The hound faced individual nearly got me, if it wasn't for the noise of the attack I would be dead. How did he get so close? Is it because his force signature is warped so I have to look for it. Looking down at their injured comrade who they no doubt will be coming back to save, maybe not they are bandits afterall. I decided to put my theory to a test.

Looking through the force around us but not concentrating on him I found that I couldn't see him at all. Taking the next step I searched for individuals rather than everything and found I could see him but his force sensitivity was extremely muddled. So this world's force sensitives would make for the perfect assassins. If they can be impossible to detect with the force without searching for individuals, then I must include as many as I can into Imperial Intelligence then even the sis's sixth line will be nothing more than a nuisance.

Still these masked bandits were far more uniformed than those other bandits. Mercenaries or elites? Could be, but a twitch in the force is telling me I'm wrong. But then what else would they be? Too lightly equipped for a military force with the weapons they used, heavy armour should be the standard. Not enough raw materials? But then why waste it on throwables and not projectiles.

"Hngh"

"My lord emperor, the civilians are waking up." Nodding I turned to the young woman who was trying to wake the older man who I can only assume was her father.

"Teuchi, are you okay? Teuchi answer me!" I was right. As she is pleading tears are welling up in her eyes threatening to create a new river. I need her to answer questions and if she's a mess that makes it annoying.

"Your Teuchi is fine, just knocked out." I said in an extra detached voice which probably came out far more terrifying thanks to the voice modulator. The woman only seemed to realise we were here and in the same second she analysed us and the surroundings I analysed her.

About my age if I had to guess 25. Long dark Brown hair with a slender body and fair skin. The thing that surprised me however were her black eyes. Something only ever heard of for those deeply immersed in the darkside but I sense nothing from her.

Whilst my reaction was surprised but mostly uninterested hers was anything but. Fear was screaming from her in waves through the force but she wasn't making a sound. Maybe she's gone into shock from the bloodbath. But before I could even think of speaking up to inform her of the situation her emotions radiated acceptance. Why ooh the intimidation of our armour. Now it makes sense.

"We mean you no harm girl. We saw you were getting attacked by slavers and stepped in, they had reinforcements but we drove them off." She accepted my answer but likely only because of the memories of what happened before she was knocked out. However that didn't me she trusted me as shown by her staring at the body of the still alive masked bandit.

"This bandit attacked us like I said they had reinforcements. He's still alive and I plan to interrogate him." The girl now seemed confused.

"He's anbu. What do you mean he's a bandit?" Now it was my turn to be confused what in the name of the force is an anbu. That doesn't even have a translation.

"What is an anbu?" Thankfully one of my men spoke up as I didn't feel like looking ignorant in front of them. The woman however looked stunned; nearly all fear inside her was replaced by pity.

"Anbu are the hokages personal shinobi. They do missions vital to village security and remove threats that are beyond normal shinobis abilities." So they are soldiers…shit. Force fucking damn it. So I basically started a fucking war because I thought they were force damn bandits.

In my rage I was only mildly aware that the ground began to crack and the wind stilled as the temperature plummeted to below freezing in an instant. I wasn't aware nor caring about the fact that my eradicators were struggling to shield everyone's mind nor that 6 force ghosts appeared behind me.

"My emperor please!" Finally realising what was happening I pulled back all my power. Turning to see if the civilians were still alive, I was surprised that they were. Nodding my thanks to my sith I turned to the 'anbu'.

"I suppose letting you die would make this situation worse." I don't have any prisoners I can sacrifice with 'life drain' so it seems 'dark heal' will have to do. Doing a quick scan of his injuries I saw I penetrated far too deeply. His heart was cut slightly, barely and not enough for blood to escape, but will tear open given enough palpitations. This will need to be healed first but it should still beat for an hour at most. At least he won't die with dark heal as I'll be able to stem the bleeding but the risk of infection will be high especially with a foreign darkside influence flowing through him.

Moving to stand next to him my hand began to glow green before being encircled by a tide of dark purple. My eradicators, knowing what to do, lifted the anbu so that I could heal him without having to kneel. To this day I am surprised I was never executed on Korriban for my no kneeling rule. Although it was probably because of Zash that I wasn't since she likely found it amusing.

