I want to start out by saying to any of my readers who were affected by Hurricane Ida, I hope you guys are doing okay. I wish you all a speedy recovery and good luck moving forward.

Here is the resolution to the cliffhanger I left you all on last time. I was surprised at how many people offered theories on what would happen, so thank you all for the support. I will say that no one got it quite right, although a lot of people were half right in their guess. With that, on to the chapter

Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars or Naruto. It would be pretty weird if anyone owned both of those franchises.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

Chapter 12

Naruto had been wrong. This was not nearly as much fun as he supposed it would be. In fact, it was probably safe to say that it was not fun at all.

He had underestimated just how many thugs were in the building, or more accurately, he had not even thought to try and estimate their numbers. It turned out to be nearly 30, all armed and currently trying to kill him. He was dodging blaster fire like mad, ducking, weaving, and jumping around the room. This was made all the more difficult by the fact that his arm was still fragile and sore. He didn't want to risk breaking it again, and so was forced to limit its use to making hand signs. Even that was becoming harder though, as his wrist and fingers swelled from the injury. It was all he could do just to stay ahead of the constant barrage of blaster bolts whizzing through the air.

He wasn't even able to do that perfectly. He winced as a searing red bolt just barely glanced across his ribs, leaving a nasty burn. The injury wasn't serious, and in his adrenaline fueled rush he barely felt it, but it remained a stark reminder of the consequences for even the slightest mistake.

Flipping over an incoming volley, he created 15 clones to harass the gangsters shooting at him. They didn't last very long though. The blistering hail of crossfire tore the group of clones apart in only seconds, some bolts taking out two, or even three clones at once.

That was one discovery Naruto wished he had made prior to this fight. It turned out that more powerful blasters, such as heavy blaster pistols and carbines, could produce strong enough bolts that they went right through multiple clones before dissipating. This meant his clones, with their slower reflexes and lack of Force senses, could not last long against sustained blaster fire in a confined space like this.

The clones did serve to take some of the pressure off of him though. Naruto capitalized on this by jumping off a wall and closing in with the nearest thugs. He was thankful now for Jiraiya's insistence on training his taijutsu so extensively. The extra practice, combined with his training in Teräs Käsi under Master Ilena Xan, had served him in good stead here. As he struck out at the closest thug, he briefly wished he had a lightsaber, so he could try out some of the moves he had learned from Master Yoda. Being able to deflect fire away from himself would come in handy right about now.

Refocusing on the fight, Naruto landed a vertical side kick to his opponent's jaw, sending a spray of blood and broken teeth flying out of his mouth. He then aimed a low sweeping kick at the man behind him, knocking him to the floor. He had no time for anything else, however, as he then had to dodge out of the way of another storm of blaster bolts.

He heard a pained scream from behind him, followed by the smell of burning flesh. He winced at that, and growled angrily. One of the thugs he had just downed must have been hit by the incoming fire of his comrades. Judging by the way his scream had been suddenly cut off, he was probably dead.

Naruto felt a pang of guilt and rage. Guilt because he was, at least partially, responsible for the man being killed. His rage was directed at the bastards who had shot their own comrade so recklessly.

This was hardly the first time either. Of the ten or so slavers now lying on the ground, six were victims of friendly fire. In a way it was fortuitous that his opponents were so careless, as it certainly made staying alive easier. Nevertheless, Naruto still found it sickening that anyone could so callously disregard the life of a comrade.

"You sick bastards!" He shouted as he kept dodging. "First you enslave all those people, now you just murder your friends! I'm gonna beat the shit out of all of you!"

He didn't have time to dwell further on his outrage, however. It took all of his focus and all of his speed to keep from being riddled by blaster fire himself. Thus, it was something of a minor miracle that he wasn't shot to pieces after what happened next.

In the middle of vaulting over a table, Naruto's Force senses were suddenly flooded by a feeling of danger. Though his danger senses were the most attuned of his Force powers so far, he had still never felt anything like this before. It was like the Force was screaming in his ear, desperate to tell him something was wrong. What made it even worse was that it wasn't himself the sense of danger was focused on. It was Ahsoka. She was in trouble. He could see it in his mind. Images of his best friend lying on the ground.

Bloody.

Unmoving.

Dead.

No. NO! That would not happen. He wouldn't let it happen.

His momentary distraction caused him to flub his landing, turning it into a clumsy barrel roll. His mind racing, Naruto continued the roll until it brought him behind an upturned table. Temporarily covered, he glanced around for his options. He had to get to Ahsoka, and quickly. The way back down the stairs was not an option. A dozen armed thugs were blocking the hallway. That only left more unconventional routes. That was fine. He hated being normal anyways.

His gaze landed on the nearest window. It was facing the landing platform, and there were no gangsters between it and him. Sure, he was three floors up, but it would have to do. His decision made, he sprang into action.

