Book One: The Return
Chapter 7: Touched by Darkness
Life inside the Jedi Temple all too quickly became something of a bore for Naruto, given that when he visited the old Sith Temples he could at least kill some time by torturing captured Republic soldiers or killing the hostile, local wildlife. Yet here, in the supposed heart of the Republic, the young Sith warrior found himself itching for a fight more and more as the days went on. No Jedi would take up his offer for a sparring match, not after his fight with two the two Masters, and the four Jedi guards assigned to him weren't much for conversation. He couldn't even find a good spot to meditate on the dark side without the overwhelming light of the temple seemingly washing it away. It was at this point that he decided to test how good the training simulators actually were, if for no other reason than to get his blood pumping.
Not even a minute into training and the ten droids he was facing were rendered little more than scrap. At least the training droids on Korriban actually had some bite to their attacks, using real weapons instead of training ones, and were specifically designed to try and kill the one using them! With a frustrated grunt, Naruto stalked out of the training simulator, quickly being flanked by the guards assigned to him, and began the short trek back to his bare and boring room.
Naruto suddenly stopped, a small smirk forming on his lips, FINALLY! Something to do! And just when the sheer complacency and boredom these Jedi had surrounded themselves with that he was forced to endure were starting to make him go rabid! "Did you miss me already, Master Secura?"
None of the Jedi Knights around him had even sensed the Master's sudden arrival and quickly turned to see Aayla Secura standing a few yards behind them with a deep frown on her face. There was an aura of intensity around the Jedi Master than not many had seen before, and her gaze alone threatened to make Naruto spontaneously explode! This wasn't a coincidence, she had planned to intercept Naruto at this very moment. Which could only mean that she wanted something from him and was willing to be seen publicly searching for him.
"I wish to speak with you," Aayla sent a slight glance at the four Jedi Knights, considering her next word very carefully, "Alone."
"Oh, but what about my new friends here? I'm not sure they'd like someone else trying to butt in on their exciting job of babysitting." Naruto had yet to face the Twi'lek Jedi, but one could practically taste to sarcasm dripping from each and every word.
"Leave us." Aayla ordered, to which the Knights obeyed if albeit a bit hesitantly, soon leaving only the Sith Lord and Jedi Master in the empty hallway located somewhere deep within the Jedi temple.
"Hm, you have me alone, but what now?" still Naruto did not face her.
"When you entered my mind, sensed the dark side of the Force than touched me when I was still young, you did something to me. I can feel the shadow inside me now, like ants crawling just beneath my skin trying to get out. I want you to remove whatever it is you've done to me." the way Aayla spoke made it clear that this was not a request, she was not going to give Naruto a choice in the matter, it was as pure an order as there ever was one.
"Despite the misguided belief that you can order me to do something, what makes you think I've done anything to you? I've placed no subtle mind control on you, I've awakened nothing that wasn't already there, and I have no idea how to remove something that I haven't done. All I did was notice you'd dealt with the side of the Force you don't like." this time, Naruto did turn to face the Jedi Master, his mismatched eyes boring into her own like twin gems.
"Then how do I fix what has happened to me?!" Aayla asked, using every fiber of her will to suppress the sudden bolt of rage that shot through her body when Naruto denied her what she wanted.
"I'm a Sith, we live off of what you're trying to suppress. Perhaps you should speak to another one of your Jedi companions, I'm sure they'd be thrilled to help a fellow Jedi control the darkness within your own heart...or they would simply banish you..." Naruto smirked and leaned in closer to Aayla, "It's a shame really, that you Jedi would banish one of your own simply for feeling the most basic impulses of a living being. But such is your way, I suppose."
"You don't see us Jedi going around slaughtering hundreds of innocent people just because we believe we're entitled to! Only you Sith seem to have that freedom of conscience!" Aayla shot back, baring her teeth as her eyes flashed yellow for just a split second.
A split second Naruto hadn't missed.
"Not freedom on conscience, freedom of restraint. We fight for what we want, we kill for what we want, and if we die in the process then someone else's want was simply stronger than ours. For example, I let those I deem as strong escape with their lives. The reason I do this is because I believe they have earned the right to continue fighting, although I mostly hope they return to challenge me again. This is what I want, to fight harder and harder opponents until I am either the last one standing or have fallen to someone else's own quest for greatness. It's the law of nature after all, that the strong thrive while the weak perish." Naruto spoke as if he was giving a lecture at the Sith Temple, his one yellow eye glowing ever so slightly with dark side energy.
"None of that changes that you Sith are monsters, animals that need to be put down!" Aayla's voice was steadily growing louder, her hand subconsciously gripping the hilt of one of her lightsabers.
"Then I wonder, Master Jedi, will you be the one to put me down? Will you place your lightsaber over my heart and end my path of bloodshed? Will you give into the darkness that you've been struggling to suppress since you succumbed to the will of Volfe Karkko?" Naruto leaned down until his face was a mere inch from Aayla's, his hand holding her lightsaber wielding one right over his unprotected heart
"You'll betray us in the end, it's in your nature." Aayla tried to reason with herself, trying with all her might to find justification in what she wanted to do.
"It is."
"You're evil, you've done evil things to innocents and would corrupt us all if you could! To try and twist what we think until it was too perverted to be even recognizable!" her thumb twitched over the activation switch, all it would take was just the bare minimum amount of pressure and she could end this Sith before he could even react.
"I would, but then...I was raised on Korriban. Never given a choice what to be or know any other way of life. So, that in mind...I wonder: is it in you to kill an unarmed man in cold blood, even if he was a Sith?" Aayla's eyes were now a striking yellow, even as she looked up at Naruto with fear clearly displayed in them.
