Out of the Unknown

by axellon2008

Naruto discovers a crashed starship outside his village and his life is forever changed. Under the unorthodox tutelage of a Sith Lord's spirit, he will learn the technology and history of a larger galaxy that he, and no one else from his planet, ever knew existed.

18. Chapter 18

AN: I don't own Naruto, or Star Wars

x-x

36.4 BBY – Current Year

Chapter XVIII: Up, up, and away

ONE WEEK AFTER THE LAST CHAPTER

x-x

Seated at the Hokage's desk was a person that most would never have thought or considered for the position.

That person was Shimura Danzo.

However, he wasn't actually the Hokage, merely the temporary Godaime, until Jiraiya returned. Most of the ninja council however believed that Tsunade would not be coming back and that either Jiraiya would have to become Hokage or that he would try to worm his way underneath the hat.

While that wasn't far from the truth and he did have aspirations for the position of Hokage, his plans did not involve him becoming Hokage at that moment in time. The village may not be ready for him to take the position, especially with people's opinions of him being so low. Many had never even heard of him and in order to be Hokage he would need a majority vote by the jonin ninja in the village. This was something that he didn't think he could get, but that wasn't what he was currently after.

Given that the Kyuubi jinchuuriki was gone and that he had been unable to find the boy using his resources, he found an alternative method.

The rumors of Orochimaru's death began circulating in the last week but no one was really sure who was responsible. Danzo however was certain that the container had been responsible for the snake sannin's death. He had his Root forces go into Sound Country to investigate and they did manage to find Orochimaru's underground bunker as well as the headless body of the snake sannin but no sign of the container.

Also, the council still didn't know that the boy had faked his death but he had a feeling that Jiraiya did. He was confident in his assumption but that also meant that Jiraiya had not and may not be planning on informing the council either, and was now completely engrossed in finding Tsunade for the position of Hokage. That didn't sit well with him as the longer they waited, the more time the Kyuubi container had to disappear.

Just a week after Jiraiya left, he asked for a meeting with the Fire Daimyo. Using his sharingan, he convinced the Fire Daimyo to accept a temporary Hokage under the grounds that it would take quite a long time for Jiraiya to find and either return with Tsunade or return without her. The village was in great need of repair from the damage caused by the battle and order as well as guidance were needed.

Orochimaru's snake summons and the Ichibi container had caused quite some damage to the village before Jiraiya had stopped them. Someone had to take charge to oversee the reconstruction and make sure the village didn't seem weak. He had therefore promptly put his name into consideration as temporary Hokage.

With his manipulation of the Fire Daimyo, he easily won. While he had spent a great deal of time putting the village back in order since his appointment, he also didn't neglect his hidden agenda and the real reason why he went to such trouble getting the position.

With the position of Hokage came the responsibility of divvying out missions to the village ninja. While it was a tiresome ritual, it afforded him absolute control over where the village ninja went and what missions were accepted. This was the key to his plan as instead of just accepting any mission he could, he methodically chose missions that would take Konoha ninja to areas that he had not yet searched for the Kyuubi jinchuuriki in. His Root forces were only so large and he could only search so many areas. The key to his plan was that with the entire village at his command, he could increase his chances of finding evidence or encountering the jinchuuriki outside the village.

Should that happen, then with his power as acting Hokage, he would be able to send a force of ninja to retrieve the boy and bring him back to the village. He was even able to accept and assign missions to some of his Root forces. These missions were of course off the books and the money went directly to his Foundation. Not only was he enlarging his search for the escaped container, but he was helping the village and helping his Root forces at the same time. He might even be able to begin expanding his operation with the money and recruit new ninja with his position.

Perhaps if he performed well enough during the time before Jiraiya returned, it would even improve his public image and since he had never been Hokage before, it was also good experience for when the full position was actually his. He also learned that when he became Hokage, he would need multiple secretaries to take care of the redundant paperwork.

Despite his plan and a month of being acting Hokage, he had yet to receive any information that would even hint to the whereabouts of said jinchuuriki. However he knew it was only a matter of time before the boy slipped up and was noticed.

x-x

Tsunade frowned as she traveled back to Konoha. Despite swearing that she would never return, she now had to. 'Stupid Jiraiya!' she thought and glared at the man as he wrote down something in his note book.

'I can't believe I fell for his act and trick.' she thought and contemplating knocking him out and then running away.

He had found her in Tanzaku-gai and proceeded to try and convince her to come back and become Hokage. At the time she laughed at him and believed him to be completely crazy thinking that she would ever come back. However Jiraiya was tenacious, even more so than she remembered. He spent days pestering her, telling her about all the good she could do in the village.

He told her about the Kyuubi jinchuuriki and she was actually impressed at the container's thinking. At the time, she thought perhaps she should think about faking her death as well. The days, however, turned into over a week and little by little Jiraiya whittled away her resolve. Now she felt pathetic that he could guilt-trip her like that but Jiraiya did reveal to her several things that actually changed her view of him...a little bit.

Jiraiya confessed that when he had returned to the village, he remembered that Minato and Kushina had decided to name their child after the main character in his book. Jiraiya claimed it was something that he had completely forgotten until he had been back to the village and near the hot springs. He then told her that because of the naming he was also the containers godfather and after the village was attacked by the Kyuubi, he just forgot about it and never went back for over twelve years.

The regret wasn't fake, she knew that. Jiraiya even confided in her, while drunk, that had he been in the boy's life than perhaps Naruto wouldn't have turned out the way he had. Perhaps he wouldn't have disliked the village and left.

Other things were mentioned by the very talkative and drunk Jiraiya and while she didn't want to admit it, she did find herself feeling badly for her former teammate. She also saw parallels between herself and the runaway jinchuuriki.

She didn't really touch her drink that night, which was a first in a long time. Jiraiya mentioned how Naruto would be hunted down, while when she had left, nothing really happened. The village just let her leave despite her position and never tried to get her back. He talked about how the village still hated the boy and that hatred had caused a very promising ninja to leave the village. He even mentioned something about a group of S-ranked ninja that may be after him and that the boy didn't know about it.

After Jiraiya had said all those things, he mentioned that the jinchuuriki left out of selfish reasons and then she realized that she and the container weren't that different. It left a bad taste in her mouth.

Jiraiya then asked how Shizune was doing and she was about to reply when a thought suddenly hit her. 'How was Shizune doing?' Her answer would have been 'fine', but something made her wonder if that word had any real meaning when describing a person's state of being.

If Shizune was 'fine' then did that mean Shizune was content? Happy? Sad? She had honestly never really thought about until that moment. They always managed to get by, staying in different places, losing money, running from her debts, and seeing the world but how was her apprentice really doing? Did Shizune want to keep traveling?

She was intent on staying away from Konoha for the rest of her life and never settling down in any ninja village or perhaps even in a single village. Did Shizune want the same thing and did she really want her apprentice to have that kind of life? For the rest of the time with Jiraiya, until they went to their separate rooms, those questioned plagued her.

It got even worse the next morning when she asked Shizune how she was doing and her apprentice replied, "I'm fine, Tsuande-sama."

Of course just something like that wouldn't be able to get her back to the village. She still had loads of reasons why she wouldn't go back. That all changed however when Jiraiya proposed a bet. She couldn't possibly pass on it as Jiraiya offered to pay off all her debts.

She was of course suspicious whether the pervert even had that kind of money. Her debts were quite substantial. Jiraiya promptly showed her his checkbook and she got a look at the numbers. The damn pervert was worth a fortune. Not a huge fortune but more than enough to pay off her debts. She couldn't believe that it was all from sales of his perverted books and she remembered Shizune commenting on how scary it was that the world was full of that many perverts.

Should she lose the bet, then she would have to become Hokage. Despite Shizune's wishes, she accepted the bet. In fact, not only did she accept the bet, she won the bet. The money had been her's and then when Jiraiya was about to fill out the check, he stopped and had wagered, "Double or nothing?"

Remembering that moment made her strike out and punch the nearest tree, which sent it splintering into two parts and was followed by a crashing sound as the upper half collapsed into the forest. Jiraiya quickly put his notebook away and prepared to run if his former teammates anger shifted to him but Tsunade completely ignored it.

'Why do I always fall for that!' she lamented. The money was practically in her grasp but she couldn't turn down the new offer. She lost and now they were nearly at Konoha.

The thought of skipping out on the deal had crossed her mind several times but Jiraiya would never forgive her. He also stated that if she didn't honor the bet, he would collect every debt she owed so she would owe him all the money. She was all for it until he mentioned that he would be asking her to 'repay' him and 'work off' her debt to him. It was a disturbing threat, especially with the amount of lecherousness innuendo and eyebrow wagging that went into the statement.

Compared to that, the position of Hokage didn't seem that bad, however, given the recent news of Orochimaru's supposed death and the reconstruction of the village, she knew she had her hands full and would likely be drown in paperwork.

'Should have faked my death too.'

x-x

Two illusionary figures of Itachi and Kisame appeared in a room and stared at a third figure that was the leader of Akatsuki, Pein. The figures appeared as something of holograms but it was really a technique, Gentoshin no jutsu (Magic Lantern Body Technique), used by the leader of Akatsuki to communicate with the members of his group from vast distances.

"Did you find the Kyuubi jinchuurki in Snow Country?" asked the leader of Akatsuki.

