Hey folks it's been a bit since I updated this story but it most definitely isn't abandoned. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this one, for those of you interested this will be the last chapter for a couple chapters to follow closely to canon, with this we kinda will be expanding things a bit and we'll see more of Naruto actually performing his own missions both alongside the specters and alone.
Another note for those interested check out the discord server hosted by AizenTheGoat. You can find the permission link here → /2r9g5enS
On to the story!
Rebel Flotilla
03 BBY
For the first time in a couple weeks the crew enjoyed a bit of a break. They were back on the Ghost but still connected to the flotilla's lead blockade runner. At the moment the crew was lounging around in the common area for the most part. That is except Kanan and Ezra. The pair of Jedi had been going through several exercises meant to help Ezra hone his control int the use of the force.
"Alright, we'll finish the day by levitating Chopper." Kanan instructed getting a grin from his padawan.
"If I can do it, does it mean I get to drop him?" Ezra asked playfully, getting a series of affronted sounds from the little astromech droid
While the pair of Jedi talked about Kana's plans with training, nearby at the Dejarik table, Rex was trouncing Zeb at the game while beside them Naruto cleaned up the armor that Sabine painted up for him. From his side the mandalorian leaned in to whisper to him.
"Watch this." A small mischievous smile on her face before she turned to Chopper and whispered to him as well. "Lock it down."
With that Chopper magnetically locked his feet to the floor and Naruto grinned slightly at the small prank. It was simple, sure, but a bit of mischief didn't hurt anybody and a little joke like this could still be a bit of fun.
With a go ahead from his master, Ezra reached out with his hand trying to focus on lifting Chopper up into the air while the room watched. Soon it was clear Ezra was struggling though Naruto was a little impressed that he had Chopper vibrating slightly from the strength of the kid's pulling at him. As he continued on Ezra grew frustrated with the lack of progress, clearly becoming irritated, making it harder on himself as his focus slipped.
"Ezra Reach through the force, see through the force." Kanan tried to instruct the boy soothingly.
The kid continued to struggle before grunting and dropping his hand in frustrated anger.
"I can't do it!" He growled, causing Sabine and Chopper to laugh a bit at his expense, getting a confused look from the boy.
Taking pity on him, Rex pointed down to Chopper's feet. "While seeing through the force you should see through your eyes too. The droid's feet are locked down."
"That's not fair!" Ezra cried out in fury at the little droid only making Chopper rumble with more robotic laughter.
"Real battles usually aren't." Kanan suggested while placing a hand on Ezra's shoulder.
"The Jedi General I served with combined the force with his wits and it made him a great warrior." Rex said as he joined Kanan and Ezra in standing.
The jedi seemed unhappy with Rex giving his input as he approached the former trooper. "Ezra has plenty of wits, what he needs is more discipline."
"Well then you better let a soldier handle that." Rex countered as the two men seemed to square off.
Nearby Naruto grimaced as the argument between Kanan and Rex began to heat up. Turning to the girl next to him he mumbled to her that it might start to turn bad causing her to nod. Sabine felt a bit guilty, having felt like she helped to instigate teh situation when she was just trying to tease the kid on the crew for a bit.
"Hey it was a harmless prank, no harm no foul. I think this," Naruto motioned toward the two older men. "Was coming either way. They've been butting heads since Rex came on board."
Luckily before either man could really get into Hera entered the room having just been in contact with Ahsoka and Commander Sato. She frowned slightly at the sight of the two men squaring off in the center of the room. She felt like such a mom all the time. Clearing her throat to gain everyone's attention and succeeding in pausing the brewing argument, Hera turned to look at Sabine.
"I need you and Chopper to run a mission." Hera said getting Sabine and Naruto to stand in a bit of surprise.
"What mission?" Sabine asked.
"Using the information Rex supplied us with I managed to scrounge up some coordinates for an old medical base where you might be able to salvage some medical supplies. A couple of other cells are in really bad need of some but we don't have much to spare right now." The Captain explained.
Sabine started heading off with Chopper following her. Hera thought for a moment before telling Zeb to go too. As the small group headed off Naruto watched Kanan turn back and grumble about them finding the medical supplies soon because 'Captain Wits' was going to need them.
'How is it I always somehow end up one of the more reasonable members of my team despite the things in my life?' Naruto thought as he hopped up too. He wasn't going to hang around here and listen to more arguments.
"Not that watching a pissing match between two old men isn't fun but I'd rather be on a mission." Naruto quipped as he stepped out the door.
"I'm not old!" Kanan shouted. "Right?" He asked turning to shoot Hera a questioning look.
The Twi'lek woman stared back at Kanan for a moment. Finally she simply sighed and rolled her eyes before pivoting and walking back out of the room. Kanan deflated at her actions causing Rex to chuckle before it spun into full on laughter at the glare Kanan shot in his direction.
"So that is where the kid gets his lack of discipline." The clone said getting a growl from the jedi before the pair devolved back into butting heads.
Ezra stared at the two men fighting before glancing off in the direction of Naruto and the others going on the mission. With little more thought to it, the padawan slipped past the two men and out to join the others.
Hopping into the Phantom with the others Zeb blinked for a moment before catching the kid's collar to stop him from jumping into a seat.
"Whoa, you aren't on this mission." The Lasat pointed out.
"Yeah, well I feel the same as Naruto. If two old men are going to have a pissing match-" Ezra began to argue only to get popped on the head lightly by Naruto.
"Ow!" Ezra squawked rubbing his head while shooting Naruto a confused look.
"I don't mind language kid, but I am not about to get an earful from Hera for having you copying things I say. If you want to have a potty mouth as a kid just don't be copying the shit I say."
"I'm not some kid!" Ezra growled breaking free of Zeb's grip and plopping down into a seat.
The two seemed to stare at one another for a moment after that. Naruto staring blankly down at the younger boy and Ezra glaring up at him defiantly. Finally Naruto blew out some air and tilted his head slightly.
"You might be a really damn tough kid, but you're still a kid, Ezra." Naruto said before turning away leaving the boy to try and mask his pout as Naruto took the co-pilot seat beside Sabine and Zeb settled in beside the youngest of the crew.
