Yo, issex here with another chapter. I don enter trenches, send me money to gbe mi trabaye. I don broke. I'm broke as hell. Anything. I have no shame.
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Oyaoyaoya
Silence reigned as the two stared at each other. Naruto, out of disbelief and Koji'rar, because he was waiting for Naruto to say something.
It was Naruto who broke the silence by coughing. "I'm sorry, I must have misheard you. You want me to retrieve someone from the gordanians."
Koji'rar nodded. "Yes."
"The gordanians."
"Correct."
"Alone. I'm going alone."
"That is also correct." Koji'rar confirmed. "Why are you asking me this? I already told you what you would be doing."
Naruto nodded slowly, wondering how and why life led him to meet someone like this jester opposite him. It wasn't even the man's request that was bad, it was the sheer absurdity of it.
He'd saved princesses before. From their tyrannical uncles, assassins, usurpers and even just people looking to use their political importance for their own gain. But he'd never had to save the princess of an entire planet from the custody of one of the largest civilisations in the universe.
A civilization that he'd been trying to avoid ever since he learnt of their existence. Whatever the man had to offer, it had better be worth it.
"Okay, alright." Naruto raised his hands and leaned back. "Let's assume and I stress assume, that I ignore all the reasons why I should just walk away and take the job instead, what am I going to get?"
Koji'rar smiled at him. "The satisfaction of knowing that you have saved a planet from enslavement and fulfilled a childhood dream of saving a princess." Naruto yawned. "And money of course."
"And how much money will I get for fulfilling my dream?" Naruto asked.
"Thirty million credits. Half now, half when you've succeeded." Koji'rar placed a transactional chip on the table. Naruto whistled inwardly at that. Apparently, Calhir hadn't learned his miserly ways from him. This was the most money he'd ever been offered in a single job. The man hadn't even tried to talk about paying only after it was all done.
Alright, maybe this job was worth it. But there wasn't shame in trying to bargain for more.
Naruto sucked air through his teeth. "What if I said thirty million wasn't enough? I mean it is the gordanians. You know what that means."
"You are the one joking now, my friend." Koji'rar smiled humorlessly. "Thirty million is more than you mercenaries earn in a single job, much less for one as basic as a rescue."
"Well yes, but actually no." Naruto shook his head. "I heard Lobo kills people who offer him less than fifty."
"It's a shame that you are not him then. Perhaps if you were of similar repute, I might consider your services worth more than what I am offering you."
What was with people and thinking he would settle for less just because he wasn't known across the galaxy? He was a bounty hunter first and foremost. No bounty hunter wanted to be famous. Only mercenaries did.
"I haven't even agreed to take the job and you've already started insulting me." Naruto laughed lowly. "You must like the mental image of your esteemed princess gargling reproductive fluids whenever she's not busy fighting for her life in the gladiatorial pits."
Koji'rar was not amused. "And thirty million must be a little amount to you if you consider it worth walking away from because of your shallow greed."
"It's not exactly greed. More like calculating the pay proportionally to the risk. It's a simple tactic."
"I fail to see why you need to calculate that for a job like this. Gordanians may be numerous but they are weak."
"Numbers overwhelm, Koji. It's never a question of if, but rather, how many it takes." Naruto said. "And the gordanians have numbers. Enough to make thirty million not seem worth the risk."
"Thirty million is already being generous, Uzumaki. More than enough to set a person for life unless you want to go around renting private moons."
"And death would be much more preferable to the fate I'll meet if I get captured." Naruto gave him a lopsided grin.
"Unfortunate, but you know what you are getting into. You are free to leave if you feel this is not worth the risk." Koji'rar shrugged and dumped a scoop of dust into the fire. Naruto was happy to see that it was the last bit in the bowl.
There was silence for a while. Koji'rar focused on inhaling the maroon smoke while Naruto stared outside as he mulled over whether or not to take the job.
On the upside, it was thirty million. Thirty million was very much worth the trouble. It was more than he made from taking multiple jobs even and all he had to do was rescue one princess.
On the downside, he was rescuing her from the gordanians. Those who wound up on their shitlist usually ended up dead or in the citadel. He didn't consider himself an easy person to beat but he couldn't fight an entire world.
But all that was assuming they even captured or recognised him. From the fact that the man didn't consider this Koriand'r to be out of his reach, it was safe to assume she was still being transported to the citadel. That was good. He could just intercept the ship. Numbers didn't mean anything to him, he could clone himself. Kill everyone, destroy the ship and hope for the best.
A horn blared, jarring him from his thoughts. He saw people scrambling to get back into their homes or whatever buildings they could get into as the sound of blaster fire became audible. Ah, a fight had broken out.
Koji'rar locked the door and closed the windows and turned back to look at Naruto who sighed loudly.
"Fine. You've got yourself a deal." Naruto said, getting an amused smile from Koji'rar.
"Oh? No more bargaining?" He asked. "I thought you would eventually walk away and continue your job hunt."
"I didn't hunt this one down, did I?" Naruto retorted. "And I only do mercenary work when the bounty business isn't booming."
"A bounty hunter that admits to doing mercenary work. You do not see that often." Koji'rar said as he went to pick up another scoop of dust only to grunt annoyedly when he saw it was finished.
"Most of us do but few do so openly. It's more of a pride thing, really." Naruto shrugged.
