and their new client walked down the very street that they had just talked on and continued on to Wave Country.

x-x

A day later

x-x

"Your ninja duo failed Zabuza." stated Gatou with little emotion as Plagueis lied to the man. Zabuza and his apprentice had been moved into a nearby tree house that had been constructed. Plagueis had done it mostly to try and keep Zabuza out of his affairs as the former member of the Seven Swordsman was getting too curious about what he was doing.

"It isn't a big deal. I'll just go myself and take care of it. Whoever it was who defeated the demon brothers won't last long against me." stated Zabuza from his seat across from the standing Gatou.

"Well, seeing as you're going to personally take care of it, I want you to capture the ninja that Tazuna hired to protect him." stated Gatou and Zabuza raised a nonexistent eyebrow. 'What would he want with captured ninja?' he thought but Gatou gave nothing away and his true plans or intentions were still not known to him.

"Fine, but it will cost extra." demanded Zabuza as he wanted to see how much the little man wanted whoever Tazuna had hired.

"Just make sure it gets done this time." stated Gatou and he left with his two samurai.

Zabuza and the masked Haku watched him leave and neither could figure out what the man's real intentions were. Despite working for the short billionaire for several months, they were no closer in determining what his real goals were. It wasn't really his business to spy on his client but he wanted to know, especially about the cloaked boy.

Haku had told him her observations on the weapon that the boy had made, which was a shuriken that he used right after creating it and to great effect. The two people spying on the boy also intrigued him and now Gatou wanted him to capture several ninja from Konoha.

No matter how much he thought about it, none of the plans really made sense. Was Gatou trying to take hostages for a ransom or to put forth demands or perhaps get some information? If so, he was glad to be leaving the short man's service as he didn't want to get involved with a hidden village or any hostage nonsense that Gatou may be planning. It shouldn't be that difficult to capture a team of Konoha ninja and then he would make sure to leave before anything else happened.

x-x

Naruto walked through the double doors and into his Master's study followed by the Demon Brothers. He stood in front of the desk and then knelt on one leg. "I have done as you have asked, Master."

The chair turned to reveal Gatou but the glasses were off, revealing his sulfuric yellow eyes and darkened skin around the eyes. Both brothers stared as they had never seen Gatou without his glasses and by what they could feel coming from the short man, it made sense why the boy would call him 'Master'. It wasn't power radiating from the business man but a dark presence that filled the room and sent chills up their spine.

"Good. We should head to the warehouse where the ceremony shall take place." stated Plagueis and he got up from the chair and walked towards his student. Naruto didn't move but wanted to ask the question that had been on his mind.

"Master, just what from the information in the texts do you intend to use on these two?"

Plagueis stopped walking and small smirk tugged on his lips, "I was thinking one of the more interesting rituals that I have yet to try and is rather fitting with the title they go by. It will take some preparation but I think that the results will be more than adequate." stated Plageuis.

'Does it matter that they do not possess the Force?' inquired Naruto through telepathy as it was something that had occurred to him as he traveled the distance from Konoha to Wave. Neither brother had any midi-chlorians, so he wondered if any process from the texts would work.

Plagueis responded, 'I'm not really that sure, but the creation of a Sith spawn does not necessarily require it as we will merely be altering their bodies with the dark-side of the Force. Its possible that their chakra could be used instead to provide the abilities granted by the ritual, but we shall see.'

Naruto nodded and stood while following his master to the doorway and out to the docks. He could feel the fear and uneasiness come from the Demon Brothers but he followed his Master's orders. If the process worked, then neither brother would be complaining about the outcome. Plagueis couldn't use any ninja abilities so they would have to take a boat to the isolated warehouse that had been constructed and was where Naruto had created his discblades.

x-x

Nothing out of the ordinary had happened since they left Konoha. Looking over to his students, Kakashi could actually see them getting more and more bored as time went on.

No bandits, no unnecessary stops, no delays, and not a single problem, yet he still felt that there was something amiss. His skills and instincts had been honed during the Third Ninja War and in ANBU after that and he could tell that the client was hiding something from them. What exactly that information was, he couldn't determine. He had thought about asking the man or perhaps hinting at something but they weren't supposed to interrogate the client and he thought by the way Tazuna was so nervous when they first started out, that something would have happened already.

This was their second day traveling and they were nearly at the shore. It would take at least a couple of hours to reach the coast of Fire Country and a little more time to cross the ocean to Wave. Tazuna said that he knew someone that could take them across the gap between the countries and that they wouldn't have to pay to get across.

The mission was turning out to be a very simple C-rank and while that wasn't a bad thing, he had hoped that it would give him a chance to test his genin. At least a few bandits crossing their paths or perhaps a surprise attack by bandits wouldn't be a bad thing and would give him a chance to gauge his students. Often genin would freeze during their first real conflict and it was best to get that over with under the best conditions possible.

At this rate though, he still wasn't sure if this mission would provide what he was looking for.

x-x

They hadn't taken a very fast boat so it took a little while to reach the warehouse on the farthest point of Wave Country. The brothers were very curious about what would happen but their desire for power and money outweighed any of their concerns. Traveling with Zabuza had not been very productive for them and this new opportunity was too good to pass up. If Zabuza didn't want to continue working for good pay under one of the richest men on the planet, then why should they continue working under him?

The boat pulled up the small dock next to the yacht that had been docked there for some time. All occupants of the boat got out and walked into the empty warehouse. The furnace had been sealed into a storage scroll and packed onto the boat so there were only a few leftover tables and empty crates in the warehouse. The brothers were getting a little worried as there wasn't anything there but Naruto stepped forward and started performing what his Master had telepathically commanded him to do.

Naruto started by unsealing all of the needed supplies from his scrolls. Plagueis walked over and opened the book to the correct page. Naruto glanced over and read the ancient Sith language to find out that his master planned to turn both brothers into Smoke demons.

Plagueis read through the text again and told the brothers to get comfortable as it would take a while to set up. He then ordered Naruto to create several shadow clones and had them start creating the Sith Runes on the concrete floor of the warehouse that would be required for the ritual. The clones channeled lightning chakra into kunai as it was the most efficient tool and chakra nature to work with and would carve the concrete the best.

