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.

19. Chapter 19

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

AN: Several reviewers have asked that I should think about ending this story arc and making a new story because of how I ended the last chapter and the fact that so many changes are happening. While I did think about the idea, I don't want people to have problems finding my story. I don't want anyone getting confused or discouraged as new readers will have to search for the first story. Therefore I will stick with one story just so that I don't have to worry about new or current readers having any problems. Also I'm kinda selfish and really wanted one of my stories to get past 1000 reviews, which was a goal I set for myself when I started writing.

Time-line info: I've had several questions about the time-line in reviews so I just want to say that with the current year being 36 BBY, that the first star wars movie (phantom menace) won't begin for four years (32 BBY). Naruto is 12.5 years old, Padme is 10 years old, and Anakin is 6 years old at this point. Padme is also not queen yet and becomes queen in 33 BBY, so three years from this point.

In terms of Konoha and the group's home planet, they may be coming back once during or before the shippuden time-line near when canon Naruto would return from his training trip with Jiraiya. One of the reasons that I chose the members of the group was due to the fact that none of them have any ties or even family left on their planet so there is no reason that they would want to periodically return. However, they will return at least once for an unknown amount of time and I haven't decided what role they would play when they return or if they will take part in the events of the fourth shinobi war.

Sorry for making all of you wait but the chapter is 44 pages, my longest ever, so enjoy!

x-x

36.4 BBY – Current Year

Chapter XIX: To Sarafur we must go

x-x

Sitting in the pilots seat, twin blue orbs stared into the blue hyperspace corridor as the ship moved through the alternate dimension towards its destination.

Plagueis had told him not to look at it but he hadn't listened. Just the thought that they would be arriving at an Outer-Rim planet the following day was making him anxious and he hadn't been able to sleep. Staring at the blue moving shapes was calming and even if Plagueis told him prolonged staring at the corridor could cause hyper-rapture, which was a form a madness, he didn't really care.

He's been staring at it for hours at a time during the course of their trip, so he felt he was probably safe from it.

Their journey from the Ibonihs System, which was what someone in the group began naming the solar system that had their home planet, would take approximately seven days and they had already been traveling for over six.

Ibonihs was also now the name of their planet and was basically 'shinobi' spelled backwards. He couldn't remember who came up with it but the name had caught on with the ninja on-board. Plagueis stated that he didn't really care and so it became official.

During their travel time, Naruto had spent most of it learning the basics of instinctive astrogation from Plagueis. It was a Force technique that allowed a force user to determine a fast and safe route through hyperspace without the need of a navigational computer, astromech droid, or up-to-date star charts. Though it was just an introduction and the basics of the technique, Plagueis commented that he seemed to have a knack for it.

He had also gotten a chance to look over the chakra armor devices which he had been aware of but hadn't had any time to look at while in Snow Country. He spent nearly a whole day examining the device, its design, and making plans for what he could do with it.

Ideally, what he wanted was to modify it to protect those of his group. Absorbing ninjutsu was not something that they need but blaster fire and other projectile weapons were one of the most serious concerns for them in the galaxy. They may be much stronger, faster, and more powerful than most other beings in the galaxy but that didn't mean that a simple weapon couldn't kill them just like it could everyone else. The attack could even come from a distance or be the result of shrapnel.

His chosen style of lightsaber combat, Form IV: Nimen, also wasn't well suited for deflecting or protecting himself from blaster bolts. His ninjato could deflect them, he was sure of that, but learning to use it to deflect incoming blaster bolts was something he needed to work on when he got a chance. It would also be nice to have a shielding device that could protect him if an attack got through.

So far, most of the group had adjusted to space travel and being stuck in a confined space. The only person that was very uncomfortable with it was Karin and it wasn't because of the ship or claustrophobia.

Given her incredible chakra sensing abilities, the redhead was having difficulty coping. Even if she wasn't actively sensing around her, he could tell that the loss of surroundings had greatly affected her. Going from an area where chakra was all around her, to basically a empty void with only a few chakra signatures near her was not easy.

The entire trip she had been not sleeping, quickly angered and generally irritable. He actually ended up having the medical droid sedate Karin so she could get some uninterrupted sleep and to calm her down. A loopy Karin was much preferred to an angry Karin. Luckily most of Karin's frustrations had been taken out on Suigetsu, whom she couldn't actually hurt physically.

Several days in to their journey, Karin had stormed into his room and demanded he teach her lightning jutsu so that she could hurt Suigetsu.

He agreed, though her frustration only increased upon not being able to grasp lightning jutsu as fast as she wanted to. Her primary element turned out to be earth and therefore she would have some difficult learning the lightning element, similar to how he had difficulty learning the fire element.

The only other person that seemed to be affected was Tayuya. It wasn't hard to notice her glaring at him, all the time, but that wasn't necessarily a new development.

Picking up his nearby datapad, he looked over the information that they had on the planet they were traveling to. In just a little while he would be giving a small debriefing on the planet and their objectives while there.

x-x

"What do you mean he's gone?!" questioned Tsunade in a deadly voice as she looked at the only other person in the room. The team she sent on the very first mission she assigned as Hokage had just returned with news of failure and she wanted answers from her former teammate.

"Tsunade-hime, it really wasn't my fault." Jiraiya said in a placating manner and whimpered under the glare she gave him. He then dodged the pen she threw at him, which deeply imbedded into the wall behind him.

"I took this stupid job because you had to find the runaway jinchuuriki and now you're telling me that there is no way to actually get him back?"

"He flew away on a flying machine." Jiraiya explained with exasperation.

"So? Go after him, he can't have gotten that far." the Hokage countered. They had encountered flying devices before during battles with ninja from Sky Country so it wasn't a huge shock that the boy had gotten his hands on a flying machine.

Jiraiya sighed and thought for a moment about the best possible description of what happened that he could give her, "He didn't just fly away. He flew straight up, vertically, and the machine didn't show any signs of slowing down. In fact, from what Hinata-san tells me, the flying machine actually sped up to incredible speeds that I've never seen before. It didn't resemble anything I remember seeing from Sky Country. I also didn't feel any chakra coming off it and she didn't see any chakra coming from the devices that were keeping it aloft."

Tsunade's anger waned slightly as she thought about the information. They had both fought with Sky Country ninja and knew how powerful flying machines and the technology from that country was. It was the main reason why Konoha had gone so far to wipe out the technology and the ninja that used it in that hidden village. Now Jiraiya was telling her about something different and more advanced that the jinchuuriki had gotten his hands on and she still needed clarification on something.

"What do you mean it flew straight up? It didn't just gain some altitude and then continue on its way?" she questioned.

"Hinata-san said it just kept going straight up with no sign of stopping."Jiraiya reiterated for the Hokage.

"Where the hell would he be be going?" she asked.

"...I just don't know." was the reply of the Toad Sannin.

"What about the scientists, did you get anything from them?" inquired the Hokage as she continued to search for answers.

"That really isn't something we should press Spring Country for." responded Jiraiya as he tried to dodge the question.

"Why not?" Tsunade asked irritably.

"Well...in destroying the castle that Doto used, the scientists may not have gotten out of the castle in time and whatever they were working on was destroyed.

"How bad." she asked, almost not wanting an answer.

"A good portion are dead or missing and whatever they were working on is trashed. The ones that are alive are less than happy to see and won't say a word."

"How did that happen?" Tsunade demanded.

"I'm told it was a big explosion."

"Shizune!" yelled the Hokage as she requested the presence of her assistant.

"Hai, Tsunade-sama." responded Shizuen as she partially opened the door and poked her head in.

"Tell Hatake Kakashi that he's on gate duty for the next two weeks." commanded the Godaime and Shizune acknowledged the order as she went to find a messenger.

"What about that huge hideout I read about in the report? Was anything there or left behind?" asked Tsunade.

"Nothing. Whatever was there had been completely cleared out. No scrolls, no weapons, and nothing left behind to tell me anything about where they might be going. He covered his tracks well."

"Don't compliment him you idiot! This is all your fault!" she accused and downed the sake in her saucer.

Jiraiya sighed and didn't respond or contest her accusation. He got up and left through the door, which she knew was rather odd for him as he usually left through the window. Seeing the face of her former teammate as he turned and left, Tsunade regretted her words.

'Maybe were both just screw ups.' she thought and poured herself another drink.

x-x

A flytrap-like creature emerged from the ground and opened the plant part to reveal a split dual colored body. Both eyes looked to the person standing nearby and looking over the main city in Ame.

"Did the Konoha ninja capture the Kyuubi jinchuuriki?" questioned Pein without looking at the newcomer in the room.

"I'm afraid not." answered a hesitant white half.

Pein's head turned and he glanced at Zetsu but then turned back to the view of the city. "And the containers current whereabouts?"

"Unknown." stated the black half and Pein's head turned much faster than before to glare at the Akatsuki member with his dojutsu.

"You lost him?" Pein questioned and both halves could feel the anger in their leader's voice.

"Not exactly..." began the white half and the black half continued the sentence, "He managed to escape in some kind of flying machine before we could implement any means to track him."

"The jinchuuriki never left the area where the device was kept and we couldn't sneak in or get close to it without being spotted." explained the white half.

"Which direction did the container head in? Back to the Elemental Countries?" questioned the leader of Akatsuki.

"No..." said the white half and Pein's glare prompted the darker half to fill in the details, "He headed straight out to sea with his group and not towards any landmasses. He was outside of our range in seconds."

"He was moving too fast across the water for us to get a good look at the device." added the white half in it's defense and the darker half also chimed in, "By the time we got to the coast, he was already miles away from the island and we couldn't even see the machine he was flying in."

"So we have no idea where it might be going." stated Pein and Zetsu only nodded.

"This will make things difficult when the time comes to capture them all. We only found him because of Sasori's spy. Is the spy still alive?" questioned Pein and Zetsu nodded again.

Pein thought about the situation but did not voice any of his thoughts. It didn't make sense that Sasori's spy would have called them into an ambush but that was what Itachi and Kisame reported. 'Why give up a hidden position when they didn't even know the container was in Snow Country?' he wondered and thought that perhaps the spy was still on their side.

In any case, they would now have to put more resources into finding the Kyuubi jinchuuriki. The transportation was a poor choice by the jinchuuriki's part, as a flying machine was very rare and it would likely be spotted and talked about. Word would eventually reach them and they would find out where the jinchuuriki fled to.

With no further conversation on the part of their leader, both halves took the silence as their cue to exit.

x-x

Naruto walked to the rounded table and sat down in his seat. Plagueis was already seated and the rest of the group sat around him. Dimming the lights, he activated the holoprojector an the center of the table and brought up the file on the planet that they were headed for.

"In less than two hours we will be arriving at the first planet on the fringes of the Outer-Rim in the Known Galaxy. This planet is referred to on star charts as Kuna's Tail III of the Kuna's Tail system. For those that travel or live on the planet, it is known by another name, Sarafur.

The planet experiences a phenomenon known as tidal locking. This means that the planet no longer rotates around its axis. Half of the planet is therefore always in direct sunlight and scorched by the sun while the other half is always in the dark and practically frozen. Both halves are essentially wastes but there is a vertical belt between the halves where the conditions are habitable.

It is along this belt where the planet's estimated 150,000 inhabitants live clustered around three makeshift spaceports. The inhabitants that don't live on the planet are smugglers, gunrunners, thieves, pirates, and other unscrupulous individuals so we shouldn't have a problem fitting in." Naruto finished as the group looked at the holographic planet and listened to his speech.

"What exactly are our goals on Sarafur." Kabuto chimed in and Naruto answered, "The ship needs to be replaced. It would be extremely dangerous to keep using it as my hull repairs were only temporary. Since we don't have the money to buy a new ship, we can sell this one at a junkyard and then steal a ship.

Because the planet is frequented by so many unsavory groups, we also might be able to add to our cargo. We currently have several cases of smuggled weapons and the more we acquire, the more money we can get later. We should also think about finding out as much information as possible about the planet without drawing much attention to ourselves." Naruto added.

"I get it..." stated Suigetsu, "So we should bust a few heads and cut off a few legs."

"I believe he was referring to more subtle means of information gathering, which I would be happy to take care of." offered Kabuto. Given so many years of being a spy, the white haired sithspawn was well versed in information gathering.

"Yes, you will initially be going with Master Plagueis to gather information. The rest of us will be keeping a low profile until we learn more. Individuals our age in the galaxy aren't considered adults so a bunch of kids walking around on such a planet would draw a lot of attention. Any other questions?" he asked and looked around the table while turning off the holoprojector and turning back on the lights.

"What types of weird species will we encounter?" asked Tayuya as she sat with her arms crossed and looking directly at Naruto.

