Chapter Thirteen

"Palpatine…" The man turns to the one who called his name. The Sith Lord looks exactly what he did when he was the senator of Naboo, just like in the history articles he used to look through. The stained eyes seem to burn through Anakin's soul as he stares.

The Sith closes his eyes for a moment as if recalling something before opening them again with a smile. "I recognize your presence, boy. Young Solo, how I never expected to see you again or any of the Skywalkers. However the body you're in isn't the body of a Skywalker. The Force is strong in you, but I felt more potential in you when you were just a baby. It seems I'm not the only one who soul transfers after death."

Anakin manages to pick himself back up and feels the poison in his arm flaring up, so he clutches it. "How? I am supposed to be sent here to kill you, so how are you already dead?!"

Palpatine considers it for a moment before seemingly coming up with an answer. "Ah, so my soul transfer didn't go as unnoticed as I had hoped. I didn't expect to have a Jedi sent after me using the same method, however as you can see you are too late to kill me. My newest apprentice has done what all my previous apprentices could not, he fulfilled the Rule of Two and killed his master! With it, he inherited all of the Sith within me. After your uncle destroyed all of my clones, my apprentice went to the trouble of creating me a new one and brought it here after crashing his ship. A surprise for sure, but a welcomed one. He has such potential and I couldn't say no to teaching him everything about the Dark Side once I found out why his potential is so high. I was contempt with knowing the Sith will live on after my death, even if they will be trapped on this planet for many centuries." He then gets a greedy smile as he eyes Anakin's body with his hands together. "However since you are here, this gives me an opportunity to finish what I couldn't. Your body, even without having the Skywalker blood, is still strong with the Force and I can make do with that when I take your body."

The Third steps protectively in front of his genin. "I do not know who you are, but you will not lay a finger on him. What Anakin Solo or his family have done with you in the past will stay there. This is Anakin Uchiha and it is a Hokage's duty to protect Konoha and her people. He is one of them and I will not give him up even at the cost of my life!" The Sith scoffs and quicker than anyone could react, sends out a wave of Force Lightning at the old Hokage who wasn't expecting an attack so quick and he was sent backwards into a wall of wood. Hiruzen hits the wall and cracks the wood enough to almost break it in half. He then falls to the ground and convulses a little before the lightning wears off.

Enma transforms into his normal monkey body and tries to pick his life-long friend up. "Hiruzen, you alright? Come on up!" Jiraiya and Anakin rush to his side as well.

Palpatine crackles in laughter. "Foolish old man. Your feeble skills are no match to the power of the Dark Side. Do not come before a Sith and his prey. Consider that a taste of what is to come if you try to prevent me from taking young Solo's body again." He starts to walk towards Anakin, but his body stops listening to him before he can get far. "What? What is happening?"

"You pathetic fool," Orochimaru tells him. "I'm the one who brought you back, so I'm the one who controls you. I already have a claim for the Uchiha's body and you are just here to do my bidding until I release you and send you back to the dead."

"And who is trying to make me do their bidding?!" The Sith turns to the sannin with a scowl. "Orochimaru, of course it's you that thinks he can control a Sith Lord!"

"Oh I don't think I can, Sheev, I am currently doing it!"

The Third recovers his strength and comes to. "I'm getting too old for this shit." He looks to Anakin for answers. "You seem to know who this man is. Who is he and what can he do? I don't want to be caught off guard like that again."

"That is Sheev Palpatine, or as he is also known as Darth Sidious." Anakin begins to explain. "I've told you about the Jedi before, but the Jedi Order I was a part of is just the one my uncle created. Sidious is the one who destroyed the last one in just one night, and they numbered in the tens of thousands. He managed to scheme and plan his way to become Emperor of the Galaxy with the help of my grandfather who fell victim to one of the schemes. Sidious is one up there with one of the most powerful Sith Lords to have ever lived. Do you remember reading the report from Kakashi after the Wave about me not answering his question about the Force being able to destroy planets?" Hiruzen nods while Jiraiya and the summons all paling. "Well he is the reason I didn't answer that. In fact he is the one I was sent here for, but it seems I now have to find his apprentice which gives me even less leads of who that could be."

The Professor rubs his temples, "What I would give for a smoke right now. Well we do know that Orochimaru hasn't perfected the Edo Tensi, so at the very least we know that this Darth Sidious won't be strong enough to be able to pull that off. But even with that, the two Hokages were both weakened and we needed your help to handle them. Anakin, give me your honest opinion about his power level. Is he someone we can take?"

"Well we don't really have a choice," Anakin sighs. "But to answer your question, I'd rather face off against all the previous Hokages combined, even with the Fourth's reputation and his Flee on Sight status in the Bingo Books."

"Fuck!" Everyone looks at the Hokage with surprise. "What? I'm allowed to express my emotions in a situation like this. I'm an old man and we are allowed to be cranky, it's one of the few benefits of being one." Their attention is drawn back to their enemies when they hear a scuffle happening.

Palpatine gives Orochimaru a fierce expression as the sannin is lifted up into the air and holding his neck. "You dare try to control ME?! I am Darth Sidious, Dark Lord of the Sith! You can attempt to restrict my movement if you want, but you can't restrict the Dark Side! It has no chakra for you to control," The Sith Lord strains as he turns his entire body towards Orochimaru, "Just as I have no chakra in me!" The snake sannin then flies towards Palpatine who grabs a hold of both of his arms. "Let's see how you control me when you can't even perform jutsus anymore!" Both of Sidious's hands spark with lightning which shoots up and down Orochimaru's arms. The sannin bellows in pain as he loses all feelings in his arms and they turn black as charcoal. Satisfied with his work, he tosses Orochimaru to the side without a care. He then flexes his body and notes he has full control over his body once again. "Although you are a fool to attempt to control me, I do thank you for bringing me back. For that, I will leave you in your defenseless state and enjoy watching you as you fail to make a single jutsu."

Orochimaru looks at his hands in shock and sends a murderous glare at the Sith. "You think you won? You only just limited your time alive. Once the chakra powering your body runs out, that body of yours will only fall apart and you will die once again."

"Please, I've died many times now. Death is no longer a concept I fear. Besides, I already have my new vessel there." He points towards Anakin.