A blue beam of energy suddenly shot from the lightsaber, although instead of going through Naruto's heart, it instead shot up in between the two Force-users. While Aayla was having her own battle of wills, Naruto had subtly shifted her lightsaber up and away from his chest, having already known what she would do if pushed this far. Still, the horror of what she could have done was still very evident in Aayla's mind, if the way she seemed to jump away from Naruto and suddenly tremble all over was any indication, even leaving her lightsaber in his hand.
"Hm, it seems you Jedi do possess the instincts to survive after all..." said Naruto as he deactivated the lightsaber and made to leave, having no intention of returning the weapon to its master.
"My lightsaber, give it back..." there was no longer any bite in Aayla's tone, in fact she sounded almost afraid of any sort of hostility now.
"A hunter must have his trophies. I want it, so I take it. If you want it, come and take it from me." Naruto said without breaking his stride, dark robes fluttering ever so slightly as he walked around the nearest corner in search of something to do with his time.
Aayla just continued to stand there, feeling more drained now than she had in a long time, all the while thinking over what just happened. She was a Jedi, she did not strike first, she did not give into her emotions, and yet that was what she had just done. She tried to kill someone in cold blood, she gave into fear and anger, and that frightened her even more. What was going on with her? Why was she feeling this way? Why was being around this Sith drawing forth so many things she had spent years burying in meditation and discipline?
One week later, Naruto was surprisingly brought to the Jedi Council Chambers, and even more so when he found out why.
"You want me to help plan the invasion of a planet? Hm, color me impressed, I didn't think the Jedi would take such an aggressive approach." Naruto laughed as he stood before the majority of the Jedi council, amusement dancing in his mismatched eyes when some of the more strict Jedi seemed to stiffen under the implications of his statement.
"Yes, a good show of faith, this will be." Yoda spoke from his own chair, pointing at Naruto with his walking stick.
"Myself, Master Kenobi, and Knight Skywalker will also be a part of the planning stages, as we will be partaking in the liberation of Ryloth." Mace spoke, emphasizing that this was not an invasion but a liberation.
"Invasion, liberation, it all really depends on your point of view. But I suppose this will finally get me out of this dusty old temple of yours. I swear, just being here for so long makes me miss the fighting pits we had set up on Korriban. Fighting to the cheers of a crowd, butchering my fellow Sith and the odd captured Jedi for entertainment. Ah, those were the days..." it did not go unnoticed to Naruto how uncomfortable he was making the Jedi around him, which was part of the reason he was doing it to begin with.
"Yes, well, I'm sure you'll find this equally entertaining." Obi-wan stated, coughing slightly into his hand as he did so.
"I doubt it, fighting droids isn't nearly as much fun or challenging. Now, I'll leave you all to do whatever it is you do while I'm not here." Naruto turned and made his way out the door, "It seems things won't be boring for long. So I need to prepare."
As he exited the Council chamber, however, he stopped and looked out the window, but not at the city sprawled before him, his gaze was far off and clouded with memory.
Ryloth...home of the Twi'lek race...that took him back...and it was currently being subjugated?
"...Eleena..." he sighed. His hands clenched into trembling fists. Rage roaring in his heart, blotting out all else. He slammed a first into the wall, cratering it and spiderweb cracks spread from the impact point.
Droids may present no challenge, but that made things just fine by him in this case! An image of that aristocratic old man flashed behind his eyes...Dooku. He and those tin soldiers of his would pay for this!
(Three Weeks Later: Ryloth)
Naruto had learned one fundamental truth since he began planning for the liberation of Ryloth: the Jedi of this age were not the same warriors they were from his time. The plan they came up with was so full of holes that you could fly a capital ship right through it countless times and ways, and that was even after Naruto convinced them to change several fundamental parts of it.
Three Venator class Star Destroyers against one droid command ship and several support ships was pure suicide, not to mention the enemy could call in reinforcements at any time. Naruto managed to convince them to bring in six Venators, with two jumping in from the front and two on either side of the command ships, this way they wouldn't give the enemy a single front to focus on. Skywalker and his padawan would handle the space battle, the Jedi Knight was more at home up there than on the ground. Obi-wan would handle the smaller villages, taking out the anti air emplacements as they made their way to the planets capital. Mace Windu was the one officially in charge of this liberation/invasion, meanwhile Naruto was to assist in all three parts of the attack as best he could.
That's why Naruto currently found himself making modifications to his own spacecraft, which the Republic had so graciously returned to him, and was mostly rewiring all the primary systems to the main console. It was slow work, as Naruto had never been much of a mechanic, but he had time.
"You'll fry your systems if you run so much power through them." the voice of Skywalker was actually a surprise to the Sith, he didn't expect the Jedi Knight to willingly come down to see him.
"Hm, I've never been one for technology. More combatant than mechanic..." Naruto spun his command chair around and faced Anakin, inputting in a few commands as he did so.
"You want some help?"
"Last I checked, you weren't particularly fond of being in my presence, what change?"
"Nothing actually, I would still rather space you out the airlock than work with you. However, since we do have to work together, I'd much rather not lose the advantage you represent just because you don't know how to rewire your own ship." Naruto just sat there listening to Anakin, showing no clear signs of anger at the Jedi's words, before he suddenly let out a bellow of a laugh.
"Ha! A Jedi willing to work with a Sith so he doesn't lose the advantage in a battle!" Naruto laughed, getting up from his chair, "I welcome your assistance then."
"Good, now hand me that plasma cutter, and let the master teach you a few things."