There was a blaster lying near his foot, dropped by one of the thugs he had knocked out. He had not been picking them up because they were all set to kill, and he didn't have time to figure out how to change them to stun. Besides, as injured as he was, he needed both arms free to maintain mobility. Now, however, it was exactly what he needed.

Naruto snatched the blaster off the floor and began sprinting towards the window. As he got near it, he leveled the blaster and fired at the transparisteel pane. The first two shots went straight through, and the third shattered the pane, leaving an open window. Without slowing down, Naruto dived through the newly created exit, his eyes already searching for Ahsoka and the prisoners she had with her. He didn't even notice as another shot grazed the top of his left shoulder, such was the totality of his focus.

He spotted her in midair, off to his right. She looked to be pinned behind some crates by a group of newcomers, all of whom were shooting at her. He landed in a crouch, before running towards where he had spotted her, trying to think of any options. His blaster was useless at this range, and he would never survive getting close enough to aim it properly. All of his useful jutsu were either short range or too slow. He could see the crates rapidly being shredded by the storm of blaster fire.

He felt a flare of heat from the seal on his stomach, the fox stirring at the feel of his distress. Naruto ignored its whispers however, refusing to contemplate its offers of power. He knew where that path could lead, and it wasn't a risk he wanted to take. He wasn't that desperate. Not yet. He would find another way.

As he grew increasingly desperate for a solution, something in him seemed to click. He focused on his desire to protect his friend and keep his promise to the freed slaves, letting all other thoughts drain from his mind. He felt the Force flow through him as it only had during meditation, only he wasn't meditating now. Dropping the blaster he reached out with both hands and pictured what he wanted, what he needed to happen. Then, focusing with all his might on his goal, he pulled.

The metal paneling that made up the deck of the landing platform shuddered briefly against the bolts holding it down. Then, with a tortured shriek, it ripped free from the floor and curled upwards. In the blink of an eye, several dozen square meters of metal floor plating formed into a semicircular wall between the Black Sun mercenaries and the trapped group of escaped slaves.

Naruto shook with the effort involved in making his impromptu barrier. Bending nearly five tons of durasteel deck plating was no easy feat, especially not for someone so unused to using the Force in that way. Still, he was nothing if not determined, and so he reached deep and kept on pulling. The duracrete beneath the metal plating began to crack before ripping out of the ground in chunks, reinforcing the wall. Naruto was too focused on his goal to notice that the barrier was already plenty strong. The only thing going through his mind was to keep everyone safe.

His single minded focus was broken somewhat by a blaster bolt passing close enough to his head to singe his hair. Gasping from exertion, Naruto forced himself to split his focus and look at the group of thugs whose field of fire he had cut off. They were now shooting at him, yelling something about Jedi.

Before he could consider moving, he saw a bright green streak cross between him and his attackers. His vision blurred from exhaustion, he could only make out an indistinct black robed figure wielding a green lightsaber. It seemed they were saved.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

Some time earlier

"How are you so completely sure they're alive?" Luminara asked Jiraiya. "I don't mean to sound callous, but a speeder crash could very likely have killed them."

"I know that," Jiraiya said, a note of irritation entering his voice for the first time. "But trust me, if Naruto had died, we would both be very aware of it. The Kyuubi would be freed, and every Jedi in the galaxy would feel that. I'm not giving up."

"I didn't mean to suggest we give up our search," Luminara replied, aware of how she might have come across. "We will, of course, keep looking until we find them; and I dearly hope we find them alive and well. I merely wish for you to be prepared for a different outcome."

Jiraiya didn't respond to this. He wasn't about to explain exactly how he knew Naruto was alive. He just knew. He suspected it was a feeling from the Force, but he couldn't say for sure. His skills with using the Force as the Jedi did were better developed than Naruto's, but still very new. He was decent at detecting a beings location, but gaining insight into the present or the future was still a shaky proposition at best for him.

Stretching out with his still developing senses, he tried again to get a fix on his godson's location. Over the last few hours, ever since the comlink had gone silent in fact, Jiraiya had periodically tried to locate Naruto with the Force. There were far too many people around for a tracker toad, so he was forced to use his new skills. So far, he had not had much success, gaining only a general feeling that Naruto was indeed alive and they were getting closer. Now, however, they had just entered level 235, the same level Ahsoka had said they were on right before they crashed. He hoped the proximity would allow him to finally locate Naruto and his friend.

His hopes were justified, when after just a few seconds of searching, he felt two bright presences that could only be Naruto and Ahsoka. What's more, they were close.

"I feel them," Jiraiya said, smiling widely. "They're to our left, maybe a dozen kilometers."

Luminara reached out with her own senses to try and get a better idea of their location.

"Yes, I feel them as well," she said, unable to completely hide the relief in her voice. The last thing she had wanted was to find the children dead. "We should be there in a few minutes."

Sure enough, just ten minutes later, their speeder rounded a corner and came into view of what Jiraiya could only assume was Naruto and Ahsoka's location. It wasn't a difficult deduction, if he was being honest. The full-fledged battle going on was a fairly good indication that Naruto was down there, and that he had been allowed to make decisions.