"Not if I have anything to do about it!" A snake comes out of Orochimaru's mouth with Kusanagi's blade pointed outwards. "If I can't have his body, then neither will you!" The sword shoots out of the snake straight towards Anakin.

"Child's play," The Sith Lord states as he produces a red blade that only Anakin is familiar with. The Lightsaber cuts the snake sword in half. The pieces of Kusanagi fall to the ground before they even make it halfway to Anakin.

Orochimaru looks at his prized sword in shock, "Wha- how?! That sword can cut through anything, how can it get destroyed?"

"A weapon that can cut through anything?" Palpatine laughs as he raises his lightsaber, "I already have one and they have been around for a lot longer than your grandfather was conceived. I'm pretty sure I am even older than him as well. You call yourself strong when you don't even know the meaning of the word." Orochimaru sends a murderous glare at the Sith Lord who smiles with delight.

"Dank farrik!" Anakin curses. "Of course he has a lightsaber with him."

"What's a lightsaber?" Enma asks the young Jedi.

He answers, "It's traditionally a weapon a Jedi or a Sith uses that shares a strong connection with the Force, the power I have, and it can cut through almost everything. It can also block projectiles and can redirect some of it as well, including some Force abilities such as the Force Lightning that Lord Hokage just took."

"Could it possibly do the same to jutsus?" The Hokage then asks.

Anakin shrugs, "I'd probably bet lightning can be redirected. Earth can just be destroyed. It can maybe part water jutsus, but since it is a liquid it wouldn't prevent him from getting at least wet. Fire and wind would most likely be impossible for him to block if it has a decent spread."

The Professor nods, "So wind and fire are our best bet then. Water would be a decent way to at least slow him down and earth would be a decent distraction. However, that's assuming he only uses the lightsaber."

"Which he won't," Anakin tells him. "Uncle Luke said that Palpatine prefers to use the Dark Side and only uses a lightsaber to mock Jedi even though he mastered all seven lightsaber forms. I can tell you that there isn't anyone I have ever known that has mastered every lightsaber form. I myself have only really mastered my preferred Djem So style and am proficient with four other forms."

"So basically whichever he choices to fight, we're fucked either way." Jiraiya states grimly.

"Pretty much," Anakin confirms.

"Fine!" Orochimaru shouts then stands shakenly. "Whether I control you or not makes no difference to me since there is no doubt you will end up destroying this village when you try to escape. I get my goal achieved either way. Sound Four, we're out of here!" The barrier goes down and the four that help the barrier rushes to their leader. Two puts his arms around their shoulders and they attempt their escape.

The Hokage clicks his tongue. "Anbu, don't let that bastard escape and tell Suna if they help then I will be more lenient when it comes to the repercussions of their actions today!" The Anbu members nod and they rush after the snake sannin and his bodyguards with Anko and a few other Leaf shinobi following.

"Hokage-sama!" The remainder of the Leaf shinobi rushes over to them and forms a protective circle around the three. Kakashi is the one who speaks for them, "What's the situation?"

"A resurrected Sith Lord, someone who has my power but on a whole other level, and the only way to deal with him is to force him to use up the chakra keeping him alive or seal him." Anakin quickly briefs them.

"How powerful is he?"

"Remember that question I didn't answer at the Wave?" Kakashi hesitantly nods. "He's the reason."

The masked ninja lets a cold sweat run down his face. "Shit, I was hoping you were doing that just to scare me."

Guy gets a concerned look, "Is he talking about the question you had about if they could create storms powerful enough to destroy planets?" Kakashi nods to his rival.

"Wait that is possible?!" Shikaku exclaims. "Fuck, that is troublesome."

"Hahahaha, I see you have heard of what I can do." The former emperor laughs. "Good, I can sense your fear. I will make this simple, hand me young Solo and I will leave peacefully." He scans the group and settles on Sakura. "Ah, there is another Force sensitive child amongst you." The Sith grins maliciously when he senses the emotions radiating off of Anakin after singling out Sakura. Palpatine raises an arm and the pinkette is lifted off the ground and starts to choke. "If you refuse my offer, I will kill all of you starting with your loved ones. This girl will be the first example!"

Fear and anger shoots from Anakin, "Sakura!" The air heavies and everyone notices it comes from the mad teenager. His sharingan flares to life and Kakashi sees that there is now a third tomoe in his eyes. Anakin steps forwards with a fierce expression. "Let her go, or I will make you with that snake bastard didn't resurrect you."

Sidious keeps his greedy smile, "Such anger, such hatred. Much like your grandfather, the love you have can and will be against you. But unlike him, you have no family here to save you. Nor are you in any position to threaten me boy, not with that arm of yours. Not even with this pitiful band of 'ninjas' with you." He then flings Sakura into a wall. "Join me young Solo, and I will spare her and everyone else."

Then with swift motion, a tree grows behind Palpatine and binds him to it. Kurenai appears from the top of the tree and brings a kunai to his neck. "Like hell I'm going to let a creepy old fucker take one of my students while hurting and threatening the other."

"Hahahaha," Palpatine laughs, confusing the genjutsu mistress. "You think you are in a situation to threaten me?" He places a hand on the tree and sends a shock of lightning on it which carries up to Kurenai and electrocutes her. The genjutsu drops and so does Kurenai. The Sith Lord just sends a kick to her gut and then stomps on her face, knocking her out. "Stupid woman. I've been on his planet long enough to learn about the powers here and how to combat them. Genjutsu doesn't work on me."

"You bantha fodder!" Anakin hollers out. He starts to rush out, but Kakashi catches him before he does. "Let me go, I'm going to end that sith spit son of a bitch!"

"Anakin, calm yourself. Giving in to your emotions will not help the situation!"

"Good! Give in to your anger, let the hate flow through you!" Sidious applauds.

Kakashi sends the Sith a death glare, "You shut the fuck up! I'll deal with you in a minute."

