Hello my loyal readers! Sorry I've been so far apart in updates, but life's been kicking the crap out of me lately, and you don't exactly feel like writing in that state. But I'm working again, so hooray!
But you didn't come here to listen to me, so let's get to the story!
LET THE READING COMMENCE!
9 Years Later
Galen walked into his house, removing his Hokage hat as he did. He turned into the living room to be greeted by the smiling face of his pregnant wife, Juno.
"Welcome home, love." she greeted with a loving smile on her face. Galen smiled back as he placed his lightsabers on the mantle. He moved over to the sofa, where she was laying, and planted a soft kiss to her forehead.
They had gotten married 5 years ago, after an almost constant prodding from Kota and Sarutobi. Due to Galen's rather dangerous occupation, he had wanted to hold off building a family, but Juno had worn him down, so they were now very happily married. About two years after, Juno had convinced him to start trying for a child. After two years of trying, with various interferences from Galen's job, they had succeeded, and Juno was now happily pregnant with his child, with her being due any day now.
Juno frowned slightly, seeing Galen's solemn expression. "What is it?" she asked.
"I just received word that the Kyuubi has been spotted near Konoha. If it gets any closer, we'll have to evacuate." he confessed. "I have Kota monitoring it for now, but with you due any day now, we need to be careful." his face softened as he softly ran his hand over her stomach. "But how have you been feeling?"
"Not so good. Walking has gotten almost impossible lately, and the contractions have increased. Tsunade said the baby will be here soon, within a few days." Juno replied. They had met Sarutobi's two students still in the village shortly after Galen was tricked into being Hokage. Since then, they had practically become family. Jiraiya had taken to Galen rather well, functioning almost like a father, or that embarrassing uncle you don't tell people about. As for Tsunade, she was more friendly with Juno, and had insisted on delivering their baby when they announced that Juno was with child.
"So, we'll be a family soon." Galen replied, a faint smile on his face.
"Yeah." Juno said as she attempted to move in for a kiss, only to not even get off of the sofa. She pouted at her enlarged stomach, causing Galen to chuckle and lean down to give her a kiss, which she happily accepted. Their family moment was broken when an ANBU Shunshin'd into the room.
"Hokage-sama, I have a report from General Kota." he said, handing Galen a scroll. Inside was a letter from Galen.
Galen: Kyuubi is at the gate. I have never felt such Dark Side energy before; Not even the emperor can compare! I can't fight this thing alone. I need your help.
Galen put the scroll onto the table, muttering a curse. He pulled his sabers to his side via the Force and looked at the ANBU. "Stay with her. Guard her with your life." he ordered. The ANBU nodded with a salute.
"Hai, Hokage-sama!" Galen turned to leave.
"Galen!" his wife's voice called out, prompting him to turn around. He was greeted with a stain on the couch. "My water just broke." she said. Galen muttered a curse under his breath.
'ANBU, get her to the hospital and find Tsunade! I don't care what she's doing, get her to the hospital. I'll go to the gate and stop the Kyuubi. Go!" he shouted. The ANBU Carefully lifted Juno up and moved as quickly as possible to his destination. Galen bolted out of the house, using as much power as he could spare to get to the gate. Within minutes, he arrived to see Kota being sent flying back by a man wearing an odd mask. Galen dashed forward and, with a mighty roar, sent an enormous Force Push at the man and Kyuubi, buying them some time. Galen ran over to Kota, who was standing up from the blow. "Kota, what's going on!" he shouted.
"That man… he's somehow controlling the Kyuubi. It's like he's manipulating it's mind." Kota grumbled. He noticed Galen's almost frantic look. "What's got you all fussed up, boy?"
"Juno went into labor as soon as I got the report! I need to stop this thing!" he shouted. Kota nodded.
"Right, then! Let's kill us a fox!" Kota replied, activating his lightsaber. Galen did the same, blades shimmering in the dark. "Pick a foe, boy!"