The correct symbols were slowly carved out creating one large circle and three smaller ones. The real Naruto went to the text and began memorizing everything that needed to be said. One of the circles was for Naruto to stand in and the other two were for the Demon Brothers. Once the symbols were complete, everyone sat in the correct circles and the process was started.

The ritual began with Naruto chanting in the ancient Sith language for several minutes while the demon brothers waited. He then began channeling the Force into the runes around them. The etched runes which were originally the same color as the concrete, started to blacken and then glow red hot. Smoke started to emanate from the runes, with more coming from the ones around the Demon Brothers. The smoke began as gray and then changed to purple and slowly darkened. The purplish-black smoke began to gather into two small orbs, one over each of the brothers. Both looked up at the strange phenomenon and started to think they should get out of here.

They didn't know what was going to happen but this was not something that they expected. It seemed like Gatou and the boy were using some kind of kinjutsu on them. Despite wanting to get away from the smoldering symbols and the gathering smoke, both found themselves rooted to the spot.

Naruto continued to chant with his eyes closed as Plagueis watched the ritual from outside the circle of runes. A good amount of time passed as the ritual was slowly completed by his student. This was the first time in probably hundreds of years that the ritual was being used and he was immensely curious of the results. It was possible that the ritual would fail as he had no idea what effects would occur when the individuals it was used on didn't have the Force and had Chakra instead. It could completely fail, it could create something completely abnormal from the smoke demon it was supposed to create, or it could create something better.

He watched intently as his student completed the chanting and then unsealed his ninjato. Taking the weapon, Naruto touched the blade to his palm to draw out some blood for the ritual. 'That will bind them to him as his servants.' Plagueis thought and he knew that he would rather have the new Sith spawn as his own servants, rather than his students, but he only had a temporary body with none of his own blood and his spirit was not strong enough to complete the ritual.

Instead of the blood dripping to the ground from Naruto's palm, it did the reverse and dripped upward from the wound. The blood split up in the air and equal drops went into the two separate orbs of smoke. Once the blood touched the smoke, each orb rippled and and when the last of the blood that had floated to the orbs entered, both orbs burst apart, releasing the smoke within.

It looked as if the smoke would start spreading across the area like a smoke bomb, but it suddenly stopped expanding and all moved in one direction. The smoke plumes poured into the respective demon brother that it belonged to. It went in through their eyes, breathing mask, and ears while both brothers screamed in agony as their bodies were invaded by the dark purple smoke.

Naruto opened his eyes and watched the transformation occur before him. The exposed skin of the demon brothers, which wasn't very much to begin with, started to blacken followed by their clothes. The process was completed when both brothers were completely blackened and they both went silent. The color changed to the same dark purple as the smoke and both student and master watched with anticipation. After a brief period of time, the unmoving brother stirred and their eyes opened to reveal a glowing red instead of a sclera or iris.

Naruto readied himself just in case the process hadn't worked and he needed to kill them but they made no move. Instead, the dark purple color faded away to reveal the demon brothers how they were originally. Their eyes even went back to normal Thinking that he had messed something up, Naruto got up and went to the text. Both brothers came back from a daze moments later and looked around.

"How much longer is this going to take?" asked Gozu and his brother crossed his arms in boredom and annoyance. Naruto stopped looking through the text and turned to them, 'They can't remember anything of what just happened? They can also talk which is not something that the text said was possible with smoke demons. Did the process completely fail and nothing changed at all?' he speculated.

Plagueis walked over the Demon Brothers to better examine them and said, "The process is already over. What is the last thing you remember?"

Both brothers looked at each other surprised and turned back, "The seals were placed, we sat down and then you got back up again." stated Meizu and his brother nodded in agreement.

Naruto walked over to the two and wondered what was going on. If something had happened to them, then the results were not obvious and it appeared as though nothing had happened at all. Pulling out one of his kunai, Naruto tossed it to the closest brother which was Gozu and said, "Cut your hand with the kunai." Gozu stared at him but obeyed and palmed the kunai into his clawed hand and cut a small area on his other palm. Meizu, Naruto, and Plagueis all watched as the cut produced a small amount of dark purple smoke and no blood. The wound was sealed shut by the smoke a moment later with no evidence of a wound.

Everyone stared at the hand and Gozu said, "It didn't even hurt." and then he impaled his hand with the kunai. Holding up the impaled hand, he just stared at it, like everyone else did. It didn't hurt him at all, yet most of the kunai blade was sticking out the back of his hand. Removing the object, purple smoke again came out and the hole from the kunai was reformed by the smoke. The hole was sealed which left a dark purple area of skin for a brief moment before it turned back into the same skin tone as the rest of his hand.

Turning to his brother, Gozu threw kunai at Meizu. It struck Meizu in the shoulder and passed through the shoulder with ease to continue on until it imbedded itself into the wall of the warehouse. The wound on Meizu was reformed by the smoke that the edges of the wound turned into and in mere moments, his body had reformed into its original shape and showed no evidence of any damage.

"You had no idea that would work, did you?" questioned Meizu with rage and punched his brother in the face which sent Gozu flying farther than any of the others thought the punch would. Gozu hit the ground and skidded but got up right afterward. He rubbed his breathing mask that was smoking and reforming to its original shape, but seemed perfectly fine. "Your punch didn't even hurt." he stated with some surprise.

"It seems the process was definitely a success after all." stated Plagueis and everyone turned to him. "I have some business to attend to back at my mansion, so I'll be taking the boat." and then he looked to Naruto and said specifically to him, "Stay here and determine what the process has caused and the limits of the new abilities of the Smoke Demon Brothers. I need to know what they can or cannot do and after that there is something else that needs to be prepared. Come to see me about it after you're done." and with that Plagueis left the warehouse.

Naruto was left watching his Master leave while the demon brothers punched each other stupid and wondered what was so important that his master had to get back to before leaving for Snow Country.

x-x

The crossing to Wave Country had been very quite but it wasn't because there was nothing to talk about. The man steering the boat had told them to be quite, otherwise they would get caught and Kakashi was getting an idea about what the mission was really about.

