Sith'ari
They know
A/N: YES! YEES! THE FORCE AWAKENS IS THE BEST STAR WARS IN ZA WARUDO! LET'S CELEBRATE WITH A CHAPTER!
Also you might wonder why I have gone missing for so long. Well, there was an exam then a little writing contest after that I was working on another story and then I feel like...well…'If I didn't get to see Episode 7, none of you get a chapter' that kind of feeling...well...sorry.
"There are more of you, aren't there, outsider?" Qymaen asked Horuset as they walked through the forest to their destination.
"How were you able to see them? The jungle is too thick to see anything; the light barely comes through," Naruto asked him rather than answer.
"I was on top of a tree to observe the outsider my people have called to our aid, not that I believe we need one," he answered, and now it was Naruto's turn.
"Yes, there are…13 of us, counting my hound and my teammate's bird," Naruto answered.
"And where are they now? Moreover, where is your promising army?" the Kaleesh asked.
"We are…commando. We are deployed away from the main force for other missions," Naruto answered cautiously, making sure he did not give away sensitive information. "My team got separated when we made a jetpack drop."
"Then we must find them," Qymaen said. Naruto could understand why the Kaleesh would want that, but he needed to be sure his intentions were not to exploit them. He only needed to make him answer a question to know what his real intentions were.
"Why would you want to help me find my team?" Naruto asked. Qymaen turned around to look at him in dismay.
"Strength in numbers. It's a simple tactic that only an imbecile can't think of," he answered in annoyance.
Naruto had read his intentions. What he said was his truth, but Naruto also felt something else.
"You speak like you don't like the tactic as well," Naruto said.
"Of course I don't. True warriors do not rely on numbers but on their skill. The overrun with sheer numbers tactic is a shameful display of a cowardly commander and useless soldiers that must be thrown in numbers to be effective," the Kaleesh explained, "which is something those Huk do as well."
"They are a bug race, right? Isn't that the nature of all bugs? Throwing themselves away for the sake of their nest?"
"Aye, if that was the case, I might show them some mercy in battle, but those Huk did not unite by some queen like primitive bugs. They have their own minds and do whatever they want, no matter how bad, as long as they can get away with it," Qymaen answered in anger but not the outburst type of anger.
"I see, and how do you know your people wouldn't do the same?" Naruto asked.
"Because if they did, they would be denied the right to ascend to godhood with our ancestors. We have codes to honor our opponent, the ones that deserve it at least, by giving mercy to the one among them whose profession was not to fight or the one that shows a sign of being honorable, which is killing them quick and clean and giving the body a proper burial."
"Hmm, I guess it could be worse," Naruto replied.
He recalled that Sith and Mandalorian had done things much worse than death to their enemy, much worse. These people were at least willing to kill their opponent quickly. Horuset guessed that was…the term would be 'humane', but since they were not human, using the word might be a bit strange. [1]
"We are here," Qymaen said. They stopped in front of the tree that outgrew the forest and into the sky. "If we climb up this tree, maybe we can spot your friends," he said before starting to climb up, with Naruto following behind.
Once at the top, they could see the grand forest, lush with the greenness of plants untouched by technology, stretching as far as eyes could see. But that only made their task harder.
"This is going to be troublesome," Naruto commented.
Then suddenly, they spotted purple light radiating from the east of the jungle. Naruto remembered that was PD's weapon color.
Zedra barked all of the sudden. She pointed her head to the west. Above the tree line, high in the sky, was a big, dark turquoise bird flying in a circle. There were no doubt that that was Peo.
Then to the north, a red flare suddenly popped up in the sky. Only Jango, Aegiria, and Oorn possessed one.
"I guess those were your friends," the Kaleesh said.
"Yes…let's split up, it will be faster to recover them that way. You go to the west, I will go to the east, and Zedra, you go to the north," Naruto ordered.
"And why should I go to the west rather than the north or east?" Qymaen asked cautiously.
"Because my teammate to the west was the most…open-minded compared to the others. She should give you nearly no trouble by simply mentioning my name. That is, if she is alone. The one to the east barely has a concept of truth, and the one to the north might be too paranoid," Naruto explained.
"Very well, then west I shall go then," he said before starting to climb down the tree.
Naruto turned to address Zedra.
"You heard me, get to the flare and bring whoever you find back here. Anything that isn't Mandalorian or Kaleesh, kill it." She barked in affirmation before climbing down.
