So, people definitely had opinions about the last chapter. I knew, when I wrote it that, that it would be controversial, but I hadn't also expected it to become my most reviewed chapter so far, and by a long way. Most of the reviews were great, and I thank those of you who took the time to leave coherent, well thought out criticisms. There were a few people who left flames, but that's just par for the course. I don't mind flamers, so long as they don't expect me to rewrite an entire chapter just to satisfy them. I also lost a few readers, which I expected. Some people weren't interested in reading a story that got as dark as the last chapter, while others didn't like the direction the story was going. On the subject of reviews, if you want a question answered, please remember to log in and enable PMs. They are disabled by default, and if you don't enable them, I cannot respond to your question.

I would like to address the most common criticism from last time; that I've nerfed Naruto. Several people thought that he should have used shadow clones and kawarimi to save the Initiates. I did genuinely consider this, but I have my own mental rules regarding what you can and can't switch with. The easiest is your own shadow clone. It's your own chakra, so it's already prepared. Next is an inanimate object, the closer and simpler the better. Next are Force blind organics. Hardest of all are Force sensitives. It can be done, but it takes time and concentration, neither of which Naruto had. He also didn't have a means of escaping with six injured children to protect.

For those who said I made Naruto too weak, note that he didn't lose any fights. He was actually dominating the Mandalorians, and they are a serious threat. That's why Aurra took hostages; because he was too dangerous to confront head on. Given his new skills and training, I'd say Naruto is stronger now than he was at this point in canon, which would have been around the mission to rescue Gaara. He will reach his end series power in this story, but not until the end. This story will cover far more time than canon did, so his growth will be spaced out over that time.

Once again, please send whatever support you can to Ukraine. Every bit helps, and it's literally the least we can do.

Another reminder that this story is rated M. This chapter contains gore.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

Chapter 31

Even after she woke up from the stun bolt, Ahsoka couldn't focus on her surroundings. Her montrals gave her a fuzzy impression of someone behind her and more on either side. Something cold and hard jabbed into the back of her aching head, adding another bruise to her already battered rear lek. The throbbing sting joined a chorus of other aches and pains, a veritable symphony of agony that pressed down on her mind and scattered her thoughts. Even when she finally opened her eyes, her vision was a blurred mess. The light stabbed directly into her brain, and her eyelids slammed shut of their own accord. Just that brief effort proved too much for her, and she felt her mind slip back towards soothing unconsciousness.

She drifted afloat on a sea of hazy discomfort for some indeterminate amount of time. Each time her mind bobbed back up to the surface, she felt a little more clarity return. There were people around her. She sensed Barriss and her other clanmates. That was comforting, at least. They were all still alive. Unfortunately, she could also sense the discordant screech of Aurra Sing's Force presence. Unbidden, the memory of the crazed assassin's last words before she'd stunned Ahsoka rose in her mind. A shiver crawled up her spine and despair curdled in her gut before exhaustion and pain once more rose and pulled her down into the dark.

Eventually, though, she felt another presence draw near. Even through the fog that still smothered her mind, she recognized the whirling, chaotic orchestra that was Naruto in the Force. His presence warmed her as it had ever since their time in the undercity, when he'd saved her life and truly connected with the Force for the first time. Ever since that day, his Force signature had meant friendship, safety, and strength. Now, though, it sent a spike of terror through her at the thought of Aurra fulfilling her twisted promise. Ahsoka forced herself to focus through the pain and the lingering effects of the stun bolt, to see what was happening around her.

Her vision was slow to clear, but eventually she could make out Naruto, standing a dozen or so meters away. He was saying something, but she couldn't make all of it out. Her montrals felt like they were filled with water, and everything kept fading in and out. One moment, Naruto was halfway across the clearing. The next, he was walking towards Aurra Sing, his lightsaber missing. She could hear someone yelling, screaming, but the words wouldn't fit together in her head. She thought it might be Viir, but she couldn't be sure. Just staying conscious was still a challenge.

While her physical senses may have been malfunctioning, she could still feel the Force. There was a strong sense of warning building up around them. She didn't know what, exactly, but something terrible was about to happen. Ahsoka wanted to do something, needed to do something, but she couldn't. No matter how much she tried to coax and cajole her limbs into moving, her body simply refused to function yet. With every passing moment, she could feel the twin anchors of pain and exhaustion trying to drag her back into the dark.

Pshew!

The sound of a blaster bolt acted like a shot of adrenaline straight to her brain. The Force screamed in a way she had never felt before. Without conscious direction, her eyelids snapped back open. What she saw seared itself into her mind forever, in all of its surreal horror. Naruto knelt in front of Aurra Sing. The vicious assassin held a vibroknife, and had a beatific look on her pale face. All that faded to insignificance, however, compared to what was closest to her. Viir, sweet, brave, wonderful Viir, stood in front of her with a blaster hole burned through her neck. Ahsoka could actually see daylight shine through the place where her throat should have been.

"Ngaaah!" Helpless pain and shock tore from her lips in a howl of grief as she watched her friend topple to the ground. She felt the horrible moment when life left her, when Viir stopped being Viir and became just flesh, going cold. A terrible silence fell over the clearing, and the air itself seemed too shocked to move.

"Aaaaarrrggh." Naruto's animalistic scream split the silence, wind howled through the clearing, and suddenly Ahsoka couldn't breathe. Her lungs seized up and her brain froze because something was going to kill her and she was going to die. Bloodlust and hatred, stronger than anything she had ever felt before, squeezed her head like a vice. Sweat beaded on her brow. Every sensation came into hyperacute focus as ancient, primal survival instincts forced her body into overdrive.

'What the- this feels like killing intent, but it's so strong.' Ahsoka had felt killing intent before. Naruto had demonstrated it once, just a few weeks after they had met. That had been a mere trickle compared to the flood she felt now, though. Not even when Master Ti had taken her to Shili for her coming of age hunt had she felt such terror, and she had nearly been eaten by an Akul then. Now, though, her eyes stayed locked on Naruto as a strange, red energy bubbled out of his body and surrounded him in a cloak. It formed animal-like ears and sprouted one, two, three, four tails. With each new tail, the awful feeling of bloodlust intensified. Even Aurra seemed frightened and unsure of what was going on.

Ahsoka was a Jedi Initiate and a Togruta huntress, though. Fear could never hold her for long, especially not when her best friend was in obvious trouble. She didn't have the faintest clue what was happening with him, but she wasn't about to lose two friends in as many minutes. Taking advantage of her captor's distraction, she moved with adrenaline-fueled speed. Quick as blinking, she knocked the Mandalorian's hand away from her head, broke his wrist, and snatched his blaster up as he dropped it. The image of Viir's corpse blazed in her mind as she jammed the barrel under the warrior's helmet and pulled the trigger. The helmet contained the blast, but a fine spray of blood and bone still coated her hand. He collapsed backwards, his life snuffed out in an instant, but Ahsoka gave herself no time to think about what she had just done. Instead, she whirled back around and aimed the blaster at Aurra Sing. Every part of her wanted to kill the foul bitch who had attacked them. It was her fault Viir was dead. Just as she lined up her shot, though, several things happened at once.

