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.

32. Chapter 32

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

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35 BBY – Current Year

Chapter XXXII

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AN: Took much longer than I thought, hopefully it is worth the wait and I didn't waste time on nearly 30 pages of a boring fight scene

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Sizing each other up, neither Naruto made the first move. 'What the hell has that idiot Kabuto been doing?' wondered Naruto as he examined his Clone and tried to understand what he was dealing with. Looking over the vest and weapons, he first considered that the Clone was wearing a henge but stopped as he realized that if his Clone had any of his memories, then it would be able to get into Forty-Two and unseal any items it wanted from the storage scrolls inside.

'That's not my usual black vest, it's my tokubetsu jonin vest and that means that the sword he has on his back is my old sword that I disguised as the one that I created. I can't glean anything from his mind...he knows how to block me out which means he has at least some training in Force techniques. Well, at least I have some idea what I'm dealing with,' he quickly gathered but there were still things he didn't know. Did the clone have his full memories and what about muscle memory. Having memories of fighting wasn't the same as actually fighting those battles.

The first movement was made by the Clone and Naruto watched, tensed and ready to respond as the Clone reached into one of his ninja pouches and pulled out a weapon. Surprise was evident on Naruto's face as he recognized the weapon as a lightsaber but one that he had never seen before. 'He had time to construct a lightsaber?' he questioned and though his mind soon turned to the fact that the cylindrical weapon still required one last component, he quickly remembered that he had brought the two purple crystals that he had recovered from Lehon.

Naruto watched as the Clone pushed a button on the weapon and a turquoise blade ignited from the end. 'He had time to not only make a lightsaber but tune the crystal for his use,' Naruto quickly realized and then wondered, 'How much preparation did he have while I was in the cave system?' Resisting the urge to look around his immediate area, a sudden sense of foreboding filled him as he contemplated how he would use the single exit to the cave to his advantage and place traps.

'Shit,' Naruto mentally cursed and in response to the Clone, he pulled his own lightsaber and ignited the crimson blade. 'If I move, I might set off a trap but he could use that and launch a powerful jutsu and make me move,' he contemplated and the tension escalated considerably as the two continued to stare each other down. The clouds above rumbled and as the rain began to fall, Naruto had enough of waiting.

With a powerful swing, he hurled his lightsaber at his opponent and it spun through the air. As it spun through the air and the Clone went to block or use the Force to stop it, Naruto sped through a few handseals and when he quickly touched his hands to the ground, the cave entrance broke apart beneath the Clone's feet. As the Clone fell with the rock, Naruto recalled his lightsaber, catching it as he watched the mirror image of himself be buried under the rubble.

'That should buy me...' but Naruto didn't even have a chance to finish his thought as he heard and felt someone come out the ground behind him. Jumping through the air, he avoided the lightsaber that cut through the air where his legs had been and tossed an explosive tagged kunai behind him for good measure and to prevent a quick counter attack before he landed.

As soon as his feet touched the ground, Naruto experienced a feeling of weightlessness as the thin layer of ground gave way beneath this feet and he found himself falling into a square hole. Grabbing his weapon with both hands, Naruto thrust it into the smooth rock wall but it cut into the rock with ease and provided little friction or slowed down his fall as much as his sword would have. It did however allow him to get some leverage and move himself to get both feet onto the wall in order to stick and stop his fall.

Looking to see how close he had come to being skewered on the spikes at the bottom of the pit, Naruto was surprised, 'No spikes,' he quickly realized and before he had a chance to wonder why the Clone had deviated, he heard the sparking of several explosive tags on the walls just above his position.

Cursing, he pushed off one wall, quickly touched the other side and Force jumped out the pit. The explosion followed close behind him and in the split second he had to examine where he was going to land, he noted something was wrong.

Sinking in ten inches into the swamp he had landed in, Naruto tried to remove himself but was stuck up to nearly his knees by that point. As the ground solidified and trapped his legs, he could feel the clone standing directly behind him a good distance and knew that an imminent long ranged jutsu was about to fired. 'I also can't see the handseals,' he realized and tossing his lightsaber into the air above him, Naruto went through several handseals of his own as he felt an attack coming from behind him.

A square area around him quickly raised up out of the ground and took him with it. As soon as he was about four meters in the air, he felt the pillar get hit by a jutsu and an increase in temperature told him which nature it was. As the pillar cracked and was destroyed by the explosive fireballs, the area around his feat cracked and he blew the rock apart with a Force push before fetching his twirling lightsaber.

Throwing a kinitite at the ground he was landing at, in order to prevent any further surprises, Naruto landed in the crater and quickly pivoted to block an incoming lightsaber strike. Glaring blue eyes stared into determined blue ones as the two tried to overpower each other before backing off and then beginning a lightsaber battle of turquoise and crimson. Swings and strikes were all blocked, parried or dodged as the two used different forms in order to try and gain the upper hand.

The humming of the blades, the hiss of the contact between the two, and the sizzle of the rain on the plasma weapons was ignored as both focused on their stances and trying to create an opening in the others guard. 'He's using Form IV, something that I've rarely used but it's proving to be effective for him,' thought Naruto as he switched from a defensive form to a more aggressive in order to keep his Clone from gaining ground or an opening.

'He has all of my muscle memory,' Naruto soon realized as they continued the unrelenting exchange and as neither could make any headway, the battle soon devolved. Form and finesse were tossed aside in favor of brute strength and speed as the pace of the battle increased, with each strike being a devastating blow and meant to simply smash through the opponents guard instead of trying to get around it.

'I'm close enough now,' thought Naruto as he had been subtlety moving the fight towards the broken pieces of pillar after realizing that the fight would come down to whoever made the first mistake and therefore he had no distinct advantage. Backing off to a more defensive Form III and changing to a single hand on his lightsaber, Naruto made use of his now free hand. In a display to urge the clone to attack, he disguised the motions of his hand as being no more than a taunt while he actually lifted a few of the nearby rock chunks.

As his Clone charged in to strike, he pulled the rocks towards them from outsides of it's range of vision but the Clone was still aware of it's surroundings and dodged the rocks. Before Naruto could make an effective counter attack, the Clone jumped to the side, avoiding the rock. Not done yet, the Clone quickly Force Pushed a few of the rocks, giving them greater speed and sending them right at Naruto.

Ducking under two, Naruto made a heavy swing at the third of the large rocks, cutting it in half and sending both molten-sided pieces in two different directions away from him. The action opened himself up for an attack, which the Clone capitalized on and Naruto was barely able to bring his lightsaber back up to connect and block the strike.

Pushing against each other in a bid for dominance, Naruto found himself being pushed back by the Clone and his feet struggled to hold their position on the wet, muddy ground. Even the chakra he was channeling into them only prolonged the inevitable. Pivoting and redirecting the blades, the strike was deflected and Naruto struck back with several strong blows before spinning and attempting a low sweep with the lightsaber. Each strike was blocked and the last attack forced the clone to jump.

Quickly utilizing a Force push, Naruto hit the Clone directly and created distance between the two but did little physical damage to his adversary. A quick standstill ensued before both decided not to continue the lightsaber combat and switch to something else while putting the lightsaber handles in their mouths.

'Earth or water?' Naruto quickly thought as his mind raced to decide which his Clone might be using against him. The muddy terrain and rain provided good natural sources for both sets of jutsu with Earth jutsu typically having an advantage over Water jutsu. Beginning handseals at the same moment, both the original and the clone formed a long series before both ending on the bird seal.

As twin vortexes of water coalesced in front of each combatant, both cursed at the fact that they had created the same jutsu. 'Mine is bigger but his is forming faster,' Naruto realized and he pushed a bit more chakra into the jutsu to help combat the swifter vortex of water his opponent was forming. As water finished pulling from the ground and atmosphere, the vortexes exploded towards each other and struck closer to Naruto.

As the thunderous sound from the two attacks impacting, the water from both attacks could not go forwards and so it went in every other direction. Both combatants saw this and quickly moved through new seals for an earthen wall in order to protect themselves from the rebounding water. The surging water reached Naruto just as the rock wall sprung up and it shuddered under the force of the deluge that they had created. Water just over-topped the wall and Naruto was thoroughly soaked by the short-lived waterfall. The water was enough to extinguish his lit blade and he paid it little attention as he focused on the fight.

'Wait for it,' thought Naruto as he estimated the right time in order to run around his wall and over the deluge of water in order to attack the clone. He knew that they were both thinking of it and sprinted around the wall as soon as the wave had partially subsided. The amount of water from both attacks was enough to fill the depression where the cave was located and in addition to the rebounding waves, a large amount of water had gone up in the air and was just starting to come down in heavy sheets of rain. The water would provide cover for both combatants as they moved towards the center of where the attacks met.

They could feel each others life-signs but igniting the blades would inform the opponent as to where the strike would be aimed so both kept the lightsabers off until the last moment. Pushing through the sheets of water and running on top of the still moving waves, Naruto could not see his opponent and knew that by the time they both reached the center, a single attack may conclude their fight.

'Where should I strike? At the arms, legs, torso, or perhaps even the head?' he considered and feeling the clone just up ahead, he decided at random and pushed forward. Ignoring the fact that he was completely soaked, Naruto prepared his lightsaber for a powerful swing at his opponent's midsection. With heart pounding in his chest, he emerged through a sheet of water at the epicenter of the attack at the exact moment that his Clone did the same. There was not enough time to properly adjust or change tactics based upon what the other had chosen but just enough time to slow in order to not collide head-on with each other.

As he swung, Naruto looked at his Clone and realized too late that it was swinging downward. Unable to dodge and with the Clone unable to jump or duck, they both realized that their swings would end up being killing blows. Whether through stubbornness, self preservation or determination to win, neither combatant thought about not igniting their blade.

As the swings carried through and they both activated the blades, a moment of fear emerged as each recognized that they may not survive the exchange. The powerful swings continued in a long arc but produced only a long arc of water that trailed off the lightsaber cylinders and their soaked hands. It took less than a second for confusion to set in as they became unbalanced from the empty swings and each realized that neither blade had ignited. Looking into the eyes of the other, wide with surprise at the fact that they were both still alive, the same thought went through the minds of both the original and the clone, 'They shorted out because of the water.'

As the swings finished, both Naruto's removed the surprise from their faces and in an instant they were moving to unsheathe their swords with their free hands and putting the lightsabers away with the other. Regaining their balance, the swords were swung and connected, one humming with power from vibration technology and the other vibrating with lightning nature chakra flowing along the blade. The shorter blades allowed for a closer fight and after continuous swings and blocks, the fight soon included strikes from fists, legs and elbows as each tried once again to gain an advantage over the other.

Recovering from a punch to the cheek, Naruto moved for a lower strike and opened his opponent up for him an elbow given in recompense to the Clones ribs. The water beneath them still undulated from the remnant of the earlier attacks and they moved closer to the mud wall that Naruto had created. Jumping back from his Clone, Naruto threw a Kinetite right before landing and sticking vertically on his mud wall. Even if the constrained kinetic energy missed the target, it would still push his clone off balance and cause havoc on the waters surface which the clone was standing on, either of which would create an opening that he could use to his advantage.

Realizing the danger, the Clone used the only option available and dropped it's sword, using both hands to Force Push the attack in the hopes of deflecting the kinetic energy. The defense however worked better than either Naruto expected as instead of just diverting the attack, the Clone's push caused the Kinetite to completely reverse directions and head for the area of wall Naruto was on. Realizing the danger and shocked at the success of his Clone, Naruto lept off the mud wall an instant before his own attack struck it.

Rock exploded from the wall as a good portion of the middle was destroyed, sending large chunks of debris into another area of the ninjutsu-created lake. No sooner than Naruto had landed back on the water, than he saw his Clone having just sheathed the discarded sword and making more handseals. He just caught the last seal, which was the Dragon seal but that told him nothing about what jutsu it could be as no particular nature transformation was always associated with ending on that seal.

Prepared to jump, Naruto watched as the Clone touched both hands to the ground and lightning chakra began rapidly spreading away from it, through the water. As soon as he saw the emergence of the lightning, Naruto jumped away from the attack and began preparing something of his own. The Clone, however, had anticipated this and altered the shape of the jutsu, causing the lightning to dance across the surface in tall, sustained vertical bolts.

Surprised by the change, Naruto stopped his handseals but didn't get a chance to maneuver himself in the air as one of the bolts touched his left foot and he grit his teeth as electricity coursed through his body, made worse by the fact that he was soaking wet. The contact was brief but enough to put him at a disadvantage.

Landing on his hands and one leg in a crouched position, Naruto refrained from taking his eyes off his Clone in order to examine the numbness he was feeling from his mid-thigh to foot. He could stand up on it as he experimented with shifting his weight to it but running or even walking was out of the question for at least a minute or more until it regained feeling and responsiveness.

Switching with a clone was useless as there was no where to hide on or in the water because the Clone could injure him and flush him out with the application of Lightning jutsu, 'So I'll just have to keep fighting back until I regain use of my leg,' thought Naruto as he put away his sword and quickly went through handseals.

As the Clone finished another ranged lightning jutsu, Naruto finished a wind jutsu and pushed wind infused chakra out of his mouth in conjunction with a short jump with his good leg, propelling him away from the lightning attack farther and faster than he could currently jump or dodge. With the jutsu dodged, Naruto prepared his next attack while in the air and came down to the waters surface hard, but kept his balance and stuck the landing on his right foot alone.

With handseals finished, Naruto purposefully didn't say the jutsu's name but watched as water clones sprang up in close proximity to his Clone, forcing the doppelganger to deal with them. The throwaway water clones were not meant to injure the Clone but merely to buy more time and keep the opponent stationary. Going through handseals for a more complicated and powerful jutsu, Naruto said, "Wind Release: Vacuum Spheres."

The volley of small, cylindrical bullets of wind chakra cut through the air and even a few of the still remaining water clones were hit as he targeted his adversary. The Clone dodged and weaved through the attacks but was still grazed twice, once on the leg and once on the arm. As Naruto prepared another jutsu, the Clone began handseals that ended with the Tiger seal and Naruto realized too late that his jutsu would be overpowered.

Spitting out a stream of wind that was meant to cut down his adversary, Naruto cut the jutsu short as his Clone spit out a large fireball that consumed the wind chakra and became much larger. Stopping the chakra going to his feet, Naruto fell backwards into the shallow water while starting a new set of handseals. Sticking to the ground below and completely submerged, he was safe as the powerful orange glow from the fireball illuminated the murky water around him. He could feel the water heat up but ignored it in favor of his next jutsu.

Finishing his handseals, he could feel his Clone dodging as a water dragon sprang up from the shallow lake and began attacking. When the flames had cleared, he sat up to get a better look as the Clone used it's own previously made mud wall to protect itself from the dragon. The water dragon impacted on the hardened mud and though the impact made it shake slightly, it held against the jutsu. Jumping up from the water and moving towards the wall, Naruto made sure that the Clone was still behind it as he finished another set of handseals, ending on the handseal for dog.

"Wind Release: Vacuum Serial Waves," said Naruto before deeply inhaling and then shooting out various waves of wind at different areas of the mud wall. Feeling his Clone moving to dodge the waves, he correctly guessed that it would move up to the top but he was already prepared for that. Forming another Kinetite in his hand, Naruto tossed it at the upper portion of the wall and watched as the constrained kinetic energy ball struck the lacerated wall and sent it all toppling over in various large pieces.

Feeling that his Clone had been caught in the debris, Naruto limped over to the remnants of the wall, which stood less than ten feet above the top of the waters surface and jumped to the top in order to see over it. Looking over the field of broken mud wall, Naruto could feel his Clone and then spotted the body about twenty meters away and trapped by the rubble.

