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.

20. Chapter 20

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

x-x

36.4 BBY – Current Year

Chapter XX: The Tessents and Ast Kikorie

x-x

A pair of blue eyes opened and soon focused on a metal ceiling of the dark room he was in. A feeling of paranoia and alertness flooded over him as his mind raced to identify his location. He soon calmed down as he realized he was in his room, on their ship, which was parked next to the newly captured castle, and on a planet called Sarafur.

Yawning, he sat up and pushed the blanket off him. Looking to his clock to see if it was morning yet he promptly realized that it was a fruitless endeavor as they were on a planet with no day or night. Stretching out his back and neck, he looked over at the droid that was charging in the corner of his room. It was currently in some kind of sleep mode or power-down mode.

The R2 unit, which he had decided to call Deefour, as per its designation as R2-D4, had served them quite well in the short time since it was forced to join their group. It had been two days since they acquired the droid in the ruins of the castle and in that short time, much had happened.

They had managed to take over all three spaceports on Sarafur. One by one, their group had infiltrated and knocked out the criminals, only to have Plageuis put them under his control. The astromech droid proved its worth by slicing into security systems and gathering relevant information for their infiltrations. No member of their group had been injured and with the three spaceports under their control, they effectively owned the planet.

To keep things the way they were, Plagueis began instituting some order among the three ports. The cargo thefts and extra taxes were eliminated while the protection tax was lessened. These measures were contrary to what was expected of a Sith but Plagueis was quite skilled at matters of business, economics, and finance.

By improving the image of the ports, they could possibly attract more people to the planet. More people meant more business and more business meant more opportunities to take advantage of. Instead of fighting amongst themselves, the three ports could pool together resources and better protect the area. Plagueis planned to begin some mining operations on the planet in the future but they currently didn't have the funds. There had to be something there that was worthwhile and once they found it, it could be mined.

Once they managed to gain at least some form of wealth, they could literally afford to look deeper into the events happening in the Republic. So far out in the Known Galaxy and in not very civilized areas, they had no access to the holonet to look at current events or what had happened since Plagueis was killed. They could also start looking into Sidious and begin monitoring the man's activities. Nearly all of their goals were dependent on money.

Currently, they were in the process of consolidating their gathered resources and changing ships. Naruto was right about the second ship being too small for their needs and so they had traded it for Mordo's ship. The manipulated man obviously had no objections and now they had a YZ-900 ship named The Vulture for their use. It was actually larger then their first ship, with much more cargo space, but that actually didn't matter much. With the storage scrolls they had, all the heavy cargo was placed in the seals and they only used a small amount of cargo space on the new ship.

Getting up, he went to get fresh clothes so he could take a shower and then planned on finding some breakfast. Before he left his room, he woke up the astromech droid and it beeped several times before leaving his room as well. Though he couldn't discern what the droid was saying he had the feeling it was something like 'Good Morning.'

x-x

Passing the medical bay after his shower, Naruto saw the door was shut again and no sooner had he walked by then it opened. Despite being slightly down the hall, a strong smell of antiseptic and other odors drifted his way. Kabuto had spent nearly all of his free time learning just how a Nikto's body was different than a human's.

Coming to their usual meeting table, he sat in the free chair and looked to the white statue sitting on the table in front of Plagueis. After all his other work to secure the spaceports and a brief perusal through the junkyard, he now wanted to hear as much as possible about the object. Plagueis had likely already found out just about everything there was to know about it while they were busy taking the other spaceports.

"About time you showed up." commented Tayuya, who was sitting across from him.

"You just woke up five minutes ago, Tayuya." commented Karin about the other redhead and she was quickly silenced by a glare. Naruto smirked slightly at Tayuya's slight embarrassment and Plagueis cleared Gato's throat in their minds to get everyone's attention.

"As all of you know, the treasure didn't work out but we do have this item here and I can tell that all of you would like to know a little more about it. From what I know and from what I found it, it is definitely one of the Tessent. While unknown to all of you, it is an item that has been searched for, sought after, and quickly became infamous in certain outermost rims of the galaxy." Plagueis revealed and wait a brief moment before continuing, "There are two such items that bear the name 'Tessent.' They seem to refer to a mythical creature by that name. They come from two different planets in two different areas of the galaxy and the exact relationship between the two remains mostly unknown, except for the fact that they are probably made of the same materials."

Almost everyone's eyes glanced at the object in question and examined not the carving but the material itself. It was the color of milk with bands of different colors interspersed throughout. At areas where the sculpture wasn't very thick, the materials was almost see-through. It did look to be valuable and Juugo decided to voice a question, "What exactly is it made from?"

"A substance called chalcedony. I believe it to be a mined rock found on several worlds." responded Plagueis.

"Is it expensive?" asked Karin.

"Not really." answered Plagueis and he could feel confusion spread through the members at the table.

"While it isn't expensive, not really intricately carved, or carved by an artist of any note, at least from what I can find, the items have attained a legendary status. Perhaps its best if I explain from the beginning." offered Plagueis, "This particular object is from a planet known as Alsaka and is so called the Alsakan Tessent. I know this because of the creature that has been carved supposed to be part of the distance history and so named the Tessent of Alsaka. This item was created about a thousand years ago to commemorate an event in the planet's history. A short time ago, perhaps twenty years or more, the item mysteriously vanished.

The event caused quite a stir in that area of the galaxy and theories concerning its disappearance were very abundant for years afterward. Exactly what happened, no one really knew. A large reward was offered for its return and that is when the searching began. Likely the reward is still being offered, considering it is sitting right in front of us.

At the time I wasn't really interested as with so many rumors circling around, and a few attempts to pass off a fake as the real sculpture, I never thought it would be found nor really cared. A few of the rumors actually put the objects whereabouts in the this sector of the galaxy and two of those put it on this very planet. Of those two, one of them turns out to not be a rumor at all.

The story stated that a human stole the item and came to this very planet. With the Tessent in hand, he traveled to the tomb of Sith lord and presented it as an offering." Plagueis said and looked to Naruto who realized that everything about that rumor was true. He had seen the body and everything.

"However, that is not the only reason why the item became so infamous." Plagueis began again and recaptured their attention, "Over time, the rumors became even more absurd from what I've managed to find out. People began believing that the Tessent wasn't just a statue but contained some kind of information that would lead to a larger treasure. This secret varied wildly from a datachip hidden inside to microscopic etchings on the surface that were really coordinates to a planet and several other claims."

With the speech over, all attention was brought back to the item in question and Plagueis held back a frown. While it was true that a rumor turned out to be truth, he still wasn't sure about all the other rumors that had abounded since had been gone from the galaxy. They seemed quite outlandish and not worth their time.

"In any case, the sculpture itself still has the large reward attached to it. We could sell it at any time or to a third party. All that remains is to decide what to do next and I open the meeting to suggestions." Plagueis put forth and while he didn't want to excite the group or get sidetracked from getting to the destination he wanted, the thought of a treasure hunt could be too much for them to pass up.

Ideally he wanted to select Tatooine as the next destination. The democratic way to decide was to vote on the subject and hear the opinions of the group members. However, the Sith way was for them to do whatever he wanted to do and not question it. Despite how much he wanted to implement the tried and true Sith method, he reluctantly allowed for free opinions and a vote.

A silence ensued and both Plagueis and Naruto read the emotions that came over the individuals seated around the table. Kabuto was the first to speak but he had a question instead of a say in the vote, "How does this fit in with our overall goals?"

"While the reward would give us quite a bit of money to spend, it would also clash with my desire to stay unnoticed. The return of the Tessent would cause quite a stir and likely put the spotlight on the person that discovered and returned it. I don't want anyone in this group being given that kind of publicity and being featured all over the Holonet. I therefore think we should hold onto the statue and wait to return it at a later time. Selling our stolen cargo would give us funds as well and it won't attract the same amount of attention." answered Plagueis and Kabuto nodded.

"How would we go about determining if the other rumors are true? The ones about the hidden stuff." asked Karin and Plagueis reluctantly answered the question truthfully, "While we currently don't have the means to determine that, there would be a way to properly examine it."

"How far out of our way would we have to go to accomplish this?" asked a curious Naruto as he wondered if they would have to travel into the Republic or any highly populated planets to get access to equipment to analyze the sculpture.

"There is a small Republic research outpost in this sector that would likely have the required instruments. While the outpost primarily studies the galaxy with the many telescopes that are in orbit around the skyhook station, it should have all that would be needed to analyze the sculpture." replied Plagueis and he could feel the seemingly unanimous agreement forming in the group sitting around him. Even if it was a small chance, they wanted to have the sculpture tested to satisfy their curiosity.

"I vote for the sculpture." chimed in Suigetsu and the others all soon agreed.

Holding back a sigh, Plagueis said nothing as his trip to Tatooine was pushed back in favor of closely examining a sculpture. Despite having access to a second ship, he would be needed to analyze the sculpture himself as Naruto wouldn't know how to work the machines or run a proper analysis. He also wasn't sure Gato's body could stand a visit to Tatooine and survive.

As the group members left the table and prepared for their impending trip, Naruto remained at the table and looked to his Master. Once the others were out of earshot, Naruto decided to ask something that he had noted during his Master's speech, "You didn't mention anything about the second Tessent."

Underneath the sunglasses, Gato's eyes darted to Naruto as Plagueis came up with valid answers for the oversight, "There isn't that much known about the second one." he admitted and knew Naruto wouldn't be completely satisfied so he continued, "The second Tessent comes from a planet in this sector, Maya Kovel. It is inhabited by a race of bird-like humanoids called the Ayrou. Its origin is not known to me or most people besides the Ayrou but I do know that it went missing before the Alsakan Tessent. Considering that it came from a planet in the Outer-Rim, the disappearance was less significant and the reward was not as substantial as the other Tessent.

I don't know what the statue depicts, its dimensions, or the artist but I do know it is carved from the same material. There are many rumors surrounding the Ayrou Tessent as well. Some state that it should have been in that tomb or that it resides on the planet that we're now going to. The same secondary rumors also surround the second Tessent about a hidden message that leads to treasure."

"Should we also look for the other Tessent, then? Since it might be on the planet we're heading for." Naruto asked but he could feel the reluctance coming from his Master.

"You were fortunate to find one Tessent, I doubt we would find both. The only rumor that even seemed possible was that the ship carrying the other Tessent was hit during a meteor shower and either crashed onto the planet or was caught in the planet's orbit and is still there. I doubt someone hasn't already looked into those rumors."

"Do you really feel so strongly against examining the sculpture and searching for the second one being a pointless endeavor?" questioned Naruto and Plagueis waited a moment before replying.

"My Apprentice is somewhere out there right now, continuing what is likely a very well thought out plan to probably conquer the galaxy and the only information I've been able to find out is that he hasn't been successful yet. I haven't been able to find a replacement body and I don't really want to chase after a rumor. Finding the Alsakan Tessent alone was fortuitous and not something I counted on but continuing to chase their legend is not something I feel is productive."

