AU From LW and AL
[BD]
1. Yes, we understand the timeline is busted, but for one, it's fanfiction. Don't think about it too much. Also, the timeline was gonna be busted anyways, given how we're going to add Hera and Sabine. The original, which by the way, AL thanks you very much for appreciating, already had a somewhat of a busted timeline due to, again, Sabine and Hera.
2. Yeah, the Republic and the Jedi are being hypocritical. What a surprise, am I right?
3. Chakra sensors are incredible rare in the shinobi world, and even they have to be actively using their ability to sense something wrong. Sure, there's the Hyuga and the Uchiha, but the Uchiha are pretty much gone, and Sasuke's chakra is sealed so that he doesn't run off. The Hyuga are kept to themselves, so there's that.
3. And then you gotta consider the fact that the crew focused mainly on retreating. Even Jango and Cad Bane were running for their lives the entire time. They purposely divided the shinobi via destruction and chaos, which meant less pursuers for the entire team. As calculated, most of them were too focused on evacuating the civilians and the wounded, and the handful that noticed them were being fended off with bombs and blaster shots, which the bounty hunters spammed to keep them at bay. The actual numbers of shinobi they managed to kill was only a few, and those were lucky kills.
(About the Child Soldier Hypocrisy)
The last few chapters took place before the Clone Wars, but after The Phantom Menace. Also, Padme didn't have much choice when fighting during the events of the TPM.
(The Harem)
Yeah, I kinda wanted to tell myself, but the author said no, so too bad, so sad. On the plus side, at least you'll always be on your toes, wondering who'll be the lucky guy/girl that'll be in his harem.
…
LW: I hope that satisfies your questions for now. Onto the story!
Also, just a heads up, the next few chapters are gonna get pretty dark, which involves slavery and abuse of many kinds.
[?]
Danzo Shimura, to be blunt, was not what you would call a "good person." He himself admitted to that many times when he woke up, staring at himself in the mirror with the "prizes" he collected over the years.
Still, one never achieved great things by being a pacifist. One never achieved great things without kicking up some dust and cracking a few eggs. One never achieved great things without making some sacrifices.
'Everything I do is for the sake of the village.' That happened to be Danzo's motto, as well as the justification for everything he has done. From starting wars in an effort to destroy the rivaling villages, to kidnapping children to build up his ROOT army, he has done many things that, from time to time, would make Danzo feel slightly guilty.
'Besides,' He walked up to the large holotransceiver in the middle of the room. 'There's no turning back.'
He pushed a few buttons, and waited for the message to come through. After almost a minute of waiting, a large hologram sprouted from the machine.
"I assume that the plan was a success." The old, cloaked man spoke to Danzo.
"You would be correct, Lord Sidious." Danzo nodded. "I do hope that you would fulfill your end of the bargain once you get what you need from the boy. I have taken many risks to help make this day happen."
"Of course I will, Danzo." The Lord of the Sith nodded in return. "We would both benefit from this project of ours. I learn more about the secrets of chakra, and you would get your army of Uzumaki clones, as well as the boy himself, reconditioned to your liking."
"And I would continue to search for any more force-sensitives on this planet." Danzo finished.
"Precisely." Sidious smiled, showing his yellow teeth. "I'm glad we are on the same page. Now, if you excuse me, I must get going."
And with that, the holotransmission ended, leaving Danzo alone in the intelligence room with his ROOT guards. After a minute of silence, he turned and left the room.
[Mos Eisley, Tatooine]
If one talked about planets outside of the reach of the Republic, Tatooine is often the first planet that comes to mind.
Once a planet full of oceans and rainforests, it is now a husk of its former self, the planet now being known for being a hot, barren wasteland, as well as the poverty and corruption that goes on there.
It's also known for Jabba the Hutt being the tyrannical ruler of the planet, with his influence and power being so great that even the Republic does nothing about his open presence there.
Mos Eisley was one of the few cities that existed in the wasteland, especially one that had a few spaceports. It was a city full of scumbags in many forms. Bounty hunters, smugglers, fugitives, slave traders, they all roamed free in this city, with murder and sometimes even rape being very common in the city.
Overall, much like the planet itself, it was pretty much a lawless land.
Inside of Chalmun's Spaceport Cantina, Jango and his team were busy killing time by getting some food and drinks while waiting for Dooku's goons to arrive with their money. It was easy to say that some of them were already under the alcohol's influence.
This was scene by the four remaining weequays, who were clearly drunk out of their minds. They were sitting on the other side of the bar, due to some Twi'lek dancers giving them some sultry looks and poses. They were already trying to suck them dry of their credits, which was witnessed by Jango, Boba, Aurra Sing, and Cad Bane.
Zam volunteered to stay behind at the ship to guard it. After all, you can't ever be too careful in Tatooine.
"Morons." Cad Bane glared at the weequays, disgusted at their behavior. "At this rate, we'll have to drag them back to the ship alongside our credits."
"My my, Bane," Aurra chuckled at the duros. "Since when were you concerned about the wellbeings of others?"
