09MAR23

This is taking long quite a long time and I have little free time currently. My job is keeping me very busy and I am very tired, but I am trying my best to pump out chapters for all of my fics. I also haven't abandoned any of my stories, they're just slow going. Anyways on to the chapter.

"Normal speech"

-Driods-

-Comms-

"Kurama"

Ch.15 Old Evil

Naruto didn't even need to wait and see what it was, he felt it, the hunger, the greed, the corruption. Naruto lifted his hand and released a storm of force lightning in the direction the wail came from. The group shielded their eyes from the bright bluish white lightning that had suddenly appeared from the Jedi's hand and as quickly as it appeared the lightning stopped. What surprised them next was a blue chain shot out from underneath Naruto's cloak and vanished into the direction that he fired off the lightning.

A second later the group of clones and Pantorans saw the chain start to retract into Naruto's cloak as if it was slowly dragging something towards them. To their surprise wrapped almost head to toe in the blue glowing chain was a charred yet bloody young-looking human boy dressed in tattered black robes. The boy was acting feral and doing his damnedest to squirm out of the chains.

Naruto stared down the boy and froze. The boy wasn't living, the blood running from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth was black. His skin was a deathly grey. The eyes were a sickly yellow ringed in red. The boy also looked like he had been sliced up but not fatally.

Three more chains burst forth and wrapped themselves around the boy and all the chains moved around until they were wrapped around each of the boy's limbs all the while the boy snapped at them like he wanted to bite them. Naruto had his chains hold the boy to the ground by his limbs and the chains moved around until they no longer covered his body revealing everything else for all to see.

"Master Uzumaki, what is wrong with him?" asked Riyo looking horrified at the state of the boy.

"I recognize the boy's robes. He was an acolyte of a Sith academy it seems. It would explain what these ruins are but it doesn't really explain his condition." Said Naruto looking at the boy further until he saw a bite mark on the boy's arm. "I have no idea how this boy survived as long as he did….. survived is the wrong word as he is already dead…. I don't know how his body hasn't decayed to dust yet, but if I had to guess, this boy is ancient by your standards." said Naruto rambling along.

"And what do you suppose happened to him and this place?" asked Riyo more disturbed than she was before.

"If I were to guess, and mind you this is only a guess, I would say that this was something caused by Sith Alchemy. Whoever the Sith Master was at the academy at the time seems to have been dabbling in very dark experiments. I think it best to leave, this place isn't safe for anyone Senator. Locket,"-"Sir?"-"Round up all the troops, we're putting this meeting on hold until we can find a safer place to hold it….. also have some men send the word to the Trade Federation's representative. Have him meet us in orbit. I will escort the Senator back to her ship, keep in constant communication with everyone." Said Naruto still staring at the boy.

"Sir, wouldn't it be better to just call the representative and tell him to meet us in orbit?" asked Locket.

"You would think so, but he hasn't answered his communicator, so we're going to have to do this the old fashion way. Now I think it best that I put this poor boy out of his misery." Said Naruto as his chains wrapped around the boy from head to toe again and began to glow a fiery red. The boy wailed again but was soon turned to ashes.

Naruto let his chains fade away and motioned for Riyo and her bodyguards to follow him.

"Umm, Master Uzumaki, was that necessary?" asked Riyo following Naruto and looking at the spot where the boy's ashes piled up.

"I'm afraid so, the boy was long dead and his body was controlled by something very corrupted." Said Naruto while looking around the visible ruins.

"So there was no chance of saving him." stated Riyo looking downcast.

"No there was nothing we could have done for him then, maybe when he first was affected, but not now. I-" Naruto paused mid-step as he felt something attempting to probe his mind again.

'Help me please.' As soon as he heard that the presence vanished again.

"Is something the matter Master Uzumaki?" asked Riyo.

"I get the feeling that something is alive on this planet." Said Naruto resuming his trek to the senator's ship.

They all remained quiet until the senator's ship came into view.

-Inquiry: Mistress, you left pilots on your ship did you not?- asked Buttons.

"Yes."

-Observation: I am detecting zero lifeforms on your ship mistress.- stated Buttons.