'Tazuna must have hired us not to protect him from bandits but to get rid of bandits in Wave Country.' were Kakashi's thoughts on the new developments and it made sense to him. Tazuna was worried the whole way back to Wave and it must be that the bandits had either taken control of Wave or were terrorizing it and rather than pay to get rid of the bandits, Tazuna had payed for a cheaper protection mission until he got back home. It was likely that they would get attacked before they completed the mission and would be forced to protect Tazuna from whatever bandits the village was being troubled by.

It was an interesting plan to lower the payment of a mission by not giving out the actual details, forcing them to complete the normally higher paying mission in order to complete their assigned mission. Tazuna was likely leading them to or at least where they would be attacked or come across bandits. Perhaps he was even taking them directly to the bandit's camp. They would have to fight the bandits as part of the their mission to protect the client. The other possibility was that they were being lead into an ambush by Tazuna and he put his book away and payed full attention to his surroundings. He didn't like being lied to and would be having a long discussion with Tazuna after this was over.

x-x

Plagueis arrived back at his mansion sometime later. He was curious to see what new abilities the brothers possessed but he had other things to take care of as well. Zabuza was likely facing off against the Konoha ninja and then he would have to look through the copy-nin's mind to determined if his guess was correct.

Several years previously, he had gone through the minds of school teachers in order to get them to skip his student ahead a grade. While putting the mind control and suggestions in place, he had also taken a brief look through the knowledge of the chunin teachers he was temporarily subjugating. During one of those looks, he had stumbled across the information that Hatake Kakashi was the student of the Yondaime Hokage.

He had put the information away for future reference and now that information was useful to him. The problem with the Konoha jonin was that he believed that the man knew about the Yondaime being Naruto's father.

Years ago he had meditated on the prospect of what to do with the information concerning Naruto's parents and the answer he had come up with was that the knowledge was too damaging for Naruto and he could not gauge what the boy's response would be. His plans were in the fledgling stages at that time and it was better to keep the information to himself. If anything ever destroyed the trust between master and student or if Naruto decided at some point that he no longer wanted what Plagueis was offering, he had something left to get the boy back on his side and away from the village. That had never happened though. Naruto had never shown any intention of betraying him or not going along with training and numerous 'tests' that he had imposed. Therefore, the information was never useful to him. Now however, that information changed from being a precaution to a liability.

It was obvious that once Naruto got back, he would use Drain Knowledge on the captured Hatake. It was also obvious that his student might discover that information, if Kakashi even knew it. The part that wasn't obvious to him was that if that information was there, what would his student do when he learned it?

Guessing what Naruto would do next was never easy. The boy's mind seemed to work differently that his own mind. At the time when he originally discovered this information, he wasn't about to see his plans destroyed because of his new student plotting revenge. Now was no different and perhaps an even worse time to tell Naruto about his parents. The boy would react negatively to the news, that was a given.

The news could send Naruto over the edge and cause him to completely embrace the dark-side of the Force which was not something that his student had done yet. Naruto could use the dark-side of the Force to great effect but he had yet to take the 'plunge' completely over to the dark-side.

In that state, Naruto might attack anyone that he felt kept the information from him, including his own Master, especially if the boy discovered that he had known the truth for years. The furious Naruto may also access the Kyuubi's chakra and Plagueis was still unsure what effects or problems it could cause. It was a problem with no real solution that could destroy all that had been accomplished up until that point.

Naruto could always lash out at Konoha which would ruin their plans as the boy might be captured or even killed if he started attacking those that might know the secret and had kept it form him, like the Hokage. It was a difficult line to walk and he could tell that Naruto was already getting suspicious of his actions.

'However, there is nothing that can be done about that.' he thought and he knew that there was no good way to give Naruto the information that he was keeping from him. If there was, he would already have given it to Naruto as the boy had been nothing but loyal.

'As long as it doesn't ruin our plans for getting back to the galaxy, I could care less if he came back and bombarded the village from orbit.' he thought because as long as Naruto got all of the information that they wanted from the village, it served no more use to them.

Now came the waiting game and he wondered how Zabuza was fairing against the copy ninja.

x-x

Looking through the slightly refracted image of his team through the water, Kakashi watched horrified as all three of his genin, and the client, were hit with senbon from someone in the bushes. Of all of his failures, this was the worst and he was helpless to do anything as he watched the genin fall to the ground.

He had no idea that Tazuna was running from missing-nin, especially someone with a reputation and ranking like Zabuza. There was no way for him to know about the missing-nin but he blamed himself anyway. It was his fault for not questioning the client any further about his suspicions. He was running out of air, but he didn't notice. His mind was just concentrating on the thoughts of how he had let his team down.

The technique Zabuza was using ended but before Kakashi could do anything, he was knocked out with several senbon as well.

The Kiri swordsman created several water clones to carry the people that he had captured to the specified warehouse. He had no idea what Gatou wanted with them but it didn't really matter as that was what the client wanted and that was what he would do. The warehouse had apparently been prepared before hand with an area that had cages set up and Gatou had acquired chakra seals that Zabuza placed on the captives.

Walking out of the warehouse after depositing the captured individuals, he thought over the situation in his mind. Nothing about it really made sense and he couldn't figure out what Gatou wanted with captive Konoha ninja. In any case, he'd have Haku watch the warehouse and see what happened while he informed Gatou that he had successfully captured the group.

x-x

Walking as briskly as the short stubby legs would take him, Plagueis entered the warehouse with the captured ninja. He only had a short period in which to work until his student got back from working with the demon brothers.

Setting the small case he brought with him down on a nearby crate, he pulled out the medical supplies that he would need to get the sample from Kakashi's left eye. Pulling out the syringe, he removed the forehead protector and pulled open the eye lid. Using the small needle, he took enough of a tissue sample to recreate the eye later and he put the foreheard protector back the way he found it.

