The first part of this chapter was originally part of chapter 3, hence the quick turnaround. I decided to split them up to keep chapter 3 from becoming too long, and instead this chapter became something of a monster. Oh well.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Star Wars.
Chapter 4
Naruto was an emotional mess. The pretty blue lady- Aayla, he remembered, had seemingly leapt to his defense when he had gotten lost in the Kyuubi's power and been knocked out. He cursed himself for losing control like that. He had just been so angry. And now someone else had gotten hurt protecting him. Again. He could hear the fox laughing at him behind the seal.
Shaking himself back to the present, he noticed that Aayla had lost consciousness. He may not have been a medic, but Kakashi had been sure to drill first aid and casualty care into his team, so he knew a little. Enough to know that passing out after a blow to the head was a bad thing. A very bad thing. Not everyone had a demon fox giving them super-fast healing abilities.
The battle was more or less over by this point. While he and Aayla had been saving each other's lives, Jiraiya and the other one (Quentin? Quinlan?) had made short work of most of the rest of the ugly monstrosities. Even now they were mopping up the last few. With no immediate threat to worry about, he tried to force his grief and anger down and remember his first aid training.
'First, check for any major bleeding,' Naruto's mind supplied helpfully. Looking over Aayla's prone form, he quickly spotted the four deep gashes on her right arm. They were bleeding quite heavily, in large, rapid pulses, so he figured he had best start there. It was simpler than treating a head injury, anyway.
He knelt down next to his erstwhile ally turned patient, and pulled out his medical kit. Taking out a tourniquet, he swiftly wrapped it around her upper arm. A few quick turns on the windlass had it appropriately tightened and secured. He found himself momentarily grateful that she was unconscious. He remembered from training that tourniquets hurt like a bitch.
That done, he moved to the cuts themselves. They were deep, almost to the bone in some places. He cleaned them out as best he could, and then wrapped them in bandages. As he was doing that he heard a voice cry out a few meters away.
"Aayla," Quinlan yelled. He was sprinting over to them, looking worried. He knelt down next to Naruto, immediately placing his hands on either side of Aayla's head.
"What happened? How was she hurt?"
"She got clawed up and then hit in the head," Naruto answered. "It was my fault. I-I messed up and she saved my life. Is she gonna be okay?"
Quinlan took a moment before answering. His focus seemed to drift to something Naruto couldn't see. After a few seconds of that, he snapped back to the present.
"Her skull is fractured, and she has lost a lot of blood. I need to get her to the medbay on my ship. And you," he said, suddenly staring right at Naruto, "will be answering some questions. That was a very dark power you were just using."
By now Jiraiya had made his way to them. He tapped Naruto on the shoulder to get his attention.
"Are you okay, Naruto? Any injuries?"
"I'm fine Jiraiya-sensei," he said, before pointing at Aayla. "She saved my life. I almost lost myself to the fox and got knocked out. She saved me."
"Naruto! You know channeling that power is dangerous for you. Why did-"
"I didn't mean to, okay!" Naruto said, his voice shaking. "I just-I just lost control. I got so angry. It felt good to just let go and be mad, and I lost it."
By the end of his speech, Naruto's shoulders were slumped with shame and defeat. Jiraiya sighed. It seemed he had grossly underestimated just how badly Naruto had been shaken by the past week. He cursed himself for a fool at that. He was having to use every ounce of his self-discipline to control his own grief. Of course Naruto would lose control.
"It'll be okay," he said, his voice soft. "We'll talk about it later."
While they were talking, Quinlan carefully levitated Aayla's limp form off the ground. He gently guided her back towards the ship, making sure not to let her head or neck move around. Without turning back, he yelled out to the two strangers behind him.
"You two should come with me. That battle made a lot of noise. More of those things, or worse, will be on their way here. And I have questions for both of you."
Jiraiya hesitated, but only for a moment. This man had fought with them, and his companion had apparently risked her life to save Naruto's. Besides, they didn't have much of a choice. Jiraiya didn't fancy another fight with those creatures, let alone anything worse. After Naruto's little slip, the last thing they needed was him anywhere near a battle.
Gently pushing his godson towards the ship, he began following. Naruto sent him a questioning glance, but he shook his head. Questions could wait until they were safely away from this place.
As they walked up the ramp, Naruto was amazed at what he saw. Not even the technology of Yuki no Kuni could compare to this. Once again, it truly hit home for him that he was in the future. Even something as basic as a boarding ramp looked sleek and high tech to his eyes. He felt a pang of loss and sorrow as he thought of the simple wooden buildings of Konoha.
