Book One: The Return
Chapter 2: The Return of the Sith
"The war in which we fought, and in which many of our followers died, could have been prevented. It was the Jedi who took up arms to keep us from revealing the truth about the Force. They had been paddling in the shallows for eons. By boldly venturing into the Force's expanse, we gained powers that no Jedi had ever possessed. Life itself was at our command!"
-Sorzus Syn
When Anakin Skywalker got the distress call from Jedi master Aayla Secura, he would have never expected for an unknown ship to just appear out of thin air. What was even more disturbing wasn't that it seemed to be ancient, just from the design, but because of the amount of Dark Side energy that was contained inside of it. Even at such a great distance, which was betting shorter because they planned on docking with the ship, Anakin felt like he was being smothered by the evil that just seemed to radiate from the ship. Every fiber of his being screamed at him to just destroy the ship, which he nearly did, but for some reason he chose not to.
Ahsoka Tano, Anakin's newly appointed apprentice, had much less training in resisting the Dark Side and had returned to her room, in the hopes of getting away from it. If it was this disturbing for Anakin then he could only imagine what it was like for the young girl. Still, with the ship now attached to the bottom of his cruiser, plus a squad of troopers heading down there, Anakin ordered them to resume they re entered hyperspace, Anakin ordered several guards to meet him at the airlock, with their weapons set to kill. Once the young Skywalker arrived at the airlocked, his troops already preparing to face an unknown threat that had their general on edge, Anakin gave the order to open the ship.
For some reason, Anakin thought a monster would suddenly charge them from the darkness of the ship, yet everything was as silent as the grave. The only noticeable sound was the boots of his men hitting the metal plating of the ground, but that only seemed to put Anakin even more on edge. Everything about this ship was just wrong, the hallways seemed to curve in and give off the feeling that one was being cornered on all sides. The feel of the dark side was far more potent than even Dooku's demented aura and Anakin felt as if he was being watched at this very moment. It was only when a clone accidently kicked something that Anakin activated his lightsaber, out of pure survival instinct.
"Um, my bad," the clone said, sounding a little sheepish while Anakin sent him a mild glare, before deactivating his lightsaber and placing it back on his belt.
"Alright men, looks like it's just a ghost ship, lets get ready for the fight we have ahead of us," Anakin ordered, despite every bone in his body telling him that he should just destroy this ship and get as far away from it as humanly possible.
What none of them noticed was Naruto's cloaked form actually walk out of the ship the moment that they had boarded it. He cloaked himself deep within the confines of the force, hiding himself from other force users and the sight of all others. To them he was nothing more than a ghost, an image that one quickly forgot after a mere second, and this suited him fine. As he glided through the ship, Naruto found that this ship was thousands of years more advanced than anything the Sith or Republic had ever created. There were also clones, which were still being developed, walking around by the hundreds. How could the Republic hide such a thing when the Sith had spies in every branch of their military and government? Well it didn't really matter at this point, the fact of the matter was that the Sith tried to have him killed and he was now aboard an enemy ship. Naruto felt that the only way to get answers was to allow the Force to guide him. Perhaps the Force had brought him here for a reason?
After only a few minutes of traveling in hyperspace, the ship seemed to appear right in the middle of the battle. The ships fighting the nearly-destroyed Republic cruiser were unfamiliar to Naruto. There were barely any lifeforms aboard the three mystery ships and yet the Force was calling Naruto to the burning Republic cruiser. As the battle raged on, Naruto could sense the two Jedi leave the ship, no doubt headed right for their fighting comrades below. Without even thinking twice, Naruto jumped out of the airlock and began to freefall his way down the the falling cruiser. As Naruto drew closer to his destination, he drew on the Force to enhance the durability of his body to protect him from the head of reentering the atmosphere.
'It's been a long time since I've tried something as reckless as this, perhaps I should have just gone back to my ship,' Naruto thought to himself just before he hit the surface of the ship, slamming into it with enough force to make the metal beneath him give out.