It didn't take that long for the crew to reach the medical station. It is clearly an old clone wars station likely meant for clone's from the front that needed more long term or serious medical care than could be given on the capital ships most units operated from. It was completely abandoned. Some old stations had become short term havens for pirates and other scum, but it didn't usually last long. Even abandoned as they were, many old republic and seperatist installation were frequently patrolled by Imperial forces. They knew just how good such places could be for rebels and other fugitives if left unchecked.
Bringing the Phantom up to one of the landing decks, Sabine guided it up to the doors while Naruto sent in the codes they had gotten from Rex. He was a bit surprised when the doors slid open. After all these years even abandoned as it was he expected the codes to have been replaced. Still the empire's oversight was for their gain so he didn't mind.
After Sabine landed the shuttle the crew began moving into the station. A grumble from Chopper got a chuckle from Naruto and Sabine while Ezra tried to encourage the droid telling him that it wasn't really that creepy.
"How do you all understand the beeping trashcan?" Zeb asked.
"Eh, it's mostly context clues really." Naruto replied with a shrug of his shoulders.
Soon the group had made their way to the inner doors for the hangar. Sadly with the main power down only the essential systems like gravity, life support, and outer doors were functioning.
"Zeb, you'll have to hold it open so we can get in, the power is out." Sabine explained.
"Right." The big Lasat said as he and Naruto pried the door and he braced it open with his body so the others could slip through.
Once again they made their way further into the station. The halls were pretty trashed. Most of the valuable material and items had been stripped some time ago and pannels and sections of the floors, walls, and ceilings were completely missing and wires and pipes hung limply in the holes.
Coming to one of the primary corridors they began to follow it toward the central command station, though Sabine stopped at the largest section of intact wall they had come across so far and pulled out her cans of spray paint. Naruto stopped with her, causing her to scoff and roll her eyes behind her helmet.
"I'm a big girl. I can protect myself from the scary shadows." She said sarcastically.
"Oh, trust me I know. We spar together, remember. Still it's better we stick in groups whether we think that we're safe or not." Naruto said with a mild chuckle watching the girl work at tagging the station wall.
Stopping and turning to face Naruto Sabine slipped her can of paint back into it's bag. "That include back on the Ghost?"
Naruto grinned at her reply. He knew her game, trying to make him feel flustered. Essentially trying to see who'd blink first. "I wouldn't mind if you don't."
The Shinobi leaned in closely as he said that causing the girl to blush slightly behind her helmet before quickly turning away and pulling another can out with a different color and begin spraying the wall again. Naruto nearly laughed at her reaction, he could tell she was blushing even behind her helmet. This game was made for two after all and he was happy to play with Sabine.
Once the mandalorian girl was done painting both took a moment to look over her work. It was simple, but then again there wasn't too much someone could do with a couple cans of spray paint. Still, Naruto thought it looked great. The symbol of the Starbird, a variation of her clan's crest painted in colors that reminded him of an early sunrise, oranges and reds mainly.
Just before they leave to rejoin the others they both freeze glancing down one of the connecting halls filled with debris. It had sounded like something had moved. Both tensed ready for a possible fight.
Suddenly Ezra jumped out from behind them startling the pair and narrowly avoiding taking a chakra enhanced punch to the throat had Naruto been any slower at realizing who it was.
"Dammit Ezra, I nearly shot you idiot!" Sabine hissed at the boy causing the smile on his face to fall immediately. "You want to be treated like you aren't a kid, then start acting like it!"
Sabine then stormed off in the direction of Chopper and Zeb leaving the two boys behind. Regaining his composure Ezra turned to glare at Naruto before racing off to follow Sabine.
"Kami save me from obnoxious brats." Naruto groaned as he plodded after the rest of the group.
Sadly, Ezra interruption had made Naruto forget the subtle sound from before. As he stepped out of earshot a small probe droid lifted off of the floor and shook off the dust collected on it's shell as it began cycling through it's recorded sensor readings sending the latest changes to it's operator.
Back with the team, they continued on finally reaching the command center for the station. What was left of the command center anyway. This room was as bad as the rest of the station it seemed, entire terminals torn off from their positions. At least a few looked intact enough for them to work with but, Naruto had the feeling that this was going to make this job a real pain in the ass.
"You know, this could maybe make a decent base for the fleet don't you think?" Ezra asked as he hopped up on an old holoterminal and sat down.
"No thanks, this plate is falling apart around us." Sabine scoffed as she picked through the remains of the command terminals.
"Plus it's too exposed and the Empire could pretty easily figure out where we would be hiding out at. They still control most of the old republic warning systems, even if they are dormant. One alert is all it would take for imps to decide they need to patrol around these parts." Naruto added in.
"Chopper power this thing up would you?" Sabine asked after standing back up from working on the terminal.
The droid squawked out a series of mechanical sounds as he rolled up to an uplink port and hooked into the station terminal. After a few twists and turns of the dial and a couple of shrill chirps from the little machine, the entire station briefly shuddered before the lights flicker on and the whole station comes back to life.
"I meant this terminal not the whole station." Sabine sighed out getting a couple of buzzes from the droid in response. "Just shut everything back off except the command terminal."
A moment later and the station powered back down excluding the terminal that Sabine had requested. After a few moments of Sabine and Chopper cycling through the data files on the system she let out another sigh tapping the terminal with a bit of an annoyed drumming of her fingers.
"So good news is we have the inventory files. Bad news is that practically all of them are corrupted. I can't tell where the medical supplies are supposed to be or if there were any left here to begin with." The mandalorian turned to face the rest of the team.
"Then Chopper will have to just stay here and repair the files and the rest of us will go looking the old fashioned way." Ezra piped up as he slid off his makeshift seat.
"It's worth a try I guess." Sabine agreed with a shrug.
"Heh, why don't you just use your jedi powers to find the supplies so we can get out of here?" Zeb teased the padawan.
Ezra stopped himself as he opened his mouth before puffing up his chest and giving the Lasat a superior look. "Now, Zeb, it doesn't work like that, but I don't need my jedi powers to find them before you do."