Naruto deferred to Plagueis as he actually wasn't sure what species they would encounter given that detailed knowledge of the planet was unknown to him, "Humans would likely be the majority of the inhabitants, followed by Nikto, Vashans, and perhaps species like Duros, Twi'leks, and Sullustans in addition to others." Plagueis surmised. Having also never been to Sarafur, he could only guess at some of the species that they might see.

A brief moment elapsed and their were no more questions. With the meeting over, the group dispersed without another word as they each went to prepare.

x-x

Plagueis guided the ship into one of the open circular hangar bays at one of the three space ports on the planet. He had chosen the space port based upon what the Force was telling him.

Once the ship came to a landing he and Kabuto made their way to the ships landing ramp. The plan was for both of them to venture out with one of the demon brothers and carry out some needed business. He wanted Naruto to keep an eye on the ship until arrangements could be made. Seeing different species for the first time could be a very shocking experience and the last thing he wanted was for some of the group to gawk at every nonhuman they passed.

In some of the seediest locations in the galaxy, all one had to do was look at or stare at a person the wrong way for a fight to start or for blasters to be drawn. It was best to let the group stay at the landing port with the ship and get a glance at different species from afar before getting a closer look.

They would first head to a local junkyard in order to sell their ship. Likely he wouldn't be able to get any credits as Sarafur was so far away from the Republic that credits weren't used as normal currency or accepted. He hoped to instead get nova crystals as they were widely accepted in most places around the entire galaxy.

Given that they ship was used, damaged, and had a makeshift power source, he knew he wouldn't be able to get much for it. Bought new, the ship was likely around 75,000 credits but their ship would only be worth a fraction of that amount. He'd be lucky to get 10,000 but with a little persuasion, he felt he could get that price or more. He could ask for and get an unreasonable price but he didn't want to draw any attention to them. There was no telling how long they would be on the planet. Being cautious was what preserved him thus far and he wasn't about to risk anything. There would be plenty of opportunities to gather wealth later on.

The cargo they had would be worth far more than that amount of credits. Each weapon was nearly worth a thousand credits and they had several crates of rifles and pistols. The only problem was that Sarafur was merely a stopping point. Weapons weren't commonly sold there and it would be more dangerous to try and unload their cargo than to keep it safe and wait to sell it later.

Walking down the landing ramp, the group of three were greeted by several well-armed individuals. The port was probably owned by some thug or criminal and they would have to pay an exorbitant tax to land there, even if it was only for a short period. However, landing outside the spaceport might only put them at a higher risk of their ship being stolen, in addition to other possibilities.

Reaching the bottom of the ramp, they were partially surrounded by four individuals. All four were human and trying to look as intimidating as possible. Searching their minds, he found out what would be in store for them later and informed Naruto through their link.

"This is our port and you're going to have to pay to keep your ship here. There's a charge for staying and a protection fee. We also can't guarantee that your ship will be safe." stated one of the group in Galactic Basic and the others all chuckled.

"That will be fine, however, we've already paid for the day. You should go bother someone else." Plagueis stated while waving Gatou's hand. The eyes of the four humans became unfocused for a second and the leader responded, "You've already paid for the day, we'll go bother someone else." With that, the four left.

"That's quite a useful trick." commented Kabuto as it was the first time he had seen such a technique from the short man.

"Only on the weak-minded." explained Plagueis and with that they headed out.

x-x

On the ship, Naruto began deleting the ships logs and navigational data. Earlier he had copied all the ships navigational charts onto a datacard. There was now only a single copy of the information on their home planet and it was inside a storage seal on his arm.

Plagueis had informed him that they would likely be visited by guests and that he should make sure that the ship cannot be traced to its previous destination. Deleting all the other records would prevent anyone from being able to figure out anything about them and what they might be carrying.

A common trick at some spaceports was to slice (hack) into the ships to find out where they were traveling from, how many were aboard, and what the cargo was. Based upon that information, someone may decide to try and board the ship in order to capture it or steal the cargo. Even if the ship was somehow sliced from outside, Plagueis wanted to make sure that nothing would be found.

The only thing that they couldn't change was the ships transponder code which was a signal hidden in the sub-light engines used to identify and provide information on a ship. From previous logs, they knew the ship had been to the planet before but given how long the ship had been lost for, it was unlikely that anyone from the planet would recognize it.

x-x

Walking down the streets of the space port was quite an experience for Kabuto and Gozu. There were numerous small merchants that lined the streets selling things they had never heard of nor ever seen and they already passed by several non-humans that were quite unique. Plagueis had just sold the ship and they were to deliver it that afternoon to a large junkyard that was on the edge of town. The short man was correct about the price and made sure to make special arrangements with the junkyard owner so that they could keep the ship in the yard but still live in it for as long as they needed.

They were now apparently heading to one of the local cantina which were apparently a bar that also featured gambling, music, and other sordid affairs. However, Kabuto's attention was more focused on the things that he passed by and not looking for said cantina.

So far he had seen at least five species that were each very distinctive. He made mental notes about them but wished he had a datapad device that he's seen Naruto using to write down his observations. Even more so, he wished that he could lure a few into back alleys and add their bodies to his corpse scroll so he could examine them later in detail. Learning from a medical droid just wasn't the same as learning from an actual body that he could dissect.

Gozu was also interested in the species but not nearly as much as the snake-like ninja. His interest was mainly on the few female species he had passed and seeing how much they were different from human females.

Plagueis and the others came to a stop at a building that was easily identified it as a cantina from the writing on the outside. The doors were open but hardly looked inviting. Plagueis led the group inside where they passed through several sensing device, though the others didn't notice this fact. Music was playing as they entered and a variety of smells filled the air. On one side was a band playing as well as several tables with seats containing drunken occupants. The other side of the room had many unique tables where it appeared games of chance were being played. Right in the middle was the bar area.

Their group garnered some attention while they walked up to the bar. The cloaked Kabuto was of more interest to some, while Gozu was certainly the most physically intimidating. Getting the attention of the barkeeper, Plagueis ordered three drinks while the others looked around. The music wasn't loud enough to prevent a conversation from being heard so Plagueis used a simple Force technique to prevent those nearby from hearing him talk with Kabuto and Gozu.

"Take a good look around." asked Plagueis and the other two complied while he didn't take his eyes off his drink.

Kabuto's eyes automatically searched for possible sources of information among the members of the group. He believed he saw several illicit deals or negotiations going on and a couple of individuals who might provide information for the right price.

Gozu looked around and saw a bunch of drunks in a bar and people gambling. He was confident he could take every one of them.

"Those exact thoughts are why I brought each of you. Your role, Kabuto.." Plagueis said while secretly slipping the ninja a portion of the crystals from the sale of the ship, "...is to find out as much as you can about the area and who runs this space port. Gozu, you will be my backup. No doubt I will have a few people coming after me when we leave."

"And what will you be doing?" Gozu questioned while examining the strange drink before him. He didn't like the idea of sitting around and waiting.

"I'm going to be trying my luck at cards, and try not to stare at your drink so much, just drink it. It's quite generic and not enough to really get you drunk. The taste shouldn't be too bad."

Gozu frowned but downed the drink and found it wasn't bad. Plagueis tried his own drink and also found the drink unsavory but quickly realized that it was because he was in a human body. To a Muun, the drink he ordered would have tasted quite different.

"Do you plan to increase our money?" questioned Kabuto as he nursed his drink and thought the idea of Plagueis playing cards must have an underlying reason besides the money that was on the table.

"All I have to do is find a good table with gunrunners and I can figure out where their crews typically stash caches while on the planet. Leaving weapons aboard a ship is an invite for trouble and so many gunrunners have boltholes to hide their weapons in. It won't take long to gather that information and then I can send out Naruto with the others to secure the weapons and increase our cargo. We might even get a ship out of it." explained Plagueis as he scanned the Sabacc tables and sensed for possible marks.

"If you don't mind me asking, why didn't you just send Naruto to come here. I've seen his luck firsthand and I don't think he would have any problem working the tables?" Kabuto questioned as he decided upon who he might try to barter information with.

"He's only twelve and while the fact that he was a ninja made him an adult in the eyes of the people of Ibonihs, he would only be considered a child here. They wouldn't take him seriously. Maybe a few of the players would allow it just to take some of his money but they would kick him out of the cantina if he started winning. That is why I left everyone else at the ship. How many children have you noticed so far when we walked though the spaceport?" Plagueis questioned and Kabuto understood.

Besides Meizu, the three of them were the oldest of the group. Juugo was around fifteen, Tayuya fourteen, and the rest were not even thirteen. A large group of oddly dressed kids would draw quite a bit of notice on a planet such as Sarafur.

Kabuto's thoughts were soon broken by Gozu's questioned, "Can I order something stronger?" he asked as he just finished downing a second drink of what Plagueis ordered.

"No, I don't want you impaired and with Naruto's upgrade to you, I have no idea if you can get impaired. I'm going to be making enemies at the table I'm going to and I need you alert and ready in case they start something at the table. If everything goes according to plan, I'll purchase a bottle of something stronger when we leave." Plagueis stated and Gozu nodded but still frowned. Neither he nor his brother were ever patient.

'Maybe I should have had Meizu come instead of volunteering. He seems to be having more fun.' Gozu thought as he could feel through whatever link he had with Naruto and his brother that their group was doing something much more interesting than waiting around at a bar.

x-x

"I didn't do anything strange when I was sedated, did I?" questioned Karin to the group as she sat at the table on the ship. It had only been in the past few hours that said sedative had worn off and she was having trouble remembering all that transpired on the journey.

"No, not much happened. Well...there was that one thing that you did but I don't know if you consider it strange or not." remarked Suigetsu with a smirk. Karin glared at her nemesis and adjusted her glasses as she hesitated to reply.

"And what would that be?" questioned a frowning Karin.

"Well...you stripped off all your clothes and ran around the ship naked." explained Suigetsu with a shrug and he had a hard time keeping the smile off his face.

"I DID NO SUCH THING!"

"..."

"...Did I?"

The others refused to meeter her glance and those with breather masks were thankful that their smiles couldn't be seen. The laughter however soon started and Suigetsu was laughing so hard he couldn't breath.

"YOU BASTARD!" she yelled and stood while pulling out her blaster.

[BLAST]

Suigetsu's head lost consistency as the plasma bolt pierced it and charred the back of his chair. It soon reformed and the teen rubbed his cheek where the blast had hit him. "That really stings." he remarked with a glare but before anything else could happen, Naruto pulled the weapon out of Karin's hand with the Force.

"Had you been paying attention Karin, like I asked you to, you would have realized that we have company." he stated and looked to Meizu who turned into smoke and quickly traveled to the top hatch of the ship.

x-x

Outside the ship, five figures moved into the hangar bay. They were not same ones that Plagueis had dealt with earlier but were of the same group. It was a routine that they practiced when a ship landed in their hangars. They made them pay and then went after the cargo if it seemed good.

"Are you sure this is going to be a good score?" questioned one of them.

"A ship with no passenger or cargo manifest as well as deleted logs points to a nice score. They could be hauling anything but whatever it is, it will be a payday for us." one of the others assured the rest.

The group approached the newly landed ship and put on their breather masks. It certainly wasn't the first time that they had boarded a ship and stolen its cargo. Seeing as three individuals had already left the ship, they were confident that they wouldn't be dealing with that many assailants and it really didn't matter considering what they planned on using.

The five figures stealthily moved around the front of the ship and headed for the open landing ramp. They made sure to stay out of sight of the cockpit windows. All they had to do was toss the grenade inside and let the gas distribute throughout the ship and knock out anyone that had stayed on-board.

The members weren't nearly in position when the sound of a single blaster shot was heard. They each froze where they were and waited, listening. It was obvious that the shot had come from inside the ship but they were waiting to see if someone would come out.

When half a minute went by and nothing happened, the leader of the group gave a signal to move in. 'I guess they're just helping us along by killing each other off.' he thought and readied the grenade. Cautiously checking the ramp, he moved to one side and tossed the grenade in.

Expecting shouts or at least the familiar sound of the grenade quickly releasing its contents on impact, he was quite surprised when the same grenade flew right back out of the landing ramp and went off on the ground.

The landing ramp quickly raised and the group was left in the open hangar with gas filling the room. A few curses filled the room but with their masks, the gas was no big deal for them.

That changed however when a quickly muted scream came from just a short distance away. With the gas obscuring their vision, no one in the hangar could be sure what was happening. Each member brandished a blaster but the most they could see was a shadow that would appear and disappear inside the plume of gas.

"It's an ambush!" a muffled voice said. Several shots rang out followed by another yell. The sound of a body hitting the ground was heard by the remaining few. The gas finished dispersing and everything was silent in the hazy hanger. No sooner had they believed that the ambush was over than another yell came from across the room.