"How about I deal with you all now instead?" Palpatine suggests. He deactivates his lightsaber and spread his arms out. Pieces of the created wood and roof raise around the Sith and he starts hurling them towards the group while laughing. The group starts to scatter as they attempt to avoid the crashing debris. Seeing them separate, the Sith ignites his lightsaber again and moves in. The speed from the old man is faster than many have ever seen. A blur of a red blade and blue lightning dances its way through the still crashing debris leaving many shinobi on the floor either dead or wishing they were. Even with the shadows casting from the debris, it wasn't enough for Shikaku to prevent being sent off the roof with sparks all around him. The Hyuga ultimate defense didn't help Hiashi from being Force Pulled out of it and receiving a lightsaber slice up the left side of his chest. Choza grew bigger to try to nullify Sidious's advantage, but that only made the Sith Lord rip whole houses from their foundations and made the oversized clan leader a target practice dummy. This carnage continued until soon it went down to just Guy, Anakin, Hiruzen, Jiraiya, and Kakashi left still in some sort of fighting condition.

The Third huffs out a tired breath, "Even with the support of many clans, we haven't even gotten close to being able to seal him."

"It's official, no offense Anakin, but I hate the Force." Kakashi says keeping a kunai in front of him.

Anakin falls to a knee, "None taken. The Force really is a double edged sword at times."

"Jiraiya," Pa calls to his summoner. "I hate to say this, but Ma and I are almost at our limit here. There is hardly any energy in the air after we used so much of it keeping Sage Mode up for so long, not to mention the lad also using it earlier. I'd say we are good for one, maybe two attacks left. I'm not as young as I once was."

Jiraiya sighs heavily, "It's not your fault Pa. We are facing an enemy that outclasses us too much. Do any of you have any more tricks up your sleeve?"

Kakashi keeps his sharingan eye on the Sith while saying, "I have something I've been working on for some time, Jiraiya-sama. I haven't got around to fully field testing it yet, but we are in a situation where I can't be holding back much more. It needs a clear view of the target and preferably not a moving one. It will take most of my chakra and I can't risk it missing."

"Ma and I have something to hold him," Pa says. "It takes a little set up and the target has to be distracted or else they can break it before we finish the song. It's something we can only do once a day because of how it leaves our throats, but it is quite unbreakable."

The Hokage, holding a transformed Enma staff, then speaks. "I'll go with anything at this point, but which of us can hold him back enough to give you time? I can already feel my age fighting against me and I won't last a minute against him. I doubt I'd have the energy or the time to even attempt a Reaper Death Seal on him."

"I'll do it," Guy says, stepping forwards. "With the power of the Gates, I doubt even a Sith Lord can keep up with it. Just as long as he doesn't pull Sage Mode out of his ass like Anakin did against Lee."

"I can't promise you he won't. The Force is mysterious and we are always finding new things about it." Anakin informs the jonin.

Kakashi calls his rival before he starts. "Guy, don't go crazy and open the Eighth Gate. We need you to buy time, not to try and kill someone who has a body that can't die." Guy nods to the two and steps forwards.

"Feeling heroic are you?" The Sith jest with an amused grin. "If you face me alone then you must know that you will only taste defeat, even if you bring a friend with you to help. I will not stop you from trying, but you will only hurt your pride, if you survive that is."

Guy doesn't give the Sith the taunt he wants. Instead, he gets right down to opening the Gates. "I'm not going to be messing around and underestimating you. Gate of Wonder, open!" Guy's skin turns red and blue chakra vapor surrounds him. The air explodes from the shockwave of power. The Toads begin their song and Anakin notices Kakashi's sharingan shifts from the three tomoe form to a spiral shape. He doesn't remember his father of this world ever mentioning that form, but he makes a note to ask the masked jonin at another time.

Palpatine's grin lowers a little from the power he feels coming from the bowl-cut jonin. "It seems you might prove to actually put up more of a challenge than your comrades." With a flick of his free hand, a second lightsaber appears through the sleeve of his robes ignited. "Perhaps you can show me if there really is power in this primitive world to rival the Dark Side."

Guy takes off at a speed of which Anakin has never seen before. It also takes the Sith by surprise as he takes a kick to his chest. Palpatine skids backwards before stopping short of falling off the edge. His grin is fully gone as he takes Guy as a threat now. He has a limited amount of chakra supplied by Orochimaru and the more damage this body receives, the more chakra is used to repair it. He needs just enough to grab Anakin and take him to a place to begin the soul transfer process. Sidious doesn't want to have a repeat of last time where he started it, but he got shot and killed in the back by Han before he could finish it. He slashes his sabers to the right and Guy is forced to side step it, surprised the old man is still able to react to his speed. Guy doesn't let it disrupt him as he keeps his speed and moves to attack from a different angle. Sidious strikes from the left this time, but is caught by the fake and gets a kick to the back of his head. The Sith Lord faceplants into the roof.

Sidious growls in annoyance and slams both hands into the ground and a wave of lightning creates a circle around him. Guy jumps over it in time to avoid it. Sidious crawls himself out of the face crater and focuses on surrounding himself in the Dark Side. It obeys the command he has over it and a dark aura spins itself around the Sith. Guy attempts to launch another attack, but he can't find a route through the black aura sphere Sidious has around him. The jonin runs around him and tests the aura by swinging his fist through it. It catches it and slows the fist down to a crawling speed and thus slowing Guy as well. He feels a shock from it and pulls his hand out of it, but not before the grin returns and Guy is spent back with a shot of Force Lightning covering him. He makes his own crater and the knockback plus the pain from the attack is enough to close the Gates. Sidious moves to finish the kill with a swing of his sabers, but finds himself trapped.

"Demonic Illusion: Toad Confrontation Chant!" Ma and Pa cries out from their harmonized toad song. Four giant toads with samurai armor surround Sidious, each with an outstretched hand and a black cube form around the Sith Lord. Sidious tries to see if he can get out or see anything past the cube or the four toads to no avail.

"Nice one Jiraiya-sama. My eye is ready and I have a clear shot now." Kakashi thanks while focusing his sights on the trapped Sith Lord. The Dark Side screams out a warning to Sidious as he sees the world seem to distort into a spiral on him. The Sith searches with the Force for a way out and grasps at the only thing he could think of. "Kamui!" Kakashi aims his attack dead center on his target.

