Sith'ari
Welcome to the Jungle
A/N: Okay, I have a question. Why exactly were my favorites and followers a little bit lower compared to other stories? I mean what did I do wrong here? I have a strong and continually growing Naruto, non-gary stu Naruto, story with plot; despite sometimes making mistakes.
I mean, I know this is fanfic not a real book, but why do I have less followers and favorites compared to other stories that are newer and shorter?
And no, I did not refer to the harem and overpower story, even I read those for entertainment, or the author who was here before me, before 2013. I am referring to the author who join in like, 2015, with 1 or 2 stories that publish story in the same year that might or might not be disconnected with plot that borderline between normal story, like me, and entertaining fanfic, like those overpower-harem, but still have much more fav and follow than I have. I am jealous, I won't lie, but why do they have more followers?
Well that was a nice rage, don't always take me seriously, I can let my emotion get the best of me from time to time. Anyways if anyone knows the answer to that question, please, enlighten me.
On a side note, I think I did a little mistake in the last chapter. I was about to make another time-skip, an about 2 or 3 weeks skip from the Naruto and Lanaal brawl, but well too late, I will just have to live with it.
"Really, Jango. I gave you a squad because I believed you were old enough to have that kind of responsibility." The man then looked over to several Mandalorians who held Naruto and Lanaal away from each other.
"I know," Jango replied, then sighed. "I just didn't expect them to be so…different. None of them have a common agenda, common opinion, or even common…sense." He looked straight into the man's eyes. "Jaster, I know I look very incompetent right now, but please just give me more time; I will fix this," Jango said to his foster father.
Jaster looked Jango in the eyes, then he smiled.
"Well, it's not like I am going to put someone else in charge of them, so you can still have your shots, but…if things really go south, I will have to demote you," Jaster warned his son before walking away.
Over at the table, Naruto and Lanaal still tried to fight each other. Jango looked over at them with anger on his face. He walked up to where the brawl was taking place. When he arrived, he stood in front of both the fighters. He cracked his fist, then punched Lanaal in the chin so hard she fainted with a single blow. [1]
He then turned to Naruto, who was a little dumbstruck at the display, and punched him in the chin as well. The punch was hard enough to only make Horuset dizzy but not knocked out. He punched again. Naruto was still not going down, so he punched yet again, and this time the punch managed to knock him out for good.
When both of them were out cold, the people who held them back dropped them on the floor and left for Jango to take care of his own business. After all, they all knew Jaster, their leader, wanted to test his son and would very much prefer no one intervene with the boy's squad.
"Matis, you carry Naruto. Purple Diamond, you carry Lanaal," he ordered.
"Wait, why us?" Diamond asked.
"Are you here to follow my command or question it?" Jango countered. He was not in the mood to tolerate disobedience of any kind. Purple turned to Matis, who had already lifted Naruto off the floor and onto his shoulder. She sighed before walking up to Lanaal and doing the same. Fett turned to Aegiria.
"Continue with Alesha training; I will deal with the main squad," he told her.
"Let us hope so," Aegiria replied before walking away with Alesha. Jango turned to the rest of his group.
"Let's go back to the training area before we lose any more face," he ordered before traveling to his destination with his team behind him.
After that, they returned to the training area, where they waited for Naruto and Lanaal to wake up then resumed their familiarization with the Mandalorian way of life. In the week that followed, they were trained to use a blaster and jetpack and familiarized themselves further. Jango also tried to create some bond in the squad during this time.
It was surprising work for the most part. Such as eating together, some sparing matches, which either Naruto or Kandosii always emerged the victor, and sometimes getting together to talk about themselves, though no one was willing to share much of their old life and only talked about really trivial things or questions. [2]
While Naruto and Aegiria were a bit unenthusiastic at the idea, they were still willing to go along. Lanaal, on the other hand, had to be dragged to join them. She did not seem like she wanted to make any friends and refused to cooperate unless her wage was threatened.
