AN: I don't own Naruto, or Star Wars
41 BBY – Current Year
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Chapter V: Progress, it has its price
Two years have passed since the previous chapter, Naruto is eight years old
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Sitting in a tree and spying through a set of third floor windows, was an eight year old Naruto. He could see that the first exam was just about to end. The genin that didn't make the exam were filing out of the academy as they wouldn't be able to proceed to the next stage of the chunin exams. Naruto was gathering information because his Master wanted him to infiltrate into the second stage of the chunin exams. He was wearing a larger coat than he wore two years prior but, other than that, had on the same clothing style as before.
The second stage of the chunin exams was a battle between teams in training ground forty-four, which was also known as the Forest of Death. Plagueis wanted Naruto to sneak into the exams in order to obtain a scroll from one of the genin teams that was trying to pass. Each team was given single scroll of a set and they needed to get one of each scrolls to pass the exam. They had five days in the forest to do this and they couldn't open the scrolls.
Naruto knew that his master was testing him to determine through a real-life situation where Naruto's skills were at. The test was also a chance to gain valuable information and fighting experience. Although the participants in the exams were all genin, they still had many different jutsu and techniques that could be useful. His master had recently taught him a Force ability that could be used to take knowledge from another person. All Naruto would have to do was find a genin squad that might have jutsu and defeat them. If he killed them, he wouldn't be able to gain much knowledge from them so he had to knock them out and keep them alive. He planned to use stealth and cunning over power to defeat three genin.
That was the reason why Naruto was spying on the participants. He wanted to determine which ones would be a good target and might have jutsu that he could use, as well as get an idea of weaknesses. It never hurt to gain as much information as possible. Master Plagueis was still back at the hideout as this was something that Naruto would accomplish on his own. Naruto would take his Master's holocron with him into the forest by placing it in the seal on his arm, but Plagueis would only intervene if his student was about to die.
Naruto's attention was diverted from the genin, when a flying ball of cloth smashed into the academy windows. Naruto blinked as he stared through his goggles and wondered what was going on until a woman was revealed and the cloth turned out to be a large sign. He stopped himself from sweat-dropping at the sight and pushed his goggles up to rest on his forehead. There was no other information that he could gather, as the exam was over.
Naruto was actually quite a good distance away from the academy and was using a pair of goggles that he himself had created. They were an interesting piece of technology that he had crafted from a very large pair of electrobinoculars that were in the spaceship. He had taken the binoculars apart, to find out how they worked, and then combined the technology with a pair of smaller and lighter goggles to make something that was better than both. They were light and easy to use while being just as good as the electrobinoculars; with the same vision and magnification power. With a little modification to the power source, he had made them powered by a Chakra battery which were commonly sold in ninja villages and converted Chakra from the user into electricity.
He had found the original electrobinoculars far too heavy and bulky for his use, so he created his own pair using all of the knowledge and teachings that he had learned from Master Plagueis. Naruto had asked his Master why the binoculars were so heavy and large if the technology of the galaxy was so advanced. Plagueis responded that they were large because they had to accommodate numerous species and if they made them too small, then the company wouldn't be able to sell them to so many customers. As for the weight, he explained that they were incredibly durable and that people didn't buy something unless it was a little heavy as it could be a knock-off brand or just rather cheap. Naruto had accepted the explanation but still thought it was odd. Technology was supposed to get smaller and lighter, not the other way around. He was very satisfied with his new goggles though.
He was just about to leave his spot in the trees and prepare for tonight, when he both felt something and saw something out of the corner of his eye. It was a Konoha genin sitting against a fence a little ways away from the academy. He was talking with a jonin, possibly his sensei, and had probably just failed the exam. The boy looked rather down and Naruto really didn't care but something the jonin said had gotten quite a rise out of the genin. Naruto could feel the boy's emotions through the Force. He felt elation, surprise, and hope.
Now curious, Naruto pulled his goggles back down and focused on the scene. The goggles didn't have any kind of function to tell what they were saying and Naruto couldn't read lips but in this case he didn't have to. Using the Force he was able to concentrate on the area that he wanted and hear the conversation as it wasn't that far away. A normal ninja wouldn't have been able to hear what they were saying, but Naruto was far from normal.
He listened closely as the jonin told the genin about an alternate method for passing the chunin exams. It involved stealing an object and scroll from the Hokage tower. Naruto was now very interested in this conversation as he could tell that the jonin was lying and manipulating his own student. Not only did the student believe him but he was ready to steal those objects from the Hokage to prove himself. 'How pathetic.' Naruto thought and he couldn't believe someone could fall for that simple trick.
Naruto was supposed to go back to his apartment to prepare and then stop at the hideout and take his Master's holocron with him. However, this new information was too good to pass up and he made a change in plans. Instead of heading for his apartment, he headed straight for the hideout and did his best to make sure that no one was following him.
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Since his student left to gather information for his test that night, Plagueis had been in deep contemplation. His thoughts ranged from his current situation, his student, and the future. Unfortunately, his current situation hadn't changed very much in the past three years. He was out of the starship though and learning all that he could about ninja and the mysterious energy known as Chakra.
By sending Naruto into the Forest of Death to retrieve a scroll from a genin team, Plagueis planned to see just what kind of level that his student was at. It was difficult to tell as he, without a body, was unable to test his student himself. It could be incredibly dangerous since Naruto would have to go after a squad of genin and not individuals. That was one of the reasons why Plagueis would go with him. He would be there to protect his investment but not to give any advice to his student. Naruto would have to come up with a plan because they both knew that he might not be able to face three genin at once, especially if their teamwork was good.
In the past two years, Naruto had continued to grow at an impressive rate. Sidious had been a prodigy and Plagueis had trained him to the fullest but Naruto was absorbing everything that he taught and progressing through sheer willpower and hard work. Plagueis still held back on his training of Naruto though as he didn't want to violate the Rule of Two but his curiosity kept getting the better of him and he found himself teaching Naruto a little bit more than he should have.
