Hello folks, here is an update, going to be a shorter one but it's kind of dealing with the aftermath of the previous chapter and setting up the next arc of the story. Anyway I hope you enjoy, please leave a favorite and review and check out my other stories, have more updates for several of them in the works.
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Rebel Flotilla
03 BBY
The various cell leaders as well as most of the Ghost's crew stood around the central terminal in the operations deck of one of the rebel blockade runners that made up the backbone for this cobbled together flotilla. These days things had been especially tough in the outer-rim with Tarkin pulling in more and more troops and occasionally more of the Hunters, who were quickly earning a similar reputation to the Imperial Inquisitors.
"The recent loss of our command ship from the core fleet has severely limited our ability to fight the Empire in this sector." The hologram of Commander Sato said with disappointment. He looked about to continue before he was cut off.
"Then maybe we don't fight them?" Ezra said. He then blushed slightly and scratched at the back of his head. "Uh, Commander Sato...sir."
With a motion to continue from Hera he nodded before explaining what he meant.
"When things got tough for me on Lothal I would go someplace to hide, at least until the heat died down." The teen explained.
"You are never shy with your opinions, Ezra Bridger." Sato said with a slightly reprimanding tone, though he also seemed to be considering the idea.
"Establishing a base is still a good idea, probably the best we have right now." Naruto cut in backing up his crew mate's suggestion.
The area over the central terminal flickered before showing a series of old bases and smuggler's hideouts. Hera flicked through them for a moment before sighing.
"None of the bases we know of have the tactical advantages we need to properly protect the remnants of our fleet." She leaned on the terminal in disappointment.
"They aren't in good positions to aid nearby systems suffering from imperial oppression either." Kanan added, causing Hera to roll her eyes and turn around to face him.
"We can't help others if we can't even help ourselves. Maybe if we had some more allies that could give us a spot or even a lead to a place we'd be able to really regroup at…" Hera trailed off. Against the far wall Naruto and Ahsoka exchanged looks before the former jedi stepped into the center of the conversation.
"I know someone who might be able to help us. A great military commander with a vast knowledge of the outer rim. He could assist us in finding a base and his experience with military leadership would make him a powerful ally." Ahsoka spoke as she rounded the room.
"How do we recruit this leader?" Sato asked.
"That's the problem, I lost track of him some time ago and all my transmissions have gone unanswered." She crossed her arms and frowned.
"Still, we know where he is roughly, or at least where he was." Naruto added.
"We can find him!" Ezra said as he pumped a fist to try and rally the rest of his crew.
Ahsoka stared for a moment before glancing at Naruto. The boy just shared a small smile with her causing her to unfold her arms and smile herself.
"Well, there is one option I haven't attempted yet."
A short while later and the crew of the Ghost was loading into their ship, getting prepared to go hunting for the mystery commander that Naruto and more notably Ahsoka spoke so highly of. The former Jedi followed behind them carrying a large cloth covered object before walking up to their navigation system and revealing what she held.
"An old sepratist tactical droid?" Kanan asked in surprise.
"Or at least the head of one." Zeb added.
"These droids were great at finding things, calculating. Found my master and I a few times when we didn't want to be during the Clone Wars." Ahsoka explained as she hooked the machine up to the Ghost's Nav computer.
"How, in all of the galaxy, will this thing help to find your friend?" Ezra asked. The boy's astounded look had Naruto chuckling a little.
"We last saw him in the Seelos system, try starting there." naruto said with a grin as he and Ahsoka began moving back out of the ship.
"Where are you guys going?" Sabine asked.
"Wait, the two of you aren't coming with us?" Ezra asked as he stood from his seat.
"We have something else to attend to." Ahsoka explained.
"The Sith Lord?" Kanan asked with a serious voice.
"Among other things." Naruto cut in.
"Yes, there are many questions that need to be answered." Ahsoka added.
"Well maybe some of us should come with you two." The mandalorian girl suggested. She felt a little worried about the idea of Naruto facing off with a Sith Lord or more of those former shinobi the Empire had turned into Hunters.
"You have your own mission." Ahsoka said with finality. "When you find my friend you must trust him." She said directly to Kanan.
"If he is all the things that you and Naruto say he is we can't afford not to." Kanan replied.
"You must trust him." Ahsoka said again, with more force before the door slid shut.