"I'm not." Cad Bane growled at her. "I just don't want them attracting more attention to us than we already have." He eyed some of the patrons, who immediately looked away from them. "The last thing I want is that idiot Greedo to notice us if he's here."
"Seriously?" Jango turned to him. "Out of all the bounty hunters in this galaxy, you're concerned about Greedo?"
"He's a slippery bastard." Cad Bane growled, as he did not like the Rodian very much. "Always a pain in our asses."
Boba turned to his dad. "What does he mean, dad?"
Aurra just laughed, tapping on Boba's head. "Nothing for you to worry about, Boba. Just drink your milk and be a good boy." She teased the boy while drinking her glass.
Boba glared at her lightly, before feeling someone tap on his shoulder. He looked up at his dad, and saw her nod at her.
"You'll learn soon, Boba. I promise you that."
Boba smiled at his father and nodded back at him. "Right."
Just then, a small beeping sound erupted from their table. They all checked their communication devices, and found that it came from Aurra.
Answering her com, she received a quick transmission that ended swiftly.
"So?
"They've arrived."
"Where?" Cad Bane asked, eager to finish this job.
"They just send me the coordinates." Aurra replied, putting her device back into her pocket. "It's not that far from here."
"Where?" Jango was the next to ask.
"The Center Port, the big one that never finished construction." That wasn't far from their current location, just a few blocks down the road.
"Okay, we'll go there." Jango said turning to his son. "Boba."
"Yeah, dad?"
"...Stay close to me." Jango finally said, making Boba's eyes widen. "Keep aware of your surroundings, and always be ready for your blaster."
"O-okay" Boba nearly squealed with joy, which made Aurra roll her eyes in the background, although a small smile could've help make her way into her lips. They all got up, and walked to the exit, with Jango walking over to collect the drunken weequays.
"We're going." Jango told them sternly. "Get your act together."
The pirates groaned and grumbled, but didn't argue with him, reluctantly pulling themselves away from the twi'leks. Making sure to throw their money, they staggered towards the exit.
Unfortunately, unbeknownst to the group, they did indeed attract some unwanted attention. A group of people glare at the group as they left, as they had some unfinished business with some of them…
…
They returned to the Slave I, where Zam was patiently waiting for them. After retrieving the pod, they walked back to the meeting point.
To their relief, they managed to get there without any issues, save for the weequays stumbling and babbling, to which they had to remind them to shut up.
Eventually making it to their destination, they began to split into small groups, scattering themselves around the meeting point in case it was a trap.
Jango and Bane were together, scanning the area for either potential enemies or their clients.
"So Jango," Cad Bane tipped his hat. "You got something you wanna talk about?"."
"...You can always tell when I got things on my mind, Bane." Jango sighed, not denying it whatsoever.
"You talking about the moment when we found out the target was actually a kid?" Bane guessed.
Jango didn't say anything for a while, before he continued. "I still can't believe that all that trouble was just for a kid."
"A soldier, to be correct." Bane stated. "If you read the information about that planet, you would know that the use of children in their military is the norm in their culture." Bane scoffed. "Just be happy that we didn't run into one of those brats."
Jango then turned to the blue-skinned bounty hunter. "Would you really shoot one of those kids if you had to?"
Cad Bane turned towards him, with a blank look on his face. "Would you?"
The two men fell into silence, suddenly unable to answer each others questions for a moment.
"...I'm just doing this to get paid, Jango." Cad Bane finally said, before taking a few steps away from him. "I do whatever I need to do to get my credits." He then squinted at him. "But what's it with you? You don't care about the boy, do you?"
"...Not exactly." Jango finally said. "It's more about that village."
"What about it?" Bane snorted. "Since when were you worried about making enemies? It's just an occupational hazard."
"No, not that." Jango waved him off. "I was talking about the whirlpool patch on their shoulders and backs."
"So?"
Jango was about to go further on the topic, when they were interrupted by the sound of engines. Looking up, they saw a small ship that was growing closer to them.
"About time they've showed up." Bane muttered, before walking towards the incoming shuttle with the pod, leaving Jango on his own as the ship began to descend upon them..
The Sheathipede shuttle took a moment to land as it turned around, before its landing claws came out, connecting to the ground.
The doors slid open, revealing a group of B1 battle droids. Two of them stepped out, their blasters in their metal hands, and six more soon followed, with two of them carrying two metal bags of credits.
The last one to follow them were two Neimoidians in their traditional clothing. Green skinned and red-eyed, the two of them cowered at the gazes of the bounty hunters, which made Cad Bane scoff.
Clearing his throat, one of the Neimoidians stepped up to the Mandalorian.
"You must be the one who goes by Jango Fett." He extended his hand, to which Jango reluctantly took. "I've been informed that you are the one I should meet."
"You got the credits for us?" Jango simply asked.
"Of course, just as your employer has promised." The Neimoidian clicked his fingers. The two droids opened the suitcases and revealed a very impressive amount of credit chips.
"As promised, here are your credits." The Neimoidian said. "Now. The child."
"...We got him." Jango roughly answered as the weequay mercenaries started escorting the pod to the middle of the area.