'Unconscious?' Naruto thought as he looked over the body and wondered if he would have been caught and knocked unconscious by such an attack. Taking out a kunai and charging it with wind chakra, he began the motion to throw it when he was instantly aware of impending danger. Spinning on his good leg, he tossed the kunai at his opponent, who was still in the process of emerging from the mud wall via an earth jutsu.

Right before the kunai pierced Clone's head, Naruto noted the chakra glowing hand and briefly wondered if it had been trying to drain his chakra. Before he could do anything else, the head of the Clone as well as it's body began melting into the mud that it had been formed from and Naruto realized that he had been tricked.

Turning back to the trapped Clone, he found it in the process of hurling several of the large piece of mud wall debris that it had seemingly been stuck under. Cursing, Naruto jumped to another area of the debris field as the boulder hit where he had been and broke into a few pieces from the heavy impact. Before he could respond with any attack, the hardened wall underneath his feet turned back into viscous mud and he slipped, carried by the mud flow closer to his Clone's position.

Landing haphazardly in the watery mud, Naruto looked to find his Clone had already closed the distance and he pulled his sword in response but wasn't worried. His sword had been used quite a bit and had already built up a charge. As the Clone closed in, Naruto moved his sword to block but Force Lightning began sparking from it and a bolt sprang off the blade and collided with his Clone.

The Force created lightning was powerful enough to not only electrocute his opponent, but send the Clone flying backward. Putting the handle in his teeth, Naruto began making handseals, ending on the rat seal and said, "Earth Release: Bedrock Coffin,' right before sections of rock began springing up around his downed Clone and moving inward to crush him.

Despite the Clone's application of Force jump to escape being crushed, Naruto wasn't finished and with more handseals, he began forming numerous spikes out of the rocks where the Clone was landing. Lightning quickly sprang to life on the Clone's sword and it swung in a low spinning arc. The lightning nature chakra elongating from the blade with shape transformation and took out most of the spikes before they managed to impale him. Jumping away, the Clone also put the handle blade in it's mouth and went through handseals of his own.

In front of Naruto, a large rock dragon sprang to life and he watched in surprise as it reared and charged him. The dragon caught him in it's mouth and then slammed him into the remaining bottom portion of the mud wall. Emerging from rock about twenty meters away, the real Naruto watched the dragon attack his shadow clone and quickly went through handseals, 'He won't expect something that I've never used or performed before,' he thought and completed the jutsu just before the Clone realized that he had escaped the rock dragon.

Spitting several mud balls high into the air, Naruto made sure they weren't seen before he exiting his spot in the broken piece of mud wall, announcing his presence to the Clone. The doppelganger quickly turned to see that his technique and failed and wondered if the jutsu battle would continue or they would return to using swords.

While Naruto was distracting his Clone, the small balls of mud went up in a tall arc and once they had come to the apex of the parabola and lost their upward velocity, he finished the jutsu with a single handseal. Through the Force, he could feel the confusion coming from the Clone at his actions and he waited for gravity to work as the small mud balls expanded into very large and heavy mud boulders.

As they headed straight for the Clones location Naruto tried to keep his thoughts about the new application for the mud wall jutsu hidden as the Clone might glean something if he kept them at the forefront of his mind. It was at that moment that Naruto realized, 'I've finally got feeling back,' as he moved his toes and heel and he charged the Clone, brandishing his sword.

As the Clone removed the sword from it's mouth, ready to meet the challenge head on, it finally realized that several shadows were forming and growing larger. They were also entirely centered around it's current location. Recognizing the danger, it ran in another direction, sprinting and jumping across the debris as boulders rained down around him.

While boulders smashed the mud wall debris and sending water into the air, the Clone fled to an area of safety and no sooner than he had gotten out of the raining boulders than he was forced to block a strike from Naruto's sword but was unprepared for an accompanying punch that sent him stumbling backwards onto the waters surface.

Reaching out with the Force, Naruto grabbed his Clone with Force Grip and prevented it from moving while he began walking forward with his sword raised. As the Clone struggled against his technique, their eyes met for a brief moment and Naruto found himself stuck before he could make his follow-through with the his sword.

Confused, Naruto knew that it wasn't killing intent being used against him, 'Genjutsu binding or temporary paralysis technique? How did he pull that off?' he questioned as he pieced together the technique that his Clone must be using. His own chakra control wasn't good enough to make proper use of either technique.

The Clone refused to break eye contact or allow him to move and Naruto refused to let up on his Force Grip, despite not even being able to move his fingers or hand when he tried. Stuck in a standstill and both being unable to move, their minds raced as they tried to come up with a way to break the others concentration. Trying mental attacks against the other, neither Clone nor Original could get past the opposites defenses and neither was able to properly speak with their mouths or with telepathy through the mental defenses they had enacted.

Out of his peripheral vision, Naruto could see his Clone trying to move two fingers and he quickly realized that his carbon copy was trying to make half a hand seal. Attempting to stop the Clone, he tried to squeeze his opponent harder without tightening his fist and prevent the seal from completing. With great effort, the Clone managed to get two finger stretching out to form a half seal for the tiger.

It didn't take long for Naruto to figure out the seals effect as despite not being able to turn his head or look away from his Clone's eyes, he could easily hear the muted explosions happening close by. 'We must be near the collapsed entrance to the cave and he's setting off all the traps that he didn't use at the beginning of the fight,' Naruto gathered and he had no idea where they were planted or how close he was to one of the traps.

'The traps must not have been effected by the water and thus the explosive tags can still go off,' he thought as the waters surface beneath them rippled from the muted explosions. One finally went off within Naruto's range of vision and he viewed a geyser of water go up into the air just ten or so meters away. The next explosion was even closer and he nearly lost his concentration on the Force technique that he was holding.

Though in the moment before the explosion, as an area of water bulged between them and they realized what was happening, neither was willing to let go of their technique and both were forced to watch. Exploding upward, a column of water and concussive force pushed both Clone and Original back and broke the techniques as well as their concentration. Deciding what to try next, Naruto believed that his strategy should focus more on a simpler goal, believing that the fight would be more prolonged than he initially thought, 'Right now I'll try and break his sword. That's a significant difference between us. We have the same techniques and nearly the same style of fighting but his weapon itself is weaker,' he surmised while recovering from the explosion and planting his feet firmly on the water's surface with chakra.

He had yet to infuse his sword with chakra as the vibrating blade had been enough to combat his Clone's lightning enhanced blade, 'Even wind nature chakra may not be enough, despite it's advantage over lightning nature. I'll go for something a little different,' he planned and Force Lightning flared up on his sword, a leftover from earlier and sparking from the blade.

No sooner had the column of water come down than both blonde haired teens were again face to face, though Naruto refrained from looking into his Clone's eyes. At seemingly the same moment, they charged each other again, and the sword battle continued from before. A flurry of stabs and swings were sent at each other, the blades striking with a clang or being deflected with a clink as Naruto waited for a stronger charge to build.

With each Naruto using both hands on their blades, the strikes became stronger as each vied to push the other back, force open their opponents guard or just hammer away at the blades. Each connecting strike became high pitched, sounding more like a musical note than the clang of swords. Realizing the Original was up to something, the Clone quickly ducked under an attack and drove it's lightning enhanced blade into the water, altering the shape of the chakra and attempting to electrocute his opponent.

Naruto quickly added wind nature to his feet in order to protect against the lightning and he further responded with an impromptu attack, striking out with a kick that sent an unrefined blade of wind at the Clone with the attack taking him by surprise and putting some distance between them. As the Force Lightning on Naruto's blade seemed to reach a full charge and sparked far more than before, the Clone seemed to have a good idea of what he was planning and Naruto noted more lightning chakra quickly flared on the opposing blade with the distinctive sound of a chidori filling the air with the chirping of birds. Moving at the same time, they both charged forward with heavy swings, intent on breaking blades or defending from the opponents powerful strike.

As the enhanced swords struck with a loud din, the initial result was a standstill as they both held but what neither expected was for a reaction to take place at the point of contact. The energies present intensified and quickly reached a point of no return as they couldn't pull back to stop it, which surprised both fighters as they certainly were unprepared for the explosion that followed.

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Mustafar

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Struggling to free himself from the unseen bond around his neck and right as his vision began darkened at the edges, Gato was unceremoniously dropped to the hard metal floor. Gasping for breath in order to remain conscious, he coughed and struggled to remain conscious. Looking down with some disdain but surprising curiosity on his former host, Plagueis contemplated the information that he had just ripped out of the short man and the amount of effort it had taken.

'For being completely under my control at one point, he put up surprising resilience. I don't even understand why he felt the need to try and protect my student's secrets and even be loyal to him. He didn't even plead for his life or apologize. This is out of character for him,' concluded the Sith Lord and he wondered what could have changed in the man since they decided to let him live.

'Since Naruto convinced me to let him live,' Plagueis soon corrected himself and wondered if that had something to do with it but he wasn't sure. Being marooned on Mustafar didn't seem to have broken Gato but possibly made the former tycoon more determined than ever. 'I don't know what has gotten into him, but I actually find him more interesting now than I ever did,' thought Plagueis as he explained away his leniency toward the former host.

'What interest does Naruto have in the Moddell Sector?,' questioned Plagueis as he left the room that Gato had been forcibly taken to and decided to once again let the man live, despite the obvious treachery against him. When the heavy door closed behind him, if fell on deaf ears as he contemplated the question that now consumed his thoughts. He didn't even register that Gozu was following him as he made for the facilities exit to get back to their waiting ship.

Gato didn't know the exact reason for Naruto's interest in that particular sector and likely the only person that knew was the blonde himself, but that didn't stop Plagueis from considering every option that he could. 'An interest in the entire sector, not just Sarafur, and he's trying to set up a business meeting with the Aryou. I don't completely understand his intentions or motivations in this,' admitted the former Muun and he exhaled in deeply as he moved through the corridor at a brisk pace.

Searching his memory, he did not have much knowledge on the species that Naruto was planning a meeting with. He knew that one of the Tessent they had belonged to them and that they wanted it back. It therefore immediately occurred to him that they would bargain to get it back but the exact outcome of any deal still eluded him. 'Does he want to control the entire Sector?' he wondered but his thoughts turned to something else, 'Did he find something else there?'

It was an interesting question as to his knowledge, most of the sector was unexplored but from what little information Gato told him under pressure, it seemed that Naruto had mapped the sector or at least done more reconnaissance or surveying than anyone else, even the species that inhabited the region. Possibilities concerning the Black Sun did spring to mind but he didn't have enough information to know whether they were involved or not.

Considering going back and wringing Gato's neck to alleviate his frustrations, Plagueis tossed the idea to the back of his mind. Gato was being used as a pawn, something even the former shipping magnate even knew but was more than willing in order to get off Mustafar. 'If our transport ship hadn't just left a few hours previously, he likely would have tried to board it and run from me,' Plagueis quickly realized and it still surprised him that it took minutes instead of seconds of essentially torture in order to get the information he sought out of the man.

'It seems he has found the perfect way to motivate and make use of Gato, but as to what end and purpose, again, there is only one person that I can find that out from...,' concluded the Sith Lord and he headed back to the ship, in order to return to Naboo and wait for Naruto's arrival from the mission on Dantooine.

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It took a few seconds of the water droplets impacting his face before Naruto realized that he was looking at the sky and an unfamiliar one at that, 'Naboo doesn't have rain clouds like that,' he quickly observed and it was only then that he realized he was partially floating in shallow water. Struggling to get to his feet and out of the cold water, Naruto looked around and started to remember what happened.

'We attacked each other and then there was an explosion,' he recalled and he started feeling his face as it felt rather hot, 'Some of my hair is scorched, along with my eyebrows,' he realized and then remembered his Clone. Turning towards an area where he suddenly heard noise and felt life-signs, Naruto found the Clone just getting up as well. Despite being only a few feet away when the swords struck, they were blown back over a dozen meters.

Seeing that his Clone was also slow to recover, he briefly wondered if they were both knocked unconscious or just dazed for a few minutes before realizing that he no longer had his sword. Reaching into the murky water, Naruto felt around and glanced over at his Clone to see that it was doing the same and a race ensued.

Naruto thought about trying to use his lightsaber but realized that it probably still wouldn't work and so he continued his frantic search for the unique weapon. After not finding the sword in his immediate area, Naruto suddenly realized that he could likely find it with the Force as he had literally forged a connection with it.

As he focused on determining where the sword had fallen, the Clone switched tactics and decided that it was better to take advantage of the situation and the Originals distraction. Going through handseals, it molder a large amount of chakra for a jutsu, "Earth Release: Destructive Rising Rock Pillars."

'Found it,' thought Naruto and as he moved to retrieve, a sudden shaking of the ground and water stopped him. Giant pillars of earth sprung from the ground, breaking through the surface and causing chaos on the center landscape of the lake, with the water churning and ground up-heaving. Weaving around the rising pillars and jumping over tall waves that pushed him away from where he wanted to go, Naruto tried to make it to where he felt his sword. It wasn't even that far away from his original position. He skidded to a stop on the water as one of the diagonally rising pillars broke off and fell, slamming into the shallow water and cutting him off from the weapon that he sought. As he rode out the wave from the collapsed pillar, he detected something above him.

Looking up, Naruto's eyes widened as a giant fireball was coming down towards his position. Making to run away and find some cover, he suddenly realized too late that something was wrong, 'Genjutsu,' he was able to confirm, right before he was struck with a flying kick by his Clone.

Skipping over the water, he smashed into the side of a newly formed pillar and before he had the chance to curse over his distraction and the fact that his Clone could use genjtusu, he was forced to dodge an incoming punch. Thinking the Clone would injure itself on the rock, he was surprised when a the strike imbedded into he rock and caused fracturing as well as broke off several large chunks. The Clone didn't move from the simple taijutsu form of the strike, but simply looked at him with determination and Naruto was surprised by the destruction wrought by the punch.

'He's stronger than I am,' he admitted to himself but soon pushed such thoughts aside as his Clone charged in and they began a battle of Teras Kasi on the water's surface. Similar blows and kicks were exchanged as each Naruto tried to inflict more damage upon their opponent than they received. As they battled in the hard style of unarmed combat, another observation soon made itself known to Naruto, 'He's also a little faster than I am,' he realized and couldn't understand exactly how such a thing was possible.

His Clone shouldn't have more physical prowess and speed than himself but he was being pushed back and overpowered during certain exchanges. 'I didn't notice it as much during our kenjutsu because there was a larger distance between us that I could overcome the slight advantage,' Naruto realized as he took a glancing blow to the cheek from a punch and then was unable to block a powerful blow to the abdomen that sent him tumbling back.

As he struggled to regain his footing, Naruto thought back to his training and tried to determine what he could use or do in order to help negate the disadvantage he was in. Getting back up, he charged in and used the Force to help project his attacks, making invisible telekinetic punches that mirrored his actual attacks. Though it initially took the Clone by surprise and he managed to get several punches to connect, the Clone quickly adapted and used its speed advantage to keep itself from getting hit.

'I could use Dun Moch against him,' Naruto then considered as it was something that could definitely affect the Clone given it's creation.

Sith would often use such a technique in order to sow doubt and distraction in their opponent, sometimes simply with taunting. 'That could definitely work. On some level he must know that he's just a clone and not me, so I can use that against him,' thought Naruto while he deliberately put distance between instead of pushing the fight

Using the few seconds of lapse in the fight, Naruto decided what he wanted to say. "Those memories in your head, they aren't yours, they're mine. Their just a copy of my experiences," said Naruto suddenly and his Clone stopped it's pursuit.

Looking directly at him, the Clone spoke for really the first time since the beginning of the fight, "Are they? I think it's more fitting that they belong to me, seeing as how I'm the real Uzumaki Naruto."

The response was certainly not what Naruto had been expecting, 'So not only does he have my memories but they've made him go insane or become delusional,' he concluded and decided to humor the Clone, "Oh really and who does that make me?"