The crew blinked in confusion from that. Ezra turned to Kanan then back to the door and finally back to Kanan again.
"What was that about?" He asked his master.
"I have no idea." Kanan said before shaking the questions from his head and moved up to the copilot seat.
"It feels weird without Naruto going with us now." Sabine commented as she glanced at the door.
'Ah, we'll be fine without him." Ezra said before dropping into the seat beside the older girl. "If you feel worried, I'm still here with you after all." Sabine just rolled her eyes at the kid's antics.
"I'm still worried about both of them." Hera mentioned.
"Don't worry about them. They're both strong and they'll be fine." Kanan reassured her as the Ghost took off to hyperspace headed for the Seelos system.
While the ghost crew was enroute to their mission, Naruto and Ahsoka boarded a smaller shuttle and took off for their own journey. As they scanned the controls and readouts to make sure everything was running properly Naruto couldn't help the slight worry he had for the Specters. He had grown close with all of them in different ways. Now it felt weird not to be going with them on their missions.
"Are you sure about not going with Kanan and the others? I don't think he will be very accepting of getting help from clones." Naruto turned to look at his mentor.
" You need to have faith, Naruto." Her answer simply caused him to chuckle lightly.
"You haven't told me yet, where exactly are we going?" Naruto asked.
The woman hummed briefly before turning to him fully.
"We're going to an old jedi temple on Jedha." Ahsoka explained.
"Isn't that planet a warzone? Last I heard the Empire and a group of Rebels had started fighting over that rock. I even heard that some of the old temples had been turned into headquarters by both sides." Naruto was a bit confused on why Jedha of all places.
"True, they are fighting there but one of the reasons for Jedha specifically is because of a unique temple hidden away in an oasis deep in the equatorial mountain ranges. It was a place for those struggling with the darkside to meditate and return to balance."
"Do you think I'm struggling with the dark side?"
"Not truly, at least not yet, but I can feel the turmoil you are experiencing after dealing with your old friend." Ahsoka's voice took a soft note toward the end.
"Ah, because of Sai." Naruto said in a quiet tone thinking of his former teammate.
"Well that's not the only reason. Jedha may not be your homeworld, but you do have a connection to it. We both do, it was where we met after all." She gave him a reassuring smile and squeezed his hand with the last of her words. The blond simply smiled back.
Jedha
03 BBY
Once the pair had made it to the temple Naruto felt slightly disappointed. A tiny oasis situated between the towering cliffs with an equally tiny stone shack at the far end of the pool of water. Following Ahsoka through the doorway he could tell the ruins were in surprisingly good condition but had clearly been abandoned for decades, if not centuries. Likely abandoned long before the jedi order was destroyed.
It wasn't until they exited the small building once more onto the other side of the oasis that Naruto realized the true beauty of the temple. He was struck by the sight of a vibrant green natural garden. A sparkling pool of water and trees thick with life spanning an area the size of a small village. He could see now why this place had become a focus point for the jedi. Well he believed he could see why, but his understanding would change soon.
"It's beautiful." Naruto whispered out enjoying the nature of it.
"Reach out with the force and feel the area." Ahsoka said with a small grin.
Naruto did as she did and suddenly his senses were overwhelmed. His knees shook slightly as he felt the purity of the location flowing through him. He could feel the absolute serenity fo the location and tears even gathered in his eyes and he felt an urge to leave so he didn't risk tainting such a peaceful sanctuary.
After releasing the feeling and regaining his composure Ahsoka gently guided him to an outcropping of rock along the edge of the water. They took seats in comfortable meditative positions across from one another.
"We must talk about the situation with your homeworld and Sai." Ahsoka said calmly.
She watched as emotions flickered across Naruto's face and felt sympathy for him. It hurt to see such grief and guilt in his eyes. To Ahsoka, Naruto had always been a beacon of joy and compassion. To see that tainted with the pain caused by the Empire worried her. She could only hope that what she was attempting in this forgotten place would make progress to help him to continue bearing such pain.
After a hesitant pause, Naruto finally began to speak.
"Sai believed I abandoned him. He said I had abandoned all of them and that I was a traitor to my own people for doing so." Naruto slowly spoke and grimaced as he spoke looking as though the words tasted badly in his mouth.
"And do you believe that to be the truth? Are you a traitor to the people of Ninsu?"