Putting a swift end to my speculation and focusing solely on the healing. Plunging my hand into the wound and practically grabbing the heart, fully away, I made the wound larger. Several dozen minutes later I dragged out my hand having repaired the damage to the heart. The screams and thrashing making it far harder to work on the right pulmonary arteries. One wrong mistake and I permanently destroy them or slip and hit the rest of the heart.

With my attention shifting away from the most major damage, and to containing the pain, my healing began to fail. Knowing now that the damage was more than superficial and the cell was likely sliced in half I began a bit of a riskier operation. A mixture of drain life on myself and dark heals. A risk as it would leave me incredibly weak for hours, maybe days more than enough time for an aspiring sith to become emperor. Risking a quick glance at my eradicators. They may see me as a god but they are still sith.

Still if I keep this up this anbu will die and I will be emperor of nothing. Forgive me Ashara if this kills me. Immediately my body began to glow green with a surrounding black just like my hand before surging into the anbu like a tsunami. As more energy flows I am forced to hold back screams of agony as cells begin to tear and combine.

Drain life requires a sacrifice not just because it takes the person's life force but also because it forces their body and more importantly cells to replicate the injury. It does this so that it can find the most optimal path of healing but it doesn't care for the pain it causes.

Finally failing to hold back the screams I launched my head back in a motion I'm sure would've made an audible crack if it wasn't drowned out by my agony. Feeling each of my individual cells all 30 trillion cells, in a normal human body, plus the some 20 trillion midichlorians burned and tear. With the torture only getting worse each time I draw on the force in heavier intervals.

Feeling my mind about to shatter and collapse into shock from the stress I pulled on the power of the entrapped force ghosts. Using to act as a painkiller was effective for about a nanosecond before the speed that my cells now melted and cleaved increased almost tenfold. Focusing the excess energy into a shield to prevent me collapsing into shock so I can instead focus on the anbu. The agony still very much present but my thoughts were no longer clouded by it.

Channelling as much as I can on the once believed superficial wound, the pain long since unbearable somehow increases a hundredfold. The cut finally fully healed and being extra safe I pumped a little more energy to it. Taking a figurative step back I saw that the cut wasn't about to reopen so instead I changed my focus on the rest of his wound.

This pattern of shared agony continued for hours with me eventually shielding his mind when I felt it was about to shatter like mine. Once I had finished I ordered my eradicators to set the anbu down gracefully. Seeing that the anbu was now quietly snoring him to himself in a mini coma I allowed a small exhausted smile to cross my face before promptly collapsing.

In a nearby town.

The town of Hotei was small, unassuming and held little strategic or economic or cultural importance, perfect for a cult like the one I and the rest of Ro fled from. Just the thought of what happened twisted the clock knife more, moving to the next hour of the day where in another hour it will have certainly turned again.

Despite everything though I see no reason for it not to be turned I promised to Obito to look after Rin before plunging my hand through her chest. Then I promised at her grave to get stronger so no one else had to be hurt so I joined anbu. There I promised to protect my team and put the mission above all else. All that happened the moment we ran into a threat a threat I had promised to Rin to get stronger for. We ran. We ran and abandoned our teammate. The action leaves a bitter taste even if as anbu we do exactly as we should it didn't make it easier. Nor did it knowing the one who entrusted you with his eye would be appalled by your actions.

But just like in training I have to grab hold of my emotions as firmly as possible and discard them. The mission cannot be jeopardised no matter the cost, not when our teammate and the villagers of Hotei lives are at risk.

Feeling someone nudge my shoulder I turned to see who it was only to be greeted with mask of my fellow team Ro member hawk. "Relax hound. Those bastards didn't kill crab and the damage he received meant they are likely still healing him before interrogating him. After all, I doubt they expected for anbu to arrive." The bland voice with a hint of concern and worry only noticeable to anbu was all that I needed to know that he was right.

If those cultists wanted to kill him then they could've and anbu arriving is a sign for any group to get whatever information they can so they know if they are being hunted or not. Crab is still alive and likely will be for a few days at least.

The knowledge doesn't help untwist the knife but it does stop the twisting.

One last flash of yellow like the several hundred times before indicated the arrival of sensei. One of the first acts the fourth hokage implemented was for every city, town and village within the land of fire to have a sealing matrix that he could teleport to in case of emergencies. This to most would mean putting himself at risk to fend off whatever attack was happening whilst reinforcements moved in from Konoha. But sensei isn't most as proven when he mobilised 300 shinobi, 200 jonin and 100 anbu, and in a few hours teleported them all halfway across the country.

