29May23
So here is the next chapter.
For clarification, the last few chapters were based off of a book called Red Harvest. The prequel to Death Troopers. The granddaddy of the black wing virus.
"Normal speech"
-Driods-
-Comms-
"Kurama"
Ch.16 Choices.
-Tempest, in orbit a few hours later-
It had been a few hours after Naruto had rescued his new companion and had safely returned to his ship. Upon his return everyone had questions and he gave them out the best he could. He even contacted the council to give brief update about the situation. Needless to say, they were shocked and ordered him to return to give them a full report on the situation.
Naruto sat in his quarters with both Riyo and Hestizo sitting across from him looking confused.
"So you're saying that the orchid kept her alive for all this time?" asked Riyo not at all believing what she was hearing.
"Yes, from what Zo has told me, the orchid was connected to the force, so my theory is that it put her into a deep trance, sort of like hibernation." Naruto said with a shrug.
"How is that possible?" asked the senator even more befuddled.
"Through the trance the force sustains life for however long one is in the trance, though to be able to stay in that trance for a few thousand years is something I have never heard of. To be on the safe side, we'll need to have her checked out by our healers. Rig is going to have a fit when we get back." Naruto said with a smile.
"Who's that?" asked Zo while tilting her head cutely.
"The temple's head healer."
"I keep forgetting that everyone that I knew is long gone…" she said gloomily.
"Yes, that was a real gut punch for me and a few others as well, but you will move past it in time." Said Naruto in a sympathetic tone.
"I have a question, how did Buttons end up with us when you blew up the path to the great hall? From what I remember you left her behind when you grabbed me." Asked Riyo.
"Ah yes, I suppose you would be confused about that. Well I have an ability to teleport to places, or to teleport things to me." Said Naruto casually.
"You say that like it is the most normal thing in the galaxy." Riyo said irked at how relaxed Naruto was being about the situation. "Wait, why didn't you teleport us back to the ship?"
"So how my ability works is that I have to have a seal in place for me to teleport anywhere."
"So you have one of these seals on Buttons? Can you remove it?"
"The seal is a temporary and will vanish whenever it runs out of chakra, I have been meaning to put a few on the ship, but to make them permanent, I would have to carve them into the metal of the ship. That takes more time than I would care to admit."
"So why didn't you put a temporary one on the ship?"
"I did, but it had degraded too much for me to safely transport two people to it and I forgot to check it."
"You forgot? How do you forget something as important as that?" Riyo asked before her left hand began to shine blue. She gasped as a pattern she had never seen before appear on the back of her hand.
"Considering that I have placed one on many of my men and everyone around me, it is sometimes hard to keep up with all of them." said Naruto as Zo's right palm also lit up from the same seal.
"When did you put this on me?!" Zo flailing her hand around in panic.
"When you took my hand."
"How?"
"I can apply the seals by touching someone or something. It lasts as long as it still has chakra. Funnily enough my second wife had me place a permanent one on her left ass cheek." Said Naruto smirking at the looks he was getting from the two girls.
"Wait, you're THAT Naruto Uzumaki. You vanished after the sacking of Coruscant, what happened?" asked Zo.
"Hyperspace incident." Naruto curtly said causing Zo to pout at the minimal information given.
"You were married twice?" asked Riyo.
"Yes."
"Who were they?" asked Riyo curious as to who Naruto tried to settle down with.
"They were both very precious people that helped me live instead of just exist. Both died horribly and that is all I am willing to talk about right now."
"What's the range of this thing?" Zo asked pointing at the fading seal, doing her best to curve the conversation elsewhere.
"As long as I can sense the marker seal, I can go to it." Said Naruto shocking both of them.
-General, we are ready to make our jump, the council and the Chancellor are wanting updates to the situation.- interrupted Locket.
"Very well." Naruto sighed not looking forward to that conversation.
-Tempest's medical bay, some time later-
Naruto walked in to the medical bay to see Locket, Bell, Chip, Mercy, Frost, and another clone that had recently been given the name Iceman due to his brush with hypothermia. They all stood at attention when Naruto walked in causing Naruto's brow to twitch in annoyance.
