I'M ALIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE! And I'm bringing you the next chapter of Reading Naruto: Lunar Eclipse.

"I'll read next." Ino says with a smile on her face. Iruka hands her the book.

Codes and Corellia

It took nearly a month to wipe out the early death dogs that were running amok, causing problems. However, with Shikamaru's negotiation skills and a look at the land titles (Deluvion purchased the now known "Valley of the dogs" decades ago under a false name), they found that in spite of the wild dog attacks, the only colonists killed had illegally entered the old hermit's land with all guns blazing. The people weren't 100% thrilled with things because of the lost lives and livestock but the overseer smoothed things over as best he could and sent Team Naruto back to Cymbalta with a commendation letter and bonus pay. Naruto's only regret was his new ultra-cool lightsaber didn't have an orange blade. Everyone face-faulted at that comment.

Everyone except Naruto did the same, even Hinata face-faulted and she loves him. Naruto just pouts at the lack of an orange blade.

It had been a few weeks since the mission to Sarafem. Naruto and the others stayed busy doing odd jobs for the guild and training. Even though he was interested, Naruto had yet to take a crack at contacting the holocron. On the other hand, he had been studying the Jedi Order and the Sith Empire. It seemed that the Jedi were more or less guardians of the Galactic Republic based on Coruscant and their dark counterparts of the Sith Empire were based on Korriban at some point. The conflict between the light and dark side Force (I capitalized force, Thayer) users had been going strong for literal millennia.

"Damn. Sounds like the rivalry between the Senju and Uchiha clans because of Asura and Indra." Naruto says with a frown before getting hit in the back of the head by Kushina.

That led to the question: where did the chakra users fall into this? The ninja discussed this at length and come to the conclusion that chakra users may have been brought back to life to fight or aid the Force users. But who was cloning them and if they were to fight, which side were they supposed to help? It was a headache and the encrypted records on the Misfire were the only clues they had to go on. The ninjas tried to get a local info dealer to hack into the encrypted data but he said it was out of his league. After several hackers tried, it seemed that Iruka and Anko's contact on Corellia was their best choice after shopping around.

"That is quite a conundrum." Minato said with a frown. The others frown as well.

The team saved up enough credits to head to the Corellia system after a few months of work. Anko and Iruka were confident their contact would at least look at the data as he owed them a favor for saving his skin. The two week was a peaceful one and they soon were docked at Coronet, the capital of Corellia. Their mission; stay out of trouble (or at least try) and find their info dealer. He was a Besalisk that went by Wrexal (probably an alias). He was easily spooked and a bit paranoid so Anko and Iruka went to see him alone. The group figured he might freak out if a group of ninjas showed up at his doorstep.

The ninjas all nod at. "Some people are paranoid like that." Jiraiya says with a sagely nod.

The pair arrived at Wrexal's safe house and Anko banged on the armored door. "Wrexal, are you home? It's Mitarashi Anko and I have Iruka with me."

A slot opened and a metallic voice spoke. "Stand by for identity scan." A narrow beam of light traveled over them, verifying who they were and they were told to enter the airlock-like threshold.

Anko smirked, "he sure takes security seriously, eh?"

A screen on the wall lit up with Wrexal's face. "Of course, I do Mitarashi; what brings you and Umino to my humble abode?" Said the blank screen.

Anko held a data disk up to the screen. "This. It's an encrypted group of files and we need you to look at it."

Wrexal replied, "why didn't you say so at the door? I can do that easily."

Iruka sweat dropped. "Would you have believed us if we had?"

There was a pause and the Besalisk said sheepishly, "well, probably not Iruka. I'll come to the door."

The big four armed being opened the inner blast doors and let them in. he motioned, "come on in; make yourselves at home." They navigated through all the clutter and seated themselves across from Wrexal as he sat in a chair and put on a piece of headgear that looked like a cross between a half helmet and some sort of targeting device.

"I want that headgear." Most of the ninja say as one with a gleam in their eyes.

Anko asked, "what the hell is that? It looks ridiculous."

