Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Star Wars. Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto, and Star Wars belongs to George Lucas.
Thoughts are underlined
Author's note: Sorry for the long wait. I blame school, which has been very busy. Please check out the new forum I created.
Chapter 12:
I guess Gamakicki was wrong. It has been 2 years and nothing. I guess I have got to accept the fact that he might be… dead.
Naruto frowned.
Hey I survived just fine being alone while growing up. I can survive just fine being alone now. And I got friends. Though none of them truly know the real me, as them knowing the real me would too dangerous.
Which was very true. The things Naruto wanted to do to Palpatine would make a deranged mass murderer shudder in revulsion. It would also if known cause him to get a death mark placed on his head.
The thing was Naruto was very paranoid. Partially because of his upbringing, and partially because of his current circumstances, Naruto was operating under the idea that if he got close to anyone, they would betray him to the Empire. What this meant was that while Naruto was friends/friendly acquaintances with a lot of people, (Naruto was a very social person), none of them could really be considered a close friend.
Naruto arrived at his destination and forced himself to smile.
Hey, time to have some fun. Been working hard, so it's time to relax.
Pushing open the door, Naruto walked into Chalmun's Cantina.
"Yo, Naruto's in the house".
"Hey Naruto".
"What's going on kid?"
"Hi Uzumaki".
Naruto's life on Tatooine has changed a lot over the last 2 years. Naruto has risen to a position of great power within Jabba's court. Naruto was Jabba's go-to Bounty Hunter/Mercenary. Of course, part of that was because Naruto almost always available right away for a job. But besides that Naruto has gained a reputation on Tatooine as a person who gets the job done. Mostly various jobs dealing somehow with the criminal element on Tatooine, but Naruto has done a few jobs offworld. He bought some piece of crap Junker 18 months ago. It wasn't a very good ship but Naruto wanted to do the one thing he wanted to do ever since he landed on Tatooine and that was to get off it. The ship worked for about a month before it broke down beyond repair, and Naruto decided to save up his money for a better one. So now when he needed to go offworld he caught a lift with one of Jabba's many cronies. He found and bought a good ship about a month ago. It currently was going through the various bureaucracy and paperwork which seemed to infest everything regardless of what world you were on. Naruto knew he could have sped up the process with some credits, but honestly Tatooine was growing on him a little bit.
Naruto paid for someone to hack his datapad into the Imperial Enforcement DataCore, as well as to forge all the appropriate bounty hunting licenses, and to artificially create for Naruto a past in the Imperial records. Extraordinarily expensive, but worth it.
He also spent some credits giving Tomo a few extra toys. Such as a stealth generator so he could do its probe duties a lot better and easier than before, and he had a video uplink hooked up to Naruto's datapad so he could see anything that that the droid saw on his datapad. As well as a microphone so Naruto could remotely give commands (which Tomo often ignored). He also gave Tomo a blaster, just in case things go horribly wrong. Usually Tomo floated around behind Naruto when he went out, but currently Tomo was at Naruto's place. Naruto's power generator has been malfunctioning recently, so Tomo was fixing it.
Naruto also found out that his armor was made of a material that was near indestructible and extraordinarily rare. In hindsight, the price he got it for was so cheap compared to its true value, the seller must not have known what he had. Unfortunately Naruto had a growth spurt and outgrew the armor. So Naruto had the armor melted down to raw ore, mixed with some high quality durasteel, and forged into new set of armor. Basically it was exactly the same as his old set of armor, just bigger, not quite as tough, and a little heavier. Though Naruto did like how the heavier armor gave his blows more weight. Also, it turns out Durasteel was more chakra conductive than Mandalorian Iron, which meant Naruto's chakra techniques were just a little easier to perform. Naruto added some storage seals to the wrists of the armor, this way he could store and carry whatever and however much he wanted with him at all times. Though he stored some of his stuff in pouches at his waist, just in case he was running low on Chakra and couldn't afford the energy to activate the storage seal. Also Naruto wore a bodysuit under the armor. It was designed to disperse kinetic energy, which made physical blows less effective on him.
In any case currently Naruto was casually walking through the cantina, quickly and easily slipping into his social persona.
Chatting and saying hello to various people while walking by, Naruto eventually came to the bar.
"Yo Wuher, my man."
Wuher who was cleaning classes by the bar stopped and just looked up at Naruto. After a few seconds he said gruffly,
"Naruto".
