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.

24. Chapter 24

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

x-x

36.3 BBY – Current Year

Chapter XXIV: Dealings with Hutts

x-x

Morning was quick to come, or a more accurate way of putting it was that the first sun was soon over the horizon with the second close on its heels.

'I've never actually walked through a vast desert before.' Naruto realized as he led the group in a single file line with Plagueis at the rear. The heat wasn't that bothersome at the moment but even in their survival cloaks taken from the warship on Mustafar, by midday, the heat would certainly affect all of them.

A quick henge had him looking a bit older than usual. He was the shortest of the group now that Plagueis no longer had Gato's body and negotiating with a Hutt would be difficult enough, he didn't need the Hutt and entourage laughing at him because he looked like a little kid.

The cloaked group entered the town of Anchorhead and moved silently in the early hours of the morning. Few people were out that early, just a few merchants setting up street shops and it seemed the only business open was the local cantina and Plagueis soon moved to the head of the group, taking the lead and choosing a path straight for the establishment.

Once the star port came to life, they would split up and move to accomplish their separate missions.

x-x

'The kid has guts, I'll give him that.' thought Tsunade as she once again went over the medical records of a genin, Rock Lee. The surgical procedure that would be required to heal the boy involved quite a bit of risk invoked but the genin desperately wanted to continue being a ninja, despite not even being able to use chakra.

Her eyes looked up from the paper for a second before she grabbed the nearest item on her desk, which happened to be an empty saki bottle, and threw it at the intruder to her office. Jiraiya reached out and grabbed the bottle before it smacked him in the face.

"What do you want." Tsunade said with sigh as her projectile had failed to hit.

Jiraiya held the bottle up and tipped it over his mouth to see if any saki was left, but nothing came. 'She certainly finishes it to the last drop.' he thought before stepping down off the windowsill and taking a seat opposite the buxom Hokage.

"I came to give you my final report on the Kyuubi container." began Jiraiya and Tsunade put down her papers to listen.

"I've exhausted all the means at my disposal in order to determine everything I could about him. I've looked through all his records, tapped out all of my contacts and even called in a few favors." Jiraiya informed her and she waited for him to continue.

"I can't find him anywhere. No sighting, no rumors, he just vanished. There haven't been any sightings of that machine he used, nor any sightings of any member of the group he was traveling with."

Tsunade sighed and wasn't really surprised by her teammate's finding. She knew he did everything he could but whatever flying machine the boy had used, was going completely unnoticed. 'He did say it could go incredibly high in the air. Someone might just mistake it for a bird.' she thought before asking a question that she had been waiting for an answer on.

"Did you find anything new about the machine itself from the Land of Spring?"

Jiraiya nodded and Tsunade's interest in the conversation was renewed. "I talked with all the scientist that took part in whatever Naruto was doing. Not one of them was privy to all segments of the project that they were working on but from piecing it all together, they think they were building the components and fuel to create a power source of some kind." Jiraiya informed her.

"A power source? Like some kind of electrical generator." Tsunade questioned and Jiraiya tried to explain it better, "They weren't completely positive what the end result would be." and Jiraiya closed his eyes for a second as he took a thinking pose to remember the words given to him by one of the scientists. Most of what they had been trying to tell him was so far over his head that they had to explain it to him several times.

"It would create a reaction that would produce an incredible amount of heat and energy." Jiraiya said, reiterating the words that the scientists had told him.

"How much power?" Tsunade asked as she leaned forward slightly and awaited the answer. Jiraiya again tried to remember exactly what the scientists had explained to him but numbers were never his strong suit.

"A lot." came his uncertain reply. Tsunade's eye twitched and she decided to try a different approach with her teammate, "Enough to power the village?"

"More than that." Jiraiya answered and her eyes widened slightly at that.

"The entire country?" she put forth and Jiraiya quickly nodded and added, "That and probably more, they said it could produce more power than anything they had ever seen before."

A moment of silence elapsed as the two sat and thought over the implications of such a power source. Tsunade was the first to break the silence with another question that she had been waiting to get answers to, "Did you ever determine where the flying machine came from?"

Jiraiya shrugged and quickly responded, "No one in Spring Country seemed to know anything about it. I can't determine where it came and the Hyuuga girl said it didn't have any marking on it that she could remember."

Moving on, Tsunade asked, "Have you found out anything else about Akatsuki and their movements."

"My contacts inform me that someone is definitely expending a lot of resources looking for Naruto, his group, and the ship. I suspect it is Akatsuki but I can't get anything definitive. Aside from that, I still don't know what it is that they want with him."

At that point, Tsunade had nothing left to discuss with her former teammate and was about to continue with her duties as Hokage, but it was apparently now Jiraiya's turn to ask a question of his own, "What of the Suna boy you still have in a cell?"

Tsunade sighed as the subject had been one of heated debate with the Village Elders and Council, "Its a political nightmare, you know that." she said and Jiraiya's frown was evidence that he did not like her answer.

"I can't let him go because he attacked the village and did a great deal of damage. We also certainly can't execute him because of what he contains. As much as I hate to say it, Danzo is right, handing him over would be a sign of weakness on our part. The fact that he is the son of the deceased Fourth Kazekage only complicates things further." she informed him and Jiraiya was quick to protest, "Doesn't his own village want him back?"

"I don't know anymore. They seem to but we can't come to any agreement over the matter. No matter what kind of arrangement we've discussed, the Elders are adamant that it would put us in a bad position, even if the terms for his return are a peace treaty. As far as I know, this kind of situation has never happened before.

"Your talking as if he's some object."

Tsunade gave him a look and he backed off. Heavy sighs were made by both Sannin. "For now he's a political prisoner and will remain where he is until this can all be sorted out. A messenger bird comes every few days relaying more terms but neither village is willing to meet and sort it all out. Its just a complete mess." and she gave Jiraiya a look that said, 'This is all your fault,' for making her deal with all of it when she became Hokage.

Jiraiya took the silence as his cue to leave and decided he would visit the boy again to make sure the seal he put was holding. Aside from that, there was really nothing more he could do about it.

x-x

Finding a single person on a the desert planet was proving incredible difficult for the Sith Lord as he looked through one of the few information terminals in the starport of Anchorhead. Despite knowing exactly when his experiment had traveled to the desert planet, he still had difficulty finding any record of where she ended up or even that she came to the planet. It was doubtful at best that she would be in Anchorhead but it was one of the safer ports on the planet and more civilized so it had better access to information.

'Being such a backwater planet, this may take me quite some time.' Plagueis thought as he sifted through files and was finding no results. There was no networked database like on most of the more civilized planets. Records of who came and went from the planet were spotty at best. Anyone could come and go as they pleased and few if any would use a real name. He would be lucky to find any records at all of her arrival, given that so many shady dealings took place on the planet. 'The Hutts wouldn't keep records on who came and went to keep their dealings secret and provide anonymity for their business associates. But perhaps I need a different strategy. She is a slave and some kind of record of her ownership must exist, even if a record of her arrival doesn't.' he realized and began started searching for the location of where slave records were kept.

From what he knew of the slave trade on various planets, each slave owner needed some kind of proof of ownership for each of their slaves and such information would be kept on file somewhere with a copy or original with the owner. Without it, anyone could claim that they did not own the slave and take ownership for themselves. This would likely be especially true when it came to the Hutts and as a result, records were kept for each slave.

However, he first needed to find the location of the records. Anchorhead was obviously not the location for such records as it was one of the more civilized starports and it was exceedingly doubtful that he could access those records from the terminal he was at. 'I'll have to go there in person.' he idly thought as he searched.

The screen on the terminal changed and he finally managed gain the location of where the records were kept. 'Mos Espa,' Plagueis thought and frowned. Naruto had just left for the city in the last hour and he would have to wait for the next transport.

Thinking ahead and planning his next moves, Plagueis decided to go back to the ship instead of waiting for a transport and simply fly there. 'I'll probably need the astromech droid to slice into the database to get the information I need and remain unnoticed.' he thought and headed in the direction of the ship.

As he walked through the sand, he didn't notice a slight movement behind him. The sand bulged slightly and a winding path was made for a short distance in Plagueis's direction before the bulge subsided and the creature moved deeper into the sand.

x-x

'It feels...pathetic.' Naruto thought as he sat on the modified skiff that was being used as a transport between starports on Tatooine. He was on his way with Juugo and HK-47 to Mos Espa followed by Mos Eisley, and they were taking public transportation to get there.

'We'll definitely have to use something else if Jabba is in his palace. I'm not going to show up on a makeshift bus to make a weapons deal. Even walking would be preferable.' he believed and looked to the others of his group.

It was obvious that their droid was also not happy with the accommodations either. Juugo on the other hand seemed rather preoccupied with other thoughts. 'He's rather troubled with something and that's the last we need when going to meet with a Hutt. I'll need him to be more focused and aware.' thought Naruto as he debated about how to go about remedying the problem.

After quite a bit of internal debate and indecision, he began, "You seem troubled?" The question was asked in Ibonihese so as to not allow anyone else to overhear what they were talking about.

Juugo stopped looking off across the horizon and came out of his thoughts to answer the question with a question, "How many slaves are on this planet?" he asked while glancing across the narrow skiff to the chained individuals sitting across the ship on nearby benches.

"I don't really know." Naruto answered as it was never a question he considered during the briefing. "I would guess around 50% of the inhabitants of the planet but that's only a guess. I have no idea how many indigenous Sand People and Jawas there are to make an accurate figure." he estimated.

