I'm sorry that this took so long to post, but besides what has been happening in the world, I've also been dealing with stuff involving college and everyday life.

Not to mention that in this chapter, a lot of interwoven plots and such are present in this chapter, and I have put in all of my effort into making sure that it flows naturally and in a way that makes sense.

Also, I've had to rewrite and tweak more stuff out of this section than any other story that I have at the moment.

Anyway, onto the story. A little warning though, things kind of get complicated in this chapter. At least, in my opinion.

WARNING: Ventress is definitely OOC in the beginning of the chapter, but I swear if you power through it, you'll see why in the next chapter.

I do not own Naruto or Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

(Author Input)

'Thoughts'

"Talking"

Warrior

Teth-Temple Balcony

"I think we should let them take Rotta back."

With one single sentence, the atmosphere between the leader of the Shadows and the apprentice of Dooku changed drastically.

A pressure seemed to envelope the balcony the two shared, and Naruto could've sworn he felt his ears pop from it. Each breath he took felt shallower than the last. Little by little, until the Mandalorian was almost consciously inhaling and exhaling. He already knew what the reason was for this behavior. It was standing right next to him.

It was why the whiskered mercenary mentally sighed.

This was not how he wanted to do this, but he could see no other time where he would get a chance. When the attack started, Naruto had no doubt that they would constantly be in the middle of some fight or goal. There would never be a chance to talk in private except for now, and the Mandalorian had to risk it.

"What did you say?" Ventress questioned in a quiet, yet harsh tone.

Naruto was broken out of his thoughts and internally cringed when he heard her question.

He knew that Ventress not agreeing to help was a possibility. Hell, the possibility was so large that it might as well have been categorized as what would happen instead of what could happen. But Naruto had made his choice, so he steeled his nerves, kept his eyes on the horizon, and then repeated himself.

"I said that I think that we should let the Republic take Rotta back."

After that, the two stayed in silence filled with tension akin to that of a waiting for a bomb to go off.

The tension seemed to weigh even more now and was starting to affect the whiskered mercenary.

The blond Mandalorian could feel a drop of sweat go down the side of his forehead. His instincts screamed that danger was close and that he needed to follow the old tradition of fight or flight. Nevertheless, Naruto stood his ground.

Unfortunately, the whiskered mercenary would discover how severe the consequences of standing his ground in this particular fight could be.

The Mandalorian barely had time to register the unseen force wrapped around his neck before he was whipped away from the railing. His nerves sent a blaze of pain across his back as his body collided with the stone material of the wall of the balcony. After that, the whiskered blond felt the invisible hands lift him up by the throat to a height that left him with dangling legs.

Ventress had her hand held out in a gripping gesture, showing that it was she who kept the Mandalorian in the air telekinetically.

Fury burned in her veins, and betrayal shone in her eyes. Eyes which had turned into narrowed cerulean. A snarl had parted her lips, showing gritted teeth.

"You dare betray my master! Betray me!?" Ventress growled out softly, so their enemies didn't hear them.

She didn't know why she added that second part, but it could wait.

Naruto clawed at the invisible hands that held his neck in a vice grip, cutting off all oxygen to his lungs.

"It's not about Dooku!" The Mandalorian replied in a hoarse voice.

He only managed to make the Sith assassin angrier it seems, for she increased the pressure on his throat and lifted him up in the air.

"Then why? Why are you betraying us now, and what made you think I would agree?" Ventress questioned.

However, due to lack of the life sustaining air that his lungs needed, Naruto couldn't answer her question and instead, pleaded with her to let him go.

"Need…air…to make…sound!" Naruto gasped, using the last bit of breath he had left to beg.

Ventress contemplated the idea for a second, before begrudgingly accepting the mercenary's terms and releasing him.

Naruto fell to his hands and knees, desperately inhaling fresh breaths of air into his lungs and getting his blood oxidized again.

SNAP! HISS!

Only to stop when the feeling of immense heat being emanated on the right side of his neck. Looking up, Naruto stared at his Sith partner as she pointed her saber at his jugular.

"Talk."

Raising his hands up in a surrendering gesture, the Mandalorian slowly rose to his feet while Ventress continued to keep her saber on him the entire time.

"I thought that you would be sympathetic to him." Naruto managed to choke out.

The Mandalorian could've sworn that he felt the very tip of the blood red energy blade graze his skin after he said his answer.

Ventress's eyes, previously filled with only fury, now contained a small hint of confusion.

"Why?" She inquired.

Naruto sighed. What he was about to say may end up costing him his head, but he had to do it. For Rotta.

"Because you went through the same thing that's happening to him."

The Mandalorian watched as his words struck a nerve in the Sith assassin's composure. Ventress's eyes widened slightly in shock before narrowing in even greater anger than before.

"What are you talking about?" She demanded through clenched teeth.

'No turning back now.' Naruto thought before beginning his explanation.

"Back on the Trident, when I talked about how you were okay with kidnapping children, you looked like someone who had just been slapped."

Pointing a finger at her, Naruto added, "Hell, you yourself even said that you weren't okay with kidnapping either!"

Anger flowed through Ventress's mind as the Mandalorian's words echoed in her mind.

How dare he. The mercenary had no right to use her history against her. He had no idea what she went through, what she had to suffer through, what she lost along the way.

A dull throb of pain began in her head, making the Sith assassin wince in discomfort.

"Stop it." She muttered.

But Naruto didn't stop. He kept going, kept pushing, unaware of what he was doing to Ventress.

"Then, while we were waiting for the Republic to show up, you talked about a past you wanted to forget."

Both Ventress's anger and headache rose, the latter causing her to hold her head with her free hand, as Naruto continued to list off evidence that he had gathered to support his theory.

"Stop it." She said again, this time in a normal tone of voice.

The Mandalorian heard her this time but didn't realize how serious she was. He didn't know if he would be able to continue if he paused in his comments. For all he knew, if he stopped, Ventress would cut him down without a second thought.

"It doesn't take a genius to figure out what caused those memories to start coming to the surface. During the entire mission on Christophsis, not one time did I see you act this way. Now we're here, guarding a child that we kidnapped, and you're acting like you're constantly trying to repress something."

The hooded Sith's pale fingertips dug into her skull as the pain worsened.

She wanted him to stop-no, she needed him to stop.

"I said stop it!" Ventress shouted.

To ensure that what she ordered would happen, the female Sith rushed into the Mandalorian's personal space.

Naruto was unprepared for Ventress's sudden movement and wasn't able to react in time for what happened next.

Reaching out with her free hand, Dooku's apprentice gripped the whiskered mercenary's shoulder and pulled him in close enough to where their faces were almost touching. Once that action was completed, Ventress wasted no time in putting her saber up against Naruto's throat again.

