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.

28. Chapter 28

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

AN: If you would like to see what the Naboo castle looks like, I have posted a link to the Wookieepedia site that shows what I used for inspiration. I have also included a link for the Star Jewel and several more for this chapter. Thank you

x-x

36.3 BBY – Current Year

Chapter XXVIII: Encounters

x-x

Landing near the much larger Star Jewel, Plagueis left the Vulture and went to examine the luxury yacht. He noted that the hangar door was open and there were several voids where normally ships would have been. Looking for Karin, he was about to ask her to sense the surrounding area but she shook her head before he could, indicated with a slightly worried look that she had already checked and found no one.

'That's far from good, but seemingly normal for Naruto.' Thought the Sith Lord and his mind went through various scenarios of what could have happened. The most likely explanation was that Naruto had taken several of the fighters and one of the shuttles, possibly to go after someone. 'This planet may not be as secure as I thought.' Taking out his communicator, he suddenly wondered what it meant that he had not received any messages. He had scanned the system when they exited hyperspace and found no trace of any ships or debris.

Before he could contact his student, a familiar nose in the sky caught his attention. It was a shuttle coming out of the higher atmosphere and preparing to land. There were no fighters with the lone shuttle and though he knew Naruto and group was on it, he wondered what reason they had for using the shuttle, 'Seems I'll be having another long talk about subtlety and restraint.' Reasoned the Sith Lord but whatever the explanation, he doubted it could completely affect his mood. Finally returning to his body, the funeral urns, and a luxury yacht were no small gains.

x-x

Moving through his damaged building, Plagueis looked for the doorway that would lead to what used to be his private quarters. Inside he knew what he would find, his body. Despite being alive for over a hundred years and spending fifteen years as a spirit, he found himself hesitating once he found the open door he was after. He was supposed to feel nothing but he noticed that his possessed body had a peculiar feeling in one of it's stomachs. Ignoring such physical indications of nervousness, he climbed through the sideways door and jumped down to the floor.

As Naruto and Karin followed the Muun, Naruto wondered where HK and the Demon Brothers had gone. Plagueis had given them coordinates for a canyon area miles away from the tower. The ships sensors hadn't picked up anything of interest in that area but he didn't question it. Plagueis had not been concerned when he had arrived on the shuttle, or about the Twi'leks, and had yet to question him on where he had come from. It was confusing until he realized the significance of the planet. It was where his Master had been killed and evidently the former Muun had more on his mind. For the time being, he too decided to forget everything else.

Looking towards the body, Karin moved so she could get a better view, only to quickly cover her mouth to keep from shrieking at the sight of the terribly decomposed body. Looking to both Naruto and Plagueis and then back to the body, Karin's eyes narrowed as she realized what was going on, "NO! No way! I told you Orochimaru's head was the last time I had to deal with freakish corpses. Find somebody else to help you move it." Karin raged and attempted to leave before Plagueis and Naruto stopped her by using the Force to pick her up in the air and draw her back into the room.

"Damnit." She voiced as she was set down back on the metal floor of the room, which at one point was the wall. "Shall I fetch a gurney?" Inquired Naruto and Plagueis nodded before saying, 'The medical bay is two floors to your right.' He said after making sure that his directions were correct, given that building was on it's side.

"Why can't I fetch the gurney." Complained Karin and Naruto was quick to respond, "Because you'd never come back." Not looking him in the eye, she looked back to the body as Naruto jumped through the door and headed for the turbolift shaft. A disgusted look formed again on Karin's face as she looked over the still gooey body. Most of the skin and muscle had liquified while leaving a puddle on the floor with clothing still partially intact. "Ughh, it stinks." said Karin out loud as she tried to keep the bile down.

Frowning slightly, though he did partially agree about the smell, Plagueis commented, 'I thought perhaps I was dealing with a medical professional but I suppose you're still just a child.' Karin grit her teeth at the jibe and almost took a deep breath to calm herself before she remembered about the smell.

"I can deal with it." She announced in a strong voice and Plagueis decided his work was done for the moment. Looking to the surrounding room, he began searching for something. Watching the wandering Sith Lord, Karin questions, "What about the body, I thought we were moving it?"

'For now, we'll wait for the gurney.' Responded the former Muun and he soon found the item he was looking for under some debris. Finding the sculpture he was after, he used the Force to push off the debris and then stood it up, leaning it against a wall. Curious, Karin decided to get a better look and identified it as small statue of a cloaked figure that was made out of some kind of metal or stone. It had evidently been much taller but the legs had been broken off.

Feeling around the statue, Plagueis searched for the hidden mechanism and upon finding it, activated the small button. A secret compartment opened and Plagueis gingerly removed the cylindrical metal object. Karin peered over his shoulder at the device and moved a step back when a red energy was emitted from it with a 'snapzzt ' sound. Marveling at the red beam of light, she wondered what it was as the Sith Lord turned and examined his second lightsaber. The battery was designed to remain good for long periods without the need for recharging and it had served it's purpose.

Moving the blade with simple motions, Plagueis frowned slightly as his possessed body was unused to the way in which the weapon operated. It had little weight to it and actually had a gyroscopic motion because of its workings and thus was difficult to wield for those who had never used one. Despite having years worth of practice, the Mustafarian body was not used to the blade and he knew it was something that he would have to work on.

Looking up from the blade and over the head of an amazed Karin, Plagueis caught his students surprised look from the doorway. 'Soon you will be making one of these for yourself.' Plagueis informed him and deactivated the blade. The making of a lightsaber was a significant step for any Sith or Jedi and though Naruto already had a weapon, a lightsaber could be much more versatile, 'Although his sword has proved itself quite useful, as has my own blade.' He thought while glancing down to the blade on his belt and in it's sheath.

'Perhaps I shouldn't make a second lightsaber and instead learn to wield this with my sword?' He posed to himself and filed the thought away for later. As Naruto positioned the gurney beside the body, he moved closer to look at his corpse and determine how best to move the body out of the building and back to the ship.

"We could cut around the body and remove the entire piece of wall?" Suggested Naruto and Plagueis thought about the suggestion but decided it may not work, 'The metal wall is too heavy for the gurney.' Concentrating with the Force, Plagueis and Naruto attempted to lift the body off the floor but stopped trying as Plagueis realized it wouldn't work. There wasn't enough material left to hold the body together anymore and the remains of the organs, flesh, and muscles would be completely removed from the skeleton if they continued, making quite the mess.

"So, why can't we just use storage seals?" questioned Karin and Naruto elaborated, "We're out of scrolls." The redhead was quick to come back with, "You've got one on your arm, what about that one." Rolling up his sleeve, the other two were shown the damaged seal. "What happened to it?" Karin questioned as she moved her head closer to examine the seal.

"What type of weapon fires a small pellet that explodes into supersonic flying needles?" Naruto questioned of the Sith Lord and Plagueis contained his surprise at the question and damaged seal, before answering, "A flechette gun." Looking over the seal before he covered the arm again, Naruto had a sudden thought. Karin was correct, but all he really needed was ink.

x-x

Pushing the repulsorlift gurney, Naruto and Karin ferried a large pile of metal pieces. Each had a storage seal placed on it and had been cut from parts of the building. He had gone back to the ship to get the last of his ink supply, then by placing a storage seal on a flat piece of metal, he had created a large amount of storage seals. Though heavy, the method did work. They only needed to put the object they wanted to seal over it and they were able to seal just about everything that Plagueis wanted to take of what had been his laboratory and his vast collection of books in the library. Once done, Naruto had cut out all the storage seals, forming small round tablets of metal that were now on the gurney and weighing upwards of five hundred pounds. The Muun himself was hefting a hand-sized piece of wall, in which was sealed his original body on the cut slab of wall that it had rested on for over ten years.

However, getting the gurney out of the building was no easy task. The pair employed the treewalking exercise for extended lengths of time to get through the building. While on it's side, many of the hallways had all been turned into vertical shafts and the rest of the building became a difficult maze to get through. Naruto had ended up cutting their way out through several rooms before finding daylight.

In addition to the items that Plagueis wanted, Naruto's clones were also using massive numbers and heavy lifting to carry off anything else that might be useful to them and put it inside the Star Jewel. His clones had veritably gutted the building, taking conduits, cables, small power generators, equipment, and anything else that they or Naruto deemed important. Getting the gurney up into the Star Jewell, the pair of Naruto and Karin had a difficult time finding a place for the last of the items considering how full the vessel was. It may have even been too full to even fly but that didn't matter to Naruto as he had no plans of flying it to Naboo.

Wordlessly, Naruto followed Plagueis to a meeting room in the luxury yacht. Though surprised that his Master seemed to know right where it was, Naruto said nothing as the two quietly sat down. Staring across from each other, Naruto employed the tricks he had been taught to keep his emotions and thoughts from being read. As such, Plagueis found himself staring at an unreadable wall, one that he had helped create.

Mistakes had been made by nearly every member of the group on Tatooine, including himself and while he was not willing to admit that, he also wasn't willing to simply let it all go. Such problems could not continue and he wanted an explanation. Realizing that the staring contest and test of reading techniques was not productive, Plagueis decided to try simply asking a question. 'Tell me, what have you been doing in that shuttle?'

Despite having many things to say, Naruto found his mouth dry and decided to take his time to formulate the best way of answering and choosing his words carefully. "I have been acting erratic as of late...however I'm not alone in this. Nearly ever member of the group has been irritable and not followed orders. Until very recently, I didn't understand what the reasoning was for this but I have been...made aware." Said Naruto as he thought over the things that Juugo had said to him, all of them.

Curious to know what his student had come up with, though already having a good idea of the answer, Plagueis waited for Naruto to finish, "It seems that in our rush to leave Ibonihs, a problem was created in the fact that now we don't have a place to return too. Continuous journeys to less than civilized worlds or at least places that none of us would like to stay, in addition to sudden ship changes, has only made the problem worse. Suigetsu is a prime example. Up until now, the majority of places that we've visited were quite...detrimental to his ability. A volcanic world and then a desert planet has taken their toll on his commitment and he is just one example." Said Naruto as he refrained from using himself as the example.

'This is not news to me but it is good of you to either notice these things or at least have someone that can make you aware of them. It is certainly a problem that needs to be addressed, however I would still like to have my original question answered.' Explained Plagueis and Naruto took out a small data chip and put it into one of the ports on his side of the table. The lights in the room dimmed slightly as documents rendered via the holoprojector in the middle of the table. No stranger to any legal document, Plagueis recognized what he was looking at and read through the legal jargon before coming to the information that he wanted as well as noting the planet.

'Naboo?' He questioned and Naruto only heard the word spoken with an even tone in his mind through telepathy. No anger seemed to be present in the transmitted voice of his Master but possible a small amount of surprise was present. Before he could say anything, Plagueis continued, 'You do remember all the talks that we have had when I mentioned that my Apprentice was from this planet?'

"I remember, but with him being a Senator, how often does he come back to Naboo? And if you are trying to find information about him or figure out what he is up too, what better place to be. Given how much you said he dislikes his birth planet, and the fact that he represents the planet on Coruscant, would he not involve Naboo in his plans; in at least some fashion?" Questioned Naruto and Plagueis thought it over before looking back to the displayed documents.

Rudshar Estate. He kept repeating the name in his mind. There was something familiar about it. It wasn't significant but at some point he knew that he had encountered the name before. His memory was very sharp concerning relevant matters, which meant that he probably did not consider it important at the time. 'Tell me about the estate?' He inquired as he tried to figure out the memory that seemed just out of reach.

"Its a large tower, about twenty five kilometers north of Theed by speeder. It looks like other Naboo buildings in material but perhaps not in architecture, because it's much taller than wide. It's situated on a lake in the valley between mountains and right before the start of a large expanse of plains..." Naruto continued but Plagueis interrupted with, 'What's inside the building.' Nothing up until that point had sparked any recollection for him.

Going from basement to top, Naruto began, "I never saw the basement area but Juugo mentioned a large wine cellar and the two Twi'leks said it also had a wine distillery...or whatever it is called when you process and make wine..." It was at that point that Naruto stopped as he felt something stir in his Master.

'Wine.' Plagueis recalled and the image of a bottle entered his head. The label said Rudshar and it was an older vintage, almost two hundred years old. In his mind, Plagueis left the meeting room with Naruto and entered another room from his past. He was at a meeting to finalize plans for something. An image of a person came to mind and name soon surfaced to go with the name, 'Bon Tapalo,' he remembered and now he could recall why the name was familiar.

He had made plans with Tapalo for a partnership to exploit Naboo's plasma reserves with the help of a company he represented. His end of the bargain was to help fund and support the man's eventual campaign to run for the monarchy of Naboo. 'When finalizing the deal, he presented me with the bottle of wine while I gave him a gift as well.' That was the extent of the memory though he did remember enjoying the liquor. Beyond that, he knew nothing of the Rudshar Family or Estate.

Coming back to the meeting room to find his student waiting patiently, Plagueis commented, 'So you've acquired an old winery and building?'

"I've acquired an estate on Naboo that no one has owned for quite a while and which no one else can claim. I also didn't have to pay a single credit for it." Countered Naruto as he felt that his Master wasn't understanding just how large a building it was or how perfect it was for them.

Looking over the information again, Plagueis found that he wasn't angry over what his student had done. He had noticed the temperaments of the group beginning to show. Being cooped up in different ships and far from a planet they had at one point considered the only one that mattered in the galaxy did have effects. It was inevitable that someone or everyone would begin to showing signs. There were many names that such feelings went by. Homesickness, cabin fever, depression, anxiety, and a number of different names and related ailments.

He had hoped they could hold out a little longer as he planned to find a place to make more permanent after selling the weapons. 'It seems he has done the choosing for me, though I can't really say he's done a poor job. Merely not followed through or been thorough enough. I've taught him similar lessons but not about such things as property acquisition.'

'It seems you've got this all figured out, haven't you.' Said Plagueis and Naruto kept his confusion from being known as he wasn't completely sure what his Master was getting at. It seemed reminiscent of his initial learning when Plagueis would make him believe he had done something correct, only to point out all the flaws. 'You probably chose this estate because it's isolated and no one has claimed it or perhaps you looked at it first and decided that you had to have it.' Plagueis guessed but was having a hard time determining if he was right or wrong. 'Or perhaps you signed and gave your print without even seeing it first, letting the die be cast?' He suggested and despite great restraint by his student, Plagueis could tell he had gotten that one on the nose.

'You've made a very big step forward...' Plagueis began while he hoped that it would swell his student's pride a little and when he finished his statement, all of it would be dashed aside, '…..only to still think that there was ground to stand on.' Naruto's leg tensed and it did so in order to keep the frown or any expression from forming on his face.

'Perhaps what you've found is perfect for our needs and we could stay here in this room and debate whether or not it is, for quite some time, but that isn't the point right now. What is the point, is that we're going to have to spend the next few weeks cleaning up your mess. I warrant that it may take longer to clean up the mess you've made than to get this estate ready to be lived in.' Explained Plagueis and he waited for Naruto to ask a question or perhaps even make a rebuttal.

Thinking that it would be better to try and guess the mistake or possible mistakes that he had made, Naruto went over everything that he had done before coming deciding on, "My fingerprint." He was however unprepared for what Plagueis said next, 'That's just the tip of a large iceberg.' No longer able to keep his features in check, Naruto adopted an expression of slight scorn for what was just said.

'I know you rather well and I'm betting that you tried to make whoever you talked with forgot about the estate or perhaps even had them forget they saw you altogether. I know how you like to use mind tricks. The problem is that no matter how much you made them forget or how much you convinced them that you were the ancestor or inheritor of this estate, you don't know how such matters work. Nor did you know enough about Naboo.' said Plagueis right before elaborating, 'Once you put your fingerprint on this document, even if you had them delete everything right after it was done, you put yourself in their system, or rather you put a person called Menma.

Once this documentation was processed which happened immediately, many other triggers were set off in their system. You think in terms of Konoha but Naboo is far more automated. By inheriting this home, you've also let the planet's tax department know that the building is now occupied and you'll be expected to file taxes. The planet's government also keeps track of it's people. They certainly don't spy on them like a few other places I know but Menma's name won't register in the database of Naboo citizens which will likely attract the attention of someone. Naboo is not a well known planet in the Republic and it never has been. People don't have vacation homes on Naboo and thus the people on the planet that are not Gungans, are all citizens. They have identifications and all sorts of credentials which Menma does not.

Also, when you tried to claim this property, you were probably asked for credentials and proof. That information was supposed to be entered into their database but wasn't because you didn't have it. Even if you did have the inheritance deleted, at some point, someone is going to start asking questions about what is going on with the Rudshar Estate and who is Menma. It may take a month or more before something happens but at some point, someone will get wise and go looking to see. Unless you plan to keep lookout or constantly trick the planetary security forces, the tax collectors, the citizenship bureau, or many other departments in the Naboo government? However what is certain is that you aren't going to be able to keep this property.

There is of course the opportunity to back out and leave. Menma is really just a name on a piece of paper with a fingerprint. That in and of itself is not very significant. It isn't your name and though it is your fingerprint, they'll probably only think you just tried to fake being from the Rudshad family in order to steal property. When they can't find any trace of you, they'll put the fingerprint into some type of database in the Republic. Perhaps it will never come up ever again. You could just start wearing gloves all the time. However, if you are set on keeping this estate, which I believe that you are, then there is a great deal of work to do.'

Naruto thought over all of the information that he had just been hit with. He never considered something like that. It did however make sense that a planet such as Naboo would be automated with notifications and listings. 'I can't just get by with mind tricks. Someone is going to notice but I don't want to give up that property.' Was the decision that he came to and he soon asked, "What must be done?"

Pleased that his student was committed to the endeavor, Plagueis explained the solution, 'You must become Menma Rudshar.' Surprised by the answer, Naruto went to say something but Plagueis cut him off, 'And I don't mean just on paper. Of course there are numerous documents to forge, from more than one planet even, but you still must become this person. You must play the part enough that anyone on Naboo can meet him and not think that he doesn't belong or question whether or not he is the inheritor of that estate.'

After almost a minute of thinking it over, Naruto asked, "What will that entail?" Despite trying to control the possessed body, Plagueis let himself indulge and the Mustafarian smiled as the newly devised plan grew to fruition. Naruto was certainly going to be punished for making such problems in the past few days but it occurred to him while reading the deed, that he needed to change the manner in which it would happen. If there was one thing he had learned in the last few months, it was that his student could take an incredible amount of punishment, physical and mental, and feel very little or at least push past it. Such punishment did not really teach Naruto a lesson, it really only taught him how to endure more punishment than he could before. He had something better in mind, something more subtly but ultimately fitting.