"Why doesn't anyone help them?" Juugo asked as he continued to stare from beneath his hood.

Naruto could think of plenty of reasons why no one would even try helping them. The Hutts owning the entire slavetrade on the planet and the fact that people didn't make enemies of the Hutts. The slaves Juugo was looking at were likely going to someone of influence or wealth in the starport, or perhaps leaving the planet but it would detrimental to their mission to even try and free a single slave. If half the planet were slaves, what would even be the point of freeing a small handful, other than trying to appease a conscience.

"I don't decide how the galaxy works. Many planets outlaw slavery, especially in the Republic, while on others it is a thriving business. There is nothing that can be done for them. Plagueis mentioned that they likely have a chip in their heads which would prevent them from leaving the planet." Naruto mentioned and Juugo quickly asked, "How would it prevent them from leaving?"

"The chip would likely explode if they left the planet and kill them. I guess there would be some kind of signal or beacon somewhere on the planet that transmits a signal, and once the chip no longer receives it..." Naruto stopped the sentence short as he answered truthfully and could instantly feel Juugo's unease at the statement. 'It seems I'm just making thing worse.'

"Why does it concern you?" Naruto asked of Juugo as he was curious to know the answer.

"I suppose I was a slave of sorts, while in the care of Orochimaru. I was chained up and put away in a cell but that was of my own decision. They don't have a choice. Only to keep existing as they are, or death it seems." Juugo answered and then looked to Naruto seriously, "Doesn't it bother you, even a little? Don't you feel anything for them?"

Naruto earnestly thought about the question and then glanced to the slaves Juugo had been looking at a moment earlier. Up to that point, he had simply ignored the other slaves they had seen on their journey. Questioning himself about the answer, he decided to explore what Juugo had asked. He opened his mind to seek out their thoughts and feelings and was hit full force with a crushing despair.

Loneliness, sadness, anger, despair, and more filled him as he began seeing a few images that they were thinking about. He learned about how they were treated, where they were going, and how one was close to either ending her life or attacking her captors despite the fact she knew it wouldn't end well.

'STOP!' his own thoughts forced to the forefront of his mind and pushed everything out. A second went by before Naruto realized where he was and that he still had yet to answer Juugo. His heart was beating rapidly and overall he felt unwell, despite feeling fine moments before.

"...No...I don't feel anything for them." he answered with finality and the conversation was over between the two.

Juugo was not surprised by the answer but was less than pleased with it. 'Why did I almost expect him to say something different? Maybe I shouldn't have even asked in the first place.'

While Naruto was getting his emotions back under control HK-47 was completely engrossed with processing and analyzing the conversation. The droid had no idea what was said and that was what it found so interesting. He had allocated all processing power to his translation programming in order to decipher the conversation and unlock the language that his new associates were using.

The language didn't explicitly match any of the ones he had in his database but it was very close to several and therefore it would still be possible to piece it together. 'Inner Thought: I need to hear more of the language in order to properly decipher it.' and while this was true, there was nothing he could think of to convince them to speak more of the unknown language. They would presumably only answer a question put forth by him in Basic.

It was at that moment that Naruto's comm-link began indicated that someone was trying to get in touch with him.

x-x

The skiff swiftly moved just a few meters above the open sands. A hot wind whipped by them and none of the four could honestly say that they weren't affected by the dual suns beating down on them and the hot sands below.

After some initial problems, Kabuto had managed to get a hang of the controls on the 'borrowed' skiff. They were made to be as easy as possible to pilot and Kabuto was piloting them to the location that the droid had specified on the map. Currently they were almost halfway there and had managed to cover a vast distance that would have been nearly impossible to cover by foot in such a timely fashion.

Glancing to one area of the ship, Kabuto once again looked at the minimal damage taken during their brief encounter with a troop of Sand People herding large hairy creatures a few minutes earlier. Though the skiff wasn't really damaged, they had taken a few hits that had actually dented the hull in a few spots.

'Those projectile weapons are scary.' Kabuto thought to himself as he focused back to the controls and their current course, 'I could barely see the metal slugs as they were coming at us and the distance was such that I may not have been able to dodge considering the speed at which they were traveling. Supposedly they're archaic weapons but clearly still very dangerous.'

A single hit taken would have easily pierced his body and possible kept on going if it didn't hit bone. They didn't stop when they came across the hostile natives and just kept on going but that didn't stop the Sand People from opening fire at them. Glancing at his chronometer, he looked to Karin and said, "It seems its about time to check in with Naruto."

Karin also glanced at her timepiece and then pulled out their communicator. Naruto had demanded regular check-ins with their group to update him on their progress. Activating the communicator, she found Naruto's channel and tried to reach him. The answer was nearly immediate and showed just how much interest Naruto had in their mission.

"Update, Karin." Naruto's disembodied voice commanded and Karin frowned slightly at the response but was curious as to why he was using Ibonihese instead of Galactic Basic.

"We're still traveling through the desert." responded Karin's dull voice in the same language which Naruto was speaking. They really had nothing to report and she found the exercise tedious at best. There was a moment of silence as Naruto expected a little bit more

"And you've encountered nothing so far?" Questioned Naruto as he wanted at least some bit of information.

"You really wanted to come on this mission instead of the one you're on right now, didn't you?" asked Karin as she threw away any semblance of tact. Another moment of silence took place in which Karin regretted her statement and then Naruto said coldly, "Then update me when you have something to report."

A moment later the communications channel was terminated and Karin stared at the communicator as if wary of it, before putting it back in her pocket.

"That may have not been the best thing to say, Karin." commented Kabuto and he continued, "You remember his reaction during the meeting. This mission is far more important to him than what Plagueis tasked him with and certainly much more important than whatever mission Plagueis is on."

Gozu put down his electrobinoculars and looked toward the snake-like ninja from his post on the starboard side of the skiff, "And what mission is Master Plagueis on?" The other two looked to Kabuto as well and the medical-nin smiled under his hood while replying, "I don't know yet, but I will. I don't even think Naruto knows."

The other three didn't want to know what schemes Kabuto was up to so they decided to leave it alone for now.

x-x

Arriving in Mos Espa, both Naruto, Juugo, and HK got up from their seats and exited the skiff. The three had been quiet for the remainder of the journey and the sadistic droid had barely spoken since their journey on Tatooine had started.

While the others on the skiff got off, only the slavers still remained unmoving in their seats. The slaves they were escorting began to get nervous and then one decided to act. She quickly reached for the blaster on the slavers side and managed to get a hold of the weapon without being stopped. Pointing the weapon at her captor, she realized that the Rodian hadn't moved at all.

She briefly wondered if he had fallen asleep but noticed that his eyes were still open. Not a second later, his body began to slide sideways on the bench and once it got a point, it fell over completely. The other slaves finally realized that the man was dead and the ones that were closer could see a piece of sharpened metal sticking out of the back of his neck. Looking to the their other two captors, they found them dead as well.

The smarter ones in the group quieted the others so as not to draw attention and went about searching for the keys that would unlock their chains and cuffs.

Oddly, no one really noticed what they were doing until they were free and moving away from the skiff. By that time, the trio from the Vulture were already a good distance away from the skiff and could only hear some commotion, which was drowned out by the noises of Mos Espa. They wouldn't be able to stay at all in the spaceport as they needed to get to another transport that would take them to Mos Eisley, which was closer to Jabba's Palace, although they didn't know the exact location of it.

In the distance, the Vulture slowed down as it began landing preparations at one of the hangars of the spaceport. It remained unnoticed by Naruto or his two companions.

x-x

Plagueis swiftly moved through the crowded midday streets. Throngs of people passed by and with him as he headed for where he knew the slave records were kept. Deefour was a short distance behind him and struggling to keep up with the Sith Lord's long strides.

Slightly annoyed, Plagueis turned to make sure the droid was still behind him and no sooner had he spotted the droid through the crowd then someone bumped into him. Coming to a stop and turning back, he looked down upon a small blonde haired child that quickly got up and blurted out, "Sorry Mister." before running to catch up with his worried friends.

Not wanting to make a scene, and unable to speak anything but Mustafarian in his current body, Plageuis didn't ask for any apology or make any movements at all as he briefly watched the group go. He noted that the boy was carrying a severed droid arm with him and found it slightly strange. Already stopped, he didn't have to wait long for Deefour to catch up and the pair proceeded at a fast pace to the records building.

Upon arriving at the address that was indicated in his search at Anchorhead, the Sith Lord found a set of large adobe buildings near a much larger and more lavish compound. 'Probably owned by one of the Hutts that lives here.' he believed and kept casual as he passively surveyed and sensed out the area. Cautious as he wasn't sure what to expect, he walked right on by and would then double back. The buildings were unmarked, save the worn exteriors. A few guards were stationed outside but no where near as many as the nearby compound and he wondered if the buildings were owned and operated by one of the Hutts.

Unlike some worlds, Tatooine did not have regular slave auctions. Most of the population of the spaceport were slaves but everything was more low-key. Slaves were traded or bought from other slavers and some were imported from off-world. New slaves were born from parents that were slaves and sold to others or kept by the owner. A person completely unfamiliar with the planet could walk by hundreds of slaves and may never realize it.