Seeing the head medic, an older man around 40 and his significantly younger assistant, a kunoichi around 23 rush to the hokage. Even if he is incredibly powerful and has an abundance of chakra he still needs soldier pills to avoid chakra exhaustion. So now we wait a few hours for him to rest then the operation truly begins.

"Tean Ro report to everyone here about your encounter then we will go over the plan." Sensei stated in an exhausted but surprisingly authoritative voice reminding everyone why he is hokage. Having moved to the head of the long table holding a map of the elemental nations. Or more accurately had to practically push past as the town hall they had occupied was hardly big enough but people got creative with where they stand. Some stood attached to the sealing most the anbu, whilst others stuck to the walls or sat on someone elses shoulders. It would have been humorous if it wasn't for what we are here for.

Giving our acknowledgement we went over everything in as much detail as we could. The faces of the jonin were grim at best hopeless at worst and even though you couldn't see the faces of the anbu you could tell they were having similar reactions.

"Shikaku Nara step forward." The jonin commander and strategic genius did exactly that. He had expected to be called on so stood close to the table anyway. "You will lead our forces deal with the six unknown individuals whilst I deal with their leader." Receiving a nod and acknowledgment being shouted by all the shinobi even the anbu sensei moved on.

"Failure is not an option. We fail today then Konoha falls then the world. So lets go and show them that the will of fire burns those that dare mean it harm!" The shouts that followed were deafening and within a few hours they were on the move.

Back with the emperor

The first thing I felt was a searing headache. The next an ache I wish to never again feel ravage my body. Then I heard voices.

"Still don't understa- why we don't check- him." Was that a womans voice?

"Because we wi- illed if we-." A robotic voice, a modulated voice. The voice of a helmeted sith.

Sith.

Sith.

In a blur of motion, all the while ignoring my body scream in agony and pleas for me to rest, I activated my lightsaber rose from my sitting position and spun around cutting down anything close to me. Apparently something large behind me if the crash and ground shaking was any indicator. A twig snapping and a pair of gasps forced me to open my groggily, dazed and practically blinded eyes to see what was around me.

A woman with a form fitting beige dress that almost wrapped around her. A man in an almost stereotypical chef's outfit. And six black clad individuals. Sith. somehow recognising that none of them had lightsabers out nor dared to take a single take closer than their already metres away safety net.

They are not a threat, thank the force.

Deactivating my lightsaber, I forced myself to stand up right and attempted. Key word attempted to use the force to purge the haze. It didn't work so I moved on to what I used to do on korriban, I shielded my mind and used the force to heighten my senses. It worked somewhat well allowing me to see about as well as someone with the wrong glasses. Still it would be enough.

"I think it would be a good idea for us to head to the nearest town we should be able to get there soon. There we can rest and you can recover." The older man said whilst pointing a finger at me. Normally I would have issues with his impotence but for some force damned reason I found it amusing. Amusing enough to laugh an actual full blown belly laugh.

"Yes, let's and I will need you two to answer some questions about this land." The civilians seemed to gulp at my tense tone but accepted.

"Sure, ask away." We began to walk with my eradicators picking up the anbu and carrying him, with a great sense of self preservation, in front of us instead of behind like they normally would be.

"What are the powers of the shinobi and how do they draw it?" It's important to know whether or not they use the light side, darkside or something else entirely like the knights of zakuul.

"Ummm I don't know too much but I know shinobi draw their abilities from chakra stored within their bodies." The old man said as if he was answering the hardest question ever. Wait stored… does that mean they can run out?

"So can they run out of this chakra?" I asked as innocently as possible even if it left a bad taste in my mouth.

"Ummm yeah. That's not the same for you guys then?" He asked as if I was stupid or just discovered the secret to immortality.

"No it's not we draw from emotions yes. But we can also draw power from other people's emotions, their passions and the nature around us." Normally I wouldn't share this much but we need a desperate amount of information. If their powers are different even more so than I thought before then this alliance is needed even more. Now I know exactly what to offer them for it.

"What can you tell me about the politics of this land and the others around it?" deciding that focusing solely on something I can get answers to later without compromising the chances of this alliance is of secondary importance.