"We did." replied Itachi and he did not say anymore.

"Were your able to capture him then?" inquired Pein as he was wondering why Itachi would give him such a short response.

"We were not able to capture him."

"Why not?" asked Pein in a more dangerous tone. Two of the strongest members of Akatsuki should have been able to capture one lone jinchuuriki.

"He had at least seven others with him and it turned out to be an ambush. Sasori's spy was also helping the jinchuuriki and can no longer be trusted. The container appeared to be leading them but it was difficult to tell. Few words were exchanged between anyone but they were well organized and coordinated nonetheless. We were both injured and put in a position where either we would both be killed trying to capture the Kyuubi or we would succeed, however the probability was not in our favor. I could not understand what jutsu several members of their group were using and two members seemed to be immune to all physical attacks." stated Itachi but Kisame just kept his thoughts to himself.

"So the Kyuubi has a group of his own." mused Pein at the new development. Jinchuuriki forming powerful groups was not something he had considered. They were supposed to be isolated individuals that were shunned by the world and kept to be a deterrent to war.

"Brats...every one of them." Kisame chimed in as he was irritated at being so injured and forced to flee.

"And yet you were unsuccessful when you fought them." Pein reminded him and Kisame scowled.

"What are our orders, Leader?" asked Itachi as he ignored Kisame's anger.

Pein thought for a few moments and then said, "If the Kyuubi and his group are getting that powerful then we can't risk sending anyone after him at this time. No doubt both of you and your battle attracted some attention.

The Kyuubi must be sealed last and sending more Akatsuki after him might draw more unwanted attention to our group. What we should do is let Konoha know that their jinchuuriki is still alive and his whereabouts. Then they will capture him for us, deal with his group, and then take him back to the village. We will then know exactly where he is when the time comes to go after him again." concluded Pein and he thought of ways to let slip the information to Konoha.

Itachi took the opportunity to add something he had been holding back, "While we were in Snow Country, a team of Konoha nina was also on the island and I believe that Hatake Kakashi followed us and saw the battle. Its likely that he recognized the jinchuuriki and would report back to Konoha. Its possible that the squad is already back in the village and reporting that information."

'Kakashi was the Yondaime's student, so he should recognize Naruto.' Itachi thought.

"We should send Zetsu then, to make sure the container does not leave the island before Konoha shinobi arrive. You're sure that the jinchuuriki would have been recognized?" asked Pein.

"Yes, Kisame and I looked for transport off the island and found the group in a rush to leave on the only available ship. We ended up taking Kisame's summons back to the mainland because of it." recalled Itachi and Pein nodded as the images faded away.

Itachi stopped himself from sighing in relief. The outcome was what he wanted all along. Konoha should be the safest place for Naruto, though he didn't want to admit that the boy had gathered together quite a group of talented ninja. 'By the time we are ready to capture him, I don't think even Pein could face that group by himself.' Itachi thought while remembering the odd abilities that the Demon Brothers had acquired. He still hadn't been able to figure out what they were actually using. His sharingan had told him next to nothing about the technique.

However that also didn't bode well for the Konoha ninja that went after the group to capture Naruto.

Looking over to Kisame, he could see his teammate was still examining the scar left by the Kyuubi container. It was a vertical white scar that showed up rather well in contrast to Kisame's blue skin. The blemish was apparently from Naruto's sword and the wound had nearly killed Kisame. Had the nukenin not been merged with Samehada then he would have died.

For some reason, the wound had not healed, despite Samehada's healing abilities. It should have healed completely and shown nothing but smooth skin, however that was not the case. He had already gone over the wound with a healing jutsu as Kisame had been complaining of periodic pain from the injury, despite it having already healed to a scar.

Itachi found nothing wrong with the scar or beneath the surface. The wound was as healed as it would ever be. He told Kisame it was likely something psychological that was causing the phantom pains which the blue skinned man vehemently denied. Despite this thought, he also knew that Kisame could handle quite a bit of pain before complaining about it. Therefore, it must have hurt quite a bit.

'Perhaps it isn't just all in his head?' Itachi wondered as he glanced at the scar again.

x-x

A door opened and Plagueis stepped into the dark cell. He smirked as Gato's eyes adjusted to the light and he viewed the chained Kabuto. It hadn't taken him long at all to figure out that it was Kabuto who had given their position to the group known as Akatsuki. Despite Kabuto's willingness to fight and from what he found from reading the teens mind, regret over giving up their position, something had to be done.

It had taken him only a few days to figure out exactly what that something was. He couldn't let Kabuto go unpunished but there was also the problem of loyalty. Though he didn't want to admit it, Naruto was right and Kabuto would make an excellent research assistant for him. Kabuto's medical ninjutsu and abilities were not common and not something that he was willing to just throw away, so killing the teen was difficult.

He thought about taking over Kabuto's body but that brought other problems as well. Gato was a good choice to possess because the short man had a weak mind and was a civilian. Taking over a ninja could prove more troublesome or perhaps negatively affect him. He didn't want to take that kind of chance. However, he also couldn't keep having problems with the teen and the days he took thinking it over had been quite fortuitous. The results of his work were hidden behind his back in his right hand.

Moving across the room and closer to the chained Kabuto, the smirk on Gato's face faded as Plagueis became serious.

"You've caused quite a bit of trouble, but you already know that. I also know how much you want to travel to the galaxy. I could just kill you for your actions or perhaps I could take over your body similar to how your previous Master could do." Plagueis mused as his vision left Kabuto and inspected the surrounding wall and then looked back as if expecting Kabuto to plea for his life.

Kabuto grit his teeth and knew he was in the worst position. He desperately wanted to go with them but there was nothing he could do if Plagueis decided to do any of those things.

"However, I am a compassionate being," Plagueis lied and continued, "but I still think you deserve punishment. I could torture you until the ship is ready or perhaps have the Demon Brothers do it. They have asked on more than one occasion if they could 'deal' with you."

Kabuto understood that his life was in Plagueis's hands. He knew Naruto would be too busy to come to his aid or perhaps speak on his behalf. He wasn't even sure if Naruto knew he had betrayed the group or what the boy might do if he found out.

"It didn't take very long for me to figure you out." said Plagueis to the now confused Kabuto.

"Every person has motivation or reasons and yours were quite easy to determine. You Kabuto, are a not a leader. No, you are but a shadow. Someone that follows in the footsteps of others but has no determination to stand on your own.

You may not have even known this until Orochimaru was killed. Perhaps you still haven't realized it. There was no Master to follow and you didn't know what to do. Deep down I'm not even sure that you really hate Naruto for killing Orochimaru. Perhaps you'll realize that, given some time, but your anger really comes from the fact that my student took away your only purpose.

Following others was what you did. You became a spy in Konoha under Sasori and were noticed by Orochimaru. Your mission was to become part of Orochimaru's organization and at some point you turned from one Master to another. But after what Naruto did, there was no one to keep the light off you. No one's shadow to stay behind anymore. You probably felt confusion, frustration, hopelessness, loss, fear and many other useless emotions that eventually turned into anger and you directed that at my student.

When Naruto made you a part of our organization, he never asked you to change and perhaps that was the problem. Instead of accepting us and myself as your Master, you retreated back to your first Master, Sasori. You gave away our location and nearly compromised our whole operation. Therefore, for your punishment, I give you a gift." Plagueis stated with a smirk and revealed what was in his right hand.

"A-a gift." Kabuto stuttered and cursed at the way he must have sounded in front of Plagueis. He couldn't image why he would be getting a gift.

What Plagueis revealed from behind his back was a large syringe filled with a gray material. It looked like a liquid but it was difficult to tell how viscous it actually.

"Yes, a gift. Since you seem so fond of your old Master's and can't possibly survive without them or work with us without them, I decided to provide you with a something that would take care of that. I'll let you have a piece of your old Master, Orochimaru, so that he is with you always. That way you can work with us and never be separated from him. How does that sound?" asked Plagueis with a smirk.

Kabuto was beginning to see where Plagueis was headed and he wasn't sure he liked it. Inside the syringe must have been Orochimaru's cells and he was about to be injected with them.

"Hopefully the cells won't take over your body because if they do, we'll have to kill you. So just hold on Kabuto and you'll most likely keep your sanity and personality intact as the transformation takes place." said Plagueis as the hand holding the syringe moved to the defenseless and bound Kabuto.

The needle pierced through his arm and Kabuto watched in morbid fascination as Plagueis injected the material into his body. The skin in the area around the injection began to lighten and then turn to a light gray. Kabuto's eyes widened as the area began to slowly grow before his eyes. He could feel his cells being converted or transformed and he could see the transformation occurring. 'It shouldn't be happening that fast.' he noted as he stared at the infected area.

At first he only felt cold and then a numbness but the pain soon started and as Plagueis left the room, Kabuto was screaming in agony from what was happening to him. Looking to Gozu, who was stationed outside the door, he said, "When it's finished, give him the cloak to cover himself and then bring him to the lab for testing. I want to determine if everything went properly." stated Plagueis and the Kiri ninja nodded.

Leaving the area, Plagueis headed back to his lab to continue his reading on Orochimaru's research and notes. The syringe he had just given Kabuto was derived from Orochimaru's cells from the head that Naruto had brought back. He didn't think it would be useful to him but now it turned out that it was.