The actions just described happened all in the manner of one second, so there was a pause just after so that the two could register what just happened.

For a second, a tiny second, Naruto thought about reaching for one of his holstered blasters. However, after taking another second to register the position they were in, the whiskered mercenary acknowledged that he would be dead in less than a second.

Then he looked at his partner and felt a pang of guilt hit him.

Back when he had begun his tirade, Ventress still had her hood on from her cloak and was far enough away to where the hood could cover her face somewhat, but now? Now she was up close and personal, and while she still had the hood on, it did nothing to hide her facial expressions.

Anger, hate, and betrayal were all presented clearly in the Sith assassin's eyes.

Naruto knew then that he had crossed a line that he shouldn't have. He had used something that Ventress had told him, maybe even trusted him with, against her. But it needed to be done in order to get his point across, no matter the cost.

"You are going to listen and not say a word, do you understand?"

Ventress's voice made Naruto snap back into reality.

With fearless eyes, the Mandalorian nodded slowly and carefully, as to not be cut by the saber being held against him.

"You think you know what person I am? What I've been through?"

She brought the blood red blade closer to his throat until it was just centimeters away from Naruto's jugular.

"Do you honestly think you have the right to lecture me about what I've done, mercenary?"

She emphasized that last word, as if to use the Mandalorian's occupation against him.

Naruto narrowed his eyes at Ventress, catching the subtle jab against him. He ultimately let it go, knowing that he had just done more than enough to deserve it.

Instead, he answered the question she gave him.

"No, Ventress. I don't have the right."

The Sith assassin was slightly taken back by the fact that the son of Satine agreed with her, before listening to the rest of what he had to say.

"But that doesn't mean that what I'm saying is wrong."

Dooku's apprentice grit her teeth at the statement, yet some part of her was wanting the Mandalorian to continue what he was saying.

"If I'm right, that means you're pretty much helping Dooku do the exact same thing to someone else."

The Sith assassin couldn't believe that Naruto had the gall to say that to her face since she could easily end his life with a simple flick of her wrist, yet here he was, doing exactly that. That was such a shock to her that it made her think for a second about what the Mandalorian was saying.

The relationship between her and her past was…difficult to understand, to say the least. In some ways, she could remember what had happened to her and what led up to this moment like stating facts. But to actually remember, to go back and recall the thoughts, feelings, faces, and images that she had experienced back then, that was when the pain began.

Even now, the Sith assassin's head held a small ache as she thought of how her special case of recollection.

Dismissing the discomfort in her mind, Ventress used the former version of remembrance that she had become accustomed to for most of her life and recalled her series of events. Then, she grinded down her story to its base facts, basically making it into a version where it would sound like something anyone could have gone through, and then did the same for Rotta's story.

It was then that Ventress's eyes widened in realization that the situations were indeed similar, and that threw a wrench into her mindset.

Light and Dark weren't there, so that meant she was going to be allowed to figure this one out on her own, something that she wasn't sure how she felt about at this point.

But before anything, she needed to know one thing.

"H-How d-d-did-" Ventress tried to ask.

The apprentice of Dooku mentally scolded herself for sounding so weak. She hated how she seemed to be able to command armies of battle droids without fear, yet she couldn't ask such a simple question. Though, to be fair, what she was asking was no simple question. At least, not to her.

Naruto's eyes softened when he heard Ventress's sentence fragment. He didn't even need a guess as to what it was.

"How did I know?" He left the question hanging so that she could have the freedom to answer herself.

Ventress closed her eyes and nodded softly.

"With enough pieces of a puzzle, you can still get a general idea of what the picture is."

All she did was nod again. She didn't speak, she didn't move from her spot, and she didn't press for more, she just simply nodded.

Things became silent between the two, save for the hum of Ventress's saber. Neither the mercenary nor the assassin knew how to move forward from where they currently were, and they were both not even sure if they could move forward.

Naruto was thinking of what he could say to his partner now.

He couldn't figure out what was going through her head, nor could he figure out if he was actually convincing her or if he was just infuriating her. It could be said that he was doing the latter due to the crimson energy blade being held against his throat, but the former could also be said due to the fact that that said energy blade had stopped there.

However, no matter which one it was, the Mandalorian could see that he had hurt her by using her past against her in his argument and guilt had flooded his thoughts. He didn't feel regret because she was his partner, or that by doing so, it ended up backfiring. It was because it was something that people just didn't do.

Even so, he still needed to convince her, no matter the cost.

'For Rotta.' He mentally chanted.

Naruto took a breath to calm himself, then he spoke.

"Ventress, I'm sorry that I used that against you. More sorry than you'll ever know."

The woman in question had raised her head slightly to hear what her partner was saying, even if it was against her wishes.

She was slightly surprised at the fact that he was apologizing for the tactic that he had been using against her. Ventress would've assumed that he would've kept using it until she either agreed to his plan or until the Sith assassin cut him down.

The Mandalorian had paused his speech to breath a deep sigh, then continued.

"But tell me the truth here, can you honestly say that you're alright with the fact that you're possibly causing someone else the same kind of trauma that you did?"

It was that statement that brought on an emotion that the assassin hadn't expected to feel.

Shame.

The shame that the mercenary's words brought, something that she wasn't prepared for in the slightest, forced Ventress to direct her attention to the ground.

"No."

The words left her lips in a muttered form before she barely had time to realize what they meant. With her eyes widened in shock, Ventress felt the need to cover her traitorous mouth in fear of it working against her. However, before she could, the one person she wished wouldn't hear that raised his right brow in questioning, yet still somehow knowingly.

"What was that?" Naruto asked cautiously.

Ventress knew that she would regret it, it wasn't even close. Nonetheless, she answered him.

"I said no, damn you!" She replied in a harsh whisper.

She hated to admit that what the whiskered mercenary said was true, for she knew what it would mean about her.

The Mandalorian knew it too, for what he spoke next shook Ventress to the core.

"Then how can you do this? How can you justify lowering yourself to the same level as whatever piece of scum took you from your home?"

What Naruto had suspected of her finally came into the form of words and stung the Sith assassin's heart.

She had actually recoiled when he finished speaking as one would have if he or she had been physically struck. Though, with what was said and what it meant to her, she might as well have been.

Naruto saw the reaction and played damage control while continuing his point.

"I'm sorry Ventress, but it's true and you know it."

That was what got to her the most in their entire conversation so far. Not the pain in discomfort in her head, not the fact that the mercenary had shared his traitorous thoughts with her, but the fact that what he had just said…the statement that he made…

It was true.

All of it was true, and it tore through her in ways that she couldn't explain.