After turning around and coming back, Plagueis headed into the main building. No sooner then he got in through the door than he came upon several guards stationed in the hallway. They wore no uniforms and each dressed differently with dissimilar weapons and they were different species. After he tricked them into thinking they had already checked him for weapons, he made them let him pass and progressed deeper into the building.

Down a staircase and along a hallway, the passage opened up to a larger room with guards and presumable Hutt affiliated personnel at the slave station trying to calm down several loud individuals who Plagueis assumed were slave owners. Several slaves and new owners or sellers sat on benches along one wall as they waited for processing and several other guards were seated or leaning against the walls around the room. Deefour's head swiveled completely around as it took in the room with its several photoreceptors.

'I'd rather not have to wait in line, nor let anyone know what I am here for.' Plagueis thought as he looked towards the complaining individuals crowding what few people were working in the building. Moving at a sedate pace, the Sith Lord made his way to the back rooms where the records must be kept and which were likely not accessible to anyone but those employed by the Hutts.

Before being stopped by any of the guards, Plagueis overhead the conversations of the slave owners shouting at each other and the staff. They had apparently purchased new slaves that were being brought to Mos Espa only for them to escape along the way.

Using the Force to create a distraction, he fueled the emotions on the already squabbling slave owners and made use of a light Force push that led to a brawl starting in the room between civilians and guards. As more people were brought into it and reinforcements moved to break it up, no one noticed as he slipped passed everyone and proceeded through what was supposed to be a secure building.

The first computer terminal he came across Plagueis made sure the coast was clear and motioned to the droid in tow. Deefour beeped in understating while moving to the terminal and breaking through the security systems to access all of the information it could. A few short moments later, Plagueis interpreted the beeps from the droid that all of the slave records were digitized and stored in the buildings computers.

Pleased but unable to speak to the droid in anything but Mustafarian, he moved to the terminal and typed in the surname he wanted the droid to search for. Making sure to cover their digital footprint and access, Deefour soon found the information that Plagueis was after.

'Two listings?' Plagueis thought as he looked to the readout on the screen. The droid had succeeded in finding Shmi Skywalker, which pleased him greatly, but another listing was also there under the surname of Skywalker. Hearing the fight being broken up, he quickly downloaded both files to a datachip he had and proceeded to leave out the nearest exit with Deefour following right behind.

x-x

The skiff cruised at a quarter of the normal speed as Kabuto piloted the ship over the Eastern Dune Sea. They had also increased altitude to see above a few of the dunes and both Demon Brothers were on watch while Karin actively scanned the area as far as her range could go.

'The farther we travel to the location the droid gave us, the more Sand People we seem to come across. We may be passing by camp of theirs.' concluded Kabuto as he manned the controls and put them on a more sinuous course to their destination.

Having run into four groups of indigenous people, they decided to err on the side of caution. Karin had a close call from one long-ranged weapon of the nomadic tribe and she was not eager to be on the receiving end of any more near misses should they exchange fire again.

'The animals that they herd probably noticed us before they did and they had enough warning to get a few shots off as we flew by...' and Kabuto's thoughts were interrupted by Karin's shout of, "Bank left!"

Working the controls, Kabuto lowered their altitude and hugged the dunes as he veered their course around what must have been another group of nomadic locals. Having an idea, Kabuto picked one of the larger dunes and slowed to a stop along its side. Letting the ship hover, he went to the bag he was carrying and searched for his electrobinoculars as he asked, "Another troop?" to Karin.

"Why did you stop, they may have seen us?" questioned Karin as she moved from the front of skiff to the back where Kabuto was. Kabuto's reply was to smile and say, "You'll see." The brothers looked to each other but didn't really care as the weapons wielded by the Sand People could not hurt them.

Jumping off the skiff, Kabuto sunk in slightly to the sand of the large dune and lept his way to the top. He was quickly followed by Karin and the Demon Brothers and when the had all reached the top of the dune, Kabuto was already adjusting his tan cloak to better hide his face and any exposed areas. Creeping to the top of the rune, he covered as much of his head as possible with the sand colored cloth and just peeked over the top of the dune near the highest crest.

Zooming in with the binoculars, he spotted the group that Karin had sensed. Counting their number, he reached ten and then focused on their weapons and the different animals that they were herding or riding. 'The hairy ones must be bantha and the others could be the dewback that Naruto spoke of in the briefing.' he realized and observed anything else of note.

"What do you see?" asked Meizu from his position with his brother and Karin lower on the dune.

"Only a few of them appear to have ranged weapons, most just have the same style of club. But that isn't what troubles me." admitted Kabuto as he studied their current heading and where they had come from.

"And what's that?" answered Karin as she curiously moved a little closer to the top but stayed below the crest.

"They seem to be heading in the same direction that we are." explained Kabuto with a sigh at the implications of what that meant.

x-x

There was nothing of note to see in Mos Eisley as the trio led by Naruto headed on foot for Jabba's Palace. The only stop that they made was to ask questions and find someone that knew the location of the palace. Not many people knew exactly where it was but they had found a Gran that knew the way and Naruto had ripped that information from his mind. The Gran had gone to the palace on only a few occasions and while it did not know the coordinates, the memories were enough to piece together a route to follow that would lead them where they wanted to go.

Few if any people normally went to Jabba's Palace. There was no shuttle or transport there and the few people that probably could take them there, knew to stay away from it. So they resigned to travel by foot. Each member had been quiet for nearly the entire journey. Juugo hadn't said anything since their discussion on the slaves while riding the skiff transport.

What unnerved Naruto was the fact that HK-47 had been giving them glances and had said nothing since leaving the Vulture. The droid was not usually so reserved and he could only guess at what was going through its processor.

Taking out his communicator, Naruto attempted to reach Plagueis once again but the Muun-turned-Mustafarian was not answering again. 'Kabuto should be sending me an update soon. It shouldn't take that long to reach the cave on skiff.' he calculated and decided to proceed. In a few hours they would be reaching Jabba's Palace and he needed to mull over exactly how to address the Crime Lord so as to get a good price on their weapons and how to set up a deal so they wouldn't get double-crossed.

x-x

Putting her flute to her mouth, Tayuya began to play in the comfort of her shared room with Karin. The music began slow and sped up a little as she continued with the soothing melody. Closing her eyes, she lost herself to the tune and kept playing. Right before concluding the piece, the sharp pain made itself know at her shoulder.

Gritting her teeth, the sudden pain caused her to miss a note and she put down the flute as he rubbed the sore area on her shoulder blade, near her neck. It started as a dull pain that had been bothering her for the past month or so but now occasional sharp pains would come and go. The area experiencing the pain had also increased in size and was no longer as localized.

'Its spreading and getting worse.' She knew exactly what the cause was but chose to ignore it as there was little anyone could do and her stubbornness kept her from asking for help. It hurt worse after periods of moderate chakra usage and was less frequent during their time spent aboard the ship in transit but that didn't mean that she put it out of her mind. The thought of what the pain meant was constantly in the back of her mind.

Soon it would become unbearable but she didn't want to think about it at that moment and decided to go and take a shower. Leaving her room, she walked by one of the other rooms and noticed Suigetsu packing a small travel bag along with one of their large empty sealing scrolls. The former Kiri ninja also seemed to be making some type of rudimentary harness in order to carry his cumbersome sword.

"And where do you think you're going, not that I care if you evaporate out there." Tayuya commented at the entrance to the open doorway that was Suigetsu's and Juugo's room.

Suigetsu looked up and smiled, "I'm going hunting as soon as night comes. I won't have to worry about the suns after sunset and I need to get out and try my new sword." he explained as he patted the large blade that lay on his bed.

Deciding it wasn't any of her business, Tayuya continued to the shower.

x-x

Sitting in a small restaurant, Plagueis looked over the data pad and the information it was showing him. The information was telling him something that should be impossible and it didn't help that Force was not offering any insight. Everything seemed clouded but the more rational side of his mind soon took over and he stopped jumping to conclusions without any evidence.

The data showed that his experiment had a son shortly after coming to the planet. Shmi was owned for a time by Gardula the Hutt, whose compound was the location of the slave station and records. After being lost by the Hutt in a wager to a junkyard dealer named Watto, the woman had moved to a new home in one of the many slave areas of the city. However during her time as a servant for the Hutt, she became pregnant but there was no father listed.

This wasn't unheard of as some men of status didn't want to be associated with an illegitimate child of a slave and it was equally likely that the records were incomplete or had not been updated with that information. There was no need for him to come to the conclusion that his experiment had somehow worked after the better part of a decade since its inception; no matter how much he wanted it to be true. The odds were so far beyond astronomical by that point that it was ridiculous to even consider it.

Calming himself and pushing such thoughts aside again, he looked to the boy's file and began going over it and looking for anything that stood out about the six year old. He was immediately surprised to find that he recognized the picture shown in the file. It was a year or two out of date but the boy shown was the same one that ran into him an hour or more previously.

Despite all his wisdom and knowledge, he couldn't keep his stolen body's heart from beating faster than it should at the faint possibility. He had to find out, even if it meant discovering finding nothing more than a normal child and facing another failure in his long line of failed experiments concerning that subset of Midi-chlorian manipulation.