"Well the daimyo rules the land of fire and commands a few thousand samurai soldiers. But the main military force in the land of fire is the village hidden in the leaves controlled by the hokage. That's the shinobi village of this land. If you pay them enough they will do just about anything." So they are mercenaries. The man continued explaining the most recent events and allowing me to make my own conclusions. Troublesome.

"So if the daimyo rules the nation but the hokage has full authority for the leaf village then who would I make an alliance with?" The woman piped in this time and said probably both depending on where I wanted to do business. Annoying and this will come back to bite the nation hard in the future if these hidden villages have this much autonomy.

Opening my mouth to speak only to be interrupted by a small three pronged dagger barely missing my head and digging dangerously into the ground. Turning my head toi face the one that threw the weapon I started to say "wait" only to be cut off as I noticed a man appear where the dagger landed.

A man with bright yellow hair, blue eyes, he wore a white cloak that, thanks to my helmet's translation modifications, read the fourth hokage. Covering a green flak jacket that looks more like a military jacket I would expect.

Despite taking in his looks and the utter contempt on his face, my eyes were not locked nor even caring about any of it. Instead my eyes were fixed on the ball of energy that he was moving closer and closer to me. I had no counter and no time to react. My only choice was to take the hit and pray my armour takes the blow.

My only thought as I was catapulted away with my armour dented and my climate resistant clothes shredded. My only thought was that my armour did take the blow. I didn't. Going through caused the new pain from the hokage's attack to worsen but worse yet the pain from healing returned with a vengeance.

By the time I stopped I was embedded in a tree unable to move. I looked up and saw my eradicators surrounded by shinobi, many wearing the same flak vest as the hokage. Using the force to send a telepathic order to my eradicators, although it sounded like a whisper and one of their own thoughts they knew it was from me from experience.

Immediately they surrendered. The hokage saw this then turned to me, almost asking my move. I had none, his attack making it far too difficult to move. Seemingly unsatisfied he moved closer with around 30 shinobi.

"Do you surrender as well or will you die in the name of your god?" The hokage said with ice whatever personality he has buried within duty.

"I won't surrender for I never again will I kneel but that doesn't mean we are enemies." The hokage didn't look impressed and drew another dagger with his other hand to create that force damn blue ball.

"I don't make deals with cultists." Wait, that's what he thinks we are. I need to clear up this misunderstanding now."

Back with the eradicators.

"Shadow possession jutsu, success. Alright you can bind them." I said before turning to the civilians. With my eyes breathly darting to the 'wounded' anbu that was now being looked over by the medics. "My name is Shikaku Nara. Are you two ok?" I asked with as much gentleness but authority as possible to my surprise they both nod.

"Please nara-san stop this. This is all a big misunderstanding. They are dignitaries from a foreign land. Hell, they don't even know what chakra is." At first I was taken by surprise but it doesn't make sense why would they fight team Ro. If they didn't know about chakra then they likely don't know what shinobi are even less what anbu are and Ro did report that they attacked first.

"Are you sure? They didn't manipulate you at all?"

"I'm sure those six went into way too much detail about their homeland for it to be fake plus the sadness and anger was clear as day. Nara-san I know why you don't trust them. I've been around shinobi hell I was one. But they are who they say they are, the destroyed forest down that way when their leader discovered he fought konoha's military." She was practically pleading with me. Analysing her closely I saw no lie to my complete bafflement.

One of the jonin turned to me. His sharingan is still blazing. "They are telling the truth." His sharingan likely told him which means they are.

Shit.

Spinning around to where the fourth was I heard the explosion first then saw the aftermath. Their leader was kneeling in front of the fourth hokage. Within a second it was visible to everyone the other dignitaries started to resist.

"Stop resisting or you will be killed." One jonin said.

"You don't understand he's kneeling. He hasn't kneeled since he was a slave!" The voice was erratic even if it sounded like evil itself.

"We need to leave if we want to live!" Another shouted even more terrified than the first.

Another went to speak up but his voice failed as the temperature plummeted and clouds of lighting began appearing shooting out purple, black and red lighting.

"All troops evacuate now!" Not knowing what this is or what it could be I only knew staying here meant certain death if the killing intent was his fall power, not that I believed it was.

Back with Nox

"I will never again be a slave! I will never again kneel!" I said rising to my feet before teleporting behind the hokage, he dodged with a teleportation of his own before going right back in.

Sending a blast of force lighting under my shoulder and into him launched him away. Whilst it clearly hurt it wasn't going to deter the hokage. Drawing more daggers however these ones only had one prong he threw them at me.