First, Aurra seemed to break out of her stunned paralysis. She raised her vibroknife again, ready to slash Naruto's throat. Second, the ugly red energy that cloaked Naruto exploded upwards, sending a pillar of scarlet into the sky. Finally, just as Ahsoka was about to pull the trigger, Naruto roared.

It was like a bomb went off. The sound was too loud to process. It was too loud to even really be called sound. Instead, a shock wave burst from his mouth and flung everyone away. Aurra, Ahsoka, Mandalorians, and younglings all went flying a dozen meters backwards, propelled just by the force of Naruto's furious roar. It peeled the grass off the ground and left a shallow crater in the surrounding dirt.

Ahsoka tumbled over the ground, her arms wrapped around her head to protect her montrals and lekku from any further damage. Rocks and roots tore at her exposed skin, leaving dozens of tiny cuts and abrasions. Her hastily acquired blaster spun out of her grip and hurled out of sight. Something in her left ankle popped, and it flooded with the dull heat of adrenaline-suppressed pain. When she finally came to a rest and opened her eyes, for the second time that day, she saw a scene of horror.

Naruto was on all fours, surrounded by a boiling cloud of that foul red energy. His mask fell aside in tatters, revealing a set of six whisker-like marks on his cheeks and fangs even longer than hers. His hair looked shaggy and messier than usual. His eyes, normally a striking shade of ocean blue, now glowed like an open blast furnace, white-hot and filled with bloodthirsty anger. As she watched, his skin peeled off and burned away, revealing a swirling mass of red and black energy beneath. His screams cut into her soul, even as they quickly turned into howls and roars, as if from a wild animal. In a few brief seconds, where there had once stood Naruto, there now crouched a terrifying, demonic caricature of her best friend.
"Naruto, what happened to you?" Ahsoka whispered. Long ears crowned his head, and four enormous tails waved behind him. His mouth and eyes glowed as if lit by some internal fire. Worst of all, though, was the presence the thing had in the Force. It was a furious, howling gale of hatred and bloodlust. Not even Aurra's signature had been so malevolent. There was barely a trace of Naruto's usual symphony amidst the raging hurricane of darkness. He stood still and silent, scanning the area, his legs bunched and ready to move. Ahsoka froze instinctively. She recognized the behavior of an apex predator. Anything that moved was liable to wind up as prey. Sure enough, when one commando staggered to his feet, those burning white eyes instantly locked onto him.

"Me'ven? What the-"

"Raaaaggh!"

Naruto moved in a crimson blur, so fast Ahsoka could barely track him. In an instant, he crossed the distance to his target. His clawed hand slammed into the Mandalorian's helmeted face, and the legendarily indestructible armor crumpled like wet flimsi. A pulpy mix of blood, brains, and hair spurted out from the base of the ruined helmet, and the commando's feet spasmed. He tossed the corpse aside and howled in triumph while the other Mandalorians cursed.

"Don't just stand there." Aurra shouted. "Shoot it!"

Her order seemed to snap the other warriors out of their stupor. With characteristic Mandalorian speed, they raised their weapons and opened fire on Naruto. Bolt after bolt slammed into him, but all it seemed to do was annoy him. They left no visible markings on whatever evil-looking energy had covered his body. Still, his eyes narrowed and the oppressive feeling in the air grew heavier.

"Ggrrrr." He didn't bother moving this time. Instead, he lashed out with his tails. They stretched out with blinding speed and laid waste to all around him. One stabbed a Mandalorian through the chest, passing through her armor as if it weren't even there. Another sliced one in half, sending blood and viscera flying. Shrieks and curses filled the air as the Mandalorians flew around, trying desperately to avoid the deadly tails.

Ahsoka watched on in mesmerized horror for a few seconds before her training kicked in. She was in a combat situation with wounded comrades, and long hours of survival lessons paid off as her ingrained instincts overrode her morbid terror. Viir was dead and Naruto had somehow transformed into a monster, but she couldn't think about any of that. It would drive her insane to even try. Instead, she latched onto the one thing she could focus on without breaking down; getting her friends to safety.

Knox seemed to have recovered the most from his earlier defeat. The mottled blue Nautolan was on his feet, staring slack-jawed at the carnage behind her.

"Knox, we have to get out of here," she shouted, and gestured at the rest of their friends. Barriss and Galdos were too badly injured to move on their own, and Trilla was barely conscious. "Help me move them."

"Ahsoka, what's going on? V-Viir… and Naruto. What-"

"I don't know!" Ahsoka shook her head, trying to dispel the image of Viir's limp body and Naruto's skin burning off. She had to stay rooted in the moment. "Just- just help move them."

With the Force on their side, it only took a few minutes to move Barriss, Galdos, and Trilla to shelter behind a fallen log. The whole time, the sounds of violence and death raged in the clearing. Though she tried not to look, Ahsoka still caught a few brief glimpses out of the corner of her eye. From what she saw, it looked like Naruto, or rather the monster Naruto had become, wasn't very smart. He (or it, she didn't know and wasn't sure she wanted to) just lashed out at whoever was nearest, with no thought or strategy beyond blind rage. The blows were deadly when they landed, but the Mandalorians seemed adept at dodging them.

Mostly, though, she did her best to tune it out. Her primary focus was on making sure Galdos and Barriss didn't bleed to death. Both of them had passed out, and Galdos especially was in a bad way. His side was a shredded mess, and she was worried some of his air sacs may have ruptured. Her hands moved on autopilot, tearing Knox's cloak into bandages, packing Galdos's wound with cloth, and binding it with an impromptu dressing. All the while, her mind stayed numb and stalled. She felt like she was watching someone else work. It couldn't be her hands stained green and red with her friends' blood. It couldn't be her fingers tying a splint to Barriss's leg, just avoiding the jagged shard of bone sticking through her thigh. Just a few hours ago, she had been on the verge of fulfilling one of her lifelong dreams. Now, she was living in a nightmare.

The roar of an incoming ship forced her attention back to her surroundings. When she looked up, one of the Kom'rk class ships from before flew overhead. From its trajectory, it looked to have come from the direction of the wrecked Crucible. As she watched, it opened fire on Naruto. Yellow bolts as thick as saplings peppered the ground and slammed into his body. His bestial, glowing red form vanished beneath a cloud of dust and smoke. Her heart skipped a beat as she saw the laser cannons send him tumbling across the ground. He plowed a furrow into the ground, but it only seemed to make him angrier.