Admittedly, there were other ways to get the estate without having to create an identity for his student but he made Naruto believe that his method was the only option they had available. From the time he started teaching the boy, he made a note of everything that Naruto hated and disliked. One of the many dislikes was being in the spotlight for positive deeds and acts. It was almost akin to humiliation for Naruto. Spending most of his life as an outcast and infamous among the adults in the village, Naruto had grown to accept the gazes of the villagers as normal while under his tutelage. The looks of contempt had ceased to bother the boy as much as they used to and Naruto had stopped looking for attention and acknowledgment because the his spirit was always around.

Having learned to live in the shadows, it would therefore be a fitting punishment for Naruto to have to live out in the open and interact with new people on a daily basis or as often as possible. 'As the heir to a winery, you will be expected to restart production and rebuild the business. It would look suspicious if you neglected what your ancestors worked hard at. You will also have to be able to present yourself as upper-class and obviously become extremely knowledgeable about wine.' Started Plagueis and he could tell that Naruto was dreading the thought of meeting people, especially those of the upper-class. Though he could have continued, the Sith Lord paused in his explanation, to wait for the inevitable admittance from his student.

"I don't know anything about wine." Naruto stated honestly as he hadn't even consumed an alcoholic beverage in his life, let along started a winery. 'You don't have to worry much about that, the person that I was born as, Hugo Damask, was quite the wine connoisseur. I will teach you.' He offered, knowing that Naruto would not be able to refuse.

'Does this estate have any rooms for gatherings or events?' Plagueis then inquired and Naruto thought over the question with the first few entire floors of the building coming to mind. He wanted tell his Master that, no, it didn't have anything but knew it was foolish to even think about lying, so he confessed, "The first few floors of the building seem entirely dedicated to entertaining guests."

The former Muun was actually pleasantly surprised by this and found himself wanting to see this building that his student had inherited. 'Then as Rudshar, you shall be making use of these rooms. After all, wine tasting is an important part of successfully running such a business.' Plagueis commented and he could feel the apprehension come from his student. Naruto felt at home in the planets of the Outer-Rim but at a party, full of wealthy and influential guests, that would be quite the torment.

'And now to add the icing on the cake.' Thought Plagueis sadistically before getting to the best part, 'There is one more thing I should add.' And with such a statement, he immediately had Naruto's attention, 'Had you done your homework about the planet beforehand, you may have come across the fact that public service is mandatory from the ages of twelve to twenty on Naboo.' The effect that the piece of information was instantaneous. If there was one thing that Naruto hated about being a ninja for Konoha, it was the public service aspect that was involved with the job. It wasn't all dangerous missions. They also had a duty to the village to serve the people and patrol Fire Country. However, Naruto's dislike went even further beyond that as public service was a very broad collection of positions, duties, and jobs.

Despite having great patience and taking huge amount of time to teach Naruto everything he could, Plagueis encountered one significant problem that Naruto could never seem to get over, he was completely incompetent when it came to government and politics. How the Republic Senate worked, committees as well as debates, just seemed to confuse and frustrate his student to such a degree that he eventually stopped trying to teach him such subjects.

Before Naruto could ask, Plagueis said, 'No, you won't be able to put yourself down as being older than twenty. Your paperwork will all list you as being thirteen, giving you plenty of years to enjoy and experience public service at it's fullest. On Naboo the largest public service organization is the Legislative Youth Program, helping young Naboan's learn about government and politics. Almost all youths join this program for several years before they can switch to something else.'

The information was not welcoming to Naruto as he considered his future on Naboo. There was still the option of opting out of it all but thinking back to the castle, his castle, he couldn't part with it. "Then I guess I'll be requiring more of your teachings." Was Naruto's only response to the revelation and Plagueis nodded, confident that he could work with what he had been given, both with the property and his student.

'Oh and one more thing,' Plagueis said before Naruto started to get up and leave, 'Why are two Twi'leks suddenly joining us?' Remembering his earlier talk with Juugo, Naruto decided to go with, "Juugo saved them and now they apparently feel they need to repay him or really just have nowhere to go."

'Is that all?' Questioned the Sith Lord and Naruto remembered what he had come up with on the way back from Naboo, which would make them useful to their group. They didn't really need dancers and neither girl had any other ability that he was aware. However, eventually something did come to him, "It may be good to start up a small business on Naboo, one that isn't associated with us but could be useful."

'And what would this business do?' Inquired Plagueis as he tested to see if Naruto was making it up as he went along or not. "Importing and selling our mining product from Mustafar. If I'm going to be in the wine business, then it would look strange to be importing minerals and metals from the Outer-Rim." Naruto came up with and found himself in another staring contest with his Master.

Plagueis was intrigued by the answer as he hadn't started considering what to do with their future mining operation on Mustafar. It would be months before producing anything, given how much work needed to be done to add-on to the facility, but they would need someone to sell it for them. 'It seems you have given this some thought after all and aren't just making excuses for other members of the group. However if anything happens, you will make Juugo deal with them.' Plagueis said with finality before getting up and leaving the room.

x-x

Just over two weeks later

x-x

Coming down to the living area in the tower, Naruto exited the working turbolift and found several of the group lounging or eating some breakfast while surfing the Holonet. Their access to the galaxy wide information network was thanks to the transceivers that he had stolen from Jabba's Palce, which were installed in the upper levels. Most of the building was now functional and this was primarily due to the use of all the materials they had taken off the fallen LiMerge Power building. Their building was not connected to the Theed Power Grid but they were using smaller generators until they could get their hands on something bigger.

Summoning the Star Jewel to an area of the forest nearby the mountains, they unloaded everything from the ship and Naruto un-summoned it or really just sent it back to the dead planet they left it on. It would be some time before they had the means to do anything with the luxury yacht and it was best to keep it where it couldn't be traced to them. There wasn't room near the tower to store the vessel without risking someone spotting it from above or from the plains. It was also too large to create an underground storage area for it with the earth jutsu that Naruto possessed.

Looking through the kitchen, Naruto looked right over the leftovers from the previous large meal, which had mostly consisted of the Krayt dragon meat that Suigetsu had gotten from his kill on Tatooine. While it was great to have the meat and it tasted good during the large barbeque they had on outside by the lake, after so many weeks of eating it, everyone had grown tired of it. Making his breakfast, Naruto looked over his datapad and reviewed what still needed to be done concerning the building and all of his other projects. The list seemed to only get longer despite his completion of a number of tasks.

The most recent completed task from the list was secretly placing Sith Runes on the building in order to strengthen it as well as keep any dark-side energies from being felt by those outside. Considering his Master's plans for wine tasting parties and other such events, which he still dreaded, Naruto couldn't very well try and keep people away from the building with concealment runes so he had done his best to at least give them some protection. As the Master in question arrived on the floor and went to the kitchen as well, Naruto wondered what would be on the agenda. Learning about the process of wine making was tedious, though he never voiced his opinions. It was immediately evident that Plagueis was far more interested in wine than he was originally led to believe. The part about being a connoisseur while still alive was likely correct.

Plans were already made for the cultivation of the old vineyards using seeds from the wild vines that had kept growing in the years since the estate had been properly tended. Given the planet's long growing season because of the very mild winters, it seemed that they could start at any time and even harvest more than once a year. The numerous variables concerning harvesting the fruits had all been explained and were still bouncing around in his head. The former Muun had regaled him for hours over the past few weeks and in great detail about nearly every aspect of a winery and yet claimed the previous day that the teachings were only the beginning and that he would be learning much more in the coming months and possibly years.

'Joy.' Naruto commented as he finished his breakfast and looked at the planetary news about the upgrade of a starport in the city of Keren. Putting a mental map of Naboo in his head, Naruto determined that such information really didn't affect them as the city was hours away from them by speeder. Before he could hear the rest of the broadcast, Plagueis muted the volume and stood over his position on the couch, "We have another meeting." the Sith Lord said in deep and slightly synthetic voice. Naruto nodded, knowing immediately who the meeting was with and he went to get ready to leave.

With the new facilities they had, Kabuto had helped to install a special vocabulator module in the Mustafarian's throat. It instantly converted his Mustafarian speech into Galactic Basic so that they could understand him. There was a slight displacement between when he started talking and the vocabulator but it was much better than constantly hearing the Sith Lord's voice reverberate in their heads.

The individual they were going to meet was a Hutt named Borvo. Despite Naboo's seemingly ideal and peaceful society, or perhaps because of it, Borvo had made a hideout on the planet that he used more than any of the other outposts Plagueis mentioned that the Hutt possessed. Keeping a legitimate business on the planet, selling sporting rifles, Borvo kept anyone from knowing about his rather expansive criminal empire known as Nal Raka. He operated on numerous worlds and was heavily involved in the illegal activities of smuggling and gunrunning. Since settling in their estate, they had visited Borvo several times.

During the first visit, they had made an offering to the Hutt to prove their good intentions and promote good relations. The offering was part of the weapons shipment that Naruto had failed to sell to Jabba. The first part of the shipment had been on their previous ship, Forty-Two, with the second half spending over ten years hidden in a bolthole on the unnamed planet.

Having thought he lost the shipment, Borvo was immensely pleased with having a part of it returned and they had explained finding the ship abandoned and crashed in the Outer-Rim. Plagueis had not allowed Naruto to negotiate at first and merely had him sit back and watch as Borvo was shown some stolen Hutt-related items and they bargained in exchange for procuring several pieces of equipment and devices that would normally have been impossible to find on Naboo or most planets that did not have a thriving black market.

On the second visit, Plagueis revealed their real intentions for contacting the Hutt, which was to secure falsified identity information for the person that Naruto intended to become and impersonate. Despite being able to forge most of the documents that Naruto needed, there were some items that Plagueis simply could not create with the resources he had access too. While Borvo did not have the means to do this either, the Hutt did know someone that could. This unfortunately made the deal more complicated as they were no longer dealing with just Borvo but actually dealing through the Hutt. Coming to a price that included the Hutt's fee as well as the forgers amount was not easy, especially since Plagueis felt that Borvo's price was far too much.

Getting bored on the sidelines, Naruto decided to offer something else to Borvo instead of monetary payment. He noted that the Hutt had dealings throughout the Outer-Rim and asked if Borvo did business on Sarafur, which they already knew what his answer to the question would be. The Hutt responded that he did and Naruto offered the Hutt's vessels protection while on the planet and would waive the starport landing fees. Borvo had been curious to know how he would accomplish such a deal to which Naruto responded that he knew the new owner of the planet and that Borvo could worry about the forger's fee. The Hutt laughed but accepted the arrangement and as part of the deal, Naruto would have to travel to Sarafur on Borvo's next shipment in order to show that the deal was finalized and that his smuggler ships had free access to the shadowport.

With the agreement, they only had to wait for his documents to be completed and the next shipment to be arranged.

x-x

Taking one of the small couriers in from the upper hangar, Naruto and Plagueis journeyed a short distance to the Hutt's base nestled in an area of the Gallo Mountains. Plagueis took the helm while Naruto glanced down at the surface of his new home planet. He soon spotted their destination as what appeared to be a manufacturing facility, with adjoining hangar, came into view. Neither knew exactly what the collection of buildings had once been to the Naboo or if Borvo had built everything himself and they decided not ask. Messaging their arrival, the base defenses allowed their approach and they landed on the landing strip coming out of the hangar.

Disembarking, the Sith Lord and student walked across the smooth surface as they made their way to one of the manufacturing buildings. The building was architecturally similar to all other Naboo buildings however Borvo hid many sub-levels hidden underneath the facility where the real dealings and operations were done. Naruto noted the interesting looking freighter in the hangar which apparently was the style that Borvo liked to use. He based this off the last time they were there, when a similar vessel with different marking had been parked in the hangar. The starships were beige in color with a beaked front like a bird of prey and were long as well as narrow ships. Halfway down the fuselage, they carried either three very large cargo containers or were equipped with a cargo hold, depending on the variation or perhaps what cargo it was hauling.

Reaching the building, large metal doors opened for them and they noted but pretended to ignore Borvo's heavily armed men stationed both outside and inside. Taking a secret lift down to the sublevels, they were stopped by someone as soon as they exited the lift and thoroughly searched for any listening devices, communicators, and weapons. Walking down rough rocky hallway which led to Borvo's throne room, or whatever the Hutt preferred to call it, Naruto and Plagueis remained silent the entire journey.

With no henge to hide his appearance, Naruto stood next to the much taller Mustafarian as both looked across the short distance to the seated Borvo. The throne room was large and draped in finery to cover most of the rough, exposed rock wall. Unlike Jabba, Borvo had many pieces of furniture in the room so guests could sit down. The largest piece of furniture was a raised platform which the blue Hutt was currently sitting on. Borvo's coloring was almost a dark aquamarine with a much lighter front and stomach. Unlike Jabba, Borvo was smaller and liked to move around the room while they spoke or at least stayed mobile instead of just lounging during business meetings.

Sliding off the platform, Naruto didn't need to know Huttese to figure out that Borvo was welcoming them as he wore a large smile and gestured with his arms for them to come closer. The pair moved and Borvo made a motion with his hands to the guards around the room, who soon dispersed so they could talk in private. The only person of Borvo's entourage that stayed was his right hand person, a human female named Adela who also acted as translator. The Hutt offered them a drink, the offer being translated to them by Adela, but they declined with Plagueis siting that they had their time was short and that they meant no offense. Borvo nodded and motion for Adela. The short black haired woman walked up behind Borvo and handed him small case which she opened to reveal a single datachip.

Moving to hand the chip over to Naruto, Borvo pulled back and said something that was quickly translated by his assistant, "The arms shipment will be ready by tomorrow." Naruto quickly replied to this statement, "I'll be here in the morning and ready to travel."

With another large smile, Borvo proceeded with the exchange, and handed him the case with the chip, which Naruto pocketed. The Hutt raised a hairless brow and Naruto quickly explained, "I trust that it's all there." Nodding in agreement and with the transaction complete, Borvo escorted them out while talking about how he hoped to continue working with them and that if they needed anything, his door was always open for the right price. As the pair left, Borvo moved back to his throne room but the pleased look he had on his face had diminished greatly.

'It's a shame, we may never see them again.' Admitted the blue Hutt to Adela and she kept her surprise in check but asked, "Why is that?"

'They've garnered the attention of some dangerous people. I'm not sure if it's good attention or bad as it all depends on information that I won't be privy too.' Explained the Hutt as he remained a little cryptic so as to not break his agreement. Adela knew better not to inquire any further and she asked if he needed anything before leaving.

Borvo shook his head and was left to his thoughts as the guards returned and took their stations around the room. He rather liked the humanoid boy, not the taller unknown male but it did sadden him that they may never do business again. He was quite interested to know how someone so young had so much influence on a shadowport that was so close to the Unknown Region and quite a distance from Naboo. He had done some checking and it turned out that the entire planet of Sarafur had recently been 'unified' and under the control of someone likely working from the shadows.

It made sense in a way as he suspected the boy was much more dangerous than he appeared. Especially after he received a peculiar message from an old friend. Though running his own criminal enterprise independently, he still kept good relations with the other criminals that mattered. He had no idea that the boy was in any way responsible for the recent events on Tatooine but after sending all the pertinent information to the forger that he used, one the Black Sun Vigo's soon contacted him.

He had known Narees for quite some time and they were on good terms, it was therefore quite a shock when the Iktotchi had asked if he was involved in the assassination of Jabba the Hutt. After profusely denying having a hand in such an act, though admitting that he was glad for a business rival like Jabba to have been killed, he wanted to know who had been spreading such information about him. Narees was confused but explained about the boy and how the Black Sun aligned forger had received the picture and information. Until that point, Borvo had no idea that the boy might be so infamous or skilled. They talked at length and it was agreed that the false identity would be created but that Borvo would need to determine if the boy was who Narees had been looking for.

It payed to know who he was doing business with and Borvo never anticipated that Jabba's assassin would come to him to do business or for the creation of a false identity. Using his contacts in Theed, he found the property that the boy was staying at and cautiously checked it out. Sending out several probe droids, the suspicions were confirmed when they spotted a large Ubrikkian yacht, greatly resembling Jabba's Star Jewel, hidden on the property. However, before confirming with Narees about the boy's identity, he had asked what the Black Sun's interest was in Menma. His old friend was tight lipped and wouldn't reveal anything, likely on orders for the Underlord, which told Borvo that it was a serious matter. A new question was therefore asked by the Hutt, 'Did the Black Sun wish to harm the boy?'

Narees was able to answer the question and stated that they did not wish him harm but simply wished to get in contact with him, not immediately, but soon. Borvo was positive that Narees meant they wanted to recruit Menma into the Black Sun. Such a task was made simpler by the fact that the Black Sun was creating the fake identity and could hold that information over Menma. It was unfortunate but he informed Narees about the Star Jewel. The Iktotchi was extremely happy about the news and informed Borvo that he would be given a nice finders fee.

As long as Menma accepted the Black Sun's offer, no harm would come to him and while Borvo told that to himself over and over again, he still didn't like the taste that was left in his mouth. Selling out new friends was not something he liked to do but he was running a business, a criminal business. It was better for his business to not make enemies or lie to the likes of the Black Sun.

x-x

Stopping at the Theed Spaceport, Plagueis waited while Naruto left the ship and went to take care of his citizenship and property inheritance to make sure that everything was in proper order. Later on they would worry about his public service and other such matters. Thus far, they had not had anyone come by knocking to inquire about him or the estate. It was best to keep it that way.

While Naruto headed off to the palace, Plagueis began to meditate but found himself unable to properly do so. Something was wrong but he couldn't pin down exactly what. The feeling was coming through the Force but it was an unspecified danger or caution. At first he thought it was his student but that didn't seem correct. Naruto had only just left the ship and wouldn't have even made it to the palace yet. Deciding not to ignore the feeling, he kept the ship running and ready to leave.

x-x

Walking down the ramp of his supplied transport in the Theed Landing Plaza, Senator Palpatine and his entourage were greeted by the Governor of Naboo, Sio Bibble, along with many of the planet's Advisory Council members. The large welcoming party also included many noble and important figures as well as the chief of security and a contingent of Naboo security officers. The only important figure that had not come to see his arrival was the King of Naboo, Ars Veruna.

This did not surprise Palpatine in the least. He had many dealings, both in the light and in the shadows, with the current king and their relations had grown rather strained in the past few years. He therefore ignored the absence of the King in favor of greeting those that had shown up. He quickly adorned a fake smile and gave firm but untrue handshakes. He would have greatly liked to not have to travel back to his home planet but the duties of a senator came first and he could not avoid it. Following as the group led him out of the plaza and into the city, he made simple conversation with those around him and gave orders to his assistants as they headed towards the palace.

