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.

33. Chapter 33

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

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35 BBY – Current Year

Chapter XXXIII

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AN: It has taken a very long time to write this chapter. I would like the thank the people that have reviewed and messaged because I have invested a lot in this story and it was foolish to just leave it at chapter 32 without trying to keep going. Hopefully it was worth the wait, if not….well I can't be perfect.

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Pieces of transparasteel rained down beside him while light from the morning sun glinting off the shards. It took a moment before the feeling of falling took hold and the Sith Lord righted himself in the air before landing hard on the green roof tiles of an offshoot of their castle. Ignoring the sounds of the impacting building material around him, he focused on the sounds of his assailant. Skillfully blocking the crimson and black blade, he used his sword to block the orange lightsaber and they struggled a moment for dominance before he was overpowered.

'He's stronger than I remember,' thought the tall Sith Lord as he pivoted to sidestep a swing and followed it up with a powerful strike that was parried. An exchange ensued and he found himself being pushed back by the fast and powerful style that he was up against. It was during the exchange that he looked upon his cloaked attacker and could make out the familiar features of marked cheeks and blonde hair underneath the hood.

The only feature that was quite out of place was the smile that the young man wore. It spoke of enjoyment, but more of a sadistic thrill pertaining to the fight and perceived outcome than any kind of humor or laughter. Though the Sith Lord would have loved to wipe such a smile off his student's face, he was standing off against a relentless onslaught of blows that was actually pushing him towards the edge of the roof.

Just as he believed that an opening had finally been found in his opponents guard, the figure jumped back and put some distance between them. Both weapons were let go of and hovered in the air while the cloaked figure simultaneously went through handseals. Realizing the perilous situation, the Sith Lord lashed out automatically by outstretching his hand and sending a single bolt of Force Lightning from four of his figures, while the thumb held onto the lightsaber.

As the lightning neared, the floating sword moved closer to the cloaked figure and the bluish dark-side technique arced into the weapon; quickly absorbed. The brief moment of recollection and surprise coming from the Sith Lord was enough of a distraction to complete the jutsu. As numerous green roofing tiles were lifted up into the air, the Sith Lord was again surprised by the use of such a simple jutsu. He had expected something more and would have used something different if their places were reversed.

As the large green tiles twirled and came directly at him, he cut the first few down, slicing through them with sword and lightsaber before stopping the remaining few with the Force. With the remaining tiles hovering before him, the Sith Lord barely had time to look at his still stationary opponent before another tile, hidden in the shadow of the ones he had stopped with telekinesis, continued on it's journey towards him.

As the tile neared, it erupted in smoke, which caused the Sith Lord torecognize the immediate danger and he lept backwards, using the Force to enhance his jump. A blade soon cut through where he had once been and somersaulting once in the air to briefly view his landing site, he judged the other section of sloping roof and landed hard, but controlled, on another area of the castle. The jump had put him at a lower overhang green tiles and looking back to his attacker, he didn't see anyone. Extending his senses, he tried to find his student with the Force but found nothing. Trying to track the blonde's life-signs also failed as he could not feel anything.

Calming his mind and keeping every sense active to detect the incoming attack, seconds passed with a gusting wind as the only sound on the roof before he felt a presence emerge right behind him. Instantly reacting, he swung around with his lightsaber and kept his sword ready to parry another blade. However, his attack only cut through the air and he found himself looking at a still empty portion of the castle roof. Though he could have sworn that his student was standing right on that spot, nothing could be felt through the Force anymore.

'I couldn't sense his life-signs,' the Sith Lord quickly realized and he knew that something had been used to trick him though, despite his vast knowledge of Force techniques, he knew not what it was. Several more moments passed before life-signs suddenly emerged from part of the castle outer wall behind him. The Sith Lord moved into action as he felt the attack cover most of the distance between them in but a single moment of time.

Striking out with a stab, his sword pierced the dark figure before he had time to even notice that it carried no sword and stood at his height. Surprised by the intrusion of a stranger, he looked underneath the dark hood and saw a familiar face but with features that he did not remember. The sulfuric eyes stared into his own and without thinking, the former Muun asked, "Why did it have to end up like this?"

"We're Sith, what other ending could there have been? One day you'll have to tell me how it feels to die twice," replied the figure, uncaring that he had just been stabbed and showing no hint of pain or worry concerning the injury. As the tall Sith Lord tried to make sense of what he was seeing and hearing, the figure of his student began dissolving into smoke.

'An illusion,' he realized too late, as during his distraction the life-signs of his student had seemingly appear just behind him with no warning. Before he could react, the tip of a blade emerged from his chest. A purple flame or energy radiated from the length of forged metal and the edges of the blaze were orange. It was amazing hot and even his Mustafarian body was no match for such heat as the area around the wound instantly turned to ash. He attempted to leave the damaged host body when extreme pain radiated from the wound but he found himself trapped, unable to separate his spirit from the Mustafarian. It was then he realized that not just his possessed body was in pain, even he, a Sith spirit was being hurt by the unknown flame covering the sword.

Trying to hold back the intense pain eventually failed as he yelled out. Unable to break free, he was helpless as his spirit was destroyed along with the possessed Mustafarian; seemingly burned from the inside out.

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Waking up with a start, Plagueis heard a yell and ignited his nearby lightsaber; brandishing it in the air and moving it around in front of him. The blood-red light from the blade filled areas of the cabin as he searched for an attacker or intruder but found none. He could feel nothing and only heard the standard operating noises of a ship traveling through hyperspace. It took a few moment as he stood and examined the room before he finally realized where he was.

'I'm on the Vulture,' he remembered and quickly recalled where he was heading as well as another important detail, 'There is no one else here with me.' It was a sobering realization that left him stunned for a second until he regained his senses.

"Lights," he calmly said and the two ceiling mounted fixtures in the captains cabin soon turned on, properly illuminated the room. Confusion set in as the Sith Lord tried to remember what had happened and what was happening. The humming of his lightsaber became the dominant sound in his ears inside the room. Looking down to the ignited weapon, he relaxed his grip and quickly turned it off before putting it on his belt.

'I was yelling,' he realized as the noise could not have come from anyone but himself and he soon found himself wondering, "Why was I yelling?' It only a took a moment before events soon flooded back to him. 'A vision?' he questioned, astonished because he no longer thought he was capable of experiencing a Force induced divination and also the fact that he couldn't remember what he had been doing before the sudden mental imagery entered his mind.

'Did I go to sleep? No...I don't sleep. Was I just meditating very deeply? When did I reenter this body?' he questioned before metaphorically tossing the inquiries aside to focus on the details of what he had just seen or rather, foreseen. The fight played back in his mind and he quickly identified the participants as well as the fact that it was fought on Naboo in their castle.

Sitting silently on the edge of the bed, Plagueis tried to calm the jumbled thoughts in his mind to review and commit to memory every detail of what he had seen. Once he was done, the Sith Lord was left with trying to figure out what he should do next. 'He killed me...or he will kill me...or he might kill me…,' the Sith Lord corrected himself before becoming immensely irritated and complaining out loud, "My first vision in years and it turns out to be one such as this."

Frustrated enough to stand and leave the room, Plagueis ended up not going to the cockpit to check the ship's status but merely began pacing along the Vulture's long central hallway. Sometimes the visions he used to have were straightforward but once in a while he received something that was entirely too vague to be useful, 'But useful enough to be dangerous,' he acknowledged while aimlessly walking.

What he had seen, showed him nothing of what he really wanted to know, 'There was nothing about a meeting or even words exchanged between us. I have no idea what was said, how we reacted, or what could have been done to prevent such an outcome. Does that mean that it is unavoidable and that there were no words, only a fight?' he wondered as the vision had seemingly started in the middle of a conflict or perhaps at the very beginning.

He would have liked to think that when he finally spoke to Naruto, it would start off a bit more civilized and they would actually sit at a table, 'Then it would probably devolve into a fight,' commented Plagueis sardonically and looking around the galley which he had stopped at, he found himself wanting to smash something. Refraining because he might have a use for the items found in the galley, Plagueis instead went to the hold. Seeing some large generic storage crates, and knowing he simply couldn't crush them because of the contents, he instead picked them up with the Force and threw them against the closest wall.

'That didn't help at all,' conceded the Sith Lord, looking over the items thrown onto the floor. 'What a pointless and barbarian thing to do,' he then commented while standing in the entry-way to the hold and tried once again to calm his thoughts and think rationally. Moving to the closest crate, the former Muun sat down as the hold door instantly closed behind him. He considered his options but found it difficult to focus.

'Perhaps the most frustrating part of the vision was the simple fact that I was beaten so easily. That was a very quick fight and with only simple tricks he managed to stab me in the back. I didn't allow him jutsu when we used to spar and it was always in a smaller room. I likely took every advantage that I could in order to keep from being overpowered, because despite knowing that I can still dominate him with technique in lightsaber combat, I doubt that I can keep up with him anymore in terms of speed or strength. I don't have the Force capacity, body, or connection that I once did so I'd likely lose unless I manage to catch him by surprise….,' he considered but couldn't finish the sentence with any certainty. He wasn't sure how potent some of his more powerful Force powers would ultimately be because he had always erred on the side of caution and never fully tested himself since taking either of his two host bodies

'There is no guarantee that everything or even anything that I saw will come to pass, but that leaves me with no sense of direction or plan of action for what is to come. I may be worse off now than I was earlier,' he realized and his contemplation was put on hold as he felt the Vulture exit hyperspace and enter realspace. Realizing that the ship was likely above Nar Shaddaa and being hailed for landing, he got up from his position on the crate and walked to the cockpit.

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In the Ibonihs System

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"If I may ask," said Kabuto before finishing the sentence, "Where exactly are we going to land?" he inquired of the shorter figure sitting in the pilots seat next to him.

"I believe that Orochimaru had an island hideout, somewhere in the collection of islands that is Water Country," stated Naruto and to which Kabuto nodded.

"That particular island is also in a rather remote location, if I remember correctly, so in conjunction with the natural mist in the area, we should be concealed," confirmed Kabuto. Studying the blonde for a few seconds, he wondered just how much of Orochimaru the boy had absorbed, drained, or whatever the end result of the failed attempt to take over the boy's body had brought about. He also wondered why Naruto didn't exhibit any of the healing abilities that the Snake-Sennin had cultivated from years of experimenting on himself and with white snakes.

'It's either indistinguishable from his healing abilities provided from being a jinchuuriki to the Kyuubi or perhaps something is preventing it from coming to the surface,' thought the white haired man but he kept his musings to himself and tried his best to hide his thoughts from the blonde. From the injection of Orochimaru's altered cells, he himself had gained nearly all of the Powers of the White Snake from his former master.

Pushing such thoughts aside, Kabuto focused on what would be happening next, which contained a few unknowns that he still wasn't sure about. Naruto had been tight-lipped the entire trip about what he planned but he had managed to put some pieces together. They were obviously going to Ibonihs but taking a route to one of Orochimaru's hideouts pointed towards Naruto planning something that needed both time and isolation in order to complete. 'We may be staying on Ibonihs for a few days or merely hours but going to that particular hideout is very intriguing,' he mused as it was the primary location where Orochimaru had experimented on himself in order to further his goals towards attaining his version of immortality.

'Add in the fact that the Clone is not dead and that I have been spending most of my time making sure all of its wounds are healed and I believe I can guess what he is after. A very...radical step, in an immoral direction, but if his seal is indeed starting to weaken then he must believe that such a measure is necessary,' Kabuto guessed but ultimately wondered why Naruto had brought along a storage scroll with him. The particular item was sitting nearby and hadn't left Naruto's side for hours while they completed the journey to Ibonihs. He had even seen the teen keep the item on his person more than once during the trip. It was important, though he knew not why.

His original thought, was that the scroll was empty and that Naruto intended to fill it with something. This was only enforced by the confirmation of them heading to one of Orochimaru's labs, which Kabuto suspected since the beginning of the trip. However, because Naruto was keeping the item in close proximity and combined with the fact that he noted that the blonde was gone for long periods of time, taking over one of the rooms on his ship and taking the scroll with him, 'The scroll is likely full of valuable items, but what he intends to do with the unknown items inside, I still have no idea. I'm also not sure if the Clone will live in the end or not.'

"You're awfully quiet," Naruto suddenly commented and Kabuto was slightly taken by surprise, though tried to keep from showing it as he was pulled from his thoughts. Before he could respond with anything, Naruto continued with the faintest hint of amusement, "Is there something on your mind that you would like to ask?"