"Rrraaaaaaaarrrggghh!" A deafening roar blew the dust away, just in time for Ahsoka to see one of Naruto's arms, now distorted into a vicious claw, stretch out nearly two hundred meters and slam into the side of the ship. His punch cratered the hull plating and knocked the whole ship into a spin. Three Mandalorians with jetpacks managed to jump out before the engines belched smoke and caught fire. The whole ship burst into flames as it spiraled out of the air and crashed into the ground. A fireball mushroomed thirty meters into the air, and Ahsoka could feel the heat sting against her eyes even from where she was crouched. Ten lives winked out of existence. Their last moments of pain and terror sounded like a hoarse scream in the Force.

Naruto wasn't done, though. He crouched down and arced all four of his tails towards his mouth. For a moment nothing happened, and then Ahsoka felt power start to gather. In mere moments, it built into a blazing inferno in the Force. The air felt like syrup, and a leaden weight pressed down on her body. Around his tails, strange red and blue bubbles appeared out of thin air. With a start, Ahsoka recognized what they were.

'It's chakra, I'm sure of it. Pure chakra, but darker and more powerful than any I've ever felt. Not even Jiraiya can generate something this powerful.'

The bubbles of chakra swiftly coalesced into a meter wide sphere of dark, dense energy. It shuddered for a moment, before collapsing inwards into an even denser sphere, a little larger than a two fists put together. Whatever weight it had must have skyrocketed, because the ground beneath Naruto's feet shattered and compressed.

He opened his fang filled mouth as if to swallow the lump of chakra, and kept on opening it far past what should have been possible. With a horrible sound, like splintered wood, his face cracked and split open. Ahsoka shuddered at the sight of her best friend, however transformed, spreading his mutilated jaws nearly 180 degrees. With a sharp snap, he closed his mouth around the orb and gulped it down. A second later, she heard a dull thump, and his body expanded like a balloon. Somehow, he was still alive, and he reared back and faced the crashed fighter, along with most of the remaining Mandalorians.

Aurra seemed to realize what was about to happen a split second before everyone else. "Move!" She screamed and dove to one side. It was too late, however. Before any of the others could react, Naruto opened his mouth, and destruction poured forth.

—

…

—

Ahsoka's senses gave up under the assault. The noise, the heat, the sheer power of whatever Naruto had just unleashed was too vast for her mind to even attempt to process. Light stabbed into her eyes, spikes of pressure lanced into her montrals, and then everything became dark and silent. She felt the earth shake, and her bones vibrate, and the wind beat against her face. Her sight and hearing just shut down and hid until it was safe to go outside again. For a moment she thought perhaps she had died, but the continued ache of her wounds, her pummeled body crying out for rest, convinced her otherwise. Death wouldn't hurt so much.

Gradually, she felt the world settle. The ground stopped trembling, and the air fell still. Slowly, reluctantly, her sight and hearing returned. The first thing she noticed was the absence of the sounds of battle. There was no blaster fire, no shouted orders or agonized screams. Instead, she heard the soft crackle of flames and some pained moaning. Her vision took a few seconds more to come into focus, but when it did, her jaw dropped.

"Sith hells," she heard next to her. Knox's whispered curse was all the confirmation she needed that she wasn't hallucinating.

Between them and Naruto, nothing much had changed. The ground was still windswept, cratered dirt. Beyond Naruto, though, was a vista of destruction. For a kilometer in front of him, maybe further, the forest was just… gone. Whatever attack he'd unleashed had carved a trench, five meters deep and twenty meters wide, into the ground. The crashed Kom'rk fighter and Aurra's personal ship were little more than smoldering slag. The second fighter was still intact, but one of its wings was scorched and warped from the thermal bloom. Trees burned on either side of the gash in the land. Ahsoka thought she spotted the remains of some of the Mandalorians scattered amidst the destruction. Pieces of armor, glowing red hot, dotted the floor of the trench. The blast had obviously vaporized whatever bodies they had once protected, leaving only the nigh-invulnerable metal.

It was the most terrifying display of destruction Ahsoka had ever seen, and in front of it crouched Naruto, still monstrous and glowing. He looked no worse for having unleashed such a devastating attack. He wasn't the only thing left in the clearing, though. Aurra Sing, along with two of the commandos, had avoided the blast. She recognized one of them as the leader, the same one who had shot Viir. The other wore red and black armor. She thought he may have come from the ship Naruto had struck down. All three seemed as stunned as she and Knox were. Naruto, however, didn't stop to admire his work. He attacked.

Aurra was closest to him, and thus his first target. It was a testament to her lightning quick reactions that his first blow didn't take her head clean off her shoulders. The tips of his claws raked across her cheek instead, leaving deep, smoking wounds. She shrieked in a mix of shock and pain, and was too slow to avoid his next attack. With a loud, wet crunch, Naruto tore her left arm clean off at the elbow.

"Gyaaaaaahh!" Aurra crumpled, clutching the bleeding stump of her arm. Her head would likely have come off next, were it not for the two large rockets that slammed into Naruto's face. The explosion sent him flying backwards, trailing smoke and fire. He was on his feet again in a flash, but for the two Mandalorians who had just shot him, it was enough time. The red and black one grabbed Aurra, and flew off behind the leader, back towards the one remaining ship. Naruto howled in frustration and extended another punch to knock them down, but they were too agile. In less than a minute, they had reached the ship. Before Naruto could catch up to them, it took off and rocketed into the sky. Within seconds, it had vanished.

"Rrraaaaggh!" Naruto roared and raged and smashed the ground. His anger surged in the Force, a corrosive, visceral thing that prickled at Ahsoka's mind. She refused to let it deter her, though, and stepped out from behind the log and into the clearing.

"Naruto. Naruto, can you hear me?"

His head snapped around, and that awful, lambent gaze settled on her. His body language screamed predator, from the subtle tension in his legs to the coiled posture of his back. There was no recognition in those blank white eyes, nothing but rage and animal bloodlust. She did absolutely nothing. Carefully.

"Naruto, it's me. Ahsoka. Y-you can stop now, Naruto. Whatever this is, you can stop. It's over."

For a moment, she thought he recognized her. She saw a flicker of… something in his gaze. The barest hint of Naruto's usual presence sounded through the roaring of whatever he had become. For the briefest second, hope surged in her chest. Then one of his tails lashed out in a blur, and molten pain erupted in her stomach.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

Naruto didn't know where he was. He didn't know what was happening. Everything was dark, and he floated, barely aware, unsure even of who he was. There were sounds, but they were far away. His thoughts felt heavy, slow, as if encased in mud. A great weighted blanket pressed down in his mind, smothering everything. It took some time (minutes, hours, days?) before he finally recognized what it was.