"Rasen, Menma, or another name you come up with on the spot in order to lie to someone. I have no idea who you are anymore. I do have all of your memories, so it's not hard to see that you don't really know who or what you are," answered the Clone and Naruto was surprised by the answer.

'This isn't going how I thought it would,' he thought but before he could say anything in response, the Clone continued, "Through training, some brainwashing, indoctrination, and manipulation, you've lost touch with who you really were. You stopped being Uzumaki Naruto when you found that ship and that Sith Lord found you," explained the Clone and Naruto was quick to fire back, "You don't know what you're talking about."

"He'll never be what you want him to be. Surely you must see that. But he'll always be there to use you for his purposes and make you do things that you didn't want to do, at least until you can't take it anymore. It's sad really. You could have been a hero to the village, stopped those thieves and spies, and been someone that everyone could trust. However you threw that away to be manipulated and for power," said the Clone in a low and serious voice.

"I didn't throw anything away for power and I'm not being used anymore,' contested Naruto in a more heated voice, "All I wanted was to be acknowledged and Master Plagueis gave me that. He was always there for me and taught me more than anyone else during the entire time I spent in that shit hole. So what if I had to do as he commanded, it was worth it for what I got in return. All everyone else did was look down on me or ignore my existence."

"I never wanted to be a hero," Naruto quickly added and his Clone only responded with a sad smile.

"At one point you did. Perhaps you don't remember or don't want to remember, but I do," said the Clone and it explained, "You even wanted to protect the entire village and become Hokage."

Naruto glared at the Clone but it ignored him and continued, "Unlike you, I haven't tossed such thoughts aside."

"You actually want to be Hokage?" Naruto questioned with derision and suggested, "Why don't I just take you back, I'm sure those villagers you think so highly of will welcome you with open arms."

"You've already nearly ruined that chance for me, haven't you. I don't understand why you did nothing to help them. You could have even stopped Orochimaru, kept the Old Man from dying, and protected everyone," replied the Clone and Naruto scoffed before demanding, "Why the hell would I have done that? You didn't even know that old fool?"

"Didn't I? I think I knew the Old Man better than you ever did," contested the Clone to Naruto.

"Is this a poor attempt at making me feel guilty?" Naruto quickly asked and then added, "Leaving the village was one of the best decisions that I ever made. I never felt any guilt turning the village and that old fool over to the monster that they created in Orochimaru. At the time, it seemed quite fitting."

"Then why did you go after him?" questioned the Clone as both stayed still and didn't continue the physical fight. A moment went by in which Naruto stayed silent and the Clone furthered it's question, "Are you honestly trying to tell me of all people that there is no part of you that was sad about the Old Man's death and wanted at least a little bit of revenge?"

"No...there wasn't. I saw an opportunity for jutsu and knowledge, not to mention recruiting those that worked for him," answered Naruto but he soon wondered why he needed to explain himself to his Clone.

"And yet, Plagueis told you not to go near Orochimaru and didn't want you to recruit anyone. He certainly didn't wanted you to form a group, but you still did. A Sith spirit simply wasn't enough to fill the loneliness or compensate for all the time you spent pushing people away. You wanted friends but were too misguided to realize that, with a little work, you could have had all that within the village if you had only given them a chance," explained the Clone and Naruto was quick to refute the last statement.

"Why should I have given them a chance?" he asked and then elaborated, "I don't have anything to prove to those ignorant villagers. I did nothing to them but they could care less about the working of fuinjutsu," he said and let the comments sink in before he continued, "I was someone that they could hate, a scapegoat which the Hokage did nothing to prevent them from using."

"Why do you even care?" was the followup question that he quickly posed to the Clone. "You didn't know them or the Hokage. Those memories you have are just copies of what I lived through. You've only been alive for a few days and are trying to tell me about my life and how I should have lived it." Naruto argued and didn't give a chance for the Clone to reply back.

"Why would you want to go back?" Naruto continued as he tried to turn the tables back on the Clone, "Do you not see where we are right now. We're on another planet in a huge Galaxy of countless inhabited planets. There is so much more than the Elemental Countries here. Nothing going on in Konoha meant anything in the grand scheme of things."

"And what do you think you know of the grand scheme of things? Do you even realize what is going on around you?" inquired the Clone and it decided to continue on that train of thought.

"You're not even a real Sith but you simply can't see that or won't see it. You keep calling me a fake but your just as much a fake Sith as I'm a fake Uzumaki Naruto. You'll never be his Apprentice, only a tool that he can use to further what little ambition he has left and you're own ambition is not much better. What do you plan to do, make a Star Forge so you can conquer the Galaxy? You're not even sure what you'll do. How did you go from a small boy wanting to be Hokage and protect the Village, to a monster planning to start a war and become a conquering ruler?

Some of the statements struck a nerve as Naruto quickly shouted back, "Your words are meaningless since you never actually lived those memories!"

"If my words were meaningless, then why are you so angry and frustrated right now that you're shouting?" asked the Clone calmly and Naruto grit his teeth as he realized the lapse in control. It infuriated him that the Clone had such views and beliefs that glaringly clashed with his own.

"I look upon you and see a stranger wearing the same visage as myself. One that is turning more and more into a monster. All that is required is a single push and you'll probably never come back. It worries me that a person like you is the Kyuubi jinchuuriki. Do you honestly think our parents would have wanted you to turn out like you are now? So it's best that I stop you, by any means, before you get closer to enacting the plans that you're forming and millions or even billions die or suffer at your hands," said the Clone with renewed determination to stop Naruto.

'Fucking piece of shit!' thought Naruto as he gritted his teeth but refrained from voicing his feelings, trying to reign in his anger. He could feel the seal reacting to his feeling and it was flaring up as if his skin was on fire. Knowing that if the Five Elements seal failed, that there would be nothing to help keep the Kyuubi's chakra from overpowering his reasoning and thinking, Naruto buried everything he was feeling down as deep as he could.

While squashed everything concerning how his own plan to taunt his Clone had backfired, there was still something that didn't make sense, 'If we have all the same memories, why does he think so differently? Is is some kind of ploy...no, I can feel that he believes what he's saying. That makes even less sense. Is it the cloning process that made him so defective?' thought Naruto as he didn't want to consider the other possiblity.

'It doesn't matter what he thinks!' Naruto suddenly decided as he struggled to remain calm, 'Words aren't actions. Who cares if he's faster and stronger than I am, those are but a few of the factors that can decide a fight and I don't intend to lose,' he concluded and succeeded in not letting himself be overpowered by his emotions.

It didn't help that his seal was burning even during their discussion, as his feelings and loss of composure allowed the Kyuubi chakra to further deteriorate the seal he had put over-top the one he was given after birth. 'I don't want or need to use that chakra to defeat him,' Naruto determined and quickly went over what he still had available to him.

Unsealing his disc blades, Naruto went into action against his opponent and threw one at the Clone and the other in another direction. The one flying directly at the Clone was instantly stopped in mid-air on approach as his carbon copy was able to control the discs nearly as well as he could. However, before a struggle ensued for dominance over the stopped blade, a second blade appeared from the shadow of the first. Not even trying to stop the second blade, the Clone jumped over it but kept his grip on the original. Remembering that Naruto had thrown a second blade, the Clone turned to find it heading right for him.

Reaching out, the Clone grabbed the incoming disc but his eyes widened when he realized the trap. Below the Clone, the shuriken it had jumped over exploded into white smoke and a shadow clone emerged, throwing several wind enhanced kunai at the Clone's back. As the projectiles approached, the Clone appeared to do nothing but the moment before the kunai shredded through it, Naruto could feel the Clone's life-signs disappear and then reappear somewhere else.

'A substitution, in that situation, and with one hand occupied?' Naruto questioned as it wasn't something that he thought he'd be capable of if things were reversed. Quickly unsealing a thermal detonator from one of the seals on his belt, Naruto activated the timer and tossed it at the Clones new location with the Force. Naruto then took off in the direction of his hidden Clone and payed little attention to his failed trap and the pieces of cut rock that were raining down from the substitution jutsu.

'It isn't enough to merely get a slight advantage and it's going to be harder than I thought to catch him completely off-guard. The disc blades aren't going to work right now,' he surmised and let the other blade which had been contested over, drop into the water for use later.

As the Clone vacated the hiding place, right before the detonator went off, Naruto was already ready and knew the direction that the Clone would head in. Swinging the procured disc blade, the Clone was surprised when Naruto caught the other side of the circular handle and they stood facing off against each other. Already having an idea of what would happen next, Naruto channeled wind chakra into his disc blade in order to combat the lightning chakra that the Clone was already beginning to channel.

Pivoting his weight, Naruto channeled more wind chakra into his other hand and swung down, underneath the disc blade. Though his hand never reached his Clone's thigh, a thin blade of wind was thrown off his hand and lacerated the Clone's leg just above the knee. Using Naruto's shifted weight, the Clone embedded part of the disc's razor edge into Naruto's left shoulder to which Naruto responded by sending much more chakra into the disc blade, overpowering the lightning jutsu the Clone was using and shredding into the Clone's hand.

Letting go of the circular weapon, Naruto was able to use Force Push and send his Clone back a good distance. The Clone recovered quickly and began making handseals so Naruto exchanging hands with the disc blade, to make use of his non-injured shoulder, and threw the wind nature enhanced disc at his Clone to prevent the jutsu.

The Clone tried running but the injury to his leg made it difficult to evade the disc blade. Right before bisecting the Clone in half, Naruto was not surprised when the body went up in smoke but did not leave a rock behind as his weapon continued right through the smoke. 'Body flicker technique,' Naruto thought and said out loud, "I hate that jutsu too," he commented and went through seals as saw the Clone emerged from the jutsu on top of a pillar on the battle field.

'He went just far enough to go outside my detection area,' Naruto realized and noted the blue glow on the Clone's hand, despite the hundred meters or so that they were away from each other. As he went through the list of techniques he had, in order to identify the jutsu, it wasn't until he saw the Clone touching it's injured leg that he realized what it was, 'He can use medical ninjutsu?' Naruto questioned with some surprise and watched as the Clone began healing it's injuries and looked back at him to make sure it had time to heal.

'There goes the advantage I created,' thought Naruto with anger as he glanced down to the wound on his shoulder. He could not heal like his Clone was doing and would have to wait for it to heal over time. 'I won't be able to get to him before he heals the majority of the damage. If he's going to do that, then I might as well take some time to think,' thought Naruto and he merged into the water, moving towards one of the large pillars to use an earth jutsu and hide in the rock.

Hiding in the water would mean that the Clone might flush him out with the lightning nature jutsu but hiding in the rock would hopefully make it more difficult for the Clone to find him by trial and error while he plotted what to do next.

'He knows everything about me, but do I know everything about him?' Naruto wondered and went through the things that had observed during their fight. 'He doesn't use any darkside techniques, which now that I've talked with him I have an idea why, but he's also found a way to make my Kinitite worthless, damn it,' he cursed as he had come to rely on that Force power more than he probably should have considering how easily the Clone had figured out a counter.

'He's also stronger and faster than I am, not to mention the better chakra control that he has. It allows him to use genjutsu, faster jutsu creation, and medical ninjutsu...perhaps all of that is linked,' he considered and came upon the one difference between them that should have been much more obvious from the beginning, 'He's not a jinchuuriki.'

As it dawned on him what all that entailed, he began to come up with a strategy to fight his Clone. 'He likely has similar chakra pathways but perhaps not as large. So his control is much better than mine but in exchange, he has less chakra, less natural healing ability and stamina, he also shouldn't be able to recover chakra as quickly as I can. This also explains why he hasn't used many clones either,' Naruto realized and he also knew what should be most effective against the Clone, 'Bunshin jutsu.'

The knowledge of shadow clones, water clones, earth clones, a lightning clone, and even variations of the shadow clone jutsu were all at his disposal. 'And my Clone won't have enough chakra to keep up with the numbers that I can create,' Naruto concluded and knew what he had to do.

'In the end, it will be quantity over quality. You bastard, I'll spam the shit of out you!' Naruto decided and though he didn't like the idea of relying on clones, now more than ever, he started to make his move. Quickly moving out to the edge of the rock pillar, Naruto just moved to the surface but was unable to see or feel his Clone anymore. Moving around to other areas of the pillar, unwilling to reveal his hiding place, Naruto managed to survey most of the surrounding battlefield but could not find his Clone anywhere. Large pillars had been created that were leaning at different angles, some having broken off and fallen to the water below while the rain had not ceased, only adding to the water collecting in the depression in the land. Subsequently there were many different places that he, and therefore his Clone, could hide.

'Did he have the same idea I did or is he just planning something else?' Naruto questioned before trying to decide how to handle the unexpected actions of his Clone. 'If I send a clone out, he should be able to discern between me and the clone, though I don't know because I can always tell myself apart form my shadow clones and no one else in the group uses them so I don't know if there is a difference,' contemplated Naruto and he decided not to overly complicate the problem he was facing.

Moving out from the pillar, Naruto jumped down to the water below and kept his senses keen for any noise, movement, or sign of his Clone while he moved across the water to stand in the open. 'I could use some powerful jutsu to flush him out but that may put me at a disadvantage if I use too much chakra, too quickly,' he thought and would simply wait for the Clone to emerge so they could continue.

After fifteen or more seconds of nothing happening, Naruto began to realize what was going on, 'I see, so he wants me to get frustrated and waste as much chakra as I can to make the fight easier for him.' It was a simple ploy but at the moment it seemed rather effective, 'The longer I wait, the more he can recover, though I'll recover faster in terms of chakra but I won't heal as fast because I can't use medical ninjutsu.'

'I really hate this fucking guy,' Naruto concluded and decided that something must be done, so he started kneading chakra to use in some very large jutsu. The best method he could think of was to use Jiraiya's swamp jutsu but his sword and disc blades were still on the battlefield and that would only sink them into the ground and make them harder to find later or even during the battle.

Methodically going through handseals, Naruto finished the first jutsu and said, "Water Release: Water Colliding Wave,' and as soon as the words were finished, rain coming down from the clouds above began to be pulled towards where he was standing as if attracted by a magnet. Forming into a huge

cyclone almost a fifty meters tall, water was even gathered from the shallow lake before the jutsu was near completion and burst upward out of the cyclone in ever direction, forming a gigantic wave of water around Naruto.

The wave moved outward from his position and succeeded in putting some of his chakra throughout the lake and temporarily increasing the depth by more than fivefold while also causing the surface to become extremely chaotic. 'With so much of my chakra in the water, he won't be able to use it to hide anymore and most of the rocks will be covered to prevent him from using replacements,' thought Naruto but he found that the Clone did not come out of hiding and he frowned in response as it meant that he would have to use another jutsu.

Going through more handseals, he completed the jutsu with the snake seal and by saying, "Earth Release: Tearing Earth Turning Palm." As many of the large pillars began tearing apart and falling to the deep water below, a single individual jumped out of the rock before the pillar he was hiding in completely broke apart.

'Found you,' said Naruto to himself and he quickly put his hands into a familiar cross shaped seal and yelled, "Multiple Shadow Clone Technique.' About a hundred different Naruto's appeared on the surface of the water while secretly, the original sunk into the water to hide and coordinate his newly created clones.

'With such a large volume of water, he won't be able to harness enough lightning nature chakra to force me out or even harm me if he doesn't know my general location,' believed Naruto as he communicated with his shadow clones and began the attack on his opponent.

x-x

Dodging thrown projectiles and then blocking several punches and kicks, the Clone of Uzumaki Naruto struggled to combat the shadow clones produced by the Original. There seemed no end to them as they just kept coming. Some would charge in and then be replaced when destroyed while others would stay back and launch low level jutsu at him. Bruises would soon become broken bones and cuts become dangerous lacerations that could lead to severe blood loss, so it was obvious that such a fight was not only badly in the Original's favor but kept him too occupied for any handseals and most jutsu.