Mercenaries didn't go bounty hunting and bounty hunters didn't do mercenary work. To turn to the other was usually a sign of desperation and the only ones who didn't face ridicule for it were those of high repute like Lobo. It was also one of the reasons the man charged as high as he did.
"You do not seem to have such pride." Koji'rar remarked. Naruto shrugged again.
"A disgraced millionaire is better than a honoured beggar." He said sagely, causing Koji'rar to chuckle.
"My culture would beg to differ."
"I don't think money's of much importance to people who probably trade with the skin, organs, limbs and bones of their enemies."
"Does that not sound a bit racist to you?"
"I killed seven aellans, made fun of a farfarmniflacth and all things being equal, I might kill a dozen gordanians soon. It's not racist if you shit on all races. Roll safe." Naruto used a finger to tap the side of his head with a smirk.
"The documentary of the hood. It appears we both share the same refined tastes." Koji'rar grinned. "Now let us return to why we are here."
"Hm. So what route is she being taken through? I imagine the gordanians wouldn't want to pass through sector 2682."
Koji'rar nodded and brought out a star chart. Naruto examined the blue screen, noticing the thick lines that indicated major routes and a highlighted sphere labeled Yal.
"Indeed. I managed to contact a bolovaxian courier who saw a small fleet just leaving Yal moon in the direction I have brought out. As you can see, it leads to-"
"Sector 2813." Naruto cut him off, frowning at the screen. "They're going to sector 2813."
Sector 2813 was home to the remains of what had once been Krypton, a technological superpower that rivaled the likes of Apokolips and New Genesis.
It made sense to pass through there. Kryptonians had been the only people hindering their movements there and they were gone now. The second safest would be it's neighbouring sector because the Martians wouldn't care what they did so long as they didn't try anything against them and the only lantern patrolling the sector spent most of his time on Earth.
It would delay their journey by entire months but it was safer than the other routes.
"Yes. However, it is not a straight journey all through. In order to avoid the central sun, they will have to slow down to turn away in the direction of Krypton. And that is where you come in." Koji'rar told Naruto who frowned.
"You're assuming I get there before they do, Koji'rar. This is sector 1299. It would take a week at best at full speed before I reach sector 2000 at all."
"That just means you will have to leave quickly, does it not?" Came Koji'rar's response. "It does not matter much where you can catch up so long as they do not reach the citadel. It is simply better earlier than later."
"True. Any means of identifying the vessel?"
Koji'rar closed his eyes. "If I remember correctly, they have a formation such that the carrier class ships are in the center. It usually depends on the importance of their prisoners."
"Got it. Well I've got to go now. Hopefully, I'll catch them before they make that turn." Naruto stood up to leave.
Koji'rar unlocked the door for him. "I will convey whatever else I can find out to you. Are you using the same code?"
"Of course." Naruto swiped his pad off the table. "Oh, fifteen million. Nice. A little bonus wouldn't kill you though."
"We shall see." Koji'rar waved at the blond who had left already. When he was out of sight, the tamaranean sighed heavily.
He'd heard stories of Uzumaki's feats from some people that hired him in the past and while many of them sounded exaggerated.
He took it all with a grain of salt but if the man's abilities were similar to or exactly as they were said to be, Koriand'r was as good as saved.
About time too, Tamarand needed her more than ever.
Unbeknownst to the two, their meeting had been watched.
"Has their meeting come to an end?'
Crouched on the roof of a nearby building, a person had watched the ongoing conversation through a visor and when he saw the yellow haired one leave after collecting a transactional chip, he responded.
"Yes it has. It appears that our target has hired this person to retrieve his niece."
"Can you run identification on the mercenary?"
He frowned and stared intently at the blond who was already wading through the crowd, trying to scan his face enough to identify him. After a few moments, results appeared in his vision.
"His name is Uzumaki Naruto. A registered bounty hunter and suspected culprit in the conflagration in atturi rig. His race is unknown but it's very likely he's a human."
"A bounty hunter doing mercenary work? Shameful." Another voice snorted. "Were you able to decipher anything they said?"
He frowned when the distinctive yellow hair disappeared and his eyes darted wildly, trying to find the man again before he got too far.
"Lith?"
The now named Lith touched a button on his visor as he climbed down the building. "I've lost sight of Uzumaki. I'm about to search for him on foot. Have you been able to identify his ship?"
"No."
"Make it the highest priority. Have the others search for him as well. Terminate him if they can. Even if he manages to slip away from us, he won't be able to leave without his ship."
"Understood. Let us know if you find anything."
The line went dead and Lith went back to searching for the man as he followed the people headed for the port.
Concealed by a henge no jutsu, Naruto watched a whitish skinned man pass him by while muttering something and looking around. He didn't have to hear the man's words to know he was searching for someone. Most likely him.
He had chosen to ignore the feeling of being watched while he spoke with Koji'rar but when the feeling persisted even after he started making his way to the port, he knew it was time to do something.
As he passed by a large gathering of people watching a puppet show, he made use of the henge no jutsu to transform into a nondescript native and continued on his way. Apparently, that had been enough to get whoever it was off to leave their hiding spot and take a more open method of finding him again.
He walked closer to the man to listen to his mutterings. As he neared him, the man's words became more understandable. He wasn't talking to himself, he was talking into the visor.
"... zumaki concentrate on this area."