Everywhere he looked there was something he found he didn't recognize. Everything from the blinking status board by the door to the computer screens on one side of the narrow hallway was vying for his attention. His natural curiosity over the new sights fought with his melancholy as everything reminded him of how far from home he now was. As he followed Quinlan and Jiraiya down the corridor, the sight of Aayla's limp form being somehow levitated down the hall didn't help matters.
Had the situation not been so urgent, Jiraiya would have stopped to offer Naruto some comfort. As it was, the sage was picking up on more nuanced details of their surroundings than his student.
The blue carpet on the floor was somewhat worn in the middle, and sections had clearly been replaced at times. Additionally, there was the odd scuff or scratch on the various bulkheads. This ship was clearly used regularly, and had been for some time. It wasn't the toy of some rich businessman or noble either. This ship, and the people on it, worked for a living. That meant that the two strangers who wielded the glowing blades probably weren't bodyguards. Soldiers maybe?
He also saw, on many of the parts of the ship, long strings of strange characters. Jiraiya could not read the symbols themselves, but their length and placement left him sure of their purpose. They were serial numbers. He had been a soldier long enough to recognize serial numbers when he saw them. That meant those components were mass produced. It also meant this ship, or others like it, was mass produced to some extent. Judging by the airtight seals around the access hatch and general non-aerodynamic design, this ship was likely meant to travel through space.
Overall, the picture forming in Jiraiya's head was one of a space faring civilization. The very idea boggled his mind almost as much as time travel had. The Elemental Nations had known little about space, other than that it was cold, airless, and completely inhospitable to life. If these people had somehow built something that could survive space travel, then he definitely didn't want to get on their bad side.
As Jiraiya was making his deductions, they arrived at what could only be the medbay. It had the overly white walls, the clearly sterile medical instruments, and the faint toxic chemical smell that let you know the place was clean. Naruto shivered with an almost instinctive dislike. He was not a fan of hospitals, and apparently super high tech future hospitals were not exempt from his disdain. What happened next probably didn't help matters.
From a small alcove set into the bulkhead, something made of metal emerged and floated into the center of the room. It had no legs, a vaguely human-like torso, and three spindly arms. It had a sleek, somewhat boxy looking head, with two glowing blue eyes.
"What the hell/fuck is that?" Naruto and Jiraiya exclaimed simultaneously.
Quinlan shot them an odd look.
"It's a GH-7 medical droid. It's here to help, so please stay out of its way," he said, his voice a touch tight. He was clearly still worried about his companion.
Naruto and Jiraiya slowly relaxed, but kept their guard up. This strange floating metal creature was not something either of them felt comfortable turning their backs to. Neither knew what a droid was, but Quinlan didn't look like he would be answering any more questions for a bit.
The newly identified GH-7 said nothing, but immediately went to work. It scanned Aayla from head to toe, before taking a blood sample. It continued to run various tests for several minutes before it said something that neither Jiraiya nor Naruto could understand. So long as it didn't come near them, they were willing to let it be though.
Quinlan obviously did understand the odd machine, as he nodded his head before turning to face the two shinobi.
"It's about to start treating her. She'll be alright, but we should go somewhere else," he said, his voice turning serious. "We have a lot to discuss."
OoOoOoOoOoOoO
A short while later, the three of them were seated in what looked like a small conference room. There was a central table surrounded by a half dozen chairs, and a viewport on one wall. Aside from the automatic door and high tech computer terminal, it could have passed for a typical office room anywhere in the old Elemental Nations.
"I imagine the two of you have a lot of questions. I do too," Quinlan said once they were all inside. "Before we ask them, let me get the ship out of here. We aren't safe on the surface."
Without waiting for a response, he leaned forward and touched a button on the center table. A light blinked on, and a voice sounded out of a console in the middle of the table. It spoke the same odd language as the droid, but once again Quinlan clearly understood.
"Yes Vek, she'll be fine. Let's get off the surface. Put us in a high orbit," Quinlan said.
"{You got it}," the mysterious Vek answered, his words incomprehensible to the shinobi.
"We'll be taking off now," said Quinlan when he looked back up at the two shinobi. "You can watch through the viewport if you like."
He wanted to see their reactions to this. Between their not speaking Basic, their primitive weapons and clothing, and their reactions to the ship and the medical droid, an image was building itself in his mind. Seeing how they treated space travel would help confirm if he was right or not. He hoped he wasn't. It would make things so much more complicated.
As the ship took off and began its rapid ascent through the atmosphere, he watched as both of the two new passengers bolted over to the viewport. Their eyes went wide and their jaws dropped as the ground swiftly fell away. As the sky darkened from light blue to black, the younger of the two backed away from the viewport in obvious fright. He asked his companion something too quiet for Quinlan to hear. The response was just as quiet, but it seemed to stop him panicking. The older man, Quinlan noted, seemed less surprised than the boy. He was merely staring down at the planet below them with a look of awe.