Pain.

Overwhelming pain.

Not physical pain either, though that was most certainly present. No, most it was blind, raging grief.

Grief for his sister.

For Viir.

The memories slammed into him like falling boulders. The crash. Fighting the Mandalorians. Running to save his friend. Viir getting shot. Watching as she fell, her life pouring out from the hole in her throat.

"It hurts. Kami, it hurts. Why does everything hurt so much?"

"I can help you. I can take the pain away."

The deep, rumbling avalanche of a voice echoed in his mind. The darkness in front of him coalesced into the shape of the Kyuubi. Its eyes glowed like banked wildfires, and its lips parted in something that might be called a smile. Water flooded out of the cage, filling the tunnel. It lapped at his shins, and seemed to pull on him, trying to drag him down.

"You? What's going on? Why am I here?" Naruto's thoughts were still scattered. He couldn't focus properly for more than a second before pain and grief took a sledgehammer to his concentration.

"You chose to be here. I told you this day would come. When you realized your own weakness and came to me for power. You are just like every other human, greedy and pathetic."

The fox's words pounded into Naruto's mind like stakes, filling every corner of his thoughts for a moment. The water flowed out faster, and its pull increased. It took serious effort for him to gather his will and move beyond the booming echoes.

'I have to get out of here.' Just putting that thought together left him exhausted, though. The thought of actually summoning up the will to escape his mind was absurd. Unbidden, Viir's face, pale and still, flashed in his mind. The lure of the water, of sweet, dark oblivion, called to him ever louder. Only sheer stubbornness kept him from surrendering to the pull and slipping back beneath its surface.

"Fool. Escape is pointless. Your friend is already dead. You failed her. You let her die."

"Th-that's not true." It wasn't, was it? Ignoring the Kyuubi's words had never been this hard before. Naruto had always pushed them aside easily, like brushing away an annoying insect. Now, however, it felt like pulling fish hooks out of his brain. The words stuck in his mind, echoing long after they should have faded.

"Do not delude yourself. You were too weak to save her. Now, all you can do is punish those that killed her."

Naruto tried to shake his head, but even that was too much effort. 'No.' The word came out as a tiny whisper, barely audible even to him. "It hurts."

"It does not have to. You know what to do. Tear off the seal. Give me control. I will destroy those that hurt you. You will never feel pain again."

He tried to fight it. Some small, screaming part of him knew it was wrong. Knew ceding control to the fox was madness. The cold, numbing pain of grief sapped any strength he had, though. The Kyuubi's promise sounded pleasant amidst such agony. No more pain. No more hurting. An end to this unendurable suffering. The pull of the water around his knees grew heavier, even as his exhaustion mounted.

"What is there to lose? You have nothing. You are nothing. Surrender and let it end."

Like a candle in a blizzard, the last spark of Naruto's will to fight flickered, wavered, and guttered out. The Kyuubi grinned as he took a step towards the cage, and then another. At another time, such an expression of the fox's face would have left Naruto nervous and on guard. Now, it barely even registered in his numb mind. A fog had settled over him. His whole world had narrowed down to the huge paper seal covering the center of the cage in front of him. Everything felt distant, dissociated, as if he were watching a holo of someone else. Slowly, he drew closer and closer to the paper, until it dominated his field of view. With every step he took, his mind clouded further, and the Kyuubi's smile grew.

Just as he trudged within arm's reach of the seal, a faint voice reached his ears. At first it was just a vague buzz, but it soon grew into a loud, familiar cry.

"Naruto, it's me, Ahsoka." The sound of his best friend's voice pierced some of the fog that had enveloped his thoughts. He shook his head and blinked, surprised to find himself so near to the cage. The Kyuubi's smile faded, and it growled in frustration.

"Ahsoka?" He asked. His mind still felt muddled, his thoughts scattered. Why was hearing Ahsoka? He wasn't sure what was going on, and the cold numbness still smothered his limbs. He stood in place, trying to piece his thoughts together.

"Y-you can stop now, Naruto. Whatever this is, you can stop. It's over." She sounded nervous, but determined. More of the fog around his mind cleared, and he took a half-step back from the cage.

"Quiet, bitch!" The Kyuubi snarled. Water surged out of the cage in a raging torrent. There was a moment of awful, tense silence, and then a pained scream rang out through the darkness. Naruto's eyes widened and the last of his confusion burned away.

"Ahsoka!" He whirled to glare at the Kyuubi. "What did you do?"

"Hahahaha. It is your body that is acting. I am trapped in here, fool. What did you do?"

"Shut up, you monster," Naruto screamed. "You hurt her. Let me out of here."

The Kyuubi snorted and growled.

"You might as well let me out. I'm not letting you free."

"You think you have a choice? You already lost control of your body. My power flows through you. Your mind will fall soon enough. I will be free. Tear off the seal now, and perhaps I will spare your little friend."

Naruto ground his teeth, but said nothing. He could sense the truth behind the Kyuubi's words. Already it was becoming harder to focus. Whatever clarity Ahsoka's voice had granted him wouldn't last long under the sheer weight of the fox's chakra. Despair threatened to overwhelm him, but he grit his teeth and resisted. His friends were in danger and he had to help them. It was as simple and complicated as that.

"I said. Let. Me. Out!" He shouted, and with a furious roar of his own, he set his will against the Kyuubi's. For a moment, nothing happened, and then he felt his mind begin to trickle back up into his body.

Instantly, he felt as though he had plunged into molten lead. White-hot pain burned along his nerves, fire coated his skin, and lightning seared his bones. He could feel the awful, poisonous strength of the Kyuubi's chakra coursing through his body, and with it came rage. Rage and hatred beyond anything he could grasp. The sheer force of the fox's hate threatened to pound his will flat and crush his mind into powder. Just moving against it was like trying to run waist deep in mud. It bore down on him with the weight of an ocean, and then it got worse.

Naruto felt when the Kyuubi started fighting against him. He had taken it off guard with his initial burst of defiance, but now the beast fought back in earnest. Its will grabbed at his thoughts and tried to drag him back down into the seal. Between the pain, the rage, and the sheer power of the Kyuubi's will, all he could do was dig in and try to endure. Fighting back seemed ludicrous. It would be like fighting against the tide.

'And this is only four tails of its power,' he thought. 'I can't even imagine facing its full might. No wonder it destroyed so much of the village.'