Of course he'd be right. He moved away and continued on his path, taking care not to bump into people too hard. When he was properly out of the man's field of vision, he formed a hand seal. As soon as he did, six clones appeared near him and transformed into natives as well.
"Search for the others and when you find them, turn back into me." He commanded them quietly. "Do it at different intervals. We don't want them figuring out what's happening too quickly after all."
The clones nodded and split up, much to his satisfaction. Why couldn't they be like this all the time? He glanced at the same man who bumped into him and went on, not even bothering to apologize. What a dick.
But he was also probably the leader. And if the others didn't know why they were following him, the leader definitely would. He smiled at the man's back and began to follow him. The moment they got somewhere relatively unpopulated, he'd strike.
"I'm nearing the port and still no sign of Uzumaki. Have you been able to identify his ship?" Lith spoke into his visor
"Security footage shows him arriving in a XIP-23 conveyor. It's the only model in the port."
Those ships stopped being produced after the millusc war. Their purpose was mostly for dropping a small group of soldiers and retrieving the injured ones mid battle. Such a ship would be four decades old at least. It was a miracle Uzumaki kept it in working condition.
"I'll let you know when I see it. Have the others seen him?"
"Bism claimed to have seen him a distance away from you. The rest said the same thing but in different places. The only thing they all agree on is that he's backtracking."
"Backtracking? That's a bad way to lose a pursuer."
"From the fact that he's spreading us out further, it's working. Either he's got some ability to warp or he's just very fast because they saw him at different intervals in different places."
Lith frowned. "Tell them all to stop and converge at the port. We'll wait for him near his ship."
"Understood."
As the line went static, Lith turned around a corner and jolted when he saw Uzumaki Naruto who grinned at him apologetically.
"Sorry about that, I just like to lean on the wall and gather myself sometimes."
Lith nodded and walked past him, his mind racing. Bism was over a hundred meters and he was the one to see him last. How did Uzumaki get here so fast? No matter, the man looked relaxed and they were at a relatively deserted spot. Nobody would bat an eye if someone died here.
His mind made up, he drew his blaster and twirled around to face Uzumaki who had already turned to face him. Before he could shoot, he staggered as he was pulled forward by an unseen force.
Before he could regain his footing, Naruto had already rushed forward and ejected the cell from his blaster before delivering a right hook to his ear. Before he could land a follow up, the man lashed out with his left hand and Naruto was forced to turn sideways to about getting punched in the armpit.
Lith, seeing an opening, cocked back his right hand and struck Naruto in the liver with his blaster. The man grunted and before Lith could draw back, grabbed his blaster. Lith quickly let go of the weapon and kicked the back of the man's knee. As the man bent slightly, he made to follow up with a strike upside the chin but yelped slightly when Uzumaki punched him in the side twice, forcing a rib to shift out of position.
He quickly moved back only for Uzumaki to close in and deliver two heavy jabs to his jaw and nose. He wildly swung a first that Uzumaki ducked under before striking him in the gut hard and when he doubled over, the bounty hunter forced his head lower down to knee him in the face and push his head into the wall.
The wall cracked as his head collided with it and the man crumpled to the ground, unconscious.
Naruto frowned at the man's body. The replacement technique failed. He usually used his chakra to latch onto people like suckers because it was a lot easier and faster than enveloping them in it and escaped the notice of non sensitive people.
Doing it with this man had been like trying to switch places with a statue. The chakra hadn't gone deep enough to pull him all the way. Even fighting the man had felt like hitting rock-like skin. Up close, he finally got the time to look at the man. He was a pumice-person. No wonder.
Well, it didn't matter now. Naruto brought out a cord andbound his hands together One of the benefits of being a registered bounty hunter was that the authorities wouldn't even bother questioning you if you walked around with a tied up person.
Right as he managed to fully secure the man's feet, the visor hummed again. He glanced at it and pressed a random button on the side. It turned out to be the right one because a voice began to speak.
"Lith, we're fifty meters away from your location. You still haven't reached the port. Did you see Uzumaki?"
'Shiiit. ' Naruto squeezed his face. He should have listened to the man's voice better. He lifted the man's body up and began to make double time for the port. It was less than a kilometre away now.
"Lith? Lit-"
He yanked off the visor and threw it away. If the visor was trackable, he didn't want them knowing where he'd take. He placed the man well on his shoulders and ran up a building. While jumping rooftops would be a bitch due to the extra weight, it would also help him cut a straight path to the port.
He formed another pair of clones to confront the group and continued on his way, ignoring the astonished cries of people who saw him pass over their heads. A few moments later, the sounds of blaster fire went off. He made another pair just as the port came into view. He jumped across another gap and stumbled as the memories of his clones hit him.
There had been twelve of this guy's friends but the clones managed to kill off six before getting destroyed themselves. That was still alright. The second set had yet to confront them. Hopefully, they'd be the ones to take out the last six.
He jumped off the last building and started a casual pace for the entrance. After flashing the curious worker his ID, he picked up his pace as he passed by the gates. A small groan alerted him to his captive regaining consciousness and he dropped the man on his head hard enough to knock him out again.
He picked up the body and began to run when his ship came into sight. He used his remote to open the hatch and tossed the body in before entering himself. The hatch closed right as three people dressed in the same fashion as his captive ran towards his ship and began to fire.
Behind them, he could see the authorities running towards the trio. Mzulft enforcers didn't care about who started a fight and who was defending themselves. Those three were as good as dead.
