Hello again. Real life eased up a little, and let me get this to you all faster than I expected. Thank you for the response to my last chapter. I would like to remind anyone who wants to ask a question, please log in and enable PMs. If you do not, I will not be able to answer your questions. Also, as I say in my profile, I do not take story requests. I appreciate that you enjoy my writing, but I have more than enough ideas of my own.
There's a lot of Naruto Ahsoka interaction in this chapter; probably the most of any chapter so far. Several of you mentioned that you wanted to see more of them together, so I hope you like what I have here. While they will end up together, this is a very slow burn, so please be patient and remember, Ahsoka is 13 right now.
As most of you will no doubt be aware, the Russian invasion of Ukraine recently passed the 100 day mark. If you have not yet, or even if you have, please show whatever support you can for the people of Ukraine as they defend their country and their democracy.
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Chapter 29
After everyone had left the shuttle and a kage bunshin began piloting it back to the Temple, Naruto gathered all six of his former clanmates in the classroom. Once there, he dropped his former easygoing demeanor and put on a much more serious face. The sudden change ensured that the others were paying attention to him.
"Alright, listen up. All of you have passed your Padawan trials back at the Temple. That's why you're here. It's time for you to take the next step in your journey to become a Jedi."
The surge of eager anticipation he felt from all six of them nearly brought a smile to his face, but he kept his bearing. The Gathering was a sacred rite of passage, and Mace had spent long hours drilling proper respect for Jedi traditions into his head. When he thought back to how incredible it had felt to find his crystal, and the trials he had faced to do so, Naruto couldn't find it in him to disagree in this case.
"Your success up to now is impressive, but a far greater challenge lies ahead. We're going to the most sacred world of the Jedi Order; Ilum. There, you'll each head into the Crystal Cave to find your Kyber crystal. If you succeed, you'll use that crystal to build your lightsaber."
That declaration sparked an even bigger surge of excitement, along with a few quiet cheers and wide smiles. While they had all known they would soon build their lightsabers, hearing it confirmed was something else. Amidst the high-fives and celebration, though, Trilla pushed her way to the front of the group. The dark-skinned girl had a frown on her face, and there was a current of unease beneath her happiness.
"Naruto, what do you mean 'if' we succeed? Why wouldn't we find our crystals?" The others quickly fell silent as the implications of her question sank in. One by one, they looked at him with rapt attention, waiting for an answer.
"Your crystal isn't something you find easily. You have to earn it. When you're in the Cave, you'll each face challenges. Tests, unlike anything you've faced before. It's a tough journey, one that takes courage, discipline, and will."
It was clear from the expressions of wilted enthusiasm that none of them had actually considered whether finding their crystals would be easy. Naruto supposed it made sense. While the Initiate clans knew the general purpose of the Gathering, the actual details were a closely guarded secret. He and Jiraiya had only received a more in-depth briefing before embarking to Ilum because of their special situation.
"I thought we already passed our tests!" Galdos yelled, his quills bristling indignantly. "Now you're telling us we have to go through more? How is that fair?"
Naruto fixed his age-mate with a hard, unyielding stare, but he kept his voice calm and even as he brought his master's old lessons to mind. "A lightsaber is a heavy burden to carry, Galdos. It represents a great trust, and as Jedi, we must be worthy of it. If you're truly ready to wield one, then I have faith you'll find your crystal."
Galdos' quills flattened against his face as he looked away, his previous anger draining out of him. The others looked equally contemplative until a new voice from the back of the room spoke up, startling them.
"Well said, Padawan Uzumaki. Rare it is for one your age to have such respect for the power of their lightsaber." From behind the rows of shelves at Naruto's back, an ancient looking droid stepped out of the shadows. It was humanoid, with an extra set of arms folded on its back and two round, yellow photoreceptors. Its face was oddly stylized, with a dome-like upper half, two conical projections where most sentients kept their ears, and another two below its vocoder that resembled a beard. Unlike the typical jerky, robotic efficiency most droids displayed, its movements were fluid, nearly organic. Naruto raised an eyebrow at the dramatic entrance, but decided to roll with it.
"Initiates, this is Professor Huyang," he said, gesturing to the old droid, who bowed. "He's been teaching others just like you how to build lightsabers for thousands of years now, and he will be the one to oversee your blades' construction."
"But… he's a droid," Ahsoka said. Several of the others, including Knox and Barriss, seemed to share her confusion. "How's a droid supposed to help us build lightsabers?"
Huyang twitched his head in an apparent show of irritation. "Young lady, don't let my inorganic status fool you. As Padawan Uzumaki stated, I have been guiding younglings like you in building lightsabers for millennia. Difficult indeed would it be to find a greater expert on the subject than I. Tell me, do you know how to build a lightsaber, hmm? Any of you? How to align the flux aperture? What happens if you invert the emitter matrix?"
Ahsoka's lekku and montral stripes darkened in embarrassment, and she silently shook her head. The rest of the Initiates did the same when Huyang's yellow gaze passed over them.
"No? Well then, it seems I have something to teach you, after all. Padawan Uzumaki, your lightsaber please."
Naruto unclipped his lightsaber from his belt and placed it in Huyang's waiting hand. The droid brought it up to eye level and scrutinized it, turning it this way and that with the air of one analyzing a curious scientific specimen.
"Ah, yes, an excellent design. I see you've added to the carvings since I last saw this. Beautiful craftsmanship, especially considering you never learned from me."
Naruto rolled his eyes at the pointed remark. "Are you still hung up on that? Let it go, Professor. Jiraiya and I didn't blow ourselves up, and our blades work fine."
The venerable architect sniffed disdainfully, but he turned his attention back to the others, so Naruto counted it as a win. Huyang had been scandalized when he and Jiraiya had shown him their lightsabers to catalog for his archives. Apparently, the idea of Jedi constructing their first blades without receiving his instruction was tantamount to heresy in his eyes.
"No matter," Huyang said. "You all know what a lightsaber is, what it can do, but how does it work? How will you build one? Not with your hands, oh no. With the Force. Padawan Uzumaki, if you would be so kind as to demonstrate."
Naruto smiled a little and closed his eyes. His lightsaber twitched and floated out of the droid's hands and crossed the room until it hung in front of the clan. With slow, careful precision, he used the Force to disassemble the blade. When he was done, his lightsaber resembled an asteroid field of individual components orbiting slowly around the glowing sun of his crystal. He took a moment before addressing his audience to bask in the unfiltered light of his crystal as it sang to him in the Force.