During his seven year isolation on the ship, while under the lake, Plagueis had ample time for introspection. He examined why he had died and the events that probably lead to it. What he found was that during his time as a Sith Lord, he had moved away from the main goal of the Sith, which was galactic conquest. He had also stopped monitoring his Apprentice and that led to giving Sidious more than enough time to plot against him. Plagueis had focused more on his research and knowledge than the proper goals of a Sith Lord. He had strayed from the teachings of the Rule of Two and through the historic method of ascension, Sidious had taken his place.
Plagueis still felt angry about how it had happened and had plotted revenge for a time. He thought he had put those feelings behind him but as he saw his current student progressing and realized the potential the boy could have, he found himself thinking about getting revenge on his former apprentice and using Naruto to do it.
His body was, for the most part, destroyed. Sidious had used Force Lighting on his corpse for a prolonged period and probably destroyed any hope of recovering any usable DNA. Cloning was difficult as it was outlawed in the Republic and required great knowledge in order to successfully make a clone. It was also very difficult to create a clone of a force sensitive person as it could result in mental instability but Plagueis wasn't worried about that since he only sought to create an 'empty' clone or just a body for his spirit to inhabit. He knew that without any usable DNA, he wouldn't be able to create his original body and may have to use some other body. That brought its own problems as a different body might not be able to contain his spirit as well as his original body would. The body could break down over time and he would be forced to transfer into a new body over and over again.
Possession was out of the question in the long run as that had an even shorter time span than using a different clone body than his original. Cloning was the best prospect for what he was thinking about. It was problematic but still better than his current position. It would take a while to gather the needed resources and technology but it could be possible. They would first have to get off this planet and back into the galaxy in order to make any such plans fruitful.
As Naruto became more knowledgeable from his teachings, they were able to go back to the ship and work on diagnosing the possible problems that the ship had and looking into the fuel problem. From what Naruto could tell from the ships computer and his own inspection, the bottom of the hull had several micro-cracks from impact and would need to be fixed. The ship could still fly and travel without the fixes. However, there existed the possibility that the forces exerted on the ship from acceleration and space/atmospheric travel, could cause those fractures to expand and propagate, which could lead to catastrophic failure of the hull. It wasn't something that Plagueis was willing to risk.
In order to fix the micro-cracking, the ship would need to be removed from the lake and repair work performed on the underneath of the ship. They would need some place to keep the ship until that time and they would need to move the ship away from the ninja village without anyone noticing. It was a difficult task, not impossible, but difficult. They would need to move a thirty meter long ship, that didn't have any fuel, out of a lake while less than half a mile away was a ninja village as well as patrols in the area. As of yet, Plagueis wasn't completely sure how to do it.
The fuel that the ship used was not something exotic like hypermatter. The ship was actually powered by a chemical reaction that produced enough energy in the reaction chamber to power the ship The reaction required the mixing of two complex chemicals that formed a very energetic reaction in the reactor chamber of the ship. One chemical was already present in the reactor and the other was fed to the reactor in a stead amount to propagate the reaction. The chemicals were rather complex but it was possible that the planet had the required resources and technology to properly create them. Plagueis wasn't exactly sure what the chemicals were called but the ships computer contained the chemical composition for each so they would just need to recreate those chemicals.
The raw resources would have to be found which might not be that hard but they would have to experiment with combining those chemicals to find the correct ratio and formula. Then, larger amounts of the chemicals would have to be manufactured. So they would need a lab as well as a place to create the chemicals. That was also difficult but not impossible. At the moment, Plagueis was still at a loss concerning how they would go about fixing these problems but he had a feeling that if they waited, opportunities would come. In the mean time, he would continue to train Naruto and increase the blonde's knowledge so that they would be able to act at a moments notice when an opportunity did show up.
Naruto had actually been far more interested in the teachings that Sidious disliked. Sidious hated to learn about droids or any kind of machine and wasn't interested in any devices besides his lighstaber. Naruto liked to tinker with just about anything he could get his hands on. Plagueis had to keep him away from the medical droid and the ship, otherwise Naruto would have already taken the droid apart or tried to examine sensitive systems of the ship.
Sidious also didn't care much about history, whether it was the history of the Sith or just the galaxy in general. If Sidious didn't see any value in it and for his future plans, then it didn't concern him. Only the holocrons and Sith texts that Plagueis had collected and inherited were of interest to Sidious and only for the power that they could provide.
Naruto, however, was incredibly interested in the every bit of history that Plagueis was willing to share with him. He spent hours inside of his mindscaspe listening to his master talk about the galaxy. It didn't really matter what it was that Plagueis talked about because Naruto enjoyed listening to all of it. The blonde did have a certain fondness of information concerning Darth Revan as well as the Jedi Revan. They were the same being but two different people with completely different goals and thoughts. Revan was once a Jedi but fell to the dark side and after losing his memory, came back to the light side of the Force. Naruto cared nothing for his own history that was taught at the academy, only the history about the galaxy that his Master taught him.
Naruto was also interested in the ancient civilizations such as the Rakatans and the Gree. Plagueis knew more about Rakatans than most other people in the galaxy. The Republic had erased all knowledge of the ancient civilization that had once ruled most of the galaxy. The Rakatan's were a Force sensitive species of amphibian humanoids that developed Force powered technologies to explore the galaxy. It was even possible that they created the hyperdrive technology that was still used thousands of years later. They used this technology to conquer and enslave parts of the galaxy. The Rakatans weren't able to visit anywhere they wanted as the unique Force-powered technology could only visit planets that were strong in the Force. Little was known about the exact reasons for the species extinction or near extinction. At some point, they were apparently no longer able to use the Force and lost all the planets they had conquered. By the time Lord Bane, the founder of the current Sith line, had visited their home planet one thousand years ago, the species was gone.
Naruto found it very interesting that the Rakatan hyperdrive was later modified and used by humans to explore the universe. They used a different power source for the device and were able to go just about anywhere in their starships. He also learned how people of different species had slowly populated most of the galaxy. It was likely that one of those ships had made it to his own planet and somehow ninja and chakra came about, though neither Plagueis or Naruto had any idea how that had happened.
