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.

22. Chapter 22

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

AN: I would like to say that the crashed ship discovered in the last chapter was not the Ebon Hawk. Sorry for any confusion that may have caused with readers as I had a few reviewers believe it was the Ebon Hawk and likely that means that other readers thought that as well.

x-x

36.3 BBY – Current Year

Chapter XXII: This droid wants to kill us

x-x

No sooner had the droid spoke then the blast doors they had painstakingly opened, shut and locked.

'Well that's not good. Why do I have such bad luck with ships?' Naruto wondered as he continued to look at the screen and contacted his clones.

'Shut off the emergency power.' Plagueis quickly ordered but Naruto soon mentally responded, 'I can't, he's shut my clones out and is trying to start the ship's reactor. There's no fuel for the reactors to start up so the droid won't succeed.'

Both Master and Student's attention was soon brought back to the monitors as the droids began speaking again, "Introduction: My designation is HK-47 and I am currently in need of assistance." the droid announced while looking over the group on the bridge before continuing, "Statement: I assume most of you are spacers that have found the wreckage of this vessel. After the crash, I was forced to upload the contents of my memory core into the ship's systems because my body was damaged when the ship was attacked and boarded. I am willing to offer a generous reward in exchange for your assistance." bargained the droid.

The group gave the screens slight looks of disbelief at the statement as Plagueis had only just informed them moments before of a quite different scenario.

'Inner thought: The offering of a reward will almost always undermine the Meatbag's better judgment. They will soon help me regain a body.' thought the dangerous droid as it overrode security measures and prepared to vent the atmosphere on the ship should the deal not go its way.

Within just a few seconds of being reactivated, he had already determined that the ship's reactor would not be restarting and most security systems on the ships were not functioning. He only had emergency power and that would not last long. The sensors also indicated that the ship was buried under tons of hardened rock. There was no way to get to where it wanted to go so he would have to rely on the Meatbags.

Deciding not to keep the droid waiting or suspecting that they knew more than they let on, Naruto asked with feigned enthusiasm, "What kind of reward?"

"Answer: a once in a lifetime reward as well as this ship and everything on it, Meatbag."

Naruto quickly confirmed what the droid was saying with his clones. Every system on the ship was no longer responding and it also seemed the rest of the ship was on some kind of lock-down. Every door had closed and locked the clones inside whatever compartments they were in when the emergency power was turned on.

Naruto looked toward Plagueis and informed his Master of what his clones had found out. 'What should we do?' he questioned through telepathy.

'The ship could be immensely useful to us and could have many valuable items. I believe we should go along with the droid for now.' stated Plagueis to Naruto and the others.

'It's going to try and kill us the first chance it has when it completes it's goals.' countered Naruto.

'Most assuredly, but knowing it's intentions will allow us to avoid that trap. Having the droid in the ship's computer and in control of the ships systems would complicate everything. Getting it out of the ship's systems should be a priority. After that, the droid would be of little use to us.' Plagueis explained and he told Naruto to accept the droids proposition.

"We accept, HK-47. What is it that you want us to do?" asked Naruto and the droid on the screens eyed him for a second before deciding that the small Meatbag must be in charge of the group.

"Answer: You will need to acquire several signal relay stations from the main storage compartment of the ship. They are small and easy to carry, even for a Meatbag like yourself. I will guide you to them and then guide you using the ship's communications systems to where you will need to place them. With these I will be able to amplify the ship's minimal signal transmission capabilities to transmit my memory core off the ship. The ship will then be yours."

"Where will you send your memory core?" questioned Naruto as he didn't understand what the droid wanted. Was it's goal the mining facility? There weren't many other droids on the planet and it made him wonder if there was something on the planet that they didn't know about.

"Answer: There is a Replublic outpost not too far from here. I will instruct you at what intervals to place the stations. Once that is complete, I will leave the ship for the outpost. At that point your part of the bargain will complete, Meatbag."

Naruto glanced toward Plagueis at the new information that the droid was telling them. Plagueis didn't respond but he could sense confusion coming from his Master.

"I suppose then you'll open the door?" inquired Naruto toward the nearest screen but the blast door did not open.

"Statement: I will have to ask that the others stay here while you complete the given task, Meatbag."

Splitting up the group was not something that either Naruto or Plagueis wanted. Whatever trap the droid was planning would be easier if they were split in such a way. Before Plagueis told Naruto to object to the request, Naruto said, "I'm not very familiar with the planet so I will need to take my Mustafarian guide with me. He's the tall one. The planet is also quite dangerous so I will need to take someone else with me. Juugo, the orange haired one, is far more experienced with dealing with dangerous animals than I am. Should I go by myself, I might not make it."

Some of what he was saying was true. The ruse the droid was using was that the remaining members were collateral for completing the bargain but it was plain to see that the droid planned something else. Naruto had a feeling that as soon as he left he ship or completed the task, the droid would try to kill the ones that were left.

"Reluctant statement: Agreed. The two similar Meatbags will stay on the ship.

'That was quick thinking.' Plagueis thought as as the three chosen individuals walked to the blast door that had just opened. He would have done something quite differently

Without turning around, Naruto communicated to the demon brothers, 'We're leaving you two behind because you can take whatever the droid throws at you. A few of my clones will also remain to make sure the droid leaves the ship's memory banks but I want both of you continue searching the ship until we get back.' Naruto ordered and the demon brothers agreed.

x-x

The droid HK-47 guided them to one of the ship's storage rooms where they found a room full of unused supplies. The droid told them how to work the relay stations which were just cylinders with transmission equipment on the top and a tripod on the bottom. The droid also asked them to take a standard communicator so it could keep in touch with them in order to guide them to the destination.

The comlink that they were instructed to take had an open communication channel so the droid was likely actively listening to them and tracking their progress. Exiting the ship, they were instructed to head in a given direction and Plagueis led the way.

'What do you think about the outpost he spoke about?' Naruto asked his Master through their link.

'My initial survey of the planet when I was considering it for a hideout did not reveal any other structures. Its possible that the droid is so old that whatever outpost it believes we are heading to no longer exist. In which case we are heading well out of our way for nothing. There however is a small possibility that it was hidden enough to escape detection. My own hideout was built in that manner.' Plagueis admitted, though he did find it hard to believe that any outpost would still be operational if it had been around for so long in the harsh Mustafar environment.

'What exactly is wrong with the droid that it would do that to the ship's crew.' asked Juugo to the others and they heard his thought.

'Its memory may have been left unwiped for so long that it developed a dangerous personality. That can happen. However, it is also possible that its an assassin droid and was programmed that way from the start. The designation it uses seems somehow familiar but I cannot place it. At some point in history, the droid may have been quite notable. It does appear that it killed the crew of an entire ship by itself. A droid like that is bound to have gained some infamy.' answered Plagueis as they finished making their way down the volcano and headed in the direction that the droid indicated.

'Does your host's mind know where we might be headed?' Naruto questioned of his Master. He really wanted to have some idea where they were going and what would be ahead of them.

Plagueis looked through the dormant Mustafarian's mind and then answered, 'It's possible we are heading to a feature known as Tulrus Island.'

'Is there a lot of lava?' Naruto questioned and Plagueis quickly responded, 'No, the island is surrounded by tall mountains with only a single narrow entrance. I believe those are the mountains in the distance.' and the Mustafarian pointed toward a line of mountains in the distance.

'What can we expect?' asked Juugo as they moved quickly across the surface of the plateau they were on.

'It's mostly a flat land but is almost entirely inhabited by the Tulrus. The best comparison I can give is that they are a bull that is five or more times larger than normal, with large bone tusks and spikes. They have poor eyesight and charge blindly at the first sign of a threat. The island is covered with small groups of them and they use it for breeding.' Plagueis informed them and both Juugo and Naruto balked at the statement.

x-x

Looking over the two Meatbags left in the room reclining in chairs, HK-47 tried to find something else to do with his time. The processing power he had with the ship left him quite bored. He could easily monitor both groups and he wanted something to happen.

While it appeared that the demon brothers were still on the bridge, they had actually replaced themselves with smoke clones and left the bridge through an open access panel. They could leave a smoke clone without alerting the watching droid by siphoning out their own smoke from their feet and leaving just a shell along with a portion of their chakra. If the clone was not damaged in any way, then it would last for several hours.

Following the ships various utility pathways, they began exploring more of the ship. The droid didn't have any eyes or ears in the rest of the ship so as long as they didn't open any doors or use any power, then the droid would likely never know they were searching the rest of the ship.

In the first few minutes, they already encountered a few of Naruto's clones and made plans to search individual rooms that might be promising. The clones were unable to get through the doors but they could slip through various maintenance areas to access most parts of the ship.

Coming to a large blast door, Meizu and two clones looked for a entrance to the room behind. Moving up the wall, Meizu removed a panel from the ceiling and found his way in.

Reemerging on the other side after knocking a panel off the wall, Meizu looked around the darkness and found several odd looking shapes. It wasn't until he got closer to the fourteen objects that he finally realized what was inside the large room.

x-x

Setting the second transmitter to boost the signal, the droids voice soon came over the comlink and told them to continue on. Ahead of them was the single easy entrance to Tulrus Island. It appeared to be a well traveled mountain pass with steep slopes on both sides.

They still had one more transmitter and it would likely need to be placed closer to their goal, if the outpost still existed. More than once the thought that they were being purposely sent to a dangerous area where nothing existed had crossed their minds. Given how badly damaged the droids body was, there was no way it would be able to use the body again and the ship wouldn't fly, so what else was there?

'The droid could just be completely insane and invented the outpost.' Naruto considered but the Force was telling him that wasn't the case or at least he didn't feel that the droid was lying. It was certainly plotting to kill them but not lying about the outpost.

If it was telling the truth, then that could be of even greater help to them. Plagueis's hideout was good for shelter but it lacked the necessities of helping them fix the ship. Their Snow country hideout was large enough to hold the ship so he could work on it without distraction. He hoped the outpost had such facilities for him to be able to summon the ship there and work on it.

Moving quickly through the pass, so as to not get caught by any large animals, they soon entered into a large, flat expanse of land. The plain was dotted with outcroppings of rock so they would have places to hide if they were attacked.

Pulling down his goggles, Naruto saw some dust rising in the distance and zoomed in to see a herd of what must have been Tulrus moving swiftly across the plain. They were at least three to four meters tall with two large tusks by the mouth and one large spiked horn on the top of the head, followed by several other large spikes down the ridge of their backs. He estimated that they weighed several metric tons.

Looking up at the sky, the dark clouds and dust in the air made it difficult to determine what time of day it was. He thought perhaps it was the afternoon or dusk but the reddish glow from active lava areas provided enough light for their needs, so they could keep going. Moving cautiously from one rock outcropping to another, they kept a watch for the distant animals and made sure to keep a good distance away from the herds.

The droid provided further directions and they adjusted their course accordingly.

'This body needs to take a break.' announced Plagueis and they stopped at the nearest outcropping to rest. Juugo took a drink from his water canteen while Naruto climbed the rock to get a better view of their surroundings.

Scanning the area, Naruto saw mountain peaks in the distance but the curvature of the planet obscured the rest of the mountains. There were several small herds of Tulrus to the east of their position and one herd was just a hundred meters away.

None of the large gray skinned beasts had taken notice of him and he felt it was best to keep it that way. To the north, the land became more rugged and increased in elevation. The west was where they had come from so he panned to the south, which was where the droid had instructed them to head. Through his goggles, he could see something in the distance besides the rocks and mountain peaks. The ground seemed to lead to an edge and indicated some kind of canyon was there or perhaps a sinkhole.