Finishing his meal, he decided to take the droid back to the ship and then strike out on his own again as he went to the address shown in the stolen files. He would gather information from afar and would have to wait until night before doing anything significant. As he stood from his seat and walked out of the shop, a pair of slit yellow eyes were watching from a nearby alley, slithering across the ground and entering the sand once more, the creature continued its pursuit of the target.

x-x

After evading more Sand People, the Eastern Dune Sea leveled out and the large dunes had all but disappeared. Despite a short distance between them and their ultimate goal, the slowing down and evasions had cost them quite a bit of time in their journey and the planet cycle was reaching the afternoon by the time they finally neared the coordinates that HK-47 had given. Stopping the ship once again, Kabuto hid it as best as he could behind one of the only rock outcroppings in the relatively flat sand sea of sand.

"There's definitely a cave." announced Gozu and his brother added, "And it's quite occupied."

Grabbing his own pair of electrobinoculars, Kabuto found the cave on the horizon and increased the magnification on the device. The cave was very large and right in the middle of the flat sea of sand. It looked as thought sand had been poured over it and it was the only such feature for miles around. Focusing on the inhabitants of the cave, he found dozens of Sand People were at the entrance in a small village made of tents and presumable they were also in the cave as well.

'It seems my assumption was correct. They've made it into a shelter for themselves and an entire tribe or clan is living there.' Kabuto realized and he turned to Karin, "How many do you sense?"

Karin put down her optical device and extended her range to the maximum distance that she could. Shutting her eyes and forming a single handseal, her range extended and ended just before the cave. Pushing her chakra and ability as far as she could, she managed to capture the tents at the outside of the cave in her range but couldn't get beyond that.

Sighing in frustration, she stopped her attempt and reported, "I count nearly eighty at the cave entrance but I can't sense anything beyond that. More are heading there as well." she added at the end and Kabuto scanned the horizon to find one more group of Sand People, possibly one that they had passed along their way, headed to the cave village.

Going over all the information, Kabuto weighed their options. He thought about contacting Naruto but he quickly realized that there was no point. The conversation would result in a single response, which he could picture the cloaked boy saying. 'Get in the cave and get me that device.' Naruto wanted what was in the cave and nothing less would be acceptable.

While he did not outright fear Naruto, he had no idea what the former Konoha ninja would do if they failed. Naruto was strong and he did not yet understand the strange powers that the boy wielded. Naruto was also unpredictable, unlike Plagueis, so the only thing to do was to go in and find out if the device was even there.

"We'll wait here until it gets darker and then move in under the cover of darkness." put forth Kabuto as the best plan he could come up with.

"What about using a Henge and getting inside posing as one of the returning groups?" suggested Meizu and they looked to the appointed leader of the group.

"Its too risky. None of us speak their language and they'll be able to tell something is off when we can't respond to a simple question or greeting." Kabuto explained and Karin decided to get something to drink and eat as they waited behind the rocks they were hiding behind. It would still be a few hours before the suns had fallen to the horizon enough to give them cover.

x-x

The palace came in sight, situated on the edge of the Great Mesra Plateau. They had been walking along the wall of a canyon created by the plateau for quite a while and Naruto was positive that their present had been detected while they were still kilometers away from the palace.

"It doesn't really look like a palace." commented Juugo and Naruto had to agree with him. Jabba's complex consisted of one large rotunda building, two spires, and a few smaller buildings. 'In a way, the main buildings looks rather similar to the Hokage tower, although its about two or three times the size.' thought Naruto as they continued to get closer to the building on the carved path they were following. HK scanned the area with the heat vision of his photoreceptors and recorded the locations of the lookouts and sentries were that were watching them.

"Its possible someone has the scope of a weapon trained on us right now but I can't sense anyone with my limited range. HK how many can you identify?" Naruto asked in half Ibonihese and the remainder Basic.

Had the droid possessed facial expressions, it would have smirked but decided to hold it's vocalizations, "Answer: I have identified several Meatbags in the smaller buildings and larger main rotunda. None seem very concerned with our group, which is certainly a mistake on their part." The droid answered and the three continued to the arched stone bridge that would take them across the remainder of the canyon and to a steady incline that led to the palace above.

With the huge durasteel dark portcullis in view, Naruto looked for any monitoring systems or some method to announce their presence. 'I don't suppose we just knock?' he wondered but as they drew closer, it seemed more and more likely to be the case. Finally, they stood in front of the large and heavy door while the only sound in the area was the wind blowing against and around the large building.

Reaching forward, Naruto knocked several times on the door. Immediately a small round plate flipped open and a large photoreceptor protruded out the opening. The eye looked at all three and stated a sentence that was completely incomprehensible to the pair of humans. Confused by the unfamiliar language, by the time Naruto looked to HK for a translation, the eye had already been pulled back into the opening and the plate quickly shut behind it.

The trio stared at the door for a second before turning to HK once again and expecting an explanation to which the droid quickly complied. "Translation: It's response was quite derogatory and rather amusing. It seemed to think you were a Jawa." The droid said to Naruto.

The thin durasteel plate gave way to Naruto's Raikiri and his hand reached in to grab the droid's only photoreceptor. Yanking it back out of the door frame, an angry Naruto proceeded to convince the droid why it should open for them.

A moment later the large door opened for them and once high enough, they proceeded to walk through the opening and into a large cavernous hallway. HK-47 had fallen slightly behind as it mulled over it's what it had just seen and tried to figure out exactly what kind of technique the boy Meatbag had just used. It seemed quite similar to Force Lightning but he had never seen it rip through durasteel plate or used in that fashion.

'Inner thought: The more I observe these Meatbags, the more different they appear from normal Meatbags.' the droid thought as it increased its pace to catch them up.

Moving slowly down the dark hallway, a large lumbering spider-like droid passed by and was completely indifferent to their presence. The trio each noted the glowing pinkish container it carried at its abdomen but only Naruto realized upon first glance that it was a deteached brain in some kind of fluid. He also realized that it was still alive and in deep thought but he could not however glean much. It's thoughts were so jumbled and cryptic that it was as incomprehensible as the gate droid. Once the walking distraction had passed, they noted several guards at the edges of the hallway hidden in alcoves or just watching them.

The group slowed down as two guards came forward to bar their way with large axes. As they came closer and more into what little light the center-line of the hallway had, Naruto and Juugo were finally able to see more of their visage, which was that of a green skinned pig-like humanoid. The two grunted and oinked to make them stop while crossing their weapons together with an audible clang. The two humans looked over the two guards, who Naruto believed to be Gamoreans, while they presumably waited for someone else to arrive or for either party to make a hostile move.

A few moments later, another humanoid emerged from a nearby staircase. He had dark clothing and the only exposed skin was his neck, head, and what appeared to be a long tentacle that wrapped around his neck. None of the exposed skin had a single hair and the skull was shaped differently than a humans. With small red eyes and pointed teeth, the man crossed the distance in a short amount of time as he took long strides.

'Maybe its a lekku?' Naruto thought as he contemplated the tail-like feature emanating from the man's head. It would therefore make the man a male Twi-lek, which the ninja of the group had yet to encounter. Juugo for his part tried not to stare as Naruto moved to head of their trio in order to present himself as the leader and the person with whom the robed man should speak.

Though the first sentence out of the man's mouth was not in a language Naruto could understand, he could still guess at what the presumed Twi-lek was saying, "We've come to speak with the Great Jabba." Naruto said and hid the frown that was formed by uttering the respectful words.

A response was quickly given and Naruto didn't bother to have HK translate before responding back, "We have a shipment of weapons for him. He won't be disappointed." he added with a slight wave of his hand and the pale Twi-lek nodded and then asked one more question.

From the motions the Twi-lek was making, Naruto was positive that the man wanted a name from him. Thinking fast, he quickly blurted out the first thing on his mind. "Rasen..." and he cut himself off to not same the full name of the jutsu that he had been working on in his spare time, and the one that had recently injured his hand. The Twi-lek nodded again while telling the guards to let him pass.

The three walked passed the guards and the Twi-lek motioned to a wide staircase that they were apparently supposed to take. The man himself walked to the much narrower staircase he originally came out of, which Naruto believed led to a lift. As they proceeded to walk down the dark and winding staircase to what was likely Jabba's main room, Naruto could hear the faint sound of music and smell of some smoke like the Sandaime used to use in his pipe.

Pushing the old memories aside, he focused on the current situation. 'He never checked if we were armed.' he noted upon taking another step down the staircase and scanning for any traps or danger. 'Perhaps the droid at the gate scanned us. But even if the guards had searched us thoroughly, they wouldn't have found anything considering he knows nothings of fuinjutsu. We will get this over with as soon as possible, and then I can find out if Kabuto managed to find it.' he thought with a small smile.

Walking down another, and much shorter staircase, the Twi'lek Bib Fortuna went to the hidden turbolift that would take him down to his Master's throne room. As the newly appointed majordomo for the Hutt, he would inform Jabba of the new birthday guests and the gift they were bringing. He wasn't sure who they were or perhaps who they represented but many criminals and business partners of Jabba had arrived much sooner or sent gifts for the Hutt's birthday. The party had started that morning and was starting to wind down.

'They must have the weapons on a ship in Mos Espa or will be bringing them here shortly. I suppose the Great Slug will be pleased with their gift but I doubt it will surpass the Rancor that I just acquired for him. That gift will help assure my continued living for quite some time. Jabba's already fed at least two people to it and if the weapons aren't of a high enough quality, he'll add them to the menu as well.' he believed and smirked derisively as he reached the bottom of the shaft.

x-x

Realizing that he was staring, Plagueis started walking again and continued moving down the street, away from the hovel that he had been looking at intently for an unknown amount of time. He had found the home of the Skywalker slaves and would have to come back under the cover of darkness. Looking back over the area, he took note of anything he could in order to mark the area in his mind and make it easier to return later. The slave homes along the roadways of Mos Espa all looked alike. They were the same style, size, and shape, so he needed to look for the differences in order to memorize which one he wanted.