The Gree were another ancient civilization, only they were still around but had lost most of their technology. They were a race of gray cephalopods with six tentacle like arms. Gree technology was created as a piece of art as much as a piece of technology and it took great practice and training to use most of their incredibly technology. Unfortunately, over the many millennium that they existed, the people who had this knowledge, failed to pass it on to the next generation and they eventually had no idea how to use most of their amazing technology. No one else could use it either and despite trying to use it, they never were able to rediscover how to operate them. Naruto found just about everything that his Master told him about the galaxy fascinating and he couldn't wait to one day see it firsthand.
Besides training Naruto's mind, Plagueis had also guided Naruto's Force training, physical training, swordsmanship, and working with Chakra. While inside several of the chunin teacher's minds, Plagueis had gotten a hold of different methods to train Naruto's chakra control and had the blonde work on all of them. Naruto had yet to gain many powerful jutsu and only had the academy three as well as the few other E-rank and D-rank jutsu that were available at the academy. Naruto had learned all of them and was desperate for some elemental jutsu.
He had only spent a cumulative three years in the academy but had been skipped ahead a grade three separate times. During one school year he had been skipped ahead twice. He was already in his fifth year of study and only had a single year left before he graduated. Unfortunately, what he learned at the academy really wasn't enough to satisfy either Master or student. Both wanted to learn much more about jutsu but didn't have a very good way to gain this knowledge. They would have to wait another year before Naruto could leave the academy. In the mean time, Plagueis had started teaching Naruto the basics of Sith Alchemy.
Sith Alchemy was an ancient practice that involved numerous different methods of augmenting or creating objects and altering living beings. Applications for Sith Alchemy could be strengthening and augmenting weapons and armor, genetically enhancing different species and making it easier to control them, or even creating objects and potions with unique functions, such as the amulet that Naruto had encountered years before. This practice was far older than the beginnings of the modern Sith Order and dated back to the original Sith species thousands of years in the past. Over that time, it had been perfected to be an incredible science that was useful to those that were able to wield it. Alchemy required more knowledge than Force ability so it was something that Naruto could definitely learn in time.
Plagueis doubted that Naruto would ever be able to use the more biological aspects of Sith Alchemy but he believed that Naruto might benefit from learning about how to create objects or augment weapons and armor. One of the plans that Plagueis had was to have Naruto create a weapon for himself using Sith Alchemy. Unfortunately, the exact methods to create ancient Sith swords had been lost over time, especially after both Sith and Jedi had switched to lightsabers.
While the forging methods had been lost, the augmentation information had not. The scrolls and books that had been taken from Plagueis's quarters by the gun runners were all on the topics of Sith Alchemy and its uses. The midi-chlorian manipulation that Plagueis had been working on before his death was also connected to Sith Alchemy. Plagueis had also been studying several amulets in his spare time in order to perhaps create his own. Sith amulets had many different powers that they could be imbued with. Some were for healing, protection, understanding languages, and helping to channel the darkside.
Plagueis had searched for several examples and found three. He hadn't actually touched two of them because he could tell that they had been cursed in some manner using Sith Magic which was a very different practice altogether. The third necklace that Plagueis had, which was not opened by the gun runner and remained in its sealed box, was for understanding the ancient Sith language. Plagueis had found it decades before and it had helped him understand everything that was written in the scrolls until he eventually taught himself how to read and write in ancient Sith. Plagueis had already started teaching Naruto how to read, talk, and write in the ancient Sith language.
Over the course of his life, Plagueis had become a master of many aspects of Sith Alchemy and with his knowledge, he planned to teach Naruto what he would need to know to augment a weapon with alchemy. Normally it would have been a problem, since the method of forging a Sith sword had been lost, but that was where the second holocron came into play.
The second holocron that Plagueis had with him was actually an ancient jedi holocron. He had found it and kept it while trying to access its information. Most of it was still not accessible to him because he was not aligned with the light side of the Force but he was able to access information about creating a jedi sword. Before the jedi used lightsabers, they actually forged swords using metal, a furnace, and the Force. They had the same connection to those blades as they did lightsabers and the blades were similar to those made by the Sith. Eventually both sides stopped using swords in favor of lightsabers but Plagueis always had a fascination with the archaic and at one point had wanted to make a Sith sword or at least something similar to it. That was why he held onto the jedi holocron, despite it not providing any other useful information to him since.
He would have Naruto use the Jedi forging methods and the augmentation properties of Sith Alchemy to create his own weapon. Most swords created using the methods of the Jedi were nearly indestructible and could even block a lightsaber. It would definitely be a good weapon for Naruto to have, at least until he had the materials to create a lightsaber. Plagueis had spent several months going over all the information that Naruto would need to know in order to create his own sword and it wouldn't be very long until he would be able to try and create one. The village had many furnaces that could be used and Naruto didn't require that much knowledge of forging a weapon, as he would use the Force to guide him. They had been debating about what metals to make the blade out of and even what extra features, if any that the blade should have.
Naruto had wanted take apart one of the vibro-blades that was on the ship and use the vibration technology to make his sword sharper and perhaps make it powered with Chakra. Plagueis had suggested some metal off the ship as well as the Chakra Metal that ninja used in some of their weapons. It would cost quite a bit of money so Naruto had been saving up to buy the metal and buy the use of the furnace. It was better than using mind tricks as people would ask where Naruto got the sword from but he could just answer that he had made it himself. They might ask how but no one could force him to answer. The technique to create the weapon could be considered as something that Naruto invented himself and that would mean that he was protected from answering questions about it because it was similar to jutsu creation. If someone created a new technique then they were under no obligation to tell anyone about it and were protected as if they had a patent on the technique.
It was at that point in his thought process that he felt his student approaching their hideout.
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Naruto entered the hideout and knelt on one leg before his masters holocron which was sitting on top of a pedestal made from the stone in the hideout.
"Master, during my spying on the exam participants, I came across something and thought I should tell you." spoke Naruto with his head down slightly. Plagueis's spirit form appeared above the holocron.
"Tell me." stated Plagueis as he was rather interested in what this development could be. Naruto didn't go against his orders unless he felt it was important.