"I'll have my usual".
Wuher sighed.
"Why do come here if you don't drink alcohol?"
"What can I say? I had a bad experience with alcohol, but I like the atmosphere here."
"Yeah, whatever. As long as you keep paying me."
Wuher quickly mixed up the juice drink; Naruto paid the man and with his juice blend set out to enjoy his much needed break from work. He quickly drained the drink and put the glass back on the counter.
Walking up to a table he said energetically,
"Hey Labria, how are you doing my devilish friend?"
"Not in the mood right now Uzumaki."
"Bye".
Naruto quickly disappeared before Labria could say anything else. Another thing Naruto has learned is to never piss off a male Devaronian. They had bad tempers with short fuses. They also held grudges for a very long time.
Weaving though the crowds, Naruto spotted a familiar face.
"Hey Tyren."
"Hi Naruto."
"Where's your hat?"
"Hey that reminds me".
Reaching into a bag he had on the chair next to him at the bar, Tyren pulled out a hat and gave it Naruto.
"Happy birthday."
"You remembered? Thanks man".
Naruto put on the hat and chatted a little with Tyren as they navigated through the crowd.
Tyren was the closest thing to a best friend that Naruto has on Tatooine, and Tyren knew absolutely nothing about him, which was sort of sad. But Naruto's paranoia required no less.
They eventually came to a table.
"Hey Naruto, hi Tyren."
"Hey Arden, hey Wilken. Can we join your Sabacc game".
"Well I was thinking I had too much money in my pocket. Always glad you're here to help Naruto".
"I don't always win Arden".
"Say that to all my money that is in your bank account".
"Enough children!"
"Sorry Dad"
"Sorry Wilken"
"Now Arden we don't play to earn money, we play for fun. Money is merely something to give the game a little competitive weight. As for you two we would be delighted if you join us."
Wilken and Arden Cynerus both were intelligent, powerful and rich. They came to Tatooine every month or so to visit the grave site of Arden's mom. And after they paid their respects, they always came to Chalmun's Cantina to play Sabacc. Naruto met them about a year ago, and while he bickered a lot with Arden, Naruto got along with both of them pretty well.
Tyren coughed. "Enough bantering, let's get to the game."
"Alright. We just started a game, so it would be easy to restart it."
"Dad I was winning."
"Another great reason to restart. So what rules you want to play Naruto?"
"How about Corellian?"
"Alright. Everyone cool with that?"
"Yeah."
"Whatever."
Naruto's comlink then started beeping.
Naruto answered his comlink, and a hologram of a Twi-lek appeared. He immediately started talking in Huttese.
After a few minutes, Naruto answered back in Huttese and ended the comlink call.
"Sorry got to go guys. I have an assignment from Jabba."
Tyren groaned.
"Couldn't you play one game first?"
"Believe me, I wish I could; but Jabba provides most of my business and I can't exactly afford to piss him off." There was a series of grumbles from everyone else at the table.
"Don't be like that. How about this, you all get one drink on my tab. And I mean one. That is not code for five. I am looking at you, Tyren".
"That hurts, it really does. Have you so little faith in my integrity?"
"Yes".
"… Alright, point taken. I promise I'll not get more than one drink on your tab."
Naruto looked at Wilken, who sighed.
"I'll watch him for you."
"You're so sure I am going to try to cheat you…?"
"Yes."
"Oh just go."
"Alright, see you guys".
"Bye".
"Later".
"See you".
Desperation and fear can cause many things in a man. Through adrenaline it can make someone stronger and faster. Better in a fight, or more appropriately in this case to run away in abject terror. Not that it will help in this case at all.
The man fled down the back alleys of Mos Eisely. His large size, grey skin, and red eyes would have made him a very intimidating figure if he wasn't currently sweating like a pig.
Without any warning, he was struck in the back, which knocked him to the ground. The Duros immediately got to his feet and withdrew his blaster. Only to be knocked down again.
Spotting a figure out the corner of his eye, he raised his blaster and fired.
Or he would have if a force didn't slam his hand back into the ground and break it. That force being that figure's foot. The foot was connected to a powerful looking short man with blonde hair wearing a dirty brown cap.
"Sorry Raraza, you're not going anywhere. Jabba knows you've been working behind his back with his enemies. And he wants me to bring you to him. Believe me, considering the stuff you've done, I can't wait to see you get what you deserve. Any last requests?"