"At ease, next time just stand at ease, I don't care for military dog and pony show horse shit." Said Naruto gaining a chuckle from Chip, Bell, Frost, and Iceman. Though he got a look of disapproval from Locket, the officer didn't say anything.
"I suppose you all are wondering why I asked you five to be here?" the six men nodded. "Well I found an anomaly while doing an autopsy on your brothers that fell to the virus on Ashas Ree, I wish to confirm that it was not cause by the virus, and if possible, remove said anomaly to prevent complications in the future." Naruto said gaining looks of shock from his men.
"Is there a problem?"
"The Cloners made a mistake?" asked Mercy
"It remains to be seen, that is why I gathered you six. I intend to find out what it is and why it is there. Mercy if you would set up the med scanner. Now, any volunteers?"
Locket stepped forward immediately. "Ok, strip off the top portion of your armor and lay on the bed." Said Naruto while typing data parameters into the terminal.
A few minutes later Naruto and Mercy were staring at a scan of Locket's brain, and sure enough the growth was indeed there. The same results were seen in the other clones scans and this confused them all.
"This…. is confusing, I would like to study these more, but to do that I would have to extract them from your heads. I will not lie to you, I don't know if any of you would survive this if it is done. That is why I leave the choice up to you. Do you want to take the chance and see what this is, or would you rather wait and see if there are any effects of this growth?" Said Naruto.
"I would like to try and remove it sir." Said Locket and surprisingly the rest agreed as well.
"Very well, I make no promises. I will see you all when you wake up." Said Naruto as both he and Mercy gave them a sedative.
"Here's to hoping General." Said Mercy as he shifted Locket onto the table and began the procedure. It didn't take but ten minutes and Locket came out with a bacta patch on the side of his head. Locket's biometrics were stable and Naruto helped Mercy move Locket over to a bunk and shift Chip onto the operating table. Rinse and repeat until it was Mercy's turn and the trooper was scanned but he started to spasm. Mercy then ripped himself out of the machine and lunged at Naruto with a vibro-scalpel that he had grabbed from a nearby tray.
"Mercy what has gotten into you?!" Naruto said while knocking the surgical tool out of the clone's hands and maneuvered the erratic clone to where he was pinned to the wall.
"Go-good soldiers fo-follow orders." Mercy mumbled out while giving Naruto a thousand-yard stare, before Naruto slammed his head into the bulkhead.
The clone crumpled to the floor and laid there until Naruto restrained him. The old Jedi then hooked Mercy back up to the machine and continued the procedure.
Naruto left the clone on the rack after the procedure was complete, but to be cautious he also restrained the other clones as to not possibly be attacked while he was inspecting the growths.
He placed all six specimen trays under the light to get a better look at them and he didn't like what he saw. To the naked eye they looked like bio-chips, but way more advanced to what he was familiar with. Medical companies were experimenting with bio-chips around his time to curve or correct mental defects and remove destructive behaviors. He also saw that the supposed chip that he removed from Mercy looked defective, almost rotten. Oh how he wanted to have words with the cloners, but it would be best if he kept this to himself for right now if Mercy's reaction was anything to go by.
Naruto theorized from the response he had gotten from Mercy that these chips were programed with specific orders that would override the subject's normal behavior and make them adhere to whatever the specific order directs, even if it wasn't what they wanted to do. This could be a huge problem in the wrong hands.
Naruto noticed that Chip was the first of the group to wake up and started to rattle his restraints. "Uhhh sir, is this necessary?" Chip asked looking lost.
"After what happened to Mercy, Yes they are very necessary, you're not feeling homicidal are you?"
"No? What happened to Doc?"
"He seemed to turn into a different person and tried to kill me, though the growth I took out of his head looked decayed." Said Naruto taking the slide off of the table and held it in front of Chip for him to see.
"That does look bad sir. Is Doc ok?"
"Well, his vitals are normal, but we will have to wait for him to wake up to see if he is back to normal or if he is still homicidal." Said Naruto releasing Chip from the restraints and placing the slide back with the others.
