Hello all, another chapter here. I have said it in the past, but I feel the need to reiterate it here as more and more back story for our beloved blond badass becomes broadcasted. So as I have said this is definitely an alternative to canon Naruto, his childhood was vastly different as you will soon see.

Anyway on to the story.

Ghost

04 BBY

The mood of the Ghost crew was somber. Loss of Kanan had hit them hard, and despite getting their message out, the weight of that loss hung off them in such a way to hollow even that great victory.

Loss was something Naruto, personally had grown used to. Many other shinobi would have even been aggravated by the depressed nature of their comrades in this situation. Naruto and most others were raised with the mentality that such sacrifices like Kanan's were to be honored or if great enough even celebrated. Mourning was expected but the crew seemed to shutting each other out and brooding over their losses, something that many, at least in the Fourth Shinobi war had come to regard as offensive to their loved one's memory.

As hypocritical as it felt to him, Naruto couldn't tolerate them doing this anymore. Not to mention, Kanan wasn't even dead. Naruto had lost a lot of friends and loved ones over the years, but when they were simply captured he hadn't pouted about it. He had acted.

The issue remained though that as much as he wanted to jump right in and rescue Kanan now, Naruto had matured through the years and knew when things were more complicated than just, go to place, save friend, go home.

To make the situation worse, Hera had contacted Ahsoka, or as she still referred to her, Fulcrum, and orders were to move on. From that moment Naruto had distanced himself and taken to watching the others. As he expected, Ezra did not disappoint. The kid plotted out and planned everything, even pulling Sabine, Chopper, and himself into the mix. Seriously if he wasn't Kanan's apprentice or whatever, Naruto was sure he would have decided to take the kid as his own student after this and his previous actions on other jobs, such as gathering information on the Trayvis fiasco.

'Too bad. It would have been cool to have an apprentice of my own.' Naruto thought. The closest to that for him had been Konohamaru and still the boy had never truly been his actual student.

Either way, when it came time for Ezra's plan, things went off without a hitch. Naruto and he pretended to be working on his lightsaber together, which while odd, wasn't completely unfitting as Naruto had spent a decent amount of free time getting better understandings of things from each crew member since he joined.

Complaining over his comlink to Sabine about not being able to find new power cells, the girl used it as a chance to pull Zeb along to try and 'help' find some. The Lasat seemed annoyed but a glare from Sabine had got him moving. THough he was grumbling about women and their glares all the while.

It didn't take long for the group to meet up in the Phantom. Only then did Zeb catch on to what was going on. More than happy to join in on trying to find a way to help Kanan. As the four conspirators slipped away in the shuttle, Hera struggled to regain control of the comm systems in the cockpit of the Ghost after Chopper seemed to have lost whatever remind of his processing power and overloaded the system and setting off several ear splitting alarms.

"So, kid," Naruto began getting a faint glare from Ezra at still being called kid by everyone all the time. "Where exactly is it we are going to get this info, to find Kanan? Everyone on Lothal uses the same systems and they went down the same time the Empire took down their own system."

"Probably the last place we actually want to go really." Ezra said while glancing to the side.

The others exchanged glances before Naruto laughed and rubbed the kid's head getting a glare in return again.

"Sounds like that's exactly what we need right now. I'm impressed so far Ezra keep it up." Naruto said with a grin.

The grin grew into a smile as he saw the slightly embarrassed blush on the younger boy's cheeks. The kid was so much like a mix of a young him and Sasuke it was nuts. He loved it.

"Ezra, what do you mean by the last place we want to go?" Sabine asked with a worried tone.

"Promise you won't be mad." The boy said with a half hearted grin getting more of a confused grin from Sabine than anything else.

Naruto just laughed at the situation. Slowly the laugh faded and his smile slid steadily into a frown as he tuned out the now quietly arguing crew members. Lately he had been recalling home more and more. Seeing parallels or similarities in everything, and at times everyone. Just like with Ezra today.

He quietly hoped it was the stress of Kanan's capture and the fighting with the mysterious stranger that had shinobi abilities. He was not as well tuned to the force as a jedi, or a sith to be honest. He could manipulate it to a degree, but outside of large emotional bursts his sway over the power was less than he would prefer. That being said, much of what he had learned about the force was that it was based on feelings. Pulls. Intangible forces at work. Hence the whole force terminology he figured. The issue became differentiating the actual feelings given by the force and those simply created from longing or home sickness.

It had been so long since he had left Ninsu. That and his leaving had been so abrupt and sudden, he wondered if those at home thought him dead, or simply missing. Did they consider him a deserter? What would they do when he did one day return, something he fully intended to do when he had a way to free his home of the Empire's machinations.

That all weighed heavily on his mind despite typically being able to ignore the thoughts. Undoubtedly it was that damned masked shinobi's fault. Still he couldn't help the sensation that terrible things were occurring at home. What exactly he wasn't certain, but he could bet that it involved the Empire somehow.

Feeling the shuttle lurch as it descended to a small outcropping of rock below, Naruto pushed the thoughts aside. As much as he worried for his people and home. For now, and the foreseeable future, there was simply nothing he could do for them.

"I still can't believe we're trying to get information from Vizago of all the scum." Zeb grumbled.

"He's right, he's untrustworthy." Sabine added.

"Yeah, he is, but what other option do we have. We already tried to jack into the Imperial data network and everything is down. This is our only chance." Ezra said with certainty.

"Who exactly is this guy? Hold on, didn't that Lando say he bought that land we dropped him off at from Vizago? Same guy?" Naruto asked.

"Most likely, he's a smuggler, we've had dealings with him in the past." Sabine explained.

"More like full on crime boss, and we had dealings in which he ran off without paying after getting half the blasters we stole for him." Zeb added.

"Well that explains some things. Still, if he is our only option we do what we have to." Naruto said as he looked to Ezra. "Following your lead here kid."

Ezra nodded as the group headed out of the shuttle to meet this man. Upon inspection of the crime boss, Naruto figured the man was as close to what he pictured in his head as possible. The scarred Devaronian was clearly one who made his life's work on the criminal side of society. Still he seemed better than a lot of the criminal bosses Naruto had encountered in the past. Whether that was Gato or that slimeball Azmorigan. At least Vizago seemed willing to do some of his own dirty work.

"Well, this is unexpected. Looking for work or something else?" Vizago asked the crew over his shoulder as he oversaw his droids loading up cargo.

"I'm guessing you already know why we're here." Ezra answered.

"I don't know where your friend is, I'm sorry."

"You must have heard something." Ezra pleaded.

"Even if I did know something, it would be of no use to you. The Empire is locking everything down. That's bad for you and bad for business." He replied turning toward Ezra with a scowl.

"Well if you want to change that, you'll need to help us." The boy tried again. Naruto smirked slightly at Ezra. He really was stepping up to the plate for this whole situation.

"I doubt that. In fact I think you activities have gotten the empire's attention and have made things more difficult for me. Get out of here. You're bad luck." He said as he turned back to walk away.

'A criminal that's a coward when the going gets tough. How predictable.' Naruto thought as he rolled his eyes at Vizago's words.

"Ever wondered why the Empire was so interested in Kanan?" Ezra asked out of the blue causing Vizago to stop and the rebels, including Naruto to widen their eyes in worry.

"Why they would send an Inquisitor to Lothal?" He continued.

"Ezra, don't." Sabine interrupted. Naruto crossed his arms as he simply took in the situation. It was a risk to reveal this information, but the Empire already knew Kanan was a Jedi. Or atleast Naruto figured they did. Whether they rescued Kanan or not the cat was out of the bag.

"No, please do." Vizago encouraged.

Ezra seemed to think about his options for a moment before finally steeling his resolve.

"Because Kanan is a Jedi." The boy said.

Vizago froze and even his nearby droids seemed to be paying attention to the conversation as they stopped loading cargo. Naruto could sense the anxiety rising in both Sabine and Zeb from Ezra revealing that, but what he sensed from Vizago caused the blond to sigh and shake his head. He knew what was about to happen.

The criminal spluttered before bursting into deep belly rolling laughter as he gripped at his stomach at the thought of Kanan being a Jedi. Naruto could feel the disbelief, humor, and oddly enough trace amounts of sadness in Vizago as the man lost himself to his laughter.

Ezra was a different story. The boy's emotions briefly darkened as anger took hold, surprising Naruto with the strength of his emotional response. Really Ezra was like a mix of a younger him and Sasuke, but not just the good parts. He would need to keep an eye on that in the future.

"Kanan? A Jedi? You're funny kid! That scoundrel couldn't be a jedi any more than you could!" Vizago said as he barked out more laughter.