They slowly and cautiously approached the ship and found that there was a large amount of blood leading up the ramp.

"Senator I would ask you to wait here while I check out your ship." Said Naruto igniting his saber.

"Seeing this I would be inclined to agree with you." said Riyo.

Naruto slowly walked up the ramp and saw that the ship was dark. It seemed that the ships powerplant was offline. Naruto followed the blood trail to the cockpit and found that the controls were trashed, but he found no sign of any bodies.

Naruto attempted to jimmy the auxiliary power switch to no avail. Naruto sighed, whatever was on this planet seemed to not want them to leave.

Naruto pressed a button on his communicator and spoke. "Senator, your ship has been rendered unusable, it would seem that you will have to catch a ride with me or the Trade Federation's representative."

-General, that's a negative on the Trade Federation representative, both he and his bodyguards are dead and the ship has been ripped apart.-

"Copy that, all personnel are to return to my ship, I will join you shortly." Said Naruto as he stepped off the broken ship only to see Buttons holding both of the supposedly missing Pantoran Pilots by their necks and away from Riyo who was hiding behind Buttons.

The two pilots looked similar to what the infected boy looked like, and they both were struggling to get to Riyo. Naruto leapt towards Buttons with his saber still ignited and quickly cut both bodies into multiple pieces only to find that the heads were still snapping at Buttons's hands.

-Observation: It would seem that simply cutting them up doesn't work Master Uzumaki.-

"I noticed. Where are her bodyguards." Asked Naruto now noticing that Riyo and Buttons were alone.

Buttons dropped both of the still moving heads and squashed them under her heel. -Statement: Both of Mistress Chuchi's guards were snatched by more dead children.-

Naruto activated his commlink. "Frost, lockdown the ship, it would seem that the creatures are intent on keeping us grounded. If anyone attempts to board the ship, lock them in the cargo bays. Do not be careless or we will all be trapped here."

-Sir, yes sir!-

"Locket, start a headcount, I want to know if we have lost anyone." Naruto didn't get a chance to wait for a response as the ground fell out from underneath him.

-Statement: it seems that we have lost our Jedi protector.- stated Buttons sarcastically.

Riyo shuffled over to the hole and peered inside. "Master Uzumaki? Are you ok?"

It was silent for a second before Naruto answered back. "Yeah I'm alive, it seems that I have a knack for falling into holes. It seems that your pilots parked your ship above a burnt-out building." Said Naruto while pulling out a few glow rods.

"What would you recommend that I do? Should I try to reach your ship?"

"I wouldn't advise that, you probably wouldn't make it to the ship before you get jumped by those things." Said Naruto tossing glow rods around the room.

"What do you want me to do?"

"Well you would probably be safer with me, see if you can get down here safely."

"You want me to climb down there?" she asked incredulously.

"Well you can wait up there and freeze, which I would advise against." Naruto said in a sort of smart assed tone.

"How do you suppose I get down there?" asked Riyo annoyed before she let out a squeak.

Naruto was below with a cheshire grin on his face and his arm outstretched. He was using the force to levitate both Riyo and Buttons down the hole and he safely deposited both of them on the floor.

"Well wasn't that fun?" asked Naruto with the grin still on his face.

Riyo marched up to him and whacked him on the shoulder all the while glaring at him. "Warn me next time you do that." She said before looking around the room.

"What do you suppose this was?" she asked.

"Well my guess would be that it was a library though I can't be sure." Said Naruto picking up a piece of charred wood.

"How old do you think this place is?"

"I would suppose it is around five thousand years old maybe older, and if I'm right the supposed librarian was a Neti." Said Naruto dropping the piece of wood.

"How did you come by that assumption?" asked Riyo.

"Well unlike you and me, Neti are basically living trees and live for thousands of years. When they come around to the end of their lives, they become an actual tree. Though sometimes they leave descendants behind instead of becoming a tree. This one looks to have been infected by whatever it was that decimated the academy, and was then cut up while being burned." Said Naruto while picking up one of the glow rods and tossing it down one of the openings that looked like a hallway.