"You said it was close, so just give us one day and if we can't find anything of interest, then we'll leave and forget about the rumors." offered Naruto and Plagueis nodded in agreement.

"Where exactly will we be going to sell the guns?" questioned the curious student as he changed the subject.

"Tatooine is probably the best place to sell them. The Hutts won't ask questions concerning where the guns came from and I believe you will be interested in that planet.?" explained Plagueis and Naruto quickly thought about what his Master might be referring to. Going through any mention of Tatooine he had ever heard of, he finally remembered what his Master was talking about.

'The Star Maps.' Naruto recalled and he remembered that Tatooine did have something that he was interested in. Plagueis told him about Darth Revan searching the galaxy for objects called Star Maps which were holographic databases that showed the conquests of the Rakatan Infinte Empire, their homeworld and their greatest achievement, the Star Forge.

Despite the destruction of the Star Forge, it's ruins and the planets once ruled by the Rakatan were places that Naruto wanted to see. Those old history lessons were more like stories to him and he found out all he could from his Master. Plagueis knew much more than most but there were still things that even his Master didn't know. The location of the Rakatan homeworld, and by proxy the remains of the destroyed Star Forge, were things that the galaxy had forgotten.

His Master also only knew of one of those planets that contained any ruins and a Star Map, which was Tatooine. The names of the other planets were not something that Plagueis had ever discovered nor were of much interest.

Naruto however was very interested. He wanted to see these locations and hoped to find something worthwhile from the remnants of the Rakatan Infinite Empire.

Looking to his student, Plagueis could see that Naruto was completely submersed in his own thoughts on the possibilities of Tatooine and finding the ruins of the Rakatan Temple. Getting up from his chair, Plagueis went to pilot the ship.

The trip would only take minutes given how close the planet was so by the following day, they would be headed to Tatooine and he would be able to find out what happened with his experiment.

x-x

The Vulture exited hyperspace and continued traveling at sublight engine speed on its course to Ast Kikorie which was the only habitable planet in the Ast Kikorie system. They were still in the Moddell sector and hadn't traveled very far in terms of lightyears.

Naruto looked over the planet as he helped his Master prepare for their landing. In orbit above the planet's surface was an entire ring of telescopes as well as numerous docking platforms. They however, planned to land on the planet and so were not interested in those structures.

Inside the atmosphere of the planet, was the Republic outpost that they were after. The station was actually a skyhook which was a repulsorlift structure that stayed within the atmosphere of a planet and was typically tethered to the planet. As they neared the planet, Naruto could make out more features of the skyhook and could see a tether that attached to the bottom of the station. The line extended into the atmosphere and disappeared in the clouds.

Making their approach, Plagueis went through the necessary arrival procedures and made arrangements to dock. Ast Kikorie was not as shady as their recently acquired planet Sarafur and so they didn't have to worry nearly as much about being attacked for their cargo. The fees to land in a hangar were also likely much cheaper.

Plagueis landed the ship in a much better looking open hangar than the one they used on Sarafur. The new ship was much longer than the old one but Plagueis didn't have any trouble with it.

As they exited the ship, there were no armed guards to greet them. There was however an automated voice that informed them of how they would have to pay for using the hangar. If they didn't pay, then they were also informed that the Kikorie City authorities would come and impound their ship.

With just a single goal while on the planet, Plagueis decided that those who weren't going to the skyhook, could do whatever they wanted in the Kikorie City, as long as they didn't cause a scene. He didn't have much money to give out to the group so instead he gave a good amount to Naruto and told his student to try and make as much as possible before the twenty-four hour deadline was up.

Naruto sealed the ship with a barrier and created one clone to go with Plagueis as well as leaving another to guard the ship. As much as he wanted to go and determine if the Tessent was holding any secrets, he had other things to do. Plagueis accepted the arrangement and he took the clone as well as their new droid along with him as he headed in the direction of the skyhook anchor point.

"Wait!" Naruto yelled out and Plagueis's group stopped to look back at the original.

Pulling out a scroll beneath his cloak, Naruto tossed it to his clone which promptly caught the scroll. Plagueis looked at the scroll and realized what it held. With the meeting and concerns over the Tessent, he had forgotten all about the other two items that they wanted to get a closer look at and was glad his student remembered. The clone stored the items in its pouch and they continued on to the anchor station.

As the three left, Naruto headed out to the cantina that owned the hangar as he had to pay the fee for parking the ship. All but Kabuto decided to follow him and before they left the confines of the hangar, the youngest members of the group each donned a henge to disguise themselves as being older and taller than they actually were.

x-x

Walking with the clone and the astromech, Plagueis was confident he could deal with anything that came up. The skyhook was merely a research station with minimal security forces or security measures. They were nearly at the anchor station which was still out of view but could follow the tether that extended from the city to the skyhook. The anchor station which was basically just a building where the tether for the skyhook was anchored. It was also where the space elevator for the skyhook was.

Instead of flying and docking with the station, he just needed to take the elevator up to the station. The facility was mostly off limits to non-station personnel but individuals could request the use of the stations telescopes. This was not what he was after but it would give a good enough excuse to manipulate the ground personnel to get him aboard the station where he could gain access to the equipment they were after.

While it would have been better if Naruto was there in person, he also couldn't just leave their group unattended down on the planet. They would likely cause problems if one of them wasn't there to monitor the group and he was needed to work the equipment and analyze the Tessent.

The closer they got to the station, the better they could see the tether. The clone payed more attention to the tether than where it was walking.

"Its made from carbonite nanofibers. We'll be taking the elevator up." explained Plagueis to the clone of his student, which was henged to look older and wearing nondescript clothing. Once they got aboard the station and could see what the uniforms were, the clone could henge into one of the station's personnel and help them remained unnoticed while moving through the station.

x-x

The head of every male in the group turned to watch the female Twi'lek walk by. Their attention soon returned to looking for the cantina while the two redheads of the group glared at them.

Ignoring the threat filled thoughts of the girls, Naruto looked over everything that was around him. The streets had merchants but everything was far busier than Sarafur and looked more inviting. 'Perhaps with the changes Master put in place, the ports on Sarafur will attract more people and look more like this.' he thought as he examined the sky and found it looked rather like their home planet. The sky was the same color blue, the clouds looked familiar, and the temperature seemed pleasant.

He was however brought out of his thoughts as Juugo spotted the cantina they were looking for and the group moved for it. Kabuto had left them a short time ago and he had a feeling that the teen was after a few more specimens. Hopefully the teen could stay out of trouble on his own.

Music, a variety of smells, and a waitress greeted them as they entered the large cantina. From what Gozu and Meizu had told them about the first cantina they visited, the current one appeared to be much better kept and larger. The group looked around at the establishment. Naruto noted the monitors with different races and other events going on that people were gambling on as well as the gambling tables off to one side.

After finding the owner of the establishment to pay for the landing fees, he would certainly try and get some more money through gambling. There were supplies to buy as well as possibly another junkyard to visit. If everything else in Kikorie City was better than in Sarafur, then the junkyard should follow suit. He would also split some of his winnings with the others as they would have the entire day off to do what they pleased.

Tayuya, Karin, and Juugo quickly found seats on the second floor which seemed to have more of restaurant feel to it while Meizu and Gozu went to the bar. Suigetsu was left looking over the room. He decided to help Naruto out and thought he might try and pickpocket a few drunks. They were supposed to keep a low profile but he was kinda bored and hoped someone would catch him stealing from them so he could start a bar fight.

x-x

It was quite easy to convince those in the anchor station that he had scheduled time on one of the telescopes. Now they were thousands of feet in the air and still moving even higher as the elevator took them to the skyhook.

His accompanying shadow clone was looking out of one of the windows of the large elevator to see the shrinking city below. The droid was staying away from the window but examining the elevator they were in. The elevator was completely empty save for a few crates that were scheduled to be taken up to resupply the station that day. The elevator was large enough to be used to ferry not only people but cargo and supplies to and from the station.

Minutes passed as the trio patiently waited for arrival. The clone watched as they passed through the clouds and soon there were no more clouds as the entered a higher layer of the atmosphere. Plagueis could feel the elevator slowing down and used his cane to help himself to his feet.

Inwardly frowning at the stiff body, he managed to stand right when the elevator docked with the station. The large doors opened and two men in uniform were waiting. Both looked surprised to see the people in the elevator. Plagueis knew they were merely supply officers or something similar as the station only had a few security. He already made sure that the men at the anchor station did not tell anyone that someone was coming up.

"I wasn't aware that anyone was coming up, I thought it was just the supplies." stated one of the men and his suspicion was plan to see.

"This is just a supply run." lied Plagueis with a wave of Gato's hand. "We were merely sent up to accompany the supplies and went back down with the elevator. Simply ignore us."

Both men nodded as they went about loading the crates, ignoring the presence of the two people and the droid. The trio walked out of the elevator doors and found themselves in a wide hallway. There were doors on each side of the hallway that were evenly spaced away from each other.

Through their mental link, Plagueis said, 'We need to find a computer terminal for the droid to access. Look for a maintenance room.'

The clone nodded in affirmation and looked at the labels of the rooms as they passed. While the clone looked, Plagueis kept a watchful eye out for anymore station personnel and used his Force powers to momentarily jam the security systems. Considering the station was just a research post, he didn't expect much security or even cameras. Eventually they came across something promising and the trio entered the room.

The room turned out to be a droid maintenance area and that was just as good as the room did have at least one computer terminal. Looking over the room, they only saw few droids that were in power-down mode and none of the droids appeared to be active. Barring a problem on the station, it would hopefully stay that way.

Hurrying the still scared droid to the computer terminal, a computer interface attachment popped out of one of the many compartments on the droids body and fitted into the computer terminal.

"I'd like you to get the schematics of the station, determine all the security measures the station is using, and find us the quickest route to whatever analysis lab they have." ordered Plagueis and the droid beeped in response as it sliced into the stations systems and sifted through all of the data for that information.

x-x

Staying to the shadows, Kabuto stalked a new specimen that he had seen and had taken an interest in. The insectoid creature was quite unique in appearance being rather thin with a yellow carapace that featured many spikes. The medical droid on the ship would likely know what species it was, he just had to get the creature back there.

Following it through what appeared to be a market area, he determined what method was best. Because of the carapace and spikes, using snakes was out of the question. There was a chance they wouldn't be able to get through the exoskeleton or would be injured by the spikes.

Sure that he hadn't been spotted, Kabuto followed the creature into an alley and smirked as the isolated area would provide what he needed. He however quickly realized his mistake as upon closer inspection, the creature had a third eye in the back of its head. No sooner had the realization been made then the creature began turning around with a blaster in its hands and Kabuto jumped to avoid the initial shots.

Sticking to the wall for a brief moment, Kabuto managed to jump behind the creature and was already upon it before it could aim the blaster to fire another shot. He grabbed the creatures wrist to stop it from shooting the blaster but found it surprisingly stronger than its thin body would suggest. His laser scalpel was quicker than the insects other hand and he sliced through its neck, completely decapitated the creature.