"Of course not, it's just one of my closest friends, my teammate was warped into believing it. It makes me furious." Naruto said with clenched teeth.
"I admit it is the Empire's greatest skill, to pervert those that they see as good for their own use. To reshape others for their own gain." Ahsoka says sadly and her protege nodded.
"The worst part was that I could feel the change in Sai. It was like he was already dead and just waiting for his body to catch up. There was such grief and pain in his heart." Naruto had lost his anger and simply grown sad at the thought.
"What was he like before the Empire took him?" Ahsoka asked.
"Sai was raised in a program called ROOT. It was an illegal force used by one of my homeland's elders that tried to remove emotions from it's soldiers and make them perfectly obedient tools for war. It isn't right that he ended up exactly the way ROOT intended only by a different master. He worked for years to undo the damage caused by his conditioning." He felt himself warm in anger once again.
Ahsoka couldn't help but agree. She felt her own sympathy and pity for the fallen shinobi.
"You know, at the end of the Ootsutsuki war Sai left the military entirely. He became a full time painter. His work was famous all over the planet and he made a lot of paintings that showed the battles of the last two wars, but his favorites were portraits of our group of friends." Naruto smiled at the memories while Ahsoka let him continue at his own pace. Soon the smile slipped into a bittersweet look.
"There was this one night that he and I had been enjoying catching up after I had gone to a meeting in Kumo. I'd been gone a few weeks and we went out to my favorite restaurant when I returned and caught up. He told me that he actually despised fighting. He hated battle and killing but had never had a choice. Like a lot of us I guess. He said he never wanted to pick up a weapon again and that was one of the last times I spoke with him before I was kidnapped. I blew it off at the time, most of the night we had started talking about his new girlfriend, another of our close friends, Ino." He was remorseful at the end. Wishing he had spoken more about Sai's real desires rather than how funny he found it to mess with Ino by rearranging her potted flowers in the shop.
"He sounds like a wonderful friend and person Naruto." Ahsoka comforted with a smile.
"Yeah."
"What about his end? How did he feel right at the end?" Ahsoka asks having a feeling focusing here might help.
Initially Naruto was confused by her question. How else could he feel but dead. However he really thought back on the moment. Focused on the split second before his blade met Sai's neck and his eyes widened at the feeling he barely recalled.
"Relieved. He was so relieved to be dying." Naruto was nearly in tears but shook his head suddenly. "No, to be dying by my would he be relieved that I'm the one that killed him?" Naruto asked.
"Did he seem to be relieved to die by your hands, or relieved that you weren't the traitor and coward the Empire had convinced him of?" Ahsoka asked.
Naruto fell silent again and for a while the two remained where they were. After a time Ahsoka stood and told him to remain and meditate. She had to make some calls to some connections and try to get information about the Sith Lord they would be dealing with. After telling him to enjoy the peace she returned to the building they had passed through to reach the true oasis.
He had remained there until long after night had fallen before returning to the building to sleep. Thankfully Ahsoka had also prepared something to eat for the both of them. He was up early the next morning and back in the same place to meditate. He stayed there until Ahsoka had convinced him to come in and eat lunch with her.
The two of them smiled fondly as they ate. It was a simple meal, mostly made from some of the plants and fruits growing in the area, but the spacer rations they had brought along mixed in to add some heartiness to it.
"You are far less troubled than yesterday." Ahsoka said getting a grin from Naruto in return.
"I have made peace with what happened with Sai. It was terrible and it wasn't fair and it hurt, but I will do my part in helping to tear the Empire down. Not out of revenge but to make sure they can't do it to more people." Naruto had a resolved tone, getting Ahsoka to nod before standing and guiding Naruto back to the same place that he had been meditating.
The difference between then and now was that Ahsoka set both her own and Sai's former sabers on the ground between them before they both took up meditative positions again.
"Saber crystals are highly attuned with the force, especially with their wielder once they have made a connection to them. I want you to reach out and feel the crystals in my sabers." Ahsoka instructed him. Naruto nodded before doing as she asked.
It was somewhat difficult. Using the force to sense things opened him back up to the pure serenity of the oasis and he nearly found himself lost in it. The more difficult task was to focus on what initially felt like pin pricks nearby him. He knew they were her sabers but they still almost felt more like needles in a haystack.