Naruto stayed on the tree for a while, until he sensed that Qymaen was far enough. Then he jumped off the tree and started running above the treeline toward Purple Diamond.
xxx
"Think anyone will see that flare?" Isab asked.
"It's either our friends or the Huk," Jango replied.
After the jetpack drop, the two were able to reunite, but they could not find any trails to their other teammates.
"So should we wait or sho-" Before Isab could finish her sentence, Kandosii suddenly came out from one of the bushes.
"Dammit, you almost gave me a heartattack," Isab told him.
"If you get a heartattack from this, I would like to see what will happen when we get ambushed," he replied.
"Don't jinx it, Kan," Jango said.
"Don't pretend it wouldn't happen," the Mandallian replied.
"I don't pretend it would not happen, but I very much prefer we don't get ambush if possible," he corrected.
They heard a sound of a dog baying. They recognized the sound.
"Was that Naruto's dog?" Jango asked.
"Its name is Zedra, and it's a hound," Kandosii told her.
"Technically, she was, umm…I think her species was call Tuk'ata," Isab said. Then they heard another bark, much louder this time.
"So what? Should we walk to her or let her come to us?" Isab asked Jango.
"Let her come to us. If it was really Zedra, then she will come to us. From what Naruto said, she is trained well enough to recognize us," Jango replied. So they waited.
They continued to hear the sound of Zedra barking and baying. It was getting closer and closer, but then it abruptly stopped. Suddenly, another sound roared up, a sound of another beast could be heard followed by the sound of heavy footsteps heading toward their position.
"Prepare your weapons," Jango ordered.
They turned off their guns' safety lock before taking aim at the trees ahead. The sound came closer, each time louder than the last. They readied to shoot whatever come into their sight.
Then, jumping out of the thick bush was Zedra. She spotted the group and immediately ran up to them before turning around and preparing to attack. The group took this as a signal that something dangerous was on its way, and from the shaking ground, it was something big.
The yellow beast burst out of the jungle and ran toward them. With the horns on its head, its intention were clear: to try and ram them into oblivion. The team started shooting while Zedra barked at it. The laser did not appear to be very effective against it.
It reached the group, and without any delay, tried to ram the team with its horns. Jango and Isab dodged it for their lives, but the beast missed Kandosii, which left him as the only one to continue attacking. The beast now focused on him. Its anger grew as each laser bolt hit its body.
It leaped through the air and landed on top of Kan, which pinned him to the ground. It tried to bite him with its sharp teeth, but Kan was able to keep it at bay with one of his hands. His other hand tried to reach for his light repeating blaster, but it was too far.
Zedra ran up to him. On her way, she kicked the blaster into the Mandallian's hand before jumping on top of the beast and sinking her teeth and claws into its spine. The beast's head moved upward from Kandosii to roar in pain, which gave Kan a chance to retaliate. He put his repeater into the beast's mouth before pulling the trigger and unleashing the barrage of lasers into the beast's mouth until its head exploded, literally.
The beast collapsed down onto Kan. The weight crushing him beneath its corpse. He tried to push it off by himself, but it was too heavy. Jango, Isab, and Zedra came to his aid. With the strength of the four combined, they were able to push it off the giant. Kan got himself off the ground and turned to Zedra.
"I owe you one," he told her. The hound nodded but had no other response. It barked before starting to walk off.
"I think she wanted us to follow," Isab said.
"Come on, she should lead us to Naruto or the others," Jango said before following.
xxx
Naruto landed roughly a mile before he reached where PD should be. The Gem barely had any ties to the Force, making it extremely difficult from him to sense when she approached him and when he tried to seek her out. Nevertheless, he could still feel some of it, and from what he felt, she should be just up ahead.
Soon PD came into his view. She was in an open area of the forest, standing on top of an enormous beast with her lance stuck in its head. Naruto walked into her view. She turned her head towards him.
"I see you followed the noise," PD told him.
"And I see you have your first kill."
"Gems are not unfamiliar with the concept of death if that is what you were referring to."
"Really? From what you tell us, your race sounds invincible."
"No, that is not the case, we-" She was suddenly cut off when Naruto put his hand up. He looked around for a few seconds before turning his attention back to her.
"There are enemies heading our way."
"How do you know that?" she asked.
"Personal training. Now get down from there." She made her way down from the creature she had killed. "We can either move now or try to ambush them, which do you want to go for?" he asked her.
While it looked like he let her take the lead by letting her choose, in truth he was the one controlling the situation; after all, both ideas were his.