Rather than have an outburst though, Ezra surprised everyone with his response. Simply lifting a cargo container above Vizago's head and nearly dropping it on him. The criminal only managing to narrowly jump out of the way before it landed on top of him.

"You, are a Jedi?" Vizago asked.

"And so is Kanan." The kid replied with a serious look in his eyes. Naruto recognized that look. It had him smiling faintly all over again. Despite everything, today was proving to be excellent for Naruto's appreciation of Ezra's better features. With determination like his, Naruto doubted anything would stand in his way.

"So what does this mean for Vizago?" The Devaronian asked as he picked himself back up.

"It means, you help me and you'll have a jedi owing you a favor." Ezra said.

"Hmm, whatever I ask?"

"Within reason." Ezra said unsurely. Naruto could tell already this Vizago would be taking the kid for all he is worth.

"No deal." Naruto sighed at that. Really saw it coming.

"Okay, okay, okay. Whatever you ask." Ezra said.

"I hope that doesn't come back to bite you kid." Naruto said in slight worry. Who knows what exactly Vizago might pull Ezra, and by extension all of the rest of them into down the road.

"Alright, come with me boy. Alone." Vizago said as he headed back into his ship.

Ezra squared his shoulders before following after him. Sabine reached out to stop him, but Naruto caught her arm instead.

"Let him go, he needs this Sabine." Naruto said causing her to look at him oddly.

"This could be some scam for all we know. We shouldn't leave him alone with someone like Vizago." She replied.

"You trust him to fight in battles by your side but won't trust him to talk to someone?" Naruto shot back causing her to glare at him while Zeb stepped away from the pair not wanting to be a part of the argument he felt coming.

"That's not what I mean. Vizago could be tricking him into something." She pressed on.

"Yeah, you're right, but you need to have faith in your comrades. Ezra will do anything to save his master as long as their is a chance. If you get in his way, even by trying to help him, it might backfire for you and the kid might do something really stupid." Naruto tried to explain.

"Oh and this isn't stupid?" She asked.

"It's the best option we have isn't it? Plus we're here if he needs us. That's why we are here, to help one another." He answered as he stepped over to a cargo container and hopped onto it to sit down.

The three rebels were quiet for a little bit, each taking glances at the ship waiting for Ezra to return. While waiting eventually they grew bored and struck up conversation of their own.

"So, I kind of figured you wouldn't be in favor of something like this. I mean it was Fulcrum who told Hera to continue the mission right? Aren't you supposed to do what she says?" Sabine asked.

"Fulcrum might give me orders, just like Hera gives me orders," Naruto said with emphasis on the point. He wanted to drive the point home he wasn't just a tag along, he was a rebel just as they were. "But some things you have to decide for yourself. Remember when Zeb and Kanan lost Chopper to Lando in that card game?"

Sabine nodded while shooting a look at a pouting Zeb who did his best to ignore the conversation from that point on. Though he couldn't help but listen in. It was better than just standing there staring at the sky.

"Well, one of the things I was taught was that to abandon the mission makes you trash." He said getting a confused look from her.

"But isn't that sort of right along the same lines of what Fulcrum told Hera?" She asked.

"See, that's the thing, the second half of the phrase is that those who abandon a comrade are lower than trash. It was a saying that really caught on toward the end of the Third Shinobi war with my country, before becoming popular across my whole world in the Fourth Shinobi war. There's actually a big monument at one of the battle sites back home with it carved into a plaque. Well there was, Who knows what home is like now." Naruto said with a somber tone as he glanced up toward the sky, as if he was looking back to Ninsu.

"That sounds pretty good." Sabine said with a small smile.

"Yeah i thought so too. Anyway, don't worry too much about Kanan. We'll get him back." Naruto affirmed.

"How can you be so sure? I mean what if they already... you know?" Zeb asked.

"Because I know that look in Ezra's eyes. Reminds me of when I wanted to go get my teacher." Naruto said with a bittersweet smile at the mere thought of Jiraiya.

"You mean Fulcrum? Hera said she was training you to be her second in command." Sabine was curious about more of Naruto's past. Practically all of their group was a bit cagey about their backgrounds but they shared enough to ensure they could trust one another. Naruto on the other hand had given them some information, but by far the least of all of them. It was more his recommendation from Fulcrum that got him into his position with the crew.

"No, before that. Back home before the Empire came or anything. My teacher taught me all sorts of things, but like Kanan and Hera do with Ezra, he was like a parent to me. Less like a dad and more like a super weird uncle or grandfather or something." He said getting a chuckle from his friends as he laughed at the memories of Jiraiya's antics.

"What happened?" Sabine asked, noticing the slowly diminishing smile on Naruto's face.

"At the start of the Fourth War, things were rough for our side. It seemed like we were always fighting someone in every direction, but we knew roughly where the headquarters of the enemy was supposed to be. So while I was away on my own missions, mostly fighting off small incursions by enemy troops with my squad, he was sent on a recon mission in the heart of the enemy force's base of operations. He was one of the best at infiltration, so it shouldn't have been a big deal." Naruto had grown a distant look in his eyes. However both Sabine and Zeb remained silent as they listened.

"After a couple weeks we realized something was wrong, he had stopped sending updates. I had planned to go after him but our leader instead sent me on another mission to fight off another incursion. It was small and practically anyone from my unit could have done what I did. When I got back, word had finally reached us about what had happened. It wouldn't have mattered if I went or not to get him, he was dead by the time we had grown suspicious in the first place." Naruto said as he remembered how he had reacted. How cold he had become following that. It was his biggest flaw he felt, his wrath. He had to be put on leave for a couple weeks after he had started losing it on missions.

"I'm sorry. That must have been terrible." Sabine offered causing the blond to give her a reassuring wink as he cleared the tickle in his throat.

"It was war, plus with his sacrifice, we were able to bring down one of the toughest parts of the enemy force. It's possible that without what he managed to get as far as intel we might have lost the war. Which means that I would most definitely be not here right now." Naruto joked morbidly getting halfhearted smiles from his friends.

Sabine looked at her fellow rebel with just a bit more understanding. She couldn't help but take note that he had more than likely purposefully not answered about the pain from the loss of the man being terrible.

The three looked up when they heard the engine of a starship approaching, grimacing at the familiar outline of the Ghost.

"I'm telling her you kidnapped me." Zeb said without a single ounce of humor. His only response was a hard punch to the arm courtesy of Sabine.

Ghost

"Hera, I know you're mad, but-" Ezra began only for Hera to turn and cut him off.

"Mad? Try Furious! You just put all our lives in jeopardy. I gave you a direct order and you disobeyed me." Hera said while poking Ezra in the chest to drive her point home. "And you three went along with it! I would have thought at least you could do as you were told, Naruto." Hera laid into the others too.

A part of the blond felt a bit guilty about that. She had a point, Naruto had been more involved with the rest of the Rebellion movements than anyone else with the crew and had a long history as a soldier. Even before the greater galaxy became a reality to his people, Naruto had been following military like protocol since he was a toddler taken in by Kakashi.

That aside, Naruto also had a history of insubordination when it came to orders that ran against his moral values. The pinnacle of which was the same adage he had expressed to Sabine and Zeb earlier.

"Hera, it paid off though! I know how to find where Kanan is!" Ezra argued. "Maybe." He continued in a quieter tone.

"Maybe? All of that for a maybe?!" Hera shouted waving her arms in shock.

"Hera, none of us wanna give up on Kanan." Ezra said, causing Hera to sag slightly and Naruto to grimace. It was a bit insensitive in word choice but Naruto was behind what Ezra was trying to say.

"And you think I do?" hera asked Ezra with a hard glare.

"What? No-no I don't. That's why I took this risk." Ezra said sliding back into the determination from earlier.

Hera turned and locked eyes with Ezra before looking to meet the stares of the others getting nods and grins from the crew.

"Okay, what did you learn?"

"I have a plan and it involves Chopper." Ezra said with a smile.

Later that Night

The crew watched as an Imperial shuttle lowered itself into port in Lothal City. They knew now that, with the planet-side comms and data network down the Imperials were using small courier droids to relay reports and information gathered by their patrols and garrisons across the planet. Every night, a final courier droid would receive the encrypted information and be escorted to a shuttle that would take it up to the Imperial ship acting as the communication hub for the whole fleet in this region.

It was simple, but also caused serious lag in the imperial responses which was part of the reason why the crew's earlier attempts at finding information on Kanan had been so much easier, despite the massive increase in numbers and equipment the Imperials had on Lothal.

"That has to be the shuttle the Empire is using to get the courier to their comm-ship." Sabine said as she and the others took cover in an alcove nearby the port.