"Um… Let me go."
"Ok".
"Really?"
"This is not what I meant!"
The voice came from the stomach of an enormous toad.
"What the problem? I let you go didn't I? I am not preventing you from escaping; Gamadarakeru would be the one doing that."
"But it's cold, it's wet, and it's dark".
Gamadarakeru then slammed one of his hands into his stomach.
"Hey shut up in there."
"Think about it this way Raraza: as bad as this is, Jabba will do far worse. You should try to enjoy your current circumstances while you can. So sit there, relax, and reflect on the delicious irony that you're named after a bird that eats toads, and right now you're in the stomach of one."
Naruto was in a good mood, and why not? He had more credits in his bank account, he got a good laugh from the look on Jabba's holographic face when Gamadarakeru barfed Raraza up in front of him when Naruto delivered Raraza to one of Jabba's fronts (Jabba had fronts and offices in all of Tatooines' cities), Naruto's ship just cleared regulations so he could leave the planet as soon as he took care of all his current affairs on Tatooine, and he just haggled a really good deal at the Mos Eisley Market for Bantha Meat, which he promptly stored in a seal.
"Hello Naruto".
"Hi Ganron".
Ganron Selayen was a war veteran. He owned the shop whose window he used as a mirror. Long story short the reason he was stuck on Tatooine had to do with some war called the Clone Wars, which apparently was some big Civil War where a bunch of planets called the Confederacy of Independent Systems tried to secede from the Republic (the galaxies' previous form of unified government). Commander Ganron Selayen had loyally served and fought for the Republic for 50 years by that point. He was a textbook example of military loyalty, efficiency, and skill that many aspired to. Then he defected to the other side. He told Naruto that he realized that he agreed with the Separatist cause.
Unfortunately for Ganron, CIS the lost the war. And Ganron found himself guilty of High Treason, suddenly bereft of any type of protection from a military tribunal. Knowing that the courts would have him executed, he went to ground on Tatooine where he has stayed since.
Both Naruto and Ganron knew that they was a bounty on Ganron's head that Naruto could collect, but Naruto decided that he wasn't going to collect it.
Naruto liked Ganron. They weren't friends exactly, but they in many ways understood each other. They were both soldiers that experienced war and that gave them a bond.
Whenever they chatted, Ganron would tell Naruto about his various military exploits, and Naruto learned a lot from them, tactics and strategy mostly. Also Naruto learned a little history. Given it was all military history, but it was still very valuable.
Unfortunately at the moment Ganron did not have time to chat, but the encounter still put Naruto in a better mood. But as they say all good things must come to an end. Naruto saw an Imperial.
The Stormtrooper was taking a shortcut through a wide alley way. Hatred exploded in Naruto and his hands were clenched so hard that under his armor they started to bleed. Good mood gone, Naruto headed towards the alley way. He casually pulled a device from one of his armor's storage seals and when he got close enough stuck it on the wall at the beginning of the alley way. Once stuck on the wall the device activated with a low hum.
The Stormtrooper's communications went dead.
Oh come on. This is the fourth communication equipment failure this month. But I keep such good care of my equipment, why would this happen to me? I guess I'll complain about it tomorrow. Right now I just want to get home and eat my wife's meatloaf, which unfortunately would be getting cold by now. Better hurry up.
Dace Panib picked up his pace. He wanted to get home. He especially wanted to show Fiolla an award he got today. He was extremely proud of the fact that he was one of the very few natural born Stormtroopers in the Corp. Most of the Corp. were still clones, but Dace was one of the first natural born people to volunteer for the job. While he did not care much for Palpatine, Dace loved the Empire. He was not entirely sure why he was posted on Tatooine, but he was sure there was a good reason. Feeling patriotic pride, Dace took a moment to adjust his standard issue all-white Stormtrooper armor.
Hearing a noise behind him, Dace turned around. However, he didn't see anything, so he turned back to his original position. Only to start in surprise as there was suddenly an intimidating looking figure in front of him. After a few seconds Dace relaxed.
It's just a kid.
Which was true. It was a very tough and powerful looking kid, but still a kid. Dressed in a dark orange armor, Dace figured the boy was playing dress up, not realizing that the armor fit the kid far too well to not be made for him.