'If Master's hideout was inside a caldera, the outpost could be beneath us.' he wagered and jumped down to the ground.

'I see something ahead of us but its not a structure, more like a drop-off.' he told the others, 'Unless we're heading for the mountains, then the outpost must be there, or what's left of it must be there.'

Using his staff weapon, Plagueis forced the Mustafarian to stand back up so they could continue. Given that the Mustafarians were immune to most blaster fire, they used kinetic energy weapons mounted on the ends of a staff. He had yet to use the weapon but against the Tulrus it would be of little help. The natives mostly used lava fleas for long distance travel, so his new body wasn't accustomed to such a long journey on foot.

Continuing on, Plagueis noticed a change in the ground. It now seemed very flat, almost too flat to be natural. Most of the ground they had been on was hardened material from old lava flows that perhaps had come from one of the mountains that surrounded the, however, now they appeared to be on a layer of flat of ash. His observation were cut short however when the comlink came to life with the droid's voice.

"Statement: You have proceeded far enough to place the last transmitter."

Juugo took the last transmitter off his back and handed it to Naruto who quickly set it up. Placing it atop a nearby rock, so it was out of the way of the local wildlife, Naruto activated the device and they waited to hear back from the droid.

After a brief period, the droids voice came back to them, "Statement: My signal is getting no response from the outpost, you'll have to go investigate. I need to make contact with the outpost in order for our deal to be complete."

"Fine, where is this outpost you've been talking about?" questioned Naruto but he kept any skepticism he had about its existence to himself. There was still a chance that at least some vestige of the outpost was intact or left behind.

"Answer: the outpost is hidden in a depression that is not far from your position, Meatbag. You may be able to see the physical feature now."

Naruto glanced over to the distant feature and raised an eyebrow. He could feel Juugo's and Plageuis's interest peak as well.

"We'll be there shortly." acknowledged Naruto and the droid did not respond. Taking a few steps in the direction of the outpost, he stopped as the memories from one of his clones flooded back to him. The corners of his mouth twinged into a smile at what the demon brothers had found back at the ship.

x-x

Gozu reformed on the other side of the large doors and then his body distended outward. A hand soon emerged and the rest of one of the shadow clones came forth from his smoke body. The clone stumbled slightly but soon regained it's balance.

"I didn't know you guys could do that." the clone admitted. While it knew the demon brothers could 'eat' or 'swallow' people, it had no idea that they could regurgitate them back up without devouring them.

"I think it's only temporary. If you stayed inside any longer then you would have been dispelled." explained Gozu and the clone nodded while looking around. Through the dark veil it began making out shapes which soon turned into definitive lines and edges as it's vision adjusted. After a few moments the clone found itself looking at several small ships and it realized they were in a hangar bay. It also realized that the warship even had a hangar bay.

Moving closer to the objects, it soon identified a dozen starfighters and two larger shuttles. The tilt of the crashed ship had caused the vessels to slide to the wall of the hangar but the clone believed it could still access them.

The demon brothers helped the clone find the loading ramp to the shuttle craft but weren't surprised to find it not operating. The clone quickly searched the hull of the ship and found a maintenance hatch. Opening the panel, it began looking over the systems it could see.

"Can we use these ships to get off the planet?" asked Meizu while the clone searched in the dark.

"No, I don't believe so. These shuttles don't seem to have hyperdrives and based upon what Master Plagueis told the original about starfighters of that size, they likely don't have hyperdrives either and I don't see any hyperdrive rings or modules." answered the clone as it worked to activate the ships reactor and force the loading ramp open.

"However, I think I can still get these operational. Once the droid leaves the ships computer, maybe we can get the hangar bay doors open and fly these ships to pick up the others." said the clone and it put it's hands in a cross shaped seal to create another clone and then dispelled it to inform the original of the discovery.

"Maybe we can learn to fly these things. There seems to be enough for everyone." remarked Gozu as he looked over the twelve sleek starfighters.

x-x

Looking down into the depression, Naruto examined the area. The feature could have been a sink hole or possibly the remnants of a very small caldera or volcanic vent but he had no way to verify what it was or had been.. It was about thirty meters to the bottom and the feature was about fifty meters in diameter. There appeared to be the remnants of a staircase carved into the cliff-side as well as what looked to be a planned area for a lift. Both were covered in ash though and hardly recognizable. A part of the features rim also appeared as if it had collapsed into the floor below and several large dark rocks on the floor below were obvious debris from the collapse.

Aside from the broken rim area and staircase, the remaining cliff-side was quite shear along the entire circular feature and from his position he could only see one large metal door that must be the way into the old outpost. Said door was quite large, completely covered in corrosion and had the bottom section smashed inward, as if something had rammed the door in to gain access to the outpost inside. The opening was completely shadowed and masked what was inside.

'It is quite well hidden. Considering there is no electrical or energy signals coming from the remains of the outpost, my survey would never have registered its existence.' admitted Plagueis as he examined the area. He saw no visible signs of any defense or security systems and even if there were any, after such a long time in the Mustafar landscape there was little chance they would be still active. However, what worried him was the damage to the door.

Even with extensive age and corrosion, it looked so dented and bent inward that he could only conclude that it must have been some kind of animal that did it. 'Possible a Tulrus.' he hypothesized. It could also have been the one other creature that inhabits the area, which preyed upon the Tulrus but there was no way of knowing.

Glancing next to him, he caught site of a plume of white smoke which was quickly followed by a shadow clone emerging from dissipating smoke jumping into the pit. It landed once on the old staircase and then again on the floor of the feature. The clone set about examining the area and then went to the door. After peaking inside, the clone disappeared from their view for a few seconds before Naruto announced that it was safe for them to enter.

While they jumped down to the surface, the clone continued its exploration. By the time the three made it to the door, the clone was already deeper into the facility.

Pulling out two glow rods, Plagueis handed one to Juugo and took the other for himself. He had no idea what the layout of the facility was but figured what they wanted, the power source, would be on the lower levels while a control or operations room could be anywhere.

Entering the damaged door, Naruto proceeded first while Plagueis and Juugo used their lights. The inside hallway was as tall and wide as the door, which was over ten meters tall and just as wide. The hallway was as dark as it had looked from the outside and only the sound of a light wind whistling through the open door could be heard as they traveled down the dusty metal grating.

Similar to the warship, it didn't take long before they found a corpse. They had only just come to an intersection when they found two bodies on the floor. Only mummified remains were left but the uniforms were the same as the ones on the ships.

Using the glow rods, they examined the t-shaped intersection. To the right, the large tunnel-like hallway continued until it dropped off. It seemed that the tunnel was slanted and went further into the ground. The shadow clone was inspecting it and found a large track on the floor that went down the nearly forty five degree incline with the rest of the tunnel.

Naruto could see what the clone was seeing and guessed that some type of platform lift was used to get from their current level to the next one. Judging on the size of tunnel, it was likely a large lift.

To the left, they found another large door, though it was smaller than the entrance to the facility. Plagueis moved to the wall near the door and found several lines of writing.

'Communications...Security...Barracks...Refueling.' he read off to the others. If the outpost still had power, then they could definitely have used the first two areas that the door led to. Plagueis however wasn't sure about the last location. Refueling?

Looking up at the wall that the hallway ended in, Naruto noted a few windows in the darkness. Pointing them out to Juugo, the orange haired teen walked up the side of the wall with him and looked through the glass windows. With the aid of the light, Naruto could see what looked like a monitoring room. He could see quite a few instruments, screens, and interfaces but none of them appeared to be on.

Turning around to look back down at Plagueis, he saw something on the ceiling near his head. It was blaster turret that was mounted on the ceiling and faced the entrance. He also spied a few other security and surveillance devices.

"Where should we go from here?" he asked down and Plagueis thought for a moment before answering. 'We can easily get into these areas with your sword but without any power it would be pointless. We'll need to head further into the facility to see if we can restore power.'

Naruto nodded and sent a signal to his clone, which promptly started the descent to the next level.

"Maybe we should call the others at the hideout and tell them what's going on. I'm sure the others must be worried by now, given how long we've been gone." suggested Juugo but Naruto merely said, "Somehow I doubt it."

x-x

Walking to the lounging area near their rooms, Karin looked to the other two seated ninja and asked, "Have the others checked in yet?"

"Who the hell cares." said Tayuya as he meticulously inspected and cleaned her flute. Her other supplies and weapons were spread out over the table.

"He better have my sword when he gets back." said Suigetsu grumpily from his reclined position on the sofa.

'Maybe I'll check with Kabuto.' she decided, however the thought of seeing what the bespectacled snake ninja was doing in his lab made her rethink that decision. The last time she walked in, Kabuto had been dissecting something that looked vaguely human.

Walking down the hallway, she called for the only reliable person left in the building, "Deefour."

It took a moment before she heard some beeping and the droid came rolling down the hallway on its three wheeled appendages. "Have any of the others sent any messages?" she asked and droid quickly shook its head in the negative.

Frowning, she let the droid go back to whatever it was doing. 'They'll be back eventually and if they got into trouble, they would have contacted us.' she figured and decided to go back to her room.

x-x

Moving down the steep incline, the trio eventually made it to the bottom of the tunnel. Though the glowrods produced a great deal of light, they weren't concentrated like a spotlight and the light quickly faded into the darkness around them.

From what Plagueis could tell, they were standing on the lift platform and it moved up the inclined shaft they had just walked down. Moving forward and holding the light out in front of him, he found what appeared to be a hallway at first but soon he discovered that the walls were actually huge shipping crates and the hallway was just a wide walkway between them.

As he proceeded forward and the others followed, he found row after row of containers with at least three or more containers stacked on top of another. Each row had a narrow walkway between it but the light wasn't strong enough to reach beyond the innermost line of containers to see how deep the stacks went but it seemed quite substantial. They came to a four-way intersection but decided to keep on their current path while Naruto created a few more clones to scout the others. The crates soon changed to large metal pallets with tarps covering various sized and shaped items that were obscured by the thick tarp and the surrounding darkness.

"This seems like a lot of supplies." Naruto commented and then added, "My clones found two more rooms with the same items as this one. These rooms are huge." It was large enough to easily fit the Vulture several times over but not large enough to fit the capital ship that they had found.

They finally came to the end of the huge room which led to another large door but this one was open. A few more bodies were strewn on the floor as they entered the hallway but by that point they just ignored it. A short distance down the hallway, Plagueis stopped to inspect the wall which had more signage.

'Excellent.' he thought as he saw the Power Generation tag that indicated they just had to keep following the hallway. They passed by another intersection. One hallway said Droid Maintenance and Repair while the other apparently led to what looked like a large lift, only this one appeared to be completely vertical.

'It appears the facility has another floor below this one.' Plagueis told them but without power, the lift was unusable. 'Send another clone to look at the droid maintenance area and let me know what's there.' he ordered as he kept walking in front of the group.

The clone quickly checked out the room and the memories flood back to Naruto, "It was filled with what looked like maintenance, labor, construction, and binary load lifting droids."

'This is starting to make sense.' thought Plagueis and he followed the very three very large cables that were attached to the ceiling as he knew them to be for power generation and that they would lead him to where he wanted to go. Entering through another large doorway, they found themselves stepping down onto rock instead of metal. The room was also much larger than their glowrods could illuminate.

Searching their surroundings in the darkness, Plagueis found the three cables again and followed them to what appeared to be three large energy collectors. The devices were all positioned around a hole that seemed to have been bored very deeply in the ground.

Looking over the edge, Juugo could see a faint red glow at the bottom. 'They must tap into the lava like our hideout does.' he guessed and waited while Plagueis and Naruto figured out the machines.