Naruto lifted his head and looked at his Master's projection, "During my spying I came across a jonin that was consoling his genin student on his failure to pass the exams. He spoke to his student about an alternate method to pass which involved stealing several items from the Hokage Tower. One of which was a sword and the other a scroll. The jonin mentioned that the sword belonged to the Nidaime and I think it could be the Raijin. Nothing was mentioned about the scroll or what it contained. Everything he spoke about the test was a lie but the other information he gave, about the items and their location, seemed truthful." stated Naruto and he could feel a small amount of surprise and interest coming from his Master's spirit.
Plagueis's thoughts were already moving through possible scenarios to get the sword. Ever since he had heard the swords existence from one of the lectures at the academy, he had been interested in it. It wasn't everyday that a sword with a blade made from pure electrical energy was mentioned on such a low technology planet. Plagueis was instantly curious about it and had Naruto ask several questions about the blade during class. Unfortunately, it seemed that most ninja only knew basic information about the blade and nothing specific. They knew about the electrical energy and who had used the blade in the past but really nothing more. It was also known that the blade was somewhere in the Hokage tower but that was it.
Naruto had heard not only the location of the blade, but a plot by a ninja of the village to use his own student to steal it for him. The scroll that came with it could be important as well but it could also be something that wouldn't be important to them. The problem was to what to do about the information that Naruto had brought. Plagueis obviously wanted the blade but they would need to get it in a way that didn't implicate them in anyway and made others take the fall. They would need to hide all involvement in the theft which could be difficult as ninja could track scent as well as Chakra.
They knew exactly what time that the boy would be stealing the Raijin and scroll. Naruto could wait until after the theft and then intercept the thief, he could also wait until later on and intercept the thief and his sensei together, or he could do something completely different. There was also an opportunity with the jonin sensei as he should know many different ninja techniques as well as have at least one or two nature affinities and have worked on the training for those affinities. If Naruto could incapacitate the jonin then they could gain valuable information from someone that was a traitor and was expendable.
Plagueis did find it odd that a genin would be able to get into what should be a very secure facility but the directions had been simple enough and the jonin had provided his student with the patrol schedule and where the traps were located.
The only thing left to do was to decide on a course of action.
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Naruto arrived an hour before the genin was supposed to get through the ninja patrols and take the two items. Naruto planned to get to them before the genin could. He didn't know if the genin would be able to get the items and if he couldn't then they would be placed under better security, so it was best to use the information provided by the jonin to get there first and make sure he was able to acquire the sword.
Getting past the guards was far easier than either Naruto or Plagueis imagined it would be. Naruto was trying to suppress his Chakra and even using his Force powers to help suppress it. He was also using a very basic jutsu to actively eliminate any scent trail that he might leave behind.
Naruto silently made his way down the shadowed hallways of the Hokage tower. He could sense where the guards were as Plagueis had taught him how to properly sense ninja with the Force. It was difficult to learn but Naruto was able to accomplish it. The trick was to sense a void in the Force which corresponded to a ninja whose Chakra was preventing the Force from entering his body. The patrols were moving exactly how the jonin had said the would. Naruto found the room and the door wasn't even locked.
Entering the dark room, he knew where the traps were and made sure not to set them off. The room was some kind of library or study as it had bookshelves on most of the walls and a desk in one corner. He went to the wall that a secret room was supposedly behind and which held the items they were after. Naruto found the hidden mechanism and triggered it. A part of the wall swung open to reveal the room and Naruto made sure to not set off any of the alarms at the opening. A handle to a weapon was sitting in a display case along with a scroll. Naruto stared at the handle at it reminded him of something that his Master had described to him many times.
Over the shared link, Naruto asked, 'Master, is that a lightsaber?' but he received no answer as Plagueis's mind was a jumble of thoughts concerning this new development. Naruto was about to say something else when he felt his Master urge him to complete what they were here to do.
Before he left, Naruto pasted an exploding tag to the wall at the entrance of the library room. He had timed how long it took him to get past the guards, into the building, and into the secret room. Ninja were always punctual and that would work to his advantage.
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Naruto walked down the street while wearing a dark cloak. The cloak was a survival cloak from the ship. He decided to use it to further hide his features while stealing form the Hokage tower. Naruto was traveling to an apartment building. The specific room that he was looking for belonged to Rokusho Aoi who was the jonin that wanted his genin student to steal the items from the Hokage tower.
As Naruto went through a shadowed area, he emerged in the henge of the genin that Aoi had convinced would become a chunin upon successfully taking the items he held. That genin was named Morino Idate, though Naruto didn't actually know that. It was still twenty minutes or more before Idate was supposed to infiltrate the Hokage tower so Naruto had plenty of time for what he needed to accomplish.
Walking into the apartment building, he headed for a specific apartment. The henged Naruto found the correct apartment and knocked. It took a moment before Aoi answered the door and came face to face with his student who was supposed to be stealing a scroll and sword for him in just a little while. Aoi was of average height with green spikey hair and blue eyes. He was rather surprised to see his Idate at his home when he opened the door.
'Did he back out? Has he figured out the test was a fake?' Aoi thought as his arm went for a kunai behind the door. If his student wasn't going to steal for him then he would have to silence his student and make sure no one could find out about his treachery until it was too late.
Before Aoi got the chance to get to the kunai, Idate held up his hand as if to say 'stop' and Aoi was launched back against a wall in his small apartment. His blurred vision no longer saw his student standing in the doorway but that of a cloaked figure reminiscent of an ANBU but with no porcelain mask. Aoi tried to get up and went for his weapons. He had no idea what was going on but something had gone wrong and he needed to get out of here.
The cloaked figure stepped into the apartment and held up his hand again in a gripping motion. In an instant, Aoi couldn't move his body. His hand still had several kunai in it that he had been about to throw. It was as if some unseen force was holding him in place and not letting him move at all. He couldn't even breathe or call out for help and it was slowly squeezing him harder.
The cloaked figure walked towards him and the apartment door closed behind him without any help. While still immobilized, Aoi tried everything that he could think of to break loose. He thought perhaps he was in a genjutsu but when he tried to dispel it, nothing happened. Though he was a jonin, he was terrified at this point and thought he was going to be killed.
