"The two most powerful warriors are patience and time." – Leo Tolstoy
Naruto breathed heavily as he woke up in a cold sweat. It was another nightmare that had haunted him for over a month. Each nightmare always caused him to wake up like this, some were of that day that Hinata…died. Others were of things that Naruto had no idea about, but they would still cause him to wake up.
As he pushed himself into a sitting position, Naruto sighed at how these horrid dreams would keep coming back. He then looked over to where his companions were. Sasuke was still sleeping with his back against a tree. With a small smile, Naruto turned his attention to where his newset companion Revan was sleeping next to the fire while curled up in her robe. The fire that had been burning brightly a few hours ago was now just dull red embers.
Naruto pushed himself onto his feet and began walking away from the camp and towards the small river near them. 'Another nightmare?' Kurama asked from within his mind.
"Yeah." Naruto softly replied.
'The nightmares may eventually disappear. You'll have to give it time.' Kurama said in a way to console his partner. Naruto smiled at Kurama's optimism.
"I don't know about that. It may be possible, but until it happens, I'll just keep having these nightmares." Naruto responded as he reached the small river. He eventually kneeled down towards the river and put his hands into the water before cupping a small amount of water and splashing himself in the face with the river water. He repeated the action a few more times until he felt that he had cleaned the sweat off his face.
As the water ran down his face, Naruto stood up while wiping his face off with his sleeve. When he had finished doing so, he looked up to the sky to see that the stars were still out. He guessed that it was still early morning.
The endless black sky above made him think more about Revan's offer to let him take a trip through the stars. To see the worlds and people above…to escape how the world he stood on haunted him. As it was, the dreams he kept having might not leave him even if he decided to leave his home, but he didn't care.
It was then that Kurama decided to speak up, 'Which one was it this time? The one of that day, or was it the different ones?' Kurama asked.
"It was one of those hooded people again. Those people in the black cloaks." Naruto replied.
'The nightmares may disappear eventually. So, which one of the cloaked people was it this time?' Kurama asked. Naruto thought about it. All those people he had been seeing in his dreams had been terrifying in their own right, even if he didn't understand why. It was a sort of primal fear.
"This one wore a white mask made of bone." Naruto stated.
'Do you remember meeting any of these people before? Or even seeing people that may have looked like them?' Kurama asked with concern. Naruto just shook his head in reply.
"No, I would've easily remembered the horrid feeling that they gave off." Naruto had been seeing these people in his dreams quite often. Well, at least if it wasn't a dream of Hinata's death. There were only five that he had actually seen in his dreams. Each one varied quite wildly from one another.
There was that man with the bone mask whose face and body were completely obscured. Then there was a man with a body of dead flesh that was being held together by scar tissue. The third cloaked figure was an old crone who had been slightly obscured in the dream. The fourth cloaked figure had been a pale man with almost glowing red eyes. That one felt the darkest of the entire bunch.
It was the last one that felt different. They also wore a mask, one that was black and red with a black visor in a T shape. That person had felt different. While the other people felt dark and evil, this person was different than the rest. Almost extremely familiar. The dreams were strange, and very confusing to say the least.
Even though Naruto hated these dreams, in the back of his mind, he believed that these haunting dreams were a fitting punishment. One that he deserved for failing to save Hinata. It may have seemed slightly childish, but it seemed to be the only plausible reason for their existence in the first place.
'You'll find a way through the dreams. After all, you always find a way.' Kurama stated in an effort to comfort his partner. Naruto chuckled at this.
"Yeah, I always do, don't I?" Naruto replied halfheartedly. His mind quickly turned back to those people that he kept seeing in his dreams. Why did he constantly see them? That was unknown. What was known was that he couldn't let these dreams interfere with his life.
He was quickly brought out of his thoughts when he heard the snapping of twigs behind him. In but a second, Naruto reached into his kunai holster and pulled out a kunai before he twirled around and pointed it at the throat of a smiling Revan. Naruto sighed before reholstering the weapon.
"What are you doing here?" Naruto asked.
"Well, I heard you wake up, quite early I might add, and I decided to follow you. I sense that you feel troubled." Revan replied.
"Trouble comes with the territory. I've been kinda a magnet for it ever since I was born." Naruto replied as he scratched the back of his head. "What about you? I would assume that on all the trips you've taken in your ship, that you've gotten into at least one or two things that managed to go over your head." Revan's smile got bigger at this as she walked next to the river and sat down in a lotus position. Naruto joined her side and Revan replied.
"You know, I saved the entire galaxy twice, and I've almost destroyed it once." Revan replied. That caused Naruto's ears to perk at this.
"How did you almost destroy the galaxy?" Naruto asked with an extreme amount of curiosity buried within that question.
"Maybe I'll tell you later. It's a personal story for me. But at least it had a happy ending. What about you?" Revan asked.
"I have a long story. It all started before I was even born. Years before." Naruto replied as he thought back to everything that had led up to his life as it was. "It really started when the seed of a massive tree landed on my world…" Naruto then spent the next hour telling Revan of the history of his world before he was born. Revan took all of it in stride as she listened and stayed silent during this tale.
When Naruto had finished at his mother and father meeting, Revan wanted to know more, but she guessed that it was for another time. Carth was much harder to talk to about his past than Naruto was, it was quite obvious. Though Revan could sense that the blonde was hiding something from her. But then again, so was she. After all, it wasn't easy to start a conversation saying that she was once a Sith Lord that had killed millions in a bid to rule the galaxy.
"I guess that is all for now. The sun is starting to rise." Naruto remarked. The two could see the sun coming up in the horizon and giving a new life to the world that was bathed in its light. The two then stood up and began heading back to the camp.
"Did you ever find out where this tree came from? Or even where Kaguya originated from?" Revan asked. Naruto shook his head in reply.