After some time, and struggle he succeeded in locking onto their signature before he put his focus into feeling what she had him looking for. The sensation quickly grew from two tiny pinpricks of energy to bold and clear feelings he could properly understand.
Ahsoka's blades, unsurprisingly, felt much like she did in the force. They felt as if they had suffered greatly in the past and were a traveler who had once struggled with a difficult path set before them. They had repeatedly survived and overcome serious trials but had healed and become stronger for it. It was an awe inspiring feeling and he couldn't keep the proud smile for his mentor off his face.
Ahsoka's own face split into a smile seeing the young man she had a part in raising achieve what she had asked him to. She felt her own pride at her abilities rise with Naruto's emotions pressing in. Sensing the pride and adoration he had for her and the tribulations she had surpassed.
"Good, now I want you to brace yourself and reach out for Sai's sabers." She commanded.
Naruto hesitated briefly at the order to brace himself. That left him slightly worried but he did as she asked and began searching for the other sabers among the peace of the temple.
Unlike Ahsoka's these were quite easy to find. Where Ahsoka's blended in well with their surroundings, Sai's seemed to scream out amid the serenity that flowed around them. Naruto even flinched from the agony that seemed to permeate the crystals.
The pain embedded into the crystals mirrored Sai just as Ahsoka's sabers had mirrored her. As if they had been tortured and corrupted like his old friend. He felt raw wounds across his body and the searing feeling of burning wires against his skin. Naruto somehow knew he was feeling moments from Sai's own training to become one of the Empire's Hunters.
As he released the feeling he gasped for breath slightly. The pain he had felt seemed very real and he almost checked himself over for wounds before recalling where he was. Ahsoka nodded in understanding, having felt the same from her own saber crystals before purifying them in this same place.
"They are almost like living things in how they are connected to the force. They can reflect their user, and so they will reflect the pain and suffering of the one who wields them. My own sabers originally came from a pair of dark side users that I killed to defend myself years ago." Naruto nodded as she spoke.
"They are so similar to living beings that the reason the crystals give off such a sensation of pain is because they are effectively injured. Actually hurting and damaged. Most people could never tell but through the force we gain better insight to the realities of our galaxy." Ahsoka continued to explain. Naruto hummed in thought.
"So if they can be damaged through the force, they can be healed the same way right?" He suggested.
"Well done." Ahsoka said with a smile.
"But, how do I do that?" Naruto tilted his head to the side in thought as he asked her.
"That…" Ahsoka said with a grin as she stood. "Is for you to find out." She then pivoted and returned to the building to continue speaking with contacts she had in the outer rim.
Naruto blinked in surprise as he watched her leave before turning back to stare at the pair of sabers laying before him. Huffing out a sigh and stretched slightly before settling into his familiar pose. As with most things concerning the force, when he was searching for an answer, usually the best way to handle something was to meditate on it for a time.
So that's exactly what he did. Similar to back on mount Myoboku Naruto sat cross legged and completely still. His hands rested loosely in his lap and he felt the sensations of the world, no the galaxy as a whole pass through and become one with his being. Like earlier he could feel everything around him existing in such a peaceful state, except two red twisted scars that seemed to balk away from him as he reached out to them through the force.
He continued to meditate and interact with the crystals for hours. Outwardly he seemed to make little progress, but little by little he gained a greater understanding of what lay before him. It was like many times in his past when speaking with others who had suffered cruel lives leading them down a path to lash out at the world that harmed them.
As the sun drooped low, Ahsoka returned to find him deep in meditation, so she left him to his own devices and ate alone that night. She felt pride at the sense of calm that wafted off her foster son and she went to bed wondering if he would continue his meditation all night.
The next morning she was only slightly surprised to find Naruto still at it. However what did surprise her was that both sabers now lay disassembled before him while their crystals hover at eye level to the blonde. They seemed to glow brighter and brighter with each passing moment however the pain she had felt from them seemed to be slowly fading away to a different sensation. One she couldn't yet place.
Choosing to leave him to continue his progress Ahsoka returned to the building to make herself some breakfast.
She returned a third time around noon and found the crystals had shifted to a bright white. They orbited around Naruto at a lazy pace while the other pieces of Sai's sabers had lifted and begun to reorganize themselves in a new pattern than she had seen them in before.