After a week, however, Fett's bonding plan got a little bit bumpy. Naruto had his hound back and spent time nearly every day of the following week with the beastmaster to train Zedra into a proper warbeast. Alesha trained with a drill sergeant, and her responsibility to her bird, Peo, kept her away most of the time. Matis and Purple Diamond, or PD as the others had started to call her, started to drive off to learn more about main galaxy technology, as they intended. And for Lanaal, well, she never really went along with this from the start.
On the third week, however, Jango received rather worrisome news.
xxx
The squad was waiting at their regular table in the nearly empty mess hall. They were waiting for their leader who had called all of them.
"Anybody know what this is about?" Oorn asked.
"Probably our first deployment. We are mercenary after all," Isab answered.
Then not long after that, their leader finally appeared and came to sit with them.
"Why have you called us here, leader?" PD asked.
"Because I received an order. We will be deploying soon," he answered.
"Told ya," Isab said to Oorn.
"We will be deployed on the world called Kalee. There is a conflict there between the local and the invading forces. One of the locals, the Kaleesh, somewhat managed to find us and ask for help, promising payment in resources, manpower, credits, and a good fight. Jaster decided to accept the job, so it is up to each squad leader to brief their squad." He laid down a hologram device. It was active and showed a picture of a planet. [3]
"This is Kalee. It is composed mainly of rainforest, stone city, moss-covered canyons, beaches, and lots of water. So I expected you to prepare a lot of antidotes for poisonous animals, Lanaal." Everyone was suddenly surprised.
"Wait, what do you mean I have to prepare the antidotes?" she asked.
"Well, remember those roles I was talking about the second day you were here? I have decided. Lanaal, you will be our medic." Everyone immediately jumped from their seats and protested, except PD. "Sit down!" Jango shouted a command. Some obeyed immediately, while some took some time and a gaze from Jango to finally sit back down.
"Listen well. I have my reasons for choosing each of you in your role, but since you are going to become a soldier soon, I will give you advice, well some of you at least." He glanced at Aegiria, then looked back at his squad, moving his own eyes to meet theirs.
"Orders don't have to make sense. That is the truth of being a soldier. Your only job is follow orders, even if they tell you to walk across a minefield, you have to do it…because it is an order," Jango told them and looked at each of them in the eyes. Out of all his squad, only Lanaal and Alesha looked away. Now he knew who he needed to look after. [4]
"Anyway, as I said, Lanaal will be our medic, and during the time before our arrival, she will be spending time with the doctors in sickbay to learn about the basics of the field medic, get it?" he asked her. She did not said anything, merely avoided his gaze. "I asked! Get it!?" he shouted.
"Yes!" she shouted back.
"Good. Matis, you will be our overwatcher, but for this deployment, use Mandalorian arms. I can't have our sniper relying on his own gun when ammo can't be found anywhere on the battlefield," he told the Caldari, who nodded. "Isab, you will be our engineer, as you wanted. Oorn, you will be our ammunition carrier and demolisher. PD and Kandosii, you are our suppressing gunners. Naruto, Silas, you two are standard riflemen, but don't let the name fool you, you are going to do more than just firing. And lastly, Alesha will be our scout." After that, Fett muttered to himself, "And let's hope you can do it."
"And what about my hound Zedra?" Naruto suddenly asked.
"What about her?"
"Will she come with me during deployment or will she stay with the beastmaster?" he asked.
"We are Mandalorian, not some official planetary defense force. You are free to choose your gear before deployment, including your beast companion if you have one. As long as it suits your role, that is. So yes, you could bring Zedra…and Peo," he said.
"Wait, why does Mister Peo have to come?" the black haired girl asked.
'Mister Peo…,' her teammates, besides Jango and PD, thought.
"Well, the truth is a deployment could take months if our opponents are on equal terms with us. Most Mandalorian will be down on the planet fighting, and only the maintainer and pilot will remain on the ship. No one is going to take care of that bird. You either prepare lots of food before we leave or simply bring him with us. Your choice," Fett ended his sentence coldly.