Using Sith Alchemy, he altered the cells slightly and created what could be called a Sith potion. Normally the process was used to create a Sithspawn and even mix the traits of species with the traits of others and create something unique and powerful. His work was really no different.

Kabuto was basically turning into a Sithspawn. The transformation was much simpler than the one used for the demon brothers but he expected very good results. The subject should have been made into a mindless animal that only took orders from him but he was confident that Kabuto would retain his mind, knowledge, and abilities despite the transformation. That was exactly what happened to the Demon Brothers and he therefore expected similar results. However, the new Kabuto would become more loyal to him as time went by due to the Alchemy and his modifications. Kabuto would be bonded to him in a similar way that the Demon Brothers were bonded to Naruto.

'Yes, he will make an excellent research assistant. And should the need arise, I could seal my holocron into his arm and use him as a means of transportation and physical action. Similar to what I did with Naruto before I took Gato's body.' thought Plagueis and the screams of Kabuto slowly decreased in volume the farther away he got from the cell.

Orochimaru's cells were highly parasitic and just simple experimentation showed that they would take over a host body upon injection. However, what would normally take months for Kabuto to transform completely, would be taking mere hours or perhaps even shorter with the addition of Sith Alchemy. Kabuto should be done changing by the end of the day.

x-x

Sitting in a meditative position, Naruto didn't move a single inch except for his rhythmic breathing. His clones however were quite busy. Thirty versions of himself were in what had been dubbed the 'hangar bay' and working on the ships new reactor.

After a day of struggling and failure, Naruto quickly found that using his clones on a single task such as the reactor was a bad idea. Having so many clones along with himself just didn't work. Whereas they could work completely independently, he discovered that when working on one complex task, multitasking with his independent clones actually slowed him down.

Because they each thought individually, the clones took it upon themselves to begin working on individual parts. However, the problem came when beginning to assemble those parts and with the tools available. While the clones could do the work, there was a particular order in which everything had to be done. One part had to be completed and installed before the combined part could be used somewhere else. His clones didn't really grasp the overall picture and failure was inevitable. There was a critical path to the construction and should one problem be encountered along that path, then the length of the project, beginning to end, was increased.

The main problem he was having was that his clones were too independent. They finished tasks before the other critical tasks were completed and then he had to stop and figure out what went wrong. So far he had disassembled a certain part of the reactor four times because his clones had completed only part of the device and neglected to get all the pieces together before assembling that part. Taking the reactor and fuel assembly apart was infinitely easier than building and constructing a new one with his clones. He never experienced the problem before because nothing he had done up to that point had been so complicated and had so many individual tasks that formed a single multifaceted project.

Then there was the problem with tools. He only had a given number of sophisticated tools and with so many clones working, things got misplaced or one clone couldn't find the needed tool because another clone had it. This inevitably slowed everything down as well because he had clones just walking around and trying to find a tool that was being used by another clone halfway across the room. That was just the first day of construction and he ended up killing all of his clones in anger and frustration. Surprisingly, he then had to begin suppressing the Kyuubi's chakra as apparently his anger and frustration began calling a very small amount of it forth when he certainly didn't even want or need it.

Taking a break from the reactor, despite not having the time needed to actually take a break, he had meditated on the problem and wound up stumbling upon the best way to work with his clones on such a complex task.

The key he discovered was to step back and take himself out of the project. Normally that idea would seem foolish as he was the original and the leader, but that was his problem in the first place. He wasn't actually leading the clones and given how independently they thought and worked, they needed extra supervision and guidance on such a project. They couldn't see the bigger picture.

That was the reason why he was currently meditating. Using his Force connection with his clones, he was actually supervising all thirty at the same time. Each one was getting explicit guidance and instruction from him on what they should be doing. Each clone could therefore just focus on a single task and he would worry about the critical path and getting everything put together correctly in the least amount of time. The method was far better than anything he had previously and he was sure that in the future he would be using it on any complex tasks for his clones.

Even the tool problem was solved as he could tell which clones had what tools and then get the right tools to the right clones. With perfect timing and coordination, one clone threw a tool to another and continued working without any problems. The clone reached up and caught the tool but stayed perfectly focused on what it was doing. The new method was so smooth and coordinated that he was making great progress despite the first day's setback.

He didn't start out at thirty clones though, he actually started at only ten and had worked his way up to thirty in the past week. By the following week he might have fifty and then he would likely be able to complete the task by the deadline he had. Based on calculations by both his Master and himself, it would take between two weeks and one month for someone to come to Snow Country. A journey by boat to the island country took a week and both groups had already been gone for that long. That however assumed that they didn't have another mode of transportation that was faster.

Neither was sure which group would be coming as it was still possible that Akatsuki would send more ninja or perhaps Itachi and Kisame would come back. It was also just as possible, if not more possible, that Konoha would also send ninja to Snow Country.

The group that was there had evidently left in a hurry and Plagueis told him about Hatake Kakashi watching most of the fight.

Currently at least four members of his group were on patrol. He wasn't completely sure which members as they switched off but someone was out of the bunker and actively looking for threats. Using a few of his clones, he set up several detection seals in the area around the destroyed castle. At least two members of the group were in the main city and harbor of Snow Country and monitoring the people that were entering the country.

Most ships went to the main harbor but it was also possible that ninja would be dropped off somewhere else or just jump off the boat before reaching the harbor and run to shore. To hopefully prevent this, he had two other members of the group patrolling the surrounding area of the destroyed castle. Both pairs had a radio so he they could communicate with each other and with the bunker should they find something.

He hoped that the ship could be completed, or at least ready enough to leave the area and travel somewhere else on the planet under its own power, by the deadline. However it would take at least the next week to complete, test, and then install the reactor on the ship.

Keeping his mind as calm as possible, Naruto pushed back all his doubts and fears, focusing entirely on his clones and the project. It was a race against the clock and he likely wouldn't be able to sleep much before the deadline.

x-x

Team Seven raced through the trees of Fire Country as they neared the village. Kakashi set quite the pace for his students and he lied saying that it was for training. He wasn't about to tell Sasuke that he had seen Itachi or the possibility of Orochimaru having been in Snow Country. The real reason he set such a pace was so he could report to Jiraiya about what he had seen.

He already sent one of his ninken ahead of him and hoped it would be able to find Jiraiya. When he left the village for his mission, Jiraiya had only just left in search of Tsunade so she could be Hokage when they returned. Ninja decisions were being made by the temporary Hokage, Danzo, whom he would have to talk with if Jiraiya wasn't back yet.

Landing on the main road, the group moved towards the village and slowed down as they neared the main gate. Running straight into the village would definitely cause some alarm so he calmed himself down and set a sedate pace. He would dismiss his students right after they got into the village and then find Pakkun who was likely waiting for him near the gate.

He casually greeted the two chunin gate-guards with his book out and then dismissed his team, telling them that he would fill out a mission report.

Continuing down the main road, he picked up his ninken's trail and turned down a side alley. Despite the crowded street, he made sure to stay as unnoticed as possible. Walking down the alley, he glanced over the top of his book and noted the small pug that peaked around the corner and spotted him.

As Kakashi rounded the corner, he came upon Pakkun and the dog turned its head to indicate the other person that wasn't standing very far away.

Jiraiya looked over at Kakashi and wondered what was going on. He had only just gotten back with Tsunade and they had barely been to see the ninja council when he was accosted by the small dog. 'And I was just about to do some research.' he lamented but decided that whatever Kakashi had to tell him must have been important if the man sent a summons ahead of him before making it to the village.

Kakashi put away his book and became serious, "While I was in Snow Country on a mission with my team, I saw Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame. They were both wearing the black cloaks with red clouds that your described to me."

Jiraiya's eyes widened as he now knew two more members of the group known as Akatsuki. However he had the sudden thought of why would those two be in Snow Country, "Did you follow them?"

Kakashi nodded and then told Jiraiya of everything his shadow clone saw before being destroyed. He mentioned his thoughts on Orochimaru having a base in Snow Country and possibly being there.

Jiraiya couldn't believe what he was hearing. Given the rumors, he knew that Orochimaru was likely dead and had a hunch that Naruto was the person that was in Snow Country. 'Does that mean he killed Orochimaru?' he wondered but didn't dwell on it. He needed to focus on all the new information. Apparently Naruto had created or at least recruited a group of ninja that were enough to stand up against two S-ranked ninja.

"Kakashi, according to the rumors that have been circulating through the Elemental Countries for just over a week, Orochimaru is dead." Jiraiya revealed and Kakashi was shocked at the information. His first instinct was that it must have been Kabuto, but Jiraiya was about to squash that thought, "I probably should have told you this earlier but I have proof that Uzumaki Naruto faked his death and is still alive." Jiraiya said as he glanced around and made sure they were alone at the intersection of alleyways.

If the earlier news had shocked Kakashi then he was completely taken aback by the new information. 'He faked his death.' he ran the words through his mind and he really couldn't understand why.

"Did your clone happen to see this person?" Jiriaya asked while pulling out a photograph of a red-haired Grass ninja.

Kakashi's single eye examined the photograph and he tried to remember exactly what his clone had seen during the fighting. He did remember two redheads but they were too far away for his clone to see exact facial features. He only noted the one redhead as being part of Orochimaru's guard because of her general appearance and because Kabuto was there so it made sense that she was the redhead in the group that helped kill the Sandaime.