"I'll take the man. If he's really the one controlling the Kyuubi, defeating him might make it back off! Can you and the other Shinobi stall the Kyuubi until then?" Galen asked. Kota said nothing, only charging the Kyuubi, many shinobi following him. Galen, meanwhile, went after the man in the odd mask. The man, seeing Galen charging, jumped into the forest, taking Galen away from the Kyuubi.
"I'm impressed you were able to keep up with me, boy." the masked figure stated as Galen stared him down.
"I don't have time to banter with you. Either attack or flee." Galen said, switching his blades to reverse grip.
"Serious, aren't we? Alright, then." the masked man said before charging. Galen bolted forward and attempted to cleave the man in half, only for his lightsabers to pass right through him! Thoroughly surprised, Galen was unprepared for the punch to his face, which knocked him back. Quickly snapping out of it, Galen stared down the man.
'He has to be using some sort of teleportation jutsu. No one is invincible. That pretty much renders my lightsabers useless… Time to experiment.' Galen thought, shutting off his lightsabers and clipping them to his belt. Thinking Galen was retreating, the masked man charged again. Galen smirked before unleashing a powerful volley of Lightning at his foe. The blast was incredibly quick, leaving the masked man unable to dodge, leaving him helpless to the blast. Galen kept up the barrage, continuously shocking the man, causing him to scream out in pain.
"Y-You think… this will stop me?" the masked foe said in grunts as he was continuously electrocuted.
"Can't concentrate, can you? That means no jutsu, which means no intangibility. You've already lost. You just need to admit it."
"You fool. Don't you know who I am? I am Madara Uchiha!" he stated, standing up.
"It doesn't matter who you are, you're threatening this village, and that's the only reason I need to stop you!" Galen said, stopping his barrage. Madara pulled out a kunai and charged. Galen used the force to pull him off the ground, holding him helplessly in the air. "Your intangibility might stop me from killing you, but it can't protect you from the Force."
"The Force?" Madara questioned, hopelessly trying to break free of Galen's iron grip.
"Do you seriously think I'm stupid enough to tell you about something like the Force? You're dangerous enough as it is, I'm not going to give you anything else to terrorize the world with." Galen said before slamming Madara against tree after tree, using the Force to stop his intangibility from activating. In time, Madara was barely conscious. Galen was sorely tempted to just end him now, but the Jedi in him told him to spare him, even if he was evil. So he reached out through the Force and severed the connection Madara had with the demonic fox. After he severed the connection, he dropped Madara to the floor. Walking up to the crippled form of Madara, he bent down and spoke darkly, "Never come to Konoha again, Madara, or I will finish you. Do you understand?" Madara was unable to respond. Galen stood up and ran back to the gate. He was greeted by the sight of the Kyuubi batting aside his shinobi as if they were mere flies. Even more terrifying than that sight, though, was the aura the Kyuubi gave off. It was darker than Vader's and the Emperor's combined!
Seeing him approach, Kota rushed over to the young Hokage. "Where have you been, boy! We could really use your help here!" Kota gasped out. Galen looked over the damaged general. His face was bloody, his armor was more cracked than not, and there was an enormous gash just above his right knee. Most of the other shinobi were in a similar situation. Galen unclipped his sabers and ignited them, stepping in front of the group of shinobi.
"All of you, get back! I'll end this!" he said before charging the demonic fox. With a mighty roar, the Kyuubi attacked, swinging it's tails at Galen. Unfazed, Galen cut clean through one, causing the fox to let out a shriek of pain. Not stopping, Galen let loose a mighty push, sending the Kyuubi skidding back slightly. He continued charging, launching push after push at the fox, eventually sending it on it's back. Galen jumped high into the air over the downed fox and dove down, surrounding himself in a funnel of Force energy. He impacted the large form of the Kyuubi, a crater forming around them. Not two seconds after impact, he shattered the funnel with an enormously strong repel, sending the Kyuubi even deeper into the ground. Seeing the Kyuubi's unmoving form, Galen jumped out of the crater with a grin on his face. 'I did it! I stopped it!' he thought. 'Now I just have to get to the hospital and-' he was brought from his thoughts when a loud roar broke the silence of the night. Galen turned to see the Kyuubi coming out of the crater, a furious snarl on it's face. Galen noted that the tail he had severed was fully regenerated. 'What the hell? What is it going to take to stop this creature?'