The hallway looked just as damaged as the former library, but it hadn't collapsed yet so there was an avenue for them to explore. Though he would rather not risk it, it was the only viable way forward as everything else had collapsed, and he felt like something withing the force was trying to lead him to somewhere specific in these ruins.

"It seems we have only one way forward Senator, please stay close, there is no telling what is still here." Said Naruto picking up another glow rod and leading the way down the long treacherous hallway. The young Senator said nothing as she and her new droid companion quickly followed Naruto.

-Outside the Tempest-

Locket and two other clones stood on guard outside their only ride off this dead planet. So far all but three squads had returned to the ship. One of the stealth squads and two of the scout squads that were all assigned to the north-eastern part of the ruined compound hadn't reported in. To top it off as an already terrible situation, a snow storm started to rage all around them.

"What do you think happened to this place sir?" asked one of the clones.

"I don't know Chip, whatever was the cause of this weirdness has the General spooked, and whatever spooks the General should worry us very much." Said Locket who activated his communicator. "Mercy, any problems with any of the troopers?"

-Negative Lieutenant, no one has anything wrong with them other than a touch of frostbite effecting one of the men.- Responded Mercy.

"How did that happen? His suit should have insulated him from the weather."

-His suit seems to be well worn, when we return to home base I will personally frog march him to supply to receive a new one. Over and out- Mercy said before he cut off his communicator.

"Sir, there are multiple signatures showing up on the motion sensors." Said the other clone who was named Bell.

"How many?"

"Nineteen Sir. It could be two of the other squads returning." Said Bell.

"There should be eighteen then, who is the extra?" asked Locket quickly raising his blaster towards the group. "Identify yourselves!" shouted Locket.

"It's us sir, we seemed to hit paydirt." Said one of the clones who came into view out of the snow. He was dragging along a female humanoid who was cuffed. "She seemed to be running from something and admitted that she was here for the senator."

"Good, the General will be pleased, did you have any problems out there?" asked Locket.

"Other than something playing hell with our comms, nothing sir." Said the clone.

"Well you're lucky, the second stealth squad is still missing, and there is something weird going on here, similar to Ashas Ree. The General has imposed a quarantine, so once you board, please follow Mercy to where you will be observed until you are deemed not to be infected. Bring her along with you."

"Yes Lieutenant." Said the clone as he pushed the would be assassin up the ramp and the other clones followed his lead.

"Has there been any word from the General sir?" asked Chip.

"No, it seems like whatever was blocking the last two squad's comms is also blocking the General's."

"Let's hope he gets here soon, this storm is getting worse and soon that huge blizzard will be upon us." Said Bell who kept his eyes trained on the sensors.

-Naruto, deep in the ruined academy-

Naruto stepped over another decayed body that seemed to have been ripped apart. It bothered Naruto that up to this point all he had found in the ruins were mummified bodies and signs of a fight from long ago. They had not been attacked by the creatures nor had they seen any of the creatures.

Naruto was quite on edge as they passed through what Naruto guessed was the main hall where the students would have gotten food. They had passed by the dormitories and a few training areas that looked about the same as the rest of the academy. To Naruto, it looked like whatever happened to this place happened very quickly and the Sith and acolytes that were living here had no chance of surviving.

"Umm, Master Uzumaki, this way seems like a dead end too. What do we do now?" asked Riyo nervously looking around at the decimated hall.

"Well making our own exit is out of the question as that could cause this whole place to collapse on top of us. Our best bet was to find an intact exit, but it seems that there are none to be found." Said Naruto while silently thinking of their next move. It was true that many of the passageways that they had found had collapsed and any effort to try to remove the blockage in any way would probably cause more issues than they needed right now.

"Would it be possible to leave the way we came?"

"Yes, but we probably get caught in the impending blizzard that we saw before we entered." Answered Naruto.

"Good point." Said Riyo a little let down at their dismal situation.

"Don't fret senator, if push comes to shove, I will create a way out, but I cannot promise that it will be a safe way out, nor can I promise that whatever we find on the other side will be any better than where we are now. Though we may be in luck." Said Naruto while pointing to an opening that was halfway buried in rubble.