"Due to these reasons, I expect you all will spend your time before our deployment wisely. You have 4 days. Dismissed," Jango ordered before walking away. The others got up as well.
"I am going to the armory for weapons and armor. Anyone with me?" Kandosii asked.
Most of them went with him, but a few others went off to do their thing.
On the first day before deployment, most of them went to choose their firearms and prepare their armor for the battle ahead. Most were able to get standard True Mandalorian armor, with the exception of Naruto and Matis.
Matis preferred to adjust his dropsuit rather than getting new armor. The reason was because it was Caldari's. He worked with the Mandalorian armorer for the other three days to turn his suit into something similar to Mandalorian armor.
As for Naruto, it seemed his luck had finally run out. There was no more armor of his size, not at the time he asked for it. He would have to wait a month or so before the shipment of armor arrived. The armorer was nice enough to give him a helmet and parts so he would not be completely exposed, not that he worried about getting hit, but he did.
On the second day, they started getting on with their duties. Naruto and Silas started practicing on the firing range with Jango instructing them; Matis was also there to practice as well. Oorn went to look at each type of explosives and ammunition he had to carry. PD and Kandosii were separated in preparing for their roles, but they would be ready for it.
Isab spent most of her time with the other Mandalorian field engineer to learn what she had to do on the field. Alesha spent every day with either the drill sergeant or her bird. On the last day, however, she went to the beastmaster for an unknown reason. Aegiria spent time doing her own thing, but since she had been deployed before, no one was really worried. Lanaal was forced to study with the Mandalorian doctor, much to her dismay.
When Jango went to inquire about her progress, they said she listened but had no idea whether she just pretended or actually learning something. Fett was not comfortable with that.
The four days flew by, and the day of their first deployment was finally here.
xxx
Naruto and Zedra were the first to arrive at the hanger. Since his armor and equipment was not much, Naruto needed the least time to prepare. Zedra, on the other hand, was fully equipped with the standard beast gear for Mandalorian creatures, including some armor pieces, a strap for carrying weapons or messages, and, as Naruto requested, metal claw covers and a tail blade.
He looked around the place. It was buzzing with the sound of transporter engines, the noise of footsteps, the shouting of people, and the smell of weapon oil and explosive components. He looked past all the racket, past the hanger barrier and at the green planet he was about to descend to.
'It feels just like yesterday that I was just an ant on the pathetic rock that is my homeworld. Now I am travelling space to a planet not even my own nor I ever knew of. This made everyone back there look like nothing but primitive monkeys,' he thought.
'Ay, even I must admit, this space travel thing was strange to me as well, and that's saying something,' Kurama replied. Naruto continued to be locked by the look of the world before him, until a voice called.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" He heard a voice from behind him, and he turned around to see who it was. He was a Mandalorian with a longer, but also thinner, helmet, brownish orange armor, and a skull on his left shoulder pad. "In all my years, I had never thought I would be back to my homeworld again," he said.
"You are a Kaleesh?" Horuset asked him.
"Do you have a degree in being obvious?" the Kaleesh asked sarcastically. "Advice, boy, never state the obvious. Mandalorian hate the slow and the hesitant one. Catch the gleam of what's going on quick and only question it if you are 100% unsure," he told Naruto. "I am Maaquam ale Kunnge, born on the very world we are about to drop to." He nodded his head for Horuset to tell him his name. [5]
"I am Naruto, born nowhere important," he said and was extending his right hand before stopping midway and changing to extend his left hand instead. This caused the Kaleesh to smile behind his helmet.
"So you realize?" he asked.
"Yes, not only do I offer you my heart by extending my left side, but it was also a smart move because my right hand is where I hold my weapon," Naruto said with a smirk. Maaquam laughed at the boy's cleverness. [6]
"Ha! You're finally catching on quick, Naruto. You might make a fine Mandalorian, might," he told the boy and then shook his hand before starting to walk off. "I hope you have good luck down there, ade!" He waved back at him. Naruto smirked at that.
