Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Star Wars. Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto, and Star Wars belongs to George Lucas.

All thoughts are underlined

Words in ' ' are in Tenkei

Chapter 14:

Hutts were an extremely interesting species, Jabba particularly so. Having established a criminal empire at an extremely early age, (he was about 80 years old at the time. Hutts live a long time The equivalent age of 80 years for a Hutt, is about 12 years for a human.), Jabba had quickly risen to power. Now at 600 years of age, he was arguably the most powerful crime lord who ever lived. Also as the head of the Desilijic Kajidic (essentially a major party in the Hutt system of government), Jabba was one of the most powerful Hutts in the galaxy. He was often cruel, sadistic, arrogant, vain, coldly logical, and he had a sexual fascination with female humanoids that most people, (Hutt and otherwise), found incredibly disturbing. Most thought of him as evil, but he didn't think so. He couldn't care less about the laws of the Empire or any other government; they were merely the meaningless rambling and nonsense of lesser beings. The only legitimate law was Hutt law, and by that law Jabba was a model citizen. He was a law abiding being with good business acumen, who happened to run a business that destroyed many quadrillions of lives. Jabba did not particularly care about that fact. To him as with all Hutts, lesser species were see'n the equivalent of trained rats. They were sometimes amusing, occasionally useful, but ultimately expendable.

He had never met anyone who challenged that notion, though he had met a few people who stretched it a little. Some Jedi, some Sith, Ephant Mon, he remembered an Economics article published couple hundred years back that was almost Hutt-like in quality… almost, a few more that he couldn't think of at the moment, and now maybe Naruto Uzumaki.

The boy was extremely interesting. For one, he had a lot of power and an extreme willingness to use it. This was something that Jabba respected. Especially the way the boy burst into his palace. It was awe-inspiring and a little frightening. When he used that red power, Jabba was actually a little frightened. Probably some genetic remnant of before the Hutts had become deities. Second, he very rarely met humans who were so professional with their killing. He killed so easily, but at the same time emotionlessly, with the exception of Imperials. Jabba didn't know why there was such loathing, but he didn't really care. As long as the boy did his job, he could do whatever he wanted as long it didn't hurt his operations. In this case, Imperial power was so inconsequential this far from the Core worlds, that their presence or lack thereof did not affect in anyway his Outer Rim operations. Third, the boy could speak Huttese properly, which was odd. Jabba had encountered many humans in his life, some of them could speak Huttese, but none could speak it properly. The thing about Huttese was even if someone's pronunciations and inflections were perfect, without the ability to create sub-harmonics, their ability to speak was that of a mentally addled child. Naruto on the other hand could pronounce everything perfectly, and speak the sub-harmonics, which Jabba didn't think possible for a human. Jabba supposed the boy's strange abilities could be aiding his success in the language, or perhaps Naruto was some unknown species that simply looked from the outside like a human but internally was not, Jabba didn't particularly care about finding out. All he really cared about for most things were results. The current result was that Naruto spoke the language as well as a native, though with a slight accent. Those things, a reasonable price, and his ability to get the job done made Naruto very valuable.

And now Naruto wished to leave his service, which displeased him, which was not something that any one did, or at least not for long.

Currently, the boy was standing in front of him, speaking in Huttese.

"'Giant slug'. I am and always be at your service. I merely wish to venture out into the galaxy and develop my skills so I can better serve you."

Jabba internally frowned for two reasons. One of the reasons was that 'giant slug' crap. He might not know exactly what it means, but he has been alive long enough to know it was not a complement. When Naruto had said those words, the boy got scared. He may have hid it pretty well, but Jabba had been reading the faces of people for over 500 years. He knew he was insulted but he couldn't let anyone else know that. It would be damaging to his reputation if it became known he allowed a young boy to insult him to his face without consequence. Now he could have killed the boy, but Jabba was nothing if not pragmatic. He knew Naruto was more valuable to him alive than dead. So he pretended to buy Naruto's story. The way Jabba figured it, his stupid minions will buy it. His smarter minions will understand why he let Naruto live, as well as being smart enough not to say anything to anyone ever. And the rest of his minions will never say anything out of the fear that someone will take that opportunity to declare them a traitor to Jabba's court and elevate their own political position by killing them. Jabba very purposely cultivated a very cut-throat environment around him. Weed out the weak; only the strong and thus the people who most deserve to serve him will survive.

The other reason he frowned was the current situation. Naruto being conveniently nearby to handle assignments quickly was a big bonus. Therefore if the boy moves away, Naruto's value to him goes down. The problem with forcing him to stay was that Jabba knew the boy well enough to know the boy wouldn't take such an action quietly. And if Naruto was killed, than Jabba's empire loses the usage of Naruto's services all together and therefore loses even more value than if the boy just moves. Until he came up with a better solution, the best option he had was clear.