As the body crumpled to the ground, Kabuto looked to his hand and found a wound on it from the creatures spikes. Such a wound would not have normally been of concern but he saw that mixed with the blood appeared to be some other purple colored liquid.

'The spikes are poisoned as well.' he realized with a short chuckle as he braced himself against the wall to keep his balance from the dizziness that swept over him. 'The effects are also quick to manifest.' he noted and began diagnosing himself as well as removing the poison from his system.

Given that his body was now so altered, the poison wasn't taking its complete effect on him, however it was rather different from what he was used to. From what he guessed, he should have been completely knocked out within a few moments of injection. Instead, he was just a little dizzy, disoriented, and tired. When he had finished removing the poison from his body with a medical ninjutsu, he stored it in a small vial that he took out from his utility belt.

Standing up again and testing his balance, Kabuto removed his corpse scroll and worked as fast as possible. The shots had probably alerted someone in the nearby area and he needed to be gone before anyone saw him.

Sealing up the body, he ran up the wall and stopped when he got to the roof. Looking around, he didn't see anyone and quickly found the direction he needed to travel in. 'Perhaps doing a little research before hand would be more wise.' he mused before jumping to the next roof. He had been caught by surprise as he had no idea the creature had an eye in the back of its head and had seen him.

However, while returning to the ship, Kabuto again did not see a floating security droid. The droid wasn't armed but was built for surveillance. It filmed Kabuto leaving the scene and messaged the Kikorie City authorities. The droid proceeded to follow Kabuto back to the hangar, staying up in the air and a good distance behind.

x-x

It didn't take Naruto very long before he had doubled his money. He began by betting on podracing that was being steamed in from another area of the galaxy. Looking over at the tables, he guessed he only need another win before he would have enough to enter a game with higher stakes.

Looking over the other races that were being held, he went over to a monitor showing gladiatorial combat and pulled out some money to place a bet with.

"Do you think he'll actually win?" asked Karin as she looked down from the second story at the hooded man that was betting with the money Plagueis had given.

"It looks like he already won something." commented Juugo.

"He better not lose all our money." added Tayuya as she looked at Naruto placing another bet. She didn't like the fact that he was in charge of all of their money. He was younger than she was and therefore by definition less responsible. Its not like she would spend all her money on one thing or something she didn't need.

The drinks soon came and the disguised group examined the exotic drinks. They had no idea what they were really ordering as the names didn't even look remotely familiar on the drink menu. Given that they would be there for a while, they decided to order some food but found the same problem as the food menu featured many dishes they had never heard of before.

x-x

Deefour quickly found all of the information that Plagueis had asked for. In fact, the droid found it much faster than Plagueis expected.

'It must have some extensive modifications in order to work so fast.' he mused as they moved towards the lab. The clone had used a combined henge to hide both itself and Plagueis in a single transformation of a normal looking station worker in their standard uniform.

Working together, they had to synchronize their walking to keep the transformation active while Deefour led the way. It didn't matter that Gato didn't have chakra as the technique was entirely created and controlled by the clone.

Taking a lift to a higher deck, as the station had ten levels, they passed by several other uniformed individuals but remained unnoticed. They just appeared to be a maintenance worker alongside one of the stations astromechs. Arriving at the door, the droid informed them that it couldn't detect any lifesigns in the room. The door was locked to authorized personnel only but Plagueis manipulated the lock to allow them access.

The fact that the room was dark when they entered was a good sign as it meant that likely no one was coming back for at least a little while. Plagueis looked over the present devices and found the research station was indeed well equipped for what they had in mind. It was difficult to tell how well used the equipment was but given that the station wasn't very concerned with sampling, they probably wouldn't be bothered by any other scientists.

The clone ended the henge, leaving both of them standing next to each other as the white smoke dispersed. Plagueis went to the proper machines and turned them on while the clone looked over all that was in the room. Its creator would likely want to get as many details as possible when it dispersed. Unfortunately, given the distance of about forty miles between the station and the surface of the planet, Naruto couldn't control his clone from that far away or connect with it, so he only had the clones memories to learn from.

Once the machines were ready to use, Plagueis turned to the clone and it soon realized what he wanted. The clone pulled a two scrolls from its pouch. The first scroll held the Tessent that Plagueis would analyze while the second scroll held the Raijin, which Naruto had held onto for many years but had not used or had a chance to properly investigate. Not wanting to destroy the weapon, they had never been able to figure out how it worked but now that they had the opportunity.

Unsealing the sculpture from the first scroll, the clone handed the Tessent to Plagueis who carefully took the statue and began the first series of analysis. To test all of the theories surrounding the object, Plagueis planned to scan it with the full electromagnetic wave spectrum as well as microscopically examine every inch of the outside. He also had a few tests of his own to find out as much as possible about the object and prove whether it was hiding any secrets while the Raijin would be analyzed to determine out what was inside the solid, non-conductive exterior mold.

x-x

Prying open the exoskeleton didn't prove very difficult as Kabuto searched for the glands that produced the poison on the spikes. The species turned out to be a Kobok and the medical droid was able to tell him quite a bit about its anatomy and the poison it produced. Having experienced the potent substance first-hand, he was interested and wanted to see what he could do with the poison. Looking to the counter in the small medical bay, he found the dispersal grenade that he had collected while they were on Sarafur.

Naruto had explained how the grenade worked and it was currently empty from when it was used against the ship. 'If I can turn the poison into an aerosol, I can use the grenade to disperse it. It should work relatively fast.' he mused and decided to see if he could. Once he determined the chemical makeup of the poison, he might even be able to secrete it from his snake's fangs to incapacitate prey.

His musings were halted however when his snake sensed something outside the ship.

Through their connection, Kabuto could feel several life-signs in his short sensory range. They appeared to all be in the hangar and moving toward the ship. The others couldn't possibly be back that fast so it must be another group.

He wasn't that worried however as Naruto had placed seal tags and a barrier on the ship to prevent access, except from the top hatch, which was what Kabuto used to get back aboard the ship. Unless the newcomers had a method to get around Naruto's fuinjutsu or tried to get in through the top hatch, then the freight elevator and the loading ramp were not going to work for them.

The clone Naruto had left had already dispersed when he had returned to the ship after securing the body. Leaving the ship's infirmary, Kabuto went to the nearest communication device. Sitting down at a round table similar to what they had on their other ship, only larger, Kabuto remembered the sequence of buttons he had to push on the console to contact Naruto.

x-x

Plagueis looked intensely at the screen as it showed him the initial results for the Tessent. The material it was carved from was indeed Chalcedony. It wasn't rare, nor valuable, but it did appear that the object was the real deal. He didn't know of any other distinguishing marks for either of the Tessents that would definitively show that what they had found was real. As the scan continued, he started getting lost in the lore and checking every single rumor that he had heard, doing an x-ray of the device, scanning it with different electromagnetic wavelengths and doing three-dimensional surface scans in order to determine if something as written on the surface.

Given their time constraints, and the fact that anyone could come in to use the lab at any minute, Plagueis stopped his in-depth analysis of the Tessent so that he still had time to analyze the weapon. That analysis was actually more important to him as he definitely wanted to know what was inside the device to give it the ability to project solid electrical energy. Taking out the Raijin, he quickly placed it in a compositional analyzer. Ever since he had learned of the weapon, he wanted to know about it's secrets.

Waiting while the analysis machine worked, he was interrupted from his thoughts by the clone, "Master?"

Plagueis turned in the chair to look at the clone but said nothing as he waited for the coming question, "When did the other Tessent go missing?"

Thinking about the answer, Plagueis posed a question of his own back at the clone, "What will you do with the information?"

"I wanted to have Deefour check the station's sensor logs. If I'm not mistaken, you told the original that the other Tessent may have come here and been caught in an asteroid shower." explained the clone.

"If by some chance the other one did come here, someone would have found it already and if it did get caught in a meteor or asteroid shower then the ship may not have survived." stated Plagueis but since they were already there and neither the clone nor the droid had anything to do, he decided to let them try.

With still quite a bit of skepticism, he answered the original question, "It would have been about twenty-five standard years ago, give or take. I'm not completely sure on an exact date."

With the new information the clone turned to the droid and asked it to began sifting through the sensor information to bring up the desired data on a nearby monitor. The monitor showed over a years worth of sensor logs in just a few moments. While he didn't turn the chair around to see them, Plagueis still focused on what they were doing while his analysis of the metal continued.

The clone asked the droid to narrow the search to events that included any ship getting hit by cosmic objects. The droid's results came up empty and Plagueis allowed Gato to let out a small sigh of relief. What they had currently managed to accomplish was more than enough. Thinking that they could find another infamous item despite innumerable others having failed was pushing their luck.

No sooner had he put the thoughts out of his mind to focus on the analysis results, then a few beeps from the droid caught his attention. While he couldn't understand everything that the droid was trying to say, it sounded like the droid was trying to tell the clone that a small amount of data was missing.

"That's odd. There's an entire days worth of missing logs." said the clone and it looked to the back of Gato's head for some answer to the unasked question.

Plagueis took a moment before answering as he had to get his thoughts under control. As much as he didn't want to admit it, his mind had started coming up with outlandish theories for the reason why data was missing but he chose to answer with the most logical, "There must have been a malfunction with the sensors and they lost data for that day." he answered and looked over the results of the analysis. Before he could find out exactly what the metal was, his thoughts were interrupted again by more beeps from the blasted droid.

"I believe Deefour is telling me that the information was deleted." the clone stated out loud and Plagueis again stopped what he was doing. Not turning around, he offered the most probable explanation for the new oddity they had found, "Perhaps an oversight in records keeping." but even he thought it was a weak explanation.

Once again he tried to get back to the results of the analysis and finally find out what the composition of the metal was but was disturbed once again, "Um...Master Plagueis?"

"What now?" Plagueis demanded with more annoyance and emotion in his voice then he wanted.

"From what Deefour is showing me, the current research Director of the station was the one that deleted the file several years ago. It seems she also changed the access rights on the file so no one could recover it without his authorization."

'This isn't really happening.' Plagueis tried to convince himself, 'We just came to analyze these three items, not to go on a treasure hunt.'

"How difficult will it be to work around the authorization?" asked Plagueis as he finally turned around in his chair. As much as he didn't want to admit it, the clone and droid had obviously stumbled onto something. Whether or not it turned out to be the second Tessent was very unlikely, but that didn't mean that their findings were worthless either.

"Deefour already worked around it." responded the clone as it looked over the recovered sensor log file. Getting up to look at the file himself, Plagueis again found it interesting at how fast the droid was able to access the information and work around the authorization issue but said nothing.

Looking over the clone's shoulder he looked over the records for the missing day. "Inconceivable." he quietly lamented. The records clearly recorded a ship being caught in a meteor shower and crashing on the planet. It seemed they would be doing more on the station than just analysis.

x-x

"I'm a wanted criminal!" revealed the spacer in response to Suigetsu's comment as he ignored the spilled drink on his clothing. Suigetsu had just purposefully bumped into the man in order to start something as he had been getting bored. A few words had already been exchanged and Suigetsu had been trying to move the conversation in a good direction.