He watched helplessly as the figure stopped just a foot away from him. He couldn't see any eyes as the cloak shadowed the face. The figures other hand lifted up and went to Aoi's head. As soon as it made contact, Aoi felt pain and everything started going black.
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Naruto exited the apartment building out into an alley and made his way to his own apartment building. Looking at his watch he noticed that he was a little early and had to wait for the right time. A minute passed before Naruto made a single handseal and in the distance he could hear the faint sound of an explosion.
He walked up the stairs of the building his apartment was on top of and unlocked his front door. The explosion was timed to coincide with the moment that Aoi's genin would have entered the Hokage tower and found the same secret room that Naruto had. At some point between getting the secret room open and realizing the that the items he was supposed to acquire were all ready gone, Naruto detonated the tag. It was very unlikely that the blast would have killed the genin since Naruto was rather sure of the timing. It was just to alert all the ninja in the area that something had happened in the Hokage tower.
They would all come running and find a genin in a restricted area and two items missing. Naruto had thought about stealing more items from the tower but he only had information on the layout and traps set in the room that Aoi had talked about. It was possible that he could have been caught if he had ventured elsewhere. It would take some time to interrogate the gennin and find out what he was doing there and what was going on. After that, ninja would be sent to find Rokusho Aoi and reach a dead end.
Naruto took off the cloak and hid it, along with the sword, scroll, and several other items taken from the jonin's apartment, inside of a secret compartment that he had created in his apartment. It already had had several other items that he didn't want anyone to find if they searched his home. He had thought of going back to the hideout but if anyone saw him near the Hokage tower, they would no doubt question him. Naruto had no idea what was involved with a ninja interrogation and wasn't eager to find out.
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The Sandaime sat behind his desk as two men entered the room. One of them was Morino Ibiki, older brother of the genin that had been caught not twenty minutes earlier and a high ranking member of the ANBU Torture Interrogation Division. The second was Yamanaka Inoichi, the head of the ANBU Torture and Interrogation Division. It was technically a conflict of interest to have Ibiki work on a case concerning his own family member but the man was known for being a professional no matter what the circumstances were.
"Were the items recovered?" asked the Hokage as he wanted answers concerning who had stolen a priceless artifact that had belonged to the Nidaime.
Inoichi stepped forward and said, "The items were not recovered Hokage-sama. I have confirmed with a mindwalk that Morino Idate was told by his jonin sensei that he could pass the chunin exams through alternate means. His sensei, Rokusho Aoi, told him where the Raijin and scroll were and how to get to them. Idate then infiltrated this building and attempted to steal the items, only to find that they were already gone."
"Then he was supposed to throw us off the trail giving Rokusho-san more time to escape?" asked the Hokage as he believed that Aoi had taken the items earlier and created a distraction in order to buy himself time to leave the village with the sword and scroll.
"I'm afraid not. The ANBU found Rokusho-san in his apartment unconscious. It appeared as though there was a struggle but there were no signs of forced entry to the apartment and no one seems to have heard anything out of the ordinary. The Raijin and scroll were not found at the scene and there was no evidence that Rokusho-san ever had them in his possession. Its possible that Rokushio-san knew his attacker and allowed him entry to his apartment or the attacker entered through other means.
Rokusho-san looked as though he was ready to go on a mission, but he wasn't scheduled for one. His bank account was emptied the day before but we didn't find any money in the apartment or on his person. We took him back to HQ to delve deeper into the theft and what his involvement really was. Upon further investigation, with a mindwalk, I was unable to find anything further." stated Inoichi seriously. The Hokage raised an eyebrow as it wasn't often that Inoichi wasn't able to find anything. Unless Rokusho was dead then he should have been able to find something.
Inoichi saw the confusion and elaborated, "I attempted to enter his mind but found nothing."
"Nothing?" the Sandaime asked in a confused voice.
"Yes Hokage-sama. I entered his mind and found nothing. No memories and no information of any kind." stated Inoichi and the Sandaime could tell that the findings had surprised the clan head.
"So his memories are gone? What would cause that?" the Sandaime asked while trying to think of any techniques that he had heard or come across that could do something like that.
"I'm not completely sure. While my clan does have knowledge of how to extract information, we don't have many techniques that can implant or erase memories. I can think of one forbidden technique that would completely erase a person's memories but this would cause debilitating damage to the brain and leave the subject comatose. In this case, Rokusho-san is completely fine, apart from having no memories. He can still function and could relearn all that he has lost. I don't really see him as an enemy of the village anymore." said Inoichi.
The Sandaime thought about what had happened and said, "Do you have any other information to report? Did the search teams find anything?"
"No Hokage-sama. I really don't have much else to say. From what we can tell, no one entered or left the village and we had several teams search the surrounding area for any signs of a fleeing person but found nothing. It's obvious that there was a third person that Rokusho-san may have been working with but we can find no evidence of anyone else. Idate-san has no knowledge of another person, just his sensei." finished Inoichi.
The Sandaime sighed as a memento of his sensei was now gone. The Raijin was a rather famous sword but hadn't been used for decades. He was angry that it had been stolen but even angrier that whoever it was that stole it, had eluded everyone in the village. Not only that, but there was no one to punish for the theft. No one could be placed in the bingo book since they had no information about who attacked Rokusho. Morino Idate was only guilty of trusting his sensei and Rokusho Aoi was no longer in his right mind or even had a mind anymore. It was a dead end.
x-x
Any plans for Naruto secretly entering the chunin exams were put on hold for another time. The sword, scroll, and all the information obtained from Rokusho Aoi's mind were far more important than anything else during the following day. It was a weekend so Naruto didn't have school and could spend most of his time in their hideout.
Plagueis had been left sealed on Naruto's arm and had spent the night sifting through all of the information that Naruto had ripped from the jonin's head. Drain Knowledge was a Force technique that Plagueis had taught Naruto specifically for what it had been used it for the previous day. Naruto had taken bits and pieces of a variety of different topics. For those who had not mastered the technique, it is very possible to destroy the memories of the subject it is used on. In this case, it was done on purpose to hide any involvement with the theft.