Swallowing as his mouth seemed suddenly dry, Kabuto merely put on one of smiles before replying with, "No. I have a feeling that all, or at least most of my questions will be answered not long after we land."

Silence reigned between them for a time before Naruto suddenly said, "Prepare for landing," and he took the ship out of hyperspace. A familiar feeling of deceleration was followed by the cockpit window changing from the blue warping of hyperspace and into the sudden onrush of a blue planet and stars. What initially began as a small blue planet, quickly grew to mammoth proportions as they entered realspace close to Ibonihs.

Watching Naruto work the controls, he marveled over the ease and speed at which the blonde located the landing site with the instruments and took the ship on a heading that would bring them down right over it. His own handling of his own vessel was still a little clumsy in operation whereas the blonde had both experience and a seemingly innate skill at piloting.

The smooth journey quickly became turbulent as they began entering the atmosphere. Looking over the instruments, Naruto frowned at the conditions but it couldn't be helped. It was still midday in most of the Elemental Nations and even the fog of the landing site may not keep them from being seen. Adjusting his landing, Naruto didn't take his eyes away from his task but merely said, "We're going to drop pretty fast, prepare yourself," and that was all the warning Kabuto was given before gravity took control of the ship as Naruto powered down most of the technology that was meant for keeping the ship in the air.

The sudden feeling of falling came over Kabuto and his heart-rate increased while his ship moved through the layers of clouds that currently covered part of Water Country. A white out blocked any view of the planet surface for those in the cockpit but Naruto paid little attention to the view as he used the instruments and the Force to help him land the ship, 'We'll possibly be exposed to eyes on the ground for about twenty seconds given the terminal velocity of the ship and the height of the clouds,' he calculated and didn't like the numbers. If anyone saw the ship, it could put them at risk and he knew that he may not be able to be at full capacity after he went through what he had planned.

Twenty seconds was more than enough for prying eyes to catch sight and he couldn't depend on fog to keep anyone from seeing them if they looked up, 'We need more speed and some jutsu,' he thought before making a single handseal and a shadow clone appeared behind him. The clone said nothing as it moved through the ship and Kabuto turned to watch it go before looking back to the pilot and deciding that it was best to buckle up with the seat harness.

'Wise choice,' Naruto thought with a small smirk before using the maneuvering thrusters and reengaging the engines to stop the ship with a sudden lurch; letting it hover thousands of feet in the air. The possibility of leaving a vapor trail behind them was the main reason why he was letting the ship just drop but he needed more speed and a short burst would be better than constant usage. However, he still wanted more coverage for their descent and waited for his clone.

Below decks, the shadow clone went to the main lading ramp and extended it down. Looking out into the clouds, the clone stood still for a moment as the view was quite unique. The ramp seemed to extend down to the clouds as if he could walk directly out on stand on them. Getting a mental nudge from the original, the clone moved out to the end of the ramp and began making seals. The Nidaime Hokage could pull water from the air and since they were surrounded by water laden clouds, it shouldn't prove too hard to induce them to rain down upon the ground below.

Using the Force in combination with the jutsu that the clone was using, both Naruto began pulling a huge amount of water from the clouds but instead of pulling it to the clone to form a water jutsu, the pair merely let the water fall. This went on for nearly half a minute before they stopped. Starting a mental clock, Naruto broke his connection with the clone.

Based upon how long it would take for the water to reach the ground, he had a good window through which to use the thick downpour to help disguise the ship. It wasn't much but from a distance, a sudden but heavy rain could obscure the area between the clouds and the ground, 'Which should be enough for us,' Naruto thought as he counted down and prepared the ship's systems while also shutting off all landing lights.

Tilting the ship forward slightly, Naruto put his hand on the lever for the sublight engines, 'Not yet...,' he thought and then the moment came. Turning off the repulsorlift technology that was keeping the ship hovering, Naruto quickly pushed the sublight lever up for a brief burst from the engines before taking it all the way back down. The ship rocketed forward towards the ground and both individuals in the cockpit were pushed back into their seats by the sudden acceleration.

As the ship neared the falling rain and approached the end of the cloud cover, Naruto made last second checks, satisfied that they would enter the rain and be as concealed as possible. Breaching the clouds, water droplets covered the cockpit windows, almost completely obscuring the landing site as they entered the created rainstorm and continued their descent. With their altitude dropping and their speed changing very little, warnings and alarms began going off in the cockpit but Naruto ignored such safety features and focused on when to re-engage the engines to make a landing.

"Naruto," Kabuto suddenly said in a slightly concerned voice and to which said blonde responded, "I see it," as he indicated the obscured island below them that was quickly becoming larger. "Are you planning for an impact or a landing?" Kabuto questioned as his fingers clenched on the seats armrests and his nails dug into the material.

"A little of both," Naruto responded honestly as he shut off the annoying warning indicators to keep his focus sharp. Feeling that the moment was approaching, he prepared the engines and systems for a sudden stop. Tilting the ship with thrusters, Naruto engaged the engines at the last second and equalized their fall with propulsion and stopped the ship a few meters away from the top of the island. Both individuals sunk into their seats as the inertial compensator was unable to completely stop all of the created force of stopping so suddenly.

While Naruto reoriented the ship to properly land and deployed the struts, Kabuto felt queasy and released the harness that held him, moving out of the cockpit and towards the refresher, unsure if he would need it or not. For many minutes, it still felt like his stomach had moved to a lower position in his body, despite being positive that it was still in the correct location.

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Turning back to the ship, Naruto examined the scorched ground beneath the vessel from his abrupt landing and looked to Kabuto to find the him sitting on the end of the landing ramp, still looking slightly afflicted with an upset stomach. 'Guess he won't be giving me a tour right now,' the blonde thought before continuing his journey across the very small island that Orochimaru was using as a hideout.

The landmass was only a few hundred feet in diameter, and almost as tall as it was wide. The very top, where the ship was hiding, was covered by several large and overgrown trees that hid the ship enough from prying eyes. Though in the past ten or more years, the island was likely home to gruesome experiments, it had evidently been dedicated for use as a shrine at some point prior to that. The main building was run down but still stood on the southeastern face of the rock island with a bridge joining a separate tower that was affixed atop nearby rocks, similar to a lighthouse. The shrine was viewable on clear days by the nearby islands but currently those islands were blanketed with a moderate fog, their features only peaking through the veil. The shrine buildings however were of no interest to Naruto as he moved to the opposite side of the small rock island, the northwestern face.

As he approached what most would think was merely a drop-off to the ocean below, he looked straight over the edge to find a hidden cave, where several multi-story buildings jutted out from the rock, likely extending a distance into the core of the rocky island, 'Or perhaps the entire island was hollowed out,' Naruto considered as he didn't have a complete recollection of the island and it's features. 'And even if I did, it's interior has likely changed several times over the course of his usage for laboratory space,' he recalled and finding good areas to land on, he scaled down the side of the island in just a few short jumps.

Looking over the five story buildings, he wondered what might be of interest inside besides the task he had come to complete, 'I just hope it isn't a horror show,' he thought before yelling up to Kabuto concerning what he would need.

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"And you're sure...," started Naruto as he turned back to look at Kabuto before the white-haired man interrupted with confirmation, "...He's still sedated."

They stared at each other a moment with stern, unchanging expressions, before Naruto accepted the answer and they each went back to what they were doing. Kabuto was completing his treatment of the Clone's wounds while Naruto continued to study through scrolls of Orochimaru's notes concerning the Fushi Tensei. He was nearly done refreshing himself and recalling all that he could about the jutsu as well as any side-effects or observations that Orochimaru had noted during testing and usage.

Taking his eyes away from the scroll to rub the weariness from them, Naruto looked to the numerous tubes or tanks on the opposite side of the room and shivered slightly at the grotesque specimens inside. He wasn't sure if they were merely experiments or perhaps early trials during Orochimaru's quest for immortality, but adamantly acknowledged that there were some parts of the Snake-sennin's memories he simply never wanted to delve into.

The original Fushi Tensei was not something that Orochimaru had invented. Someone else had delved into such an immortality technique with some success before the Snake-sennin even contemplated it. After a long search, Orochimaru eventually rediscovered the old scroll and began making alterations to the process once he understood and could use it. Orochimaru saw the jutsu as not adequate enough and went to extremes to make the transition and takeover easier for himself, 'Apparently he foresaw the need to take numerous bodies before finally finding one that was his 'dream container'. He also planned for that container to be a willing sacrifice for him, allowing the takeover,' Naruto contemplated while reading through the many written paragraphs penned in a writing that was not his own but somehow familiar to him.

'I certainly won't be going that far or making such modifications to my body that I turn into some kind of parasitic creature. The basic usage and application of Fushi Tensei should be enough for my purposes,' he thought once again and looked back to the various scrolls. There was a lot of information present on the table but Orochimaru had never attempted what he was about to do and so there was no guarantee that it would work perfectly. Closing the scrolls when he was finished, Naruto went over to the apparatus holding his Clone and then looked to the matching apparatus that was for him.

It was essentially one of Orochimaru's examination tables, angled so it was almost perpendicular to the ground. Though he had further modified it in order to keep his Clone from escaping. 'To such a degree that even I wouldn't be able to escape from it,' he mused as he noted the fuinjutsu that spread over most of his Clones body and arms, which were held and fixed in a single handseal in front of it. Looking down to his own arms, he once again looked over the fuinjutsu that exactly mirrored what his Clone was sporting.

Moving to the opposite exam table, Naruto motioned to Kabuto and the man walked over in order to strap him onto the table and finalize the similar restraining methods that were used on the Clone. As fuinjutsu on him activated, Naruto marveled at how useful a juinjutsu or cursed seal was. With more practice and knowledge, the fuinjutus formula could be prepared beforehand and easily applied to someone else with a single touch. Then it would spread and enact whatever it was programmed to do, 'Which is currently to restrain a target movements. Although it only works on those with chakra, as that is what it helps to restrict movement, I'll definitely have to look into what else I can get it to do besides what Danzo and Orochimaru use it for,' he thought as he formed the same handseal as the Clone and felt himself becoming immobilized by the slowly spreading seal.

Calming himself and preparing for what was to happen next, Naruto's eyes looked to Kabuto and he telepathically said, 'Wake him.' Kabuto was slightly surprised at the voice that had suddenly resounded in his head but quickly took out the proper hypoinjector and put it in the Clone's neck. In a few moments, he heard the Clone groan and start coming around.

'Am I dead?' wondered the Naruto Clone as he started opening his eyes and seeing a room with blurred features. He didn't quite recognize the location but as it started to come into focus, his eyes soon caught site of the large tubes in the room and it took a few seconds for him to realize what he was looking at, 'Oh fuck, this is so much worse thank being dead,' he thought upon seeing the grotesque snake hybrids. It was only then did he realize that other, living people, were in the room as well.

He tried to move and even attempted to get into a fighting stance but found that his body would not respond. 'You're finally awake,' chastised a voice that he recognized as almost identical to his own; only the tone was not one that he had yet to use. Analyzing his situation, he was confused to find his genetic double in almost the exact same situation, or it appeared as such.

'Your chakra has been sealed and with your hands in that position, almost all of your Force abilities will not work. I've made sure that neither of us will be able to mvre or act until the right moment, so now we can begin,' Naruto explained and his eyes glanced to the waiting Kabuto. The man began moving Naruto's confinement table closer to the Clones so that they were no more than two meters or so apart.

'Begin? Begin what?' questioned the Clone after he found that he couldn't move his mouth to speak properly. 'You don't know?' questioned Naruto and his eyes showed slight amusement at the thought of his plans not being completely figured out by someone that had almost all of his memories. As he watched his Clone struggle against his bindings, he decided to elaborate.

'I've prepared everything to use the Living Corpse Reincarnation technique,' he revealed and the Clone's eyes widened in trepidation at what Naruto was planning. Seeing the look made Naruto want to roll his eyes before he decided not to keep his Clone completely in the dark. 'Relax,' said Naruto in a placating manner through telepathy, 'I won't be devouring your soul, at least that is not my intention, but I will be taking your body, temporarily.'

