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Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Star Wars. Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto, and Star Wars belongs to George Lucas.

Thoughts are italicized

Chapter 7:

"Urgggg"

While the sound wasn't eloquent, it did express Naruto's thoughts extremely clearly.

I never want to read anything ever again.

Naruto might have been in knowledge/reading induced agony, but there was good news. Naruto was done. It took 14 hours to read through everything (those datacards contained a lot more information than you might think), and most of that time he spent picking through and discarding various imperial propaganda. He, of course, spent more time on topics that interested him like job types, how the imperial government works, and weapons. And Naruto barely skimmed over topics he really did not give a shit about, such as the mating habits of Trooshti, which were a small insect like creature native to Tatooine.

One of the things that Naruto did find was the perfect job for him. Out of everything Naruto found, this job fit both his set of skills and his experiences best.

I am going to become a bounty hunter.

The first thing that had to be decided was how he was going to do it exactly. According to the datacards, a bounty hunter can either work as an independent contractor, a member of a Bounty Hunters Guild, or as an Imperial Bounty Hunter. Naruto thought for about a second before deciding to become an independent contractor. He couldn't have strangers telling him what to do; he did not even like it with people he actually knew and respected, he did not like it when they told him what to do. He was not going to let some guild boss him around. And about the idea of working for the Empire... hell no!

Though to be fair, the way a Bounty Hunters Guild was set up was a lot like Konoha was. No, no, no, if I join a guild. I'll probably have to follow a bunch of stupid rules, and get bossed around by some idiot who doesn't know the first thing about me. So it is a definite no on joining a Bounty Hunters Guild.

Naruto would have celebrated finding the perfect profession for himself, except his head really hurt. It was partially because of the clones, but it was mostly because he spent the last 14 hours starring at a datapad screen. But thankfully, now he was done.

"Yes!! I am done! Thank Kami-Sama!"

With his research done for the moment, Naruto started to clean up, putting all the datapads back where he found them (except for one), and putting all the datacards back on the shelves.

He then walked over where he placed Lagre'ido to check on him again. Naruto didn't know anything about alien physiology, and did not want there to be any complications.

Lagre'ido was still unconscious, but his breathing and heart were strong, so Naruto figured he would be alright. Naruto then placed a handful of credits in Lagre'ido's hands. Naruto knew he did not have to, but he felt that he should. The man before him, helped him, emphasized with him, and there is the fact that he is going to wake up with one hell of a headache.

Now to find a cheap hotel or something where I can sleep. I would rather not sleep outside again; there is a chance I might get sick. And enhanced immune system or not, being sick sucks.

Leaving the library, Naruto sees a sign a block away for a hotel. Ok, that was easy. It was a remarkable piece of good luck, which was odd for Naruto. Though considering the fact that Murphy's Law has screwed him over his entire life, a little good luck is inevitable. Let's hope this was not all the good luck Naruto will get.

Naruto walked over and entered the building, and saw... a hotel lobby. Given the fact that Naruto was over a trillion miles from home, he sort of figured that things would be a lot different. Ignoring the technology and sand, things were really similar to the way that Konohagakure used to be. Naruto couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.

Shaking off the mild disappointment, Naruto walks up to the receptionist sitting at the welcome desk. At the moment she was reading a datapad. Naruto looked at the receptionist and tensed.

The receptionist was human...ish. She looked perfectly like a normal human to a casual observer, but Naruto's instincts were telling him she was not. Her hair might have been a little too coarse, her body a little too frail, her skin maybe a little too pale, but whatever the reason Naruto knew it to be true. His instincts were usually right, sort of a consequence of living through what he has. Ninjas without good instincts didn't live long. This woman by simply not being human was an unknown. Things that were unknown were, by definition, potentially dangerous. Naruto might have been a little paranoid, but paranoia was a healthy trait for ninjas to have. For just because you were paranoid doesn't mean there was not an enemy ninja about to rip off your face. It has happened.

In a bored drawl with obvious forced cheer that clearly revealed she had said the following words many times, the receptionist said, "Hello, welcome to Chorzo's Glory, where every day is a fun and glorious one. How many days would like to stay sir? I recommend a lot of days, for this place is real neat... I hate my job. Stupid Balosarian economy."

Naruto had the feeling he was not supposed to have heard the last part, but his sensitive ears still caught it. He assumed that she was referring to a planet named Balosar, and apparently there was something wrong with its economy. Naruto did not know if the information was useful to him at all, but one day it could be.

"How many days can I get with this many credits?"

Naruto took out all the credits he had, and put them out on the table.

The girl reached over, quickly counted it up and said, "one day".

"Ok, I'll take that".

She replied, "Excellent. Here's your room key, and here is your change. I hope you have a great day." She handed Naruto a card, and about a quarter of the credits he had put on the table.

"Thanks"

Let's see, the card says the room is 302. I need to find some stairs.

Naruto in his searching came across an elevator.

Look an elevator, I could take that up. I could enter a defensively vulnerable and tightly enclosed position to save the effort of walking up two flights of stairs. Yeah, not gonna happen. This place has got to have stairs somewhere.