Making sure not to interfere with Naruto's concentration, Ahsoka reached out with the force to get a sense of the two purified crystals for herself. The intense warmth that flowed through her caught her off guard but it was a pleasant feeling. Like being embraced by a caring friend.
They thrummed with power and energy. They were at peace but felt active at the same time, like energy burned under the surface ready to be used at a moment's notice. There was a sense of recovering from grief and pain from a thousand different moments but only becoming stronger from all the hardships of the past. Finally there was a feeling of ambition. A drive to achieve something grand, nearly impossible even. There was no doubt of that goal, whatever it might be.
Releasing her senses she watched as Naruto guided the crystals back to the bodies of the saber hilts. The pieces floated about before collecting together and snapping into place. Rather than the lobster tailed style that they formerly possessed they now resembled the handles of his kunai. Thin metal shafts with white cloth tightly wrapped around them with a ringlet acting as a pommel.
As the two sabers softly settled on the ground again Naruto opened his eyes and glanced her way. A smile spread onto his face and he climbed onto his feet. He blushed as his stomach growled and his foster mother covered her snort of laughter with her hand.
"Come on, let's get you something to eat then we can head back to the flotilla." Ahsoka said. Naruto laughed awkwardly as he followed her. He was definitely looking forward to some food, but more than that he was excited to return and rejoin the crew.
It had only been a couple of days but still he missed them all. They had grown close over the last several weeks. The Ghost had become home and her crew had become family in a short amount of time.
"I can't wait to hear how their mission went." Naruto said as he began eating the soup prepared by Ahsoka.
"More than likely it went fine. Whether or not it was a success is a different story." Ahsoka replied.
"Fair enough, I miss them though, I kind of look forward to telling them about this place." The blonde said before spooning more soup into his mouth.
"You've grown fond of them quickly." Ahsoka said, trying to gauge how close Naruto had gotten to the others.
"Yeah, I guess." He responded. They slipped into silence as they ate, Ahsoka watching him from the corner of her eye to try and better understand what he was feeling.
"You know better than most that you can find family beyond just blood." She said to him with a smile.
Naruto hummed in agreement before they finished eating and packed away their gear to return to the others.
Ghost
03 BBY
Somehow Naruto and Ahsoka had managed to beat the Ghost back, not that Naruto was complaining. It allowed him to get caught up to speed on some of what Ahsoka was looking into for the Sith Lord that had their rebel group nervous.
It made him wonder what kind of trouble the rest of the crew had encountered while they were looking for Rex. He really hoped that things had gone smoothly between Rex and Kanan. Or at least as smoothly as they could have.
Either way, the others had finally returned. Naruto watched as the Ghost connected to the side of the blockade runner he and Ahsoka had been staying on. After seeing the ship lock into position he made his way with Ahsoka down to the corridor outside the connector and smiled as he saw the others coming in.
Initially they couldn't see the old clone among them and Naruto became worried that it had been a failure of a mission after all. He smiled though when the group split in half and the elderly clone made his way forward to stand in front of Ahsoka.
"Commander." The clone said to Ahsoka. "You got old." He joked causing the woman to grin brightly and shake her head in exasperation at her old friend.
"Had to happen sometime Rex." She then threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly.
Over her shoulder Rex sent Naruto a smile and a wink getting a grin in return. He had only met Rex once before but the man was someone he respected greatly just from the stories that Ahsoka told.
He couldn't wait to work with him.
"I'm glad you're still alive, Ahsoka." Rex said quietly.
"You, too." She replied as they broke their hug.
"Well I wouldn't be if it wasn't for these guys." He answered back turning to motion toward the specters.
"Thank you, for trusting my friend." Ahsoka said with a deeply grateful tone.
"It wasn't easy." Kanan said with a chuckle before his eyes glanced toward Rex and he became more serious. "It's still not."
"Nothing worth doing ever is." Ahsoka replied before the group started dispersing.
Naruto caught Sabine's eye and the two headed off to catch up and spar like they normally did. Like usual Sabine's flexibility and skill made her a good match when Naruto wasn't using chakra or the force to enhance himself. That being said, he still hit like a truck and was faster and more experienced than she was with hand to hand.
Following a long session of beating on one another the pair stopped and sat in the cargo hold of the Ghost while catching their breath.
"So Wolffe really sold you guys out?" Naruto asked, causing her to sigh and nod.