"Our only chance is to intercept the droid before it boards the shuttle. I see your plan now kid. Good Idea." Naruto commented with a grin.

"What do you mean?" Zeb asked.

"The only way to be sure is to grab the Imperial droid, and send Chopper up in it's place." Ezra explained.

Shock colored Hera and Zeb's faces and even Sabine was mildly surprised though her helmet hid that fact. Chopper on the other hand was being very…'vocal' about his disagreement.

"Come on Chop, I'll give you a paint job the Empire won't know the difference." Sabine said having quickly recovered from the reveal of the plan.

"For Kanan." Ezra said causing the droid to agree, though it seemed reluctant still.

Aboard Governor Tarkin's Star Destroyer Sovereign

Kanan's screams of pain echoed down the halls of the ship's security section as he was repeatedly blasted with electricity. As the system briefly shut off, his interrogators Tarkin, Apathy, and the Grand Inquisitor seemed unmoved by his pain.

"The Jedi will be no good to me dead Inquisitor." Tarkin said.

"His resistance has proven to be impressive." The Grand Inquisitor replied.

"Yes, he does possess the will of the Jedi of old." The Governor remarked. The pair seeming to be talking about an everyday thing rather than the torture of a man right before them.

"Is it possible, that he does not know the whereabouts of any other rebels to speak of?" The Inquisitor pondered.

"Perhaps." Tarkin said giving the Inquisitor a thoughtful glance. "I recommend transferring him from Lothal to another location. One that never fails to extract a confession or achieve whatever goal is required. I'm sure you both know of it, after all it was where you're training was completed Apathy." Tarkin said causing both other men to flinch ever so slightly at the thought of what likely awaited Kanan there. It seemed even they could have some slight amount of pity for another if they were bound for what Kanan was.

Lothal City

Sabine rolled out behind the four stormtroopers escorting the courier droid and blasted the two rearguards in the back. The front two pivoted and readied to fire before Sabine playfully called out to them.

"Behind you~"

"Hah, like we'd fall for that, now drop your-" The trooper began only for Zeb to grab them and slam their heads together.

Naruto, Ezra, and Chopped joined them as Zeb and Sabine secured the Imperial Droid. Naruto quickly made four clones who began dressing in the armor of the Stormtroopers while Ezra gave Chopper a pep-talk.

Soon after the four disguised clones and disguised Chopper arrived at the shuttle to find only a single pair of guards near the ramp.

"There's the courier. What took you guys so long?" One of the guards asked.

"Eh, we're all pretty new here and the droid is no help in trying to find our way through the maze of this town." A clone replied.

"What backwater are you from? This place is about as straight laid out as you can get. Nevermind we're late. BN-749 to pilot Courier is aboard." The second guard said as they turned to follow Chopper aboard the shuttle.

The four shadow clones also began to follow causing the guards to turn back to them confused.

"What are you doing?"

"Escorting the droid." One of the clones said casually.

"Yeah, job done, go back to your barracks." The guard replied as he was beginning to go suspicious.

"Well, so much for not getting into a fight." One of the clones said before a flash of Kunai dropped both Troopers like sacks of rock.

"You two take these guys and stow them somewhere. We'll take their place to get on the ship." One of the clones said as the four of them set about their new tasks.

Luckily the group was underneath the cockpit and out of the pilot's sight otherwise alarms would be raised and their one chance would slip away.

The trip back up to the ship didn't take long, and being completely unaware their guards had been replaced with Naruto's shadow clones, or better worded, completely unaware such a power existed in the first place, they docked the ship and Chopper and the two 'stormtroopers' set out to do their job.

Chopper rolled his way to the command center of the vessel, not it's bridge but the hub for the fleets communications. Meanwhile Clone One made his way to the ship's power plant and Clone Two to the main bridge.

Within minutes Chopper was signalling for his pickup and the Ghost lived up to it's name appearing seemingly from nowhere as it began an attack run on the Imperial ship. The crew was well trained and quick to react preparing to take the lighter craft down, yet when they moved to ready their weapons a series of explosions threw several to the ground.

"Sir, the ship's generator was damaged, it's cycling more and more fuel into energy with no output, we have maybe minutes before it detonates!" One of the crewmen shouted out on the bridge.

"Predicted damage ensign?" The Commander called back.

"The ship will be crippled. We already have no power running to anything but basic systems. We're just floating now sir." The crewman called back.

"Blasted rebels! We can't do anything about the ones outside the ship but we can still catch the ones responsible for the sabotage. Sweep the ship and prepare to activate the secondary power generators. Maybe we can limp back once this is over." The commander growled.

The commander awaited an affirmative from his men but his face twisted in fury when none came.

"Did you not hear me-" He began to shout as he turned to face the rest of the bridge and was stunned at the sight.

The bodies of his dead bridge crew lay slumped at their stations, knives of all things piercing their heads, backs, and necks. A single stormtrooper, with a small splash of blood across his helmet and breastplate stood at the center of the room seeming to stare back at him.

"Sweeping for us won't do any good I'm afraid." Naruto said with a bit of sadistic satisfaction. It was good to get the hint of aggression he had built up after dueling with another shinobi not so long ago out of his system.

"So it seems." The Commander said before straightening himself and putting on a brave face.

"I am Commander Brynt Zetrell. I won't run from you and I won't give up anything even under torture. So kill me and be done with it rebel scum." The man said with determination.

Naruto was a bit surprised, most of those from the Empire he had dealt with had been cowards in the end, but it was clear some were more principled than he had given them credit for. Sadly in the long run it didn't matter. Madara Uchiha had been principled fighting for his version of peace and in the end he had to be put down. These Imperials were no different.

"For the record, I never asked for your name Commander Zetrell, but I'll say you have my respect in your death." With that Naruto seemed to disappear from before the man and appear in front of him with a kunai embedded into his chest, directly into his heart. He would make it quick.

With that, Naruto, or the clone of Naruto turned to watch out the view port as chopper was picked up by the Ghost which meant his time was up. With a puff of smoke the white armor clattered to the floor in a heap. The scene the rest of the crew would find both in the engineering and bridge sections of the ship would leave them baffled and dusturbed and rumors of some ghost possessing a stormtrooper's armor and murdering troopers and officers slowly began to swirl among the survivors.

Back with the Ghost crew the group was in a grand mood as they welcomed back Chopper. Naruto blinked lightly at the memories of his clones and hummed slightly at the brief interaction he'd had with the now dead Imperial Officer. It wasn't a truly unique experience. For Naruto the act of killing itself wasn't too terribly difficult. He was a shinobi and it was expected of him. Killing someone that he could respect, even a bit and had no real way to defend against him had been a very big hurdle for him however.

Focusing back on the conversation surrounding Chopper, and the crew's apparent new addition he put the thoughts regarding the dead officer from his mind. Just as the group seemed to welcome in the new droid and began closing up the cargo bay doors Chopper shoved the hapless courier droid out over the plains of Lothal.

"That was cold Chopper." Naruto said with a slight chuckle. It seemed the Ghost was only big enough for a single astromech. The others stared in open disbelief at what had just occurred.

"I really should have seen that coming." Zeb said with a put out look on his face. Too bad really, he had taken a quick liking to the other droid.

Ghost

A short time after giving any possible pursuing parties from the Empire the slip, the crew had met up in the cockpit of the ship. Naruto and Sabine were both enjoying a small celebratory drink, out of the direct line of sight of Hera of course, while filtering through the data Chopper had gotten, and Zeb relaxed against the door frame while Hera and Ezra shared a few words. Mostly of her praising and encouraging the youngest among them for his actions.

Naruto was pretty pleased with how everything had gone so far as well. Sure they had yet to achieve their real goal of saving Kanan, but they were making progress towards it. He had no doubt they would be able to pull Kanan out of the fire the moment they had some actionable intelligence.

"I think we've got something here. Kanan is on Governor Tarkin's Destroyer, the Sovereign. It's still above Lothal, but it;s scheduled to leave soon." Sabine informed.

"Where to?" Hera asked.

"The Mustafar System? I've never heard of it." Sabine said, not noticing Naruto go slightly rigid and Hera's eyes widen faintly.

"Hera?" Sabine asked after a brief pause.

Hera sighed and Naruto similarly sagged against the wall as he silently hoped they could think of something to prevent him being taken there.

"I've only heard that name once. From Kanan. He said that's where Jedi go to die." Hera explained causing the others to grimace at the thought.

"It's worse than that." Naruto quietly said getting the others to turn to him.

"What do you mean?" Ezra asked. Naruto stared back at him for while long enough to make the kid twitch timidly before Hera place a hand on his arm snapping him out of it.