"It seems that we can fit though here. Would you like to press on and see where we end up next senator?" asked Naruto with a small grin on his face.

"Lead the way Master Uzumaki, hopefully we can get out of this wretched place." Said Riyo following Naruto's lead all the while Buttons brought ups the rear.

Naruto tossed his glow rod through the opening and found that the passage went further downwards than they wanted but it was the only way forward. He climbed through but then he paused when he got the uneasy feeling again. This wasn't a way he should go with the senator but it was the only way forward.

He unclipped his saber from his belt and switched it on bathing the tunnel in a golden glow.

"Is everything alright Master Uzumaki?" asked Riyo as she squeezed though the opening followed by Buttons.

"Be on guard here, something doesn't feel right." Said Naruto as he picked up the glow rod and clipped it to his belt.

-Observation: Master Uzumaki, my scanners are indicating that there is a large mass of organic material further down this passageway. Caution is highly advised.-

"Dually noted Buttons, thanks." Said Naruto.

Riyo paused at the information and got behind her droid companion. The three of them slowly made their way forward until they came upon a mass pile of bodies that had long since been mummified by the extreme cold.

"W-What happened here?" Riyo stuttered out in surprise.

"I am not sure, but I would rather not stay here any longer than needed, let us move on and figure out how to exit this place said Naruto turning to the direction that wasn't blocked by a pile of remains and proceeded to walk down the passageway.

"I'm not sure we should be here Master Uzumaki, it doesn't feel right." Said Riyo keeping real close to Naruto as they moved forward.

"I feel it too, but this is the only way forward that we have found thus far." Said Naruto before stopping abruptly.

Directly in front of Naruto were some of his men and the senator's missing body guards along with a gaggle of Sith Acolytes. The clones once pristine white armor was broken and marred by an unhealthy amount of blood. Riyo's bodyguards were drenched with what looked like their own blood and their once blue skin was now an ashy grey color. They all wailed before moving forward towards Naruto and co.

"I do believe we made a wrong turn somewhere, time to leave." Said Naruto while quickly turning around and pretty much shoulder tackled Riyo. This move knocked the air out of her lungs and effectively allowed Naruto to heave her over his shoulder. Naruto ran at top speed back the way they had come all the while carrying the senator like a sack of potatoes. He heard blaster fire from behind him and he guessed that Buttons was using her hidden wrist blasters to try to put down the undead beings.

When they arrived at the opening Naruto tossed Riyo though the hole, and then he quickly lept through it himself. Naruto quickly unsealed a bag of explosive notes, lit one and tossed it down the hole. He covered Riyo with his body and before the notes went off he reverse summoned Buttons to him.

-BOOOM-

"Cough-cough-HACK-, A little warning would be nice next time Naruto." Riyo said heatedly. She was very irritated for being roughly manhandled in such a way. "Now get off me, you're heavy and your reek of something foul." Though when he didn't respond she tried to shake him. "Naruto?" she worriedly asked.

-Statement: I would advise you to be careful Mistress, he has a large gash on his head and many more puncture wounds on his back. I would also like to strongly advise you to be careful as the room has partially caved in, so for the moment we are safe from pursuit but in danger of being crushed.- Said Buttons who was partially buried.

Once she got out from underneath Naruto she carefully looked around the room to gain her bearings. The room that they were in was what they guessed was once the main hall of the academy, and because of the explosion, the room had collapsed around them blocking their exit, but also blocking those things way in. she looked back to see Naruto was indeed bleeding heavily from a head wound and she could also see many red spots staining his cloak. She began to carefully strip Naruto's cloak and tunic off of him to see that the small stones that peppered his back were slowly being pushed out of his skin. This bewildered the young woman as she watched as both his head wound and the shrapnel wounds on his back slowly healed themselves without any aid from any equipment. Riyo still a bit dazed started to rip up Naruto's torn tunic top and used pieces to bandage up his head as it was still bleeding. The wounds on his back closed up and turned a pinkish color, and she believed now as a good time to turn him over so he was laying on his back.