"So what now Sir?" asked Chip rubbing his wrists.
"Now we wait until the others wake up, if they wake up." Said Naruto sitting down on a bench.
One by one the other clones woke up and questioned why they were restrained, and of course Mercy woke up last mildly panicking.
"Wh-why am I chained up? Where's the General?" asked Mercy slurring his words and rolling off the rack landing face first on to the deck.
"Calm yourself Mercy, I am right here. I assume you remember what happened?" asked Naruto kneeling in front the wobbly clone.
"No sir, all I remember is laying down onto the table, and then I remember a strong urge to kill you. For what reasons I don't know, but now that urge is gone." Said Mercy still looking confused.
"Well, when you went into the machine to have your growth removed, you convulsed and ripped yourself out of the machine to attack me. You kept saying something about 'good soldiers follow orders'." Said Naruto while releasing Mercy from his restraints.
"I'm afraid everything is so hazy, though why does my head feel like Frost was doing barrel rolls erratically?" asked Mercy holding his head.
"Ah, I may have had something to do with that, when you attacked me I slammed your head into the bulkhead." Said Naruto looking sheepish while Mercy stared him down.
Naruto kept the group under observation until they arrived in Coruscant's airspace.
-Council chambers, a day later-
Naruto stood in the center of the chamber surrounded by the whole council. The room was completely void of sound as everyone's attention was on him and the young girl that he had brought back with him. It seemed that everyone wanted to be in attendance today to hear his report. It wasn't every day that a menace from the old republic surfaced along with a supposed long dead padawan.
"It seems that you all were quite interested with what I have to say. Last time I had to do a verbal report, less than half of you were actually here."
"Trouble always seems to follow you, even more so than young Skywalker." Mace commented.
"That's fair, though if I were to be honest, I don't think you all are here just to hear my report, yes?" said Naruto giving all the council members a questioning stare.
"No, more for you to hear, we have." Said Yoda with a twinkle in his eyes. The last time Naruto had seen that look, he had been stuck with a gaggle of younglings. What did the old Master have planned for him now?
"I'm listening Master."
"Well Master Uzumaki, we have a two-part proposition, and another request for you. We have been discussing Promoting your Elder Padawan to Jedi Kight, and we would like to hear your opinion on the matter." spoke Plo Koon.
"I believe she is ready, she has faced more trials than most Padawans now adays and she has come out the other side of those trials wiser. Though she is still a little rough around the edges, but I believe those edges will be smoothed out by time and having greater responsibilities. The one thing I request is that she is still under my command while she is still adjusting to waking up a few thousand years in the future." Naruto said confidently.
"This is agreeable, she will be knighted, though on to the second part of our proposition, we wish her to take a Padawan, and conveniently you have brought a suitable candidate." Said Mace.
"I…. can not speak for my Padawan, it is her choice to choose who she wishes to teach. But I sense you had another in mind, who would that be?" asked Naruto.
"Zule Xiss."
"That would be a poor choice."
"Oh, explain, will you?" asked Yoda.
"From what I read from the holo files, Padawan Zule Xiss was bounced around from master to master as they could not handle her due to her angry, headstrong, and highly aggressive personality. She had a Master for a while but he was killed by Ventress, she then was shuffled into what you lot called the Padawan Pack. My Padawan wouldn't be able to teach her properly as their personalities would most likely end with them both at each other's necks." Said Naruto looking annoyed at the council's obvious blunder in logic and their poor past choices.
"That argument had come up, and we rather would like to request that you take her on as your student after young Sira is Knighted." Said Obi-wan.
"And when will she be Knighted?"
"After this meeting is finished, you may be in attendance if you so wish." Kenobi responded.
"Perhaps, though I get the feeling that a few of you have things you still want to discuss with me…. And I would wish to speak with Kenobi after this is over." Naruto said and the room was silent for a few minutes… "Oh come on, I know a few of you have some grievances with me so spill 'em."
The council was silent and many were looking between one another. The silence was irritating Naruto and he spoke first to try to coax one of the Masters to speak.