He played this little mind game to test PD. If she chose the first option, he would get to try to use the Force to persuade her to go with the ambush instead, for he wanted to see how much the Force would affect Gems, even if they did not have a strong Force presence.
If she went with another choice, ambushing, then he would be able to observe the Gems' capacity in real combat. From what PD demonstrated, she, and by extension her race, seemed impressive so far, but everything must have a weakness, and he intended to find it while observing her powers. [2]
Whatever choice she chose, it would be a win-win for him.
"Can you guess how many enemies are heading here?" she asked.
"Probably three to five, I am not that sure," he told her parts of the truth. There were actually three of them.
PD was silent in her thoughts, then she spoke.
"We will ambush them. With both you and I, the chance they will survive or retaliate before they die is rather slim."
Was that overconfident? A two against three fight was not a situation any normal person would put themselves in. He tried to sense her thoughts, but it was very difficult.
"Ugh, why do I feel...what is your people's word for a condition that your head feels something but not to the point of being a headache?"
Naruto immediately stopped trying to peek into her mind. He was too forceful that she felt the attack on her mind. He needed to make her show more 'open up' than this if he wanted to feel what she felt.
"It's called dizzy," he answered.
"Yes, that, why do I feel that all of the sudden?"
"Probably the temperature, your homeworld might have a different biosphere than this place."
"Maybe, alright let's plan our ambush," PD said.
She looked around, then picked up a nearby stick and was about to draw a plan on the dirt when Naruto interrupted her.
"No, don't draw the plan. We don't have that much time. Just tell me where to position and what to do," he told her. [3]
"Alright, we hide behind the treeline over there and wait. With my supression weapon and your rifle skills, we will take them out in no time," she finished.
Naruto only nodded. While this was a rather stupid plan for many reasons, he followed her order anyway. He just hoped PD had something to show or else this would be a big waste of time. They moved into the treeline and laid down on the grassy ground, aiming their weapons at the open area.
After waiting for a few minutes, three mantis people came into the view.
"So that's what the Huk look like," Naruto whispered.
"Only one carries a ranged weapon? That doesn't seem wise when your opponents have blasters."
"Some races have powerful natural 'defense' mechanisms, like yours."
"I see, this will be much easier then," Purple said before taking aim at one of the Huk examining the beast she'd slain. She took a deep breath before taking the shot. The beam soared through the air and was about to hit her target, if one of the three mantis didn't see the shot and yank his friend away.
Immediately, PD and Naruto started firing at the Huk patrol. Naruto missed most of the shots, intentionally. The Huks hid themselves behind the corpse of the beast PD had slain. The two continued to fire until something was thrown at them, something Naruto had anticipated.
"Grenade!" he shouted and dodged to the left while PD dodged to the right. Within a second, the whole world turned white for Naruto. The whiteness faded as quickly as it came. Naruto looked around and tried to locate his friend, but she was nowhere to be found.
He almost shouted out in frustration, 'What a waste of time and resources.'
He lowered his head to dodge a shot from the Huk. He dodged a few more before throwing a kunai into one of the Huk's eyes. The Huk looked at their dead friend before turning back to Naruto, only to see that he was already gone. Before they could look anywhere else, the ax swung in a circle, and their heads soon rolled on the ground.
Horuset looked down at his slain enemy. Their eyelid-less bug eyes made them much more disturbing to look at. He walked back to the explosion point.
'Where are her body pieces?' he thought.
As he continued to examine the scene of destruction, he spotted something out of place: a purple diamond. He felt like it could tie to PD, but this was a battlefield; he could not be too sure. He tried to sense if it was a landmine or other weapon employed by the Huk.
Then he felt it. It wasn't a sense of danger, it was emotions. Anger, pain, resolve, fear, and all of it had a familiar signature.
"PD?!" Naruto exclaimed out loud. Even he could not hold his surprise over such an ability. Natural advance weaponry, at-will shapeshifting, reducing a body to gem stone in a fatal state and, worst of all, force resistance. They would either be one of the biggest threats to him...or his most powerful ally.
In any case, he halted the thought of the future and picked up the Gems. He examined the shining stone before considering his options. Out of all the choices, he decided to carry her.
He began walking back to the rally point with PD in his hand.
xxx
Naruto was the first to arrive back at the giant tree where he and his companions had split up. There he sat down and waited for the others with PD at his side.
For a short while, he sat in silence thinking of trivial things to pass time as he waited for his teammates' arrival.
'Kid, I think it's time we talk." Kurama suddenly spoke up.
'About what?'