It wasn't until the Clone realized the unique handseal that his hands were forced into making that he finally put together the last piece of what Naruto had planned. 'Yes,' the original blonde haired ninja confirmed, 'We're both going to be using the technique at the same moment. You and I both know what would happen if I tried to remove the Kyuubi from me, or if my soul left this body, so I'm doing the next best thing. I'm hoping that it will work the way that I want it to but even Orochimaru never tried something like this...we're in uncharted waters now,' he explained and could see his Clone struggling to think about a way out of his current predicament.

As the Clone began looking for a way out, Naruto decided to dissuade such thinking and continue with their mostly one-sided conversation, 'I'll take your body and you'll take mine. It's not even a fair trade as this is mostly in your favor,' he said while Kabuto finished preparing something which the Clone ignored for the moment.

'All because you won't go back to the village, or even just ask Jiraiya for help?' the Clone demanded to know and Naruto narrowed his eyes before admitting, 'Honestly, I'd rather die than give up my freedom or ask such a person for help. Though admittedly, I don't have much of a choice anymore but this is the best alternative for my situation,' and the Clone glanced down towards the seal on Naruto's stomach as he tried to remember how bad the seal had deteriorated. Once his gaze returned it was met with a much more serious and determined look from Naruto.

'He's really going through with this,' realized the Clone and since he couldn't seem to find a way out, all he had left was to try and talk some sense into his brother, 'If you do this, you really will cease being Uzumaki Naruto. The Kyuubi and being a jinchuuriki are the last things left that define you. Leaving that body entirely, I'm not even sure what that will do to your mind,' he said, trying to persuade the blonde.

'It can't be worse that realizing you're only a clone of someone else,' Naruto commented before contesting, 'All I'm really hearing from you is that I'll have a fresh start, in an unburdened body and a new location. Besides, I'm not really all that attached to my name anymore. So unless you want your soul to be devoured or to devour mine, I suggest that you use the jutsu when Kabuto removes the fuinjutsu that is sealing your chakra. Is this really so bad? You get to pretend to be me, go back to that shitty little village, and can try to convince them that you're not the fox. I'm giving you exactly what you wanted,' said Naruto as he began molding the necessary chakra for the kinjutsu knowing it would be more difficult for himself than for the Clone.

'It's not what I wanted, it's what you should have wanted and...' but the Clone was cut off as Naruto knew exactly who the Clone would bring up to try and persuade him, 'Whatever it was that they wanted for me, I doubt they considered that everyone they trusted would turn their back on me. I was made a sacrifice to those that were completely ungrateful and undeserving. Unknowingly, I lost everything that day, and for what?

All their fellow ninja and friends would shun me, as would their children to some degree, and the person they chose to be godfather would forget any and all responsibility. I guess both of us were rather fucked over from the start but if you want to return to all that, then the best of luck and may the Force be with you. My name and life are yours and for the time being, so will be my burden,' Naruto said derisively and as he was about to give Kabuto the signal, the Clone interrupted him, 'Orochimaru inhabits other people's bodies with that technique for only a short time. What about degradation?'

Naruto looked inquisitively at his Clone trying to see if he was just stalling or actually concerned before he answered, 'With the healing ability that will soon be coming your way, I doubt you will have any problems. I don't have any other options available right now. At some point, nothing I place over this seal will stop the Kyuubi and I don't have anything or any way at the present to control him.'

'And what about you?' asked the Clone as the original intention of his question was not out of concern for his own well being. 'I'll survive. I'll always survive,' Naruto plainly said telepathically before continuing, 'And I do remember saying this will be temporary,' Naruto alluded to before adding, 'The moment you feel your chakra come back, I suggest you use the kinjutsu, otherwise terrible things will happen to at least one of us and likely the village as well if my prisoner escapes.' he explained before calming himself and extending out his mind.

Though difficult to send information besides just a voice, Naruto found it much easier to provided his Clone with the necessary contents of the jutsu scroll. He had memorized the details in the old parchment and the technique, though a kinjutsu, was surprisingly easy to use. The basis of the Fushi Tensei jutsu was in some ways similar to a Yamanaka clan jutsu before Orochimaru found it and changed it to suit his purposes. With the information disseminated to the Clone, the original waited for his counterpart to go over it all before he was confident that things could proceed.

When Naruto gave Kabuto the signal, the restrictions on the doppelganger's chakra were suddenly lifted. As both original and clone molded the correct amount of chakra and activated the same kinjutsu out of self-preservation, they were not completely prepared for what happened next. Two souls and a collection of primarily yin chakra left their corresponding bodies. As they traversed the short distance between original body and new host, the two brushed passed each other in an indescribable feeling of familiarity and yet foreignness. The moment was very brief, right before they each entered their new body, which was not a very pleasant experience and both lost consciousness.

x-x

Looking back and forth between blondes, Kabuto was concerned about the results. Both were just starting to come around after having, what he hoped, was successfully completing the kinjutsu. The only problem was that he didn't know if it had worked or not. Normally the jutsu was performed by a single person and they forcibly moved their soul to another body, whereby they were forced to dominate the will of the other while slowly consuming their soul and taking over. Orochimaru had greatly streamlined the process to make it happen almost instantly, 'But this is different. If timed correctly, neither will have to deal with each other or struggle to dominate the other's will at all. They will essentially enter a vacated body and swap. If it works,' he thought as the seconds counted by.

Putting his hands in a simple seal, Kabuto attempted to differentiate the chakra of the two blondes in front of him. He did have some chakra sensor ability, certainly not anything compared to Karin but as he searched out the chakra signatures in the room, the Clone's was beginning to feel more like Naruto and Naruto's old body was starting to feel different. 'How very interesting. I could actually see the chakras as they left the bodies but lost track of them as they moved into the space between,' thought the white haired medical-nin and he wondered what all had transferred during the kinjutsu, 'Just the soul and some chakra or perhaps it was just chakra,' he mused, unsure of the answer or what constituted a soul. He had never been very involved in the development or application of the jutsu, he had primarily mainly helped Orochimaru recover and modify the new body.

It was at that moment that one of them opened his eyes and began looking around in a dazed and confused state. Wary of getting any closer, and feeling a slight twinge of phantom pain from his wrist, Kabuto remained where he was with two hypoinjectors of powerful sedative in hand and simple asked, "Which ship did we come here in?" The question would only be known by Naruto aas the Clone shouldn't know the answer, at least he hoped. As an added measure, Kabuto began thinking about Naruto's ship as much as he could in case his mind was being read.

"Yours," the clone blonde was the first to respond before adding, "And I piloted it as well as landed it. You almost threw up."

Kabuto suppressed a sigh of relief that the process had evidently worked and that the real Naruto had regained his senses first. Taking one of the injectors, Kabuto quickly jabbed it into the other Naruto's neck. Though a medium to high-range sedative, the drug was not quite enough to put the jinchuuriki body completely unconscious but enough to make him subdued.

"Get me out of this Kabuto," Naruto commanded and Kabuto quickly began undoing the various fuinjutsu that had been placed. Taking his first steps in his new body, Naruto quickly reached out for Kabuto's arm and the white-haired man helped to steady him. The process had evidently taken a lot out of him or both of them, so he used Kabuto to help him walk towards the Clone now inhabiting his original body.

The Clone was struggling to stay conscious and he knew would have glared at him if it could have. Smiling at the success of the jutsu, Naruto put his hand down to his stomach and for the first time since being made aware of it, felt no seal or biju inside of him. His smile only increased until he winced in pain from the previous and still not completely healed injury to his jaw. 'An injury that I myself caused,' he recalled before turning his attention back to the Clone.

Reaching out with the hand that wasn't holding onto Kabuto, Naruto pulled a nearby scroll into his hand with the Force. Moving to seal the scroll into the storage seal on his former bodies arm, Kabuto stopped him, "You probably shouldn't try using your chakra just yet," the man warned and took the scroll while moving Naruto closer to a nearby worktable so he could lean on it.

Though still immensely curious about what was inside the scroll, Kabuto carefully sealed it into the sedated Clone's arm and moved back from the Clone to help Naruto move a little closer. The blue eyes Naruto could see his reflection in were dulled but he knew that the clone would be listening to what he planned on saying and would be able to recall everything later.

"I'm leaving that scroll for you, you'll need everything in it if you really wish to go back to the village. Just remember what you said during our fight, I'm not Naruto anymore, I'm Menma or Rasen, you choose whichever you prefer. In any case I won't bore you with details. I'm sure you'll be able to work things out on your own, I know I'm not stupid. But remember, despite what threats they may make, they can't very well kill you unless they have a new host lined up to replace you and I don't see that happening. Subtly remind them of that when you face the shinobi council. Also remember what Orochimaru did with Danzo and their relationship. That old war-hawk will be your most immediate problem besides the current Hokage and Jiraiya," explained Naruto before saying one last thing, "I'll see you in a little while, brother."

In what was possibly meant to be a set of reassuring pats to the shoulder of his Clone in farewell, with his current motor controls was more of a series of light and awkward smacks to the shoulder, and with that Kabuto helped Naruto walk out of the facility, leaving the Clone still trapped for the moment.

"That last part was horrible wasn't it?" Naruto asked of Kabuto and the snake-like man agreed saying, "Not your best moment."

"I feel so weak right now, that was all I could muster. Should I have laughed manically or something?" Naruto asked as he carefully gauged his steps on the cobblestone floor, to which Kabuto responded, "That may have been overdoing it, though it always seemed to work well for Orochimaru. Do you even have a maniacal laugh?"

"Take me to the ship," was Naruto command of a response as he dodged the question and Kabuto merely chuckled, "You'll have to work on it," as they slowly made their way outside.

x-x

Nar Shaddaa

x-x

Handing the small case over to the feminine Hutt, Vago, Plagueis waited for the contents of the case to be revealed to Popara. As all eyes moved towards the container, he wondered if the elderly Hutt would take the lightsaber out of the case to activate it or not. Given how much the older son Mika was eying the object with evident desire on his face, it was more than enough confirmation that the first-born would indeed be the recipient of the weapon.

Popara's large eyes widened upon seeing the lightsaber up close, possibly because his eyesight was bad enough that it needed to be that close for him to properly view the item at all. Giving a slow and deep laugh at the presented lightsaber, the Hutt promptly asked, "But does it work?"

All eyes moved away from the case and to the lone figure that stood out of place in the Hutt dominated room. Not perturbed by the question, Plagueis motioned to have the case brought back to him, to which Vago first looked to Popara before being given a nod to proceed. Sliding back to the tall figure, the shorter Hutt presented the case, to which Plagueis only removed the lightsaber and held it out for all to see before turning on the activation switch.

Just as it had before, the Jedi-styled weapon ignited instantly with a familiar sound and a slight blue hue appeared on the few reflective surfaces in the room. The four present Hutts were amazed at the weapon he held but it was more commonplace for him and had lost any wonder that it once had. Turning off the weapon, he placed it back in the protective case and waited for the others to finish gawking over the lightsaber before concluding the arrangement.

"As I have completed my part of the agreement, now I would like you to listen to what I have to say..." put forth the secret Sith Lord after what he deemed a patient and polite wait for the Hutts, though the older son's eyes were still fixated upon the case and had likely tuned out everything he had just said.

Popara merely nodded and motioned for him to continue and fulfill their agreement. However, there was no guarantee that the Hutt would want to deal with him after learning what he had to offer as the month worth of work was merely for the chance to explain the opportunity. "My Ward on Naboo has come across some information, specifically the location of a planet that has been lost to the greater Galaxy and Republic for over three thousands years," he began his proposal with, planning to instantly catch their attention and let their minds run wild with possibilities.

After a brief pause to make sure that they would be hanging off his every word, Plagueis took out a datachip from beneath his robe and handed it to the majordomo, Vago. The feminine Hutt took the chip and placed it into a nearby slot, adjacent to the controls for the rooms holographic projection systems. While the lights dimmed, Plagueis began to elaborate, "Telerath was once a prosperous vacation spot for the Old Republic's wealthy but more than just a normal vacation world, it once held the headquarters of the Telerath Interstellar Banking Initiative."

Seeing that he was still holding the attention of the Hutts in the room, even the seemingly dimwitted son Zonnos, Plagueis continued, "It was here, thousands of years ago, that large corporations and trusts helped finance a banking initiative that was considered very experimental. Customers and clients of the bank were guaranteed to meet with a sentient, living bank representative.

They could walk into the bank headquarters whenever they please, without a scheduled appointment, and could speak with as well as get financial advice from a competent banking professional. Each customer was treated with respect no matter how little they had in their accounts, being given every accommodation possible to make their banking experience far different than the faceless digital systems that the majority of the galaxy is familiar with," he said as images of the planet in question filled the darkened room.