"A portion of you all don't like the way I operate, maybe it's that I have dark side artifacts in my possession that I keep under locked away from everyone including the council, or possibly it's the way I disregard your updated code." Naruto gained a disbelieving look from Zo and Obi-wan. Mace, KI-Adi-Mundi, Eeth Koth, Oppo Rancisis, and Adi Gallia all gave Naruto stern looks. Even Piell however broke the silence.
"Of course we have a problem with you, first on that long list is the blatant disregard of the code that has been in place for hundreds of years. We are to hold no attachment to anyone or anything, yet you hold your daughter and your Padawans closer than you should. The code also states that you are to only have one apprentice at a time, yet that can be overlooked because the council agreed to it. The second issue is that you are too emotional if the reports from your mission to save Captain Tarkin are anything to go by. Speaking of that mission the third issue I personally have with you is that like you said, you have a hoard of dark side artifacts and knowledge, and you refuse to hand it over to be sealed away." Piell angrily spat.
Naruto just stared the small Jedi down. "Your new code and teachings are flawed." This caused the little Jedi to bristle in anger. "Your code preaches many things, but the three of the issues I have with your updated code and teachings are about balance, emotions, and attachments."
"Your code says to be mindful of emotions, which is in itself not flawed, but the way the order goes about teaching the younglings is very flawed. You do not teach them to work through their emotions, but to suppress them. Emotions are valuable things and they are what separates us from droids. Your flawed teachings showed themselves to me when I took some of the younglings to the senate building. They could not control their emotions, nor could they suppress them like they had been taught. Teach the younglings how to understand their emotions and how to use them to better themselves, otherwise they will come out no different than living droids that will break sooner rather than later." Naruto took a deep breath and then continued.
"As for my attachments, it is my belief that attachments make us stronger as a person. When you have someone you care for and wish to protect, you will do your best to grow stronger to protect said person or people. Though if you are worried that I may fall, I know when to let go as I have had quite a bit of practice in that regard." He received pitying looks from some of the masters but a few of them scoffed at his words.
"You disagree, that is fine, you all seem to forget that I am not from this era and still follow the old code, and as loose as it was, it served the Jedi far better than this ridged new code that refuses to change."
"As for your teachings of balance within the force, you only really teach about the light side of the force, not so much about the dark. I do believe that to be balanced in the force you should be attuned to both sides equally, which the Je'daii of old practiced. But enough about that, on to why I keep the artifacts to myself. I do believe that we have had a conversation about this before and if I remember correctly, I proved that this temple is not as secure as it is made out to be. To further my point, I read a report of some padawans accidently stumbling on a hidden room that contained dark side artifacts and it didn't end very well for them. I will continue to store and learn from the artifacts that I have obtained as my library's location is only known to me." This caused most of the council to give Naruto a flabbergasted look.
"Why would you try to learn anything from those dark relics?" asked Eeth Koth.
"The best way to counteract Sith techniques is to learn how they work, and I know how to counteract plenty, though unfortunately I know how to perform many of their techniques." Naruto said causing an uproar.
"Used these techniques, you have not?" asked Yoda silencing the council.
"Only against myself, never against another, and only to learn how to counteract them."
"Then an issue, we shall not have. Keep what you have, you will." Said the Grandmaster putting an end to that issue.
"I have a request for you Master Uzumaki." Stated Plo Koon.
"What can I help you with Master Koon?"
"Would it be possible to teach us the methods of counteracting these techniques?" asked Plo Koon.
"I will be glad to teach anyone willing to learn, but I ask that those that do learn the counter techniques keep them secret until it is necessary to use them, as I do not need the few Sith still around to find out that we know how to counter their attacks."
"Now, what am I hearing about a giant, previously thought to be extinct creature being brought to this planet?" asked Naruto pinning Mace with a sharp look.
"It was out of our hands as the Chancellor ordered us to bring it here." Replied Mace.
"Well I know who I need to speak to once my padawan's Knighting ceremony is finished. I'll call her over." Said Naruto keying up his commlink.