The Sith assassin was doing the same thing to someone else even though she had sworn that she wouldn't on the Barge back on Tatooine. Ventress had broken her promise. She was just like the one who…the one…who…

The pain that had entered her head when the whiskered mercenary had confronted her on her past returned, only this time it was multiplied tenfold. It hurt her to the point where the saber in her hand was dropped to the ground so that she could hold her head with both hands to try and ease the pain, but it didn't work.

She groaned from the agony that existed within her mind. Ventress tried to take a step backwards, only for her foot to trip over something, making her almost fall to the ground.

The reason for the word 'almost' being used in the previous sentence was slightly surprising. Just as gravity began to take its effect on her unbalanced stature, two arms wrapped around Ventress's form and kept her from falling.

Naruto had no idea of what to make about the situation he was in.

For some reason, Ventress had dropped her saber to the ground, subsequently freeing him to do whatever he pleased without the threat of being cut to pieces. However, before he could even begin to think of what to do with that freedom, he saw what made Ventress drop her weapon in the first place.

The assassin had her head clenched with both hands and seemed to be in some type of pain if the expression on her face was anything to go by.

Ventress's expression seemed to get worse and worse as the seconds went by, meaning that whatever she was experiencing was getting worse as well. Just as the Mandalorian was about to ask her what was wrong, the woman in question took a step backwards and ended up tripping over her own feet.

The whiskered mercenary wasn't sure what made him do what he did, instincts if he had to guess, but before he even realized it, Naruto had run over to Ventress and caught her before she fell.

If the apprentice of Dooku had noticed what the mercenary had done for her, she didn't seem to notice. The Sith assassin's condition seemed to worsen by the moment, making her unaware of what was happening around her.

"Ventress, can you hear me? What's wrong?" He asked the woman in his arms, trying to steady her.

She didn't listen to what he had to say, and began thrashing around in his arms, trying to make them lose their grip on her.

Naruto tried his best to hold on to his grip on her arms. If it were just about what was happening to her, the Mandalorian might have been inclined to comply with Ventress's wishes, but it wasn't just about that.

The Republic forces were still below them, and for all he knew, if he let her go, the state Ventress was in could attract their attention.

While the mercenary continues with the physical struggle with Ventress, the woman in question was dealing with the mental struggle in her mind.

There was a storm raging in then woman's psyche, and amidst the storm, voices from her past and present alike echoed within her mind.

'He said that she could bring nothing from her life here with her.'

'You make me so proud, Ventress.'

'If I'm right, that means you're pretty much helping Dooku do the exact same thing to someone else.'

Ventress could feel more coming. Not just from the memories she had already unlocked, but also from ones she hadn't. The assassin knew that they weren't just going to be one after another, but instead she was about to receive it all at the same time.

Along with the hurting sensation that it took to get to them.

Panic began to spread in the assassin's disoriented thoughts.

Just accessing the single memory on the Barge alone made her mind feel like it was going to tear itself in half, and the small amount she had recalled previously felt about a fourth of the Barge memory's pain.

If each one of the memories she was about to receive were just as painful, if not more, as the first Barge memory, then that could destroy her mind!

The avalanche of her past was growing closer and closer, meaning that Ventress was running out of time.

She didn't know what to do!

A million and one thoughts ran through her mind, each of them leaving just as fast as they came.

Just as all seemed lost and the tidal wave of recollection was about to hit, something happened.

Inside of the emotional, mental, and moral war in Ventress's head, one thought rang out loudest out of all of them. It was a thought that the assassin had never guessed that she would ever have, nor was it a thought that she would guess that she would actually want.

'Light. Dark. I need you.'

Those words seemed to echo out to every nook and cranny of her mind, and what happened next surprised her.

All of the pain in her head, the anguish in her heart, and the torture in her soul seemed to abruptly come to an end. The memories stopped in their place and seemed to retreat back to wherever her mind had them stored.

Two familiar presences took root within her mind, and a familiar voice rang out in her mind.

'You called, child?' Light asked.

The assassin was shocked beyond all belief at how suddenly the peace in her mind was reestablished. It was jarring how suddenly calm everything was after such a moment of chaos.

For a few seconds, she did nothing but stay perfectly still while her mind tried to wrap around the thought of what had transpired. Eventually, Ventress managed to gain the courage to ask the question.

'W-What-' She mentally stuttered, at a loss for words even inside her own head.

'Worry about that later,' Dark stated, cutting her off from getting past one word in her question, 'You have other business at the moment.'

It was then that Ventress finally registered the arms that were keeping her from falling. She looked up, and that was when stern cerulean met concerned sapphire.

Naruto could now officially say that he was clueless to what was going on with his partner. After he had grabbed Ventress to keep her steady, she tried to break out of his grip. Then she suddenly stopped moving, and when he says stopped, he meant stopped.

She had become as still and stiff as a statue during those few seconds, and although he wouldn't admit it, Naruto was slightly scared of what it could mean. It was only after he started considering calling a medic, not even sure they would be able to help, that Ventress began moving again.

First, she looked to her left, then to her right, as if she were getting her bearings together. After that, the assassin seemed to notice the mercenary's hands and their hold on her biceps.

Ventress looked up from her position and met his eyes. Naruto could immediately tell that she was back to her old self, if the cold glare and gritted teeth were anything to go by.

The two of them were silent for a few seconds, until the Mandalorian finally gained the courage to speak up.

"Are you alright?" He asked with concern and caution.

Ventress's reaction to the question was not what he was expecting.

She had chuckled.

The whiskered mercenary had expected an insult, or for her to brush him off coldly, but definitely not that. Granted, it was a rueful chuckle, but it didn't make it any less surprising.

After what the assassin had just gone through, and what they were still going, the mercenary's question seemed to tickle some sick sense of humor within her, causing her to laugh.

A part of her was hateful over the lack of self-control, but it was overpowered by Ventress's reasoning for the laughter.

After everything that she had just experienced in the past few minutes, the Sith assassin felt like she was owed a moment or two to let out some emotion. What other emotion could she feel when the person who just caused the previously mentioned experience just asked such a foolish question as if she was okay?

She had just listened to him use her past against her and heard his thoughts of betrayal out loud, with the former causing something to happen in Ventress's mind that she couldn't fully explain yet. It was safe to say that she definitely wasn't in a state to say she way 'okay.'

If he was simple minded enough to ask that question, then Ventress knew that her Mandalorian partner was either a true fool, or he was a very unique individual.

'I say fool.' Dark stated in an annoyed tone.

For some reason or another, Ventress could feel Dark's opposite half roll her eyes before giving her own answer.

'I say that he's a person who's genuinely concerned about you.' Light replied.

The assassin didn't care much for their opinions at the moment, for she was too wrapped up in her mirth. Once her laughter ended, the Sith assassin returned to her callous and cold demeanor like it was her default state of being.