He had no idea how long their struggle lasted. It could have been hours or mere slivers of a second. Time was meaningless. Naruto could feel his strength flagging. Weathering the assault was taxing him to his limits. Every time he tried to gain ground, to wrest back control of even the smallest part of his body, the Kyuubi squashed him flat. Just as he thought his will would fail and his mind break under the pressure, he felt a new presence in his mind. Though he could not see, he still caught an impression of bright light, tinged with green, and of a kind, sad smile. He felt a gentle hand press against his back, and a soft, feminine, familiar voice whispered in his mind.

Young warrior, do not give in. There is much yet to do. Look before you and find your strength.

As if someone had flung open a set of heavy curtains, the darkness all around him parted. Light and color swirled for a second and then resolved into an image. With a shock, Naruto realized it was what his body was seeing while his mind battled the Kyuubi.

It was Ahsoka. She looked horrible. Bruises and scrapes covered her face, and her jaw had swollen up so much he was amazed she could talk. Dirt and blood stained the normally radiant orange of her skin, leaving it a mess of brown, red, and green. Her white leggings were ripped to shreds, and he could see bloody gashes beneath the ruined fabric. Worst of all, though, was an ugly, star-shaped wound on her stomach. It looked to be somewhere between a burn and a stab wound, and it shone a raw, angry red. Blood leaked from it in a gentle trickle, staining her skirt.

Despite all that, though, she stood straight. Her eyes shone with the same defiant, fiery strength that he had always admired her for. She held his lightsaber brandished out in front of her, the orange blade making her skin glow as if lit from within and highlighting every scratch and bruise. Behind her, he glimpsed Knox, pale-faced and obviously exhausted, but still alive. He couldn't see any of the others, but even that couldn't dampen the surge of hope and warmth that came from seeing Ahsoka. The sight of her standing in front of him, alive and (sort of) well, rekindled his will.

"You're not Naruto," she said. "The Naruto I know would never hurt his friends. Whatever you are, I'm going to stop you and get Naruto back." She sounded strained, but determined. At her words, Naruto felt a surge of affection well up within him, accompanied by an equally strong resolve to protect his friends. It blazed in him like a star, and burned away his exhaustion, his despair, and his overwhelming grief at Viir's death. There was no time for those things now. They would be back later, if that he was certain, but for now, he had people to protect.

There. That is your strength, young warrior. Now, use it. Drive the beast back into its cage. You know how.

Naruto didn't need any further encouragement. He took all the love and affection he felt for his friends, all of his joy at the simple knowledge that they were alive, all of his resolve to keep them that way, and he used it to reach deeper into the Force than he ever had before. The power rushed through his mind, filling him with light and life. The sheer magnitude of it dwarfed even what he had used in the undercity all those years ago to form the impromptu blast wall. It was a howling storm, an inferno fueled by his will and the fundamental power of the universe. Naruto had always drawn strength from his feelings, and right now, he was feeling a lot. With strength like he had never felt before, he set to work shoving the Kyuubi's power back into the seal.

Despite all the emotions strengthening his will and connection to the Force, it was still a titanic endeavor. The Kyuubi's will, even the small fraction it could project beyond the seal, was mighty indeed. Struggling against it felt like swimming through solid granite, but Naruto pushed on. With every bit of progress he made, the pain from his tortured body burned harsher, but still he kept going. He clung to that brief glimpse of Ahsoka like a bit of driftwood in a flood. So long as he held onto that image, and the knowledge that he was protecting his friends, he could endure any pain.

The fox fought back, but it was a losing proposition. Most of its power and nearly all of its will remained locked behind the seal. Now that Naruto had cleared his head and gained some momentum, it was only a matter of time. Slowly, agonizingly, bit by bit, he gathered the toxic chakra from his body and forced it back into the seal. It burned in ways he couldn't describe. In the distance, he heard someone screaming, and after a while realized it was him. Pain stretched each moment into an eternity, but he refused to quit. With one final mental shove, he stuffed the last of the awful power back behind his father's seal.

'And stay there!' He screamed in his head. The Kyuubi roared in impotent fury, but already its voice was receding into the distance. Naruto felt the familiar rising sensation of returning to his body, and then light blossomed before his eyes. He blinked against the sudden brightness until his vision cleared. The pain was still there, like a vast asteroid drifting ever closer, but for now his body simply wasn't processing it. After a moment, his eyes focused, and he once again saw Ahsoka standing in front of him. Her eyes were wide and concerned, and his saber hung limp and deactivated at her side.

"Naruto?" She asked. Her voice was hopeful, but tinged with caution. He couldn't help but smile slightly at the sound of her voice. It felt like ripping saw blades through his cheeks, but just hearing her was a comfort.

"Ahsoka…" he said. He tried to say more, but a sudden wave of exhaustion slammed into him like a speeding starship. He barely had time to realize what was happening before his mind yielded to the strain of the past hour and he slipped into soothing unconsciousness. The last thing he saw was Ahsoka running towards him with her arms outstretched.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

Ahsoka was surprised she was still alive. When Naruto, or rather, whatever monster had taken over Naruto's body, had lashed out at her, she had fully expected to die. She had seen those tails slice fully armored Mandalorians clean in half. There was no chance she would survive a hit like that. In the split second before the sharp red appendage slammed into her, she closed her eyes and braced for the end.

It never came. Instead, she felt Knox's Force presence latch onto her and drag her backwards fast enough to give her whiplash. At the same moment, what felt like a fiery brand stabbed into her stomach. Her vision flashed white as the pain momentarily drove everything else from her mind.

She regained awareness a half second later to find herself lying on the ground a dozen meters from where she had been standing. Her head was ringing and her stomach burned where the tail had nearly skewered her. She looked down, expecting to see a gaping wound torn in her abdomen. To her shock, she had only a relatively shallow injury a few centimeters to the left of her navel. It still burned and seethed as if filled with acid, but it didn't even look like it had pierced her abdominal wall.

'Way to go, Knox,' she thought. In the back of her mind, she knew she was probably in shock. Her thoughts were drifting aimlessly, and everything had a light, floaty quality to it. She knew there was something important that she should be doing, but focusing was beyond her for the moment.

A few seconds later, an earthshaking roar tore her from her stupor. She glanced up and saw the monster that had taken over Naruto walking slowly towards her. Knox was screaming at her to get up, and she scrambled to her feet. Her joints and muscles screamed in protest, but she ignored them. She had to stop the monster somehow. Knox, Barriss, Trilla, and Galdos would all die if she didn't.

She cast about for something to use as a weapon, but there was nothing near her but sticks and rocks. As she grew more and more desperate, she heard a faint strain of music on the edge of her Force senses. It sounded a little like Naruto, but also different. It was simpler, clearer, a drifting, crystalline melody chiming out from her left. When she looked, she immediately spotted a glint of copper among the blood-stained dirt.