Even so, it was enough to convince him. These two had never traveled on a starship before. Judging by the boy's surprise, they hadn't even known it was possible. That meant he was going to have to answer a lot of questions before he could ask his own. Sure enough, after several minutes of staring at the vast expanse of space, Jiraiya turned back towards the Jedi Knight, pulling a shaken Naruto with him.
"Alright, I have…a lot of questions," Jiraiya admitted. "First ones; who are you and who do you work for?"
"I am Jedi Knight Quinlan Vos, and the young lady in the medbay is my Padawan, Aayla Secura. We serve the Jedi Order and, by extension, the Galactic Republic. We were sent here to investigate a massive disturbance in the Force that came from this planet. But I'm guessing none of that means anything to you."
"You'd be right about that," Jiraiya said. "What's this Jedi Order and Galactic Republic?"
"Quick version, the Galactic Republic is the primary government for most of the galaxy. It includes thousands of member worlds and species, and has trillions of citizens. The Jedi are an order of Force users, dedicated to upholding peace and justice throughout the republic. We act as peacekeepers, diplomats, and advisors."
Quinlan hoped that would satisfy him for the moment. Explaining the Jedi and the Republic to these two in detail would take days.
Jiraiya pressed him for several more answers however. He wanted to know just how long the Republic had existed, how it had been formed, and a number of other basic details. Quinlan noted that both he and Naruto seemed utterly ignorant of anything regarding the galaxy at large, and he decided to ask some questions of his own.
"Where are you two from? You've obviously never been in a starship before, so how did you get to this planet?"
Jiraiya paused for a long moment at that question. He would never normally give out information to a complete stranger, let alone a servant of a foreign government. Doing so could jeopardize Konoha's safety. But Konoha was gone. His country was gone. His entire culture was now gone. There was no village left to protect. Just him and Naruto.
This man had fought beside them, he thought. His Padawan (whatever that was) had suffered serious injury while saving Naruto's life. Quinlan had offered them safe passage without any hesitation or request for payment. Even now he answered questions freely. Jiraiya decided that if he and Naruto were going to get anywhere in this new time, they would have to start by trusting someone. Quinlan seemed like a good first bet.
"We come from there," he said, pointing at the planet out the viewport. "We've lived on that world our whole lives."
Quinlan shook his head. "That's impossible. Tython has been abandoned for nearly 3,500 years. No one is 'from' there."
"We're from there," Naruto said rudely. "We just…aren't from now."
Quinlan's eyes narrowed at that. The boy couldn't be implying what he thought he was. Could he?
"Are you trying to say that you're from the past?" he asked slowly. "That you somehow…time traveled?"
Naruto nodded. "Yep," he said. "We're from 50,000 years ago I think."
Quinlan reached out with the Force, searching for any sign of deception in the boy. He found none. The kid honestly believed that what he was saying was true. He glanced at Jiraiya for confirmation. He got a nod in return, again without any hint of a lie.
"You're going to need to tell me more than that," he said firmly.
So they did. Jiraiya relayed the story, starting with their last spar in the clearing. At the end of the story, Quinlan leaned back in his chair and stayed silent for a minute. He seemed to be digesting everything he had just been told. After a long pause that bordered on the uncomfortable, he finally spoke.
"I'm…not sure what to believe," he said. "I suppose it's possible a powerful Force technique somehow brought you here and caused the disturbance, but I've never heard of such a thing.
"And what is this Force?" Jiraiya asked. "You mentioned it before; said it let you translate your language into our thoughts."
"The Force is a field of energy that all living things possess. Jedi can sense the Force, and use it to perform feats beyond what an ordinary being could achieve."
"It sounds a lot like chakra," Naruto said suddenly.
"Chakra?" Quinlan asked. "Is that what you call those techniques you used? The fireball and such?"
"Those are jutsu," Naruto replied. "Chakra is what we use to do them though."
"Why do you ask?" Jiraiya cut in, his voice suspicious. He shot a look at his godson that told him to stay quiet.
"Because those 'jutsu' of yours use the Force," Quinlan said, unphased by the suspicion. "What you call chakra is a way of using the Force, one I've never seen or heard of before. I'm guessing it also has something to do with that dark power Naruto tapped into during the battle. I'm going to need you to explain that."
"And if we choose not to?" Jiraiya asked, his voice taking on a hard edge.
"Then I can't take you two away from here," Quinlan replied, suddenly serious. "I'm not trying to start a fight, but I can't just let something that dark and powerful go unquestioned."