"There's no need, she is waiting outside. Go wait out of the way." Said Mace pressing a button causing the room to slowly turn pitch black.
Naruto guided Zo over away from the center of the room and waited. They didn't have to wait long until the door opened and spilled light into the dark room. Naruto could see Sira in the doorway looking very confused and could tell she was questioning herself if she was in the right place.
Through the force Naruto prodded his Padawan's mind. Step forwards. Sira stood ramrod straight as she felt her master's message, and she slowly walked into the room which darkened again when the doors shut behind her.
The room suddenly became illuminated with light coming from the lightsabers of the twelve cloaked council members showing Sira to be not dead center of the circle, but pretty close.
"Step forward, Padawan." Said Yoda.
Sira knelt down in front of Yoda and he raised his saber. In response all of the masters lowered the end of their sabers slowly down to the floor.
"Sira Agror, by the right of the Council, by the will of the Force, I dub thee Jedi, Knight of the Republic." Said Yoda while bringing his lightsaber down just above Sira's left shoulder and then bringing it down just above her right. In one swift motion her padawan braid was cut off.
Naruto felt proud seeing that his Padawan was finally a Knight, but he stayed silent as he felt it was not the right time to say anything to her yet. Plus the council still had business with her. The council switched off their lightsabers and all sat back down on their chairs while the room slowly began to fill with light again.
"Knight Agror, we congratulate you on your promotion and wish you well, but we have other matters to discuss with you. We wish you to take a Padawan, now due to your former Master's…. informed opinion, our first choice was a poor one, and he has brought a suitable replacement." Said Mace motioning to Naruto and Zo.
Naruto carefully pushed Zo towards Sira and stood outside the ring of chairs. "Introduce yourself young one." Said Naruto.
"Good afternoon, Master Agror, my name is Hestizo Trace." Said Zo bowing.
"Good afternoon Padawan, I am Sira Agror." Said Sira bowing back. "Masters, all due respect, I do not think I am ready to teach."
"Believe in you, your Master does. High praise, he has given you, do fine you will." Said Yoda.
"I-"
"What have I told you about being too afraid to do something you haven't done before brat?" Naruto roughly asked.
"Your advice was that you shouldn't be afraid of something you haven't even tried doing as you didn't know enough about it, and you encouraged me to jump feet first into the topic. Very well, I guess I will take Padawan Trace under my tutelage." Replied Sira a bit reluctantly.
"Good, at least you remembered something I taught you. Now I will leave you two to get to know each other, and don't forget, if you need any guidance I am always here to help. Now chop chop, let us leave the 'wise and powerful council' to their bureaucratic nonsense." Said Naruto hurriedly pushing both girls out of the Council Chambers.
"I get the feeling that he doesn't like us very much." Said Kit Fisto wearing his trademark smile.
"From the information in the archives, he has never seen eye to eye with any of the reigning councils, and that makes him a danger to the order." Said Shaak Ti.
"A danger he may be, but a loyal Jedi he is. No more of this I will hear." Said Yoda.
-Outside the chambers-
"What's the hurry Master?" asked Sira annoyed at her now former Master for pushing her out of the Council chambers.
"It's best to not linger in the council chambers lest they give you a stupid task." Said Naruto as the doors to the chamber opened to reveal Kenobi walking out looking inquisitive.
"You said you wanted to talk after the meeting was over, what do you want to talk about?"
"Run along kids, go see what Rem and my daughter are up to." Said Naruto facing Kenobi.
"Yes father, come along Hestizo, we have much to talk about, and we need to get you a new lightsaber." Said Sira leading Zo away from the two Masters.
"Yes Master, but please call me Zo." Hestizo asked while being lead away towards where Rai and Rem were.
"They grow up so fast don't they?" asked Obi-Wan smirking.
"Indeed they do, now tell me, you seem happier than last time we were together." Said Naruto with a knowing look.
"Ah…. Of course you would pick up on that. Well one of my more intimate friends has woken up from a long-term coma. She and I have been friends since our days as younglings." Kenobi said fondly.
"I assume you are talking about Siri Tachi."