Thinking back to the other figures, he knew he couldn't identify most of them but the girl in the picture did seem to have the same characteristics as the second redhead he saw. He also realized that the person he saw in the cloak must have been Naruto.

"There were two redheads there. One I believe worked for Orochimaru and this does resemble the other but I was never able to get a good view of her face." responded Kakashi and Jiraiya nodded before putting the photo away.

'So she still might be alive.' Jiraiya thought and was thankful for the information. Naruto was heading down a dark path but knowing that the girl was still alive gave him hope that he could convince or at least get Naruto to come back to the village.

"Are you going to be assembling a team then?" asked Kakashi and Jiraiya wanted to curse as he realized he would have to wait.

"No, not yet." he admitted and before Kakashi could say anything he continued, "Danzo is currently the temporary Hokage until Tsunade-hime gets inaugurated. We'll have to wait a few days until that happens before taking a team to go after him. Otherwise people will start asking questions. I never told the village elders or the ninja council about Naruto still being alive. I hoped to find him before anyone found out or Naruto became known outside of the village. Apparently Akatsuki is already a step or two ahead of us and also knows about Naruto not being dead and leaving the village. I don't even know how that happened or where they got the information from." Jiraiya admitted.

"There will be a team and I guess you won't take 'No' for an answer so you'll be on it. Who else in the village would be able to help us?" questioned Jiraiya as despite being very good at planning a mission, he was out of touch with the village and the ninja ranks.

Kakashi quickly thought about it and knew several ninja that would be good for the mission. Maito Gai for one was definitely someone that could help. He knew he couldn't take his own team because of the possibility of Itachi showing back up but, though he was reluctant to admit it, Gai's team was strong and well suited for the mission. He also thought about Tenzo from ANBU because of his Mokuton ability and the fact that Naruto likely didn't want to come back. A capture squad would be good and perhaps at least one chakra sensor but he wasn't sure who would be available. He knew the village couldn't spare many ninja at that point in time and would leave the decision up to the new Hokage.

Telling Jiraiya of the information, the Toad Sannin readily agreed but had no idea of who Gai's students were.

x-x

Kabuto looked over his body once more as he sat in the chains. The transformation brought upon by the syringe Plagueis had injected him with, seemed to be over. He wasn't sure how long it had lasted but he certainly didn't want to go through it again. The pain had been excruciating.

Most people would have been completely disgusted to have their body altered to such a degree but he found it completely fascinating. He was immensely curious to see what the changes did for him and couldn't wait to have his chakra fully unsealed to see what he could do.

Interestingly enough, he now had a snake appendage that appeared to be coming out of his body like a tail. It seemed rather intelligent and he could communicate with it on some level without even speaking. His entire body also appeared to be covered in large grayish-white snake scales and he couldn't wait to examine himself with his diagnostic jutsu.

'Perhaps this is why he said it was a gift.' he mused. Orochimaru's cells had merged with his own but he wasn't taken over by his former Master. He might look like a monster in the eyes of others but he honestly couldn't be happier. If this was the trade-off for getting to travel with Plagueis and Naruto to the galaxy they talked about, then he was all for it.

"Kukukukukuku." he laughed and he could feel minute vibrations through the floor that let him know someone was approaching.

x-x

Gozu entered the room with the cloak that Plagueis had given him. He looked at Kabuto and chuckled, 'I'm not sure if he really transformed. Maybe Master Plagueis just brought out his true form.' he mused and tossed the dark red cloak to Kabuto. Crouching down near the snake-person, he held out his hand, which turned into tendrils of smoke, and moved the smoke to the chains that were binding Kabuto. The smoke entered the key hole and released the locks. He then released the chakra seals and other bindings that Kabuto had.

"Master Plagueis wants to see you in the lab and inspect your changes." Gozu stated and Kabuto followed the Kiri ninja as he was led to the lab.

Idly, Kabuto wondered whether they would be concerned over Orochimaru taking over his body but something told him that Plagueis may have been bluffing. Though the cells had merged with him, he really couldn't feel another consciousness in the cells or in his body. 'Perhaps he was just trying to scare me.' he considered but didn't really mind.

'I can't wait to see what all the changes are.'

x-x

Seven days later

x-x

Jiraiya grimaced once again as Maito Gai vomited over the side of the their boat. The very green, both in face and body attire, taijutsu specialist had no idea that he was prone to seasickness up until the boat began its journey.

Jiraiya idly wondered if the man would survive the remainder of the trip to Snow Country. They had been on the boat for about five days, as had taken two days before the inauguration was held and Tsunade was made Godaime Hokage. Tsunade's first action as Hokage was to sanction the mission and he knew he owed her for doing it.

The other ninja Tsunade sent on the mission were fairing much better than Gai but Jiraiya glared slightly at the two members of Gai's team that he had met before. Ironically, they had more insight in the mission than nearly every other ninja on the mission. There had been a short briefing but only a few members actually knew what was going on.

Team Nine, Kakashi, the ANBU named Yamato, a medical ninja, Team Eight, and himself were on the mission. He hadn't planned on taking so many brats with him but from what Kakashi said, most of Naruto's group were ninja that were under the age of twenty, with most being just older than the peace-time genin graduation age. The village also didn't have many higher ranked ninja that were available at the moment.

He had told Kurenai and Gai that their teams would be held back during any fighting but was glad for the tracking team and the two Hyuuga members that he had. If the group was still in Snow Country, which he assumed they still were given how few boats go to and leave from the country, then there was likely an underground base and the byakugan would come in handy for finding it.

Twelve ninja was a lot to send on a single mission but he was sure Naruto was there and from what Kakashi said, they would be facing about nine ninja. The village couldn't spare anymore but judging from what he did have, he had taken most of the highest ranking jonin away from the village. He had a bad feeling that something could happen to the village while they were gone but kept those feelings to himself.

At that moment he needed to focus on the mission and come up with strategies. Despite having Naruto's file, he really had no idea what the boy was capable of in battle. Few people in the village had ever seen Naruto fight before as most of his missions for the village didn't involve many battles or any witnesses.

x-x

Sitting behind a thick wall of hardened mud, Naruto prepared an initial test of the reactor. His clones had only just finished it and now he had to at least test the fusion reaction to see if it would work and if the reactor would be suitable to hold in the reaction and provide the necessary power for the ship. He would only be using a small test and just starting the fusion reaction and not supplying it with any additional fuel. Once the test was over, then he could calculate and determine if it would be sufficient.

If for some reason it didn't provide enough power to get the ship off the planet and enter hyperspace, then he would have to find something else to power the ship with but at that moment, neither he nor Plagueis had any other ideas. Either the reactor would work or they wouldn't be going.

His clones had moved the reactor into an additional room in the bunker, just in case something happen. That way he would minimize any possible damage to the ship should the reactor not function or...well...explode. Given the small reaction inside, less than 1% of what it could do, it likely wouldn't be a large explosion but it would do quite a bit of damage.

Should the test be successful then he would have to increase the fusion reaction to see if it held at higher outputs. If it succeeded then he would begin installing the reactor on-board the ship and then they would leave as soon as possible. The others were in the hangar bay and packing everything into scrolls to take on the ship. They would be taking a large amount of ninja supplies and other items with them but with the scrolls the supplies would barely take up any room on the ship.

While his clones attached all the proper components and measuring devices, he set up the laptop computer that would be taking power readings and providing him with real-time information from the reactor. He also had a kill-switch to stop the reaction at any point and prevent possible catastrophe.

When the clones were ready, Naruto moved behind his protective wall and signaled his clones to begin the reaction. As atoms of hydrogen were introduced into the reactor, they were pushed together so that the nuclei of both atoms or multiple atoms of hydrogen fused together resulting in the formation of helium as a byproduct. The reaction began and he monitored the status.

The power output began steadily increasing until it plateaued at his desired output level. At nearly 1% output of the reactor capacity, he examined the readings and kept the reaction going. The reactor itself was holding and no problems were occurring. Calculating from the output he was getting, he determined the maximum possible output from the reactor and let out a sigh of relief when he found it was just enough for the ship to operate.

With the reaction working steadily for several minutes, he decided to begin increasing it.

The levels on his monitor steadily rose until he he neared 35% of his maximum output. From his position, he could hear the reactor humming with power and looked up over his barricade. There was really nothing to see as the reactor was entirely enclosed but he imagined what it would look on the inside.

'Its going to work.' he said to himself and smirked. His clones quickly got ready to install the reactor back onto the ship while he looked through the data and double checked the numbers. It would be very close but they would have enough power to get off the planet and into hyperspace.

Once installation was complete, they would have to go through a pre-flight check to make sure all systems were working correctly and that there were no other problems. And when that was done, they could finally leave.

x-x

The boat arrived in the newly named Spring Country two days later. Jiraiya and the other Konoha ninja disembarked and walked down the docks and into the harbor area.

"Kakashi we should head to where you saw the battle." stated Jiraiya and Kakashi took the lead.

As the neared the warehouses of the harbor, the group heard a distinctive sound and Gai was hit in the leg by a fast moving red projectile.

x-x

"Karin." Juugo said and the redheaded girl replied, "I know, I can see them just fine. Get the speeder bike ready, I'll do what I can to slow them down."