He rushed to the cockpit and started the ship's ascension procedure. When the vessel shook and began to rise, he left the cockpit to go tie the assassin's hands to the handhold bar on the ceiling and took a seat with a groan.
Sector 2813. Koji'rar's words honestly wanted him to take it easy with the journey but for some reason, he felt a sense of urgency after accepting the job. The fleet wouldn't reach the citadel in months but a lot could still happen in between those months.
When the ship finally reached orbit, he sent it to lightfold to the nearest planet with a fueling station and brought out his pad to message Koji'rar.
*Out of Mzulft. Got followed by a group of people that tried to kill me. You still alive?*
The sound of scratching metal made him turn around to see the conscious assassin attempting to free himself. He scoffed at the sight.
"Don't bother." The man froze. "I spiral locked the top knot of the cord to the bar. You'd have to rip the whole thing off if you want to get free."
Lith tried to look at his captor but couldn't go far without twisting his arms. Eventually, he gave up and asked. "Why did you take me?"
"It might be because I want to know who designed your cool suit, why do you think I captured you?" Naruto shrugged.
"To know who designed my cool suit?" The man parroted him.
Naruto smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I tried to ask your friends too but they were so tight-lipped about it that they stopped breathing and died."
Lith frowned at that. They hadn't been best friends but he'd still grown fond of them over the time they'd been working together. "So?"
"So, that leaves you, the leader. I mean, I followed you for a reason. " Naruto pointed at him, causing him to snort.
"Sorry to tell you, my friend, but you already killed our leader."
"I beg to differ. Now I don't know how you do things in pumicia or something, but giving orders is usually what the leader does."
"I followed you because I was ordered to as well. The shortest one in our little group? If you killed him, you took out our leader."
'I knew his voice sounded familiar.' Naruto thought. It was the same person who had tried talking over the visor. Maybe the guy wasn't lying and he'd just made a mistake.
"That's not what Bism told me, but whether or not he's the one who's right, the responsibility falls on your shoulders now as the acting leader."
"Many thanks." Lith spoke sarcastically.
"You can thank me by telling you who sent you after me."
"We didn't get sent after you."
"Really? So you just saw me and thought, 'you know what, I hate this guy in particular. Let's kill him.' That's it?" Naruto asked.
Lith shrugged as best as he could. "In a way, yes. Our confrontation was a matter of circumstance leading us to c-"
Naruto reached up to tighten the binds that the man had been discreetly trying to undo. Lith grunted in slight pain as the cord tightened enough to cut off circulation to his hands.
"You're good." He complimented the man. "Keep the conversation going so I don't hear or notice you trying to get free. It'd work on a lesser person."
"I don't suppose you would feel impressed enough to let me leave?" Lith asked. Naruto shook his head.
"Why do you want to leave? It's spacious here. There's lots of air and food too."
"I don't want to impose."
"Well if you insist, just say the name and you'll be touching dry ground soon." Naruto pressed. "Come on, we've gotten along so well. It'd be a shame if I had to hurt you."
Torture wasn't all that effective in his opinion. It took too long, got too messy and there was a chance that if you even got something, it was just a lie made up by the frenzied mind of a person at their breaking point.
It would probably take hours to get this guy to even say his own name. Hours he didn't have or want to waste
"Even if you did, it would be for nothing. My job is to follow orders, not find out who gives them." Lith spoke again.
"Paid assassins kind of have to know who's sending them, don't they?"
"It's a shame that I'm not a paid one then."
"Oh, you're part of an organisation then." Naruto faked amazement. "Wow. An organisation of assassins."
"It blows the mind does it not?" Lith said, learning from his past mistake and trying to undo the binds with his fingers only instead.
"Yeah, it does. What's it called? You know, so I'll know when more of you say 'I hate this guy in particular'. You don't have to say more, just that and you're free to go."
Lith shook his head. "That, I do not know either. It's not as if I enjoy being in a situation like this for longer than I have to. We've been here for minutes now, my hands hurt, my torso hurts, my-"
"Look, look, listen, look." Naruto interrupted him and sighed deeply before reached up and tightened the binds again. "Normally, I'd love to stay here and talk for as long as it'll take you to say something helpful but I don't have time for any of that.
"You wouldn't work under a group you don't even know the name of. You're smarter than that. But what you're doing right now, it's not smart. It's irritating and time wasting. You're wasting my time, so I'll ask again and if you don't tell me anything I can work with, it's off to space with you."
Lith stayed quiet.
"Okay." Naruto clapped his hands. "Your employer's name, the name of your organisation, the name of who sent you. You can tell me either or more of those three. At least one. Two or all wouldn't kill you either. Ready? Go."
"I really don't know. We've gone through this enough times, Uzumaki." Lith hissed.
"But you know my name." Naruto pointed out. "You don't attack a random person and go through the effort of learning about them prior. Thanks for letting me know that. Who sent you?"
"I. Don't. Know."
"Okay, why were you on Mzulft?"
"..."
Naruto nodded again and walked out of the chamber. It was clear that talking would get him nowhere. Unfortunately, he doubted finding out the mystery employer would be of any benefit to him anyway and he wasn't about to take the chance of sharing a ship with someone who was still going to try to kill him.
When the door closed tight, he pressed a button to open the hatch and watched as the sudden decompression tore the shocked and horrified man's hands off the cord and sucked him out into the vacuum of space.