"The only beings old enough to even have lived during Kaguya's time were the toads. And even they have no idea where she came from. She just fell from the sky one day." Naruto replied. He had asked about the horned woman a few months after his and Sasuke's battle against her, and the oldest toad couldn't tell him anything that was really useful about her.
"She must've been from a race of humanoids that we just haven't found yet. Somewhere in this area of the galaxy most likely." Revan stated. Naruto shrugged his shoulders at this.
"Possibly, I haven't really thought of space since my last battle which was out on the moon." Naruto casually remarked which caused Revan's eyes to widen.
"I thought you said you didn't have space-faring capabilities yet?!"
"We don't. But the moon floating in the sky is completely artificial. Before it went up into the sky, a sect of Otsutsukis decided to stay on that moon in order to safeguard Kaguya's body. I had to fight the last of that clan when he tried to perform the genocide of the planet with the moon. I fought him on the surface since anyone who is related to Kaguya has the ability to breathe in space." Naruto stated.
"That should be impossible." Revan remarked.
"It's weird. I know, but I've pretty much given up on questioning everything since I managed to fight an army of dead people a few years ago. I just view it as one of the little quirks in my life." Naruto finished. As the two made it back to camp, they saw that Sasuke was busy cooking up a meal which consisted of two rabbits on a hastily made spit over a fire.
"Hey, you two better get over here. The food is done." Sasuke announced to the two with his back turned to them.
"It looks good. When did you get the time to find two rabbits?" Naruto asked.
"About the same time that you and Revan woke me up when you left camp." Sasuke replied which caused to the two to have the decency to blush in embarrassment. "Now get over here and pick which part you want to eat." Naruto was the first to make it to the fire and pulled off parts of the rabbit to eat. Revan followed after him and pulled off meat from the animal to eat.
"Naruto, did it happen again?" Sasuke asked in reference to his dreams. He received a nod in response. Sasuke remained silent about it and pulled meat off of the rabbit.
"What's the plan for today?" Revan asked. The two males looked at Revan. Naruto swallowed his food first before responding.
"We were originally hunting down the large groups of bandits that have been popping up all over the Fire Country. Then we would put a stop to their activities. That last village was supposed to be one of our stops, but you took care of that. Now the next stop is Ikari village." Naruto replied. "And then after that, you and I will be training in that Force that you can do." Naruto looked excited when he said this.
Revan looked over to Sasuke, "Wouldn't you want to learn about how to use the Force? I sense that you have untapped potential for it." Revan asked. Sasuke shook his head.
"The Force is something that I'm guessing runs off emotions, am I correct?" Sasuke observed. Revan nodded, "Then no. I'm the worst type of person that could ever use the Force. You'll just have to teach the idiot across from me." Naruto gave a mocking glare at Sasuke who made a small amused smile.
"Alright. But the offer is always still open." Revan replied. She could understand if he didn't want to learn. Some people were just more attuned with darker emotions than others which could cause one to fall to the dark side more easily than others.
It was twenty minutes later that the group finished their breakfast and began to clean up their camp in order to continue moving. When they packed everything, the group walked away from the area and towards Ikari village. It was only an hour's walk if they went at the pace that they were at. An hour later when they had gotten near the village, the trio stopped where they were at as they saw smoke rising into the air which put the group on guard.
"We need to move quickly. Revan, go with Naruto into the village. I'll check the surrounding area for enemies." Sasuke ordered before he jumped away into the woods. Revan and Naruto looked at one another and each of them pulled their weapons out. Naruto pulled out two kunai, one in each hand, while Revan unclipped her lightsaber from her belt.
"What's that metal tube supposed to do?" Naruto asked as the two trudged their way towards the village. Revan playfully flipped it in her hand.
"Oh, you'll see." Revan replied cheerfully. Naruto smirked at this as they both exited the cover of the forest and onto the well-trodden dirt ground where they saw the village fully with their eyes. A few of the buildings were burning down, and multiple people were running around. Some of these people were civilians that were caught in the crossfire, while the rest were obviously shinobi due to their speed, weapons, and how they moved. When one these shinobi caught up with the civilians, they would knock them unconscious and take their body to the center of the village with a growing pile of bodies.
It was a minute before the two were noticed by these obvious bandits. "Stop where you are and surrender!" One of the men of the group shouted.
"What are you doing to the people here?" Naruto demanded. A man with blonde hair and green eyes landed before him with his sword drawn.
"I say once again, surrender or you will be killed." Naruto calmly twirled the kunai in his hands as he walked closer to the blonde man. The way he treated his threat to his life slightly unnerved the man and any of his companions around him.
"And I'm asking what you're planning to do with the people here? You're not the first bandits we've seen doing this, but every other group that we've encountered has died or committed suicide before we could really question them." Naruto stated.
"That's it. Kill this prick, try to take the woman alive. We'll definitely be able to sell her with a face like that." The man ordered. From the surrounding houses, multiple bandits came out with their weapons drawn and large grins on their faces at what they assumed to be easy pickings.
"You know, I really want to know where all of you are coming from. And why all of you are abnormally strong. It just isn't right for a bunch of A-class shinobi to be bandits if they could just join a village." Naruto remarked. He turned to Revan and grinned. "Got any tricks up your sleeve?"
Revan in response ignited her lightsaber in a snap-hiss and waved the purple blade at her enemies before brandishing it with both hands. Naruto's jaw slightly dropped when he saw this.
"B-but I-I want one of those." He whined out. Revan smirked as she rushed at the shinobi with the Force propelling her forward. In but an instant, the blonde man had lost his sword…and his hand with the stump being quickly cauterized by the lightsaber. When the blonde screamed, all hell broke loose as the other shinobi quickly converged on Revan and Naruto.