"Show it to me."
Jango turned to one of the weequay and nodded. One push of a button, and the pod opened up, revealing a still unconscious and bandaged Naruto, who was still sedated from Zam's drug.
"Excellent." The Neimoidian hummed as he inspected the boy. "I see you've proven your job well done, bounty hunters."
"The pay." Cad Bane reminded them, who was growing rather impatient.
"Of course." He clicked his fingers again, and the droids moved forward, nervously placing the suitcases in front of the bounty hunters for Aurra to pick up, before walking back.
"Lord Tyranus will be more than pleased by your performance." The Neimoidian complemented as the weequay pushed the pod to the droids, who closed it promptly. "He hopes that you can be of great service to him again."
"If he needs me to invade another planet with no information about its culture or military to kidnap a kid again, tell him I said no." Jango grunted as he turned around, walking towards the exit with the others.
The Neimoidian took no notice of the last comment, and turned to the yellow-patterned battle droid. "Bring the specimen into the ship."
"Roger, Roger." The droid replied before ordering his troops. "You heard him, move the subject Naruto Uzumaki into the ship."
A pair of legs stopped moving. Jango froze in place as he heard the last name.
Cad Bane turned around to notice his rival wasn't moving. "What's the matter, Jango?"
The Mandalorian's helmet slowly turned back towards the ship, staring at the young boy that he had helped send to his doom.
"Jango." Aurra called him out. "Come on, we've got our credits."
Jango just continued walking towards the ship, his hand dangerously close to his blasters.
"Dad?"
The Mandalorian said nothing as he grew closer to the Separatists.
Just before anyone could do or say anything, a loud voice filled the air.
"Greetings, my friends!"
Everyone froze as they looked up at the balcony, seeing a group of armed men standing on the other side of the port. Their blasters and rocket launchers were aimed at them, causing everyone to tense up.
"Zygerrians." Jango growled as his blasters were aimed at them. "What do those scumbags want?"
"We want no trouble with you bounty hunters or you Separatists." The leader of the group declared. "Well, not exactly true with the first one. You see, those...drunken fools," He glared at the weequays, who were shakingly aiming their blasters at them. "Have crossed with us in the past, stealing our shipments of spice. All we want is those idiots, and everyone can go on their merry way."
One of the drunken weequay spat at them. "Screw you, you slaving bastards! Go back to your bitch queen and tell her to suck it!"
"What did you just say?!" The zygerrians growled in anger.
The drunken weequay pulled out a blaster at them. "Eat this!"
PEW!
The guy next to the Zygerrian speaker got shot through the chest, shocking everyone.
And that's when all hell broke loose...again.
BOOM!
The droids and the Neimodians screamed as they were flown forward, their ship blown up by a rocket launcher, courtesy of the zygerrians.
POW! POW! POW! PEW! PEW! PEW!
Within seconds, the entire landing platform became a battlefield, with missiles and blaster bolts flying like mad.
One of the weequays took a bolt to the shoulder, causing him to fall down behind the metal box he was hiding behind. The crap talker, on the other hand, wasn't so lucky, as he got hit by blaster fire first in the gut, chest, and then the head, which ended his life. The other two weequay managed to take cover behind the pillars, and now sobering up a little, their aim grew much better as they grew more determined to survive this battle..
"Damn bastards took out N'agel!" One of the weequay behind the pillar roared, before cursing at them. "Catch this, you Zyg bastards!" He got out from his cover and started firing at the slavers at the balcony who were forced to take cover.
"Where the kriff are the others?!" One of the weequays hissed, clutching his shoulder.
Meanwhile, Cad Bane and the others were just standing by the sidelines, not trying to get involved in this firefight, but the firefight made their only exit unreachable. Plus, if they tried to escape via flying, they would become an easy target, especially if they had to carry someone out of there.
Zam took cover beside Aurra behind a box and commented, "Looks like we're stuck here. Any suggestions?" A blaster shot flew past her, nearly hitting her.
"Well, this isn't our problem, so I say we let them take care of each other." Aurra just shrugged, while keeping her fingers on his blasters. "Why get into someone else's business when it's clearly none of ours?"
Cad Bane, who was ducking behind a cargo box with Boba, noticed that someone wasn't there with them. "Anyone seen Jango?"
FWOOM!
The familiar sound of a jetpack going off made Boba look out from his hiding spot.
"Look! He's fighting!" The other three bounty hunters turned to look at what Boba meant, and were equally surprised and at awe at what they were seeing.
Jango was flying in the air, dodging blaster fire from the Zygerrians as he was firing back at them, causing the group to scatter.
"Its Jango Fett! Somebody kill him!" One of slavers warned.
Landing on the ground, he began to dodge and hide from the bullets. His helmet warning him of a threat from above, he looked up and saw a zygerrian aiming a rifle at him. Smirking, he fired a single bolt at his would-be sniper, and he fell from the rooftop, dead before he hit the ground.
'One down, three more to go.' Jango thought, his helmet scanning the three surviving zygerrians.