Her Mandalorian partner was somewhat unnerved by the almost robotic change in personality Ventress went through. He was going to comment on that, but before he got a word out, the Sith assassin wrapped her hands around his wrists and forcibly removed them.

The mercenary offered little resistance against the action and even took a step or two back to give his partner some space.

Silence once again ruled the dominion of sound between the assassin and mercenary, a trend that seems to be a continuing one between the two.

Well, it would be more accurate to say that Naruto was the one trapped in silence, for Ventress was currently in a conversation with the voices in her head.

'The mercenary must die for his actions.' Dark stated with an air of finality.

Ventress felt herself agree with that sentiment somewhat, but it wasn't long after Dark's vote that Light made her argument.

'What he says is true, though!' She objected, 'Ventress, you of all people know what a situation like this can do to a child.'

The Sith assassin saw her point.

The person she was, the person she had become, Ventress knew that if things had turned out differently on that one fateful day, then it was almost guaranteed that she would not have turned out the way she had, in both personality and mental state.

The memories she had. The things she had experienced. There was a reason for all of them to be suppressed.

More importantly, there was a reason why her mind didn't want her to remember.

What had happened to Ventress before was clearly affecting her in the now, and it definitely wasn't for the better. Could she truly do that to another person? Make them hurt the way she had been?

Before that line of thinking could be explored any more, Dark intervened.

'The Huttlet's situation and Ventress's are only the same on the fine print. Everything else is completely different.'

That fact stuck with Ventress more so than it should have.

Jabba's son actually had a chance to go back home to his friends and family, people who actually care about him.

But for her? She didn't even know if those that cared for her were even still alive.

Ventress was too young to know, or at least remember, what planet she came from when she was…taken.

Of course, as she got older, Ventress grew curious about who she was and tried to find out.

From her own searches about what she truly was, Ventress's best guess could only be Rattataki, since that was the species that she shared the most details with. There were flaws in that reasoning, such as the fact that Rattataki couldn't grow hair, and Ventress could. For her own sake, Ventress deduced that she could be a half breed instead and gained the hair traits from the species that wasn't Rattataki.

That was, until the vision on the Barge came into play.

The people she saw in her vision shared the same traits as her and the fact that one of them was supposedly her mother sent the assassin for a tailspin about who she was.

If she wasn't Rattataki, then what was she?

The assassin reminded herself to get back on track about the situation at hand.

The facts were that she didn't know if there was someone who still cared about her, but she did know that someone cared about Rotta and would provide for him when this was all over.

The facts also stated that what Naruto had proposed to her was treason.

And treason was punishable by death.

'But-' Light began to argue.

Dark interrupted before she could even get the second word out.

'There are no buts, sister! Knowing his thoughts, he more than likely already put his plan into motion when he was in the dungeon.'

Storing away the fact that Dark called Light 'sister' for later, Ventress thought about what he said.

Knowing Naruto's character thus far, it was safe to say that Dark's hypothesis could be correct, but whether or not it was true didn't matter since Naruto had already revealed his treasonous thoughts.

It was clear what she had to do now.

During Ventress's entire mental conversation, Naruto had been standing off to the side in silence. He watched as his partner appeared to be deep in thought and wondered what to do.

A question had been haunting his thoughts ever since her silence began, and he was trying to gather the will to ask it.

The reason behind whether or not the whiskered mercenary should ask the question was also the reason for the question itself.

When he had been trying to convince her to help, it seemed like Ventress was on the verge of mental collapse. Naruto wanted to know what was going on with her and why, but he also wanted to give her the time and space to recover from whatever she just went through before even beginning to question her.

After a few more seconds of patient silence, the Mandalorian willed himself to speak.

"What just happened to you?" He asked.

That question seemed to knock Ventress away from her thoughts.

A cold glare set itself in her features as she stared at him with her piercing eyes. For a moment, Naruto had to resist the urge to shiver when he saw it. His attention was then drawn back on the Sith assassin when she turned away from him.

"Nothing that you will ever concern yourself with…" She answered, reaching down for something on her belt that Naruto couldn't see.

The whiskered mercenary gained a look of confusion at Ventress's action before remembering what the only thing she had attached to her waist was.

'Shit!' He mentally yelled when he realized what Ventress was about to do.

"You traitor!"

Ventress whipped her right arm back horizontally towards Naruto, with her unclipped weapon in her grip.

SNAP! HISS!

The blade activated midway through her swing, but the intended target of the energy blade was already prepared to counter.

Naruto crouched down, causing the lightsaber to swing over his head. He then grabbed the wrist of the arm that held the saber. With the wrist in his grasp, the Mandalorian slid around Ventress, causing her to become unbalanced due to her arm being yanked.

Once the Mandalorian was directly behind her, he quickly stood himself up and pinned the assassin's arm behind her back, minding the saber of course.

With that done, he then pushed the assassin towards the wall furthest from the balcony so that the Republic wouldn't see the glowing red sword from where they were. He forced up Ventress against and spoke while trying to keep a grip on her.

"Can we just talk about this?" He asked/begged the Sith apprentice.

Part of him still believed that she could help him in his plan. It was a small part, obviously, and it was growing smaller by the minute. It didn't change the fact that it was still there, though.

Ventress struggled to get out of his grip, being pressed against the wall wasn't making it any easier. It was then that she felt Light and Dark stir in her mind.

'He still wants your help child. There's still a chance-'

Light was then cut off by Dark.

'To manipulate and deceive her for his own gain!'

She ignored the two of them and replied to the Mandalorian.

"No! You don't get to speak another word!"

It was his 'talking' that led to everything that has been happening to her, and Ventress wouldn't stand for it anymore.

Using whatever amount of movement she could muster in her pinned wrist, the assassin deactivated her weapon and then tossed it in the air. The assassin then reached out her left hand and called on the Force to pull the lightsaber into her grip again.

The weapon shot into the palm of her free hand, and Ventress went to work.

She turned the saber on and, using the freedom of her left arm that her right no longer had, swung its blood red blade towards the mercenary.

What the assassin forgot was that Naruto also had a free hand, and when he saw the weapon coming towards him, the Mandalorian shot his hand out and grabbed the area where Ventress's wrist met her hand.

That stopped the attack dead in its tracks and prevented any sort of attempt to maneuver the blade to graze against him.

The mercenary tightened his grip, causing Ventress to drop the device to the ground, effectively disarming her.

The assassin cursed mentally at the loss of her weapon and thought that the next best course of action was to get out of the hold she was in.

After a moment of struggle, Ventress managed to get one of her legs to wedge between her and the wall she was pressed against. She used all her strength to push her foot against the wall, and to her delight, Dooku's apprentice felt the man holding her take a few stumbling steps back.