Wrexal took a lecturing tone. "This is a remote scanner to make sure there is nothing dangerous to harm my computer systems like a bomb or electrical discharge device." Then he added "…. And function before form my dear Anko….the disk checks out. Let's have a look at it." Wrexal took off his headgear and went over to a large screen. He slid the disk into a reader and data started appearing at blinding speeds. The two ninjas stood there staring a bit dumbfounded. The Besalisk said, "you two might as well sit down. This will take a while. There are drinks in the kitchen if you are thirsty."

Naruto just nods at the function before form saying. "Is that why you wear those orange monstrosities?" Ino asks while grimacing. "The collar can hide lockpicks." Naruto says while crossing his arms.

It took about three hours before Wrexal was finished and came back over to the ninjas. Iruka nudged Anko who had fallen asleep waiting while Iruka nursed his drink. Anko awoke asking "are we there yet?"

Wrexal answered, "yes we are. This is heavily coded on all six of the partitions; each more difficult than the last. This looks like somebody with a major corporation constructed it. It's definitely the work of professionals."

Iruka asked, "can you read it?"

Wrexal looked thoughtful for a moment and said, "given enough time, yes. But it will cost you."

Anko groaned. "How much?"

The Besalisk pondered some more. "I'm thinking 500,000 credits per partition."

Anko shrieked, "WHAT?! (the exclamation point is needed.)" Reaching for her kunai.

Wrexal cringed. "I'm giving you guys a huge discount! I'd charge a corporation ten times that much easily. I'll do the first one free since you saved my life. Please don't kill me!" Anko snarled but calmed down. Wrexal continued in a placating tone, "if I do the first one, it will tell you if it's even data you can use. It will take just a few minutes…."

"Heh. I can put the fear of Kami in even aliens." Anko says with a sadistic smirk.

Seeing Wrexal pleading, Iruka looked at the shivering Besalisk and sighed. "Do the first one and we'll take it from there."

Wrexal called them over to the screen 25 minutes later. "It's done; I don't know what it all is but I assume it's something to do with you ninjas because one of the coordinates is where you guys said you woke up."

Anko queried, "does it say anything else about it?" Wrexal answered, "it says 'Batch 4' and something about modern military education. There's also a 'Batch 5' on Valium out in the ass-end of space known as the Paxil Colonies. It mentions 'military boot camp' there."

"We need a boot camp." Tsunade says with a thoughtful look. Both Ino and Shikamaru shiver in fear for different reasons.

Iruka looked excited. "That matches the stuff we came up with. Are there any other locations?"

The Besalisk pointed towards the screen. "Batch 7 on Buspar's moon Melfina. It says 'brain washing' there. The last is 'Batch 1' but its coordinates don't match up with anything." Anko and Iruka thought 'Edo' in unison.

Anko said, "burn us a copy and start on the second section. We'll come back after we've gathered up the money for it."

Wrexal agreed in a relieved tone, "will do; I'll let you out of the security door. Be careful out there."

The eager pair returned to the Misfire to tell the others. After everyone sat down, they related what Wrexal told them.

Shikamaru stated, "Buspar is the place to go. That rotten Dug Suberga told us Batch 1 killed each other."

Hinata asked quickly, "what do we know about Buspar and Melfina?"

Doc piped up, "Buspar's a gas giant. I've been there. It has a huge tourist industry on its moon Delfino. A lot of guys took shore leave there. If I remember right, Melfina is a small moon with a listening station from the last war. I got the impression it was abandoned though."

"Do we get shore leave baa-chan?" Naruto asks the Godaime (Fifth) Hokage (Fire Shadow). Tsunade just whacks Naruto on top of his head with a tick mark throbbing on her forehead.

Naruto sat in thought. "What kind of brainwashing are we talking about here? It could be mental or with drugs. What do you think Ino? Your clan knew psychology pretty well."

Ino pondered for a moment. "If I was to take a guess, I'd say drugs. The whole in our training was to control us through physical means. Anko and Iruka said that their 'teachers' did their best to manipulate and guilt them during their military training. It would make sense that the people behind this are trying to figure out how to make us docile but retain our abilities. Drugs would certainly be an option on the list."

Most who knew the blonde prankster are shocked to see him think things out first.

Anko hummed out, "some of my old friends in torture and interrogation knew all about that. A lot of it comes down to sheer will power. The best thing we can do is hope we get to Melfina before the ninjas are broken. We don't know how long these ninjas have been brainwashed or even who they are, so we'd best go in prepared for a fight."