His eyes widened as he detected one of them holding a rocket launcher, which was aimed directly at him.
"Dodge this!" The zygerrian roared, before he pulled the trigger.
'Kriff!' Jango thought as he pushed a button on his gauntlet.
FWOOM! FWOOM! BOOM!
The second the zygerrian launched his rocket, Jango did the same, firing his missile from his jetpack. The two missiles collided with each other, creating an explosion that sent people and debris flying in opposite directions.
…
The wounded weequay panted as he could nothing but continue to hide like a coward. He watched as his two remaining friends were struggling against the Zygs. He wished he could help them, but his shooting arm was injured, and it hurt like hell to even move it.
One of his friends, which was too far to help, shouted, "Shahan! You alright?!"
Shahan hissed as he shifted his body. "I'm fine! Had better days!"
"Hold on, we're getting you out of here!"
The zygerrian with the rocket launcher took notice of the shouting, and grinned, turning his weapon toward the pillars the two weequays were hiding behind. He had one last rocket, and he figured that he'd use it on getting revenge for the loss of the spice shipment.
Shahan took another peak, and saw the zyg with the heavy artillery. "Guys, get out of there!"
FWOOSH!
Time seemed to slow down for the weequay as the zygerrian fired his weapon, the missile flying towards the pillar. The two weequays screamed as they tried to move out of the way, but it was too late.
BOOM!
The pillar exploded, sending a wave of fire and debris flying everywhere. Shahan covered his ears as the explosion nearly deafened him. Slowly opening his eyes, he coughed as he saw the wreckage.
Shaking, his eyes finally fell on the remains of his friends, whose expressions of horror was still etched into his face.
Horror turned to rage as Shahan began to see red.
"You bastards!" Shahan roared, grabbing his blaster with his other arm, and aimed at the zygerrians. .
PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW! PEW!
Unfortunately, Shahan never shot with his left arm, and thus, his shots never hit their target. Still, that didn't stop him as he continued to fire at the zygerrians in rage.
"You filthy pirating scum! Do you know who you were stealing from?!" The zygerrians roared at him from behind their pillars.
"I don't know, and frankly, I don't give a damn!" The last weequay of the group shouted back. "The name's Shahan Alama, and I'm gonna kill you all! Come and get me!"
"Why you!-"
PEW!
A blaster shot flew out of nowhere, hitting one of the zygerrians in the face. Slumping over, everyone turned to look at the shooter, revealing it to be the Mandalorian bounty hunter, who was behind the destroyed shuttle.
POW! POW! POW! POW!
Two more zygerrians, who came to reinforce them, fell from the rooftop, with a blaster burn on their chests. Falling with a loud CRUNCH!, they continued to groan, to which Jango shot their heads to end their life.
CLUNK! CLUNK! CLUNK!
Jango turned towards the source of the noise, and his eyes widened at the metal, beeping ball of death.
KA-BOOM!
Jango was sent flying by the explosion. He landed on his jetpack quite painfully, and it sparked from the damage. One of the zygerrians had thrown a thermal detonator, which would've killed him, had it not for his reflexes and his armor.
'Doesn't mean it doesn't hurt like hell.' Jango groaned. He was pretty sure that his durasteel armor didn't completely protect him, and he was pretty sure that the blast had broken a few bones and scorched his skin.
"You know, Mr. Fett," The leader of the group walked up to his fallen body. "I've never had the pleasure of killing a Mandalorian. Now, not only can I proudly say that I've slain one of your kind, but I can even keep your armor as the trophy."
Jango tried to move, but his body felt weak, and his armor suddenly felt a million times heavier. He struggled to get up, but he failed to even lift his head, his armor now becoming his undoing.
The zygerrian smirked, kicking away the Mandalorian's blasters, before he turned back to the pod.
"I wonder what's so special about that pod anyways that was worth your interference and all this trouble." The zygerrian pondered out loud. "I noticed that you could've left with your friends a long time ago, but instead, you chose to stay here. Is it loyalty to your pirate friends...or is it the human in the pod?"
Jango cursed under his breath. His eyes darted to the pod, which was being taken by the surviving zygerrians.
"Well, the fun ends here." The zygerrian smirked, aiming his blaster at the human's neck.
"Hey boss, check this out!" One of his men said. They made to back behind the pillars when something of interest came up.
"What is it?" He growled, wanting to end this bounty hunter's life.
"It says this boy is from...Elementia." The Zygerrian read it out loud, catching the leader's attention.
"Elementia?" His growl turned into smile of interest. "I've heard that those humans are supposed to be super strong." The zygerrian turned back towards the Mandalorian. "Looks like this trip wasn't a complete waste after all."
Jango wished he could do anything. Strangle the bastard. Slit his throat. Shove a thermal detonator into his mouth. But his body was still too hurt to even move his arm, and even if he could, he would never be fast enough to take him on properly.
"Take it back to the ship, now." He ordered his men. "He'll make a fine addition to the spice mines." They nodded, before they quickly took off, leaving the Zygerrian alone with the injured Mandalorian.