It was while he was being guided to the large structure in the distance that he suddenly felt something. Not only through the Force but he also felt a familiar feeling suddenly come over him. It was difficult to describe and even after searching his feelings he could not determine exactly what he was feeling. 'It had better not be nostalgia.' He quickly thought with disdain at the mere notion of ever feeling such pointless emotions towards his birth planet. It had been a number of years since he had last set foot on Naboo but something just felt...off about his visit. Remembering that the King had not come to greet his arrival, he thought perhaps his feelings and the Force was telling him something about the significance of that slight.

x-x

Despite having his new citizenship in hand and having avoided another debacle in the property and tax department, Naruto found himself wanting an actual physical copy of all the documents he now had. He felt unsatisfied with the digital copy that he was forced to live with and wanted something more substantial. Putting the new chip along with the other in the case, and dropping it back into his pocket, Naruto continued along the hard but finely polished stone floors. Making his his way through the Palace and along the path that was becoming more familiar, he headed towards the large Palace courtyard in order to become lost in the crowds and make his exit towards the starport.

Looking to a nearby window, he looked down into the expansive Royal Gardens and since no one else was in the hallway, he decided to stop and look at the lush and colorful courtyard. Soon remembering that Plagueis was waiting for him back at the spaceport, Naruto turned back to continue when he suddenly felt something. Though a group was moving towards him and would soon intersect with them in the upcoming hallway, he was stopped by something that felt out of place. It was a specific individual, an anomaly among the group. As they got closer, he could feel emotions coming from them, save for the one person that stood out. That person felt strange to him. Looking towards the wall, as if he could see through the thick stone, he began to realize who or what it could have and quickly said one word through his communicator, then repeated it.

x-x

Walking with the large escort through the hallways of the Palace, the Senator ignored the ramblings of those around him as he felt something up ahead. As they turned the corner and found large windows showing the Royal Gardens, for some reason, Palpatine had almost expected to see someone standing by the windows.

Confusion set in, as the brief contact with the presence had started another bout of vague familiarity but no sooner had he felt the presence and the feelings, than both had completely vanished. In spite of the disappearance, the feeling triggered an almost forgotten memory to surface in his mind as he ignored what many were saying to him and stopped to look out through the nearby windows to the gardens below.

It was during the latter half of his training that he had been pitted against a Jedi Knight by his Master in order to test his skills. He was arrogant during the fight, providing an opportunity to the Jedi which nearly cost him his arm. Plagueis ended the battle by knocking out the Jedi and then torturing his Apprentice with Force Lightning for his failure and foolishness at underestimating his foe. He remembered that the Jedi was kept in a coma while slowly drained of blood over the course of several months before finally being allowed to die.

'Why would such a memory surface?' the Sith Lord questioned and soon realized that he had stopped to stare at the garden and everyone was still around him. Turning back to concerned faces, questioning why he had suddenly stopped, the sly Sith quickly thought of something. "I must apologize good friends. I got lost in the view." He quipped to group with a smile in order to explain his sudden actions.

It was greeted with chuckles from most with understanding statements made about how different it must be from Coruscant. Agreeing with the speakers, he continued on his way to the dining hall where presumably the King would be. Though he could have chosen to meditate on the thoughts and memory later, he decided not to revisit his past and forget the events. That Jedi was long dead and the body properly disposed of with no evidence remaining for anyone to find. There was no conceivable reason it should ever come back to haunt him and he was determined to keep such memories buried deep in his mind where he would never have to revisit them.

x-x

Thinking that his student was taking a very long time, Plagueis tried to remain patient but still wondered why he couldn't shake the bad feeling that getting... "Kinan. Kinan." Suddenly came through the comm system from his student and the Sith Lord instantly recognized the words and their significance. Working the controls, the ship was already leaving the ground off before the ramp was closed or the landing legs of the sleek craft were fully retracted. Flying low and hugging the rock wall, Plagueis accelerated and kept the ship on a rather perilous course, even going straight through a waterfall as he piloted the vessel away from the city and would take a winding course as he made his way back to the castle.

The word, kinan, was something that he had come up with for the both of them. It was Ibonihese and was best translated as 'immanent danger or peril.' When used once, the word would convey to the other that they were walking into a trap. Repeating the word a second time was not to make sure it was heard but to emphasize even more danger. Saying it twice was the equivalent of being told to leave immediately and not look back. Meaning that he was to take the ship away and leave Naruto. 'It seems I should have listened or at least heeded the Force and my feelings more. Possibly going so far as to keep Naruto from leaving the ship.' Admonished the Sith Lord as Naruto would not use the word, much less twice, unless it was a significantly dangerous situation. There was no way of knowing exactly what the situation was but he knew that getting back undetected and without anyone following him was top priority at the moment. He would arm the others and prepare for a battle if it came to that and get the Vulture ready in case they needed to leave the planet.

x-x

In a crouched position, hidden in the branches of a tree in the Royal Garden, Naruto stared through his goggles at the figures that walked through the hallway, specifically the one that had stopped. Though he was over a hundred feet away, he still felt that perhaps that was not enough and his heart was beating out of his chest. Memorizing the face of the older man, he had never met the person he was looking at but was almost positive that he knew who it was. Everything his Master told him about Sidious soon jumped to the forefront of his mind but he pushed it aside as he gauged the situation and tried to figure out if he had been spotted or was in danger.

Looking intently at the searching man, at one point their eyes even met and Naruto's grip on a nearby branch tightened to such a degree that his arm shook. Precious seconds passed and it seemed his position was not compromised. Sidious and the group soon moved past the row of windows and out of sight. Letting out a breath and pulling down his goggles, Naruto continued to look at the windows and was glad that he had remembered to give the proper warning to his Master. A senatorial visit to the planet was bound to happen but neither had thought it would occur so soon.

"What are you doing up there?" Came a feminine voice that abruptly halted Naruto's thoughts. Cursing in his head, Naruto realized the life-sign that was directly beneath him. He was so concerned with what was going up at the window that he failed to notice someone in the garden.

x-x

Kneeling in the soft grass beside one of the water features in the garden, a young brunette of perhaps ten years of age looked at her own reflection in the smooth pool. It was something that she often did during times of stress or when feeling unsure about something, though she was never sure exactly why she did it. It was nearly lunch and she had time between classes so her feet had automatically taken her from the classrooms at Theed University to the Royal Gardens that were very close by.

'In less than a year, I'll be a full Apprentice Legislator.' She realized and although not the youngest to achieve such an accomplishment, she was moving very fast through the program and gaining recognition because of it. The brunette would be eleven when that happened and had only been in the Legislative Youth Program for just over two years. The reason for her visit to the guards was that in less than two days time, she would attend a dinner with Senator Palpatine right before he left to return to Coruscant.

The invite had only just come but there really wasn't the option of declining. To do so would be extremely rude to the Senator but this did not stop her pulse from quickening every time she thought of the upcoming dinner. She did wonder how many other people were attending but already knew that no other student in her class had been given the same invitation. Staring at a nervous looking reflection, she closed her eyes and took several calming breath while trying to relax the tension. When her eyes opened and she looked to the water, she found her reflection had become distorted from ripples on the surface caused by some fallen leaves.

Looking up to the tree above her, she was surprised to find someone sitting in the branches, almost completely concealed from view. The boy seemed to be around her age and was making no noise while looking intently towards the Palace through what she thought were just normal goggles. Curious, and eager for a good distraction, she asked, "What are you doing up there?"

The surprise of her question had somehow caused the boy to become even more still than he had been. Turning toward her he pulled off the goggles and met her gaze. Blue met brown and she felt as though she was being heavily scrutinized under his sharp stare. Breaking eye contact, she looked to his features, slightly chubby cheeks with strange markings and spiky blonde hair that went in every direction.

Naruto's mind went through a dizzying array of scenarios as he determined both how to answer the question and how to respond to being caught. He needed to ascertain the situation with Sidious to determine if the masquerading Senator was on to them and if his visit was due to their presence on the planet. He wondered if he should run, kill the girl, knock her out, use mind tricks, look through her memory, or take her hostage. Concerning the Senator, he regretted not having any weapons and knew engaging was out of the question, which meant that distanced observation was likely best.

These thoughts all went through his head in no more than a second as he used the Force to analyze the situation. However, he regretted that decision when he realized that his manipulation of the energy field could attract the wrong attention. As seconds passed and her question remained unanswered, and his decision on what to do with her remained undecided, Naruto panicked and made up a quick lie, "Just playing a children's game."

No sooner than the words had left his mouth than both of them realized how bad the lie was. When he was younger, Plagueis always told him that he didn't have time for children's games and since no one ever played with him, he never knew the names or even types of games that were played by those his age. Even if he had, the cultural and language differences would have made just about any game he mentioned seem like gibberish and he wasn't even sure children played games on Naboo; too busy doing pointless public service.

A sly smirk adorned the girl's face and she responded by saying, "No child refers to the games that they play as, 'children's games.' What an unconvincing lie. I can tell that even you regretted telling something so feeble. Why don't you just try telling me the truth?" She suggested and Naruto mulled over the suggestion before deciding to use her for answers but would have to be much more convincing and subtle about it, so he told her a version of the truth.

"I've recently become a citizen of Naboo and will likely be entered into the Youth Legislative Program, so I'm looking over the area before joining." He offered and kept a straight face while ignoring how her eyes narrowed in suspicion and lips pursed. "The University is in the opposite direction; you were looking at the Palace." She accused and waited for him to show a sign of being caught in the lie or for him to explain himself. It was strange that he was in the tree but he had no weapons or seemed to be up to no good, as far as she could tell.

Keeping calm, Naruto gave a smug smile before he elaborated, "I've already looked at the University and as for why I was looking at the Palace, I heard that Senator Palpatine had arrived on the planet. I was curious and decided to take a look while I was in the area." He noted how her eyes widened slightly at the mention of the name before she quickly glanced to the windows of the Palace that he had been looking at. She didn't realize that the Senator had already arrived on Naboo.

Since it was evident that the girl may know more than him, Naruto decided to press his advantage, "You seem just as interested as I am?"

Schooling her features, the girl remarked, "I don't need to hide in trees in order to get a look at someone. You're lucky the Palace Guards didn't see you acting suspicious. Couldn't you wait to see him until his address in Keren?" Having heard the city named before, earlier that day in fact, Naruto decided to use the simplest method at his disposal.

"His address in Keren?" He inquired with a tilted head and the best questioning look he could come up with. The girls shook her head slightly and informed him, "The reason for the Senator's visit is to re-open the Kwilaan Starport in Keren. It's been under construction for a while now to upgrade it to a stellar-class starport. He'll be giving an address to those of the city and it will likely be broadcasted all over the planet."

"Oh...I believe I caught something about that on the news this morning, but someone muted it before I could hear everything." Naruto explained and could tell that the unnamed girl still did not fully believe him but was relaxing and letting down her guard. Having gotten quite a bit of information, Naruto came to part where he had to decide what to do. What he really needed was a distraction. He had already revealed more than he wanted to but didn't have time to continue such conversations as he needed to determine if Sidious had felt him and then report back to his Master.

"Padme!" Came a call from someone else who was entering the gardens. The newly named Padme, turned to see her friend coming towards her and then turned back to ask the boy to come down so she could introduce them but upon turning back, she found the tree empty. Her eyes widened and mouth dropped in surprise as not even a leaf had fallen from his escape and she looked all around to figure out where the blonde could have gotten too. There were many trees and bushes in the garden but she didn't even spot a glimpse of him.

Seeing Padme's confusion, her friend asked, "Did it fly away?" Thinking that it was a bird that Padme was motioning towards and that had been up in the tree. Turning to her friend, Padme thought about telling her about the boy but decided against it. "Apparently he did." She admitted in a soft voice and wondered just how the boy had managed to do that. Not even catching his name, she remembered what he said about entering the youth program and wondered if it was the truth or if it was a well spoken lie.

x-x

Using Jiraiya's Toton Jutsu (Transparent Escape Technique) for concealing himself from view, Naruto stuck himself against one of the rock walls and looked down below at the Theed Landing Plaza. The square plaza was just large enough for the vessel parked at the center and he found two guards positioned at the end of the ship's entry ramp.

He hadn't been able to verify Sidious's location within the palace because he didn't risk getting too close to the building or finding himself in another situation like what had just happened ten minutes prior. Going back to the castle would be the best choice but if he could get a hold of the Senator's schedule or even a flight plan, he would have a better idea of where the man would be while on the planet or at least when the Senator planned to leave. Since stealing a datapad from one of Sidious's entourage was out of the question for the moment, he decided to sneak onto their ship.

If they weren't leaving for at least a day, then he shouldn't have a problem with anyone returning. All he needed to do would be to get past the guards. Wall crawling like a chameleon, Naruto moved down to the plaza floor while keeping an eye out for surveillance and guards. He made his way across the ground on his hands and feet, just a few inches above the surface. Moving to the nearest docking skid, he climbed up it and moved across the bottom of the ship, heading for the entry ramp. The faster he moved with the technique active, the less the jutsu was able to conceal and someone might see his outline or movements.

Getting onto the ramp without making a sound, Naruto slowly moved into the ship, stopping at the entrance as he focused on the Force to detect any monitoring devices. The marking on the hull identified it as a Republic ship and it had no armaments, so chances were good that the ship had not been modified but was one of many ships available for use by senators or other ambassadors of the Republic. 'Still, I'm not taking any chances.' He thought and had already adopted a henge so if anything did catch him or see through the camouflage technique, he wouldn't be identified.

Moving down the ship's main corridor and past numerous rooms, he extended his senses and didn't detect any life-signs aboard. Remaining wary of droids, he slowly heading towards the cockpit. Sitting in one of the seats, Naruto accessed the flight controls and ships log. If there was one thing he had retained from his Master's teaching about the Republic government, it was that they documented just about everything. Quickly finding the flight plan, he memorized the arrival and planned departure time. With the information and after covering his tracks, he knew it was time to leave the ship and Theed.

x-x

With Jiraiya's technique still active, Naruto ran across the plains north of Theed in standard ninja form, with his arms trailing and his torso lowered. Timing everything perfectly, he moved in unison with the breeze as the grass was blown which hid his foot falls in the short ankle-high green blades. Going at full speed, he soon reached the treeline but was unable to tree-hop as the trees on Naboo were just not the same as those on Ibonihs.

Concealed blue eyes spotted quite a few of the native fauna as the noises of his movements were heard but his body remained unseen. With nearly thirty kilometers to cover he decided to keep commlink silence for the same reason that he hadn't taken a speeder. Having memorized the route from Theed to the castle, he knew that eventually he would meet up with the river that entered into the lake on his property. Once he was there, he would wait in the water using water jutsu and see if he was being followed. When he was sure that no one was tracking him, he could follow the river to the castle with the same jutsu and remain unseen beneath the surface.

x-x

The Vulture was packed and ready to leave as every member save Naruto sat on pins and needles in either the cockpit or galley. The engines were fully warmed and hyperdrive ready to leave the system. The only thing left was to hear back from Naruto or detect something on the ships scanners. Sitting in the cockpit, the Sith Lord kept the comm channels open but had the distinct feeling that his student would not use them. Looking back to the other members in the cockpit, he was reminded that despite the ship having good sensors, Karin would likely be able to detect someone from much farther away than the ship could because of the trees and mountains as well as indigenous species.

Breathing in and out while trying to keep from feeling the sense of tension and nervousness which was pervading the entire ship, Plagueis turned his thoughts elsewhere and discovered the one problem in their use of the word alerting system, 'We never agreed upon a length of time to wait or if leaving entailed just the area or the planet.'

A picture of Naruto captured by a bounty hunter came to the forefront of his mind and though it was a possibility, he didn't think his student would be captured so easily, despite not having any weapons. The thought that Borvo had betrayed them, or at least notified someone of their presence on Naboo, did occur to him. He had no idea if the bounty was still in place but doubted that it mattered. The picture was wrong, the description was wrong and Jabba's clan would want definitive proof if they were going to spend any credits to have the assassin brought to them or killed. Borvo also hated Jabba and had more to gain from taking over Jabba's territory than from turning them in. There was only one person who survived to tell others but such a story may be seen as nothing but a spacers tale. People would stop focusing on the assassin and turn their attention to who had hired Jabba's killer, not that they would find anything or suspect that no one had hired Naruto.

His mind then came to the other real possibility for Naruto's message. 'Could Sidious really be here on the planet?' Plagueis questioned as he hadn't felt his Apprentice, only a sense of foreboding, but wondered if they could be one in the same. 'If that is the case, then staying in this ship would actually be worse than staying inside the castle.' The Sith Lord realized as the Sith Runes would keep him from being felt.

Choosing between leaving the planet and going back to the castle, his choice was made for him when Karin spoke up from the seat behind him, "I can feel him. He's just coming out of the water!" As a mass exodus ensued as everyone but the Sith Lord moved quickly to find out what was going on. Plagueis took his time as leaving the ship could be foolish, depending on what news Naruto was bringing.

Taking deep breaths to let himself recover from the hour and half journey from Theed with constant jutsu usage, Naruto ignored those gathered around him and the questions being asked. He waited for Plagueis to near and heard his Master's voice in his mind, 'He's here.' It wasn't a question though as Naruto knew that from just looking at him that Plagueis had deduced what he was going to say, so he merely nodded and the Sith Lord then asked, 'Were you followed?'

'No but I'm quite sure that he felt me for a brief moment.' Admitted Naruto and he could feel the conflict resonating from Plagueis at the thought of being discovered. 'With me, now.' He commanded and Naruto told the others to stay in the ship while the pair went back to the castle to discuss what had happened.

x-x

'Tell me everything." Demanded Plagueis as he and Naruto sat across from each other in the first floor of the castle. Naruto did not hesitate and started from the beginning, "After I finished taking care of everything with the documents you provided and those from Borvo, I headed back to the ship out the same way I entered the palace. I suddenly felt a group approaching with one person standing out and fled the area, hiding in the Palace Gardens as I watched the group."

Sending a mental image of the person that he saw to his Master, he visible saw Plagueis's possessed body react to the image and could feel the hatred and contempt coming off him. "I believe he felt something though I don't know what he made of it. He spent nearly half a minute looking out of the window and he looked right over me before someone in the group asked if he was alright. He made some comment and they all laughed before taking off."

"Why is he here?" Questioned Plagueis and Naruto chose his words carefully as he explained what he had found out, "I learned that he will be giving an address tomorrow at a spaceport in Keren. It is being upgraded to a stellar-class." Feeling the realization come from his Master, Naruto did not mention anything about the news-feed that morning.

"I did manage to sneak aboard his ship and determine that they aren't scheduled to head back to Coruscant until two days from now." Added Naruto and Plagueis looked up from contemplation and nodded at the valuable information. Leaving out anything about the encounter with the girl, Naruto felt that Plagueis was far to busy in thought to have caught the fact that he left certain details out.

A minute passed while Naruto waited but he soon found a feeling of indecision coming from his Master. "On my long journey from Theed, I thought that this could be an opportunity as for once, you know exactly where he is." Naruto suddenly stated as he tried to determine what his Master was thinking. Not exactly following, Plagueis asked, "You plan to try and kill him during the address?"

