Hey everyone! Zeratide here, and I must say that you guys have really just seemed to enjoy these last couple of chapters. I sincerely hope that I can keep you pleased. Without further ado, here is Chapter 16 of Under the Stars.
Previously…
Ahsoka burst into tears then, hugging a pillow to her chest.
"Naruto… I'm pregnant."
In the short silence that followed Ahsoka's words, Naruto felt several emotions. Surprise was first and foremost, alongside the worries one would expect upon discovering they were to be a parent. But what confused him most was the fact that he felt no fear. He wasn't worried about the Code. He wasn't worried about Jedi or Sith. All there was was the fact that he and his love had created new life. Turning his attention back to Ahsoka, he murmured her name. "'Soka," he said, leaning forward. "'Soka, listen to me. I want you to stop crying, okay?"
She sniffled for a few seconds, before she nodded, wiping her eyes. "Good. Now listen to me. This is not a bad thing, Ahsoka. This is a beautiful miracle. Do you understand me?" She smiled then, and nodded. "Good. Now, here's what you need to do. I want you to find Itachi, and tell him the truth. I trust him with my life, and he will find some way to protect you or hide you. I want you to try and find any excuse to stay out of combat scenarios. If at all possible, I want you to find a way to get out here to Kironia. Do you understand me?"
"How do you do it?" she asked, wiping her eyes again. "How can you be so calm? How can you just say everything will be alright and just make it so?" Naruto smiled then, and she cry-laughed again. "I'll find Itachi in the morning. If at all possible, I'll see about getting into a medical training program. Who knows, maybe I can become a Jedi Consular."
"A healer, researcher, and seer… well, that non-aggressive job ought to be a challenge for you," Naruto joked, watching her try and fail to give him a stern look. "Actually Ahsoka, you probably shouldn't come here to Kironia… based on what Kakashi-sensei's told me, it's still a hotbed. If there is no other option, then I want you to come here but otherwise be careful, alright?"
"I will be," she promised, blowing him a kiss via the hologram. "I have to go now. We'll speak again soon." Leaning forward, she pressed a button past his range of view, before the hologram flickered and died. Naruto turned off his own comlink, and leaned back, resting his head against the wooden wall of his room.
"I'm in trouble."
The next morning, Naruto stood with Kakashi, Senator Amidala, and Anko in the Council Chambers. Tsunade and Kankuro, the new Kazekage, kept casting sideways glances at him as Padmé greeted each of the Kage as Naruto had taught her, before they turned expectantly toward him.
"It is strange to see one of our own representing someone else," a large, ebon-skinned man said to him. "My name is A. I am the Raikage of Kumogakure. I have heard much about you, Naruto Uzumaki, and in none of the stories have I heard tell of a man with silver tattoos and Zabrak horns."
"I am no longer what I once was," Naruto told them, removing his dark robes and revealing his outfit underneath. He wore a sleeveless black leather vest, molded and polished. Multi-pocketed black trousers fit his legs, and he wore black combat boots. Wire-like bands of steel circled his biceps, creating a strange cross with his tattoos. "As you know, we are a warrior people. There was wind of a tournament at the Geonosian coliseum that Separatist Leaders would attend, so the Jedi Council sent me there undercover. They figured that based on our Chunin exams, I would be a good gladiator." The shinobi of the room burst into laughter at that, leaving Padmé flustered before Naruto continued.
He told them of the genetic experimentation he had been subjected to under Darth Sidious' watchful gaze. He told them of the battle to the death with Sasuke. As he told of Sasuke's final moments, he saw impressed approval gazing back at him, rather than the sorrowful expressions of the Jedi when they had discovered the kill. I suppose that, though I am no longer quite a shinobi, I'm still enough of one to impress them. When he was finished with his tale, and told them an edited version of his recent life and promotions, the Kage rose to their feet.
"Kneel," Tsunade ordered, and Naruto looked at them with confusion, before doing so. "Though you are no longer active, you were once a shinobi of this world. Your rank was Genin; rise, an honorary Jonin." An amused grin split the corners of his mouth before he rose, accepting the rank graciously.