Beneath him was a droid, having been crushed under the weight of Naruto's impact, and behind that droid was many others. Their forms switched from bulky to thin, yet the priming of their weapons was the only reason Naruto needed to turn his violet and crimson blades upon them. With almost inhuman ferocity, Naruto's two blades of deadly energy carved through six of the nearest metal soldiers. The hot plasma cut through their hardened armor as if it had been nothing more than air and the color of the sun was the only thing left in the blade's wake, having heated the metal to an insane degree. Then bolts of red energy were fired at the young Sith, but his body was honed to the point that it reacted on its own. Spinning so fast that the glow of his lightsabers blocked his body from view, Naruto deflected each and every bolt back where they came from with savage aggression.
Within the span of only one minute, the entire hallway was cleared of hostiles and only Naruto was left standing. Satisfied with his work, Naruto took off towards where he heard the most fighting and where he also felt the presence of now three Jedi. The ship shook violently as explosions racked both inside and outside its burning body. Naruto could feel the familiar sensation of life being extinguished, with the natural Force of their bodies being let back out into the galaxy. Rounding the corner, Naruto found himself standing behind a squad of the larger gray droids, just as the doors opened to reveal the very Jedi he had been looking for.
"Run!" Naruto yelled, from his position behind the droids, before he began to carve his way through the clunky metal men.
Just like the last group, these incompetent droids fell into bits and pieces, leaving them as little more than scrap metal. Sadly, it seemed that the Jedi had remained rooted it place, having completely ignored his order to get to the ship now docking under the ship.
"Are you all stupid?! This ship is going down in flames and you stand around like lost children!" Naruto barked at them as he ran past them and towards where the other ship was docking, just as another explosion threatened to rip the damaged ship right in half.
"Let's move," the Twi'lek Jedi ordered before they all ran after the Sith, although they didn't know he was one at the time.
Reaching the docking area, Naruto had already opened the door by the time they had arrived, and was patiently waiting for them to arrive. Just before they got onto the ship, another explosion rocked them back and forth, but this one was different. Even from this distance, Naruto could feel the heat of the inferno that was currently racing to consume them. With an angry shout, the young Sith used the Force to throw them all onto the ship before he followed them. Once the blast door was closed, Naruto focused on the very fire itself. With all his might, Naruto fought the explosion as it raced towards them, forcing the metal doors to hold when they would have buckled long ago. As the explosion lost its vigor, Naruto felt the smaller ship he was on shake with enough force to nearly knock him off balance.
"We have to get out of here before one of these ships actually crashes into us dead on," Anakin advised as he and his fellows stood in the cockpit of this transport ship.
"Sir, three rockets incoming!" yelled the pilot as they roughly turned the ship, in an attempt to dodge the rockets racing towards them, only for one of the rockets to slam right into their deflector shields.
The sudden surge of energy was enough to kill both pilots and, by mistake, set their ship to go into hyperspace. Before any sort of warning could be given to one of their cruisers, which were still in battle, they were blasted off into the stars. Naruto walked into the cockpit and was greeted by the sight of everyone trying to cut the hyperdrive before they crashed into a quickly approaching star.
"Dammit, it's no use, the navigational computer is completely fried!" yelled the only clone with his helmet off, which Naruto noticed had a large amount of gold paint to decorate the almost completely white armor.
"Then turn off the main power to reset the navigation." Naruto suggested and, given the circumstances, no one was in much of a position to argue.
"Alright, everyone get ready because this is going to be close!" yelled Anakin from the pilot's seat as the Twi'lek Jedi moved over to where the main off switch was.
Once the power was off, everyone experienced the terrifying feeling of nearly crashing right into a sun, which even made Naruto hold his breath in anticipation. They managed to get the power back on just in time to miss the sun, but now they were headed right for a planet. Their speed continued to increase, no matter how much the Jedi tried to slow the ship down, until they began to breach the planets atmosphere. The familiar heat of reentry soon washed over all of them, a sign of their approaching doom. Yet, at what seemed to be the last possible second, the engines flared with power and managed to level the ship out enough so it wouldn't be destroyed upon impact.
The moment that the ship hit the ground, all of the windows shattered in billions of sharp fragments, parts of the ship itself caved in, and most of the people standing were thrown forwards with an insane amount of force. Naruto must have hit his head on something, or something hit his head, because his vision couldn't seem to focus and he felt like he did after the first day of his former master's training. With shaky arms, the young Sith slowly sat up into a kneeling position and found fire and twisted metal all around him.
"Hey, hey buddy, can you hear me?" asked the clone with a blue colored design on his armor, as the man knelt down in front of Naruto in an attempt to get his attention.