When the hatch closed, he went back to the cockpit and sat down, feeling the ship jerk as it went into hyperspace. After refueling, his next stop was Cruhm's place and from there, Sector 2813.
Abaski, Wankyb system, Sector 1331
Naruto knocked on a door that stuck out of the ground and turned to face the floating camera that popped out of the ground next to him. The lens zoomed in on him for a bit and scanned his retinas before retreating into where it had emerged from.
A few seconds later, the door slid open and he walked in. The door slammed shut a second later and the floor under his feet slowly lowered. Naruto sighed at the elevator's speed. On top of the safety risk of living underground, the dhorian didn't even bother changing the decades-old elevator.
Three minutes later, he reached the bottom and when the door opened, raised his hand to catch an alternator thrown at his head and threw it back at the culprit who ducked under it.
"What stung you in the eye today, fly?" He asked, getting a glare from the criminal. Dhorians didn't like being called out on their insect-like eyes.
"Naruto. I was hoping you'd have had an accident on the way here. Preferably one that would bleed you dry." Cruhm said and turned away from him.
"Now that's a fucking lie." Naruto grinned at the dhorian. "Did you feel the rhyme?"
"Where's the money?"
Naruto rolled his eyes and brought out a small laminated chip "It's here, four million and three twenty-five thousand. You know, one day I'm going to buy myself a good ship and create a good network for myself."
"Provided you don't die before that day comes." Cruhm snatched the chip away from him. "But till then, I'll keep taking my cut from you."
"Hmph. Enjoy it while it lasts."
"I am enjoying it."
Naruto watched the dhorian go back to work on repairing a device with the beeping of the multiple systems being the only sound breaking the silence that had fallen on them. Funny, this was how their first meeting had gone too.
He had tried to apprehend the man for his bounty he didn't even know had been frozen for years. Being followed into his hideout by someone out for his head hadn't even fazed him. Rather than fight, he had simply explained with proof why he was wasting his time before complementing his skills and suggesting mercenary work to him.
The man had rented him the ship he had flown in the millusc war under the condition that he never let it get destroyed and helped him find jobs through his fairly large network.
He sounded like a good person on the surface but he was anything but that. The man was apathetic about most things other than money and heavily involved in grimier stuff than Naruto cared to put himself in permanently. Some of the stuff he'd already done for him still weighed on his conscience a bit.
In spite of how unpleasant the man was, Naruto felt grateful to him. It didn't mean he wasn't planning on striking out on his own though. Sticking with Cruhm wasn't something you could do for long before he ended up making you bite off more than you could chew.
"Did you talk to the person who asked for you?" Cruhm asked out of the blue.
"Yeah, I did." Naruto admitted. "Weird guy too but he gave me a job."
"Hm. What's it about?"
Naruto briefly pondered whether or not to tell him. He wouldn't put it past the man to sabotage him if he knew he had no plans on doing anything other than rescue her and return her to Koji'rar. Lots of people would pay good money for a tamaranean, especially the princess. It wasn't worth it.
"He asked me to help him retrieve a device from raiders in sector 2840. Something about a single grain of its contents being enough to revive an entire world." He lied smoothly.
Cruhm's scrutinising gaze turned greedy at the mention of what he was searching for. "How much money did he offer?"
"A lot."
"That's not specific at all."
"It's also not your business. I've put your cut there. You know how much you got from the others. Do the calculation yourself."
Cruhm snorted annoyedly. "Why else are you here? Shouldn't you be on your way already?"
"I need a better radar. I heard gordanians are headed for the same place as I am." Naruto told him.
"You need a better ship, you mean. But yes, I think I have something like that." Cruhm got off the working chair and began to sort through a pile of hardware.
"You should try to arrange your things well, Cruhm. This whole place is still a mess." Naruto said.
"I've been living like this before you were even born, Naruto. Shut up and wai- ah, I found it."
Naruto saw Cruhm drag a large monitor attached to an even larger emitter to him. "What the fuck is this?"
"This," Cruhm tapped the top of the monitor. "Is a Thagnarian B-F radar. Thirty four years old, but still better than some recent ones. Like all their devices, the thagnarians engineered this specifically to combat gordanians."
"I don't think the gordanians wouldn't have improved their technology over the course of thirty years, Cruhm." Naruto frowned at the man who shrugged unvaryingly.
"I brought this because it's the only one compatible with your ship. Problem is they have to get close before you start seeing the blips. Best stay on your guard."
Naruto sighed. He really needed a new ship. "Fine. How much are you taking for it?"
"One fifty thousand with an extra twenty for fitting it myself."
Naruto glared at the man impotently. Bargaining for less was asking for subpar work and with Cruhm, subpar meant a removed part and shoddy fastening. "Fine, give me the chip. And run maintenance on the guns while you're at it. Check the suit too."
Cruhm grinned at him. "It's nice to do business with you."
With that, the dhorian walked towards the other exit but stopped halfway. "Oh Naruto? I'd be more careful about traveling around if I were you. Ranx is on the move again."
Naruto frowned at that. "Why? I thought Mogul had gathered enough people to last a while."
"He did. But someone went crazy there and freed almost all of them. People say it was a Kryptonian."
Naruto's eyes widened. "A Kryptonian? In warworld?"
"Yeah, he's gone now though. Rumor has it that he's kicking around in sector 2814. Some planet called Earth. Anyways, you be careful. I'm sure Mogul would love to have someone with your capabilities in his pits."