"While the Professor can teach you the mechanical side of building a lightsaber, only you can assemble your blade. A lightsaber is an extension of a Jedi's will, of their being. With the Force, you'll take separate components and a living Kyber crystal, and forge them into-"
With a twitch of his hand, he quickly reassembled his blade. As the last component clicked into place, the hilt flew into his outstretched palm and he ignited it, bathing the room in sunset light.
"-a lightsaber."
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After that, Naruto left them to learn in the capable hands of Professor Huyang, while he went to the cockpit and began prepping for their first hyperspace jump. Fortunately, the first leg of their journey lay along a fairly major hyperspace corridor, and the navicomputer took only a few seconds to complete the calculations. As soon as they were finished, Naruto pulled the lever and sent the ship into the endless blue tunnel of hyperspace.
Once that was done, he settled back into his seat for the long journey. Unlike the T-6 shuttle he had taken on his first trip to Ilum, the Crucible was not built with speed in mind. It only had an old Class 3 hyperdrive, and even in the relatively large hyperlane they were in, where they could travel at full power, the ship wouldn't be setting any speed records.
In some ways, that was a good thing. It gave Huyang time to impart his knowledge, and the Initiates time to meditate and center themselves before facing the trials of the Cave. Unfortunately, it also gave Naruto a great deal of time in which he had nothing to do. He'd already sent a clone off to the engine room to read the latest texts his various classes had assigned him amidst the soothing background noise of the ion drives. While constructive, that sadly did nothing to ease the boredom of sitting alone in the cockpit. He supposed he could have gotten the astromech to monitor everything while he spent time in the rest of the ship, and he probably would later, but for now, he felt the need to center himself in the cockpit.
'I guess I might as well meditate,' he thought. 'It's as good a way to pass the time as any, and maybe it'll help me figure out why I still have that bad feeling about this mission.'
He closed his eyes, focused on his breathing, and tuned out the faint hum of the surrounding equipment. With every breath, he sank deeper into the currents of the Force, and immersed himself more in its ebb and flow. Soon enough, the whole of the outside world faded into the background, replaced by the vast majesty of the Force.
It was not, perhaps, as soothing an experience as it might have been. The Veil of the Dark side pressed in like scum on a river, muddying the waters and obscuring much of his view. The future was all but impossible to discern, save for a few brief glimpses of violence and a general feeling of looming cataclysm. Beyond that, though, it was an impenetrable morass, and had been for years.
The present, however, remained blessedly clear, and it was in the present that Naruto always preferred to dwell. Immense, glittering rivers of light flowed across his mind, washing away his trepidation, leaving calm joy in its wake. He probed gently for answers, but, unsurprisingly, nothing was forthcoming. While he could meditate easily enough, Naruto knew he still lacked the skill and experience to truly ask questions of the Force and interpret the answers. Such a thing often challenged veteran Masters with decades of experience and training. For now, all he could do was marvel at the ocean of swirling light before him, and try to learn whatever he could from what he saw. Even if answers never came, he was still content to sit and watch. Normally he would rather be doing something, but at the moment, he genuinely had nothing to do. This, at least, wasn't boring. He could see the great web of life strewn across the galaxy. Details escaped him, but he could still discern the broad strokes. Tensions were on the rise throughout the Republic. There was more anger and fear in the galaxy than there had been a year ago, spread across the Republic like cracks in a window. Even with the efforts of people like Padmé and her allies, Naruto worried that the war so many Jedi could sense in the future was fast becoming inevitable.
He didn't know how long, exactly, he spent meditating, but it must have been hours. Long enough for Huyang to finish his initial lesson, judging by the two familiar signatures he felt approaching the cockpit. The stronger one, full of drive and movement and curiouseager and nownownow, was definitely Ahsoka. The other one, slightly less powerful, but far calmer and filled with patientwait and exasperatedfond, could only be Barriss.
He sensed her hesitate outside the cockpit door, unsure of whether to disturb him, but Ahsoka had no such qualms. She barged ahead and was just about to open the door herself when he opened it with the Force.
"You know, if you two projected any louder, I think even Huyang might sense you," he teased. Ahsoka ignored him and went over to fiddle with the ship's controls, but Barriss flushed green and looked down, muttering apologies, embarrassed at her apparent slip up. He quickly brushed Ahsoka away from the more vital flight instruments and tried to reassure Barriss.
"Hey, relax. I was just joking. Your shields are fine. My senses always go up when I meditate. Now, what do you two need? You look like you've got questions."
"Yeah, yeah, but before that; you were meditating?" Ahsoka asked, a skeptical look in her eyes. "I thought you hated meditating? And, you know, sitting still in general."
Naruto rolled his eyes. "Says the most twitchy, impatient Initiate in the whole Temple. I don't hate meditating, I've just usually got something else to do. Right now, I've got nothing. So, Barriss, what did you want to ask?"
Ahsoka glared at him in mock outrage. "How come Barriss gets to ask? I was talking."
"Sure, but Barriss has been nice to me all day," he said, in the most maddeningly serene tone he could bring to bear. "You've been a pest. So, Barriss?"
"Well, I was wondering-we were both wondering, really, if you could tell us what it's actually like to be a Padawan?"
Naruto blinked mutely for a second, unsure of what to say. He'd been expecting a question on lightsaber construction, or perhaps on what to expect on Ilum. He'd had answers prepared for both such inquiries ("do what Huyang says" and "kriffloads of snow" respectively), but this was a totally different question than he had been ready for. Both she and Ahsoka were staring at him, though, and they deserved a good answer, so he cleared his throat and tried to order his thoughts.
"Well, umm, it's a lot of work," he said. "Like, more work than you've ever put into anything before. You have to give everything you have to your training every day, no matter what it is. Heh, and you've also got to get used to making mistakes."
"Mistakes?" Barriss, ever the perfectionist, sounded faintly ill at the thought of such. Naruto just nodded and gave her an eye-smile.
"Oh yeah, you're gonna mess up. All the time. You should hear Master Windu go on about some of my screw-ups." He paused and tried to emulate the stoic man's voice. "It's always, 'Stop reprogramming the Temple droids, Naruto. Stop violating traffic ordinances, Naruto. Stop traumatizing younglings classes, Naruto. Stop setting buildings on fire, Naruto. Stop getting arrested, Naruto.' You'd think I was some sort of troublemaker."
"Whoa, hold on! You got arrested?" Ahsoka asked, a mix of confusion and awe on her face. "How in the Sith hells did that happen?"
Naruto blanched as he realized he may have over shared just a bit. "Maybe that's not important right now?" He tried weakly. To his shock, it was Barriss who shook her head, killing any hopes he may have had to avoid that story. If even prim and proper Barriss wanted to hear that story, there was no hope of it staying quiet.