"Yes, you know that she was gravely injured on a mission that involved General Grievous, she lost her legs and her left arm, but she has taken it all in stride. She is currently undergoing physical therapy along with being fitted for prosthetics. She still has feelings for me but understands my relationship with Satine, but she still wants to kick my ass for getting involved with another woman. She also wishes to speak with Satine sooner or later." Said Kenobi looking worried.
"I'm not one to judge Kenobi, if you love them both, then tell them. Though if you hurt my granddaughter, I will make you wish you hadn't." said Naruto his eyes glowing red for a second. "Though anyways, I want to meet my new student along with the other woman that has captured your heart. So lead on lover boy, I'm sure that she will be happy to see you today." Said Naruto practically shoving a reluctant Kenobi towards the medical wing of the temple.
-Medical ward, room 14-
Obi-Wan knocked on the door leading to the room Naruto guessed that Master Tachi was in. They both heard a faint come in and the door slid open, Kenobi walked in first and Naruto followed after him. Sitting in the bed was a fair skinned woman in her early to mid thirties with blonde hair and blue eyes.
"Ben, you didn't tell me you were bringing company, I would have freshened up." The woman said humorously.
"Well, it was a bit of a surprise really, but he wanted to meet you." said Kenobi with a shrug. The woman giggled and studied Naruto.
"He seems a bit young, a new Padawan?" asked Siri causing both Naruto and Kenobi to stifle a laugh. "What?"
"He's Satine's very distant grandfather." Said Kenobi making Siri look at him like he had lost his mind.
"No really, who is he?"
"What he says is true, my name is Naruto Uzumaki. I hail from a planet now long abandoned, and am a student of a long dead and probably long forgotten Master." Said Naruto with a bow.
"Is he really that old?" asked Siri.
"Yes, I was born about a hundred years, give or take a few, before Exar Kun fell." Said Naruto gaining a surprised look from the younger woman.
"Errrr…. I don't know how to respond to that." Said Siri.
"Well I have something to say to the group. It seems you have a thing for blondes eh Kenobi?" said Naruto with a shit eating grin on his face once again poking fun at Kenobi.
This caused Kenobi to blush sputtering nonsense and Siri to gawk. Naruto couldn't hold it in and started to laugh uncontrollably at their reactions. "HA-HA, YOU REALLY-WEEZE- ARE AN EMBARRASSED SCHOOL BOY!" Naruto choked out between laughs. Naruto continued to roar with laughter for a few minutes until he settled down, but he was still grinning like a loon.
"What is he talking about Ben?"
"As I said before, he is Satine's ancient grandfather. He knows of how I feel about her and how I feel about you." surprise and worry was evident on Siri's face.
"Don't worry Master Tachi, I don't give a damn about this era's code and I have said as much to the council. Of course, I've been married twice and have a daughter running around causing havoc in the temple currently. There happen to be a few others that seem to disregard the bit about personal attachments." Said Naruto with a shrug.
"Good to know I guess…. Wait you have a kid here?" Siri was shocked at that revelation.
"Yes, she's just a little ball of sunshine and mischievousness. Want to meet her?" asked Naruto with a proud smile on his face.
"Maybe later…. Ben and I need to talk about a few things in private if you don't mind." Said Siri.
"But of course, we should talk later about getting you some prosthetics that are of better quality than those provided by the temple, but again that can be at a later date. I will see you later Obi-Wan, do remind my granddaughter that I am coming to visit soon and make good on my promise." Said Naruto as he walked out of the room and waited till the door slid shut to make his way to his next destination, room thirty.
"Master Uzumaki, may I have a quick word?"
Naruto turned to face the voice that called out to him, and saw that Rig was quickly walking over to him.
"Ah Rig, how are you this fine day?" asked Naruto.
"Cut the niceties, why is it that when you return to the temple you always bring me more work to do?" the woman asked seeming irritated.
"I don't mean to add to your workload my dear, but as you know trouble follows me like a jilted lover."
"Don't you 'dear' me, trouble or not I'm going to start charging you if you're not careful." She said seeming to be angry, but Naruto felt no heat in her words.