"That a fact? Is there bounty for you?" asked Suigetsu with an amused smile as it appeared he had chosen the right person to aggravate. He had selectively decided that the spacer was the most likely to be involved in illicit affairs that would result in some kind of monetary value being placed on the man's head.

"Yeah, a big one." responded the man as he looked the older looking Suigetsu right in the eyes.

"Dead or alive?" questioned Suigetsu as his smile only widened.

The plan placed his hand on the top of his holstered blaster and responded, "You pick." A few nearby Duros customers made to leave at the impending fight and Suigetsu quickly responded, "I like where this is headed." as he reached into his back pouch and slid his fingers into the holes of his new vibroknuckler that he had taken off a Kintan Gunrunner.

"Hey!" came a voice from nearby and both turned to find a man, possibly the owner of the establishment, looking at them, "You take any fights outside." and he pointed to the door.

Without any hint of worry or fear, Suigetsu walked to the door with his back turned to the man he was exchanging words with. The man promptly followed but nearly stopped when he saw several of the city's police officers walk into the bar. Sidestepping them, he made to be moving to another area of the cantina until they walked by and then he made his exit.

Looking over his cards, Naruto glanced at the other individuals at the table, who were just moments ago fixated on the possible fight happening near the bar. He was about to place a card down to lock it's suit and keep it from randomly changing on him when he heard a beeping from his small holographic communicator.

Frowning, he pulled it out from one of the pockets on his unzipped chunin vest and activated it. An image of Kabuto instantly appeared.

"There are some individuals standing outside the ship." Kabuto informed him in Ibonihese, which greatly limited the possibilities of anyone learning what was actually being said.

"How many, and have they made a move to get access to the ship?" questioned Naruto back in the same language as he used his free hand to keep playing his hand.

"Six are outside the ship and they've only made one attempt to get on board. I managed to get a look and they seem to all be wearing the same uniform." responded the small blue hologram.

"What have you been up to Kabuto, because we certainly haven't been breaking the law or attracting the local authorities attention?" he asked with a glare at the holographic figure. Kabuto just laughed nervously and replied, "You don't want to know."

Shutting off the device, the Force alerted him a moment later to a disturbance happening behind him. He could feel the man that he had paid for the use of the hangar point him out to three newcomers that had just walked in. The men were about to come over to him but then something else was said by the owner that caused them to stop. Naruto could feel the men look in other directions, likely at the other members of his group, who were seated on the upper floor and eating.

Without turning, he felt the guards become uneasy and then one them began talking into a communicator. 'They're calling for backup.' Naruto realized and noted that they didn't seem to be paying attention to the demon brothers. Even without the demon brothers, there were still four members of their group in the cantina and the three likely felt apprehensive about being outnumbered.

'They may not know that those two are with our group.' he thought and contacted both brothers. 'Meizu, Gozu. Three individuals, likely in similar uniforms, just entered the cantina.' he told them while keeping his focus on the game.

'What about them?' questioned Gozu back and confirmed Naruto's suspicions about the local authorities being after them.

'Kabuto did something stupid again and likely there are also a group of them in the hangar outside our ship. Those three appear to be here for us but don't know either of you are with our group. I believe they also called for backup because we outnumber them.' he added and Meizu quickly asked, 'What do you want us to do?'

'One of you needs to go tell the others on the second floor so we can get away. There seem to be some windows on the second floor you can make use of. I'll need the other one to take care of my winnings after they leave. I'll meet up with all on the roof and have Karin find Suigetsu, I think he's outside killing someone.' he ordered and finished the hand. He noted that couldn't feel Suigetsu anymore, meaning that the white haired ninja had moved outside his range.

Before standing up, Naruto looked to the other players and said with a wave of his hand, "I have to go to the bathroom and in a few minutes my friend is going to come over and cash me out. None of you will find anything wrong with that."

The droid dealer also seemed to understand him but he knew it wasn't influenced by his manipulations. Getting up, he walked to the bathroom and could feel the city security trio tense at his movement. Entering the facilities, he quickly moved to the wall and went through the proper handseals to merge with the wall and make a getaway.

x-x

Sitting at her desk in her private office and quarters, the Research Director of the station looked over the datapads that were filled with the digital paperwork that came with her position. The sound of an alert coming from the console on her desk was a welcomed reprieve.

The reprieve was short-lived however when she realized what the alert was. Her eyes widened as old memories resurfaced. She had set the alert years prior after she had discovered something. At the time she was just a normal researcher but with her promotion to director, she restricted access to a file in the sensor logs and then deleted it.

She placed the alert just in case anyone ever went looking for the file or managed to open it. A hologram came to life on her desk and she looked at a schematic of the ship. A red dot indicated that the breach came from the Materials Analysis lab. Picking up and looking through a nearby datapad, she found that no one was scheduled to use the lab that day which made her frown.

Instead of calling for security, she moved to a drawer on her desk and unlocked it. Amidst a few items, she pulled out a small locked box and opened it to reveal a small holdout blaster. It was made to be easily concealed. The power cell would only last a few shots and the range wasn't very far but it would be enough for her purposes.

Taking the blaster, she left her office and headed for the lab on the lower levels.

x-x

After running a quick scan on the Raijin, Plagueis and the clone left the lab and headed for the upper level of the station. Plagueis hadn't even gotten the chance to look at the results from the scan of the chakra metal or the Raijin because they now had something else to think about. He just sent the information to droid and it saved it all in it's memory banks

From the file Deefour had found, it seemed that something had been covered up. Plagueis wasn't sure what significance it really had but he was interested. Deleting and restricting access to a file was dead giveaway for illicit activities. Given how closely the information in the file conformed with the most commonly spoken rumor about the Aryou Tessent, he would admit that perhaps there was something to the rumor after all.

The clone had asked him about going down to the planet's surface to look at the crashed ship but he had no intention of doing it. The person that deleted the file had obviously already looked over the crashed ship and whatever they found was enough to make them delete the file to prevent others from investigating.

Given that the individual involved was now the senior most researcher on the station, it stood to reason that whatever she had found was either long gone or inside her office. Considering that their findings were leading them closer to the second Tessent, it was possible that the item was in her quarters, especially since it hadn't been returned. That kind of news would definitely have spread quickly, even in the Outer-rim.

Thus far, no one had been the wiser about their movements on the station. They were once again in a combined henge masquerading as one of the stations many personnel. While everything was going well, there was one close call just a few moments prior. Someone they passed by nearly ran into them as she moved with urgency in the opposite direction. Whereas most other people they had passed were focused on some task, this individual seemed very serious and worried.

Plagueis ignored the feeling though as they had other things to worry about. Breaking into the personal quarters of the station Director would be easy but finding a time when the director was out of those quarters might be hard.

Coming around the bend of the hallway, they found an intersection that led to where they wanted to go. Deefour led the way while the clone moved cautiously and stopped short of the room they were after. Plagueis instructed it to open a maintenance panel that was on the wall and appear as though they were looking into minor problem.

Having the real Naruto there would have been more advantageous as the clone couldn't sense for life-signs but they would have to get by with what they had, which was Deefour. The astromech moving down the hallway was even more inconspicuous than they were. Giving the droid a signal, it left the open panel and scooted down the hallway. A small attachment came out of one of the droids top panels and began scanning for life-signs in the immediate area. The scanner worked better in the open and could be deflected by the walls of the station but it was the best that they had.

The droid moved down the hallway and eventually reached the quarters. Its scanner had been active the whole way. It briefly stopped in the hallway and then turned around to let them know it was safe with what sounded like a whistle.

The clone moved to the door and made sure the coast was clear. At the same moment, Plagueis began manipulating the control panel for the door to allow them entry. Once they were in the room, the henge was ended and Plagueis began a quick search of the room. He put his hand on most of the wall surfaces to see if there were any hidden compartments. While Plagueis was working on the walls, the clone went about searching the desk.

Coming to the last wall, Plagueis placed Gato's hand on it and smirked. He told the clone he had found something and it stopped looking through the desk. Searching the wall, he was unable to find any control panel or button. Turning, Plagueis looked at the desk and began looking for a button or switch that would open the panel on the wall.

While Plagueis was looking, the clone examined an open box that was on the table. From the shape made in the foam, it looked like some kind of instrument or tool used to be in the box. The clone continued to look at the box until Plagueis found the switch and a panel on the wall began opening. The trio's attention focused entirely on the wall as the panel slowly raised to reveal two shelves of artifacts that had been hidden.

"It appears madam Director is quite the collector." commented Plagueis and his eyes came upon the largest object on the shelves, which was a white sculpture that looked quite different from the one they had but was made of the same material.

'How is it we managed to find both?' Plagueis questioned as the shear coincidence was astounding. Two items missing for decades and in the course of less than a week, they managed to find both. He had never known his luck to be that good.

His thoughts were quickly interrupted by the door to the quarters instantly opening to reveal a surprised woman in uniform with graying hair. A moment passed between them before she looked at the hidden panel and her face contorted in rage. As she pulled out the blaster and aimed it at them, the clone jumped in front of Plagueis and threw a kunai at her.

The woman fired the blaster just as the kunai pierced her throat. The plasma bolt entered through the stomach of the clone, causing it to dispel and continued on to burn through Gato's upper thigh.

The kunai soon dispelled as well but it had already done its job and the woman collapsed to the floor as she bled out. Plagueis managed to grab the nearby chair for support as Gato's body nearly collapsed. He was in no pain but Gato certainly was and the leg was now useless

Quickly taking in the situation, Plagueis began trying to come up with a plan. The clone was gone, which also meant he couldn't use a henge.

Looking to the floor, he saw the scrolls that the clone was carrying, which held the items that they had brought. Using the Force he grabbed the scrolls and stuck them in his pockets. Falling into the chair, he maneuvered it around the desk and then used the Force to pull the woman's body through the door so he could shut it.

Others had undoubtedly heard the shot and he soon realized where he was, who the woman was, and what that meant. Hearing blaster fire on the station would call for a search to determine where it came from. The station had no military personal, just a security force but they still had blasters. He also realized that in the event of a problem, they would contact the Director, who was now dead on the floor. If they couldn't contact the Director, they would search for her.

His holocron was sealed into Gato's body and with the injury, there was no way he could move around the facility. He was trapped in the injured body with only an astromech to accompany him. The helpless droid was in the corner of the room and looking over the scene while making a low foreboding sound.

Pulling the small holdout blaster to his hand with the Force, he realized he only had a few shots and not enough to really do anything. He hadn't carried a blaster with him and the clone hadn't either. It was only supposed to be a quick trip to the station. While he could probably use the Force to kill anyone he came across, there was a whole station of personnel and the last thing he wanted was to leave a huge body count behind. The unexplained deaths of so many Republic citizens would no doubt warrant an investigation and the Jedi might be asked to be the investigators.