"Sorry, Naruto, but I'm with Ahsoka. You have to tell us what happened." Naruto sighed and pouted at her as best he could from behind his mask.
"And you were being so nice to me earlier. I blame Ahsoka. She's a bad influence." Barriss nodded, and Ahsoka just shrugged, looking quite pleased with herself, as if he'd just paid her a compliment. It was a mark of how close their friendship was that he knew that's exactly what he had done, and she knew he had meant to do it. "Ugh, fine. It was last year, during my mission to Romin. The Council heard a rumor that Jenna Zan Arbor might have been hiding there, so they sent me and Master Windu to investigate. She'd already left by the time we got there, but the government there was horribly corrupt, and their leader, this evil sleemo named Roy Teda, was the worst of the bunch. The things he was doing…"
Naruto shuddered as he recalled Teda's crimes, and the putrid ooze that he had leaked into the Force. The man had been like a piece of rotted fruit; wrapped in a pretty enough skin, but stinking and filled with foul slime.
"Long story short, I sort of… snapped, one night. I could sense what he was doing in the palace. It was… bad. Really bad." Once again, Naruto shuddered at the memories of what he had sensed that night. He moved on quickly, though. If he paused too long, Barriss and Ahsoka would get curious, and he did not want them asking questions about the details of that night. They were hardly delicate, but he still had no interest in giving them nightmares."
"He was a criminal scughole, and I wanted him to stand trial for it, so I broke into his palace, snatched him, and took him back to our ship so we could bring him back to Coruscant and give him to the Courts."
Barriss probably couldn't have looked more surprised if he had actually set her robes on fire. "Naruto… isn't that kidnapping"
"Hehehehe, the state security forces definitely thought so," he said with a sheepish chuckle. "They caught me just outside the palace with Teda slung over my shoulder, stunned me before I could run, and threw me in jail. The only reason they didn't kill me on the spot was because Teda wanted to use me as a bargaining chip once he realized there were Jedi on his planet."
"So what happened to you?" Ahsoka asked, engrossed in his story. He was a little surprised she wasn't taking notes, but that was probably a good thing.
"Well, Master Windu couldn't come get me, or Teda would've just tried to arrest him, too. Even if he could have freed me, I don't know if he would have. It really ticked him off when I snuck out without telling him. Anyway, once I woke up, I escaped pretty easily, and stumbled onto a rebel group planning a coup. Once I convinced them I was a Jedi, they let me help them. Their plan had been to storm the government district by force, but I figured out something better. While I was escaping the holding cells, I noticed a ton of gaps in Teda's security. I managed to sneak the rebels into the palace, take down the guards, and seize control of the city. By the time Teda and his cronies woke up, they were prisoners in their own quarters. Before too long, the rebels had a whole new regime set up."
"You- you helped overthrow a planetary government?" Barriss whispered in horror. Her mouth hung open and her eyes had widened to the size of dinner plates.
"Wizard," Ahsoka said. He really hoped she didn't get competitive about this. That definitely wouldn't end well. She might not limit herself to overthrowing actual dictators.
"Yeah, I think Master Windu almost had a stroke. It turned out okay, though. The rebels wanted to kill all the old officials, but we convinced them to give them trials. Most of 'em wound up in prison. Teda got executed, though. Afterwards, Master Windu had me clean out the exhaust ports of every ship in the Temple hangar. By hand. He said it would keep me out of trouble for a few weeks, at least."
"So, is that the only time you've ever been arrested?" Ahsoka asked.
"So far," Naruto said, praying that they believed him. They didn't need to know what happened on Corellia. No one needed to know what had happened on Corellia. That had just been humiliating. "The point, though, is that you will make mistakes. They're unavoidable. But Master Windu and Jiraiya both taught me it's how you move through them that matters."
A busy sort of silence grew between all three of them. Barriss and Ahsoka seemed deep in thought, their emotions slow and quiet. Naruto, for his part, couldn't help but think back on some of his own mistakes. For all that he could spin a funny tale out of one of them, many others had not been humorous at all, either at the time or in retrospect. The lessons they had imparted had made him a better Jedi, certainly, but they had often come at far too dear a price.
'All I can do is learn from them and grow,' he thought. 'That's what Jiraiya always says, and Master Windu says he's right.'
They sat like that for several minutes, comfortably letting time pass them by. When someone finally broke the silence, to Naruto's surprise, it was Barriss who spoke up.
"When did you know the sort of Jedi you wanted to be, Naruto?" Her tone was odd, as if she were asking something different from what her actual question was. He couldn't figure out what it could be, though, so he gave her an answer and hoped it was what she needed.
"I suppose… before I even became a Jedi. Even before Quinlan and Aayla found me and Jiraiya, back when I was a shinobi for my village, I already knew what I wanted. Ever since my first mission out of Konoha, I've known I'm supposed to protect people who couldn't protect themselves, to keep my comrades safe. Being a Jedi hasn't changed that. I just have more people now, I guess."
Ahsoka nodded. "I knew back when we ended up in the undercity and we had to free those slaves. When I heard how they talked about the Republic and the Jedi, how they felt abandoned, I knew I had to change that. I'm going to make sure people like that always have someone to protect them."
Barriss listened quietly, and didn't talk for a long moment. When she did, her words came slowly, as if she were measuring each one before giving voice to it.
"I think I want to be a healer," she said. "You two are both so brave, but I don't think I can fight like that. I just want to help people and take their pain away."
"I think that's pretty awesome," Ahsoka said, nudging her friend in the shoulder. "You'd make a great healer, Barriss."
"Sometimes I don't know if I can do it," Barriss whispered, her gaze distant. "That's why I told Master Luminara I wanted to wait before I became her Padawan."
"What?" This was the first time Naruto was hearing about this.
"She approached me a few months after you left the crèche, Naruto, but I asked to remain with the clan until I passed the Gathering. I wasn't ready. I needed more time to study, so I'm prepared when she takes me on."
"Aww, are you sure you didn't just want to spend more time with your friends," Ahsoka teased, giving Barriss a friendly push. The older girl smiled, despite her obvious efforts to keep her bearing, and shook her head.
"Well, that part… wasn't objectionable. I've enjoyed being around you and the other clan members." Her smile faded, replaced with a small frown. "But I want to make her proud. I won't be a burden."
Naruto found the depth of her conviction striking. Beneath her calm and poise, Barriss had a fierce drive towards perfection, one he found simultaneously impressive and a little frightening. He didn't like how little she thought of her own accomplishments.
"Barriss, you are not a burden," he said firmly, looking her straight in the eye. "You're going to be a fantastic healer and a brilliant Jedi, and Master Luminara will definitely be proud of you. Okay?"