A part of him wanted to go back and break into the house to begin his search for answers but he knew it was a little risky and would therefore have to wait. He hadn't spent most of the day trying to find his experiment only to get caught breaking into her home. 'Waiting an hour or two longer won't hurt me but I do find my patience waning and curiosity as well as eagerness winning out over common sense.' he admitted and began thinking again if there was even the remote possibility that his experiment could have worked. The thought simple would not vacate his mind.

'The boy is five and I've been been dead for fifteen years. It just doesn't seem possible and yet why do I feel that it could have still worked.' he wondered and decided not to go back to the ship and instead just wander through the city while letting his mind contemplate the situation.

x-x

It was a long staircase and the farther they went down, the louder the music got. The smell of smoke only increased and voices could finally be made out by the time they reached the last bend in the winding stairs and their final destination. The stairs opened to a dimly lit room that reminded Naruto of something akin to a basement. The three looked to the nearby Hutt that sat on a rectangular slab or rock that made him the most prominent figure in the room. The two humans stared for quite a few seconds as the Hutt was indeed a species that they had trouble processing and trying to figure out anything that they had seen previously that even looked remotely similar.

The Hutts attention was completely focused on the two dancing Twi-lek in the middle of the room on a sunken floor slightly lower than the surroundings. Most of the room was gathered around the that area to watch or mingling on the outskirts or at the few tables in the room. A live band played in the corner and several droids roamed the room serving drinks. There were a good number of different species and a large number of people in general for such a space. In the darkness and with all of the people moving around or dancing to the music, it was unbelievably difficult to count how many people were crammed into the room.

The three were ushered into the room by the movements of the guests. After moving just a few steps away from the staircase, they eventually found a place to stand next to a few columns on the opposite side of the room from where the Hutt lounged.

"Do you think it's always this lively?" Juugo questioned while few well armed people bumped into him as they moved closer to the gathering around the dancers. Naruto contemplated the question and wasn't sure how to answer. The scene before them was not what he had pictured in his mind when he planned how he would approach the Hutt and haggle a price for the weapons.

Looking around the room like his two Meatbag companions were doing, the droid HK-47 wondered how fast the situation would deteriorate to violence once the Hutt learned that they would not be giving a promised gift. 'Inner thought: Many Meatbags will be killed in the chaos that ensues.' The droid celebrated and knew he just needed to wait for the inevitable to happen. Though not able to hurt his new owners, that didn't mean he had to keep them safe. He had held his voice synthesizer when he learned of what the twi-lek was saying and how the small blonde Meatbag did not understand, nor cared to understand what was really going on.

They however were proving to be more interesting than he originally anticipating, at least for Meatbags.

x-x

Few if any eyes were watching the dark sands of the surface as Kabuto swiftly moved underneath and the Demon Brothers moved through the air voids of the sand particles in their smoke form. Their target was supposedly housed inside of the cave but they needed to get past quite a few obstacles to get there. HK-47's information about the location of the cave had been accurate and they moved to find if the map that Naruto sought was still inside.

Sitting back at the skiff, Karin prepared the ship for a quick getaway and then focused on sensing within her range. Should a problem occur, she would have to get to Kabuto and the Brothers as fast as possible to make an escape. Given that the Sand People only seemed to have animal mounts and no vehicles of any kind, they wouldn't have to go far to outrun as pursuers.

She could feel Kabuto and the presences of Meizu and Gozu. Tracking the three, she soon found that they were on the fringes of her range and she would not be able to help anymore until they had completed the mission inside the cave or sent her a message via commlink.

As they neared the cave, Kabuto came very close to the surface and his snake appendage moved out of the sand just enough to expose it's head. Tasting the air with its tongue, the snake eyed the surrounding encampment and judged the distance needed to continue to a safer place before completely surfacing.

The air was thick with the smells of Sand People and their herds while many Sand People were still moving around the camp and busy with settling in. 'I still can't determine how many are in the cave. We should probably surface in a more secluded area, if we can find one, and then try to blend in as we move to cave.' thought Kabuto as he moved to a calmer area of the camp. Feeling the vibrations through the sand he quickly located the best place to surface with the Demon Brothers following.

The sand bulged as Kabuto's form came up from the depths with the use of an Earth jutsu. The area he had chosen was surrounded by tents, most of which were empty and offered good cover so they could remain hidden from the rest of the camp before trying to blend in. They weren't' far from the cave and could seemingly make it there without much trouble.

While smoke rose from the sand and formed into the Demon Brothers, Kabuto chose the best disguise he could and formed a Henge. Once the smoke had dispersed, the form of a Sand Person stood and examined himself.

Completely formed, Gezo and Meizu did the same except they didn't have to form a Henge and instead just used their smoke to change their appearance. Looking each other over and inspecting the clothing and coverings to make sure they were as authentic as possible, the three proceeded to leave their cover and enter the camp. In a single-file line they headed toward the opening of the cave.

x-x

Watching two Gamoreans arm wrestle, a bored Naruto looked to his chronograph to figure out how much time he had wasted. He had already scouted the room and identified the threats, of which there were many. The majority of the beings in the room were either mercenaries, bounty hunters, various sorts of criminals, or perhaps just personal guards of the Hutt. It was difficult to tell one thug from another sometimes.

They had been offered numerous drinks and food that neither human would even think about touching. He was annoyed and getting more impatient by the minute. The party didn't seem to be stopping or even slowing down. In fact many were taking copious amounts of drugs or even stimulants in order to keep going longer.

The only part that didn't annoy him was the fact that the Hutt also seemed to be growing restless as well. Jabba was apparently bored with the current dancers and yanking on the chains that bound them to the dais he was sitting on. Watching the Hutt with renewed interest as he renewed his search for an opening in which he could speak with the giant slug. Did he just step forward and approach the Hutt or was there some type of protocol that had to be followed. While thinking on the matter, he noticed the Twi'lek they encountered earlier had move to Jabba's side and spoke to the Hutt while looking in their direction.

At first he thought it was finally time for his audience with the Hutt and to negotiate but he felt something else entirely with the Force. 'Something's wrong.' he realized and felt he should turn towards the stairway and leave as soon as possible. Juugo seemed to notice something too and stopped leaning against the wall nearby.

The Hutt's eyes widened slightly as the Twi'lek spoke to the side of his head and presumably through some kind of ear. The Hutt and Twi'lek then looked to Naruto's direction and his feeling of unease only intensified. The Hutt began talking directly to him and the majority of the partying in the room stopped as all eyes turned to the host. There was no translator droid present during the speech so Naruto turned to HK-47 to see what the Hutt was saying.

"Translation: The Hutt is demanding that you present your gift to him."

Naruto did a double-take on the droid and questioned in a hushed voice, "Gift, what gift?"

"Explanation: The gift you promised to provide when we were stopped by the Twi'lek Majordomo up above." the droid explained and Naruto began putting together the pieces of the mistake and assumption he had made.

"What kind of celebration is this?" Naruto demanded and HK-47 was quick to reply, "Answer: A birthday party for the Hutt before you."

Naruto could have sworn the droid had smiled behind the unchanging face and he had no idea what to do. He thought about dismantling the droid but that would serve no purpose at the moment. The Hutt spoke again for presumably just a sentence or two and coming out of his thoughts, Naruto. found that all eyes had turned towards him and the Hutt was growing impatient.

"Statement: You should have payed more attention to your own situation." HK-47 told him in near perfect Ibonihese and both Naruto and Juugo and looked in surprise at the droid.

x-x

Smelling the air and scanning the darkening terrain, Suigetsu smiled as the temperature had dropped significantly and more than adequate for him to venture our without worry of dehydrating or perhaps even evaporating. Considering his techniques and the village he came from, he had never actually been to a desert before. Not knowing exactly what he should bring, he had only taken his sword, some water and the last of their sealing scrolls but was determined to find a few of the creatures that Naruto had spoken about during the briefing.

'A Krayt Dragon sounds like fun.' he thought as he slid down a large dune and headed towards the mountains in the distance. Given the dimensions that Naruto had mentioned, he tried to imagine in his head exactly how large it would be compared to himself and his sword. Besides a general description and the fact that they were more prevalent in the mountain areas of the planet, he had no other information about the creatures or their habits.

It would only get darker as the sun continued to set in the West but that didn't bother him. He knew that most creatures in the desert would be out and hunting at night, at least that was how it was supposed to work. The galaxy had proved to be anything but ordinary and predictable. 'In order to hunt something so big and probably elusive, I'll have to find some way to lure it to me.' Suigetsu planned as he scanned the dunes for some smaller prey to use as bait. Just about anything he ran into on the way to the distance mountains would work for his purposes. He just hoped it would be enough to attract something much larger.

x-x

Moving past the standing beasts, Kabuto and the two brothers navigated their way through the masses and further into the cave. As it turned out, the cave was primarily used for the herd as some kind of barn to keep them during the night. Traveling in and out of the herds, they managed to get passed many of the tribe who were in the cave and tending to the needs of the animals.

Reaching the end of the herd, they found that cave kept going while the animals seemed to stay towards the front of the cave and not venture any farther than a certain point. 'That's rather foreboding.' Kabuto thought and decided to keep going as there was no point in backing out now. Making sure that no one would see them, the three proceeded deeper into the darkening cave.