Unfortunately, since she was pushing against the wall, that meant that the assassin was also leaning against Naruto as leverage.

That meant that when the mercenary was forced to move back, and ultimately fall backwards, Ventress went along for the ride as well.

The leader of the Shadows fell on his back with an oof, and then felt the air get knocked out of his lungs when Ventress landed on top of him.

While Naruto was disoriented from the fall, Ventress was not. She rolled backwards and over Naruto by proxy and stood herself up. Spotting the dropped lightsaber from seconds ago, the Sith assassin once again used the Force to pull it into her grip.

The blade sprang to life once again, and Dooku's apprentice brought the saber down on the person laying below her.

Naruto saw the attack coming. How could he not notice a red blade of pure energy coming towards him with the intent on ending his life?

His hands instantly went to his belt to grab the only thing that could save his life, and things seemed to move in slow motion as the race between Naruto's hands and Ventress's attack raged on.

FWAASH!

The whiskered mercenary's unique lightsaber sprang to life just in time to intercept Ventress's attack. As the sabers connected, Naruto breathed a sigh of relief while Ventress was shocked by the sudden interruption of the attack.

The shock was what the Mandalorian needed to successfully shove Ventress away from his person, which allowed him to kick himself up to his feet.

His opponent rushed towards him, and red and orange sabers clashed violently, creating a spectacle of white light where the two weapons of solid light grinded against one another in a battle of dominance. The wielders of the weapons were evenly matched in the lock, making it impossible for one to overcome the other.

Ventress knew this, so she went to tip the scales in her favor. Balling up her free hand into a fist, the assassin threw a punch directly aimed at Naruto's whiskered cheek. Due to their close proximity, the Mandalorian was unable to register the punch in time to defend against it, so the attack landed its mark.

Naruto's head jerked back due to the attack, and as the pain spread across his cheek, an idea for retaliation went through his mind. Just as Ventress's fist started to retract from the punch, the whiskered mercenary's own free hand shot out and wrapped its fingers around her wrist. Naruto pulled the wrist towards him, and the rest of the assassin followed by proxy. Just as Ventress began to trip over herself due to the sudden pull, the Mandalorian leaned his head back and shot it forward, colliding with Ventress's own head.

Pain echoed through both of their skulls, and while Naruto's pain shouldn't have been as great as Ventress's since he was the one who initiated the headbutt, his previous head injury caused the two to equal in head pain. Since they were equal, the headbutt was enough to make him take an involuntary step backwards just like Dooku's apprentice had.

Both of them involuntarily rubbed their foreheads in order to sooth the ache in their craniums, momentarily pausing their combat.

Once that moment had passed, Naruto and Ventress took a moment to stare each other down. Neither of them said a word, for no longer could words be said. Instead, they simply took their stances.

The two of them never broke their eye contact during that time, so it was noticeable when Ventress saw Naruto look past her and focus on something else.

For some reason, Ventress dared to follow his sight and look behind her, and what she saw made her sneer with victory and cruel excitement. Laying just a few feet behind the assassin was her other lightsaber, the one she had dropped when she had the mental disturbance.

Naruto knew that he was in for a challenge when it came to having to fight Ventress, even if she had only one lightsaber, so imagine how anxious he felt when he saw the assassin's other weapon on the ground a little bit away from her. Then multiply that feeling times ten when Dooku's apprentice followed his line of sight and saw her weapon as well.

Ventress with one saber had been manageable, but with both of them in her grasp made Naruto's chances of victory decrease exponentially. So, when he saw the Sith assassin starting to pull her other weapon towards her with those telekinetic powers of hers, the Mandalorian made it his top priority to stop her beforehand.

Naruto ran towards her with all the speed he could muster while his saber prepared to strike.

Ventress saw the mercenary's rush and followed suit, sacrificing the lesser amount of time the saber would reach her while gaining the advantage of giving him less time to plan accordingly.

When the two were in reach of each other, Ventress was the first to attack.

She swung the saber in left hand in the form of an overhead strike while her right hand was held out to catch her other weapon.

The Mandalorian easily intercepted the strike with his saber and freed one of his hands to reach for one of the blasters attached to his thigh. As soon as it was in his hand, the whiskered mercenary pulled the blaster out from its holster and thrusted it forwards, intent on getting as close as he could to the apprentice of Dooku so that there was less of a chance he would miss.

At the same time, the Sith assassin felt the familiar handle of her weapon reenter her grasp and almost immediately aimed its barrel, the area where the energy blade usually emerges from, at the Mandalorian the best she could in the short amount of time given.

SNAP! HISS!

Ventress ignited the blade, and Naruto's finger went to the trigger.

The leader of the Shadows felt the heat of the apprentice of Dooku's saber held just centimeters away from where his jaw met his neck, and the assassin felt the barrel of the mercenary's WESTAR-35 dig its way in the underside of her own jaw.

Both the assassin and mercenary froze when they realized their situation.

Essentially, Ventress couldn't kill the mercenary fast enough where he wouldn't get a shot off, and Naruto couldn't get a shot off without the assassin separating his head from his body.

They were in a full-blown stalemate.

Neither made a move out of the fear that the other would end their life. So, with nothing else that they could do, Naruto and Ventress just glared daggers at each other.

Seconds that felt like hours passed and a deafening silence encompassed them, all while the two stayed in their positions like statues.

After a full minute of this, one of them finally decided to speak.

"So, where do we go from here?" Naruto asked sarcastically.

Tatooine-Jabba's Palace

Over the years, many have argued over the origin of Jabba's Palace.

Some say that it had originally been a monastery for a religious group that had been long forgotten by the rest of the galaxy, others say that it was a compound built by a rival gang that had been overtaken by the Hutts. Finally, with only a few in number believing it, there were those who thought that the crime group had built the citadel like structure themselves.

It wasn't out of doubt that the last of the three had so few believers. The crime family had more than enough resources to create the palace. It was mostly because none could ever remember a time when Jabba's palace didn't exist. Granted, a Hutt's life span was one of the longest in the galaxy, so it was possible that the palace was built before any of them were born.

No one knew for sure what the correct answer was, and all were too hesitant to ask Jabba what the truth was.

However, if one were ever willing to ask the question with so many conflicting answers, they would be surprised to find that not one, nor two, but all three answers were correct.

Obviously, this would need an explanation.

The first thing to know was that the palace had indeed been a monastery before anything else, owned by the group known as the B'omarr Order. It was their belief that to reach enlightenment, one had to remove all physical sensation from their person. It was their strong belief in this idea that eventually, the monks surgically implanted their brains into four legged, mechanical bodies so that they wouldn't be able to feel a thing.