Storing the sample in the case he brought, Plagueis then went about the process of examining Kakashi's memories. He needed to find out what the man knew. It was possible that Kakashi knew nothing about Naruto being the Yondaime's son or that it was buried rather deeply and that if Naruto went through the man's memories for jutsu and techniques, he would never find it.

Unfortunately, he found exactly what he surmised would be there. Kakashi knew everything and the information was not buried very deeply so his student would likely find it if he used Drain Knowledge on the man. Plageuis took all of the other information that they would be interested in and left the caged area of the warehouse to think.

Of the four people in the cages, he only needed one to live in the worst case scenario and that was the boy from Root and who reported to Danzo. The rest weren't needed to fulfill that task. However, the fewer people that were killed, the less of an investigation there would be by other Konoha ninja to find out how the last Uchiha or one of the best jonin in the village were killed on a simple C-ranked mission.

The situation presented a difficult problem. If done the right way, however, he might be able to take care of another problem.

Since the two Root members were sent back to Konoha under his mind control. One team had been sent back to Wave on a fact finding mission to determine who lived in the mansion and owned the warehouse that Naruto had been in. Danzo knew about the meeting in the mansion, the warehouse, and the construction of something in the warehouse from earlier messages that they could not stop because they didn't know someone was following Naruto at that point in time. The second mission could not be stopped without raising further suspicion, so Danzo now knew that Naruto had talked with Gatou of Gatou Shipping and was doing something in one of the tycoon's warehouses. Beyond that, there was only what Danzo could piece together by himself with bits and pieces of the knowledge available or by guesswork.

Plagueis half-expected Danzo to send someone to question, interrogate or perhaps even kidnap him but that hadn't happened, which meant that Danzo must not have very much information or was a very cautious person. However, it was only a matter of time before Danzo got curious enough to get more information and so Plagueis had come up with an idea. In order to keep their plans in Konoha and to stop Danzo from getting more information, Gatou had to 'die'. He would very much have liked to take a new host but the current one was too important as he needed it for the negotiations in Snow Country.

With the death of Gatou being known to Konoha, especially Danzo, no further information could be determined about Naruto without going directly to the source. From what he knew of Danzo, the man wouldn't make such a bold move or make any such actions while the Sandaime was Hokage. This meant that Naruto would be free to continue with their plans in Konoha and would give them a chance to test a kinjutsu from the scroll of seals.

The only problem now was what he should do about Kakashi. Tazuna and the others were not a big deal as they could either be killed or just left alive and would not hinder his plans. Kakashi on the other hand could hinder his plans.

He could kill the man right at that very moment but then Naruto would become more suspicious of his actions. His original plans were to let the ninja go after getting the information so he could have a audience of witnesses from Konoha for his 'death', but would that still be the best decision to make?

Unfortunately he didn't have time to meditate so he had to choose from the options he could come up with on the spot. He quickly determined that killing Kakashi was out as the man would make for a better witness and the act would make his student more suspicious. The information in Kakashi's head could be blocked or at least a mental block could be placed in the man's mind to stop Naruto from going to deep and finding the truth. He could also transfer the knowledge that he had already taken from Kakashi, directly to his student, which was not always a good option to learn something because inputting knowledge directly into someone's head in that manner had the potential to cause brain damage and other problems.

Despite the risks, the second option seemed best as Naruto might discover the mental barrier that he placed and try to break it. The technique involved taking specific knowledge and implanting it into another person's mind. The knowledge could not be memories as they were far more difficult to implant or alter and usually resulted in destroying a persons mind. Using this method, he could send certain knowledge taken from Kakashi to his student and make sure that Kakashi and the rest of the individuals in the cell escaped for his other plans. The Force technique was difficult to perform and could only transfer direct knowledge of a subject, in this case jutsu from Kakashi, into Naruto's mind.

Coming to the decision, Gatou made sure that the jonin would be able to get himself free from captivity before leaving the warehouse and heading back to the mansion. It was important that Kakashi escape rather soon and before Naruto came back. This would set the stage for the next confrontation between Kakashi and Zabuza where he could betray his hired missing-nin and make sure to have a convincing death so he could escape to Snow Country without Danzo or anyone else knowing he was still alive.

From one of the windows on the warehouse, Haku watched as the client made sure that the ninja could escape and then left the warehouse. She had seen Gatou take the sample from the Konoha jonin's eye and also do something very strange to the man, which involved just placing his hand on the jonin's head. She needed to get back to report to Zabuza about the strange behavior and the sabotaging that Gatou did to ensure the Konoha ninja escaped.

x-x

Naruto returned to mansion along with the demons brothers but only he went to see Plagueis and report on his findings concerning the success of the ritual. He didn't need to knock as Plagueis gave him a mental 'enter' and he walked through the double doors of the study.

Plagueis looked up from his papers and told Naruto to sit down in one of the chairs in front of his desk. Sitting down, Naruto began his report, "Master, it seems the ritual was a success but with a few added side-effects and difference from what the results are supposed to be."

Plagueis responded with intrigue, "What sort of differences and side-effects?"

"It seems that they do not have to stay in smoke form like the text says. The color is also different from the standard red and is as we both saw, a dark purple smoke. They appear to have the ability to switch into a smoke form and change between looking normal and looking completely dark purple. The can change into a plume of smoke and move around a room, while also reforming at will.

They can still both use chakra just as well as they could before the ritual. It seems that the clothing that they wear and accessories are also made of smoke and they can add or remove items and those items will go with them. So they still have ninja tools in their pouches and when they form into smoke, the items somehow go with them without hindering their smoke abilities and when they become solid again, they can reach into their ninja pouches and remove the tools.

Likely they can get into anything that isn't airtight by turning into smoke and traveling into it. They can turn completely to a plume of smoke and travel around at similar speeds to what they normally could when not in smoke form. They are immune to physical attacks and most weapons but I did find limits to their abilities.

No regular weapon can harm them but one that is imbued with the Force can hurt them. Force abilities can also affect them but only to a degree. I used Force Grip on them but they turned into smoke and slipped through my grasp. I believe ninjutsu will also affect them to some degree but I really can't be sure without resorting to the chance of possibly hurting or killing them to find out. They do appear to be rather susceptible to water jutsu and were unable to form into smoke while inside of the hidden mist jutsu.