After a second, Barriss bit her lip and looked away. A surge of… something colored her Force presence for a moment, but it passed so quickly that Naruto couldn't tell what it was.
"I- ahem, I should go meditate on my lightsaber," she said. Her voice wavered for a moment, but when she met his gaze again, he saw only her usual tranquil composure. "Thank you for your advice, Naruto. It was very kind of you."
Before he could say anything else, she hurried out of the room. Ahsoka called out after her, but it was too late. She had already closed the door.
"Well that was strange," Naruto said. Ahsoka just rolled her eyes and shook her head at him.
"You laserbrain. You know how she is with people showing emotion. Now you've gone and embarrassed her."
"I just- aw, stang. Should I apologize?"
"Nah, that'll just freak her out even more. Just let her meditate." Ahsoka glanced around the cockpit, practically drooling over the control panels. "Hey, can I fly the ship?"
"No."
"Oh, come on!"
"No. You get to build a lightsaber, I get to fly the ship. That's how this works." She tried growling at him, a low, trilling rumble that could paralyze prey with fear. He just raised an eyebrow at her, an expression he'd learned from watching Obi-Wan. "Growling? Really, 'Soka? What are you, five? Don't try pouting either, it doesn't work anymore. It's not like there's anything to do, anyway. We have another four hours in hyperspace before our next jump."
"Fine." She sighed dramatically and flopped into the co-pilot's chair to stare at the glowing void beyond the viewport. When he glanced over at her, Naruto could see the tension in her brow, and the way she worried at her bottom lip. Even with her shields raised, it was obvious that something was on her mind.
'When did I become the guy everyone goes to with questions?' He wondered. It was still a novel experience for him, being seen as a source of knowledge by his peers. 'Heh, probably when the Council gave me this mission. It's not like Huyang can talk about stuff like this, after all.'
The thought of the ancient, stuffy architect droid trying to dispense personal advice was enough to bring a small smile to his face. He entertained himself with imaginary scenarios of the Professor consoling nervous younglings with technical diagrams and circuit schematics while he waited for Ahsoka to give voice to her thoughts. In his experience, whenever she was like this, it was best not to prod until she was ready. Asking before then just led to defensiveness or deflection. It took a few minutes, but eventually, his patience paid off.
"Naruto, I'm worried," she said. Her voice was soft, but steady, and he waited for her to say more. "I don't think anyone's going to want to take me as a Padawan."
He hadn't been expecting that. "Hey, don't think like that. There's gotta be loads of Knights and Masters who would want you. You're-"
"No one's asked me," she interrupted. "No one's even talked to me about it. I thought- a few times some of the Masters have- but they never talk to me. They just watch for a while and then leave."
Naruto winced. He could definitely sympathize. Having authority figures, people you wanted to impress, seemingly judge you without a word, reject you with no given reason. It was a scenario he was all too familiar with, and his heart ached to see his best friend going through something similar. He didn't think any of those Knights or Masters were specifically trying to hurt her, but it didn't change the sense of glum resignation he could hear in her words.
"I know I'm not ideal Padawan material," she continued. "Even Master Leem says I'm still too impatient, too disrespectful, too reckless. But Barriss has Master Luminara, Knox has Master Halsey, Trilla's got Master Junda, and Galdos has Master Bulq. Even Viir's probably going to get picked by Master Trebor. I just- I thought someone would want me."
Naruto had a theory as to why no one had approached her, but he didn't feel comfortable sharing it. For one, he wasn't sure about it, and unless he talked to Anakin, he couldn't be. Probably not even then. The last thing he wanted was to give her false hope, or put his brother in an impossible situation. Instead, he spun his chair so he was facing Ahsoka. She kept staring out of the viewport, but he spoke anyway.
"Don't worry about that for now. Plenty of people don't get picked right away. Besides, I think you'll make a great Padawan." She snorted, but he pressed on. "I mean it. You've got the strongest connection to the Force of any Initiate in the Temple right now. You're kind, compassionate, and you've got great instincts. So what if you're kind of rude sometimes? Not every Master has a stick up their ass. It might take some time, but I promise, someone'll pick you. They'd have to be crazy not to."
Her stripes darkened almost to black at his compliments, but she turned to look at him, at least, and she was smiling again.
"Besides, who cares what other people think," he said, remembering how he'd motivated himself as a child. "If no one wants to take you as a Padawan, then you'll just train more, and get stronger, until nobody can ignore you. Don't let anyone else define you. Prove them wrong."
"It sounds easy when you put it like that," she muttered.
"It's not, but that doesn't matter. Just focus on what's in front of you for now. Find your crystal and build your lightsaber. That's what's important right now. The Force'll guide you through whatever comes next."
"You think so?"
Now it was his turn to snort. "If it doesn't, I'm sure you'll find some way to kick its butt until it starts."
That actually got her to laugh, a clear, brilliant noise that chased away the glum atmosphere like wind blowing away smoke. He laughed with her, hard enough that he didn't notice she had gotten up until he felt her skinny arms snake around his shoulders to give him a quick hug.
"Thanks, Goldie. You know, you're pretty good at the whole motivational speech thing."
"Really?"
"Yeah," she said. "So, can I fly the ship now? Please?"
"What? No!" He sputtered, his head nearly spinning from the sudden change of topic. "I told you before, there's nothing even to do except sit and stare at hyperspace."
She pursed her lips for a moment before she shrugged. "Sounds better than meditating. Scoot."
"What do you me- gah!" Before he could finish his question, Ahsoka wedged herself into the same chair he was using, squirming around to fit in next to him. "Ahsoka, what are you doing?"
She looked at him as though he were being an idiot, which he felt was rather uncharitable, considering she was the one pummeling him to one side of his own chair. "It's like you said. I'm going to sit and stare at hyperspace. Now budge over, Goldie."
Naruto's mouth moved silently beneath his mask, too stunned for words. 'I will never understand girls,' he decided, as he resigned himself to the inevitable. 'Never.'
After some more wriggling, and several new bruises on his part, both of them were somehow squeezed into the same chair. They weren't so much sharing the seat as Ahsoka was partially next to and partially draped over him, but at least she'd stopped moving around. It wasn't exactly a comfortable arrangement, though, at least not for Naruto. Ahsoka had started her growth spurt, and as such, she seemed to mostly consist of remarkably bony elbows and knees. While it felt to him, as though he were being cuddled by a pile of sharp sticks, he made no attempt to dislodge her. He'd learned from grappling with her that Ahsoka had the clinging capacity of an arboreal dianoga. Once she'd latched on, pulling her off was the nearest thing to impossible.