Naruto kept an eye on Revan as he easily defended himself from his assailants. He was quite confident in his abilities, but he didn't know how Revan would hold up. As it was, she was absolutely amazing. She was like a dancer with how she weaved between each of the attack of the ninja that attacked her. It was almost mesmerizing to watch.
Sadly, that couldn't last forever as Naruto heard a shout, "Earth Style: Mud Wave!" He looked over to see one of the bandits slam his hands onto the ground and a large wave of mud roll towards him and Revan.
"Revan! Watch out!" Naruto shouted as he quickly formed a Rasengan in his hand and held it forwards. The spiraling blue ball tore apart the section of the mud that came at him a splash. When he looked over to Revan, she slashed one of the bandits away before holding out her left hand towards the mud wall. Naruto felt a flicker of power grow around her hand before it exploded forwards and caused the wave to burst around her harmlessly.
With his friend safe, Naruto turned his attention back to the man who activated that jutsu and quickly rushed forward with his Rasengan in hand. The man tried to form another handseal, but Naruto was on him before he could finish and had instead slammed the orb into the man's stomach which launched him into one of the walls of the houses. He slumped down in unconsciousness before Naruto turned around to the rest of the bandits.
He quickly noticed that Revan was fighting the last few bandits, and it was now that Naruto examined her fighting style more carefully. Each time that Revan dodged one of the attacks, it was almost like she had a Sharingan as she would react a split second before a bandit swung their weapon at her. It made her seem more graceful compared to the rest of the bandits. Finally, Revan ducked under all of their weapons and spun, slicing and cauterizing their stomachs.
The bandits fell to the ground after this and Revan took a deep breath before the purple blade of her lightsaber slid back into the silver hilt in her hands with a hiss. She reclipped the weapon to her belt and walked over to Naruto where she noticed him standing near the unconscious man.
"You captured one of them?" Revan asked. Naruto nodded.
"Yeah. We need some intel on where these guys keep coming from. Otherwise we'll never get to the bottom of this." Naruto stated. Revan agreed with this and the two went over to the villagers to check on them.
What they found was that most of the villagers were unconscious and had been put into cages. Revan and Naruto broke open all of the cages that they could find. When they had finished, they found Sasuke walking up to them.
"Did you manage to catch one?" Sasuke asked. Naruto nodded and pointed to the bandit that had been propped against a house. "Good. I took care of any runners. Nobody will know that we've found their little group."
"That's great. Now, how about we finish up here and take this guy with us?" Naruto stated as he walked over to the unconscious man and picked him up before throwing him over his shoulder. "Let's leave these villagers alone. They'll all wake up after a while." Naruto recommended. His two companions agreed to this and the trio left the area. It would be an hour later that those same villagers came to their senses and began repairing the damage to their village.
They never found out who their saviors were, but they were thankful nonetheless.
Revan held her hands over the captured bandit's torso in order to heal him. The man's chest had multiple spiral grooves that dug deeply into his skin due to Naruto's attack. As Revan channeled the Force to heal the man before her, she noticed the spiral marks in his chest begin to recede ever so slowly until they had finally disappeared entirely. With her work done, Revan stepped away from the man and took a deep breath due to the exertion.
"How's he looking, Revan?" Naruto asked as he walked up next to the Jedi. Revan looked at the blonde a smiled.
"He'll recover, but I didn't completely heal his wounds, so he'll have some pain if he breaths too deeply." Revan stated. As she said this, the man began stirring which caused the two to look down at the bandit.
"Sasuke, we need you over here!" Naruto announced to his friend. Within moments, Sasuke walked over to the two and noticed the bandit beginning to awaken.
"Need me to interrogate him?" Sasuke asked.
"Could you? It would be a lot better than questioning him if you used your Sharingan." With that, Sasuke walked over the bandit and kneeled by his head. He then used his hand to pry open the man's eyes, and then activated his Sharingan. Revan looked at this in interest as this was something quite new to her.
"He can do that?" Revan pondered.
"Yeah, that's an ability of someone who has mastered their Sharingan. It's really helpful for when you want to get information from someone who you either can't question, or don't want to question. I am very curious on where all these highly skilled bandits keep coming from. They've been a real problem for the Elemental Nations. I've been getting news that most of the countries have been dealing with this influx of bandits." Naruto finished.
"Then we've got some work to do." Revan stated.
"Yes, we do." As Naruto said this, Sasuke stood up from the bandit and looked at Naruto and Revan. "What did you find?"
"We need to head to Rain country. More specifically, the Hidden Rain Village." Sasuke replied. Naruto gained an uneasy look when Sasuke said this.
"What happened to the Rain?"
"It appears that it was taken over. Possibly due to those Akatsuki member's influence disappearing when they died. This man here was just hired out as a slaver to bring these villagers to a certain drop off site where he'd get paid."
"Oh." Revan seemed confused at this.
"What was Akatsuki? And why was the Rain Village taken over when they disappeared?" Revan asked.
"Akatsuki was a group that tried to capture all of the Tailed Beasts a few years ago in order to basically take over the world so that they could bring peace to it. They nearly succeeded with that goal, but we stopped them." Naruto replied.
"Then, they were after you." Revan stated after putting the pieces together.
"It was a long time ago, and they were stopped. What I want to know is who would take over the Rain Village now?" Naruto pondered. Sasuke looked at Naruto with his crimson eyes.
"No idea. How about we find out?" Sasuke asked.
"Then what would our plan be to get to this Rain Village? I don't think that we could just walk in." Revan asked. Naruto and Sasuke shared a look before smiling at the Jedi. Revan looked a little nervous when she saw this. "I don't like that look that you're giving me."
"What's your experience in infiltration?" Naruto asked.