Aoi wasn't a ninjutsu user but did know the basics for learning water nature affinity. Naruto was eager to start learning, unfortunately the jonin didn't know any water jutsu. He also knew very little about genjutsu, nothing more about the illusions than what Naruto had learned in the academy. Aoi had mainly used weapons and poison. The poison knowledge was valuable to Naruto as he now knew how to prepare several different types of poison from local plants. Besides that knowledge, Aoi knew several things about Konoha itself that neither Naruto or his master were aware of. The village apparently had a barrier surrounding it to detect anyone entering through any means other than the village gates. Plagueis was rather interested in the barrier system as he had never seen anything like it that didn't involve sophisticated sensor equipment that could be fooled. The barrier didn't have many weaknesses to it and Aoi knew the password to get through it. Now Naruto knew that password.
All in all, Naruto had learned many useful things from the jonin but was left wondering something. He simply couldn't determine how Rokusho Aoi had been promoted to jonin. The man wasn't really that dangerous or powerful and had very little in the way of ninjutsu, genjutsu, or even taijutsu. The only thing the man could use were weapons and poison. Somehow that had been enough to get him promoted. Naruto and Plagueis had envisioned jonin ninja as being very powerful and proficient in most ninja skills but it turned out that not all of them were. It made them rethink their previous notions and plans to take jutsu from the Konoha Ninja Library as it didn't seem that difficult anymore.
Furthermore, Naruto had managed to break into a building that was supposed to be one of the most secure in the village and stole two items from it without being caught. The traps that Naruto had bypassed weren't that difficult to notice or get around. After analyzing what they had found the previous day, they would have to reconsider several old plans that they the previous believed were too difficult to accomplish. They would definitely have to wait though as the village would be on high alert for a while.
Most of the day was spent with Plagueis having Naruto examine the sword in detail and activate it to see what it could do. The weapon sounded and activated like a lightsaber but the blade was made from electrical energy. Oddly, the blade seemed solid and could cut but only slightly better than a normal sword. It could also discharge the energy it held when coming in contact with someone but it really wasn't that powerful of a discharge and probably would only stun a ninja for a short time. Naruto was only stunned for a brief moment. A civilian would most likely be knocked out by the discharge though. Naruto couldn't examine most of the blade because he couldn't find a way to open it up and see what was inside. Whatever was inside the blade and causing it to create the electrical energy was sealed inside and unless he wanted to break the handle and risk breaking the sword, he wasn't going to be able to examine it any further.
From preliminary investigation, Naruto concluded that the sword had a few interesting features but wasn't nearly as good as what Plagueis told him a lightsaber was. The cutting ability wasn't that impressive but Plagueis thought that perhaps Naruto didn't know how to properly use the blade to its full potential. Plagueis could feel that Naruto's Chakra was being used to power the blade and it was possible that the Chakra going into the blade could be manipulated to produce better results.
Unfortunately, as Plagueis explained to Naruto, the blade wasn't very useful to them at this point in time. Naruto couldn't be seen using it and since they couldn't find out how it worked, another blade couldn't be created and it would be too suspicious if Naruto did create something similar. They would have to work on the discovery at a later date, preferably when they had the equipment to examine the inside of the device without damaging it.
The scroll Naruto stole seemed to have the same problem, he couldn't open it. It was sealed in some way and he just hoped that it wasn't a blood seal which might involve blood from the Nidaime, who had been dead for nearly fifty years. Plagueis, however, had a way around that. He touched the scroll and focused on using a Force power called Pyschometry, which was a rare ability that allowed someone to touch an object and see what events surrounded the object. This power would allow Plagueis to actually experience the events surrounding the object as if he was there with his own senses and feel what others felt who used the object. Plagueis had tried to use the same power on the Raijin but only found images of the Nidaime Hokage using the weapon and he couldn't view anything past that to see who had created the weapon and how. That probably meant that the sword was very old and had been used by many different people before the Nidaime had ever started using it.
Plagueis was by no means a master of Pyschometry but he could get some images and feelings concerning the scroll and Raijin. The scroll was much easier to 'see' as only three people had ever come into contact with it (The Nidaime, the Sandaime, and Naruto) and it wasn't created that long ago. The contact with the scroll from Naruto and the Sandaime was minimal, so it was easier to see the other person who came into contact with it. The scroll had been written by the Nidaime and contained all of his water jutsu. It was supposed to be presented, along with the Raijin, to a ninja of Konoha that showed a similar talent and affinity for water that the Nidaime Hokage possessed. Since the man's death, nearly fifty years prior, no one had ever shown the same skills for water jutsu that the Nidaime had and thus the scroll and sword had never been passed down to someone else. Along with witnessing the creation of the scroll, Plagueis could also see the set of handseals that was required to open the lock on the scroll.
Naruto went through the required handseals and the scroll opened. Looking through the long list, Naruto found every water jutsu that the Nidaime Hokage had ever used or invented. Naruto had a broad smile on his face as he could now start training to use water nature chakra with the information from Aoi's mind and he had a list of powerful jutsu to go along with it.
x-x
One week later, walking through the back alleys of the village
x-x
While Naruto had spent most of his free time working on learning water manipulation by making a dry leaf become soaked, he was also learning how ancient Jedi created their swords. It was outlined in the his Master's texts that were in the ship. Most of the information on the holocron was locked by the objects gatekeeper and because Naruto was considered a Sith, it would not let him learn anything further. Plagueis had managed to unlock certain information from the holocron but nothing more than the methods for forging a sword.
The process was relatively easy and Naruto found himself questioning whether or not it was correct. Apparently all he needed was the desired metal to make the sword from, a furnace, and the Force. When going through the ritual that the holocron outlined, he only needed to use and feel the Force in order to create his own unique weapon. Naruto was surprised that he didn't actually need to know anything about forging weaponry as the Force was supposed to guide him through the process.