Beyond that, I wasn't able to test any farther. They still have the ability to speak which the text stated would be taken away from them. I also don't know whether they can consume the body of another person as it is written but I do know that they are under my control." stated Naruto as he concluded his report.

Plagueis took in everything that was said and was curious to test and see the abilities that Naruto described. There was one thing he did want to clarify, "How do you know that they are under your control?"

"I made them use their metal chain as a jump-rope. They just did it without complaining or questioning me. I watched them both jump that shuriken chain over and over for several minutes." replied Naruto and Plagueis could feel the amusement coming from the boy.

Moving on to other subjects, Plagueis put together his thoughts to inform his student about the Konoha ninja without raising too much suspicion. "Zabuza was able to successfully capture the Konoha ninja but I'm afraid they have likely already woken up and escaped, which was my plan from the beginning." stated Plagueis and added the last part when he felt Naruto was about to question why he would let them escape.

"What about the information I was supposed to get from Kakashi?" stated Naruto and Plagueis replied, "I was able to use Drain Knowledge on the man right after he was brought in by Zabuza. I can give you all of the information that I took from him. I thought perhaps you might take a while with the demon brothers and that I should insure that the information was acquired. As for your concerns over why I let him go, it involves my plans for leaving Wave Country." stated Plagueis and he put in a short pause before continuing, "Because of the meddling of Danzo, a connection between us has been discovered, not between you and me but between you and Gatou. I still need Gatou in order to further our plans in Snow Country but I also need to get rid of him, or at least make Danzo believe he is gone."

Naruto could guess where this was going and asked, "Is this why you had me memorize that kinjutsu in the scroll of seals?"

Plagueis merely nodded his affirmation and said, "I already have the person picked out but we need to control the situation. At some point I have to inform Zabuza that the Konoha ninja have escaped and that something will need to be done about them. I also don't know how well the kinjutsu will work. It hints at not keeping the disguise active after the technique has ended and the body dead so we need to be sure before planning to use it later on in the chunin exams."

x-x

Escaping from the warehouse wasn't very difficult. The guards put in charge of watching them were rather inept and he was able to get out of the bindings that held him to free his genin and the client. He was relieved to find that his genin were all alive and were just put into a false-death state. None of them were in any shape to fight but they had managed to get back to Tazuna's home, only to demand answers from the man about what was going on.

They found out about the problems in Wave caused by Gatou but Kakashi was still confused as to why they had been captured and not killed. Momochi Zabuza was not known for taking prisoners or leaving people alive at all. The best explanation that he could come up with was that Gatou didn't want to kill any Konoha ninja and possibly bring the rest of the village down on him but that didn't make much sense as it didn't explain what Gatou would have done with them. Why capture when it was easier and made more sense to just kill them?

Tazuna didn't have any answers for them on that subject and was just thankful to be alive. Kakashi informed him about how the mission would be increasing in rank and the fact that they should have just dropped the mission because they had been lied to and it was likely more than genin could handle. However, they had no place to go for the mean time. Being put into a death-like state with senbon took a few days to completely recover from.

Zabuza on the other hand was not injured or hindered in any way and could come after them again at any point in time. The question that none of them knew was when he would show up again.

x-x

Based on what Haku had told him and what Gatou himself had just come to tell him, Zabuza was thoroughly confused. Nothing about what was going on made any sense, no matter how he looked at it. Gatou was trying to take over the country, at least what was what he originally thought but now he was no longer sure. 'Why let the Konoha ninja go?' he thought and it really pissed him off.

Everything Gatou seemed to be doing was contrary to what he thought the man should be doing or what he thought the business man would do. There were so many secrets and different agenda's going on with the short man that it was difficult to tell what he was really up to. What did Gatou really want with Wave Country? What was the man planning with the Konoha ninja? He couldn't help but feel that he was a disposable pawn or was being used for something much bigger. Gatou had told him to be prepared to attack the Konoha ninja and the bridge builder again in a few days time and it made him wonder why they should wait.

He thought about just asking Gatou what was going on. Marching right into the man's study and demanding answers but he also disliked the thought. He had made a contract and until the man showed signs of actually breaking that contract or double-crossing him, he would not act and would wait to see what unfolded. He was getting payed quite a bit of money to just sit and wait around and he needed that money to complete his ambitions.

x-x

Two days later

x-x

Standing at the head of a small boat heading towards the unfinished bridge, Plagueis flexed his hand and marveled at how much control he had using the kinjutsu. Naruto had performed the jutsu on one of his samurai and supplied the chakra to hold the jutsu up to make things as convincing as possible. The samurai's body was being controlled by him from quite a distance and no one could tell that it wasn't really Gatou's body.

His death would need to convince the Konoha ninja and the people of Wave, but he knew that Zabuza was getting more and more suspicious of what he was up to. Zabuza wasn't stupid and it was possible that he would continue looking for answers even after 'Gatou' was dead by his own hands. This had already been taken care of and they would be able to convince even Zabuza that he was dead.

As they neared the bridge, he could see a dense fog covering a portion of the bridge near the uncompleted end. The boat pulled up alongside the end of the bridge and he could see the real Naruto sticking to the side of one of the pillars and waiting for him. Just in case things didn't go the way they had planned, his student was to finish the job and then return to Konoha to complete the rest of their plans.

Climbing up the ladder with the rest of the bandits that he hired, he got in position and had Naruto use the Force to disperse some of the fog and get the attention of his executioner.

x-x

The sound of a metal 'clang' filled the still mist once again as Zabuza and Kakashi fought a very sedate battle. In the beginning of the fight, Kakashi wasn't sure why they weren't fighting all out and he first thought it was to lure him into a false sense of security or to get him to let his guard down but none of those things happened as the battle progressed. He noted that it was as if Zabuza was not trying to wear himself out and fighting with no real intent to finish the battle, only to prolong it.