"Was there something wrong with the other chair?" He protested weakly. It was more for the sake of his pride than anything else. He actually didn't mind too much, and he knew how easily she could become touch starved. Togruta were even more social and tactile than humans, and few Jedi were comfortable with such casual physical contact. Just from their brief period of cuddling, he could already sense her contentment as the stress she had been carrying slowly dissolved.
"It's cold over there," she said, and laid her head on his shoulder. "You're warm, and you sound good."
"You know, I still don't know what that means."
She shrugged. At least, he thought she did. Her shoulders dug into him for a moment, anyway. "I don't know how to explain it to a human. You just… sound good. Now shush."
He sighed, but shifted over as best he could to give her more room (and to get her left elbow out of his right kidney). For a long while, they sat and stared at the vast, roiling storm of the universe as it smeared across space-time just outside their ship. Naruto knew some pilots closed blast shields whenever they were in hyperspace, out of fear the sight of it would drive them mad, but he never did. Gazing out at the infinite gave him a sense of awe, especially knowing that he was technically seeing the entire galaxy, and possibly even the entire universe, from all angles simultaneously. It may have looked like a tunnel surrounded by blue light, but it captivated him.
After a while spent watching the cobalt tapestry, Naruto noticed Ahsoka's breathing slow. When he looked down, her eyes were already closed, and her presence was dominated by warmdrowsysafe. He nudged her lightly to get her attention, but she just grunted and adjusted her arms a little.
"Ahsoka? Hey, Ahsoka, wake up."
She shifted her head and muttered into his shoulder. "Gstfbl."
"You know, I speak five languages and that didn't make sense in any of them," he said, smirking. She cracked one eye and gave him a baleful, if sleepy, glare.
"Y' do n't speak f'v l'nguag's," she mumbled. "Y'r t'gruti sucks."
"There's nothing wrong with my togruti."
"Oh yeah?" She added her other eye to her glare. "Gili'ao lecru molliasteble baasamla, eir?"
Naruto stared at her for a few seconds before he conceded defeat. "Okay, so I speak four and a half languages. The point is, you can't nap here."
"But 'm comfy." She said it as though she wasn't contorted into a shape usually reserved for abstract art just to fit in the chair next to him.
"You won't be saying that later if you sleep folded up in a chair. Now go, before Huyang comes and chews my head off for distracting you. Meditate on your lightsaber. It really is important."
She sighed, and he could sense her reluctance to go back to the youngling quarters and the perceived monotony of meditating, but she didn't argue. Instead, she extricated herself from the chair and stood up, stretching like a tooka as she did so. After a few more jabs at his apparently lackluster togruti, she finally headed out the door. Right before she walked out, though, she turned back to look at him.
"Just so you know, I'm really glad you're the one assigned to us for the Gathering," she said, her voice unusually serious. "You're my best friend, and there's no one I'd rather have help me build my lightsaber than you."
Now it was his turn to blush in embarrassment. Genuine compliments like that still caught him off guard, especially from those closest to him. "I- uh, thanks, Ahsoka. Really. You're my best friend too. I'm happy to be here with you, and with the rest of the clan. Now go meditate. I'll be out later to help you guys."
"Yes, sir." She shot off a cheeky salute, pivoted on her heel, and marched off. He laughed at her antics before turning back to his earlier meditation. It would be an hour yet, before any of them were ready to work through whatever insights they'd gained in their meditation with him. Until then, he settled back into a trance and watched the lights of the Force dance in his mind.
OoOoOoOoOoOoO
The next day of travel went smoothly. Naruto talked with all the Initiates about the insights they'd gained while meditating. He even joined Barriss and Knox in a joint meditation to guide them through the process. It took a while, as, despite the Council's confidence in him, he was still relatively inexperienced with the Force. Still, by the end of the day, he felt confident he'd done all he could to help them with their blade designs.
Mostly, though, he answered questions. The endless flood of questions, some smart and insightful, others predictably silly, almost reminded him of those times he'd taught Konohamaru. After his dismal performance in the Academy, and his endless complaints about how boring Iruka's lectures were, he never would have expected to enjoy teaching. To his surprise, though, he found the experience rewarding. It helped that he was helping his friends, but even so, there was a tranquil joy in the task that the action loving young Jedi had not expected. While Mace often spoke of the more peaceful side of being a Jedi, the diplomacy, mentorship, and healing that made up most of the Order's duties, Naruto had never really understood how many Jedi found such things fulfilling until now. That didn't mean he was about to change his path and pursue the life of a negotiator or a healer. Much like his master, he was a warrior at heart. For now, though, he was content to enjoy a peaceful mission for once.
Looking back later, that alone should have warned him. Sadly, it did not.
Around forty hours after they had left Coruscant, Naruto headed back into the cockpit to calculate their next jump. The ship was approaching Rago, the last charted system on their current hyperspace route. From there until they reached Ilum, they would be flying through largely unmapped Wild Space. He could have let the astromech program the calculations and make the jump, but he preferred to do it himself. What was the fun of flying, after all, if you just let a droid do all the important bits for you?
He was looking forward to seeing the planet as the ship came out of hyperspace, a sight no pilot, Jedi or otherwise ever tired of. The moment the Crucible reverted to realspace, though, a tidal wave of danger and hatekillbloodlust swamped his Force senses. Before he could raise the deflector shields, the ship bucked and shook as a pair of concussion missiles slammed into the hull.
"What the-?" He didn't have time to finish before the door to the cockpit opened, revealing Huyang and a group of nervous looking Initiates.
"Padawan Uzumaki, what is going on?"
"We're under attack," he said as he finally managed to raise the deflectors, all thoughts of peace and tranquility gone. Hopefully that would stave off any more damage. "Scanners are picking up three ships. They-kriff, they knocked out our hyperdrive and our long-range communications."
He flipped a switch to activate the short-range broadcast. "Unidentified vessels, this is Jedi Padawan Naruto Uzumaki aboard the Crucible. You are firing on an unarmed Jedi training vessel. We have nothing of value. Break off your assault now and you could escape before anyone comes to arrest you. Be smart and leave before this gets worse for you."
"Hahahaha, I don't think so, Jedi scum." The voice that came out of the comm was twisted with such hatred and malicious glee that it nearly gave him a headache just to hear it. "Aurra Sing doesn't let her prey escape. Beg for life if you want, though. I love it when Jedi beg. It's delicious."
"Aurra Sing," Barriss whispered. "Oh dear."
Naruto privately agreed with her concern. Every Jedi knew the story of Aurra Sing, the fallen Padawan turned ruthless assassin. She had probably murdered more Jedi than any one person in the galaxy, with one possible exception. That she was here, now, meant any chance they had of getting out of this situation peacefully had just evaporated.