Drawing my lightsaber its energy roaring to life as small bolts of electricity shoot off it. Deciding to not risk these daggers being lightsaber resistant I launched lighting coating the blades in chaotic crimson energy.

Moving with far more effort than I care to admit and the ache of the healing returning tenfold seemingly unsatisfied from the pain it caused before. Although it slowed me exceptionally I didn't let it stop me and I sliced each of the throwables into harmless pieces.

The hokage however didn't wait and began attacking with martial arts and a three pronged dagger. It was clear he didn't know how to fight against the lightsaber and was struggling on focusing to only dodge the weapon. Deciding I needed to end this I used the force to enhance my speed, the hokage narrowly dodging the first attack I launched with my enhancement chose wisely to back off with a teleport.

I was able to force him to stay out of close range. He clearly doesn't want to risk my weapon nor my ability to increase speed. And although I am no slouch in martial arts being one of the few sith that trained in the field. I was no master like this man is.

The hokage seemingly finishing his own analysis flashed his hands in signs. Shit is he calling for reinforcements. Reaching out with the force I sensed no one getting closer instead his troops were… leaving?

Then what is he signing? Barely a moment later a ball of fire was spat out of his face. Your kidding he can become a fucking mythosaur. Barely dodging the hokage noticed my delayed reaction and began using long range attacks.

After using a ground, a few fires and apparently a wind one which was the only that hit me. I noticed a pattern the hokage needs to do signs for these attacks.

"How are you feeling hokage would hate to kill you?" I said with mirth only just then realising I was enjoying fighting an almost equal for the first time in years.

"Rather have me sacrificed?" He responded blandly but through the force the tremors of excitement were there as well. Before I could respond he teleported in attempting to hit me with that blue sphere just like he did the first time.

Not falling for the same trick twice I sliced up with my lightsaber the secondary blade rising to threaten his arm and if he continues with the attack remove it. The hokage sadly didn't lose his arm, instead teleporting away.

Dodging and attacking this dance of never ending exhaustion went on for hours. My heart was racing and my body was beginning to revolting against me, sweat coated me making breathing very hard in my helmet as it began getting filled by liquid. The hokage was in a better shape although only slightly if I had to guess, it's because he hasn't recovered from some strenuous task before this fight.

Unlike him however I only have enough energy for one final attack.

Finally the opening I needed the hokage began doing hand signs again in a small clearing. Right under a lighting cloud I control. In one solid move I brought my hand down summoning a bolt of lighting from the heavens and landing a hit on the hokage.

It didn't have enough energy to kill only paralyse but it's what I needed. Watching as the hokage collapsed to the ground I began to walk forward to him before also collapsing. Almost wanting laugh at how ridiculous this was, I instead chose to ask a simple question.

"My name is nox, what's your hokage?" I asked in between breaths.

My answer didn't come immediately nor for a while as we both just laid they breathing heavily. " Minato Namikaze, you didn't know that?" He asked with genuine surprise something I didn't need the force to tell.

"Know me and my people are new to this land and know next to nothing I came to the land of fire to try to negotiate an alliance." Now laughing at the outcome.

"Why fight the anbu then?" He asked not hiding how incredulous he was.

"I thought they were bandits. They seemed too lightly equipped to be anything else in my eyes." Now it was the hokages turn to start laughing.

"They attacked you because they thought you were cultists. Your helmet didn't help." His laugh turned to wheezing multiple times.

"This was just a monumental misunderstanding wasn't it?" I asked, already knowing the answer and letting out another series of laughs.

"Yeah I suppose it was so I am guessing you don't wish to ally with us anymore?" He asked with no mirth but a well hidden shame.

"Hardly. If I can I would do anything to ally you. Amongst my people there's a saying that describes our beliefs. Only the strongest may rule. And you're my equal." I said hoping I sounded as genuine as I was.

"What are your people and nation called?" He asked seemingly returning my hope.

"The nation is called the Sith Dominion or Sith Empire. The rulers are force sensitives called sith. The Imperials are ordinary citizens."

A/N so thats chapter three the biggest so far. The confrontation has happened and the misunderstanding mini arc as I have started calling it has come to an end. Now for the true political game.

Hope you are enjoying the story. Next chapter might be delayed but I'll try to get it out on time if not early.