After an hour or so of Senator Amidala discussing Republic policy that was over Naruto's head, A called on the Jedi's attention. "Naruto," he said, "As you know, we are in the process of electing a leader from amongst this Council to rule this planet. Kakashi is our representative, but we need an actual ruler. Do you believe that you would be able to give your own impartial recommendation? While relations with the Republic are important, we wish to be allies to the Jedi."
"I'm afraid that I only ever experienced the Konoha lifestyle, and therefore do not know anyone but Tsunade well enough to elect a leader. As a Jedi representative, however, I give you my word that I will support whatever candidate you present."
"Very well," Kankuro said. "This Council will sit in deliberation to elect its leader. You are all dismissed." Bowing out, he and Padmé waited for Kakashi, before Padmé excused herself to her quarters. Kakashi and Naruto spent an hour and a half discussing the possible leaders for the planet, before finally Kakashi had to excuse himself as well, going to see Anko. Naruto headed for Padmé's quarters.
"Senator, I was wondering if you wished me to accompany you to dinner?" he asked, knocking on the door. There was silence within, and he knocked again. "Senator?" When there was no response for a full thirty seconds, Naruto activated his seals, drawing his lightsabers. Thumbing the activation switch of his left saber, he gently used the Force to unlock the door before he entered the main room, lightsabers at the ready. When he came across a service droid, he lowered the weapons. "Where is Senator Amidala?" he asked.
"She said that she was going out for a dance. She apparently heard of a club called "Kironian Thunder," and decided to go."
"Alone… oh, hell."
Naruto wove his way through the club, listening to the pounding music coming from dozens of speakers and amplifiers. Darude's Sandstorm… he thought to himself as he saw flailing arms everywhere he turned. A masterful dance composition without a doubt, but now I can't find Padmé. Jumping onto a table, he scanned the crowd until he saw her, dancing amongst a half-dozen men of varying ninja ranks. His sharp eyes caught a hand slide over her drink casually, swapping the glass with another identical glass, and in a heartbeat he was standing next to her, knocking her drink out of her reach before grabbing the man's arm and twisting it, forcing his body to bend and his face to slam into a table.
"Naruto, what are you doing?" Padmé asked, shocked and surprised at his sudden appearance and seeming attack. Naruto wordlessly searched him, before he tossed the paraphernalia in the man's pockets onto a table.
"Death sticks… memory-debilitating Glitteryll… and what do we have here?" Picking the glass up, he gave it a sniff, before wrinkling his nose. "Zeltron spiced wine, a known aphrodisiac. Planning on a little date-rape, were we? Unfortunately for you, she's a Senator and I'm a Jedi." Pinching a nerve cluster in the man's neck, Naruto rendered him unconscious, before gathering up the paraphernalia. Slinging the man over his shoulder, he turned to Padmé. "Come," he ordered, and she meekly fell in step behind him as he led the way out.
"I must say, I am very disappointed in you Padmé. I understand that you are a grown woman who knows how to handle herself, but I told you, my planet is a frothing cesspit! You may be tough in your own right, but every interaction here is ninety-five percent bluff and five percent action. You need to make people think that you're dangerous! Your style of dancing and body language and posture marked you as an outsider, someone meek they could manipulate."
"I'm sorry," she murmured, and Naruto sighed when she began to cry. "If you weren't there…" Holding up a finger to make her pause, he flagged down an officer, handing the man and the drugs over before turning to Padmé.
"I'm sorry I snapped at you. As much as I love being back on my home planet, being here reminds me of just how dangerous it is, and it worries me to bring anyone unfamiliar to it here." Reaching forward, he pressed a hand on her stomach. "Especially someone pregnant."
Padmé's eyes widened in shock and fear, before she sputtered out, "What? How… who told you that? I'm only two weeks, no one could possibly know that, not even…" She reeled herself in then, and Naruto wondered at that; just who exactly could the father be that she would need to hide it?