It took a few minutes before Naruto determined that he couldn't find anything wrong with two of the large energy collectors. It appeared that they had just been turned off or shut off. Plagueis found nothing wrong with the other collector and explained, 'Its possible that after a period of inactivity in the facility, it shut itself down.'

Reactivating the control systems, the machines began to hum to life and they were left to wait in the darkness while they activated and began sending power to the rest of the facility. As the energy collectors became fully activated, lights in the area began turning on. After blinking away the new brightness. They found themselves in a large cavern. There were a few lights that were on the ceiling but most of the lightning was from glowrod stands that were illuminating areas of the rock. These areas all appeared to be still in the process of being mined and tunneled into.

'So the facility was still under construction when the droid killed the personnel.' Plagueis thought as he looked over the area. It was quite large but rather empty. No doubt the supplies were to continue with the construction of the outpost or perhaps to turn it into a larger base. The ship they found was probably also stationed at the outpost.

'The flat land on the surface was artificial, it must be part of a landing platform for ships.' he realized and was about to tell the others when he felt worry and uneasiness coming from them. Finding both Naruto and Juugo staring at the other side of the cavern, he too looked in that direction.

Sitting less than a hundred meters from them in an one of the unfinished tunnels was a gray skinned creature. To be exact, it was a Tulrus, though it was far larger than any of the ones they had seen on the surface. The sleeping creature appeared to have made a nesting area from destroyed mining droids and rock. It was just outside of his and Naruto's sensing range so they hadn't detected it when they entered the cavern.

Realizing the danger they were in, he began ushering the others to the door they had come through.

x-x

As soon as the signal with the outpost was reached, the upload began. HK's memories and programming transferred from the hammerhead cruiser into the unfinished republic outpost. Once inside the facilities computers, the droid began to acclimate itself to the systems while simultaneously examining and testing all of the outposts systems.

Acclimated to the system took only a few moments and HK transferred power to the small droid factory that was below the storage level. It had been constructed to build additional droids and even battledroids for base security and he planned to take full advantage of it. The outpost only had limited droid building supplies but he believed he could create a small force of powerful droids.

'Inner thought: I'll need to buy some time with the Meatbags to make sure they don't ruin my plans. I should be able to use the existing schematics for a few battle droids before I can implement my own designs and rebuild my body.' thought the droid and it quickly examined the outpost's surveillance systems. Finding the Meatbags, the security cameras allowed him to see a large creature that had evidently entered the outpost at some point.

'Inner thought: Perfect.' and the droid quickly accessed the stations alert system. Within a few seconds, it activated the alert system which was meant to wake soldiers when the outpost was under attack.

x-x

The loading ramp opened and the shadow clone entered the shuttle craft to look around. The spacious shuttle had seating for quite a few people and even some cargo space.

A moment later, the lights in the hangar bay turned on and the three could clearly see the ships for the first time. The two large white shuttles were what dominated the bay but the twelve smaller ships were quite interesting. Each was long and slightly cylindircal in shape with a thick red stripe down the center. They had a sleek body and cockpit but no other discernible features. The compact design confused the clone but it figured that the ship's wings must be folded for easier storage.

"Why did the lights come on?" questioned Gozu from the bottom of the loading ramp and the clone answered, "The droid must have left the computer systems. It was siphoning power away from the emergency lights to keep the computer core active. The ship is ours now. "

The large blast doors to the hangar soon opened and several more clones entered the bay. Meizu was about to say something when he saw that all the clones stopped in unison for a split second and then all went into a frenzy of coordinated movement. Several went to the hangar bay doors and set about accessing override systems while several others went into the shuttle to get it operational.

'Something must have happened with the others.' Meizu guessed and Gozu concluded the same thing. Deciding not to get in the way, they went aboard the shuttle and sat down in a few of the seats. The huge hangar bay door soon opened but revealed a wall of solid rock that was likely many meters thick.

"How are we going to get through?" asked Gozu as he wanted to know if he could help

"We're going to use the ships and punch a hole through." responded a clone sitting in one of the pilots seat of the shuttle. Out the ramp, Meizu could see two more clones trying to access two of the starfighters. The noise of the shuttle starting up could then be heard and the loading ramp closed blocking his view.

Moving to the cockpit, they continued to watch the starfighters out the window. Both brothers were curious to see what the smaller ships could do. They didn't even appear to have wings.

Finally figuring out how to open the sealed cockpit of one of the starfighters, a clone jumped into the single seat ship and looked at the controls in front of it. It quickly identified the flight controls and instrumentation but looked for some kind of activation console.

'They probably made these things idiot proof, look for the simplest solution.' the clone thought and pushed in a green button on the dashboard. The cockpit closed and the ship began starting up. Instrumentation screens and a small head-up display formed on the cockpit glass as the ship began lifting off the deck of the hangar and hovered in the air.

The clones attention was distracted as the shuttles laser canons began opening fire on the rock wall that was preventing them from leaving the ship, but it's focus returned and it took the the center stick in hand. Figuring out the other systems, it activated the ships deflector shields and then pulled the trigger on the center stick.

Nothing happened.

Confused, the clone turned to the other fighter craft and found the other clone having the same problems. Looking around the cockpit, it found a lever that it knew wasn't the ejection system. Pulling it, he watched as the back section of the ship began moving outward and formed a pair of wings. The ship now had a distinctive 'A' or delta shape to it as the wings only folded part of the way out. Along with the wings were two large laser cannons that also folded out and looked quite formidable.

The other clone found the same lever and soon they were both ready to help the shuttle. Pulling the trigger again, two green lasers fired at the wall and did some impressive damage to the rock, more than the lasers cannons on the shuttle were doing.

Both fighters soon opened fire at the wall and began cutting through it.

Watching from the shuttle, both Meizu and Gozu each thought that they would have to learn to pilot the smaller ships. It seemed far easier than piloting the Vulture and more fun as well.

x-x

Quietly and swiftly moving toward the door, the group of three endeavored to get out of the cavern as fast as possible without waking the Tulrus.

Halfway to the exit, all hell broke loose as a loud alarm went off, followed by some red flashing lights on the side of the door they were heading to. The Tulrus was awake in an instant and despite it's eyesight, it spotted the movement and bellowed a loud war-cry at them before getting up and charging.

There were no words spoken amongst the group as each person knew instinctively that they had to run as fast as they could. Several shadow clones popped into existence and attempted to distract the bull with more movement. Their distraction worked as the bull shifted to the larger and more clamorous group. The lumbering gate turning into rampage as the animal picked up speed and headed for the clones

As the clones were getting massacred, they reached the doorway and headed down the long hallway, back the way they had come. Juugo and Plagueis were in the front while Naruto brought up the rear. Plagueis idly noted that the outpost cameras were following them and instantly suspected the droid.

His thoughts were soon verified as the the stations announcement system activated and the droid's voice came on, "Conclusion: Since we have competed our arrangements, you Meatbags may now receive your reward...a brutal death, enacted by myself."

Some distance ahead of them, the large door to the storage area began to close. Knowing they wouldn't make it in time. Plagueis called on the Force and put both his hands out to stop the doors from closing. It was incredibly difficult to do it while still running but he managed. Juugo and Naruto had slowed themselves down in order to match his host's speed so he felt he needed to do it.

Without good chakra control, Naruto was limited to lighter jutsu so he created two clones behind him and they began going through seals as the Tulrus entered the hallway after them. It was a close fit for the creature as it's spikes and girth nearly prevented it from fitting inside.

The clones finished the jutus and both said, "Fuuton: Daitoppa.(Wind Release: Great Breakthrough)" Two large balls of condensed wind chakra flew at the charging animal and combined into one large attack. The jutsu and Tulrus collided and while the bull was slowed, it still smashed through the double jutsu and continued on, building up more speed as it went.

Surprised but still determined, the clones pulled out weapons and threw a barrage of wind enhanced kunai as well as kunai attached with explosive notes. The weapons however made little headway and the beast was only enraged further.

One clone was gored by a tusk while the other was trampled by huge hooves.

'He's got a thick hide and my wind chakra isn't nearly as sharp as it used to be.' Naruto noted as Plagueis and Juugo made it to the closing door.

Straining to keep it open, Plagueis gave up the moment a discblade imbedded into the small opening and forced the doors from completely closing. He and Juugo continued running to the inclined lift shaft that brought them down to that level of the outpost. Plagueis idly noted the crates and tarp covered items but he continued to run. Unable to keep up with Juugo, he began using Force run and Juugo sped up as well.

With the discblade keeping the doors open, Naruto dived through the opening and had to leave his weapon stuck in it the doors while he rolled, got his feet, and continued to run.

A second later the doors were smashed inward by the Tulrus. The strong doors were nearly ripped from their frame as they bent completely inward and allowed the bull entrance to the storage area. Naruto saw his discblade fly through the air and used the Force to make use of the weapon. The discblade righted itself in the air and began spinning as it changed trajectory and headed toward the head of the Tulrus.

With a flick of its head, the discblade was hit by the it's tusk with a sharp clang sound and sent off into the crates. It seemed that the tusks were much harder than he thought as it only made a small slice into the large tusk, 'Then again, they didn't break when it hit the metal doors.' he remembered and tried to come up with another plan. Up ahead, he could see Juugo and Plagueis just making it to the lift and thought perhaps the Tulrus would be unable to make it up the steep incline.

Running as fast as he could, he followed his two companions.

x-x

Four gray crab-like droids walked off the small assembly lines and tested their joints. They each had four legs and a head with two large blue photoreceptors as well as a double blaster in the top of their head. The Mark IV assault droids were a very common droid design during HK's time so the schematics were already in the system.

A nearby screen came to life and the picture of a rustic droid filled the image. "Orders: Go to the above levels and hunt down the intruders." the droid said to the newly formed droids and they proceeded to head to the elevator which would take them to the upper floor.

With the creature and now the droids, HK had plenty of time to finish implementing the designs for the HK-77 model battle droids which had just begun initial assembly. They were modeled in his own design with a few alterations. After enough of the droids had been built, he could then create his new body, which would be very similar to his old body with a few minor alterations. The outpost only had enough raw materials to create a squad worth of droids but that would have to do.

Once he dealt with the Meatbags in the outpost, he would move out to the rest of the planet's inhabitants. He couldn't remember exactly what had happened to him but knew that his body was damaged and he was forced to upload himself to the computer. Not sure who exactly had caused the damage, he just decided to wipe the planet clean of Meatbags and then move on. The spacer Meatbags likely had a ship that he could make use of though from there, he had no idea what he would do.

The only thing he did know, was that he would not allow anyone to be his Master ever again.

x-x

Reaching the top of the incline lift, Plagueis instantly sensed danger and he Force pushed Juugo back into the wall while he lunged for what little cover there was. Two green blaster bolts flew past them and went right through the area they had just occupied.

'We forgot about the defense turret.' said Plagues to Juugo as they hid behind a metal reinforcing ring that helped to support the tunnel. The turret had stopped firing since they had hidden themselves but as soon as they came out, it would begin firing again.

Pulling his staff weapon off his back, Plagueis was about to try and use it to damage the turret when an electrified weapon flew past him. He recognized it as Naruto's sword with a little lightning chakra added to it.

As the weapon struck the turret, Naruto ran up the last of the incline. "Keep running! Its still behind us." he told them and they quickly followed his. His sword was pulled from the damaged turret and returned to his hand.

The door that they had not taken earlier had some kind of shielding over it and Plagueis realized it had been magsealed to prevent them from trying to get into that area of the facility.

Running down the main entrance to the outpost, they soon found themselves in the large depression that they had discovered earlier. Turning around, they heard a heavy panting and found that the Tulrus had indeed managed to follow them.