"Well…there was that one time when I was on Taris…" Revan reminisced about the time she had to disguise herself as a Sith trooper in order to sneak into certain sections of the city that had been cordoned off from the public. She remembered the stench of the armor due to the previous occupant having such a horrid smell when she had…commandeered it. She quickly shook herself from these thoughts and looked at the two ninja before her, "Maybe you could try and tell me the plan before you make me do something that is potentially hazardous to my health." Revan asked.
"Well, we have a plan but one of it will need an actual prisoner just in case something goes wrong with the clones that we are going to be using. Other than that, it'll be perfectly safe for you!" Naruto reassured her confidently. Revan found it odd when Naruto said clones. How could anyone mass grow clones that fast? And more importantly, what would they be cloning? Revan made her thoughts be known to the ninja and Naruto answered with a quick cross-shaped handsign that caused a burst of white smoke to appear next to him.
The smoke faded to reveal another smiling Naruto that was waving at Revan. To say she was surprised would be to underplay Revan's thoughts. "How did you do that?!" Revan shouted.
"This is the Shadow Clone Jutsu. It's extremely helpful in a lot of things. One of the main uses for it would be infiltration." The clone replied. Revan looked back and forth between the clone and Naruto. Both felt completely the same in the Force. There wasn't any way to tell the difference between the two. Revan calmed herself down before another question popped into her mind.
"Okay, the clones I can see as helpful in this infiltration mission. But even then, it would still be clones. They would look all the same which would create quite a few questions." Revan stated. The clone made a handseal and in a puff of smoke, a clone of Sasuke was revealed. Revan's jaw slightly dropped at this. "Wow, first you can make people. Then you can transform them into other people. What's next? You'll be telling me that you can fly."
The clone looked like it was about to speak up about that until Naruto shook his head. "There is one weakness to this jutsu, it dispels in just one hit." Naruto demonstrated by smacking the clone on the back of the head which caused the chakra being to disperse into smoke.
"I can see why you need me in this group of yours." Revan conceded. If all of the clones managed to explode, the whole plan would be a bust. "But still, why do we need to infiltrate this village if you two are extremely powerful?"
"It would be a lot easier if no one realized that we were actually there compared to if we were to just announce our presence by blowing open the gates to that village. And we aren't even fully sure of what is happening in that village. Our entrance might just cause whoever we are looking for to scatter which would force us to continue the hunt for this person." Sasuke replied.
"Okay. How long will it take us to get to the Rain Village?"
"About two weeks. Maybe less." Naruto replied. "We'll have our plan completed by the time we enter Rain Country."
"We better. I really don't wish to die infiltrating a village on an unknown planet in uncharted space." Revan remarked.
The trio had traveled for over five hours and had made quite a bit of headway to their destination. It was now that they had decided to take a break from walking and finally set up a temporary camp. After having dinner, Revan took Naruto to a slightly secluded part of the woods, where she began to train him. As it were, Naruto and Revan were both sitting in meditative positions.
"The Force is something that you may already feel, even if you don't know it yet." Revan stated.
"What do you mean? If you're talking about sage mode, then yeah, I've felt the natural energy of the world." Naruto asked. Revan looked into her new student's eyes and smiled.
"I'm talking about before you learned your sage mode. Tell me, have there ever been moments in your life in which you managed to see something happen almost before it occurred. It would seem tiny to you. For instance, you might be able to easily win games that involve gambling quite easily, just because you know that you will win, or you might be able to dodge attacks that you see in a fight with extreme ease just because you know where they will probably hit beforehand. Understand now?" Revan asked.
Naruto let this mull over in his mind. A few things did ring out to him about what Revan said. One would be his extraordinary luck in any type of gambling game since he won pretty much every time. Then there was how whenever he got into fights, especially later on in his life, he'd been able to predict where attacks were going to hit, just before they did. Originally, he had waved it off as what his training had taught him, but now he wasn't so sure. After all, he was able to take on Sharingan users, and their eyes were meant to be able to grant clairvoyance on the battlefield.
"I think I understand now." Naruto replied.
"Good. Now, whenever you enter your sage mode, what do you feel?" Revan asked. Naruto's eyebrow cocked at this question.
"I feel the natural energy entering and leaving my body when I first activate my sage mode, and then afterwards I feel everything around my body. I can feel all life around me spanning for miles. Really helps if I don't want anyone to sneak up on me. And to add to it, I can also sense emotional intent due to Kurama's influence."
"Good. It's slightly different than that of using the Force which makes your sage mode unique. Can you move objects while you're in sage mode?"
"I can, if I try and punch things due to one of the fighting styles I use known as frog kata. It would cause an object or person to go flying as if I actually punched them if I missed hitting them. But that's about it." Naruto stated.
"That is interesting, but what I want you to do now is to go into your sage mode first of all." Revan ordered.
"Which one?" Naruto asked. Revan looked at Naruto incredulously as he said this.
"What do you mean? How many sage modes do you have?"
"I have two. One would be my normal sage mode, while the other would be six paths sage mode." Naruto demonstrated the first sage mode by absorbing the natural energy in the area until his eyes changed to that of a yellow color while his pupils became bar-like and the coloring around his eyelids turned red. Then Naruto activated his six paths sage mode and his eyelids lost the coloring surrounding them, while his pupils gained a slit in them, creating a cross-shape.
"Your six paths sage mode is much more in tune with the Force than your previous sage mode. You're like a beacon." Revan stated. It felt like the Force had just taken a physical form and was sitting before her. This man before her could so easily destroy her with the power he had right now, and yet, he didn't let it go to his head like so many others could.
"Naruto, I want you to try and focus on the rocks surrounding us. Concentrate on them, and then try to lift them. Just focus." Revan ordered and watched Naruto close his eyes in concentration. Revan looked at the rocks in the area and watched for any change. None seemed to occur for a few seconds until she saw them begin to wobble slightly.