He reached for the comm again, in order to try to stall for time. All that greeted him was a squawk of static, though.
"Short-range comms are jammed. Hold on!"
He fired the maneuvering thrusters as high as they would go while simultaneously gunning the sublights. With a groan of tortured metal and overworked inertial dampers, the Crucible pitched downwards, passing just beneath another volley of missiles. His success was short-lived, however, as a spurt of blaster fire raked across the shields and jolted everyone inside.
"Aargh, it's no good," he said, desperately trying to maneuver through the incoming fire. "They're more maneuverable than we are."
"Naruto, what are we gonna do?" Viir asked; a question he very much wished he had an answer to. As the ancient ship shook beneath an onslaught of increasingly accurate fire, he cast about desperately for any options. They couldn't fight back, they couldn't flee, and they couldn't call for help. Panic, dark and ugly, tried to claw at his throat, but he forced it away. He had six people and a quasi-sentient droid he was responsible for on the ship with him, and failure was simply not an option.
"R1, can you get the hyperdrive working?" The astromech warbled and scomped into the ship's systems. It whirred away for a few seconds until an especially powerful burst of fire slammed into the shield. The whole ship jerked violently, and the hapless astromech went flying backwards, sparks dancing over its frame and smoke leaking from under its dome.
"Well, that option's out. Get to the escape pods," he said to the Initiates behind him. "I'll get closer to the planet and you can land there. Go. Huyang, with them. You're in charge."
The droid nodded and began herding his charges out the door. "Come, young ones. Quickly now. To the escape pods."
"Naruto, what about you?" Ahsoka shouted.
"I need to screen your escape with the Crucible, or they'll shoot down your pods. Now get going."
"I'm not gonna leave y-"
That was as far as she got before he lost patience and used the Force to pick her up and whisk her out the door and down the hall to the escape pods. Her indignant cursing echoed through the ship as he forced her to abandon him against her will, and the righteous fury and desperation she projected only reinforced how upset she was.
'I'm sorry, Ahsoka,' he thought. 'I need to guarantee your guys' safety. If I live through this, I'll make it up to you.'
He kept his grip on her with the Force until she was safely inside one of the pods, and then immediately launched all three of the pods on that side. Only two were occupied, but he wanted a decoy, just in case.
'Alright, now let's see how tough this old ship really is.' Once all three pods had cleared the ship, he focused on protecting them from the three fighters trying to kill them. It was difficult, as they had greater speed and maneuverability than he did, but he had the advantage of size. He managed to soak up most of the initial fire, but it was quickly becoming obvious that the smaller ships would soon outmaneuver him, unless he could somehow focus their attention on the Crucible for a bit longer.
'Time for part two.' While he had been telling the truth when he said the Crucible was unarmed, that didn't mean it was completely defenseless. It may not have had any weapons, but it did have three potential projectiles left, and Naruto could be in more than one place at a time. He was fairly certain that what he intended to do violated multiple Republic laws, and was probably impossible to boot, but it was his best and only option, so it would just have to do. With a single, lightning fast hand sign, he created six kage bunshin.
"You know what to do." They saluted and sprinted off, stumbling as the ship shook and sparks flew from overhead. "Hurry. The shields won't hold much longer."
It took only a handful of seconds for his clones to get in position, but it felt like an eternity. At any moment, he was sure one of the more nimble craft would dart around the limping Crucible and target his former clanmates in their escape pods. It took all the piloting skills Anakin and Mace had taught him to keep his injured ship in between the vulnerable pods and the incoming fire.
Finally, though, the internal comm squawked. "Boss, we're all set."
"Great, now wait for my signal." He carefully lined up the Crucible as best he could with the three enemy fighters. It wasn't optimal, but he sensed it was the best he could hope for. "Okay, go!"
As one, the three remaining escape pods, each with two kage bunshin in it, shot off the Crucible and barreled towards the enemy ships. As he expected, all three fighters immediately targeted the pods, but it was already too late. The escape pods may not have been especially fast, but they were small and exceptionally nimble. They had also launched very close to the attacking ships. By the time the pilots had spotted them, they were too close to target easily. A few bolts glanced off the durable armor of one pod, but most of the blaster fire and missiles overshot the tiny vehicles and slammed into the Crucible. A bevy of new alarms sounded (really, how many different alarms did one ship need?), and the whole ship listed dangerously into the gravity well of the planet below, but Naruto kept his concentration on his clones.
'Not yet… not yet… now!'
He generated chakra for a brief moment and formed the Snake seal. "Boom."
BOOM!
Once the pods were as close to Aurra's fighters as he needed, Naruto made his single hand sign, and all six of his clones immediately and violently exploded. The force ripped the escape pods apart, and, judging by the sudden shock and fear he felt, also roughed up the enemy ships. He doubted it had destroyed any of them, but the scanner was broken and he didn't have time to check it anyway, because he'd just noticed what the latest alarms were for. The last volley had finally punched through the shields and destroyed the engines. There was nothing to keep him from falling to Rago.
'Well, I guess I'll have a chance to put Anakin's crash landing training to use,' he thought philosophically, in an attempt to take his mind off the pain to come. 'Besides, I was planning on landing the ship, anyway.'
Unfortunately, there was a big difference between crash landing a simulator and crash landing an actual crippled ship. Along with the engines, the stabilizers and repulsors were shot, and the maneuvering thrusters were sluggish and weak. Judging by the rapidly increasing g-forces Naruto could feel compressing his organs, the inertial dampers had also taken some damage. All in all, as the Crucible tore through the cloudless skies above Rago, trailing smoke and debris, his trajectory was much closer to an outright crash than a crash landing. In the cockpit, surrounded by cracked screens and slagged controls, Naruto worked fiercely to maintain some semblance of control over the doomed ship. With the unforgiving surface of the planet looming ever larger in the viewport, it was all he could do to ensure that the Crucible didn't nosedive into the ground at 5,000 kph. He even tried to use the Force to slow his descent, but without instruments he couldn't tell if it worked. He thought it might have, but by then it was too late. With an awful grinding crunch, the ship slammed into the ground. Despite bracing himself, Naruto flew out of his chair upon impact. The last thing he saw was a plume of dirt shooting up in front of the viewport, then his head hit something solid and everything went black.
OoOoOoOoOoOoO
Aurra Sing smiled and ran her tongue over her teeth as she watched the Jedi ship plummet into Rago's atmosphere, crippled and aflame. It was better this way, she thought. Blowing up a ship was all well and good, but killing Jedi was something she preferred to do face-to-face. She wanted to see their terror, hear their pathetic whimpers and gasps as the life poured from their bodies. Death in space was too easy. Jedi deserved to suffer, and she deserved the pleasure of watching it. Just the thought of it set her insides all aquiver.