"It did cross my mind. But if you know for a fact that he is on Naboo..." and Naruto was cut off as Plagueis caught on to his train of thought, "..then I know that he isn't on Coruscant and won't be leaving to return for another two days. We also just purchased military-grade, encrypted transmitters and receivers from Borvo, just for such an occasion. Though I didn't plan on using them so soon."

"I have to complete our agreement with Borvo." Naruto quickly reminded the Sith Lord and Plagueis nodded before planning who to take with him to Coruscant. The ship was already prepped, he just needed the equipment. Moving back the way he had just come, Plagueis left Naruto sitting in the chair as he went to the ship.

x-x

The Vulture had left several hours ago and Naruto was using the opportunity to quickly finish one of his projects. In his workshop, or what was better known as the tenth floor of his castle, he looked at the contraption that he had created in front of him. Connecting to the Star Map from Tatooine was a mass of wires which interfaced with a computer console that Naruto had built from spare parts. The Star Map was a complete unit but in order to get completely obtain all the information that he was after, he needed to be able to transmit data from other sources into the Rakatan device.

Several data chips had been inserted into the computer console and were compiling large amounts of data from multiple sources. He had navigational data from Forty-Two, Deefour, the Vulture, the warship on Mustafar, and the Star Jewel all compiling together into the Star Map's memory and database. What he wanted, was to be able to view everything he had concerning hyperlanes, planets, and anything else of interest all on a single device. Since the Star Map also happened to be a holoprojector, it only made sense to use it.

While he waited for the process to finish, he marveled at the Rakatan device. It supposedly used the dark-side of the Force to power it but he could barely feel the device siphoning the Force to power it. He could however feel the dark-side emanating from the device. Being that was around thirty thousand years old, it was in perfect condition. When he opened up the panels to take a look at the inner workings, he found that it looked brand new and also noted several pieces of technology inside whose function he did not completely understand.

For such an old device, it also had an incredibly sophisticated and colorful holographic image. Most projectors only used a single color, usually a blue tint, to display images but the Rakatan device was in full color and showed him an image of the entire Galaxy as it likely looked from a view outside of the Galaxy. 'It's thirty thousand years old and it's still high-tech, even cutting edge technology.' He thought and shook his head at how strange that sounded. Adjusting the holographic image with the Force, he zoomed in on an area that he was currently the most interested in.

The Rakatan Infinite Empire was comprised of over five hundred planets but only the ones that had strong connections to the Force. The Rakatan Force-powered hyperdrives were only capable of taking them to such planets. This created a much easier to read projection that only highlighted an almost insignificant number of planets in the Galaxy as a whole. However, out of all those planets, he was currently only concerned with one. The homeworld of the Rakatan species, Lehon.

When the Rakatan retreated to their homeworld after their empire began to fall, they damaged the Star Map devices to prevent any of the numerous races that they enslaved from following. Over tens of thousands of years, the devices repaired themselves, including restoring their information. It was accomplished using a technology or application of the Force that still remained unknown to the rest of the Galaxy and was beyond his current understanding.

'During the time of the Mandalorian Wars and the Jedi Civil War, the information in the devices was incomplete but it seems that in the past three thousand years, this device is now completely intact along with all of it's data.' Thought Naruto as he zoomed into an area of the Unknown Region that showed the location of the Lehon System. Ever since being told the stories concerning the Rakatan and Revan, Naruto had desired to travel to that system and visit the planet.

According to what Plagueis had told him, a thousand years ago, Darth Bane had visited the planet in search of artifacts related to Revan and had discovered a holocron. From that information, Bane formed the current Order of the Sith but the device was all the Dark Lord of the Sith had discovered. Plagueis informed him that Bane's recollection of the planet was that it had no life-signs, so sign of any Rakatan, and nothing else of note or interest. The holocron had also been destroyed by Bane after he learned what he could from the device.

That story had always caused questions to surface in Naruto's mind. He kept thinking, or perhaps hoping that there was still something there. Plagueis had been specific that Bane was looking for Force objects or artifacts related to Revan and that made him wonder, 'Did Bane ignore everything else?' It was likely that Lehon wouldn't offer anything to him but he couldn't deny feeling a pull towards the planet. It was likely a combination of his own curiosity and desire to get any glimpse he could into that time in history, as well as feeling something through the Force but he was unable to determine what the feeling was.

He sometimes wished the Force was more clear to him and he could have visions or at least a greater insight into what choices he should make or what was available to him. Most of the time he felt as if he was looking through a haze or fog when the Force should have been guiding him on a clearer path. Plagueis experienced something similar, though the Sith Lord believed it to be a result of him being a spirit and not having a physical body to feel the Living Force anymore.

Whatever the case, he had manipulated both Plagueis and Borvo into the deal concerning Sarafur. The individual left in charge of the shadowport was mind controlled by Plagueis and would still listen to him. There was no real need to go there and make arrangements that could be made through a simple message. His real reason for going was to try and get to Lehon from Sarafur.

Having looked through the data on the crashed Mustafar ship, he found that it didn't contain a hyperspace route to the Rakatan planet, despite being from around the same time period as the destruction of the Star Forge. What did however strike him as curious, was the fact that his own birth planet, Ibonihs, was likely closer to Lehon than any other planet on the charts he had access to. Compiling them together into a single map, he planned to see just how close it was and how far he would have to journey on his own.

Getting to Sarafur was easy and because it was Borvo's transport, the trip was expected to take at least two weeks or more to get there and back. Borvo did not have the shortcut that their previous ship, Forty-Two, had used to go right past Sarafur and into the Unknown Regions. Naruto was confident that he could convince the pilot of the freighter to use that course and get to the shadowport in less than half the time. From there he planned to procure a ship and eventually get to Lehon. Everything depended on how fast the hyperdrives on freighter and procured ship were, as well as his piloting skills to navigate through the Unknown Region.

The trip would be dangerous and foolish, which was why he had not informed his Master about any of it. There journey from Ibonihs was easy because it followed their already traveled path but pushing his way into the hyperspace anomaly that separated the Known Region of the galaxy from the Unknown Region, would be exceedingly difficult. If all went well, he might be able to get to Lehon and back in the same amount of time it would have taken Borvo's freighter to get to Sarafur and back, but he doubted it. If things did not go well, he might be stuck in the Unknown Region forever and no one would know that he had ever left Sarafur.

Naruto's attention was soon brought back to the Star Map as everything finished compiling. Quickly looking over the route they had followed from Ibonihs to Sarafur and the locations of Ibonihs and Lehon, Naruto found that the two planets were indeed close but actually almost the same distance as Sarafur was to Lehon. The distances between the planets and their locations almost formed an equilateral triangle. Going from Sarafur, to Ibonihs, and then to Lehon would be a longer distance than going directly from Sarafur to Lehon.

'The only thing I don't know about this is how expansive the hyperspace anomaly is. Everyone knows that it's there but nobody has tried to figure out how big it is or knows how deep into the Unknown Region it goes. For all I know, by the time I get to Ibonihs, I may have passed completely through the anomaly.' He thought as he remembered his Master's teaching on the phenomenon that prevented most hyperspace exploration of the Unknown Region. One theory was that the anomaly was created by an ancient race who possessed incredibly advanced technology and used it to hamper the conquest of the Rakatan.

'That is a big assumption though.' He realized as he continued to look over the Star Map's projection. Unfortunate the Star Map did not contain any of the Rakatan's hyperlanes or paths that they traveled from Lehon to all of the worlds they conquered. 'Perhaps it's just a well considering I don't have a Rakatan hyperdrive.' He thought and took a deep breath while he considered the choice.

Each choice was dangerous. One path was longer but with the possibility of becoming easier while the other path was shorter and was either the same difficulty or much harder. Normally, he would meditate on the prospect and consider everything but he only had a few more hours of light before nightfall and in the morning he would be heading out. At some point he needed to get some sleep.

The turbolift coming to a stop at his level, pulled Naruto from his contemplation and he reached out to see who was on the lift. Plagueis had taken Karin, Kabuto, and Deefour to Coruscant. That only left a few people that it could be. He was surprised, however, to find that it was Tayuya. The redhead waited for the door of the lift to open and then walked slowly into the room.

While it had structural supports and windows at the outside, the floor plan was completely open with no dividing walls. Oddly finding one of the starfighters from Mustafar sitting on the floor not far away, Tayuya decided to ignore the partially dismantled ship and continued looking around one of the only floors of the building that she had yet to visit. The large floor was divided into numerous zones based upon piles of what she saw as junk. Each pile appeared to be a project or endeavor of some type and she stepped over parts and pieces of machinery and other items as she made her way to an area where the single occupant of the floor was sitting.

"Given up on avoiding me?" Questioned Naruto as he continued to sit in his chair with his eyes closed. When he heard the redhead make a huff response and felt her regretting her decision to come to him, he opened his eyes and tried a different question, "Are you finally going to tell me what's been bothering you?"

"You don't already know?" Tayuya accused and Naruto could feel her frustration and anger growing. Not knowing exactly what was the matter, he decided to take the civil approach, "Despite what you may think, I do give all of you privacy and am not always trying to read your minds."

"I'm dying." She abruptly admitted and a moment of silence fell upon the pair as Naruto looked upon the reddish hair that partially covered Tayuya's face as she didn't meet his gaze. Knowing that she was waiting for him to respond, Naruto replied, "I see." It was a rather pathetic response but was all that he could muster upon being told such news. Whatever he thought she was going to tell him, he wasn't fully prepared for her statement. Despite not being trained to do so, Tayuya hid her emotions and feelings quite well. He actually thought she might have wanted to return to Ibonihs and was unhappy in the group.

"You see?!" Demanded the redhead in exasperation and with clenched fists as if ready to strike out at him. Though she looked up at him, her bang prevented him from properly seeing her eyes. Naruto wasn't sure how to handle the situation and with a dry swallow, he replied, "How exactly would you like me to respond to this news? If it was so important, then why did you wait almost a month before saying something?" The sudden change in the redhead's feelings made him again regret uttering such a statement and confirmed that he was not handling the conversation well.

"I'm sorry if I'm not able to respond the way you want me to because I really don't know how to responds or what else to say." Naruto quickly admitted but the explanation did not produce the results he intended.

"Forget it." Said Tayuya in a small voice and he heard her sniff as she turned to head back to the lift. His eyes widened as he realized how badly he handled the situation and that such a strong-willed person was either close to tears or already crying underneath the reddish bangs. Before she could reach the lift, the doors slammed shut and when she turned to face Naruto, she found an empty chair moving towards her; pushed by an invisible force.

"I can't do anything to help if I don't known more information. Take a seat...and elaborate. Please." He offered as politely as he could.

Knowing that even if she managed to leave the room, he would likely hunt her down and make her talk, Tayuya grit her teeth and forcibly sat down in the chair to face him with her arms crossed. Before she could comment on his horrible interpersonal skills, Naruto decided to renew the conversation between them, "I take it that it's your seal that you're referring too?"

After receiving a nod from the redhead, Naruto stood and moved closer before asking, "Can I examine it?" Turning away from him, Tayuya pulled down the left shoulder of shirt she was wearing and Naruto moved forward to look over her seal as well as the seal that he had placed to keep her from accessing Orochimaru's handiwork.

The cursed seal was placed on Tayuya's shoulder and Naruto was instantly aware of something being wrong as the skin where the seal was had a darker shade than what was Tayuya's normal skin tone. Without even trying to touch the area, he could tell that it was sore and perhaps that the tissue was dying. However, the seal he placed was perfectly intact while Orochimaru's seal also showed no signs of acting up. Letting his hands hover over the area, he used for Force to try and figure out what was going on. He was immediately met with a rather malevolent feeling coming from the seal. It was something that he had not encountered before and it felt familiar to him. While he continued to examine the area, Tayuya began to talk to him.

"I'm not supposed to care...about dying." She said but Naruto could feel the redhead had much more to express than just such a statement. He'd never seen the sharp tongued girl struggle with words.

"Working for Orochimaru, I knew that the seal would kill me eventually, if someone else didn't do it sooner. I'd seen it kill many others, slowly destroying their bodies and mind but I didn't care because I was finally useful and wanted. It was terrible in Oto, everyday was crappy and I knew he was using me but it didn't matter because I finally had power." She admitted while staring out a nearby window. It actually surprised Naruto to find just how much he could relate or at least how familiar it sounded.

"I finally had something stable after spending so many years on the streets alone and perhaps I was expendable to him but there were many others who came from similar situations. Then you came along and messed all that up." The redhead explained.

"And made you want to strangle me?" Naruto questioned while he continued to use the Force to examine more than just her shoulder and determine what the extend of the damage was to her body.

"Yes...No you dipshit, you made me want to live." She confessed in a hushed and sharp voice before continuing, "I spent years convincing myself that I didn't care that my life was being shortened considerably. You destroyed that utterly, by kidnapping me and forcing me to be a part of your group." Tayuya took a long pause as she thought over her situation since that moment and commented, "For once there was something good to look forward too. Things were getting interesting, the long ship rides weren't that great, but this..." And she motioned to the castle they were currently living in.

"I didn't really care about any of those fuckers in Oto." The redhead added and Naruto saw through the statement to the true meaning that she found a friend in Karin and perhaps even others in the group. "And now this seal that I used to covet is killing me." She concluded and at the same moment Naruto finished his examination. Her condition was stable at the moment but it would continually worsen over time. It seemed like every cell in her body was slowly being damaged or at least degrading. He had never seen anything like it. The damage was much worse in the area around the seal, along her main chakra network paths, and in her muscles. The organs remained the least damaged but they weren't far behind. He guessed that she had at most a year or more before the damage caused her organs start failing.

'This would be a good moment for some inspirational words. Recently I've proved to be rather poor with providing any comfort or inspiration, to anyone. Perhaps I should try something from when I was younger.' Naruto thought as he remembered something that he used to say from before he met Plagueis. The statements had shown to even move or at least bring a smile to the Sandaime's face.

"I'll find a way to help you, I promise." Said Naruto in a soft but confident voice. Tayuya did not turn around to look at him but he heard her sniffle once before contesting, "You lie all the time, Shit-face." A small smile formed on Naruto's lips as he could tell that she was putting up quite a front but really wanted to have something put her at ease or at least give her hope, "I never go back on my word and when I make a promise, I keep it. You were just moved to the top of my list." He explained as he went to his datapad and added her name to the top.

"So I guess I shouldn't worry about it." Tayuya commented sarcastically while trying to sit up a little straighter in her seat and possibly wiping tears out of her eyes. Naruto couldn't tell with her still sitting and looking away from him but he ignored the motions and responded, "Maybe you should tell the others and let them worry with you, especially Karin. She's been quite concerned with what's been bothering you but hasn't brought it up. With Kabuto, Juugo, Karin, Plagueis and myself, I'm sure we could find something. There's a whole galaxy of possibilities and even if I can't find something right now, there are ways to keep you alive indefinitely until I find a way. It looks like I have a lot of research to do. If there is anything that you know which could be helpful..."

Leaving the sentence open, he wondered if she actually did know something that could be helpful. It at least couldn't hurt to ask because he hadn't taken a look at most of Orochimaru's research like Kabuto and Plagueis had. After waiting a brief period, Tayuya said, "The only one that could withstand the seal or at least showed the most promise with no appearance of side-effects was Kimimaro. Orochimaru was thrilled at the prospect and intended for him to become his 'dream-container' or whatever the fuck that is. Sounded creepy and still sounds creepy now, but the brainwashed bastard came down with an unrelated illness that prevented Orochimaru from taking him as his next host."

Naruto remembered the name and thought back, remembering how he had killed the individual which had turned out to be Juugo's best friend. He also remembered that the white-haired teen was terminally ill and knew that Tayuya was telling him accurate information as their two ailments were not related. Seeing that Tayuya was done and had nothing else to recall at the moment, he decided to give her the less than stellar news, "I have to leave and will be gone for a little over two weeks..." and before she could protest or call him a liar, he added, "That doesn't mean that I won't be doing anything to help you."

"You'll be on a ship the whole time! What can you possibly do?" She argued and turning around he could finally see and confirm that she had been crying. Ignoring that fact, he replied, "I'll be looking over every bit of information that I have on the seal. I stole Orochimaru's notes and I have another source of information as well."

"Fine, but I expect you to be working on it when you get back." She demanded before getting up and leaving. Naruto wanted to say something back but kept his thoughts, about how she could have brought such an important matter to his attention earlier, to himself. Right before the lift door closed, he started to ask if she wanted to come with him but their conversation was cut off by the door and he thought better of it as she would likely be more comfortable in the castle than on a ship for two weeks.

'I should contact Kabuto and see about him getting a hold of a stasis tube while they're on Coruscant.' He thought as he sifted through the equipment in order to find his communicator, which he had apparently misplaced. The stasis chamber would be for the worst case scenario but he felt it was prudent to plan for that. The easiest cure would be to put her in a Bacta tank for a day or two but something told him that such a solution wasn't going to work for what Tayuya had. Something about her ailment felt parasitic or at least stubborn, as if it would keep returning no matter how good Bacta was at healing.

'I don't even know what it is that she is actually suffering from.' He admitted as he found the communicator. Once he was done with the communication, he would have to go to their storage room and find the scrolls pertaining to Orochimaru so he could take them with him.

x-x

Borvo's Hideout, the following morning

x-x

After leaving some spending money for everyone staying, Naruto and HK had made their way to Borvo's landing field in order to catch the freighter that they would be taking to Sarafur. Landing on the field, the pair seemed as though they were going on a short trip though this belied the fact that the storage scroll in Naruto's backpack was carrying enough supplies and weapons to respectively last several weeks and to deal with a small army.

He was worried about Sidious but with him leaving, there shouldn't be a problem for the others still at the castle. Nothing had happened during the night and he kept several clones as lookouts to make sure that no one approached the castle. 'I'll be gone for two weeks but I'll have something to come back too.' Naruto idly thought as he stepped into the freighter and was followed by HK.

'Once we set off, I'll try and get the captain to take my alternative route so we can arrive at my shadowport much faster. With the route from Forty-Two, this ship should be able to make the journey in three days, which will hopefully give me the time I need to get to Lehon. I may also want to be in the cockpit as they take off in order to see what methods they use to get past Naboo Security Forces.' He thought as he stowed his belongings in the room he had been given for the trip. Borvo obviously had a large operation that used the planet and he was very curious how the Hutt managed to do it all without attracting suspicions.

It was really something to distract him from the event of the previous day, because once the ship was in hyperspace, he had a lot of reading to do.

x-x

After switching from minor hyperlanes to the Corellian Run, they would be arriving on Coruscant in the next few hours. The ship had been in transit for two days and there was much to discuss before arriving. Coruscant was a huge place, a single continuous city covered the entire planet and no one in the group besides himself was used to seeing something of that scale. The Sith Lord's primary target on the planet was an old LiMerge Power building in The Works area of the ecumenopolis planet. The industrial area was in the Dacho District of the planet's surface and relatively close to the Senate District which better served their purposes.