"It's worse than just dying. People go to Mustafar and those same people never return." He said.

"Isn't that what Hera said?" Ezra asked.

"No, kid. Listen if you are taken to Mustafar you either do die there or you break. You become one of the tools of the Emperor. After his initial set of Inquisitors, all later 'batches' were forged on Mustafar. I have no doubt so was that Shinobi serving Tarkin. It's were I was benign taken when Fulcrum found me." Naruto revealed surprising the crew.

"We have to save Kanan." Ezra said with determination.

"And we will, kid, we just need to figure out how. Obviously it will have to be on the Sovereign where we do the rescue. If he lands on Mustafar, as we are, there is no getting him back." Naruto said.

"Alright, so let's see what we have on Tarkin's ship." Sabine said bringing up whatever data was available on their stolen information about the ship and it's escorts.

Depot Besh-7, Lothal

04 BBY

As one of the secondary depots on Lothal, Besh-7 was sizeable but not overly large. Primarily centered around an Imperial Freighter and several Ties. It's purpose to act as an offloading and refuel station for the ships should Lothal City's limited ports be overtaxed. With the increase in Imperial Forces in the sector they practically always were.

For the troopers stationed here, things had been quiet since their deployment. Word had been that the rebels of Lothal had grown increasingly active and violent. They even said they had pulled some sort of freaky trick onboard the Comm-ship that left over a dozen imperials dead and one of the more expensive non-star destroyers crippled. To the point that rather than simply repairing it, the ship had to be towed off and be inspected to see if it would be more effective to simply strip and recycle it than actually repair the damage. Luckily a replacement vessel had been present with flotilla already set to arrive.

The quiet they had been enjoying was broken with the playful shout of one of the most wanted individuals on Lothal. The Mandalorian girl. If it hadn't been for the harder crackdowns from higher ups or increased pressure to put an end to these rebels since their transmission recently, perhaps at least one of the troopers would realize that the girl simply appearing in front of them, waving and taunting them seemed suspicious. Unfortunately for them, none realized the true threat was the three males of the group using the opportunity created by Sabine to slip onto the recently refueled freighter and start it up.

While Sabine acrobatically danced around the depot, dodging blaster shots and firing back with taunts, Naruto laughed his ass off at the sight from the freighter's cargo hatch. Zeb and Ezra would be starting up and flying the ship while he was meant to back up Sabine if something went wrong.

Clearly it hadn't been needed. As the ship started gliding over the other vessels in the depot Sabine performed a final display of acrobatic skill as she somersaulted through the air, snatching at Naruto's waiting hand and being hauled up into the ship beside him.

As they pulled away the thermal detonators secretly planted across the depot did as their name implied wrecking the depot as a whole and leading to the majority of the fuel station going up in smoke in a rather picturesque explosion if you were to ask Naruto or Sabine who had front row seats to the show.

"Nicely done." Naruto said with light claps as Sabine cartoonishly bowed.

"I thought so. Really though I expected it to be harder than that. Are we getting too good at this?" Sabine said as if she felt she was growing bored with what was essentially their status quo of blowing up Imperial Depots and stealing things.

"Please tell me you're joking! I mean we get to make fun of the Empire, blow things up, and steal all their nice things." He said as the two started heading into the ship and toward the cockpit where Ezra and Zeb sat.

"Sure, it's just they hardly put up a challenge that time." She said with a shrug.

"That's fair. I would say we should probably knock on wood now but everything here is made of metal so it's too late anyway." Naruto joked.

"You know I didn't really take you for the superstitious type." Sabine replied.

Naruto hummed at that and after thinking a moment laughed.

"Well, I guess I kind of am. I think most of my mentality about that is just jokingly now. Everybody is superstitious as a kid right? Who doesn't want a bit of extra luck. Though some things are worth being superstitious about." He said.

"Like what?" She asked curious to what he meant. Perhaps some sort of Shinobi culture thing. She enjoyed learning about Naruto's people anytime he spoke about them. Though he did so sort of rarely outside of the most basic information.

"Well, ghosts. I hate ghosts man." Naruto said with a disgusted look.

"Pfft, that's what you are talking about? Ghosts?" She laughed.

"Yeah, Ghosts, don't laugh! It is a legitimate problem. Dead things should stay dead! Not to mention do you have any idea how hard it is to actually defeat a ghost in battle?" Naruto growled.

"Wait, hold on. Ghosts aren't real." Sabine said.

"They so very much are real!" Naruto shouted back causing her to break out into even more laughter at seeing this more goofy side to him.

"Sure, sure, whatever you say." She gasped out between cackles causing him to send her a very mature pout.

"Fine, see if I come rescue you when you're fighting a ghost." Naruto huffed though a small smile was clear on his face.

The pair finally arrived to the cockpit only for Naruto to sigh as Ezra sent a sharp, though thankfully brief glare his way.

'Come on kid can we not move past this?' Naruto silently asked. Slipping into one of the chairs he quietly hoped to get Kanan back soon. Then Ezra would be distracted by training once more and Naruto could avoid the kid's glares and pestering more often like he had been. Since Kanan's capture they'd been around each other almost non-stop and everytime Naruto and Sabine seemed to touch one another, speak to one another, or even send each other a smile, being the friends they were, Ezra looked seconds away from shouting at Naruto.

Ghost

The crew had docked the Ghost and the Imperial Freighter together shortly after they felt secure and joined one another in the common area for a meeting on what precisely to do about Kanan.

"The transport will get us close to the fleet at Mustafar. We already know that they are holding Kanan in the detention block on Tarkin's Star Destroyer." Hera explained using a series of holograms.

"Yeah, and it's surrounded by a bunch of other Star Destroyers." Zeb grouched.

"Uh, lots more." Hera said with a grimace.

"We'll need a distraction to cover our entry." Naruto pointed out with a frown.

"Sabine?" Hera asked.

"Engine room is here- with all the power for the ship. If we could get inside the docking bay I could rig something up to black them out." Sabine answered.

"The transport will never fit in there." Zeb said with a scowl.

"We need something small enough to get into that Hangar bay." Hera thought out loud.

"A Tie would work but we just wrecked the easiest ones to grab. Our next best bet would be one of the Aurek depots but those have all gotten a lot more reinforcements over the last few days." Naruto commented as he brought up a map of the known Imperial depots and hangars.

Scanning it again he sighed. With Tarkin's fleet gone, most of the ships left behind were lighter vessels which mainly docked directly to one another or used a large shuttle. Naruto pondered the crazy thought of suddenly wishing there were more fighters in the system. Sure there were plenty on the few remaining Star Destroyers and in the extremely heavily guarded planetary Hangars, but to steal a Tie from the Star Destroyers was putting them back on square one and the Hangars were so heavily defended they might as well shoot themselves and save everyone the trouble.

"Well~" Ezra intoned getting the others to look at him with Sabine and Zeb quickly realizing what he meant.

"Ezra?" Hera asked.

"Uh, there is one left, but it's not at an imperial base." Ezra said while Naruto glanced at Zeb who was frantically waving his hand to get Ezra to stop talking.

"Look this is serious, Zeb." Sabine chided.

"For Kanan." Ezra added.

"Ugh, Fine." Zeb conceded. Sabine also sat down, and she and Ezra shared a small blush as Hera crossed her arms to stare them down.

"What's going on?" She asked with a stern voice. Naruto smiling lightly at the mother-like aura she had over the crew. None but Kanan managed to ever escape it, despite her not being old enough to be his and Sabine's mother and Zeb being actually older than her.

"The Tie that we stole a while back-"Ezra began voice cracking slightly under Hera's stare. "We-uh, we didn't exactly crash it."

"And by didn't exactly you mean?"

"We didn't crash. We kept it. Hidden." Ezra said quickly with a blush and an awkward chuckle as Hera's stare turned into a glare.

"You all knew about this?" Hera asked

"Uh, no. Nope I have no Idea what they are talking about actually." Naruto threw in getting an exasperated sigh from Hera and looks of betrayal from the others.

"Nice, thanks for the solidarity Naruto." Zeb groused getting Naruto to chuckle.

"I've seen enough mother figures punishing unruly brats, you can take your solidarity and shove it Zeb." Naruto said with a grin, though he caught the raised eyebrow at his words from Hera. He simply sent her his own cocked eyebrow and smirk causing her to blush as she realized he was right. She did mother the crew, a little bit.

"Let's focus. I know I should be angry, and I should be yelling at all of you-" A cleared throat interrupted her. "Fine, yelling at the three of you for disobeying a direct order. But right now I'm just grateful we've got it."

"Uh, there's a slight problem with it." Ezra said after sharing a glance with Sabine.