The older, more experienced, ninjas all nod with grim looks on their faces.

With those grim thoughts in mind, the crew began preparations to head to the Buspar system. After looking over the data they acquired on Corellia, they were able to confirm Buspar's moon Delfino was a resort world under the of Teeto the Hutt. Melfina was a mystery though. At cruising speeds, they entered the system four days later.

"What the hell is a Hutt?" Kushina was the one to ask. Before long, an image of Jabba the Hutt appears on the tv screen, getting sounds of disgust from everyone.

Ino yelled, "arrgh! The airwaves are crammed with nothing but advertisements saying 'Welcome to the Buspar system' and 'Come visit beautiful Delfino.' Over and over again!"

Shikamaru drawled, "stop being troublesome and check the military frequencies Doc mentioned Ino."

Ino retorted, "I knew that Shika!" ….Ino looked perplexed and then confused. "It's garbled but it sounds like a war is going on from those frequencies."

The Nara asked, "in space or on Delfino?"

Ino responded, "all the signals are definitely on Delfino. Get the others Shika; we aren't equipped to go in a war zone."

Everyone gathered around the communication array. Things like "Death to the reds!" And "Down with the blues!", and the like came through the speakers. Naruto grimaced, "we've got to look up Delfino's history before we even think about getting near there. It sounds like every color of the rainbow is going against all the others. -Like a bloody civil war."

Tsunade and Jiraiya grimace as well.

Iruka nodded, "I agree Naruto, but Melfina is where we're headed."

Naruto shook his head. "We still need to keep an eye on them Iruka-sensei. The last thing we need is for them to think of us as an enemy. Doc, take us around and approach Melfina from the opposite side of Buspar. I want to stay out of Delfino's line of sight."

"Good idea gaki." Jiraiya says with a small nod.

Doc exclaimed, "aye, aye Naruto! I'll have us at Melfina in 45 minutes."

Melfina was little more than a rock. There had indeed been a listening station there but it looked empty. After orbiting a couple of time, they found one landing pad near the station's decaying antenna. Doc relayed to the others, "well, it's the only place we actually can land so I'll take us in."

Most of the group laugh at the comparison of Melfina.

Naruto looked worried, "is there even any air to breathe down there, Doc?"

Doc's head pivoted back to face Naruto. "Hell if I know Naruto. If the station is active, there should be an artificial atmosphere and gravity, at least underground. If not, then you'll get to try on those old space suits that have been in storage for a couple of decades."

Everyone thought simultaneously, 'that's not very promising….' The Misfire soon landed on the pad near a standard airlock. Doc said, "I sent the signal. The airlock should be extending but it isn't."

Everyone (except Hinata) immediately volunteered Naruto for the job since it was his brilliant idea. Naruto fled in terror back to the sleeping areas yelling he was "too young to die." The mayhem started to escalate as Anko drug Naruto out in a headlock while Iruka tried to find how the Space suits worked.

"Mutiny!" Naruto cried while sending accusing fingers at everyone except Hinata, who just giggled.

Iruka yelled, "you brought this on yourself Naruto! Suck it up and face it like a man!"

The Uzumaki retorted, "you aren't getting me in one of those suicide suits Iruka-sensei!" Things were about to get worse when they heard a grinding noise and a loud metallic 'clang' against the side of the ship. They all went over to the airlock and saw the light by the door turn from red to yellow and then to green. The airlock door slowly opened with a hiss….revealing Doc.

"At least Hinata-chan isn't trying to kill me!" Naruto cried out while latching onto said Hyuuga, who blushes.

Iruka asked, "ummm, Doc? What are you doing out there?"

Doc spoke with humor in his voice, "miss Hinata asked me to hover over there and activate the airlock. You all seemed kind of busy arguing so I just went and took care of it."

Hinata was on the opposite side of the room from everybody, blushing slightly, and said quietly, "it seemed like the best solution." She looked at the pile of limbs and bodies she called her friends.

Naruto appeared beside her out from under everyone else magically. "It was a great idea Hinata-chan! You saved my life from those evil people! I could have died!" Naruto grasped her in a hug while crying waterfall tears.

Everyone face-faulted as Hinata patted Naruto on the back and soothed, "it's alright Naruto-kun."