"Hold on," Luminara warned him before pushing the engines to their limit. She could sense several people trapped behind a pile of old crates, pinned by blaster fire. She would have to move quickly to help them.

Before she was in range to do anything though, her eyes were drawn to movement from the third floor of a nearby building. As she watched, one of the windows shattered under a volley of blaster fire. Not half a second later, a small figure dove out of the window, executed a near perfect front tuck, and landed in a crouch on the ground, seemingly unharmed.

Judging by his blonde hair and the green vest he wore over his Jedi tunic, this was Naruto Uzumaki. She was rather impressed by his exit from the building, but that turned to apprehension when he began sprinting directly towards the ongoing firefight. A jolt of worry and irritation came off of Jiraiya as he saw the same thing.

"What the hell is he doing?" he asked rhetorically, his hands squeezing his kneecaps. "He's going to get himself killed."

Luminara silently agreed with his assessment. She was about to try and do something desperate, such as try to jump onto the platform from their position nearly 400 meters away, when she saw Naruto stop running. Then, before she could even finish wondering what he was doing now, the Force seemed to explode with power.

It was as if someone had ignited a small star in the Force, such was the power that she felt. It was so overwhelming that it took her a moment to realize that it was coming from the boy. As she watched, nearly 50 square meters of metal floor plating ripped free of its bolts and curled up to shield the people trapped behind the crates. A second later, the duracrete pad the plates had been anchored to began to fracture and rise up, forming another layer on top of the improvised wall.

His technique was incredibly sloppy and inefficient, Luminara noted in the back of her mind as she piloted them closer. He was wasting nearly all of his energy just stirring up the Force around him, but that was to be expected of someone so inexperienced. It made it all the more impressive that he had managed a feat even many Jedi Knights would have been unable to do. The power, however, wasn't what most grabbed her attention.

The most remarkable thing about his display of Force power was the emotions she could feel mixed into it. There was protectiveness, friendship, a sense of duty, and beyond all of that was a sense of happiness and love. A love of his friends and a joy at protecting them from those who would do them harm. The strength of those emotions was overpowering, and they spoke of a deep and (to her mind) dangerously un-Jedi like attachment to his friends. Yet they did not taint the feeling of the Force as she had supposed they would.

There was no darkness in the flare of Force power, none of the cold sliminess of fear or the corrosive burn of anger. Naruto was clearly acting out of a sense of attachment, and strong emotions, yet the Force seemed to glow with the Light. She half expected it to be visible to the naked eye. It was…warm. Comforting. Beautiful even.

All of these thoughts passed through her head in less than three seconds as she flew the speeder closer to the firefight at top speed, while also planning her actions upon arrival. An advantage of her Jedi mental discipline.

As soon as she was within 20 meters of the platform, she set the speeder to hover and leapt out without a word. Jiraiya, she figured, was a trained and experienced warrior even more skilled than herself. He would make himself useful, of that she was sure. Meanwhile, the shooters, Black Sun mercenaries she could see now, had shifted their aim to Naruto and begun trying to kill him. It seemed they had deduced he was the cause of the landscape rearranging itself. She needed to give them a different target, one that could fight back. So she leapt right in front of them, her emerald lightsaber igniting in midair and batting away several bolts.

"Kriffing hells! It's another Jedi. Kill her!" she heard one of them yell. He wielded the double barreled blaster of an actual Black Sun foot soldier, not merely a hired mercenary. He was the leader.

Clearly, negotiating was not going to be an option here, though Luminara was determined to take at least the leader alive. He was attempting to murder two Jedi younglings, and that was something she was very interested in discussing with him. At length.

That in mind, she marched steadily forward, her lightsaber moving constantly. Luminara was a practitioner of Form III, Soresu, and its focus on flawless defense served her well here. Every bolt that came near her was effortlessly redirected, often straight back at the one who had shot it in the first place. Any she did not block with her lightsaber she dodged, displaying remarkable flexibility and agility as she contorted herself around a particularly vicious hail of fire.

Advancing thusly, she soon stood within melee range of the mercenaries, the five who were still alive anyways. The other three had been killed by their own reflected blaster bolts, and now lay on the ground, smoking holes where their faces had once been.

The first thug lost his blaster rifle, and one of the arms holding it, as she swiped her saber upwards through the weapon in one smooth stroke. Her downward return strike took the next one across the chest. He died with a wordless scream, a neatly cauterized gash nearly bisecting his torso.

She blocked a few bolts from the third thug as she rushed over towards him. Using the Force to enhance her speed, she caught him with a spinning heel kick to the temple. The force of the blow somersaulted him nearly 180 degrees, planting his face into the floor.

Continuing the momentum from the kick, she swung her saber horizontally, batting away a shot meant to take her in the back. A quick Force push served to slam the fourth shooter into the side of the cargo speeder they had arrived in. She heard the dull thunk of his head hitting the metal hull, and he slid to the floor, already unconscious. That left only the leader.