Though a flesh and blood clone of the Original, there was one difference between them, 'One that I was hoping he wouldn't figure out until later in the fight or until after I was able to subdue him,' admitted the Clone as pushed one of the shadow clones he was fighting in the direction of an incoming wind jutsu and jumped out of the way.

'He literally has eyes everywhere and is using his connection with the shadow clones to coordinate their attacks,' he thought and despite not being distracted while he fought, the Clone was unprepared for the next attack, a pair of flying kicks which sent him flying back and smacking into one of the broken pillars.

Without even a moment to catch his breathe or assess the damage, the Clone was forced to dodge as spikes were created where his back had been and nearly skewered him before he managed to jump away from the rock. Moving over the rock and blocking attacks coming from multiple directions, the Clone struggled to keep up as he was quickly overpowered if he stayed in one place for too long.

Breathing heavier than before, he realized the inevitable problem, that he simply couldn't keep up in a prolonged fight. 'I need to break this cycle, but how?' he questioned as what he really needed was a good distraction that would buy him enough time for handseals but the Original was monitoring his location and body flicker as well as substitution were no longer options in his current situation.

Reviewing the inventory that he had packed into the pouches before heading out to the cave entrance, the Clone remembered something he had seen tossed in the bottom of the pouch. Fishing it out, he smirked but quickly punched for his lapse and forced to abandon his location while closely chased by attacking shadow clones. 'It's a simple usage of a basic ninja tool and an academy jutsu, but it will be effective nonetheless,' he determined before carefully palming the small smoke bombs.

Stopping in what he deemed a good area, the Clone didn't need to wait more than a second or two for the clones to catch up and he again found himself being overpowered. As he took a few hits and nicks from weapons, the Clone waited until the shadow clones were nearly upon him before tossing the bombs right above his head and letting them explode, covering the area in purple smoke.

x-x

Having finally located his dropped sword, Naruto was about to move in and get it when information through his connection with the shadow clones caused him to stop. The smoke bombs were not unexpected, however, the fact that the Clone had completely disappeared from his shadow clones sight was instantly troubling. Having them examine the whole area, thinking that the Clone had used a jutsu, it quickly dawned on him what had happened as he moved close enough to the area to feel the Clone's life-signs still present in the middle of the bunch.

'He used a henge to change into me,' Naruto realized and as the information was distributed to his clones, it had the opposite affect that the had intended. Unable to differentiate or feel life-signs, the clones began to fight with each other in the hopes of finding the lone flesh and blood clone among them.

'Shit!' cursed Naruto as he tried to pinpoint the clones location but found it nearly impossible with the group of similar looking individuals all moving around in one area. As several of his clones were dispelled, he quickly acted and had them fight the Clone in the same manner. Popping his head out of the water about fifty meters from the large group, Naruto deeply inhaled some much needed air as he watched his clones all stop fighting and use the henge.

Multiple puffs of smoke dispersed to reveal the form of Suigetsu, leaving only a single clone still in the guise of himself. The smirk on his face was short-lived, however, as he saw the Clone was already completing a set of handseals. The effect was instantaneous as the shadow clones closest to it were stopped in their tracks from attacking and stood completely still when the genjutsu took affect.

As the illusionary technique spread among the group of clones, Naruto watched unaffected as he was far enough away for the genjutsu to be unable to reach him. Though he could see trees growing around the clones and their branches latching on to them to hold them down, it was just the illusion that he was viewing through the connection as his normal vision showed the real world which contained no such trees. He couldn't send chakra through their connection, meaning that they were helpless against it and they couldn't inflict any pain on themselves to break the genjutsu without dispelling themselves.

'This is exactly why I wanted them to keep up the continuous assault, so that he couldn't use any genjutsu on them,' thought Naruto as he emerged enough to pull his hands out of the water jutsu and began to make handseals for another jutsu. As the Clone began destroying shadow clones in its immediate area, the other helpless clones struggled against the invisible bindings. Naruto finished his handseals, and numerous areas of water began to raise out of the lake and quickly take form into water clones.

Unable to use jutsu themselves, the weaker water clones were able to push chakra into the afflicted clones and end the genjutsu. As the water clones fulfilled their purpose, the Clone quickly prepared a wide area jutsu and Naruto's visage soured as a large fire technique was used to destroy a good majority of his shadow clones which were still trapped.

Creating more shadow clones, Naruto had them continue the same tactics as he sunk underneath the water and tried to come up with something better to use, 'He just keeps slipping away, despite the constant assault. I can keep trying to bring him to the brink of exhaustion but I don't know if that will work anymore. I may exhaust myself using so many clones. What I really need is a trap. Something that I wouldn't see coming and would underestimate, or better yet, something that he wouldn't see coming or underestimate,' he concluded as he devised a plan of attack. He was starting to run low on chakra and feel fatigued, not as much as his Clone but low enough to be concerned about the outcome of the fight.

Using his connection to the shadow clones, Naruto had them maneuver his enemy into position. An area of the large battlefield still had a few pillars mostly standing but their height would be what he needed in order for the plan to work. Creating four more shadow clones and partially surfacing to watch, he had the clones merge with the rock and move to the uppermost parts of the created and broken rock formations.

On the water below, the Clone fought numerous shadow clones and Naruto had them let up slightly to make sure that the Clone didn't feel the need to try and run away again. Coordinating with the four shadow clones, they all partially emerged from the rock and began going through the same set of handseals, aiming at the Clone below.

x-x

'Somethings up,' realized the Clone as the attacking behavior of the created doppelgangers had changed enough for him to be on high alert. It didn't take long before the area around him began to lighten and his attention was turned upward to see what was coming. Creating the light, was a giant fireball that was quickly headed right at him.

'Genjutsu?' he questioned before he started to make a handseal but was quickly reminded that he was still fighting as one shadow clone landed a hard kick to his side and another sliced his back with a kunai before he could get out of the way. Focusing on the fight, he focused on what would happen next, 'This is it...this is his trap,' and as the heat from the incoming ninjutsu increase the surrounding temperature before it struck, he was left with to use the only option available to him in order to evade the attack as the shadow clones continued to attack without fear of their impending destruction.

Jumping out of the water, Naruto ran towards where the flames were hitting the surface of the water and began making the needed seals, he had been closing in while the group of four clones created the impressive fire jutsu. With his chakra already in the water beneath the Clone, it was easy to finish the Water Prison Jutsu but he needed to be there and to get his hand into the water in order to properly stabilize and finish the technique.

Braving the last of his own fire jutsu as the flames licked at his clothing, Naruto completed the seals and watched as the large sphere of water came out of the water just ahead of him. He could feel his Clone trapped inside and knew it wasn't a body substitution or bunshin because of the life-signs present in the water and his shadow clones which had bravely stayed to make sure the Clone couldn't use any jutsu at the last second. Stretching out, he just got his hand into the sphere before his Clone was able to start pushing outward against the water and possibly break the technique.

Raising the sphere above the water's surface, Naruto smirked in triumph as he had finally managed to get the upper hand and catch his Clone. 'Now I just have to decide what to do with you,' thought Naruto but as he looked to the trapped Clone's face, he realized something was wrong. There was no fear present or frustration on his carbon copy's face. The observation caused him to remain wary and as their eyes met, the Clone slowly started to smile at him in a big grin which showed no teeth but was foreboding nonetheless.

'Shit!' Naruto cursed and as he began informing his shadow clones to scour the area, he spotted a single clone emerging from halfway up one of the rock pillars. The clone was not one of his and he before he could say anything, it made a single handseal which he easily recognized as the tiger seal. "KILL HIM!" Naruto ordered but it was too late as a calm and steady voice echoed a few words over the battlefield, "Genjutsu: Bringer of Darkness Technique."

The effect was instantaneous as the light in Naruto's eyes faded into utter darkness and he was deprived of his sight. The technique was so unexpected that he lost focus on the water jutsu he was maintaining and before he could stabilize the technique, the Clone used something that sent him flying back and soaked him with water. Quickly regaining his footing from what he thought was a powerful Force Push, Naruto ordered all his remaining but similarly blind clones to cover his escape as he put some distance between himself and the clones before diving deeply into the water.

x-x

Panicking under the water, Naruto move himself to the very bottom of the jutsu created lake as he used jutsu to hide himself in the liquid. Up above, he could feel his clones being destroyed one by one and what was worse, was the method that his Clone was using, 'He's draining them of all their chakra,' he realized as the first few dispelled and their destruction was quickly followed by many other until only the four that were hiding in the rock remained.

As he ordered them to stay hidden so he could start to plan something, they too were destroyed using some jutsu until there was nothing left but himself, hiding in the water. Despite holding his breath, Naruto knew that he probably would have been hyperventilating if he could at that moment. He would eventually have to surface in order to breathe but that was the furthest thing on his mind.

'He purposefully let himself be trapped in order to lure me out,' he acknowledged while filled with dread and had a hard time accepting such a realization. He had been close to death before or at least in numerous dangerous situations, 'But nothing like this. I've never had to face myself before and never had a fight turned around on me so easily. I don't know what he's planning next and even if I could surface, I can't see anything,' he recognized as the loss of his sight was not something he had ever faced before.

Struggling to deal with the situation, Naruto quickly searched for something to calm him and his emotions. 'I can't believe he was able to use that genjutsu,' he suddenly thought as his mind tried to push all the panic aside and turn to facts in order to help rationalize what was happening.

The A-ranking genjutsu was the most powerful in the Leaf Village and it's difficulty in performing as well as danger in using made it part of the Scroll of Seals. 'I tried using it only to completely failed but somehow he managed to succeed on his first try?' he questioned but quickly realized his problem, 'I'm underestimating him and by proxy, myself.'

Staying on the genjutsu, he analyzed everything he knew while he had the chance and while his Clone was likely looking for his hiding place. It couldn't be broken with any normal means. No amount of pain he inflicted upon himself would break the jutsu and even if he could properly use the genjutsu dispelling technique, it too was useless on the genjutsu created by the Shodaime Hokage. It didn't even require a large amount of focus on the part of his Clone to keep active.

'I'll need to disturb his chakra or concentration to a noticeable degree in order to break this,' he realized as he started to calm down from his earlier anxiety. 'I don't plan on losing or dying here but I'll need some kind of plan in order to fight him,' he thought but before he could come up with such a strategy, a strong current began forming and quickly pulled him in a specific direction. 'I've been found already?!' he realized as he sensed out to feel the Clone reasonably close to him but had no idea what it was doing or using.

x-x

Despite not knowing an exact location where his brother was, the Clone could guess because of the turmoil that he could feel emanating from the only other living being that was in the area. 'Such a quick turnaround after thinking the battle was won must have sent his head spinning,' he recognized and the strong feelings let him determine an area of the battlefield in which to focus on and because the feelings he could sense were staying stationary, he could further pinpoint a location on which to start using jutsu on.

Quickly using earth jutsu to raise a section of rock out of the water in which to stand on and prevent a possible counterattack, the Clone jumped to the flat top of the rectangular prism he had created and began going through the exact same seal sequence again, only molding much more chakra to use, "Earth Release: Moving Earth Core," he said out loud but the effect of the jutsu was not immediately evident above the water's surface until visible currents began to start moving towards the area he was focusing on.

The water level was quickly dropping as instead of creating a raising column of earth, he dropped a large square area or earth down over thirty meters, which had created a huge space for the water to collect. 'Fighting such a strong current will be difficult while hiding in the water,' he reasoned and his calculations payed off as he felt his brother move or at least he could tell that the current had pulled the hiding blonde towards the core he had pushed down.

Forming more handseals, he began the next jutsu in order to help keep Naruto from getting away, "Water Release: Great Waterfall Flow," he said and the technique began as water started to churn and form a large whirlpool at the top of the pit he had created. 'It's a good thing I decided to absorb the chakra from all those clones, otherwise this would be nearly the last of my reserves,' he acknowledged before finishing the last jutsu in his plan to flush out Naruto, "Lightning Release: Four Pillar Bind," he completed and despite the pillars normally being quite tall, over a hundred feet, only the very tops of the pillars came out from the water's surface as they were formed at the four corners of the his dropped earth core.

The moment that lightning began to start up, he could suddenly feel Naruto's life-signs and then saw him shooting out of the water and away from the trap he was using. As lightning flashed in front of him, the Clone frowned because of the wasted chakra in the attempt. 'I thought that would work, he must have recovered and calmed down enough to realize what was going on or at least was cognizant enough to evade it,' he guessed before watching Naruto tumble on the water because he couldn't judge where the surface was in order to stick the landing.

'It doesn't matter. This fight won't last much longer with him in that state,' concluded the Clone as he jumped down from his position and calmly moved towards Naruto's location.

x-x

'What do I do?' questioned Naruto as he stood still and glanced over his surroundings on the surface of the water but he couldn't see anything but blackness. 'If I run, I'm more likely to smack into something than I am to find a place to hide or position that is better to fight from. I can't use body substitution because I can't see and I can't use body flicker because I can't see. Fighting close range is out of the question but fighting at a distance is just as dangerous because I may not be able to hear or recognize what jutsu is being used against me,' he analyzed while feeling the Clone start moving closer to him, first at a sedate pace and then speeding up.

'Think, think,' Naruto repeated as he went over what he had and what could be used in the situation he found himself in. As he struggled through the long list of available jutsu, he eventually recalled something similar that he had faced before and went through the single required handseal.

Running towards Naruto, the Clone went through several seals and ended by clapping his hands together which produced a glow of visible chakra around each hand, completing the Chakra Scalpel Technique. His intent was to disable but he wouldn't hesitate to do grievous injuries in order to accomplish that.

As he got closer, he noted the change in demeanor of Naruto, 'He's calmer and more focused,' recognized the Clone and he slowed as he noted the formation of the tiger handseal. Though he knew it was impossible for Naruto to replicate the genjutsu he had used, he still prepared for a long range jutsu, possibly a fire jutsu, that would hinder his advancement and keep him at a distance. The resultant jutsu however, was not what he expected as mist began forming around Naruto and readily spreading by expanding upward from the available water source, covering a good portion of the battlefield.

As the mist engulfed him, the Clone was surprised at the thickness of the white-out that surrounded him. Not only was it thicker than Zabuza's usage of the jutsu but the mist itself felt heavy as it slowly moved past him and easily soaked his clothing. 'Well played. I can't even properly see my own hands in this dense fog,' acknowledged the Clone as he experimented with moving the blue glowing digits a short distance from his face.

Becoming alert now that his earlier advantages had been mitigated and the situation changed, the Clone ended the medical jutsu and went through handseals, spitting out water and creating several water clones around him that quickly moved towards the unmistakeable life-signs of his opponent. 'We can feel each others life-signs but he'll have much more trouble feeling anything from my water clones,' he thought but quickly realized the caveat to such a move, 'He could also be using the same tactics.'

'Without my sight, it becomes a battle of sound and sensing, which is why he's never used this jutsu after the fight with Zabuza, despite learning it from the Nidaime's scroll,' recognized the Clone as he moved forward and kept a good distance between them while letting his water clones work.

x-x

'How would I approach a target in this situation?' questioned Naruto as breathed heavily and considered multiple scenarios while trying to think like his Clone and all the while keeping his senses active to dodge or counter an incoming attack.

'I'd consider using a long range but deadly jutsu but I haven't heard anything yet. What else would I do?' he thought before his senses went off as he felt something coming from behind him. Despite some warning, he was still caught by surprise and a sharp pain erupted in his lower back before sent an elbow flying back that broke the nose of the clone that had managed to sneak up behind him. As he heard the clone turn back into water and splash to the lake below, so too did the bloody kunai that he pulled out of his back. The slightly warm water slipped through his fingers and before it had fallen to the ground, he was already in motion.