Eventually the sand disappeared as only bare rock covered the floor and in the darkness they could make out fallen structures and statues. Moving over the fallen architectural features, they ventured deeper and searched for the Star Map. It didn't help that none of their group actually knew what such a device looked like. Naruto and Plagueis could only offer a guess. Basically they were looking for a metallic piece of equipment that looked similar to the holoprojector that was on their briefing table.

As the cave grew darker, Kabuto frowned at their lack of success. It had gotten too dark to distinguish rock from metal and he dare not use a glowrod as it may alert the Sand People at the mouth of the cave to their intrusion. Touching every rock and surface that they could in the dark, proved to be extremely annoying. As the three groped in the dark, Meizu eventually came to a shadowy outline of something that looked rather different from everything else he had encountered up to that point.

Reaching forward, he touched the object with his non-gauntlet hand and felt cool metal. Something told him that the object was what he sought and he felt as if it was reacting to him in some fashion. "I think I found it." he said to the others in a hushed voice to make sure it didn't echo throughout the cave. Kabuto and Gozu quickly found his position and they too began examining his find.

"Its a lot bigger than what Naruto and Plagueis were describing." commented Gozu as he moved around the device. In the darkness they could make out that it was taller than them with three long feet that stretched from a center column or spire. Roughly three meters high and nearly the same distance around for the feet.

'Does it have an 'On' switch.' Kabuto wondered as he examined the device with his hands and his snake appendage moved around it to determine it's dimensions. He could feel that the item was what they sought but something told him that he couldn't activate it. 'I'd hate to bring this back only to find out it's broken or won't work.' After not finding any discernible activation mechanism, he began looking to the base to see how it was attached to the ground.

"I wonder if it a self-contained unit or does it have a separate power source and is just an emitter." Kabuto thought out loud as he tried to see if there were any cables or conduits going to or coming from the unit. Meizu and Gozu looked at each and then proceeded to step forward and grab the feet, forcing their fingers into the rock beneath to get a firm grip and then pulling the entire device up off the ground.

After a brief struggle, it broke free from the rock and they couldn't seen anything attached to the underside as they both tilted one side up to examined it.

"Self-contained, how wonderful." commented Kabuto with some unease. The brothers actions could have easily destroyed something had it been connected to anything. "Now we just need to get it back to the mouth of the cave." stated Kabuto as he moved ahead of the former Kiri shinobi while they walked much slower behind him as they hefted and dragged the device.

x-x

A lone, tall shadow moved through the darkness of the row of slave hovels. In the light of the moon and few street lights, the shadow distended to gigantic propositions and would then soon shortened to almost nil or seemingly change direction with the fluctuating lights sources. Nothing else was around and no one else seemed to be walking the streets or around small similar buildings. The cloaked figure moved from one shadowy area to the next and headed for a particular hovel that he had memorized a few hours before.

He'd spent the remainder of the late afternoon wandering around the winding roads of the city or sitting in a cantina and going over his thoughts. The only distractions were the two pickpockets that had tried to steal from him and the search for escaped slaves which had still not been dealt with. The freed slaves were apparently hiding somewhere in the city or perhaps had left Mos Espa entirely.

With the correct domicile identified, Plagueis moved to the locked door and reached out to sense the building. Both occupants of the home seemed to be sleeping which was what he wanted. Using the Force, he tricked the lock on the door and let himself.

Once inside and with the door shut behind him, he waited in the pitch-black room to see if anyone had noticed the sound from the door. Moments went by as his host's heartbeat and breathing accelerated slightly. When nothing had happened, he moved through the home without a sound on his way to the bedrooms. He examined every inch of the dark main room and the noted that the accommodations, while being very small, were on the nicer side for slaves. Keeping his hosts head down to not hit the low ceiling, he first went to one of the rooms.

Using the Force, he silently brushed the fabric door aside and crept into the room. He found his experiment fast asleep in her bed and noted the changes in her features during the fifteen years since he had last seen her. Moving to the side of the bed, he kept her sleeping while he drew blood and tissue samples from her. He didn't currently possess the facilities to run the tests that he wanted.

'This will have to suffice for the present, at least until I am able to do more.' he thought, knowing he wouldn't get many answers from a mere blood sample, but he still wanted to accomplish something while he was there and intended to get anything he could. Moving out from her room, he went in search of the boy and quickly found him to be in the adjoining room just past the bathroom.

Entering the room, he found it slightly larger than Shmi's. A workbench caught his eye and he went over there first to look at it. 'The boy evidently collects junk or at least items that he believes to be worthwhile.' he thought while inspecting the trinkets and other things on the bench. Glancing to a box on the floor, he found pieces of a slightly older model of protocol droid. He had seen the boy earlier that very day ferrying one of the pieces that appeared in the box. Many pieces were still missing but it looked like the boy planned on trying to rebuild the droid and was possibly bringing it back piece by piece from somewhere.

'He seems a little untrained for such an endeavor.' Plagueis noted as slaves often did not have any schooling or any lessons into droids, especially not when they were so young. Quietly, he moved to the boy's bed. Making sure the boy remained asleep, he took multiple samples, pocketed them, but remained where he was. He could sense something as he stared down at the child. Something he had completely ignored or had overlooked during their very brief encounter before. 'There's something different about the boy.' he believed but couldn't be sure what it was at that moment in time.

Slightly hesitant to leave, he finally walked out of the room. His short steps increased in speed and stride while he walked. 'I must get this sample back to analyze it on the ship.' He thought with urgency while exiting the hovel and quickly heading for the ship.

Once he had walked far enough away from the hovel, a small sand snake moved out from underground and took one last look at Plagueis before disappearing in plume of smoke.

x-x

Standing before his companions and in front of a very expectant Jabba the Hutt, a cloaked Naruto quickly thought of something to say. He was on the spot and therefore decided to put on a show in order to appease the Hutt as much as possible. All eyes turned to him as he began speaking, "Oh great and powerful Jabba, this is our first time meeting and I hope won't be our last. My name is...Rasen...and I have traveled far to bring you a gift on this very auspicious occasion. I bring you a shipment of weapons that I...acquired...and give to you in hopes of promoting future business." and he ended the small speech with short bow.

The Hutt seemed pleased by the speech and spoke. A nearby translating droid had been brought out while Naruto was speaking and it began translating for the Hutt into Basic so Naruto could understand what Jabba was saying in Huttese.

"The Great Jabba wishes to know of what sort of business you are currently involved in and wish to become involved in within his organization?" the droid said in a mechanical voice.

"Everything." Was Naruto's only response as he wasn't about to give the Hutt any more information about himself or their group as was necessary.

The Hutt let out a loud, deep laugh and several members of the room followed suit as if they were obliged to. The Hutt soon began speaking to him again and he glanced to the droid for the translation.

"The Great Jabba wants to know where this shipment is, as it obviously isn't here before him." said the droid in monotone and obviously not conveying the dangerous intent that the words were meant to have.

Naruto chose his words carefully and disregarding the bad taste that flattery and respect put in his mouth, he began, "I have the shipment close by at a hanger in Mos Espa for safe keeping. One can never be too careful and I wanted this gift to be presented to you without any incident. If I could back up the surface and contact my ship, as I can't seem to get a signal from here..." he left the inquiry hanging and waited for the response that he wanted.

The Hutt seemed appeased with the answer and the droid quickly translated his speech, "The Great and Powerful Jabba says that you may use the communications terminal in the room."

Hiding his frown at the news he hadn't expected, nor wanted, Naruto looked to where the droid was pointing and indeed found a communications terminal. Looking back to the Hutt and nodding, he moved through the guests and to the terminal while the party guests began resuming conversation and music. He looked completely calm and composed on the outside but was seething inside.

He wanted to get to the surface, not only to contact the ship, but to give him a moment to create some clones in order to switch with. He had no intention of giving over their weapons and wanted to make a quick getaway as soon as the ship arrived. Unfortunately there were people in every corner and crevice of the room. It wasn't wall to wall people but there were enough people that he couldn't create a clone anywhere in the room without it being noticed or making a commotion. He could have gotten away earlier, but too many eyes were now on him, despite the party returning to normal.

Cursing in his head as he found the frequency for their ship and began transmitting a message, he waited for a reply. Several eyes watched him as he waited for someone on-board the ship to answer his call. Seconds went by as no one answered and he was getting more concerned while the ones watching him were getting more inclined to believe he was lying.

Getting desperate, he began thinking of an alternative plan. As he tensed for action and told Juugo to be prepared, the screen he stood in front of changed and indicated that his call was accepted. He let out a breath that he had been holding and expected to see Plagueis, however someone else answers his call.

"The fuck do you want, I'm trying to sleep here." Answered an annoyed and very tired looking Tayuya in Ibonihese.

Naruto starred at the screen for a second and then remembered why he had tried to reach the ship. "I need to you tell Master Plagueis that things aren't going well and we need retrieval." Naruto answered back in Ibonihese in order to keep anyone else from overhearing his conversation.

"Are you at some type of party?" she asked while ignoring his question. Getting angry, Naruto reinforced his previous statement, "Get Plagueis."

Tayuya's look became annoyed but she responded calmly to his dangerous tone, "You'd have better luck contacting him yourself."