Jiraiya seemed to be ready to fight over the issue. His body was tensed, and his hands had slowly moved into a defensive position. The tension in the air was cut, though, by Naruto's voice.
"It was the Kyuubi," he said softly. "That was the power I used."
"Naruto!" Jiraiya protested. "That's secret information. You can't just-"
"It's my secret, Jiraiya-sensei," Naruto said, his voice unyielding. "The village is gone, and the only one who gets a say in who knows this is me."
Jiraiya's jaw worked up and down silently. He seemed to be debating something internally for several seconds. Finally he came to a decision.
"Fine," he said. "If this is what you want, I'll support you."
Naruto nodded, and then proceeded to tell the story of the beast in his stomach. Jiraiya chimed in from time to time with relevant details, and Quinlan asked frequent questions. In the end, it took Jiraiya demonstrating a sealing scroll (much to Quinlan's shock) before he believed their story. Eventually, though, he was satisfied.
"I can't say I like that this was done to you," he said to Naruto. "But I'm willing to accept it for now. Just know that power derived from anger is a trap, and power not your own even more so. I do not want to see you using that power while on my ship, clear?"
"Yes sir," Naruto said, nodding. "I'm really sorry I used it back there. I hate using its power."
Quinlan knelt down to Naruto's eye level and gave him a kind look.
"It was an accident back there," he told Naruto. "Even a trained Jedi Knight would have a hard time controlling their emotions in that situation. I'm sure you won't be making that mistake again."
Naruto nodded, thankful for the second chance. Quinlan looked back up at Jiraiya.
"I'm sure you understand that what you've told me about your origins is…difficult to believe. That being said, there may be a test to confirm your story. If you're willing that is. I promise that it won't be at all dangerous or painful."
"What sort of test?" Jiraiya asked cautiously. He wasn't about to consent to anything without knowing exactly what it entailed first.
"It's best if I just show you. Follow me," Quinlan said, standing up.
Together, he led them towards the rear of the ship, near the engineering section. He showed them into a small, well lit room. In the corner stood another droid. This one had legs, and a generic humanoid appearance. It was painted dark grey, with yellow highlights. Its head was a flat faced oval, with a single visor-like strip of what looked like glass bulging out of it slightly where its eyes should have been.
"Is that another one of those…droid things?" Naruto asked, clearly somewhat wary of the thing. "What are those things anyway?"
"Yes it is. And droids are- well do you know what computers are?" Quinlan asked, searching for a reference the boy might understand. He was relieved when Naruto nodded.
"Well droids are basically computers that can think, sort of, and move around. It's complicated. They do a bunch of different jobs. Anyways, this is RH-E4, but you can call him Archie. He's an RH series research droid, one of the latest models. He should be able to tell if you actually traveled through time or not."
"I still don't get why you won't believe us," Naruto growled. "We're not lying."
"I don't think you are," Quinlan said calmly. "I believe that you believe you're telling me the truth. I'm just not sure if that's what actually happened. Archie should be able to tell us."
"And just how is this 'thinking computer' going to do that?" Jiraiya asked, his skepticism plain to hear.
"No idea," the Jedi replied with a smile. "Let's ask him. Hey Archie! Wake up. I got a question for you."
At Quinlan's yell, the droid stood up straight. Its visor flickered on, shining with a pale yellow glow. It then turned towards the Jedi and somehow contrived to look disapproving.
"Knight Vos, as I have already told you, my designation is RH-E4. Not 'Archie'. Is your memory faulty?"
The droid spoke in a clipped monotone. Despite that, it still managed to convey rather staggering levels of long suffering sarcasm with its words.
"Nope. Archie just sounds better," Quinlan said before he glanced over at the two shinobi. "Don't bother trying to talk to him. I'm using the Force to translate his words for you, but the technique doesn't work on droids. They don't have organic minds."
"And I thank the maker for that, Knight Vos. If you are any example, then an organic mind is clearly not a thing to envy," the unwillingly named Archie said. "Now, I believe you mentioned you had a query for me. Are you quite sure this inquiry is worthy of my time and processing power?"
Quinlan gestured at the two newcomers to the ship.
"These two claim they've traveled forward in time from 50,000 years ago. Is there any way of telling if that's true or not?"
"Fascinating," the droid said as it moved to examine the shinobi, who leaned back reflexively. "They do not appear to be insane. Are you certain they are not mentally defective somehow? Or at least, no more than the rest of you organics?"
Naruto opened his mouth to yell at the droid, but Jiraiya clapped his hand over it to muzzle him. This was far too important to interrupt, even with all of the insults directed at them.