"Find some cover." the leader yelled but with the gas he couldn't see much of anything. Through the obscured air he managed to find some metal crates and nearly tripped over them. Getting behind them, his gun moved back and forth in unison with his narrowed field of vision as he tried to find any trace of movement.

Somewhere in the hangar, some one was shouting for help but the shouts decreased in volume until they stopped entirely. A shadow came at him from his right and he fired two shots. Both hit and the figure dropped.

As the gas began to dissipate, he got up from behind the position and moved to the body with blaster trained on it. Only a few feet from it, he quickly realized that it was one of his own men.

Before he could do anything, he felt the presence of someone behind him. A sharp pain shot through his back and then nothing. His unresponsive body fell to the ground.

'I can't move or feel anything below my neck.' he realized and could barely move his neck to help him glance around. He tried to yell for help but only ended up coughing up blood.

A dark figure was standing above him which was just slightly out of his immediate vision. His attention was quickly caught by the landing ramp which had just lowered again.

x-x

Naruto walked down the ramp, followed by a frustrated Suigetsu. As he moved down the ramp, the Force user pushed the gas away from the ramp and helped to disperse it out the open topped hangar.

"Damn it!" Suigetsu remarked as he looked around at the bodies, "You finished all of them off before I even got out here!" he finished looking at Meizu who stood above one of the bodies.

"Does this kind of gas affect you?" question Meizu and the other Kiri ninja frowned. He honestly wasn't sure if his hydrification technique could protect him from something like that.

Naruto ignored the two as he made his way to the still breathing intruder. Meizu had been told to at least leave one of them alive to find out information from.

Walking over to the man, he bent down and placed his hand on the man's head to gather information.

x-x

"As for my self, I suppose you could say I'm in the shipping business." Plagueis answered as he furthered the small talk at the table and slowly began to loosen the other player's tongues. In just a short while he would not only be taking their money from cheating but also a large amount of precious information.

He could feel Kabuto in another area of the room already working on gathering other information that could also be useful to them. Kabuto seemed to be chatting with a native to the planet while his current Sabacc game was with one smuggler and two gunrunners that were either regulars to the planet or just passing through. Between the two them, they should be finished in an hour or so.

The others players were initially hesitant to let him join their game but once they saw how much he had, they decided to let his money join the game.

Sabacc was a game of strategy as much as it was luck but when you could alter the programming of the droid dealer and the games randomization computer, it became a game that he couldn't possibly lose. Initially however he would purposefully lose but then defeat his opponents after getting the information he wanted. Then all he would have to do is find a place to stay while Naruto dealt with the footwork.

x-x

"What's that one over there?" questioned Juugo as he looked through a pair of electrobinoculars at the spaceport set out before them.

"I believe that is a Vashan. It's an insectoid species." replied Naruto as he looked through his own modified goggles.

"Let me see." demanded Karin as she pulled the single pair of electrobinoculars from Juugo to look out over the spaceport.

They were sitting on the roof of the open hangar where the ship was. Naruto was trying to get them, and himself, used to seeing different species so they wouldn't make a scene when they went out into the city as soon as Plagueis and the other two were back.

"What an ugly fucker." commented the second red-haired girl who had taken the binoculars from Karin.

Naruto ignored the comment as he stared up at the foreign sky and took it all in. It was strange to look at a sky without a moon but that wasn't the oddest part. Because of the planet's unique orbit, the sky was always in a state of dusk or perhaps dawn. Maybe a combination of the two. With one side of the planet always facing the sun, and the other always facing away, their really was no definitive night or day. The sky was always the same. Looking in one direction, he came upon the sun, and glancing in the other he could see the night sky and just a handful of stars at the very edge of the dark horizon.

"So all of these species just walk around normally and no one really gives them much notice?" questioned Juugo and Naruto was brought out of his thoughts.

"No, probably not. Unless it was a species not normally seen or one that they had never seen before, then they might give it some notice but then move on about their business." answered Naruto and he could feel the orange haired teen feeling relieved at the answer.

'Perhaps given what he turns into, he feels that he always looks different than normal people, or something along those lines.' Naruto reasoned but he decided not to ask.

"This is boring. Maybe we should break out a sniper rifle and have some fun from up here." Suigetsu suggested and a few others sweat-dropped at the idea.

"Why is it that your goggles seem just as good as these binoculars but they're so much smaller and lighter?" Tayuya questioned to change the subject as well as point out something that she had been wondering about. She was still holding the large and heavy binoculars and looking back and forth between the two. The others also looked at him and he could feel some jealousy and envy sweep through the group.

"I made these years ago from a normal pair of goggles and a pair of those electrobinoculars. Do you want some too?" questioned Naruto to the group and tried to determine their real reactions and thoughts on the matter

"Yes. Who wants to carry around something so bulky and heavy like this" Karin stated and he could feel some agreement from the others on the matter.

"Alright. When we go out later for clothes and other supplies I'll see if I can find pairs of goggles and binoculars for each of you and then have my clones make some goggles like mine." he said and honestly the thought made him feel...something. Perhaps it was just excitement over creating a gadget. He wasn't really sure what it was.

"Why do we need to go out for clothes?" questioned Meizu.

"Well technically you don't really need new clothes but myself and the others do." he answered and feeling the oncoming barrage of questions, he decided to explain himself, "When you looked out at the people walking the streets, did you all notice how differently they dress. Our fashion isn't necessarily the same as what the galaxy uses. Nobody wears open-toed combat sandles and most people have a slightly different fashion sense. Meizu's clothing isn't that different from what other people wear, especially with that poncho that both of you wear. Also his ability allows him to change his clothing at will, he doesn't need anything new.

Once Master Plagueis gets back with money that we can use, then we can go and purchase all that we need. Some holsters for our blasters would be nice and I'd like to see what clothing they have and how it compares to what we had back in Ibonihs. It's best to fit in as well as we can and few of the things we currently wear won't make us stand out."

"Why do we have to wait for them to get back? Can't we just use something else to trade? Why didn't we just bring some gold or something. They value gold, right?" Tayuya inquired and Naruto stared dumbfounded at her.

"I didn't think of it." he admitted out loud and few snickers could be heard among the other group members. While the paper Ryo bills would be worthless, some of the coins as well as several precious metals found on their planet would be something that they could have traded with. The only thing they did bring was a good amount of refined chakra metal and storage scrolls filled with ninja supplies. There was no way he would ever trade those supplies but he definitely could have brought something else or converted Gato's wealth to gold.

Frowning, Naruto decided to push those thoughts out of his mind and focus on what was important while the others continued to converse. They needed a ship, to steal more supplies to sell later, and he needed to find some materials from the junkyard to continue with his modifications and other inventions.

The information he had obtain from the thugs that tried to take their cargo told him about the spaceport which was called Sarafuria. Not very original, but the name apparently changed with each new criminal that took ownership from the criminal before them. The city had changed hands many times and was currently ruled by a human named Mordo Varss who was a pirate that decided to settle down in one area. Apparently the man had plans to gather money and buy mercenaries or better ships to begin taking control of the planet and the surrounding system.

The other two space ports were also owned by other criminals of different species and they sometimes fought each other to gain control of all the ports on the planet.

He wasn't exactly sure if Plagueis had any more plans for the planet but thought perhaps they should consider trying to gain the starport. Owning a planet with an unregulated spaceport could be lucrative and provide information as well as different contacts for them in the future.

'I'll have to inquire about this with Master Plagueis when he gets back.' he reminded himself and continued to look at the strange but beautiful sky.

x-x

Pulling his winnings toward himself, Plagueis allowed a small smirk to form on Gato's face. The three other players at the table however were far from thrilled. They had just lost everything that they had to the short newcomer. Thoughts of fairness and the possibility of being cheated had already gone through their minds and Plagueis knew it was time to leave before he was attacked inside the cantina.

Telepathically signaling Gozu, the Kiri ninja approached the table and the other players were temporarily put at bay from attacking. Taking the winnings, he walked away from the table side by side with Gozu.

'Gozu. Kabuto. At least one of them will no doubt try and take back their winnings in the alley. Kill them.' Plagueis commanded and as soon as they got outside and into the alley near the cantina, Gozu pulled out a storage scroll and quickly helped Plagueis seal all the winnings inside of it.

Plagueis took the scroll and continued on his way down the alley and to an adjacent side-street that would take him back to the main street. No sooner had he done this, then two of the three players came around the corner of the cantina and began moving for their weapons.

Gozu sprang into action and faster than the human opponent could draw a gun, the Kiri ninja's clawed hand stabbed into the man's throat. The dying man nearly collapsed but attempted to shoot Gozu before he died but was quickly disarmed and expired moments later.

Standing next to Gozu was an incredible surprised and scared Red Nikto. The Nikto was slower than the human and froze at seeing the human next to him attacked. Forcing himself to action, the Nikto continued to reach for his blaster. The being got the blaster out of the holster and pointed it at Gozu but then stopped moving and grunted in pain before he could fire.

Standing begin the Nikto was Kabuto holding a laser scalpel that was imbedded into the spine of the Nikto. "It seems your spine reacts quite the same as a human's in this situation. I will have to study your corpse further in order to make sure that is indeed the case but it is definitely something that I am looking forward to. You're quite the interesting specimen." commented Kabuto as he looked over the thick hands, facial horns, and ridges on the head of the tan and reddish creature. Removing his newest toy, the laser scalpel, he then shoved it through the brain stem of the Nikto which caused instant death.

Pulling out his corpse scroll, Kabuto's snake attachment moved on its own and wrapped around the body, bringing it to the scroll and setting it on one of the empty storage seals. After sealing the Nikto, the snake then moved the the human and did the same.

"Why do you want the human too?" questioned Gozu as he watched the snake-ninja work.

"You never know what this body could tell you until you examine it. He likely has different antibodies in his blood that could be interesting or even of use to us. We are in a completely different environment with different diseases and illnesses." explained Kabuto as he finished sealing the human and then made sure the coast was clear before exiting the alley and following Plagueis back to the hangar.

There was still work to be done before he could get a chance to look at his newest acquisitions.

x-x

Karin was the first to sense the three returning individuals and told the rest of the group.

Despite her problems in space, she had gotten better now that they were on a planet. There was no chakra or signatures to sense but she found that her sensor abilities were still quite useful. Back on Ibonihs, her sensing was like viewing something in color but now, on the planet, it was like viewing a world of gray. The people were all similar shades of gray and it was difficult to tell them apart. She still had her large range but it was still something she was getting used to.

Jumping off the top of the roof, she landed on the ship and moved to the side to jump to the surface of the hangar to use the loading ramp. As she did this, the three returning group members entered the hangar and followed Karin up the ramp.

Plagueis walked to the circular table and sat down in one of the high-backed seats. Kabuto and Gozu took up other seats as well and they eagerly waited to hear about what had transpired.

"Our trip proved rewarding. The ship is now sold and I've made arrangements at the junkyard so we can stay in the ship until we find a suitable replacement. At the cantina I gained information about a group of gunrunners that are about to unload a shipment of weapons to an area of the planet known as the Krasho Salt Rifts. The drop-off will happen in the next few hours, all we have to do is locate this area." Plagueis revealed and he turned to Kabuto to see if the teen could add anything else.

Slightly adjusting his glasses and then stroking his snake attachment's head, Kabuto began, "My information gathering was actually quite fortuitous as well and only serves to augment what Master Plagueis has just revealed. I also learned of the salt rifts and I was able to get their location on the planet.

Additionally, another individual told me about the history of the planet. It was apparently colonized or perhaps home to a species known as the Sarafurians but they became extinct after the planet stopped rotating. Their ruins as well as the ruins of another species cover parts of the wastelands. There were also rumors that a specific area of these ruins on the colder side of the planet gives those that venture near it an ominous feeling that they cannot shake off unless they leave the area. Some even say that there is a room full of treasure there."

A small knowing smile adorned Kabuto's face as he finished giving his information. He knew the information on the area would spark interest in Plagueis and Naruto.

"And I suppose you found out where this area might be?" inquired Plagueis. It seemed the teen was quite adept at information gathering and if he was correct, Kabuto's information could be more valuable than his own.

"I have general coordinates but nothing exact." replied Kabuto and Plagueis nodded while coming up with a plan of action. He himself was in no condition to travel with Gato's body no matter how much he wanted to and there was still work to be done that needed supervising.

After a short period of silence Plagueis spoke, "Naruto, I want you to take part of the group to get clothes that will let them blend in better. Make sure you aren't seen. After that we will split up into three groups. One group will stay and work on unloading the ship to give away to the junk dealer while the other two groups will head off to the areas that Kabuto and I have found. Once there, they will take anything of value and return."

Naruto however wanted to add something else, "Master, will there be time to take a look through the junkyard?"