Eventually Naruto found some stairs; they did not look like they were used too often. Apparently everyone used the elevator.

Grumbling about the laziness of the people of this planet, which actually reminded him of his extremely lazy and yet extremely intelligent friend Shikamaru. A fresh wave of pain started to rush through him, but Naruto beat down the feelings before they started to affect him. He did not want to deal with that kind of crap now, he was tired, and just wanted to relax a bit.

Coming up to room 302, Naruto after a few minutes of confusion and scrambling slid his room key card into a metal device affixed to the side of the door, and the door opened. Naruto went inside, closed the door, and for the first time in one and a half years, Naruto relaxed.

That was a big mistake.

There is something you need to know about ninjas, especially during a time of war. They had a lot of emotional baggage. Friends dying, being interrogated by enemies, being betrayed by allies, killing... I know you might think that killing was easy for ninjas. I mean they were trained assassins, they were taught to kill from an early age. They can kill efficiently and with no hesitation. That doesn't make it any easier. Well physically it was a lot easier. In many ways the human body was very fragile, and a good ninja knew every possible way to take advantage of that fact. They knew thousands of ways to kill someone. Killing was not easy psychologically. To take a life, even when you know you had to, is one of the hardest things to do in the world. It was one of the reasons that the ninja profession had the most amount of people who snap than any other profession in their world. Most ninjas who last, find ways to cope with the various emotional stuff. They turn to porn, they take up a hobby, they adopt weird habits and mannerisms, etc. Maito Gai, (another ninja whose clan had inverted names), was a clear example of the third one. However, some ninja did not deal with their emotional baggage. They took their negative emotions and buried them deep in their minds, locked them behind walls, and tried to pretend they did not exist. Out of sight, out of mind. They did not want to confront those emotions, so they ignored them. Naruto was that kind of ninja. Without being dealt with, those negative emotions grew and festered, and without the constant adrenaline and activity of the war distracting him, Naruto's mental walls started to break.

Naruto's walls were not the best. Negative emotions often escaped his control, but he was usually able to contain those emotions and reseal them without too much fuss. This time, however, that would not be an option. If the amount of emotion that normally escaped his control was compared to a grain of sand, this here was the Hokage monument.

A deluge of emotions hit Naruto like sledgehammer, Naruto physically shook in the wake of it, and he felt emotions he had hidden away for one and a half years. Actually a lot than that, for Naruto also hid away a lot of his negative emotions while growing up. It was really the only way for a 3 year old to deal with the fact that vast majority of people in the village loathed him and wanted him dead. So when part of Naruto's walls broke, a lot of long buried emotions and feelings came to light.

The emotions that hit Naruto were quite overwhelming. There were just so much of them. Naruto felt hatred towards Konohagakure for spurning and rejecting him for something he had no control over, and at the same time he felt a great love for the people in the village who accepted him. Most of the villagers and ninja treated him as something lower than vermin, but his friends saw him for who he really was. Love and hate warred in Naruto's soul, but eventually Naruto's essential nature came through, and love won. And Naruto forgave them. He let go of a cancerous hate which Naruto, completely unknowingly, had been nursing for over 10 years. The people of Konoha came to accept him in the end, and everyone deserves a second chance. Even if that second chance is in death. But though Naruto forgave, he would never forget.

Another emotion that hit was horror, horror for the things that he had done during the invasion. Things he had been forced to do. The things he had seen. Naruto's first kill happened during this war. That kill was followed by many others, but the first time was just special in a macabre way. It was significant and memorable like any other "first" in life. Naruto to this day remembers exactly what happened.

A few days into the start of the invasion, Naruto and the rest of squad 7 (his team), were sent out on a border patrol. Naruto was taking a break, and was ... um... making a methane and fertilizer deposit. He unfortunately picked a spot to do his business near a patrolling imperial scout. Considering the desperate circumstances, Naruto was not exactly the most observant of his surroundings. It was the smell that alerted the scout first. The scout moved to call for help, and Naruto acted. With limited weapons, at that moment, at his disposal, Naruto pulled a very unorthodox and smelly attack, but everything's a weapon right? You can trust that it was a very unique experience for that scout. With the scout distracted from being struck in the face with... Essence of Naruto, Naruto knew he had to act quickly. So he lunged forward, and he killed him. ­

It was not actually as hard as you might think. Scout trooper's armor was built for maximum flexibility, mobility, and speed. So a lot of sacrifices were made in regards to the armor's ability to protect.

Naruto did not actually realize what exactly he had done until after the deed was over, when the scout's blood coated the arms and hands. He then threw up, and wondered if he really was a monster like the villagers thought he was. Naruto eventually buried his emotions behind a wall of false cheer and acceptance, as well as a rationalization that it was his duty, and he dragged the corpse back to his squad's campsite.

However, by far the largest emotion was grief. A lot of people had died over the course of the invasion. Some of deaths were combatants, and others were of innocents who were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Naruto remembered all the people he cared about, all the people who he grew to care about, that died. But above all he remembered the death of one of his most precious people, a person extremely close to his heart... Iruka-Sensei.