"If you dare put a hand on the boy-"
"Pssh, don't pretend to care about the boy, Mr. Fett." The zygerrian snorted. "If you did, he wouldn't be in this situation now, would he? Besides, think of it as a fair compensation for the spice those idiots stole."
And with that, he raised his blaster again.
PEW!
The zygerrian's grin stayed on his face, before he fell over, a smoking hole coming out of his head. Cad Bane and the rest of his crew stepped out of the shadows, with the duros holding a smoking blaster.
"We're even now, Jango." Bane simply said. "Now, why don't you go help out your father, boy?"
Cad Bane's sentence was barely uttered before Boba took off for his father.
"Dad, are you alright?" He asked, worried to death. His father groaned as he struggled to get up. Seeing this, Boba gingerly helped his father to his feet.
"No, son, I'm not alright." He winced, slowly holstering his blasters after Boba picked them up for him.
Noting how Jango was clutching at his ribs, Boba immediately commed Zam to prepare a bacta bath. Unbeknownst to him, however, this wasn't the reason why Jango said he wasn't alright.
'What have I done?' Jango thought wearily, staring at the spot where the pod used to be. 'Jaster, I hope you can forgive me…"
A plummet of black smoke was visible in the air, coming out of one of the ports. This, alongside of the firefight that had occurred not that long ago, attracted some attention, since it was rather hard to not notice. Despite this, the people wisely chose to avoid the area for a while, nor were they foolish enough to dig their noses into it.
A few minutes after the firefight had ended, a YV-865 Aurore-class freighter just took off.
Inside of the freighter was a team of zygerrians, which included the survivors of the fight they had with the bounty hunters.
The leader, who was the zygerrian with a purple convor bird on his shoulder, scowled at the survivors, then at the pod.
"Can someone explain just what the kriff happened back there?"
"We took care of those bastards that stole our spice. You know, the guys we told you about from the cantina?" One of them explained. "Unfortunately, they were in the middle of a business transaction with the Separatists, and things got violent. They were with a team, and they gave us a hard time, even killing your second-in-command."
"Regrettable." D'Nar frowned. "But at least we sent a message to that slimeball, Hondo."
His eyes then traveled back to the pod. "That being said, what's with the pod there?"
"Right, about that..." He replied, pointing at the stolen pod. "Open it up!"
The zygerrian's partner opened up the pod, and carelessly shoved the blond boy out of it.
"We've found this boy being given to the Separatists. Seeing as how those those bastards died from the fight, they won't be missing this after all. It's one of those 'supers' from that new planet, Elementia." He explained, with D'Nar's expression changing from anger to one of interest.
"I see. Good work." He nodded at his men, before examining the boy for himself. He inspected the boy, and seeing as how he was in good health, he let out a grin. His eyes then traveled to his stomach, which was now exposed from the fall. Pushing aside the thin, hospital gown, he stared at the strange tattoo that was on the boy's navel."
"Does the data say anything about these strange markings?"
"Um," His men immediately began to recheck the data. "No, sir. It mentions nothing about it."
"I see." D'Nar's expression grew into a smirk. "No matter. He'll make a perfect addition to my collection."
"Sir?"
"I've decided to keep it." D'Nar chuckled. "He'll be useful in what he's going to do for me now. Put it inside with the rest."
One of them grabbed Naruto by the shirt, and started dragging him further inside the ship like a ragdoll.
It was then that the ship disappeared from view, entering hyperspace. By that time, Jango would have entered his ship, taking a dip into a bacta tank, while Boba did his best to try to find the zygerrian's ship.
However, by the time they even discovered where they had parked their ship, it would be far too late.
…
CRASH!
Naruto's body was roughly thrown into a large cage. Still unconscious, the boy's neck was now outfitted with a collar.
"Sleep all you want, boy. Once you wake up you'll be working hard like the rest of them." D'Nar sneered to the still sedated boy, before going towards the cockpit, laughing all the way to himself.
The cage next to Naruto's was very silent, with the large, purple man inside of it having overheard everything. His green eyes moved to his new roommate, and sighed when he took a good look at the boy.
"Karabast."
[Inside the Seal]
Kurama, who had witnessed everything that was happening so far, frowned at how everything turned out.
"So this is where the Force led him." Kurama muttered to himself. "Interesting. While I can't see into the future like that old fart can, even I can tell that this will lead to something interesting."
Could he have done more to help? Sure. While he couldn't do much unless the boy was in life-threatening danger, was wounded, or if Naruto himself was accessing his chakra, he could've still tried to purge the drug out of his system. Remembering Yoda's words, however, he chose not to, wanting to see where this would go.
Besides, this was a pretty good way to give the finger to not only that damned Uchiha asshole that used him that many years ago, but also to Konoha itself.
"We'll see how you grow, Uzumaki. I do want to know whether this place will make you, or break you. In the meantime, let's start getting rid of this stupid drug."
And with that, the sewer shook as a pulse of his chakra was sent throughout the boy's body.
*GASP!*
Naruto's eyes shot open, and he sat right up.
CLUNK!
"Ow…" Naruto hissed, rubbing his head. He banged his head on something, which hurt like hell.