No information was given on the system or sector where Telerath was as that was not something that he would give the Hutt until he knew Popara was on-board. When images of the banking clan headquarters, taken just months prior during Naruto's survey of the planet surface, began showing for all to see, Plagueis continued to provide some history on the planet, "Unfortunately, though the initiative progressed, so did the current war with the then prominent Mandalorians. Shifting front-lines warranted the abandonment of Telerath by the majority of the population and despite the planet remaining untouched during the remainder of the war, Telerath and the bank never flourished again. It has remained slowly crumbling due to the passage of time and the encroachment of nature."

Plagueis remained silent after his last sentence and let a slide-show of surface holovids start playing that featured many of the very large and once quite impressive hotels, mansions, and other vacation buildings on the planet. Some of the residences were castle-like buildings that took up entire small islands while others were side by side with other residences on larger archipelagoes. Though the focus was on the architecture and buildings that still remained after such a long passage of time, he also wanted the Hutts to get a feel of the landscape of Telerath. The background of the presentation showed a mostly water covered planet that featured a tropical climate with thousands of island chains and a few larger landmasses.

Waiting for the most impressive part of the presentation, Plagueis watched as the holovids switched to a single archipelago which they had determined was called Noua. That particular chain of islands was almost completely developed with medium-sized, extravagant residences right on the ocean front and it was full of casinos, shops, and other businesses all garnered toward individuals accustomed to a very luxurious lifestyle. There were even still large sail barges in front of most homes, though many were repulsorlift and had sunk once the power of the reactors had been drained.

When the presentation ended and the lighting in the room began turning back on, Plagueis waited for initial reactions. Normally he would be able to get a good idea of what his potential business partners were thinking but Hutts were always more difficult and sometimes almost impossible to read. He was however not surprised when Popara asked a question, 'And what is it that you would have me do for this proposition? What is my role?' he inquired.

Choosing his words carefully, Plagueis responded, "While I could advise my charge to sell the planet for a sizable amount, it would be much more profitable to redevelop. Though old, there is billions of credits worth of property, for sale or rent, present on the planets surface. The bank would also provide a more long-term investment that relies upon Telerath becoming what it once was and regaining prominence as a vacation world for the wealthy of the galaxy. All that is needed is rehabilitation because the majority of buildings are still intact.

Your role in this endeavor, should you choose to be a part of it, would be to help gather investors and be part owner of the planet and the banking system. My role in the discovery is more as a silent partner with equal distribution of the income but you, Popara, will be the face of Telerath. A successful and prosperous business man, free of any criminal background and actions typically associated with the majority of Hutts, but looking for an incredible and profitable endeavor to secure your position in the Anjiliac Clan history and for your sons. You have a great many connections in the business and financial world which will be needed for undertaking such a large scale project.

We not only need financial backing but also to gather up many influential people and build interest in Telerath. I believe it would make an ideal location as a tax haven. Within the Republic's borders but not aligned or a member of the Republic. I also hope that your involvement will attract more than just the Anjiliac Clan but other Hutt Clans as well."

Mulling over what had been said, Popara entered a state of deep thought during which he considered possible angles and problems associated with such a huge undertaking. The cost would be immense and failing could spell ruin for his credibility, but the thought of owning an entire planet was hard to ignore. Hutt Clans owned planets but few individual Hutts owned their own vacation planet. His memory quickly turned to the recently departed Jabba, who had basically owned all of Tatooine, 'However Tatooine is far different from this Telerath,' he acknowledged but also considered the person that he was dealing with. Such an interesting idea also fit with his personal motto that he had held throughout his life, which was that legitimate business could be more profitable than illegal dealings which the majority of his race was heavily involved with.

Damask had been a very prominent person and while there was the one instance of problems, the lightsaber had now put right any past issues. 'I don't know how he obtained the item but it must have been at great personal risk to himself. Especially considering the restrictions and monitoring by the Jedi,' the elderly Hutt thought but his mind turned to what Damask's part in their partnership would be. 'Silent, I as I imagined it would be,' the Hutt thought but his wide mouthed twinged at the edges. If anything did happen, he could always find out who wanted the Muun dead and provide them with his whereabouts, for a price. Then the planet would be completely his.

He also had to consider not only his own position or Damask's, but the others close to him as well. 'It would put the Anjiliac Clan in better standing, both in the galaxy and with the other Hutt Clans,' he considered and looking to his two sons, he knew that it would be nice to have something else to leave behind for them. Trying to split the company he had built or choosing one son over the other to take over was always in the back of his mind as his age increased and he approached what was considered 'old-age' for a Hutt.

Coming back to the room and the waiting looks of his sons and Vago, Popara decided that a few minutes would not be enough to make a proper decision. "I need time," he responded to the waiting group.

"Take all the time you require and if you would like to arrange a personal visit to the planet, let me know," replied Plagueis smoothly, knowing full well what the Hutt's answer would be and he bowed before being escorted out. 'He'll say yes, of course, but it may take a week or more for him to finally come to that decision,' thought Plagueis as contemplated the situation. 'I stand to make billions on seeing this deal through to completion. Reviving Telerath would not only give another place to make a base but also allow funneling of money, and yet….I feel nothing. No hubris or satisfaction from winning over Popara and making the first step towards such a large project,' he analyzed, as the lift arrived at his floor. The more he considered it, the more all of his thoughts were pushed aside to focus on Naruto and Naruto alone.

'Will I be waiting for him to return? Or perhaps he is there now, preparing for me?' Considered the former Muun as he walked to the ship.

x-x

"You know, in this position I find myself wondering if your actions were beneficial to you or not," commented Kabuto as he walked to the ship. Riding on Kabuto's back because his legs had suddenly given out, Naruto embarrassingly asked, "Why piggyback?"

"Would you prefer princess-style?" Kabuto asked as he stopped, making Naruto believe that he was seriously asking the question and expecting an answer. "Hell no," Naruto quickly responded and soon decided that it shouldn't matter that much to him, but that didn't stop the fact that it did matter. He objected to being treated like a kid but knew he would have to put up with it until they got to the ship.

'Why do I feel so weak right now?' he questioned as only a few steps out from the facility and he had nearly collapsed in exhaustion. 'Perhaps it is just the body itself, mine has mostly recovered from the fight but this one is likely still experiencing chakra exhaustion,' he considered and frowned at the thought. In a few years, he may have to switch again, 'But in a few years, that Clone may be able to accomplish something. He'll probably learn everything that I need him to learn and some things which only he can,' he thought with a wry smile as Kabuto walked up the ramp and made for the cockpit just as the rain decided to start again.

Settling into one of the cockpit seats, Naruto closed his eyes but remained aware as Kabuto started up the ship's systems and began the take-off sequence. A small smirk formed as he correctly anticipated how long it would be before Kabuto asked the question that he knew had been on the white-haired man's mind for several days.

"What did you put in that scroll that you sealed into the Clone's arm?" Kabuto suddenly asked as the ship began hovering just a few meters above the rock surface while the docking skids retracted; right before they left the island behind and moved for the rain clouds above.

"Has curiosity finally gotten the better of you?" Naruto replied back, opening one eyes to look at the fellow ninja sitting diagonally from him in the double pair of seats in the cockpit.

"A little," Kabuto admitted truthfully and he waited to see what Naruto said.

"I gave him certain items that he would need. Items that I no longer have a use for," revealed Naruto though he remained rather vague in his wording.

"Do you expect him to accomplish something on Ibonihs?" Questioned Kabuto as although he would have liked to find out more about the items in the scroll, he found himself interested in the new information.

"Yes, that is the plan that I came up with after fighting him on Dantooine. I expect him to use what I have given to the fullest and possibly more than that. When we meet again, I will then have access to all of that knowledge," Naruto informed the snake-like man and Kabuto quickly asked, "Won't you have to fight him for it, I doubt he'd give you anything willingly?"

"That won't be hard to accomplish," said the blonde as he found a comfortable position in the chair and relaxed. Kabuto remained quiet and simply waited the few moments that it took before Naruto continued to explain, "If he really does seek acknowledgment from the village, he'll undoubtedly form attachments to the villagers or merely certain members of the village. So, either way I'll have more than enough to use as leverage to get what I want. I'll have the Galactic Advantage."

Sated enough and seeing that Naruto was slowly starting to drift off to sleep, Kabuto considered the last part of what the blonde had said. He wasn't positive on what it meant, but he supposed that Naruto was referring to something like, 'the high ground,' or any other tactical advantage, 'But it probably just allows him the option of bombarding the village from space,' he thought and shook his head slightly before plotting a course back to his medical academy.

x-x

Somewhere in the Cularin System

x-x

Watching what would have been a touching communication between parents and child for most people, the dark figure completely ignored the conversation and pointless emotions while concentrating on a separate monitor. The second monitor showed the progress of the more sophisticated tracking program and equipment that he was now using to trace the signals origin. Only the light from the monitors filled a portion of the room and partially illuminated the cloaked figure sitting in a chair.

Dr. Shilaea Motacc had recently been communicating with her parents at least once per week and that was providing the opportunity for him to pinpoint the source of her signal. His previous equipment was unable to determine where the signal was coming from so he had trashed it while enraged and upgraded to something better. Not that he would admit to it, but his knowledge of such monitoring devices was limited. However, acquiring the equipment on the Black Market and then installing the required device at the array where Dr. Motacc' parents lived was easy for him.

Curiously, despite a high expense, all that the previous equipment was able to do for him was provide the same error code every time that he tried. Given that the device came with no manual, he was forced to confront the seller only to find out that the signal was too far away for it to track.

'Too far away,' the man repeated in his head angrily with his jaw clenched and he looked to where the new program was tracking the signal as it moved through the network of subspace transceivers. His jaw relaxed as the signal tracking progressed farther than the previous equipment, passing the edge of the Mid-Rim and into the Outer-Rim. Leaning forward with a smirk as he believed the search was finished, he waited for the origin to be displayed. Going through sector after sector of the Outer-Rim, Nalvas was surprised as the signal was not coming from any of the more well known sectors and as it neared the edge of the Outer-Rim, showing no signs of stopping, his eyes widened.

Passing the edge of known space, the signal kept going and eventually stopped in an area of Wild Space, closer to the edge of the Galaxy than to charted space. Though the location surprised him, he found himself even more perplexed at what the program was showing him. The signal was not originating from one location in that area of space but from multiple areas all within a large region the size of most Sectors.

'Some type of signal scattering device?' he wondered, unsure if that was the case or not as he had heard of such devices but never used nor witnessed them working. Taking a deep breath and then exhaling he contemplated what to do next. Dr. Motacc was outside of known space, several thousands parsecs away from the ends of either the Corellian Trade Spine or the Hydian Way. There were no minor hyperlanes near that area that he was aware about.

'Wait until she comes back?' he first thought but that was not something he was willing to do. Dr. Motacc could be at, wherever she was, for a long time. Again the thought of finding someone else came to mind but he instantly pushed that aside. And then he heard a familiar phrase, "...once in a lifetime opportunity…," came Dr. Motacc's voice on the split screen monitor with her mother. The utterance caused Nalvas' visage to again become one of anger.

It was those exact words that the woman had used when describing his offer for her to work on. Continuing to glare at the screen, even as parents and child said goodby and the screen went blank when the signal was terminated, certain information kept revolving around in his head.

Despite monitoring three conversations, he had yet to get any details about what Dr. Motacc was actually doing or who she was really working for. All he was able to gather was that the person was some noble on Naboo, which he had to look up because he simply didn't know where the Mid-Rim planet was. 'How was this person able to steal her away from me. We had an agreement that she easily broke to take this person's offer, none of which was something I even considered possible in my plans,' he thought as he reviewed what kind of person he knew Shilaea to be. It was also obvious that she wasn't being forced to be wherever she was. 'What was it again?' Nalvas questioned himself, trying to remember how Dr. Motacc had put it, 'She was thrilled to be there.'

Such recollections only infuriated him more as he debated about what to do next. 'With whatever device is being used to scatter the signal, searching for her in such a large region of uncharted space is nearly impossible,' he concluded. It would require him to hire scouts that would need to chart a safe path to the region and then explore the region.