Plagueis wasn't surprised about his students interest in the junkyard as such a place, full of pieces of different technology, no doubt greatly appealed to Naruto. However, he really didn't want to use up the remainder of their storage scrolls or perhaps start filling the storage area of a new ship with pieces of junk. Deciding that it was best to first take care of everything else, he replied, "If when we are finished, and there are no other matters to attend to, then you can spend however much time you want in the junkyard before we leave."

Naruto's smile was partially hidden by his cloak. Standing up, he made to leave the ship with the others and replaced his breather over his mouth.

x-x

Five figures stealthily moved across the rooftops of the spaceport as they headed to a local establishment. They could have used the henge jutsu but they would have to dispel it at some point in order to pick out clothing that actually fit them.

The group jumped off a roof and landed in a nearby alley. Individually, they each headed out of the alley in timed intervals and entered a nearby store. A group of children would garner more attention than just individuals.

Naruto was the last to enter the store. He stood in the doorway for a few seconds as he looked over all the merchandise. The shop sold a variety of clothing styles and featured a variety of cloth from natural to synthetic. 'Hopefully they do custom orders.' Naruto thought as they would certainly need customization of all their clothes and get their shoes altered.

The other people he traveled with were already searching through the store. Each person seemed to be able to find something of interest whether actual clothing or just fabric and apparently several outfits had already been chosen and placed on the counter.

While this was going on, Naruto went to the owner and asked, "I'll need quite a few custom orders and modifications to some of our existing clothing."

The person behind the counter only nodded and watched the boy walk off to another area of the store and start picking out utility belts and gun holsters.

"What a weird bunch of kids." the man remarked and began making sure they weren't stealing from him. Five piles of clothes soon filled the front table and he began thinking they might use the weapons they had to take the clothing but money was quickly produced for the clothing and also for the alterations.

x-x

One by one, each of the five left the store and headed back to the ship. Suigetsu was now sporting a dark purple flight suit with a white vest. The suit lacked any of the life-support systems and it was only a children's suit, something which Karin laughed at, but it was what he wanted and he purchased several of them using the money Naruto had.

Juugo left the store with very conservative and cheap clothing consisting of black pants, a tan shirt, and a thin vest. Considering that if he used his bloodline, the clothing would likely get torn to shreds, he felt it was best to stick with something simple that could be easily replaced.

Karin and Tayuya left the store together. They had purchased armorweave body gloves on Naruto's suggestion and then covered the glove with a shirt and either shorts or a skirt. The large bags only put a smile on Karin's face as it was the first time she had done some extensive shopping since leaving Konoha. Tayuya only rolled her eyes at the happy girl but was also sporting the same amount of clothing.

Naruto was the last to leave the store and told the patron, "Our faces and ages were nothing of note." which the man promptly repeated before he left. Naruto also sported a black body glove but covered it with a pair of his ninja pants, a light shirt, and a hooded vest that he had acquired from Ibonihs that was similar to his chunin vest. He decided to forgo the cloak as it only made him attract attention and instead used the hood on the vest along with his breather to cover his most distinctive marks. Ironically, he looked almost the same as he had when he was a ninja of Konoha.

Each member also now had a utility belt with their ninja pouches attached at the back and sported a holster with blaster. Their shoes had also been modified to have the foot completely covered.

x-x

Returning to the ship, Plagueis flew it to the outskirts of the spaceport where the junkyard was. With it in the junkyard, there was little chance that someone might try to take their cargo again. Ships in a junkyard were usually put there because they didn't work and no one was usually allowed to still live in the ships.

Naruto was quite eager to scrounge through the mounds of junk but they still had work to do. That however didn't stop his eyes from roaming through the piles every time he passed.

The first group that left the ship was Kabuto, Suigetsu, and Tayuya. They were sent out to the salt rifts in search of the gunrunners. Kabuto's new appendage allowed him to sense nearby signatures and the snake had an enhanced sense of smell. In the second group, Naruto traveled with Karin and Meizu. They were off in search of the area that Kabuto spoke of in the dark region of the planet.

The junkyard owner had been persuaded to allow Naruto to use his skiff, which was a short range repulsorlift vehicle, so that they could travel to the dark region much faster. The salt rifts were relatively close in comparison and could easily be reached on foot.

Plagueis, Juugo, and Gozu stayed on-board the ship and would be removing as many useful items from the ship as they could before leaving it.

x-x

Plagueis had watched out of the cockpit windows as the two groups began moving out in separate directions to their destinations. He knew what would be in store for Kabuto's group but not for Naruto's. The only advice that he could give to his student was to be cautious.

It was possible that whatever his student was heading for was just a darkside Force nexus, however it was also possible that it was some kind of tomb or perhaps once a lair of a Sith. It could be dangerous but he was in no condition to go exploring. Gato's body was beginning to give out or at least he only had month or so left.

The problem he was having finding a replacement was a lack of suitable candidates. Now that they were back in the galaxy, he had the luxury of being picky when it came to choosing a new body. He at least wanted a tall body that was fit and preferably Force sensitive. The more Force sensitive a host body he found, the more of his own Force powers would return to him.

His thoughts took him to the communications systems where he sat down in a high-backed chair and began preparing to send out a coded transmission.

Sidious had no doubt taken over all of his accounts, assets, hideouts, and just about everything else he had when he was still alive. He couldn't risk trying to access any of his bank accounts or get in touch with any of his former agents that he had used. However, he still had one contact that Sidious knew nothing about.

Right before he died, he had looked for suitable candidates for his new experiment on midi-chlorian manipulation. The goal was to find a suitable female to use his technique on. Not wanting anyone to find out what he was doing, he chose a planet near his hideout and re-programed a medical droid to secretly work for him. Using the droid, he gained access to patients at a local hospital as well as patient records.

From that list, he had chosen a subject. He chose based upon medical history, midi-chlorian count, and a variety of other factors that had led him to a specimen that would suit his purpose. Not a week before being killed, he had put his experiment into motion and used the technique on the woman while she was sedated during a fake procedure for a fake medical condition that the droid had fabricated for him.

If his experiment worked, then a child with incredible Force ability and midi-chlorian count had been born nearly fifteen years ago and may provide him with the perfect host. The planet the experiment took place on not very noteworthy or useful so the child was likely still there, safe from Sidious and out of sight from the Jedi.

With the connection created, Plagueis waited for the droid to answer. He had given it orders to periodically check for messages from him but it had been so long that the droid may no longer even be in operation or could have had its memory wiped at some point.

The signal was eventually answered by the medical droid that he had re-programed, "Who is this?" questioned the droid in an even voice.

Plagueis quickly replied with, "Activate program Plagueis-1."

The droids photoreceptor dimmed and then lit back up as the program activated and put the droid under his control. He had concealed the program in the droids memory banks. The program was activated with the command and once deactivated, the medical droid would go about its basic function without ever realizing that anything out of the ordinary had happened.

"This is Master Plagueis droid. Yes, I am aware that I have changed quite a bit since we last spoke."

"Our last conversation was five thousand three hundred twenty nine standard days ago." the droids responded.

"Yes, yes, I am aware of that. What I want to know is the status of the experiment." inquired Plagueis as his patience waned slightly.

"Monitoring of Test Subject 1, Shmi Skywalker, was terminated four thousand five hundred days ago."

"Terminated?! For what reason?" demanded Plagueis as he his thoughts raced over possible complications or what else that could have gone wrong.

"Test Subject 1 was transported off the planet and no longer withing my capabilities of monitoring."

"Was the subject pregnant or was a child delivered?" asked Plagueis with some urgency.

"Negative. No changes in health status were noted."

'It failed.' Plagueis realized and couldn't believe what the droid was telling him. He had accounted for everything and chosen the best subject available. Why hadn't it succeeded?

'I must find out what went wrong.'

"Where was the test subject transported?"

"The subject was sold to a slaver and transported to Tatooine." replied the droid as it accessed planetary records and Plagueis sat back in the chair as he went over the information.

'I'll need to travel to Tatooine then and see if she is still there. But how will I do it?' Plagueis wondered as he didn't want to tell anyone about his failed experiment. Judging their reactions was difficult and losing cohesion in the group was not something that they needed. Telling them that they needed to go to an obscure planet so he could analyze and experiment on a woman was out of the question. With only a single ship for them to use in the near future, how could he possibly explain an impulsive trip to a planet such as Tatooine?

Suigetsu couldn't even survive on such a planet and what would be there that he could convince Naruto or the rest of the group that they would be interested in.

'The weapons.' he realized and began developing a valid reason. Their cargo was technically stolen but Tatooine was controlled by the Hutts and they wouldn't care where the weapons came from or who their current owner was. Well, at least the current Hutt wouldn't care where they came from.

Their cargo actually belonged to a Hutt but if he found a Hutt of a different clan, then selling it the weapons wouldn't matter. The sale itself could be dangerous as the Hutts weren't trustworthy, but what other choice did he have.

'There are also Rakatan ruins on Tatooine.' Plagueis remembered and knew that it would certainly interest Naruto enough to make the planet stand out as the next destination or at least one of the next destinations. He wasn't sure what would still be in the ruins or even where the ruins were but those were things for Naruto to find out when they got there. Likely his student would also have to negotiate with the Hutt without him being present but Naruto could handle it.

Coming back to the matter at hand, he heard Juugo and Gozu moving around in the aft of the ship and he saw the droid staring back at him on the screen.

"Program end." stated Plagueis and he turned off the screen, severing the communication, just as the droids photoreceptors dimmed again.

Getting up from his seat, he headed to the medical bay to supervise the removal of the bacta tank.

"This damn things heavy." Gozu commented to Juugo as Plagueis neared the room. The pair were attempting to move the heavy piece of medical equipment on their own.

"That tank is worth several times more than the entire ship. Be careful with it." stated Plagueis from the doorway.

"Why is it worth so much?" asked Gozu as both ninja stopped what they were doing and looked to Plagueis.

"The substance inside is very expensive. Normal ships of this size don't have bacta tanks and they typically cost a large amount of money. Out here they would probably cost even more."

"How did this ship get one?" inquired Juugo and Plagueis smirked at the question. "The ship's former occupants took it from my lab along with other medical supplies and then installed it on the ship. I intend to keep it, considering that it belongs to me in the first place." stated Plagueis as he moved the repulsorlift cart over to the tank.

"When you begin tipping it over, I'll use my powers to lighten it as much as I can." said Plagueis and the other two nodded as they got ready to remove the tank.

x-x

Kabuto, Suigetsu, and Tayuya jumped over the rocky terrain as they headed to the salt rifts. They weren't sure what to expect as Kabuto's information was sketchy on what the physical feature actually was.

Plagueis's information also only concerned the delivery of the gun shipment as the person he gathered information from was of the same gunrunner group. They therefore had little to go on and the shipment wasn't to arrive for at least another hour.

"So, what's the plan?" asked Suigetsu as he turned to Kabuto, who was put in charge of the mission.

"We kill them and then take the cargo as well as the ship if we can."

"I like that plan." replied Suigetsu.

"How do we operate the ship?" asked Tayuya with a deadpanned expression and the other two nearly tripped.

"..."

"Perhaps we take one hostage and force him to fly us back or just call for Naruto." suggested Kabuto and Suigetsu nodded at the revised plan while Tayuya shook her head at getting picked for the wrong group.

x-x

Naruto piloted the skiff just a dozen meters off the surface as he headed to the coordinates that Kabuto had acquired. He was uneasy traveling to a place without knowing much information but the possibility of rewards outweighed his worries.

Turning around, he glanced at his passengers. Meizu was enjoying the nighttime ride while Karin had her arms crossed and he could tell that the dropping temperature and cold blowing wind from their fast travel was beginning influencing her.

"You should probably put on that thermal poncho I gave you." Naruto commented while keeping his eyes on the dark terrain ahead of them. Karin looked to the cloth that was sitting on the floor of the skiff next to where she was sitting.

"Its made for a variety of climates and should keep you warm. Even with the body glove you have on, the cold will start to affect you. The farther we go, the worse it will get." added Naruto and Karin grabbed the cloak and put it on.

It would only take a little bit longer to get to the location, given how fast the skiff was, but they could no longer see the sun and were almost completely in darkness.

x-x

It took about an hour to reach their destination and once they laid eyes on it, there was no question that they had found what they were looking for. Below them in a large relatively flat valley was the salt rift.

While the surrounding rock was dark in color, the rift was covered in layers of salt making the entire valley a white color. There were jagged outcroppings of salt and then numerous large and small skeletons of long dead creatures that were also covered in the white crystalline substance. The area had apparently once been an ocean and abundant with life but now all that was left was a salty graveyard.

The bones and stalactites were so numerous that it created a myriad of different hazards and obstacles. The features were so large, tall, and numerous that it created many dark rifts and crevices that looked ideal to hide something. Given the vastness of the area, a person could search for weeks and not find anything of interest.