"I take it we survived?" Naruto questioned as he attempted to get up, only to fall back down with a sharp hiss exiting his lips.
"Yeah, but we need to get out of here before this whole ship explodes!" the Clone urged, putting Naruto's arm over his shoulder and helped the blond warrior to his feet, wanting to get the hell out of there before they got fried in the imminent explosion.
Luck seemed to be on their side because the ship only exploded mere seconds after Naruto and the clone soldier dove out of the burning wreck. If it wasn't for the fight at the Jedi Temple, fighting some unknown factions that used droids, and being in a crashing ship, then Naruto would have stayed away. Sadly the day's events finally caught up with the young Sith and he embraced the ever calming darkness.
"Rex, is this guy alright?" asked Anakin as he limped over to where his captain was watching over the downed Sith.
"I think so, looks like he just passed out from exhaustion...can't say I blame him." Rex summed up as he got to his feet, his blaster still in hand, and joined his fellow clone in watching the perimeter for any enemy activity, or activity in general.
"Skywalker, do you know this man?" asked Aayla as she examined the armored Sith, mainly noticing the three different lightsabers that he had attacked to his belt.
"No, I thought he was with you on your ship," Anakin said in regards to the young man that didn't look much older than he was himself as Aayla took one of Naruto's lightsabers and ignited its blade, her eyes widening when she saw its crimson glow and the noticeable feeling of the Dark side radiating off of it.
"He's a Sith?" asked Ahsoka Tano, her hand instinctively reaching for the lightsaber on her hip while Anakin's eyes narrowed dangerously at the helpless blond Sith.
"Whoever he is, he did help us escape and didn't seem to be on the side of the Separatists. As far as we know, he could simply be a former Jedi or could have just found these lightsabers," Aayla explained, reminding them that they were Jedi first and what being a Jedi actually entails.
"Generals, we should get some shelter set up before it gets dark," said Commander Bly, pointing out that they would have a hard enough time surviving the night with sheltered let alone without one.
"Alright, Ahsoka and I will scout the surrounding area for something to get a fire started while the three of you get started on a shelter." Anakin ordered before motioning his padawan to follow him into the waist high brush.
"Rex, make sure are unconscious guest is looked after, Commander Bly and I will get started on shelter," Aayla said before everyone went their own ways to do their own important jobs, unaware that they had a sleeping lion in their midst.
Several hours later, Naruto found himself in the company of three Jedi and two clones, with some type of animal slowly being cooked over a fire. With a low grunt, Naruto sat up from inside his metal tent, noticing that it was made from parts of the crashed ship, and limped towards the fire. There was a tense silence for a few seconds before Aayla motioned for Naruto to join them, although she never did let her guard down for even a second. As Rex handed the armored Sith a piece of meat, Naruto noticed his three lightsabers were resting with the Jedi, one attached to each of their belts. It was a clever tactic, to ensure that he couldn't get to all three of his blades at once and would be at a disadvantage if a fight broke out. Not bad, he'd admit.
"I see your head injury has healed, we were beginning to think damage had been done to your brain, and we are no where near a medical facility if that was the case," said Aayla, deciding it was best for her to break the tense silence, since she was the most level headed out of the group and less likely to jump to conclusions.
"So it would seem, yet I'm surprised that three Jedi would chose to save me," said Naruto, taking a slow bite of the meat, only to discover that the animal tasted like shit.
"Why wouldn't we? We are Jedi after all." said the padawan of the group, her narrowed blue eyes telling Naruto that she knew precisely what he was.
"I'm sure that the Jedi I've previously struck down would have done something else in your place." Naruto pointed out leisurely, only for Skywalker and his padawan to ignite their lightsabers and point them right at Naruto, who calmly took another bite of the disgusting meat.
"So you are Sith!" Ahsoka yelled, showing an unusual amount of anger for a Jedi, but such things always ended in Naruto's favor.
"Ironic, isn't it? Just yesterday I help destroy your temple, today you saved my life from an exploding ship. Now here you are trying to kill me. I really wish you lot would make up your mind." Naruto said with a bit of humor in his voice, which only seemed to make the two armed Jedi even more angry at him.