Naruto nodded and followed after the dhorian. A living kryptonian had somehow managed to stay under the radar for over a decade. Wow. The poor guy's life was only going to get more difficult as his location became common knowledge.
Whatever, it wasn't any of his business. He had a job to do and no Kryptonian was going to stop him from doing it.
(5 days later)
Andromeda galaxy, Sector 2813
'Well this is it.' Naruto thought, looking at the small gordanian fleet in the distance. Thirteen ships could hardly be considered small but all things were relative.
That bastard Cruhm had failed to specify exactly how close one had to be for the ships to start pinging. The closest ship had only shown up on the radar when it was less than a kilometre away and by then, it was already visible.
He knew that they could see him as well but they were either just lazy or in a hurry because none of them moved to attack or surround him. As they continued on, he followed them at a much slower speed, unable to think of any way to get to the middle that wouldn't end with him shot to bits.
It was when they were kilometres away from Krypton that his transmitter buzzed and a gordanian's face appeared on the screen. They stared at each other for a few moments before the gordanian spoke.
"Why are you following us?"
Naruto shook his head. "I'm not exactly following you. I'm headed to Skillenis. This is the shortest route."
"If you do not wish to be destroyed, you will stop now and wait for us to leave. If your ship moves again, we will attack you."
Naruto nodded and the line went dead. He halted and watched the group move on. He really didn't want his ship destroyed and he was now sure that there wouldn't be any other way to get to the tamaranean without fighting.
As he saw the fleet near Krypton, an idea crossed his mind. They said his ship, not him. He took the remote and left the cockpit.
"This is a bad idea." Naruto muttered to himself as he filed through a compartment in the main chamber and brought out a customised survival suit. This was a very bad idea, one that could get him killed in fact.
But thirty million was worth the risk. He put on the suit and grimaced at the weight. He could still move fast and properly in it but fuck was it heavy. He flexed his fingers through the armoured gloves and took a deep breath.
Thirtymillionthirtymillionthirtymillion!
He brought out the jetpack from another compartment and stuffed all the power cells he could find into it and a small case that he strapped to his side and placed his blaster into a holster he fastened to his waist and put on the helmet.
Shit, the air!
He groaned loudly, took off the suit and went to siphon his ship's air supply into all the used air canisters he had. If he knew he'd be doing this shit, he'd have prepared accordingly. He placed the canisters in their slots and tied the extra ones to himself after putting the suit back on. It was in times like these that he wished he had tried to learn fuuinjutsu and that he still had the sage's scroll.
He placed his pad in the arm of his suit, put on the helmet and activated the ship's shields before opening the hatch. Blue hexagons appeared as the hatch opened to the void of space. He sighed at the sight and glanced at his pad. They were twelve kilometres away already. Shit.
He slowly walked out of his ship and grimaced at the loss of solid ground under his feet and the lack of gravity. The hatch closed behind him and he was left in the darkness. He sighed again, powered up the jetpack and began to travel towards the ships.
I hate spacewalking.
…
Space was beyond dangerous for anyone who couldn't naturally survive the conditions. A malfunction of any kind could lead to one drifting helplessly till they died of either suffocation, depressurisation, dehydration, cold or starvation. That was not counting the severe radiation and uncountable number of viruses that floated around.
Naruto's mind was anything but calm as he neared the first ship after what felt like hours of monotonous travel. He was gambling on the inability of most ships to detect signatures weaker than the ones ship engines gave out. Hopefully, that of the gordanians would be no different.
He finally reached the ship and twisted to steer away from the thrusters and got to the side of the ship. Upon reaching it, he briefly powered down the jetpack and checked his pad. He still had three more ships to go and by the scaling, each was a kilometre apart. He powered the jetpack down and crawled all the way to the front.
It would be a lot easier if he just went under but most ships pinged from under and above. Small or not, he'd get picked up if he went either ways. As a small blip, but picked up. That left the lesser risk of going sideways.
He hissed slightly and ducked under the glass of the cockpit. Shit, he couldn't just move without being seen unless he went out of their field of vision. He powered on the jetpack and pushed himself off the ship. There went his idea of just flying forward.
He kept his eye on the one by the side of the first ship so as not to go too far. When he was sure that he was in line with the thrusters, he inclined himself downwards and began to move.
Each ship being a kilometre apart meant that going from the middle of the first and second at the farthest behind of the center would mean that he'd have to fly in a parabolic path below before rising up so that he'd be directly beside his target if he wanted to escape detection. The problem was that it would take a lot of time and he could still miss in the end.
Thirtymillionthirtymillionthirtymillion.
The bottoms of the ships became visible as he continued to go lower and forward. His eye twitched when an air canister ran out. Shit, he didn't want to have to stop to change it. Three left. He had to move faster. He increased the power of the jetpack and cut a wide curve downwards, looking at nothing but the ships above him.
He tried not to think of all the things they could go wrong with his plan. Thirtymillionthirtymillionthirtymillion.
After many drawn out minutes, he began to rise just as the prison vessel's bottom became recognisable. Finally. He began to rise, noticing with some panic that they were getting dangerously close to Krypton's orbit.