'Damn.' he thought as he tried to figure out another way. About to pull out his communicator, he realized that the clone had dispelled, which meant that Naruto was already aware of the majority of his situation.

'I'll have to let him take care of this.' he concluded and looked to the milky white statue sitting on the shelf near him. It seemed one more of the rumors surrounding the statues was true. Those that search for the infamous Tessents would only find hardship and misfortune.

x-x

Sitting on top of the open hangar, Naruto's head instantly filled with the memories of his clone. "Shit!" he cursed out loud in a low voice.

"What's the matter? I thought you said the authorities wouldn't be a problem?" asked Tayuya who was sitting next to him and looking down below at the men standing outside their ship. "It seems Master Plagueis is in trouble too." Naruto explained.

"What should we do then? Karin and Gozu went to get Suigetsu and they're certainly not back yet." asked Juugo and Naruto cursed under his breath again.

They could take off and leave the others while they rescued Plagueis but there were other problems to think of as well. The station didn't have a hangar bay from what he could see when they passed it and he had never docked a ship before. They would need to dock with one of the stations air locks in order to board it.

Movement in the distance caught his attention and looked to the tether to see the elevator going up to the station. 'Damn it, I don't have time to sit and decide.'

"We're going. We'll come back for the others after we've got Master Plagueis." he ordered and he held his hand up as if he was going to throw something. Throwing the imaginary object, the attention of the local authorities below were all diverted as if they had actually seen something move in that direction. They quickly moved to see what it was.

"Now." Naruto ordered and his group jumped down below to the top of the ship. Getting to the top hatch, he opened it and they all jumped in. Naruto moved right past Kabuto as he went down the hallway and to the cockpit.

"Is he mad at me?" Kabuto asked Meizu and the Kiri ninja replied, "Master Plagueis is in a bind and Suigetsu is fucking around somewhere in the city." Kabuto nodded with a smile as it seemed he wasn't the only one causing trouble.

Crouching down next to one of the pilot's seats, so as not to be noticed out the window, Naruto began starting up the ship. A flashing button soon alerted him to a problem and he used the ship's sensors to figure out what it was. Cursing, he realized that a device located beneath the landing pad had been activated and was holding the ships landing struts in place as the entire landing pad had been magnetized.

'So that's how they keep ships from leaving without paying.' he realized and knew it was probably the local authorities that had activated it. His mind raced to figure out what to do. He had no idea how to disable the magnetic locking device which was preventing them from taking off. He could go outside and cut the landing struts but something told him that they would need those in the future. And even if he could get the ship off the ground, he would have to dock the ship with no prior training or experience. He also was sure that the station had defenses and may attack them should they approach and try to dock without authorization.

Still crouched, he leaned back against the second pilot's chair. His thoughts soon returned to the elevator which was still rising in the sky and he could only guess that additional security forces were on board that were headed to the station.

'What the hell do I have left.' he wondered as his choices had grown increasingly thin.

x-x

Walking into what was identified from the outside sign as 'The Kikorie City Police Station', Suigetsu moved to one of the few people that were inside the building. There were many empty desks and he assumed they were just out doing something or arresting someone.

Stopping in front of the desk, a young uniformed man looked up at him and before the man could saying anything Suigetsu asked, "So, how much is this guy worth." and he set an object on the man's desk.

A second or so passed as the man stared at the object. His eyes promptly rolled backed and he fainted. "Huh, well that's not good." commented Suigetsu as he looked around for another officer so he could collect on the bounty.

His search was quickly halted when a voice came from the door of the building and the sound made him cringe slightly. "SUIGETSU! NARUTO SAID WE HAVE TO GET BACK TO THE SHIP!" boomed Karin's voice and Gozu winced slightly at the volume.

"I'll leave when I get my bounty. I didn't go the trouble of killing this guy for no reason." contested Suigetsu as he leaned over a nearby counter to look for another uniformed person.

"I call bullshit." Karin commented and Gozu chuckled as he moved to grab Suigetsu and take him back to the ship. Right before Gozu reached Suigetsu, another person came out from one of the back rooms. He was an older man dressed in the same uniform and a little portly.

"So there was someone else here. I want the bounty for this guy." Suigetsu said and the man, seeing the downed officer as well as the object on the table and the two people standing before him, began panicking. On the verge of hyperventilating, the man starting grabbing his arm and slowly collapsed to the ground.

"Ah, crap." Suigetsu complained and then yelled to the door, "Karin, this guy's having a heart attack. You'd better do something before he dies."

"You idiot, I told you not go waving that thing around!" yelled Karin as she ran to the man's side and her hands lit up with green chakra.

"What, you'd think they'd never seen a severed head before." Suigetsu said while shaking his head at the pathetic display of the two uniformed men. Gozu sweat-dropped at the seen and decided to wait for Karin to finish before dragging both of them back to the hangar.

x-x

A small container of survival supplies flew out of the door way and hit the wall. It was soon followed by a few more supplies that were standard issue on an escape pod. They were meant to provide up to two weeks of food and water as well as needed supplies for those that needed to evacuate but Naruto only needed the pod itself and didn't want to waste supplies.

"What are you doing?" questioned Kabuto as he and the others watched the blonde haired Sith empty the pod.

"I'm going to get Master Plagueis. I'll be back soon." responded Naruto in a calm voice and he smacked a panel on the inside of the pod, which shut the door between them.

The escape pod was ejected out of the ship and the rockets on the bottom of the pod engaged. The pod roared out of the hangar and up into the sky. The officers outside the ship could only watch as it kept gaining altitude, leaving a white trail of smoke behind it.

Working with what little flight controls the pod had, Naruto put it on a coarse near the skyhook. The pod wasn't made for precision flying and the controls were minimal so there was no way he could dock with the station anyway and he couldn't very well ram it considering the pod would likely be destroyed by the station's hull.

There was only once course of action then. Unsealing his sword, he attached the sheath to the back of his flack jacket and pulled on his breather mask. Patience was not something he usually had but this was not a normal situation. A single mistake would leave him falling to the planet below and he listened intently to the Force for guidance on when the right moment to act was.

x-x

Despite the great distance between them, Plagueis had a feeling that Naruto was definitely coming to help him. He just had no idea how his student would manage to do it.

'I never did get the chance to teach him docking procedures for a ship-to-ship or ship-to-station docking maneuver.' he remembered but put the thought out of his mind. The last thing he needed to think about was his student accidentally ramming the station and inadvertently causing a catastrophe on the surface below. Skyhooks had been outlawed on many planets of the Republic because of the possibility that the repulsorlifts would fail and the station would plummet to a city below it.

Sitting back in the chair, he waited for which ever moment would come first. Either Naruto would arrive or the men outside the locked room he was in would get a fusion cutter and cut through the door. He had no idea which would happen first so began calming himself down to hopefully meditate but there was only a slim chance that would actually happen.

'Stuck in a room...in a Ugnaught-like body...with a cowardly droid...and on a Republic outpost in the outer fringes of civilization. Not exactly where I thought I would ever find myself.' he thought depressingly but then again, he never planned on dying in the first place.

A few sounds from the outside of the door caught his attention for a moment. 'Probably a few minutes before they get in.' he calculated. Though he could kill the men beyond the door, his main goal at this stage in his plans was to keep a low profile. He didn't news of an incident involving a person with Force powers killing Republic citizens on a wayward outpost. To completely make sure that no one ever found out what had happened, he would need to make sure the entire station was destroyed and the personnel all killed. In addition, he might have to make sure that the station crashes into the city below to eliminate all witnesses.

That certainly wasn't his idea of keeping a low profile and if he destroyed an entire station while 'keeping a low profile' then it would set a bad precedent that Naruto and the others might soon follow. Creating a path of destruction through the Outer-rim was not what he intended for his return to the galaxy.

Turning his thoughts to something else, he wondered what he would find when he got to Tatooine. Seemingly his experiment was a failure but all the time and effort he put into his research before the test told him differently. He just couldn't believe that he had failed. Failure was a part of experiments but he had been sure he would succeed.

Thoughts of what such a child would be capable of had filled his mind off and on for years. He was in dire need of a new body which was why the thought of his experiment seemed so tempting as a new body. However, his thoughts wandered to whether or not taking such a body would be beneficial for him. His experiment was all about finding out what a child such as that would be capable of but skewing the results by inputting himself into the equation, by possessing his own experiment, wasn't what a researcher did. Could he even possess a child that was connected so strongly with the Force?

Finding a new body was still high on his list of goals though. He couldn't very well go around testing the blood of everyone he passed and Force sensitivity was hard enough to spot without any testing. A Force sensitive and trained individual could sense another Force sensitive and trained individual but sensing untapped Force potential was incredibly difficult.

He wanted something far better than Gato and recognized the fact that he would have to switch bodies on Tatooine and make sure no one ever found Gato's body. The infamous Krayt dragons that inhabited the planet should take care of that for him though.

x-x

The escape pod flew up past and over the station in a arc, no doubt attracting quiet a bit of attention from those on the station that were monitoring the sensor systems or maybe even looking out a window. He stayed far enough away that they wouldn't be concerned about the pod being a threat, but close enough that he could achieve his objective.

The Force told him that the correct moment had arrived. In an instant, he had pulled his sword and stabbed it into the escape pods hull. With both hands gripping the handle, he cut a large circular hole. Removing his sword, he put it back in its sheath and starred at his work.

There was no turning back.

With a burst of speed, he used a Force push to send the circular piece of hull flying off the ship and then dove out of the created hole. His body left the ship headfirst and he found himself in free-falling back to the surface. The feeling of being weightless took hold in his stomach and he felt his heart nearly beating out of his chest. The cold air felt like ice water on what little skin he had exposed and he was thankful for the body glove. His mask was switched to re-breather mode, meaning that he was recycling his air and would only have at most ten minutes before he would no longer be able to breathe.

The air was so thin at the height he was at that there was little air resistance against his body and he picked up speed fast. Below him was the skyhook and he was still a good distance above it. The station stood out like a metal castle adrift above in a sea of clouds.

Falling faster and faster, there was no sound to be heard as only a slight amount of air buffeted against him. As the station came ever closer, he prepared to work on the stopping procedures that he had thought of on the way up.

He was slowing his descent with the Force but he could only do so much. The rest would have to come from jutsu. Putting his hands in a cross shaped seal, he created a two clones right in front of him that faced him. The clones quickly began going through the identical seals and thrust their palms forward at him. Wind chakra instantly came from the palms and buffeted against him, causing him to slow his descent. While the technique worked, the distance between him and the clones was soon too much for the jutsu to be effective so he repeated the process.

As he slowed and neared the station, Naruto adjusted his trajectory to land on the upper level of the station. He hit the hull of the station hard but landed where he wanted to. Grunting in pain, he limped around for a few moments as he thought, 'Walk it off, walk it off.'

Glancing around at the still and silent terrain he was now on, his eyes searched for any access points but didn't find any near him. Extending his senses, he searched for Plagueis and was just able to sense him on the fringes of his range. Quickly moving in that direction, he pulled out his sword to make an entry point.