'Warrior culture, they are all the same,' he thought. Naruto shifted his head to the entry. He sensed one of his team was finally here. Isab entered. She spotted the blonde and walked up to him.
"You look ragged," she commented.
"Yeah, yeah, rub it in" Naruto replied to the smiling Vahla.
"And are you really bringing that ax with you? It's terribly overweight," Isab stated.
"I can bring whatever weapon I choose," he replied. They continued to talk about minor things.
Soon they were joined by Oorn, whose armor was bigger and bulkier and his helmet was modified to fit his head, and Silas.
After a while, Aegiria, along with Alesha, joined them. Alesha's armor was modified to allow her wings to come out of her armor and her jetpack was also smaller, probably because she would be using her wings for flight rather than the jetpack. She also brought an unexpected companion, Peo. He was donned with two light armor pieces on the back and chest along with a strap and a pair of metal covers on his talons.
"So you will bring him along?" Isab asked.
"Yes, I think he could be of some help," she said.
"Just be careful. If the enemy has snipers, he will be shot," Matis said as he came to join the group.
His new armor still retained his dropsuit's cubic appearance but had been modified to have the Mandalorian extra devices, color scheme, symbols, and T-shape visor.
"Looking good, Matis," Silas commented.
"Thanks," he replied.
At that moment, Peo flew from Alesha's shoulder down to the ground in front of Zedra. The bird squawked. Zedra leaned her face in, as if Peo wanted to tell her something. When Zedra's head was close enough, the Kalidor pecked Zedra on the head before flying back to Alesha's shoulder.
Zedra became enraged and was about to leap at the little fiend if Naruto did not pull her back.
"Calm! Girl, calm!" he yelled at the enraged hound. "Alesha, tell your bird to not do that again," he told the scout. She bowed her head in apology before turning away to scorn her bird. After the charade, Kandosii and Jango joined them, which left only PD and Lanaal. Ten minutes later, they started to wonder where those two were.
"I am here." They heard PD's voice. They turned around to see the Gem in somewhat light-purple Mandalorian armor and carrying her helmet. The armor plates were there, but the cloth seemed to blend in with her old cloth; like new armor entirely.
"Why does your armor look like that?" Jango asked.
"I don't need the whole thing. So I stripped the plates before shifting my form and installing those plates onto my body," she explained. Her squadmates looked at each other in confusion. PD sighed. "Fine, I will explain this to you carbon-based life forms. Gems don't have real bodies. My real self is here." She pointed at her forehead. "This gem is the real me; my body that you see before you is like a…solid projection. As long as this gem is still intact, I am alive. And since this 'body' is just a projection, I can remake it to fit my purpose. Watch," she said before her body glowed and shifted to look exactly like Jango, with both his face and body, only everything was purple.
"My amazement for your race grows yet again," Naruto commented, and PD smirked proudly. Jango snapped out of his own amazement.
"Did you see Lanaal anywhere?" he asked.
"As a matter of fact, I did. She was at-" She was cut off by a voice.
"Here." They were interrupted when the devil herself walked in.
"Are you prepared, medic?" Jango asked.
"Of course," she said and showed him her medical box and its contents.
"Good then. Let's get going," he said before leading his team to their transporter. They all were seated and put on their safety belt. "Pilot, we're set," Jango told the pilot.
"Roger," he replied. The transporter lifted up and flew out of the hanger along with a thousand others.
xxx
As the transporter made its planet fall, the people inside could feel their vehicle shaking against the G-force of the planet. Suddenly, the communication device rang up.
"This is Jaster speaking to every squad. Our mission is to push back the invader off this world and cause the least collateral damage to the world original inhibitor. 'Takli nahyuli, Mando.' It means, 'I am you ally, the Mandalorian.' Remember this phase well, not all our host members know basic. Do your job, that is all I'm expecting. Jaster out." The leader of the Mandalorian finished his speech.