Krypton's unstable core gave it a greater gravitational force than most other planets. If he didn't get to the ship in time, he would get caught in the gravitational field and jetpack or not, plummet like a stone. Another canister ran out. Fuck
He ignored the beeping of the energy cells and increased the power, fishing out another cell in the process. When the jetpack died, he ejected the used cell and replaced it and increased the power to maximum. The ship was getting closer as well as the pulling sensation was getting stronger.
He glared at the ship and noticed with a little confusion that it had turned in the direction of Krypton, separating from the rest of the fleet. After a minute of feeling himself get heavier, he finally reached the ship and leaned on the entrance. He took a deep breath and leaned away slightly to change the air canisters. He really hated spacewalking.
He ran his hands along the hatch, searching for something to open it with from the outside. When he found nothing, he drew his hand back and above his palm, a glowing blue sphere of spiraling energy began to form.
The rasengan blew the hatch open and sent the pieces flying through the passage, killing one of the unfortunate guards standing near the door, sucking another out into space and throwing the rest into a frenzy. The one that got sucked out bumped into Naruto, nearly sending him flying off as well. With a surprised cry, he quickly channeled chakra to his feet to hold himself in place upside down.
He'd never been afraid of heights but it was with a racing heart see the flashing lights in Krypton taunting him, telling him how it would end for him had he slipped up. He gulped and gingerly walked back up before freezing when he saw more gordanians fly out and plummet down to the planet, the void of space already taking its effect on them.
Thirtymillionthirtymillionthirtymillion! Thirtymillionthirtymillionthirtymillion!! Thirtymillionthirtymillionthirtymillion!!!
The chaos didn't last long as the shields activated quickly and stopped the suction.
Naruto slowly walked in and grunted as a bolt struck him in the chest. It failed to penetrate the armour but it still felt like he'd been punched. He rushed towards the gordanian that fired at him and landed a haymaker that dislocated it's jaw and knocked it out cold.
Before he could finish it off by stomping on its head, he was forced to recoil when it's body disintegrated in a small flash of light. He stared at where the small device that lay where a body had once been in a mix of surprise and revulsion.
Self-immolation devices were something he'd seen before. Hell, the seal the ANBU had tattooed on their bodies back in his world also doubled as one, but for it to be set off even against the owner's will just showed a blatant disregard for life that grated against him.
Another group arrived and began to open fire at him. Seeing that he couldn't dodge the bolts, Naruto created enough clones to fill the room, surprising the gordanians and struggled through the passage, downing anyone blocking his way be they clone or gordanian.
As he left the chamber, he locked it behind him and quickly made his way past the cell area, noticing that the prisons were empty save for one that contained an unconscious person. He made a mental note to come back after taking over the ship.
He entered the other chamber which looked to be the living quarters and raised his arm to block a pike aimed at his head and realised his mistake when the pike stopped at the back of his pad. He pushed the gordanian back, punched the shaft, the force breaking it in two and removed the part in his pad.
Before the gordanian could attack again, he closed in and stabbed in the chest. He pulled the weapon out and twirled it as the slaver disintegrated. The rest were gone, probably waiting for him in the cockpit. He took off his helmet and suit and dropped them outside. It wouldn't do if either took more damage than they could bear. To be sure, he locked the door as well.
He took out his blaster and walked towards the cockpit. When he reached the door, he closed his eyes, trying to feel for movement with the changes in air pressure. Upon getting nothing, he opened the door and saw only one gordanian there.
The gordanian noticed him and reached for a blaster but Naruto shot it in the hand, eliciting a pained scream from it. He closed the door, locked it behind him and shot the gordanian in the shoulder.
"Why are you here?!" The gordanian asked him. Naruto blinked at it's voice.
"Hey, you're the one who spoke to me that time. Aren't you? I'm not sure. You gordanians all sound the same. Must be a thing with your race." He muttered.
It glared at him, still clutching it's bleeding arm. "What are you here for? We have nothing of value."
"I'm not here for goods." Naruto said and pointed the blaster at its head. "I'm here for your prisoner. The tamaranean. Where is she?"
"T-the cells. You passed her by when you came."
Naruto nodded and frowned. "Thanks for telling me that. I thought you'd resist more. Now why did you break off from the rest? I'm pretty sure there's nothing on Krypton other than storms and decayed corpses."
"I…"
Naruto nudged it with his blaster. "Come on, you're close to surviving already. What are you looking for in Krypton?"
"I don't know either. We were just asked to take something from there. They gave us something to tell when we found whatever it was."
"I'm guessing the Psions? You're good friends with them after all."
"Yes, the Psions."
Naruto nodded. "Hm. So where is it?"
The gordanian pressed a button on the deck and a small sensor came out of a compartment. Naruto picked it up, not taking his eyes off the slaver and pocketed it. He smiled at the gordanian.
"You've been a good helper. It'll be quick."
"Wa-"
Naruto shot the gordanian, unbuckled the belt and dragged it off the chair. He looked at the controls and the cameras and saw more gordanians than he remembered seeing gathered in the deck he'd come from. So that was where they all went. They were in for a surprise.
He deactivated the shields and watched as they all got sucked out of the ship. He switched through each camera, searching for any other ones that could be in hiding and when he found nothing, he left the cockpit.
When he reached the cells again, he went down to look at the unconscious princess, noticing how even though it was dirty, her red hair still maintained their radiance. He unlocked the cell and walked in. When he turned her on her back, his breath caught in his throat.