Coming to a point that was more than one level above Plagueis, he stabbed into the hull and began creating his own access hatch. The moment his sword completed the shape, the piece of hull fell through and he followed it into the ship.

Pulling off his mask, he took a deep breath of recycled station air and examined the area he was in. It appeared to be some access or maintenance area. Not taking anymore time than necessary, he went about making his way to his Master.

x-x

A noise from the door alerted him that the men outside had evidently found the fusion cutter. A small area of the door began heating up to extreme temperatures causing it to turn a reddish orange until sparks shot through the hole that was created by the tool being used.

'Just a minute or two before they get in.' thought a slightly restless Plagueis as he continued to wait in the chair. Glancing around the room, he again noticed the small light on the desk continued to flash, no doubt trying to let the director know that someone was trying to reach her, and he ignored it as he had for the past several minutes.

He could feel Naruto getting closer to his position and tried to remain as calm as possible. As the sparks reached the halfway point on the rectangle being cut out of the locked door, a noise came from above him and caught his full attention.

Protruding from the ceiling was a red blade with black trim and the sight made him smirk. 'He always did have good timing.' he mused and forced Gato's body to stand. The droid also looked away from the door to the ceiling and saw the tip of the sword begin cutting a hole.

Backing away from the desk, the hole was soon finished and a piece of metal came crashing down on the table below, causing it to break under the weight. Naruto then jumped down and landed on the metal.

Plagueis looked up to the hole and found a group of clones lowering two of their own down to Gato's height. The clones were holding onto each other and forming a rope of two clones to span the distance to Gato's height. Reaching down, a clone grasped Gato by the forearm and they began pulling the short man up through the hole into the level above them.

Naruto pulled out a scroll and quickly looked to the items on the once hidden shelves. Deciding that since the woman was dead and that she wouldn't miss the items, he grabbed all of them and sealed them into his empty scroll.

Once Plagueis was up, Naruto looked to Deefour and though apprehensive at the sight of so many duplicates, the droid moved to the floor beneath the opening. The clones came back down and grabbed onto the droid.

Glancing at the door, he noticed that the cutting was nearly complete. Getting beneath the droid, which was actually heavier than Gato, he began pushing to get it up into the hole faster. The cutter finished as Deefour was just getting into the hole and Naruto Force jumped into it as the door feel forward and security guards entered the room with blasters drawn.

x-x

Naruto led the escape with Deefour close behind giving directions and two clones holding up Gato. Plagueis didn't try to have Gato walk and just let the feet drag across the ground. They were on the topmost level of the station and making their way down the hall to one of the lifts. One floor below them were the guards that had just found an empty room and a hole in the ceiling.

'Did you bring the ship?' inquired Plagueis through their link. Naruto replied in the negative and told him about the problems.

'The elevator?' Plagueis asked and Naruto hesitantly responded, 'The ship is now down one escape pod.' and feeling his Master's annoyance, he added, 'The elevator was moving to the station before I even got to the ship.'

'So they might have reinforcements.' Plagueis discerned and planned out what they should do next. The station did have escape pods of its own but if they used one then someone on the station could just communicate down to the surface and have people waiting for them right when they landed.

'We need to get to the lower levels, there are other means of getting off the station.' Plagueis communicated to his student.

Naruto acknowledged the message and pulled out his blaster as he felt several individuals up ahead near the lift that they were headed for. Coming out of his hallway and into the intersection, he fired once at the guards walking down the hallway. Catching them by surprise, the stun bolt struck one of the men in the chest and he crumpled to the ground. The other guards took cover as best as they could as Naruto continued to providing cover while Deefour and the clones dragged Gato across the intersection.

Once on the other side, he ran down the same hall while one of his clones pushed the button for the lift. The doors quickly opened and the group got in. Pushing the console to take them to the level that Plagueis indicated, they only had to wait a brief moment before the lift began taking them to where they wanted. No sooner had they begun moving, then the lift abruptly stopped.

Plagueis instantly realized that someone had turned off the lift as they had only traveled one floor before stopping. Pushing a few buttons on the console, he realized that elevator lift had been shut down. He was about so say something when Naruto's head turned and he knew that his student could feel someone moving to the lift door. Naruto had felt several life-signs moving toward the elevator door and positioning themselves in front of it.

x-x

Six security personnel aimed their slightly trembling blasters at the lift door. None of them had ever seen combat or even been in a combat situation before. Life on the station used to be boring and mundane. Tension hung in the air and only increased when the signal was given for one of the men to open the doors.

The doors instantly slid apart and revealed an empty lift which stunned and confused the men.

Standing inside the lift, Naruto held the cloth in front of him over the bottom two thirds of the lift door opening. He had pulled the cloth out of one of his pouches and put it in the lift entryway to cast his jutsu only moments before the door opened.

On their side of the lift, it showed a slightly transparent cloth but on the opposite side, all the security forces saw was a projected two-dimensional image of the interior of the lift. The break between the top of the cloth and the uncovered lift opening was perfect as the image meshed the two together forming what looked to be an empty lift.

The cloak of invisibility technique was actually the first jutsu that Naruto mastered but not one that he used very often. The E-ranked jutsu however was proving its worth at that very moment. Naruto didn't move and he didn't breathe as he looked straight ahead. Less than a foot away from that head were five blasters, mostly pointed at his upper torso and head.

A few seconds went by before the security members began lowering their weapons and the tension in their bodies faded. On pulled a communicator out of his utility belt and reported, "Nobody was in the lift. The intruders that killed the Director must be somewhere else on the station and they must be messing with the internal sensors, run a diagnostic on them."

The lift doors were shut a moment later and a few more seconds passed until Naruto finally started breathing again. Plagueis also let Gato breathe again and then said, "Quick thinking. Well done my student."

Naruto nodded and then lowered the cloth, which he carefully folded and put back in his pouch. Turning to his Master, he asked, "How do we proceed?"

Plagueis thought for a moment before responding, "We should get to another computer terminal so we can have the droid cover our movements. Like the man suggested, we should mess with their internal sensors. The droid may also be able to reactivate a lift for us."

Using his sensing abilities, Naruto made sure the group was far enough away and no longer in view of the lift before he used the Force and forced the doors open. Looking to the droid, Deefour led the way to the nearest computer terminal.

x-x

With the stations in internal sensors and most of its secondary systems in turmoil, thanks to the little astromech, the trio and accompanying clones were able to get back in the reactivated lift and proceed to the lower levels.

According to the sensors information that Deefour showed them while accessing the computer terminal, the stations security personnel were actively guarding all of the escape pods and the bottom-most level where the space elevator connected with the station. This left Naruto wondering exactly how Plagueis planned to get them off the station.

As the lift door opened and Naruto moved out first. His sensing ability told him that no one was near them on their level but there were patrols on the level above them. They appeared to be on a level with many airlocks for docking with ships.

Naruto wondered why they were in such an area considering that their own ship was still stuck on the surface and no one on board could even fly it up to them. As they walked through the unloading area, Naruto was about to question what his Master intended when Plagueis spoke, "Go to the wall over there and activate one of those panels."

Naruto looked to where Plagueis indicated and found a row of similar panels and what looked like adjacent compartments with each panel. Walking up to one of the, he activated it and the compartment opened to reveal two items. The first item looked to be a standard breath mask that he had seen before on the ship but never used. The second item was what looked like a backpack but it was thinner and very rectangular.

Naruto inspected the device before turning around and giving Plagueis a questioning look. The clones helped Plagueis over to where Naruto was and the Sith Lord explained, "Some vessels such as skyhooks that don't leave the atmosphere, are equipped with extra means of evacuating the ship and getting to the ground safely. Not every deck is equipped with escape pods so in the event of a catastrophic failure of the stations repulsorlifts, these devices can be used and are placed at airlocks around the ship. Its meant for a quick way to leave the ship and survive the fall back to the planet surface."

"What are they?" questioned the student and the Master smirked, "I think you'll like them. They're called survival capsules. Attaching the device to your back, you can jump out of the ship and the device will activate and force you into a seated position while a protective capsule forms around you to completely absorb the impact of the fall. Also, this means of leaving the ship will not alert them that we have left. The internal systems aren't monitoring the air locks so we can leave the ship without them knowing. While we're flying away on The Vulture, they will still be searching the ship for us."

Naruto put on the straps for the device and then looked to Deefour. Plagueis noted his students look and added, "They can fit droids as well." Despite his disposition towards droids in general, even he would admit that the astromech had proven invaluable.

Helping Plagueis and Deefour get their harnesses on, Naruto then put on the breather mask that was provided. Easing Gato's body to the nearest air lock, Naruto punched console, opening the door and pulling the air out of the room to create an equilibrium between outside and inside.

Stepping near the edge, Naruto looked down couldn't see the surface through the clouds. 'Forty miles of freefall.' he thought. He was about to jump first until he hear something from behind him. Deefour had backed away from the airlock and was looking quite hesitant.

Frowning Naruto was about to force the droid to go out the air lock when he had an idea.

"Look Deefour, its the ship. They've come to get us." he lied and pointed out the airlock. The poor gullible droid believed him and moved to the air lock to see the ship.

"I'm sorry Deefour. Think well of me." stated Naruto and before the droid could turn around, Naruto lifted his foot up and kicked the droid out the air lock. Instead of a beep, the droid howled as it went over the edge. Plagueis soon soundlessly followed and Naruto went last.

The trio fell for only a few couple hundred feet before the system on their backs activated. A plate swung down from the bottom of the device and pushed on the back of both Naruto's and Plagueis's legs to force them into a seated position in the newly formed chair. Deefour's plate merely went flat against the bottom of his cylinder. Once that was accomplished, the back of the device exploded outward in a yellow material surrounded all three of them and formed a capsule around them.

Inside the protective material, they would be safe for the rest of the fall, which lasted more than five minutes.

x-x

Three objects came out the clouds and headed for an impact with the green fields outside of Kikorie City. The three yellow balls struck the ground but bounced back up and continued bouncing along until the energy from the fall was completely spent. Once safely on the ground, a flap opened to allow them to get out of the capsule.

Naruto got out of the straps and then exited the sphere. Looking around, he could see the city in the distance and the tether that went up into the sky. They had drifted quite a bit during their fall but they weren't that far away. Finding the other capsules near him, he went to help Master Plagueis.

Once Plagueis was free, he unsealed the speeder bike and helped his Master to the bike. Looking at the other capsule, Naruto went to help Deefour and once he opened the flap, he found the angry droid beeping furiously at him.

Looking back at the speeder and then back at the droid, he realized that they didn't have room for Deefour on the speeder. Of course he didn't want to leave the droid behind but also wasn't sure what to do. Leaving the droid in the straps, which seemed to make it beep more furiously, Naruto was about to go back to the speeder when Plagueis chimed in, "The droid does have a cable gun and magnetic grapple."