"Your Force signature is different. I can feel more than your own presence. You will give birth to healthy twins." He felt like he should say more, but a sudden instinct told him to stop talking. Trusting that it was the influence of the Force, he turned and continued walking, Padmé walking silently beside him. After a few minutes, they came to the Council complex, and Naruto walked her to her door. "Tomorrow the Council will be going into private deliberation," he reminded her. "You have the day off, but try not to get into any more trouble, alright?" She promised, and he bowed slightly. "Goodnight, Senator."
The next day, Naruto and Kakashi walked side-by-side through the streets of Republic City. They did nothing really beside talk; Naruto told Kakashi of the things he couldn't over a comlink, such as the fateful mission to Geonosis, and Kakashi talked about life as a married man and Senator. Occasionally they would discuss the old days back when Team Seven was alive, but the topic invariably changed quickly; neither man was quite finished mourning. Naruto, for the first time in a long time, enjoyed the fact that he had nothing to talk about with anyone except exactly that; nothing.
As the two turned around a corner, however, their cheery mood instantly changed. In the empty path before them – too large to be an alley, yet too small to be a street – they saw a man grabbing a woman. As they twisted, Naruto's blood chilled when he saw that the woman was Anko. He began charging forward, and two things happened at once; first, the man succeeded in tearing her dress so as to display both of her breasts, and Anko brought a kunai out of seemingly nowhere and rammed it into the back of the man's head. When finally the two men reached her, Anko was sagging against a wall and the man's corpse was laying on its back in the lane. Naruto bent down to examine the corpse, purposefully averting his eyes as Kakashi wrapped his jacket around his exposed wife, before embracing her and whispering softly in her ear.
Reaching into the man's pockets, Naruto first pulled out a couple of loose credits, which he set aside in a neat pile next to the man's punctured head, far enough so the pooling blood would not stain them. Next were a number of indiscernible receipts that joined the credits, and after that was a used death stick. Hell, Naruto thought, turning it over in his hands. Where are all of these coming from?
Some dealer must have decided to start up business on Kironia, Kurama said from the back of Naruto's mind. Guy's probably got small-timers throughout the streets, so we ought to alert the police. Naruto silently agreed, before reaching into the breast pocket of the man's black shirt, pulling out identification papers. As he flicked through the information, Naruto's blood chilled, and his hands began to shake.
"We've got a big problem," he said, standing back up. "Our little would-be rapist here was apparently an Admiral. A Republic Admiral."
Naruto stood before the Council with Kakashi, Anko, and Padmé as he waited for the long-range comlink to reach the Chancellor. After a minute or so, the old man appeared before them, the hologram showing him sitting at his desk. "Master Naruto! What a surprise to hear from you so soon. Is there some way I may be of assistance?"
"Actually Chancellor, we have a bit of a problem here," Naruto said, rubbing his hands together as he debated where to start. The Chancellor recognized his nervousness and gave him a warm, comforting smile.
"Just start at the beginning, my dear boy."
So Naruto did. He told of how they had arrived, of what he understood of the deliberations. Senator Amidala filled in the blanks where she could, and finally he reached the event of the Admiral. As he told of the attempted rape, the Chancellor's face changed to one of grief and horror. "I am so very sorry that you have been subjected to this, Mrs. Hatake," he said, bowing slightly with his hands folded in front of him. "This is an action very unbefitting of a Republic soldier, and a full inquiry will begin promptly. Naruto, would you make the preparations for the body to be returned to Coruscant so the family may handle the remains?" Naruto nodded, relieved at how smoothly things were going. His relief was short-lived, however; a few seconds later, Chancellor Palpatine spoke again, hesitatingly. "Mrs. Hatake, I understand that you have been through a great ordeal, but I would like to ask that you come to Coruscant to give a full account of the happenings. Our laws do require you to undergo trial, but I can assure you that you would be acquitted of all charges."
"With all due respect, Chancellor," Naruto spoke up, wringing his hands nervously, "I took a look at our Admiral's bio. His family is very well-to-do, and they will view this as a great dishonor to their family. Therefore, since they have a number of judges and lawyers on their payroll, it would be impossible for Anko to receive a fair trial; to protect their name, they will make her out to be a lying murderer."