The elder three rebels spoke simultaneously. "What kind of problem?"

Hidden Tie-fighter

"Well this is just awful!" Zeb grumbled as they stared at the artistic Tie laying before them.

"What? It's some of my best work!" Sabine retorted.

"Yeah, man plus the choice of color, way better than the normal Ties." Naruto added not taking his eyes off of it.

The group kind of glanced at the glazed look in his eyes. Naruto was already lost in thought imagining him and his new ship tearing the Empire apart. Oh it would replace his baby so nicely. If he could make sure this beauty survived the coming mission, come hell or high water he was getting this ship as his personal ride.

"What happened to the stealth specialist you always act like? The damn thing is neon orange!" Zeb cried.

"Pfft, if you can't infiltrate in bright orange you aren't a specialist." Naruto replied getting odd looks from that. Or it could be the fact he was becoming very handsy with the ship getting on Sabine's nerves as she tried to pry him away from her ship.

"It'll have to do." Hera sighed.

"I thought you were supposed to be the sane one of the group. This whole plan is just as crazy as those colors." Zeb said.

"Maybe you're right. Maybe this mission doesn't make military sense, but Kanan is family." Hera began as she approached Ezra and Sabine while Naruto looked down from the top of the Tie he had just scaled. "We've all lost enough family to the Empire. So rescuing him makes sense to me. I'm not ordering you-any of you to come along." Hera said as she locked eyes with each of the rebels.

They each returned her gaze. Ezra looked as he had for the last few days, ready to break any obstacle in his way to saving Kanan. Sabine looked collected but driven. Zeb locked eyes with her and while he looked less than happy it was clear the Lasat was set on helping anyway he could. Suicide mission or not. While they all seemed somewhat grim in regards to the mission, Naruto was different. He had a smile stretched on his face showing his sharp canines and his blue eyes seemed colder, harder than normal, but just as set on doing this as everyone else.

"Those who abandon the mission are trash, but those who abandon a comrade are worse than that. You heard her. Who's in?" Naruto said as he hopped down, silently, from his perch.

"I'm in." Ezra said.

"Me too." Sabine joined in.

Zeb shared one look with Naruto before sighing. "I'm in. But what about that?" He asked waving at the orange Tie.

"Eh, no time to fix it. Plus the Imperials won't see it till it's too late." Hera said.

"Tch, it's plenty fixed already. Leave my baby be." Naruto said with a faux growl.

"You're baby? Excuse me?" Sabine hissed.

"Oh you so totally owe me! Remember Fort Anaxes?" Naruto responded.

As Naruto and Sabine began to play fight all while Ezra looked conflicted Hera and Zeb smiled as the mood changed to a far happier and less dreadful note. They would be running headlong into what amounted to a suicide mission, but Naruto had made sure they kept from slipping into too serious of a mood.

Aboard the Sovereign

The Grand Inquisitor deactivated the torture probes and smiled sinisterly at Kanan as the jedi struggled to catch his breath.

"Still protecting your precious crew? Quite admirable. But what I want to know is about other rebels, like the one code named Fulcrum."

"I know nothing of a greater rebellion." Kanan answered resolutely.

"Hmm, perhaps, though I suppose I will always wonder if that is indeed the truth. You know, what little we had on Fulcrum before...retrieving you, was that they often worked alongside another rebel. Code Named Maelstrom. Someone that was confirmed to utilize a certain set of abilities that remains very rare in the larger galaxy so far anyway." The Inquisitor said as he circled Kanan.

Kanan gave nothing and simply continued to glare at the Inquisitor whenever the man passed in his line of sight.

"After encountering your crew I noticed some time ago that you gained a new addition. I mean all the original bounties for your crew only had yourself, your little apprentice, the Twi'lek pilot, the Lasat, and the Mandalorian girl. Then suddenly your group became just a tiny bit more interesting." The Inquisitor stopped right beside Kanan's ear. Close enough he could feel the Inquisitor's breath on the side of his face as he spoke.

"You really think we are so arrogant and foolish not to be able to put two and two together? We know exactly who Naruto Uzumaki is. We know he spent a time as second to Fulcrum, and we know that your crew has had dealings with Fulcrum directly. So I'm going to ask plainly. Who is Fulcrum?"

"Even if I knew anything, I would rather give my life than tell you a thing." Kanan's voice remained even and controlled as he spoke angering the Inquisitor slightly though the dark side user moved on to another tactic.

"So heroic. Just like you master. Tell me Jedi, how did you survive Order 66? How did you escape the purge hmm?" He asked, knowing he was twisting the knife. Though Kanan remained silent.

"Oh don't worry, I actually know that one myself. It was your Master Billaba who laid down her life for yours. Do you remember her last words to you? Her last and final breath just before she died?" Noticing the pain in Kanan's expression he pressed on.

"You do, don't you? You see it in your sleep. You hear her voice when you wake. Tell me, Jedi, what was her last word to you?" The Inquisitor pressed as he leaned in closer, nearly touching Kanan's face with his own.

"Run." Kanan whispered out as he could practically see his Master Calling the simple word out to him in his mind's eye.

"And does your loyal and precious crew know you ran as your master fell, abandoned her and the Jedi Order, when they needed you most?" No longer did Kanan glare back at the Inquisitor defiantly, instead he looked away, ashamed and in pain. Seeing this the Inquisitor began his circling of Kanan once more.

"What do you think your rebels would do if they knew their leader was a coward? You're even afraid of your own power." He said as he assembled and activated Kanan's saber and toyed with it.

"You don't even have the courage to wear your full saber out in the open. Let me tell you something Jedi." He turned to point the blade at Kanan's face.

"You're right to be afraid. You couldn't save your master then, and you can't save your followers now."

Imperial Transport Ship

The crew was gathered in the transport's cockpit as they made their approach toward the Imperial flotilla. Even Naruto had to admit it was an intimidating sight to see four fully fledged Star Destroyers just before them. If things went completely sideways, it was gonna be luck more than anything that carried them to safety.

"I'll send the transponder code as soon as we know Kanan is there." Hera said as she slowed the ship down.

"Looks like your up Ezra." Naruto said with a nod.

"You're not going to help?" He asked.

"I may be strong in the force as Kanan put it, but it takes training to finely control it. Training you have and I don't. I could reach out but we know that if Kanan is there…" Naruto explained.

"So is the Grand Inquisitor." Sabine finished getting a nod from Naruto.

"Yeah, so if I reach out to try and connect with someone, it's like waving a sign to everyone over there that we're here. You reach out, with your bond with Kanan, it'll be no problem." Naruto finished while patting Ezra on the shoulder.

Ezra slowly closed his eyes and raised his hand as if reaching out toward the Imperial ships. The ship passed over the first of the Star Destroyers without major issue, though if it came into the center of their formation before sending the Transponder code they likely wouldn't come back out.

"So anything?" Zeb asked impatiently.

"Give him a minute." Sabine scolded.

"We don't really have a minute." Zeb argued back.

"Zeb shut the hell up and let the kid do his thing. He's got it." Naruto growled silencing the Lasat.

The crew remained silent for a moment, and even though he was actively suppressing his connection with the force, Naruto could feel a change overcome Ezra right beside him and smiled.

"He's there! He's alive!" Ezra said as his eyes flew open.

"Sending codes." Hera simply said while Naruto tousled the younger boy's hair.

"What did I say. Ezra had it in the bag." He smiled at the kid who grinned back faintly.

The transport neared their target and Hera got the return codes showing green lights across the board.

"They bought it. Chopper send in Sabine's present." Hera ordered.

"Goodbye beautiful." Naruto said wistfully as the orange Tie disengaged from the transport and entered one of the destroyers hangars.

"Would you cut it out, it was my ship anyway." Sabine growled.

"It still seems like such a waste." Naruto pouted getting flat looks from the others.

"You are really weirdly hung up on that Tie." Zeb said.

"You wouldn't understand." Naruto sighed.

Aboard the ship, Sabine's improvised Pulse Bomb detonated and swept the ship, taking out the power for nearly the entire ship. Even the comms in each of the troopers helmets short circuited causing a painful feedback to nearly burst their ear drums while also sending a current that knocked many of them unconscious.

"This shouldn't take long, Chopper keep the engine running we'll need to make a quick exit." Hera said.

"Yeah, we have only a small window before their backup system gets everything back up and running how it should." Naruto added as Ezra began cutting the entry point for them into the ship.

"Remind me to get a lightsaber if I get the chance." Naruto commented as he watched Ezra cut through the thick metal like butter.

"You have to be a jedi to get a crystal." Ezra smirked.