The beast emerged from the tunnel entrance after smashing through the already damaged doors and they once again saw just how large and intimidating it was. Naruto finally saw the minimal amount of damage he and his clones had managed to inflict upon it and was not liking the current situation. Even his discblade had barely scratched it's tusk. They could climb the wall and leave the creature there, but that would also cut off access to the outpost and leave the droid to do whatever it wanted inside.

Plagueis for his part was forming plans at the same time he was inspecting the specimen in front of him. He had never heard of a Tulrus growing that big nor being so ferocious and powerful. Normally he would want to take such a creature alive but that probably wouldn't be possible. He would have to settle for samples. Juugo was also impressed with the creature but was already activating his bloodline for the coming fight and brandishing his vibroaxe which was borrowed from Suigetsu's collection.

Stamping it's hoof into the ground, which caused a noticeable vibration for them, the Tulrus aimed at Naruto and charged. Pulling out his blaster, Naruto aimed right between the eyes and fired a shot off.

The Tulrus wasn't phased in the least and Naruto turned and ran while the others scattered to get better positions. He pulled out his sword while putting away his blaster and readied it for use.

Running up the wall of the cliff-side, he intended to wait until the bull had smashed into the wall before dropping down and spearing it through the head with his sword but that certainly wasn't what happened. Three meters up the wall, he began to lose his footing as the chakra in his feet failed to stick properly. The heavy impact by the Tulrus into the wall jarred him so much that he fell off.

Just missing the first spike on its head, Naruto landed behind the spike in a backwards seated position. Before he could even use his sword, the creature felt him sitting on it's head and went berserk. It began bucking in the air and charging wildly around the pit area.

Naruto for his part was barely managing to keep himself on the creature. If he fell off he would either be gored by the tusks or trampled by the hooves. Neither of which he wanted so he held on as best as he could.

Firing his kinetic energy weapon at the creature was completely pointless and Plagueis tossed the weapon aside. What he needed, and wanted, was a lightsaber and it was the one thing he didn't have. 'Even a sword would do.' he thought and pushed the idea aside for later.

Juugo was waiting for a moment to use his vibroaxe but the Tulrus was moving so wildly that he couldn't get a chance to use it without putting himself at great risk.

Forming a kinetite in his hand, Plagueis threw the condensed kinetic energy at the creature. The attack struck the side of its body. While the creature howled in pain and was nearly knocked over, it only served to turn its anger towards them. Moving at them at them, Plagueis put both of his hands forward and attempted to stop the animal.

'I can't hold it for long.' he said to the others and Juugo threw the vibroaxe straight at the creatures head, where it imbedded deeply into it. At the same moment, Naruto plunged his sword through the Tulrus's spine at the base of its head right as Plagueis's hold over the creature waned.

The beast swayed slightly before collapsing to the ground. Juugo walked up to the Tulrus and watched it draw in it's last breath before expiring. He could even hear the heart stop beating.

Naruto could feel a profound sadness coming from the orange haired teen and he said nothing as he removed his sword and got off the creatures neck. He'd never encountered such a persistent and tough animal and he did feel that perhaps it was shame to kill it, however he had no idea how to use the Force to tame animals.

Just as Juugo pulled the vibroaxe from the head of the Tulrus, a noise was heard from inside the entrance to the base.

Three sets of eyes turned to the opening and could see the outline of several objects moving down the dark hallway. Naruto pulled his blaster and as soon as one of the droids came out of the tunnel, he opened fire.

The three shots were perfectly aimed but deflected off an energy shield that had formed around the droids. With evident surprise, Naruto and others didn't try and take cover until the droids opened fire on them. Red bolts of plasma nearly hit them as they dove behind the downed animal. The droids stopped shooting but kept moving closer and appeared to be splitting up to move around both sides of the animal.

Naruto unsealed a thermal detonator and, after estimating the positions, he activated the explosive. The small sphere was quickly thrown over the Tulrus body. The blaster bearing head of one of the droids quickly flicked upwards and fired one shot, which struck the thermal detonator, causing it to explode in the air.

The sphere had been far enough away from them that it didn't injure them but Naruto and Juugo could feel the heat that was produced from the explosion. 'It seems these droids are well made and have energy shields, you'll have to use something else.' Plagueis told his student and Naruto unsealed his other discblade.

Throwing it into the air, the blade spun and changed directions. The droids fire upon it but the shots were deflected off the surface of the discblade. Descending upon the droids, the weapon passed through the energy shield and cut the head off of one of the droids. The discblade arced around and came back to finish off two more of the droids.

Moving to the top of the Tulrus body, Juugo threw his vibroaxe as the last droid. The droid was too distracted by the discblade to attack Juugo and the ax imbedded into its body.

"Do you know what kind of droids those were?" asked Naruto as he had only ever heard his Master speak of a few droids that possessed energy shielding.

'Considering that its a Republic outpost, they must have been standard droids used for defending the facility. That however is contradicting as shielded droids are incredibly expensive nowadays and I don't think the Republic would have used such droids in this remote area of the galaxy. We'll have to examine them later.' Plagueis concluded and soon returned to the situation at hand.

'I need to get into the room at the end of the hallway.' he informed his student and Naruto loosed his discblade again. The circular weapon moved down the outpost entrance, elevated in the air, and smashed into a glass window that overlooked the hallway intersection.

Plagueis moved down the hallway and Force jumped into the room while Naruto and Juugo followed him to the intersection.

Scanning over the room, Plagueis chose a terminal and sought to gain access to the stations mainframe. He expected to have interference from the droid but initially found none. This aroused his suspicions and searching through the facility, he found out why that was the case.

The assassin droid had created a small army of droids similar to him as well as a new body. The group was headed through the storage area level straight to the lift that would take them to their level. Twelve identical droids led by a slightly differently looking HK-47.

Accessing other systems, he tried to gain control of the lift and get it to raise to their level in order to keep the droids stuck in the lower areas of the facility. His efforts however failed as the droid had locked him out from those systems.

There was no way he could stop the droids from coming up the lift.

'There are thirteen battle droids heading our way and I can't stop them. We may need to retreat from the facility and fight them from the high-ground at the entrance.' Suggested Plagueis and he moved to the broken window.

"Don't bother..." Naruto said as he began to go through seals for a summoning jutsu, "...I've got a present for that damn droid."

x-x

The firing on the rock ceased and the three ships waited for the dust to settle.

Looking over the new exit, the shuttle went first and slowly moved forward as it navigated the tunnel. It was a close fit but the shuttle eventually reached the surface. The side wings lowered and it took of on a heading toward where Naruto and the others were.

The two starfighters followed right behind and easily passed through the tunnel side by side. Once on the surface, they both took off in the same direction and the faster, more maneuverable ships quickly outstripped the shuttle.

x-x

Though he needed to get to the barracks in order to get a suitable weapon, his droids were well equipped. The twelve droids were made different enough from his design to make them distinguishable from him as he didn't want there to be other copies of himself.

The biggest difference between them was the fact that the twelve droids didn't have hands. Where the forearms and articulating digits should have been on each droid was a high powered blaster rifle attached at the elbow joint. They would be more than enough to deal with the spacers.

About a 30 meters from the lift, the droid's auditory sensors picked up a strange noise. It sounded like something tumbling. An object then came hurtling out of the lift tunnel like a rolling barrel. His identification software determined the objects to be an escape pod and he moved before his battle droids even identified the incoming threat. Jumping to the containers, his hands managed to grab hold of the edge of the tallest stacked container and he watched as the rolling escape pod smashed through his HK-77s. The pod continued to roll until it eventually impacted with some containers at the farther end of the room.

Looking to the lift, his vision zoomed in on a figure sliding down the lift and stopping on the lift platform. The figure was already brandishing a blaster.

Putting his feet against he surface of the container, the droid pushed himself off and avoided two blaster shots. Flipping through the air, HK landed on the ground on all fours and continued to dodge blaster fire from the Meatbag as it moved for cover.

While the room was filled with crates, there were several walkways between rows and it hid in one of those. Assessing the situation, HK grabbed one of his fallen droids and pulled it closer to him. Grasping his right forearm, he twisted and unlocked the mechanism to remove his arm. Moving to the 77 model, he did the same with its blaster rifle arms and fitted the new appendage to his stump.

'Inner thought: Now the hunt begins, Meatbag.'

x-x

Using the escape pod, which was still filled with their scrolls, may not have been the best idea but the results were more than acceptable. The small army the droid had managed to somehow amass was now incapacitated and he was left searching for HK-47.

Juugo had come down the lift after him and hopefully the droid had not seen his group member. The teen was heading along the opposite side of the huge room and towards the droid maintenance room which was down the adjoining hallway and not that far away. He had given Juugo a mental image of what he was to look for in the room and acquire for him. It was the best plan he could come up with to not destroy the droid completely and leave it in working order or as close to working order as he could.

He wasn't sure he wanted to destroy HK-47. Something about the droid was familiar or at least he always imagined himself with an old assassin droid by his side like some of the stories that Plagueis had told him featured.

Extending his senses out did nothing as the droid was not a living creature and, despite being entirely made of metal, the droid didn't seem to produce audible footfalls as he thought it should have. The reddish-orange droid should be clanking around but it certainly wasn't.

'It must have some kind of sound dampening field for it's feet.' he thought and moved down through one of the walkways between containers. Coming to the end of a container and an intersection of walkways, his eyes widened right before a fist struck out and hit him in the face.

He was thrown backward by the powerful blow and smacked against a metal container. Before he could do anything to recover, a plasma bolt entered his forehead.

"Statement: One Meatbag down, two to go." said the droid as it lowered its blaster arm. It was almost too easy and he half expected a more interesting battle from the Meatbag. Turning around, it was about to walk away when it heard a sound from the Meatbag. Turning back, it found an HK-77 with a hole burned through it's head instead of the Meatbag.

The droid multitasked as it searched its surroundings for the now elusive Meatbag while also running diagnostics on its photoreceptor and recognition software. It had shot the Meatbag, it was sure of it. Even it's memories verified that but the lack of a correct body defied its logic.

x-x

Laying on top of a container, Naruto glanced below at the droid as it searched for him. He opened and closed his mouth as he tested out his jaw. The droid had clocked him good but now he had the advantage.

Taking aim, he targeting the droids joints and got of two shots before the droid moved behind another crate for cover. Both shots had hit, one in the pelvis joint and once in the shoulder. He thought those shots would immobilize it but that was not that case. His blaster had been giving him a less than stellar performance all day.

Putting the blaster away, he decided to try and use some jutsu.

x-x

The shuttle landed inside the depression near the dead body of the Tulrus. The two starfighters continued to fly overhead but they would soon land as well.

Seeing the destroyed droids and the dead creature, the demon brothers ran ahead of the clones and entered the facility without hesitation. They found Plagueis just inside the facility and went down with him in the inclined lift shaft to the lower levels.

'There is a droid that needs to be dealt with.' Plagueis told them and they acknowledged the order.

x-x

The lights automatically came on as Juugo entered the droid maintenance area. Searching through drawers, cabinets and even on some of the droids that were in the room, Juugo sought to find the small device Naruto had sent him after. The image of it was still in his mind and he tried to match the items he was seeing.

Naruto was sure that they would be in the room and he wouldn't stop until he found one. Opening the next cabinet, he found a container full of what he was after. Taking one of the small black objects out, he ran back to the storage room.

x-x

Methodically, HK searched the tops of the stacked containers as it slowly moved on and kept itself from being in an exposed position again. Its damage was minimal but it now knew not to let its guard down. Going over possible strategies, it debated about taunting the Meatbag or perhaps trying to unnerve it by talking. The current Meatbag, however, was quite different from common Meatbags. It didn't believe such tactics would work.