This one in particular, though, had proven to be clever prey. That trick with the exploding escape pods had been ingenious. She would have to remember that for future use. It was unlike a Jedi to weaponise something with a peaceful purpose, and so deceptively too, but this Naruto Uzumaki seemed to have an unusually practical side for one of his sanctimonious Order. Probably a result of Mace Windu's training. A self-righteous bastard he may have been, but even she would admit that Windu had skill. Skill he had clearly passed on to his little Padawan. Yes, Naruto Uzumaki would give her a fine chase.
"All ships, this is Aurra," she said over her comms. "Land near the wreckage and the pods. Have your men fan out. Find the Jedi brats, and bring them to me alive."
"Copy that."
Her smile turned downright predatory. It was time for her to go hunting. And when it came to hunting Jedi, she always liked to use bait.
OoOoOoOoOoOoO
Omake: Ahsoka's Hunt 2
After a satisfying meal at Dex's Diner, Anakin took Ahsoka on a speeder deep into the lower levels of Coruscant. Whenever she asked him where they were going, though, he just repeated it was a secret and she would love it. Eventually, she gave up asking and just watched the other speeders fly by as they descended.
Finally, Anakin piloted their speeder into an out-of-the-way garage and jumped out. From the excited smile on his face, Ahsoka guessed they had reached their destination, whatever it was. It certainly didn't look like much. Most of the other speeders were heaps of junk, the walls were cracked and covered in graffiti, and there were piles of trash in the corners. The light from the tired illumination strips played warily over the faces of the few other beings around them before it left to go play somewhere more healthy. Overall, it was not an encouraging sight.
"Um, Skyguy? Are you sure we're in the right place?" She walked a little closer to him as they passed another rough looking group heading the same direction as them.
"Yeah, we're almost there," he said, seemingly unaware of her apprehension. "Trust me, this'll be amazing."
Ahsoka didn't bother to voice her skepticism, and instead focused on staying by Anakin's side. They walked down a long, winding corridor and took an ancient-looking repulsorlift even deeper into the city's depths. When the doors opened, though, it wasn't an impoverished urban wasteland that greeted Ahsoka as she had been expecting. Instead, a veritable wall of noise nearly rocked her back on her heels. Outside the lift, she saw vast banks of spectator stands, filled with countless beings, all of them cheering and whooping and screaming their lungs (or the species' equivalent) out. It took her a moment to regain her bearing among the sudden crush of noise and movement and life. When she finally noticed what all the excitement was for, though, her jaw dropped and she turned to stare at Anakin.
"No way. This is a trick."
"Nope," he said, grinning from ear to ear. "No trick, Snips."
"A podrace! You brought me to watch a podrace!" She was jumping up and down in excitement. This was better than she could have hoped. Anakin laughed and shook his head, though.
"Watch? Oh, kark no! I brought you to compete. These are two person races, and you're going to be my copilot."
"… … …"
Words failed her. Ahsoka's lips moved, but no sound came out. Eventually, she just gave up trying to talk and tackled Anakin with a flying hug. She may have let out a high-pitched squeal, too, but she would never admit it. Anakin caught her weight easily and held her while she babbled and laughed with glee.
"This is the best!" She finally got out.
"Of course, Snips. It's your birthday. Now come on, we have to get ready. Our first race starts in twenty minutes."
"First!" This just kept getting better and better.
"Of course. This is a competition, and I've got the best copilot in the galaxy with me. We're going to win this whole thing, just you see."
Ahsoka felt so full of happiness she could have floated away. This was going to be the best day ever.
OoOoOoOoOoOoO
The racing was epic; beyond anything she could have expected. As copilot, she was in charge of navigation and repairs. It took a few minutes for her to get the hang of calling out the various turns and dips and swoops as they appeared on her map of the course, but soon she and Anakin settled into an easy routine. By the end of the first race, they were practically unbeatable.
There were a few close calls, including one where she was hanging upside down beneath their pod, patching a ruptured coolant line while Anakin weaved around their competitors at speeds that had her eyes watering and her lekku flapping about her face. They nearly burst into flames once or twice, and their pod would definitely need a new paint job or five to cover the souvenirs of Anakin's exuberant piloting style. Both of them were covered in grease and grime from head to toe, and Ahsoka's butt and back were bruised from the repeated harsh turns and vibration. She also had a headache from the constant g-forces, not to mention the deafening racket. By the time she and Anakin stood at the top of the podium and collected their prize money (which Anakin promptly donated to a charity that helped combat slavery), Ahsoka was sweaty, filthy, sore, and practically dead on her feet.
She couldn't ever remember having had more fun.
After they, quite literally, hosed themselves off, Anakin flew them back to the Temple. Ahsoka honestly couldn't say how long it took, as she kept dozing off to the hum of the engines. Eventually, she noticed the engines shutting off, followed by a voice saying something. She mumbled back, too tired to properly respond, and then two powerful arms wrapped around her and picked her up out of the speeder seat. There was motion and warmth, and she thought she heard laughter. With an exhausted sigh, she curled into the warm thing holding her, and then sleep finally carried her off.
OoOoOoOoOoOoO
The next morning, Ahsoka woke up in her bed in the crèche, wishing violence upon the alarm, Anakin, and the universe in general. Some part of her wondered how Anakin had gotten her into her bed without alerting anyone, but the rest of her was too grumpy to care. Her back and butt still throbbed from bouncing around in the pod for so long, and three hours was nowhere near enough sleep after such a long day. She wouldn't have traded the experience for anything in the galaxy, but it didn't make it any easier to wake up.
There was nothing for it but to push through, though. She afforded herself ten seconds of wallowing in self-pity before she pushed her discomfort to the side, drew on the Force for energy, and rolled gracelessly out of bed. Trilla shot her a questioning look, but she ignored it. Coming up with a story to explain her exhaustion was at least two cups of caf beyond her current brain power. Better to just keep her head down and act normally. When she stumbled into the common area for morning accountability, though, that plan flew out the window. Standing next to Master Leem was Master Shaak Ti.
The Togruta Councilor was something of a personal mentor to Ahsoka, having been responsible for teaching her what she knew of Togruta culture and history, as well as ensuring her fluency in her native language. She wasn't as close to the older woman as she was to, say, Master Plo, but she had spent a fair amount of time under her tutelage, especially when she was younger. Those classes had petered off over the years, though, as Ahsoka's training advanced and took up more of her time. In her bleary state, it took her a minute to realize why other Togruta was there. When she did, though, she forgot all about her grogginess, and had to restrain herself from jumping in excitement.