Considering how much it cost to get the chakra metal and the fact that he would have to pay to use someones furnace, Naruto was thankful that he managed to get some extra metal from the starship. He could have made the entire sword from the metal he had from the starship but the swords of the past were made of rare metals that Naruto didn't have access to. To compensate for that, he would use Sith Alchemy to combine the properties of many different metals together. While Chakra metal was strong it was no where near as strong as the metals from the starship. However, the Chakra metal would enhance any chakra put into it and allow the metal to use nature chakra. The metal from the starship mostly came from the cockpit door which had been cut open and was now just a useless slab of metal.
The Jedi ritual for creating a sword required a single alloy, which would be the combined metal that Naruto was going to create. The forging of the metal would create a blade that was incredibly durable, razor sharp, and able to block lightsabers. Naruto also had a Sith ritual that could be used to make the blade even stronger, help it retain its edge, and even act as a focusing point for his dark side powers and perhaps even amplify them. The single blade would be a merging of several different methods and rituals to create a very unique weapon for Naruto. Plagueis was rather interested in what the outcome would be. He had never seen a Sith sword before but had read many different texts concerning them.
Naruto only had enough money for the Chakra metal and to use the furnace so he would only have a single attempt until he managed to get more money. He was rather nervous as he had never performed any kind of ritual before or forged a weapon. Plagueis would be there to give him pointers and monitor the process but only Naruto would be able to perform the rituals as it had to be his channeling of the Force into the metal that would craft the blade and apparently form some kind of bond with him. Plagueis had no idea what the addition of Chakra and Chakra metal into the process might do or what the final result would be. This would be the first time in possibly several thousand years that a sword would be created using the methods that he had discovered in the scrolls and the holocron. The jedi had completely stopped using swords almost four thousand years ago and the Sith perhaps even a little longer. Not only could Plagueis witness the creation of the blade but he would be guiding its creation.
The weapons shop that Naruto had chosen to forge his sword in was the Higarashi Weapon's shop and was supposed to be one of the best in the village. Naruto entered the shop and had all the required materials with him in scrolls. Plagueis's holocron was sealed in his arm and he also had the other holocron sealed in a separate scroll in one of his ninja pouches. Naruto went straight to the counter so he could speak to the owner of the shop.
x-x
Tenten had a slow day at her families shop. Nothing really interesting had happened as she usually liked to help customers choose the weapons and supplies that was right for their needs despite her being only nine. She had been working at the store for a couple of years and had grown up surrounded by weapons and basic ninja supplies of every variety.
She was attending the counter and flipping through a supply catalog while her father was in the back of the building working at the furnace. Their shop did sell generic ninja items but they also made their own weapons to sell to ninja clients in the village. Some people wanted better gear and weapons than the regular ninja items and their shop could supply them.
While turning the next page in her catalog, the bell at the door rang to announce that a customer had entered. Tenten wasn't able to give the customer her standard greeting as the words had died in her throat. She had instantly recognized the boy that had walked into her families store. It was the same boy that had been skipped ahead a grade into her class. He had stayed in her grade for less than a year before he left the class.
Tenten really didn't know that much about him. He was always quiet during class, had no friends, and didn't try to make any friends. The only time she had heard him speak was when asked questions during lecture and he really liked to ask a lot of questions. Tenten later found out that the reason he had left her class was because he had been skipped ahead another grade. She couldn't understand why he had been skipped ahead as Hyuuga Neji was also in her grade and was considered a genius of his clan yet he was never offered the chance to skip grades too. No one seemed to know any information about Uzumaki Naruto, which was the boy's name and the most detailed information she knew about him.
Anyone that she talked to was tight lipped about anything that concerned the boy. Even her father wasn't willing to tell her much about him, thought she could tell that he knew something.
As the boy walked to the counter, his hood and high collar obscured most of his face. There was always something unnerving about the boy and it made Tenten shiver as the boy looked at her. Tenten was about to say something when the boy spoke first, "I'd like to speak to the owner of this establishment."
The tone of the voice was probably made to sound friendly but it was dull and there was an underlying tone of command in it. Tenten was actually rather thankful that she didn't have to speak to him and called for her father. She then stepped back and away from the counter as her father came into the main shop from the back room and walked to the counter.
"My name is Togaru and I own this shop. What is it that I can do for you?" asked the man in a serious voice. He knew who the shadowed figure was but he wasn't going to turn away a paying customer.
"I would like to use your furnace for the rest of the afternoon." said Naruto and Togaru raised an eyebrow at the request. He had numerous requests for specialty weapons and customization but no one had ever asked to use his furnace.
"If its a weapon you want, I can make just about anything." stated Togaru but Naruto wasn't interested.
"The weapon is one that I will make myself, I simply need to use your furnace..." and before Togaru could object or say anything, Naruto continued, "...and I'm willing to pay." with that said, Naruto took out a stack of Ryo from his jacket and placed it on the counter.
Togaru looked at the money on the table. It was a good amount but he wasn't sure. He didn't let anyone else touch his tools but before he could make his concerns known, Naruto spoke again, "I brought my own tools, I just need your furnace for the afternoon and a few simple materials."
Togaru thought about it. His tools were very important to him but since the boy wasn't going to use them, then it shouldn't be much of a problem. 'A boy that young and with no experience making weapons shouldn't be able to make anything. I wonder what he plans on doing?' questioned Togaru.
"Exactly why do you need my furnace again?" asked Togaru and Naruto refrained from rolling his eyes. "I want to make a weapon and I don't need any help, just a few materials and the use of the furnace."
"Metal will cost a little bit more than you have on the table." stated Togaru and Naruto responded, "I already have the metal, I just need a crucible and some materials for the handle as well as a sheath."
To say that Togaru was curious was now an understatement. Even Tenten, who was still standing off to the side and watching the negotiation was very curious about what the boy planned on making. With no prior experience or skills at forging anything, the weapon would most likely be a failure and Tenten couldn't see any tools or metal on the boy's person.
A moment of silence ensued as Naruto and Togaru just looked at each other from across the counter-top. It was finally ended when Togaru spoke, "You can use my furnace and a crucible but if anything gets damaged, you're paying for it. You can come to me about handle materials and a sheath after you've made whatever it is your going to make." stated Togaru as he took the stack of bills off the table and counted it to see how much it really was.