Wind chakra accumulated in the finger tips of his left hand before Naruto started slashing in multiple directions and sending cutting arcs of wind at anything that might be approaching and nearby. Simultaneously putting pressure on the wound with his right hand, Naruto felt the warm blood coat his hand and soak down to the waistband of his pants but he could do nothing about it and soon removed the hand to make some handseals to retaliate and take care of any other surprises hiding in the fog.

"Water Release: Water Severing Wave," said Naruto in a low voice before water chakra rushed into his mouth and he spit it out in a thin but powerful jet of water. Spinning in place, Naruto sent out a complete rotation of the cutting water jet across his mist jutsu. Once the maneuver was completed he could hear several more splashes of water from dispelled clones and felt his Clone move to avoid the attack.

Aside from his back, another pain made itself known at his use of chakra. His seal burned from the further lowering of his chakra reserves as it had been a very long time since he was so low on chakra and the more the battle was prolonged, 'The worse it's going to get. That damn fox must be practically begging me to use his chakra,' Naruto thought as he tried to once again ignore the slow destruction of the protective seal he had placed to keep the Kyuubi's chakra from effecting him or coming out during his use of strong negative emotions.

Focusing back on the conflict at hand, Naruto stretched out his hearing in order to figure out what his Clone would try next. The mist he created was more to protect himself than it was to gain an advantage, 'If anything, I've only manage to lessen his advantage over me but it's not doing very well at protecting me,' he admitted and crouched down to quickly tlook through his pouches for anything to help stop the bleeding until his blood could clot and start healing the wound.

His Clone seemed to be also taking a moment to consider options, so he felt that it was as good a time as any to review what he had after quickly applying spray bandage to his wound. Sifting through his pouches with one hand and keeping a kunai held in the other, Naruto touched everything in the pouches and touched his belt as he didn't have time to go over it one piece at a time while in such a situation.

Feeling his Clone on the move, Naruto stopped his examination and felt out with whatever he had to figure out what the carbon copy was doing. 'Supposedly a Jedi can use the Force to see, even when physically being completely blind. It sounds good but I don't have the proper training to try and rely on something like that in combat,' he considered and decided reluctantly to stay on defense at the moment and act in response to what his Clone was doing.

Putting his hands together as if in prayer, Naruto activated another jutsu that he had at his disposal, "Barrier: Canopy Method Formation," he said and an invisible barrier expanded in all directions forming a large sphere around his position, almost reaching where his Clone was. Though it would keep both his hands occupied in order to keep the technique active, it would detect any movement inside of it's range.

x-x

'The clones failed and he'll be ready for them if I try to use such a tactic again. That water jutsu nearly took my head off,' admitted the Clone as he put some distance between them to limit Naruto's ability to work out what jutsu would be used. 'After using all that chakra to flush him out from hiding, I can't waste chakra on an A-rank jutsu like he apparently still can. He's just dangerous enough for me to be cautious of moving in closer so I'll need to take away this mist jutsu in order to progress unless I want to use tactics that put myself at risk,' he concluded as he contemplated the jutsu to use in order to meet his needs.

Going through seals for a jutsu, the Clone inhaled deeply right after saying, "Wind Release: Great Breakthrough." Expelling the molded wind chakra in a fast moving and large sphere, the Clone followed the sphere forward as the jutsu was merely a distraction for what else he had planned. Knowing that Naruto would counter the jutsu, he waited for the right moment.

Feeling the incoming jutsu, Naruto responded by going through seals to combat whatever was coming, which he initially thought would be a fire jutsu. "Water Release: Water Formation Wall," Naruto said before water from below him swelled to form a defensive arc around him and repel the incoming attack. Forced to take the barrier jutsu down, he felt out but was unable to determine what else his Clone might be up too as the water jutsu was holding up well against whatever attack that had been sent his way.

The weather was still raining off and on, so Naruto didn't notice when black rain drops began falling on his location. It wasn't until a few drops touched his arms that he picked up on a strange but familiar odor. A few seconds passed before he remember the last time he smelled it and remembered what jutsu it had been that produced such a smell. Thinking fast, he kept the water wall active and ran forward, diving into his own water jutsu.

An instant later, a flock of explosive tagged kunai rained down into his mist jutsu. The tags were already primed and lit before they entered the dense fog so they exploded before touching the surface of the water. The explosions ignited the flammable black liquid and produced areas of burning water that began removing a large portion of the concealing mist.

Safe inside a protective sphere of water that he had created using the Water Prison Jutsu, Naruto sensed his Clone was moving in and ended the jutsu. Upon taking his first breath, he was met with smoke and heated air which made him cough as he tried to determine where the fires were around him before giving up as areas everywhere around him seemed to be burning. There was no way to know how visible he was to the Clone and if he tried forming back the mist, it likely wouldn't help him because of the burning spots all around.

'I'll need something else,' Naruto quickly analyzed and put up Jiraiya's barrier jutsu again as he felt the Clone getting closer. Though it gave him some knowledge of his surroundings, the barrier was a far cry from being able to see and as the Clone came closer, he struggled to come up with his next plan. 'Any jutsu I use will require me to put down the barrier, which right now is the only thing I have to know what he's doing,' he remembered but had no other choice as the Clone was almost upon him.

Ditching the barrier, he went through handseals before shouting, "Lightning Release: Electromagnetic Murder," and slammed his hands into the ground. The ploy worked, and his Clone jumped into the air to avoid a lightning jutsu, however, Naruto had never molded any chakra and he quickly went through three more seals before saying, "Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet." A large dragon of water formed around his feet and spiraled upward to provide protection against anything the Clone could use before launching at the airborne carbon copy. Though he felt the dragon make a successful strike, he also heard something else and realized too late that the Clone was able to channel lightning chakra through his water dragon.

Being electrocuted, and not for the first time that day, brought the exchange to about even as the dragon floundered in it's attack because of his lapse in concentration but still had managed to hit the Clone and send him a good distance back. Considering following up the attack, Naruto decided that it probably wouldn't do any good as he was using up too much chakra in such a short amount of time.

Running with his hands in the unique seal for the barrier ninjutsu, Naruto struggled to run due to the numbing of the lightning jutsu but managed to move through the lake of intermittent fire. He headed slightly away from the area they were attacking each other in and right for where he abandoned one of his discblades.

Recalling everything he had touched in his pouches with the Force, as he didn't have time to catalog or identify everything initially, Naruto went over all the items he had on him and realized that he didn't have much left. 'A few kunai, limited explosive notes, no smoke bombs, and...a cloak,' he thought, remembering feeling the balled up armorweave material of the all-weather cloak and it took a few moments before he remembered what it was for and why it was there. Going over what else he had on his belt, which featured several storage seals etched into seemingly decorate plates along it's length, he did recall something that might help but nothing like what he carried during a mission for the Black Sun. He hadn't started the journey into the caves with any real weaponry or backup ninja supplies. He had primarily focused on rations, water, and other supplies for a trip on foot. Everything else he had taken to Dantooine was on-board his ship.

Almost on top of the discblade, Naruto moved around some pieces of what he guessed was rock debris that had been uncovered because of the lowering of the water level before his head jerked back as he picked up something through the large barrier and his sensing. In an instant, the Clone had gone from outside his range to far closer than he would have wanted, 'Body flicker,' Naruto guessed and frowned as such an easy jutsu was still difficult for him to perform.

'Wait a little longer,' Naruto thought as he kept the seal active and the barrier up until he was ready to call the discblade from the water and use it. Despite knowing it would look strange, he tried to seem surprised at the Clones quick movement, as well as making it appear that he was panicking. Slowly backing up away from the incoming Clone, Naruto was actually getting closer to the hidden weapon. As the Clone neared Naruto used the Force to recall the discblade and threw it as quickly as he could, not channeling anything into it.

Before the Clone could stop it completely with the Force, Naruto quickly sped through seals and said, "Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique." Though he didn't know how many copies of the discblade would be created by the technique, he hoped it was enough to overwhelm the Clone. Feeling the Clone's demeanor change from stoic and relatively unreadable to surprised and worried made him smirk, however, he couldn't see the result and it was soon obvious that the tactic had failed. The Clone remained standing with little change in life-signs to indicate any injury, and the genjutsu affecting his eyes had also not subsided.

Cursing, Naruto went to his belt and unsealed something that he would not normally have used. Taking aim, he fired the blaster directly at where his Clone was and studied his aim after a few shots, trying to get the height adjusted as well as getting used to firing with no sight and merely tracking the life-signs that he could sense. Readjusting his aim, Naruto fired several more times, attempting to directly hit or injure his moving adversary. Though his aim was mostly accurate, the Clone wasn't having much difficultly dodging the shots but that was what Naruto planned as he still had something else he could use and wanted his Clone to get in a little closer. Hearing the telltale sound of thrown projectiles, Naruto dodged in-between firing blaster shots as he kept his fire steady and continuous.

'If you do have my memories, then you'll definitely remember this as much as I do,' thought Naruto as he unsealed another item from his belt with his other hand. As the Clone managed to move closer, the smoke dispersed to reveal a different weapon and Naruto fired a single pellet to start, making the projectile explode a little earlier and send a good, wide spread of flechettes at his adversary.

The effect was instantaneous as the Clone backed off and he could feel the shock from the unusual tactics emanating from his foe. The best defense against the flechette darts that he knew of was the Force Push technique. Plagueis had mentioned others, 'But never got around to teaching them to me,'

Naruto remembered, however the only problem for the Clone with using Force Push was the fact that it couldn't stop blaster bolts so he quickly followed a shot from the flechette gun with a shot from the blaster

Moving forward with both weapons aimed at the Clone, Naruto pursued the life-signs he felt at a steady pace, mindful that his surroundings were mostly unknown to him anymore and he could come across broken rubble from earth jutsu at any moment. As he fired several more combination shots from the weapons, the last blaster bolt made a noise that caught his attention.

'He's hiding behind something,' Naruto recognized and he fired the blaster again, hearing it impact a surface, rather than continue outside of his hearing range. Feeling the Clone likely just behind the barricade, Naruto continued firing a few blaster bolts while aiming the flechette gun up at a higher angle. Pulling the trigger of the pellet firing weapon twice, Naruto quickly flicked his wrist in order to try and get the pellets to curve before having them explode and shower the area where the Clone was hiding in the sharp durasteel flechettes.

Feeling the Clone move, he was unsure as to his success but the sound of flying projectiles was soon to follow and Naruto blocked them with the firearms as he would if he were wielding and blocking with kunai. The attempt was moderately successful as he felt several sharp and burning pains as several of the projectiles that he failed to block cut into him as they passed and entered the water behind him. As he moved to aim and fire again, a sizzling noise caught his attention and he jumped away from his position just before the exploding tag on one of the thrown weapons exploded.

Getting his bearings after the jump, Naruto found the life-signs of his Clone but the sound of another thrown weapon and sizzling tag made him move again. Jumping back from the sound, Naruto smacked hard into an unforgiving surface that knocked the wind out of him. Though far enough away from the tag when it went off, his mind had pushed everything aside to focus on the immediate concern, 'He pushed me to this spot with the explosive tags,' Naruto instantly realized and as he moved away from the rock, he heard the creation of the earth jutsu above him.

He thought it must have been one of the pillars that he was up against but what was coming down from above must have been a landslide of dislodged material, 'Small to medium chunks of rock, mud, and sand,' Naruto guessed by the noise as he moved to run away from the pillar.

Knowing that he wouldn't make it, Naruto dropped the blaster and formed a Kinitite in his hand. Twisting as he ran, he tossed it up in the air to impact against the falling debris. When the attack hit, it would create an opening or at least a safe path for him to take and avoid the landslide. Before the Kinitte exploded, Naruto dropped put the flechette gun under his armpit and formed the seal for the barrier jutsu so he could better perceive the safe route he needed to take.

The invisible barrier expanded around him in all direction and he could soon 'see' his surroundings and identify where he needed to go in order to escape the trap. With the last of the earthen debris crashing into the water just behind him, Naruto felt the incoming threat and moved his elbow, dropping the flechette gun into a waiting hand. Twisting to fire before the Clone reached him, a hand grabbed his wrist and a hard hit in the right location made him drop the weapon. Before Naruto could respond with an attack of his own, the Clone followed up with a strong punch to the face and kick to the stomach that sent him sprawling back.

Recognizing the danger of the close-quarters situation, Naruto ignored the pain and turned to what he had left in order to put some distance between them. His mind raced as he felt the Clone move to take advantage of the situation and he recalled the last of his ninja supplies. Reaching to the pouch, he took the last of his explosive tags, which constituted a thin stack of no more than five. It was foolish to use them all but he was desperate to put some distance between them, so he ignited all the notes and tossed the wet but sizzling stack at the advancing Clone.

Despite the tags entering the shallow water, the little sizzling flames did not extinguish and the immediate threat was well understood by the Clone as both blondes jumped away from the small lit area of water. An extremely large explosion was quick to follow. The combined tags sent water and earth up nearly fifty to a hundred feet into the air and in soon started coming down in rain droplets as well as small chunks of dirt.

While struggling to get to his feet and recovering from the explosion, Naruto focused on what to do next and how to use the remaining chakra he had left. The few seconds he had would normally have not been enough time, but with the Force he could examined everything, going through several scenarios and over a thousand jutsu that he had at his disposal.

'Do I have nothing left?' he questioned as his attempts at planning and selection were coming up rather empty. Of the items he had left on him, there was something, 'Something he won't know about,' Naruto considered but then came the problem, 'How can I make use of it? It's not a weapon...but it does hurt like hell,' Naruto thought, remembering the prior pain in his hand.

'I'll need to keep him stationary or at least stun him. Force Grip again? No, it won't work because I can't judge the distance or his exact location without my sight and may not be able to get him with it. Then what jutsu would do I have left?' he questioned and considered everything, even jutsu that he had never used before and had simply set aside for another day or not given much consideration. It had to be something that wouldn't use up the remainder of his chakra and leave him with chakra remaining as he wouldn't be using the jutsu himself.

'I'll use up the last of my chakra to try this but there are two jutsu that could work, one of Orochimaru's and one from Suna and I'll finish up with my favorite Force technique. But he'll need to be in close and think he's won. I'll therefore have to lose. It's all or nothing,' Naruto concluded in the few seconds he had before the explosion subsided and the Clone was moving in.

'First the diversion to make the necessary preparations,' planned Naruto as he quickly went through seals and said, "Water Release: Water Formation Wall," but instead of using the available water at his feet, Naruto pooled water nature chakra into his mouth and spit out a widespread defensive arc of water that captured the Clone and was powerful enough to force him back. With the Clone pushed back by the small deluge, Naruto completed his preparation and hoped that it hadn't been spotted.

With his chakra halved, he took out the last two kunai from his pouch and charged forward with the weapons held and ready to use. 'Gotta make the second part convincing,' he thought and channeled a minimal amount of wind chakra into each kunai. Moving towards the recovering Clone, Naruto used the weapons as best as he could given his lost sense of sight but knew that he wouldn't be able to defeat his Clone with just the two kunai.

Wide swings became more accurate as the Clone dodged and parried his strikes until Naruto was struck hard in the knee which caused a break in his attack pattern. The follow-up strike initially felt like a simple jab or smack to his arm but the sharp pain that followed spoke differently, 'He's using chakra scalpels,' Naruto recognized as he dropped the kunai he had been holding, no longer able to keep a good grip on it with the tendons in his forearm cut.

Though he struck out with a powerful swing with the other kunai bearing hand, it missed and left him open for a quick combination of hard punches to the face which sent him back a few steps. 'Gotta stay conscious too,' Naruto added to the prepared list he needed to accomplish in order to win as his head swam from the hard hits.

