The lessons that Captain Tarkin attempted to instill in both Naruto and the notably more mature Jace were all for naught as soon as their escort disappeared. Naruto proceeded to point an yell as he always did when seeing new places. Jace continued to maintain an air of boredom mixed with lethal rage that kept most would-be thieves away as the young men walked to the large temple that the captain had indicated before they left the shuttle station.
"Shouldn't we get going at a more reasonable pace, baka." Jace said, grabbing Naruto by the collar and dragging him more than halfway through their excursion through the Coruscant streets. One thug hiding in an alley attempted to rob the two boys, but found himself hanging by his feet from a light fixture high above the streets not five seconds later.
As they reached the foot of the ziggurat of the Jedi Temple, Jace and Naruto stopped in their tracks and simply stared at the monolithic structure before them.
Both boys said, "That's really fucking big..." as they walked slowly to the first set of stairs.
"Mizu, mizu, mizu o kudasai..." Naruto panted as they reached the entrance to the actual temple.
Jace silently shared his friend's sentiment as he slung a half-dead Naruto over his shoulder, walking up to the greeter, which turned out to be what Jace identified as a droid. "Captain Tarkin said some group called the Jedi Council wanted to talk to us?"
"Ah," the droid said. "They have been expecting you for some time now. May I inquire as to why you took so long coming here?"
"It was a really long walk, and I couldn't spot a taxi." He shifted Naruto to his other shoulder. "This idiot couldn't remember the meaning of when I told him to get on his own feet and walk. I dragged him for half the walk." He gave the droid a flat stare, too tired to deal with the etiquette that Tarkin failed to instill in him. "Where's the Council? I want to get this shit over with already."
"If you would follow the youngling over there. She will guide you to the chambers." The droid gestured to a waiting child in robes resembling the Asian monks that Naruto and Jace were familiar with.
Naruto finally woke up and walked alongside Jace as they follwed the child through the temple to a set of large doors.
"The Masters are waiting inside." she said, running off.
Naruto looked at each other and shrugged, walking towards the door, which opened of its own accord. The wide range of faces shocked both young men, as they saw a mixture of faces that were human and alien alike, all sitting in nearly identical chairs. Jace was the first to speak.
"You wanted to see us?" He looked down at his somewhat beaten clothes. "Though I suppose first impressions could have been a bit better than where they stand now."
"Worry about your personal appearance, you should not" a small green being in one of the seats. "Instead, worry about your friend, you should. Unwell, he appears."
"He's a bit thirsty, I'd expect." Jace responded, nudging the now collapsed Naruto with his foot.
"Why would you say that?" a bald, dark-skinned man asked in what Jace identified as his normal tone, which came across as harsh and sharp.
"He was loudly begging for water as we got to the entrance and almost jumped in your fountain downstairs." Jace replied, laughing lightly. "I could go for a drink right now, myself, but I'm not collapsed on the floor, now am I?" He crouched down next to Naruto and punched his friend in the back of the head. "WAKE UP, BAKA! IT'S RUDE TO SLEEP IN FRONT OF YOU ELDERS!"
"Ow! Did you have to hit me so hard?" Naruto complained, ignoring the stares directed towards both himself and Jace.
"Boys..." one of the younger council members said.
"If you had taken my advice and asked for something to drink instead of being all macho about how long you can go without drinking, we wouldn't be having this conversation and your head would be down by one hit." Jace yelled back.
"Boys..." Another council member spoke this time, with more force than the previous.
"You want to settle this now?" Naruto demanded.
"Yeah, let's go!" Jace said, dropping into a low fighting stance.
Just as both blondes were about to attack each other, they each felt an invisible hand grasp them and lift them both into the air. Both of them were so furious and irritable, that their determination to bet the ever-living shit out of each other overcame the last few feet between them. Both blondes drew weapons and proceeded to swing at each other. A final push from the same invsible hand slammed both boys down to the ground.
"I suppose they can hear us now, Master Yoda, Master Windu." A bearded man in one of the seats said, laughing as the two tried to stand but found themselves held fast to the floor.
"Such anger would lead others to the dark side, but these two young men seem to be as clear-headed as they were when they walked into the chambers."
"And did you feel the blast of energy that erupted as they were about to strike each other?"
"Such power has never been seen before."
"Trained, they must be, but not entirely as Jedi."
Jace and Naruto made their way to the sparring room to make a name for themselves amongst the Jedi combatants. Jace waited as Naruto shuffled through the training lightsabers on an open weapons rack until he came up with a single bladed saber with a bright orange blade.
"Not very subtle, in my opinion." Jace said as he grabbed the two nearest single-blade sabers and held them with the emitters pointing behind him. He ignited the lightsabers individually, getting a feel for the weight of the hilts and absence of weight from the blades. He flipped the blue and green blades forward and dropped into a fighting stance. "Bring it on, ninja boy." He gestured towards Naruto.
Naruto grinned and leaped at Jace with a forceful downward stroke to intiate their dance of death. As they fought, Jace took note of the group of trainees the had gathered to watch the violent duel. As a secondary observation, Jace noted that a large percentage fo the group consisted of blushing female humans close to his and Naruto's age.
"Hey, Uzumaki." Jace whispered as he danced around another of Naruto's attacks. "I think our audience could do with a show of some real skill, eh?" He flipped the dual sabers back into a reverse grip and initiated a stream of attacks so ferocious and fast, many of the gathered spectators wondered if he was using a third lightsaber. When he was about the land a blow near Naruto's foot, the ninja jumped up and stayed standing on the ceiling of the training room.
"Try and get me up here, Chrytos-san!" Naruto blew a loud raspberry at his friend, who was about to throw one of his sabers at Naruto, until the Jedi who Jace now identified as the weapons master stomped up to him and removed the sabers from Jace's grip. Jace delivered the old man a dirty look as he ran up the wall, grabbing hold of a lamp and clambered his way up to Naruto's position.
"If you two don't cease this foolishness, I will tell your respective Masters that you were treating the training room as a common jungle gym!" The old man yelled at Naruto and Jace as the latter tackled the former and dragged him to the floor below. They both landed on their feet and were about to continue brawling until they felt a familiar force lift them into the air, several feet apart.
They looked around to see the weapons master glaring at them, his hand raised in a flat-palmed gesture. Jace nodded to Naruto and they both whipped out their various projectile weapons and proceeded to throw them at the old man. This distracted him, allowing the two blondes to run off, cakling like madmen as Jedi Master Cin Drallig chased after them with his ignited lightsaber in hand.