The kid was about 16 years old, maybe 1.68 meters tall. Blond, blue eyed, with weird whisker like scars on his cheeks. He was wearing besides the armor, some pouches, a metal headband, and a dirty brown cap. Dace's mind grew uneasy as unconsciously it sensed something dangerous about him. Even though the kid was smiling, something in the kid's eyes seemed a little off.
Maybe the kid's lost.
However, before he could ask the kid if he was indeed lost. The kid spoke still with a big smile.
"Are you proud of the horrible things that the Empire has done, the murdering of innocent children, the architect of trillions of atrocities?"
"Kid you could get into a lot of trouble if you talk like that. So please don't."
"So I can't express myself? You going to prevent my freedom of speech? What else can't you expect from a dog of the bloated tyrannical abomination that is the Empire?"
That sense of unease that Dace felt increased and he instinctually started to reach for his blaster.
"Oh you're going to silence me? Is this how the Empire solves all its problems, just shoot it and make it go away? It says a lot about a person that when they are faced with verbal criticism the first thing they do is reach for their gun."
"Kid, I am going to need you to come with me."
"Oh no no no, I can't do that. I'm on a mission."
"What type of mission?"
"You see there's a dangerous rabid animal that is loose around here. Now I feel it is my duty as an upstanding person to put this dangerous beast down. Maybe you've seen it. It is dressed in white and has a very hard shell."
Realizing what animal the boy was hunting, Dace reached for his blaster.
Too late.
Moving far too fast to be natural the boy darted forward and slammed his foot into Dace's chest knocking him to the ground.
To Dace's credit, he got up and had his blaster ready to fire in a split second. Only problem was that the boy was no longer there. Or at least did not appear to be.
Filled with adrenaline, Dace scanned the surrounding area, this blaster ready to fire. However, in the alley way there were a lot of shadows so he didn't see much.
"Who are you? Why are you doing this?"
The boy's voice answered though it was projected so Dace could tell where it was coming from.
"My name is not important, just think of me as an arbiter of justice. As for why, you mean you don't know? Well I hadn't planned on it, but I suppose I could teach you. And the best to learn is through example. Ok, class is in session, better pay attention".
Dace started turning to try to get a glimpse of Naruto.
"Now let's begin with a quiz. Answer honestly now. How does it feel to be taunted by an enemy you don't know, with abilities you have never seen before? Well…"
"I don't know what type of game you're playing, but nerve-racking… I guess".
"I suppose you could say that. Next question. How does it feel to have your defenses stripped away?"
There was a blur of movement and there was a knife embedded in a groove in Dace's armor. Around the knife's handle there was a piece of paper, a smoking piece of paper. Suddenly the paper exploded.
Dace's armor was blasted off him and he crashed to the ground again.
Realizing the situation he was in, he swallowed his pride and yelled.
"Somebody help!"
"You can go ahead and scream all you'd like. Nobody is going to help you. That's the wonderful thing about Tatooine, Mos Eisley in particular; people have a strong sense of self-preservation. Nobody has the guts help each other out unless they have to because they know if they do those guts will be painting the ground. In any case I'm not sure anyone can hear you, as there's a sound bubble around this alley way that prevents sounds from getting out. So don't fret, this will remain a private lesson. And I just realized but I can't have blasters in my classroom, I'll have to take that."
Suddenly there was a blur of motion in front of Dace and he felt his blaster being ripped from his hands.
"Now where were we? Ah yes, I remember. Next question, how does it feel to be completely helpless in the dark as you're tortured?"
Naruto slammed his foot into the Stormtrooper's right knee snapping the joint, and grabbing the broken leg used that as a lever and slammed the man into the wall. Then kneeing the Trooper in the stomach, Naruto grabbed the man's left arm and wrenched it, causing the whole thing to let off a series of snaps and cracks. He screamed and Naruto took pleasure from the sound.
Naruto then picked him up and threw him against the opposite wall. The man's lip caught a nail that was embedded in the wall, and was suspended for a few moments before the lip ripped and he fell to the ground. When the Trooper was the ground, Naruto took the opportunity to stomp on and break his other knee.
Picking up the Trooper by the throat, he asked,
"How does it feel knowing you are going to die?"
The man in response slammed his right hand into Naruto's face, causing them both to crash to the ground. Dace looked at Naruto's collapsed body and grinned until the body disappeared in a puff of smoke.