Naruto pinched his nose and slumped slightly as he saw where this was going. He felt a need to apologize to Iruka and Kakashi if he ever saw them again...when he saw them again.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Zeb demanded.
"Well generally it means I'm more perceptive, I can think on my feet, and I'm faster."
Zeb growled at the cocky remarks from the kid drawing in close to the brat. Thankfully Sabine interrupted them before they could continue arguing.
"I don't care who finds them first, as long as they get found."
"I'll find them first." Ezra chirped before dashing off down the hall.
Zeb scoffed as the kid raced off. "Cocky kid will run right past them."
Despite that, the man, more than twice Ezra's age, took off after him to try and beat him in finding the medical supplies they needed. This left Sabine to simply let out a long suffering sigh getting a small chuckle from Naruto seeing her reaction.
"Maybe you could take some pointers from Hera?" He joked, getting a scoff in return. "Yeah she could definitely give you the in's and out's of playing mom."
Naruto cackles as he catches the loose pipe fitting the girl chucked at his head. Leaving her to grumble about 'stupid ninja reflexes' causign him to laugh even harder.
"Well they do come in handy from time to time." Naruto said with a smirk as the pair start following after Zeb and Ezra at a far more sedate pace than the child and man-child. Someone needed to give the crates they passed by an actual thorough check after all.
Sadly it seemed they weren't about to get lucky with finding the medical supplies anytime soon. Ezra and Zeb continued what essentially had become a game of tag while Naruto and Sabine actually searched through the station top to bottom for supplies. It wasn't so bad, Naruto thought. Sure the whole having to dig through dusty rusted crates looking for what amounted to a needle in a haystack sucked, but it gave him some time to spend with Sabine. That was something he had steadily realized he wanted more of.
Unknown to the shinobi, his opinion on the matter was shared by Sabine herself. The mandalorian had started growing closer with him since he joined the crew, but the situation revolving around Sai and Naruto sharing his lost friend's art book with her had sparked something that she in all honesty wasn't sure she was ready to explore. Still spending time with the elder blond boy felt right to her. It almost always left her smiling slightly and with a small blush no matter the activity. Sparring or even mundane searches like this were no exception.
Sadly the moment of peace as both reflected on their blossoming attraction to one another was interrupted. Ezra, building up some surprising momentum while he was running, had slammed into a stack of crates scattering them across the hall with a loud series of bangs. Looking up the two teens saw that the kid had done it on purpose sending the metal boxes smashing into Zeb to try and slow him down in their impromptu race.
"Would you two knock it off and stop acting like little kids!" Naruto shouted at them only to get Ezra to turn while still running backwards down the hall with a cheeky grin.
"I thought I was a kid."
"The operative word in that sentence was little, as in little brat." Naruto called back getting a scoff from Ezra as he turned and raced off again.
Naruto grumbled about how he definitely owed an apology to his sensei's, sure there were ups and downs with them, but if he was half as bad as this kid in annoyance. Then again when Kakashi had started training him outside the academy he had been a little kid. A sudden bump against his hip by the girl next to him caused him to glance her way and he could all but see the small grin on her face under that helmet as her shoulders shook slightly from light chuckles.
"You don't get to make mom jokes at me if you are gonna act all dad-like like Kanan tries to do." Sabine said with a small laugh in her voice.
Naruto rolled his eyes but the small smirk that slipped onto his face told her he could take her teasing just as much as he dished it out to her. Bumping his own hip back into hers the pair both laugh quietly before continuing with the search for their objective.
Another interruption for their search caught their attention as Chopper seemed to come over the com-link asking for help. Whatever the issue was though the comms cut out immediately afterward and the group couldn't get a hold of the astromech again leading them to begin worrying something bad had happened.
"We should take a shortcut." Ezra suggested pointing up at the ventilation shaft just above them.
"It actually would cut the distance in about half because we won't have to double back between the ladders and stairs. We need to get back to Chopper quickly for whatever had him spooked like that." Naruto said backing up the kid's idea.
Without any further discussion the group started climbing in. Ezra took the lead followed by Sabine and then Naruto. Lastly would have been Zeb, had he not managed to wedge himself into the vent opening leaving him dangling over the hall they had left behind. Too proud to call out to the others the Lasat silently struggled to free himself and rejoin them. Sadly he had no luck and was eventually literally left hanging.
As for Naruto, following behind Sabine, he soon came to realize he seemed to have drawn the lucky straw from his placement. He wasn't perfect he acknowledged and Jiraiya had influenced him in some of his most important formative years. So Naruto silently enjoyed his view up until he had to narrowly dodge a kick shot backward by Sabine.
"What the hell?" Naruto complained loudly.
"Oh you just seemed awfully focused on something." Sabine replied as she continued to crawl through the vent.
'Seriously? It's like every woman I know can read minds or are just crazy as all hell." Naruto thought with a subtle pout, only to widen his eyes and again narrowly dodge a kick from the girl ahead of him.
'Probably both then.' He groused silently.
Eventually the trio came to the end of the shaft and climbed out only to be shocked when they couldn't find Chopper anywhere. Immediately the group set about searching for the little droid, after it was clear Chopper wasn't in the command center at all they started heading down a hall, rounding the corner only to come face to face with an odd tiny floating droid.
"What is it?" Ezra asked in surprise as he reached out toward the hovering machine.
"I think it's a probe droid of some kind. I've never seen one so small though." Sabine answered.
Naruto, already alert with Chopper suddenly calling for help and going missing was immediately on edge. He turned his head in the direction of another hall before the figure even stepped out of the darkness. Mentally he cursed. He wanted just one easy mission. Was that so much to ask?
"My little pet told me you were here, I've been looking for you for some time now." The woman cooed in her eerie echoey voice as she gently stroked the top of the probe droid beside her.
"Are you a bounty hunter or something?" Ezra asked, hand inching toward his saber. Naruto and Sabine similarly already had hands on their weapons ready to draw them in an instant.
"Hmm, guess again." The woman hissed. Despite the helmet they could practically hear her smile in her words as she ignited a red saber.
"An inquisitor!" Ezra shouted shocked at another, he had thought there was only the one and that they were dead.