"I'm certain of it. The Force told me they truly believe what they claim, and I detected no signs of insanity," Quinlan answered, somewhat impatiently.
"Hmph," the droid sniffed disdainfully. "The Force. Such an unscientific concept. Still, I suppose I can indulge you. A simple tachyon scan should tell us the truth of the matter. Do you wish to proceed?"
Jiraiya looked at Quinlan, the question clear in his gaze. He had no idea what a tachyon scan involved.
"It's like I told you earlier, it's completely harmless," Quinlan assured him. "Archie here"- the droid bristled at that- "will basically just shine a light at you. You won't feel a thing."
"It is quite a bit more complicated than merely shining a light," Archie said, seemingly offended at the oversimplification. "However, Knight Vos is correct that the scan is harmless, and totally non-invasive."
Jiraiya looked down at Naruto, wanting his opinion before he made a decision. Naruto just gave a nod. He wanted to get this over with, so that Quinlan would believe him. With his godson's approval, Jiraiya motioned for the droid to proceed.
Despite its protests the contrary, the scan really did seem to consist of nothing more than Archie shining a light over each of them. The whole process took no more than five minutes. At the end of it the droid stepped back, its eyes flickering rapidly, before it turned back to Quinlan.
"Congratulations, Knight Vos, you have successfully found a problem worthy of my attention. Though I cannot even begin to guess how, these two are most definitely from the past. Approximately 50,000 years in the past, judging by my scans. I can also confirm that they were not merely placed in stasis somehow. They truly did travel forward through time."
With his task done, Archie walked back over to his corner and shut himself down. Quinlan dropped into the nearest chair, shock written all across his face. He had not even remotely expected that those two had actually been correct. How was this even possible?
"So, do you believe us now?" Naruto asked. Quinlan just nodded weakly. What was he supposed to say?
"I am…sorry. For the loss of your home," he offered lamely. Still, the thought was appreciated.
"Yeah," Jiraiya said.
"I know this is probably the last thing you want to hear right now, but I really should take you to meet with the Jedi Council. They'll want to hear about this, and they may be able to offer help."
"You mean they could send us back?" Naruto said hopefully, his head perking up.
"Probably not that," Quinlan admitted. Naruto wilted at that. "If the council knew the secrets of time travel, I'm pretty sure I would have heard about it. But they might be able to offer some insight into what happened to your people, and maybe some help in starting over."
"They would do that for us?" Jiraiya asked. "What would they want in return?"
"Nothing," Quinlan answered. "They will probably ask you some questions, but you could choose not to answer them. The Jedi Order does its best to help people. It doesn't always work, but we try."
"And they won't care about the Kyuubi?" Naruto asked, suspicion coloring his voice.
"Oh, they'll care," Quinlan said frankly. "Some of them won't like it at all, but I think Yaddle, Plo Koon, and a few others will be understanding. They should be able to convince the more stubborn ones to give you a chance. If what you told me about the seal is true, then you aren't really at any greater risk of falling than any other Force sensitive kid your age."
"And you're sure they'll be that understanding?" Jiraiya asked. He wasn't about to risk Naruto's safety without more information. Quinlan sighed and rubbed his face.
"Listen, about a year back, Aayla and I had some…trouble," he said. "I'll spare you the details, but we both pretty much fell to the Dark side. We basically lost control like Naruto did, but without the animal rage. The council gave both of us second chances, and I'm willing to fight for them to do the same for you."
"Why?" Naruto asked, confused. He was still unused to people, let alone complete strangers, being willing to help him.
"Because I believe that Jedi should help everyone we can," Quinlan said, conviction flooding his voice. "I have a chance to help you two, and I'm taking it."
Jiraiya nodded slowly at this. Internally he was cautiously excited. He had spent most of his life trying to find a way to bring peace to the world, to stop the endless cycle of hatred and violence. He hadn't succeeded. He hadn't even known where to begin. But he had always figured that helping people in times of need was as good a place as any. From Quinlan's description of them, he definitely wanted to meet this Jedi Council.
"What do you think, Naruto?" he asked. He wasn't about to make a decision this big for his godson without at least consulting him.
Naruto frowned at the question, his mouth working beneath his mask. Eventually, after nearly a minute of thinking, he spoke up.
"I think- I think we should go. There isn't anything here for us, and I don't wanna tangle with more of those shark people things. Not after what just happened. If Quinlan says they might accept me and help us, then I'm willing to take that chance."
"Well, it's settled then," Jiraiya said. "We'll go with you to talk to this Jedi Council. Now, could we get a moment alone? I have to speak to my godson."
"Very well," Quinlan said as he stood up. "I will be in the medbay with Aayla."