Did Zabuza know something he didn't? The more the fight progressed, the more he believed that something else was really going on. He had tried to get to his students that were fighting the masked hunter-nin but he wasn't able to get near the ice dome. What worried Kakashi was that the only time ninja would fight in this manner was likely when they were buying time for reinforcements to arrive but he knew that Zabuza could fight on his level, so why would the Kiri ninja even need reinforcements and where would he get them from? He was sure that the hunter-nin could likely hold off or perhaps even defeat his genin and even fight himself near equal footing.

Whatever Zabuza had been waiting for finally arrived when the mist started to be pushed back and revealed a large contingent of bandits with what Kakashi assumed was Gatou at the lead. The fighting stopped for a second as everyone on the bridge stared at the bandits and Gatou. Haku's ice mirrors melted and she took her place by Gatou's side.

Kakashi looked back between the new arrivals and Zabuza and could see the tension between the two, 'So these aren't reinforcements, Zabuza is being double-crossed by Gatou and he suspected it.' he thought and went to see about his genin while not letting his guard down.

"So you never intended to pay me." stated Zabuza as he hefted his zanbato and prepared to attack.

Gatou smiled and chuckled at the ninja in front of him. "I asked you to renew the contract, but you refused. Its better to kill you now then worry about you telling anyone about me. This all could have been avoided." and he paused before stating, "The person who brings me the demon's head will get payed double."

As both Zabuza and the bandits charged forward, Gatou walked in the opposite direction to the end of the bridge. The short man seemed confident of his victory, despite the screams coming from the group of bandits behind him.

Cutting his way through the bandits, Zabuza broke through the last of them and charged. Gatou looked back and his yellow eyes widened as he let out a cry for help and started running the last distance to the ladder and boat. As Zabuza closed, he readied his zanbato to take the businessman's head clean off.

Reaching the end of the dock, Plagueis turned around and felt the body freeze at the sight of the charging Zabauza. The man had a visible aura around him of some kind of blue demon and he tried to determined what kind of ability it was.

"No one double-crosses me and lives." stated Zabuza as his sword cleaved off the head of Gatou and the head went off the end of the bridge, followed shortly by the falling corpse.

x-x

Several miles away on a boat

x-x

Plagueis opened the eyes of the real Gatou and smirked slightly at the completion of his plan. It wasn't often that he got to act or play a role as part of being a Sith and he was an avid fan and supporter of the arts. The performance should have the desired effect and keep both himself and his student from being discovered.

Zabuza may have suspected that he was up to something but the former Kiri ninja didn't even know his plans to move to Snow Country or that he was still alive so whatever he suspected would die with the fake body of Gatou. Getting up from his seat in his cabin of the boat, he walked out of the room and to the front of the boat to look at the ocean. He never actually thought he would take such a craft across a large body of water. Going from one island of Wave to another was rather different than traveling across the open ocean. He had flown starships and other space craft across the known and even unknown galaxy but was never ferried across an ocean by such an archaic boat before. It didn't have a high tech generator or advanced propulsion system but a mere motor and propeller. It also didn't have any kind of technology for dampening the rocking motion of the waves or sensors of any kind and if a storm approached, they would have to ride it out.

While most people of the galaxy would have been completely put off by the boat and accommodations, he was not. He found the experience interesting and as much as a Sith Lord could, he was looking forward to the long journey across an ocean that would normally take mere minutes with the more advanced technology that used to be readily available to him.

Snow Country was many miles to the Northeast and there was much to do once they arrived. The demon brothers were with him and they would need to unseal all of the items in the scrolls on the ship. He would need to meet with Doto, the dictator of the country, and set up agreements and accommodations but he doubted that would be a problem. Although Gatou may be dead, most of the money the mogul had was transferred into other accounts that he still had access to and the one thing Snow Country needed was money and he could provide it. The only foreseeable problems were that Doto might try and double-cross him to take his money but he already had plans to put a stop to that.

The dictator of Snow Country thought he was a mere businessman with no chakra or abilities of any kind, but he was far more than that and now so were the demon brothers. The best thing to do once they got there was to put Dotou under his control.

x-x

Naruto examined the body that was once disguised as his master. The scroll stated that the technique would end after the person who the jutsu was performed on was killed but it didn't specifically state that the person would go back to their original form, which was that of one the samurai that was working for his master.

It was unfortunate that the ability of the technique was not lasting, meaning that the original body of the samurai was before him and not a copy of Gatou's. 'I suppose I'll have to work on my medical techniques to prepare for the chunin exams and what I have planned.' he thought and went about destroying the body.

By this point, his Master was likely several miles away on the ocean and he was stuck with the clean up duty until he left to get back to Konoha. He just had to turn in the mission report for the fake mission and no one would know that he had spent the entire time in Wave Country.

A part of him was thankful that his Master hadn't just made him kill everyone that was involved in the events of Wave Country. He had nothing against Zabuza or the hunter-nin and didn't want to kill them, though he did want to fight Zabuza again and perhaps the hunter-nin too.

He was still curious as to why his master had used drain knowledge on Kakashi instead of just knocking the jonin out and waiting for him to arrive. It didn't make much sense to him. He had still been given the information by his Master which was not a very pleasant experience. Having information forced into his head was far more painful than he would have thought. In the end he had gotten all of the techniques and jutsu that they had been after but he still wasn't sure why it had been necessary.

According to what Plagueis said, the technique of implanting knowledge into another being was rather dangerous. A person could forcibly give another person knowledge of a language or how to use a piece of technology but apparently not the memories that went along with it. He had just learned of the technique itself as this was the first time Plagueis had shown it to him.

He had questioned why Plagueis hadn't just used the same technique when he was learning Basic and learning how to read the language of the Sith species but his master told him that the technique wasn't to be used for teaching in that manor. It could be used for a transfer of knowledge one time and it was best to wait long periods of time before using it again because it was so unsafe. On some level he was thankful that his master had not used the technique to teach him about the galaxy as he didn't want to feel pain like that again but it still made him wonder why Plagueis had used it in the first place.

'Was he just showing me the technique or was there something else behind him using it on me?' and that was something that he had been asking himself. He trusted Plagueis and his master didn't always reveal everything to him or the reasons why he did things a certain way. It was likely that this was just another one of those times.