Outside the genjutsu, something metal catches Anakin's attention and he searches around for it. His findings discover the two halves of the broken Kusanagi being lifted in the air and traveling with speed towards the unexpecting elder toads. He pulls pieces of the claymore as he rushes towards the blades' path. Anakin directs the handle of the claymore to shift one of the halves off course, but is unable to fully prevent the upper blade of Kusanagi from flying through the air. Instead it starts flipping in the air and showing no sign of stopping. He then takes a drastic action and jumps forwards.

Jiraiya hears metal slice into flesh and feels something hit him from behind. The two elder toads get distracted by the commotion behind them and stop their song to look as well. "Anakin/Lad!" Jiraiya and the toads shout as they turn around and see the broken blade has impaled the genin through his lower back. The genjutsu drops and Sidious is able to turn himself enough to where Kamui is only able to hit his left arm. The upper part of the arm disappears as the Sith's wrist and hand falls to the ground with the lightsaber deactivating and rolling away from it.

"Shit, I missed!" Kakashi angrily shouts as he turns to see what is happening behind him. "Oh shit, Anakin!" He rushes to the boy's side with Hiruzen as well.

"Dammit boy, what did you have to take that attack for?!" Jiraiya shouts with anger and worry.

Blood runs from Anakin's mouth as he coughs up an answer. "Because my usefulness is running fairly dry compared to you guys."

"Don't talk like that!" Hiruzen tells him. "Your knowledge on the Force right now is providing much more usefulness than anything else at the moment. Is there a medical-nin still conscious enough to help?" The Hokage asks towards the group of downed shinobi. At this point, there are some ninjas up and going around to help out the others in more critical conditions.

Hana, one of the ones in better conditions, goes to the village's leader with a limp and a bandage on her right calf. One of her triplets of dogs follows her over. "Even if my medical background is as a veterinarian, I'm able to provide assistance since all the other ninken are stable enough to survive." She looks over Anakin for a moment. "I do believe this is something that I can heal. The tricky part is counteracting the poison while making sure he doesn't bleed out."

Hiruzen nods, "Sounds good. Do you need any assistance?"

"Is there a Hyuga to help me? It's easier to provide field medicine with a set of eyes that can see what I lack in technology to see. Plus this isn't a one person job."

A Hyuga appears next to her. "I can provide the set of eyes you need." Ko tells her as he activates his byakugan.

"Good, now do exactly what I say." Hana tells him as she rips open Anakin's shirt and tears some of it off to create a makeshift bandage for his wounds.

Sakura opens her eyes and holds her head in pain. "Ugh, why does that hurt so much?" She asks without expecting an answer. Her eyes take a moment to focus before they stop being blurry and they widen upon seeing her boyfriend wounded. "Anakin!" She stumbles getting up and attempts to run over, however she steps on something that rolls her foot and she trips. "Oof!" Sakura sits up and looks around to see what tripped her. She finds a black and gold hilt near her foot. She inspects it for a moment before attempting to pick it up. Upon touching it, she feels absolute darkness radiate from it. Sakura recoils from it, "This thing has done terrible things…"

She goes back to grab it and in her head she sees something she didn't expect to see. An older man standing from a chair in some sort of office. There are four figures in brown robes standing in the doorway. Only one looks human with a dark skin tone. The others are what she can only describe as alien. Each figure pulls out a hilt similar to the one she is holding and a colored blade grows from each. The human wields a purple one while the others have two green and a blue blade. The old man stands and the hilt she is holding comes out his sleeve with a red blade. The man flies at the four in a spin with the blade pointing forwards roaring out a cry she has never heard nor wish to hear again. In seconds, three of the four are impaled and killed before the human is left standing to face the man and the vision fades.

Sakura drops the hilt again and backs away from never experiencing such a thing before. She then recognizes the man in the vision to the one that hurled her into the wall. Sakura turns to see that man now with one arm recovering from an attack and then looks towards Anakin. She pieces the two together and anger radiates from her. The hilt is once again picked up but this time she grips it tight and flips the switch on it to ignite the blade. The others attending to Anakin hears the lightsaber activate and sees Sakura with a fierce expression on her face as she wields the weapon of the Sith Lord. She charges without thinking to confront the man that hurt the one she loves.

Sidious notices her coming and blocks the attack with his other lightsaber. Sakura keeps pushing and launches a few more strikes before the two end up in a saberlock. Sidious by this point has already pinpointed the lightsaber form she is using. "It is not common to see a practitioner of a reverse Shien grip. However you should know, girl, that you are severely out of your league. Especially if you try to attack a single opponent with a form that is particularly weak in that regard!" Sidious switches to Makashi to suit the fact he now only has one arm and it being the pivotal of lightsaber to lightsaber combat. It only takes one move to now send Sakura on the defensive as she tries to survive against the more experienced attacker. It doesn't take long for Sidious to force the lightsaber from her hand and have her falling on her butt. "Brave, but foolish to face me. Let me guess, young lover-boy Solo put it into your mind that you'd be able to be a Jedi? Allow me to clear something up, the Jedi will never come to relevance while I'm here. I've wiped them out from the galaxy before and I will do it again before I allow such a thing to happen on my watch!" He holds his lightsaber high before swinging it down at Sakura with killing intent. Sakura flinches and closes her eyes to await her death. She doesn't feel the release of death or any pain at all. Instead she hears the sounds of birds chirping and she opens her eyes to see her sword with lightning preventing the red blade from hitting its target.

Kakashi stands before her holding out the chidori infused sword and glaring at the Sith Lord. "I will not allow you to harm another genin." He says while huffing through his recovery of Kamui.

Palpatine briefly shows annoyance before grinning. "Using a jutsu on a weapon to circumvent a lightsaber, clever."

"You'll see I'm full of surprises." Kakashi tells him before pushing the Sith Lord backwards. Palpatine awaits an attack from the masked ninja, but is caught off guard by a different attack.

"Fire Style: Fire Dragon burst!" Hiruzen shouts from above as a head of a fire dragon roars to life and flies in great speed onto the Sith's position. Sidious jumps from his spot, but is sent flying from the explosion from the impact. His landing isn't as great as giant spikes from the roof points upwards and impales the Sith as he lands.