It still had no idea how it had been tricked into shooting its own droid when it clearly saw hit and fired upon the Meatbag. The only conclusion was that the Meatbag could use the Force. This was not much of a problem though. He had vague memories of fighting Force users and knew they could be killed. Taking his time and waiting for the right moment would certainly make the hunt enjoyable.

x-x

Waiting in ambush, Naruto began going through seals for an earth jutsu that would hopefully immobilize the droid.

The moment the seals were finished, he came out from behind his hiding place and instantly knew it had been a mistake. He thought the droid's back would be to him but it was looking right at him. The droid didn't hesitate and fired a shot at him before he could get out of the way.

He felt a searing heat on the side of his cheek from where the plasma bolt had passed near his head. Acting quickly, he tried to make the most of the situation.

x-x

HK quickly rounded the corner with blaster rifle-arm drawn but found no Meatbag. Walking forward, the droid calculated the probability of the Meatbag taking one of the different escape vectors that the area provided.

The Meatbag was acting strangely again. Coming out from behind a hiding spot with no weapon was a difficult strategy for it to comprehend. What had the Meatbag been up to? Perhaps it was not truly the foe he initially believed it to be.

Determining the most likely route that the Meatbag took, he was about to pursue when his senses noted a disturbance. Situated near him on a container was a piece of paper that was sparking. The inexplicable explosion that followed did little damage to his armor but knocked him off balance.

Naruto was quick to capitalize and with one swing of his sword, had taken off the droid's weapon arm. He was however unprepared for the droids recovery and speed. The droids knee smashed into him and he was backhanded with the good arm.

By the time he looked up, the droid was already upon him. Sticking out his open palm, he Force pushing the droid back. HK impacted a container but quickly responded by kicking the severed part of its arm at the Meatbag. The desperate act worked and it allowed the droid a chance to escape.

Naruto deflected the piece of blaster-arm and gave pursuit. Rounding a container corner, he found an empty corridor leading through the various rows of containers. On full alert, Naruto felt for any disturbances. The droid couldn't have just vanished.

His eyes looked all around as he surveyed the area. 'He could be hiding down the next walkway or hiding above me.' Naruto thought and cautiously began walking. He could feel through their connection that his Master was getting close to his position.

Situated flat against the top surface of the container, HK waited for the Meatbag to move past. His new and more agile body was able to do far more than his old one ever could. It was the first time he could design it himself and he knew everything he wanted.

Slowly getting into a crouched position on top of the container, and making almost no sound, HK pushed off the surface with strength his body couldn't achieve and landed some distance away. His landing was perfect and with the sound dampening system he had added, the Meatbag wouldn't have been able to hear him. Moving on a parallel course to the Meatbag, he calculated when they would intercept. Activating his infrared vision, he quickly found the Meatbags heat signature and quickly moved for a surprise attack.

He thought about going after another blaster-arm from one of the damaged 77s but decided he wanted to finish the Meatbag as soon as possible. Even with one arm, he was still dangerous.

x-x

Time was almost up and he had somehow managed to lose the droid in the grid-like maze of the containers. It seemed foolish but a part of him was pleased. This droid seemed far more capable than most other assassin droids his Master had ever told him about in his history lessons. Possible better than all the other droids.

Acting on instinct, he swung his sword behind him but his forearm was caught by the droid. Its red photoreceptors glowed and before he could pull his blaster or any other weapon, his forearm was broken by the droid's grip.

Gritting his teeth, he dropped his sword and was kicked in the chest. Before he could get to his feet, his arms were both pinned to the ground by the droids knee and he looked up to see the droid looming over him with his own sword.

Looking down at the Meatbag, HK said, "Statement: This is the end Meatbag. The energy field you call the Force won't help you now." Looking to its good hand, it admired the weapon. "Observation: What an interesting weapon. I shall keep it and use it in the future to dispatch other Meatbags, after I test it out on you of course."

Moving the sword back for a thrust, Naruto began smiling at the droid despite the pain he was in. The droid stopped in its execution, "Confusion: Your facial expression does not fit the current situation, Meatbag. Question: Why won't you show me any fear?"

"How do you feel about restraining bolts?" Naruto asked the droid's head tilted slightly before it heard something behind him. Turning to see the possible new threat, a small black restraining bolt instantly struck HK's head with a thunk.

Standing on top of some containers almost ten meters away, Juugo sighed in relief that the throw had hit the droid dead on and that the device was so easy to use.

"Stand." Naruto ordered and HK complied, though reluctantly. Moving away from the killer droid, Naruto used his good arm to pull himself into a seated position with his back against a container. Juugo jumped down a moment later and began helping him to his feet while Plagueis and the demon brothers arrived moments later.

The red photoreceptors seemed to glare at them as they all stood and looked at the immobilized droid.

Noting his student's injuries, Plagueis was confused about how Naruto could allow a droid to injure him so much. He tried to think of a valid reason why Naruto would hold back and use a restraining bolt but the only answer he could come up with was not one that he liked. The droid was far more trouble than it was worth to them. It had already plotted and tried to kill most of their group.

Without thinking, Plagueis began speaking to the droid in Mustafarian, "With this facility and the ship in our possession, you are of no use or value to us. You're far to dangerous to be left functioning."

While the others were confused about what Plagueis had said in the buzzing language, HK quickly responded in Galactic basic, "Statement: Meatbags before you have said similar statements, and yet I continue to survive."

It was at that moment that Naruto had an idea of how to get Plagueis to keep the droid, "I think we should keep him." he stated his opinion and baited his Master.

'Do you have some penchant for adding individuals that have tried to kill you to our group?' Plagueis asked and continued, 'The droid is far too insane and I don't see a purpose for him.'

"When you were speaking Mustafarian, it didn't have a problem translating you and responding back. I do remember you saying that we needed a protocol droid." Naruto countered.

"Exclamation: I am not a protocol droid, incompetent Meatbag." said the droid and all those around it could tell that it wanted to attack Naruto at that moment. Luckily the restraining bolt kept it from moving or acting on its murderous thoughts.

'I'd have to agree with the droid.' stated Plagueis.

"Well, he's just a protocol droid that can defend himself. Sounds good to me. I wouldn't want to keep getting a new protocol droid every time we get in a dicey situation and it gets destroyed. Plus others would think he is a protocol droid and underestimate him. I'd say he's a very 'functional' or 'aggressive' protocol droid and an excellent addition to the group. I don't see any other places to find a protocol droid before we get to Tatooine and I might need one." explained Naruto and Plagueis's eyes narrowed slightly.

He had informed Naruto that he would not be taking part in the weapons negotiation. Naruto would be dealing with the Hutts on his own. However, now his student was trying to coerce him to keep the droid in a manner that a civilian child would convince a parent to keep a small animal.

"What are all of your functions?" Plagueis asked of the droid in Mustafarian.

"Statement: My primary function is to burn holes through Meatbags like you."

"How wonderful, can you still translate a variety of common galactic languages?" Plagueis inquired.

"Reluctant statement: Yes."

Plagueis thought about his decision for a moment. What the droid needed was a good memory wipe, that however would remove many of the components that made the droid so resilient. The droid had managed to survive for quite a long time and continued to do so as it had said. Having a protocol droid's software in the memory wiped body of an assassin droid was not a better alternative to keeping the droid how it was.

'I could alter his programming so we wouldn't need the restraining bolt.' Plagueis thought and made his decision with a single nod to his student.

Naruto merely smiled a devious smile and turned to the droid, "Congratulations HK-47, you were just forced to joined our group."

"Sarcasm: Oh joy, the short Meatbag says I can stay. Declaration: I refuse to have another Master or refer to you as such." stated the droid and Naruto's eye twitched at the 'short' statement.

"That's fine. I don't want anyone to call me Master. I also didn't want to keep you so you could be my slave. I wanted to keep you because you're useful but you'll only be burning holes through the Meatbags that I tell you to burn holes through. There is a semblance of command structure in the group and you're just at the bottom of it." Naruto told the droid and the two stared at each other for several seconds.

Plagueis was already halfway to the lift when Naruto realized that he and the others were leaving. Their only priority had been repairing the Vulture but the situations and subsequent circumstances for their group never seemed to get dull or easy. Everything up until that point was more of a struggle than he had ever dealt with before. What he really needed was to meditate and figure out what to do next.

When they got outside, Plagueis was surprised to find a large shuttle and two starfighters. He didn't actually know how the demon brothers had managed to get there so fast. Looking towards the dead Tulrus, he began forming an idea.

Despite their favorable position with the discovery of the warship and outpost, they might still need some help with their ship as well as salvaging the pirate ship for parts.

x-x

Jedi Temple, Coruscant

x-x

"Something else you have to add, Master Qui-gon?" asked Master Yoda to the Jedi Master standing before him in the council meeting room. The green creature looked intently at him and knew that something else had yet to be said. Obi-wan was about to leave but stopped to see what his Master might have to say. They had just given their entire investigation report to the Jedi council members and to the best of his knowledge, nothing had been left out.

Qui-gon took a few moments to gather his thoughts before admitting, "There was something that I left out of the submitted report. I felt it wouldn't be a good idea to let anyone else know."

After receiving a nod from Master Yoda, he quickly continued. "During the course of the investigation, I came to an additional conclusion that I could not verify nor did I want to include in the report. The evidence and circumstances pointed me towards the possibility that the Directors death may have had to do with the Tessents." Qui-gon revealed and feelings of skepticism washed over the room. Yoda however did not judge Qui-gon's words. If anything, he seemed more curious. They all knew about the infamous objects known as the Tessent.

"And you didn't include that in the report because of the ensuing chaos it would cause." Stated Master Windu and Qui-gon nodded while adding, "I felt it would cause treasure seekers to flood into the area and cause problems for the skyhook and researchers."

"What proof do you have?" asked Master Sifo-Dyas.

"Only bits of evidence that could be taken in any light." answered Qui-gon.

"What does the Force tell you, hmm?" inquired Yoda.

"Only that far more went on there then our investigation could uncover." Qui-gon answered truthfully.

"Mystery it is. Then wait we shall, to see if the infamous statues are returned. Those that return it may be the killers you sought." stated Master Yoda and everyone knew that the meeting was concluded.

x-x

Naruto watched from the seat of his new starfighter as Plagueis took off on the shuttle. Plagueis was traveling to the Mustafarian city of Fralideja to meet with the other Mustafarians. His Master had told him to put a summoning seal on the Tulrus body and to have one clone board the shuttle. Apparently the Tulrus would be an offering to the Mustafarian people to get in their good graces.

With the acceptance of the offering, they would ask for help from the natives to fix their ship. Though not a space-faring race, Plagueis believed they were quite capable of repairing the ship for them, which saved him the trouble of doing it by himself. The ship certainly wasn't beyond repair but what repairs it needed were quite extensive and slightly beyond what he was capable of by himself. Even with his clones, it might take a week or more to fix the hull breech and other systems while scavenging the pirate ship for needed parts and materials. With the help of the Mustafarians, it might only take a few days and they could be underway in a brief amount of time. This was likely what Plagueis was really after, leaving the planet to arrive at Tatooine as soon as possible, which still made little sense to him.

He doubted his Master had determined what to do with the warship or base yet, or even the droid that had tried so hard to kill them. His own thoughts were a jumble as he started up the starfighter and prepared to take off.

The outpost was full of building supplies and had a small working droid factory. The entire structure was an incredible resource, however they had no plans to stay on Mustafar for a long period of time.

The starship flew over the desolate landscape and he headed for the crashed warship. He would need to switch to the other shuttle and take it back to the hideout to bring others with him, if they wanted to go. Plagueis had also requested a few items and he would need to fetch them.