He believed that the building was likely still in use by his Apprentice as it was the only property that he had on the planet at the time of his death. The Works area was sparsely populated with numerous large industrial buildings in all direction. Though some were occupied, many were either abandoned or primarily autonomous and needed no organic oversight. 'This will hopefully help Karin adjust to the planet. With such a large influx of people per squire kilometer, she is likely to easily become overwhelmed should we set down in any other district.' He thought as he moved to the meeting room.

Aside from the building, the only other targets he could identify that he knew Sidious used were the Senate building and likely an apartment complex somewhere on the planet. 'Most likely in the 500 Republica complex.' He surmised as he didn't believe Sidious would want to stay in any other building on the planet, save for the finest residential tower, reserved for the most wealthy and influential people. It was the same place that he would have wanted to stay, if he had a reason to be on Coruscant for an extended period or time.

'The residential tower will be the easier of the three to gain access too, despite boasting it's own security staff and updated surveillance to prevent entry. Although I highly doubt Sidious does much in the way of shady dealings or Sith activity in his residential suite. We really need the LiMerge building and his Senate office.' He concluded and would consider the residential tower if they had time and if they were successful with the other two building.

His concerns with the LiMerge building had little to do with security systems though. He was confident that he could bypass those, having great knowledge about their installation and operation. The Sith Lord was however concerned with running into whatever apprentice that Sidious had taken or turned after his death, 'Or before my death.' The Muun remembered as it was something he had thought about during his years away from the Known Galaxy. If Sidious had been able to keep his true appearance, intentions, and murder him in his sleep, than it was entirely possible that his Apprentice had already started training a new apprentice before killing him.

The last thing he wanted was for Sidious to return to Coruscant and find a dead apprentice or a missing apprentice. That would certainly put Sidious on edge. He planned to eventually kill whoever Sidious had chosen but it was not yet time for such an act. 'If everything does go completely wrong, I suppose calling for help from the Jedi wouldn't be out of the question.' Plagueis thought and wasn't sure if he was being serious or actually attempting to make a humerus statement concerning the matter.

In lieu of Naruto, he had chosen those that had proven to be the most loyal of the group, save for the Demon Brothers. Going near the Jedi Temple with two Smoke Demons was out of the question. They couldn't control their passive use of the Force for their 'abilities' and as such could not be counted on to remain undetected. Kabuto was well versed in stealth and Karin could completely conceal herself from just about anyone while having a long-range sensing ability. The security breach droid, Deefour, would also prove incredibly useful as getting past anything that the Senate or LiMerge building security systems had to prevent them from achieving their goals.

Sitting down at the meeting table, Plagueis waited for the others to file in before beginning and activating the holoprojector, "This is the Republic planet of Coruscant..."

x-x

Finishing another of Orochimaru's scrolls, Naruto stopped his speed reading and closed his eyes to collate all of the information together and process it. It seemed that Orochimaru had created a unique juinjutsu that had several purposes. The first purpose was to help propagate and activate an enzyme produced regularly by Juugo's body that appeared to be the key to the teen's mutation. As the seal spread across the body, so did the enzyme spread. The second purpose was to feed off the user's chakra and when the seal was activated to provide them with some of the special chakra that was kept in the seal and placed there by Orochimaru. Along with chakra, the Snake Sennin had also placed a portion of his consciousness which can influence and possibly even manipulate the user over time. 'So he split his soul amongst a large number of his followers, great.' Thought Naruto as he had believed that Orochimaru was dead but that didn't appear to be the case with pieces of the man's soul sealed in other people and Tayuya.

The final purpose of the seal was really to test individuals in the pursuit of finding the perfect host body that could not only withstand the enzyme but whose body was able to make use of the special chakra known as Senjutsu. 'I still have no idea what Senjutsu actually is or why Orochimaru needed a body that could use it.' Admitted Naruto as he only had brief bits of information about the special chakra from Jiraiya while looking through the white-haired man's mind. Orochimaru did not write much down about the specifics of the strange chakra.

There also appeared to be more than one type of the juinjutsu that Orochimaru used. Tayuya's and likely the rest of the Sound Four's seals were of a weaker type that had a greater application success rate, being higher than the one out of ten success rate of the heavier seal, but resulted in being harder to control. It was common for users to lose control of their minds during activation due to the seals influence of the enzyme, similar to what used to happen to Juugo.

'I also don't know why Kimimaro was special compared to all of the others that Orochimaru tested on. It doesn't appear to be the bloodline that the man possessed so I really can't say what the difference is between him and Tayuya. Orochimaru doesn't even seem to know as he only mentions 'a stronger body' or finding a 'more suitable host' but never explains what that really means.' Naruto analyzed and he frowned in frustration, pushing the scrolls he was finished with off the bed and onto the floor. He was no closer to any kind of discovery than he had been when Tayuya first told him about her problem. 'Though I have only been at this a day.' Realized the blonde-haired boy and he sighed at the fact that he had taken in so much information and still had nothing optimistic to work with.

From the notes and results, Orochimaru had been more concerned with using trial and error to find a suitable host body than he was with how certain individuals could adapt to the seal and Juugo's enzyme better than others could. Quantity over quality it seemed, and he remembered all of the prisoners in the facility where they had found Juugo. 'And he has an unhealthy obsession with the Uchiha.' Naruto noted as his mind recalled many unrelated tangents that the Snake Sennin had gone on while penning the notes.

'If I had a better understanding about what Senjutsu was, then perhaps I could start forming some kind of ideas.' He thought and decided to keep with the research as long as he could. Looking to the storage scroll that contained the remainder of research notes, he decided that perhaps a short break was in order. It was likely only safe to deal with so much of Orochimaru's crazed writing and experiments in a given time.

Looking through his datapad, which he had brought with him and loaded onto it everything that he could, Naruto came upon several files that he had saved but had never opened. They were from Ast Kikorie when they had broken into the Republic astrological station in order to use their equipment to examine several objects. It seemed like something that had happened so very long ago but Naruto soon realized that it hadn't even been three months since their disastrous visit to the planet.

Opening the files, he looked through the detailed analysis of three objects: the Raijin and one of the Tessents. 'We never had time to analyze the second one.' Naruto remembered and went back to his list to add that task. Looking to the sword first, Naruto read through the examination of the material that the handle was made of and was surprised to find the words 'Unknown Material' come up numerous times. 'How the hell can it be an unknown material? It should be able to determine something about the handle.' He thought before he looked at the x-ray and other analysis' results. The Raijin was hollow but the space inside was completely empty and it produced no heat or radiation of any kind.

'That...shouldn't be possible.' Naruto thought with disappointment evident on his face as he looked through every scan that was performed. He thought for sure that a scroll or some kind of mechanical assembly would reside inside the handle of the electric blade-producing weapon. 'Nothing.' He repeated over and over in his head with disbelief before calming himself and pushing the thoughts aside. It appeared that chakra could be converted into electrical energy through the use of an empty space inside of an unknown material. 'Or at least that is all that modern science can tell me.' He thought with frustration and looked to the other files concerning the Tessent.

The analysis showed an object carved from a solid piece of chalcedony. There was no holoprojector or datachip hidden inside either statue and nothing decipherable or of any relevance was etched microscopically into the outside. 'Wow, that is really disappointing.' Thought Naruto as he grit his teeth and refrained from throwing the datapad against the wall of his cramped quarters.

They were still each worth a small fortune when returned but that was of small consolidation to the amount of rumors and speculation that they had amassed in the Galaxy and even in their own ship among the members of the group. 'We sort of forgot about them after crashing on Mustafar.' Naruto remembered and he deleted the information from his datapad. It was only a copy of the original file but it was also worthless to them since it showed nothing that they didn't already know.

'There is still the other Tessent to look at but I've had enough of treasure quests for right now.' He concluded and set the datapad down to resist the urge to damage it. It took a few moments for Naruto to realize the irony of the statement he just made, especially considering the current journey he was on, and he attempted to convince himself that it was just a quest for knowledge. The convincing didn't work as he soon acknowledged that he was on another treasure quest.

Throwing his head back onto the bed's pillow, Naruto examined the ceiling of the room as he tried to determine if what he was doing was right. It was what he wanted to do but it also put Tayuya's condition on hold until everyone got back. With the new course that he had convinced the pilot of the ship to take, they would arrive on Sarafur in three days instead of seven and he could be back to Naboo within a week, instead of two, if he didn't travel to Lehon.

'But if the scrolls that I've looked through so far are any indication, I won't have any good news for Tayuya, no matter if I get back early or not.' He thought as he covered his eyes from the suddenly bright ceiling light, with his forearm, as he felt the start of a headache begin. He had read through too much, too fast, with the Force and would need to take some time before trying it again. It was terribly selfish but he really wanted to go to Lehon, despite the odds that nothing was there. Though only an extra week, the thoughts still made his stomach feel upset. With the prospect of becoming a citizen of Naboo and dreaded public service on the horizon, combined with all the items he still had on his list to accomplish, he knew he may never get another chance to visit the Rakatan homeworld for quite a while, possibly until he was an adult. Though it still felt bad, he convinced himself that he would somehow make it up to Tayuya.

x-x

'Try to image yourself as being very small and continually getting smaller.' Plagueis telepathically suggested to the panicking redhead and he attempted to calm her mind so she could focus on staying hidden. They were concealed behind an architectural feature inside the LiMerge Power building and the reason for the redhead's fright was the male Zabrak that was coming their way. 'If I remember correctly, he is now headed to his quarters or possibly a mediation chamber after his practice.' Mused a far less concerned Plagueis as he stood close to Karin in order to keep himself from being seen and to keep her from running.

He used to be able to completely conceal himself, presence and body, through Force Cloak but the ability was diminished due to his current state and so he could only hide his presence. The reason that he wasn't concerned was because it was just Sidious' apprentice. He could tell that the Zabrak was not that old and despite likely being well trained, Plagueis was confident that they could slip right past him and continue on to the main computer and security room of the facility.

The life-sense ability that he had taught Naruto was not something he had bothered to teach Sidious. His Apprentice had not been concerned with trying to feel the life-signs of others and so he doubted the Zabrak knew that either. Unless the Sith Apprentice had prodigious sensing ability, he doubted that either of them would be sensed. He had seen the young adult through the feeds that Deefour had sliced into earlier so they could get a look at the facility and temporarily disable many of the security systems.

'I know he uses a double-bladed lightsaber but he seems to be still learning to wield it properly. He also seemed adept at Teras Kasi like I taught my students. However I am still confident that I could defeat him should the situation deteriorate.' Concluded the Sith Lord and he knew this wasn't arrogance. He was well versed in the use and disadvantages of such a lightsaber configuration, despite never fighting an opponent wielding one or having used one himself.

Most would have difficulty or at least trepidation going against such a lightsaber because it was so rare but he wasn't worried. Most of the styles advantage was due to the fact that so few used it and it primarily relied upon that unfamiliarity in order to gain the upper hand against an opponent. Other than that, it was actually a more difficult style to learn and implement for the user. 'The only thing that we really need to worry about right now is losing concentration or that our heartbeats may be heard.' Commented the Sith Lord to himself as he began to hear footsteps coming down the hall.

Karin had warned him of the man's movement so they had taken cover, lest they be caught out in the middle of the hallway. He knew that the next ten meters of hallway had no doors or other rooms to hide inside and it was best to stay right where they were and wait it out. As the footsteps got closer, both he and Karin held their breath on instinct while they both hid themselves from being sensed. As the shadow of the Apprentice could be seen on the floor, Plagueis made no move for his weapons and focused entirely on cloaking both of them as well as slowing their heartbeats. Making any move for a weapon would instantly put most well trained Jedi and Sith on alert.

Seconds passed by as the only thing either of the two heard were the steady footsteps on the metal floor panels. The shadow came and went, moving down the hall and walking around the corner. The gait was unbroken and there were no pauses or slowdowns. Still, neither of the two moved as Plagueis waited until he felt through the Force that it was all clear. He was concerned about the fact that Karin appeared to be turning blue but the real problem was what would happen when she took her first large breath.

Covering the girls mouth, he waited until the last possible moment and coaxed her into taking a shallow and moderate breath instead of something heavy, loud, and desperate for air. Taking several moments to let Karin breathe, he waited until the redhead could talk before wanting to know the whereabouts of the Zabrak. "He's moving farther away at a steady pace." Karin informed him in a whisper and he nodded before taking the lead again and moving for the security systems.

The building had it's own security and holocam system that took note of everything happening inside the building and in every room, which was how the system had been designed when it was installed so many decades previously. However, it just constantly recycled every given period, likely a few days, so nothing was permanently recorded and could be used against the Sith should the hideout be discovered. There was also many switches throughout the building that could be used to erase and destroy the entire security room and main computer for the building.

What they needed to do was continuously copy the security information and transmit it to a receiver that was placed somewhere else on the planet. That way the signal was short range and harder to detect. Plagueis knew he would also have to modify the security settings to not detect that signal or at least overlook it and they had to either use the buildings own communication system or hide one of the transmitters that they had brought with them.

x-x

Transmitting a specific signal to the surface, Borvo's freighter was allowed to land just outside the largest of the three cities. None of the starports on the planet were large enough for the length of Borvo's vessel and Naruto made a note of that on his datapad near the end of his list. Disembarking, they were met with no hostilities, though Borvo's men had no idea that three Smoke Demons were currently watching them from the rooftops of different buildings.

They were part of the group that Naruto had created before leaving and were in charge of the security for that particular city. The twilight skies of the planet were exactly as he remembered them; impossible to tell whether the sun was setting or rising. They had landed in the same city as on the first trip to the planet as it was the closest to the hideout where the leader of the planet, Mordo, stayed and kept his ships.

'I'll need to do something to bolster this place in case someone else tries to take it. The Smoke Demons won't be enough considering that I only made nine. They can take care of anything but they can't talk or act as a leader. I also have no idea what would happen if they were on a starship when it was destroyed. Can they survive in space?' Naruto wondered as he took the group of Borvo's pilot and two others along with HK to a waiting skiff.

Once they met with Mordo and informed the fake ruler of the deal and to hold up their end, he could finally start looking for a ship to take. Hopefully the one that he wanted was still there.

x-x

Each looking through a pair of electrobinoculars, Plagueis and Kabuto watched the landing port of the Republic Executive Building from a rooftop of a residential tower miles away. The executive building was the location of the offices for the senators of the Republic and was close by to the much larger Senate Rotunda. The infiltration and tampering with the LiMerge building had been a complete success and now they were moving on to the Sidious's senate office.

With a transmitter set up and hidden in one of the abandoned buildings in The Works, they could transmit signals from Coruscant to just about anywhere in the Republic and even into the Outer-Rim. The transmitter was rigged with several security devices to hopefully alert them if it had been compromised. The signal was also masked through all of the other signals going out on the Holonet and extremely difficult, if not impossible, to trace unless the transmitter was found and bugged.

Plagueis decided that rather than transmit to Naboo, they could use the recently procured Star Jewel as a type of mobile receiver for all of the information. The vessel was equipped with a holonet receiver, which normally cost a fortune to have aboard such a vessel. From the ship, the transmissions could then be sent to Naboo. Since the ship needed to stay off the radar for at least a year, they could move the yacht around to various planets that Plagueis knew of which were formerly owned and strip-mined by the LiMerge Power Company.

Now they were stalking senators and not taking their eyes off the executive building. They had borrowed an air speeder and were ready to leave at a moments notice when they finally identified a good patsy. Trying to follow speeders from far away was difficult enough through the skylanes of the extremely busy planet, so they waited for something headed towards them so it was easier to follow.

Deefour was with them and in the speeder while the others, especially Karin, were back at the parked ship and ready to take off. As Plagueis had believed, the redhead was unable to deal with all of the people that she could sense within her radius, which was over a million in the portion of Coruscant that he and Kabuto were in. Even trying to sense out, she was submerged in a sea of moving people and started to become sick as the sheer number overloaded her and caused something akin to motion sickness.

"This is quite something." Commented Kabuto as they watched the sunset on the horizon of the endless city. He never imagined that a city could become so large or expansive as to cover an entire planet. "Exactly how far are we above the surface?" he inquired of the much more knowledgeable Sith Lord and Plagueis, while not taking his binoculars off the dome-shaped building responded, "More than kilometer, possibly two from the surface and there are other levels to consider as well that are underneath was was once the surface of the planet and in what was once a canyon covered surface. At those levels, light from the sun is sometimes unable to reach and such areas are referred to as the Underworld. Very dangerous with high crime and strange creatures created over thousands of years of a very different evolution from the rest of the population. The area where we are is home to only the wealthy and privileged. Most of the planet's population live hundreds of stories below us."

Kabuto took in all the information and smiled at the fact that such an amazing looking world hid such a seedy underbelly beneath it's many levels. He had been in the cockpit when Plagueis was piloting the ship down to the planet but that was no comparison to riding around in the open topped speeder through the air traffic. It had been both exhilarating and terrifying.

As they both continued to keep lookout, Plaguies looked to the timepiece that he had and noted that Sidious' time on Naboo was already over. The esteemed Senator was likely on his way back to the planet. If his Apprentice had stayed as long as was planned on Naboo, then they had a day or more at most but that hinged on too many variables and Plagueis wanted to get finished as soon as possible. He was even willing to skip monitoring the residential tower in order to get out undetected.

Spotting another personal transport taking off that they had just witnessed a Senator board, the pair watched with anticipation as it slowly lifted off from the landing port of the Executive Building and started to head their way. Without a single word exchanged, Plagueis moved to the speeder and got it started up while Kabuto slowly moved to the opposite seat while keeping his sights on the personal air speeder.

x-x

Entering into a familiar junkyard, Naruto tried to keep the small smile off his face as he had seen a familiar ship still where they had left it. HK followed him into the shop but said nothing as he perused the shelves. The owner turned around and welcomed the new arrivals before recognizing him as a repeat customer. The man was an older human, with white hair and in well used clothing, showing that he spent quite a bit of time in his junkyard or perhaps tinkering. While Plagueis had sold the ship, Naruto had been the one to deliver it to the yard.

"Come back for your ship?" The man joked and Naruto quickly nodded that he had. The man's eyebrows raised in slight surprise at being correct but he decided not to question it, "Sixty thousand, in good currency." The man gave as his price for the ship and it was Naruto's turn to be surprised at the price. That was about fifteen thousand shy of the price that the ship cost new and he knew firsthand how used it was.

"Ten thousand." Naruto shot back and the man blew him off, insulted by the price. "That ship isn't the same as how you left it with me. I've fixed it up right and good. The hull plating has been fixed. I replaced an escape pod, so it actually has one. The cockpit door was replaced. I fixed the water damage to several axillary systems and I replaced that horrid reactor as well as upgraded the hyperdrive." The man claimed with quite a good deal of pride behind his words.