Juugo ran off while Karin used the sight on the rifle and zoomed in. She couldn't identify many of the individuals she was looking at. Oddly there was even a guy in a kabuki outfit traveling with the group but she focused on what she did know. Tenten said her sensei was one of the strongest jonin in the village, so she targeted him first.

Adjusting for wind and the drop of the blaster bolt over the long distance, she fired a single shot into the green jonin's leg and made sure to miss the artery. She wasn't out to kill them but would still slow them as much as possible and try to eliminate at least a few of them.

A brief second passed from when her first shot hit and the group began taking cover. She fired multiple shots at the rest of the group but realized that she needed to keep moving. They would find a way to come after her at some point, so she shouldn't stay camped where she was. Running from her position with the rifle strapped to her back, she jumped on the back of the speeder bike and Juugo hit the throttle.

As the speeder bike took them both away, she got on the radio and began relaying all the information she could.

x-x

"Gai, are you okay?" asked Kakashi from behind a crate. He had no idea where the attack was coming from but knew that he had incredible difficulty seeing the attacks themselves and dodging was nearly impossible on the first shot as it had taken them completely by surprise.

Gai grimaced at his leg wound and responded, "Just fine my rival. Neji, where are the attacks coming from?" he asked his student while trying to ignore the pain and Neji activated his byakugan. His actions were quickly followed by Hinata as they looked for the attacker from behind their cover.

"I don't see anyone in the area that could be the attacker. There isn't a ninja near us from what I can see." he quickly responded.

Kurenai looked to her student and Hinata said, "I-I can see something. It has two p-people on it and they are traveling faster than I can keep up with them." Neji frowned at the information and didn't want to admit that Hinata's byakugan had a longer range than his did.

"Where are they heading?" asked Jiraiya. He didn't know what the girl was seeing that she couldn't describe to them but he wanted to know where they were going.

"Its heading along the coast." responded Hinata and as she tried to focus and keep up the object. It was heading away so fast that her eyes couldn't zoom in and focus on it fast enough to get a clear view of what it was they were riding on.

As the medical ninja tended to Gai and Yamato, who had been grazed in the shoulder, Jiraiya turned to Kakashi and asked, "Where are the ruins of the castle?"

"Further inland and not along the coast." responded Kakashi as he could see where the Toad Sannin's thoughts were headed. Likely the ambush was just a diversion to get them to go off in another direction and chase after the fleeing individuals.

Jiraiya looked to the two injured and frowned. Even with all his knowledge of jutsu, he had no idea what kind of ninjutsu was just used on them. 'What the hell gas Naruto got his hands on?' It seemed like some kind of long range fire jutsu or a fire enhanced projectile but whatever it was had burned right through the flesh on Gai's leg and come out the other side, then went straight through the wood of the docks.

He sat idly behind the crate he was hiding behind and wondered if they should continue. 'It would only get more dangerous from here and Naruto knows we're coming.' he realized, as they could even end up walking into another trap again.

Looking to the group he decided to keep moving but they would be slow and cautious, using the two Hyuuga as much as possible.

x-x

Naruto heard the news over his headset but focused on his tasks. The reactor was completely installed but they were having trouble starting the engines. The ship had been underwater for over a decade so he and his clones were looking for any problems. The rest of the ship seemed ready to take off and all the others systems were working.

It would take an hour for the Konoha group to get to the castle ruins from the harbor and even if they got to the ruins, he had created a few surprises in the bunker system for them. He made sure that the hangar bay was at one of the lowest levels so the ninja couldn't just use an earth jutsu and easily get to the ship. They would have to go through a labyrinth of tunnels that he had created in the past week. Even if they could see into it with the Hyuuga that Karin reported seeing, he hoped that the Sith runes and the illusions that was on the room would help.

He ordered Karin and Juugo to get back to the ship and would make clones when the Konoha ninja got closer. He wasn't going to leave the ship and wouldn't risk anyone else going off to fight. They would likely be left behind by Plagueis in order to protect the ship.

x-x

Cautiously, the Konoha group made their way through the pine forests and to the higher altitudes where the castle ruins were. The progress was slow as they would stop every hundred meters or so to take a look around and make sure no one else was laying in wait or setting a trap. As the plateau that the ruined castle was on came into view, tensions rose in the group.

Jiraiya had already identified and disabled several pieces of fuinjutsu that were meant to monitor a small area and alert the person that placed them if that area was disturbed. Team Eight and Neji were actively searching the surrounding area but not finding any traps or ambushes. So far they hadn't had to deal with any more problems and though Jiraiya had been positive that they would run into several other traps, they hadn't. This made him rather worried and he could tell the other members of the group were worried too.

They were down two ninja as Gai's leg wouldn't let him get to the site at the same pace that they could and though Yamato was with them, his injury prevented him from being a capable fighter. After tearful goodbyes between the two Green beasts, Kakashi had taken over as temporary captain of Team Nine.

Considering that there wasn't anyone lying in wait, Jiraiya considered that perhaps this was not the area they were really looking for. Kakashi suspected that the group might be using the newly destroyed castle ruins or perhaps had a base hidden under the surface.

There had to be a reason that led two members of Akatsuki right to that spot and a reason why Naruto's group attacked.

"I want both of you to begin looking under the surface for some type of underground room or perhaps levels of the castle that weren't destroyed." Jiraiya ordered and despite being tired from excessive use of their dojutsu, the two Hyuuga each went through the seals and activated their bloodline.

Looking beneath the surface of the plateau, the quickly found a system of tunnels. The tunnels went in a myriad of different directions but all seemed to keep converging and then branching out. 'It's like some kind of maze.' Neji noted and he quickly determined the beginning, which oddly enough came from an opening in the ruins. One tunnel branched out into three and then the maze began. Neji quickly reported what he was seeing and where the entrance was.

'But where does it end?' wondered Hinata when she heard something happening near her and looked away from the tunnels. A short distance in front of them, a figure was emerging from the ground. It seemed to literally come out of the rock but didn't disturb any part of the surface.

The genin noted that the cloaked figure was around their height, perhaps slightly shorter. The figure had a ninjato strapped to its back and the hood mostly covered the face.

"Naruto." Jiraiya stated but the figure did not move or acknowledge it's named being stated.

The group looked to the lone figure and the genin of the group couldn't figure out why they weren't attacking. Gai's team was ready to fight. Lee was anticipating a good fight, Neji wanted to defeat the cloaked figure and Tenten wanted the sword.

"You don't honestly think you can take on all of us, do you?" Kakashi asked as he prepared to pull up his forehead protector to reveal his sharingan.

"I have backup." the figure stated and twenty more cloaked figures began coming up from the ground.

'You just had to say something Kakashi, didn't you.' thought Kurenai with a frown and she went over the best strategy for fighting alongside her team.

x-x

"Have you found the problem yet?" asked Plagueis to his meditating student.

"No, I haven't and my clones on the surface have engaged the Konoha ninja." answered Naruto and Plagueis held back his frown. They were ready to leave but apparently the ship was still giving last minute problems. A ship without working engines was just a piece of scrap metal.

Power seemed to be going to the engines but they just weren't starting. The other members on-board the ship were all strapped in and waiting to leave. He could feel frustration and tension coming from everyone on the ship.

Plagueis would have ordered them to go out and fight but that wasn't something he could really afford. He knew Naruto didn't want any of the group to leave the ship because his student was well aware of the fact that he would leave them behind if the ship was started and they weren't aboard. They were definitely useful, but not as important as the ship and keeping it out of someone else's hands. However, leaving members behind when their journey was only just starting was not the ideal beginning to a group. Trust and loyalty were never something he had to worry about before he died but now it seemed to be very prominent in all his plans.

"Fine, just keep meditating and working from where you are. I'm going to go back and consult with the ships computer." Plagueis stated as he left the cockpit and journeyed to the engine room where the other clones were working.

x-x

Kakashi slammed his hands into the ground to complete his jutsu. A thick wall of mud sprang up in front of him and protected part of the group from a very large combination wind and water technique sent by the clones of Uzumaki Naruto.

Despite his walls strength, the technique began breaking through and he was forced to abandon his defensive position and jump out of the way of the penetrating attack. Putting distance between himself and the clones that were attacking him, he quickly glanced at the other ninja to see how they were doing. Kurenai and Jiraiya seemed to be faring the best against the clones. Genjutsu was indeed one of Naruto's weaknesses and Kurenai as well as Team Eight had already destroyed several clones. Her team was also fighting cohesively against the clones and managing to hold their own. Gai's team had broken up despite his orders and were each fighting a clone individually.

Jiraiya was facing six clones at once and having a difficult time as they weren't letting up their attacks both in ninjutsu and kenjutsu. The sannin had already killed at least two but was being pushed back by their teamwork.

Kakashi came back to his own fight when he heard a familiar sound. Loud chirping birds filled the air and he lunged out of the way as a clone charged him with his own lightning technique emanating from the hand of it's outstretched arm.

'How the hell?!' he questioned as he had only just taught Sasuke the jutsu a few months ago and no one else knew it. The clone turned and continued to attack Kakashi as he dodged with the aid of his sharingan.

x-x

Neji's frown deepened as the clone, or possibly original, continued to prolong the fight. He was unable to even graze the clone with his juuken and nearly lost his hand or even part of his arm to the sword. The clone just kept smiling at him from under the hood despite neither being able to get a hit on the other.