"Done," Anakin hissed before springing into action, thrusting his lightsaber right towards Naruto's heart, only for Ahsoka's green blade to suddenly stop her master's azure one as the young sith used the Force to manipulate her arm.
The shock shared between master and padawan was enough for Naruto quickly jump away from the group, while also managing to pull his red lightsaber from Ahsoka's belt. With impressive reflexes, the two clones and Twi'lek Jedi had their weapons out and ready to be used, just as Naruto activated his own weapon. There was a pause again, a silent communication between the six of them that sealed all of their fates. In a blur of motion, the three Jedi charged Naruto as one while the two clones fired at him with their blasters, trying to conserve as much ammo as possible.
Blocking Anakin's lightsaber, Naruto took control of Ahsoka's arm again and forced her to block Aayla's two lightsabers. Aayla managed to jump over Ahsoka and came down on the Sith with both her glowing blades ready to pierce his chest. Yet Naruto saw this coming and was able to grab Skywalker by the front of his armor, and throw Aayla's fellow Jedi right into her. In fact, Aayla had to quickly deactivate her lightsabers to stop herself from killing Anakin instead.
"Frag out!" yelled Bly as he tossed a thermal detonator right at Naruto's feet, just Anakin and Ahsoka lifted up a sheet of metal to protect them from the blast.
Eyes widening at the explosive at his feet, Naruto pulled up a Force shield as quickly as he could, yet it wasn't enough to completely protect him from the blast. As fire and metal ripped through his invisible shield, the young Sith found himself being sent flying backwards by the shockwave of the blast. Naruto could hear his armor nearly breaking under the explosion's force, with the main chest plate being badly damaged, but the armor managed to do its job. Seeing their opponent caught off guard, the three Jedi charged Naruto from all directions, knowing that he couldn't block all of their attacks at once.
"Die!" Naruto roared, using his pain to fuel his force lightning while his lightsaber lashed out with so much bloodlust that it almost seemed to be alive.
With Aayla blocking the force lighting and Ahsoka blocking Naruto's lightsaber, Anakin went for the kill. With a Force enhanced leap, the young Skywalker fully intended to cut Naruto right in half, but Naruto wasn't a Sith warrior for nothing. Although not being able to completely dodged the downward strike, Naruto did manage to roll away just in time for the azure lightsaber to glance off his shoulder. Naruto felt the familiar warmth of a lightsaber grazing his skin, its hot plasma burning him like the fires of hell, and yet that pain only made him stronger.
Like an unstoppable force, Naruto charged forward and slammed himself right into Anakin's midsection, actually managing to lift the man off the ground before slamming him back down. Anakin let out a grunt of pain when his back hit the ground and again when he felt Naruto's armored fist connect with his face. The only thing that saved the young Skywalker, from more pain, is Rex and Bly unleashing several more blaster bolts in Naruto's direction. Grabbing the lightsaber attached to Anakin's belt, Naruto activated his purple bladed lightsaber and deflected all the bolts away with lightning speed. It was Aayla who sent out a Force push strong enough to push the Sith off of Anakin and send him flying into their ship's wreckage.
"Don't underestimate us!" Ahsoka yelled as Naruto slowly stepped out of the wreckage, the front of his armor almost completely gone but he didn't even look winded from the battle.
Naruto's response to the young padawan's proclamation was to simply dust off his armor with an annoyed look on his face. The blonde Sith's training with Malgus had proved to be more of a challenge, yet Naruto wasn't one to underestimate his opponents. Placing both lightsabers back onto his belt, Naruto picked up a large piece of the ship's separated thruster, with the Force of course, and threw it right at the Republic group. Yet they all managed to dive out of the way before it crushed them, although just barely.
"You Jedi are so predictable, faced with a Sith, you all but abandon your own code. There is no emotion, there is peace. There is no ignorance, there is knowledge. There is no passion, there is serenity. There is no chaos, there is harmony. There is no death, there is the Force. Such a ridiculous code and one often broken. You lash out in anger when you realize I'm Sith. You renounce everything that doesn't agree with your ideology. You say your are peacekeepers, yet you wish to strike down any dark side user when it's because of the Jedi the Sith Order even exists! You're all hypocrites!" Naruto roared as he charged them again, only to stop when they all heard the familiar sound of several ships breaking through the planets atmosphere.
"Separatists, great, as if this day couldn't get any worse."