With a roar of pure fury, Kyuubi launched an enormous ball of energy at Galen. Galen tried redirecting it, only to have it explode right in front of him. Galen barely had enough time to put up a barrier of Force energy to deflect some of the attack. He quickly recovered, only to be bashed into a tree via Kyuubi's flailing tails. Kyuubi continuously battered Galen with it's tails, the tired Jedi barely having enough time to put a protective bubble around himself, though it only served to lessen the damage slightly. Eventually, however, the barrage stopped. Galen managed to pull himself out of the small crater he was in to see Kyuubi launching a ball of pure power at him. Acting quickly, Galen bolted forward, surrounding himself in a thick barrier of Force energy. Shaping it so that the thickest part was in the front, he launched himself towards the boast. Sending forward large bursts of Force energy, Galen managed to tear through the blast relatively unscathed, though he was beginning to tire.
Kyuubi snarled at the young Hokage. It began to charge another ball, but Galen didn't give it the chance. He charged forward and severed it's front legs, sending it crashing to the ground, the ball exploding in it's face. Galen continued in his assault, slashing at the Kyuubi's body, severing it's back feet and nearly cutting it in half. As it began healing it's wounds, Galen called upon his full connection to the Force and unleashed a veritable storm of Force lightning upon the downed beast, causing it to shriek in agony.
Galen eventually couldn't maintain the storm any longer and fell to his knees, thoroughly exhausted. Using it's tails, the Kyuubi propped itself up and, with one last snarl at Galen, began to move away from Konoha. It was over. Neither of them could fight. Konoha was safe.
Kota quickly made his way next to Galen and helped him up. "Great job, my boy. You did it. You saved Konoha."
"Not for good. It'll be back." Galen replied tiredly. Kota nodded.
"True, but next time we'll be ready. Now, then, let's get you to the hospital."
"I'm fine, general. I don't need to go to the hospital."
"That fight must have messed with your head. Don't you want to see your child?" Kota replied. Galen's eyes widened and he took off, leaving the general in the dust. Kota smiled at Galen's rapidly fading form, hurrying after him.
Konoha Hospital
Galen burst through the door and ran past the front desk, sensing where Juno was through the Force. He flew through the hospital towards Juno's room. Slowing down slightly as he approached her room, he opened the door to see Juno in bed holding a bundle in her arms. She looked up from the bundle and, seeing Galen, smiled happily.
"Galen." she said. Galen rushed to her side.
"Are you alright? Did everything go okay?" he said quickly, his heart racing.
"I'm fine. It's alright." she replied, calming the young man. She smiled and moved the bundle in her arms, lifting it up to him. "Galen Marek, meet your son." Galen looked down at the bundle in wonder. He hesitantly took the bundle from her and moved part of the blanket out of the way to reveal the face of a boy with cerulean blue eyes and a thin layer of blonde hair on his head. He was looking up at Galen with a curious gaze. He smiled down at the boy, who laughed and smiled back.
"Did you name him?" he asked, looking at his wife.
"I figured we could do it together." she replied. Galen looked around the room, only now noticing Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Tsunade's apprentice, Shizune in the room. He looked at Jiraiya for a moment before looking back to his wife, who nodded at the unasked question. He smiled down at the infant, who was still smiling at his father.
"Since Juno and I agree, how about Naruto?" he asked. Jiraiya's eyes widened.
"From my book?" he asked. Galen nodded.