Ino grumbled from her place in the pile on the floor. "Some fearless leader we have."

"Ahem," said Naruto gathering what little dignity he had, "since the base is open, I'm going to send some shadow clones in to check for traps. Once we're sure it's safe, we can explore the place at will."

Shikamaru asked with disbelief in his tone, "why didn't you send a shadow clone out in a space suit Naruto?"

Naruto quipped back, "what makes you think the clone would have agreed, Shikamaru?" Everyone groaned. Naruto called out, "okay; shadow clone jutsu!" Four clones appeared. "You know what to do; go!" The clones rushed out and Naruto sat down in a meditating position to wait for them to relay the information back to him. Twenty minutes later, he opened his eyes. "The place is safe. The remains of eight security droids are spread all over the place. There are two people locked in a cell three floors down but I can't tell if they are alive in the dark of the cell. We should check on them first."

"Best decision you've made brat." Tsunade says with a grin.

The ninjas entered and started looking around. Shikamaru and Ino noticed it was similar to the lab they were locked up in months ago. Ino whistled, "look at all the damage! It looks like a stampede came through here." She was admiring the scorch marks from blaster fire.

Shikamaru added, "that's not all. This place has been completely looted. The rooms are cleaned out of food and weapons. Troublesome, someone left in a hurry."

A floor below, Anko asked, "that was a droid? A high level jutsu must have torn it apart. Look at this Iruka-kun." The metal control panel on the wall was completely caved in; clearly in the shape of a human fist. "Damn; someone was pissed!" She exclaimed.

Iruka shuddered. "You're right Anko. These two droids over here look like they were destroyed by a blunt force impact. That one over there is shredded. Whoever they were, didn't take any chances."

Hinata and Naruto were on the third floor down. Hinata looked in the cell, where the two bodies were and said, "they've been dead some time Naruto-kun." She opened the cell door and turned the lights on, "if I was to take a guess, they starved to death in here months ago. That one is….eaten."

"Cannibalism. Disgusting, but sometimes necessary." Tsunade says with a scowl.

Naruto cringed, "you're right Hinata-chan. Those remaining droids down the hall are peppered with holes. I also found this." He said, holding up a shuriken. "It was stuck in one of the droids, where its heart would have been if it was human."

It took a couple of hours to examine the base and the bodies for clues. Even with Doc's help, the computer's data was unsalvageable. It was damaged beyond repair. The older male corpse was clutching a data tablet. It was clear he had lived longer by eating the remains of the younger months ago. Even Anko felt sick at the idea of cannibalism.

"If ANKO looks sick, then it's really disgusting!" Ino says with a green face.

Shikamaru said, "this data pad is intact but needs to be recharged. Let's take it back to the ship and watch it. There's nothing else for us here." With that, the ninjas left the bodies where they lay. Naruto would have buried them under normal circumstances but there was no soil to bury them in on this world. The corpses rotted there as a silent testament to what happens if you experiment with the lives of ninjas.

Kushina just smiles at her sochi's (son's) kindness.

The Misfire was soon back in orbit. They wanted to get away from the pit called Melfina. Shikamaru addressed the others. "I got the tablet recharged. We should all sit down and watch it thought it will probably be unpleasant."

Naruto asked, "were there any dates on the entries Shika? I'm trying to figure out a timeline."

The Nara replied, "the first entry is about five months ago Naruto. The last is about four months ago. I'd say the guy who was making the entries died at that point or the tablet went into shutdown to save power."

Hinata sat down by Naruto and held his hand. "It's not the kind of movie I hoped we would see together." She whispered. Naruto put his arm around her shoulder and kissed her forehead. The screen lit up.

Entry 1: They saw a gray-haired man with a tired and pale face. He spoke, "I am Doctor Abu Ardokus. I was in charge of the chakra user research of clone 'Batch 7' here on Melfina. My associate, Doctor Klem is suffering from blunt force head trauma and is dying. We have very little food and rations left and I am recording this for whoever finds us. I know these containment cells are escape proof for a mere human like me and I have resigned myself to my fate. The chakra users we were experimenting on called themselves 'ninjas.' The minute they became lucid, they became violent at being restrained and we chose to sedate them. This became a pattern and we were forced to use heavy sedation to make them docile enough to communicate with them. The protocol droid that knew their native language gradually introduced them to galactic basic and started trying to educate them. They were slow learners and seemed to be intent on escaping, even in their drug addled state. For another month, we tried different drug combinations on these savages before they finally made progress. One of them demonstrated the use of a green energy that healed her friend. This was my first introduction to chakra. I was amazed."