It was unfortunate that the technique couldn't safely be used on memories as it would have been useful to implant his memories of stealing village items into both Mizuki and Ao years earlier instead of just erasing their minds as it would have completely pinned the blame on both. Perhaps he could look into it for the future.

Regardless of his suspicions about what his Master might be up to, it seemed that it wouldn't be long before he was in Snow Country building the reactor and preparing the ship for takeoff. He idly wondered if Zabuza had found the gift that he left behind yet. 'It shouldn't be that hard to find, especially since I could feel his confusion and skepticism earlier.'

x-x

Moving through the trees, Zabuza and Haku made their way to the warehouse that was on the edge of Wave Country that Gatou had built. Zabuza was suspicious of everything that had happened a few hours before and he wanted to check on the ship that Haku told him about a few months ago.

They had agreed to stop fighting with the Konoha ninja because the client was dead and the contract was void so they had no reason to go after Tazuna or do anything else in Wave. Zabuza was surprised when Kakashi told him that they had until Team Seven returned to Konoha before someone would find out that he had been hiding in Wave Country.

He had gone over everything that had happened and things still weren't adding up. 'Gatou wasn't stupid and I don't think he would have actually thought he could face me with only a few bandits.' he thought but that also assumed that he was fighting against Kakashi as hard as he could which didn't happen. He had conserved as much chakra and stamina as possible during the battle to make sure that they weren't double-crossed, which he had started suspecting after Gatou helped the Konoha ninja to escape.

It made him wonder what Gatou was really after when he had taken a tissue sample of Kakashi's dojutsu. Why would a shipping mogul want to have samples of bloodlines? The thing he needed to check right now was to see if the boat was still docked at the pier by the secret warehouse. If the boat was gone then he wasn't sure what to believe anymore.

Running across the water to the last island in the chain, Haku lead him to the area where the warehouse and dock were. They came to a stop at the area only to find no warehouse and a dock with no ship. The area where the warehouse used to be was easy to find as it was now a large area of dried mud with two items sitting in the very middle. One was a large brief case and the other was a scroll sitting on top of it.

Stopping Haku from going any closer, Zabuza created a water clone to investigate the objects while both stood a good distance away. If someone did want them dead, then it could easily be a trap. Then again, he still didn't know what was really going on.

The clone opened up the case and showed the contents to both real ninja, it was filled with money, 'Likely the exact amount we were owed for our services.' thought Zabuza and he wasn't sure why he knew that but it just seemed to fit the strange situation they were in. The clone opened the scroll and also further examined the contents of the case to look for any traps or explosive notes but found none.

Walking over, the clone handed the letter to Zabuza. Beginning to read read the letter, his eyes widened as he recognized that it was to him and that the writing style as that of Gozu. 'What the hell?!' he thought and continued reading:

Zabuza,

By now you've found the money that our new client left for your services while in Wave Country. It should be the amount you agreed upon. We got a better offer from the cloaked brat and started working for him. To bad you didn't want to extend your contract, the perks are way better than the original deal with Gatou.

Gozu and Meizu

P.S.

We never really liked you

Zabuza stared at the letter and then gave it over to Haku who also read the letter and tilted her head slightly to the side as she looked at it. "What does this mean Zabuza-sama?" she asked as she tried to piece together all of the events that she had witnessed as Zabuza did the same.

They had found out information about Gatou before meeting him and the man turned out to be different from what they had heard. They first met him after the cloaked boy seemingly attacked him but that had been written off as a test. 'What if it wasn't a test?' thought Zabuza and wondered if the cloaked brat was behind everything that had happened in Wave Country. 'Could he have controlled Gatou the entire time we were here?' he thought and it made sense.

Gatou's strange behavior and everything else that had happened could all have been the result of the cloaked assassin that they knew little about. 'The brat obviously must have stolen everything that Gatou had and put it in the boat. He was controlling Gatou the entire time! Not only that, but he made sure to get the shorty killed to make sure that no one could find out about the theft.' It did make sense in way but it left one question and that was, 'Who was the cloaked brat?'

He didn't have an answer for that and didn't know the brats name or any identifying characteristics about him besides his height, a general description of clothing, and the sword. What was worse was that even if he knew it to be true, who else could he possibly convince that it was true. No one would believe a story like that. 'Some kid out of no where with unknown powers took control of one of the richest men in the world and bled him dry. Then he managed to get away with it.' he concluded and he and Haku were the only witnesses or people that actually knew what had happened. The Konoha ninja knew nothing of the brat.

It was rather scary that he could be used so easily by someone so young and it seemed the demon brothers were now with that same person. Frankly, he was glad to be rid of them and wondered how long they would last under their new employer or if the brat was even the real employer or just worked for someone else. The entire situation gave him a headache.

Looking to the briefcase of money he made a decision, "I don't know if we'll ever find out what really happened here and I don't really want to know. Let's just take the money and go." stated Zabuza and he grabbed the briefcase while Haku followed behind him as they headed for the main harbor in Wave to get on a ship.

x-x

Weeks later, Konoha

x-x

Kakashi just finished going over the mission report to the Sandaime. They stayed in Wave a few weeks longer until the bridge was completed and then they headed back to Konoha. Zabuza had disappeared after the fight and Kakashi didn't really care where the man was headed. The mission had been upgraded to an A-rank and Wave Country was able to pay them because of an anonymous donation of money to the village.

The Sandaime dismissed him and Kakashi left the office. Putting the file onto the stack on his desk, the Sandaime went about finishing up the rest of the work he had to do.

A little while later, the secretary came in and took the files away. She sorted them into the stack of files that were going to the archives to be stored among the other mission reports and other ninja files of the village as well as the ninja library.

x-x

Sweating profusely, Izumo and Kotetsu each carried a very heavy stack of files up the long staircase to the ninja archives and ninja library which were both together in the Hokage Mountain. It was a hot day and they actually wished they were still on gate duty instead. Being messenger boys for the Hokage was a common job for them.