Iruka was one of the Naruto's teachers in the Ninja Academy. While in the beginning Iruka did not particularly like or dislike him, Iruka treated him fairly, he treated Naruto just like any other student, and that by itself made him better than about 99 percent of the village. Over the years Iruka and Naruto grew closer, and closer, until they had formed a bond that was a cross of father/son and brother/brother. Iruka saw Naruto for who he really was, and accepted him. With Iruka-Sensei, Naruto could feel for the only time in his life, that he belonged, that he was not being judged, that he had family. Naruto loved Iruka and Iruka loved him. It seemed to be a familial bond that would survive anything... it didn't.

Iruka was killed 15 months into the invasion started. Imperial forces were laying siege to Konoha, and several dozen stormtroopers had snuck into the village. Iruka was helping students evacuate and flee into the extensive network of tunnels that lay hidden beneath the Hokage Monument. The Hokage Monument is a large mountain in which all the various Hokages' faces were carved. Besides being an interesting landmark, however, the tunnels under it was one of the defenses that civilians and trainees will have if Konoha comes under attack. 12 stormtroopers came across Iruka when he was helping the last group of students through the entrance to the tunnels. When the troopers started to fire, Iruka had to make a choice. He regretted not being able to say goodbye to his surrogate son, but he was a teacher, and he would fight to his last breath to save the life of even one of his students. Not just because it was his duty, not just because it was the right thing to do, but because he cared. He ordered the students to get into the tunnels, he would buy them time. When the students fled, Iruka dove into the Stormtrooper ranks and fought like a man possessed, a beast from the depths of Hell. And an animal he was, for he was protecting who he considered his cubs. In the sheer ferocity of his attack, Iruka killed 4 troopers, and the instance before he died he detonated every explosive seal and ordnance he had on his body. The explosion killed every stormtrooper in the area. And the kids were safe.

Naruto at the time was on mission to Sunagakure, the Village Hidden within the Sand, one of Konoha's military allies. The mission just finished when Kakashi-Sensei pulled him aside and said he had bad news. Naruto did not think it would be so bad. He thought it had to do with something relatively stupid, like the party that was going to happen that night for having a major victory in the war. Boy was Naruto surprised. The news rocked Naruto's entire world. The pure grief and agony threatened to overwhelm Naruto's mind, he couldn't handle the strain, so he buried it. He shoved it deep into his mind so he would not have to deal with it; Naruto was scared to deal with it. He refused to cry; for he said crying never solves anything. "To honor Iruka-Sensei's memory", he said, "I should move on". "I need to train harder". And Naruto became even more obsessed with training.

Now all those buried emotions came bursting to the surface.

They're dead, they are all dead. I am the only one left, I am alone.

Why? I work for 13 years to gain friends and acceptance; I finally get it, and an evil, tyrannical, dictator from another world attacks the planet, and kills everyone. What are the odds that out of the entire galaxy, filled with billion of planets that Palpatine ends up attacking us? I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I am Naruto Uzumaki, and in my life, shit happens, a lot.

"Iruka-Sensei did not deserve to die, he was well loved by everyone, he was the kindest person in the village. He didn't deserve to die... Palpatine does. He should... no needs... to die."

Naruto's emotions turned to rage. The rage was so intense; it almost made his heart stop hurting... almost. He needed a release, he needed to cry, but Naruto was not able to cry, the ability to cry still entangled somewhere in the realm of his mind. Violence is another solution. Naruto took his pain out on the room. He smashed the walls, he broke lamps, shattered mirrors, but with every blow his anger and pain continued to grow. And his emotional walls continued to crack.

I will kill you Palpatine. I swear upon the blood of all the worlds you have destroyed that I will track you down, rip you apart limp from limp, and piss on your corpse. You will die. I don't care how. I don't care what I have to do. I will destroy you.

But what good would that do? They will still be gone; they will still be all dead. It does not matter if I tear apart the entire Empire, they will still be dead. No matter what I do, they are still dead. Why should I keep living? Why shouldn't I rejoin my loved ones?

Naruto's anger started fading away. It was still there, but for some reason Naruto could not feel it. He felt so cold, so empty. What's the use of doing anything anymore? Naruto did not recall lying down on the bed, but he must have done so at some point. Naruto, almost in a fog, continued to think, the remnants of his emotional walls breaking more with every thought.

They're all gone.

Crack

Everyone's dead.

Crack

I am all alone.

Crack

I am the last of my entire people.

Crack

I was not strong enough.

Crack

I failed again.

And with a final crack, the wall collapsed, and the full force of everything kept behind it, descended upon Naruto like a flood.

And Naruto wept.


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I will kill you Palpatine. You will pay for everything you have done. I will avenge every victim of your evil. I will fight so their souls may be put to rest. I will fight, so you can hurt no one else. I am not doing it for revenge, or for retribution. I am doing it for a higher calling. I want

Justice.