Her attack had been so swift that he was only now recovering his wits and bringing his distinctive weapon around to bear on her. It was a powerful blaster, Luminara knew, but also heavy and somewhat slow to move. As such, by the time the foot soldier had readied his weapon, Luminara was already less than a meter away. She cut his rifle in half with a twitch of her blade, angling it close enough to his hands to force him to drop what remained of his weapon lest he burn his fingers on the newly molten metal.

"This is over," she said calmly, leveling her lightsaber at his throat. "Surrender, and no further harm shall come to you or your men." Her voice was level, but hard and unyielding as durasteel. She took a very dim view of such scum as this man and his cronies.

The Black Sun member glanced quickly at what was left of his men. It was not an encouraging sight. Four were dead, two out cold, and one was moaning on the ground clutching the stump of his left arm. Looking back at the Jedi Master, he snarled a bit, and then sighed, his shoulders slumping.

"Fine then, Jedi," he said. "I surrender."

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

A mere second after Luminara had jumped out of the speeder, Jiraiya had followed suit, though his target was different. As Luminara had chosen to directly engage the men threatening his godson, Jiraiya decided to check on Naruto himself. A single leap carried him onto what was left of the landing platform, and he moved swiftly to where Naruto stood, his arms still extended towards the wall he had made. Jiraiya grew worried when he saw Naruto swaying on his feet, blood soaking through his mask from a heavy nosebleed. Several nasty looking burns marked his arms and torso, no doubt near misses from blaster fire.

"Naruto!" he yelled out, recognizing the signs of strain and exhaustion. "Relax. Let it drop, they're safe now."

Naruto blinked dumbly for a second before the message finally seemed to sink in. With one last heaving breath, he dropped his arms, releasing his hold on the Force. The wall of duracrete and metal plating he had created instantly collapsed. The duracrete crumbled to the ground, while the deck plating partially relaxed, the constant tension on it now gone.

With his focus no longer on maintaining his grip on the wall, Naruto could now feel the strain such a technique had placed on him. He collapsed backwards, only to feel Jiraiya catch him before he hit the ground. Looking up at his godfather, Naruto gave him a shaky eye-smile.

"Hey Jiraiya-sensei," he said between gulps of air. "Are Ahsoka and the others safe?"

"They're fine," Jiraiya said, relieved to hear Naruto's voice. "Master Unduli is taking care of them. Just rest for now."

Naruto nodded weakly before his eyes shot wide open.

"There are more in the building," he said urgently. "At least twenty. They're probably on their way."

Jiraiya cursed at that, before forming a single Kage Bushin.

"Watch him," he told his clone, pointing at Naruto. He passed the exhausted blonde off to the clone and turned to face the building Naruto had indicated. His keen ears could just barely pick up the sounds of running and shouting from inside. With a sigh he cracked his neck and went to work.

He formed a large Rasengan in one hand and jumped towards where he heard most of the noise coming from. His other hand held a flash bomb. Thrusting the Rasengan forward, he let his control of the technique go at just the right moment. The resulting detonation blasted a hole straight through the wall and into the room beyond. He threw the flash bomb in before his feet had even touched the floor and closed his eyes.

Fump!

With a muffled whoosh, the bomb detonated, flooding the room with the light of a half a dozen suns. The unprepared thugs, already caught off guard by Jiraiya's sudden entrance, had no time to brace themselves. They went down on their knees, screaming and rubbing their eyes. Jiraiya wasted no time in knocking them out with a single swift blow each.

He could hear more of them rushing down the stairs behind him. Turning to face them, he began flicking through hand signs, his fingers a blur. Just as the first thug came into view, he slammed his hand into the wall.

"Kuchiyose: Gamaguchi Shibari!" he yelled.

In an instant, the walls, floor, and ceiling of the stairwell transformed into a fleshy, soft looking, pink substance. Much to the surprise and distress of the gangsters, it began to rapidly engulf their limbs, trapping them in place. Within a handful of seconds, all of the men on the stairs were absorbed into the esophagus of the giant fire toad of Mt. Myōboku, becoming its next meal.

With a wave of his hand, Jiraiya dismissed the summon, reverting the stairway back to its original form. He listened carefully, but couldn't hear any more people in the building. His task done, he turned back to the pile of thugs he had knocked out earlier. Using a spool of ninja wire, he restrained their limbs and removed all of their weapons. Just to be on the safe side, he slapped a restraint seal on all of them. Until it was removed, they would be unable to move or even wake up. They wouldn't be escaping anytime soon.

"You all just hang out here," he said to the groaning thugs. "I'm sure someone will be along shortly to show you to a nice jail cell."

Satisfied that the thugs were sufficiently dealt with, Jiraiya jumped right back out of the hole he had come through. As he landed, he noticed that Luminara had moved over to the group of women huddled behind the crates. She seemed to be talking to Ahsoka, who was eagerly peeking around her.