"How does it feel thinking you have won, but realizing you didn't? Now answer this. How does it feel seeing your whole world burn?"
Dace frantically started crawling towards the exit to the alley only to be cut off by a wall of flames. And when he turned around, behind him was cut off too. And from the flames walked Naruto. Through chakra shielding both him and his clothes were completely untouched by the fire. Picking up Dace by the back of his head he smashed the man's head into a wall then threw him through one of the flames.
Mildly burned, Dace's skidded across the ground, the friction peeling some of the flesh from his bones. However, he stopped sliding close to the exit and immediately tried to crawl to it.
Naruto watched Dace for a few seconds. The smile that has perpetually been on his face this entire time for the briefest moment became something else, something very ugly, before Naruto hid it away.
Then with a blur of motion Naruto was in front of Dace, and backhanded him, the force of which lifted the man off the ground and slammed him into a wall.
Then darting his right hand out, Naruto pinned the Trooper's neck to the wall.
"How does it feel to think you have escaped only to realize that you were sadly mistaken? So any last words monster?"
"I'm not the monster here."
"Oh, but you are a monster. Now if you're saying I am as well. Well I don't think so. I am just doing my civic duty after all, my duty to cleanse this beautiful galaxy of all its Imperial filth. Your kind is a disease on the galaxy, and if wanting to cure it makes me a monster then I guess I am one."
Dace spat at Naruto. While aimed at his eyes, because of Dace's torn lips, the spit hit Naruto's chin. Naruto casually wiped it off.
"Excellent statement, allow me to retort."
And Dace started to scream. His sanity began to disintegrate as the claws of madness ripped apart his mind. His heart went crazy as Naruto projected all his hate, all his loathing directly into Dace's mind. Naruto stopped after a second.
He didn't want the trooper to be too insane to fully experience what was going to happen to him next.
Activating his right hand's wrist blade, Naruto gutted him then stepped back. Imbuing his saliva with the Kyuubi's power, he spat, setting Dace's body aflame. And he proceeded to just watch Dace scream and burn.
As said before Naruto with only a few exceptions did not kill any more then he needed to.
This was one of those exceptions.
"Class Dismissed"
Naruto with practiced ease casually deactivated his houses security seals. The house was a gift from an archeologist whose life he saved a while back.
Naruto was in a very bad mood, which was not unusual for him. Whoever said that time heals all wounds was full of crap. His rage, his hatred, his sorrow has not abated over the years. It had instead grown stronger. It was like a disease, a cancer that infested his entire being. It was an obsession. It was the first thing he thought about when he woke up, and the last thing he thought about when he went to sleep. He was not even free during the night, for then was when he had the nightmares. His hatred was always there, always present. His hatred compelled him to kill Imperials, but it never really satisfied him. It would help briefly, but it was always ended up increasing his hate, causing him to kill more of them, and thereby restarting the cycle.
Naruto brought his forearm to his mouth and activated a transmitter.
"Hey Tomo, you there?"
Not hearing anything, Naruto figured Tomo was busy working or recharging.
Stripping off his torso armor and pouches, he tossed them to the floor. Working out a kink in his back that has formed when he was… disposing… of the Imperial, Naruto headed for the refrigerator. Naruto took out a carton of Blue Milk and proceeded to chug it down.
He then heard a noise behind him.
He initially thought it was Tomo, but dismissed the thought immediately. The noises that Tomo made while moving were different than the one he just heard. Assuming it was an enemy, Naruto prepared to use the only weapon he had available, the half full milk carton. However, before he could do so.
"This is a nice place you got here Naruto."
I know that voice.
Turning around, Naruto gave a gasp and the carton of milk hit the ground.
For sitting on Naruto's couch eating a sandwich was Jiraiya.
"Hey Naruto. Oh by the way you're out of bread."
"Hi Ero-sennin."
"I don't see you for over two years and the first thing you do is call me Ero-sennin?"
"Yeah".
"I guess I wouldn't have it any other way."
Jiraiya stood up.
Who initiated what happened next was yet to be determined, but I suspect it was done at the same time as Naruto and Jiraiya met in a big hug. And Naruto cried in joy for he was not alone anymore.
For a moment the rage disappeared. And for the first time in so long, Naruto felt genuine happiness.
Too bad that happiness wouldn't last long.