Blinking, his eyes widened as he realized that something was wrong. For one, he wasn't in the hospital anymore. Two, he was in a cage, with a collar around his neck.
'Okay, the last thing I remember was Shizune...no, that wasn't Shizune. Whoever that was, she attacked the nurse with something, and injected something into me...Oh crap.'
"Looks like you're finally figuring it out, kid." A deep voice came from his left.
"H-huh?!" Startled, Naruto began to look around, searching for the source of the voice. "Who said that?"
"Quiet, kid. You don't wanna yell in this situation. Also, I'm right next to you."
Squinting, his eyes began to adjust in the dimly lit building...or wherever they were. Blinking, he began to realize that he was talking to a large, hairy creature, with strange, green eyes, who smelled kinda bad.
"Woah, are you a summoning creature?" Naruto asked. The said creature blinked, before raising an eyebrow.
"Umm, kid, I have no idea what that is, but no. I'm a Lasat, and the name is Garazeb. Garazeb Orrelios."
"Uhm…" Naruto just dumbly responded, still processing the fact that an ape-like creature was speaking to him normally like a human.
"Nevermind." The lasat rolled his eyes at the kid, and then looked at the direction of the cockpit. "I heard we're going to be working in the spice mines on Kessel, so we'll be stuck together. You can call me Zeb. What's your name?"
"My name? Its Naruto." He told the ape-like creature. "Wait a minute. Kessel Mines? What's that, and what are we going to do there?"
Zeb looked at the kid with a raised eyebrow. "Never heard of Kessel? Which planet did you grow up in, kid?"
"Elementia." Naruto answered after a second. "My - or, I guess our - planet just made contact with the Republic or something. They're the ones that gave it that name."
"Huh, so you're from that newly discovered planet. Explains a lot." Zeb noted to himself. "I'm going to be blunt, kid, we're going to be forced to mine spice for these bastards as slaves."
"A-as slaves?!" Naruto shouted, grabbing at his collar. "I-I can't be! I've got so much to do! I-"
ZAPPPPP!
"AAAH!" Naruto screamed as his collar released an enormous amount of electricity into his body. He fell over, his hands twitching at his sides as he tried to recover from the electrocution.
"Be silent, boy!" One of the zygerrian slavers yelled at Naruto.
Naruto's glare never wavered as he stared at the zygerrian in the eyes. "Screw...you."
ZAPPPPP!
Naruto screeched in pain as the collar him again. Hearing his screams put a smile to the zygerrian..
After a few more seconds, he let go of the button, allowing Naruto to breathe again. "I've learned much about your people, child."
The blond boy, who was still somehow conscious, slowly turned his head towards his tormentor.
"It's magnificent, really. Your people's culture." The furry man said while petting his bird. "I was already planning on going to your planet myself, but you...you just happened to fall right onto my lap. I will be fully invested in the plans I have for you, child. It won't be long before you'll be bowing to me."
Grunting in immense pain, Naruto bit his teeth while staring at him as he was being looked down upon by this man.
"I don't care what you do, you weird cat. But I will not bow down to anybody!"
Growling at his persistent attitude, he lifted his small remote, and pushed the button.
ZAPPPP!
"URK!" Another wave of electricity spread throughout his body again, the collar's power trying to force him into submission. Seeing no progress, D'Nar decided to raise the power.
"You will soon learn your place, slave." D'Nar told him with a sickening grin. "You might have the blood of a warrior, but like every one, you'll be broken, and I'll make you submit to your betters." And with that, he finally let go of the button.
Naruto, who was still on his knees, finally fell over. D'Nar leaned in a little, and when he discovered that he was still breathing, he left, satisfied with the results.
Meanwhile, Zeb just looked at him with sadness, tugging at his own collar.
[Jedi Temple]
Yoda sat alone in the Jedi Council Chamber. Frowning, he began to reflect at the recent developments that was occuring on the two planets of Earth and Elementia.
The result was predictable. Many of the independent countries on Earth have either decided to join the Republic or the Separatists. The reason for this divide was due to some of the political problems they already had. Most of the strongest, independent countries have chosen to join the Republic, while the others either joined the Separatists or wished to remain neutral.
Elementia held nearly the exact same results. Konoha was the first to join the Republic, followed by Suna, which had recently re-negotiated their ties with its former ally, and was also in the process of negotiating with the Republic.
Meanwhile, Iwa and Kumo had decided to join the CIS within moments after they were given the offer, due to their poor relationship with the Leaf Village. Kiri, meanwhile, was still in the midst of its own political war, with both the Republic and the CIS hesitant to enter.
Then there was the other, much smaller villages, like Kusa, Taki, and the others. Most, if not all of them, were forced to pick one side or the other, due to their neighboring villages, or the other allies they had, save for Amegakure, who closed themselves off from the rest of the world.
This pretty much reflected the current situation of the galaxy, with it being split into three factions (with the third being the Neutral Systems.) To make matters worse, the Force didn't seem to be with them at the moment, with more and more visions becoming unclear or blurred.