"He's not on the ship?" Naruto questioned as it seemed a great deal of time had passed since their arrival and he estimated it to be nearly nighttime on Tatooine. What reason would his Master have to leave the ship during the night.

"He left hours ago without a word and Suigetsu left within the last hour. Its just me and the droid." she replied and then asked with some hesitation, "Is there anything that I can do?"

"No." came Naruto's terse reply and he ignored the glare that the redhead gave him.

'I don't even want to know why Suigetsu is gone...its only her and Deefour...' he put together and had an idea. "The droid, put the droid on." he demanded and Tayuya called for the droid, who soon came into view and beeped several times in greeting.

"Deefour, I need you to interface with the ship's computer, take over the autopilot, and bring the ship to where I am..." he began quickly and was interrupted by a question from the redhead, "Where are you right now?"

Naruto's sentence and thoughts stopped in their tracks as he realized something. He truthfully didn't know his current location in terms of geographically on the planet. The information concerning the location of Jabba's Palace had been ripped from the mind of some thug in Mos Espa and it was only a memory that led to Jabba's Palace.

It was also an encrypted terminal, and they couldn't latch onto the signal from his transmission or find the signal from his personal commlink as the palace seemed to be shielded or jamming unauthorized transmissions..

"Did the screen freeze..." Tayuya commented and rapped against the monitor on her side a few times as Naruti's pictures had stopped moving.

'Shit, I can't get any backup.' and that was the only conclusion he could make from the situation he was presented with.

"Bring the shipment to Jabba's Palace." he commanded in a louder voice and in Basic. Tayuya gave him a weird look and before she could comment he added in a much lower voice, "Just say 'Yes' in Basic."

"Um...Yes." replied the very confused former Sound Ninja and Naruto took the opportunity to end the transmission. He didn't mean to cut Tayuya off or not explain himself but he had already wasted a great deal of time for what should have been a very short conversation. Turning to the watching Majordomo Twi-lek, he nodded with a fake smile to the man which conveyed an unspoken statement about the weapons being on their way.

'I have five to ten minutes at the most before they realize the ruse and everything begins going to hell.' he realized and looked to Juugo who had been hoping for some reassuring news, but he had none to give.

x-x

"That bastard hung up on me!" raged Tayuya and she looked the droid, who backed away from her a few feet in order to stay out of her way.

A moment later, the landing ramp lowered and she was on her feet, blaster in one hand and kunai in the other as she prepared for an intruder. She however blinked in surprise as Plagueis quickly moved aboard the ship and completely ignored her presence while moving to the medical bay. Remembering the conversation with Naruto, she tried to catch his attention but the door soon shut behind him.

Going up to the closed door, she expected it to open but it would not, trying the panel she found it was apparently not responding and would not open. Pounding on the door with the ring-end of her kunai, she tried to get the Mustafarian's attention but he neither seemed to rouse him from the room.

After trying to raise him on the ship's internal communications system which Deefour tried to convey to her was disabled by someone inside the room, indecision took over as she gave up trying any other means. If the Sith Lord didn't want to be disturbed and went to such great lengths, 'Then fuck him.' she thought and sat down in her seat at their circle table.

Despite trying to put the thoughts out of her head, a fair amount of guilt still remained. Naruto had needed help and there was nothing she could do. Plagueis was completely shut in and there was no one else that could pilot the ship or locate Naruto. She hated feeling helpless. 'He looked desperate, too.' she thought and that thought made her wonder, 'What would he do when he was desperate?'

x-x

Nearing the mouth of cave, the trio stopped and Kabuto scouted ahead while the Demon Brothers rested. 'Fuck this thing is heavy.' thought Meizu as he and Gozu were out of breath and lay against some nearby rocks. Their enhanced strength was being taxed to the limit.

The Star Map was not made to be lifted by people, it was as cumbersome to handle as it was heavy to drag. The task got easier as soon as the floor was covered with sand again but that did not mean it still didn't leave them drained.

Close to the entrance, Kabuto found that many more Sand People were inside the cave than when they originally came in and even more still were slowly filing in. 'Do they come inside during the night?' he wondered but it didn't make sense as there would have been no reason to make camp just outside the entrance.

Deciding on the best way to make their escape, Kabuto determined that a wide area genjutsu should work best. Focusing his chakra, he began making seals for his Temple of Nirvana Technique which would put the nearby Sand People to sleep and allow them to make a getaway. Finishing the handseals he pushed out his chakra and cast the genjutsu.

It didn't work.

The Sand People were all still moving and completely unaffected. They should have been dropping into a deep sleep, 'I don't understand. Can they be immune to genjutsu?' he wondered. After some internal debate, he decided to make a call to someone that might know. Taking out his commlink he was reasonable sure that being near the mouth of the cave, that he could reach their ship. Sending a signal to the Vulture and after waiting a brief period, he received an response.

"Would you people stop bugging me, and do you have any idea what fucking time it is!?" Came Tayuya's annoyed voice from the small device and Kabuto smiled while replying, "On which planet?"

"Smart ass. I should hang up.." started Tayuya before Kabuto intervened in a placating manner, "So sorry... but I seem to be experiencing a problem here." he explained and Tayuya fired back, "I've heard most guys have that problem once in a while, just start thinking of Orochimaru and that should do it."

Kabuto's eye twitched and slight blush developed while he ignored the stifled laughter from the resting Demon Brothers. "No, that is not the problem that I'm having..." Kabuto began but was cutoff, "Do you even have one of those anymore, now that you're all...snakish?"

'I won't dignify that with a response.' Kabuto repeated in his head several times.

"It appears that I am having trouble casting a genjutsu on the people we are trying to not get caught by." explained Kabuto and he heard her mutter, "You can cast genjutsu." and smiled slightly as the redhead knew very little about him as a result of all his time spent as a spy for Orochimaru in Konoha and elsewhere.

"Yes, yes I can. However, I cannot seem to cast my genjutsu successfully over these desert people."

"Well duh." came Tayuya's swift and eloquent response.

"I don't follow." admitted Kabuto and he waited for her response.

"They don't have chakra systems, dumbass. You can't cast a genjutsu over them in that way." she informed him and he was about to ask how she had been able to use genjutsu when he remembered her flute.

Tayuya's method of casting a genjutsu was different than the norm. She used sound to affect the target and then the brain and other senses as opposed to the normal method of the casters chakra affecting the target's chakra system, and affecting the brain and senses.

"Well damn." Kabuto exclaimed out-loud at the realization and the line went dead as Tayuya severed the communication.

'I suppose that is the reason that Naruto was so set on bringing Tayuya into the group. She's one of the few genjutsu users that uses the medium of sound for casting. Did he really think that far ahead?' questioned an impressed Kabuto and he began thinking of other methods to solve the dilemma that was literally in front of them.

Commotion at the cave entrance brought him out of his thoughts as he tried to figure out what was going on. More people were entering the cave and despite the darkness he could tell that they were in a rush and could make out a few shouts and yelling.

'Something must be happening outside.' he thought and cursed as it seemed the entire tribe was going to be coming into the cave. Curious to know exactly what would scare them, he pulled out his commlink and contacted Karin.

"Kabuto?" came Karin's disembodied voice and Kabuto adjusted the volume even lower to prevent the growing number of Sand People from possibly hearing the conversation. "Everyone seems to be coming to cave, what's going on out there?"

Outside the cave, Karin grabbed her binoculars and viewed the encampment and described what she saw to Kabuto, "Everyone's packing up and heading to the cave...there's scared of something...one of them is pointing near my direction..." she noted and panned her view to the direction indicated.

Confused at first, she zoomed out and it wasn't until she was at one of the lowest zoom settings that she started to understand what it was that she was seeing. It was a wall of sand, kilometers long, and hundreds of meters high. It also seemed to be headed right for her, and fast. She put down the binoculars, as they weren't needed and continued to stare dumbly at the daunting storm. The wind was just starting to pick up, blowing her red hair and a low howl could just be heard by her ears.

"Karin?!" came Kabuto's hushed voice and he said her name again louder, which seemed to break her hypnotic gaze and she put the commlink closer to her mouth and said, "S-sandstorm." which was all she was able to get out as she looked out again at the endless moving wall of sand.

"Karin, listen to me! Get the skiff and straight for the cave."

"But what about..." and she was cutoff, "Don't worry about anything else, just keep your head down and we'll meet you outside." came Kabuto's voice over the commlink and it was much louder than before.

Acting on the command, Karin jumped onto the skiff and worked the controls as she turned the skiff towards the cave and headed there at full speed.

x-x

'Think! Think!' Naruto repeated over and over in his head as minutes past but he had nothing.

Mind tricks didn't work on Hutts. Plagueis had put emphasis on that when explaining to him about Hutts in general. Jabba would be no exception to this and that meant he couldn't coerce his way out of it. No clever plan that would make everything right and let them get away unscathed and without repercussions.

The only viable option he had come up with was to spam a huge load of clones all over the room and try to escape in the chaos. Creating clones near the entrance was no problem, but it was too difficult for one of his clones to switch with Juugo or HK to get to the staircase as fast as possible. He just didn't possess the chakra control to accomplish something such as that. There was also the issue that his clones didn't react well to plasma bolts. They tended to go right through clones and the distraction would offer no real protection.

'I'm backed into a corner.' he realized and it was time to implement the only thing he had left. He had made a modification to HK and seals hiding weapons on his and Juugo's belts, all of which would surprise the mercenaries and guards around him but he needed a distraction first.