Taking Naruto from his clone, he carried his godson over to the group. As soon as she saw him, Ahsoka pushed past Luminara to run up to her friend.

"Naruto! Is he alright? What's wrong with him?" she asked, clearly anxious. Her voice was tight with the stress of the past day. She looked over Naruto worriedly, searching for any injury to explain his state. Only Jiraiya's hand on her shoulder kept her from crowding him to see what was wrong

"I'm fine," Naruto tried to reassure her, though his weak voice betrayed him. Ahsoka just shot him a somewhat watery glare.

"Shut up!" she yelled. "Y-you went and got yourself hurt again, dummy. I told you not to get hurt anymore, and you…you went and…"

Ahsoka ended her rant with a sniff as she discreetly wiped tears out of her eyes. Her yelling had attracted the attention of Master Luminara, however. Noticing the state the masked blonde was in, she moved over to check on him. She placed a hand on his forehead and closed her eyes, reaching out with the Force. While she was not a true healer, she had made a decent study of the fundamentals, specifically for situations like this one. What she found while probing his body was not surprising, considering what he had just done.

"He's exhausted and badly drained, but he should be fine," she said to both Ahsoka and Jiraiya. "He was very inefficient with the way he used the Force, and that placed considerable strain on his body and mind. He needs rest, and food after that. Those burns will need bacta dressings, but they aren't life threatening."

Jiraiya sighed with relief at hearing her diagnosis. He had suspected as much, having recognized some of the symptoms from seeing cases of chakra exhaustion, but he had wanted to be sure. He would have to be sure Naruto understood his limits better in the future. He set Naruto down, propping him up on one of the crates while Luminara began to apply bacta infused bandages to Naruto's wounds. He visibly relaxed as the analgesic properties of the bacta soothed his pain. As soon as she was done, Ahsoka and some large black feline creature walked over to the boy.

Seeing Tora approaching, Naruto's eyes widened a little and he tried to scoot away. His limbs refused to obey his commands, however, and he was stuck waiting for the inevitable mauling. Much to his surprise though, it never came. Instead, Tora nuzzled into his side gently, purring like a motor. He used his head to lift one of Naruto's arms, and then curled up under it, pressed against the warmth of Naruto's body.

"Heh, what do ya know, he likes me now," Naruto said, eye-smiling at the newly docile Loth-cat before looking up at Ahsoka. Her expression was fluctuating between worry, amusement, and irritation, before eventually settling into a faux smirk of cockiness.

"You know I had everything under control, right," she said, gesturing to the now calm battlefield. "You didn't need to go and rip up half the platform."

"Really?" he replied, feigning offense. "Because it looked to me like you were about two seconds from getting shot to bits."

They glared at each other for a few seconds, each pretending to be irritated. After a bit, though, neither could keep up the act. Ahsoka cracked first, giggling and grinning, followed shortly by Naruto. For nearly a minute, the sound of their laughter echoed around the otherwise grim neighborhood. As it faded, however, Ahsoka's face grew serious and she grabbed his right hand in hers.

"Thank you for saving me, Naruto," she said sincerely, squeezing his hand gently. "But I don't want you hurting yourself just to help me, okay? I don't like seeing you like this. I thought you were gonna die."

"You're my friend, Ahsoka," Naruto replied, his own voice just as serious. "I will always do whatever I can to help my friends. No matter if I get hurt or not. That's a promise, and I never break my promises."

Ahsoka blinked at that, and opened her mouth as if to respond. She closed it though, seemingly thinking about what he had just said. Uncertainty flickered across her face for a brief moment, followed by determination. Finally, she broke into a broad grin and poked him in the chest.

"Well then," she said cheekily, "I guess I'll just have to get strong enough that I won't need protection, won't I."

"In that case, I'll race you to becoming a Master," Naruto said, unable to resist making it a competition.

"Oh, you are so on," Ahsoka responded, a teasing light in her eyes. "I bet I'll be on the Council before you're even a Knight."

"You do know I'm older than you, right."

"Yeah, but I've been training since I was just a little kid."

"So have I."

"Sure, as a shinobi. We're talking about being a Jedi Master here, remember. Or is your brain still fried."

And so it went, their good natured teasing going back and forth. From a little ways away, Luminara watched and listened to their friendly banter, her eyes narrowing thoughtfully. To her mind, the two of them, especially Naruto, were far too attached to one another, skirting the bounds of the Jedi Code. However, she could not help but recall the feelings inherent in Naruto's use of the Force. All of that affection, that attachment, that overwhelming love for his friends and comrades, it had colored his Force presence like ink in water, but it had not darkened it. Instead, it had fueled one of the strongest surges of the Light side she had seen in her life.