'Naruto's lightsaber!' She called it to her with a flicker of will, and it flew neatly into her outstretched grasp. It was too big for her hands, and the balance was wrong for her, but in that moment it felt perfect. She thumbed the activation switch and gasped in awe as the orange blade erupted into life. The lightsaber sang in fierce joy, so very like her friend. The song bolstered her courage and gave strength to her flagging limbs. With the blade in hand, she faced down the approaching monster and bared her fangs in defiance. To her surprise, it stopped in its tracks and growled at her. Its blazing white eyes gave no hint of what was going on in its head.

"You're not Naruto," she said. "The Naruto I know would never hurt his friends. Whatever you are, I'm going to stop you and get Naruto back."

The creature snarled at her and tensed as if to lunge. She tightened her grip on the saber and readied herself for what she knew would be a short fight. Ahsoka had watched this thing cut down Mandalorian warriors like they were blades of grass. There was nothing she could realistically do but try to stall it for a few seconds and hope something happened. It would probably mean her death, but she was training to be a Jedi. If it came down to her life versus the lives of her friends, then that was no choice at all.

To her shock, though, the demonic creature didn't attack. It didn't even move. Instead, it just stayed crouched in front of her, tensed and silent. Tentatively, Ahsoka reached out with the Force and tried to sense what was happening with the creature. When she sensed the beast's presence in the Force, she gasped and let the lightsaber fall to her side, deactivated. Amidst all the howling and rage that made up its signature, she was certain she could detect the familiar symphony of Naruto's presence. It started off faint, only barely noticeable, but with every passing moment it grew louder and louder, while the awful, screaming fury began to dwindle.

"Why isn't it attacking?" Knox asked from behind her. She just shook her head.

"I'm not sure. I think Naruto's regaining control. I can sense him again."

"I think you're right," Knox said. "Look at it. The tails are shrinking."

Sure enough, the four deadly tails were steadily losing mass. In barely a minute, they shrunk and disappeared one by one. At the same time, the swirling red chakra receded from Naruto's body. His limbs returned to their normal shape and position with a disgusting crunching noise, and the terrible white glow faded from his eyes and mouth. The low growls faded, only to be replaced by a steadily increasing scream. It was a sound of unbearable, agonized pain, and Ahsoka could see why.

"Force, his skin," she breathed, her eyes wide and horrified. "It's… gone."

As the red chakra shrank back into Naruto's body, it left behind a bloody ruin. Nearly all the skin beneath it had simply burned away, leaving raw, exposed flesh and muscle tissue. Her stomach roiled at the awful sight, and she could hear Knox heaving behind her. It was horrible to look at. His clothes, what was left of them, instantly darkened to red. She could see the muscles of his face stretch as his lips parted in a howl of agony. She wanted to do something, anything, but she didn't dare even move for fear of making things worse. Finally, after an eternity of screaming and blood, Naruto's voice petered out into a series of raspy pants. His shoulders slumped, and his posture relaxed from the taught rictus it had been.

When his eyes fluttered open, Ahsoka was relieved to see that they were once again their normal sapphire blue. The already prominent color looked downright shocking next to the flayed crimson of his face. He blinked a few times and glanced around before his gaze settled on her. She had no idea how he was even standing with such injuries, but he looked more exhausted than anything else.

"Naruto?" She hated how weak her voice sounded, but the physical and emotional trauma of the past few hours was taking its toll. When she spoke, Naruto's mouth twitched into what might have been a smile. It was hard to tell with his wounds.

"Ahsoka…" he started, before his eyes rolled back into his head and his knees buckled.

"Naruto!" She tried to catch him, but with her injuries she was too slow. He collapsed to the ground, and terror clutched at her heart. She had already lost Viir; she wouldn't be able to bear it if she lost Naruto on the same day. Much to her relief though, when she reached him, she saw his chest rising and falling steadily. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Knox rush over to check on them both. He looked dead on his feet, his skin pale and dry. Nautolans had highly sensitive nervous systems, and taking three stun bolts at once could have easily sent him into a coma. Nevertheless, he was, for the moment, still on his feet.

"Is he…?"

Ahsoka shook her head. "He's alive. I… I don't know what to do, though. He's… I don't even know if we can touch him. What if it makes it worse?" She had never felt so useless. Even when facing down a dozen Mandalorian commandos, she had at least been able to do something. Now, though, she didn't know. She wasn't a healer, and nothing had prepared her for what to do with someone whose skin was burned off.

"I don't think there's anything we can do, Ahsoka," Knox said. His voice was weak, and when she looked at him, he was barely staying upright. The effort of saving her from that last attack must have cost him the last of his adrenaline-fueled strength. "Naruto's always been tough, and you know how fast he heals. We'll just have to trust in the Force."

Ahsoka didn't respond. After a few seconds, she heard a soft thump and looked up. Whatever well of energy Knox had been drawing on to keep himself going seemed to have finally run dry. He had passed out on the ground next to Naruto, snoring gently. With an almost mechanical numbness, she checked his pulse, found it to be fast, but steady, and turned him on his side to keep his airway clear and his gills out of the dirt. In the same manner, she checked on Trilla, Barriss, and Galdos to make sure they were still stable. It was only then, when she returned to Naruto's side, that the full weight of the situation came crashing down on her.

She was alone.

Viir was dead, everyone else was injured, and she. Was. Alone.

At that moment, she didn't feel like a confident young Jedi in training. She felt very small, and very helpless, and very, very scared. The tenuous grip she'd had on her emotions finally slipped, and tears burst forth. She cried out of grief for Viir, out of worry for her friends, out of pain from her various injuries, and out of pure stress. After the terror and brutality of the last few hours, it was an enormous relief to just let some of it out. She kept moving, and continued to check on each of her friends in turn, but she could no longer hold back the tears.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

Far above Rago, the two surviving Mandalorians, Pre Vizsla and Gar Saxon, finally coaxed their bruised ship into hyperspace. Between the damage from the exploding escape pod and whatever attack the monster had used, the Komr'k was barely spaceworthy, but it managed. Once they were in hyperspace, safe from whatever nightmare had slaughtered their fellows, they both pulled off their helmets.

"What was that demon back there, alor?" The red-armored Saxon asked. His face was pale and streaked with sweat, as was the blue and gray armored Vizsla.

"I don't know. Some jetii magic. You saw that boy. He turned into… whatever that was."

Saxon grunted. "This whole op's osik'la. We just lost most of our best fighters."

"Nu kyr'adyc, shi taab'echaaj'la," Vizsla said, and Saxon repeated the words. "We have enough people back on Concordia to rebuild. It'll take time, but we've never relied on numbers. When word spreads about how a jetii massacred our people, others will see the truth and flock to our cause. Bo-Katan and the rest of the Nite Owls can pick up the slack in the meantime."