The trio was relatively silent as they each looked over the feature set out before them. They would have to wait until the right time for the shipment but from their vantage point they would be able to see any ship that came to the rifts. Once the shipment came, the would be able to run down to the valley and then run on top of the salt rift to get to wherever the ship landed.

From what they could see through the binoculars, there were several places for a ship, similar in size to what they had, to land and then unload. The rift only extended so far and then it was just flat rock. Moving across the hill they were on, they repositioned themselves in a better spot closer to the landing spots that they could see.

It did look incredibly treacherous but each person was confident that they could make the journey when the time called for it. Until then, they would stay out of sight from a ship.

x-x

The first thing she noticed as they walked across the barren landscape, was the lack of noise. There was no noise at all and even the air itself seemed completely still.

It still seemed surreal that they were on a completely different planet. The skiff was only a short distance off as they searched the surrounding area.

Focusing on her sensing ability, she searched the area for anything that seemed out of place. As her senses spread over the gray landscape in her mind, she happened upon an area that seemed darker than the rest of the surroundings.

She was about to say something when she sensed something else in the distance. They apparently weren't the only ones out there.

x-x

"Are you sure somebody is gonna come out all this way? I'm freezing my ass off." commented one man to the rest of the group.

"Shut up, Ral. The Boss said we had to come out here. That stool pigeon of his has been talking about this area for weeks in that stupid cantina before he finally got some sucker to listen to him. All we have to do is wait for whoever they send out here."

"But we don't even know what's in that stupid cave." replied the man.

"That's why we're getting someone else to help us find out. I don't like this anymore than you do. I remember the first group that were sent to check it out. Only two of their group returned and they had lost their minds. I wanna stay as far away from that place as possible but you've heard the rumors. A tomb full of treasure and possibly one of the Tessents."

Ral stayed silent and neither of the other two men that were with them said anything else. If even part of the rumor was true then they could be set for life. They wouldn't even bother sharing the spoils with the boss and just leave the planet with all that they could get their hands on.

Movement in the distance caught the attention of each member. One pulled out a set of binoculars and spotted three figures in the distance.

"I can see three coming this way. Two of them look like kids." the man stated out loud with some surprise.

"Kids?"

"I wouldn't underestimate them. If these are the same ones that were at the hangar earlier, the group we sent after their cargo never came back."

x-x

The ninja trio made their way through the dark terrain as they headed for the area that Karin indicated. Up ahead they could make out what looked like an entrance to a cave that was set at the bottom of a tall conical structure. Even in the dark they could tell that it was very different from the rest of the rock around it.

The three continued on until four armed men sprang out from behind nearby rocks.

"Hands where we can see them." said one of the ambushers while another moved in and began searching them one by one for any weapons.

"They don't even have a blaster." commented the man and though a few of the group found it strange, they didn't question it and then motioned to the opening, forcing the three to go first.

x-x

"Why do you think they were waiting for us?" asked Karin as she sat behind some rocks looking down on the four men heading into the opening with the three shadow clones.

"I don't think they lured us out here to rob us or something like that. They probably also believe something valuable is in there but are either too afraid to go in first or know that there are traps and wanted someone else to spring them." answered Naruto and then he looked to her, "Karin, I want you to stay here and look after the entrance. Meizu and I will go in after them."

"Your going to leave me here all alone!?" Karin questioned with an exasperated yell.

"Would you rather go in there?" asked Meizu.

"..."

"I'll dutifully monitor your progress from out here." replied Karin with a nod.

x-x

Kabuto had used an earth jutsu to create a covering over them as they laid on the ground to prevent them from being spotted from the air. Taking turns, they looked through the electrobinoculars for a ship.

Up until that point, nothing of interest had happened. There were no movements in the rift or surrounding area and not even so much as an animal could be seen. However, what began as a low rumbling quickly turned all three heads to the sky as a ship began appeared out of the clouds and slowed down to settle on the outskirts of the rift.

Kabuto zoomed in on the ship and watched it land. A loading ramp lowered and several figures came out with a repulsorlift cart and several crates of what presumably were weapons. In addition to the ones on the ship, several others came out of the rift and met them. They were too far outside of his range to feel or his snake's range to track so he didn't know how many were actually there. He could only count what he could see and he counted ten altogether. The humanoids were quite similar to the one he had collected earlier and were apparently from a group called the Kintan Gunrunners.

Glancing at the others, they got the message and came out of their hiding place. They only needed the weapons but the ship was also there for the taking.

x-x

Naruto and Meizu followed a good distance behind the group and the shadow clones. Naruto was alert and looking for traps but so far he hadn't found any. The cave turned out to be a long winding tunnel that steadily went deeper in the the ground. They were already tens of meters beneath the surface.

The tunnel was quite odd as the walls had a strange structure to them that wasn't really rock but some kind of substance that wasn't identifiable.

Naruto was brought out of musings on the walls when he heard shouts echoing down the tunnel and then a single blaster shot. Before he could contact his clones, their memories flooded back to him but deprived him of valuable intelligence concerning what had happened.

Given the instantaneous dispelling of all three clones, he figured it must have been a trap of some kind but had no idea what.

Erring on the side of caution, he and Meizu slowly made their way to a chamber. Coming upon the area the clones had dispelled, they found the four men that had tried to ambush them. Two had evidently attacked each other, each being mortally injured and dying on the floor, while one had dropped to the floor in a catatonic state, with the final one killing himself with a blaster. In addition to those bodies, he found an additional two bodies that had been dead for quite some time.

The cold temperature had probably prevented some decomposition of the corpses and he was thankful for his breather mask which likely filtered out the smell. It was a strange sight and Naruto refrained from entering the room until he had determined what might have caused their deaths. Both and Meizu looked around but only found two oddities in the room. There was a single carving of the upper portion of a cloaked figure on the opposite wall near an opening to another identical tunnel and also some kind of lettering or glyphs were carved above that opening.

Naruto couldn't make out the lettering as it was unrecognizable to him though he could feel that it was important and believed it to be some kind of warning or instruction. The sculpture was of some kind of insectoid species that was also unrecognizable to him. Besides the bodies, nothing else in the room stood out.

'Is the sculpture the trigger to the trap?' Naruto wondered and did his best to sense the surrounding area with all that was available to him. Strangely, he felt as though he was being watched and looked to the statue. Despite being inanimate, he felt like the carved face was looking at him.

Searching his mind, he tried to gain as much information as possible from the memories of the clones right before they dispelled. However, the only thing he received was an intense feeling of fear.

'Fear killed them?' he questioned and decided that instead of proceeding, that he would bypass the chamber and whatever trap had been set to stop those that entered.

"We're not entering this chamber." Naruto stated and Meizu looked to him in question.

Naruto went through several handseals and Meizu understood what Naruto was up to so he put placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder. Once the handseals were finished, they began sinking into the ground beneath them. The pair moved unseen to the other side of the room and emerged at the entrance to the other tunnel.

Making several clones, Naruto sent them on ahead as a precaution. The elaborate trap only confirmed that something must be ahead of them.

x-x

Jumping across the top of the salt rifts was difficult but they were nearly at the ship.

Kabuto could now tell with his snake appendage that they were only ten of the humanoids. Six had come from the ship while four had come out of a hiding spot in the salt rifts. Apparently the hiding place that the gunrunners used to store weapons was actively guarded.

The group stopped less than a thirty meters from the ship to make a quick plan before going in. "I'll go and find the bolt hole that they are using while you two secure the ship." Kabuto ordered and the other two nodded in agreement. Suigetsu took off towards the ship leaving Tayuya behind and Kabuto slithered into the rift.

The scene was incredibly creepy to Tayuya and she shivered at the sight of Kabuto meandering through the crevices in the salt rift. Looking towards the direction the ship was in, she decided that she wasn't really needed and decided to hold back. The Kiri ninja was seemingly immune to the weaponry of the galaxy while she wasn't. She wasn't scared but merely cautious. Until Naruto finished that chakra armor that he had been talking about on their journey to the planet, she wasn't going to run carelessly into a fight.

x-x

Continuing farther into the tunnel system, the duo eventually came to what appeared to be the end of the journey. They had bypassed an additional chamber with respective trap but other than that, nothing else had been activated or come across.

Naruto stood at the end of the tunnel and examined the large chamber. Somehow the room was slightly lit by unseen sources but the majority was still dark. It was quite a bit larger than the other chambers they had come across. His eyes widened upon seeing the contents of the room. From what Kabuto had said, it was to be filled with treasure but that wasn't what he was seeing.

Sculptures of various sizes decorated the room. They were placed on tables or scattered across the room. To his eyes, it was obvious that the same person had made all of the sculptures as they were made from similar stone and had many similarities. Most of the sculptures were simply unrecognizable to him though. He couldn't tell what they were supposed to be, if they were supposed to be anything.

"Is this the treasure?" commented Meizu and Naruto wasn't sure how to answer. Artwork could be valuable but he had no idea what significance or value could be placed on the items in the room.

His attention was soon caught by the features on the opposite side of the room, which appeared to be a sarcophagus as well as another cloaked sculpture carved into the wall above the resting place. Given that the darkside of the Force was the strongest in the room they were currently looking at, Naruto reasoned that the sarcophagus must have been filled with the remains of a Sith and the darkside coming off the remains had created the darkside nexus in the immediate area.

Moving away from the sarcophagus, Naruto's eyes rested upon several other objects that certainly caught his attention. On the ground near the sarcophagus were the remains of an individual that was beyond identifying. In front of the corpse was a raised dais that had two other items. The first was in the very center and was clearly a Sith holocron. The second however was more difficult to identify. It appeared to be a white sculpture that did not fit with the other such pieces in the room. The sculpture was more identifiable to him as it appeared to be of some kind of winged cat.

Several thoughts went through Naruto's head as he gazed upon the room. He was apprehensive at the sight of the body. It meant that someone was able to get past the other traps, only to be caught by surprise at the end or perhaps killed by the spirit of a Sith. Now that he knew what he was dealing with, it only made sense that a spirit, similar to his own master, was inhabiting the tunnel system.

It was likely using carved sculptures of itself to guard its resting place and treasure. To some degree, it made sense however, the placement of the holocron confused him. Plagueis had told him that Sith were usually entombed with their most precious items.

Placing a holocron out in the open would imply that it was meant to be taken or at least its knowledge was meant to be passed on to whomever found the tomb and made it that far. Contrary to that thought, was the rotting corpse on the floor.

'If the holocron was meant to be passed on, why was the person killed?' Naruto wondered and came up with several theories. It was possible that the person was deemed to be unsuitable in some way. Perhaps the spirit had been angered in some way.

These thoughts however did not explain the sculpture that stood out in the room.

'If the Sith entombed here made the sculptures around the room, then perhaps it was an offering?' he reasoned as his mind worked to come up with a way to get the holocron. The 'treasure' was not something he considered worthwhile but the holocron could be most useful.

That line of thinking did seem somewhat logical as it made some sense that perhaps to gain the holocron, an exchange or trade might have been initiated by the deceased. It however did not help him in determined how he could remain alive and still get the holocron.

Looking back at the white sculpture, he again noticed that it clashed with every other sculpture in the room. The Force was also telling him that the observation was of some significance.

'So the Sith was not pleased with the offering and killed the person that brought it. Then what should I do?' he wondered and thought about what he could give.

He had no sculptures and making one on the spot could just as easily offend the spirit as the once living person had done. He also wasn't nearly as artistic or gifted as the Sith artisan had been and had no idea how to deal with a Sith spirit. Whether the Force techniques he could use would affect the spirit, he wasn't sure.

The only items he had which were 'artistic' or at least similar to sculptures were his weapons. His sword and discblades were not however something that he could part with.

It took another minute to think up what he could possibly trade and eventually he came upon something feasible. It wouldn't be a loss and hopefully it would appease the spirit. He thought about making a shadow clone and sending it forward but quickly decided against it.

Taking a deep breath, he entered the chamber and headed for the sarcophagus.

x-x

Jumping off the last vestiges of the salt rifts, Suigetsu twirled in the air and came down upon one of the gunrunners that was just heading from the ship with a load. He caught them completely by surprise and his kunai drove into the head of a Nikto while a thrown kunai pierced the throat of a second one. Suigetsu landed on the ground and charged the rest.

One pulled out a blaster while the other went for some kind of melee weapon. Suitgetus dodged as the one of the humanoids tried to slice him apart with an interesting weapons that reminded him of a knuckleduster with a curved blade on the end instead of just blunt metal.

Judging from the slight noise he could hear, it appeared that the weapon had vibration technology that Naruto had talked with him about.

The thought of getting his hands on the device made him smile and he dodged a swipe while another gunrunner came at him with a pike-like weapon while the other stayed back and fired several shots.