Jiraiya, the user of the earth jutsu, creates thorns on the spikes to keep the Sith stuck there longer. "Girl!" He calls to Sakura. "There's a seal tag with Anakin. Hurry up and grab it before he escapes!" Sakura scrambles up and picks up the lightsaber on her way towards Anakin. She gets over to him and sees that his shirt is ripped open with a pool of blood forming on the left side of him. Her eyes can't stand to stare at that part of him so he continues looking him over. Blood covers his body and she sees that the stab wound from his back went all the way to this stomach. The wound itself is a good couple inches wide and the skin around it is a nasty greenish gray coloring from the poison. The rest of Anakin's skin is more pale in color. The broken blades lay meters away from him.

Hana is first to notice Sakura through her sense of smell. "I can tell you're worried, but I promise I am doing my best here. Emergency field side medical isn't easy and it may look bad at a glance, but I've got the poison to the point where it is slowing. It would be easier if we could get him to the hospital, but he is rapidly bleeding too much to move him."

Ko reaches into Anakin's pocket and fishes out the seal tag and hands it to Sakura. "Here, go prevent that man from causing any more injuries." Sakura takes it, but she takes one more look at her boyfriend. Ko sees this and pats her hand. "Don't worry about him. I've known him since his days at the academy and helped him learn the basics of being a ninja along with Hinata-sama and Naruto. He's like a little brother to me now and I won't let anything happen to him. Now go!" Sakura thanks them both and rushes back over towards Palpatine.

The Sith Lord tries to free himself from the thorns tearing its way in his body. He then lets go of his lightsaber, but grabs it through the Force. He then uses it to cut away at the spikes that have dug itself from the roof. Kakashi runs towards the Sith, "Shit he's escaping!" The lightsaber flies around and cuts through the last remaining spike. Palpatine uses the Force to rip the thorns from his body and he sends them all at Jiraiya. The Toad Sage creates a mud wall to block the attack. Hiruzen signs his hands for another jutsu, but he finds himself unable to move before he can do the last sign. Palpatine sinisterly smiles as his outstretched hand then balls into a fist. Hiruzen finds his hands doing the same except he feels his bones crack when his hands close. A warning from the Dark Side has him leaning to the side as Guy flies past him missing a lick. Sidious redirects the flying jonin with the Force to hit Jiraiya behind his mud wall. The sannin takes the impact and lands in a hard thud. The Elder Toads are unable to maintain the connection and are sent back to their mountain. Sidious then directs his attention to the oncoming genin and masked jonin and sends a giant push all around him to send them flying away.

With his path cleared to Anakin, he makes his move to capture the injured genin. Even if Anakin is poisoned, the Dark Side is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural. He calls his lightsaber back to his one hand and holds it high to cut down the two ninjas attending Anakin and the dog guarding them. Palpatine's arm gets caught midair by an arm with a blue hue. He turns around and makes a disgusted scowl, "Skywalker!"

Anakin Skywalker holds the Sith's arm. "You just don't know how to stay dead do you?"

Sidious pulls his arm off of Skywalker's hold and jumps away to gain distance. "You say that as if you aren't dead yourself."

Skywalker crosses his arms as he stands in the Sith's path to his grandson. "I know full well I'm dead, however I don't go trying to take over people's bodies."

"You're just mad I know of a way to save myself from death." Sidious then smirks again. "Unlike a certain former queen."

Skywalker scowls, "Don't speak of my wife. You have tormented three generations of my family and I'll be damned if my grandson bears the pain of hosting you."

"Four actually," Palpatine corrects. "It was no coincidence that the sand people kidnapped and beat your mother to death. They are savage people, but they can be reasoned with for a price. All it took to kill your mother was a month's worth of water."

Skywalker's scowl deepens, "I had my assumptions when I was your apprentice, but it doesn't make it easier to hear."

Sakura, Kakashi, and Hiruzen make their way to Skywalker. The Hokage takes the first words. "I'm guessing you're our genin's grandfather from your conversation with that man."

Skywalker nods, "I am. I'm thankful for you watching over him and protecting him all this time."

"Of course, but may I ask why you are here? Not that it isn't good to have help," Hiruzen asks.

"Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't interfere with the going on of this world even with my grandson here." The Jedi starts explaining. "However when Palpatine was resurrected, the Force went completely unbalanced and unstable from having an outside source tap into it. Whatever jutsu was used to bring him back, the Force has demanded it be corrected. I was sadly in another galaxy when I heard its call or else I would have come sooner."

Kakashi sighs with some relief, "Late help is better than no help. I'm fairly drained, but I'm still in fighting condition at least."

Skywalker nods, "Good. I have no knowledge of the jutsu that is used to bring him back, so you and Sakura will be good support."

Sakura blinks in shock, "Me? But why? I'm not that strong to begin with."

"Although true, it's more about the fact from what little I know, you have the only thing able to stop him." Skywalker gestures to the seal tag. "I will keep his attention with Kakashi as support and you will tag him when you are able. Keep that lightsaber on you just in case." He turns to the Hokage. "I hope it doesn't bother you that I'm sidelining you, but with broken hands I don't think you'll be much help. Just watch over my grandson and be his last line of defense."

Hiruzen bows his head, "Of course. I'm getting too old to compete in this much longer anyways. But do you have a way to fight him?"

Skywalker smirks, "I do. I wouldn't have come if I didn't." He turns back to Sidious. "Sorry for ignoring you for so long. I do remember you don't like to be kept waiting."

Sidious grunts, "It is of no concern of how long you take to talk. It will not help you in the end. Even if you stop me, Lord Enkel will be a more powerful Sith than you ever had Lord Vader!"

"Lord Vader, huh?" Skywalker muses before his ghostly form starts changing. His blue hue turns red and a black suit of armor covers his body. The shinobi watches as their help becomes an intimidating armored figure and his voice changes to match. "If you wish to see which one of us is the better Sith," Vader reaches to his belt and unclips a black hilt. He ignites his Sith weapon and holds it in one hand, "Then let us test who is truly stronger, 'Master.'"

Sidious wears his grin with pride. "Please, as Lord Vader, you are slow and kept weak enough in that armor to never have the strength to rival me as a Sith. Then again, as Skywalker you were only a weak Jedi that couldn't save his wife. You do not threaten me." His grin is wiped when his opponent comes at him with the speed he shouldn't have as Vader. He moves his lightsaber to block the attack and they engage in a saberlock.