Carefully guiding the ship into the hangar of the crashed ship, he grit his teeth as the pain from his injuries was flaring up. His adrenaline had worn off and now he was feeling his broken arm and other wounds. It was surprising that they were giving him as much trouble as they were but he believed it was a result of cutting himself off from the Kyuubi. His body just didn't heal like it used to.

Docking in the slanted ship, a few of his remaining clones helped him out of the starship and took him to the other shuttle where another clone already had the ship powered up and ready to go. He was eased into a seat as the ship took off and he knew it would be only moments before he was at the hideout.

He reminded himself that the escape pod he had so brazenly used as a steamroller would have to be summoned back to the base and that their precious scrolls were still inside it.

'Perhaps I should stop and see Kabuto about my injuries.' he thought and waited patiently for the ship to land.

x-x

Plagueis decided to land the shuttle a good distance away from the city. The demon brothers informed him of where the sentries and scouts were around the city and they avoided them as best as possible by flying extremely low.

Walking to the village by foot, he planned to talk with the village leader as well as the village council. His host was not very popular or well liked among but he would broker arrangements between the natives and his group. Naruto would represent their group and in exchange for the Tulrus, they would garner the help of the Mustafarians.

The creature was huge and would likely feed a portion of the villagers. The natives also used every part of such creatures so nothing was wasted and every part of the Tulrus would be useful to them. Such a gift would certainly help their standing and elevate their status as more than just off-worlders. In exchange for the creature, they would ask for help with their ship and access to the Mustafarians metal forges.

During their battle with the creature, he found he was lacking an effective means for fighting. The simple fact was, he needed a weapon. Something that was powerful and that would strike down his foes but also something that was also balanced and dependable. Now that he had useable body, it was a waste not to make full use of it. He may not have all of his Force powers but he was no longer waiting on others to do things for him like he was with Gato as his host.

With his students lack of chakra control, and the likely fact that they would encounter more trouble in the future, he needed something to defend his new body and help fight alongside the group. Without any means or resources to create a lightsaber at the present, he therefore decided to follow his students example and create a Sith sword. Naruto's sword had shown to be quite dependable and although it didn't possess the means of deflecting blaster bolts as well as a lightsaber could, it was still a formidable weapon with its own advantages.

He wanted one and he had wanted one for quite a while.

The memories from when Naruto had constructed one were still in his mind and had never left and he always held on to the secret desire to make such such a weapon for himself. Ever since he first learned about the Sith swords from the texts he had. Naruto had already promised to make a sword for Suigetsu and with the Mustafarians helping to fix their ship, they would have the time to do it.

Along with gathering the others, Naruto was currently retrieving everything they would need to get to work at the forge.

x-x

As soon as the shuttle landed on the stations landing platform, Naruto headed directly for the infirmary while his clones did the rest.

From his connection, he could already tell that his clones were talking with the others. They didn't have to go anywhere and could stay at the station but he already knew that Suigetsu would want to come with them.

Coming to the infirmary door, he could feel both Kabuto and someone else inside. He believed the other person was Gato and was surprised that the short man was still alive. Opening the door, he found an already smiling Kabuto looking right at him.

'Maybe he can somehow detect that I'm injured?' thought Naruto at the devious smirk which spoke of Kabuto already knowing why he was there. He already had a feeling that Kabuto would have no interest in going to see the Mustafarian city so he didn't bother asking.

"I have to leave soon so I need to be patched up fast." ordered Naruto and the smile on Kabuto's face only grew. Getting a bad feeling, he decided to push it aside in favor of getting healed and managed to get himself up onto the exam table while Kabuto readied some items nearby.

Turning around, Kabuto had an entire tray of different instruments and items, "Its been so long since someone was injured that I haven't gotten a chance to test out most of these amazing new devices and medical materials that are now at my disposal." commented Kabuto and began a medical ninjutsu to determine all of Naruto's wounds.

Naruto for his part went quite pale at the look of a few of the instruments that Kabuto was planning to use on him. Deciding to take his mind off of what was in store for him, he glanced around the room. The first thing he saw was an unconscious Gato on the other operating table.

"Is he going to make it?" Naruto questioned as Kabuto prepared a few items to make a plasto-cast for his broken arm and then set about setting the broken bones.

"I believe he should make a recovery though I can't say if he will ever be the same person he was. I also don't know what kind of person he was to begin with so whose to say how he will turn out when he wakes up in the next few days." Kabuto explained while spraying a temporary cast on his broken forearm.

'Really?' Naruto thought and his mind wandered on the possibilities.

Kabuto noted his patients distraction and took advantage of the opportunity. The only person in the galaxy to have both the small organisms known as midi-chlorians and chakra just happened to be injured and sitting on his infirmary table. Taking one blood sample for standard analysis, he took a second blood sample for his own purposes.

Though Plagueis had forbade him from trying to experiment with midi-chlorians, that did not mean that he could not take samples from Naruto in order to study them without tampering with the sample.

x-x

Attaching the needed scroll to the back of his belt, Naruto followed the others down the ramp. Getting used to the new cast on his arm wasn't that difficult and Kabuto told him it would be easy to take off in a day or so when his arm fully healed.

He had piloted the ship and set it down right next to the one Plagueis had taken. Along with him, everyone but Kabuto and Deefour had come. Despite knowing Kabuto's likely answer, he still asked anyway right before he left and Kabuto claimed he had 'important work' to look into. Deefour also couldn't make the trip because of the rugged terrain.

Considering the others in his current party had already scouted the city, he stayed at the back of the group as he tried to extend his senses while they led the way. The city was supposed to have 20,000 Mustafarians but he was still out of range. Karin could likely feel them but he would have to wait.

The city of Fralideja eventually came into view and was constructed in a canyon slightly reminiscent of the one that their ship had crashed in, only much narrower. The Mustafarians had built their entire city in the canyon walls where tunnel systems were hollowed out by creatures that used to live in the area.

The unique city offered them protection if an eruption occurred because the resulting lava flows, should they flow through the area, couldn't reach their dwellings and would flow right by them. The dwellings themselves were both inside and partially outside the rock face. The visible saucer shaped sections that covered the canyon walls reminded him of pieces of fungus growing at the bottom of a tree. It was possible that the structures even mimicked some type of fungus present on the planet. Long trails of steam came from several areas along the cliff face.

Their observations soon ended as they were accosted by multiple Mustafarians, both northerners and southerners. They could tell they were being watched for quite some time but the city patrol had waited until they were closer before making themselves known. Though not hostile, it was made obvious by the weapons and armor that they weren't supposed to try anything while they were guests. A few of the Mustafarians motioned for them to follow and they didn't hesitate.

'Hopefully Plagueis has already worked out an arrangement.' Naruto thought and they walked to a nearby part of the cliff face that was actually a long staircase that led to an entrance to the dwellings they could see.

Once they were up the long staircase, they proceeded through a system of caves until they reached a makeshift lift that took them even higher into the canyon wall. The lift shaft was open on at least one side the entire way up and they viewed many levels of the city before the lift came to a stop.

They were met by more guards and their escorts changed to the new guards who led down a tunnel that ended in two large doors. An additional guard was stationed at either side of the doors. One of them brought his staff weapon off the ground and then slammed it back down, which apparently alerted someone on the other side of the door that they should open it.

Through the doors, the tunnel gave way to a good sized cavern. The cavern appeared to be a meeting room with two rows of carved tables in the shape of parabola. Naruto could feel that each seat was filled and glow lights illuminated part of the room. As they entered, Naruto felt Plagueis, Juugo, and the demon brothers standing not far away. The first thing he spotted was actually HK-47 as the droid's coloring was a stark contrast to the dark rock of the room.

With almost every member of their group standing before the gathered council, Plagueis began speaking in the buzzing language of the natives. Only the crazed droid knew what was being said but it had not been asked to translate by any member of their group. Naruto could feel the emotions of the room and everything seemed to be in their favor. No one seemed hostile towards their presence, but perhaps nonchalant.

Soon all eyes turned away from Plagueis's host and towards the rest of them. One of the older looking Mustafarians began speaking directly to them. Naruto turned to HK and told the droid to translate.

"Translation: Normally we the Mustafarians do not attempt to get to know off-worlders. Our only contact with any off-worlders are the Techno Union and that is for business. We were therefore surprised by your offering. It is most welcome. Such a large Tulrus has never been seen or recorded in our history. No part of the creature will go to waste. Chivos informs us that you wish to use the Tulrus to bargain for the repair of your vessel and the use of one of our forges for a day?" the droid translated and Naruto assumed that Chivos was Plagueis's new host.

"That is correct." he answered but didn't know the name of the person he was speaking to so he left out any address or title as well. He was about to have HK translate when he realized that the Mustafarians easily understood him.

More buzzing continued, but shorter than the last statement, and HK again translated.

"Translation: Then we are in agreement. If your ship is brought here and the replacement parts supplied as Chivos bargained, then we will repair it and you shall have the use of a forge for one day."

"I thank you." said Naruto with a slight bow which was far from his usual demeanor and he could tell that the others of their group were surprised by it.

The Mustafarians all nodded as well and the same native began speaking again. Naruto assumed he must be the village leader or person in power.

"Translation:" began the droid again and Naruto could tell it was getting agitated. If the restraining bolt was not there, HK would have likely already killed someone in the room, "Since you brought such a creature to us, we would like to invite all of you to a feast to celebrate the kill. You may stay the night and the agreement will be fulfilled in the morning."

"We accept the invitation. Your generosity is most welcome." responded Naruto and everyone in the room began getting up from their seats, likely heading to wherever the banquet was to be held.

x-x

"I'm full." complained Karin from her mat. They had been given a small room to stay in and simple mats to sleep on. Naruto and the others were also feeling the same way. Less than an hour before, he had eaten the biggest steak he had ever seen before.

Everyone was quite tired so he applied detection seals outside of their room to make sure they weren't attacked or double-crossed in the night. HK was ordered to power down and left in one corner of the room so it wouldn't try to remove the restraining bolt in the night and perhaps try to kill them.

Naruto's eyes soon widened as the seals activated but he calmed down as he felt his Master heading towards them. Given that Plagueis was still playing the part of Chivos, the Mustafarian, they had been separated after the banquet.

Plagueis used a mind trick on the guards just down the hallway and gained access to their room. Naruto managed to sit up, despite his full stomach and the others just decided to listen. Sitting in the center of the room, Plagueis began speaking to them, 'Everything seems to be going well. We will be able to use the forge in the morning but there are still a few concerns to worry about. They are quite superstitious and you can't let them see you summoning the ship. I had your clone summon the Tulrus to the shuttle and they took it in pieces back to the city. If they witness any of you using chakra, then it could cause definite problems. Did you bring the materials I asked fo?'

Naruto tilted his head to the wall and Plagueis saw the scroll there with the metal and tools inside to make the swords. Plagueis nodded and was silent as Naruto began asking a question that he had wanted to ask since before the banquet, "What are we going to do with the warship and outpost?"

The interest of the others was perked and Plagueis thought over an answer. 'I'm not completely sure. I wanted to be on Tatooine by now. Both discoveries should be quite useful but I don't think we can do anything with them at this point in time.'

"I've been thinking about it as well, and I think I have an idea." said Naruto and he waited to see if Plagueis was interested. A slight nod told him that he should continue and he did, "I was thinking that we could get the help of the Mustafarians to repair the warship as well."

Everyone in the room was quite surprised by his words and Plagueis soon countered, 'And how exactly will you get them to do that? My influence and the Force can only go so far unless you want me to try and put the entire council under mind control. If that is not the case then you would need something to give them in return. You'd have to kill every creature on Tulrus island for them to give us that much help.'