It was due to this transformation that later on, a bandit named Alkhara and his gang came to the monastery and easily overtook it for their own. Alkhara ruled from the monastery for thirty-four years, and during that time, he added battlements, dungeons, and constructed the main tower outside of the palace.

As the bandit gained notoriety on Tatooine, he also gained the attention of the Hutt clan. They saw him as a rival and were swift to nip the problem in the bud before it became a weed.

The Hutts' forces easily overpowered the bandit horde that resided inside the compound and reaped the rewards they had won.

Instead of destroying the building, the Hutts opted to add it as one of their many strongholds they already had on Tatooine. Interestingly enough, Jabba seemed to take a liking to the palace, so much so, that he made it a second home after his original one on Nal Hutta.

He visited it often, sometimes for a few days, and sometimes for weeks.

It was only when Jabba learned that he was going to eventually… 'spawn' Rotta, along with the longevity of their species and the Vitamin D requirements, he finally made the decision to move in permanently.

Unfortunately, with that decision came the reality of his position in the Hutt council.

The palace's defenses as they were wouldn't be even close enough to defend Jabba from his enemies. Therefore, he began to improve them as much as possible.

The Hutt added more wings to the compound, such as armories, quarters for more men to stay in, as well as some more luxurious spaces for himself and for special guests. Only when the second of the listed additions was being built did Jabba realize something.

Whatever amount of men he would end up having, they would always be divided with one half on duty and the rest off duty. The shifts would change after an appropriate amount of time, but one question would always remain the same.

What would they do?

The palace was more than half a day's ride to the nearest village/town, so combine that with the amount of time they would spend doing whatever it was they chose as well as another half day ride back, and that left a huge gap of time where a large portion of Jabba's manpower would be missing.

He wouldn't stand for that. The Hutt needed all of his forces at the ready to defend both him and his son.

It was because of that reason that the Hutt modified his designs for the additions to include a multitude of places to accommodate his men in their time off.

One such place, was the bar.

The sounds of drunken shouts and general tomfoolery that could be found in any normal cantina echoed off the weathered stone walls of the room they resided in.

The place was a wide open, four walled room, with one of the walls equipped with large windows. They were there to give a beautiful view of the Tatooine landscapes to the occupants of booths that ran parallel of the same wall.

The bar itself was nothing particularly special or above average. Of course, due to it being in Jabba's personal abode, there were more refined drinks and beverages than what was normally found on Tatooine being served to the patrons.

Speaking of the patrons, pirates and criminals of all types were scattered out into their respective groups. Some were Jabba's personal henchman. Others were personal guests there to deal in business with the Hutt for their respective organizations.

Despite all of the patrons present at the Hutt's cantina, it was surprising to note who exactly was of most importance at the moment.

Two pirates, Human and Weequay respectively, sat by themselves at a table off to the corner alone.

They were just two of Jabba's henchmen, cogs in the Hutt's criminal machine that could easily be replaced without a second thought. They were nothings and nobodies. They were in discriminable in every detail about them when compared to the rest of Jabba's lackeys, so it would strange to point them out, right?

Well, save for one thing.

"It just doesn't make sense." The Weequay slurred out, obviously losing the battle of sobriety with the alcoholic beverage in his hand.

His companion was currently using the point of a knife he had to pick out whatever grime and scum his nails had collected during the day.

"What?" The pirate asked, absentmindedly looking up from his activity for a second before returning to it.

The Weequay noticed his friend's lack of interest and scoffed. Nevertheless, he answered the single worded question.

"This whole deal in getting Jabba's kid back. I don't know why the boss is relying on the Seppies or the Republic to get him back, when all he has to do is call Shadow One."

At the mention of the Mandalorian's codename, the human criminal's eyes widened in surprise and shock as he looked up with his full attention on his companion.

"Keep your voice down." He ordered with a look of seriousness along with a hint of fear on his face.

The intoxicated pirate that the command was pointed towards gave a look of confusion that was slightly exaggerated because of the alcohol, which led to the human elaborating.

"You and I both know that only a few people are allowed to know that name, and that we aren't a part of them."

The more sober of the two knew just how serious it was to know of his existence while not having proper clearance. As in, as far as he knew, there were no other henchmen/underlings who had ever heard of the Mandalorian.

So that meant that he was either that sneaky, or that anyone who knew about him without him knowing about their knowing was currently in a six-foot hole.

The human wasn't sure what to hope for between the two, so he decided that both him and his companion needed to develop a case of amnesia.

The only reason that they knew about Shadow One was because the two were the guards that scraped the slave girl's dead body off the ground at the celebration. It was that moment that led to the human asking the various guests at the party about him since most of them were from high ranking crime families there more out of respect than celebration.

Most were inebriated enough to let loose lips fly, since in the state they were in, they possibly mistook him for another guest rather than a guard.

Shadow One and his group had apparently done work for groups such as the Pykes, Black Sun, and some pirate captain named Hondo once or twice.

Despite the diverseness in the groups questioned, all of them had given similar if not the exact same information.

The Shadows origins seemed to be as elusive and mysterious as their namesakes. No one knew where they came from. Despite their armor being a dead giveaway to them being from Mandalore, there were no records of them anywhere in that sector of space.

From what the human had been told, there had been no business conducted in that sector of space by any of criminal organizations.

Strange…

Anyway, from what info the pirate had collected, the Shadows first popped up around four years ago and wasted no time into setting their place in the underground hierarchy.

In order to do that, the Shadows had to show that they were worth every single credit they charged. So, they came up with a proposition.

The Shadows asked for a target of the client's choosing to get rid of, free of charge. It was akin to one of those free trials that some companies offered for their products, the product in this case being murder.

However, they weren't just asking for any simple target. That wouldn't prove a single thing other then that they were as competent as any other bounty hunter or assassin. No, they asked for whatever was the biggest, most annoying, and most heavily protected prick in the side each boss was dealing with then, barring each other. It wouldn't have been practical to take out the Pykes for the Black Sun if they had just finished doing a job for the former, after all.

The results from each of those jobs made a slight chill go down the back of his spine each time he thought about it.

Without going into too much detail, it wasn't accurate to say that the Shadows just killed their targets, nor was saying that they 'made them disappear.'

The most accurate description for what happened was the group of Mandalorians 'made their targets never f*cking exist.'

Each person that they were sent after never stood a chance. Those who were targeted had didn't make it past the day that the Shadows were given their contract. Only the literal heads of the crime families knew the exact methods of how they did it, they needed to because the Shadows were that good at covering their tracks.

When official reports of the deaths came in, there was so much evidence that pointed towards an accidental death and so little evidence of anything else that the authorities were none the wiser. Hell, even one or two high profile names that the pirate had been led to believe died of natural causes were in fact targets that the Shadows went after.