Saxon grunted again, but a strangled gasp of pain from the back of the ship grabbed his attention before he could say anything. He looked to see that Aurra Sing had regained consciousness. He had applied a tourniquet to her stump and sprayed the wound with bacta so she wouldn't bleed out, but he hadn't expected her to wake up so quickly. It spoke volumes about how tough she was.

"What are we going to do with her?" He whispered. "We can't take her back with us. Black Sun will be all over her when they found out she fucked up the job."

"You really think that boy is still alive?" It was a fair question, seeing as last Gar had seen him, all his skin had boiled off and he'd transformed into some beast from the depths of a nightmare. He wasn't about to take chances, though, and he certainly wasn't going back to investigate.

"I think we should dump her as soon as possible," he said. He would have suggested they kill her, but he didn't want to become the target of Black Sun's displeasure himself. Before he could come up with an alternative, though, he felt something tug on his blaster. It flew out of his holster faster than he could react and spun straight into the outstretched hand of Aurra Sing. Her were glowing a sickly yellow, and there was an air of feral madness around her. He froze and felt his commander do the same next to him. She may have been crippled, but every child on Mandalore knew an animal was at its most dangerous when injured, and there was no doubt in his mind that's exactly what Aurra was now. A wild animal.

"Take me… to Nar Shaddaa," she hissed.

"That's six sectors out of our way," Pre said. "Put that down before you get hurt."

Aurra didn't say anything. She just aimed and fired the blaster, sending a yellow bolt straight into Pre's holster and slagging his own blaster. It erupted in a shower of sparks, and he swore and ripped it off.

"Haar'chak! You crazy shabuir."

Her expression never changed. "Now, I've got the only weapon you can use on this ship without killing us all," she said. "Take me to Nar Shaddaa, or I'll kill you both and get there, anyway."

Saxon growled, but Pre held up a hand before he did anything violent. "Fine. We'll take you, but you're going to owe us. And I will collect one of these days, believe me."

The blaster didn't waver, but Aurra gave them a psychotic grin. Saxon thought it might have been one of the most frightening things he'd ever seen, including what he'd just witnessed on Rago.

"Ooh, sounds exciting. I can't wait. Maybe next time, we can both kill some Jedi kids. It's no fair you got all the fun this time."

Both of them shuddered. This woman was insane. Nevertheless, she had them at blaster point, and neither of them fancied seeing if she would truly make good on her threat or not. Reluctantly, Saxon punched in the coordinates for Nar Shaddaa.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

Back on Coruscant, in his hidden meditation chamber, Darth Sidious opened his eyes with a gasp. Something was wrong. Something was terribly wrong.

He had been monitoring Aurra Sing's mission to assassinate the Uzumaki boy and the Jedi younglings with him. Using the Veil, he was able to extend his senses and scry events almost anywhere in the Republic without ever leaving Coruscant. He had been eagerly awaiting the feel of Uzumaki's death when something… unexpected had happened. One of the younglings had died, and then there had been a surge of power like nothing Sidious had ever felt before. It had been old, and dark, and strong. Stronger than Yoda. Even stronger than him. It had burst forth like an explosion, blinding his senses and forcing him back into his body. If he had stayed even for a second longer, he feared his spirit would have been torn to shreds just by being in proximity to such power.

He cursed at being unable to discern what was happening. Uzumaki's death was not a linchpin of his plans, true, but it was hardly insignificant, either. The boy was close with Anakin, and his death was meant to be the first step in driving his future apprentice back towards the Dark. It would also leave both Windu and Jiraiya distracted and vulnerable, allowing him time to move with greater impunity. Most importantly, he wanted to eliminate the bit before he grew into the threat he knew he could be. The damned child's mere arrival had altered the future, and events still bent around him like water around a rock. The boy was a danger to the Plan, and Sidious refused to tolerate any such thing.

Now, it seemed Uzumaki was even more dangerous than he had previously suspected. Whatever power Sidious had felt, it had come from inside him. It hadn't just been the Dark side either; he realized. No, it had been chakra. Thus far, his experiments with chakra had proved to be of limited utility. He had generated it within himself, and performed a few simple techniques, but nothing overly impressive. Certainly not enough to justify spend much time studying the esoteric Force art. However, if chakra could produce power such as he had just felt, then perhaps his dismissal had been premature. Whatever he had sensed had been terrifying, but also tantalizing. If he could harness such power for himself…

"It seems you are even more of a curiosity than I had thought, Naruto Uzumaki." A poisonous grin twisted his face. "Perhaps you can still be of use, after all."

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

Omake: Ahsoka's Hunt 4

The morning of her hunt, Ahsoka rose before the sun, so as not to waste useful light. She packed her kit, ate a quick meal of dried meat, and waited for the dawn alongside Master Ti. When the first rays of light stole over the horizon, she got up and bowed to the older woman.

"May the Force be with you, Ahsoka," Shaak said. "I'll see you in a few days."

"I'll make you proud, Master. I promise." With that, she headed out into the forest in search of prey.

As it turned out, she had made the right decision in keeping to the woods. Not even two hours had passed before she picked up a lirsu trail. Judging by the size of the hoofprints, as big as her splayed hand, and their depth, it was a good sized specimen too. The tracks were a few days old, but still easy to follow. Smiling at her good fortune, she set about tracking down the lirsu.

The beast had a good head start on her, and it took her until late the next morning before she finally laid eyes on her quarry. The lirsu was a young bull, with six legs and a muscled, barrel shaped body. Its neck was short, and its head was long, with a pointed snout and wide, flaring nostrils. Even with its short neck, it stood half a head taller than her, with short, yellow fur, dappled with brown and blue. Three long scars traced their way over its rear haunches, evidence of a near miss with some large predator, perhaps even an akul. Best of all were its antlers. Even for a lirsu of such size, they were magnificent. They rose from its skull and formed an intricate, interlocking helmet of forked bone, ideal for both protecting its head during territorial disputes and attracting a mate. Sadly for this lirsu, it would never have the chance to do either.

Slowly, and in total silence, she moved from shadow to shadow. Her stealth training, along with her natural camouflage and Naruto's tips on moving through a forest, ensured that her prey remained completely unaware of her presence as she crept into position. In just a few minutes, she had hidden herself behind a tree just ten meters from where the lirsu was grazing on a berry bush. She pulled one spear off her back and took a deep breath to center herself. All distractions faded away, from the itch under her right lek to the sound of birds chirping in the trees. There was nothing but her, her weapon, and her prey. Using her montrals, she could tell where the lirsu was even without looking at it. In her mind, she pictured the throw, going over every detail, every angle, until she could visualize as clearly as if watching it before her. Patience rarely come easily to her, but this was different. This was hunting. It was in her blood, and it required nothing less than perfection. Only then, when she knew beyond any doubt what the outcome would be, did she move.