Open to another attack, Naruto felt a quick hit to his thigh from the Chakra Scalpel which damaged tissue there and before he could compensate by shifting weight onto his other leg, he was hit with a powerful palm strike to the chest. The impact sent him off his feet and falling back into the knee-deep water, unable to keep himself on its surface anymore. He also knew that the strike damaged his lungs in order to ensure that he would not be able to continue the fight.

'With the hit to the leg, I'm not sure if I'll be able to get up and it's going to be hard to breath now that he's damaged my lungs, but it's better than a Chidori or Rasengan to the chest or stomach,' he thought, while checking himself and preparing for what was next. While there was the chance for failure, Naruto was confident in success, but he acknowledged that all of his planning relied on one assumption which had to be true in order for everything to work, 'I don't believe he really wants to kill me.'

x-x

Breathing heavy and injured from the latter half of the battle, the Clone looked down upon Naruto, who had managed to pull himself up into a sitting position in the water. He knew it was the real Naruto as the life-signs were unmistakeably there in front of him. Naruto wheezed from the lung damage and looked in his direction but his eyes were unfocused and dulled from the still active genjutsu. No words were exchanged between the two as they continued to look upon each other.

'You stubborn and tough bastard, I should have made more traps in the beginning. I nearly needed to use the Rasengan against you in the end,' the Clone thought and wasn't about to push aside the idea entirely. 'I should kick him a few times for using that fucking flechette gun,' he thought, glancing to the new holes in his body. They weren't severe because of the spread of the darts and his dodging to keep them from hitting vital areas but they still hurt like hell from going straight through tissue and even bone.

Wondering if Naruto would start trying to get up and continue, the Clone was initially on guard when Naruto started raising both of his hands but he soon realized with surprise that it was something else as the palms were facing away from him in a sign of surrender. Knowing that the original had nothing else left in terms of weapons, the Clone decided not to continue as Naruto was admitting defeat.

As Naruto's hands slowly started raising up to head-level, they moved closer to the sides of his head and instead of continuing farther upwards, they moved to securely cover both ears. The action elicited confusion from the Clone until he saw the small smile form on Naruto's face. Realizing a trap, the Clone turned to see a shadow clone partially emerged from hiding in the water and finishing handseals for a jutsu that ended on the snake seal. "Sound Wave Technique," the clone said, right before a kunai went through it's throat but the jutsu was already completed.

Before the shadow clone dispelled, a burst of powerful sound waves crashed over the immediate vicinity. The Clone grabbed his ears as his ear drums burst and a strong feeling of nausea, dizziness, and disorientation washed over him. Looking up at Naruto, he saw that the blonde was not idle and had already pulled something from his back pouch and was throwing it at him.

The black material started unrolling and he soon recognized it as one of the cloaks that Naruto typically wore. Using his right hand, the Clone brushed the armorweave cloth aside to make sure he didn't lose his directl line of sight with Naruto. As the cloak was removed from his vision, something else caught his attention as he noted that Naruto hadn't moved from his sitting position.

An orange glowing crystal bounced against his vest before starting it's descent to the water below. Reaching out with his left hand, the Clone instinctively went to catch it.

x-x

'The sound jutsu wasn't enough,' thought a concussed Naruto as the genjutsu did not fade and restore his eyesight. Only his hands over his ears prevented him from being similarly injured by the sound jutsu because the only individual that would have been completely safe from it's encompassing effects was the recently deceased shadow clone. Struggling to stand, he was forced to listen as the cloak moved towards his opponent, unfurling at it went and making a slight noise.

Another sound alerted him that the Clone had touched the cloak and was followed by a sharp intake of air which he believed was due to the Clone's surprise at seeing the crystal. Going through handseals, Naruto completed the next stage of the plan and said in a whisper, "Cloth Binding Technique."

'If he doesn't grab the crystal, I'll have to do this while blind and with less distraction,' he recognized while trying to get to his feet and stand on shaky legs. It could be done but only increased the chances of him missing. However, a moment later, Naruto was rewarded with a yell from the Clone and the darkness in his vision soon began fading. Ignoring everything on the bright battlefield but the Clone, Naruto got his bearings as he watched the Clone holding the burning crystal.

Forming his trusted Force technique, kinetic energy began forming in Naruto's hand, however, instead of forming in his palm and making a ball of condensed energy, it formed around his fist. With the untested technique literally in hand, Naruto relied on his good leg, crouching slightly and jumping towards his Clone.

With just a short window of opportunity, Naruto watched as the Clone finally removed the crystal from it's hand and looked up to see him coming. Moving to use it's right hand to block or deflect him with Force Push, Naruto didn't move or try to dodge and kept going with the very transparent punch. As the Clone tried to move it's uninjured hand, something prevented him and he glanced down to see the black cloak he thought he remembered pushing aside.

The all-weather cloak was wrapped around the Clone's arm, around his waist, and around his legs with the last foot of the cloak touching the surface of the water and sticking to it. Recognizing the Sunagakure originating technique, the Clone knew that chakra had been channeled into the cloak in order to make it bind him and that the armorweave was too strong for him to rip. The small portion sticking to the water would also prevent him jumping away. Looking back up to Naruto, his eyes widened as the blonde was already upon him and he couldn't move fast enough to dodge the strange looking punch.

"Deflect this!" Naruto wheezed out but the words fell on deafened ears as his fist impacted the jaw of his Clone. Naruto heard the sickening breaking of bones as the Clone's head jerked back and while he originally thought it was just the Clone's jaw, he soon realized that the impromptu technique was still quite unfinished, 'I broke his jaw, but also most of the bones in my hand,' he thought as the chakra holding the cloth to the water gave way under the force of the punch, sending the Clone flying back a good distance. The defeated Clone landed with a loud splash that was the only sound on the battlefield aside from Naruto's labored breathing from near-exhaustion and the damage to his lungs.

A hot and swelling feeling spread through his hand which he knew that it came right before severe pain, and he grit his teeth before the inevitable nerves began to flare, 'And there it is,' he commented tried not to yell from the significant damage to the hand. 'Self-inflicted damage,' he noted and decided that the Kinitite Fist, name pending further thought, needed much more work before he would ever use it again in a combat situation.

Realizing that the Clone may not be incapacitated or at least it still posed a significant threat to him, Naruto found himself without any weapons and with little to no strength left. Closing his eyes, he searched for his lost sword and other weapons, 'The sword is closest, how fitting,' he thought before painfully moving his left hand, which still had tendon damage from the Chakra Scalpel Technique. Stretching out his fingers, he put his palm in the direction of the sunken weapon.

Water began bubbling about fifty meters away and the surface bulged slightly before a small wave of water moved towards him, eventually revealing the sword which picked up speed once it was free from the water. 'I don't think I can catch it in either of my hands,' he quickly realized and stopped the blade in midair just a few feet from him.

Hobbling towards the downed Clone, Naruto soon reached the body. The life-signs were still present, not fading but low and likely would start to diminish if he just left the Clone to the elements and with the injuries he had. Blood freely dripped from the Clone's swollen mouth and for the first time, Naruto noted various other injuries that he hadn't been aware of during the fight after he lost his sight. Most appeared to be something he had experienced before, 'blaster grazes, flechette penetration wounds, burned hand..' he noted and stopped to focus on the hand more than any of the other wounds.

It wasn't just a similar injury, it was almost exactly the same as his own burn mark. It was even on the same hand as his mark was on, 'The left,' he thought and glanced to his own bandaged left hand. 'I should have learned a lesson from that experience so many years ago with that necklace,' he thought before elaborating, 'Not to instinctively grab something until I know what it is and how it could harm me. Good thing I didn't learn from that,' he thought and turned to see where the crystal was. Looking not far off, to the localized area where water appeared to be boiling to the surface, Naruto decided to come back for the dropped crystal as he didn't have anything to put it in or wrap it, as the cloak was still binding the Clone.

The floating ninjato was still close by, being held up in the air with the Force, blade pointed down. Lifting slightly upwards, as if preparing to stab or thrust downward, Naruto prepared to use the Force to end his Clones life. The blade was more than sharp enough to pierce through any part of the body using simple telekinesis, and if done in the right area, 'A relatively quick way to die,' he concluded before lowering his hand.

In the moment before the blade struck, the Clone coughed, spitting up a little blood in the process and the ninjato pierced through the water and into the ground no more than an inch from the side of the Clone's head. Surprised at his lapse in concentration because of a simple cough Naruto stared at the still breathing flesh and blood clone. 'I've looked at thousands of shadow clones of me before and killed them without thinking twice,' he thought, as his determination to end the fight and win at all costs was fading along with the adrenalin rush of combat.

Frowning at the perceived weakness, he moved the sword up slightly higher above him and tried to convince himself that the Clone was still dangerous to him and needed to be done away with, but he had lost any interest in killing his Clone. If anything, he was more curious about how it came about and it's memories as well as reasoning behind the confrontation, than worried about his life anymore.

Pulling the blade towards himself, Naruto carefully returned it to the sheath on his back before looking in the direction of the Enclave. 'I've never been so close to complete chakra exhaustion before,' he realized and as he moved to leave, he looked back to the unconscious carbon copy of himself. A moment went by as he looked upon the injured Clone before making a decision. Standing on unsteady legs, Naruto bent over to reach down towards the Clone. With his working hand, he got a good hold of the jonin vest's collar, using the last dredges of his chakra to stick to it and began dragging the body in the direction that he knew the Jedi Enclave was. The dark green jonin vest provided some buoyancy and kept the weight manageable. Unsure of how much he could go before collapsing, Naruto trudged through the cold and muddy water. The raining had ceased, he couldn't remember when, but the sky was still cloudy when he looked up to find the Dantooine System's star.

'I suppose it's too much to ask for the clouds to part even a little bit and provide me with the warmth of the sun's rays,' thought Naruto with a glare towards the sky and though he wished for it, in some ways he welcomed the numbing effect on his many injuries. Focusing on keeping the cold from making him go into hypothermia helped him ignore the pain he was feeling throughout his body. At the present, there was only one goal, which was to get back to Kabuto before passing out.

'If he's still alive,' Naruto quickly considered as he wasn't sure what had happened and really didn't want to try and delve into his Clone's mind to find out the status of the snake-like ninja. Moving across the thigh-deep lake that had been created from the fight, Naruto didn't turn around to look at the devastation that the battle had caused to the landscape. The entrance to the crystal cave was completely gone, collapsing in the initial attacks of the fight and then subsequently submerged under water. The use of water from the atmosphere had created a lake in the depression where the cave entrance had once been and only the remnants of broken mud walls and rock pillars marked the lake as being different than many of the other surrounding depressions that filled with water after long rainstorms on the plains covered planet.

x-x

Dragging his doppelganger across the lake had been easy, but once he had moved out of the depression, dragging the body across the grass and over a few hills had been tough. 'Should have left him,' thought Naruto as he struggled to remain standing and relied on bracing himself against the rock walls of the former Jedi Enclave to catch his breath before moving towards the stairs.

Everything below his knee was completely numb and even before reaching the Enclave, he had started to shiver uncontrollably. Sensing out, Naruto noted that life-signs were present in the secret laboratory but they were low and he cursed at the fact that Kabuto could be in even worse shape than him. Looking to the Clone, he felt like kicking it but refrained and grabbed onto the collar again before pushing forward and moving down the staircase as fast as he could muster.

The wet fabric of the Clone's clothing made a sound that made Naruto think he was dragging a heavy burlap sack but he tried to ignore it while navigating the staircase. He nearly lost his balance on the stairs and fell but caught himself and pulled the Clone down the last of the steps before heading directly to the hidden facility.

Making it past the once sealed wall and to the door, Naruto collapsed in the open doorway and let the Clone drop to the floor as well. The room he looked into was dark and he couldn't make out everything, despite his eyesight being well adjusted to the dark at the moment. Seeing the familiar items and furnishings of the room, Naruto quickly noted the dark shape on the floor that was very out of place from what he remembered of the rooms layout. Focusing on the body seemingly motionless on the floor, Naruto also noted the slight reflection from a liquid pooled on the floor beside the body.

'Blood,' he quickly thought but couldn't be sure until the lights came on. Trying to get up to walk, Naruto found himself simply too tired and weak to try, so he began to move on his hand and knees into the room, slowing closing the distance between the doorway and the body. Cradling his broken hand against his chest, Naruto moved with haste as the lights slowly began turning on from his movement.

As light began flooding into the room, the liquid was slowly revealed and he could identify what it was. 'It's drool,' he thought with disdain and slight frustration at being concerned for Kabuto's well-being. The man was merely drugged, laying face down and unconscious on the floor. The drool was slowly leaking from the man's open mouth. Glancing at the hypo-syringe in Kabuto's arm, Naruto wondered what he had been given but guessed it was a powerful sedative.

'He probably tried to give it to the Clone,' Naruto surmised and shook his head slightly at Kabuto's carelessness. Kneeling, Naruto struggled to flip Kabuto over and removed the hypo-syringe. Grimacing, he tried to look away from the man's dislocated wrist but found it difficult. Pushing aside the thought that perhaps it had happened during the fall to the floor. 'No, that does looks like something I might do,' he thought before moving closer and putting his knee on the forearm before popping the hand back into the wrist socket, which made an audible sound. Shivering, whether because of the sound or the cold, Naruto noted that the pain had not made Kabuto wake.

Taking the fastest route towards his goal of healing, Naruto pulled his good arm up and struck down with a resounding slap as his hand impacted Kabuto's cheek. Slightly surprised at the lack of success, Naruto decided to follow-through with a backhand to the opposite cheek, only with a little more force behind it. The sound was slightly different than the original slap but still produced the same result, 'Nothing,' Naruto thought with a raised brow and sudden resurfacing concern over his group members condition.

Quickly checking the pulse and breathing, Naruto cursed as he realized what was wrong, 'Fucking Clone gave him too much and he's going into a coma,' he thought and looked around the room for anything that could help. Seeing Kabuto's medical bag sitting on a nearby table, Naruto used the Force to pull it towards him and began sifting through it with his hand. If something wasn't done, Kabuto could actually die from an overdose of whatever sedative was used, so Naruto pulled out every scroll as he searched for something that would help.

Opening and looking through various medications, he finally came upon epinephrine and decided to go with that. Using the hypo-syringe on the floor Naruto filled the injector full and then jabbed it into Kabuto's arm, directly into a vein. It took only a few seconds before Kabuto's eyes shot open and he deeply inhaled before sitting up with a start. Looking around the room and coming face to face with a Naruto, the snake-like man yelled and backed up on his hands and feet until he smacked into the legs of the operating table.

'That Clone did a number on him,' thought Naruto as he started feeling dizzy. It took a few seconds before Kabuto got his bearings and remembered what had happened, "Which one are...,' he began until the dull look from Naruto told him what he wanted to know.

Glancing down to the pain coming from his wrist, Kabuto looked it over before asking, "Did you pop my wrist back into socket,' Naruto gave a nod in response while Kabuto touched his face and asked, "What about my face? I don't remember the Clone injuring that." Thinking quickly, Naruto responded, "Probably when you fell."

"Both sides?" Kabuto questioned as he carefully rubbed his cheeks and Naruto responded with a shrug as his vision started to go blurry. "What happened to the Clone?" Asked Kabuto as he started to stand up and Naruto didn't respond right away as he felt himself starting to lose consciousness.

"Kabuto," Naruto said as his vision started going black, and the man looked to him, finally noting his unfocused look and injures, "I need help," was all Naruto said before falling over. All Naruto saw before everything went black was Kabuto moving to him and activating a medical ninjutsu.

x-x

Two days later

Naboo

x-x

Having returned to the castle on Naboo, Plagueis waited for the lift to stop at the tenth floor. With his lab on the eleventh, the only reason he had to stop on the tenth was to speak to Naruto, however his student was not present at the moment and it would be days before he returned. As a slight change in velocity alerted him that he had arrived on the designated floor, Plagueis stood still in the lift, deep in contemplation.