-Statement: Master seems to be different than a human.- stated Buttons who too was confused by how quickly Naruto was healing.

"Indeed, though I think he mentioned even though he looked like a human, that he wasn't one." Said Riyo moving around Naruto until she had his head cradled in her lap.

It was another hour and a half before Naruto had begun to stir, and he felt very comfortable, but he couldn't remember what had happened up to that point of how he got to where he was. He remembered escaping the beings that he dubbed 'the undead' and he then remembered he had chucked explosives down the hole. Then he drew a blank. He had no clue what had happened after that.

Naruto opened his eyes to see a pair of worried golden eyes looking back at him. "So I guess that something happened?" his words agitated the young woman quite a bit.

"You guess something happened? You fool, after that stunt with the explosives you pulled, I thought I had lost you. Don't you ever do something so foolhardy as to put yourself in harm's way purposefully. That's not even going into the fact that you handled me so roughly." Said Riyo glaring at Naruto and also pinching his cheek.

"I'm sworry?" Naruto mumbled out.

"You better be, I also have questions about your strange ability to heal so quickly." Said Riyo releasing Naruto's cheek.

"Well that is a lengthy three part explanation that I will not go into full depth as some of those reasons are very secret. Though I do believe that a conversation of that length should wait until we are out of this predicament." Said Naruto sitting up from Riyo's lap.

Said person pouted a bit but stopped as she saw Naruto's back clearly for the first time. There were scars everywhere. Many looked to have been made by what she could only guess was a lightsaber. "What happened to you?" asked Riyo.

"I've been though many battles, these are my reminders that I need to be more careful… something that I still have trouble remembering." Said Naruto with a grin.

"That's not something to smile about." Said Riyo with a weird look on her face.

"This conversation aside, what is our situation?" asked Naruto surveying the area round them.

"The room is partially collapsed around us, the way to the library is blocked but it looks clearable, but stop trying to deflect my attention, you really need to take better care of yourself and I'm not just talking about physically. The way you go about completing your objective without any concern to your wellbeing is concerning. Don't try to say you have no clue what I am talking about, I've seen some of your after-action reports from your battles, and you are always in the middle of the action no matter if you are wounded or if you've been working for hours. You never seem to take a break for anything and that will eventually catch up to you either physically or mentally. If you don't take care of yourself better, I will petition the council to take you off active duty to forcibly make you take it easy. If that doesn't work I'll just contact your Padawans to make sure they force you to take better care of yourself."

Naruto stared silently at Riyo who looked back at him almost daring him to challenge her on the matter.

"Why the sudden interest in my wellbeing Riyo?" asked Naruto surprising Riyo as this was the first time he ever called her by her name.

"Well…why wouldn't I care for the man who saved my life and is trying to help out my people?" She quietly answered, her blue face suddenly getting darker.

Naruto looked shocked, he could sense the feelings that the girl had for him, and he could feel her desires somewhat. 'Great, I've somehow gained another woman that's attracted to me, Sira and Mouse are going to give me so much shit for this.' Naruto thought.

-Query: Mistress, is now the best time to be aroused?- Buttons asked causing Riyo to cover her face with her hands as her blush to grow even darker than it was before.

"Buttons, there are some things that you will notice that should be left unsaid." Said Naruto shaking his head at how embarrassed Riyo looked right now. She looked like she wanted to vanish into her coat, and that brought up old memories of when Hinata would do the same when she was shy.

-Statement: My apologies Mistress, I will do better next time.- said Buttons.

Naruto shook his head, promptly stood up, and began to do his best at clearing a path back to the library while Riyo did her best to recompose herself. A few minutes later Naruto had the path cleared enough for them to proceed back toward the library.

Naruto ignited both of his sabers bathing the dark hallway in a golden glow. The two carefully traveled back to where the ruined library was located. Though when they arrived Naruto's senses were going haywire. He quickly force pushed Riyo back and blocked a glowing crimson blade.

"So, another Jedi has come. It's been far too long since I've seen one of your kind around here. The last ones were one of your farmer Jedi and her warrior brother." Said a figure that looked similar to the creatures that they had run into, but the clear difference was that he didn't look wounded and wasn't feral. The figure retracted his blade and stepped back.