Grabbing the arm of the punching creature, Suigetus maneuvered the humanoid into another swing from the pike wielding one, which cut deeply and easily through its torso.

The surprise from killing a comrade was enough for Suigetsu to take advantage of and disarm the pike -like weapon to use against the wielder. Cutting off its legs, Suigetsu turned to the blaster use one and threw the pike as a spear. The thrown weapon pierced the chest of the final Nikto and killed it instantly.

He was about to go back and finish off the others when he heard something coming from the ship. Turning around he saw that the last of the group had managed to escape and made it to the cockpit of the ship. Thinking the Nikto would take off in the ship, Suigetsu hurried to make it to the still lowered ramp but his attention was diverted to a weapon that popped down from the hull of the ship. It looked like a much larger blaster than he had seen and he was unable to dodge as it pointed directly at him and unleashed rapid-fire bolts of plasma.

The first few bolts hit him before he could even move and tore right through him. While normal blasters were of little consideration to him, the larger ones he was being hit with were burning off more water from his body than he could deal with.

Running as best as he could, Suigetsu took cover behind a nearby rock but the blaster fire was powerful enough to destroy the impromptu hiding place which made the Kiri ninja curse loudly.

Losing consistency, Suigetsu turned completely into a liquid and began slithering away to cover, avoiding the blaster bolts as best as he could.

x-x

Moving past the dark sculptures and many shadowed areas, Naruto traveled through the chamber. His heart raced as he actively searched for danger. He could have sworn a moment before that one of the more statue-like sculptures had moved but it could have just been a trick of the eyes. He was also feeling that he was being closely watched.

As he moved ever closer to the dais, he began pulling out the needed supplies to make the trade. While he had no sculpting ability, he did have something else that was unique and hopefully would be accepted. If not, he would have to create and switch with a mud clone as fast as possible to escape what had killed his predecessor.

Reaching the dais, his eyes didn't leave the carved figure behind the sarcophagus until he had all his supplies out. Pulling out his ink and his only spare scroll, Naruto set both items down on the surface of the circular dais and opened the scroll.

Feeling out his surroundings with the Force, he attempted to get an idea of what the spirit might be thinking. Now that he was so close to the sarcophagus he found he could feel an actual presence and not just the feeling of being watched. Gauging what little emotions were present, he found a slight feeling of curiosity coming from the spirit.

Dipping his brush in the ink, he flattened out part of the scroll and used the Force to help guide him as he began creating a myriad of fuinjutsu.

He began by making seals that he definitely knew and as he continued, his seals became more elaborate. One of the seals was an explosive seal that he planned to use as a distraction if the artwork was not accepted. As he continued with the fuinjutsu, it became more about mixing and adding fuinjutsu together instead of just using a single seal. Soon what he was brushing onto the paper was no longer fuinjutsu seals but some kind of amalgamation of everything that he knew. He even began adding Sith runes in.

As ink covered inch after inch of scroll and the inches became feet as he continued to unravel more parchment and continue on, he stopped worrying about anything else and surrendered his brush hand completely to the Force.

Black liquid continued to flow over the parchment and before he knew it, he had covered all six feet of parchment with ink. Blinking out of his trance, Naruto looked over what he had done and was actually quite surprised. What started off as simple and calculated had turned into something else entirely.

Oddly, he actually found himself quite calm considering the situation. His breathing and even heart-rate were now at a normal level. In the past, he had only ever felt like that when he was building something. He had felt similarly when he created his goggles but it wasn't quite the same. The brushing was much more soothing.

Realizing once again where he was, he nearly stopped but once his senses felt no threat or danger, he pulled out a kunai and decided to carve out a few Sith runes into the outer edges of the paper in order to protect it. He probably shouldn't have been so concerned about it but for some reason he wanted the scroll to last, even if he would never see it again.

When he was completely finished he turned the scroll around on the large dais as if to show off his work and accept judgment.

His nervousness came back in full as he stood still and looked up at the carved statue that also seemed to be looking down on him.

x-x

"Fuck!" Suigetsu cursed as he was being pinned down by the large rapid-fire blaster. The Nikto in the cockpit was dead-set on finishing him off and had changed a good portion of the landscape in front of the ship to do it.

He was too far away from the salt rifts to get back there without incurring more loss of water and his current damage was significant. He could no longer keep his form and was more or less a slow moving puddle.

Looking down at the trapped ninja, Tayuya rolled her eyes and debated about what to do. She didn't want to put herself at risk and it was Suigetsu's own fault for running in on his own. They were however supposed to be a group.

'If those two bastards read my mind and find out I did nothing to help, I'm not sure what they would do.'

With a sigh, the redhead created a few normal bunshin and sent them running around the area. While the clones were doing that, she jumped to the ground and carefully went through a set of handseals. In her spare time, she had been learning some earth manipulation and while she wasn't finished with the exercises yet, she did learn one jutsu that could help her.

x-x

Making his way farther down an unknown path, Kabuto followed the sense of smell of his snake as he tracked down the four humanoids that were in the rifts. All he had to do was neutralize them and he was curious to see how some of the poisons that his snake could produce would work on the species he was facing.

Moving through the shadows, Kabuto could finally hear voices in a language that he didn't recognize. He wished he could interpret what they were saying but there was little he could do at the moment. Unless they started speaking in Basic, he would never know what their last words were.

Coming out of his robes, the snake attachment moved to peak into the opening of the bolt hole that the gunrunners were using. Kabuto closed his eyes and began viewing through what his appendage could see. It was something that he had discovered when Plagueis was examining and testing his body.

The snake appendage could not only detach from him but he could both communicate and sense what it could sense whenever he wanted. Perhaps in time he could use or produce more than one attachment but for the moment, it was all he needed.

Seeing the new activity, the snake quickly returned to him.

It appeared that the Nikto had received a message, from who he knew not, but he assumed it might be from the ship. They were pulling off the covers of several crates to arm themselves and began heading to the exit to presumably go back to the ship.

'Hopefully Suigetsu had some restraint but given their current actions, I doubt it. He probably charged right at them and one them called for help.' Kabuto surmised and prepared to attack.

During their trip, he found that he could still summon snakes, despite no longer being on Ibonihs. So as the four Nikto left the bolt hole and passed by Kabuto, four snakes shot out of the sleeve of his robe and wrapped around the gunrunners before they could react. Squeezing tightly enough to cause pain and make them drop their weapons, the four were supported by the snakes as Kabuto stepped out of the shadows.

Completely trapped, Kabuto's attached snake moved to the necks of each Nikto and injected each with a different venom. If they had to deal with that species again, it might be beneficial, at least to him, to know which poisons would work on such a different physiology. At least that was Kabuto reasoning for the experiment.

x-x

Moments passed as Naruto contemplated snatching the holocron and making a break for it. He was expecting a sign or at least something that would let him know if the scroll was accepted. Nothing happened though.

Extending his senses again, he searched for any negative feeling he could coming from the sculpture or sarcophagus. He guessed that he would feel anger or perhaps disgust if the barter was not accepted but he found nothing of the sort.

Slowly, he extended his hand forward across the dais. Flexing his fingers, as they for some reason seemed to get stiff, he inched closer to the holocron. His eyes were not on the metal object but rather his surroundings and he was ready to leap by back at the first sign of danger.

As his hand reached the pyramidal object, his fingers tips touched the top of it. The metal was ice cold to the touch and sent a chill through his arm and down the length of his spine. His fingers grasped the pyramid and pulled it off its resting place.

With holocron in hand, Naruto locked his eyes to the carved face and was about to start backing up when he had a thought.

The other item on the dais was the half meter tall white statue. He had ignored it's presence until that moment. His scroll had evidently been accepted but the small statue had not. If the Sith didn't like the statue, then he thought perhaps he should remove it from the tomb. After all, who would want something they hated sitting inside their tomb.

'If the corpse brought it there then it may actually be worth something.' he reasoned as his eyes looked between the cloaked and white statue in the room. Reaching again, his other hand grasped the white statue and he waited for a moment for something to happen.

When nothing did, Naruto picked it up and made to leave. He moved one step back when he felt the presence stirring. Completely alert and ready to run, he was surprised when he didn't feel any anger coming from the spirit. Instead, he received a mental picture of what the spirit wanted.

Sighing, Naruto decided the small statue would be worth the price.

x-x

Popping up at the loading ramp of the ship, Tayuya jumped out of the hole and silently made her way into the ship while it was shooting at her clones and Suigetsu.

Suigetsu was also watching behind his newest hiding place as he saw Tayuya enter the ship. Looking to the cockpit, he smirked when he saw a shadow come up behind the creature that had been firing on him. His smirk only widened when he saw a spray and streak of blood appear across one of the cockpit windows.

Exiting the ship, Tayuya cleaned off the kunai on one of the dead gunrunners that Suigetsu had killed. While she was doing that, Suigetsu moved over the surface of the ground towards her.

"I need water." he said and Tayuya looked at him with a frown.

"Don't you have your own?" she commented as she put her kunai back in her pouch.

"I do but I can't reform my body enough to get into my pouches." explained Suigetsu and Tayuya sighed before putting on a wry smile.

"Sure, happy to help." stated Tayuya as she prepared to help her fellow group member by gathering saliva in her mouth

{Spit}

"You bitch! I wanted some bottled water, not your spit! That's disgusting!" yelled Suigetsu as he shook what appeared to be half-formed fist at her and used the other partially formed hand to try and wipe the spit off his face.

"Be more specific next time." Tayuya chided with a shrug and then pulled out a scroll to unseal a bottle of water which she proceeded to dump on the puddling ninja.

This would certainly be an entertaining story to tell Karin when they met back up.

x-x

Moving back the way he had traveled, Kabuto led several of his earth clones as they pushed a repulsorlift cart and carried many crates of assorted weapons to put back aboard the ship they were just removed from.

Only two of the Nikto had been killed by the first administration of poison. It seemed that the other two were not as affected by their individual poisons. He would have to further study their bodies to find out why. It turned out that his snakes also had difficulty asphyxiating them so he just finished off the two with one of new medical toys.

Exiting the edge of the salt rifts, he found Tayuya and an apparently very thirsty Suigetsu arguing about something. He disregarded the pointless conversation as he adjusted his glasses and then decided what to do next.

Of their group, only Naruto and Master Plagueis could properly fly a ship. He was interested and had some brief instruction while they were traveling but other than that, he had no experience. It was possible that the could pilot the ship back to junkyard as it wouldn't require any skilled maneuvering but he thought perhaps he should contact Naruto and have him swing by in the skiff. It might be better to keep the crates off the ship until they decided what to do with it.

He had no knowledge on the ship in front of him and it may or may not be suitable for their needs. One of the things he had learned was that the life-support systems on a ship could only support so many beings. Adding more individuals than the system could handle was not something that could be done for longer periods of time. Eventually the overtaxed system would not be able to recycle enough oxygen for the passengers to breathe.

Searching his cloak and pockets for the holographic communicator, he planned to contact Master Plagueis and provide an update on their success as well as seek further instruction.

x-x

Putting aside his dismay at the situation, Naruto dragged the corpse by its leg across the length of the tomb and back to the tunnel he had entered through.

Evidently a slow decomposition or perhaps the climate in the chamber had caused the body to still be 'fleshy' and rather disgusting to touch. He decided to not use his gloves as he wanted to keep them free of decomposition smell. This unfortunately meant that his hand was in contact with the body. Removing the corpse was the price for the statue.

If the white statue turned out to be worthless, he would surely detonate the explosive seal he drew in the scroll which had been exchanged for the holocron.

Making it to the end of the chamber and the tunnel, he gave Meizu a deadpanned look and said, "Grab a leg."

Meizu sighed and grabbed the other leg, helping Naruto to pull the body through the tunnel and back the way they came. Naruto planned to leave it in the next chamber before bypassing all the traps and heading straight to the surface.

It was hard to gauge what he was feeling. He got the holocron but the rumored 'treasure' did not pan out. His thoughts moved to the men that had ambushed them and he wondered if more might be coming. At first they seemed set on their cargo, then luring them into the cave, and now he wasn't sure what to think about what might happen next.

From reading one of the thugs minds back at the hanger, he knew the person sending them was named Mordo Varss and the man 'owned' the starport they were staying at. Technically the crime boss just bullied the others in the port into paying money for protection but the man's thugs also collected many other 'taxes'.

Given the hostilities between Varss and the other two individuals that owned the other starports on the planet, it was likely that considering how many men Varss was now down, that another criminal or starport owner would try to take over.