"That's the beauty of having this ability to transcend as a Force Ghost," Vader tells him. "My form is merely cosmetic and I get the best of both Skywalker and Vader!" He pushes with the brute strength of Vader and continues moving at the speed of Skywalker.

Sidious has fought against enemies that had great speed and enemies who swing heavily, but he hasn't fought against one that is doing both. This forces Sidious to go on the defensive as he tries to adjust and figure out which lightsaber form to adopt in this situation. He has to further this line of thought when Kakashi joins in the fire. The masked jonin is no stranger to kenjutsu as he used to wield a tanto when he was younger. With two attackers and one arm, Sidious is forced to use Soresu for the time being. They both keep the Sith from ever attacking as they attack when the others have already done so. Sidious notes that their combined teamwork is sloppy since they have never fought together before, but their individual skill makes up for that weakness. What's worse is that there is a pink haired girl wielding his spare lightsaber and trying to pin the seal tag on him while he is distracted. Sidious is forced to tank a hit from the adults as he tries to prevent the girl from tagging him. He notes that she is relying on Shii Cho now to better protect herself. It seems she took his advice from earlier and is implying it well. It ticks him off that he can't just focus on getting rid of her first before dealing with the masked ninja and his former apprentice because those two are making sure he is unable to keep his focus off them for more than a second.

Sidious can't also use the Force against them because Vader is able to quickly block anything he tries to use. It's his former apprentice that's going to be the main source of annoyance to be rid of. They don't really make weapons to kill an actual ghost, and even if they do there isn't going to be one found on this miserable planet. He'll have to look into old Sith Sorcery to deal with Vader for the long haul. But wait, what if when Vader gets dealt with then the Force sends even more dead Jedi after him? It shouldn't be a problem once he gets an actual living body. Sidious sweeps the roof tiles off from underneath the jonin's feet and deflects Vader's lightsaber away. This gives him just enough time to quickly turn around and slice through the hilt of the lightsaber Sakura is using. Sakura drops to the ground and lets go of the broken hilt. Sidious isn't able to do a follow up as he receives a kick to the back of the head and makes the Sith stumble forwards. Guy has returned into his blue vapor form and joins his rival and Vader on tag teaming the Sith Lord. Sidious is now second guessing his decision to take the girl out of the fight as the bowl cut ninja is proving to be more dangerous with just his bare hands.

Now it's all Sidious can do to try to keep up with only one hand. This proves true when Guy lands an elbow to his back and sends him right into Vader, who grabs his former master by the throat and impales him through the chest. Kakashi follows up by stabbing Sidious on his side and having the sword come out the other. Guy grapples him from behind and takes hold of Palpatine's only arm. Sakura takes this moment to quickly attach the sealing tag on the Sith's head and activate the seal. Sidious loses control of his body and lets go of his lightsaber. They all remove their hold on Palpatine as he slumps to the roof.

"This victory you have over me this day means little." Sidious tells them. He looks over at Vader, "I used to think you would be the one to take over for me, but your injuries from Kenobi spoiled those plans. I then thought it would be your children that would be the ones to do what you could not. However I have learned that I've been going at this all wrong. Why search for an apprentice when flesh and blood will give me exactly what I'm wanting. I thank you for showing me that. Hahaha…hahah…aha..ha…a…" Palpatine's body then goes lifeless as the yellow glow in his eyes fades.

Guy closes the Gates and breathes heavily from exhaustion and winces in pain from having his muscles tear and bones fractured from that state. Kakashi deactivates the chidori on the sword and covers his sharingan before lending his shoulders to his picks up this former master's lightsaber and crushes it with his hand. He then picks up the broken pieces of each and stores them away on his person. Vader then morphs back into Skywalker and deactivates his lightsaber. The Jedi then bends over and touches Palpatine's body. The Sith body slowly crumbles and blows away with the wind. "I've sent his soul to the Force and there it will stay guarded by myself and my masters. Whatever was used to resurrect him cannot bring him back again."

Hiruzen comes over with a tired Jiraiya and nods to Skywalker. "I thank you for helping us and I wish we could have met under better circumstances."

"As do I, but it is difficult to maintain my presence here. I'm only allowed to be able to maintain myself for so long and fight is with the assistance of both the Force wanting balance to be restored and by the help of Hagoromo." Skywalker explains.

Jiraiya's eyes widen as he asks, "The Sage of Six Paths?!"

Skywalker nods, "That's correct. It was him that asked for my assistance in the first place to send my grandson here to go after him." He gestures to where Sidious was previously. "However it seems we were both blind about his apprentice. The Dark Side can shroud itself like that at times. Speaking of my youngest grandson, I wish to see him before I must depart." They all follow the ghostly Jedi to where the young Uchiha is. The two attending the boy, unsure what to do about the oncoming ghost, stopped what they were doing and moved to let the grandfather through. Skywalker places a hand on his grandson and the boy's skin turns from its pale color back towards its more natural color.

Anakin Uchiha groans and coughs as he gains enough strength to move his head and speak in a whisper. "Grandfather?"

Skywalker smiles as he bends to a knee. "It is I Grandson. We have everything handled out here. You can rest."

What looks to be a nod from the Uchiha boy and a barely visible smile is seen. "Okay… I'll just rest my eyes for a moment. Please check on Sakura-chan for me." He closes his eyes before Sakura can take his hand. She instead places a kiss on his forehead as he passes out.

"That should help stabilize him enough for you to take him to the hospital without him dying on the way there." Hana and Ko then go to cover the boy's wounds and move him to better care after the go ahead from the Jedi. Skywalker then places a hand on Sakura's shoulder. "Take care of my grandson. He's pretty reckless as you can see and he reminds me of myself when I was younger. I guess it's fitting that he is named after me."

"Of course Mr. Skywalker." Sakura assures him.

"Please don't call me mister. If you are dating my grandson then there is no need to be so formal. I've approved of the two of you dating long before you actually started. I would like my family not to be so reserved."