'If I go inside, there is no turning back, especially when I find something. I know that I'll find something, however, despite bypassing the lock, Naruto will have some security measure or hidden monitoring device that will let him know someone has been on his level and inside his lab while he was away,' thought the former Muun as he decided what to do next.

'How would Naruto react to an invasion of his privacy? Not well, regardless of what reasoning and suspicions I have or what he's been keeping from me. I know he has never been inside my lab while I am away,' he considered while raising his hand toward the control panel inside the lift. A moment passed before he pushed two buttons that would take the lift up another level to his own lab.

The doors soon opened for him and he was slow to act on their opening before stepping into his lab. Moving past different rooms, he headed straight for his monitoring operations. Several droids sat at stations and skimmed through conversations, communications, transmissions and other information that was completely related to Senator Palpatine of Naboo. With past failures concerning the droids not understanding human minutiae and specific details or undertones in conversations, he had switched to having several of the droids search for specific instances of words as well as any transactions.

Basically anytime money was exchanged for any goods or services, he wanted to know about it. Knowing that his Apprentice would use third parties and other individuals to facilitate any deals, secret missions, or errands that were made, he also looked for certain words to differentiate between Senatorial duties and transactions and those of Darth Sidious. The majority of dealings would be digital transactions which only made finding out about them much easier.

The Senator from Naboo had all kinds of various secret accounts and money constantly moving from account to account and tracking all of those down would be highly difficult, so he narrowed his interest to monitoring all large transactions or any instances where a monetary amount was mentioned. Even if he couldn't tell where the money was coming form, he could still try to follow it or garner from any message or conversation where it was going and for what purpose. Such filtering was going well for him but there was the chance he would miss other conversations which was why he was currently using ten droids to sift through everything and having different droids look for different things while they all viewed the same information streams.

Noting his presence in the room, one of the droids handed him a datapad which he readily took and looked over as he moved to another area of the room which had a desk for him to sit at. Looking over the information on his searches, it took several hours to sift through everything before finding one item of note. 'So he's received his reply,' Plagueis thought as he looked over the information that had been received by Sidious no more than a day previously.

The original messages had been sent out more than weeks previously and had peaked his attention as it was sent to a third party with a small payment and instructions to get construction estimates. The message included a geo-scan and hologram of a mountain that he was unfamiliar with. The geo-scan revealed the make up of the geographic feature and showed a mostly hidden installation, small but with a large hangar and complex built right into the mountainside.

No location was provided for the project or even a description of what the project might be, but an estimate was requested for excavation. There was a bare minimum needed by any construction company concerning information required before giving any kind of quote or estimate on work and Sidious was just meeting this minimum with the hologram and geo-scan. The mountain was primarily granite and pricing was given per volume of material excavated and based upon depth and penetration into the mountain.

Unfortunately, every method that he had used was unable to identify the feature or even make a close or approximate match. It was a unique and nameless mountain on a planet that was possibly uncharted, overlooked, or even lost to the greater galaxy. The problem was that millions upon millions of inhabited and even non-inhabited planets had mountains and granite. It was an extremely common material and the facility provided little more for him to go on, 'A nigh impossible task, even if that mountain does have a small facility,' remembered Plagueis as he didn't even know if it was an old facility, what it's purpose was, or if Sidious had it built recently.

'That was probably why he was willing to give up such secretive information to a third party and then a contractor; nothing he provided could help determine its location. He likely has great plans for it and that is more than enough reason for me to be interested as well,' Plagueis thought and he tried to think of other possibilities or avenues that he had yet to take.

'I could ask Naruto,' he considered but questioned himself about what further information or possibilities Naruto could provide that he had not already tried. 'Though there is the slightest possibility that he would have an answer or idea. There has always been the possibility that he will think of something that I have not,' he reconsidered and decided on how best to bring it up during their long delivery trip to Nar Shaddaa.

The previous return trip from the Smuggler's Moon was almost completely silent after their conversations concerning the request by the aging Popara, 'It was not just silent, but awkward and we were both distance. Probably deep in thought about our own hidden designs,' he remembered and wondered how Naruto would return from Dantooine. 'Angry at me sending him away and trying to take over the position that I have let him occupy...,' he thought but quickly corrected himself, 'Perhaps that is not the right wording. It was rather unwise of me to think I could try and take over doing what he has been successful at for almost a year. I realized as such during the mission but see it now more clearly than ever. It was a position that he was excelling at and one which I failed to occupy, even for a brief period,' he thought and setting the datapad aside, the Sith Lord retreated inward while turning to look out the nearby window that was behind his desk area.

'How bad have things gotten between us? I don't even know, and it's not just between us but between the rest of the group and myself as well,' he pondered while staring at the nearby mountain range that dominated his current view.

x-x

Dantooine

x-x

A pair of azure eyes opened and looked up at the metal bulkhead above him. It took a few seconds for Naruto to realize that he was inside a ship. He quickly sat up and went to move off the table when the pain and soreness hit him. The pain was primarily coming from his hand which he noted was completely covered in some kind of plasto-cast, while the soreness seemed to stem from nearly every cell in his body but also was concentrated around the two seals on his stomach.

Despite the dizziness, he attempted to stand and found himself holding firmly to the operating table in order to steady himself. Bandages were wrapped around various areas of his torso and likely other areas as well from what he could see from looking down and examining himself.

'No sickly-sweet smell of Bacta,' he noted and knew the likely reason why, 'Because Kabuto dislikes it,' he remembered. The snake-like man did have an interest in the miraculous healing substance known as Bacta, and the even older Kolto, but Kabuto preferred other methods and the actual science, technology, medical ninjutsu, knowledge and technique behind what he dubbed, 'proper medical care.' Bacta had become the most relied upon substance when it came to treating a patient. This was especially true in areas of the Republic which had access to the liquid while most other technology and more traditional methods were becoming less common by comparison.

'If anyone can help put a patient into a tube full of healing fluid, what is the point of having so many trained medical professionals,' Naruto thought as he remembered what Kabuto's reasoning had been for choosing a medical school in the Outer-Rim, where Bacta was much harder to come by. The medical-nin's dismissal of Bacta was only furthered by the fact that it couldn't be synthesized. The two types of bacteria required for Bacta were only found on a single planet known as Thyferra and could not be incubated or found anywhere else in the galaxy.

Despite agreeing with Kabuto about the dangers of heavy reliance on a single substance, at that moment, he really wished Kabuto had just dunked him in the Bacta tank, 'Even for just an hour,' he lamented as he held back his nausea and began trying to walk inside the ship that he knew wasn't moving, but which seemed to be swaying like a boat.

'I have too many things to do to sit and rest and I have no idea how long I've been out. That lightsaber won't make itself and I still need to recover my other weapons,' he reasoned as he took further steps, ignoring the cold metal floor on his bare feet and headed across the ship to the turbolift. Planting one foot in front of the other as he ventured into a more open space of the ship's floor plan, Naruto left the nice solid surfaces he could use steady himself but experienced problems a few feet into his voyage as he stepped over a hastily strewn power cable.

The existence of the cable caught his attention, and he stood still while his head followed the cable across the room to the device that the cables were attached too. He recognized the device as a stasis tube and through the window on the front, he could clearly see the spiky hair of his Clone inside. Waylaid by the very familiar looking face, Naruto diverted towards the vertical tube and reached it in a few steps as his ailments were temporarily forgotten.

Looking over the Clone, Naruto noted the numerous bandages on his carbon copies face and realized that he had likely been out long enough for Kabuto to not only deal with his own injuries, 'But take care of his as well.' That meant that he had been unconscious for the better part of a day because the suspended animation procedure and setup took several hours to complete, in addition to Kabuto working on healing two people.

'Maybe two days,' he considered and stared at the seemingly sleeping Clone of himself while thinking through the long fight that seemed like it had just ended minutes previously. 'I don't understand you at all,' he thought while examining the Clone, as if it was possible to spot something obviously different about it that would explain things for him.

'We have the same memories and yet...why aren't like me? We don't even think the same,' he thought as he remembered their brief conversation during the fight as well as his Clone's limited use of the Force. 'Aside from augmenting jutsu, you didn't use any of the darkside techniques that I have at my disposal, so you either can't use them or chose not to. Neither of which makes sense unless you simply aren't aligned with the darkside at all. I don't remember feeling any anger from you, merely determination and calm,' Naruto concluded as he recalled exactly what the Clone had said to him.

'Is there something wrong with me? Did I really change so much. No, there is nothing wrong with me. I know who I am,' he said to himself as he pushed aside such self-doubt. 'Perhaps it's his memory that is faulty. I don't remember changing that much. I was five, the village was important because it was all that I knew. After I learned of the greater Galaxy, Konoha lost all interest to me. The village created the traitors that I killed and it created Orochimaru as well. Master Plagueis also didn't use me, if anything, I used him to get what I wanted,' thought Naruto before he said, "You're wrong," directly at the Clone.

"Yes, we are very different...but I can use that to my advantage," Naruto said out loud as he thought of something. Minutes silently went by as he began piecing together what he could do with the Clone, 'I simply need to set everything up and I may be able to set in motion a way to fix all my problems, if I don't find other methods first,' he schemed but knew that he would need more time to flush out the details, 'Which is what meditation during long space travels is for.'

Done with the Clone for the time being Naruto turned away but his vision went directly to the other stasis tube in the room and he couldn't turn away from it. A sinking feeling came over him, it happened every time he viewed that particular tube and was the reason for its relocation. Attached to the tube was not one, but two power sources with the second as backup. The other tube, temporarily holding his Clone, was even a backup for the one he was currently looking at.

Moving up to the tank, Naruto looked upon the layer of frost that covered the normally transparent screen of the tube. It prevented him from looking in and despite already knowing who was inside, he hesitated a moment before taking his cast covered hand and scraping away at the thin layer of frozen condensation. The temperatures inside the tank combined with the inability of the transparent screen to act as a proper insulator of the cold temperatures inside, allowed condensation to form and even freeze as the machine cycled from prolonged use. Kabuto kept the atmospheric controls on his ship set with a higher moisture content than what was normally used, so the effect was more pronounced than it would have been in another, more standard environment.

As his simple action slowly revealed the face of the person inside the tank, more feelings came over Naruto; a sudden feeling of guilt and failure, or perhaps even helplessness. "Hello, Tayuya," he finally said as her entire face was visible to him while he stared through the transparent casing. He could just see the black markings of her ailment which many months previously had moved outward from the seal and were a few inches from reaching her ear; spreading up her neck and likely the same amount down her back and shoulders.

Not having prepared anything, Naruto didn't follow up his greeting and despite knowing that the red haired girl could not hear his words, he still felt that he should say something more. "Karin is doing well with her nursing and just recently I cloned myself by accident and was nearly defeated by that same unstable Clone after he suddenly attacked me," he said nonchalantly and actually waited for some kind of outburst at the latter half of his statement.

'Its so strange to see her with no expression at all,' he thought for what must have been the hundredth time. Normally Tayuya had a scowl or glare, or even a small smile when with Karin but when she went into the stasis tube, she adopted an near expressionless face which looked quite out of place. Even with his Clone in the nearby tank, the effect of suspended animation gave off a doll or mannequin-like quality. With their eyes closed and no visible signs of breathing, only the attached sensing and monitoring equipment on the tubes confirmed that they were indeed both still alive and not inside some elaborate casket. They were too far under in suspended animation and their vitals too low for him to even feel anything through his life-signs sensing ability.

When nothing happened at all, save for the constant hum of the functioning tubes, Naruto moved back to the Clone's tank and wondered if what he had planned for his carbon copy would work or not. Before he could answer the question, the lift door at the opposite side of the room opened and his attention turned towards the figure of Kabuto that was just exiting the lift.

Kabuto stopped walking with slight surprise evident and they stared at each other for a few seconds before the medical-nin noted his position at the Clone's tank and began listing, "Fractured jaw, broken teeth, damage to cervical vertebrae C1 through C3, broken nose, severe swelling around the face, hypothermia, punctures to the torso and arms which went straight through the tissue and bone, two broken ribs, nerve damage, a concussion, blaster burns, and evidence of several other injuries which were hastily healed. How curious," he commented as he read from the datapad he had pulled out from his robes in order to make sure that he didn't miss anything.

When Naruto said nothing about the Clone's listed injuries, Kabuto inquired, "Would you like to hear about your own?"

"No," Naruto said with a dull response before he turned away from the tank and faced Kabuto but before he could say anything, the medical-nin interrupted, "I do apologize for him getting the better of me. I didn't realize he was awake and was unable to get...," but Naruto waved off whatever excuse he planned to give, "It doesn't matter how he got loose or whose fault it was," the blonde said and Kabuto held back a sigh of relief. Naruto didn't seem angry at all, possibly more curious and distracted than anything else and that of course made Kabuto curious as well.

"What do you plan to do with him? I do hope that I didn't heal his injuries so you could kill him later," inquired Kabuto and Naruto was slow to answer, "I have...complicated plans for him," he said and was deliberately cryptic as he was still piecing it all together.

When Kabuto made no further inquiries, Naruto broke the short silence by saying, "I'll need to get some items from the Enclave and retrieve my weapons, prep your ship for takeoff."

Slightly surprised by the last part of the statement, Kabuto wondered what Naruto wanted with his ship, 'If it was summoned than it should be as simple as Naruto reverse summoning it back,' he thought and decided to voice his question, "Am I not going back to my studies?"

"No, not yet. I'll need you to put off on it a little longer," said Naruto as he began moving for the lift and moved past Kabuto. Turning to see if Naruto would say anything else and when he didn't, Kabuto decided to simply ask what he wanted, instead of trying to subtly get Naruto to divulge it, "If not my medical school, then Naboo? Or is it some place else?"

"We are taking your ship to Ibonihs but there are some things that I will need from Naboo, so Forty-Two will be heading there," Naruto answered before he touched a button on the lift control panel and the door shut, leaving a slightly confused Kabuto still standing amidst all of his equipment.

x-x

3 days later

x-x

Watching the operation, Naruto decided that the sedative drip that Kabuto prepared was enough and he relaxed slightly. The Clone showed no signs of regaining consciousness after being removed from the stasis tube and given follow-up treatment, specifically for the concussion, neck, and jaw injuries. 'And that is how I would like to keep it, at least until I can devise something better that even I wouldn't be able to get out from,' he thought and moved away from the operating area to another section of Kabuto's freighter.

It would be a few more days before reaching Ibonihs from the planet they had started from, which was the location of Kabuto's medical school, Dzass IV. Reverse summoning the ship back to that planet would significantly shorten the trip while Forty-Two was being piloted by a shadow clone and was also well on it's way back to Naboo. 'I'll need to replenish my shadow clone in the next hour,' Naruto realized as he stopped at a table that he had commandeered from Kabuto.

The work table was flat and made of some metal but the items on it were what he was interested in. In one area was the finished lightsaber that would be going away to Nar Shaddaa. It was slightly larger than normal as he had constructed it for the bigger hand of a Hutt. Beyond that, he didn't know what else needed to be done as he had little knowledge of the intended recipient of the weapon. Next to it, was the Clone's lightsaber which Naruto had already disassembled and thoroughly examined. The weapon was much like his own but simpler, with only a single synthetic crystal which had somehow changed color from purple to an turquoise; a transformation which he didn't completely understand. It also lacked the added extras that made his own rather unique.

Looking over his own blade nearby, Naruto noted the extras, 'I forgot to even use the vibroblades or the stun feature,' he suddenly realized and felt foolish for tucking the weapon away after it had gotten wet. It would have still been useful had he remembered, since it was likely only the lightsaber functions that had temporarily stopped working. 'And that's another thing,' he recalled as he ignited the red blade and found it working again, 'A splash of water made it completely useless for a very long period of time. I knew it could short out in water but I thought it needed to be completely submerged. Apparently I was wrong and had my Clone not suffered the same problem, I could have easily been struck down,' he recognized as he recalled the failed swings.