Such an endeavor would take months, if not longer, and would used up most of his funds for his project. Scouting uncharted regions of space was not cheap, in fact, it was exorbitantly expensive and exceedingly dangerous for those willing to attempt the mission or request. There were also legal ramifications to discuss if the scout discovered something of interest or found new planets with valuable resources. In short it was an asteroid field of a problem and one that he would rather steer clear of instead of trying to venture into.

Finding or narrowing down the signal first and then charting a course to that location by himself was, by far, the more economical choice. The combination of hyperdrive and a good navigational computer were capable of making such journeys, they were still dangerous and could take weeks to safely navigate but doable if he had coordinates of an end destination. 'Obviously someone was able to go there, otherwise she could not have made it safely,' concluded the Dark Jedi and looking to the equipment and readings from the signal tracking, a small smirk formed on his face.

'If my understanding and thinking is correct, such a signal scattering device does not hide the origin of the transmission, merely obfuscates it among numerous fake possibilities,' he thought and realized that he simply needed to wait. 'The more she speaks with here parents, the more I can narrow down the real location of the planet she is on, and then it only becomes a matter of fetching her and making her fulfill the agreement,' he thought, sitting back in his chair a bit more comfortably as some of his tension eased.

x-x

Ibonihs

x-x

As the room finally stopped spinning and everything came back into view. A young blonde looked around the laboratory he found himself in and once again shuddered at the sight of the creatures in the tubes adorning one of the walls. The action brought about a strange sense of dejavu and he quickly began recalling the events from before he was sedated.

'We switched bodies,' he remembered and memories of the out of body experience caused by the jutsu soon flooded back to him. The feeling of leaving ones own body and then traveling to another was not something he ever wanted to do again. Looking down at his confined body, the Clone-turned-jinchuuriki tried to distinguish any differences between his former body and the new one he currently found himself in.

With the aftereffects of the sedative still wearing off, he couldn't be sure what he was feeling and there was a strange sense of detachment, as if he was unsure what was real and if he was perhaps dreaming. 'I am really here and in a different body,' he began convincing himself, partly to calm down but also to keep himself anchored in reality. 'Now I need to get out of here before anyone shows up,' he thought, pushing all other feelings of unease aside in order to focus on something productive which currently involved removing his restraints.

Finding that most of the fuinjutsu had already been removed, it wasn't actually that hard for him to get free. However, as his feet touched the ground, a sudden sense of weakness made itself known and he used the nearest solid object, to brace himself. With a simple glance to the upright table, formerly the confinement device that he was leaning against, something on his own arm caught his attention.

'I now have that storage seal on my arm,' he realized but what he was really noticing wasn't its presence but the fact that something seemed to be sealed in it. Eying the seal for a few seconds, he wondered if it was safe to unseal it or not. His mind thought about a trap but that really didn't make sense, 'He's already let me go, would he really seal some kind of trap into my arm?'

Deciding that it couldn't hurt to see what was there, he made a single handseal and focused on the seal. Catching the scroll before it fell to the floor, the jinchuuriki carefully opened it on a nearby table. Ignoring the storage seals he could plainly see, he focused on the handwritten note was that placed at the very beginning of the scroll.

Picking up the small piece of parchment, he straightened out the note which had become curled from being rolled with the scroll. 'I won't be needing these anymore. Make use of them,' was written in a handwriting that was easy to recognize. Frowning at how the wording sounded like an order or a command, 'Rather than being what? Helpful?' the jinchuuriki instantly questioned himself and though very suspicious, he took a look at the various storage seals in the scroll.

Though the short lettering on each storage seal was not descriptive enough to tell him the contents, while running his hand over the seals, he had the distinct feeling of knowing what was in most of them, despite having no memories of the scroll being made or filled. 'These are all things that he stole from Konoha,' he realized and was rather surprised that his genetic duplicate would part with the items.

Sealing the scroll back in his arm, the jinchuuriki looked around the laboratory once again. 'Now the question is, where the hell is this place?' he thought while scratching his head, trying to recall all of Orochimaru's hideouts and their approximate locations in relation to Fire Country.

x-x

In transit to Naboo

Days later

x-x

Moving into the refresher, the blonde groggily said, "Lights." The effect was instantaneous and blinding to his darkness adjusted eyes. Squeezing both eyes hut, he quickly amended his command, "Reduce lighting." The second effect was also instantaneous but much more welcomed than the first as the lighting had dimmed considerably. Opening his eyes, he stared into the mirror of the washroom.

Looking over his familiar features, he noted the ones that stood out the most. 'Same face,' he said to himself, while looking over the upper part of his face before moving to the cheeks. 'Same marks,' he noted while tracing a hand over the unique markings and it was then that he noticed the next feature. 'Same scar,' he said while looking away from the mirror and down to the hand that bore the burn mark from the orange crystal.

'Same hands, same feet, same height, same DNA,' the blond began in litany, while getting more aggravated with each item he mentioned because their similarity or exact match, did not ease his symptoms. "Then why am I feeling like this?" he questioned to the small and empty washroom. He had woken up and been unable to fall back asleep, seemingly plagued by an inability to slow down his elevated heart rate, anxiety, 'And something else,' he thought before finally being able to put it into words, 'I'm not sure if this is real or not and there is a sense that something is wrong.' Thinking over the symptoms, he determined what it was. 'A panic attack,' he said to himself and despite wanting to cast aside such a condition as nonsense, he knew that if he walked down to the medical droid, that would be the diagnosis that it would give him.

'I'm supposed to last for several years like this and I'm struggling to cope for a single week,' Naruto thought as he sat down on the floor of the small room. Leaning his head against the wall, he had an errant thought that perhaps his statement was wrong. 'I didn't feel like this for the first few days of travel,' he recalled and it began to dawn on him that perhaps the recent body transference was not completely to blame for his current dilemma.

'It only started as the ship got closer to Naboo….no,' he interrupted his own train of thought, correcting himself, 'As I got closer to Naboo.' Naruto sat in silence, both in the room and in his head, for several minutes before deciding that he needed to get up and go back to his cabin. That, however, did not happen, primarily because he simply didn't get up from his sitting position on the floor.

He was alone on Forty-Two, after having summoned the ship from Dantooine for his usage. No one else was around to speak with, not that he would share any feelings with them anyway. 'I'll go back to my room and keep trying to fall asleep. When I wake up in the morning, everything will be fine. This anxiety will have gone away,' he thought but after several seconds, he found himself questioning, 'Will it, though? Will everything be fine in the morning? I'll be back on Naboo before noon.'

'Maybe I don't go back to Naboo,' he considered, mulling over the sudden thought of changing course completely and not having to deal with what was coming. Taking a deep breath, he suddenly realized that he didn't need to use such techniques anymore to calm himself down when he started feeling irritated or the slightest bit of anger. 'I can feel as angry as I wish without repercussion. There is no longer a huge creature sealed inside me. I don't have to worry about the weakening seal. He should have no reason not to train me fully and I would like some answers to the questions that I have,' he thought with finality as he decided that the refresher was simply not a place that he wanted to fall asleep in or wake up in.

Picking himself up off the floor, Naruto made his way through the dark corridor of the ship towards the captains room, intent on trying to fall asleep and gather his thoughts for the confrontation in the morning.

x-x

Naboo

x-x

Experiencing taste through someone else's body while possessing them, simply wasn't the same as actually tasting, thought the Sith Lord for what felt like the thousandth time since once again being subjected to the physical demands of a body. Putting down the utensil and then pushing the plate forward to let the servant droid know he was finished, the Mustafarian finished chewing the food before swallowing.

'Years spent as a spirit, requiring nothing to eat, drink or feeling any normal bodily functions has possibly spoiled me...or perhaps this current existence is just too dull and numb for me to consider myself still among the living. Even after over a year, it still feels rather foreign to be required to do such things,' Plagueis thought while glancing out the window at the cloudy Naboo sky. Recalling the climate of the Mid-Rim planet, he wondered if the rainy season would start in the next week or so.

'A storm in the more metaphorical sense is also on it's way and yet, I'm rather calm,' noted the Sith Spirit and he put his hands together in a more contemplative position. It seemed strange to be so calm at that moment while his trip from Nal Hutta was full of so much unease and trepidation. 'Perhaps it has to do with the fact that I have already died once,' he considered but recalling the vision, his death had looked a little more permanent than merely the death of the physical body. 'Simply too many unknowns to heed such a cloudy vision of a possible future,' he reminded himself about the vision and pushed the memories aside.

'The others have also been avoiding me,' he then thought, turning his contemplation towards his recent observations, which seemed far more tangible. Thinking of the many members of their group, his gaze idly moved out to the landscape of the planet that was easily viewable from the tall tower. They had been distant for a while, though increasingly so as of late, 'Probably since Naruto left and I took over the Black Sun mission,' he believed, thinking back to when he noticed them starting to act a little different around him. There was always a distance between himself and the others but after the mission, it had become much greater. It was likely not a building mutiny, but definitely a lack of trust in his leadership. 'Their allegiance is shifting... or perhaps I merely misled myself to believe I always had it,' the Sith Lord considered.

Since his vision had not included the group members, he had put them to the back of his mind for the moment. 'But that is perhaps foolish. I shouldn't put so much belief that what I saw is set in stone, but it is definitely hard to ignore at a time like this,' he thought, unable to prevent memories of the vision from resurfacing and it annoyed him how easily he had let the recollections push their way back into the forefront of his mind.

It was during his brief irritation that movement caught his eyes. The appearance of the recognizable ship caused his body to momentarily tense and he watched it descend as it slowed to touch down on the towers landing pad, out of sight from what the window and his current perspective could see.

"And so it begins," he commented out loud to an empty room but what exactly he meant or what would be beginning, not even he really knew. Preparations had been made as he had nothing but time since his return from Nal Hutta. Almost everything else had been ignored or pushed off. Turning away from the window, he looked back to the door at the opposite side of the meeting room, the presumed opening that Naruto would enter through.

A lightsaber was easy to hide on his person and beneath the dark cloak that always clung to his borrowed body was that particular weapon; out of sight but not out of reach. His sword was more difficult to hide, especially when seated so it was not on his person. Leaving it propped up against the side of the table or perhaps his chair armrest was far too great of a threatening posture to project upon the one that he waited for. 'If I start our meeting showing that I expect a fight, then I will more than likely just end up in one,' had been his thoughts on the matter and so with the help of technology, the weapon was magnetized to the underside of the table. The force required to free it was just higher than it's own weight so the weapon could be easily removed and wielded.

Various traps had also been considered; a pressure sensitive injector in the back of the chair Naruto would sit in, a small explosive under the chair, or perhaps a group of assassination droids that will at least provide distraction enough for me to get the upper hand. Ultimately, they had all been rejected, 'Because I taught him all of the tricks that could be used or that I know of, which means that he can anticipate anything that I would think to use,' the Sith Lord admitted.

Using a member of the group against Naruto was also out of the question, 'Attempting to get them to act against him would be difficult and could easily backfire. I also had to consider Naruto using them against me which is why I made sure to monitor their locations. If they get close to the meeting room, I'll know about it,' he thought as he waited for his student to reach the floor that he was on.

A sudden errant thought went through his mind again of, 'Why has it come to this? Or really...the better question is, how did I let it get to this point?'

Mustafar was the last time they had truly had something akin to a quarrel. 'It was settled then, wasn't it?' the Sith Lord questioned of himself but the more he thought about it, the more he began to realize that it had been a whole year since that moment. 'No longer bound to mortal body, I suppose I have lost a sense of time. What has happened to to him since then?' he found himself wondering as he pieced together the bits and pieces of what he could recall between long gaps spent behind closed doors in his laboratory level of the castle.

When he had looked through all of his recollections, it became readily apparent that he really hadn't spent much time at all with Naruto. 'Did something happen during those times? Could it have been while on Dantooine or one of the missions he was on?' he questioned but really, he had no idea all of the places that Naruto had been traveling. There were unexplained gaps in travel logs that he had downloaded from their ships and times when it shouldn't have taken his student so long to travel between the destinations that he was supposedly heading.

'When did I lose control?' he inwardly questioned but soon thought better of another foolish question, 'I never really had control over him. I have had too much on my mind to even think about constantly monitoring him. In the beginning there was trust and loyalty that I instilled and built upon, concepts completely foreign to me, but he has starting doing things on his own and without me. Or perhaps it is I that broke that trust. I am unaccustomed to having such a dynamic with an appren….student', he admitted.