It was infuriating to him that a weaker version of the original was managing to hold him off. He had seen several of them die and erupt in smoke from a single hit, yet he couldn't get that single hit.

"You're only prolonging the inevitable." stated Neji but the clone's smile only widened which made him even more frustrated. Given the clone's chakra reserves, he would actually run out of chakra before the clone did.

Pulling back, he waited until the clone came at him and began building chakra, then pushed it out of his body and began spinning. "Kaiten."

The clone was caught in the initial chakra before the spinning began and dropping it's sword. However, it quickly went through a single handseal. Right as Neji began spinning, the clone's hands began glowing.

As Neji spun, he began feeling a chakra drain that was more than he knew it should have been. Despite his fast spinning, his eyes were able to pick up what was happening.

'He's draining my chakra.' he realized and began to stop his technique to prevent himself from losing all of his chakra. The kaiten was not able to destroy the clone as the techniques loss of stability due to the chakra being drained from it wasn't allowing it to have the desired affect against the clone.

Neji was in the process of stopping his spin when he felt his arm grabbed by the clone. He was about to retaliate when he felt an even larger drain on his chakra. His juuken strike was intercepted by the clone's other hand and the drain was doubled.

He tried to fight back but soon collapsed to his knees and then his corners of vision began going dark as his the rest of his vision blurred. As the last amount of his chakra was being drained, he felt the clone drop him. He was losing consciousness and only managed to see a flash green as he fell to the ground.

Rock Lee stopped in front of his downed partner and stared down his newest opponent. He had only just been able to defeat the clone he was fighting and turned to find Neji being defeated. That was not something he thought he would ever see.

"You're not bad. Do you only specialize in taijutsu?" asked the clone as it took one of the stances of Teras Kasi. It had only just received the memories of its fellow clone before dodging the attack by the new opponent.

"I cannot use ninjutsu or genjutsu." stated Rock Lee as he adopted the stance of his style of taijutsu. He wasn't sure why, but despite all the teamwork training that Gai-sensei had given them, Neji and Tenten had been extremely aggressive and had put aside teamwork to each engage the clones.

"I see." stated the clone and looked to the dropped sword but decided not to go for it. The green boy obviously wanted revenge over what happened to his sensei and he wanted a good fight. The original had fought many ninja before but not one that specialized in taijutsu.

Both teens charged forward began a new fight.

x-x

Tenten was blown back by the powerful wind jutsu and grit her teeth as memories of the chunin exam preliminaries flooded back to her. She quickly realized however, that she wasn't going to land on the plateau, but was headed right off the edge.

She wanted to scream but the wind jutsu had hit her hard and knocked all the air out of her lungs. As her body dropped and continued moving horizontally, she ran out of surface and was now beginning to fall to the valley below.

Her fall however was stopped when her entire body jolted to a stop. Looking around, she found white hair wrapped around her foot. The hair pulled her up, over the edge of the plateau, and deposited her back on the ground.

Looking up, she found Jiraiya fighting with three clones. Several other parts of his hair had lengthened and he was trying to capture the cloaked blondes.

Jiraiya didn't look at her but said, "Help your teammate and then go to Kurenai." he said as he dodged a sword that had visible chakra on its length. The Toad Sannin went through some handseals, slammed his hand into the ground, and summoned a fleshy pod around the clones and himself.

Tenten frowned but ran to help Lee. She could see that it was foolish of her and Neji to go after the clones on their own and they were just becoming liabilities. Her mood quickly changed when she saw a sword sticking out of the ground near where Lee was battling.

She knew it likely wasn't the real one but she would still get to wield it in battle, at least for a short period of time.

x-x

Everything had been going well for Team Eight, that is until the clones figured out Kurenai's genjutsu range. Every genjutsu user had an effective range at which they could 'latch on' to a person's chakra system and exploit their senses. Hers was roughly fifteen meters and now the clones were staying well away from her.

She had been able to take down quite a few before they figured it out. She would use genjutsu to temporarily paralyze the clones and Shino or Kiba would finish them off with their jutsu. Hinata was still using her byakugan to see all the threats at once as there were at least four clones facing off against them.

A few clones had already attempted to go through the ground to get at them, but Hinata had alerted them in time. Now they were at a standoff. From the distance the clones were standing at, they would need to use a high ranking ninjutsu to attack her team. She knew the boy could use ninjutsu like that though, and couldn't believe just how many chakra natures she had seen from the boy.

'Lightning, wind, water, and earth.' she recalled and wasn't sure what to expect next. She contemplated going on the offensive but the clones were smart and when she pressed forward, they would back off. The clones seemed more interested in wearing them out then moving in for a kill.

Despite the distance between them, her team was at a disadvantage. They lacked long distance jutsu. Only Shino and his insects could really reach Naruto without any risk but the boy's insects hadn't been faring well against the ninjutsu that the clones possessed.

The four clones backed off and regrouped as memories of Jiraiya, Kakashi, and the two genin finishing off the other clones flooded their minds. With the real Naruto focusing on the ship, only one of the clones had diminished Force powers. The rest were only using chakra. The four remaining clones stood at a distance from the tired group of Konoha ninja. Kakashi had only narrowly avoided injury and Tenten helped Lee finish off the clone he was fighting.

Neji was the only member of the group that was unconscious but the genin were getting tired and running low on chakra.

The lead clone had been the least active in the fighting and now waited for orders from the original. He could provide more time by having a conversation with his opponents but that also ran the risk of a sneak attack or perhaps himself getting angry. He knew the original didn't want to admit what information had been taken or learned from Jiraiya and talking about that information that could cause the clone or the original to lose control over their emotions and invite an opportunity for the Kyuubi to surface.

Only a few seconds went by as instructions were passed from the original to the four remaining clones.

Without any words being spoken or any signaling of any kind, one of the clones began quickly going through a few handseals. Slamming its hand into the ground, only Jiraiya wasn't caught by surprise when a swamp formed beneath the group and they began sinking.

Jiraiya put the required amount of chakra into his feet and managed to keep above the surface of the swamp. He went through several handseals at the same time that another one of the clones did.

Jiraiya's hair began extending into multiple strands that began wrapping around the trapped ninja as one of the clones finished its jutsu, "Fuuton: Shinku Renpa (wind release: vacuum serial waves)"

Multiple blades of wind were sent at the group of ninja as Jiraiya's hair pulled them out and moved them at different heights and positions to prevent them from harm. Only a few strands of his hair were cut by the sharp wind jutsu while the members of the group remained safe. Continuing the technique, Jiraiya began trying to move them out of the swampy area.

Frowning at the display, the Force using clone stood still while small eruptions of smoke came from two of the clones and the last clone began going through seals. He would attempt to use his fellow clone's discblades to try and get hits on the still trapped ninja while one of them used ninjutsu.

The group however was stopped as thick moving branches of wood came out of the ground beneath them. The Force clone managed to get away but the other three didn't. The clone looked toward the source of the jutus and found another Konoha ninja that had managed to stay outside his diminished sensory range.

Yamato grit his teeth as making the handseals necessary for the jutsu had aggravated his shoulder injury. He had stayed back during the fighting to act as an emergency backup just in case and it appeared that the group definitely needed it.

The clone again waited for further orders on the new development and then took out the vial that it had been given when it was first created by the original. Using a henge, the clone turned into Kabuto. Smearing the blood on its hands, it went through five handseals, then slammed its hands into the ground and said, "Kuchiyose no jutsu (summoning technique)" and a large area was covered with smoke. Using Kabuto's voice, the clone commanded the summonings to attack while it ran back to the entrance of the bunker.

Three larges snakes emerged from the smoke and began attacking the Konoha ninja.

x-x

"The Konoha ninja don't appear to be doing that well." commented the black half of the plant Akatsuki.

"I'm not sure what the jinchuuriki is up to. Attacking with clones and then retreating doesn't seem like a very good strategy." commented the white half.

Their mission was basically to monitor the jinchuuriki. They weren't to engage and hadn't actually been able to get near the containers base as the group possessed a very good sensor ninja and they were ordered not to be spotted by anyone.

Currently they were partially exposed from the side of a nearby mountain but had a good vantage point. Getting any closer to the underground area would put them in danger of being discovered by one of the Hyuuga or someone else in the fighting group below.

It was bad enough that they had to travel to the isolated island. Moving anywhere in the Elemental Countries was easy but they couldn't travel across water the way they could land, especially not salt water.

"Do you think they'll be able to capture it?" questioned the white half and its other half quickly responded, "If they don't we'll have to follow it wherever it goes."

x-x

"How's everything going?" inquired Kabuto to the cloaked figure sitting in a meditative position in one of the chairs of the cockpit.

"They're still on the surface and now fighting a few summonings. As for the ship, its still not working correctly." The cloaked Naruto stated as he kept his eyes closed and focused on his other tasks.

"How long do you we have until they are here?" the cloak wearing Kabuto inquired.

"I'm not sure. My clone will hold them off in the tunnels for as long as it can. Given that one Hyuuga is still conscious, it won't be long before at least part of their group finds us." he stated and kept his anger in check. The dojutsu the clan possessed was now proving to be more annoying than ever.