'That will need to be fixed in the future,' he concluded before turning to the next item on the table, a small orange crystal. The immediate area around the crystal, about two inches outward, had darkened slightly, which Naruto knew was due to the metal surface heating up from the crystals mere contact with the table. 'I'll have to rework the internal components to make sure they can handle the heat, along with also working out the water problem,' he added to his list and finally turned to last item on the table.

Though it was once a very good replica of his own sword, the sword his Clone had brandished against him was basically a hunk of scrap metal more than a weapon anymore. Picking up the weapon by the mostly intact handle, Naruto once again examined the metal of blade and rotated it to see every part of the once polished sides and sharpened edge. Whatever had happened during their clash of blades, had completely mangled the sword. The blade was bent and scorched while part of the edge, right where the two blades had connected, was missing.

'No, not missing, it was melted away,' Naruto corrected himself as he looked at the beads or drops of liquid metal that had been quickly solidified and cooled upon contact with the lake water. 'I remember an explosion and heat but that's about it. I have no idea what caused this,' he readily admitted and could only hypothesize that the damage was caused by extremely intense, but localized, heat from the point of contact between the blades.

'Hot enough to melt the metal but not cause any significant burns to either of our hands or faces,' he acknowledged but added, 'It must have been several thousand degrees at least, but didn't radiate outward so it was either unique or very quick.' Taking his own blade out of the sheath from his back, Naruto reexamined his own sword to once again verify that it was not damaged. The pristine blade held no blemishes or marks and certainly showed nothing similar to the sword on the table.

'This requires further examination. If I could replicate or better control this...,' he concluded as his thoughts trailed off but knew that in order to accomplish it, he would need to recreate the circumstances and experiment to discover the cause of the strange phenomenon that had occurred during the fight. Putting such thoughts aside and saving them for later, Naruto looked over the items and thought about what was not there, and which certainly wouldn't fit on the table.

The Clone technology was simply too large and integrated into the hidden laboratory to move at the moment with what he had available, so he sealed the room with fuinjutsu to prevent anyone else from finding it or even gaining access. 'I'm not even sure what all I could do with such technology. It is so dangerous, as was proven, but could also be of great advantage. The only thing I know for sure, is that I will be never be cloning myself again. The accidental cloning proved that the process, or possibly just this process, can produce unpredictable results,' were his thoughts concerning the hidden technology. It too would require more experimentation in order to be useful to him and taking a look back at the medical-ninja attending to his Clone, he had a good idea who would be looking into it.

Checking his watch, he noted that he had gotten stuck in his thoughts again, as the time was vast approaching when his shadow clone on Forty-Two would summon him. Walking away from the table, Naruto moved to another area of the ship to ready another clone and the summoning scroll that would be required for the process. As he went, Naruto thought about the brief return trip to Naboo, 'I can't face him now, but soon,' he admitted concerning the one person on Naboo that he didn't want to have to deal with at the moment.

What he needed was to get to his tenth floor lab and get a few items before leaving. He also needed to drop off the lightsaber, 'Because I won't be going back to Nar Shaddaa, this is too important for my other plans and I simply can't wait,' he thought while glancing down at his stomach where the seal holding back the Kyuubi was. Despite telling his Clone that it was wrong about everything, it was still correct about a few things it had said, 'I'm not a good choice for a jinchuuriki, especially as I am now, and without anything to control it,' Naruto admitted and the words that the Clone had used, flooded back into his mind as if they had just been said again to him.

x-x

Naboo, days later

x-x

'Does he intend to ruin this opportunity,' considered the spirit of the Sith Lord as he absently floated, or really paced, around his laboratory level of their castle. His body was sleeping in a nearby cot in order to recover but his spirit didn't have a physical form and so it was not burdened by the demands of flesh and blood. Glancing to the darkness outside, Plagueis recalled the deadline that he had agreed upon with Popara the Hutt and based upon his calculations, they had to leave in the morning, otherwise they would be late and making a Hutt wait was not advisable in any situation or for any reason. Even Popara held grudges, and though he did not have a criminal empire to instill fear, he still had great wealth and knew how to use it.

As he looked out the windows, his attention was caught by a disturbance in the dark clouds which he quickly identified as the landing lights of a ship. Watching the vessel descend into the narrow valley, he soon determined that it was Forty-Two and watched it go out of his field of vision as the eleventh floor was too high up to get a good view of the landing pad below.

Mixed feelings and possible actions filled the Sith Lord's mind as he debated what to do, 'Should I go down to meet him...no...wait for him to come to me, perhaps that is best,' he thought and wondered if Naruto would come to him or go straight to his room and get some rest before morning. Stretching out his sensing, the Sith Lord could feel his student come up the lift and tensed as he wondered where Naruto would stop.

As the lift neared his level, Plagueis seemingly held his breath as it went past the bedroom level and he became transfixed on the lift doors on his level until it slowed and stopped one level below his. Curious as to what Naruto might be up too, Plagueis followed the boy's movements on the tenth level and tried to recall from memory what Naruto had in those areas of the level. 'What is searching for?' questioned the Sith Lord as he looked directly at the floor and tried to 'see' through to the lower level as he used the Force to try and get the answers that he sought.

x-x

Sifting through scrolls and finding what he was after, Naruto unrolled a generic storage scroll and began sealing items into the various storage seals written on its length. Not knowing who else was awake or knew about his arrival, he assumed that Plagueis was and therefore needed to move fast, lest he run into the Sith Lord.

He could have left it to a shadow clone but because of recent events, he didn't completely trust the clones as much as he used too. Finding all the items he required for the scroll, Naruto stopped on his way to the lift as something in his peripheral vision caught his attention. Looking to the area of his lab that had numerous fuinjutsu seals written on the floor in a circular sealing array, he remembered what it was for and nearly cursed at having almost forgotten about it. The shadow clones he left before heading to Dantooine had finished the required ink markings and taking off his cloak, Naruto rolled up his right sleeve to look at the damaged seal. For an entire year, he had painstakingly set about the method to repair a seal, 'And regain the item inside,' he recalled and moved towards the center of the seals, which was a solid slab of rock that he had created and which the very center of the seals all converged.

Laying his forearm down, with the seal at the center, Naruto took the nearby brush and uncapped the container of ink so he could finish the last of the seals. The ink was cool on his arm and quickly dried as he connected the fuinjutsu on the flat rock with the damaged storage seal on his arm. Once he completed the ink, he carefully moved his hands together to form a cross shaped seal to create a single shadow clone which stood behind him and prepared to activate the fuinjutsu.

'They are so simple to make but so complicated to repair,' he mused as it had taken stolen knowledge from Jiraiya and even Orochimaru in order to even attempt to start working on such a seal. Despite having the theoretical knowledge, he didn't get the entire fuinjutsu formula from Jiraiya's memory, having only gotten a part of the knowledge. It had therefore taken the lesser fuinjutsu knowledge of Orochimaru in order to finish the complicated seal. 'Jiraiya could likely have done all this in an hour or so but it's taken my spare time over the course of almost a year to work it all out,' he thought and was once again amazed and the power and complexity of seals.

With only stolen knowledge, he lacked several of the basic lessons and understanding of an accomplished Seal Master like Jiraiya, 'And apparently even less than the Yondaime was capable of considering that Jiraiya and even the Sandaime didn't understand the seal on my stomach,' he suddenly thought before turning and nodding to the waiting shadow clone.

With a single handseal, the Clone activated the fuinjutsu and Naruto watched as the carefully placed ink seal all around him began to shrink. More specifically, it began to move into the damaged seal and started filling in the missing areas. Storage seals allowed the user to create a pocket dimension in which they could seal inanimate objects but each seal only connected with a single pocket dimension and when the seal was damaged or lost, it could not simply be redrawn as it may create a new pocket dimensions in which to store new items, rather than reaffirm the connection with the old storage area.

As the last of the ink moved up the rock and onto his arm, Naruto watched transfixed as the outer edges of the storage seal were finished being filled in. The process was soon over and through it, his arm had felt rather odd but he experienced no pain. It was as if an itch or small insects were crawling up his forearm and to the seal. Naruto continued to look at the seal seconds after the process was completed and he examine the work.

All areas of the storage seal were filled in and it looked exactly as it once did and appeared to contain something, given the kanji written on it for 'item.' Taking a few deep breaths, Naruto made the required handseal and focused chakra towards the seal in order to release the contents. As smoke erupted from his forearm, Naruto's sight was obscured but he easily heard something hit the rock table as it fell the short distance from his arm to the top of the makeshift table.

The smoke soon dispersed and revealed a small, metal pyramid that had fallen onto its side. Reaching down, Naruto grabbed the cold object that he had stolen from Jabba's trophy room a year previously and looked it over. At the time, HK and himself were being attacked by Jabba's men and so he never had the chance to really examine it before being injured by the flechette gun. As held the object, he could tell, as he had before, that it did not contain any gatekeeper or presence which was standard for other such Sith and Jedi holocrons.

'I still can't believe this was in Jabba's trophy room. Did he even know what it was?' the blonde wondered and was thrilled to finally be holding it again. It had taken a long time to accept that he may never see it again if the seal repair didn't work but now he could care less about those thoughts.

Where it had come from or who it was obtained from was likely lost with the death of Jabba but that was a secondary thought because it was back in his immediate possession. What currently occupied his mind was the contents of the holocron. It could be a data holocron, in which case it merely stored vast amounts of information or it was equally possible that it was empty, in which case he now had a holocron of his own. Either way, he got something useful if it still worked.

Turning the object over and over, he looked for anything out of the ordinary or that may help identify it but found nothing of note or descriptive. It was merely a dark holocron with few if any markings that would be able to identify what time period it was from. Setting it down on the flat surface of the rock, Naruto touched both sides and activated the holocron with the darkside of the Force.

Red light appeared at the top of the holocron as the rest began to glow when the holographic system on the device started up. Waiting for an image to come up or some kind of information, possibly even a user interface, Naruto was slightly depressed when nothing further happened. Just red static was being displayed "I guess it's empty," he said out loud and the utterance of the words caused something to happen.

Looking into the red colored projection, Naruto watched as his words appeared in Galactic basic, displayed in the air just above the top of the pyramid. After the words finished typing out, there was a slight flash of red before the words simply disappeared and the device returned to displaying nothing but red static. Surprised at the affect his words had, Naruto decided to try something else, thinking that the object was voice activated and said, "Activate," but the device merely displayed the word he said, flashed, and then went back to how it had been before.

As Naruto began to say another word, he suddenly had a thought, 'What if it's looking for a specific password,' he considered and realized that the flashing was because the word or words he had chosen were not correct. 'If it's waiting for the correct word or words, that is going to be a problem, especially if I don't know who this thing belonged too,' Naruto realized and though it frustrated him that the device was password protected, and it was one more obstacle he had to get through, another thought made him smirk, 'Why would someone protect the holocron if it didn't have something important on it?'

On that thought, his smirk became a smile and he quickly put the item in one of the storage seals on his belt for later use and study. 'Even if I don't know the password, that doesn't mean that I can't break into it,' he thought and picked up the recently filled scroll of storage seals which was nearby. Having all the items he needed sealed inside it, Naruto touched the item to his repaired storage seal on his arm and sealed it inside. He would part with the items in the scroll but in reality, none of them would be missed,

and most were never mine to begin with,' he admitted and with everything he came for collected or accomplished, Naruto headed back to the lift so he could drop off something.

x-x

Feeling Naruto head towards the lift, Plagueis moved back to his body and entered it. Standing up and coming to full awareness while shaking off any fatigue from just waking up, Plagueis readied himself for anything. Naruto had done something in the floor below and he wasn't sure what had happened but he could feel changes in what little he could inspect of Naruto's state of mind. Anxiety, elation, slight frustration, and then to controlled calm which prevented him from gaining anything else.

Arriving so late and during the night while going directly to his lab was very suspicious behavior to the Sith Lord. 'Perhaps I'm being paranoid, but If something similar is happening again, then I won't be caught unaware a second time,' Plagueis thought as he held his lightsaber beneath his cloak and was ready to also draw his sword, should Naruto arrive on his level.

As his student entered the lift, he waited but the lift never stopped and it continued up to the highest level of the tower. Curious, Plagueis contemplated following Naruto up and perhaps getting answers concerning the questions he had or at least finding out if Naruto was successful on Dantooine. As he followed Naruto's movements into one of the meeting rooms, he was surprised when the student he had been tracking simply vanished.

'How did he do that?' Plagueis questioned and sprinted to the lift, waiting a brief moment for it to come back down and then taking it back up to the top floor. 'A distraction? Did he find a way to keep himself from being felt by me?' the Sith Lord questioned as the door to the lift opened and he moved across the entry way and up the stairs to the meeting room. Hesitating at the door, Plagueis considered that it was a trap. Stretching out his senses and feeling through the Force, he however found nothing to indicate that he was walking into anything but an empty room.

Activating the door with the Force, he cautiously walked into the lit meeting room and looked around. At the round table, a single chair had been pulled out and he could feel that his student had been sitting there a moment before. Moving his eyes away from the vacated chair, Plagueis looked to the table and found a lightsaber on the table-space where the chair was normally pulled up to. Approaching the weapon, he again considered that it might be a trap so he lifted the weapon with the Force and carefully examined it before bringing it closer.

The weapon was simple and not decorated, making him think of it as the weapon of a Jedi more than the elaborate and decorated, but ultimately similar, Sith lightsabers. In the light, the first thing he noted was that it looked old. The metal casing was aged with a patina that was difficult to recreate through most means save for the passage of time. Bringing it a little closer, Plagueis used finite control of the Force to remove the outer casing and separate all of the component parts in order to further examine them.

A glowing blue crystal first caught his attention and as he looked to the other components he found they also appeared rather aged. Several pieces were very outdated, having been replaced in the past few centuries by more recent and efficient parts, 'But nonetheless, it is still a powerful weapon that could be easily used to great affect by one skilled in the Force,' Plagueis acknowledged and put all the pieces back together before pressing the activation switch.

The floating lightsaber activated and a blue blade hummed to life, casting a light glow in the windows around the room as it reflected back. 'It is very well made, if not perfect for our needs and requirements,' admitted Plagueis as he turned off the weapon and smoothly brought it to his outstretched hand.

Holding it made him aware that it was constructed for someone with larger but stubbier fingers as it felt slightly awkward in his long and thin digits. Still wondering exactly how Naruto had left, Plagueis pushed such thoughts aside as he contemplated what was happening, 'Is it a simple message of, I'm not going with you, or perhaps it's that he has something he feels is more important, though I still don't know what that is,' he guessed and knew he would be left wondering until Naruto returned.

It was obvious that they would meet and again and that when they did, a confrontation would occur. 'We can't keep avoiding each other forever. At some point I will question him about what he has been hiding and he will question me about everything else that he wants to know. Perhaps it's a good thing that he just left and we didn't confront each other now. I still don't know what all he'll ask, what I'll say to him or how he'll respond. I do know it will likely be much worse than when he found out I knew about his parents and kept it from him.

A part of me wishes that things could go back to the way they were, when I was simply his teacher and he was simply my student. It was easier then, I knew how he would respond and could tell everything he was thinking. At some point, he learned to start keep secrets from me and did an even better job at it than I ever did,' he confessed to an empty room before leaving back through the door. Moving to turn off the light, Plagueis decided not to and left it on as he headed for the lift. He had to be at Nar Shaddaa before the deadline and what point was there in leaving in the morning if he had the item he needed and could leave now. The trip would give him time to think and the business would provide a much needed distraction before he would have to return.