Revan thought it amazing that Naruto was picking up so quickly on the use of the Force. But then again, it was probably due to how sage mode and Force use were drawing on the same abilities, just with different uses. It took a few more seconds before the rocks in the area began lifting themselves off the ground one by one. Then Revan started to begin floating in the air, much to her shock.
"Uh, Naruto, you are starting to lift the wrong thing." Revan stated. This caused Naruto to open his eyes and notice that Revan and multiple different rocks in the area were floating three feet off the ground. Naruto began chuckling at the sight of Revan floating off the ground. Revan pouted at this which seemed cute to the blonde before he finally relented and let his control over the Force fade away. Revan and the rocks gently floated back down to the ground.
"Oh, laugh it up! I will have to get you back for that." Revan said a haughty tone before she eventually cracked a smile. "It was pretty funny, though." The two shared a laugh at this for a minute before eventually getting back to training.
Standing by a tree unseen to the two was Sasuke who smiled at how happy Naruto seemed. It was good to see that he was getting his humor back compared to before when he had been in a depressed slump. Revan seemed to be helping with that, even if she had been with them for only a few days. At this point, Sasuke would support Naruto's choice to leave the planet just because of how he seemed genuinely happy.
Still, there was no time to get sappy like this as there was still a lot of work to do. Their plan needed some tweaking, but other than that, they would be able to probably sneak into that village if the security he had seen in that bandit's mind had been of any indication. A little while earlier, Sasuke had used his Sharingan on the man in order to both erase his memories about his capture, and to instill a genjutsu in his mind that would cause him to seek out the nearest authorities in order to turn himself in.
The bandit then left the area to do just that. As Sasuke walked away from the two laughing Force users, Sasuke thought about sending a letter to Sakura to tell her that both he and Naruto were doing fine. She could get worried quite easily about his safety while he was out in the field, and it was something that the raven-haired man appreciated more than he let on. It felt comforting to know that someone was out there wishing for your safety.
It was an hour later when Naruto and Revan had finished training in the Force. Naruto had gained a firm grasp on how to use the Force in its most basic form. Their next session would be about honing those skills. Now the two just sat together in the section of the woods talking with one another.
"Can you tell me more about these Jedi and Sith of yours. I want to know more about them." Naruto asked. Revan smiled as she looked at her new student's enthusiasm about the subject.
"If we are to talk about them, we must first discuss their basic philosophies. The Jedi are an organization that is based around control of oneself in order to attune themselves with the Force while the Sith believe in unrestricted use of power and complete domination of the Force. This is a real oversimplification, but it explains both philosophies easily. The Jedi were originally one group that were in tune with the Force. Then, the great schisms occurred and groups of Jedi split off from the main group due to their differing views and created the Sith. Eventually these two groups came into conflict and multiple great wars occurred due to it." Revan began.
"The Jedi are an organization of peacekeepers that try to prevent conflict and keep peace within the galaxy. They have had it rough recently due to a…" Revan looked slightly uncomfortable as she said this, much to Naruto's curiosity, "civil war that happened when two Jedi got corrupted to the dark side at the end of the Mandalorian Wars. Due to them, the order nearly was destroyed and the Sith almost conquered the galaxy. That was until my friends and I stopped it." Revan said.
"Wow, you managed to save the galaxy. That's amazing. Who were these two Jedi that you had to fight? They must have been really powerful if they managed to almost take over the galaxy." Naruto asked. Revan looked down at the ground when she was asked this.
"It wasn't that simple. These two Sith had a powerful weapon known as the Star Forge that allowed them to mass-produce weapons at an alarming rate. But they were still powerful. One was named Darth Malak. He was once a Jedi known as Alek until he and his partner, later master, were turned to the dark side by a very powerful Sith lord."
Naruto cocked his head in curiosity. "Who was the other Jedi that was corrupted?" Naruto asked.
"The other Jedi who led the conquest of the galaxy was actually once the hero of the Mandalorian Wars, ironically. They were almost unbeatable, until one battle where the Sith was attacked by a group of Jedi. This Sith would've won that battle if they hadn't been betrayed by Malak. The Sith nearly died except that they were saved by one of the surviving Jedi from that battle. Sadly, even though they were able to save the Sith's body, their mind was almost completely gone." Revan's hands had slowly begun to clench over the course of the story until her knuckles were completely white as memories of the deeds she had done over the course of her tenure as Darth Revan came back to her.
"What happened next?"
"The remaining Jedi Council decided to heal the Sith's mind, except that they left out all of their memories. They completely forgot about everything they had done, all the people that they had killed, the lives that they ruined…but that same Sith eventually saved the Republic from certain destruction."
"Did they ever find out who they were before they lost their memories?" Naruto pondered.
"Yes. The Sith, now Jedi, found out who they were. They were once known as Darth…Revan." Revan finished as she looked up into the blonde's eyes. She felt some fear at the rejection that she would receive from Naruto. It would be understandable, but it would still hurt. Naruto on the other hand quickly understood what Revan was saying and let all of this go through his mind.
"You were the Sith lord in that story?" Naruto asked.
"Yes. And I hurt so many people when I was that person. I don't wish to ever go back to being that person again." Revan said quietly as she looked away from Naruto's searching eyes. Naruto shuffled closer to Revan before placing his hand on her shoulder which grabbed her attention.
"Just because you once were that person, doesn't mean that you're that person now. All I know you as is Revan, the woman who came down from the sky. The only actions that I've seen you do since you've arrived here was save two villages from bandits. So, no, I don't see you as a murderer if that's what you're asking. I see you as my friend." Naruto stated with determination to the dark-haired woman.
Revan was speechless at how Naruto still was her friend even after she revealed her past to him. She couldn't even understand why she did so, it was almost like she was compelled to tell him about herself.
Revan softly smiled and reached up and held the hand that was on her shoulder in her own. "Thank you." She whispered. Naruto just smiled and scratched the back of his head to cover his embarrassment at the situation. He was even slightly blushing at Revan's touch.