"Oh good I won't have to explain it to you." She mocked back. "So now you know what comes next."
Naruto pulled his sabers free from their places on his belt and was about to ignite them when he froze temporarily. Since Chopper had gone missing he had been focusing more on his senses just in case, even more so after this inquisitor had revealed herself. Now though the hair on the back of his neck stood on end as a new sensation stopped hiding itself among the dark shadows of the abandoned station. In a blink of the eye he was shoving Sabine to the floor and avoiding several shuriken that bounced off of the wall beside them and skittered along the flooring.
"What the hell?" Sabine shouted.
"Hunters!" Naruto answered her question simply. He didn't wait for a reply as he charged forward igniting his sabers as he closed with the masked woman cackling at the end of the hall. Only to stop short and jump back narrowly avoiding a massive man barrelling into him.
Spinning around the man, Naruto swung out with the humming white blades of his sabers narrowly clipping the brute on his arm. Unfortunately the man didn't even shake off the wound, simply acting as if nothing at all had happened.
"Shit. Sabine, Ezra, Run!" Naruto ordered, causing both of the younger teens to immediately take off with Naruto close behind, keeping all three of their opponents back as best he could.
"Where is Zeb?" He growled finally realizing they were down another member of their team and kicking himself at the realization.
As they ran Naruto noticed Ezra and Sabine suddenly freeze before changing directions and running down another hall. Realizing almost too late what he slid onto his knees under the sizzling red saber of a second inquisitor before jumping forward onto his feet and catching up to the other two rebels.
The imperials quickly caught them however due to the amount of debris and blocked halls making all that much easier for them to pursue their targets. All but cornered the rebels were forced to engage their enemies with Ezra crossing blades with the female inquisitor from earlier and Sabine firing away with ehr blasters while Naruto shielded them all from the no doubt poisoned projectiles sent their way by the two shinobi.
"Sabine, get the door open." He commanded stepping beside her to better cover her as she worked.
Thankfully it didn't take long for the thick blast door to slide open enough for them to slip through. Sadly as Ezra broke contact and slipped through after Sabine, Naruto suddenly found himself having to cross blades with both the inquisitors while also defend against the hail of kunai, shuriken, and senbon that peppered him. Forced to make a choice he blocked both blades of the inquisitors one with each of hsi sabers leaving him open for three senbon to embed themselves into his side just below his ribs.
Hissing at the sharp pain he roughly swiped his sabers down pushing the two inquisitors back allowing him to slip through the door as well and catch up to his comrades. Quickly removing the senbon, he cursed knowing his fear of poison earlier was correct. He began running through a mental checklist to try and prepare for what the substance would do when it filtered into his system.
Again he couldn't focus on his issues for long as suddenly the female inquisitor shot out a hand and grabbing Ezra's leg with the force yanked him suddenly down and back toward the pursuing imperials. Jumping to the boy's rescue Naruto slashed at the woman only for her to jump out of the way and the two shinobi hunters to pounce on him.
With his vision already swimming from whatever was on the senbon, Naruto briefly faced off against his fellow shinobi planting a foot in the woman's chest sending her sliding back down the hall before she simply leapt back up and charged in again, despite the fractured ribs he knew he had given her.
"Run!" Naruto shouted realizing he was being overwhelmed, before stabbing the door controls causing the door to suddenly slam shut with a clang. Immediately afterword he swiped both sabers in a sideways arc, cleanly bisecting the massive shinobi. Sadly the two inquisitors gave him no chance for breathing room catching both his blades with their own, allowing the probe droids that followed the female inquisitor to attach themselves to him and stun him forcing Naruto into unconsciousness.
Stepping forward to land the finishing blow the Male inquisitor was stopped by shinobi woman who seemed to be giggling despite her injuries and the death of her associate.
"Lord Vader orders this one brought to him alive."
"That's fine, we can use him to lure out the others anyway." The female inquisitor points out.
Quickly and efficiently the trio inject him with more of the sedative already in his system and bind him, with the kunoichi adding a handful of seals as well. They couldn't take any chances after all.
"Why is this one so special anyway?" The male inquisitor asked, annoyed that not only was he the one carrying the prisoner but also that he wasn't allowed to kill him.
"He's a hero back on Ninsu, real important that he comes into Lord Vader's hands." The kunoichi giggled as she spoke, causing even the inquisitors to look at her as if she was unhinged.
Finally reaching what was once a medical room, they strapped Naruto to the patient's bed before injecting him with another substance to wake him up. After a couple moments it took effect and he tried to struggle against his restraints only to stop and glare hotly at the three figures surrounding him. One smiling, one giggling, and one still hidden behind her helmet.
"It's no use hero, the drugs in you have your strength sapped so we can talk." The kunoichi said her mask fitting the laughter that followed it. A face splitting smile. A look as though the face the mask represented was in pain it smiled so broadly.
"I noticed how well you used these two." The female inquisitor said as she lifted up his sabers into view. "While you were, you closely resembled a certain Jedi I know of."
Naruto remained silent and simply stared back at his captors prompting her to be more clear and direct.
"What is your connection to Ahsoka Tano?" Again Naruto simply stated back not even a flicker of emotion on his face.
Sighing slightly the inquisitor disabled the mask on her helmet revealing her to be a mirialan.
"What no witty banter?" She asked with a mocking smile.
"Don't take it personally, that is normal Konoha shinobi protocol when taken captive. Remain totally silent so that their words can't be twisted around to confuse them in case they are drugged." The giggling kunoichi explained.
"Really it seems pointless, but it makes it more interesting when they try so hard not to scream." She giggled again as she leaned her head on her open palm like she was reliving a fond memory. Then turning, she rolled out a scroll with a storage seal on it on a nearby counter top. With a poof her tools were present.
Lifting up a scalpel and channeling very fine chakra onto the blade to make it even more precise and sharp she turned to look back at Naruto before all but skipping back over to him.
"You know I used to use these to help people. I was a real talented medic-nin back before the fourth war got started. Then I guess you could say I was given a change of career." The giggles that followed seemed even more stressed and insane than earlier.