"I understand, and I wish you pleasant travels. May the skills you gain abroad earn us both great profit."

"Thank you for your leave, Lord Jabba."

He watched the boy leave the Hutt's court. Leave the fortress, as well as Jabba's favor and watchful gaze. The opportunity he had waited for had finally come. It was time.

I will feed.

Naruto sighed, the fight with Jiraiya infringing in his mind. It was not that he couldn't understand the man's position and the actions he did, and objectively he might actually agree with those actions. However, it still hurt. Regardless of the reasons, someone was supposed to take care of him, but didn't do anything for him. They instead completely abandoned him to his fate. It brought up a lot of insecurities and fears from when he was younger about him being unlovable. If he didn't have a demon sealed within him, would Jiraiya still have abandoned him? In any case he didn't completely buy that Jiraiya couldn't do anything. The man was one of the richest and most well connected people he knew. He had to have been able to do something.

In any case, the basis for keeping the information from him was flawed. When he was younger, he was so desperate for anyone to care at all about him, and if he was told to get someone who cared he would have to keep his mouth shut, he would have damn well kept his mouth shut.

Sensing his companion's mood, Tomo beeped a few times behind Naruto. Tomo's powerful cloaking technology keeping the droid completely invisible.

Suddenly Naruto felt a jolt. It didn't hurt exactly; it simply was a tingle that for a lack of better word rippled up and down his head. Then his head started to hurt… a lot.

"Hi Naruto."

Recognizing the voice, Naruto looked up.

"Iruka-sensei?"

Standing a distance away was Iruka.

"I am glad you're all right. Sorry I have been gone so long. Explanations for what happened can wait until later. Right now, come to me."

Naruto started moving towards Iruka. He was so happy. The closest thing he ever had for a father was here. But as he got closer, the pain in his head got worse and worse. However, Naruto didn't care about that now.

Naruto suddenly stopped moving. The pain in his head had become extremely severe. He looked at Iruka though his pain and for a few moments the man's image shimmered. For an instant Naruto swore he saw someone else, someone with grey skin and weird tentacles on his face. However, the image of Iruka quickly returned, and Naruto dismissed what he saw as a trick of the heat and he slowly continued on. But then a missile flew over his head and collided with Iruka. The pain quickly disappeared, but Naruto at the moment didn't notice.

"NO!"

But when the smoke cleared, Iruka was not the one standing there. It was someone else. Someone he vaguely remembered from Jabba's court. He quickly realized what happened.

That thing was in his head, and Tomo just saved his life. At the moment, the former fact was more important.

The burning familiarity of Kyuubi's power began to fill his veins. Red began to tinge his vision, and the wind around him began to swirl and howl.

With a roar, Naruto shot a large gout of flame at the figure. When the smoke cleared the figure was gone.

"Who are you?!"

There was no answer.

Any animals in the area has long since run way and the desert seemed eerily quiet.

The sound was his only warning.

From behind him something burst out of the sand. The attack from the figure brought him to the ground. It was on top of him, the strange tentacles reaching for his face. Naruto with a grunt threw the figure off of him. He followed the action up with a burst of wind. Hyper concentrated and focused it hit like a train, and what it hit exploded from the impact. The only problem was what he hit was not his target, as the figure had dodged his attack and disappeared again into the sand.

It was not that the figure was that strong or fast, it was the way the figure moved, so smooth, so graceful, and not a single wasted movement. It moved like an experienced hunter. It dodged his attacks with an ease that said it had dealt with the same thing before.

Naruto sensed movement and blasted the area with a mixture of wind and flame, but missed again.

With a roar, the entire area for 30 meters around him burst into flames. When the flames faded the entire area had turned to glass. Naruto waited to see if he got the figure.

"You are indeed powerful prey, but that just means you will be so much more delicious when you are finally caught. The meal you have to work for has such a wonderful taste."

Naruto looked around but he couldn't locate the voice.

"I am not food."

"Oh I agree. You are not mere food, but rather a delicacy, a rare morsel that I must partake. That power that swirls around you has such a delectable aroma. What delicious soup you must have. But without the cover of sand how will I get near? Your mind won't fall to my spell twice. I am afraid I must put this meal on hold. The circumstances of this encounter have changed, and the likelihood of my success has gone down too much for my comfort. Goodbye Naruto Uzumaki, we will meet again."

The voice vanished, and Naruto waited a few minutes for anything else to happen. When nothing happened, Naruto relaxed.

Tomo floated up the stealth cloaking deactivated for the moment.

"Thanks Tomo".