There was a chance they could leave before any reprisals or attacks happened but he currently felt that perhaps another course of action was needed and that leaving would forfeit an opportunity. With his mind still forming a plan, Naruto and Meizu deposited the body in the next chamber and then moved through the rock to get back to Karin on the surface.

x-x

Sitting at the circular table on the ship, Plagueis looked up from his datapad as he heard a beeping and saw a light blinking light on the tables control systems. Activating the holographic projector, Plagueis accepted the message and the blue fuzzy image of Kabuto appeared at the center of the table.

"Report." demanded Plagueis as he tried to read as much of Kabuto's thoughts as possible.

"We've taken a ship and many containers of weapons. Unfortunately, we can't fly the ship and we didn't leave a gunrunner alive to pilot it for us, so we have no way of getting back with the cargo." replied Kabuto.

"I'll check in with Naruto and determine what to do from there. If he isn't done yet then we'll have to figure something else out." responded Plagueis as he thought of what else could be done.

Kabuto gave a slight bow and his image disappeared. Leaning Gato's body back in the chair Plagueis thought about what else he could do. The problem was allocation of resources and the only person besides himself that could fly was Naruto. Kabuto now had cargo and ship but possessed no way to move either.

'When we get the chance, we'll have to start training the others in the basics of piloting a ship.' Plagueis mentally noted. It was quite a problem and oversight to have so many group members and only a select few that could pilot a ship. Perhaps he would just have Naruto do it. His student's clones would be able to train several members at once.

Sitting forward, he pushed a button on the control panel for the table to send a message to his student.

x-x

Naruto and Meizu came out of the ground behind Karin and surprised the girl. She seemed to have been quite focused on something which Naruto took as a sign of further trouble.

Decided to get it over with and find out, he asked, "Is something else out there, Karin?"

Karin readjusted her glasses and replied, "I can sense several individuals in the distance. They arrived after you entered the cave and haven't moved since then."

Naruto couldn't keep the frown off his face as he had the feeling that the newcomers were there to backup the ones that had been killed in inside. He could ambush them with Meizu but he also wanted to get back to the ship and examine the holocron with his master. Perhaps they could also find out more about the statue he now had.

Thinking for a moment, he decided, "We should get back to the ship. If they follow us we can send word ahead and ambush them. Considering we didn't find any treasure, I'm not sure they will be interested. They might look for their comrades first, which would give us enough time to get back."

"No treasure?" Karin repeated with disappointment and Meizu shook his head in the negative.

"Hey, what's that you're holding?" Karin said while pointing at the statue.

"Just something I was allowed to take from the tomb." replied Naruto as he got up and headed for the skiff with the other two in tow.

"Tomb?" Karin questioned with a shiver.

"Yes, a tomb, with several traps and now almost half a dozen corpses." finished Naruto as they made it to the skiff. Jumping on the repulsor craft, Naruto manned the controls and put them on a course back to the junkyard at the starport.

x-x

A pair of electrobinoculars viewed the two kids and one adult get on board the ship and commented, "I guess they took out another group."

"Shit, how many is that so far that we've lost to them? Mordo isn't going to be happy." commented another voice.

"Who cares. what about the treasure?"

"I certainly don't see any treasure." responded another man that was also looking through his own pair of electrobinoculars.

"Use your eyes idiots. Don't you see what that brat is holding?"

"It can't be." said one in disbelief.

"It certainly looks like it. The description is spot on and it looks like the rumor was true. One of the Tessents was in that cave and they managed to get it. There's your treasure." responded the leader of the group and he put down his binoculars to start up the skiff they were on to give chase.

x-x

"We're being followed." voiced Karin as she looked behind them and could make out a dark object moving over the surface in the distance behind them.

'Is it revenge they're after?' wondered Naruto as he shook his head thinking how foolish they must be considering what happen to the last two groups that came after them.

"How many?" Naruto questioned as he banked the skiff to the left and began looking for rougher terrain to lose them in.

"Five." Karin responded while focusing on the fast moving vessel. Meizu pulled out two blasters that he had taken from the dead thugs in the cave and moved to the back of the ship to engage when they got within range. Each vessel could take shots at the other but given the distance, the blaster bolt would arc. It would both be difficult to aim, and a waste of energy cell power.

"Um, they seem to be gaining on us." Karin hesitantly announced and Naruto turn to glare at the very similar but apparently faster skiff that was indeed catching up.

"They'll be in blaster range soon too. Is there any chance you could maybe shoot at them with that long ranged weapon you've been carrying around?" Naruto asked Karin and the girl blinked for a few seconds before realizing that he was talking about the rifle on her back.

She had been carrying it around for the whole day and completely forgotten about it. Fumbling slightly as she removed the strap from her shoulder, she placed the gun on the railing of the skiff and took aim at the skiff.

Aiming for the shoulder, Karin steadied herself and pulled the trigger.

At the same moment, Naruto veered the skiff slightly and Karin's trajectory was changed.

x-x

"Get ready. We need to get along side them or try to force them to stop." stated the driver of the skiff as the four other occupants of the craft pulled out their blasters and began taking aim at the skiff in front of them.

Before they got in range, a shot rang out from the ship and red bolt of plasma pierced through the head of one of men standing on the front of the skiff.

"Fuck! They got Olan right between the eyes."

"Get us the hell out of their fire." said one of the ducking men to the driver.

Coming up on a canyon, the driver increased the altitude of the skiff and ran along the top of the canyon wall while the other skiff went into the canyon. Moving to the edge of the canyon, the other men moved to one side of the skiff and opened fire at the other skiff below them.

Naruto knew what they were up to and engaged the ships braking system. As their skiff pulled back, the blaster bolts missed and hit the area in front of them.

As Meizu returned fire, Karin sat at the back of the ship realizing that she had shot one of the thugs in the face. Turning to Naruto she asked, "Do you think he's still alive?"

"No, I'm quite sure he's dead." replied Naruto as he focused on the winding canyon and trying to stay out of the majority of the blaster fire. Karin felt a sinking feeling in her stomach at the realization that she had killed someone.

Glancing at the still sitting Karin and feeling her emotions, Naruto decided to try and say something encouraging, "Given his line of work, he probably would have been killed at some point anyway."

Karin's head dropped at the words and Naruto groaned before returning his full attention to piloting. Comforting someone was not something he was good at, nor something he tried to be good at.

A fork in the canyon was coming up and he saw an opportunity for a brief relief from the shooting. Moving closer to the canyon wall, he waited until the last moment and swerved the skiff to take the opposite direction. The skiff barely missed the wall of the fork and the other skiff was caught by surprise, unable to continue their present course.

With only a few seconds, Naruto's mind raced to find a solution to their problem. Their weapons could do little damage to a skiff and he thought about using ninjutsu but on the rare chance that someone from the party survived, he didn't want anyone telling stories about children that could shoot lightning from their mouths or something like that.

His thoughts were interrupted by a question from Meizu while the Kiri ninja was changing energy packs on the pilfered blasters, "What are they after?"

The question was also something that he had been thinking. Their opponents hadn't even bothered to look in on their friends to see if they were dead or not. While it could just be that they group didn't care, he wondered if it was because of something else. The other skiff didn't seem to be trying to kill them. Most of their shots impacted the skiff and they weren't shooting at the pilot of the skiff, himself, either.

"They want something from us." Naruto stated out loud and he looked around the skiff. The only thing they had was the holocron and the statue. It seemed unlikely that their pursuers were after the holocron given that few people even knew what they were. This left only the statue.

Glancing at Meizu, he demanded, "I need a rock."

The Kiri ninja gave him a strange look and tilted his head before shrugging and aimed his blasters at the rock-face. Firing several shots, many pieces of rock were knocked loose. While keeping the skiff steady, Naruto used to the Force to bring on the piece closer to the ship and it smacked onto the floor of the skiff, breaking into smaller pieces.

The ship lurched slightly from the impact but Naruto held the repulsorlift vessel steady.

"They're coming back." Karin informed them and Naruto acknowledged the warning while looking to Meizu, "Grab one of those rocks." he ordered and the still confused Kiri ninja complied.

x-x

"Get ready to fire." said one of the crew to the others as they neared the edge of the canyon. With blasters out, the moment the reached the edge, they opened fire on the skiff. Each member was careful not to hit the pilot as they needed the fragile cargo on the skiff to remain intact.

A moment later, one of the members of the other skiff tossed something into the air. The act caught the full attention of the other skiff.

The blaster fire ceased as the white statue twirled in the air and kept increasing in height as it flew out of the canyon. The other skiffs occupants were completely distracted by the thrown object and Naruto knew that it must have been far more valuable than he originally suspected.

One of the men began pointing and the pilot responded with, "I see it. Get ready to grab it!"

The skiff moved with the tossed object and increased in altitude as far as it was able to. The statue reached the apex of its flight and as soon as it started to fall, the skiff managed to reach it. One of the men grabbed the statue before it hit the deck of the skiff.

Turning to show it off to the rest, he triumphantly announce, "I got it!" as he held it up for the others to see. As the smoke from the henge dissapated, however, all the crew saw was a rock with several pieces of paper stuck on it. Each piece appeared to be sizzling.

x-x

Meizu and Karin watched the explosive notes go off. While little damage was done to the skiff itself, the crew was either killed or maimed and the vessel went out of control. Quickly losing altitude, the vessel impacted the ground and grated across the ground of the canyon wall until it impacted something else.

Their skiff remained on it's course through the cold, barren landscape as a rising line of smoke grew in the distance. The ship traveled fast enough that the curvature of the planet's surface eventually concealed the rising smoke and any evidence that a crash had occurred in the distance.

Karin tightened her all-weather cloak against the cold air that rushed past them and looked to Naruto who was in the process of removing the small holographic communicator from his cloak.

Plagueis had been trying to reach them but he didn't have a chance to respond. Placing the communicator on top of the console in front of him, a blue image of a sitting Gatou soon appeared.

Plagueis studied his student for a moment and then asked, "Too busy to answer?" It wasn't really meant to be a joke or even sarcasm but more curiosity.

"We ran into two groups of thugs from the owner of the starport. Kabuto's information wasn't completely accurate. It was a Sith tomb but there was no treasure." Naruto began and he could feel his Master's interest in the tomb, "I'm not sure what species the Sith was but we avoided the traps and were able to trade for a holocron and something else."

"Trade?" questioned Plagueis as he had never heard of such a thing. Sith didn't trade, they took what they wanted.

"I can explain when we get back." responded Naruto, and Plagueis nodded while adding, "Kabuto and his group have taken a ship and require assistance."

"I understand, Master." said Naruto and he quickly changed course to rendezvous with Kabuto at the salt rifts.

"There is something else I want to discus with you. I've been thinking about all the trouble that the spaceport owner has been causing us..." Naruto began and Plagueis finished the sentence, "..and you would like to do something about it?"

Naruto nodded and began going over his newly formed plan with his Master. Ironically, his Master was also thinking of the same plan.

x-x

The skiff pulled up near the new ship and a shadow clone jumped off the skiff to go look at the ship. The real Naruto also jumped off the skiff and calmly went to talk with Kabuto.

"Did you find any treasure?" asked Kabuto with interest. It wasn't everyday that people got to go off in search of hidden treasure and he regretted not being able to go himself.

"No treasure..." answered Naruto and he could feel disappointment from Kabuto, "..but we did find two other items that could prove just as good." he finished and Kabuto's eyes widened with renewed interest.

"My clone can pilot the ship back to the junkyard. We have something else we have to do and you can ask my clone to help fill you in on what's going on." Naruto quickly added to cut of Kabuto's impending questions and the snake-like ninja merely smirked.

"Tayuya, you're coming with us." ordered Naruto and he made to leave. The redhead scoffed at the order but said nothing as she got aboard the skiff.

"You're going after someone aren't you? Can I come?" asked a smiling Suigetsu and Naruto answered, "We won't be killing anyone."

"On second thought, I'll remain here." stated Suigetsu and he put his arms up behind his head as he walked back to the ship while Naruto turned around, jumping back on board the skiff, and prepared to leave.

Karin looked to the other redhead and said, "You might want to put chakra in your feet and hold on to something." Seeing Karin do the same thing, Tayuya mimicked the other redhead and was thankful as the skiff's sudden acceleration would likely have caused her to fall over.

x-x

"Once Kabuto gets back to the junkyard, Master Plagueis will be joining us at our location." said Naruto to the group members aboard the skiff.

"Where the hell are we going?" questioned the more outspoken redhead of the group.

"We're traveling to some ruins just outside of the starport but we have to take a less direct route to get there." answered Naruto and before anyone could say anything else, he continued with more details on the plan, "A group on a skiff attacked us while we were returning to the junkyard. Coincidentally, our skiff was the same generic skiff as there's. Master Plagueis agreed that the boss of their group has given us enough trouble."

"An infiltration mission?" asked Meizu and Naruto nodded in confirmation as he continued to fly the skiff.

"So we're not killing anyone?" inquired Karin as that was what she overheard Naruto telling Suigetsu.