'Perhaps there is nothing wrong with him,' the former Muun then considered. 'Is it merely history repeating itself, as it often does, due to my own folly. Perhaps doing everything in my power to reign him in is what leads to the vision,' he thought and again admonished himself for thinking there was any truth in the vision once again. 'In any case, I will do nothing until the moment that he walks in. I should be able to determine his state of mind at that point,' he finally concluded and waited patiently as he could finally sense his student's approach.

x-x

Walking to the turbo-lift after entering the familiar castle, Naruto absently waited the few moments until the doors open as he focused on what he would say or what he could say. 'I can get angry and voice my real opinion or feelings without worrying about losing control or holding back my emotions, but I should still remain calm. Going on a rant or looking like a petulant child will only make me look foolish,' he reminded himself before stepping into the elevator and absently, he reached down just slightly behind his back waist and then glancing quickly to the seal on his arm where both of his weapons were hidden and then he felt he was ready to go upstairs.

It wasn't until he was inside the turbo-lift that a sudden thought hit him, 'And yet, though I think of this as merely a meeting, I plan on entering the room fully armed as if preparing for a fight,' he realized. It was a disturbing scrutiny and the thought didn't sit well with him. 'Would it come to that?' was what he found himself again wondering. Despite the thought, he had no doubt in his mind that Plagueis was similarly armed. 'How messed up is that?' he thought and the corner of his mouth twinged slightly in a grim smile before he erased all emotion from his face.

'Whatever happens, will happen, I suppose,' he concluded as the door opened to the uppermost floors where the meeting rooms were. His stealthy footfalls were the only sound in the quiet entryway and though he could not see his Master, he knew before he even landed where the Sith Lord would be waiting. Glancing at his chronograph as he walked toward the set of stairs to one of the higher meeting rooms, he noted that he was later than he expected to arrive.

Standing at the doorway, just far enough away to not let the motion sensor activate, he tried to relieve the tension in his body and thoughts in his mind before entering. Though he had prepared a litany of items to speak about, the mental list was suddenly misplaced. The setback however, would not stop him and he cautiously stepped forward into the immediately opening door.

x-x

A familiar blonde stepped through the doorway and stopped to look at the person sitting across the table from him. Neither occupant of the room noticed that the door quickly shut and a moment elapsed before Naruto was the first to speak, "I thought I would find you here."

Without letting a second pass, Plagueis abruptly responded with, "You made me wait." The comment was more to get a reaction out of the blonde, almost as a test to see what would happen. He truly didn't care that Naruto took longer than expected, nor had they really set a time for his arrival or the meeting for that matter.

"I was busy," was the only response that the blonde gave and he looked towards the nearest seat as he moved to occupy it. The comment caught the Sith Lord slightly by surprise though he didn't show it. He had expected a slight bit of anger or frustration from the blonde but all he was getting was a perfectly composed individual with little to no hint of emotion; either negative or positive.

'Curious,' thought the Sith Lord and for a moment, as he felt out with the Force, he thought for an instant that the person before him was not Naruto. There was a definite difference between what he could feel and what he remembered the blonde felt like. Something had changed, though even with the Force, he could not pinpoint the alteration. 'It is Naruto, though,' admitted Plagueis as he watched the blonde take a seat directly across from him.

'He came with no weapons,' Plagueis noted based upon what he could see but he knew that the blonde simply made sure there were none to be easily seen. Pushing the observations aside, he decided to speak first.

"Perhaps there is something that you would like to tell me, specifically with all the side activities that you have been working on in secret?" Plagueis inquired and expected no answer, nor gave the blonde the opportunity as he continued, "A profitable shadow port doesn't seem to be the only reason for your frequent trips to Sarafur. With the sheer number of surveying drones that you've purchased in the last year, I would think you plan to or have already charted and documented every inch of an entire sector. Not to mention the purchases of mining drones, various building materials, energy collectors, large molecular furnaces, and oddly enough, aquatic equipment."

Naruto was slightly surprised by the information that Plagueis had gathered but the Sith Lord kept going with an explanation, "I had time while you were away to sift through your transmissions and interactions. Upfront payment to a scientific expert in planetary propulsion for what I would guess is a contract for some kind of design. You've also been reading up on species in the Moddell Sector and I think you plan to finally do something with at least one of the Tessents. The base on Mustafar had been producing modified battle droids until recently, right before you contacted Gato and switched it over to mass production of construction and mining droids. I don't remember ever discussing this change.

I'm also confident that you've burned through all of the money that you found in Jabba's vault on the Star Jewel," and at the slight surprise that Naruto showed, he added, "All of the large Ubrikkian yachts have hidden vaults. Though it did take a while to remember that I had never checked inside. And now I feel you are currently broke or nearly to that point. In fact, I'm willing to bet that you've spent every credit of the secret funds that you've been hoarding from various side projects. Although, given the purchases and going by a rough estimate, I would say that not even the vault could have possibly covered this which makes me wonder where you have been getting millions upon millions of credits. I can only hope that you haven't been borrowing money from anyone.

How much have you spent in the last year?" was the question that he concluded his lengthy statement with. The fact that he was a Muun for his entire life and money being a very important topic for that species, Sith or not, he wanted such a question answered first and foremost before the others.

"Around 59 million Republic Credits or equivalent," was Naruto's direct and quick response and it was now Plagueis' turn to show a slight amount of surprise.

'Was that an accurate number?' inwardly questioned the former Muun as he quickly began trying to account for the discrepancy from the number he had in his mind and what Naruto had just said. 'Where could it have all come from?' he wondered as not all of their mining on Mustafar, nor the payments from the Black Sun for their work could have equaled to such a sum. It made the Sith Lord question what the rest of the money was spent on or even where it was spent.

Having already regained composure from his momentary lapse, there was more that Plagueis wanted to know, "I won't believe for a single moment that you only plan on expanding Mustafar and I'm certainly not stupid enough to even think you would want to try and build up Sarafur with all of the equipment you have been buying. I also know that very little if any of this equipment would be geared towards our project on Telerath. The more I look through the lists that I've gathered, the more curious I get and it makes me wonder what exactly my student could be up to?' he posed and before Naruto could wonder how close his Master would get to the real answer, the Sith continued with, 'So, tell me, what are you building in the Kuna Constellation?"

Hiding his surprise at having a good portion of his plans so accurately guessed, Naruto found himself unnerved and oddly embarrassed at being so transparent. 'He does not know everything, but still, he has managed to put together such a deduction,' acknowledged the blonde and he decided to respond in kind and barter the answering of questions with answers to questions of his own, of which, he also had many. "I will certainly tell you all about the Moddell Sector, if you will be so inclined to tell me about a few of your side projects?" he smoothly inquired and when Plagueis made no move to interrupt or change the current flow of conversation, Naruto continued.

"I find myself wondering whether last year, while looking to unload those weapons, if Tatooine was really the best place to do so?" Naruto began and scrutinized his Master's composure, attempting to feel any change through the Force. "At the time, I knew little of the Galaxy but now, looking back, I feel as though it was an incredibly poor choice. Dealing with the Hutts would be difficult at best for a novice and I was nearly killed. I believed it was my fault for the debacle that ensued but I think that perhaps I was merely thrown to the wolves, so to speak, while you busied yourself with something more important?" Naruto explained and ended his sentence with a questioning glance at his Master.

There was little change in Plagueis, though that was more than enough for Naruto to tell that the Sith Lord was getting a little uncomfortable and so he pressed on, "A little digging was all it took," he began and did his best to hide the half-truth, given that Kabuto had informed him about everything later, "….to find the name Skywalker."

Revealing the name had caused a definite change inwardly for the Sith Lord but no outward change could be seen. Even his breathing was still the same but Naruto had definitely come upon something important and he decided to press on.

"I was, and still am, very curious to know how this seemingly normal single mother and son could make you take all of us to Tatooine in order to check in on them? I would have thought it a lie had I not found that, in the past year, you have been keeping quite a close watch on them from afar. It really makes me want to know what interest they hold and why seeing them was more important than the safety of the group?" the blonde inquired.

Plagueis was quiet for a few moments as he planned what he should say. Though it seemed, based upon his words, that Naruto was still angry with him about the matter, or holding a grudge, he believed differently, 'He is extremely curious about this and I'll need to answer,' he decided.

"They are….," and the Sith paused for a brief moment, "...an old experiment of mine that I thought was lost or failed. I admit that I did take everyone to Tatooine in order to look into it but I had no idea what events would transpire. I trusted that you would work through whatever happened but it was a poor plan to make any transactions with Jabba. There were other, better, options," the Sith Lord admitted and Naruto was slightly taken a back by the honesty and how forthcoming Plagueis was being.

An experiment was not exactly what he was thinking, 'Although thoughts of her being a mistress and having a love child did seem preposterous. The years also didn't match up,' Naruto confessed and although he was still a bit irritated with the debacle that was Tatooine, he let it go for the moment.

'This prying of secrets from each other is not the heart of the matter,' thought the Sith Lord as he contemplated Naruto's current state of mind from what little he could glean. Whatever Naruto was planning in the Kuna Constellation was not the reason for their drifting further apart and could not possibly have caused him to see a vision after so many years of inability to divine anything. 'We are not resolving anything of substance. There is something much deeper that he is hiding from me,' he concluded and wanted to know what it was.

"Is that all you wanted to know? If so, I expect you to be answering all of my earlier questions, in full detail," said Plagueis as he tried to elicit a more productive response from his student.

'Oh there's more,' thought a more irritated Naruto and he began with, "We have become complacent." Though it was stated as if it referred to the entire group, Plagueis could easily see what Naruto was really saying.

"After Tatooine, it was decided that we would remain inconspicuous for a while in order to plan and find out what is going on in the Galaxy. I have yet to hear any plan or even the start of a plan," Naruto began explaining and his voice began to raise in volume slowly as he spoke.

"We are in hiding…," Plagueis began before he was interrupted by his student, "Are we in hiding or are you in hiding? No one is currently looking for us anymore. How long must we sit idle? We constantly gather data from Coruscant but use none of it to our advantage. We sit and we listen and we wait but nothing ever comes of it," Naruto said scathingly.

Waiting a brief moment to see if anything more was said, Plagueis responded, "We sit because it is best at the moment. I still do not yet know what Sidious is up to and trying anything would be foolish. I am still in a less than adequate body to do anything with."

"Are you avoiding conflict?" questioned Naruto as he outright ignored the explanation that Plagueis had given. The question stopped Plagueis as his thoughts went back to the teachings he had given Naruto many years previously on being a Sith. "No, I am not avoiding anything," Plagueis responded forcefully but he could feel that Naruto did not fully believe his words. "Is this what you have been up to, making your own plans in the Moddell Sector?" questioned Plagueis.

"No, I have been wasting my time as a security guard for Naboo and a little more than a dog for a Black Sun Vigo. We should be running the Black Sun, not working for them or anyone else," argued Naruto in an angry but controlled voice.

"Those were necessary and you can't very well control anything without having all the necessary information," Plagueis replied back.

"Sometimes action is required in order to keep from stagnating, no matter the cost," responded a very serious Naruto as he hoped to spur on Plagueis to finally take some action.

"That is a dangerous manner in which you speak, especially when you don't fully know what you are doing. For a thousand years the Sith have remained hidden from the Jedi," Plaguies once again informed the blonde.

"A thousand years is a long time with nothing to show for it," Naruto fired back.

"I will not have my student be the Sith that undoes everything, no matter what Sidious is doing right now or how much it seems that we are doing nothing," stated Plagueis with finality but Naruto was not at all thrilled with his words .

"I see….so we are both Sith then, are we not?" the blonde questioned and Plagueis became confused, thinking to himself, 'A strange question.' Naruto heard the remark due to the Sith Lord's lapse in concentration and asked mentally, 'Is it?'

'No, I don't suppose it is,' the Sith Lord thought after a moment, when he finally began to realize what Naruto was getting at. They had finally arrived at the heart of the matter and he wished it was not something that he had caused. 'Inevitable though, it was,' he acknowledged as Naruto simply asked, "Am I a Sith?

Plagueis noticed without the use of the Force that there was an anger behind his words but also an expectancy, 'As if he is perched on an edge and waiting to fall off or remain safely balanced. I'm sorry Naruto,' he thought, 'I can't lie and give you back your balance.'

"No, you aren't truly a Sith," admitted Plagueis, "A dark-side user, but not a Sith."