"Okay, well I can't call you by your first name since it's the same as my Anakin so…" Sakura thinks for a moment before coming up with a good compromise. "Since you consider me family then I'll call you Jii-sama."

He blinks in surprise for a moment before recovering with a smile. "As long as you don't make me add 'great' to grandpa anytime soon then that's fine." This gets Sakura in a blush which Skywalker laughs off. "I'm just teasing you. Now I know you're worried about him so I'll let you head off." Sakura bows to him and rushes over to tail Ko and Hana who have her dogs carrying Anakin on their backs. Skywalker then turns to the Hokage. "Before I go, there is one more matter I wish to discuss with you."


Anakin wakes up with a nasty groan as he peeks around his surroundings. It's a hospital room and he is in a bed. He feels a headache and tries to touch his head, but he doesn't get a response from his right arm. Worried, he snaps open his eyes and looks at the arm after remembering it being poisoned. Anakin lays his head back down on the pillow with a sigh of relief from seeing it in a bandage. It's still attached and they must have given me some strong medicine to not feel anything at all to help with the pain. It doesn't take him opening his eyes to feel the bandage also wrapping around his back and stomach. He closes his eyes again and takes the chance to have some rest.

He wakes again later when he hears the door open. He takes a peek to see Hiruzen, back in his Hokage outfit, enter the room and takes a seat next to him. The Third whips out his pipe and lights it. The old man takes a drag from it. "I know you're awake Anakin. I haven't become Hokage without knowing if someone is actually sleeping or not."

Anakin fully opens his eyes and sits himself as upright as possible. "Who are you, Santa?"

Hiruzen chuckles, "I guess I could be. I'm old enough to be and I do have a list of ninjas I check a couple times a day. The good ones get paid, the bad ones don't. How are you feeling?"

"Other than the fact I'm drugged up, sore." Anakin answers.

"I'm not surprised. Taking a poisoned sword to the back will do that to you." The Hokage lets out a breath of smoke. "In fact, you're the last one of your genin group to wake up. Eight days it took you. Everyone else was only out for a maximum of three days."

"Eight days!?" He exclaims with wide eyes. "What happened when I was out? Is everyone else okay?"

The Third sighs. "Other than the fact I just said they all woke up days ago, yes they are alright. Kurenai was just knocked out and has a bump on her head. Naruto is pretty much healed by now because of his advanced healing. Hinata has a twisted ankle. Sakura sprained her wrist when she was disarmed by the Sith-"

"She fought Darth Sidious?!"

"Yes, if you don't keep interrupting me then I'll get to it." Anakin gets embarrassed by his actions and keeps his mouth shut. "See after you were injured, Hana Inuzuka and Ko Hyuga came over and attended to you while the rest of us dealt with Sidious. By the way, I have to say that he has a fitting name. Anyways Sakura woke up and picked up his lightsaber he lost when Kakashi took his arm. She took the initiative to continue the fight while the rest of us were worried about you. Sakura made a reckless call giving in to her emotions and rushing to fight someone who outmatched her, but it got us to refocus our attention on the main problem. We devised another plan to stop him but," He holds his hands up to show a cast around his hands. "As you can see, it didn't work. I fear if not for the timely arrival of your grandfather then Sidious would have taken your body and fled." Hiruzen puts a hand up to prevent Anakin from interrupting again.

"Yes, he actually showed himself to all of us and actually fought alongside us. I must say when he turned into his other self, it sent a shiver to my spine and that hasn't happened in years. He was truly intimidating and I couldn't have been more grateful to have him on our side. The power I felt when he came is unlike anything I have ever felt before. Both of them actually. I truly believed what you said at that moment when you said you were more afraid of fighting Sidious compared to all the previous Hokages. The way he tore through our group of shinobi is like when I heard about what the Fourth did in the last war. We lost some good ninjas that day, but I'm thankful Sidious didn't think of them as much of a threat and just maimed over half of that group. I don't want to think about how powerful Sidious would have been when he was truly still alive and not weakened. He would have at least rivaled Harshirama-sensei if he was truly still alive as well. Your grandfather on the other hand could probably take on both of the Hokage brothers in his current form."

"That's not surprising considering that my grandfather was the Chosen One in my previous galaxy. His potential in the Force was greater than anyone else in the past, present, and no doubt future. In his current state, he is free to truly explore the Force and it's no doubt he has already grown stronger." The proud grandson says with a smile on his face.

"The Chosen One, huh?" Hiruzen mutters to himself. Jiraiya has shared what the toads prophecy told of and how it points to Naruto. That kind of information makes him fear for the blonde's future. He promised his parents he would look after Naruto, but that is getting harder to do as time passes on. Hiruzen goes to take another drag, but realizes his pipe is empty now. "Well I guess this is my que to go back to the office and continue with the rebuilding of our village. No doubt Sakura wishes to have you to herself now."

There is a high pitched squeal at the door before it opens and reveals an embarrassed Sakura. "I didn't think you'd notice me there."

"Of course he knew. Didn't you hear? He's basically Santa," Anakin jokes.

Hiruzen raises from the chair with an amused grin. "The great Lord Hokage, being teased by mere genin. What would the world think if they knew?" He gives a nod to both of them before leaving.

Once the door is shut, a pink blur flies its way onto Anakin. "Ani I was so worried about you!"

He wraps his good arm around her. "I could say the same. My last memory of you was you being thrown into a wall."

"Being thrown into a wall isn't as bad as jumping in front of a damn sword! Which I'm really angry about by the way. Why the hell would you almost throw your life away like that?! I told you not to do things like this in the Forest of Death!" Sakura continues before he can give an excuse. "Don't you dare say anything about wanting to insure I or someone else survived! Have you given any thought to what you are doing to the ones that must live on after you die? After having died once before, I thought you of all people would understand that! Hell, didn't you say that your grandfather has told you about how your previous family dealt with your death?! Your father regretted his life choices, your uncle blamed himself, your mother holed herself up, your sister refused to talk about it, and your brother actively falling to the dark side along with your best friend." She pulls back with tears streaming in her eyes. "Is that how you want me to be?! Alone in this world while blaming myself for ending up with nothing left?!"

"Alone? But how would…" Anakin stops himself before he finishes asking. The gears turn in his head, but Sakura answers the unfinished question.