"May I inquire what happened to them Sith?" asked Naruto as he stood in the defensive stance of form three.

"Ooooh, so defensive." The Sith said with a grin. "So unlike that troublesome girl's brother. The brother died at my hand, but the girl is still being protected by that blasted Black Orchid. Though she can wait as she's not going anywhere, you on the other hand will die by my blade. I am Darth Scabrous, prepare to meet your end." Said Scabrous before he charged Naruto.

Naruto deflected the attack and countered with a quick jab that was dodged. He redirected his failed jab to block a slice that was meant to take off his head and used his other blade to cut into Scabrous's leg. Scabrous in turn pushed Naruto back and then used the force to fling Naruto through a hole in the floor. He soon jumped down into the hole himself leaving Riyo and Buttons alone.

Naruto bounced off of something soft and he rolled into a crouch. He saw that it was a massive black plant that he had bounced off of, but he didn't have much time to ponder what it was as he had to deflect the murderous red blade of Darth Scabrous, who had a deranged smile on his face.

Naruto having enough of the battle switched to form six and went on the attack quickly defending and aggressively attacking at the same time. Naruto quickly overwhelmed Scabrous to the point where Naruto had cut Scabrous's saber into pieces along with the hand that held the saber.

Scabrous growled and let loose a barrage of Sith lightning at Naruto with his remaining hand which Naruto blocked with one saber while the other decapitated the Sith Lord. Though while this ended the fight, Scabrous wasn't dead. The Sith Lord's head was snapping at Naruto while the body was still moving, but the body moved like a broken puppet. Not wanting to deal with the weirdness anymore Naruto molded fire chakra in his mouth and spat multiple fireballs at Scabrous who was quickly burned to ashes.

Naruto sighed and sat down at the edge of the black plant and observed the room that he was in. In what little light there was in the room, Naruto could see that he had been thrown into a ceremonial chamber. The chamber looked like it had seen better days, and the black plant took up around a quarter of the chamber. Naruto began to wonder about the Sith's words about the plant protecting the girl.

Naruto started to meditate and tried to connect to the plant. He wasn't but a second into trying before he felt the presence that had been sending him the messages though the force responded.

'Thank you, I give to you my friend for you to return her to her order. Please protect her.' With that the presence faded and the plant started to wither and die.

Eventually Naruto could make out a shape of a person in the fibrous mass. Naruto uncovered the young girl who could have passed for a member of the long dead Yamanika Clan. She had shoulder length blond hair and was quite pale. She wore a tattered version of the Agri Core robes that had long since been replaced and he didn't see a lightsaber in her possession. The girl looked to be slightly older than Rem but younger than Sira. Naruto started to check her for any injuries but found none and to his surprise it seemed like she was waking up.

"Uhhhh…. My head." The girl groaned as she sat up. "Wait…. Ah!" she squeaked as she saw Naruto's battered form and quickly scooted away from Naruto in fear.

"Well, it's been a long time since someone reacted that way from seeing my ugly mug." Joked Naruto plopping down on the floor not far from where the girl once was.

Said girl slowly scooted back over towards Naruto, quietly studying him.

"I wont bite girl, though I guess I too would be weary from having to deal with those creatures. Tell me what is the last thing you remember?" asked Naruto reaching out with a ration bar in his hand.

The girl's stomach growled causing her to look embarrassed. "I-I remember seeing my brother fighting and then…. Ro!" the girl frantically started to look around the room.

"I'm afraid your brother died a few thousand years ago, and you have been in hibernation thanks to that black plant." Said Naruto. "Now, how about we discuss this on my ship, I would rather not keep my companions waiting, and it looks like you need to be looked at before we have any real big discussions. By the way My name is Master Naruto Uzumaki, what may I call you youngling?" asked Naruto smirking at the girl pouting at being called a youngling.

"My name is Hestizo Trace, you may call me Zo." Said the girl.

-END-

Wow, this took me a minute as I have been busy, though it is longer than the last chapter. Tell me what you all think of this chapter.

07May23