"Bringing out the tools? Aww and he was so handsome too." The inquisitor played with a disappointed tone though the thin grin on her face never wavered in the slightest.
With Ezra and Sabine
Having fled from their pursuers deeper into the station Ezra and Sabine finally stopped running when they came to the odd sight of Zeb's legs kicking uselessly in the air. The Lasat was stuck halfway into the ventilation shaft like a sitting duck.
After working together to yank the man free, Ezra and Sabine broke down the situation to Zeb catching him up on everything that had happened already.
"So they already got Naruto then?" Zeb asked with a serious look on his face, worried for their teammate, but also for the powerhouse of their group being already captured.
"Yeah Inquisitors and Hunters grabbed him." Ezra said.
"Specifically two inquisitors and there were two hunters but while the door was closing Naruto killed one of the hunters." Sabine explained further.
Shaking his head Zeb let out a frustrated groan. "As if one of each wasn't bad enough. We need to get Kanan."
"We can't, the signal would compromise the whole flotilla. We'll just have to save him ourselves." Sabine stated.
"Oh yeah? And how exactly are we supposed to do that?" The Lasat asked.
"I'm working on it." She snapped before forcing out a breath to better calm down. "I have an idea. So come on."
With that the two males of the group followed after her as she led them down the halls of the dark station.
A while later the trio had set themselves up in an especially dark hallway filled with crates and other debris. The entire hall leading from the corridor it branched from was rigged with explosives to ambush the enemy as they came for their rebel targets. Finally at the end taking cover behind a set of crates and in a doorway the three rebels gripped their blasters waiting for their enemy to walk into the ambush. They wouldn't wait long.
Walking in front of the hall, the male inquisitor stopped and turned to look into the shadows concealing the waiting rebels. Slowly a sinister grin slid onto his lips as he took a step forward to get a better look.
"Your fear betrays you." The man said simply as he began to fully step into the hallway before him.
As he passed the proper spot Sabine activated the bombs lining the hallway. Rather she attempted to activate them. Repeatedly smashing down the trigger button Sabine felt dread settle into her chest as the bombs failed to detonate when she activated them. Finally peeking out to see why she felt the dread turn to unadulterated fear as the inquisitor slowly lifted his hand and the explosives drifted up into the air from their hiding spots.
"Not as clever as you think." He bit out as he made a subtle pushing motion with his hand sending the bombs flying back toward the rebels attempting to dive into cover.
As the explosives detonated sending all three slamming into different walls the Inquisitor continued casually walking forward toward his quarry. Fastening a set of manacles to Ezra's hands and disarming the girl he hoisted the girl onto his shoulder and drug the boy by his ankle back to his comrades.
"The other is yours to deal with." He commanded the waiting probe droids that swept into the dark woom Zeb had been blasted into. The Inquisitor didn't wait for them to finish him off instead continuing on with his new prisoners.
Zeb slowly regained his senses pushing up slowly with a groan and leaning heavily against a stack of crates. Blinking away the stars in his vision he froze at the sight before him. Lifting his hand Zeb saw the marks for medical supplies plastered across all of the stacked crates before him.
"Of course now I find you." He grumbled before shaking his head and glancing out of the small alcove he and the crates were in. A pair of the inquisitors probe droids warbled back and forth as they scanned the room no doubt looking for him.
Taking stock of his situation Zeb realized he could slip by the two droids when they started searching the other alcoves of the room along the far wall. So waiting for a few minutes he hoisted two of the heavy crates onto shoulder and grabbed the last one in a free hand before carefully slipping down the hall while the droids were preoccupied looking in the wrong spot.
As quickly as he could while still staying quiet, Zeb started making his way down the halls of the station once more. Now having actually achieved the team's objective, though as it stood he was pretty sure there was no way to consider this a mission success.
Making his way toward the shuttle bay to load the medical supplies and figure out what to do, Zeb all but tripped over the carcass of an astromech droid only to realize it was less of a destroyed astromech and more deactivated. On top of that, he was far too familiar with this specific droid.
"Come on you bucket of bolts, napping on the job while we're dealing with inquisitors and hunters…" Zeb sarcastically growled as he rebooted Chopper.
Coming online the droid shook for a moment, as if it was shaking off the feeling of being stunned before chattering away at Zeb with a series of unintelligible beeps and chirps.
"I have no idea what you are trying to say." The Lasat said, getting another long chain of random squawks and other robotic sounds.
Staring blankly down at the droid for a moment Zeb sighed before grabbing the cases of medical supplies. "Whatever Chopper, I can't understand you but I need you to open and close doors for me along the path back to the hangar we used. Having to pry each door open and slide the crate through one at a time while holding them open is getting old fast."
The droid chirped back, not that Zeb knew if it was agreeing or something else, before following after him down the hall. The rebel could chalk that up to a good sign at least.
With the Others
By the time the male Inquisitor had returned to the others, his two prisoners had awoken. Struggling slightly against the man's hold as they came into the room both rebel teens stopped when they saw the current state of their comrade. They were horrified. Naruto laid before them strapped onto an old medical bed covered in shallow cuts across his arms and torso and covered in fresh blood.
Despite his wounds Naruto continued to simply glare up at his torturers defiantly. After unceremoniously dropping his two prisoners in the corner of the room the Male inquisitor took in the sight of their other prisoner and huffed at what he expected to have been a lack of progress. Still he asked.
"What has the shinobi revealed?" He asked crossing his arms over his shoulders.
"He's as impressive as we were led to believe, he hasn't made a sound except a bit of whimpering when she cuts into him." The second inquisitor answered.
"Oh well. I mean what else could be expected from the false saviour, Naruto Uzumaki." The kunoichi drug out his name as she fell into a fit of giggles.
Ezra and Sabine were confused by that. They really didn't know all that much about their crewmate's past. Sabine was a bit surprised that he was obviously keeping something major hidden but recalled her own skeletons in the closet. Both younger rebels tried to school their features as the kunoichi raked her eyes over them from behind her disgusting mask.
Breaking out into a fit of laughter the kunoichi slunk her way over to them and forcefully angled their heads up to look at her masked face, inadvertently spreading some of Naruto's blood across their chins.