Even though she was gaunt and her orange skin had paled from malnutrition, she still looked more beautiful than most other women he'd met in both his dimension and this one. For some reason, he felt sad that he'd end up having to give her to Koji'rar and would probably never see her again.
He closed his eyes. Thirtymillionthirtymillionthirtymillion.
He opened his eyes again and looked at her. Her beauty aside, he recognised the signs of heavy sedation on her. Heavy bags under the eyes, unnaturally deep breathing, no movement whatsoever, not even a twitch when he snapped his fingers loudly. The needle steadily pumping the sedatives into her bloodstream didn't help either.
He frowned at that. If he didn't get her help quickly, tamaranean metabolism or not, she would die. He couldn't let her die…he'd lose fifteen million.
He quickly went back to the living quarters and fished out one of the air canisters and emptied it into a power cell.
When he got back to her, he shook the box and detached the channeling tube from the packet of sedatives and placed it in the cell. The result of the process would settle at the end of the cell and while it wouldn't purify her blood, it would speed up her metabolism enough to exhaust the sedatives faster.
With that out of the way, he sat beside her and brought out the sensor. It didn't look like much but he recognised Psion engineering anywhere. This sensor was probably more powerful than a scout ship's radar.
Anything capable of earning the Psions' attention would be worth a large fortune. He'd have to be an absolute fool to ignore whatever it was. He looked outside the window at Krypton. That living Kryptonian wouldn't care too much if he took a few things from his homeworld, would he?
Probably not.
The prison ship landed on solid ground in the ruins of Argo City and Naruto walked out, shaking slightly at the sheer cold and looking around. He'd been to many a doomed world but even by the already low standards, Krypton was a depressing sight.
Many buildings were collapsed and the ones that were still standing were clearly rotting, their sturdiness a testament of Kryptonian architecture. Irredeemably damaged vehicles still littered the destroyed roads. The dull light from the dying sun and heavy clouds gave the place an air of bleakness.
That wasn't even what he hated. It was the silence. That absolute soul crushing silence that was only broken by the sound of his own breathing and the working mechanisms of the pod. That silence that reminded you that everything was dead. Even the plants.
No wonder Krypton's death had shaken the universe. A civilisation this great shouldn't have just died out in a day.
He frowned and glanced back at the ship. He didn't know how much time it could take before it's components froze and it became useless but he wasn't curious either. He wasn't planning on spending up to an hour on the planet. Not only because of that, but also because he felt like he was being pressed down.
His steps were deafeningly loud as he walked around the city with one hand on his blaster and the other holding the sensor. He walked what looked like a market district and upon getting nothing, moved on.
It was when he reached the residential area that the sensor began to beep. Naruto's eyes followed the direction it was pointing to, some house that had collapsed but was still enterable.
Upon reaching it, he tried to open the door but noticed the lock was frozen tight. He charged up a rasengan and hit the door, noticing with surprise how the metal withstood the destructive technique for nearly half a minute before finally giving out.
The force of the explosion collapsed another part of the house, earning a loud curse from Naruto who jumped back. He scowled and glanced at the sonar which was pointing in the direction of the rubble meaning he'd have to move it all away. Shit.
He grunted in exertion as he moved the largest block away. Each one felt like it weighed a ton and took him longer to move away than he liked. He dusted his hands and glanced at the sonar again. It was pointing down. He got on his knees with difficulty and began to sweep the floor with his hands for trapdoors or anything of that sort.
After a minute of crawling around, he found a door with a staircase that led to a basement. He sighed. Maybe he'd search for doors before searching for trapdoors first after this.
When he went down, he froze in amazement.
Calling it a basement made the room sound primitive. It was a laboratory, pure and simple. Not only was it warmer than the outside, there were still bits and pieces of intact technology and in a corner, a large crypstasis chamber was still functioning.
He went around the room first, picking up and storing everything he could before reaching a holo journal. He examined it for a bit and upon concluding that it still worked, pocketed it. He'd look at it's contents later.
The main attraction was the crypstasis chamber. They were mainly used for preserving corpses but in this case, he could see it was the opposite. From the tubes connected to dozens of large air canisters and the steadily pumping nutrient shots, he could tell it was for life support.
From the vital readings, whoever it was supporting was still very alive. Another kudos to Kryptonians. Nothing could survive crypstasis for even a week and they managed to make one capable of keeping a person alive for
He walked towards the chamber and wiped the ice off the glass and his eyes widened.
It was a girl. A girl no older than fourteen with yellow hair and paled skin. A very alive girl with yellow hair and pale skin. And from her clothes, a sigil that could only mean she was from a house.
Naruto had done what was considered impossible in the current era.
He had found a living kryptonian.
That's it y'all!!
Don't lie, you very likely found the spacewalking boring and if you did, thanks a lot. I wanted to make it as boring as I could. But then again, I can make anything boring. It's a superpower, really. Or just subpar writing. Who knows, who cares? I'm isssexwithyourcloneincest not Tolkien.
I'm not sure why but while writing the part where he saw Koriand'r, I got reminded of those times where I saw some girls at random places that even though I never spoke with them, seeing them alone just burnt them into my memory. Hell, I'm remembering one right now. Sad.
Review if you've got ideas, criticism or just want to say something. They're fuel. Yh, that's it. Fuel.
Anyways, join AizenTheGoat's server, lots of fun, lots of helpful people there, things. The code's: c9k4V9Y4wa
https/discord.gg/c9k4V9Y4wa