"Well, what is our mission?" Matis asked Jango.
"Our mission is scouting. We will be deploy far from the main fighting force along with some other squads to locate and, if possible, demolish an enemy commanding center," Jango informed them.
"What can we expect when we land?" Isab asked.
"Terrain? At best? An open, tall grass field. At worst? A cliff. As for encounter chance, I am not sure. Our enemies are the ones that look like mantis called Yam'rii, but just call them Huk like the locals. They use advanced weaponry, so be careful. Our native ally are the Kaleesh. They have orange skin and skull masks; couldn't mistake them with the Huk. The flora should be similar to normal rainforests, full of poisonous bugs, plants, and animals. If we are lucky, we will find a larger predator, but I doubt that," Jango briefed them.
"Will our enemy be using range or melee weapons?" Naruto asked.
Jango was about to answer when the transporter shook violently.
"We are entering the Huk territory. They're shooting us with anti-aircraft guns. I could either drop you here or risk going in a bit further," the pilot said to them.
"Well that's your answer," Jango said to Naruto before starting to thinking about his landing options. He looked at his team before he asked. "Are you people good with jetpacks yet?" he asked them; all nodded. "Pilot, go in a bit further and open the door. We will jetpack drop."
"Roger that, good luck, ade," the pilot replied.
"And what about Zedra?" Naruto asked him.
"You're either carrying her down with you, or let her go with the pilot back to the forward base," Jango replied before starting to check his equipment. Naruto looked at the others. They were also busy checking their equipment as well.
'Fine, let's hope my back can heal back in time,' Naruto thought as he looked to the tiger-sized hound.
'As long as your bones didn't break, you should be fine,' Kurama replied with a low chuckle. The transporter door began to open.
"Get ready," Jango told them as he took off his safety belt. Everybody else followed. "Try landing as close to each other as possible. I will com you for the rally point," he explained. "Jumping in 5…4…3…2…1…go!" he shouted and ran out the door and into the sky. The others followed him with Naruto being the last since he had to frontally carry Zedra so she did not get burnt by the jetpack.
As he jumped off the transporter, he looked down and saw a long way down to the ground. He was falling fast. He positioned himself and activated his jetpack to try and slow down the fall. It seemed to work, but it would not be enough for him to have a soft landing. Finally, he was near the planet, and he boosted his jetpack to the maximum to slow him down even further. He might run out of fuel, but at least he would still be alive.
He and his hound hit the tree line and caused Naruto to stop his jetpack. After tangling and hitting the branches of trees, they finally fell down to the grassy ground of the jungle. Naruto got up and looked over to Zedra, who already got up and ran up to him. She stopped beside him, and Naruto stroked her head.
"You're getting fat. Guess they fed you good during that one week," he teased his hound while stroking her head harder. She barked back half annoyingly, half happily. Naruto let go of her head before he checked on his wrist device. The fuel was at 42%, not too shabby. The communication was not well, however. The jungle seemed to block the signal.
He tried to look up to the sky, but the jungle was too thick to see the sky clearly, giving him no chance of following any of his teammate's jetpack's trails.
Suddenly, he heard a rustling sound coming from the surrounding bushes. He turned to the source of the sound. He could feel three presences, one was curious, but the other two intended to bring harm. He readied his blaster while Zedra readied her claws and teeth.
Then a beast jumped out of the bush. It was similar to a tiger in body structure but with four frontal feet, a stranger color scheme, and more arranged teeth.
As the creature leaped toward Naruto, intending to kill him, it was surprised when Naruto lowered his blaster. It thought it would kill this prey, but suddenly, something tackled it from the side.
Zedra sunk her sharp teeth into the creature's body and pinned it to the ground. This allowed Naruto to take out his ax and chop the beast's head off. He shifted his eyes but made no turn as the second beast, a smaller one, jumped out of the same bush in an attempt to kill him.