"He hasn't told you about himself much has he? I wonder what he has said? Lets see, you know he's a shinobi, from Konoha? Yep you knew that I could see it in your eyes, let's see. Oh that he is the last of one of the great clans? Just the girl knows that it seems. What else, what else? Oh! Did he ever tell either one of you just who his parents were? Just how important he really is on our homeworld?" She asked, teh looks in their eyes told her the answer to both questions was most assuredly no, causing her to break out into even more hysterical laughter as sher released their faces and grabbed at her sides smearing blood over her body armor.
"Let me then. This here is Naruto Uzumaki, son of the last heiress of the Uzumaki clan and the even more esteemed Lord Fourth Hokage of Konoha, practically royal blood back on Ninsu. But that's not why he's so important. No he is a war hero, twice over. Trained by some of the deadliest shinobi his home ever produced and surpassing them all. You have no idea how exciting it is to have him on MY table!" The woman was holding the sides of her head now, and smearing the blood on her white mask and long bluish hair.
"It's so silly for him to never have told you. That bitch of a Mizukage would never have kept her mouth such about such achievements-"
"So you're a mist-nin." Naruto said with a surprisingly steely voice.
Turning to face the shinobi that had spoken to her, the kunoichi simply stared at him for a moment before slowly nodding. "I was a mist-nin, but none of that matters anymore. We're all just tools of the empire now. Like the good old days. With the bloody mist."
"You mist shinobi were always a bit unhinged but to want to go back to being like the bloody mist, only for even worse masters, that's a new low even for Kiri." Naruto said with a condescending tone.
The woman didn't seem to mind instead just giggling at his words. "And you konoha shinobi were always too soft."
As if to try and prove her point the kunoichi grabbed one of her bloodied scalpels from the table and slid up behind Sabine and pressed the blade closely against her throat.
"Now contact the other rebels to have them come here or the girl dies." She said in a far more serious tone of voice. Despite that the edge of laughter bled into her tone all the same.
Naruto hesitated, his eyes locking with Sabine's. The fear he could see in her eyes killed him making him stammer briefly only to be interrupted by the woman cackling madly once again. Dropping Sabine she made her way back toward the bed holding Naruto, spinning the scalpel between her fingers expertly as she moved.
"You are such a weak fraud. You don't deserve half the titles they gave you, but the fact that some call you the new god of shinobi is disgusting." The woman said as she drug the scalpel down his side making a small shallow cut along one of his ribs.
With Zeb and Chopper
"Are you mocking me?" Zeb asked Chopper. "Honestly I can never tell."
Setting the case of medical supplies down beside the Phantom and taking a deep sigh he rubbed his eyes. The rebel veteran turned his face upward to stare at the hangar ceiling and rolled his shoulder to loosen it up from carrying the medical supplies for so long.
"Everyone seems to know everything these days." Zeb continued to speak getting a confused chirp from Chopper not really knowing what he meant. "Truth is I don't have a chance going in alone, much less with you." He growled turning his eyes back toward the droid.
Chopper rumbled slightly in response but Zeb had no idea what the machine was trying to say. Not that it mattered at the had started to monologue and a noisy trashcan wasn't about to interrupt him.
"If we leave this space station, we will never see those three kids again." The man said with sadness in his tone before his narrowed his eyes before renewed determination entered his voice. "I came here with them and I'm not leaving here without them."
With the Others
Just as the Kunoichi had gotten started torturing Naruto once more, the rebel's commlinks all activated. A voice that was clearly Zeb's to the rebels but covered with a terrible false posh accent came over the channel.
"Hello, Specter-Six, come in. Do you read? This is Commander Meiloorun."
"Answer him." The male inquisitor ordered as he glared down at them.
"Uh, Commander Meiloorun, Yes. Yes I can hear you." Sabine stemmered slightly.
"You missed your check-in. Am I correct in assuming that mechanical difficulties has your shuttle stranded , and you're in need of repairs.?" 'Commander Meiloorun' asked.
After the teens hesitated a bit too long the female inquisitor kicked Sabine roughly in the shin. "Answer him."
"Commander, we, uh, can handle everything ourselves. No need for you or the others." Sabine replied, trying to convince Zeb to abandon them and flee.
The inquisitors wouldn't let that slide though. The male of the two yanked Sabine up by her hair while igniting his saber in his other hand and holding it near her throat. The Kunoichi simply watched on boredly as she spun her scalpel in hand.
Ezra terrified of Sabine being killed took over the conversation. "Actually Commander, we changed out minds. We could use some help. Bring Kanan, and you better bring Ahsoka too."
The female inquisitor grinned viciously at that as the male dropped Sabine to the ground and holstered his saber.
"Very well. We'll meet you in bay six and don't worry, We'll fix everything. Just keep your chin up and everything will be fine."
Nearby Naruto kept his face neutral but internally he was nearly laughing. He had no real idea what Zeb had planned but he hoped it would work. With the drugs and seals he couldn't take a jonin level kunoichi and two inquisitors in such close spaces. Especially not with Ezra and Sabine in their hands. When they split up though…
The inquisitors hauled Ezra and Sabine to their feet and began leading them out of the room and again internally Naruto was ginning as an opportunity began to present itself.
"Once we have the others, we'll kill both of these ones." The female inquisitor explained to the kunoichi.
"Have your fun, I'm going to play with the last Uzumaki for a bit before I pack him up to move to Mustafar." She replied with a giggle.
With that the two inquisitors shoved Sabine and Ezra through the door and down the hall. Sabine's last sight of Naruto being of him grunting faintly in pain as a chakra covered scalpel made another bloody line down his arm.
Quickly making their way to the hangar bay, Ezra replayed the conversation with Zeb in his head over and over finally picking out the odd words he chose at the end. It seemed mostly like he was giving encouragement to the team, but if he was playing the part of a commander coming to help them with repairs that wasn't necessary. So why would he risk tipping off their captors?
"Chin up…" He mumbled as they stepped into the hangar causing him to turn his head upward to the ceiling noticing the Phantom using it's magnetic clamps to cling to the ceiling of the room. Gently elbowing Sabine to get the distracted girl's attention he motioned upward with his chin causing her to also look at the ceiling and see Zeb waving at them from the cockpit of an upside down Phantom.