He sighed. 'About things that happened just about a month ago.'
'If you are talking about Master, then there is nothing to be said. I won, I proved myself, and now I am off of her leash,'Naruto replied.
'Not that. By the Sage, you really have forgotten, didn't you.'
'About what?'
'About the fact that your old master was able to stop your chakra entirely,' Kurama said.
Naruto's eyes widened in remembrance. He was too focused on many thing on that day. He had nearly forgotten about it.
'Shit, now I remember.'
'Good, because I have been wondering since that day how you are going to deal with it.'
Naruto's mind raced with ideas on the subject. He was a bit skeptical that all Force users could do the same thing his master did to him, but there would likely be a few others who were on her level, including some of the Jedi.
'Not good, not good, not good, not good, not good! If she can do it, others can do it, especially them!' Naruto thought with worry and a little fear.
'Kid, stop panicking and start thinking; that's what you always do,' Kurama said.
'Yes...yes, you're right," Naruto said as he started to calm down. 'There is no use panicking, there are no Force-sensitive arou-' Naruto paused. Then his expression turned to worry once again. 'Isab! She's a Force-sensitive! No, no, she's not that strong, but what if she can disable my chakra, yet she isn't a Jedi or a real Force-user, still she-' His thoughts were interrupted by Kurama.
'By the Sage, kid, shut up! Why are you getting so worked up about this? It's not like you weren't in a worse situation before.'
'No, you're wrong there. This is the worst situation possible. My chakra is everything, Kurama, including access to your power.'
Kurama went silent for a minute, then spoke up. 'Hmm, I didn't expect XoXaan's words about how will you change to be true, but now I am not so sure. You're really starting to cling to power, the chakra, and become paranoid when you are about to lose it; like all power hunger do.'
This time it was Naruto's turn to stay silent. After a long minute of thinking, he inhaled the air before speaking back.
'You're right, I'm really starting to change, but I will not let what that bitch said about me become real. I will be the Sith in my own way and with my own method, not hers. I will carve my own path into the galaxy, and maybe I will change, a bit, but I will always be me.'
'Another long philosophical speech I see. Well, I won't deny that you will change, it's natural, but if things turn ugly for ME, I will not hesitate to rip out your stomach to kick your ass in the real world,' Kurama warned. [4]
'Aww, and I thought we were friends,' Naruto replied sarcastically.
'Well, true friends would never be afraid to hurt you if it would help you,' Kurama replied with a playful tone. They both chuckled, then Kurama spoke up again. 'Seriously though, how are you planning to deal with people with the ability to disable chakra?'
Naruto went silent again, thinking on the matter.
'If that case ever happened, then I would need to analyze my opponent first. If he or she was just a single person, who would no doubt be a Force-sensitive, then I think I should be able to win with my skill and the Force alone. If that person had an army behind him, and when I say army I mean like hundred to thousand personnel, then I will 'tactically' retreat,' Naruto said.
'I see. There are still some questions, but I don't think you can answer them.'
'And what are the questions?'
'First is how were you not knocked out when XoXaan disabled your tenketsu-' He was cut off.
'Chakra nods,' Naruto said.
'Tenketsu,' Kurama repelled.
'Chakra nods!' Naruto yelled.
'Tenketsu!' Kurama yelled back louder.
'Chakra nods!' Naruto yelled even louder.
'For fuck's sake! Are we arguing about what to call a small detail now?!'
'Damn right, we are! I want nothing to do with my homeworld, not its picture, not its clothes, and definitely not its language!'
'And that makes us have to argue in the most ridiculous manner?!'
'Yeah!'
'...oh my Sage, this is stupid.' Kurama remained silent for several minutes before finally giving up. 'Fine, we'll call it chakra nods. Satisfied?'
'Why should I be? It's just a name,' Naruto replied bluntly.
'...'
'...'
'...'
'...'
'I regret everything I have ever done for you…'
'...'
'...'
'...'
'...'
'...So…back to the point?'
'And make me forget this? Sure,' Kurama replied tiredly. 'Like I said, how were you not knocked out after having your main…chakra nod disabled is beyond me. Normal chakra users, save for the Sage of Six Paths and his brother, would be down on the ground in no time. Even if they were strong enough, like Madara or Hashirama, they would at least be weakened, but you, you can withstand it and can continue to fight, not at 100%, but still much much better than normal ninja.'
'So what you are saying is, what I did back in the tomb is an impossible feat?'
'Honestly? Yes, but only because you're still a kid.'