"What was wrong with the reactor?" Naruto asked in a calm and serious tone. The man gave an amused face before answering, "It was jury-rigged and improvised to an incredible degree. The power output wasn't constant and varied too much. Nor did it provide enough power for all the ship's systems to properly operate, and the hyperdrive was nearly fried by the inconsistency."

Gripping the edge of the counter-top, Naruto wanted to contest that he had done the best that he could with what he had on hand but refrained as he didn't want to admit that it was him that had done the deed. Deciding to change the subject slightly, he inquired about something that was very important for the coming journey, "How fast is it now?"

"A new model of this type was released with a class 3 rating, if I remember correctly. The way you brought it in, it was maybe a class 2 with the modifications it had. With the new reactor and what I put into it of my own modifications I would guess its now closer to a class 1." Said the man with a smile and Naruto could tell that the older man believed every word of what he stated.

"This old man knows a few tricks and is pretty handy with a spanner." He boasted and Naruto couldn't help but smirk at the statement and the smiling junkyard owner. "Does it have a full tank?" Inquired Naruto and the man promptly nodded. "I'll pay your sixty thousand." Naruto agreed and went to his bag to retrieve the money he had brought, "Do you take nova crystal?" The man quickly nodded and was quite surprised that someone so young was going around carrying sixty thousand credit-equivalent in nova crystal and the fact that he wanted to buy back the ship.

"What's your name brat?" The man asked while Naruto counted out the money. Thinking before answering, Naruto decided to go with what Plagueis had decided and said, "Menma Rudshar."

"Rath Obath." The man replied and he held out his hand for Naruto to shake, which he did. "You some kinda explorer or something?" He questioned and Naruto replied, "...Or something."

Deciding to continue the conversation with something he had wanted to ask for a while, Rath said, "I wanted to ask you when you first came to me but I wasn't sure until I got a good look at it and found it was the same ship, but, you didn't happen to find or see the man that this ship originally was owned by? A man named Doro. I know it's been such a long time..." Asked the man and Naruto could tell that he seemed quite concerned.

"I found it crashed on a planet in wild space but no one was aboard. All the escape pods were launched though." Naruto explained and he didn't look the man in the eye but continued to get out the correct payment. A saddened but understanding Rath nodded in response as a brief period of silence followed.

"The ship had better be as you claim and I better not get stuck dead in space. I'll come back here." Said Naruto as he finished getting the money out. Even if the newly named Rath believed in his own statements, that didn't mean that all the work that had been done would be as good as was claimed. They may get along well but he barely knew the man or his work. Rath chuckled at what he thought was empty threat until Naruto added, "And so will the droid."

Looking to the droid in question, HK immediately turned from looking through the racks and his photoreceptors glowed at Rath. The owner took a slight step back before looking back to the boy, only to find his money was on the table and the newly named Menma was already walking out the door.

x-x

Standing in a luxury apartment suite, Plagueis removed the identification that they would need from the unconscious senator while Kabuto checked the woman's vitals and proceeded to lay her down onto the couch. The Sith Lord had quite easily incapacitated the senator with the Force before she even made it to through her apartment door. The best method for getting into the Executive Building that Plagueis had come up with was to pretend to be a senator. Find someone that was just leaving, follow them back home, take their identification information and head back to the building. With the use of Kabuto's henge, they could disguise themselves and claim to have forgotten something inside the building, bypassing the guards on the outside and gaining access to the office level.

Bringing along Deefour would be suspicious but it couldn't be helped. They needed the droid in order to get past the locked door and break into the security systems to gain control of the feeds for Sidious' as well as perhaps a few other offices. Having access to security holocams from multiple private senate offices, and conference or meeting rooms, would be invaluable and was too much of an opportunity to pass up. Such information could be used to great effect. It was far more difficult than just getting feeds from one office but he never had such a chance before. Spying on the closed-door meetings of the Republic Senate could be priceless in terms of getting blackmail information and finding out what some Senators and their interests were really up too.

The individual who was unlucky enough to head in their direction was a junior representative for the planet Murkhana and also represented the interests of the Corporate Alliance, which was composed of various companies and owned multiple systems in an area of the Tingel Arm in the Outer-Rim. Plagueis couldn't complain at the choice, he needed someone and the more time they spent, the closer Sidious got to Coruscant.

Getting everything that was needed, the pair left the room and proceeded to the landing port level of the building in order to commandeer the Senator's ride. The had a window of several hours but Plagueis hoped to take only an hour to get everything taken care of and to return, putting everything back in it's place and leaving no witnesses or evidence of ever having stolen a senator's identity to break into the building.

Before finally leaving, Kabuto had informed him that Naruto had messaged and apparently needed a stasis tube, possibly for Tayuya. That was not something that he had expected nor knew anything about prior to Kabuto mentioning it. He knew exactly where they could procure such an item but at the present moment, he had to push that information and questions aside to focus on the difficult task at hand.

x-x

With two ways to travel, Naruto had chosen the route that allowed him to have more time to study Orochimaru's notes, which was the journey back to the Ibonihs System from Sarafur. A clone could man the helm as he wasn't needed for instinctive astrogation since it was specified route that had already been traveled twice. Tossing another scroll into the pile that had formed on the ground of his captains room, Naruto went for the next scroll, only to find that he had run out.

"Damn." He cursed as he had still yet to find anything useful that could help Tayuya. Calming his mind, he remembered that he still had one source of information available to him. It wasn't something that he wanted to do but he still had more time until reaching the Ibonihs System and it would be wrong not to try everything that he could.

Closing his eyes, Naruto looked for the tug of the seal in order to enter his own mind, not for the Kyuubi, but the seal made it much easier for him to journey into his subconscious. Finding the right 'path' so to speak, his mind left the cabin as he delved inward. Losing touch with his real body, it was replaced with a representation and he opened his eyes to find himself standing in almost waist deep water in a metal corridor with many offshoots that greatly resembled the main hallway of Forty-Two.

Trudging through the water and even using the cold structure of the hallway to help pull himself along, Naruto passed the doorway that would have taken him to the seal. It was closed off and a large expanded version of the four pronged seal was written on the stone wall that barred the way. Glancing at the wall, he noted the cracking along the outer edges and could hear something coming from beyond, likely the Kyuubi raging at being completely sealed away.

Adopting a more serious face from the smirk he had quickly worn concerning the Kyuubi's fate, Naruto pushed on and turned down a hallway towards a room that he knew about. At the end of the long hallway, he turned to the only doorway and walked up a long ramp that took him out of the water. The metal floor of the room quickly ended, with a mass of moving flesh replacing the cold sterile metal. It wasn't just the floor as the walls and even ceiling were made of the the flesh material. In the center of the room were three figures that were almost completely encased in the pink flesh. Two of them Naruto didn't know as they were previous hosts of the Snake Sennin, but the third was the head of Orochimaru. It had yet to be completely encased in flesh and Naruto moved towards it, stepping out onto the flesh and he grimaced at the squishing sound his footfalls made.

From reading all the scrolls, he had come upon the man's notes concerning the Fushi Tensei and how Orochimaru was using it in order to prolong his life by devouring the souls and inhabiting the bodies of others. The host bodies didn't last long though but the souls of the hosts were never really killed or completely consumed. They resided inside Orochimaru's mind and now they resided inside of Naruto's, having turned the Snake Sennin's jutsu against him. His twisted soul subdued by Naruto's and unable to do anything against him or at least that was his understanding of the jutsu from the notes.

Reaching out his hand towards the Sennin's head, Naruto stopped and immediately pulled his hand back as the eyes of the head suddenly opened. He nearly took a step back, thinking that Orochimaru would start chuckling in that peculiar way that he always did or start talking about how he wasn't really gone. The head however said nothing and the eyes remained dull and unfocused. 'Creepy son of a bitch.' Naruto commented as he tried to get control of his racing heart which as he thought about it, wasn't actually real but seemed to be beating out of his chest nonetheless.

As Naruto looked into the yellow slit eyes, he found them oddly familiar, perhaps something he had seen recently in a nightmare. Ignoring the feeling, his hand made contact with the man's forehead and he began sifting through the memories contained within. Though he had devoured the soul, the memories had not become a part of his mind. This was something he was actually thankful for. The Snake Sennin had done a lot of crazed experiments on men, women, and children. If half of the things he had heard about or learned from the memories of Jiraiya were anything to go by, that was only the tip of a deeply disturbing past.

Pushing aside anything not related to jutsu, Juugo, the cursed seals, and Senjutsu, Naruto soon gathered together a large amount of information and began draining it. Though he could have gone over it all where he stood, he decided to leave and do that in his cabin. That particular area of his mind was way too creepy to stay in and he actually wasn't sure if he was even in his mind or not. Taking his hand off the former member of the Sannin, he went back the way he came and ended the technique to get back to his room on Forty-Two, where he could mediate and sort through everything he had drained.

x-x

'This is where we briefly part ways.' Plagueis informed Kabuto and while the Sith Lord obfuscated the security systems in their area, Kabuto ended the combined henge. The smoke soon subsided and Kabuto reformed the henge of the Koorivar female while Deefour broke into the electrical and computer room that they were standing at. As soon as Plagueis and the droid were inside, and the disguised Kabuto was walking away, the Sith Lord ended his usage of the Force on the security systems and went to work inside the room.

As Deefour unlocked the office door for Kabuto to eventually enter into, Plagueis ordered the droid to also bring up a list of all the current senators and their representation. Activating the small holographic projector in it's upper head, Deefour displayed the long list and slowly scrolled down as Plagueis took in all the names and what planet or organization they represented. It had been almost sixteen years since he had been alive and almost twenty since being active in politics and back room dealings in his quest for gaining power and influence in the Republic. Therefore, most of the names of the list were not ones that he recognized. Most Republic Senators did not stay in politics for more than a few terms.

Spying on the offices would be easy. Even the office of the Chancellor of the Republic had security systems that monitored everything that went on. They could be turned off but many didn't as Senators weren't supposed to have something to hide and the security information in the Senate Building never left the premises. It all was transferred to the archives in lower levels and deleted at a later date. Such a system was expected to provide transparency for the Republic Senate but simply did nothing as Senators found somewhere else to talk or disabled the security devices for more private conversations.

'And I will be able to use that for maximum benefit for us.' Thought the Sith Lord as he changed tactics and had Deefour tamper with the entire system, making it so that every time the security system was turned off in a given room, it silently reactivated itself to continue monitoring the room as well as saved the information until the system was turned back on. Only Sidious' office and a few others would be monitored continuously. While Deefour worked at the computer terminal, Plagueis took a console and started rewriting many protocols for the building.

The security tampering was actually the easy part, making sure that the information was sent to him was the hard part. Signals going to and from the Republic Executive Building were monitored and it would be difficult to try and plant a transmitter because it was more likely to be found as the building was regularly maintained. Several of the buildings in The Works had been derelict for decades so it was less likely to be found. 'The best alternative would be a virus that would send out the data imbedded in or with other signals but how would those signals be routed to the transmitter.' Plagueis contemplated as he hadn't completely thought that part of the plan out. Taking a segment from his student's handbook, he decided to improvise after gaining access to the building.

The Mustafarian host body's eyes opened as Plagueis had an idea. The Executive Building and Senate Building regularly exchanged messages and the Senate Building also broadcast Senate deliberations during most of the meetings. People could tune in to a specific channel on the Holonet and watch the Senate meetings but it was also broadcast on local channels all over Coruscant. 'That could work.' Thought the Muun as he began rewriting computer code using the Force to help him tamper with a few systems in order to get everything to work properly.

'All I'll need to do is have the transmitter hidden in The Works receive and transmit the local broadcast signals and then later decode any of the hidden information. I can use their own information network and monitoring systems against them.' Plagueis thought as he set to work on at his console and worked in tandem with Deefour to set everything up. Kabuto would have to wait in the Senator's office for a while but he should be able to make everything happen in about an hour.

'I wonder why no one has ever thought of this?' He idly questioned but ignored the thought as he continued with the work.

x-x

Reviewing so much information was relatively easy when using the Force, however, making sense of everything was a different matter altogether. 'So Senjutsu is the combination of Chakra and a normally undetectable energy field called Natural Energy. And Natural Energy exists around everyone in the sky and in the ground. In order to become a Sage, one has to learn how to not only detect this energy field but to gather it and mix it with physical and spiritual energy. That sounds kinda familiar.' Admitted Naruto as he reviewed everything he had learned from Orochimaru's memories.

Apparently the Snake Sennin had journeyed to a location called Ryuchi Cave, where the snake summons live and learned about the existence of Natural Energy from the White Snake Sage. The sage was an incredible long and old snake that lived there and was the spiritual leader of the rest of the snakes. To learn to feel natural energy, Orochimaru had covered himself in special Senjutsu venom that the White Snake Sage produced from it's fangs to first be able to sense Natural Energy and from then on tried to sense it without any aid. Only by being completely still was a being able to correctly mix the three energies and become a sage. Failure to complete the mixing could lead to the user turning to stone.

Despite Orochimaru's great ability and genius in all things jutsu related, the Snake Sannin was never able to completely become a sage because he had already started using the Fushi Tensei and his host body could not handle it. Instead, Orochimaru had used Juugo's bloodline as a way to alternatively harness Senjutsu chakra. Juugo's clan apparently could passively absorb Natural Energy. However, something in the passive use of Natural Energy and mixing caused a great surge in aggression and rage should he lose his temper which started the production of the enzyme and transformation.

Having looked at all of the information, Naruto found himself greatly confused. 'How many different energy fields can there be?' He wondered as he considered the existence of 'Natural Energy' that he had just gained knowledge about. 'It sounds quite similar to the Force in the description.' Were his thoughts on the matter and he could see many similarities. Plagueis' original explanation of the Force to him and the explanation of Natural Energy by the White Snake Sage were very similar.

'It would explain how Juugo is able to communicate with animals. If he is constantly taking in small amount of Natural Energy or the Force, and mixing them with his chakra. Even I can't talk to animals and I believe there is one or more Force powers associated with communicating or controlling them. He only starts to transform when he is angry and that certainly seems like the dark-side of the Force at work.' He thought but that explanation did not explain something, 'I've never felt Juugo ever gather the Force and I failed in every way that I tried to mix the Force with chakra.' Naruto remembered as the many different attempts and idea from Plagueis flooded into his mind. They simply would not combine, though he had never tried sitting completely still and not moving at all. 'Even if I succeeded, I likely wouldn't have been able to correctly mix it right away and would have turned to stone. It took Orochimaru months to be able to properly sense and start gathering Natural Energy and still more time before realizing that he was limited by his host body.'

'I've also never felt Juugo use the Force or gather the Force, but his ability is supposed to be passive and I have no idea what Senjutsu chakra feels like. I've noticed how Juugo's chakra suddenly feels more powerful but I've never felt that it being combined with the Force. How would Juugo's body be able to gather the Force since he has no midi-chlorians?' He questioned and found that he simply did not have answers to prove or disprove the theory of Natural Energy and the Force being the same energy field.

The fact that the Force and chakra could augment each other was still something he always found odd. For two completely different energies, they were quite compatible when used separately. 'If I tried to absorb the bit of soul in Tayuya's seal, I would also have to take in the Senjutsu Chakra that is attached with it and since I have no idea how to control it, I guess that I would turn to stone.' He concluded and didn't like what logically made sense.

'If the Force and Natural Energy did turn out to be the same thing than this would be much easier to wrap my head around. I'd just need to figure out how to combine it with Chakra but I've already proven that didn't work. But if they are the same, then why didn't it work?' Naruto raged as he grew more frustrated with his train of thought. Despite wanting to drop the entire subject, he really wanted for Natural Energy to be the Force. It made sense to some degree because if another energy field existed on his planet, then why hadn't Plagueis ever felt Natural Energy while on Ibonihs or why hadn't a sage or those able to use Senjutsu ever felt the existence of another energy field. Juugo's ability to use his transformation suggested that Natural Energy was also present in the rest of the galaxy, so why hadn't Jedi or Sith ever noted a second energy field.

'If Juugo is able to gather a small amount of the Force and combine it with chakra, than why can't I make any headway. If Orochimaru and Jiraiya of all people can start combining the two, then why did I completely fail so many times. It can't be that I was just not sitting still. If the two are the same then I'm able to gather Natural Energy regularly because of my midi-chlorians...' And it was at that point that Naruto stopped his train of thought. The one difference that existed between himself and all those that could use Senjutsu was the fact that he had microscopic bacteria in his blood.

They allowed him to feel and manipulate the Force and from what Plagueis had told him, the midi-chlorians weren't mindless and were intelligent. 'What if the reason that I couldn't combine them was that my midi-chlorians prevented me in order to keep me from turning to stone when I failed to combine them correctly.' He reasoned and remembered that the first time Orochimaru began combining Natural Energy with chakra, he started to change into a snake and would have turned to stone if the White Snake Sage had not intervened.

'If Natural Energy and the Force are one and the same, that means that Tayuya is suffering from an ailment brought on by seemingly the dark-side of the Force combined with chakra. Orochimaru is certainly the equivalent of a Sith and from just sensing Tayuya's seal, I could feel a strong malevolence. Tayuya is likely one of the many people that can't properly use Senjutsu, unlike Juugo and thus her body is being destroyed by Orochimaru's combination of the Force and chakra. Every time she used her seal, her body was slowly being damaged. However, this means that I can't help at all, unless I'm able to combine chakra and the Force, which I can't do that because my midi-chlorians are possibly preventing me. Though I wonder if a strong application of healing using the light-side of the Force would help heal Tayuya's body? Either way, it doesn't seem as though I can do anything.' He realized and the theory made his head spin. It sounded crazy and there was still no proof that Natural Energy and the Force were the same energy field.

There were however elements of the theory that made sense. It explained Juugo's odd ability to speak with animals, those animals that had chakra and those outside of Ibonihs that did not. Juugo was using Senjutsu instead of channeling or manipulating the Force so it could conceivably go unnoticed by either him or Plagueis because it wasn't actively being done. Apparently no one was able to manipulate Nature Energy on it's own and had to first balance it with their spiritual and physical energies instead. Considering he was the only ninja with midi-chlorians, it made sense that only he could manipulate Nature Energy or the Force on it's own. It also explained why the Force and chakra were able to amplify one another because it was possible to combine them.

'However, even if it is true, none of it really helps Tayuya unless I can do the seemingly impossible. Even if Juugo can use Senjutsu, that doesn't mean that he can absorb it from the seal and I'm not sure what to do about the piece of soul. I only managed to defeat Orochimaru because he was using the Fushi Tensei and I turned it on him. I don't know how to absorb pieces of soul by themselves. I also don't know where that cave is that Orochimaru found. He took such a winding path and that place isn't on any map, nor is the mountain that Jiraiya went too.' Naruto lamented and opened his eyes from meditation. Days of research had created more questions than answers and it seemed that Orochimaru never bothered creating a way to remove the seal, nor did he likely want it to be removed.

x-x

In just shy of two days, Naruto had made the uneventful journey from Sarafur back to the Ibonihs System. Combined together with the trip from Naboo, it meant that the totaled journey that had taken just over five days in two ships, compared to seven days in the old Forty-Two. 'Quite the improvement.' thought Naruto as he looked out at the planet that was the fourth from the Ibonihs' sun, which was a large gas giant with about six moons. The ship was sitting stationary out of planetary orbit and was positioned looking directly at the small blue dot in the distance that was Ibonihs.