"Actually I thought about that as well. You told me that the Mustafarians had no qualms about exploiting this planet, correct?" said Naruto as he asked for clarification.

'Yes, they would love nothing more than to exploit this world to the fullest.' answered Plagueis and Naruto was quick to get his idea out, "Then why don't we help them do that."

Despite no change in the Mustafarians face, Naruto could tell that Plagueis was lifting an unseen eyebrow at the statement. "And how the hell do you plan to do that?" questioned Tayuya from across the room. Though not part of the conversation, she was still quite curious and wanted an answer.

"They want to exploit their world but the only resource they have is the minerals that are mined from certain lava flows. We have an entire unfinished outpost full of building supplies and various droids as well as construction equipment. I thought perhaps we would build them a mining facility instead of completing the outpost. They would be able to man and operate the facility with the help of droids." explained Naruto and the others were quite silent, none more so that Plagueis as he thought about what his student was saying.

The plan did have merit but he could discern a few flaws, 'That kind of plan would take quite a while to implement and I don't think any of you, or myself for that matter, wants to stay on the planet for months while such a facility is built. I plan to leave for Tatooine as soon as possible. Do you have someone in mind from our group that is willing to stay behind and protect our interests?" Plagueis asked with a bit of sarcasm.

"Yes, I do." quickly answered Naruto without an hesitation. His feelings were not however shared by the listening group. Concern and worry spread throughout the small room.

'And whom have you chosen?' inquired Plagueis as he himself tried to figure out a possible answer to the question.

"Gato." Naruto simply answered with a smirk and Plagueis was left slightly stunned. 'He's still alive?' Plagueis questioned and Naruto nodded while adding, "Kabuto believes he will recover from your possession. He managed to create a successful shipping business and had many illegal dealings without getting caught on Ibonihs."

'And what about the warship? I believe it is in need of fuel in addition to the repair work that is needed. That would also take some time to fix.' stated Plagueis as he presented his student with another valid point.

"The outpost has fuel for the ship. Its in containers inside the facility. I left a few clones to continue looking around. Based on what my clones learned about the ship. It might be able to takeoff and operate again." explained Naruto.

'Despite having droids and droid construction capabilities, the supplies in the outpost are for an outpost, not a mining facility. You would need shielding against the temperatures and other technology that likely isn't in that storage area.' explained Plagueis and he waited to see what Naruto would say.

"Would that kind of technology be the same technology that is currently in use on your hideout?" asked Naruto and Plagueis looked at him dubiously.

'You want to cannibalize my facility to build a mining facility?' Plagueis asked with some disbelief.

"You already control the facility and the communications. If after it was deconstructed and a signal was sent that it had a 'catastrophic systems failure', there would be nothing left for Sidious to find. You said it yourself that the outpost was well hidden. I don't think he would find it or even look for it." countered Naruto and Plagueis acknowledged that the idea was doable.

'What about the mined material? We don't have anyone to sell it to or a way to transport it off the planet. The Mustafarians also wouldn't be interested in money. They would want technology in return for running the mining facility.' explained Plagueis to his student.

"...I haven't worked that out yet. We would have time though." admitted Naruto and though it was a problem, Plagueis acknowledged that his student had definitely thought most of the plan through and worked out the majority of problems. Even if the plan didn't work out, they would still have a huge facility and the warship.

Taking some time to go over numerous calculations in his mind, Plagueis decided to test his student and asked, 'And you're sure that all of this can be done or arranged in just a few days?'

"We're already on their good side and most of the arrangements don't seem to be that difficult. The ship would take a while before it would be ready but the mining facility would be easier to build. The Mustafarians seem quite capable. Many of them already work or have vast knowledge of mining and they may not require much convincing if they want to exploit their planet more than they already are. You're also still in control of Gato, so unless I'm missing something else that you've thought about" answered a calm Naruto and Plagueis was satisfied with the answer.

x-x

Sitting at one of the Mustafarian forges, Naruto wiped the sweat off his brow and began unsealing all of the items that he would need. Their sleep in the city was uneventful and Plagueis had already completed a Sith sword for himself. The sword didn't require any chakra metal but used up a good portion of the other metals they had left.

Naruto had been in the forge since the early morning and spent several hours watching his Master work on the weapon. The longsword that his Master had created was quite amazing though he expected no less as he knew Plagueis had gone over the rituals and researched them much more than he had. The handle had been wrapped with the hide from a Tulrus that had been provided by the Mustafarians and the blade was mostly black with a purple blood grove running down the center. It had no real blade guard but Plagueis likely didn't need one. They had no idea what its abilities might be as Naruto had to seal up the sword right after Plagueis was finished. The last thing they needed was for Chivos to be seen acting strangely and creating weapons.

Plagueis's host would need to keep acting normally until they could meet with the council again and put forth their plans. After that, Plagueis could just ask to go with the new business partners and be more of a representative of Mustafarian interests while Gato would be their representative and remain on the planet.

Naruto's careful preparation of materials was once again interrupted by Suigetsu who had changed his mind about the sword several times already and for each sword design that Suigetsu envisions, he kept changing his mind about the actual look. "Maybe it should be a nodachi...no maybe just a zanbato...I liked the stuff Master Plagueis used for a handle..." and Naruto eventually tuned him out as he finished preparing the items.

He already knew what the sword would look like and had an idea of what abilities the sword might have when it was finished. The base material would likely decided that and he unsealed the final piece of metal that he had been holding onto for quite some time.

Suigetsu instantly shut up at the sight of the piece of metal. Being from Kiri, he instantly recognized it, even if it was only a piece of the original sword. "How the fuck did you get a piece of Kubikiribocho?"

"In Wave Country I fought Momochi Zabuza and cut off the top third of his zanbato with my ninjato."

"Holy shit, you fought Zabuza-sempai?!" commented Suigetsu and Naruto simply nodded as he looked at the piece of sword. After the fight with the Seven swordsman was over, he had used a water jutsu to hide his presence as he left but not before retrieving the piece from the bottom of the ocean.

He believed it would one day come in handy and once he remembered that he had it sealed away, he knew it would make up a good portion of the metal for Suigetsu's sword. Given the special abilities associated with Kubikrikibocho, he felt confident that at least some of the ability would transfer to the new sword he would make.

Taking out some chakra metal and durasteel, he placed them into a large crucible and asked Suigetsu for some blood. The Kiri ninja agreed and had to concentrate not to turn into water, allowing Naruto's ninjato to cut his hand. Once the blood was added, Naruto put the crucible into the forge to melt the metal and began the chanting for the ritual which would speed up the process in addition to melting the metal at a much lower temperature.

For the time being, Suigetsu simply sat back and watched. The heat was making him to tired to question what Naruto was doing.

x-x

When the metal was ready, Naruto took it out of the forge and poured it into a simple form that he had created. The form would lessen a great deal of his work as the sword would be quite large when it was done. He planned for it to be smaller than Zabuza's but have a similar shape. Suigetsu had trained with some of the seven swords from Kiri and something similar to Kubikiribocho would likely fit Suigetsu better than anything else.

Once the form was cooled, he would take the metal out and begin shaping the blade. After the blade was finished, he would then have to create the handle and work on the other parts.

x-x

Pulling the unfinished blade from the forge with tongs, Suigetsu struggled with the massive piece of metal but managed to get it over to the anvil. While Suigetsu moved the piece of metal, Naruto hammered in the shape and continued the ritual. Suigetsu also poured his chakra into the metal while Naruto poured the Force into the hammer.

Both boys were quite tired already but the process couldn't be stopped and picked up another day. It was all or nothing.

Looking up from the tongs, Suigetsu found Naruto had gone into another trance as the hammer rose and fall, shaping the metal. He could tell the end result would be a zanbato and from the look of it, he was greatly pleased. A few of the features he didn't understand but Naruto apparently knew what he was doing or at least the 'Force' was telling him how to shape the sword, 'Whatever the hell that means.' Suigetsu thought and Naruto soon stopped hammering, which was his cue to lug the metal back to the forge.

x-x

"I need you to fill the trough with water, preferably from a water jutsu." Naruto demanded and the tired Kiri ninja gave him a dull look.

"Your gonna kill me from dehydration." he commented but Naruto just remarked, "Do you want me to finish the sword or not."

Sighing, Suigetsu went through seals and spit a stream of water into the trough. The blade was apparently completed but still in the forge and needed to be placed in water for quenching. Once the trough was filled, Naruto helped Suigetsu with the blade and they dropped it into the water.

The water sizzled and boiled from the heat of the metal. When the steam had cleared, the trough was strangely empty except for the blue and black blade. The water had all disappeared. While Suigetsu found it slightly strange, Naruto believed that he had succeeded in his creation and the blade would work how he intended it to.

"Pick up the blade and set it aside for now, we need to make the handle, the vibration technology components, and the attachment assembly so it fits with the blade like Zabuza's did." ordered Naruto as he began unsealing a few of the materials he needed.

Suigetsu drank the last bit of his bottled water and heft the blade up. He would have been lying if he said he wasn't immensely satisfied with how it looked. The blade had two semicircles cut into it for decapitating or severing of limbs and an additional handhold on the back of the blade. He wasn't sure why it had all of those features but he would have to test it out when it was finished to find out what it could do.

x-x

Closing his eyes and rolling his head to stretch his neck, Naruto pushed aside his weariness and opened his eyes to looked over his work. Every piece was completed but the sword itself had not been assembled yet.

Turning to Suigetsu, he was about to say something when he found that the Kiri ninja had fallen asleep on him again. Though not surprised, he believed the entire process took three times longer than it had to complete his ninjato.

Grabbing the Tulrus leather wrapped handle, he tossed it at Suigetsu and it struck the boy in the head.

"What the hell was..." but Suigetsu stopped as he looked at the object that hit him. Looking to Naruto, the sith student merely nodded to let him know that the sword was done.

Jumping up from his position, Suigetsu took the handle and inserted it into the attachment area on the blade. The handle locked in place and he went to pick up the sword. 'Damn its heavy.' he thought as he tried to wield the zanbato. Taking an experimental swing, he nearly fell over. "Don't tell Karin that happened." he said seriously as he regained his balance.

"I guess I'll really need to practice with this thing." stated Suigetsu as he continued to examine his sword. Testing the handle grip, he found he liked it. Trying out the secondary handle on the back of the blade, he left one hand on the normal handle and put one hand on the second one. 'I kinda like wielding it this way. Its almost like a larger version of my vibro-knuckler.' he thought and was happy that the extra handle had been added.

"If you add some chakra to the handle, it should activate the vibrations." explained Naruto as he cleaned up their materials.

Suigetsu did as Naruto suggested and cut a sharp gouge out of the nearby rock with little effort and no resistance from the material. "Oh yeah." commented Suigetsu on the effectiveness of the weapon. Once he was able to wield it better it would be a force to reckoned with.

When Naruto was finished gathering everything up, they left the forge room and headed back to their room. Suigetsu's new sword was supported on his shoulder and just fit inside the height of the tunnels. On the way, they passed several several small steam vents but neither boy noticed the steam noticeably change direction as Suigetsu passed. It curved in the direction of the sword and then returned to how it was moving after they passed.

x-x

Once the damaged Vulture had shown up on the plateau above the underground city, the Mustafarians examined the ship and then used one of the shuttles they provided to go to the crashed pirate ship that Plagueis told them about and salvage some needed parts.

The native people of Mustafar told them the ship would be ready in just over two days and had about twenty or more people working on it at once could replace one shift of workers with another. The hull breach, systems, and other damage would all be fixed.