"I want my son to be as great a warrior as the one in your book, and I think, with our help, he will be. So what do you think?" he asked.
"Naruto Marek. I like it." Tsunade said, with Juno nodding in agreement.
"Naruto it is." Galen handed Naruto back to Juno, who carefully cradled the infant, enjoying her time as a mew mother.
The Marek family had gotten a little bigger today, and the legend of the Yondaime Hokage, Galen Marek, grew even larger.
8 Years Later…
"Why do I have to do this, Jiji? It's so boring." Naruto, now 8 years old, complained to the old Jedi general as he sat in the lotus position atop a large boulder. His hair had gotten quite spiky as he aged, though neither his mother's nor his father's hair was like that. The rest of him had simply matured. He was currently wearing a black tunic that his teacher had said was of the style worn by the Jedi. it was originally just a plain black tunic, but Naruto had asked his mother to customize it for him by adding silver accents to the outfit. It had resulted in a black tunic with silver thigh guards at the sides, silver arm guards, and silver lining in the edges of the tunic.
Kota frowned. "Kid, do you want to be a Jedi?" he asked. Kota hadn't changed much in the years following Naruto's birth. He had retired from active duty when Naruto was 4, which was also when they began teaching Naruto how to wield the Force.
Naruto nodded excitedly. "Yeah! I wanna be stronger than dad is!" he said enthusiastically.
"Then you need to meditate! With your potential, you could accidentally rip a house in half. You need to control your power, and meditation will help with that."
"Naruto! Dinner's ready!" Juno yelled from the porch. Naruto quickly bolted from the rock and hugged his mother.
"Thanks mom! Later Jiji!" Naruto said, waving at the old Jedi before bolting into the house. Kota walked up to the smiling Juno.
"He avoids training as it is, you really aren't helping." he grumbled. Juno continued to smile and began to make her way into the house, Kota following her.
"He's 8 years old, Kota. He's interested in goofing off, not training." she replied.
"The Jedi younglings never had that issue." Kota replied. Juno nodded.
"True, but Naruto is different. You'll have your hands full with him."
"As if his father wasn't enough…" Kota mumbled as they finally caught up to Naruto, who was currently devouring the bowl of ramen his mother had made for him.
"I heard that, old man." Galen said as he stepped into the room. Naruto was instantly hugging him.
"Hey, dad!"
"Naruto. Did you do your training?" he asked.
"It's boring, dad!" Naruto said.
"I know, but it's necessary. Don't forget, your first day at the academy is tomorrow. Don't you want to be strong?"
"Yeah!" Naruto said.
"Then do the training. The sooner you can focus, the sooner you'll get your lightsabers." Galen reminded. Naruto grinned and ran back outside. Juno giggled at her son's eagerness to get his own lightsabers. Ever since he had seen his father's he had wanted his own.
They all went back outside and saw Naruto sitting in the center of the training field that used to be their backyard in the lotus position, eyes shut, a look of complete focus on his face.
"See? All he needs is the proper motivation." Juno said to Kota, who nodded. Objects around Naruto began to lift themselves off the ground, floating in a circle around Naruto, who was levitating. All the while, he remained perfectly still.
"That boy may very well be stronger than you, Galen." Kota said in awe. Galen nodded with a proud smile on his face. Naruto may not be very good at focusing, but when he did, he had untold power.
"He will be, general." he replied as more objects began to come off the ground to circle the blonde.
Thus began the tale of the Son of Starkiller.
And done!
Not exactly satisfied with the ending, but I've made you guys wait long enough, right? One thing, though. Since I know some people will complain, the Kyuubi is an entity composed of energy. As far as I'm concerned, that means that a Force wielder as powerful as Galen would be a formidable opponent. You may not agree with me, but it's my story, and what I say goes.
On an unrelated note, I've opened a FictionPress account to put some of my more unique ideas on. Check it out! Link's on my profile.
Forever in the Sky,
The Red Star