"I wouldn't be so sure." Naruto said with a grin as they climbed into the Star Destroyer.

Tarkin was very clearly agitated that his personal vessel had been infiltrated and damaged by the rebels, though he had completely expected some form of attack from them to reclaim their leader. He was also more than prepared.

The all clear signal that continuously transmitted to the other ships in his flotilla was now cut, and with it deactivated reinforcements were already inbound. Additional troopers would be helpful, but he highly doubted Stormtroopers stood a chance against the Shinobi in the corridors of a star ship. Close combat was their specialty.

"Hunter, your target is no doubt on board and headed for the prisoner with the other rebels. Seize him." Tarkin commanded, and silently the masked man disappeared into the halls of the Sovereign at terrifying speed.

The rebels had only made it a few sections deep into the ship when Chopper warned them of Imperial Reinforcements landing in the Hangars.

"On a ship this big it should take them a while to find us." Sabine said only for the group to round a corner and come face to face with a squad of Stormtroopers.

"They found us." Ezra said in exasperation as he opened fire soon joined by the others. They quickly turned and attempted to back track only for more troopers to find them causing them to turn down another corridor altogether.

Passing a security door the rebels sealed it and Ezra plunged his saber through to weld the door together and ensure it stayed shut unless the troopers brought in equipment to cut through the metal.

"Now where do we go?" Sabine asked.

"Kanan is down that hall, I just cut off our only way to get to him." Ezra said.

"Might be our only way but it's not yours." Hera said and the crew glanced up to a maintenance hatch.

As Ezra climbed in Naruto seemed conflicted. He knew Tarkin's pet shinobi was on board somewhere. He had brought his mother's sword for their third, and if he had any say, final round. The problem was he partially expected the shinobi to be near to Kanan, somewhere. It would make sense, the fast reaction of the troopers just confirmed they were expected.

As Ezra closed the hatch a sudden hiss caught the rebels attention as a pair of red sabers began making quick work of the door they had just sealed.

"Well that's a relief." Naruto commented.

"You're joking!" Zeb asked.

"Better he be after us than Ezra don't you think." Naruto replied, getting a sigh and nod from the Lasat.

"Less talking, more running!" Sabine called back as she and Hera had already bolted down the hall.

It didn't take long for Ezra to find the detention block and locating Kanan was quick work once he was there. After a brief moment for their reunion Ezra unbound his master and the two began making their way out. Hopefully avoiding any enemies align the way.

Sadly there would of course be a very dangerous obstacle in their path. Upon exiting into the cavernous power section of the ship the pair of Jedi found themselves standing opposite the Grand Inquisitor once again.

"You know I thought about simply killing you in the cells, but this just seems so much more dramatic. More fitting of the end of a Jedi and his Apprentice." The Inquisitor called out as he ignited his saber with a flourish.

The crew blasted a squad of troopers as the elevator doors opened and had to take off once again as the masked shinobi and several more troopers were hot on their heels. Seeing they were closing in though, Naruto quickly realized that they had no chance of escaping them. He needed to separate the shinobi from the troopers to give the Specters a chance.

"I sure hope Ezra has found Kanan by now!" Sabine shouted as she spun and fired a pair of shots into an unlucky trooper.

"Either way, these guys will catch us before we get out." Naruto said as the group came to a T-junction in the corridor.

"Well any ideas?" Sabine asked.

"Just one." Naruto said as he flipped around and let out a quick flurry of shots into the group of troopers rounding the corner before charging directly at them while drawing his sword.

The shock of Naruto's suicidal attack didn't last long.

"Naruto what the hell!" Sabine shouted as the three of them started trying to cover him as he quickly cleared the empty hall toward the bulk of the troopers.

"Go!" Naruto shouted as he met the ANBU wannabe a short ways ahead of the troopers.

"No, we-" Sabine argued.

"Dammit, go! It will work out, trust me! Specter-2 get the crew the hell out of here." Naruto yelled as he began his dance with the masked shinobi.

Hera hesitated only a second before pulling Sabine along as the three of them fled down the hall. The masked shinobi seemed agitated by this as he swung several aggressive strikes towards the blond who easily dodged each one.

"This is my target, all of you go after the others." The shinobi ordered flatly, but with a tone that carried obvious threat with it if disobeyed.

Naruto was shocked at hearing the typically silent shinobi's voice for the first time. Not by the fact that he could speak, or by the sound of it in particular. It was the fact that he knew that voice. It was changed, duller, more lifeless, yet somehow more angry than he had ever heard it before but he knew that voice.

The change in the figure's body language told that the man knew he recognized it too.

"Traitor!" Naruto hissed as he drove his sword forward only to have to swing around his enemy on his knees to avoid a pair of decapitating strikes.

"Deserter!" The mask growled in return the red sabers arced fluidly up and down to try to literally disarm Naruto, only for him to substitute with one of the wounded stormtroopers nearby.

Naruto turned and fled. He had disadvantage against this opponent in the hall. While Naruto had been training with his blade for nearly three years at this point, the shinobi had clear experience with swords over him and seemed more proficient in close quarters than himself. Naruto was always a multi-range combatant, but his best expertise was mid-range mixing jutsu heavily with his melee.

Predictably the masked shinobi gave chase leading to a running battle down the halls of a Star Destroyer with several hapless troopers being caught in their crossfire.

Kanan charged the Inquisitor with Ezra's saber, before suddenly switching to it's firing mode and forcing his opponent to block the incoming blaster shots. He had little time to retake his guard when Kanan began his assault with the blade.

The two of them entered a quick series of well practiced strikes and blocks before they locked sabers and glared into each other's eyes.

The Inquisitor broke the lock by kicking out with his legs causing Kanan to fall back, only for the jedi to repeat his earlier tactic with the blaster and again quickly close the distance.

Once more the pair traded strikes only for the Inquisitor's flexibility to rear it's head as he attacked low only to leap over Kanan's head and out of range of a strike, as well as between Kanan and Ezra on the platform.

Charging in before Kanan could make use of the blaster this time the pair once more locked blades and with leverage and strength on his side the Grand Inquisitor began pushing Kanan downward quickly breaking through his guard.

Ezra seeing his chance, the dangling saber of his master on the Inquisitor's belt snatched up the saber with the force leading to the imperial to break his saber lock and create space between himself and Kanan.

"At last, a fight that might be worthy of my time." The inquisitor taunted as he activated the second blade on his saber.

Trails of molten steel align the Sovereign's corridors traced the path of Naruto and the masked shinobi as they continued their battle. Naruto continued to dance around his dogged opponent's attacks as he sought out a place to better fight him.

Finally reaching a hangar Naruto leapt up and over one of the nearest stacks of containers before blasting it with the force. As wild and uncontrolled as it was the containers shot toward the shinobi with speed none outside a force user or shinobi could easily track. The shinobi responded by simply giving his own show of power with the force by sending the containers skidding across the hangar floor, smashing a handful of Ties nearby.

With breathing room though Naruto could finally fight on his own terms. And soon the Hangar sported several more Naruto's than before. All of which gave a roar and charged their opponent.

"The same tricks you have always been famous for won't work on me." The masked man stated before throwing one of his sabers in a spinning arc that cut through Naruto's clones with ease.

"How is it even those that know me continue to underestimate me?" Naruto called out as he suddenly appeared behind the shinobi, not with his sword but with a primed rasengan that tore a gaping hole into the floor as the shinobi leapt out of the way.

"Simple, you lack the nine-tails power, and no doubt struggle to engage in your famous sage mode while in a place as lifeless as the void of space." The shinobi responded flatly as he caught his flying saber and cleaves his way through a pair of shadow clones before locking his blades with the faintly glowing sword in whom he assumed to be the original's hands.

"You're what they call a one-trick-pony I believe." The sabers slowly cut through the blade before suddenly the clone he was engaged with exploded sending him sprawling backward. Righting himself in air the masked man landed softly and ready to continue.

"Actually, I've been learning a few new ones." Naruto replied as the man narrowly dodged the screeching metal of broken tie pieces that would have slammed into his back.

The two Jedi held their own quite well against the Inquisitor for a time. Kanan took the majority of the dark-sider's attention while Ezra jumped in at opportune moments to keep their enemy off balance. Despite that, it showed just how skilled the Inquisitor truly was with his weapon. The spinning saber repeatedly blocking and parrying anything sent his way.

Growing tired of this the inquisitor finally created some space by knocking Ezra backward with the force before doing the same with Kanan. Facing the younger and currently weaker of his two adversaries, the inquisitor initially closed in on Ezra before the young padawan readied his guard.