'What do I have to work with.' he thought while itemizing everything going on in the room in order to come up with something. He had Juugo and one psychotic droid on his side. They had hidden weapons but no opportunity to use them. A room full of guests that were either mercenaries, guards, bounty hunters, criminals and trained or at least ruthless killers. Dancers, musicians, slaves, and others who were not armed and inconsequential. A male Twi-lek that he wanted to maim and possibly kill. And a large fat Hutt that he hated very much at that moment and whose patience was growing thin and getting more annoyed and angry with each passing minute.

'Could I capitalize on that?' he wondered and explored the possibility. While Hutt's minds were very resistant to mind tricks, he had no idea if they were completely immune to every subtlety of Force tricks or if he couldn't break through that resistance. The Hutt was already experiencing negative emotions and he was curious if he could make those emotions boil or at least amplify them enough that the Hutt would do something.

When it came to making a distraction, everyone in the room payed attention to the Hutt more than anyone else. Nearly every eye would turn to see what was happening. Standing still and focusing with the Force, he sought out the Hutt's mind. Almost immediately he encountered difficulty as Jabba's mind seemed completely blocked from his influence. Focusing on just emotions coming off the Hutt while ignoring everything else, Naruto closed his eyes and shut out every other concern and sense.

He began feeling many different emotions that the Hutt was experiencing. Annoyance or frustration was at the forefront of these emotions. 'What exactly would he be so annoyed about?' wondered Naruto as he tried to guess what could be bothering the Hutt.

Was it the party or the surrounding company? Not enough people or gifts? The fact that the Hutt was made to wait for the supposed weapons shipment. To be honest he hadn't noticed all that many gifts being presented while they were there, had they missed that part of the party. 'I really don't know much about birthday parties, or how they work in this part of the galaxy.' Deciding that the reason behind the emotions may never be determined in the time that he had, Naruto instead focused on just the feeling itself and sought to amplify it.

'Whatever the reason, if I can magnify it, he might explode given the slightest provocation.' Naruto determined and focused solely on that task. After fifteen seconds, he wasn't producing any results. Jabba still seemed the same but he pressed on, determine to not give up without a result. Gritting his teeth, he employed every trick and technique he could think of to make it work. He even began trying to transfer his own frustrations at his lack of success to Jabba.

After nearly a minute, he began feeling results. The Hutt's emotions began increasing. Keeping at it, he eventually opened his eyes and began to see his efforts taking their course. The Hutt began voicing some demands which Naruto could not decipher, but he could feel the anger starting to boil just under the surface. Two dancers that had been entertaining the Hutt and other party members throughout the night were quite tired by that point and their dance had been slowing.

The Hutt's ire soon changed to them and he reached for the lengths of chains that bound them to the slab of stone that he lounged on. Taking the chains, the Hutt flicked the chain which jarred the collars on both Twi'lek girls neck's. It seemed that Jabba was demanding that they stop slacking.

"What are you doing?" questioned Juugo in a hushed voiced as he looked upon the unfolding scene and Naruto smiled slightly as he continued watching his success. "Trying to make us a distraction. We can't keep whatever deal he thinks we've promised him and need to leave immediately. Be ready to act and start picking targets and when I give the signal, we'll head straight for the staircase." Naruto responded in a similarly hushed voice.

"What about them?" asked Juugo as he moved his head in the direction of the two Twi-lek dancers.

"Unfortunately they will be in the wrong place at the wrong time as will many others at this party." whispered Naruto in all seriousness and while Jabba was creating a scene in the room, the trio slipped into the crowd and moved towards the staircase. He doubted they would make it all the way there without being stopped but that would be when the blasters and weapons were unsealed.

Determined to keep going and not look at what was unfolding, Naruto could still feel the scene playing out as a crowd gathered around the depression in the floor where the dancers were performing. The two slaves were getting pulled closer to an area of the floor which he had noted earlier. It seemed to be a different grating than what was used elsewhere on the floor and after sensing the room and finding a very large animal in some kind of cage beneath them, it was obvious that it was a trap. The placement was right before Jabba's platform, and anyone there to speak to Jabba directly would likely be led to that particular spot.

'They'll likely be pulled to the trap door and then fall into the pen beneath us.' Naruto thought as he tried to ignore everything else except for the goal of escaping. Not everyone in the room was paying full attention to the Hutt and he could feel several of Jabba's more capable men were moving for their position to prevent them from leaving.

'Should I unseal my weapons or wait a little longer?' Naruto debated as he pushed past a few people. No one had stopped him yet but if he began creating a scene, then the two slaves would be spared. However it would be more difficult for them to get to the stairs and get up before someone started coming down. Everything else in the room seemed to fade away as his mind focused on the Hutt and two struggling slaves. They were probably almost on top of the trap.

'I can't stop. Even attempting such a thing would put me in the middle of a room full of well armed combatants.' he argued with what little conscience that remained in him and plagued him at moments such as the present.

His thoughts were interrupted as his trained senses noticed that something was off. Adjusting his senses to the entire room, he found that Juugo was no longer following behind him. Naruto immediately turned and went back while HK-47 continued on.

Pushing through the gawkers, he saw Juugo just as Jabba's fist came down on a button on the dais that activated the doorway and the two slaves screamed as they dropped through the opening. As the Hutt began laughing, Juugo smashed through the last line of standing people and ran two steps over the floor before sliding the remainder of the way and going right into the opening as the grate was closing.

Starring between the arms of two humanoids, Naruto watched the scene unfold and continued to stare as he was unable to do anything to stop Juugo. If he used Force Grip, Juugo would be helpless in the exact middle of the room. It was best just to let him go. A few moments passed by as the grate completely shut and Jabba's platform moved forward to put the Hutt in position to watch the show beneath them through the larger grating on the floor.

The Hutt began speaking and laughing but the words were lost on Naruto as he stood, somewhat dumbfounded at what he should be doing. He didn't need to glance around to know that at least four weapons were trained on him at that moment and that most of the room had shifted to give the Hutt a perfect view of where he stood. Eyes were torn between himself and looking down through the metal grate as the sound of a rusted gate opening began making itself known.

Jabba said something else in Huttese and another area of the gathered crowd soon parted to reveal HK-47, being led at blaster-point by two guards. The droid held its arms up in a placating manner and said,

"Frightened Statement: Don't shoot, I am but an innocent protocol droid."

A few people in the crowd, including Jabba, laughed while Naruto sweat-dropped and thought, 'There's no way they'll buy that.' The two guards however lowered their weapons as they ignored the droid and focused more on him.

'They actually bought it. I don't know which is worse the fact that they are well armed or the fact that they are completely stupid.' thought a exasperated Naruto as he stopped himself from shaking his head. The Hutt again spoke in Huttese and Naruto guessed it was something along the lines of, "Your next." or "And now you watch your companion die."

Hearing a roar from below, which he knew not to be from Juugo, Naruto quickly glanced around and debated his options. 'Now there are six with their guns trained on me.' he noted and looked for something that could be done. The attention was focusing down below, which was good and the Weequay standing next to him had a short bandoleer with two thermal detonators on it. Naruto smirked under his cloak hood as he slowly moved his hands up in the air to show that he was unarmed and surrendering. Focusing on the two detonators, he moved one of his hands slightly and the switches on each grenade activated.

The sound of the arming detonators was well known and most people that surrounded the Weequay were instantly aware of what had just happened. Before the shouts rang out and the man himself tried to disarm the explosives, Naruto took the moment to act. Moving swiftly, he palm-thrusted the man in combination with a Force Push and sent him across the room, straight at the lounging Hutt.

Impacting the Hutt's sizable gut, Jabba yelled while grabbing the mercenary with his short arms and with surprising strength, physically throwing the man away from himself right before the detonation.

Forming a blade of wind with his hand, Naruto swung at the other combatants around him and did serious damage before he jumped away from the blast area as the grenades exploded. Forming a seal in the air, HK-47's right arm disappeared in smoke as it was sealed into a fuinjutsu on the droids stump and with the activation of a second seal, he unsealed the droid's blaster arm attachment and his own weaponry.

Naruto's belt looked to be ornate but it was actually a series of seals engraved on metal plates that held all of his weapons. Landing and taking cover behind stone columns, the entire room went to hell as chaos and mass hysteria consumed nearly every person. Screams, shouts, yells, and random or concentrated blaster fire were the only sounds Naruto heard as he drew his blaster and sword and began picking targets from his cover. He assumed HK-47 was doing the same but couldn't be sure where the droid was at the moment.

His cover however was soon compromised as heavy blaster fire burned through the stone pillar and he was forced to flee along the row of columns. Taking aim between the architecture, he fired off several shots and sheathed his sword, as it was not helping him, in favor of drawing his other blaster. What appeared to be a small rocket impacted near him and sent rock and debris into him which caused him to stumble, roll, and crawl to the nearest obstruction to hide behind.

Focusing on the location of his many assailants he found that new fighters were coming down the staircase from the floors above as at the same time frightened guests swarmed the staircase to get out of the firefight. The situation created a bottleneck in the stairway which meant that no one would be getting out of there fast. There also appeared to be many guards coming up from another staircase at the opposite end of the room from the lower floors near where Juugo was.

Stuck in a corner area, he found that those left in the room were slowly closing in on him. Now he really was cornered.

AN: Unfortunately its will be continued in the next chapter as I was really running over on this one. I had hoped to finish it in one chapter but that won't be the case.