Naruto nodded and proceeded to go to the back room. Togaru was still wary about this deal but it was a good amount of money and the boy said he only needed the afternoon. It was worth the risk and unless the boy destroyed his furnace, which was highly unlikely, he would make quite a profit tonight. If anything did happen, he could always go to the Hokage.
Naruto shut the door behind him and went to work. He laid out his storage scrolls with the metal, tools, and vibration technology in them and unsealed the first two. A crucible would be used to combine the two chunks of metal that he had together and make them into one single metal with Sith Alchemy. He would then perform the required Sith rituals for amplifying the metal and use the Jedi forging method to create the sword. After the sword was complete he would add in the vibration technology to it, make the handle, and get a sheath for it.
Taking the metals, he placed them into the crucible. With some chanting in the ancient Sith language, the process began and he placed the crucible into the furnace which would begin the melt the metal. The metal from the ship was far stronger and resilient but the ritual would make it easier to melt. Naruto removed the crucible from the furnace several times to continue the ritual until the metals melted. He poured the Force into the crucible and even some of his Chakra when he put it in and took it out of the furnace.
The molten metal underwent one last ritual session and Naruto then added his own blood into the crucible. The combining ritual had been completed and needed to sit in the furnace for a little while longer.
After that was over, Naruto removed the molten metal and poured it into a rectangular mold. The mold would give it a basic shape before it spent time in the furnace and was shaped. After the metal had cooled in the mold, Naruto removed it and put it in a solution of water and his own blood to further cool.
The slab of metal was removed and Naruto proceeded to the forging part of the process. The Jedi ritual began with saying a few phrases in an ancient language that he had memorized and simultaneously adding the Force to metal. Despite Naruto never shaping or forging a blade, the ritual would help him along and the Force would guide him along the way. Naruto had to mediate with the metal for a given amount of time and create a bond with the metal before he made it into a sword.
Naruto had used the Force to force air into the furnace and make if much hotter than normal. The rituals he used also seemed to enhance the flame. He placed the metal bar into the furnace and let it sit for a while. The bar was removed from the furnace and shaped with a hammer that Naruto had brought from the ship. The Force and some Chakra were imbued into the hammer and the metal bar through the tongs Naruto was holding it steady with. Naruto let the Force guide him to shaping his blade. He wasn't sure exactly what blade would be created as he was so deep in concentration that he really didn't notice anything around him or the metal he was working with. Even when Plagueis tried to talk with him, he got no response in return. At several points during the forging process, either Togaru or Tenten would open the door and peak through the slit to see what Naruto was up to. Thankfully, the Sith Alchemy was already over when they had done this as it would be strange if they heard him chanting in an unknown language.
Plagueis watched enraptured as Naruto continued to shape the blade for hours. The room was filled with the rhythm of hammering and the heat of the furnace. His student seemed to be in a trance and focused solely on his task. Plagueis was able to glean very little from Naruto's mind as it seemed rather blank at the moment. The only thing Naruto was thinking about was the jedi ritual that they had been going over for the past week. Interestingly, the hammering was more than just shaping the blade as it seemed to push the Force into the blade and let the Force work on refining the shape and giving the blade an edge.
With just a few more sessions of heat and hammering, the sword was done. Naruto put it in the solution of water and blood to cool. He sat down and blinked several times as he had finally come back to reality. From what the holocron said, the blade wouldn't need sharpening and should even come out being so polished that a person could see their reflection in it. Naruto took a pair of tongs and removed it from the water.
The sword that came out was rather interesting. The metal appeared to be completely blood red while the areas near the cutting edge darkened and hardened until it was black. The sword was a ninjato but had half of the back edge of the sword sharpened as well, so it wasn't a completely double sided sword and featured the standard tip of a ninjato. Naruto and Plagueis took time examining the entire blade. It had no tools marks or imperfections and Naruto could see his reflection in the blood red metal. He tested the edge of the blade and found that it was razor sharp. His finger barely made any contact with the edge and now sported a nice cut. When Naruto had finished examining his work, he went to the scroll with the vibration equipment in it.
Unsealing the scroll, Naruto attached the technology to the tang of the blade and made sure that it was positioned exactly how it had been on the vibro-blade he had taken it from. Naruto had altered this piece of vibration technology to work off of his Chakra instead of the battery that it normally had. Once he placed the guard and handle on the blade, no one would know that it was even there. The guard was a piece of metal that he had cut off from the rest before he had started using the furnace. He fitted the guard onto the blade and went to talk with Togaru.
Naruto made sure to cover the blade with something so that neither the owner nor his daughter would see the strange technology that was fitted to the handle. The handle of the blade would be covered with wood that had been grown with Chakra being fed to the tree. Togaru showed Naruto how to properly make the handle from an example that he had started earlier that day. Naruto carved out enough room for the handles to fit over the vibration technology and then proceeded to wrap the blade with black ray skin. Once everything was in place he revealed the sword to the others at the shop. He wasn't sure why he did it. Perhaps it was to satisfy their curiosity and so they wouldn't ask questions or maybe it was just his own hubris at creating such a weapon.
The owner was shocked and his daughter was gaping. They had never seen a sword quite like the one that Naruto had made. Several questions were asked, but Naruto merely answered that it was his own creation and therefore he didn't have to tell anyone how he had made it. The owner eyed Naruto wearily as he left the shop and his daughter was determined to find out more about the blade and how a boy with no training could make one of the most interesting swords she had ever seen.
(AN: I placed a simple picture in my profile of the blade. Its made with MS paint so don't get your hopes up, its not a work of art or anything like that.)
Naruto hadn't made a sheath for his blade as he just accepted a sheath that Togaru had already created. It would give his weapon the appearance of being ordinary to those who had yet to see it and perhaps give him the element of surprise. Naruto made iFt to his apartment before he promptly passed out on his bed. He hadn't realized how tired he had been until he was already walking home. It had taken him hours to make the blade but to Naruto it seemed far shorter. The time had passed so quickly during the actual forging because he was so deeply entranced in his work.
He would have to test the blade in the morning and find out what it could do. Both he and his master were eager to see what the combination of Sith and Jedi methods could produce.
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