It was a disturbing revelation for the blonde shinobi. There was a sinking feeling in his stomach before Plagueis even answered the question. He knew what the answer was but that meant that he no longer knew who or what he was anymore. 'How did the Clone come to that conclusion and I didn't. I don't understand? why am I not understanding?' Naruto raged inside his mind.

For Plagueis it was difficult to see his student so distraught after years of seeing the normally confident youth. His hand was holding onto his half-hidden sword as he expected the blonde to unleash an onslaught upon him in response, but nothing came. There was hatred and disappointment as well as other emotions. 'I can't tell whether he is feeling these towards me or himself, or both,' acknowledged the Sith Lord and he had no idea what to do next or what Naruto would do. He half expected the emergence of the creature sealed inside but nothing was happening, 'Strange,' thought Plagueis at the observation but he was quickly brought back to the present by another question.

It was voiced in a softer voice but it held no less fury than if it had been yelled at him, "You lied to me."

"I merely left things out," Plagueis responded but quickly thought it a futile statement, 'There wasn't much difference, I've only tried to foolishly placate him with empty words.'

"Of my training or my instruction?" Naruto asked and he looked up directly at Plagueis expecting an answer.

"Both," Plagueis truthfully responded and the effect on Naruto was nearly that of being struck both physically and mentally. No longer looking at the Sith Lord, Naruto's eyes trailed down to the table but his mind went elsewhere through a disjointed series of different thoughts.

Plagueis' attention was briefly taken away from his student as he noted changes in the room. Several of the transparasteel windows in the meeting room flexed as if vibrating or being stressed to nearly beyond what they could handle. He could feel the Force being used and, glancing back at Naruto briefly, he realized something, 'He doesn't know that he is doing this but he is subconsciously harnessing the Force,' the Sith Lord noted.

Merely been a spirit still inside his holocron, he had noted something like it before back on Ibonihs but had not investigated or looked into it further. Now with a body and midichlorians to use, 'I can feel it now. He's projecting his emotions outward instead of inward; into inanimate objects as if infusing them with his negative emotions to try to alleviate them instead of merely harnessing them to make himself stronger or fuel his rage. How unique and impressive,' he thought as he watched the material begin cracking.

Though he believed nothing would come of it, the only thing Plagueis could think of doing was saying, "I'm sorry, Naruto."

The words actually took both of them by surprise. Plagueis did actually mean them and it was the first time he could ever remember apologizing to someone and actually meaning it. The straining and breaking transparsteel was suddenly safe for the moment as Naruto's attention focused on Plagueis.

Silence reigned until Naruto decided to end it, "Why not train me in full? I can still become a Sith, can't I?"

"Though you have never fully embraced the dark-side, I have thought about it," the Sith Lord admitted out loud and as Naruto continued to talk about it, Plagueis found his mind wandering away from the conversation entirely. 'Throwing away those rules and just training you as my apprentice, however I'm not the same person I once was,' he thought while glancing away and when looking back, he no longer saw the older Naruto sitting across the table from him. The teenage blonde was suddenly changed back to the small boy who he used to teach in the mind-scape. The who would listen to his lessons about the Galaxy, enraptured at his every word and constantly asking questions. It actually made the Sith Lord smile slightly. No sooner had the young blonde boy smiled back then he had inexplicably shifted to the figure in the vision and the smile had become grotesque.

"I know there is more to the dark-side than what you have shown me…." and before Naruto could explain all that he wanted, Plagueis interrupted.

"I refuse," stated the former Muun absentmindedly and though it was in a low voice, it cut through the room and Naruto's sentence, leaving only silence for a few moments.

"You can't? Or won't?" inquired an angry Naruto.

"I won't," Plagueis simply replied.

"Why?" Naruto asked in a deadly voice and Plagueis waited a moment before responding, "I never told you what it would entail to turn completely to the dark-side. I taught you differently out of self-preservation. I broke the rules to continue my existence and return myself to how I was, something which I am still failing at. It was selfish but I also feared you. You, with that creature sealed in your body. Turning you completely to the dark-side, I don't know what could have happened. You could have destroyed yourself or consumed the entire the Galaxy."

Without stopping and letting Naruto explain about recent events involving the seal, Plagueis quickly continued, "Even if it weren't there, I still won't do as you ask. Perhaps when you were younger I could have taught you how a Sith apprentice was supposed to learn but now that I see what I've created, I wouldn't wish that upon you and you wouldn't want it. I also don't want to die, not again. So here we unfortunately are."

"I don't understand what you're saying," admitted Naruto as he tried to process everything and make sense of it.

"No, you wouldn't, because I didn't want you to. I clouded your reasoning and judgment to better suit my purposes. To make you compliant. I could just explain everything to you, but I'm not sure you would accept the reality that I was telling you. Or you just wouldn't believe what I was telling you was true. You wouldn't accept what it means to be the Apprentice to a Sith Lord. Nor do I want another Apprentice. I only wanted a student this time," he finished and took a break to let the Mustafarian body breathe.

Naruto was rather dumbfounded as he had never seen Plagueis ramble before and couldn't comprehend most of what was being said by the Sith Lord. "What am I supposed to do then?" was the only thing the blonde could muster in response.

'If he stays, it will only end badly,' Plagueis thought but soon had a notion, 'So don't force him to stay.'

"If you are intent on finishing your training, you will have to find out for yourself what the dark-side truly means because I will take no part in the path you are choosing. Just remember, the choice is ultimately only yours to make. Others may persuade you with empty words laced with poison. You may follow them, see logic in what they say, or be tricked by them but remember, ultimately it is you that will suffer from your choices and not them. Please Remember my words and hopefully heed them when the time comes.

"What are you saying?" asked Naruto as he leaned forward in his seat, resting his hands on the table.

Sighing slightly, Plagueis turned away from his student and looked out the nearest cracked window, "I'm asking that you discover the answers to your questions, elsewhere," he reiterated.

"You won't answer any of my questions or train me further?" asked Naruto and the reply was simply, "No, I won't."

"And you're telling me that I should leave?" asked Naruto incredulously, unsure if he was hearing his Master correctly.

Turning back to Naruto, Plagueis said, "No, I'm asking that you listen to the Force and see where it guides you. Though I don't know how long such a journey will take. The group will be fine for the short term and I will make up something to cover with your duties on Naboo."

"I don't know how to do that," Naruto admitted and then explained, "The Force has never guided me. It doesn't speak to me like you always used to talk about."

"Perhaps we just haven't been listening properly or just don't notice how it guides us, but it is still there. You have a large enough amount of Midichlorians so you will never be away from the Force or its influence," Plagueis offered as advice and ended the meeting knowing that Naruto would not be staying, "I will be waiting here for when you return, no matter what mindset you return with."

Seconds passed as Naruto stared at the Sith Lord across from him before he realized that the meeting was over and that he should leave. Still struggling to come to terms with everything, his feet swiftly took him out of the meeting room while his mind was elsewhere. It wasn't until the turbo-lift doors shut and he was asked to choose a floor that he realized he was leaving more than just the meeting room.

x-x

Stopping on the level of his lab, the lift doors opened but Naruto remained standing in the lift. 'Where am I supposed to go?' he wondered, lost in his thoughts and it took a few seconds for him to realize he should start by getting off the list. 'I can't settle for being incomplete. I can't accept that. What else does he expect me to do?' wondered the blonde as the dark-side was all that he had known. How to harness the light-side was not something he had ever been taught, 'Nor, is it something I want to do,' he thought as he absently walked to Tanmatsu and the Star Map set up in the room.

The device activated upon his movements and lit up the entire Galaxy for him to look at. For the first time since leaving Ibonihs on the starship, the entire Galaxy was open to him. He could go anywhere and it was something he had only dreamed about being able to do with all of the responsibilities that had been thrust upon him. It was truly freedom, and yet, "I have no idea where to go," he admitted, looking over the various Rims and Sectors of the Galaxy. They were all there, merely too jumbled together to properly see given how zoomed out he was on the hologram.

If it was the dark-side that he wanted, then the obvious choice was Lehon given how entrenched the planet was in the dark-side, 'More than any other planet I have been to, by far,' Naruto recalled but there was nothing there. 'I have everything that was there,' he thought while glancing at the Rakatan computer terminal.

'Maybe he knows something?' thought a desperate Naruto and he moved away from the Star Map to the computer. Upon his approach, the computer terminal welcomed him and Naruto bowed slightly as the device was ancient and deserving of some respect. "Tanmatsu, what can you tell me of the dark-side?" Naruto asked and he was unsure of what

"You have asked a very general question, perhaps it is best to narrow the perimeters," the computer suggested to him in Rakatan and Naruto nodded slightly as he mostly understood what the machine was telling him.

"How does a person fully turn to the dark-side?" Naruto decided would be his next question. The computer analyzed it's information storage systems but ultimately came up empty with an explanation for what Naruto wanted, but it did have however have something that could help, "The only example I can provide is in the form of a neural pattern scan from the being known as Revan," it informed him and Naruto perked up at the mention of the name.

"Show me," was Naruto's response and he looked to the Star Map which changed to a different hologram, one showing scans of the same brain, or he assumed it was the same brain.

"On his second visit to the temple, I noted the following changes to the neural patterns of Revan from the ones noted during his prior visit. Because I received so few visitors, the difference seemed significant and noteworthy," Tanmatsu informed him and Naruto merely nodded while examining the two scans.

The hologram noted many differences from one brain to the other but that merely left even more questions for him, 'So it's all in your head? How does that work? Is it just a manner of thinking? I still don't understand,' he admitted and thought of something else to ask.

"Were there any other differences noted with his body?" and the computer quickly began listing off extremely minor small differences, in weight or heartbeat and other bodily functions, none of which were something he was hoping for.

By the time it finished, Naruto had thought of something better to ask, "Do you know how the change occurred?" and he was quite interested to hear the outcome.

"Unknown," Tanmatsu stated and when it could tell that this wasn't what he wanted to hear, it added, "This was also a factor in my decision to document the change."

"How does a scan of my brain compare?" the blonde quickly asked next.

"Your neural patterns are unique from both, there are similarities but also differences," Tanmatsu noted after it scanned him. "Which one do I correspond better with?" Naruto then inquired and the machine only a took a moment to process the question before responding, "The original scan of Revan."

'Well at least that makes sense,' the blonde thought before having another idea, "Have my...neural patterns changed since you first met me?" He hoped that the new question would give him something to go on or at least prove that he was becoming more of a Sith as time passed.

"Only a marginal change is noted. I am concluding that this is due to your current state of confusion," Tanmatsu informed him and Naruto slumped slightly.

"Could you put back up the Star Map," Naruto asked and immediately the hologram of the Galaxy reappeared. "If I was a Sith or looking to become a Sith, where I would I go?" Naruto absentmindedly said out loud as he didn't have an answer.

"If you were of the Sith species, you would exist on Korriban or one of the other habitable planets in what is known now as the Stygeon Caldera," Tantmatsu answered him and Naruto halfheartedly smirked as he hadn't actually expected the machine to answer him.

"I detect no genetic material of the Sith species in you," Tanmatsu continued and Naruto's eyebrow raised at the information. 'I didn't know he could do that,' he commented before decided to ask, "And just what genetic material do you detect in me?"

"You would be classified as Human, more closely relating the Seoularian offshoot than those from closer to the core of the Galaxy," Tanmatsu informed him and that last part had definitely caught Naruto's attention.

"Do you understand the language of the Seoularians?" Naruto inquired and Tanmatsu responded with, "The basic workings of their written and spoken language have been documented in my data banks."

'Well, shit. Do I send them to Dr. Montacc or just let her work it out on her own?' Naruto wondered as he tried to determine how the amateur archaelogist would respond to his sudden and inexplicable knowledge of a dead language that few have ever seen, 'Not well, I'm guessing,' he thought and decided against sending her anything at the moment. 'Perhaps I should visit there soon,' he concluded as he just couldn't find the revelation that interesting or deserving of his attention at that moment. There was so much else to focus on and deal with to let his mind delve into such a topic.

"Display all worlds once occupied by the Sith species and Sith organization," Naruto commanded to the ancient machine and the hologram soon changed to reflect what he wanted, however, Tanmatsu informed him, "Data is incomplete."

"For which field?" Naruto asked as he thought he knew but couldn't be sure what all Tanmatsu had access to or information on. The computer terminal did have access to many of the Republic databases through the holonet.