Naruto was not completely sure why he had come out of hypserpace close to his home planet. If he followed the path exactly, he should have exited hyperspace at the edge of the system, millions of miles away, but for some reason his navigating had ended up there. Having enough of staring at the small blue speck, Naruto turned the ship around and prepared to make his first completely uncharted jump into hyperspace towards the coordinates that he had for the Lehon System.

Normally his hyperspace jumps were on or at least following minor hyperlanes. A few had been shortcuts but certainly nothing as long, as uncharted, and possibly through an anomaly as he was now attempting. Calming his mind and pushing out all other thoughts, Naruto focused on using the Force to guide his navigation. It was all that he had to rely on and what he needed in order to make it to his final destination or at least to come out of the journey alive. Moving his hand to the navigational controls, he began inputting a course towards his ultimate goal. Opening his eyes, it felt rather nostalgic to be putting his hand on the ship's hyperspace lever once again while within the Ibonihs system.

For a second time, he was leaving his birth system and traveling to something else. 'Though this time I've going even deeper into the unknown.' Naruto thought with a smirk and pushed the lever forward, watching as the ship accelerated into the forming hyperspace window.

x-x

'It's quite possible that we passed Sidious in hyperspace.' Mused Plagueis as he tried to mediate in his quarters. He actually found it difficult to calm himself down after spending an entire day running around Coruscant, breaking into government buildings, and infiltrating his Apprentice's hideout. It was the most involved he had been in such subversive actions in more than two decades. Historically, he had liked to use third parties or look to his Apprentice to take care of things. It had become rare for him to be so hands-on in the completion of such a daring task and he had rarely led others.

They had managed to get off the planet without setting off any alarms, that he knew about, or getting caught. The data that would soon be gathered from both the Senate and Sidious would be invaluable to any future actions. Everything had gone rather smoothly for such a rushed and partially planned maneuver. When he had left Naboo, he had no detailed plan and that was really a first for him. He always liked having a well thought out plan and escape or he relied on Naruto. 'So this is how he must feel when he gets away with it.' Commented Plagueis as his thoughts turned to his student.

Aside from the debacle on Tatooine, everything had been going well as of late. The castle was quickly becoming a very good hideout and with a good deal of work, it could turn into a lucrative operation. He envisioned being able to use the small courier ships to not only deliver wine to customers but also to use storage scrolls and make extra money by delivering arms shipments for Borvo. With a single scroll, which would easily get through any planet's customs officials as some kind of art work, they could take a huge shipment, that would normally require the cargo hold of a medium sized freighter, inside of a small courier vessel.

Despite making Naruto think that he wanted the boy to enter the Legislative Youth Program, he knew that Naruto would not make it. There were other public service programs available for youths but the legislative program was usually the starting place for everyone. Those that simply couldn't cut it in that program, were able to choose something else after spending at least two years in it. 'However, should Naruto fail the program, he can be allowed to enter something else, immediately.' Mused Plagueis as he was sure that Naruto would indeed fail or perhaps get kicked out the Legislative Youth Program. That was fine since there was another program that he planned for Naruto to join and spend the rest or at least a good deal of his remaining public service time in. One that would hopefully teach him or at least force him to learn more patience and discipline.

As the Sith Lord's thoughts turned away from his student and towards resuming meditation, he suddenly recalled that Naruto had asked for a stasis tube. A slight frown adorned his host body's features as he realized that he had forgotten to get one. It had slipped his mind, as well as Kabuto's, which was understandable given their successful break-in at the Executive Building. 'We should be able to stop at any number of places on our way back.' Reasoned Plagueis but he couldn't help but wonder exactly why they needed one. It did give him a bad feeling through the Force and he knew it had to do with their suddenly lethargic crew member.

x-x

Sitting in the cockpit with a fully charged, polished and alert HK, the bags under Naruto's eyes and bloodshot eyes made him look pathetic by comparison. When he had started the trip from Naboo, Naruto had asked the droid a single question before setting off, 'Can you translate Rakatan?' The droid had been curious at the inquiry but simply replied that he could. Naruto had asked him to come and told him they were ultimately heading to Lehon. He could tell that HK had recognized the name but the assassin droid said nothing more. After spending five days traveling to the Ibonihs system and almost another four in transit to the Lehon System, Naruto was starting to wonder if there was something wrong with the droid.

He had never known HK to be so quiet. In the last three days, the droid had spent almost all of that time powered down in the ship's galley and in the days before, after leaving Sarafur, HK spent quite a bit of time inspecting the ship and checking for any problems. It was nice to know that the droid was looking out for them but he half expected HK to inquire as to why they were heading to Lehon or perhaps make some kind of comment about his past. The meeting before arriving on Tatooine had all but convinced Naruto that HK had been owned by Revan but he was starting to wonder if the droid didn't remember going to the Rakatan homeworld. 'I'm actually not completely sure he was ever there or not. I just assumed that he was.' Suddenly realized the very fatigued Naruto and he decided to just forget about it.

The past four days had been hell. Navigating by the Force alone meant that Naruto had to remain in the cockpit for almost the entire journey in order to make minor course corrections and keep them moving while avoiding all of the perilous dangers of uncharted hyperspace travel. Some of the other dangers he had not considered did not become apparent until the second day when Naruto took the ship out of hyperspace upon coming to a planetary system. He had planned to park the ship on the dark side of a moon so he could get some sleep, feeling that simply having the ship sitting idle in open space was more dangerous. His plan however did not work out as the long range sensors suddenly picked up something. Before he had a chance to find out what the unknown ships or perhaps even space stations were, he had already plotted a new course out of that system and entered hyperspace.

He hadn't expected to come across other ships. That was when he realized that traveling through uncharted space to an empty system was not the same as traveling through empty space. There could have been any number of advanced or equivalent civilizations along the way with technology no one from the Known Galaxy had ever encountered before. Though the chance existed of finding a friendly group of people, he was not willing to stop and chat. Naruto was not on an exploratory mission, or stupid. From that point on, he had only taken short breaks from the pilot's seat, mostly for the bathroom, and kept the ship in hyperspace as long as possible.

The only other problems that he had encountered was the first time that he had accidentally fallen asleep and was rudely awakened when the ship exited hyperspace in an asteroid field. 'I'll sleep when we're there.' He kept thinking to himself and was simply too stubborn and overly cautious to stop the ship and rest. Long bouts of meditating while piloting helped, but it also wasn't sleep. The last time he had fallen asleep behind the controls, he was surprised when he awoke to find HK sitting in the co-pilot seat and he decided not to questioned it. That had been two or three hours ago and now they were finally nearing their destination.

Pulling back on the lever, the ship exited hyperspace and a huge planet as well as a moon came up fast as they decelerated to normal sub-light speed. Looking at the large gas giant, Naruto examined the sensor readings and found that they had arrived at the fifth planet in the Lehon system. Remembering back to the Star Map, he recalled that Lehon was the fourth planet in the system bearing it's name. About to pilot a course towards the planet he was after, both pilots looked to the controls as an indicator flashed. As Naruto determined exactly what the sensors had detected, HK took the controls and piloted the ship to the nearby moon.

It had an icy, frozen surface with hardly any atmosphere but Naruto payed little attention to the destination and more to the sensors as he quickly found that they had detected something in orbit of the gas giant. The object was just out of view from their position. It was not another moon and it had a faint electrical reading coming from it, meaning that it could be a ship. The size was larger than Forty-Two, over three times the size of their ship, and it did not appear to be moving save for a stable orbit of the gas giant. As HK touched down on the rock, they powered down all the ship's systems and waited for the moon to rotate and hopefully bring the object into view.

Inhaling and then exhaling slowly, Naruto waited as patiently as he could to get a better look what the sensors had detected. It took nearly an hour for the moon to rotate enough that the gas giant came into full view. Pulling down his goggles, Naruto zoomed in on the planet and tried to find what the sensors had detected. It took several seconds before an object came into his zoomed view and Naruto magnified as much as he could to get a better look and determine what they were dealing with. What he saw was not a starship but it was a space station. He couldn't determine anything about it's purpose through the goggles but it didn't appear to have any running lights or other indicators on. The station was cylindrical with the bulk of its structure n being higher than the center of it's overall height. It had sensor arrays jutting out from the top in addition to solar panels and the bottom part appeared to be for docking.

"Observation: A small Republic Outpost. Likely very old and most assuredly abandoned." HK informed him and the droid quickly turned back on the ship's systems before asking, "Inquiry: Should we ignore the station and move on?"

Naruto had yet to take his eyes off the station and he noted that parts of it were rather damaged as well as looking quite worn. Remembering that the sensors detected power readings, Naruto decided that it might be best to take a look.

x-x

While Naruto maneuvered the ship to dock with the derelict station, HK prepared for boarding. There were no life-signs aboard but he was prepared for anything. Naruto would have gone with him but he didn't have a spacesuit and the station had no atmosphere. The ship shuddered slightly as the docking procedure was complete. "I'd like any navigational or sensor data you can find and anything else that could be useful, like supplies." Naruto said over the commlink.

Standing in the airlock, HK acknowledged the communication and sucked the atmosphere from the airlock back into the ship before he forced open the doors to the station. The doors revealed an utter blackness that the lights inside the airlock of Forty-Two could only partially illuminate as metal flooring and an empty storage area. The incredibly low temperatures and darkness did nothing to make the assassin droid hesitate and with blaster rifle shouldered, HK cautiously moved into the station. With no life-signs present, there was still the chance of droids or automated defenses. Something in the station was still operating and had power.

Bypassing the inoperable turbo lift, HK chose maintenance access routes and climbed up a ladder into the main levels of the station. Prying open another door, the assassin droid peered through at the hallway and proceeded to check every room in his search for supplies and targets. He found an empty barracks, communications room, main operations room, mess area, and more empty storage rooms. It didn't take him long to determine that nothing of interest was left in the station, so it had either been decommissioned and left adrift or abandoned and picked clean by someone else. Disappointed that he had not found something to shoot, HK proceeded to the bridge or operations room so he could try and access the main computer.

Checking all the consoles in the large and dark room, HK found one that had some power running to it. Using the strap of his rifle, he removed a layer of frost and dust from the screen so he could start accessing whatever systems that he could. The vessels reactor was completely drained and the only source powering the station were a few of the solar panels which still partially worked. The storage batteries were likely dead and so there was only a modicum of on-demand power to work with.

Checking to see the power allocation, HK quickly discovered that the majority of the power coming from the solar panels was being directed to the sensor array. The array was draining power but it wasn't working properly and a quick check to the sensor logs showed him that the logs had stopped a few centuries prior to their arrival. Either the array had become damaged or something in it had ceased operating, so HK powered it down. With power to work with, the droid diverted everything to the main computer and the operations room. The change was immediate as a few lights in the room started to flicker to life and his auditory sensors picked up several devices and systems slowly coming back to life.

Accessing the main computer allowed him to view all of the stations records and he quickly surmised that the outpost was not military but for monitoring. There were only minor exterior defenses and shielding with no internal defenses at all. With power back on, he quickly disabled the communications system to ensure that no signals were automatically sent due to the reactivation of the main computer.

Quickly scanning through station logs, he learned that the station had been put in place shortly after the destruction of the Star Forge. The Republic had wanted to monitor the system, specifically the planet Lehon and it had been fully operational with a dedicated skeleton crew for a number of years before the systems were placed on automatic and left to continuously monitor the system while reporting any disturbances.

The station was not designed for monitoring continuously for the over three thousand years since it's commission and had likely been completely forgotten about. He noted that as the centuries past, the systems had eventually started to break down or fail and soon only the sensor system and log computer were active. Sifting through the very long sensor logs, HK found the most recent active log and discovered that nearly a thousand years prior to their arrival, the sensors picked up two ships entering the system. One ship arrived shortly after the other, but only one of the ships left the system. The logs were only days apart and nothing had been noted since then. Taking out a datachip, HK downloaded the entire sensor logs and started looking through other databanks.

Though the station had no engines or hyperdrive, it still had navigational charts and other information about the system as well as surroundings area of space just outside the system. HK also found that no communications had been sent or received for a very long time and the communication array had been damaged almost two thousand years prior to their arrival.

Finding no other valuable information, HK wiped everything from the stations databanks and headed back to the ship. Getting in the airlock, he closed the hatch to the station and told Naruto over the intercom system that they could disembark. As he moved away from the airlock, he expected to hear the ship disengaging from the station but instead heard nothing. The ship did not move at all.

Realizing that he did not get a response from the cockpit, he took out his weapon and headed down the ships long hallway. 'Inner thought: Something could have gotten onto the ship while I was searching the station.' With that in mind, he slowly moved towards the cockpit, ready to shoot anything that could have snuck onto the ship.

Finding nothing amiss and no sounds coming from any of the rooms, HK moved past the communications room but couldn't see anyone in the pilots chairs. Putting his back to the wall to keep from being surprised from behind, he quickly moved into the cockpit and found pointed his weapon at the only occupant, an asleep Naruto sitting in the main pilot's seat. Despite usually being very alert, the blonde-haired Meatbag did not wake and showed no signs of even being disturbed by the weapon pointed at him.

Standing up straight and lowering the weapon, HK was again disappointed. He hoped that the ship hadn't been overrun by a crazed droid or perhaps some unknown life-form that had incapacitated his comrade. Closing the cockpit door, just in case, the assassination unit set his rifle down by the copilot's seat and took the controls. Disembarking from the station, he set a heading towards the nearby fourth planet in the system. The sublight engines would reach the planet in a few minutes and he had no problem waiting as he kept the long-range sensors actively searching for any contacts, signals, or anomalies in the system.

He knew firsthand that the Lehon System was full of surprises and the last thing that he wanted was to be caught by that disruptor field again and crash on the planet's surface. His memory concerning the planet was not completely intact as he recalled bits and pieces of their arrival and the subsequent battle that took place. Those were good memories, up until the battle ended and Master Revan soon left for an unknown destination.

Scanning the incoming planet, HK found that the majority of the debris from the space battle had been caught in the orbit of the four planets close to the sun. Somehow Lehon attracted far more dark colored debris than the other three planets which were closer than it to where the Star Forge was destroyed. As the blue tropical world came into view, HK thought about waking the pilot but decided against it.

He had a good idea where it was that Naruto wanted to go on the planet. With infighting between Rakatan tribes after the fall of the Infinite Empire, most of the planet's surface was destroyed and there was only a single building on the entire surface that would have been of any interest. Fortunately, he knew exactly where it was and once he got past the debris field in orbit, he could land the ship right next to it.

x-x

Two blue orbs started to open but squinted and were unable to focus. A bright light prevented him from seeing anything out the cockpit windows and still disoriented from waking up, Naruto didn't understand the situation. Completely forgetting about arriving in the Lehon system, Naruto thought he was still navigating and immediately sat up as he believed that the ship had exited hyperspace because it was flown too close to a star. Taking the controls, he started to try and pilot the ship but found all the systems were unresponsive.

Panicking, he looked up at what he thought was impending doom but suddenly found a blue skyline as a cloud moved over the sun and blocked it's rays. Confused, he stood and leaned forward to get a better look, only to find that the ship was currently parked on a flat grassy area, overlooking an expanse of ocean.

Taking a deep and calming breath, he slumped back into the comfortable seat and wiped away the tiredness from his eyes while feeling embarrassed. 'Thankfully there was no one around to see this.' He thought with a sigh and knew that he wouldn't be able to live it down if one of the group had...

"Announcement: We've landed on Lehon, also known as Rakata Prime." Came a voice from just behind him and Naruto nearly jumped out of his seat as he hadn't heard the droid approach. Thinking about it, Naruto decided to confirm his sudden suspicion and asked, "How long have you been there?"

"Reply: Since before you started to wake and your poor organic eyes and puny Meatbag mind were confused at our current situation."

'He saw everything, damnit!' Thought Naruto and he quickly ordered, "You will not share this...moment with the rest of the group." Though the droid said nothing, his photoreceptors glowed and Naruto had no idea whether that meant acknowledgment of his order or not.

"Where are we?" He finally asked as stood from the seat to properly stretched and moved his neck to try and relieve some of the ache from his awkward sleeping position. "Statement: I set the ship down next to the Temple of the Ancients." Replied the droid and Naruto's eyes widened right before he strained to look through the cockpit windows in order to catch a glimpse of the building. Looking out the right side window, he managed to see part of a white stone building and realizing that he didn't have to merely look out the window, he ran to the landing ramp. Forgetting to even ask the the atmosphere was breathable, Naruto went right outside.

Stepping onto soft grass, Naruto looked over the building as he idly started walking towards it. He half expected to find the building in perfect condition, similar to how the Star Maps could repair themselves but that was not the case. The tall white structure appeared to be in disrepair with many discolorations and numerous portions where stones had come loose, been broken off, eroded by weathering, or were perhaps damaged by some other means. The heaviest damage within his view was at the main entrance to the temple. The ramp going up to the entrance suddenly ended and there was almost a crater beyond that point where the ramp, entrance, and part of the structure had been blown apart. Numerous stones and broken pieces were scattered all around the damaged ramp and the entrance was partially caved-in.

"No way." Naruto said out loud as he took in the entire building. It was not what he had expected. Though the uppermost parts bore a resemblance to the Star Maps design, it was not jet black as his mind thought it should have been. The building was less than a hundred feet tall with a tower segment that stood out of a round and much wider bottom segment with sloped top. He idly wondered if the building had a strong dark-side presence to it but was suddenly struck by the presence he felt coming from all around him. He hadn't noticed until that moment, but the entire planet seemed to be steeped in the dark-side. The Force was not only very strong on the planet but the presence it gave made him feel quite powerful.

"Inquiry:.." Suddenly came a voice from behind Naruto and he broke from his staring to find HK moving towards him, fully suited up for a battle it seemed. "...What is it that you are looking for inside this temple?" The assassin droid finally asked, and Naruto didn't need to wonder anymore who the droid had once belonged to.

"Anything that can be useful to me. My Master told me many stories about the this planet but since he had never visited it, I always wondered if there was something more to it. About a thousand years ago, a Sith came here in order to find artifacts associated with the dark-side and apparently only managed to find a single holocron once belonging to Revan. I'm hoping that he overlooked something, enough to make this trip worthwhile." Explained Naruto and he noted the droid's sudden twitch at the name he had mentioned.