As soon as he had gone, Naruto seemed to lose the last of his emotional fortitude. With a yell of anger, he punched the nearest bulkhead.
"Hey there. Easy," Jiraiya said. "No need to hurt yourself. Just talk to me."
"We're really never going home, are we?" he asked. "I just can't believe we're never going to see them ever again."
Jiraiya sighed and pulled Naruto in for a hug. He held his own tears back as best he could, but he knew a few were still trickling down his cheeks.
"I don't think we will," he said quietly. "But like I said back in Konoha, we'll figure this out together. These Jedi seem willing to help. Just take it one day at a time, and don't bottle this up anymore. That's what led to you nearly losing it out there."
"I was just so angry," Naruto said. "I didn't even notice until it was too late. I almost got that lady killed."
"But you didn't," Jiraiya said firmly. "You saved her life. Don't wallow in your mistakes, Naruto. Admit them and make reparations. When Aayla wakes up, you can apologize to her. I'm sure she'll forgive you."
Naruto hesitated for a bit, then nodded. Returning to Jiraiya's hug, he took refuge in the comforting embrace. It was the one small light he had, that even in this strange new world, Jiraiya was here for him. Together, they stood and bade farewell to their world.
OoOoOoOoOoOoO
Consciousness returned to Aayla slowly. The first thing she was aware of was that her head ached. It was a sort of dull throbbing pain, a pain that indicated that it had recently been altogether more severe, and was eager to return to past glories. Keeping her head still seemed a commendable notion all of a sudden.
The next thing she became aware of was her master's presence in her mind. He was sending her feelings of calm and comfort, easing her discomfort. Clearly the battle was over then. He was near her, no more than a meter away.
She decided to be ambitious and try opening her eyes. The light stung, and made her squint with pain, but she powered through it. Blurry shapes resolved themselves into a ceiling and a medical droid. She was in the medbay aboard their ship. That was good to know. Very slowly, she turned her head. Next to her bed sat her master, his expression relieved.
"Wha- what happened?" she asked, her mouth dry.
"You got hurt pretty badly. You had a skull fracture, a bad concussion, bruising of your lekku, and severe blood loss. We had to put you in a bacta tank," he answered.
Aayla closed her eyes. It was coming back to her now. Jumping to save the boy. Getting overconfident. The creatures clawing her and clubbing her on the head. The boy trying to save her, and nearly succeeding until-!
"The boy!?" she rasped, her eyes snapping open. Quinlan's ministrations through the bond were giving her more energy.
"The boy? Oh, you mean Naruto. He's fine. He saved your life in fact. GH-7 here says you would have bled to death if not for him."
"He's…fine?" Aayla asked, feeling very confused. She distinctly remembered him getting stabbed in the chest. That didn't usually lead to a description of being 'fine'. Of course, she also remembered some other things after that, but they had been very confusing, and she had dismissed them as products of her head wound. Perhaps that hadn't been correct.
"Apparently he used one of his people's techniques to avoid the spear," Quinlan said, understanding her confusion. "But I wanted to talk to you about what you saw before that. I felt him use the Dark side, and I've talked to him about it, but I want your perspective. What did you sense?"
Closing her eyes, Aayla thought back to just before she had seen the boy get knocked out. "He was in pain," she said. "Angry, grieving, confused. He wasn't in control of the Dark side when he used it. It almost felt…separate from him, at least at the end. He must have had a severe trauma to upset him so badly. But the power radiated a different feeling. Anger and hatred that weren't the boy's. It felt like something else, acting through him."
"You could say that," Quinlan said. "I found out some interesting things about our new friends while you were having a soak in the bacta tank."
He went on to tell her the rather fantastical sounding tale of the two mysterious strangers. Aayla could hardly believe it. Time travel? With the Force too, apparently. Still, it certainly explained Naruto's emotional turmoil. And then there was the idea of him having some Dark side entity, or 'bijuu', sealed within him. How horrible. Who could do that to a baby?
She empathized with the boy. She too knew what it was like to have everything you knew taken away all of a sudden. At least when she had lost her memories, they had eventually returned, for the most part. But these two. Their world was effectively lost to them forever.
"You know that the council will not look kindly on Naruto's use of this being's power," she said. "Some will say he is tainted by the Dark side. The more conservative ones will claim he is dangerous, corrupted. What is your plan?"
"You and I both know something of what those two are going through," Quinlan sighed. "We also know that it is hardly impossible to come back from a brush with the Dark side. The council gave us a second chance. I hope to get them to do the same for these two."
"You think they will?" she asked.
"I hope so. They gave us second chances. Why not these guys?" he answered. "Now, are you feeling up for a visitor? Naruto will probably want to see that you're alright. He was feeling pretty guilty about your injury."