After Master Leem had gotten her headcount, Master Ti pulled Ahsoka aside. "Ti'irsu-la, Ahsoka. It's good to see you."
Ahsoka bowed and finished the formal togruti greeting. "Ti'irsu-le, Master Ti. It's good to see you, too." She scratched her rear lek awkwardly, a habit she had picked up from Naruto, and tried to keep the excitement from showing in her voice. It didn't work very well. "Is this about my hunt?!"
Amongst Togruta, it was traditional for every child, after they had turned 13, to prove their skills by going on a solo hunt and bringing back their kill to the tribe. It marked their first step in becoming adults, and Ahsoka had been looking forward to it for years now. In all the excitement of yesterday, though, she had completely forgotten that Shaak would be approaching her about it soon. The older Togruta's face remained calm, but eyes flashed in amusement as she looked down at the eager girl.
"Yes it is, Ahsoka. We'll spend the day going over your skill to make sure you know everything you need to. I hope whatever Skywalker took you to do last night didn't leave you too tired to train."
Ahsoka shook her head. "No no no, I'm fine. I can- wait! How did you know about that?" She would have sworn Anakin had gotten them out of and back into the Temple undetected. Shaak smirked but said nothing, and Ahsoka actually growled a little and stomped her foot. Childish, perhaps, but she hated when people teased her. A moment later, her stripes burned in embarrassment as she realized what she had just done.
'Force, I acted like a total brat in front of Master Ti!' Before she could apologize, though, the sound of laughter broke her from her thoughts.
"Hahaha." Shaak's laugh startled Ahsoka. She was used to the Master being much more serene. "Calm yourself, Ahsoka. We Masters have to maintain some mystique, after all. Consider your unsatisfied curiosity as punishment for sneaking out."
Ahsoka forced down the impulse to stomp her foot again. Instead, with a saccharine sweetness no one who knew her would ever think was genuine, she bowed and said, "Yes, Master Ti. I apologize for my behavior. It won't happen again."
"Just for that, you've earned an extra three runs through the third level obstacle course." Ahsoka winced, even though Shaak's tone held more amusement than irritation. The third level course was no joke. She would feel that for days. "Now come along, Ahsoka. We have much to do."
OoOoOoOoOoOoO
It was well past nightfall by the time they finished for the day. True to her word, Shaak had tested Ahsoka's fitness, agility, and hunting knowledge to the limit. It had been grueling. When she had finally completed the last exercise, climbing a difficult series of rock walls while listing the proper means of setting snares, Ahsoka had flopped to the ground in a puddle of exhausted Togruta. Shaak had given her a whole minute to recover, which was about one one-thousandth of what Ahsoka felt was fair, before she coaxed her to her feet.
"You did very well, Ahsoka. I'm glad to see you have been practicing what I taught you."
"Does that… mean… I'm ready?" Ahsoka panted, blinking sweat out of her eyes. When Shaak said yes, she would have jumped in the air and whooped, but she was just too tired. As it was, she managed a smile and a faint cheer.
"Before you go to bed, I have something for you," Shaak said. She reached into her robe and produced a folded slip of flimsi. "Naruto gave this to me before he left on his mission and asked that I give it to you before we left for Shili."
Ahsoka took it and unfolded it. On it, in Naruto's neat handwriting, were the kanji for ryoshi, the Nihongo word for huntress.
"Thanks, Master Ti," she said. "I know what this is."
When she got back to the crèche, after she had showered and changed, she pulled out Naruto's sealing scroll and a brush. She copied the kanji from the flimsi into the blank space in the fourth storage seal, careful to mimic the symbols as closely as she could. Naruto was constantly going on about how delicate and finicky fuinjutsu could be and Ahsoka didn't want to risk starting a fire or ruining whatever Naruto had given her. Only when she was satisfied that she hadn't made any mistakes in her calligraphy did she channel chakra into the last seal to unlock it. To her relief, the seal opened with a burst of white smoke. When it cleared, it revealed a hunting knife and a sheath sitting atop the scroll.
It was a simple knife, but gorgeous for it. The single-edged blade was about 18 cm long, with a clip point and a gently sweeping belly, perfect for stabbing, cutting, and skinning. The handle had a full tang and a pommel, and was made from some sort of dark wood. It had a simple cross-hatch grip pattern carved into it, and was perfectly contoured for her hand. When she grabbed it to test the weight and balance, Ahsoka noticed a note tied to the guard. When she unfolded it, she recognized more of Naruto's handwriting.
Ahsoka,
Happy birthday again, and congratulations on your hunt. I made this for you, and I'd love it if you carried it during your hunt. I'm sorry I can't be there in person, but I'd probably just annoy you, anyway. Besides, I know you'll be amazing, even without me around to compete with.
The Toads helped me forge the blade. It's made of chakra-conductive steel and quenched in their special oil, so it's nearly as strong as Mandalorian iron and you can channel chakra through it when you learn how. I made the handle out of wood from the forest outside my old village. Jiraiya had some sealed away for some weird reason. You've got the Will of Fire, even if you were never a Konoha shinobi, and I thought you should have something to remind you of that. I hope it serves you well on your hunt. I can't wait to hear all about it. May the Force be with you.
Naruto
Ahsoka put the note down, a smile threatening to split her face in half. 'Force, he can be so annoying, and then he goes and does something like this.' She shook her head. 'Freaking doofus always knows how to make my day.' She was still smiling when she fell asleep.
The next morning, after a hasty meal, she packed her gear, strapped her new knife to her leg, and met with Master Ti in one of the Temple hangars. Ahsoka's impatience lent her a haste beyond even her normal energetic pace, and in record time she had stowed her equipment and strapped in. Even then, she didn't stop tapping her foot until they were finally in hyperspace.
'I'm gonna take down the best prey anyone's ever seen,' she told herself, bouncing in her seat. 'I can't wait to see the expression on Naruto's face when I tell him all about it.'
OoOoOoOoOoOoO
That does it for this chapter. Naruto and the others are definitely in trouble. Aurra Sing is no joke, and this is closer to what she was like in Legends, when she was up there with the likes of Jango Fett and Cad Bane. She's extremely well trained, smart, sadistic, and more than a little crazy. She also knows how to use the Force and a lightsaber, though she doesn't like doing either very often.
Let me know what you think of her, as well as the interactions between Naruto and Ahsoka. I tried to show that they are currently just very good friends, but the basis of an eventual romantic relationship is forming. I really hate rushed romances, so I want them to already have a strong relationship before they actually admit they are in love.
If you have any questions, comments, or theories, please leave them in the review section. FF has recently been spotty in sending me emails about new reviews and PMs, so it might take me longer than normal to reply, but I will get around to it. Have a good day and goodbye.