Sadly in doing so he also caught the attention of the Inquisitor's probe droid resting on her shoulder causing it to sound the alarm. Luckily Ezra and Sabine had enough time to break free of the inquisitor's grips and run for cover as Zeb disengaged the clamps and opened fire with the shuttle's guns.
The two dark side wielders were forced to focus entirely on the ship as it tried to blast them. Deflecting what they could and dodging what they couldn't. Using his chance Ezra snagged his saber from the belt of the male inquisitor and ignited the blade cutting himself and Sabine loose.
Taking their chance Ezra and Sabine ran for it and jumped into the shuttle as Zeb made a low pass near them. Before it could escape though the Shuttle was caught in the inquisitor's force grasp and the pair began pulling it back toward themselves. As the two slowly forced closed the hangar doors the rebels began to panic, Ezra took shots at the inquisitors but while both used one hand to grasp the ship and the female he second hand to close the doors, the male drew his saber with his free hands and deflected the pot shots.
Just as it seemed they were out of luck though, the doors to the stations halls slid open and Naruto rushed out of them. He roared out at his former captors as he slammed his arms forward blasting both off their feet and into the nearby wall with his own ability with the force. Finally leaping the short distance into the shuttle and collapsing onto it's floor as the door slid shut and the shuttle sped away and jumped to hyperspace.
Inside the Phantom the rebels all took a moment to catch their breath. Naruto groaned slightly as Sabine fretted over his injuries. She was happy to see they were all superficial injuries, so with some bacta patches he'd hardly even have scars. It did piss her off that that woman was cutting him in such a way just to cause pain, none making him bleed enough to be dangerous and nothing very deep.
"What happened?" She asked as she wiped off a bit more blood and pressed another bacta patch to a cut along his ribs.
"After the inquisitors led you two away I played along as the defenseless prisoner for a bit longer. Actually though I'd spent the entire time since they grabbed me burning away at the chakra in the seals they placed on me. Shitty work for temporary things not to hold a shinobi hostage for interrogation. It only took as long as it did because of the drug she injected into me. She pumped a lot into me with just those senbon and that injector completely overworked my system. Threw my chakra control out of wack, and I needed to be careful not to use too much to let them know what I was up to while the others were still in the room." Naruto explained.
"How did a drug make that happen?" Ezra asked.
"There's all sorts of stuff like that back home. Shinobi fight with chakra, make it to where they can't use chakra and you can kick their ass a lot easier. But for this situation it was like….I dunno trying to dig a hole with a soup spoon. You can do it but it's an incredible pain in the ass." Naruto explained. His vision swam as he fought back the desire to puke. He still had a lot of those drugs in his system, probably would for a few days too.
"Still, she was talkative for an interrogator. She was way too confident she actually beat me." Naruto said before slumping into a seat with the help of Sabine who sat beside him to keep working on the worst of his cuts. Ezra frowned but seeing the cuts all over Naruto kept his mouth shut and moved to the front near Zeb taking the co-pilot seat.
Meanwhile Naruto let Sabine work while he continued explaining on what he had learned from the interrogator. Both before and after he had broken free.
"Apparently Mustafar isn't where the majority of Hunters in training were sent. Instead just those with the ability to use the force or are considered extremely important are sent there. Most get split into small cells to be broken and trained across the galaxy. They each only train a handful at a time, but they completely tear them apart and rebuild them how they want them to be. Then for graduation they force each cell into a battle royale among it's trainees. Only the survivor becomes a hunter.
"That's sick." Ezra said from up front.
"Yeah, but I know exactly where they got that system from." Naruto remarked, getting Ezra to turn back to face him and Zeb to glance back over his shoulder while Sabine temporarily stopped patching Naruto up to look him in the face. They all looked confused and intrigued.
"It would be best to explain to the others too, so when we get back. It's a long story." He sighed at that and the others returned to what they were doing.
The Ghost
Rebel Flotilla
Kanan had just beaten Rex at a game of Dejarik causing him to lean back with folded arms and a smug look only for him to frown when the old Captain smiled at him and nodded like a proud uncle or something.
"I guess you can be disciplined when you put your mind to it." Rex said.
"What? Wait are you trying to say you were teaching me a lesson?" Kanan asked as he stood up.
"There are many ways to victory." He responded, causing Hera to try her best to cover her slight laugh from behind Kanan as she enjoyed the antics of the two men.
"I'm not sure I like you more or less now." The Jedi grumbled, getting another snort of laughter from the woman behind him and a broader grin from the clone.
With a sound of a door opening however Kanan's expression shifted from exasperation to agitation as he geared up to reprimand his padawan.
"Speaking of a lack of discipline." He growled through gritted teeth.
Ezra was the first down the ladder already noticing the expression of his mentor and cringing at the coming lecture he knew he wouldn't escape from. Still it would have to come later. Right now they had much bigger fish to fry.
"Ezra we need to talk-" His teacher began.
"Yeah, about the guys we just ran into." Ezra cut him off.
"Two inquisitors and two hunters, Naruto's kind of banged up, I ran out of bacta patches on the Phantom." Sabine added as she followed Ezra in.
Naruto was next waving off Zeb's attempt at helping him walk. "It's honestly not as bad as it looks. A few more bacta patches and some rest and fluids to get this shit out of my system and I'll be fine."
Sabine brought over a jug of water and sat next to him on the common area couch practically making him drink it. The worried looks from the others followed him for a bit before they took him at his word and settled in as he cleared his throat and motioned for them to sit down. Clearly wanting to talk to them. After catching Kanan, Hera, and Rex up to the rest of them he started finishing his explanation from on the shuttle.
"Back on Ninsu there was an illegal branch of Konoha's, my homeland's, military. They used horrible but effective tactics to make what their leader considered to be perfect shinobi. They were practically living weapons. Hardly any ability to function outside of a mission and essentially no 'life'. Just broken." Naruto explained getting disgusted looks from all of those present, though an especially conflicted look from Rex.