Aayla nodded her assent, and Quinlan left to retrieve the two newcomers. A few minutes later he returned, Naruto and Jiraiya in tow. Naruto looked at her guiltily. She could feel the self-blame radiating off of him, mixed with an overwhelming sense of loss and confusion. At Jiraiya's prompting, he walked towards her bed.
"Hi there Miss Aayla," he said awkwardly. "I just wanted to say, I'm really sorry you got hurt. It was my fault. I should have-"
Aayla raised her hand to silence him, stopping his rambling before it could truly begin.
"I don't blame you," she said kindly. "You were hurting and angry, and you lost focus. It's okay. You regained control and saved my life."
"Being angry after a loss is natural. For one not trained as a Jedi, it is not unexpected for your power to manifest as it did," Quinlan said. "Take some time to mourn. I believe you are stronger than you give yourself credit for."
Jiraiya was gratified to hear the advice being given to his student. These two Jedi at least, seemed to have a worldview he could get along with.
"Remember what I taught you about the cycle of hatred," the sage added. "It is our responsibility not to perpetuate that cycle in our own lives. Don't waste energy on blaming yourself when no one else does."
Naruto sniffled a bit, then nodded. He felt a little lighter knowing that Aayla and Quinlan didn't blame him for this.
"Okay," he said, before a determined light returned to his eyes. "I'm never going to lose control like that again. That's a promise."
"An admirable goal," Quinlan said. "Now come. Aayla needs to rest, and we have a lot to do before we reach Coruscant."
OoOoOoOoOoOoO
Quinlan had not been lying when he said they had a lot to do. Fortunately, they would have plenty of time to do it in. According to Vek, without the pressure of a potentially time sensitive mission, he was going to take a longer but safer route out of the Deep Core. Their return journey would take four weeks instead of one. Quinlan didn't mind, as it gave them time to get some things done.
The first, and most important, thing on his list was getting both of the time travelers started on learning Galactic Basic. Force translation was great and all, but it would be impractical for them to need a Jedi translating everything for them for forever. Besides, the constant focus needed for the technique was rapidly giving him a headache. There was a reason the Temple offered language classes after all.
Fortunately for them, they were on an ExplorCorps ship. As such, alongside top notch medical and scientific facilities, all of their deep exploration ships like this one were equipped with a protocol droid. In this case it was a TC model called TC-1H. Naruto swiftly dubbed it 'Teach', and the name stuck.
The first step in teaching the two shinobi Basic was, ironically, to teach the droid their language. This involved several hours of Teach listening to Naruto and Jiraiya speaking in their native tongue, which they called Nihongo. Quinlan would translate for the droid at first, until it began to learn the structure and grammar of the ancient language. It took nearly 8 hours, but by the end Teach was declared acceptably fluent in Nihongo.
The next step was altogether more difficult. Lessons. Jiraiya took to them with a sort of resigned determination. He had long ago accepted that life was filled with boring tasks, and there was nothing to do but get them done as quickly as possible. They also offered him a distraction from his own grief at their situation. He made decent, steady progress.
Naruto, however, was a different story at first. Though he no longer blamed himself for Aayla's injury, he was still having a difficult time coping with the loss of his home and all his friends. He hid his pain behind a mask of apathy, initially outright refusing to pay attention to the droid's lessons. Jiraiya did his best to offer comfort, but his own pain was still too raw for him to truly help.
In the end, it was Aayla who managed to coax Naruto out of his shell. In the days following her injury, Naruto often visited her in the medbay. They soon struck up a friendship, with Aayla helping him come to terms with his loss. Over a few days, she managed to get him to open up to her about his grief, particularly over the loss of his friends. When she heard that, her advice was simple.
"Don't let your grief control you," she said. "It hurts, yes, but would your friends want you to give up?"
"No," Naruto admitted.
"Then honor their memory by moving forward. Don't let your sorrow keep you from living your life," she said. Naruto nodded, and agreed to try the lessons out.
Once he began to actually give Teach a chance, he soon proved to be a bright, if somewhat unconventional student. He did not learn well from lectures. Anyone assessing his academic potential that way would swiftly declare him a hopeless idiot. This was not true. Naruto was merely a highly kinesthetic learner. He needed to do something in order to learn it. This, combined with his natural hyperactivity, made him a poor fit for a traditional classroom.
Instead, Teach encouraged Naruto to practice speaking Basic as part of a conversation. He was to use as little Nihongo in his daily life as possible. Lesson time was spent integrating new words and grammar forms into his speech.