"And when that happens?"

"We don't take prisoners and can't leave them alive." answered Naruto and Kabuto just chuckled as he walked out of the cockpit and back down the ship's main hallway to the other members of the group.

If the ninja from Konoha made it to the ship before they left, then they would all have to fight. Naruto wanted to leave before it came to that but he recognized that it could still happen. He just hoped that his Sith runes were preventing the ship from being seen by the Hyuuga, or at least preventing it from being viewed clearly. He had put quite a few different sets of runes in the hangar bay. At least one of them should render the viewers unable to clearly make out what was in the room.

He calmly breathed in and checked on his clones and Master Plagueis's progress. It still seemed that something was wrong but no clear sign as to what.

Opening his eyes, he called Karin to him. His sensing range wasn't far enough to figure out where the intruders were and he needed her help to better plan out a defense strategy. It was still possible that at least one of the ninja would use an earth jutsu to move through the rock and he wanted to know if that was happening.

x-x

Jiraiya studied the entrance from afar and sent in one of his toads to check it out for him. He was still wary of traps and wanted to be absolutely sure before proceeding. The snakes hadn't been hard to defeat once he summoned one of his large toads.

Neji wouldn't be going with them and Yamato would be staying on the surface to look after the Hyuuga genin. Jiraiya looked to his right and found the other Hyuuga that was present in the group.

According to her information, they were about to walk into a large and complex labyrinth of tunnels that ultimately led down deeper into the ground and to what looked like a base. She described the rooms to him and he found the last one she described the most interesting.

Despite her dojutsu, Hinata had not been able to tell him what was in the lowest and largest room. She could only tell him that the room appeared to be 'blurred' in her vision. That had definitely caught his attention. He couldn't image what could be blurring the girls vision in that particular room but the fact that it was happening made it obvious that the large room was where they should be going.

The single tunnel split into three and then went into a maze of different tunnels that led both away and into each other. The result was several different ways that led to where he wanted to go, however she also told them about the long very wide escape tunnel that had been created for the large room. Ideally, Jiraiya would have wanted to send ninja to the other tunnel and prevent Naruto from escaping but it was on the other side of a nearby mountain and would take too long. The quickest course of action was to use the girl to quickly get through the maze but something told him it would be far from easy.

He understood that Naruto could just use the other tunnel and escape, while perhaps using explosives to collapse the tunnel system but something about that thought didn't sit right. Despite Akatsuki coming after him and Konoha ninja coming to the island, Naruto was still there. The fact that Naruto was stalling them, had created an elaborate tunnel system, hadn't left the island, and had gone to a great deal of trouble to hide something from a Hyuuga's dojutsu was not lost on him.

Something was down there that Naruto was after. He had no idea what it was but he did know it was something that the boy wanted to keep a secret and if they got there fast enough, he would find out what it was and capture Naruto in the process.

The toad quickly returned and told them that the entry way didn't have any traps. Jiraiya decided to keep the toad with him for the journey as he knew they might be needing him again.

x-x

"Tell me when they reach the split in the tunnel." Naruto asked of the nearby Karin. They were both sitting in two of the four chairs in the cockpit. He was concentrating on his clones while she concentrated on her sensing.

Once the Konoha ninja reached the split in the tunnels he would set his trap. The goal was to create enough confusion to split the group up and keep them from finding each other. Obviously the group with the Hyuuga would be the most well off but that group would have to decide whether to take the time to gather the others or to keep moving forward.

Either choice would give him and his group the advantage as they either got more time or few opponents to face.

"They're nearing the area." stated Karin and Naruto focused his thoughts on the explosive tags he had placed. He wasn't a novice when it came to traps and rather than setting or hiding the tags on the surface, he actually imbedded them into the rock. The goal was to prevent the tags from being heard when the armed and seen when intruders entered.

Strategically placing the tags in groups, he could set off one grouping at a time and herd the ninja to the split in the tunnels, hopefully forcing them in the confusing to split up.

"Now!" stated Karin and Naruto quickly put his hands into the handseal for activating the explosive notes.

x-x

Each member of the group noted the steady downward slope of the tunnel as they continued along its path. The tunnel was partially illuminated for them and the ones at the front of the group could see a room coming up ahead.

From what Hinata described it would have three tunnels that they could take. She found the quickest route to be the middle tunnel, along with a few twists and turns after that.

Once they entered the room, the jonin took note of the slightly different ceiling but didn't think anything of it. As they moved to the center tunnel, an explosion behind them shook the ground. Every member of the group turned and saw one explosion after another coming from the hallway they had just traveled down.

Jiraiya turned to make his way to the center tunnel in the hopes of outrunning the explosions when his instincts told him something else was wrong. A second later, pieces of the ceiling began breaking apart and fall down upon them. Two very long but narrow segments of ceiling began falling. The jonin only had a split second to react.

Kurenai grabbed two of her students which were the closest to her while Kakashi grabbed the two students he was looking after. The stones effectively separated the ninja into three groups with Hinata and Jiraiya in the middle.

No member of the group however had time to break through the walls and rejoin with the others as the explosions got closer and closer. Each ninja group ran to the tunnel they were herded into as the explosions destroyed the room they had just been in and sealed them into the tunnels.

'Damn it! I didn't even notice a trap.' thought Jiraiya as he looked behind to find that the explosions had stopped and debris covered the way they had just come from. He gave a quick glance at the Hyuuga girl to see if she was alright and then thought about what he should do.

He needed to get to the concealed room as soon as possible. It was evident that he would be putting the other ninja at risk and even himself in greater danger but he had to get there as fast as possible.

x-x

"Did they split up like I wanted?" asked Naruto and Karin responded that they had.

The Hyuuga was left with the largest chakra signature of the group, which Naruto knew to be Jiraiya. The pair were also moving fast and right at them. It wasn't exactly what he wanted but it split up the group. He had hoped it wouldn't be Jiraiya that he had to face but he did have advantages.

From reading the man's mind before the chunin exam finals, he knew what Jiraiya was capable of and what jutsu the Toad Sannin used the most frequently. It was only a matter of time before the duo reached the hangar bay, even with his clone still in the maze.

"Tell me when they get near our location." ordered Naruto and Karin acknowledged as she monitored the ninja moving above them.

x-x

Jiraiya ended up carrying Hinata under his arm as they raced through the underground system. They encountered quite a few traps but they either managed to evade them with the Byakugan or Jiraiya quickly blasted through them. Steadily they made their way deeper underground and towards their final objective.

They had a run in with the remaining clone but Jiraiya was able to defeat it without much difficulty. The closer they got to the end of the tunnels, the clearer the image of the room became to Hinata. She couldn't identify what she was seeing but could see several chakra signatures and it was enough that she could identify several of them as Naruto's. The signatures were all in close proximity and didn't seem to be going anywhere.

'Just a little farther.' Jiraiya thought as he would finally be able to make up for his mistakes in the past and bring Naruto back to the village to prevent Akatsuki from getting their hands on him.

x-x

'I have no fucking clue what is wrong with the damn engines.' Naruto admitted to himself.

His clones had been over the engines multiple times from inside and outside the ship. There was nothing wrong. For some reason his controls in the cockpit just weren't registering any power going to the engines or the engines as even being operational. The engines were 'on' but he just couldn't do anything because the controls were all in the cockpit. He couldn't pilot the ship from the engine room.

The clones had checked the cockpit as well but found nothing wrong there either. Karin had also just informed him that the pair of Jiraiya and the Hyuuga girl was nearly upon them.

He knew how strong Jiraiya was. The man could probably fight both Itachi and Kisame at the same time, and possibly win. Even with everyone he had, Jiraiya would still have reinforcements eventually arriving. The ship could also get damaged in the fight.

'Not that it really matters.' he thought derisively as the ship was basically worthless to them at that point. Breaking his meditation, he stood from his chair and began checking his gear.

It was at that moment that Suigetsu walked in. Naruto could feel the Kiri ninja coming in to ask a varied version of 'Are we taking off yet.' which he had already heard many times from the very vocal Tayuya.

"So...what's taking so long?" questioned Suigetsu and Naruto rolled his eyes.

"As you can see on the instrumentation behind you, nothing is lighting up because the engines aren't working properly...or something is wrong. I haven't been able to find the problem and it looks like..." however Naruto was cut off as Suigetsu's attention moved to the panel and the white haired teen smacked it with his fist.

The lights and instrumentation immediately came on, followed by the sounds of the engines and other associated systems completing their warm up period.

'You've got to be fucking kidding me!? All I had to do was punch the damn thing.' Naruto thought as he looked confoundedly to the instrumentation in the pilots seats and found the ship now working perfectly.

"I guess it just needed 'The Old Kiri Touch'." Suigetsu commented on his success and strapped into one of the four chairs.

'They really are a violent village," Karin inwardly commented before she realized that the two ninja she was focusing on had just arrived.

Naruto jumped in the pilots seat and began flicking switches to get the ship out of there as fast as possible. The landing struts came up and as the repulsor-lifts activated and the ship idled forward until Naruto began adding power to the engines.

Looking out the cockpit window, he said with a smirk to the others in the seats with him, "Everyone wave 'Bye' to the Sannin."

x-x

Jiraiya and Hinata made it to the large room and stood silently as they stared at the object before them. It was made entirely of metal, or what they thought was metal and took up most of the space in the room.