Naruto was about to ask for more details, but then he sensed some presence were approaching him.
'We'll discuss this later.'
'Or maybe never, if we forget about it again.'
Naruto looked in the direction where the presence was. He closed his eyes and quickly focused. He could sense the presence of four people, but he stopped as soon as he felt that one of them was Zedra. When he opened his eyes, he heard a rustling sound coming ahead of him.
"Took you long enough," he yelled at the sound.
After a few moments, he received a reply.
"Yeah, yeah, how about you try stepping on a snake nest and see how that goes," the voice of Isab replied as she, along with Kandosii, Jango, and Zedra, came into the view.
"Did you find anyone else?" Jango asked him.
"Well, I found PD."
"And where is she?"
"Umm," Naruto hesitated. He simply gestured his head at the purple gem lying beside him.
"Wait...don't tell me that she-" Jango was cut off by Naruto.
"Before you ask, I don't know. All I know is a grenade hit us, well her mostly, and when the fight finished, what was left in her place was this." Naruto pointed at the gem.
"No offense, Naruto, but...I feel like you know more than you let on," Jango said suspiciously.
"Thought we were supposed to trust each other," Naruto countered, but his eyes immediately widened a bit. That was a very bad reply; it was like he had just told him he had something to hide by telling him that he didn't.
"Yes, we should. That's why I don't trust you. You didn't trust us enough to tell us you are Force-sensitive."
'They know!?' Naruto screamed in his mind.
"How did you know?!" Naruto asked in outrage.
"I told him." Isab joined the conversation.
"Huh, guess I do really underestimate you as a fellow Force-sensitive," Naruto said dismissively.
"Most Vahla are in a Force cult, Naruto. We were taught well enough about the Force. I can't do any of that fancy Jedi stuff, but I can at least sense another Force-sensitive."
"I see." Naruto changed his focus back to Jango. "So, what now, leader?"
"Now I want you to tell me what happened to Purple Diamond."
"Like I said, she got hit by a grenade, and this was in her place." Naruto repeated his words.
"And like I said, I know you know more than that." Jango also repeated his words.
"Hmm, well not as much as you hope. I also sense that this is, well, Purple Diamond."
"So she turned into a gem, eh? Well, that's hard to believe, but from what she can do so far, it might be possible, but what I really want to know is whether you have anything to do with it," Jango said, eyeing him suspiciously.
Naruto stood up in haste. If there was one thing he refused to be, it was betrayer; and he would do anything within his power to never be one, no matter how much it would contradict Sith doctrine.
"Listen here, if you are saying I am the one who caused her to be in this state, you're wrong. The Huk did it. And if you don't believe, I can lead you to where the fight took place," Naruto told him hatefully.
They both looked into each other's eyes, challenging one another until one was willing to step back.
"By the way, who exactly gave you the authority to be our leader?" Naruto asked. Fett only remained silent. "Oh right, your dad did. What a daddy boy you are, di'kutla ad!" Naruto insulted. [5]
"Ooo, that's harsh," Kan whispered to Isab as they both observed.
Jango clenched his fist. He knew what Naruto was trying to do. He was trying to force him into blind rage and fight him...but why did he need to wait for Naruto to provoke him? After all, he was a Mandalorian.
"I know what you're trying to do, challenging leadership is common in ancient Mandalorian. So how about this? Cut the stupid crap, and let's get this on?" Jango offered with a savage smirk inside his helmet.
Naruto smirked back. "And this is why I like the Mandalorian: no bullshit, just straight to the point. Sure, let's fight, no gun!"
A/N: Early happy new years by the ways guys, also late merry christmas. The chapter needed to be cut or else me and my beta could not deliver it before the end of the year.
Also to user name ' ', Coke is better...and I didn't give Naruto any bloodline and did not plan to, and am never going to.
[1] Whatever your belief is, I hope you recognize that there is a fate worse than simply death in this world. Afterlife doesn't count. Sure, it can be worse than death, but it is after death so you know…
If you are an atheist or theist of whatever religion, keep it to yourself. This is a place to relax, not argue, but seeing as you're already reading this, I suppose you are already relaxing.
[2] I want to start learning how to show, don't tell. Is this tell, don't show? Because since I write it, it's harder for me to detect.
[3] Drawing a plan on the ground is actually used in real life, mind you.
[4] After reading 'One Punch Man,' I think I'm becoming a bit too philosophical, complicated, and...big to the big questions. I might decrease that aspect a bit.
[5] Direct translation is 'Foolish child/son/daughter.'