Rather than attack the boy, the Inquisitor hurled his spinning saber at Ezra cutting through his guard and scarring his face before he was tossed over the side of the platform unconscious. Catching his saber the inquisitor then turned to face his remaining enemy.

Seeing Ezra fall, and unsure if he was alive or dead, Kanan took up both his and his padawan's sabers before igniting them and glaring his enemy down.

"That was a mistake." Kanan growled.

"Why, because you have no-one left to die for you?" The Inquisitor asked.

"No, because now I have nothing left to fear." Kanan snarled.

The Grand Inquisitor was briefly surprised before a smile spread across his lips. Lifting his blade into the traditional salute position, Kanan soon followed before the pair began their duel once more.

Hera, Zeb, and Sabine hid around the corner as the troopers from the other destroyers helped their newly reawoken comrades to their feet.

"This means there's going to be twice as many between us and Chopper than there were before." Zeb whispered.

"I think I have an alternate plan." Sabine said.

"Alright?" Hera motioned for her to continue.

"Part One." She responded lifting a smoke grenade she tossed into the group of troopers around the corner.

The rebels took a couple of pot shots before taking off running once again.

"Part two, we head to Bay 5."

"Oh, where Naruto's baby is?" Hera replied.

"A. That is my ship, not his! B. That's got nothing to do with." Sabine said.

Hera and Zeb both scoffed at Sabine before Hera pulled out her commlink to get in touch with Ezra and Kanan. She could only hope that Naruto had either beaten the Masked Man or slipped away from him and made it back to Chopper.

"Ezra, we're finding another way off the ship." Hera said, only to get odd static in return. As if there were strikes of some kind.

"Ezra? Can you hear me?" She asked again now growing worried.

The battle between Kanan and the Grand Inquisitor waged one as Ezra slowly came around. Two small, bloody gashes now decorated the side of his face and he was disoriented, but largely fine.

Hearing Hera's voice slowly roused him and he finally managed to shake the multitude of voices calling his name from his head.

"I'm here." He answered sluggishly.

"Do you have Kanan? Is he okay?" Hera asked.

Turning his head to look up at his master's fight Ezra couldn't help but be shocked at the skill his master fought with. It seemed that Kanan even had the Grand Inquisitor on the back foot, chasing him down, and using Ezra's blaster when the Inquisitor tried to create distance keeping him on the defensive.

"Yeah,. I think he might be better than okay!" Ezra said with a smile as he watched Kanan chase the Inquisitor into a corner. Trapping him against the ledge of the platform over the generator far below.

"You were right. I was a coward. But now I know there's something stronger than fear, far stronger. The Force." Kanan said.

The Inquisitor held his saber in front of him keeping it spinning as a defense.

"Let me show you how strong it is." Kanan finished as he placed his sabers inside the spinning guard of the Inquisitor, shattering the saber's grip and sending both blades and Inquisitor tumbling over the side.

Narrowly catching himself the dark jedi held tightly to the edge of the platform. Below him his still burning sabers fell into the generator causing it to explode and sending a tremor through the ship.

Standing above him as the engineering decks of the Sovereign were quickly engulfed in flames, Kanan held his blades to the man's neck.

"You have no idea what you've unleashed here today. There are some things far more frightening than death." With that he simply released his grip and plummeted into the inferno below.

Kanan stared down to where his opponent fell. He contemplated the man's words as well as the action of taking his own life. He was snapped out of his thoughts by a familiar voice behind him though as he turned to find Ezra calling his name.

"I thought I lost you." Kanan said in relief.

"I know the feeling." His student answered with a smile. "Let's go home."

With that the pair took off out of the room as the generators destabilized and repeated pulses of energy and explosions rocked the ship as a whole. Fires quickly spread out from the damaged system and damaged nearby generators causing multiple more overloads and failures of the system.

Naruto and the masked man had largely wrecked Hangar Bay 5, as both merely scored glancing blows on one another. To say Naruto was stunned by his old friend's improvement over the last few years would have been an understatement, but the fact was simple. Despite the training he had gotten over the last few years, whatever his opponent had received had made him into an expert duelist and it was clear his control and grasp of his force powered abilities eclipsed Naruto's own.

Still, physically as well as in regards to chakra, none could truly compare to Naruto. What truly kept Naruto from winning this fight now was his own hesitation. So long had he wanted news of home. Someone from home to see and talk to. It seemed he should have listened to the old saying of being careful what he wished for.

As the pair separated after another flurry of attacks Naruto noticed Hera, Sabine, and Zeb suddenly burst into the room from one of the side doors. They looked shocked at the damage before their eyes locked on the forms of Naruto and his adversary.

"Just Go! I'll catch up I swear!" Naruto called as he engaged the shinobi once more. He needed to keep his focus if the others were going to escape. He was beginning to worry he would have to choose between his old life and his new one in this battle.

Swinging high over his enemy's head Naruto spun into another attack toward his midsection before spinning and sliding on his knees under the sweeping response from his foe. Both extended their sabers angling their heads to the side to narrowly miss each other.

As they ran, the three Specters couldn't help but stare at their friend in his battle. The pair of shinobi appeared to dance with one another more than fight. If it wasn't for the wreckage, obvious minor injuries, and deadly weapons they might have thought it beautiful.

They climbed into the orange Tie and began prepping for takeoff. Hera arguing with Ezra as he told them to go. Kanan's added voice over the commlink settled the argument though as she began to take off.

Naruto was surprised by his opponent wielding force-lightning against him, though with his mother's blade charged with his chakra he was able to send the attack sparkling into the air. He closed the gap and with a spin, concealed by the flicker of his enemy's most recent attempt hs slashed his blade across their face cutting through the mask and sending them tumbling backward.

The pale face that turned to meet him with a fresh and bloody scar was not the pure papery white of his old friend Sai. Instead teh aristocratic complexion of his old comrade had become more grey than white and sickly purpled veins seemed to worsen his complexion more. Gone was also the pair of ink black eyes he had once known, instead a venomous yellow glared back at him.

At the face of his opponent Naruto hesitated. He had hoped beyond hope to be wrong once he heard the voice of this enemy shinobi. He had known though. Sai frowned at the pained expression on Naruto's face, seemingly unbothered by the bloody cut down the left side of his head.

"Suddenly lost your nerve Uzumaki?" Sai asked standing back up to face his enemy.

The Tie hovered nearby witnessing the actions of the two. They were confused by why Naruto suddenly stopped until they saw the mask his enemy had worn was gone. It wasn't hard for Hera to put together that Naruto clearly knew this other man. She couldn't see the blond's face but the way he seemed to freeze for a brief moment showed his shock at what was revealed to him.

"Sai, tell me why." Naruto growled out to his one time friend and teammate.

"Why? What else was there to do? You just disappeared and we needed the materials the Empire promised. We made a deal." Sai said with a shrug.

"That's it you made a deal? That's all you are going to say to this?!" Naruto shouted. "Fucking traitor! How many are like you and jumped into the Emperor's arms the first chance you got?"

"You don't get to call me that!" Sai roared surprising Naruto with the passion behind it as he batted away Sai's attacks.

"The hell I don't. I was taken from Ninsu by force. Were you?" Naruto growled back as he pivoted around a stab from one of Sai's blades.

"It doesn't matter. All that's left is the Empire now. Not to mention the mess you left. Willing or otherwise. You could have come back once you were free after all. The Empire made sure to plaster your face everywhere when they caught on that a Shinobi matching your description was a part of the rebellion. We knew you were no prisoner. Yet you abandoned us. All of us." Sai was hissing like a snake now as his attacks became more and more instinctual and emotion driven and less skilled swordsmanship.

"You think I didn't want to come back?" Naruto asked softly as he again separated from his opponent.

"It doesn't matter. You have no idea what not coming back did Naruto." A brief flicker of the old Sai was there, for just a moment. "I'm going to kill you now. It will be better for everyone if you are dead."

Naruto glared at his friend but saw there was no changing his mind. He could see it in those vile yellow eyes. Sai would kill him if he didn't kill him first.

The next clash was as impressive as the earlier battles to watch. Once more Sai had fallen into a professional swordsman's style. No longer giving totally over to his resentment and bitterness. Naruto though no longer held back. The speed he attacked with was untraceable by the Rebel's eyes as they watched. The fight was as short as it was stunning. When Sai struck out with his right handed saber Naruto seized it and tore the saber from his hand. The advantage of two blades now falling to Naruto who quickly forced Sai onto the back foot. Chasing him across the Hangar Bay soon Naruto's blows picked up even more steam. Raining powerful and fast swings down onto his old friend's saber Naruto eventually forced it from his grip sending it clattering across the floor and sliced a deep wound into Sai's right side.