Only fools would have declined that kind of efficiency when it popped up, so each time the Shadows returned after completing their tasks, they gained a new client. However, it wasn't without a few conditions.

Now, the pirate that had been told all of this didn't remember what most of those conditions were, but that was thanks to the overwhelming sense of fear and dread he experienced right after finding out the first condition.

That being only those in the most upper hierarchy in each group could know of the Shadows existence.

Well, when the low-level henchman in Jabba's organization learned this particular fact of the elite, make-you-deader-than-a-door-quicker-than-lightspeed group, from the group of drunken, criminal underworld leaders who did not realize who they were talking to, well…

He needed to change his pants and get amnesia real fast.

The only reason his friend knew as much as he did was because the pirate felt that he had a right to know how much danger he could be in.

That was a choice he regretted making now.

"Whatever, even if we aren't supposed to know about him, it doesn't mean what I said wasn't the truth." The Weequay responded with a roll of his eyes, even though his volume was lowered slightly than the last time he spoke.

As the humanoid took another swig from the drink in his hand, his companion spoke.

"Doesn't matter if it was true or not. From the small bit that I've tried to not hear, Jabba tried to call but couldn't reach him."

The Weequay's eyes widened slightly at the news.

"What?" He asked in a shocked tone of voice.

The human had been more than willing to share the information he had gathered on the mercenary with the only other witness who was at risk, along with the stories that had been shared.

One of the more non terrifying facts that they had learned from the stories was how professional the Shadows were. It was honestly shocking how military-like the group he belonged to was, even more so when known that they worked with criminals mostly.

If Shadow One wasn't there to receive a transmission, then his second in command would answer. If the second in command didn't answer, then the third would, and so on and so on.

If what the Weequay's companion just said was true, and that their boss, the head of one of the biggest criminal organizations in the galaxy, was unable to reach any of them during a time that he needed them the most, let's just say that some red flags had started going up in his mind.

Gears started turning in his brain, lines started to connect, and blanks started to fill, which was all surprising for someone as inebriated as he was.

The human pirate had gone back to cleaning his nails, believing the conversation to be over, so he didn't notice the look of revelation in his friend's eyes.

"Hey. I just thought of something." The Weequay started with a shocked tone of voice.

The human rolled his eyes at the statement and didn't bother looking up from his work again.

If the lack of a reaction from his friend was noticed, the Weequay showed no signs of realizing it. Instead, he opted to continue his previous statement.

"Could Shadow One have something to do with the kid going missing?"

Now that statement grabbed the pirate's attention, but not in the way the drunken humanoid may have wanted. He had already opened his mouth to retort in a negative fashion, but his companion cut him off before the human could get his first syllable out.

"Think about it, the moment that this shit happens, Shadow One goes missing, and now, Jabba has to buddy up to the Republic and Separatists to find him."

"So, what?"

"So what?" The drunken man asked in a harsh tone, obviously angry with his companion not following along.

The Weequay leaned in close to his friend and started listing off his reasoning.

"You were the one who told me about the guy, and if you're right about the boss not getting anyone on the line, then obviously something's wrong. Besides, why is it so hard to believe? He's a mercenary-"

"Who snapped the neck of a slave that had taken the exact kid you're talking about hostage. Without being told to do so, might I add. Now I don't want to hear any more of this, you hear me?"

If interrupting the Weequay's sentence wasn't enough, the human pointed his knife again, only this time in a more threatening manner.

"I seriously doubt that he would ever have anything to do with this. That guy is loyal to his clients."

The drunken pirate wasn't affected by the knife in his face. Hell, it wasn't even the first time it had happened that day. So, he had no problem continuing to speak.

"C'mon, you have to admit that this is too much to be a coincidence! We have to tell the boss."

The human's face twitched slightly in response to that question.

Despite his respect and fear for the Shadows, he still had to admit that it was suspicious that they ghosted right after Jabba's kid went missing.

It was his belief that everyone had a price, even the most professional. Maybe someone managed to find the price that the Shadows were willing to betray Jabba for.

The human reluctantly sighed and placed his knife down, causing his friend to let out the breath he had been holding in the form of a victorious chuckle.

"Atta boy! We need to toast!" He cheered, reaching over the table and clasping his friend's shoulder.

The sober pirate gave a dumbfounded look at his friend's sudden change of interests and was quick to voice his confusion.

"What about talking to Jabba about the Shadows?"

"We can do that in a second. First, I need to celebrate finally getting you to agree with me on something. Waitress!"

A passing Twilek woman holding a tray filled with various drinks looked up when the name of her profession was called and soon drew her attention on the two men.

"Two shots of your finest, gorgeous!"

The woman rolled her eyes at the flirt, but nonetheless headed up to the bartender's station to get the order.

The sober of the two pirates sighed in annoyance, only now reminding himself that his friend was still inebriated despite the moment of apparent intelligence. It was because of that that he felt the need to make sure the Weequay wasn't about to get himself killed.

"Now, listen. If you are actually going to go through with this and it isn't some drunken rambling, you need to make sure you word it right."

The pirate scoffed and leaned back in his chair, waving off his companion's words.

"Of course, I'm not an idiot." He slurred out confidently.

'That could be debated.' The human thought before continuing.

"I'm serious. Shadow One and his group are some of Jabba's best men. If you straight out accuse them, you'll more than likely end up with a smoking hole in your head, or worse."

"What could be worse than that?"

"Being eaten alive and slowly digested inside a Rancor's stomach."

That comment seemed to take the wind right out of the Weequay's sails.

He stopped leaning in his chair and actually began sitting up straight in his seat as if he was suddenly in the most important meeting of his life.

"Right. Good point."

The serious and slightly fearful demeanor that the Weequay had just gained disappeared in the same amount of time when he saw the waitress from earlier come back with his order on a small tray.

She set the tray down on the table without saying anything, either because she didn't want to receive more flirts or because she had more important matters to attend to. Whatever it was, it didn't matter to the two criminals. They were too focused on the tiny glasses filled with brown liquid.

As the waitress walked away from the table, the human and humanoid pair took their respected glasses and prepared to drink.

"Don't worry, my friend. I've been around this place long enough to know what ends up making you dead." The Weequay said in confidence.

His friend didn't reply and merely raised his shot glass in hopes for a toast. The drunken pirate smiled at the gesture and raised his glass up as well, tapping it against his friend's in earnest.

With the toast complete, the two simultaneously downed the shots, enjoying the burning sensation that came along with the alcohol.

However, the burning sensation didn't continue all the way to their stomachs. Instead, it seemed to stop at the midway point of their throats, right before the area of the esophagus where the pathway for food and air switched.