"I do have more information on the development we found with the clones, if you're interested." Said Naruto holding up a data stick in front of the glaring Jedi healer hoping to placate her for a few minutes at least.
Rig's demeanor changed slowly from aggravated to intrigued. "Go on." She said as she took the data stick.
"They all had what I believe to be a behavioral modification chip implanted in them. Though it seems even the Kaminoans are not perfect as one of those chips were defective." Said Naruto.
"All your data is in here?" asked Rig.
"It is, though it is only a copy as I am still looking at the data myself. Though I do have a question."
"Yes?"
"How is Padawan Zule Xiss?"
"Why do you want to know?" she asked confused.
"She is my new student."
"Another one?" she asked confused.
"Well Sira was just knighted."
"Congratulations, though I don't envy you, she is a troubled child, and she is a bit hard to work with, even for me."
"How so?"
"She has let her anger get the better of her, and she seems like she is just shutting down entirely. She refuses any attempt of treatment and she barely eats anything. I would hazard a guess that she feels guilty that she was the only one out of her group of friends to survive." Said Rig looking at her data pad frowning. "Her injuries have not healed all the way, but if she can be treated, she will make a full recovery."
"Please lead the way, I will see if I can persuade her to be more cooperative."
"Very well, follow me Master Uzumaki and good luck." Said Rig while motioning Naruto to follow her.
The two walked in silence until Rig stopped in front of a door. "Do please try to be gentle with her."
"I make no promises." Said Naruto before he stepped into the room.
Inside the room was dark, yet he could still see the bed in the corner and the large lump covered by the sheets. He stepped towards the bed only to stop half way when he heard a voice that sounded empty to him.
"I thought I told you fools I don't want you in here."
"That is too bad, you don't have a choice about my presence here, Padawan." Said Naruto pulling up nearby chair.
The girl shifted over to face Naruto and he saw the girl's face for the first time. Her skin was a dark shade of orange and she had bright green empty eyes. She was beautiful, but to Naruto, she was just a child in his eyes.
"What do you want?" she said curtly.
"To get my new student out of her pity party she is throwing herself. You feel that you shouldn't have survived while your friends died." Said Naruto surprising the girl though she became angrier.
"What do you know huh? I fought for days watching my friends and troops fall one by one, unable to save them and somehow despite having a large war machine fall on me, I survive, I alone. I should have died with them, I should have." She quietly said at the end looking down on the floor.
"I watched my people be slaughtered by a more technological advanced cult till only I remained. My friends, my comrades, my wife, … my kids. All were killed yet I survived. Then later I lost my second family, and here I am, several thousand years later, I survived, I keep their memories going. I honor them the best way I know how. Would you like to know how I do that?"
"How?" she weakly asked.
"I live the way I know that they would want me to. If my wives were still around and I was moping the way you are, they would have beaten me black and blue. So, are you willing to step out of your despair, and allow yourself to live the way your friends would want you to?" asked Naruto holding out his hand.
"I…..I will try old man." She said while slapping away his hand.
"I will take that answer for now, though I expect you to allow the healers to tend to you as I will need you to be functional soon. If I hear that you have been uncooperative, I will tend to you in a not so kind way." Said Naruto with a bit of an edge to his voice daring the girl to challenge him on the subject.
"How do I know you wont abandon me like my other 'Masters'?" Zule asked with a defiant look in her eyes.
"You are not the first problem child I have delt with, and I feel you will not be the last." Said Naruto.
"What's your name old man."
"I am Master Naruto Uzumaki, brat, and I hope you are ready. As soon as you are able, I will be training you the way my Master trained me, and I am not talking about my Jedi Master." Said Naruto confusing Zule even more. "Oh we're going to be having some real fun soon."
Zule began to regret agreeing to this as Naruto wore a predatory grin on his face that promised pain. She felt that she was in for a rough time in the near future.
-END-
03Aug23
So enters Zule and Siri. What else do I have in store for the future. You'll find out sooner or later. Tell me what you think and please vote in the poll I have up. It will be taken down after the nest chapter.