Frowning briefly, she turned her attention back to the slaves the two younglings had freed. Whether Naruto's penchant for attachment was good or bad was for the Council to deal with. For now, she was content to acknowledge that he and Ahsoka had done a very good deed, freeing these women. She had already contacted the Council to send some backup to help deal with both the women and the prisoners. For now, all she could do was wait and give first aid. As she waited, though, the memory of Naruto's emotion-fueled Light kept circling around her mind. As did the memories of what she and Jiraiya had discussed earlier that day.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

In the end, it took nearly three hours for the Council's backup to arrive. While Luminara had sent the details of their location and the route she had used to get there, it didn't change the fact that it was a labyrinthine mess of tunnels and streets that lay between the temple and her present position. The fact that the backup was bringing several larger shuttle speeders did not help their speed either. By the time it got to them, Naruto had finally fallen asleep, his body shutting down to recover from the strain he had placed upon it.

Eventually though, it did arrive. Much to Ahsoka's delight, the convoy was headed by Master Plo Koon. He was the logical choice, being the most familiar with Coruscant's underworld of any of the Masters currently at the Temple. Not that Ahsoka knew any of that. She was just happy to see her first friend and surrogate Uncle figure amongst the Jedi again.

"Koh-to-yah, Master Plo!" she chirped happily, waving at him. He waved back, grateful to see his young friend alive and unharmed. The news of her ending up all the way on level 1 had worried him greatly.

"Koh-to-yah, little 'Soka," he said. "I am most pleased to see that you and young Naruto are unharmed. Surviving a trip that far into the Undercity is quite impressive. I hear that you two even managed to uncover a slaving ring and free a group of prisoners."

"Well, that was mostly Naruto," she said, not wanting to take credit she felt she had not earned. Though she would not admit it, she partially blamed herself for getting pinned down, and for Naruto having hurt himself saving them.

"That's not true," a small voice said from off to one side. "Ahsoka was really awesome. She led us out of the cells and beat up a whole bunch of bad guys. It was wizard."

Ahsoka, her montrals darkening slightly from the praise, looked over to see Eika, the young Theelin girl, standing nearby. She had evidently overheard their conversation, and chosen to offer her own opinion on how much credit Ahsoka deserved.

"Indeed," Plo said, turning to kneel down and face the girl. "That sounds like a fascinating tale. I am Plo Koon. What is your name, young one?"

"I'm Eika," she said shyly. "Are you a Jedi too?"

"It is good to meet you, Eika." Plo answered. "And yes, I am a Jedi. Now, tell me more of how Ahsoka here rescued you from such a terrible place."

Eika instantly perked up, her shyness seemingly vanishing as if it were never there. Excited at the chance to tell a cool story, she dove right into the details of their escape from the slavers. Plo Koon listened patiently, nodding and encouraging her from time to time. Ahsoka, meanwhile, was torn between happiness at the praise she was getting, and mortification at how exaggerated much of Eika's story was. Even so, she was hardly going to interrupt the girl when she was making her sound so cool. That, she figured, would just be rude.

"Well, that certainly sounds like quite the adventure," Plo said, before he sobered. "So, Eika, tell me. Do you have any family we can contact, to let them know you are safe?"

He hated asking the question, as he strongly suspected the answer would only bring up painful memories for the girl. There were only so many ways a girl of her age ended up in a slaving ring, and most of them involved either dead parents or parents who deserved death. It was best to get it out of the way now, though, so he could decide on the right course of action as soon as possible. His fears were confirmed when her cheerful smile dropped away, leaving a look of sorrow and, much more worryingly, terror in its place.

"P-Please don't send me back there Mr. Jedi," she said, her voice shaking in sudden fear. "I promise I'll be good, just don't make me go back to them. Please, they're so- I can't. I-"

The young Theelin began to babble incoherently, tears streaming down her face while Ahsoka looked on confused. The idea of returning to her family clearly terrified her, leaving Plo with a sudden urge to hunt down whatever monsters had hurt this little girl so much. He dismissed the notion as unworthy of a Jedi Master, releasing his anger into the Force with some difficulty. Focusing on the distressed child in front of him, Plo grasped her shoulders and gave them a comforting squeeze.

"Calm yourself, little Eika," he said, sending waves of calm and peace to her through the Force. It worked, and her cries petered off into mere sniffles as her fear receded. "No one will make you go back there if you do not want to. I am sorry that this injustice happened to you, child. To all of you."

He addressed the last bit to the group of women who had begun to gather near him, clearly eavesdropping on the conversation. He was saddened, but not surprised, to see the looks of fear, distrust, and outright anger and resentment on many of their faces when they saw him. It was becoming a more and more common sight these days.

"Fat lot of good your apologies do us, Jedi," one of the women, a Rutian Twi'lek, said angrily. "Maybe you should have stopped these guys before they took over this neighborhood and started rounding people up. Or is it too far from your ivory tower to come help us down here?"

"Again, all I can offer is my apologies, and the help of the Jedi and the Republic in rebuilding your lives. These men will be punished, and those who hired them will be brought to justice," he said calmly, not letting her anger affect him. It was not wholly unjustified, after all. He noticed Ahsoka paying close attention to the conversation, but made no move to dismiss her. She had already risked her life to help free these women, he figured, so she had a right to hear what they had to say.