The two sat together like that for a minute before Naruto slowly pulled his hand back. "We should get back to camp. After all, we've got a lot of terrain to cross before we get to Rain Country." Naruto said, breaking the tension.
Revan nodded, "You're right. Thank you for listening, it felt good to let all of that out." Revan stated as she and Naruto stood up together and walked towards their camp ground.
"It's no problem. If you want to talk about anything, I'll listen. We're friends after all." Naruto replied.
"I'm also there if you want to talk." Revan added.
"I'll have to take you up on that eventually. I guess we're just two people with a lot of issues that have been bottled up, y'know?" Revan and Naruto smiled at this.
"Do you mind if you tell me more about your world's history. It was quite interesting." Revan asked. Naruto scratched the back of his head at this before replying.
"What part was I at when I was telling you about my world's history? I can't remember it." Naruto asked with some embarrassment. Revan giggled at the blonde. "Hey, what are you laughing at?"
"Nothing. It's just that you're so powerful, but you can also be extremely forgetful." Revan's giggling fit eventually subsided and she spoke once more, "You were at the part where your mother and father met one another."
"Oh yeah. Before they fell in love with each other, my mom really hated my dad. She thought that he was a weak pretty-boy who couldn't take a punch. It didn't help that both of their dreams were to become hokage of my village."
"I can already guess that you take more of your mother's personality than your father's." Revan remarked.
"Definitely. I'm really like my mom, but I look just like my dad. Anyway, my mother had been brought to my village because she had a special chakra in her that could contain Kurama. This special chakra made her a target, and a group of ninja from the Cloud village tried to kidnap her. Luckily my dad tracked her and the ninja down and saved her. The rest after that is history."
"That sounds romantic." Revan remarked. Secretly, unknown to the Jedi Council when she was still a padawan, she usually read as many romance novels as she could find, not that she'd tell anyone about it.
"Yeah, I guess it was. Still, years later and my dad became hokage of the village, and my mom got pregnant with me. You must understand, with female jinchuuriki, their seals get really weak when they get pregnant, and since Kurama was still being an ass, he wanted to get out and kill everyone in retaliation. My mom gave birth to me, and just before my dad could completely fix my mom's seal, a masked man came and took my mom away."
"Who was the masked man?"
"A guy named Obito who use to be my dad's student. He took my mom away, and unleashed Kurama under his complete control with his Sharingan. Kurama began to attack the village, but was held off and pushed back, while my dad defeated Obito and caused him to flee. Due to how Kurama needed to be resealed as he was going on a rampage, and because my dad knew that I might need Kurama's power one day, he decided that he would use a seal that would take his life in exchange. My mom used the last of her chakra to also help with the creation of my seal, and both died together." Revan was shocked at the turn of these events.
At least she knew her parents before she was taken to be raised in the Jedi order. They both died when she was young, and she had been quickly collected by the Jedi order after that. But to be separated from them at birth, Revan just couldn't imagine it.
"You were left alone at such a young age. Who raised you after that?" Revan asked.
"I was put in an orphanage, with the knowledge of my parents being a state secret. This was all to protect me from my dad's enemies since he killed a lot of people in the previous war. After a few years in the orphanage, I was kicked out onto the streets, until the third hokage found me and gave me a home."
"That makes no sense. Why would you be kicked out of the orphanage for any reason? You were just a child that had no adult to take care of you!" Revan exclaimed. Naruto shook his head sadly.
"They saw the fox that destroyed their village instead of a child. For over a decade, all the villagers saw me as the fox that killed their loved ones. It's what made me want to become hokage. I wanted to get their respect by getting the title of the leader of the village."
"That doesn't justify treating a child like that." Revan replied huffily. Naruto patted her on the back.
"I'll tell you some more at a later time. We've arrived at camp." Naruto stated. Revan completely forgot about where they were due to being enraptured by Naruto's story.
"Then I'll take you up on that. You better tell me later, after all, I can be quite the nuisance when I want to know something." Revan said with a fox-like smile. Naruto's eyebrow lifted at this challenge.
"We'll see about that." Naruto replied before walking over to the fire where he sat down next to Sasuke. As Revan was about to join the two, the communicator on her belt began to ring. Revan picked it up and pressed a button on it.
"Ponderous Greeting: Hello Master, I was just checking to see if you were still alive. You've been gone for a while on this planet, and both the bucket of bolts and I were wondering how your progress has been." HK-47 said over the comm.
Revan chuckled to herself. It was a little cute to see HK worry about her like this. Compared to how she had originally programmed him to be one of the best assassins in the galaxy, it was endearing to hear this.
"I'm doing fine, HK. I'm on my way to another country's borders. We're going to go stop some bandits that have been kidnapping people. How's the progress with the ship been?" Revan asked.
"Statement: If the little scrap pile could hurry up, then the ship would be completely repaired. As it is, in the shape that your ship is in now, we'll still be grounded. We could always fly it into the atmosphere at this point, but we'd immediately explode into a fiery cloud of molten metal, circuits, and fuel. I'd rather not like to have that happen, Master." HK stated in a matter-of-fact tone.
"Has the ship been discovered by any of the local population yet?" Revan asked.
"Cheerful Response: Not yet, Master. No sentient organic life has come within the area." Revan sighed in relief at this. At least the ship was safe from discovery as of right now.
"Okay. I'll be alerting you now, I need radio silence until the next time I contact you. I'll be heading into territory that I'll need to be quiet in." Revan ordered.
"Tentative Response: If you're sure, Master. I'll be diligent in waiting for your next contact. Goodbye, Master." HK said before the comm went silent. Revan lowered her arm and strode up to the campfire with the two ninja and sat down next to them.
"What was that?" Sasuke asked while pointing to Revan's comm device. Revan lowered her blue eyes to the device and looked back to Sasuke.