Horuset would have turned around and spilt the little creature in half if he did not feel that the third presence was holding a blaster and aiming at it. The shot was fired before the little fiend could reach him. Naruto turned to the shooter and saw a Kaleesh warrior step out of the bush.
Zedra growled at him and caused the warrior to aim his weapon at her. Naruto put his hand in front of her as a sign for her to stop, and she did.
"Takli nahyuli, Mando" Naruto told the warrior.
He then slowly lowered his rifle.
"Are you the outsider that came to aid us?" the warrior asked in Basic with his native accent, which made it a little hard to understand.
"Yes," Horuset answered.
"In that case, come. We have no time to lose if we want to drive the Huk off this world," the warrior said before taking the lead.
"And how can I trust you?" he asked the bone masked warrior.
"You don't. Trust is only given to someone you truly know in and out. You just need to follow, so we can win the war," he answered.
"No, I mean how can I be sure you will not attack me for whatever reason?" Naruto corrected himself.
"You don't either," he simply stated. "But I am the one leading while you hold the gun behind my back. Does that put me at an advantage if I wanted to kill you?" he asked the blonde.
"…what is your name? That's a better way to start making allies than let them have you at gunpoint," Naruto said.
"I am Qymaen jal Sheelal," he answered.
"I am Naruto… See that was not so hard. Lead the way, Qymaen," Naruto said. As the Kaleesh turned around to lead them, he muttered a sentence in his native tongue.
"Welcome to the jungle, Mando."
xxx
[1] The chin has several nerves, so if you attack there, it is possible to knock someone out. That's why boxers target their punch there.
[2] I planned to write this part a bit longer and in more detail, but despite this story being lengthy, I need to pick up the pace. I mean it's already the third chapter, we need to start getting into action. Besides there is no real change to the squad's character development until they get into real battle.
[3] This does not actually happen in 'canon'. This completely went against what should have been. No one was supposed to interfere with this conflict. Well not at this stage at least, until it resolved itself. But not only will this give our group some real experience and adventure, Naruto will also get to meet a certain someone who we know pretty well.
[4] This is the most memorable thing I heard when I was in the reserve training, 'Order doesn't have to make sense', what an eye opener at how brutal it is to be a soldier. Don't know if American soldiers have the same policy though.
[5] A little bit Boy Scout, but it is a fact in the age where people hold guns in their right hand. Also, to offer your heart is a symbol of a warrior.
[6] You don't have to remember every character name. I'll just add detail to make the world a bit more alive.
Character profile:
Name: Qymaen jal Sheelal; original name. Grievous; adopted name, canon.
Species: Kaleesh, original. Kaleesh-cyborg, canon.
Gender: Male
Sexual orientation: Hetrosexual.
Age: Roughly, 25 years old, current. Roughly, 50, canon.
Homeworld: Kalee
Allegiance: Kaleesh
Profession: Kaleesh warrior, later warlord. Canon; general of separatist droid army.
Birth date: Unknown, roughly 77 B.B.Y.
Religion: Kaleesh's religion.
Relationships: Ronderu lij Kummar; unknown relationship type, but very close. Count Dooku, master, canon. Darth Sidious; leader. Obi-wan Kennobi; rival and enemy.
Appearance: Black hair. Brown reptile skin. Golden eyes. Unique: Wore a muumuu skull-longer skull type-mask and fabrics wrapped all over his body.
Bio: Qymaen jal Sheelal, who would later be known as General Grievous, was born on the planet Kalee as a Kaleesh during the Huk War, the conflict between native Kaleesh and the invader Yam'rii.
Even in a young age, he was trained by his father to fight the Huk. By the age of eight, he had already killed forty Huk, and by twenty-two, he had been worshipped as a demigod by his people due to his kill count.
He would later meet Ronderu lij Kummar, who would become his closest companion. The two became the unstoppable force in the Huk War and would lead their people to many victories.
[Non-canon] But that change was nothing compared to when he had met Naruto Uzumaki, or Darth Horuset.