The doors slid open, and Mace Windu entered the room. "Master Yoda."
"Master Windu." The small, green Jedi nodded to him.
"I need to speak with you." The master said to him. "It's important."
"Hm, speak with me here, you can." Yoda nodded, choosing to stay in his seat.
"It's about the other Jedi. They're asking questions about the Memory Holocron you showed us."
"Go on." Yoda said.
"As you may know by now, many of the padawans, knights, and even masters, have been researching in the archives about this. They've discovered that the Sith like Darth Bane have lived in a different era than yours, with Bane in particular belonging in the era of the Old Republic, which was almost three millennia ago."
"Questions everybody has, I assume." Yoda closed his eyes in thought. "Answer, I do have. Unpleasant, they are, however."
Mace raised his eyebrow at this, before narrowing them, already beginning to guess the answer.
Yoda dug into his robes, pulling out the Memory Holocron.
"Forbidden knowledge, the Dark Side offers." Yoda said, staring at his holocron. "Immortality, some might say, it can offer. Raising the dead, it can also do."
"Raising the dead?" Mace Windu's eyes widened. "You're not saying-"
"Dead, those Sith were." Yoda nodded grimly. "Called them from the grave, that Kaguya woman has."
Before the conversation could continue, the doors suddenly opened.
"MASTERS!"
They turned towards the doors and saw that it was Padawan Skywalker who just ran in, much to the dismay of Mace Windu.
"Skywalker, don't you see that we're in a conversation?" Master Windu sternly glared at the Padawan. "You better have a reason for barging in like this."
Anakin took a moment to breathe before rising up. "I'm sorry to interrupt you, Masters. But I came here telling you urgent news coming from the Hidden Leaf Village."
Yoda turned towards the padawan with immediate focus.
"It's been attacked by bounty hunters." Anakin informed them. "Their village leader has requested the presence of Master Yoda."
Mace Windu turned to the Grand Master, who was now getting up from his seat.
"Go now, I must. Join me, if you wish." Yoda offered to his fellow master. "Skywalker, pass this news to your master Obi Wan, you must."
"I will master," Anakin said watching the Master Yoda leave the two jedi behind to walk on his own.
"I will, Master Yoda." Anakin bowed, watching the two masters leave. After watching them disappear, he ran to inform the others of this unfortunate news.
[Inside the Seal]
SPLASH!
Kurama watched as Naruto's body fell from the dark ceiling. Landing in the water, Naruto's groaned as he began to recover from the torture he had just endured from those beast-men.
Meanwhile for Kurama, he was in his meditation position and had his hands clapped against each other with his eyes closed and the energy spiralling out of him.
Staring at the boy's fallen form, Kurama let out a sigh.
"It's nothing personal, kid. Even if you asked me to, I'm not gonna help you. Not until you prove me worthy of my help. I don't know if this is part of the Force or not, but unless you can grow stronger from this, I'm not going to step in - much."
Kurama snorted, a gust of air disturbing the water below him.
"I've already done enough by giving you the ability to read, speak, and understand Basic." Kurama continued, uncaring whether or not the boy was listening to him. "From here on out, you're on your own."
A pulse of his chakra shot out like a fast wave, and Naruto's body stopped twitching, relaxing as his body began to recover from the electrocution much faster.
Just then, Kurama looked up, hearing the voices of the zygerrians growing louder.
"If you thought that your life has been Hell so far, then it's time that you learn the true meaning of suffering." Kurama grunted. "I'm counting on you to not die. I'm counting on you to survive, to grow, to adapt, and to strike, when the time is right. What you do from there, be it for good or for bad, will be up to you."
The voices of the slavers grow louder and angrier, and Kurama knew that he didn't have much more time left to speak his thoughts.
"You probably don't remember all those years of suffering, especially that night, especially since the Third Hokage made sure to seal away the memories, but you probably will soon." Kurama grimly stated. "Living in the slums, taking your first life, and especially that night when those bastards were close to taking your life? That's the night where the villagers really learned to make sure to keep their hands off of you. But the damage was done, and it'll probably be redone soon."
Naruto's body began to fade away as he was being brought to consciousness.
"Time to get up, boy. Time for you to prove your worth as a warrior. As a child of the Uzumakis. As a descendant of Mandalore."
Naruto gasped as he woke back up. Scrambling to his knees (while being careful to not bump his head again), he glanced back at the cage where the other guy was in.
"Zeb?"
The cage was empty.
"Zeb? Where are yo-ACK!" Naruto didn't get to finish his sentence as a hand roughly grabbed his collar. Choking, Naruto struggled to breathe, barely acknowledging the fact that he was being dragged away to kami-knows-where.
Just as Naruto thought that he was going to black out again, he was roughly thrown forward, and the air - as stale and dirty as it was, - mercifully returned to his lungs.
CLINCH. CLICK.
Naruto blinked, and he realized that one of those hairy bastards put one what he assumed to be the future version (or should he say modern version now?) of handcuffs.
"Don't worry about your hair friend, slave." D'Nar walked up with him with a chuckle, his hands behind his back in an authoritative manner. "You'll be joining him in the mines soon enough. Just like him, you'll soon learn your place."