"This is just a long-range communications device that is used all across the galaxy."
"How far can it transmit?"
"Well," Revan put her hand under her chin in thought, "you would just need a strong enough signal and the right frequency, and you'd be able to contact someone from about fifty kilometers. Combine this with a connection to a sub-space radio and you'd get a boost of a few lightyears if the radio was a cheaper version." Revan replied.
"What's a lightyear?" Sasuke asked with curiosity.
"Oh, right, you still haven't reached that point in the technological scale just yet…" Revan mused, "A lightyear is a measure of distance that light travels in one mile. It's why you can see stars in the sky at night. That light has traveled billions upon billions of miles to reach you. Understand now?"
"Yes, I think I get the basic concept."
"I still don't get it." Naruto chimed in.
"It means, idiot, that it's an extreme measure of distance that can be traveled." Sasuke explained with exasperation.
"Oh. Sorry, carry on." Naruto replied sheepishly while scratching the back of his head. Revan chuckled at this. "Come on, I'm not that hopeless, am I?" Naruto asked.
"Yes." Sasuke replied immediately.
"I think it's endearing." Revan stated. Naruto pointed into Sasuke's face after Revan said this.
"Ha! At least one person can like me for my personality!" Naruto shouted.
"I never said that people didn't like you for your personality. It's your intelligence that is off-putting to most people." Sasuke stated. Naruto groaned in frustration at this.
"I'll never get an inch from you, will I?"
Sasuke smirked in reply before saying, "What? I couldn't hear you." Naruto just rubbed his temples in response.
"If we weren't friends, I would kick your ass so hard right now."
"And if we were friends, you'd still try to kick my ass." Sasuke retorted. That was when Naruto tackled Sasuke to the ground and the two friends began rolling about in a mock fight. Revan watched this while laughing at their interactions with one another.
"You're weak, Naruto!"
"Just because you're a cripple, does not mean that I won't hurt you!" Revan just began to settle herself down for bed, and the two ninjas were still going at it. It reminded her of how she and Bastilla used to act towards one another before they really bonded. Those were the days…Revan closed her eyes with a smile on her face as she let sleep claim her.
As the trio continued traveling, Revan continued teaching Naruto on how to use the Force. It wasn't that difficult for the blonde due to his mastery of sage mode. Revan on the other hand learned more about her companions through the tales that Naruto told of his childhood.
It took eleven days, but eventually they crossed over into Rain Country due to the constant rain that fell down upon them. What Revan noticed about the area was that there were great craters in the ground along with the ruins of former buildings. When Revan made this question known, Naruto was the first to answer.
"Rain Country is a small area located in the middle of multiple different countries. When the third war happened, this country was one of the main battlegrounds used by the other nations. It has suffered greatly due to war."
"Did this place ever recover?"
"When the man Nagato was in charge, it recovered enough to form a village. After he died, a woman named Konan took over. I don't know anything else about this village after I found out that she died. Rain Country has kept mainly to itself." Naruto replied.
"Oh." With that, the trio continued walking for a while until they came to the ruins of a house. Part of the roof had holes in it, while there was a hole in one wall with old scorch markings surrounding it.
"We'll sleep in there for tonight. Tomorrow, we'll need to begin our plan." Sasuke stated before he collapsed on the dusty sofa in the house. Naruto was fine with sleeping on the floor, while Revan decided to sleep on a chair. It was when Naruto closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep, that he found himself within a white world where Kurama stood before him.
"What am I doing here, Kurama?" Naruto asked. The massive fox looked down at Naruto and lowered his head. Naruto got the hint and hopped onto the fox. Then Kurama rose back up and began trudging through the endless white mindscape.
"There's been a meeting called for the Tailed Beasts." Kurama stated. Naruto seemed confused at this. There weren't any massive threats that seemed to be threatening the world at the moment.
"And why are the Tailed Beasts gathering? Who called for a meeting?" Naruto asked.
"Matatabi. She has some news, and much of it pertains to us in particular." Kurama replied. From the white area, multiple beings started coming into view. All of them were large like Kurama, except they looked very much different. Matatabi was easy to spot due to her being a massive blue cat made of fire. Her eyes had heterochromia with one eye being yellow while the other was green. Waving behind the cat were two flaming tails.]
Next to Matatabi was a large raccoon that seemed to be made of sand that had multiple markings on it. A single large tail lay on the ground behind the raccoon while his golden eyes looked at the rest of his brethren. This was Shukaku.
On the other side of Matatabi was a large gray turtle with a spiked shell. Under the layers of armor covering the turtle was red muscled tissue. It had two human-like arms and hands while one of his eyes was closed, letting the other stare at the newcomers. Three armored tails lay on the ground behind him. This was Isobu.
After Isobu was a large red ape. He had four tails that waved behind him while jutting from each tail were a set of spikes that traveled up his spine. This was Son Goku.
Next to Son was a large white horse-like creature that would've seemed normal if not for her head which was that of a dolphin if it had four horns on the back of their head and five tails. This Tailed Beast was Kokuo.
After Kokuo was a large white slug that stood on what seemed to be two feet. He had six tails that wagged behind him, while his face's only distinguishing feature was the grill-like mouth that he had. His name was Saiken.
The next beast was a large flying cobalt-blue beetle with a great horn on his head and six armored legs. His face was covered by a grill that emanated an orange glow. His lower body was completely different as it was green with six orange wings that spread out in flight while a long whip-like appendage made up his seventh tail. This was Chomei, or as he liked to be called, Lucky-Seven Chomei.
Finally there was a massive pinkish bull with a hump on his back and a muscled human-like upper body, while below his waist were eight tentacles. His name was Gyuki, while on his snout rode a very familiar man.