"I get why he did it. He's protecting his squad or whatever and everything worked out in the end, but it didn't help things with Kanan and Rex." Sabine commented.
"Those two are going to butt heads, I can feel it." Naruto sighed.
"Oh, one of those force sensitive wizard things?" Sabine teased him causing Naruto to snort in laughter of his own.
"Not quite, just a gut feeling." He said. They were quiet for a bit just drinking water and resting from their earlier bout.
"So, what did you and Ahsoka get up to? Or can you tell me?" Sabine asked. She grew a little hesitant with the second question.
She disliked the idea of not being told the full situation. It made sense, but that didn't change the fact that she disliked being in the dark. Especially when in regards to one of those she had grown to consider part of her family. He might not be a Specter, but Naruto had proven to be a part of the Ghost crew.
"If I keep things from you, it's only because others won't let me tell you." Naruto said carefully, however his mind rolled to the thought of his homeworld and the situations revolving around it. He wasn't certain he'd share all that with her or the others. What good would telling them more about Sai do anyway?
"Well, then can you tell me?" She asked bluntly, causing Naruto to blink at her for a moment before nodding.
"I guess I can. Only if you really ask me nicely though." Naruto said with a grin causing the girl to roll her eyes.
"I told you all about what we did." Sabine huffed at him.
"Right, right. I guess I should be fair." He said before leaning back against a crate.
"Well, did I ever tell you Jedha was where Ahsoka found me? I broke free from the Empire and was trapped there. I almost got turned back in by a couple trying to make a buck." Naruto explained.
Sabine was shocked at that. She had heard from him about escaping the Empire but never any specifics. She hadn't known that was how he had met Ahsoka either.
"Anyway, we went back to Jedha, there are several old temples but most are practically battlegrounds between some extremist rebels and the Empire. Not all of them though. I wish you all could have come with us. It was beautiful." Naruto said with a smile as he thought of the oasis.
"One day we'll go there."
"Yeah. Anyway while we were there I spent most of the time meditating. I had to think after what happened with Sai, so Ahsoka took me there to have a chance to get away from all this." Naruto said waving at the ship.
"What do you mean by that?" Sabine asked.
"I always have had a connection to nature, but on top of being stuck inside a box like this my mind is stuck on the fight against the Empire the entire time we're here. It's almost all I can think of. There though, it was a bit like being home. Not quite the same but it reminded me of some of the quieter places back home." He explained. Sabine remained quiet as he continued explaining.
"I meditated on everything that happened when we fought the inquisitor and Sai, I know my old friend was long gone but to see what the Empire did to him caused me to start slipping. Ahsoka noticed before I even did." He continued.
"He did leave me some things, unintentionally but still." Naruto pulled the pair of sabers out and ignited them showing Sabine the new white blades.
"How did you turn them from red to this?" She asked while taking the new look of the hilts in.
"I had to purify them. Just like I had to purify myself first. It wasn't as easy as it seems. Ahsoka says the crystals reflect the state of their wielder." He said sadly mind drifting to their former master.
He disengaged the sabers before sliding them into his pack and freezing as his hands brushed against something. Sabine noticed his pause and was about to ask what was wrong when he drew out the journal Sai had on him when Naruto had killed him. The girl tried to give him time to bring the object up but he seemed to only stare sadly at it's blank cover without moving.
"What is that?" Sabine asked, finally snapping him from his thoughts.
"It was Sai's. He was an artist like you actually." Naruto admitted causing the girl's eyes to widen.
"Really?" She asked, suddenly interested in looking at the small book.
"Yeah, he was really good too. He even had a specialized technique that allowed him to bring his drawings to life for combat. I wonder why he didn't use it against me? Maybe he figured I knew how to counter them but couldn't counter his skill with the abers and the force." Naruto was briefly lost in thought.
"So, you two were close? You knew ways to defeat his old abilities so you must have worked together a lot." She pointed out.
"Yeah." He chuckled. "We were in a squad together. Fought both the Fourth Shinobi War and the Ootsutsuki War together. Saved each other's skins more than a few times." His grin slowly grew melancholy.
"That was his art journal?" She asked, sliding slightly closer. Naruto looked at her for a time. He was silent and simply stared as he thought before beginning to nod.
"I haven't been able to look inside it at all since I killed him." Naruto replied.