"Recollection: The last time I was here, the Temple was sealed with a unique force field that only the native Meatbags could open but it appears that it won't be of concern. I also remember a powerful disruption field being generated from this site, the controls being in the upper levels. Ships that were not properly shielded against it had their systems overloaded, hyperdrive damaged, and should they be closet to the planet, were caught by it's gravity and crashed on the surface." The droid explained from it's memory and Naruto stood with his mouth open at the very relevant information that the droid had just given him.

'Was Darth Bane not interested in such technology?' He wondered and decided to get things started. He had already wasted enough time with his nap and they were still on a timetable. Making a cross-shaped handseal, no less than forty clones were created and they soon moved towards the building. Several went around the perimeter while a few started moving up the sides with the rest jumping right inside the entrance.

x-x

Being summoned by the calls of one of his clones, Naruto moved towards one side of the damaged entrance ramp to find several clones attempting to lift a stone that was apparently covering something that was important. Coming to a stop and watching the clones struggle, Naruto simply said, "You idiots. I can use the Force." The clones all stood and started scratching the backs of their heads as they realized what he was getting at. Moving out of the originals way, Naruto easily lifted the heavy stone to see what was beneath.

Naruto genuinely smiled as he found a severed arm that had been imbedded into the ground due to the stones weight. What caused the smile, however, was not the forearm with remnants of skin and clothing, but the cylindrical weapon that was still grasped in the remains of the hand. Using the Force, he wrenched the weapon from the hand and floated it in the air so he could get a good look at it. The outer metal had likely once been very polished but had developed a distinct patina to it from being in the ground for so long. It appeared to be in good condition and anxiousness overrode caution as he pulled the lightsaber into his hand and tried the switch.

Nothing happened.

'Damn, I got all excited too.' Thought Naruto as he held the weapon and found it far lighter than he had imagined it would be. Though he had seen Plagueis' weapon activate, his Master would not let him hold the lightsaber. Seeing the damaged area in the ground and to the stone, he realized that it had been left on after the arm was severed and likely the battery had run out. He was however very curious about finding the arm and weapon. HK had just informed him of the sensor information from the station. Apparently Bane was not alone on his journey and had some unexpected company. 'The fight ended right at the entrance to the temple.' Naruto realized as he looked to the arm of what had likely been Bane's opponent.

'Where's the rest of him?' Naruto wondered as he looked around, thinking that the arm had been severed. Looking back to the damage to the building, he began to rethink how the battle had played out in his mind and started to believe that perhaps the man had been part of the explosion. 'Then maybe I won't find the rest of him.'

"Found another one." Yelled one of the clones as it ran towards Naruto from the opposite side of the ramp with an identically shaped weapon. Holding onto one, and looking at the other, it was very evident from the juxtaposition that hundreds of years near salt water had not been as kind to the one weapon while the other had spent the time hidden beneath stone and far safer from the elements of the tropical world. The outer casing of the second lightsaber was completely rusted through on one side and Naruto wondered about how the internal components had faired.

Quickly looking towards the Temple, Naruto was alerted through his connection with his clones inside that they had also found many damaged droids, some of which appeared to be partially fixed by the unique Rakatan self-repairing technology. 'Take them.' Said the original as he handed the lightsaber over to one of his clones so it could be transported to the ship. Two of his other clones had found a device on the summit of the building but it didn't appear to be operational and the turbolift door was also locked.

'That could be the controls for the disruptor field.' He thought and decided to enter the building himself in order to try and determine if there was power heading to those systems and if he could access any other systems in the building. HK was already inside and he would need the droid in order to translate whatever he found.

x-x

Moving through the sublevel of the Temple, Naruto found that numerous lights were still working and they provided enough illumination for him to get by in the dark hallways. Turning a corner, he found HK waiting and he then focused to find the location of the clone that had contacted him. Finding the clone, Naruto led the droid down one of the hallways and made a left, moving a short distance and finding another one of the strange doors.

Most of the doors he was used to were completely solid and opened vertically or horizontally. The Rakatan apparently preferred individual segments of door that each opened vertically from the center and not all at once, with a slight delay on each to make it unique. The control panels were also situated on the door at the center segment. Stepping through the door into a good sized room, Naruto looked to his clone, who was sitting on a small ledge on the wall.

"Is the door locked?" He questioned to the clone, motioning to the door on the far side of the room, opposite the one he and HK had just walked through. The room was the last item that had been discovered; his clones having explored everything else and even used jutsu to move through the walls and make sure there were no other secrets. Aside from the computer or console on the summit, the room was the last mystery.

"It won't budge." Said the clone and Naruto looked to the strange tiles on the floor. Nine were arranged together in three rows of three, with a tenth tile attached to the side closest to where Naruto was standing. Some of the tiles were colored red while others were white.

"I think it's some kind of floor puzzle." The clone informed him as it stepped forward onto one of the tiles and changed it's color. Inhaling and exhaling to calm himself down, Naruto asked, "And you've been messing with it?" The clone shrugged in response and wouldn't meet his eyes which made Naruto want to punch it.

Looking to floor tiles and then looking to the door, Naruto did the obvious thing, he reached for his sword and walked around the floor tiles. Stopping in front of the door, he stabbed forward at the door, intent on cutting his way through but found resistance. The blade struck but made no sound and was partially deflected, but the strong stab still resulting in a hard jarring motion to Naruto's arm. Flexing the elbow of the now sore arm, Naruto switched hands with the sword and tapped the door with the blade. The metal of his sword made no sound on the metal of the door and looking closer, Naruto discovered why.

Refraining from turning around, he asked the clone, "When you mentioned that the door wouldn't budge, did you actually mean that you couldn't touch the control panel because of some kind of force field that stopped you?"

"I guess you have to solve the puzzle first." Explained the clone and Naruto replied not to the clone but to all the occupants of the room with, "Shoot him." A quick flash from a single blaster fire told Naruto of the impending rush of memories from the deceased clone. After viewing everything that the clone had done and seen, Naruto mumbled, "I don't like puzzles."

Walking away from the door, Naruto moved to the wall adjacent to the door and again tapped his sword against it. The weapon made no sound on the carved rock wall and Naruto proceeded to go to the opposite side where he received the same result. Turning to HK, who was still holding the weapon that killed his clone, Naruto said, "I'll be right back," and he quickly sheathed his sword while making some handseals and started sinking into the ground.

Less than a minute passed before a hand appeared out of the ground directly beneath HK and grabbed the droid's leg. Channeling earth nature chakra through the metal of the assassin droid's armor plating, HK was soon sinking into the rock floor as Naruto pulled him in.

x-x

Coming out of the floor, HK surveyed the room as he was taller than Naruto and his head came out first. Naruto soon followed and he too looked around the dark room. It was larger than the room outside with four pillars that surrounded a central, slightly raised platform on which sat a single large piece of technology that resembled the control panel on the summit that his clones had seen.

Making sure that nothing else was in the room and knowing that HK seemed as clueless as he was about the device, Naruto stepped forward and stood in front of the machine. Looking over it's various panels, it appeared to have touch screens but the language was not anything that he recognized. Before he could look back and have HK come and help, a masculine voice emanated from the device and spoke in a language that he did not recognize. Stopping himself from taking a step back, Naruto was about to ask HK when the droid interrupted him.

"Translation: Welcome."

A moment of silence passed as Naruto got over his surprise and tried to think of what to respond with or say, "What are you?" He simply asked and hoped that the voice was not just some kind of recording. This was confirmed when it responded back with a much longer sentence.

"Translation: I am a completely self-sufficient, autonomous, interactive database constructed by the Rakata to record and store the entire history of the species."

Naruto raised his eyebrows at the explanation and he started to smile as his hopes for the device started improving greatly. Before he could say anything else, the voice sounded again and he waited for it to finish and for the translation by HK.

"Translation: Normally those worthy would have to solve the puzzle outside, however I may be willing to make an exception. By what method did you use to get into this room?"

"I used a technique that allows me to move easily through solid rock." Naruto elaborated and he hoped that the computer was interested and made the exception.

"Translation: Most interesting. I have not recorded anything similar since my creation. My sensory input systems tell me that your composition is slightly different than the humans that the builders enslaved. Your unique appearance in this room and compositional differences have now been added to my database."

Waiting a moment to see if the computer would ask anything else, Naruto considered all that he wanted to ask and started with, "Then, am I allowed to access your database?"

"Translation: Yes. Since the collapse of the Infinite Empire, there have been few events worth recording and no one has sought to access any significant portions of my database."

Pushing aside his other questions, Naruto deciding to first to ask something that had been plaguing him since the computer started speaking to him, "Has anyone else been here to access your database in the last thousand years?"

"Translation: Yes. One other came here and dissimilar to you, he solved the puzzle and was allowed access. This individual sought knowledge on artifacts hidden in the temple but I was unable to help because of the language barrier between us. Unlike your droid, he could not understand Rakatan and soon left."

Ignoring the bit about the puzzle, Naruto thought, 'So Darth Bane was here but he ignored the device. I guess I'm lucky he didn't destroy it after not being able to communicate.' "Are you fully functional?" Naruto quickly asked as a followup to his thoughts on Darth Bane's encountered with the device.

"Translation: My system is operating at peak efficiency and due to my ability to monitor and repair myself, you will find the information in my archives is fully intact. Please choose the topic that you wish information on."

'This is it.' Naruto thought as something he had wanted for a long time was possibly about to come to fruition. A part of him never thought he would have such a chance or find such a computer. He hoped but always remained firmly set in reality which told him that he wouldn't be able to get the information that he was really after. 'The feeling of leaving Ibonihs may actually pale in comparison to confirmation of my next few questions.' Naruto thought before asking something general and moving towards what he specifically wanted. "You mentioned that you contain the recorded history of the Rakatan. I am very interested in their great technological achievements. Do you have detailed information on these achievements?" Naruto waited on baited breath for the computer to finish answering and for HK to translate into Basic.

"Translation: I have detailed information on all of the Builders technology and achievements. Recordings from across the former Infinite Empire have all made their way into my system. Which specific topic would you like to know about?"

A feeling of great success and victory soon rushed over Naruto and he quickly answered, "The Star Forge, " but he also added, "I want to know if you have detailed plans for the Star Forge." Rather than answer, Naruto watched as a small device emerged from one area of the curved computer console. The device was actually something he recognized, only much smaller. The holoprojector opened like the Star Map and projected a colored image of what must have been the Star Forge. The projection had various detailed information in what Naruto assumed was Rakatan. Next to the main picture of the factory was a smaller image that kept changing multiple times a second and Naruto realized after a few moments that it was displaying details of every system on the space station.

'Like all Rakatan engineering, it's a melding or fusion of extremely advanced technology and dark-side energies. If the formerly enslaved species of the galaxy were able to figure out how to modify the Rakatan hyperdrive system to run off other power sources instead of the Force, then it should be possible to do the same for the Star Forge. The modified hyperdrive was able to visit any planet instead of just the ones strong in the Force and a similarly modified Star Forge should provide all the benefits and abilities of the original, with none of the downsides.' Naruto thought as he continued to stare, enraptured at the holoprojection.

'I want more.' Naruto suddenly thought and decided to ask another question, "You mentioned earlier that you are a self-sufficient and autonomous, does this mean that with a little hard work, I could remove you from this Temple?"

"Translation: This would indeed be possible but for what purpose would you do this? I was created to be placed on this very spot inside this temple."

Naruto took a moment to gather his thoughts and come up with the most logical statement or at least one that would coerce the machine into willingly coming with him, "I didn't expect to find such a computer on this planet. I thought perhaps that it would be a wasted trip but now I find myself in a conundrum. Lehon is very far away from where I am currently living and I have so many questions concerning the Builders. I want to know everything about them and their technology. Though old, it is far from obsolete. I want to learn about their medicine, Force techniques, weapons, ships, space stations, and everything that I can. The best solution that I can see, is to not keep coming back here whenever I have another question but to take you with me."

Naruto waited a moment for an answer, one that he hoped would be in his favor, "Translation: I have recorded your statement in my archive and am ready to leave whenever you are."

Creating as many clones as he could to help lift the computer, Naruto went to the door and activated the console which opened it so they could leave. As he stepped through the once barred door, he looked to the floor tiles. 'Solve the floor puzzle first,' he childishly mocked at the no longer present clone and proceeded towards the exit with a very large and genuine smile on his face.

x-x

Heading back through hyperspace towards Ibonihs was much easier than it was the first time. Knowing about the asteroid field and following the same course allowed Naruto a bit more time to sleep, though he had difficulty given how anxious and excited he had become over their new guest. The Rakatan Computer was going to placed on his level of the Castle and he decided not to tell Plagueis about his detour or discovery. There was much work ahead if he wanted to redesign the Star Forge and it would likely take decades to come to completion but he was willing to put in the time and effort.

'T'm going to be rather late getting back to Naboo.' Naruto realized as by the time he was back, it would have been about eighteen days that he was gone. That exceeded what he told Plagueis and Tayuya by four whole days. Though he was reluctant, there was one thing that he could do, 'We are in need of more storage scrolls. I need parchment.'

Bringing back fresh scrolls would eliminate unneeded questions concerning the extra days. Not thrilled with sneaking back onto Ibonihs, he decided to do it since it was on the way. While closing his eyes and trying to concentrate on his astrogation, Naruto found his thoughts traveling back to Sarafur and to what the junkyard owner Rath had asked him. It was something that he had thought several times during the long jouney.

When leaving Ibonihs for Sarafur, he had never stopped to think about the escape pods that had been jettisoned years before his discovery of the ship. Someone had been alive to use the pods and he still had the ships logs that had been saved to Deefour. So he knew when and where the pods had been launched and since most pods had only a very limited hyperdrive system or no hyperdive, he could narrow down the location rather easily.

'As long as they aren't completely crazy from spending almost sixteen years on an uncharted planet. Why not?' He thought and started looking through the ships old logs that he had on a datachip.

x-x

Unnamed Planet

Unknown Region

x-x

Hearing a slightly familiar sound, a bearded man walked to the door of his shelter. He was wearing tattered pants with an old belt where he kept his knife. Before thinking about venturing out, he took hold of the spear that he kept by the side of the door. He'd survived living in complete isolation on an unknown planet and knew that his mind would sometimes play tricks on him. More than once had he thought he heard the sound of a ship and it had nearly cost him his life when he ran to some of the native fauna. Cautiously coming out of his makeshift shelter, that included a crashed escape pod, the former starship captain named Doro made sure that nothing was around before he turned his eyes towards the sky.

Though he saw nothing at first, a metal ship soon started moving across the sky to the south of him. He could tell that it was flying at medium altitude, just below cloud level and he stared in disbelief for a few moments before cursing at his stupor and running back into the shelter. Fumbling with the emergency beacon, he connected the power to it from his single solar panel and impatiently waited for it to start up.

"Come on! Work you son of a bitch!" He yelled in frustration at the device and turned to find something else that would help. Tossing aside trinkets that he had collected over his more than decade stay on the planet, he finally found the flare gun. Running out of his shelter and then remembering to check to see if the gun was loaded, he aimed in front of the ship and fired the lone emergency device. Seconds passed by which felt like an eternity as he waited desperately for the bright flare to be noticed or for the beacon to turn on.

When the ship began to slow down and start turning in his direction, he collapsed to knees and wept.

x-x

End

OMAKE 1: ARRIVING AT THE ESTATE

Standing on the hangar, and looking up at the estate, the group all strained their necks to look up at the structure that was apparently going to be their new home. The collective response was to stand with mouths slightly open, that is, until Karin broke the silence.

"I'M A FREAKIN PRINCESS AND THIS IS MY CASTLE!" She screamed before running off toward the building to find a door, cackling along the way. It that wasn't strange enough, it seemed that one member of the group was not even looking at the estate with the same look as all the others had adopted.

"A LAKE!" Suigetsu yelled with reverence before running straight off the landing pad and flopping into the lake as if he was trying to hug the body of water.

"Suigetsu calls dibs on the lake." Said Gozu and a few people had a good laugh before Tayuya started walking towards the building. "Are you a princess too?" Questioned Meizu to the other redhead of the group. Though at the moment she was loathe to admit that she and Karin were friends because of that outburst, Tayuya quickly responded, "Fuck you halfwits. I'm going to claim the biggest room."

Thinking over what she had said, the rest of the group looked to the castle before then looking back at each other. Even Suigetsu had jumped up to the ledge of the landing pad after hearing the remark. A moment of shifty eyes, darting back and forth between each member, began before some unknown trigger caused the mass rush to the building. The Demon Brothers were in the lead behind Tayuya until they started shoving each other and ended up tripping on each others legs. Juugo was next in line before a weight landed on his shoulder and Naruto pushed off him, gaining the lead and throwing the orange-haired teen off balance. Snakes however soon wrapped around Naruto's legs and caused him to stumble. A chuckling Kabuto took the lead until he heard a poof of smoke behind him and realized that Naruto had been a shadow clone.

Movement caught his attention out of the corner of his eyes as he spotted the vague outline of a figure but he was unable to block the oncoming punch that caught him in the kidney and caused him to trip. Removing the Toton Jutsu, Naruto took the lead again and could feel Suigetsu running beneath him on the underside of the landing pad. Tayuya was well ahead of the group and he realized that Karin was already inside the building, 'They planned this.' He correctly guessed and cursed before he felt Suigetsu make his move.

Running over to the edge and then along the side, Suigetsu moved to the top of the landing pad and was intent on smacking Naruto with the flat side of his blade. Before he got the chance an open-palmed hand was shoved in his direction and his body forced completely off the pad.

"Fuck your invisible powers." Yelled the white-haired teen before splashing into the water below.

Making it to the door that was near the landing pad, Naruto turned the corner and nearly ran into the closed door. Pounding on the door, he could feel Tayuya on the other side, making sure that none of them managed to get in.

"Bitch, it's my estate!" he yelled at the door so she could hear him and Tayuya laughed before responding, "Fuck you, short and spikey." Pushing herself against the doors, she knew that it wouldn't take long for others to arrive so she yelled up into the open building, "Karin, hurry and find the best rooms. I'll hold them off like we planned."

Laughing maniacally while running up the stairs, Karin thought, 'Complete fools, as if I was that unbalanced. The best rooms are ours.'

As the others that he had foiled started to near the door, Naruto knew of another way in and Force jumped to the side of the building, proceeding to run up the outer wall and towards any open window that he could find.

Still standing next to the ship, Plagueis watched the circus performance and looked to the two Twi'leks that hadn't moved an inch since the impromptu race started. 'You two have no idea what you've gotten yourselves into.' He said directly into their heads and started walking towards the castle. He had to admit that the word 'castle' was quite fitting for the building. It didn't matter what the others thought or who won the race. He would get whatever room he desired, one way or another.

Ann and Tann were still looking at the spectacle before one said to the other, "That one is running up the side of the building, and now there's four of him fighting the others off." Her sister soon responded, "Juugo just started following him up and snakes are coming out of that one's arms."