"Pfft, don't make me laugh," another woman said, a pink skinned Mikkian this time.

"Those men are Black Sun. They'll just bribe whatever judge you put them in front of, if they even make it that far. Their bosses won't even get arrested. As for your 'help', since when have the Jedi or the Republic ever helped people like us? We're too small to get help from the oh so mighty Jedi and their precious Republic."

"I cannot change the past, however much I might wish to," Plo said. "The Jedi failed to prevent this injustice from occurring, but I can assure you that we will do everything in our power to help you now."

The sheer conviction in his voice mollified the women's' anger somewhat. None of them had been expecting an admission of fault from a Jedi, and hearing such shocked them into a contemplative silence. Taking that as permission to continue, Plo Koon began to speak again.

"Ladies, I understand your reluctance to trust me. However, you have my word as a member of the Jedi High Council that I will see to it you are given help, and these criminals are given justice. Please, go with Ahsoka to Master Unduli. She will take you to the Temple while I escort these slavers to a holding facility."

At his gentle urging, the group of women began to make their way over to one of the transport speeders he had brought with him, led once more by Ahsoka. As they got in, Luminara introduced herself and helped them get situated. She also made sure that Naruto, who was still sound asleep, was loaded into the speeder as well.

Meanwhile, Jiraiya and Plo began to load the still restrained prisoners into the other speeder. Only when they were secured in stun binders did Jiraiya remove the restraining seals he had placed on them earlier. When he saw the seals, Plo was curious as to what they were and asked Jiraiya about it. When he heard the explanation, his interest peaked even further.

"I will have to speak to Master Yoda about allowing you to instruct some of the other masters in these strange techniques of yours," he said thoughtfully. "If you are willing to share them, that is."

"I would be willing to teach my techniques to the Jedi Council," Jiraiya said, somewhat surprised by the sudden interest. "I don't think many of them will be very popular, though. Most of them are too aggressive to really mesh well with the Order's philosophy on such things."

"Perhaps," Plo said. "But it is my belief that knowledge is rarely, if ever, good or evil. It may be tempting, dangerous even, but in the end, it is up to each of us as individuals to use our skills and powers justly."

"That's a somewhat different viewpoint from most Jedi I've talked to," Jiraiya said. "Most of them aren't as…open to new ideas as you are."

"Yes, I have heard of your disagreements with others on the Jedi Code," Plo said. "If you are willing, I would be interested in hearing your opinions on the matter."

"Really," Jiraiya said, his surprise and skepticism now showing in his voice. "You want to hear what I think about the Code."

"Yes," Plo replied evenly. "I find that hearing differing viewpoints often leads one to greater wisdom. If you wish to accompany me to the holding facility, we could talk on the way."

Jiraiya considered this. On the one hand, he was loath to leave Naruto when the kid was vulnerable like he was now. On the other hand, he trusted both Luminara and Ahsoka to look after him. Honestly, considering he was unconscious, and likely would remain so for nearly 12 hours, he was probably the safest he had been all day. At least now he couldn't go finding more trouble.

In the end, the chance to get his ideas heard by a member of the High Council, and a seemingly sympathetic one at that, was too good to pass up. While he respected their mission and agreed with most of their ideals, Jiraiya did have serious issues with the Order's positions on emotion and attachment. Issues that he felt this conversation might be the first step in resolving.

"If you're willing, I'd be happy to tag along, Master," he said eventually. Plo nodded and turned to board the speeder. Jiraiya signaled Luminara he was going with Plo, and then followed after him. A few seconds later, their pilot pulled away from the platform, and they were off to drop off their prisoners.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

By the time they were halfway back to the Temple, Ahsoka was bored. Naruto was still out, and all of the former slaves had fallen asleep as well. Evidently they had not had much opportunity for rest prior to their rescue, and the adrenaline fueled escape had thoroughly worn them all out. While she didn't mind them taking a nap, it did leave Ahsoka with no one to talk to in the passenger bay.

No one but Master Unduli, that is. Normally, Ahsoka would be hesitant to bother a Master. She wasn't even a Padawan yet, and while they were usually very kind about it, most Masters were far too busy to talk to a youngling outside of classes. In this case, however, Ahsoka was perfectly fine with talking to the Mirialan Master. She was brimming with questions that she wanted answers to, and she didn't think Master Leem was the person to ask. Besides, it wasn't like Master Unduli was doing anything right now.

"You know youngling, if you keep fidgeting like that, you'll likely wear a hole in the seat," Luminara said, causing Ahsoka to let out a startled gasp. "Now, what is it that has you so brimming with curiosity, Ahsoka?"

Ahsoka blinked, shocked at Master Unduli's seeming knowledge of her thoughts. Could she read her mind? Internally, Ahsoka rolled her eyes. She was a Jedi Master; of course she could read her mind.