"What's worse is the man running the whole thing preferred to indoctrinate recruits from young ages. I think it was to make them more loyal or something. Either way he kidnapped children and put them through a program almost exactly like what is being used to make these Hunters." The group was disgusted before but now they were horrified. He'd already explained how the hunters were being made, but the concept of doing that same thing to small children seemed unreal. Even by the Empire's standards.
"Thankfully he was eventually stopped, but there are a lot of shinobi from my home that still suffer from the effects of his 'training' program. That first Hunter we fought on Lothal. The one I killed on Tarkin's ship...he was a victim of the program as well." Naruto told them, getting Sabine to connect the dots and bite her lip in sorrow for a boy she actually never even met. Still to go from something like this straight into the same life after getting a taste of freedom and happiness. It just felt too cruel.
"Is the man you are talking about, is he the one running the program for the Empire?" Hera asked.
"I doubt it. We made pretty damn sure he was dead. Plus Danzo made his subordinates like emotionless husks. The two hunters we faced on the station didn't fit the mold. They're not as well conditioned and definitely weren't put into the program as kids like Root agents were. I think we're dealing with one of Danzo's old higher level subordinates. The ones that weren't trained to be drones and were like...the true believers in Danzo's system. I don't really have much to go on yet, but we need to stop the creation of more Hunters any way we can." Naruto had grown very grave and serious as he spoke. Old inclinations he had developed during the wars he had fought in back home rose to the surface just a bit more.
"Commander Sato is going to need a full report of the entire mission and everything that was learned." Hera said.
"We did get the medical supplies, some of them at least, thanks to Zeb. He saved everyone." Ezra piped up hoping to turn the mood of the crew back toward a happier one.
Rex nodded toward the Lasat in respect. "Well done soldier."
"Ah, it was a group effort, but those guys are nasty business." Zeb said as he scratched at his cheek in a bit of embarrassment from the praise.
"We'll all meet up on the command deck." Hera said causing Zeb, Sabine, Chopper, and Ezra to file out headed for the refresher before a short nap to try and rest up from their stressful mission. Naruto sighed before removing what was left of his tattered shirt causing Hera to come over with more bacta patches to continue patching him up.
"They knew about Ahsoka." Naruto says as he leans to the side so Hera can focus on the cuts align his right side.
"Do you think Ahsoka knows more about the inquisitors?" Kanana asked Rex.
The old clone shrugged. "I honestly don't know."
"We really have no idea what we're up against here." Kanan said as he leaned against the wall with a frustrated expression.
"We need to start gathering new intel. I have a couple contacts that might have some leads in regards to the Hunters but taking everybody with on something like that is definitely a bad idea." Naruto said.
"We should meet up with Commander Sato and Ahsoka before making any real plans. They'll probably support the idea for more intel gathering though." Kanan agreed.
"I'll meet you you up on the command deck after changing clothes." Naruto said after Hera applied the last Bacta patch onto his arm.
Heading into the hall and down to his room he thought back on the kunoichi who had tried to torture him for money. She had been surprisingly weak when it was just the two of them and he was free of the seals. Either that or he severely overestimated her and caught her by surprise with his own abilities. It didn't matter one way or the other, she still sang like a bird, nothing like the real Root.
Similarly Sai told him things that he wouldn't have been able to if under control like how Danzo had operated. So the question was, who exactly was mimicking the old mummy after all this time? Danzo had been killed even before the start of the Fourth Shinobi World War. and still his shadows seemed to linger over Naruto's people. As if the blond needed more annoyances to deal with alongside the Empire itself.
His mind was scrambled with thoughts trying to formulate ideas on what he was going to do. In the end he already knew. Anything but stop moving forward. He couldn't sit idly by while enemies moved forward. He had some basic ideas for a plan of action, and Ahsoka would probably help him to flesh it out the rest of the way so that he could try and stop any more of these Hunters from being made. Hell maybe even flip some to help the newly established Rebels in their fight against the Empire.
His thoughts and hopes in regards to the Hunters were derailed when he rounded the corner and he found Sabine standing outside his room with a serious expression on her face and hands on her hips. Immediately recalling the information the hunter had revealed to Sabine and Ezra back on the station he internally groaned.
Sabine was kind of nosy. He didn't blame her really, he was definitely nosy too, but it was kind of annoying to deal with from the other side of things for once. At least Ezra probably forgot the whole thing…..that or he was going to tell Kanan all about it which would be just as if not more annoying than the kid himself.
Deciding to take pre-emptive action to avoid a possibly heated girl demanding information from him in the middle of the corridor Naruto snatched her hand and pulled her with him into his room closing the door behind them. The sudden action startled her before causing her to blush up a storm when she realized he had pulled her in close to himself when closing the door. Only made worse by the fact that he was only half dressed.
After she pushed herself off of him and put a little distance between them. Sabine took a second to fight down the blush on her face and push a serious look back onto her face. Clearing her throat the girl took up a stern visage once again, one hand on her hip and the other jabbing a finger toward Naruto's bare chest. Once again she had to push thoughts out of her head to focus on why she was here.
"You have some explaining to do, 'God of Shinobi.'" Sabine stated with narrowed eyes.
Naruto for his part expected that but couldn't stop the groan that slipped from his mouth at the use of that title. Fishing a fresh shirt out and pulling it on her turned to fully face the shorter girl. With a motion toward a free seat nearby he plopped himself down onto the bed and waited for her to take a seat as well.
"So this is going to be a long story. But starting with that title, I got that in the middle of a war and had a lot more, well I guess you call them reserves than now." Naruto began gaining more of Sabine's interest as he spoke. He didn't intend to tell her his entire life's story or anything, but explaining some things about the Fourth Shinobi World War was probably warranted. After all, he trusted her the most out of anyone on the Ghost crew, so he needed to start somewhere.
Alright so that's that. We have fully entered into season two of the rebels series and you can probably see the seeds planted for a lot more Naruto centric missions/chapters in the future with finding and dismantling the Hunters of the Empire we also have a tiny amount of progress with Naruto and Sabine as he opens up with her about a bit more of his past. Stay tuned for more.
Till next time