"What would you wish me to do, Naruto? My hands are tied. The law is the law, especially military law. Mrs. Hatake has taken the life of a Republic soldier, for whatever the reasons, and she needs to be tried. If Kironia refuses to extradite her, I will have no choice but to declare war on Kironia."
The temperature in the room dropped fifteen degrees, and Naruto, paralyzed in horror, could feel the killing intent pouring off of the Council. Turning around to face them, he opened his mouth to calm them, but A was too fast.
"You would dare declare war on an innocent planet?" he roared, slamming his fist into the long table and shattering it in half. "You dare impugn our honor? Bring your men then! We shall slaughter them!"
"He does not mean that!" Naruto roared over the din. "Chancellor, I ask that you contact the Jedi, and allot me some time to cool the tempers here."
"I shall, Master Uzumaki," he said, his lined face seeming sunken and worried. "Are there any specific members of the Jedi you wish me to summon?"
"Bring Gaara of the Sand, Ahsoka Tano, Anakin Skywalker, Mace Windu, and Obi-Wan Kenobi. Gaara is from Kironia, so he may be able to influence the Council's decision. Ahsoka and Anakin have been to Kironia, so they can fill you in on whatever you need to know, Obi-Wan is a skilled negotiator, and Mace represents the Order. Those are the only people I know of who might be able to influence this for the better."
They waited for ten minutes before the group of Jedi poured into the room, and Naruto quickly launched into the story. The youngest of the group looked horrified, and Obi-Wan looked considerably worried, while Master Windu was stoic as ever. "It seems to me that in this case, Chancellor, we might wish to make an exception," Obi-Wan said, rubbing his bearded chin. "No matter what we say, it is quite likely that Naruto is correct; any trial would be a mockery of the justice system."
"I wish I could show leniency, truly I do," Palpatine said, his expression tight and pained. "But if I show exception here, dozens of criminals will petition for retrial, and we would have to grant them. It could well break the Republic apart, and cost us this war."
"Naruto, as much as I hate to say it, the law is the law," Mace said then. Naruto felt his stomach drop as if he were back on Ilium during the free-fall following his ship's malfunction. Gaara and Ahsoka began shouting, but Windu silenced them with a fierce stare Naruto had never seen before. "You must remember, as Jedi we are servants of the Republic. As your superior, I ask that you remember that." Naruto's face hardened, before he spoke.
"Give me one hour." Cutting the link then, he sunk bonelessly into a chair.
"Can he really do this?" Tsunade asked Padmé. "You know that, given this Admiral's influence, Anko will be executed if she goes to Republic Trial."
"I don't agree in this circumstance, but I'm afraid that is the law," Padmé said, running a hand through her hair. "Two decades ago you might have been able to reach a compromise, but now that the Clone Wars are occurring and escalating, the Republic and Separatists both have really cracked down. If I were to petition the Senate, then I might be able to have the law changed, but it would do no good in this instance. Anko would have committed the act under current laws, and would therefore have to be tried based on the laws in effect at the time of the act."
"There has to be some kind of way," Naruto said, rubbing his temples. "All they will be happy with is a sacrificial lamb. Kakashi, Anko, I cannot ask you to sacrifice your lives for something that is not your fault." Staring at one particular iridescent silver line on his arm, he asked, "Is the Council determined to declare war?"
"We are," they replied.
"Then I have a brilliant, mad plan. Lives will be lost, but I may be able to prevent the entire planet from being slaughtered."
At the end of the allotted hour, Naruto sent the signal out again, waiting for the link to be established. When it finally was, he saw that everyone who had been there before had remained, and a general tension fell over both sides of the conversation.
"This Council will not surrender one of ours to be executed," Mei said, her normally silky voice hard. "Therefore, we declare war on the Republic."
"You could find no alternative, Naruto?" Mace exploded, his normally stoic features contorted with rage. "And who exactly will lead this group of rebels?"
"I will," Naruto said, and an eerie silence fell over those in the Chancellor's office. "I am Jedi no more. From this day on, you shall call me... Darth Kurama."
Well, how's that? Review and tell me.
-Zeratide, out.