Dropping to his knees both young men stared into each other's eyes before Naruto disabled his new saber and attached to his belt.

"You don't have to die here." Naruto pleaded, but he already knew the reply he would get.

"I gave up, Naruto. I want to die here. At least I can die by your hand rather than theirs." He said exhaustion filling his voice.

"As a shinobi." Naruto nodded as he spoke and Sai nodded as well.

"I meant what I said. You deserted us, and it would probably be best for you to die. You're too stubborn though, just like Kakashi has always said." Sai said as Naruto stepped around him and lifted his clan sword.

"It's who I am. Nothing could change that."

"Then perhaps I lost hope too soon." Sai said his last as the blade swung down and took his life.

Naruto stared down at his friend's corpse with a jumble of conflicted emotions. Swallowing them down for the moment, he cleaned his blade of the blood and gave his friend one final salute before searching his body, finding only a notebook and scroll worth salvaging. Finally he cast a simple fire jutsu to burn the body. It was the closest to a shinobi burial he would get here.

Collecting the other saber of his friend as well as the two halves of his mask Naruto sealed the items away before leaping onto the orange Tie-fighter and joining the rest of the crew.

Sabine patted him gently on the shoulder but the group knew now wasn't the time to ask about the battle. Turning the ship, Hera guided the fighter out of the Star Destroyer's hangar bay just as much of Bay 5 began to explode as the remains of fuel canisters and other explosive and flammable equipment succumbed to the spreading fires of the Sovereign.

As the Tie began skimming under the Star Destroyer's belly several others, painted the normal Imperial grey, gave chase opening up with their guns.

"We had to take the one with a bull's-eye painted on the side of it!" Zeb complained.

"Specter-3 we're going to need to get out of here fast. Send a signal so we can link up for hyperspace." Hera called to Chopper over comms. "Do you read?"

"Chopper isn't responding." Sabine said in worry.

"Don't worry, just avoid being shot Hera." Naruto said getting confused looks from the others.

Meanwhile Kanan and Ezra made their way into Hangar Bay 2 watching as several other Imperial ships were evacuating as the ship tore itself apart.

"The inquisitor's Tie." Kanan said in relief as he spotted the unique ship.

"Well we know he's not going to use it." Ezra replied.

"Naruto is rubbing off on you and it worries me sometimes." Kanan said with a smile.

Soon the pair were out of the destroyer and unlike their fellow crew members not being targeted by the other fleeing ships.

"Agh, I can't believe that bucket of bolts abandoned us!" Zeb growled.

"He didn't." Naruto said.

"How do you know?" Zeb asked.

"Learn to have a little faith Zeb." Naruto replied.

Outside just as the Ties chasing them seemed to have them zeroed in, Kanan took out the pursuing ships with the former Inquisitor's Tie.

"We've got your back." Ezra called over the comms.

"Never doubted you kid." Naruto replied with a small grin.

"Without Chopper and the transport we're going nowhere." Sabine reminded him.

"You need to have some faith too." Naruto said only to get glares from both Sabine and Zeb.

"We've got more Ties closing in." Hera piped up.

"How many?" Sabine asked.

"I imagine about four Star Destroyer's worth." Zeb said with some snark getting her glare to shift from Naruto to the Lasat causing Naruto to breathe a mild sigh of relief. What was it with him and encountering girls with such scary personalities.

"I just want to say, it was really nice getting to know all of you. Even you Naruto." Ezra said of the communication link.

"Gee, thanks kid." Naruto said flatly. "You know I already told everyone over here, but I'm telling you now. We just need some faith." A glancing blow shook the Tie he was in. "And some endurance." He chuckled faintly as Sabine's glare turned back to him.

Suddenly before them the Transport as well as several other similarly sized ships appeared from hyperspace.

"Chopper, he came back!" Zeb cried.

"Who-who is that?" Ezra asked.

"I told all of you to have some faith." Naruto said with a smirk as he watched the rebel ships engage the Imperials.

The rebels docked with the transport and, as quickly as they appeared, the rebels were gone.

Once aboard, and far from the Imperials, the two groups of rebels finally reunited. The first of course being Kanan and Hera as Kanan placed his hands on her shoulders.

"I owe you all a great debt of gratitude. Even if what you did was rash and reckless." Kanan said, though it was clear he didn't truly support his words with his feelings.

"You're welcome dear." Hera replied before the pair tightly embraced one another.

Chopper chose that moment to join them causing the crew to smile before Ezra realized something.

"Wait, if Chopper was flying this transport ship, then who was flying the Ghost?"

Kanan and Hera exchanged a confused and worried look before Naruto chuckled as he stepped forward.

"A precious person. Don't worry. You know them, even if you don't know them." He joked lightly. Things had been heavy for him but he was currently just happy to be able to see the person he felt in the other ship.

It didn't take long for the Ghost to dock with the Transport, and Naruto and Chopper led the way. The rest of the crew was uneasy at the sight of four soldiers standing on either side of the hall into their home. Still they slowly followed after their crewmates.

Chopper stopped and a hologram flickered to life showing Senator Bail Organa smiling back at them.

"Hello my friend. It is good to see you again." He said to Kanan.

"I don't understand, I met you once for a few moments. I don't even know your name." Kanan said in surprise.

"This is Senator Bail Organa." Naruto said as he stood beside the nearly lifesize representation of the man.

"Ah, Maelstrom it is good to see you again as well." The Senator said.

"Likewise Senator." Naruto replied with a small smile.

"What about the crews of the other blockade runners?" Kanan asked.

"Members of other rebel cells I assume." Naruto said getting a nod from the hologram.

"So there are other cells!" Sabine said in cheer.

"We're a cell?" Ezra asked. "Wait, Zeb, did you know we were a cell?"

"Uh, no." He answered flatly.

"We aren't supposed to meet." Hera said.

"That way if members of one cell are captured they can't reveal the identities of anyone else but their own cell to the Empire." Naruto explained.

"That was the protocol." Hera added.

"The protocol has changed." A voice called out as a figure made their way down the ladder. Naruto couldn't keep the smile off his face as he saw her.

The majority of the crew recognized her. The woman that had dropped Naruto off to join the crew stood before them. Kanan and Ezra however had yet to meet the woman.

"Fulcrum." Naruto said with obvious joy.

"You might as well call me Ahsoka in person Naruto like we always have." She said with as much happiness on her face as his.

"Wait why did you come here?" Kanan asked.

"Someone felt the need to get in touch with me and convince me of a change of protocol." Ahsoka responded as she glanced toward Naruto.

The rest of the group also looked his way for answers.

"I may have taken out some assurances to make sure we all got out fine. Had Chopper ready to notify them if we needed backup while they just waited barely outside the Star Destroyer's sensor range." Naruto explained.

"That explains why I'm here, but the reason other cells are here is because of the message you sent out. Many in this system and others have heard it. It's given them hope in dark times. Senator Organa doesn't want that hope to die." Ahsoka explained as she turned her attention to Ezra.

"So what happens now?" Ezra asked.

"I don't know. One chapter has closed for you all of you." Her eyes lingered on Ezra before focusing on Naruto. She could feel the turmoil in his mind and emotions. They needed to have a long talk and catch up. "This is a new day, and a new beginning."

Lothal

Tarkin made his way down the ramp of his shuttle as Agent Kallus informed him of the situation on Lothal.

"We are getting reports of unrest all over Lothal. There are whispers from Mustafar, some people have begun to see the Empire as weak...vulnerable." Kallus said.

"Not to worry Agent Kallus. The Emperor has sent alternative solutions." Tarkin replied.

From behind him a man clad in towering black armor flanked on either side by a pair of familiar forms made their way down the ramp. The man in black's breathing was clear to hear. A metallic machine like sound that simply added to his intimidating appearance.

To the man's left was a feminine form wearing a white mask sculpted to appear twisted in the throes of laughter. To the extent an actual face would have been torn by the wide smile. On the other side an extremely large man wore similar clothes as well as a mask sculpted as if weeping profusely. Deep troughs for tears carved into the cheeks more like scars than the tears they represented. Like their predecessor Apathy, these two Hunters moved without sound at all, as opposed to the clear and heavy steps and breathing of the man between them.

Hey folks thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed, as you can see we have finally completed season one of Rebels with this chapter and so things are beginning to heat up. We sadly saw the death of Sai, though it was clear, Sai the person was killed long ago by the Empire. Now we will have to see the consequences of such things as well as how our beloved Maelstrom and Specters handle the new threats they must face. Not to mention, trouble is clearly brewing back on Ninsu and Naruto has been gone for years who knows the horrors that have occurred there…..well I know….but no-one else!

Thanks again please review and stay tuned for another update.