Tomo gave a few beeps which in droid roughly meant "you're welcome" and "you owe me now a case of extremely high quality grade oil."

"Fine. So what the hell was that?"

A screen opened up on Tomo's body and a file started to load. Naruto has long since transferred the files he got from Lagre'ido's library over to the droid. After a second the file loaded, and Naruto proceeded to read.

"Let's see, Anzati are long lived species rumored to be immortal. Lives swathed in mystery. Need to feed on others to survive and are rumored to have strange mind control abilities as well as shape shifting powers. Also, there are rumors that whoever they feed upon change into an Anzati who are their slaves. The material they feed upon is people's brains. Oh you got to be kidding; I am being hunted by the twisted love-child of a vampire and a zombie. Let's see if there anything in here about how to kill one… damn."

After reading the article, Naruto took off for Mos Eisley.

While Bestine was the planet's capital, Mos Eisley was arguably the busiest city. The spaceport was at all types a thriving hub of activity, some of it legal, a lot of it not. Naruto had seen a lot of things on these streets, but now he was seeing something he had not seen before. Imperials… and a lot of them. They were on the corners, in the building talking to and questioning people. As Naruto paused to watch the spectacle, a stormtrooper walked up to him. Naruto noticed several stormtroopers on the rooftops and streets watching him.

"Hey kid, I have a few questions for you."

A familiar red started to creep over his vision but he forced it back, there were too many Imperials around to risk an attack. Naruto started focusing his Intent, and he adopted his local persona; he didn't want the trooper to notice anything out of place.

"Sure thing trooper, how may I help you?

"A few hours ago, the body of trooper Dace Panib was found it an alleyway near here, or at least what remained of it. The corpse was severely mutilated; the coroner believed the trooper was tortured."

"By the maker, what type of monster would do such a thing?"

"I don't know. Horrifying that someone would do this. Sickening. We suspect this individual has killed before. Over the last year, many troopers have gone missing. Trooper Panib's body is one of the few bodies that was ever found, and the only one that provides clear evidence of foul play. However, if Panib was murdered, there is a good chance the other troopers were too."

"What do you need me to do, how can I help bring this murderer to justice?"

"We are currently asking around town to see if anyone saw anything, as well as to bring in any suspects we have."

"Do you have any?"

"You."

"Excuse me?"

"Security footage from a nearby store saw Panib enter the alleyway that he died in. A few moments later you entered that same alleyway. Panib never left, but you did around 20 minutes later."

Damn it, the device should have taken out all electronic equipment in the area.

"You can't possibly think I was responsible for this atrocity do you?"

"I don't, but you are a suspect. We will need you to come down to the base, and answer a few questions."

"Of course, but I didn't see anything. I was taking a short cut to 16th avenue. I saw Panib, chatted with him for 20 minutes or so, and then left. The murder must have happened after I left. Man, if I left a few minutes later, then I could have died. I didn't do anything though, you have to believe me."

"I do, but orders are orders. The commander wants you taken in for questioning, so that's what I am going to do."

Naruto tried projecting some sympathy and trust Intent but the trooper was completely unphased.

Damn it.

Naruto released the full weight of his killing intent and froze the trooper in place. He noticed in the distance troopers turning in his direction as well as the nearby troopers were reaching for their blasters, so he acted quickly. Hoping they couldn't see what he did next in detail, he transformed into the trooper he froze, stole the man's blaster rifle, and proceeded to kill with the trooper's blaster rifle any nearby troopers who might have been close enough to see the transformation. He got nicked a few times from returning fire, but nothing serious enough to force him to drop the Henge. He then puts the rifle in the trooper's hands. Then he disappeared. From the shadows, Naruto focused his Intent and projected fear and paranoia into the trooper's mind.

Naruto then un-froze the trooper who immediately fired upon the troopers in the distance, who having noticed their ally's apparent betrayal were firing back. Unfortunately for them, the trooper that Naruto manipulated was a very good shot.

Hopefully this distraction will enough that no one remembers little old me.

Emerging from the shadows 500 meters down the street, Naruto then continued on his way. A few minutes later he felt an odd feeling. It didn't hurt exactly, but it was very tingly and slightly uncomfortable. It was similar to the feeling he had when he was attacked by the Anzati, but the feeling was not focused on his mind. Also there was a slight surge in the strange force energy in the environment that interfered with his chakra. Naruto suddenly turned around and pointed a blaster at a person walking up to him.

The man had blue eyes and a beard. His hair color appeared to have been some shade of brown when the man was younger, but now was mostly overtaken with white and grey. He had the air of someone who had seen a lot of fighting and death, but he didn't have the air of a soldier.

Completely un-phased by the blaster, the man kept walking forward until he was a few meters away. He spoke calmly,

"We need to talk."