"Do you want to look now?" Sabine pressed.
Naruto was silent again for a time before he heaved a sigh and slowly opened the cover flicking to the first pages. The first pages Naruto knows are of Sai and his brother. Then a few came of landscapes, some showing a beautiful area only for the next page to hold the same location following a harrowing battle that had reshaped and scarred the land.
For a while they continued on silently. Simply humming faintly at the sight of the drawings Sai had created within the book. Sabine couldn't help but be impressed. Naruto had been right, Sai was very talented with his art. From one artist to another she considered his work marvelous. It brought a small frown to her face knowing she would never meet the artist who had drawn such things in person thanks to the Empire's machinations.
"His work really speaks to you when you look at it." Sabine said.
"What do you mean?" Naruto asked, giving her a confused glance.
"It's very 's very emotional, like he was pouring his heart into every piece. You can pick out a lot of his feelings and thoughts just by the way his work looks." Sabine explained to him.
"Do you think you could tell me what you get from some of them?" Naruto asked. The girl nodded happily and they turned back to the book.
They flip through for a moment before stopping on a drawing of Team 7. Naruto smiled sadly at the picture before looking Sabine's way.
"It's clear he held the squad in high regard. He loved you all like a family I think." The artist commented.
"He struggled with expressing himself the way he wanted to, I think. Consequences of ROOT probably." Naruto said as he smiled at the picture. "But he poured that into his art."
They continued on, eventually coming to a series of landscapes and wildlife. Some were very realistic and lifelike and others were more stylized and abstract.
"He seemed to love the peace and beauty of nature a lot. Most of his drawings are of wild animals or some untouched land." Sabine pointed out.
They push further, coming to some portraits. They flipped through them slowly. Many were of friends from home Naruto missed dearly and he felt a knot form in his throat as he held back his sorrow. It had been years since he'd seen his friends, and even in picture form, especially Sai's lifelike style, caused him to ache to speak with them again.
He choked up slightly when they came to a series of portraits of Ino. One a full body portrait of her in a wedding dress smiling at them from the page.
"He loved her dearly didn't he." Sabien asked quietly.
"Yeah. They started dating shortly before I was taken. I guess they stayed together for quite a while." Naruto whispered out. He cleared his throat and felt Sabine place a hand on his arm to comfort him. He sent her a small reassuring glance before nodding to continue.
They continued on. Several more portraits and landscapes as well as a few other pieces. One of Team 7 in front of the gathered Daimyo and Kage as Naruto urged them to refuse the Empire's offers.
However it was the last picture that stood out the most. It shocked Naruto of it's content or more that Sai had kept it even after joining the Empire. It was one of himself, facing away from them and staring down the forces of Madara, the Akatsuki, the Ootsutsuki, and shockingly the Empire while several faceless shinobi stood at his back as if following him into battle or being shielded by Naruto.
"He considered you a hero, even in the end. A saviour and protector to your people Naruto. He never truly lost faith in you." Sabine whispered to the shinobi as she watched him slowly lose control over his emotions and tears began to slide down his cheeks.
Sabine wasted no time bringing him into a tight embrace. One Naruto slowly returned and the pair of them remained like that for a while before Naruto recollected himself.
"I'll save them. Just like he expected of me. I swear it." Naruto whispered quietly, almost silently. Despite that Sabine could hear the steel in his words. He would do just that or die trying.
"We'll help you. I'll be right by your side, I promise." Sabien said back as both tightened their hold and stayed like that for some time.
Imperial Star Destroyer Bulwark
003 BBY
The three figures moved almost silently off of the Lambda class shuttle and into the hangar bay. Leading them was the Fifth Brother of the Imperial Inquisition. He was an animalistic man who towered over most of those around him. Despite that the two behind him shared equally intimidating presences. The lithe female sporting a mask of a mad woman trapped in the rictus of laughter so wild it looked as if the mask's jaw was unhinged. The man on the other hand was thick and muscled a mask caught in the throws of absolute sorrow as tears seemed to carve their way down the cheeks leaving deep grooves in the face of the mask.
The FIfth Brother would be taking over this ship alongside his two companions by order of Lord Vader himself. Their simple task, to track down and capture either Ahsoka Tano or her subordinate, Naruto Uzumaki.
Hope you liked it! Like I said a shorter chapter but likely back to usual length for the next one.