"Sounds like medical ninjutsu." Tsunade says with a small grin.

Entry 2: Ardokus looked exhausted with bags under his eyes now. His beard was starting to grow in. He continued. "I was becoming more at ease with these chakra users and Klem and I interacted more with them personally, instead of through the droids. I was pleasantly surprised to find they actually could learn and the one using the green 'healing chakra' said they needed to perform a ritual involving green chakra every morning for their God. I suspected she was some kind of shaman and was fine with this, as leaving them to their primitive religion would set them at ease. We began teaching them as a group, through books and videos, of what the galaxy was like. We explained to them, the dangers of Force users and how we needed chakra users to fight against the evil the Force represented. They seemed very enthused. By appealing towards their tribal roots, I was convinced I could make loyal soldiers for the army we are attempting to make. After bonding with them, we introduced them to the weapons team 1 had found. They told me they were called 'shuriken' and 'kunai.' The shaman explained that these were holy symbols to the ninja and asked for one of each to be given to the four of them. After extracting a promise on her word that they would never use these weapons for evil. I reluctantly let them have the symbolic weapons on a trial basis, though Klem urged me not to. What a fool I was!"

"Sounds like Sakura, the so-called shaman." Ino says with a small grin.

Entry 3: The doctor looked gaunt and had tears in his eyes. He reported, "Klem has died. To my eternal shame and damnation, I am using the food he left me; his body. I know I will end up in some hell for this, but others need to be aware of the threat of these ninja! Where was I? –Oh yes, we went the ninjas to the training grounds under the guard of our droids to 'hone and perfect their bodies after their long sleep' as they put it. The shaman woman kept the others in line as they practiced 'chakra control' and martial arts they called 'taijutsu'. They showed incredible accuracy with their chosen weapons and left us in awe of their skills. I had little doubt they would be fearsome warriors once we finished their training. They seemed easily malleable and eager to learn, so Klem suggested we teach them basic piloting skills through simulators. Though it was hard to explain to them it wasn't 'real', it did demonstrate that their reflexes were far faster than a normal person's; perhaps on par with a Jedi! I reported this to my employers with great enthusiasm, but to my disappointment, they were only interested in the finished product."

"I wonder who got stuck with Sakura-chan." Naruto says with a thoughtful frown on his face.

Entry 4: Ardokus looked on the verge of death. He was listless and looked only partially coherent. He muttered, "I awoke to sounds of tearing metal and blaster fire. I thought someone had broken into the facility, only to feel something hit me in the ribs. I was knocked unconscious. When I came around, I saw the shaman girl looking at me from outside the cell I was now locked in! I demanded, "open this cell! You promised as a holy woman…."

"Holy woman, yeah right! Sakura's a combat medic!" Both Ino and Tsunade shout at the same time.

She said, "you fool, I'm a combat medic and the fake ritual that I conducted every morning was to cleanse my comrades' bodies of the drugs you pumped into them at night! While you've been foolishly treating us as some kind of primitive animals, we've been learning your language, your technology and your weaknesses right under your nose. Now that we are back up to combat strength and have secured that little shuttlecraft to blend in on Delfino; your usefulness has ended. Klem will be dead soon from injuries and you'll soon follow. I'd advise you reflect on your human experimentation. Make peace with whatever deities you worship because you'll soon be meeting them!" They had cunningly fooled us from the beginning! Their whole interest in Delfino was to escape us and blend in to society. They are heartless killers on par with the Mandalorians, and I have unwittingly unleashed them on the galaxy! If there is any justice, you'll meet your end at the hands of the Hutts on Delfino, Haruno Sakura!"

"Oh, that's funny. For once it isn't me that she's mad at." Naruto says while laughing.

The last entry ended….

Whelp, here's the next chapter. Now, I need to know, should I bring Sakura, Tenten, Lee, and Temari in for the next chapter or not?

R&R

Scheffinator out! It's Orc killing time! (Playing Lego Lord of the Rings).