Naruto shot him a glare, which matched D'Nar's fierce one. Not caring once again about the collar around his neck, Naruto leaned his head back.
PTOO!
D'Nar blinked, and he realized that the human boy had just spit on his shoes.
Letting out a roar of rage, he kicked Naruto's face, before stomping on it. Much to his frustration, the boy refused to scream or cry out, which only served to further anger him.
"You whiskered freak! I will make sure to make your life a living nightmare! Perhaps your family would like to join you? Wouldn't talk back as much, would you?!"
Hearing this, Naruto simply let out a small chuckle.
"Heh, my family's dead, asshole. Why don't you just kill me so that I can join them?"
D'Nar's sharp teeth gritted together as his fingers twitched at the blaster at his side.
…
Kessel was a planet in the edges of the galaxy. All but ignored by the Republic, the criminals of the underworld took advantage of their willful negligence, and used slave labor to harvest spice and other resources from the planet.
Perhaps at one point it was a beautiful planet, but whatever beauty it may once held was forever tainted by the cruelty of people, with the planet itself suffering from the dark vices of the sentients. Dirty smoke often filled the skies, with the air being barely breathable enough for both the slavers and the slaves.
Speaking of, the new slaves were being transported to the planet, with the slaves being shamefully pushed and prodded towards their new masters and their new workplace. Overlooking this process was the Pyke Syndicates, who watched the newcomers carefully. Despite the Zygerrian Empire constantly doing business with them, it was the Pykes that truly dominated this planet.
"YEAARGH!"
Everyone, both the slaves and their slavers, froze as they heard the loud scream. Turning their heads simultaneously, they watched a young blond, human boy fly out of a freighter, being thrown by an angered D'Nar.
D'Nar let out a loud growl as he walked up towards the fallen new slave, who was coughing and wheezing, trying to get back on his feet. Not giving him the chance to do so, he proceeding to kick him in the ribs again, making an example out of him in front of the other slaves.
After five more minutes of continuous beating, D'Nar finally stopped, now out of breath, but still looking just as angry as ever, watching Naruto cough out blood. Although admittedly impressed by the boy's endurance, he knew that if he went any further, he would kill the boy, which would've been counterproductive. Leaving the boy to the Pyke Syndicates, he walked over to the other Pykes to have a discussion with them.
"Get him up." One of the Pyke Sentinels ordered the slaves, and the brave volunteers eventually walked forward to do so.
"Hey kid, you alright?"
"Huh?" Naruto's eyes finally fluttered open, his vision blurry and red. "Who said that?"
"Me, you numbskull." Naruto looked to his right, and saw it was the Lasat Zeb. "You've must've really pissed off the bastard to make him really give it to you.."
"I just spat on the guy's shoes, nothing else." Naruto weakly chuckled, grinning him a bloody grin. He winced, feeling his split lip scream in agony. "So what, are you saying I shouldn't have done it?"
Zeb gave him a weak, sad smile. "Probably not, although I gotta give it you to ya: You got a bigger set than I do, and I'm a Lasat."
"Well, I never liked giving respect to those that don't deserve it." Naruto gingerly shrugged his shoulders. "Besides, I think I've been through much worse, believe it."
Despite his weakened and beaten form, Naruto's attitude remained as strong as ever, which somehow made Zeb feel a lot better.
"Slaves!"
All chatter ceased immediately as all eyes were on D'Nar. Naruto realized that he finally made it to the other slaves, who immediately looked away from him. Naruto slowly lifted his head, looking at D'Nar, who was standing on a podium with the other Pykes.
"I'm only saying this once, so you better listen up. You will all be living here as my personal labor force. As part of my collection, you'll be working on this section of the mine, which my empire happens to own. You will all be digging for my spices. Work hard and listen to your superiors, and I may go easy on you. May."
This got many frowns from the slaves, but none dared to speak up, choosing to look down at the ground instead of meeting the zygerrian's eyes. The minute they did so, they noticed that the mine D'Nar was talking about was much different than the others. This one was a large, deep hole, looking much one the sinkhole cities of Utapau.
"Welcome to Ölüm, also known as 'The Red Grave.' This will be your home from now on, so better get used to it."
D'Nar's laughter echoed throughout the deep mines, sending shivers down the spines of the other slaves.
(AN from LW and AL)
Lucius Walker: If you didn't know by now, I have reposted this story on AO3 in the event that something happens to his story, like choosing to banish this story to the Shadow Realm for having lemons (but not doing anything about trolls and excessively mean comments.) It will be under the title, A Jinchuuriki's Destiny (LW Post).
Anyways, please like and comment on this story. If you have any constructive criticism, fire away.
AmusedLight: Like my friend here says, we'll publish the AO3 version on his account (which is under the same name). Keep in mind that I'm still the main writer. Also, I'm currently working on this story till the next arc for this is finished. Also, I am open for anyone who wants to be an Beta-writer for any other story I am currently working on. So if you are interested, contact me on .
Have a good night!