'What the hell is that?' Jiraiya wondered as he looked over the device.

Suddenly it began making noise and then four long ski-like pieces began moving from the floor and fit inside the vehicle perfectly, leaving little evidence of them every sticking out.

"Its floating in the air." he noted out loud and the two watched as it began moving away and towards the tunnel.

Jiraiya came out of his stupor and saw three people in the 'front windows' the object. He instantly recognized one as Naruto and the other as the Grass ninja Karin but couldn't identify the third. They were all waving at him.

The slow forward movement of the vehicle ended as it began accelerating forward. Jiraiya stared at the three large glowing lights that were at the end of the vehicle and finally realized it was leaving. Grabbing Hinata, he raced to the large tunnel and after the escaping jinchuuriki.

Running after it, he was soon left behind as it's speed only kept increasing. Hinata examined every part of the vehicle with her dojutsu as she was hefted under one of Jiraiya's arms and carried with the man. It was so complex and full of different things that she couldn't identify. She could tell it was meant to be lived in from the rooms she could see but other than that, she had no idea what it was. Her eyes never left it, even as it got farther and farther down the tunnel.

x-x

Naruto kept the ship steady as it moved down the corridor and to the exit. He had created the long tunnel so that the ship could take off as unseen as possible. The tunnel exited in a valley and he could fly to the ocean without being seen by any of the inhabitants of the island.

He checked through all the systems as he felt Master Plagueis come to the front of the ship.

The body of Gato entered the cockpit and sat down in the other pilot's seat. 'You found out what was wrong?' Plagueis asked through a telepathic link to Naruto.

'No, not exactly.' he responded and Plagueis could glean some of the details from his students embarrassed mind. Only the slight semblance of a frown was the response to the new information. He knew sometimes ships were just temperamental like that, especially ones that were heavily modified and repaired by the owner.

The ship exited the tunnel and cruised through the valley and then over the ocean. They would travel a minute or so away from the country before climbing vertically and leaving the atmosphere of the planet. Eventually they were far enough away to avoid being seen and Naruto began the ships ascent.

The others on-board soon crowded the cockpit as they passed through the clouds and climbed higher in the planet's atmosphere. They watched as the atmosphere became thinner and thinner until it faded into an endless landscape dotted with more small lights from stars and planets than they could count and had ever seen from the surface.

No words were exchanged as every person but Plagueis viewed space for the first time. They had been told all about it but seeing it was very different. The ship traveled a short distance from the planet and achieved orbit before Naruto began altering course. They would take the exact same path the ship had taken to get to their planet and began their journey back to the Known Galaxy at the exact point the ship exited hyperspace in the system. It would take a short time before they reached that part of their solar system so they would get to see a few more sights.

As the ship turned, part of the planet they used to live on came into view. Everyone was starring at it until Naruto glanced over at the moon and felt something coming from it. He had never felt such a dark presence before but it seemed to be radiating from the small moon. He looked over at Plagueis who also was not sure why the moon felt as it did and then altered course to take them away from the oddity that orbited the planet.

If he was honest with himself, the moon scared him and yet he also felt drawn to it. While he was curious about it, he was also smart enough to know that he should stay away from it and never venture there.

x-x

Jiraiya made it to the end of the tunnel and Hinata had just managed to make out the flying machine in the distance. She told him it just kept climbing in the air until she couldn't see it anymore and although she strained her eyes to get any last glimpses, it was just too far.

The pair starred at the sky as neither could really believe or completely fathom what they had just seen. One thing however was certain. Once they got back to the village, they would be having a long debriefing with the Hokage.

This part of the mission certainly wasn't going on any report.

'Tsunade-hime's going to chew me out for failing and I'm not even sure if she will believe me about this part of the story. At least I have a witness.' Jiraiya thought and put his hand on the young girls shoulder to let her know that they should get going.

He had no idea where Naruto was going. He just didn't have the information to put theories together or say anything for certain. Speculations were the best that he could come up with and even then, they seemed rather impossible and outlandish.

x-x

The ship continued on as they traveled to the edge of the solar system to enter hyperspace exactly where the ship had left hyperspace nearly a decade previously. Plagueis had already put the coordinates into the navigational computer after removing the lockout that had been engaged at some point before the ship crashed.

All that was left was to reach the designated spot and then make the preparations for the jump.

Shivers had been going down Naruto's spine since the ship started up and began moving in the hangar bay. The feeling still hadn't stopped. Most would have seen an empty vacuum but that was not what he saw. The controls at his finger tips could take him anywhere he wanted, though he knew he had to go to a specific planet given the available navigational data, but in theory they could take him anywhere.

Just that knowledge made a burden seem to lift off his shoulders. He saw a freedom in the empty vacuum that few others saw. The ship didn't seem like a confined space but more of an unmarked slate that he could write on. No one in the galaxy had any idea what a jinchuuriki was, or knew who the hell Uzumaki Naruto was, nor would they even give a damn.

If he received looks of contempt, they would be because he actually did something malicious to deserve those looks, not simply because he existed. Searching his feelings he found for the first time, in a long time, that he was actually happy, possibly even giddy with excitement which hadn't happened in years. Until that moment he wasn't actually sure he could still experience such strong positive emotions.

In just a weeks time he would travel out of the unknown and into the known. Leaving where he felt he didn't belong, to where he felt he did.

Please Review

AN: I guess some people might be mad that I didn't kill off the Konoha ninja but I do have something planned for later on which would have been more difficult if I did. Naruto will likely return to his home planet at least once but he won't be staying there very long.

It is also important to remember that not all of Naruto's clones can use the Force. So out of 20 clones, only one had force power, the rest were just regular shadow clone. He has to focus specially on those and can really only use one at a time at this point. In the future perhaps he can use more clones with Force powers.

Responses to reviewers

Reviewers: axellon2008fan, Altair, fanfic-addict, newboy, Guglu Muglu, Peter Kim, joe, Chooser, nerdyfresh,

Response: Thank you very much for the comments, reviews, and in some cases continued support.

Reviewer: Cuco

Wow. What an awesome chapter. As always! I was wondering if, on your next chap, you could address the possibility of naruto making more "demon brothers" servants... PLZ :)

Response: Thank you for the review and comments. Unfortunately, Naruto can't really make more smoke demons like the he did with the demon brothers. Because of their chakra, the process was different than what it should have been. Normal smoke demons don't talk and are more like an animal than a person. Naruto could make more smoke demons but they wouldn't be like the demon brothers. That might happen later on, its something that I would have to think about.

Reviewer: concerned

Wow you gave kisame a new ability to absorb chakra? I thought that was the swords ability.

Response: I'm not sure where you get your information but Kisame always had the ability to absorb chakra. Perhaps your not completely up to date with the manga but he can absorb chakra very easily and can even take chakra from samehada. I don't know if he can absorb bijuu chakra like samehada can though.

Reviewr: 25

if kabuto doesn't get killed im going to be very cross with you. anyway, you've made naruto the weakest sith ever. in naruto verse having a bloodline gives you a good advantage over normal ninjas so the force should be more powerful than what your making it out to be. naruto still gets pawned easily.

Response: I let Kabuto live just to make you angry :). He's 12.5 years old. No matter if you have a bloodline or the Force or not, if your 12.5 years old your not going to be uber powerful. This isn't a super powerful or god-like Naruto story. If your really after that then you should read someone elses story. I made this story specifically so it wouldn't be like that.

Reviewer: Downer

Didn't like the fight with Karin. Just seemed like "Hey im going to make her Naruto's love interest so i'm going power her up to match Naruto". I can see her having an advantage with her Genjutsu for a short while but once Naruto closed the gap and got a hold of her he should've won hands down yet you made it a double KO basically. Love the story, hate that fight with a passion, like how Palestine and Israel hate each other.

Glad they'll be getting off the planet next chapter. The whole Akatsuki and Konoha thing is just getting boring. I want to read something new and unique. We've seen Naruto leaving Konoha then being soft on Konoha nin even though he's been characterized as a badass killer in said story that hates Konoha (99% of the time he doesn't kill Konoha nin when they should and deserve to die). I have a feeling that's what this story would end up doing if he stayed. Same with Akatsuki... every story has Akatsuki chasing Naruto and while I know it's a main part of Naruto it gets old. Hoping you give us readers something new.

Response: Naruto fought Tayuya, not Karin and he wasn't out to dominate her in the match. He wanted her to show her abilities and gave her the opportunity. If he had just defeated her as fast as possible then he would have had to kill her after the match. I don't really remember characterizing Naruto as a 'badass killer' in this story. The ninja that came after him were also people that he knew. Most individuals that he killed he did not spend time in the academy with.

Reviewer: vizard

why does kabuto still want to kill naruto? isn't he a snake and isn't naruto helping kabuto full fill his life long dream?

Reasponse: In the manga it seemed that it took a little while for Kabuto to get over Orochimaru's death. Even so, he was still fixated on doing something to sasuke, perhaps in retribution. Kabuto didn't realize what Naruto was going to offer him so he made a mistake and called Akatsuki before he learned what Naruto's plan really was. Eventually he will get over Orochimaru's death and he already realizes how incredible the opportunity that Naruto is offering.