She tries to wipe the tears from her eyes, but they come down faster than she could prevent them. "Ani, it's just that… You're truly all I have left now." Sakura says after finding the strength to speak. "I thought it was strange when my parents didn't arrive when I was admitted to the hospital for my wrist." She lifts her arm to show him the brace on it. "They almost obsessively care about me to the point where they freak out when I get the common cold. I just figured they were busy helping the rest of the village since they too are shinobi. But Kurenai-sensei came to me earlier today." Sakura begins to lose control over the strength she had. "Their bodies were found in a collapsed building…" Anakin pulls her in tight enough that she couldn't struggle free if she wasn't crying so heavily. She wets the gown covering his chest as she also wraps herself around him. Anakin feels the pain from his wound, but he bears it for Sakura's sake. "You're all I have left, so please don't go doing such reckless things. I don't want to be alone, I don't think I could live like that."

He maintains his hold on her. "I'm sorry Sakura, I didn't realize and took this new life for granted. I've been under the 'I've died already died once' feeling and it made death not seem so bad. But I will make a promise to do better. It is not my desire to leave you behind nor do I wish for you to leave me."

A groggily but relieved sigh escapes her lips as she remains laying on him. Anakin moves over to make more room for her on the bed and she settles on his uninjured right side. They lay long enough for the tears to calm then continue laying in a comfortable silence. An hour passes as they get their fill of each other's presence. Anakin brushes the hair from her forehead as she listens to his heartbeat.

"Ani," Sakura breaks the silence. "Can I ask a personal question?"

He rests his chin on top of her head. "Anything for you Sweetness."

"Do you sometimes wish you didn't die and continued living with your previous family?"

"Of course I do. Father was the man I could look up to. Mother had the most lovely presence. Jaina was the caring older sister. Jacen was the best brotherly rival I could ever hope for. Uncle Luke made for a great mentor. Aunt Mara was the fun aunt. And Ben was the cousin I could always count on. Then there was Thairi, my closest friend. I miss them all terribly and wish I could have one last day with them, but that would only make me wish for one more, then another, and another. But it's not just them I miss. I also miss the family I had here. Dad was the coolest and I wanted to be just like him. Mom was super affectionate and made the sweetest cookies. Then…" He wipes his watery eyes as quickly as he could after the last part.

Anakin hesitates before committing what he is about to say. "There is something I need to tell you." Sakura moves her head to face him as she can tell it's something really important. "The details of my reincarnation aren't truthful. Let me clear up that mostly everything I have said about it is the truth. The only lie is the reincarnation itself. I was never reincarnated. I wasn't born into this world nor experienced a real childhood here. The Sage of the Six Paths had a body for me to inhabit. This one." He points to himself. "I took over this body after it previously died on the night of the Uchiha massacre." Sakura lifts herself to an elbow, unable to comprehend what he is saying. "At first I had no memories of this world, so I took the name I previously had. However I slowly received the memories of this world and after I spoke to the Hokage and Inochi, they declared that it is the result of the souls of my current body and previous self combining and creating me into being both. So I'm both an Uchiha and not an Uchiha. If it wasn't for Inochi's help, I would have gone crazy. You want to know what's crazy about it? The most fucked up part about becoming someone else after they 'died' is that I remember both of our lives and how I felt about both of them. I love both of my moms and dads and consider both pairs my parents. It's like I've absorbed the other soul into me and I sometimes can't tell which one did the absorption. It's extremely possible that I spent my entire life here, but I suffered amnesia after the massacre, took Solo's soul into me, then started remembering my past. Not even Inochi had a clue of how to address it other than telling me that I'm now both."

Sakura takes a moment to process the information before settling on something. She lays her head back down on his chest and says, "Perhaps he was trying to tell you that you shouldn't focus on the 'how' or 'why' and keep moving forward with who you are now. I didn't fall for who you were, Ani. I fell for who you are. You're in a uniquely unheard of situation and no one is going to be able to find the questions you seek except for you. But if you feel like you need assistance with interpretations or outside opinions, then know I will always have an open ear for you and I will stand by you for whatever you decide. It can be anything, even if you end up doing some split personality thing to deal with it."

Anakin grabs her hand and kisses her head. "Thanks, but I don't think a split personality will be what I will end up choosing. They are both the same and different people. Neither lives ever takes full control over me nor do they fight over me. They just coexist with each other and don't see either of each other different enough to separate. So it's best to say that I am both."

"Whether you are one, both, or neither of them, it won't change who you currently are." She lifts herself up and positions herself on top of him. "I love you no matter what."

"I love you no matter what too," Anakin leans forward and graciously returns the kiss.


Author's Note: Man I really underestimated this chapter. I'm glad I decided to split this up because a 20k worded chapter seems a bit too long to me. I really had fun with this chapter and I've been looking forward to writing this one for a long time and it's finally here! First things first, Hiruzen didn't die! His part of the story is far from over, so I hope you look forward to seeing how he will impact the story in the future. This chapter allowed me to show off the skills of other people as well Next is Palpatine. I know I made him really over powered here, but in all honesty he really was. Mace Windu really was the only one who could really beat him. Yoda just ended up with a stalemate. Vader killed him on the Death Star because he was distracted and didn't see this betrayal coming. In canon, he was in a weaker body and Rey had to get empowered by all previous Jedi to win. And in Legends, he kept transferring his soul to clone bodies that were weaker than his original and was only beaten when a dying Jedi made Palpatine possess him. So he truly was overpowered and he was only beaten in a 'fair' fight once. I'm not counting Starkiller since he was created to be overpowered. (Seriously he beat multiple Jedi, one of which being a Jedi council member, Vader in both Force Unleashed games, Palpatine, and don't get me started on the DLCs.) As for Anakin Skywalker fighting, we have seen that Force Ghost are able to still pick up lightsabers with Luke catching his father's saber when Rey threw it in TROS. Also there is a DLC mission on the Force Unleashed where Obi-Wan appears as a Force Ghost and fights. I hope that clears some things and I should probably wrap this up.

DS2010: There's nothing like a chaotic battlefield to show everyone what he can do.

Anyways that's it for me. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and thanks for reading! I'll talk at y'all next time!