"Sith Organization," Tanmatsu quickly replied and Naruto knew that the lack of information made sense. There were numerous worlds that were once occupied by the Sith at one time or another and many had likely been occupied multiple times. It was obvious that some of this information had either been lost or not put into databases accessible to the public, so Tanmatsu obviously wouldn't have most of it. 'Most of information Plagueis has is still in tomes, isn't it?' he wondered as he recalled that they had brought numerous volumes from the old hideout to Naboo, all of which were currently a level above him.

'Has any of it been digitized,' he wondered as he knew that Plagueis had numerous droids up above him that were working on various tasks around the clock. 'It couldn't hurt to check,' he thought and looking up to the ceiling directly above him, he used the Force to remove a few of the ceiling panels, which had been previously loosened and removed.

The now missing panels revealed an area of the ceiling that had been drilled through to access the floor above. It was only a small hole, no bigger than this hand, but he had used it to tap into the computer terminals that were on Plagueis' floor. Attached to the terminal above were several wires that culminated in a single terminal port which he used the Force to pull towards him. Taking out his data pad, he connected the wires and quickly sliced into the computer systems. Looking for anything connected to what he wanted, he soon found that nothing seemed to be in the databanks concerning what he wanted. 'I will have to go up and look through the books to get what I want,' Naruto realized and disappointed, he found himself aimlessly checking on what Plagueis had been up to. 'I did take the time to slice in, after all,' he thought until he actually found something interesting.

Recently, Plagueis had been doing a very vast search through every accessible, and mostly inaccessible data bases for a single word and a geo-scan. 'He was trying to find a match to a name and also match a geo-scan to existing scans,' Naruto found and it greatly peeked his curiosity. Hours of time had been devoted to the search for, 'Mount Tantiss,' Naruto repeated to himself as he tried to determine if he had ever heard the word before. Looking at the geo-scan, he found the screen too small and so he transferred the file to the Star Map.

As soon as it had loaded, a large mountain appeared from the holographic emitter. It was only the mountain though and nothing was provided to show where it was on a planet or even what planet it was on. Naruto looked over the geographic feature and noted the existing structure present in the mountain as well as the composition of the mountain and its' size. Zooming in on it, he examined a small base that had been built into the mountain. It had several floors and he recognized certain areas like living space and a generator room but nothing could tell him what the facility was used for. 'Or how old it is,' he realized, 'It could been years old of thousands of years old and from a completely different era.'

Though the earlier information about him being of Seoularian descent had not interested him that much, this facility for some reason had. 'Where did this information come from?' he found himself wondering and back tracking through all of the work that Plagueis had been doing, he looked at various shell companies and fake names until he was finally able to see the recipient and the sender.

'It came from Sidious,' he realized and the recipient was a company that didn't recognize but since it had 'excavations' in the title it was safe to assume that it must be some kind of contractor or building company. Coming to the actual document that was sent, he read through and was interested to see that it was a request for quotation on excavation work. The geo-scan was attached to the document and provided enough information for a company to quote the work, 'But have no idea where the work is being done,' Naruto noted and then looked back through the amount of work that had to be accomplished in order to arrive at the document. 'This must have taken Plagueis hours to go through and track. Did he find anything with his searches?' Naruto wondered and glancing through the various searches, everything had come up empty.

'So Sidious wants to excavate a large area inside the mountain on an unknown planet,' Naruto thought as he wrapped his head around what he was looking at. 'He likely wants to expand the existing facility, for what purpose?' he questioned and soon realized that Plagueis had wanted to know the exact same question.

Finding a single mountain was a monumental task. There were millions of planets and many more geographic features on each. Plagueis had already tried to match the geo-scan and name but come up empty on both. 'That may not even be the name of the mountain,' Naruto acknowledged and pulled a seat over to him so he could sit down and think.

'It could be in any system, charted or uncharted. Though he did go through the trouble of hiding any planetary information. Is there still a way to find it?' Naruto thought and tried to calm his clouded and troubled mind in order to think a bit more clearly.

'What else is there to search for?' he wondered, looking over the geo-scan again. 'A mountain of with no unique composition, but there is a base,' he realized and zooming back in on the structure, he wondered if he could search for the base.

'I don't even know what it was used for,' he then considered but another idea occurred to him, 'It is highly likely that it belonged to the Republic at one point.' Thinking back to the base he had found on Mustafar, it wasn't very difficult to lose a base over thousands of years of war and peace-time. 'Assuming that it is an old Republic base,' he thought and quickly began pulling up information that he had gotten off the Old Republic Cruiser on Mustafar.

Taking the image from the geo-scan of the base, he began to run a search to match it to anything present on the navigational charts he had downloaded. 'The have more than just simple planetary data on them,' he thought and waited impatiently for the search.

Blue eyes widened when, after a few minutes, a message appeared that a match had been found. 'That was lucky,' he admitted as the idea was a long-shot and there was no guarantee that the base was from the Republic or from the same general era as the ship. Looking over the two pieces of information that his search had returned, he found a missive that was attached to a location.

Opening the decrypted message, he scanned through the text looking for the facts and sorting out the technical fluff. 'Abandon location….shifting front lines….take injured to another area…..re-establish the position when possible,' he read and then decided to look at the other item.

It was an entry for a single planet called Wayland which was in the Wayland System of the Ojester Sector in the Outer-Rim. 'I have no idea where that is,' Naruto admitted before looking further at what little information was provided. 'Republic Forward Hospital,' Naruto read as the short entry described what was on the planet. Looking at the planet in question, he noted the slight blip and transferring the information to the Star Map, he zoomed in on the area and noted that it was indeed an exact match to the geo-scan. "Mount Tantiss," he said out loud and was surprised to find that the name did match. In combination with all of the other information he had about the place, it only made him more interested in going there.

It was possible that nothing was there but that didn't completely matter at the moment. It was somewhere that he could go. 'What would Sidious put on a planet that had become lost from most star charts? Wait, where is it?' he wondered and bringing up that section of space on the Star Map he was surprised to find how close it was to Telerath.

'It's better than looking on graveyard planets full of old Sith tombs,' he thought, entertaining the idea that perhaps Sidious was storing Sith materials there and made up his mind. Saving the coordinates, he began to determine what would be going with him. Looking over his various work benches, he started pulling items towards him and setting them in a pile. Most were things that he needed or even prototypes that he had yet to try out.

Grabbing a protective case, he set it down nearby and took out the latest protype for the chakra armor and shield combination he and his clones had spent so much time working on. Touching the device he smirked as he had finally figured out how to fix the radiation shielding and keep the unit running longer by preventing overheating. 'Now it's time for a field test,' he thought and shut the case, adding it to the pile of items.

Looking to his shelf of storage scrolls, he moved to them and began walking along the parchments while running his hand over them. It was something he did while remembering the contents and determining which he would need.

Grabbing two that were full of supplies, he added them to the ever growing pile before moving to another area of his work area. It was the area where he had fixed his seal and retrieved the holocron which was stolen from Jabba's trophy room. Unsealing the object from the storage scroll, he held it and once again examined it.

'Now I'll have time to crack your code and find out what data you hold,' he mentally said before taking the device with him. Looking to the large pile, he held his hand out to one of the nearby walls, specifically to the small alcove which held a few repulsorlift dollies and pulled one towards him. Using the Force, he picked up every object he had gathered and moving them through the air, arranged them so as to better fit on the cart.

'That was easier than it normally was,' Naruto absently thought after looking over the neatly stacked items and then glancing at his hands. It obviously wasn't his hands that were doing it but he couldn't very well look or question his Midichlorians. Summoning the cart to his side, he walked to the turbo lift to leave but stopped as he was forgetting something.

There was enough room on Forty-two to take Tanmatsu and although it would come in handy, he knew it was a bad idea, 'It's far too important to take on an extended trip when I don't know what I am walking into. If anything happened to that computer terminal…' he thought and wasn't sure what he would do considering how valuable it had been so far to him. 'And how valuable it could still be,' he also considered.

"I'll be leaving for a while Tanmatsu," Naruto said, speaking to the computer terminal. "When I return, I'll need you to tell me if I've changed any," he added and then thinking back to one of his prototypes that his clones had been working on, he looked over the desks before finding it. Pulling the item into his hand, he activated what looked like a small, hand-held version of a Star Map. The device started up and was able to connect to Tanmatsu via the same method that the computer terminal had been able to keep track of all the other Rakatan devices and projects. Though he was unsure of how exactly it worked, he had only been able to make the small transmitter with the computer's help. Rituals had even been involved in order to complete the device which Tanmatsu had walked him through.

"I suppose I will be taking you with me but most of your scanning features will likely not work," Naruto said to the device and speaking through it, Tanmatsu replied, "I look forward to being able to visit other places outside the Builders reach," and on that note, Naruto tucked the device away before heading to the turbo-lift.

x-x

Looking out the window from his laboratory, Plagueis stared at the ship that Naruto would be taking and waited to see the blonde off while stuck in his thoughts.

'Plagueis the Wise, how pretentious,' he commented about himself and the title he had been given. 'I once hated the Rule of Two and wanted to do away with it but somehow I ended up living my life by that philosophy and training an Apprentice in the same manner that I was trained. Such is the nature of the dark-side,' he thought about himself and his life in retrospection.

'I started over with a student and trained him not as an Apprentice but I can't simply keep him from the dark-side. He wants to complete his training and eventually saw through my lies. I told him he was a Sith and a Sith is what he wants to be. I should never have kept anything from him, it was only when I did that he started keeping things from me,' he admitted and thought about the questions he still had. He never did find out what his student was building in the Kuna Constellation or what the device on the Tsukinowa was, 'Or even how he planned to work with Gato. That one irritates me the most,' he recalled and he finally saw a blonde figure below heading for the starship.

'Things are better off this way,' he tried to tell himself but struggled with that manner of thinking, 'Are things better this way or have I merely taken the easy way out? Should I stop him? Am I making a mistake? Most likely. I can't seem to stop making them. Everything in that vision may still happen. At most I may have delayed it or perhaps made it worse,' he acknowledged and knew something else as well, 'There is no running from what I have created."

He soon realized that such a statement would not only prove true with the leaving blonde but with the small boy on Tatooine as well.

"Avoiding conflict, was how he phrased it," Plagueis said to himself and recognized that it was a good way of putting what he had been doing and was still doing. 'The group is now in danger because of me and I find myself actually caring about that. If Naruto truly turns to the dark-side then he will realize that attachments make him weak. He'll come back here. I'll have to prepare the group for what is to come,' he realized.

'Even if he returns like in the vision, I won't let him make a mistake too,' he concluded as he saw a figure come out of the starship, which he recognized by the color of the amor plating. 'The droid is going with him,' he thought and wondered if that was good or bad.

x-x

Reaching Forty-two, Naruto turned to look at the loading ramp when he heard footsteps. HK-47 stopped at the bottom of the ramp and looked at him. He was slightly surprised as he hadn't mentioned to anyone about leaving and the meeting had only finished less than a half an hour ago.

"I'm not going on a mission or anything. I'll be leaving for a while," Naruto told the droid and he expected some kind of response or the droid to walk away but it did not. Before Naruto had a chance to say anything further, the droid interrupted him, "Recollection: The Meatbag before me once stated that trouble finds him wherever he goes. This unit has become bored as of late," was all that HK and Naruto also remembered those words.

Thinking it over, Naruto couldn't find a reason why the droid shouldn't come. Although he wanted to leave alone, the droid was devoid of emotion and didn't talk to him more than necessary. "We are going to an uncharted planet, I have no idea what will be waiting for us or where we will be headed after that. You should pack accordingly," he informed the droid and the red photoreceptors flashed slightly before the droid replied, "Response: I already have."

Amused at the droids behavior and insight, Naruto said, "Then I suppose you're waiting on me. Take the co-pilot seat and start the pre-flight sequence." The rust colored droid nodded and proceeded back up the ramp while Naruto kept going to the small cargo lift.

As the ramp lifted and the Naboo castle disappeared, Naruto was reminded of something that Plagueis said, '...what state of mind I return with.' He spent most of his youth listening to everything Plagueis had to say so it was not hard to remember any of the conversation in the meeting room but that sentence was becoming a bit more clear now that he had spoken with Tanmatsu. It bothered him that he still didn't fully comprehend what Plagueis was getting at but he let the lift continue until the was completely sealed in the cargo hold and then made his way to the cockpit.