They were let into archives and walked past Uzumaki Naruto who was sitting in at one of the many tables and copying information from a library scroll to one he had brought with him. Naruto glanced up briefly but gave no indication that he had really noticed them or cared. They proceeded through the library section and into one of the many filing rooms.

The stacks were set down and they went to work filing everything into where it was supposed to go.

x-x

A couple hours later, both chunins emerged from the filing room and walked past Naruto again to leave. They also walked past a cloaked ANBU that headed to same file room the two chunin had just left. Sifting through the filing cabinets, the ANBU found the correct file Danzo-sama wanted and copied its contents.

x-x

Root Headquarters

x-x

A file was placed in front of him by one of his Root ANBU and he peered through its contents with his right eye exposed to memorize everything. Technically he could have just gone to the archives himself and looked at the file there but he didn't want to be seen entering the archives or looking at the mission report. He had already received Shin's report on the mission and wanted to see the written mission report submitted by Kakashi, which would likely have more information that may not have been known to the young Root ninja.

The mission seemed normal enough and the only thing that stood out was the fact that Team Seven was not killed by Momochi Zabuza but rather captured. However, he considered that Gatou wasn't completely foolish and knew that if he had killed Konoha ninja, then the village would not sit by idly. It was one thing for ninja to be killed on duty by other ninja or accidents but having an entire genin team killed by a greedy businessman was not something that the village would stand for. When Kakashi and his team didn't return or send any message concerning the status of the mission, more ninja would be sent after them and that would bring far more attention to Wave Country than Gatou likely wanted.

His own unsanctioned missions to Wave Country revealed that the Kyuubi container had secretly traveled to Wave Country several times in a six month period and that the boy was visiting Gatou. It was unclear what the two talked about as the scroll Sai had sent him was gibberish except for a few names, which were the boy's genin teammates and also Orochimaru's. That one name in the conversation set off alarm bells for him and he tried to find some kind of connection between Orochimaru and Gatou or Orochimaru and Uzumaki Naruto.

The search had come up empty and his men could find nothing connecting those names together. He had also checked the genin mentioned and did find that they had failed the chunin exams an exorbitant amount of times and it made him suspicious about those two genin. He would have Shin look into it in the next chunin exams, which they would all likely be participating in.

Any information about what Uzumaki was doing with Gatou was now lost as the shipping tycoon had been killed by Momochi Zabuza. The mission file also mentioned a fake hunter-nin which was likely the person that Sai spotted following the Kyuubi container.

Nothing about the situation made much sense and the only people who could give him more information were unobtainable. He couldn't have the jinchuuriki interrogated or questioned and he wasn't foolish enough to send his ninja after Momochi Zabuza and a Hyouton user. If the former Kiri ninja could evade or kill hunter-nin for so long then his Root ANBU would likely not stand a chance against the silent killing skills of Zabuza.

He considered trying to have Fu search the jinchuuriki's mind but that could be very dangerous as it was not known if a person could mind-walk in the mind of a Jinchuuriki and he wasn't willing to risk losing Fu to find out. This left only one option, which was to continue surveillance on the Kyuubi container in hopes that something else would be discovered. Something would turn up eventually and he would find some answers about what the boy was doing in Wave Country and meeting with Gatou.

Please Review

Responses to reviews from newboy and redhand

Reviewer: newboy

As a continuation of my prevoious review, personally I hope that naruto can have his shadow clones use the force as they could obviously speed up his training in the force. It might be possible, for shadow clones while they are created by chakra, the bodies are real physical copies, so perhaps a portion of the midiclorians are copied as well, not enough to be useful in a fight perhaps, but useful enough for training purposes. That is my thought on the matter.

Response: I saw the error and I don't think I can give shadow clones force abilities. It would make Naruto way to powerful because he could create an army of force users and do something crazy since they could all combine their powers because they are essentially the same person. I was thinking that they couldn't use the Force because they are created entirely from chakra and even though it mimics the body perfectly, you can't really create midi-chlorians or chakra representations on midi-chlorians. I just don't see that working out.

Reviewer: newboy

One other question I have, but one that does not need to be answered right away is what plagueis intends to do when he finds out how naruto developed force powers. Will he complete the process by doing the same thing to others or by completing it in naruto? I only ask because I don't think plagueis would want to give another ninja force powers and train them. In his current position trying to look after another student to make sure he or she would not betray him would be impossible. He knows that naruto is loyal, he cannot be certain about another force user he might train, especially given the sith obsession with power.

Response: I don't think that the process can be completed with Naruto. I suppose its similar to how a person that is given a blood transfusion from a jedi, can't become force sensitive. Naruto's midi-chlorians are there to stay and the number can no longer be changed. I was thinking it would be a one time deal and so he will never be able to get more midi-chlorians. The midi-chlorians that he has are all from one person and they likely wouldn't want to mix with midi-chlorians from another person. Plagueis will find out how the process happened and it will likely be done with the ninja that will be traveling with him. I think Naruto might end up training the other Force-ninja because he has the ability to form force bonds with others and they will work with him. He hasn't shown the ability yet because he has never tried to really make friends. Its also likely that the people he takes with him will not be trained in the ways of the darkside like he was. I could see Naruto just giving them basic instruction in certain Force abilities that are used by both sides.

Reviewer: Redhand

Awesome story, a great blending of Naruto and SW. I must say, I'm very much looking forward to when Naruto makes it into the wider galaxy, and begins his mission against Sidious. I'd love to see Naruto infiltrate/interact with the Rebel Alliance to gain information on Sidious, perhaps even assume the guise of a rebel agent/spy for Mon Mothma or Leia, and/or work with Han & Luck on strike missions.

Then again, perhaps trying to infiltrate Imperial intelligence would be a good way of understanding Sidious' resources and goals. Maybe even cross paths with Mara Jade? Or just play everyone against each other as a triple agent.

But I guess all that depends on the era and how much time has passed since Plagueis died, lots of potential during Clone Wars era too.
I'm really looking forward to more!

Response: I was thinking more along the lines of the clone wars era because I know more about and the things that happened during that time frame.