"Only when you project your thoughts so loudly, youngling," Luminara said, startling Ahsoka again. "You should practice shielding your mind and controlling your emotions more diligently if you don't wish to be so obvious."

"Sorry Master," Ahsoka said, embarrassed at being called out like that.

"That's quite alright Ahsoka. Now, ask your questions. What has you so worked up?"

"Well, it's about something I heard some of the slaves say after we freed them," Ahsoka said softly, not wanting to wake any of the sleeping passengers. "When they heard that it was Jedi who were helping them, they seemed…shocked, I guess. And angry. They talked as though the Jedi Order didn't care about them. The Republic too. They said that the Jedi and the Republic always ignored the 'little people.' What did they mean, Master?"

Luminara was quiet for several moments, pondering the question. Normally, she wouldn't want to strip a youngling of their illusions at such a young age, but it seemed that circumstances had conspired to give Ahsoka a taste of the uglier side of reality. Trying to shelter her like most younglings were sheltered would just backfire now. Sighing, Luminara decided that the (mostly) unvarnished truth was her best option.

"Truthfully, Ahsoka, many people in the galaxy feel abandoned or ignored by both the Republic and the Jedi Order," she said. "There are too few Jedi to help everyone who needs it. We must focus our efforts on where we can do the most good, and that often leaves less obvious problems, like this slaving ring, unchecked."

"But then, why can't the Republic step in and help the people we can't?" Ahsoka asked, not understanding the problem. To her mind, it was simple. If there weren't enough Jedi to help everyone, then the Republic government should pick up the slack.

"That would be ideal," Master Unduli admitted, pleased with the girl's grasp of the system. Or at least, what the system ought to be. "But the Senate, and much of the rest of the government, is mired in corruption and bureaucracy. Chancellor Palpatine has done some good in curbing the worst of the corruption, but it is still a crippling issue. It is even affecting the Jedi somewhat."

"What do you mean?" Ahsoka asked.

"With the government so paralyzed by corruption, the Jedi are often being forced to spend all their time preventing conflict from breaking out between various systems," Luminara answered. The conversation was moving beyond what she would normally consider speaking with a youngling about, but Ahsoka seemed quite precocious, and was apparently following along well. "Old feuds often flourish under the nose of corrupt officials. As Jedi, we spend much of our time ensuring these feuds do not erupt into actual war. As such, the Jedi simply do not have the time to ferret out every hidden injustice. As unpleasant as it may sound, sometimes you must accept that there are some injustices that will go unpunished. If you try to fix every wrong in the galaxy, you will end up accomplishing very little. Learn where your efforts can actually bear fruit, and focus them there."

"I-I understand that. I really do, but I'm not going to be like that. I don't want to be someone who forgets about people like, well, them," Ahsoka said, gesturing to the crowd of napping women. "I'll always help people who I see are in need."

Luminara smiled a little at that. The conviction in the young Togruta was something to see, and she could hardly gainsay her goal. Ahsoka was young and idealistic, and Luminara couldn't bring herself to strip her of that just yet.

"That sounds like a very admirable goal," she said. "Now, I suggest you meditate until we reach the Temple. You've had a very stressful day, and you need to center yourself. I will let you know when we arrive."

"But Master Unduli…" Ahsoka said, pouting somewhat. She had never been very good at meditation, and she would much rather have continued their conversation. Nevertheless, a pointed look from Luminara told her that it had not really been a suggestion. Bowing her head, she walked back to sit by Naruto as she tried to meditate.

As she sat and tried to center herself in the Force, Ahsoka found herself unable to focus on meditating. There was too much going on in her head, and too much adrenaline still pumping through her system. She found herself listening to the ambient noise around her. Tora, who was still laying on Naruto's chest, was purring loudly. It mixed with the soft sound of Naruto's snores and the gentle buzz of the speeder engines. All together, they blended into a surprisingly relaxing white noise. Before she was even truly aware of her own growing drowsiness, Ahsoka dozed off into a nap.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

And that takes care of the slaving ring. Kudos to the one reviewer who guessed these guys worked for Black Sun. I won't go into future details (because they aren't written yet), but Black Sun will definitely play a role in events going forward. They make too good of a secondary antagonist to just leave on the sidelines.

I was a little shocked at how many people thought that Naruto would use the Kyuubi's power to rescue Ahsoka. I suppose I can understand the thinking, but Naruto is even more determined than in canon to never use that power. You will see it again, but not for quite a while. I know exactly when I want to have Naruto really delve into the fox's power, and I already have that story arc outlined. I generally think that Kurama's power is overused in stories when Naruto is still a kid. Until and unless they reach some sort of understanding, I plan on having Kurama's power be a once in a blue moon sort of occurrence.

As always, please leave a review if you have any comments, questions, or general abuse you feel the need to hurl my way. I will ignore the latter, but hey, if it makes you feel better about yourself. The next chapter should wrap up this arc, and then I'll move on to the final arc of Naruto and Jiraiya as Initiates. See you then.