Naruto nodded at the new information and turned to find a compartment had opened on Deefour's front. Before he could say anything, the cable gun activated and the magnetic grapple struck him in the head.

Looking up at the sky, both heat and pain began emanating from his head. Sitting up, he groaned as his vision spun and then cursed in pain before looking to the droid with murderous eyes. Anger boiled inside him as the droid beeped in triumph. Naruto pulled his sword while he got up. His hands tightened on the handle and he felt some of the Kyuubi's chakra entering into his own reserves. About to teach the droid a lesson, he began walking towards it.

Sensing the vulpine's chakra, Plagueis sent his voice into his student's mind in the form of a mental shout. Naruto turned to Plagueis in both confusion and surprise. In a serious voice, Plagueis told him, "You recruited it, you pushed it out of a skyhook, and there are still things to do. Using that chakra isn't going to help us any."

It quickly dawned on him, through the haze of feelings the Kyuubi was magnifying, what he was doing and he grit his teeth. Coming back to his senses, Naruto kept a scowl on his face but got his feelings back under control and calmed himself down. He gave the droid another glare for good measure, and then attached the magnetic grapple to the back of the speeder bike. Getting on the bike, he took off in the direction of the city with the droid carrying bubble in tow.

Plagueis looked at the back of his students head and thought about what had just happened. It seemed his students condition was getting worse and this was the first time he had seen it. His student could use darkside techniques while controlling his emotions but it seemed that any uncontrolled and prolonged anger could cause the other chakra to come forth. He had warned Naruto against using its chakra at all but it seemed to be more unavoidable than he initially realized. Luckily, the amount that leaked out the seal was insignificant enough not much harm had been done to his student's body.

While he worried about his students condition, he was also concerned with how the midi-chlorians would react. They were an intelligent form of life. If their lives were threatened, he had no idea how they might react as to his knowledge, something like that had never happened before. He more than anyone else knew that the organisms were not something to take lightly. They were supposed to exist in a symbiotic relationship with the host, but he had no idea what they would do if they felt threatened by their own host. It was not something he wanted to find out.

'I'll have to start working with Kabuto on the matter.' he thought and would find out as much as Kabuto had to offer on the subject of Bijuu and Jinchuuriki. 'Perhaps I should also tell the demon brothers about his condition and tenant?' he considered and thought it might be for the best.

x-x

Towing the capsule along, the speeder neared the city. The planet had few trees and the flat ground provided no cover for them to hide their approach. Making for some tall buildings on the edge of the city limits, Naruto stopped the bike there and had a clone get Deefour out of the capsule.

Stashing the survival capsule material, he climbed one of the buildings and got a look at the city and find the hangar. While looking for familiar areas his mind wandered to something had been bugging him since the authorities came to the cantina.

He already had a good idea about what Kabuto had done but, considering that the snake-like man was not trying to sabotage them again, that left him wondering what had led the authorities to Kabuto in the first place. The former spy was not foolish nor easily tailed by anyone.

Looking down the where Plagueis was sitting on the speeder, his vision took him to Deefour and he realized that he would need the droid to find out that information for him. Jumping down, he looked to Plagueis and asked, "Where would I need Deefour to slice into if I wanted some information concerning the local authorities and to free the ship?"

Plagueis thought for a second but knew the likely answer, "Your droid can likely access that information from any computer terminal. Its slicing abilities appear to be quite good and it should be able to access any network in the city that isn't completely closed off. It could even access it from the one in the hangar that the ship is in."

Naruto's eyes widened slightly at the admission. He hadn't seen the computer terminal in the hangar or known that the city was completely networked like the station was. It seemed that they wouldn't have to go searching for anything and could head right back to the ship. All they had to deal with were the officers that might still be outside it.

He left Plagueis with the bike and walked back to the ship with Deefour. Once they cleared out the hangar he would signal Plagueis to return on the bike.

x-x

In the small infirmary, Kabuto sealed back up the body he had been working on. The others were somewhere around the ship waiting to leave and disappointed about losing their free day. The men outside had not been successful at their attempts to gain access to the ship as Naruto's barrier was still holding.

A beeping sound brought him out of his thoughts and he searched the infirmary for the small holopad. Once it was found, he accepted the message and an image of Naruto appeared before him. "What's your status?" Naruto asked, and Kabuto smirked while responding, "I probably should be asking you the same question."

"We're back on the planet. Gato's injured but that's it. Now, what is your status?" Naruto said while being a bit more demanding.

"We're all on the ship and waiting to hear back from you. There are still five individuals outside the ship and they gave up trying to get in. I also don't think they even know we are in here." reported Kabuto.

"I'll be back soon and we can deal with them..." but Naruto was cut off by Kabuto, "Actually I have something that I would like to try."

"Fine, do it. I'll be there shortly." said Naruto as he ended the conversation and the transmission.

Pulling out the small grenade, Kabuto smirked as he would get to test his aerosol and see if the substance form the Kobok worked as well in the air as it did when injected. He was confident the chemical would work but less confident about the delivery system and if the grenade would work correctly.

Walking to the top hatch, he allowed the hatch elevator to lift him to the top of the ship's hull. Once there, he armed the grenade and tossed it at the group. A few seconds after it hit the ground, a few shouts could be heard and then the sound of several bodies dropping as purplish smoke began to fill the hangar.

Kabuto smirked and returned inside the ship to let the gas dissipate and then inspect the results.

x-x

Feeling Kabuto standing in the hangar and the life-signs of five unconscious individuals, Naruto contacted Plagueis to tell him that it was safe to come to the hangar.

Entering the hangar, he found the ship as he had left it and Kabuto standing over the bodies of five uniformed men. He didn't bother to ask what Kabuto was doing and went to the computer terminal in the hangar. Motioning to the terminal with a slight incline of his head, Deefour followed him and then plugged into the terminal.

Walking to the ship, Naruto went about removing the barrier he had placed. Once that was done, he headed back to the droid. Despite his ire with Deefour and the pain in his head, the device underneath the landing pad had already been disabled by the time he got back and the droid was in the process of slicing in the cities network to gain access to any files concerning them. Sifting through all the data, it came upon a piece of information and decided to display it. The hologram caught Kabuto's attention and the teen joined Naruto as they looked at the image being displayed.

Being played in front of them was blatant footage of Kabuto running and jumping at far faster than human speeds over the buildings in the city and going straight to the hangar. Naruto glanced over at Kabuto with a glare and the teen laughed nervously while adjusting his glasses. "I guess I forgot to look up." Kabuto explained as the angle of the footage indicated that it was filmed from above.

"Where did the footage come from?" demanded Naruto and the droid worked for a second before displaying the image of a floating droid.

"Where is the droid now?" Naruto question and Deefour showed him an image of the city and then the location of the droid flying above it.

"Can you delete this information from the cities network and the droids memory?" he asked in a nicer voice. The droid beeped in the positive but again showed him the image of the surveillance droid and gave him a negative sounding beep. 'He can delete it from the network but not from the droids memory.' Naruto gathered and went to get a rifle from the ship.

Deefour watched him go and Kabuto noted the droids nervousness as well as Naruto's lack of patience with the droid.

"Does this have something to do with the red lump on his head?" Kabuto asked the droid and the accompanying beeps told him what he wanted to know. Kabuto turned to greet Plagueis who had just arrived on the speeder bike. Walking over to the man, he noted the wound and had his snake reached out and coiled around Gato, then lifted him up into the air.

Plagueis frowned slightly at being carried aboard the ship in such a manner but decided not to complain.

x-x

"What happened to your head?" questioned Karin and Naruto stopped opening a case of rifles to look at her to tell her, "Nothing, shut up."

Karin frowned at the statement and crossed her arms. Leaving the room, she decided not to heal him if he asked. Watching Naruto picking out a rifle, Suigetsu chimed in from a seat in the next room, "Are we gonna shoot people from the roof?"

"No, not people. Just a droid." Naruto answered and he looked directly at Deefour when he said it. The astromech had only just boarded the ship after corrupting all relevant information about them and their ship from the cities network. The droid saw his look, saw the rifle, and heard the statement which caused it to beep in fright and speed away into another part of the ship.

Walking out the ship, Naruto ran up the wall of the hangar and got to the roof. Checking for any surveillance droids that might be able to spot him, he then looked for what he was after with his goggles. Finding the location that Deefour had shown him, he spotted the floating droid he was after. It was likely programmed to float over particular sections of the city and monitor the activities below. He saw other such droids in the distance but ignored them as his target was just the single droid that had spotted Kabuto.

Kneeling down, he supported the blaster rifle and aimed at the droid. Compensating for the blaster's drop over the distance and the wind speed, he calmed himself and steadied his breathing. Naruto pulled the trigger a moment later and the red bolt shot through the sky and hit the droid, causing it to explode.

Quickly jumping down to the ship, he went to the landing ramp and got aboard.

Though things had been a success, it didn't really feel like it to him. He lost his temper with a droid and nearly used the Kyuubi's chakra. 'That little bastard did get me right in the head.' he thought and winced slightly when he checked the lump.

Walking down the starship, he ignored the looks from the others as he headed to the cockpit. He would have to take the ship around the planet at a low altitude as a preventative measure before leaving the planet and setting a course for Tatooine.

End

x-x

AN: Faster update but fewer pages. This was was sort of a filler but will be touched upon later on as they figure out more about the Tessents.

x-x

Responses to reviewers that don't have accounts

Reviewer: newboy

Review: This is a great chapter, I look forward to more. A question I have is will naruto learn any light side force techniques. I only ask because the ability to use both light and dark force techniques would give him quite an advantage. Plagueis himself was called Plagueis the wise for his knowledge of Sith and Jedi techniques, so even a Sith can use jedi techniques.

Response: I really wanted Naruto to stick with darkside only techniques. I know he could probably learn some lightside techniques but I wanted him to be darkside only and not gray or able to use lightside techniques. I've read many stories were he is gray and I wanted to stay away from that. Basically I want him to be sith but never turn completely to the darkside or give himself over to that side of the Force. So his body won't be ravaged by the darkside like Sidious's because of turning so dark that it caused changes.

x-x

Reviewer: Hell Spawn

Review: I believe this was your biggest chapter yet . Just for curiosity's sake why is Plagueis so fixated on Anikan ? Doesn't he want to transfer his consciousness into a clone of his original body . So it really doesn't matter how he achieves that objective right.

Response: It was my biggest chapter at 48 pages I think which trumped my previous large chapter by more than six pages. Plagueis isn't fixated on Anakin as he doesn't know Anakin exists. At this point he fixated on the idea of a person like Anakin (conceived from midi-chlorians). His original body was greatly damaged by Sidious's Force lighting (burnt to a crisp in fact) and with 15 years of decomposition, he has no idea if the cells in his body are still viable to make a clone or not. I was going to address this in a few chapters when Plagueis did recover his remains. At this point he just wants a new body and had Shmi given birth, then he would have a very viable and powerful body that he could possess until such time as something better was found. His state as a spirit is such that he is not very powerful and a body created by his manipulation would compensate for his lack of power.

x-x

Reviewer: Peter Kim

Reviews: Are you going to do the time skip of not on this fic?