He had blonde hair that was combed back along with a small goatee and dark skin, with tattoos of horns under his left eye while on his right shouder was a blue seal. He had a sleeveless flak jacket and gray pants while his eyes were obscured by a pair of sunglasses. This man's name was Killer B.
"Hey, Octo-pops. How's life been?" Naruto shouted over to B.
"Yo, Nine-O and Naruto. I've been chill, livin' out life with few ills." B replied in his normal rapping tone. B quickly received a flick to the side of his head by Gyuki. "Ow, what the deal?! Do you really know how that feels?" B shouted at Gyuki.
"B, enough with the rapping. This is serious." Gyuki replied in annoyance at his jinchuuriki.
"Hey, B, I got your style, I've been traveling on the road for a while!" Naruto said before receiving a flick to his head curtesy of Kurama. "What's that for?" Naruto demanded as he rubbed his head.
"I am not dealing with you picking up B's habit! Having to deal with one rapper in my lifetime is annoying enough. If you started doing it all the time, then I would be forced to take over your body just to stop you." Kurama replied. Naruto sighed at this.
"Way to ruin the fun."
"It's not fun. It's torture. Makes me wonder how that oaf's brother or even Gyuki are able to stand it…" Kurama muttered. He quickly turned his attention to Matatabi who watched the interaction with some mirth. "Now, for what reason have you brought us all here? It can't be as simple as a common meet-and-greet." Kurama asked.
"I've been traveling for some time after the war occurred. Since I've had no reason to stay in the Cloud, I wanted to go out and visit some of the other countries for a while. As it was, I've been making my travels in Rain Country, and I've seen some very disturbing behavior from the humans here." Matatabi replied. Kurama and Naruto cocked their heads together in confusion at this.
"What do you mean by that?" Naruto asked.
"Most that have even bothered going outside of their village have seemed to be under some sort of…genjutsu. Some are better than others at seeming normal under this genjutsu, but they still act strangely. And then there are all the people that have been brought into this village that I've seen. They are taken inside, and then they are never seen again. I am letting you know since you two are inside Rain Country as of right now."
"All we've seen so far is that people have been getting taken from small villages by bandits, and then they are taken back to Rain Country." Kurama stated.
"That explains all the people that have been taken to Rain Country. Any of the rest of you hear anything about this?" Matatabi asked.
"Lots of people gettin' snatched up left and right, our shinobis aren't able to put up much of a fight." Killer B responded. Matatabi looked at B with some confusion.
"Gyuki, could you translate? I've never been that good at understanding his rapping." Matatabi asked.
"He meant that a few villages here and there on the outskirts of Lightning Country have been raided by bandits. The inhabitants of these villages have been taken away. A has been a lot angrier than usual due to this and has been sending multiple patrols to any remaining village." Gyuki explained.
"I've killed a few of these bandits when they entered my desert. I absolutely loved it since the sand-brat has ordered me to not kill anymore of his villagers, or random people passing through. Blood was everywhere!" Shukaku cackled maniacally after this which caused the other Tailed Beasts and humans to sigh.
"I've been staying in the lakes avoiding most humans. I wouldn't know, sorry." Isobu apologized.
"You're really acting like a push-over! Don't you ever get that feeling of spilling some blood every once in a while?" Shukaku asked.
"No. We are not all like you. Some of us like our privacy." Isobu replied.
"Joykill." Shukaku muttered with disappointment.
"Son and I have seen many groups of shinobi enter and leave Rock Country who weren't defined by any clothing of other villages. Some would have groups of people with them. Other than that, we don't know." Kokuo stated.
"Same, I've seen multiple groups as well." Chomei.
"There's been a lot of groups in the Water Country. What does this mean?" Saiken asked.
"It means that I'm going to need to meet up with Naruto and Kurama. The rest of you, be on guard for anything out of the ordinary. Can we all agree that we should eliminate any of these humans if we see them?" Matatabi asked. None of the other Tailed Beasts showed any dissent at this option.
"When should we expect to see you, Matatabi?" Naruto asked.
"Just wait where you are. I'll come to you, just be prepared to deal with anyone that follows after me as there have been multiple humans who have been following me from the Rain village." Matatabi replied.
"Then we'll be waiting for you." Naruto replied.
"See you soon." Matatabi then got off of her haunches and walked away from the group until she was swallowed by a white mist which left the other Tailed Beasts. The others joined Matatabi in her exodus until just Naruto, Kurama, B, and Gyuki were left.
"Hey, Naruto, I hope it ain't so bold, but we should probably hang out sometime, cause you seem kinda cold." B asked.
"Yeah, I'm up for that, Octo-pops. It would take a few weeks, but I could make it over to you if I went fast enough." Naruto replied.
"Cool. I'll go tell A what I've been told today. Wheee!" With that, Gyuki and B left the white world which left Just Naruto and Kurama alone.
"You think that we're getting involved in something way deeper and convoluted than it should be?" Naruto asked as Kurama started walking away.
"Aren't we always. It just depends on the scale of what we're dealing with. We could either be dealing with someone or something trying to take over the world, which is a strong possibility, or we are dealing with an end of the world scenario. We'll find out soon enough."
"This never gets easier, does it?"
"Not a bit. But that's what makes life exciting." Kurama replied with a laugh and the two disappeared from the meeting place.
And there we are. Next chapter will involve meeting Matatabi and then infiltrating the Rain village, if they can even accomplish that with a massive flaming blue cat tagging along with them. Either way, next time we'll see the beginning of our new enemy.
Also, I had to write this chapter three times because my computer erased it each time, much to my annoyance and irritation. Sorry about taking so long. Also to answer one of your questions, Revan is completely human, an amazingly strong human, but human nonetheless.
Also, here's a hint, Galatians 6:7
I hope at least one or two of you figure it out within the next few chapters. Other than that, see you next time.
Stay frosty my friends.