"No we aren't going to kill them. We will take the facility that they have and then wait for Master Plagueis to arrive."

"What's the little pig going to do?" questioned Tayuya and Naruto overlooked the remark.

"He's going to turn them to our side." answered Naruto quizzically and he could feel the confusion as to what Plagueis was really going to do.

"But before that..." Naruto began as he turned to Karin, "...we need to know what the men that you saw through your scope looked like." finished Naruto as he had never gotten a good look at the men they were shooting at.

x-x

As the sensor system picked up an incoming craft, a silent alarm was sounded and most of the men went to the mounted gun positions on the outside of the castle while one person looked through a pair of electrobinoculars to check out the incoming craft.

Thinking it might be an attack, they were ready to fend off whatever it was despite their slightly reduced numbers. Zooming in on the vessel, the man recognized the ones aboard and cursed as he communicated to the others that it was their own vessel and not to shoot.

The skiff slowed and moved near the raised ruins of what was once a very decorated castle but had worn down over a long period of time. Coming to a large door at ground level that was not part of the original castle, the skiff waited as the thick double doors began opening to reveal a large hangar bay. The disguised Naruto noted a large ship that would probably fit their needs well.

His clone had informed him that the ship acquired by Kabuto and his group was probably just too small for them to all fit comfortably on it.

Setting down in an open area of the large hangar, the disguised group got off the skiff and they all looked to one are of the hangar wall when human-sized a metal door instantly opening not to far away.

"You idiot! What have I told you about sending a message ahead of you to let us know you're coming. One of these days were going to blast you to dust by accident, or maybe we'll just give a couple of warning shots to make you remember next time." said a man speaking directly to Naruto.

Ignoring the disguised Tayuya's pointed look at the mention of being destroyed, Naruto said nothing at first as he wasn't sure how the man he was disguised as would answer. He analyzed the thoughts of the man talking to him in order to determine what the proper response was.

Shrugging, Naruto said in a less than apologetic voice, "My bad." and the man's serious face changed to a slight frown.

'Shit!' Naruto thought as the man spoke, "Is your voice alright, you sound different."

Faking a cough, Naruto responded with a wave of his hand, "Inhaled some smoke. I'll be better in no time."

The man looked confused for only a brief moment before saying, "Yeah, you'll be fine in no time."

A brief moment of silence passed before he spoke again,"What happened to Olan?" he questioned as he looked over the group.

"Took a blaster bolt to the head," responded Meizu and apparently the Kiri ninja had imitated the dead man's voice enough not to cause further suspicion. No one also noticed a slight squirm come from the disguised Karin at the back of the group when the death was mentioned.

The man shook his head with a frown, "I can't believe how many we've lost today. Have you heard anything from Ral's group?" He questioned and Naruto responded with a shake of his head and motioned with his hand while saying, "There was nothing we could do."

"Well I guess there was nothing you could do. Did you at least manage to bring anything back?" he asked and Naruto held up the white sculpture.

"No shit, you actually got it. Damn, all that fuss for something that doesn't look that spectacular. I expected it to be one of the finest pieces of art that I'd ever seen." said the man as he frowned over the sculpture.

"Aren't we expected?" asked Naruto with another wave of his hand and the man quickly responded that they were.

"Mordo was expecting an update an hour ago." quickly added the man and he moved to the door to take them to where Mordo was.

As they moved through the facility, Naruto looked at all the wires running from some kind of generator deeper in the facility and noted any security systems that could be a problem.

The castle was incredibly old but had evidently been reinforced or at least partially rebuilt in areas so the thugs could use it as a base to oversee the spaceport. Making a few turns and walking up two flights of metal stairs that had evidently been installed when the old stone steps collapse, the group made it to what was likely the thrown room and where Mordo was.

One guard was stationed outside the room and pushed something on his gauntlet to unlock the doors and allow them entry. The man also appeared to speak into a communicator on his wrist and likely announce their arrival.

The door opened and they walked into what was supposed to be throne room but looked more like a combination of dinning hall and meeting room. There were large columns on the edges of the room that held up a high arched ceiling. The room was rectangular and had a large table on one side with numerous crates and pieces of equipment littering the other side.

Whatever throne had once stood at the end of the room was crumbled and had not been replaced. Sitting at the table was apparently Mordo who was a man of average build with what was once jet black hair but now featured quite a few gray hairs. It was evident that the man hadn't shaved in a few days.

Looking to the group, Mordo's eyes instantly fell up on the statue. The man rose from his seat and walked over to them without looking up as his eyes were glued to the item in Naruto's left hand.

Naruto could feel greed and then power swirl around I the man's mind. An obsession over the item was definitely present as well. 'He's been searching for it for a while.' Naruto guessed.

So fixated on the statue, the man never noticed Naruto pull out his blaster. At the speed it was drawn, the man likely wouldn't have even been able to react even if he had noticed.

A stun bolt struck the man in the chest and he quickly crumpled to the ground. Naruto noted how effective the stun setting on his blaster worked as Meizu took care of the man they had walked with as well as the guard at the door.

"Tayuya." Naruto stated and the henge soon fell on the redhead as she pulled out her flute and began playing. The castle was actually quite perfect for her talents as her music would echo throughout the entire facility.

As the melody traveled, the alarm was never even sounded. Each person in the facility began seeing feathers slowly falling in their field of vision. The sight made them incredibly sleepy and they ended up collapsing where they stood.

Naruto and Karin quickly acted to break the high ranking genjutsu on themselves and after the melody concluded, Naruto created a group of shadow clones and sent them into the facility with Meizu to collect the sleeping thugs.

Scrunching his eyes, Naruto removed his breather mask and pulled out a chair at the meeting table to sit down in. He placed the statue on the table and looked at it, as if trying to figure out what secrets it apparently held. The material seemed more interesting in the better light but it still didn't appear all that valuable to him.

He could just read the leader's mind and find out more about it but he was tired and just wanted to rest for a little while. His entire day had been taxing and he leaned back in the chair while resting his eyes. All he had to do now was wait for Plagueis to show up. His Master would likely pilot the ship Kabuto procured and it should arrive in a few moments.

Karin walked up and sat in another chair after checking to see if any person in the castle was still moving or somehow not affected by the genjutsu. The redhead leaned forward and rested her head on her arms.

Instead of moving to the table, Tayuya merely walked to one of the columns and leaned against it. She too was tired but didn't want to appear that tired. She did however think about sitting down as her feet were quite sore. Looking to Naruto, she remarked, "Tired?"

Naruto frowned at her statement but his eyes then widened as his blaster shot to his hand as he stood in an instant an pointed it ahead of him.

"The fuck!" Tayuya yelled in surprise as she looked at Naruto. It was just a criticism but she quickly noticed that the blaster wasn't pointed directly at her. It was pointed slightly to her right. Her blood ran cold at the realizing and the serious look on Naruto's face.

"You can come out now." stated Naruto as he looked at the darkened area between the columns. They were offset at least a few feet from the wall and created a completely shadowed area.

'A droid. I missed a droid.' he realized as he couldn't feel any life-signs in the room but was certain something was there. All his tiredness was gone and replaced by alertness over the new threat. His mind quickly accepted the possibility of an assassin droid but he then realized that it would have likely fired upon him already.

A few seconds passed as he Karin peered over the edge of the table she was crouched behind, Naruto looked down the sight on his blaster, and Tayuya stood completely still with her back against the wide column. One hand on her blaster and the other holding a kunai.

A figure soon slowly emerged from the shadows and it took shape as that of a short droid, cylindrical in shape, with a curved top and two wheeled legs with a smaller third leg jutting out from the bottom of the cylinder at the front. It had a mostly white body with some red markings and looked well warn. The three stared at the droid as it looked back at them.

A few beeps came from the droid and caused Tayuya and Karin to jump slightly.

"What the hell is it?!"

"Is it dangerous?!"

'Oh fuck me. Its just an astromech.' thought Naruto and his complete overreaction made him do something that he hadn't in a long time. He laughed.

He laughed as the obviously nervous droids head swiveled around and its photoreceptors took in the three individuals. He laughed at the strange looks from the two redheads and had to sit down because he was laughing so hard. The droid was completely harmless but a moment prior they had been just afraid of it as it was of them, possibly more afraid, and the thought just made him laugh harder. He even dropped his blaster.

While the laughter filled the room, the two redheads looked on in shock at their leader. Neither had ever heard him laugh before and thought perhaps he lost his mind.

Please Review

AN: the chapter ended up being so long that I will have to reveal more in the next one.

Responses to reviews.

Reviewer: Leadman

Review: Interesting developments.

1. I hope you've got something planned for the new possession body. I agree with your analysis that Kabuto isn't suitable. Anyone will do actually even a random mook from their next planetfall.

2. Using Orochimaru's cells? That's pretty dangerous but I hope you got that angle covered. It would really suck to have him come back again, milking that gets old after a while.

3. Did they clean up their base? A sannin like Jiraiya won't let things go that easily and any questionable tech left behind would be sure to raise question marks.

That's about it. I'm looking forward to the next installment. And to the foul-mouthed bitch complaining about Naru/Hina, go get bent. There are thousands of stories for different tastes. If you don't like this story go read something else. Reviews aren't for ranting that you don't like pairing X/Y. Don't like it, don't read it.

Response: I do have a body planned and some plans for Gatou as well. Using orochimaru's cells is dangerous but even in canon, Kabuto wasn't affected by his transformation and its basically the same only with a few more added features. I don't plan to have Orochimaru come back. They did clean up the base and since Naruto built the new reactor from the old one, he didn't waste or have extra materials. Thank you for the review.

Reviewer: Peter Kim

Response: I don't plan to have anyone on Naruto's planet get any technology from the galaxy. I am of the belief that summoning Naruto back would require his blood, which is something that I don't think they have.

Reviewer: axellon2008fan

Response: I'm always amazed at how much of the coming storyline reviewers are able to guess. At this point I don't plan to completely separate from some canon stuff. I have plans for naruto to come back at some point but I have no idea if those plans will become chapters.

Reviewer: Sasha Naruto

Response: I'm not sure why you think the story is Naruto/Hinata. She was basically only featured in like one of nineteen chapters and I didn't try to set anything up. Your initial review was rather strange and honestly I didn't take your suggestions, or whatever it was that you were trying to get across, very seriously.

Reviewer: WARIOR fanfic99

Response: Thank you for the complements. I haven't quite decided what the ramifications of Naruto absorbing Orochimaru would be. With Sasuke in canon, the resurgence of Orochimaru seemed to be more because of the cursed seal than than just the absorption. Its possible that with time, Naruto will begin to have the healing powers of the white snake, which is something that Sasuke got but was never really explained. I suppose it might just involve faster healing and immunity to most poisons. Its something that I will have to think about.

Reviewer: fanfic-addict

Response: Naruto did summon the snakes with Kabuto's blood and really used the henge so that the snakes wouldn't be confused or possibly attack him. I'm not really sure about the exact specifics. In the case of the suna ninja, they used the scroll to summon a specific snake summons and pooled chakra together to do it. Suigetsu also summoned manda in canon with a scroll and some of sasuke's blood. If Naruto just summoned some random snakes, then I'm not sure he would need a scroll or a summoning seal or not.

Reviewer: joe

Review: thanks for another great chapter and im glad very glad naruto isn't crazy strong takes all the surprise out of fights and watching someone so powerfull they cant get hurt in a fight is not very interesting i like how u are taking time to make him strong

Response: thank you for the review. I do try and make him grow over time as I never liked stories where Naruto gained power in such a fast and unfeasible amount of time.

Reviewer: none

Review: I understand you want to utilize the potential plotlines the star wars galaxy will provide, but I feel you shouldn't abandon the characters of Naruto, either. Perhaps you should incorporate them into the story as well (maybe someone (Zetsu) could stow away on Naruto's ship when he returns, or the Elemental Nations' ninja could be used as warriors by other races when Naruto's group is shown to be so strong). It just seems like a shame to abandon all the work you did developing Danzo and Akatsuki and their plans. Plus, with the reference to the Juubi, cutting the entire solar system from the plot would be seriously disappointing.

This is your story, but I hope you'll at least acknowledge my thoughts, and explain your reasoning if you do drop this part of the plot.

Thanks,
~~none

Response: At this point I think I will have them return at least once around the time of the fourth ninja war. I don't know what will happen but I would like them to return at least once.

Reviewer: coldblue

Review: Will you have Naruto make a new driod? Think about it! Shinobi DRIOD. THey would be better than commando driods.

Response: I was thinking about making a new droid or perhaps more than one new droid. It might not be Naruto that makes them though. A ninja droid wouldn't really work as chakra requires a physical/organic component. Even Sasori still had his heart in a scroll to somehow hold his chakra.