In a single, fluid motion, she stepped out from behind the tree, drew back her arm, sighted the lirsu, and threw the spear. It took less than a second. The moment she let go, she knew it was a good throw. Sure enough, her spear raced through the air and buried itself right between where its front and middle legs joined its torso, sinking deep into its heart. A perfect shot. The lirsu jerked and took off in a run, desperate to escape the sudden attack. It didn't make it 100 meters before it stumbled and fell, though. Ahsoka took off after, knife ready to put it out of its misery, but it proved unnecessary. By the time she reached the creature, she could sense its life had faded. All told, it was less than a minute from the time she had stepped out of cover to a successful kill.

"Ha!" She shouted, too excited to stay quiet. Her first ever hunt? And it had gone about as perfectly as it could have. The spear had snapped off inside the lirsu when it had run away, but it hardly mattered. She had her prize; now all that remained was getting it back to camp.

First, she gutted her kill to preserve the meat and lighten the load, keeping only the heart and liver. From there, she fashioned an impromptu sled out of branches bound with cord from her kit. Much like her spears, it was crude, but effective. She used the rest of her rope to fashion a harness for herself and tied it to the sled. With all that done, she rolled the carcass onto the sled, tied it down, and set off back to camp. Without the need to follow a winding game trail, she estimated it would take 8 or so hours to get there, putting her well within her three-day time limit.

"Well, here goes nothing."

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

It was around four hours later that Ahsoka noticed something wasn't right. Something prickled on the edge of her senses, a persistent feeling that she couldn't quite pin down. It was hard to focus through the effort of hauling her kill. The lirsu weighed at least 50 kilos, and even with the sled, dragging through the forest was tiring. The harness chafed against her skin, sweat dripped into her eyes, and the muscles in her legs and back grumbled in protest under the strain. Nevertheless, the feeling didn't go away. Instead, it kept getting stronger and stronger.

After a few minutes, she decided to take a break and find out what was making her so jumpy. No sooner had she shrugged off the harness than the Force cried out in warning. Something rustled off to her right, and without hesitation, she jumped to the left. Half a heartbeat later, a large, furry figure crashed into the ground right where she had been standing. When she landed and saw just what had almost crushed her, the blood froze in her veins. With the shaggy orange fur, four agile limbs, a scaled snout, and powerful jaws filled with sharp, triangular teeth, there was no mistaking it for anything else. It was an akul, and it was after her.

It was young, she thought, and not yet fully grown. Of course, that didn't mean much when it was already larger than the lirsu she had been dragging for the past few hours, and much more heavily built. Young or not, one bite from those terrible jaws could tear her arm right off her body. It would be a dangerous foe for a fully equipped team of three adult hunters. As it was, she was on her own, tired, and armed with two primitive spears. Logic dictated that she flee. There was a freshly killed lirsu not two meters away. If she ran, odds were the akul would go after the easy meal, and she could escape unharmed. It was a good plan, a sensible plan. It was also not going to happen.

That was her prize. She had tracked it, killed, and dragged it through the woods for a dozen kilometers. There was no way she was going to abandon it to some other predator and fail her hunt. Ancient instincts, ingrained in her ancestral DNA, refused to let her surrender her kill without a fight.

Even more important than that, though, was her own stubborn refusal to back down or be intimidated. By anything. Ever. It just was not in her to run away. She was Ahsoka Tano, Jedi Initiate, soon-to-be Padawan, and Togruta huntress. She had fought off hive rats and the Cthon in one of the most dangerous places in the galaxy, and faced down gangs of slavers. They hadn't yet invented the challenge she would run from. So, rather than dash into the woods and save her own skin, she grabbed her two remaining spears and got ready to fight.

"Raaaaagghh," she screamed in defiance to the akul. It answered with a deafening roar of its own, but she stood her ground. For a moment, it felt as if the entire universe held its breath. There was no sound, nothing moved, even time seemed to slow. It was an instant of perfect stillness, where nothing happened at all. Then, in a flash, it was over, and everything happened at once.

Faster than its size would have suggested was possible, the akul bunched its hind legs and pounced at the tiny Togruta that dared challenge its dominance. At the same time, Ahsoka threw one of her spears, aiming for its vulnerable throat. Its speed took her off guard, though, and the spear sank into the meat of its shoulder. The coarse orange fur acted as a natural armor of sorts and prevented the missile from penetrating deep enough to do any real damage. Luckily, the unexpected pain was enough to throw the akul's leap off, and gave her just enough time to avoid having her own throat ripped out by those snapping jaws. As she jumped out of the way, though, it swiped at her with its claws and carved a painful gash into her right knee.

"Gyaah," she grunted as the razor-sharp claws tore through her skin, and two lines of fiery pain bloomed against her knee. Somehow, she avoided falling on her face when she landed, but the impact made her hiss in pain. Her leg still took her weight when she tested it, though, so that was something. It was bleeding quite a bit, though, and that could prove to be a problem, assuming she actually lived long enough to bleed to death. That was by no means a certainty, as the akul spun around, seemingly unconcerned by the spear sticking out of its shoulder. Ahsoka began to suspect she might just be over-matched in this fight.

'It doesn't matter,' she told herself, banishing her fear. 'It's too late to run, anyway. Besides, this fight isn't over yet.' With the Force, she pulled the spear out of the akul's shoulder and back into her hand. The beast yelped as its wound tore open and eyed her warily. It was smart enough to recognize that she was the one who had hurt it.

She smirked and took up a fighting stance. "That's right, you big sleemo. You're not the only one who's dangerous. Now, time for round two."

With twin battle cries, they charged.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

I hope this managed to live up to everyone's expectations. By far, the hardest part of this chapter to write were the scenes in Naruto's mindscape. I tried to draw inspiration from both his four-tails rampage and his rampage against Pein, but both of those scenes used a lot of visual symbolism, and not all of it made sense from a lore perspective. For those of you who guessed that the Daughter would make another appearance, well done. You win internet kudos.

In case it wasn't clear last chapter, these Mandalorians are Death Watch. Not all of it, but their most skilled and radical followers. Note that neither Bo-Katan nor Ursa Wren were present for this mission. Pre Vizsla was the one who killed Viir, and Gar Saxon led the attack on Naruto. This is not the last time they will appear, either. Expect this incident to have long-lasting impacts for numerous groups.

As far as the omake goes, I know very little about hunting. I tried to be as realistic as I could, but it's more of a character story about Ahsoka, not a hunting documentary. Let me know what you thought. Please leave a review with any questions, complaints, or creative insults you want to share. I'll see you next chapter.