I like the idea of Naruto and Plagueis using battle droids as their army since chakra can be used as a battery or create chakra metal as stated by Deadzepplin and Readermike's idea of using shinobi's heart to create battle droids that use jitsu. Also since Naruto does have Kabuto who knows Edo Tensei who can create an army of undead jedi,sith and other force users as their commanders and such for their droids army and that's why I think slowly taking over the The Confederacy of Independent Systems and creating an alternate master control signal system and a back up alternate master control signal system that Naruto and Plagueis controls just in case when the leaders of the The Confederacy of Independent Systems dies,Naruto and Plagueis can gain control of the The Confederacy of Independent Systems

I would like to see Naruto and Plagueis and their forces slowly take over the The Confederacy of Independent Systems and then overthrow Count Dooku and his master since it would ironic that Plagueis take over the forces Palpatine has commanded and then use it against Palpatine. I think Naruto should build a backup master control signal system in his home world so when the orignial master control signal is shut him Naruto cabn gain full control of the battle droids

Response: They will use battle droids but I'm not sure about the chakra heart idea as droids wouldn't have the intelligence needed to feel their chakra and use it or have a means to use it (chakra network). Sasori was only able to use chakra strings and not actual jutsu with his condition. I am considering Edo Tensei, but you also have to remember that the Jedi might have something that can fight against it. They may have a way to let the soul that was brought back to the living world, go back to the afterlife.

I think, but I could be mistaken, that the master control signal was only used during the blockade on Naboo. After the Trade federation realized that inadequacy of the signal and the fact that it might be jammed or the transmitter destroyed, they modified the battle droids to be more independent and not need a master control signal to function. So the signal could be exploited during the blockade but not during the clone wars or the buildup of the separatist state.

x-x

Reviewer: Ninja fan 101

Review: Very good story so far more potential in the star wars universe. I just realized if I remember that Naruto and Plagueis absorbed the memories of Orochimaru so would that mean they have Edo tensei also known as the Summoning: Impure World Resurrection that revive the dead as a summon. They just need DNA of said person and blood stains or organs to use etc for those that don't know the mechanics of the technique. If you think about it they just have to grab some thieves crooks etc to act as sacrifice's. And well you know resurrect the some powerful Sith of Jedi to use as an undead army or gain more knowledge from them, after all they just would have to go to the tombs.

One more thing since Plagueis has the plans for the weather machine in Snow Country will he use it on Hoth as a base since well that planet is far away and that there are some ancient weapons since the planet was used as a testing ground in the past.

Response: Naruto technically didn't absorb Orochimaru's memories, he actually absorbed the sannin's soul. I'm not entirely sure how that is different but Sasuke did the same in canon and he never seemed to have any of Orochimaru's memories. Kabuto would likely know the technique and since they have the forbidden scroll, the also have knowledge of the technique. They could use it but I think the Jedi might be able to counter it or learn to counter it at some point. I can't have Naruto's group being that powerful with a bunch of revived Edo Tensei. They would have to watch out with revived Sith as they might be knowledgeable enough to try and fight for control.

I was planning to use the weather control machine at some point. Hoth does seem like a nice place to use it and they might use it on part of the world to remove the snow and make it spring. I haven't read anywhere about the planet being used as a testing ground but I do know that several battles were fought over the planet with the most advanced ships or even prototypes that could have crashed and been covered by the ice. At some point I might add that in.

x-x

Reviewer: Marshall

Review: Just looked at your profile and noticed you made mention of pairings for this fic. Thought I'd offer my two cents.

Honestly, I can't see any romance happening in this fic, not even after the characters have aged a bit. Those kinds of feelings should have no place in Naruto's world view, either currently or in the future. He may have accomplished his main goal of getting out into the galaxy, but his aspirations should leave little room for romance. Especially with the whole Sith attitude. That is not to say I cannot see a pairing happening, as I would not put it past Naruto to use someone else's feelings for him to quell his hormones. And he does seem to have feelings under his dark exterior, at the very least a sense of comradery or desire to be liked and appreciated, as demonstrated by his desire to keep those somewhat close to him safe and his vague fuzzy feeling at being asked to make a useful piece of tech by everyone. Seems like most of all he still just really wants to be accepted. And I could see that leading to a small amount of tenderness. Just not love or romance. The opposite can't really said about his non-Sith companions, of course, and I can easily see Karin falling for Naruto because of a number of different reasons. Tayuya as well, to a lesser but seemingly just as valid extent. I just can't really see Naruto returning any of their feelings to any strong degree beyond him being that much more reluctant to lose of his crew, and perhaps giving in to a bit of rutting every now and then. Regardless, I wouldn't expect any of that to come into play for quite some time, seeing as Naruto is still so young.

As for the rest of the story, I think things are going brilliantly. What I love most about crossovers such as these are the moments of surprised awe where one character from a certain universe witnesses the abilities of another character from a different universe, and is stunned into disbelieving stupor, we've already had a taste of this with the shinobi being subjected to a few of Naruto's Force abilities. Now it's time to see how the galaxy reacts to a bunch of kids who can "shoot lightning from their mouths," as Naruto put it. I absolutely cannot wait for a Jedi to bear witness to some of these abilities, as I imagine he or she would be extremely shocked by the spectacle. And that makes for fun reading. Can't wait for adventures on Tatooine, as that has the potential for some enormous canon changes if Plagueis actually manages to get his hands on Anakin and takes over his destined vessel. A Sith of his knowledge in a body with as much Force sensitivity as Anakin's would produce a truly terrifying enemy for the Jedi, moreso than Darth Vader himself.

Response: Wow you really nailed the character and described him better than I could have. I also feel that Naruto really wouldn't be ready for that kind of relationship now or perhaps in the future. He doesn't have the ability to really love someone, care for them yes, but not really love. The problem that I have is that most readers need or at least want a pairing. I've gotten many questions about a pairing and so I just decided that there would be some kind of pairing but that it really wouldn't be a relationship or marriage kind of pairing, just something physical. At this point I haven't really addressed that, mostly because Naruto is still 12 and this isn't the story where he will be getting any that early in life.

At some point, when they have established themselves (have resources and a few locations that are safe for them to stay at) then Naruto won't care about using jutsu in front of others and they will become more active. This point in the story is really a build up. I haven't decided if Plagueis will get his hands on Anakin, I think the problem stems from his role as a researcher and the slave chip in the boy's head. Plagueis may want to observe his experiment, rather than skew results or try to influence him and removing the chip that will explode if they leave the planet may be difficult to get around.

x-x

Reviewer: fanfic-addict

Review: Man, I was soooo happy to see that you finally updated! While the lenght of the chapter was spectacular, I'd really rather have medium-sized chapters at a faster rate instead.

Well, this chapter (and probably the next few too) was obviously more about introduction of the "new" universe for the team/crew and how they built a proper base for future operations, and that's just fine since you can't have adrenalin pumpin' 24/7. Come to think of it what exactly ARE the teams' plans for the future? Aside from Plagueis immediate need of a body, vague Sith ideals aren't going to cut it as any kind of long term plan. And how, if at all, will these plans clash with Plagueis personal plans/desires? And what about Sidious, especially when Naruto finally discovers the Rule of Two and that he never truly was Plagueis apprentice? Answers via chapter, if possible, would be appreciated because I hate being spoilered.

Of course Naruto will have to return to Ibonihs (who came up first with that name anyways ? everyone uses it!) for the Kyuubi, if nothing else. He can't ignore the problem forever, especially if it's threatening his Force powers and particulary as a Sith who use their anger and hate and don't surpress it. Though I can't say that I would like Naruto to completely embrace the dark side. It wouldn't suit him. By the way wouldn't the fourth shinobi war happen around the same time as Phantom Menace ?

Last but not least, if you're thinking about droids for the team, I'm rooting for HK-47. His core processor only of course since the body will be rusted beyond repair and a new one would have to be built, but I simply adore the meatbag-killing assassin/translator with the most annoying way of speaking possible. He would fit in perfectly, not to mention his historical value for the Siths. Combined with the little astromech you get a classical Star Wars cast. Now you just need a wookie... though I guess Juugo counts somewhat but it isn't quite the same. Update soon please!

Response: Basically they are out to gather resources and money so they can find out what is going on with Sidious. They will need money for whatever they end up doing and right now they are out to sell the weapons and make secure sources of income that they can use to gather information about Sidious. I won't reveal more than that but I will gradually build up their plans in the coming chapters. They don't have a set plan right now because they don't know what Sidious is up to and can't really make plans because of that lack of information.

I have no idea who came up with Ibonihs, it was just a standard that starwars/naruto crossovers use. I do have a method to deal with the Kyuubi and it won't involve a sharingan or wood jutsu. The fourth ninja war would happen right before the phantom menace movie and possibly during it. Its hard to determine how much time actually passes by in canon shippuuden, whether its just weeks or months.

I do plan for three droids for their team. I won't reveal anything beyond that though.

x-x

Reviewer: void

Review: Thanks for the always the plot thickens and I cant wait for the next update.I have questions though?The allure about the star wars franchise is the tragedy of the protagonist Anikan skywalker and how he become victim to his own power and am saying is that if you have plagueis take over Anikan you take away that intique and human kinsman with your readrs?by plagueis minchlorides experiment failing and anikan being born a few years later shows him to be a work of the force,so in essence he meant to serve a greater purpose than being a vessel?Also when it comes to the jedi,i dont get why the let obi one become anikan master inspite of his strong attachment to his mother and qualms about his should have given him to a person like yoda who would have had almost a milleniums worth of experience and his standing a elder master in the jedi order could have controlled anikans sheer arogance when it came to his power instead of obione who would become his equal in a few years given his vast potential and talent. Are you thinking of pairing naruto with padme?;because theircharacters dont mesh no matter how you look at it comes to the jedi dont make them as blind to the sith as how they were in the movies;it was a disgrace;you could have yoda and sidious have a foreboding through the force beacuse of plagueis but not knowing the origins but atleast knowing its bad(sith),this could convince yoda to take on anikan as a just saying this because you havent had the jedi and sidious reaction to the entry of plagueis back into the known galaxy.

Response: You'll have to wait for the coming chapters. I don't really plan for Plagueis to take over Anakin, it was just a thought that Plagueis had. I don't really want to spoil anything beyond that. Naruto won't be with Padme and Anakin may be taught by Qui-gon and not Obi-wan. I haven't featured any reaction from the Sith or Jedi because Plagueis is a spirit and isn't making a big impact on the galaxy yet. They won't be able to sense him or get any real foreboding feelings at this point.

x-x

I want to thank chakragrip, Guglu Muglu, Cherrie-san, lest, kristoff, cuco, Directorman, and Ragdain for reviewing as well as all the other people that reviewed and got me close to 1000 reviews. Thank you for all your support and comments. Hopefully I addressed all of them in this chapter or individuals through replies but if I didn't please let me know.