Naruto found this approach to be infuriating at first. He spent days struggling to say even the most basic things, stumbling over his words like a toddler just learning to talk. After a few days, however, he began to see major progress. The new words came easier, and he gained the confidence to start trying more complex sentences.
His progress was helped when Jiraiya showed him a lesser known fact about his Kage Bushin. Apparently he gained their memories when they dispelled, allowing him to learn whatever they had learned. His reaction to finding he had missed that was heard clear throughout the ship.
"Are you FUCKING kidding me!" he shouted, waving his arms angrily. "How could I have missed that? Why didn't anyone tell me this? I could have just made a thousand clones and learned the Rasengan in a day."
"Whoa, calm down Naruto," Jiraiya said, trying to quiet him with his hands. "This isn't some miracle cure, silver bullet crap. Too many clones and the transfer doesn't work. Your brain just rejects that much data coming in all at once. You also can't use them to learn a dozen different things at once. The information from the different subjects gets all jumbled up, and you don't learn anything. You're best off using a couple at a time for one thing at a time."
Even with those stipulations, it was still a powerful tool for learning. Naruto's progress went from impressive to stupendous. With three clones running around almost constantly, talking to either Quinlan, Vek, Aayla, or one of the droids, he soon caught up to, and even surpassed, his godfather. Teach estimated that by the time they reached Coruscant, he would be able to hold a simple conversation in Basic, so long as no one talked too fast or spoke of anything too technical. They both still had a ways to go until they reached fluency, but it was time measured in months rather than years.
OoOoOoOoOoOoO
Their journey was not without its dramatic moments, however. The biggest of these came when Naruto had his medical exam. It was on the seventh day of their journey, shortly after Aayla was released from the medbay. Both shinobi needed to be examined to ensure they weren't carrying any ancient diseases that they might introduce to the galaxy. Jiraiya had gone first, with no real issues arising. The medical droid had been impressed by his astonishing degree of physical fitness, and had merely administered a standard set of inoculations and vitamin supplements.
Naruto's exam was not so smooth. Aayla was supervising, both to translate for him, and to ensure he did not try and disable the droid and escape. His dislike of medical exams had not diminished in the face of this futuristic medbay. She had turned away to give him some privacy as he took his shirt off, but an alarmed whir from the med droid had her turning back around. What she saw shocked her to the core.
Naruto had a massive scar on the right side of his chest. It looked like a blaster scar, but worse. It was roughly 15 cm across, and clearly recent. The scar tissue still had a shiny pink hue to it. When the medical droid had him turn around, she saw a matching scar on his back. Whatever had done that had gone right through him.
"Force Naruto, what the hell happened to you." she asked urgently. She had grown fond of the boy in the past few days, and this didn't sit well with her. She didn't like the idea of him having been so badly injured, especially after the way he scared her back on Tython.
"That's from Sasuke," he said reluctantly. "He was…a friend."
"A friend did that to you?" she asked skeptically.
"He was confused. He had abandoned the village to try and gain power. I was on the mission to bring him back. We ended up-"
"Wait," she interrupted. "A mission? What do you mean you were on a mission?"
"I mean I was on a mission," he said as if she were being dumb. "I was a shinobi of my village. I went on all sorts of missions. It was my duty. Bodyguarding, clearing bandits, intel gathering, you name it."
"Uh-huh," she said absently as she reached out over the bond to contact her master.
'Master, could you come down to the medbay. There's something I think you should hear. Bring Jiraiya too'
She received a mental prod of acknowledgment from her master. A minute later both he and Jiraiya stepped through the door into the medbay.
"What's this I need…to…see?" he asked, his voice trailing off as he caught sight of the scar on Naruto's chest.
"He says he got it on 'mission'. That he went on missions regularly as part of his duty to their village, as a shinobi. According to him it was perfectly ordinary," she said. Her voice was tight with controlled anger. A Jedi was supposed to release their anger into the Force, but she still sometimes struggled with that when something offended her badly. The knowledge that this boy, whom she had developed a friendship with, had apparently been used as a child soldier was highly offensive to her.
Quinlan gave Naruto a long look, before turning to Jiraiya. He needed answers about this, and he was going to get them.
"What, exactly, did you two do back in your village?" he asked. His voice left no room for evasion or obfuscation. Jiraiya sighed at this. He had been hoping to avoid this conversation for a while longer, but it seemed it was happening now. He sat down, gesturing for Quinlan to do the same.
"You might as well take a seat. This'll take a while," he said heavily. "And you're probably not going to like it.
OoOoOoOoOoOoO
That's it for this chapter. The next one will probably take a little longer to come out than this one did, but it won't be too long. I hope to have it out within a week, but no promises. Please leave a review, they really help me refine my writing. Goodbye for now.