In those few days, Plagueis planned to talk with the council again about the plan that Naruto had. He would convince them of how much they could gain from a business arrangment with the new off-worlders.

Only a small portion of the city worked at the mining facility and having a second secret facility would almost double their gain. Secrecy was an issue as they couldn't let the Techno Union find out about the secret mining facility but the Mustafarians did not interact much with the Techno Union workers so there was little chance that anyone would find out.

Plagueis decided not to tell the Mustafarians about the warship yet. He wanted to gain their trust completely before revealing the ship to them and having them work to repair it it as well. Once Gato was up and had been informed of what was expected of him, they would be able to continue their journey but would need to come back at least a few times to check on how things were going.

There was much to do but in the next few days they would lay the groundwork for a future business on the planet and gain the Mustafarian people as an ally.

They also had to reprogram their new droid to make sure it didn't try to kill them when the took the restraining bolt off.

END

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AN: I had to end the chapter there because it was just getting so long. I plan to have only a few pages of the next chapter devoted to them finishing up negotiations on Mustafar before they move on to Tatooine. The whole Mustafar arc was only supposed to be a single chapter when I initially planned it months ago but its turned out to be quite a bit more.

Concerning swords, I've added links to both Plagueis's sword and Suigetsu's sword to my profile page. I also updated Naruto's ninja picture on my deviant art account because it needed more detail compared to the other two swords.

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Responses to anonymous reviews

Review by frozendude:

this is a great story

Does plaugies realize that doing it the main sith way usauly somehow comes back to haunt the sith and might cause there down fall. is that why he not being utterly ruthless like sidous

Response: I think he is more afraid of being betrayed by Naruto the same way that Sidious betrayed him. He was surprised by Sidious's betrayal and he is hesitant to train/raise Naruto the same way. If he was as ruthless with Naruto as he was with sidious, then logically he would have to expect the same thing to happen. He therefore did things differently to avoid a similar outcome. This will have repercussions later on.

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Review by peterkim:

Many reader wanted HK-47 to join Naruto's crew and will HK-47 join Naruto's crew or not? We know that Kabuto has his own goals from reading the current "Naruto" manga and how much of Kabuto's goal has changed that the he is in the Star Wars universe?

Response: most of what you asked was answered in this chapter but as for Kabuto, he didn't have an extra three years working with Orochimaru and didn't develop goals like he has in the current manga. He isn't as interested in figuring out the secrets of the sage of six paths as he is in learning about the galaxy. There is so much to offer that he is overwhelmed by the possibilities. Perhaps at some point he will move back to learning about the sage of six paths but right now he is focusing on adjusting to the galaxy.

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Review by azul:

I was wondering, will there be a time-skip, you write wonderfully, and the updates are awesome, but so little gets done in each chap. Just curious ...

Response: at some point there will be a time skip, perhaps there will even be two but I have to get to those points. It may seem like so little gets done in the chapters because I take a lot of time to add details so everyone understands all of the star wars stuff. I guess I just have a lot of details and not a lot of story progression but that can't really be helped. Each of my chapters also focuses on a single planet and they will start to culminate into something bigger.

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Another review by peterkim:

why don't Plaugeis go to the Valley of the Dark Lords on Korriban to ask the spirts of the Sith there that Naruto can be a Sith apprentice since Plagueis was killed in sleep by Palpatine and Palpatine broke the Rule Of Two allowing Naruto to become the Sith apprentice.

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Review by medon:

In order to avoid a horribly contrived sounding name (as most groups of people who aren't in business together don't bother naming themselves in RL either) why not just refer to them as "the crew of the (insert current ship name here)" or "the group of ninja" whenever you need to refer to them collectively.

Coming up with an in-story name for them other than that would really break with reality (in ways beyond the whole magic-ninja/science-fiction thing).

Response: The whole naming thing basically came from the fact that every group in the ninja world is named. They have names like Team Seven, Team Kakashi, and even newly put together groups have names that are assigned to them. It just seemed natural that their group would have a name. Sasuke named and then renamed his group for arbitrary reasons. Your suggestion might be best though as I have given some thought about it. Having a group with no name is better than one that has a name. People will not be able to talk about them if they have no name or help identify them. I will try to change up the phrasing in the future.

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Review by coldblue

Naruto agray jedi or something? Will Naruto get help from Plagueis and Kabuto to control Kyuubi? I wonder if the DNA from Mokuton, Sharingan, possibly Midi-chlorians and Alien species DNA will play out in story? Is Naruto and his gang going to settle down at base somewhere so they can build there power? will there be any more time skips coming. Not that I don't like reading your story, but it would be nice to see Naruto have more greater effect on Star Wars Universe. Plagueis seems to be getting soft. Will he pass on after teaching Naruto or are they going to kill each other? There was alot of tension in this chapter between them. How will Naruto react ot knowing wha his parents are? Will he meet them again when he tries to deal with Kyuubi and how will they react after seeing what has become of Naruto and what he is doing? Is Naruto going to cause a great impact to the Clone Wars and are you going to kill off Naruto after the Clone War since that you said in your response he was going to have an effect the Star Wars Univers only during the Clone Wars then he would not anymore after the war was over? Keep up the writting and I can't wait to see what other driods you add to Naruto's group.

Response: That is a lot of questions. Some of them I can't really answer while the others I will. Naruto will not be a gray jedi. He will just be at a fixed level in the darkside of the force, meaning that he won't really fall to the darkside or be consumed by it. I don't plan for Naruto to control the Kyuubi, I have something else planned. I also don't want to have to worry about mokuton or the sharingan in this fic because it would just be more to write about and I have so much stuff already that I'm working on. He already knows his father is the yondaime, I think he is more interested in learning of his mother. He won't meet his parents again. He will have an impact in the clones wars and at this point in time I don't plan to kill him off. I meant that this fanfic would likely end after the clone wars are over. Its not going to go on forever.

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Review by vfsnake:

Awesome! Gui gon and obiwan are on the case and now hk-47 is there. Will naruto get stronger in the force? I would think he would find a way to do that. If midichrians can be maniPulated create life then surely they can be manipulated to multiply when needed. Also they could learn to combat kyuubi.

Response: I'm responding to this in the chapter because I just wanted to make things clear. Naruto will not be increasing his number of midi-chlorians, nor will they try to get them to multiply. Naruto will find other ways to get stronger in the force and I already have a plan for that.

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Review by Sam

I don't want to sound mean but I am not liking your protogonist's enough to fool for them. I understand that your Naruto is different than canon but there are not many redeeming traits in him. You seem to be concerned about making him too powerful but I personally think your Naruto is ineffective, Almost like a side hero

Response: Naruto is a sith, they really don't have many redeeming traits. Your expecting him to be a sith with a heart of gold or something but that really isn't the case. Later on he might start to have some of those traits you want him to have but right now he is just Plagueis's student. He follows his masters orders and also comes up with ideas of his own. He is an affective and loyal member of their group, he isn't meant to be a heroic character.

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Review by bobadil

nice chapter.i especially liked the reason you gave for Naruto's loss of self-control.i read what you wrote in your responces to the reviewers,about Naruto needing the key to tighten the seal,despite his knowledge of ,i think you haven't thought it through enough.

Naruto,if i remember correct from previous chapters,has possecion of the Scroll Of Forbiden ,possesion of all the knowledge about his ,i think that he doesn't need the key and can instead study the seal and create a way to alter it.

It can range from stopping Kyubi from influencing him,to completly isolating it from his body/chakra/soul(basically turn the seal in a pocket dimension whose only physical anchor is naruto).

He can even create a way to extract Kyubi(without dieing),that needs materials only found on ,giving him a reason to return there

Response: In some ways you are correct. He does have the scroll but from what I know (which admittedly could be wrong) his key was made specifically by his father. I don't really know how minato made something like that while dying but I don't really think it is something that can be duplicated. Even Jiraiya couldn't understand how the key worked, he merely knew how to use it to tighten or loosen Naruto's seal. Even if he found a way to tighten the seal, it would just loosen as the kyuubi would resonate with the hatred in his heart. It would only be a simple fix, which is basically what he has now. I also don't think the seal can be continually tightened. At some point it would wear out completely or just fail.

I already have something planned so that Naruto won't need to worry about the kyuubi anymore but I don't want to spoil anything.

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Review by fanfic-addict

Well, first of I guess I owe you a bit of an apology. Apparently the list of force powers I used as reference lacks quite a few of them. I really thought that some of the force powers you mentioned were your invention since I don't know much about SW beyond the movies and the KOTOR games.

On another note I'm practically giddy with happiness and anticipation. You really brought HK back! And in a manner that I absolutely wasn't expecting no less, kudos to you! That guy really is my absolute favorite SW character and I don't know any really good fanfics with him in it.

I don't have any questions regarding this chapter (which was great as usual by the way). I only have one question that's probably ways into the future but I'm curious. What will happen to the Child of Prophecy ? Since it must be a student of Jiraiya that would only leave Konan and Pain/Nagato who would either save the world or doom it. Well, unless you would have Jiraiya take on another student of course. I guess you could also say that the Ogamasennin confused "to get knowledge drained" with "to pass on knowledge" so that Naruto would still be the CoP if you wanted. Also since Naruto has Jiraiyas memories he should know about that prophecy and also about the Ogamasennins force vision like ability.

Response: Its ok about the force powers. I only found all of them because I of the research I did for the story before I started. I also didn't know much about the star wars universe beyond the movies and games which is why I started reading stuff on Wookieepedia and learning all that I could as well as finding things that I could put in the story.

Thank you for the complements.

I already have something planned for the child of prophecy so you'll have to wait and see because I don't want to spoil anything like that as it is tied in to how Naruto will deal with the Kyuubi.

Marshall

Is that...HK-47? Well, that'll certainly be an interesting addition to the story.

I'm rather curious about your reasoning for wanting the group to be named. What's the point? At this time in the story, they are better off being anonymous so as to stay off everyone's radar. The last thing they need is a reputation of any sort. The exception to that would be if they are going to be looking into legitimizing a future financial holding of some substantial means, or will be establishing a corporation of some sort as a front. In that case, they would certainly need a name, but that name would likely be planned around the surname of the alias Plagueis would take as the CEO, or whatever. Or just name it after Gato, since that name wouldn't hold any recognition to the galaxy at large, allowing them to spread their influence without attracting too much attention. But if you're looking for a name for the group of fighters themselves, then again, I'd suggest evaluating the prudence of making themselves a known faction. If it's just a group name so that the members can identify with each other and strengthen those bonds a bit, I'd argue that they have all they need by being the only shinobi at large in the galaxy.

Or maybe I'm thinking too grand, and you just need a group name so that they can have a visible presence on Mustafar without sounding like a group of pirates while trying to get repairs? If that's the case, something simple would be appropriate. Can't really throw out any legitimate suggestiions for a group name until the purpose of the group is given context, i.e. is the name supposed to sound professional, intimidate, etc.

Response: Well I did think about the naming stuff and decided it was best to not name the group. I apologize to those that came up with names and were hoping that there would be a pole. I also decided after reading two such reviews that it might be best not to name them. I have thought of Naruto or a another member of his group gaining a reputation and that would begin with the finding of the tessents. Finding both would gain someone quite a bit of attention. I've entertained ideas that Naruto might be seen as an explorer which would be tied in to him looking into new hyperlanes and also using his instinctive astrogation ability that Plagueis is getting him to develop. I have also considered them creating or taking corporations and using them as fronts for other things. This chapter illustrated the beginnings of that as Gato will play a part in the galaxy.

The problem with mustafar is that it is technically owned by the techno union. The mustafarians signed away the rights to mine the planet so they couldn't really be a legitimate business on mustafar without running into problems with the techno union.