The pirates immediately noticed this as their bodies tried to involuntarily spit the substances out, but try as they might, the liquid inside them wouldn't move an inch from their position.

The two dropped the glasses in their hands in surprise at what was happening to them, and immediately grabbed their throats.

It was due to the beverage's location above the airway that made it impossible for the two to breath, and as a result, made their attempts to purge the alcohol from their bodies that much more violent.

They spat, choked, and gasped for whatever amount of oxygen that they could get into them to hold off the ever-closing threat of death that came after them, but their attempts failed again and again. No matter what they did, it seemed to only make their situation worse.

The human tried to stand up to get some kind of help, but as soon as he did, a large amount of unseen pressure closed in around the area that his drink was stuck at. He didn't have much time to react to that development before it tightened its hold with what felt like the strength of ten men.

That strength was what snapped his neck with ease.

As his body slumped over the table, it was in his last moments of life that he saw the lifeless eyes of his Weequay companion, also slumped over and dead.

The light faded from the human's eyes, leaving him nothing but lifeless body behind.

Surprisingly, no one in the bar seemed surprised about the two recently made corpses. Although, that may have something to do with it not being the first time that death showed its face there.

It wasn't that unusual that someone would keel over due to poisoned drinks, courtesy of whichever Hutt they had offended recently, or if they died due to the beverage being poisonous to their body chemistry. Hell, some of them were poisonous regardless of what species they were served too due to the owner wanting to make a quick buck by diluting the substance.

So, no one really noticed when the two of them died.

Save for one person that was.

Count Dooku swirled the concoction that laid within his drinking glass with slight hint of disgust.

The contents inside were the best thing that a man of his refined tastes could get on a planet such as Tatooine, and that wasn't saying much. Nevertheless, the Count tilted the rim of the glass back and swallowed the remainder of the drink along with his pride.

The bittersweet flavor echoed within Dooku's mouth as he rested the now empty drink on the table of the booth he resided at.

There was a reason that the Count was there and not groveling at Jabba's feet, a fate in which Dooku didn't know whether or not he should be thankful for.

He had yet to hear from his apprentice and Naruto regarding the next phase of their plan. That meant that he had yet to receive the transmission that would make the Republic look guilty in the eyes of the Hutts, and in turn, send in a Separatist force to crush whatever clones were left on Teth.

That made him worry, as much as he hated to admit it.

Obviously, he had overheard the drunks' conversation, despite the fact that they tried to keep their volumes down. While it left a sour taste in the Sith Lord's mouth when said, he admitted that the drunkard may have had a point.

It was no new information to the Sith Lord regarding the Shadows' ties to the Hutt crime family as well as how interwoven their leader was with Jabba's heir.

To an outside perspective, it would seem foolish to send someone like that on a mission that would threaten that bond, but Dooku was no fool.

Not only did he plan this entire ordeal in order for the Republic to lose its ground in the Outer Rim, but he also planned this as a test for Naruto. A test of loyalty, to be precise.

Sure, the mercenary already proved himself on Christophsis, but that was just a job. He had a simple task to accomplish with no real cost if he failed. The only thing that he proved was his combat ability, intelligence, and tenacity.

What hadn't been proved, was what lengths he was willing to go to for his employer. What he would be willing to sacrifice for the Separatists, and as well as his, gain.

Or, if he was even willing to sacrifice at all.

If the mercenary's feelings against the plot were too much, enough for him to refuse to cooperate, or even go as far as to sabotage the mission, then it would reveal whether or not if it would be worth it to keep him around in the long run.

Of course, the only flaw in that plan was the chance that the mission would fail, even with Naruto giving it his all, but Dooku already had something in place to determine whether or not if that was true.

That was something that he had to remind himself as the minutes without the transmission ticked by.

As said before, Dooku thought that the drunkard had a point about Shadow One's loyalty to the Huttlet, and the premonition of the Mandalorian's betrayal seemed more likely by the second.

Anyone else in the Count's position might be in a ball of anxiety and fear at the thought of their carefully laid out plan coming undone, even more so when the reason why was of their doing.

Those people were not Dooku.

Sure, he had used the Force to end the pirates lives just as they were about to leave. It wasn't because the Count actually believed that Jabba would listen to the drunken fools. It was to make things simpler in the long run by making sure there was not a single suspicion placed on the Mandalorian's group. It was crucial for them to have help trick Jabba into believing the Separatists were the heroes of this tale, risking life and limb to return his son.

That is, of course, if the Shadows' leader had not gone rogue, but once again, he wasn't worried.

Simply put, Dooku would not be concerned about the consequences of the choice he made in the end, for he would be far more interested in the positives. The end result would determine whether this pact with the Shadows would be beginning of a beautiful partnership, or if the mercenary scum needed to be wiped off the face of the galaxy.

It also helps that it was not only his skills and underworld connections that made the Sith Lord interested in Naruto. However, that was an entirely different situation that involved the Mandalorian personally and not his little band of hired guns.

Whatever the issue they were dealing with, be it caused by betrayal or failure, it would not matter in the end.

One way or another, Naruto Kryze would be a valuable asset to the Separatist cause, and more importantly, to his master's plans.

Teth-Temple Balcony

Neither the assassin nor mercenary had moved from their positions in the past few minutes since the stalemate began.

Naruto still had his blaster aimed at Ventress's head, and the Sith in question still had one of her sabers held against his throat. Her other lightsaber was still locked against Naruto's own over their heads. The two weapons clashed and grinded against each other, providing the only noise on the balcony.

Both combatants glared into each other's eyes as their minds raced to think of a way forward in their situation.

However, that's where the two minds started to differ.

While Ventress was trying to think of a way forward in the duel to where she could kill the whiskered mercenary without getting her head blown off, Naruto was thinking of a way forward where he could get Rotta home, convince Ventress not to rat him out, and ensure that there would be no consequences from Dooku involving their deal.

His mind raced a mile a minute thinking of ways to achieve all three objectives successfully and it wasn't going well. Nothing he thought of would work in a logical or rational sense.

The whiskered mercenary was about to give up, but then a lightbulb went off in his head.

It would be extremely risky and difficult, but it was the only possible route he could take now.

"I want to make a deal." Naruto said.

The sound of his own voice being heard after minutes of tension filled silence was slightly jarring for the two of them. For a slight second, Ventress gained a surprised expression before heatedly glaring at her traitorous partner.

"Oh really? Well I want you dead and your head mounted on a pike." She spat out venomously.

The Mandalorian was slightly taking aback by how hostile the Sith assassin sounded but forced himself out of those thoughts.

'Can't show weakness.'

Any sign of hesitation or lack of backbone, as well as any sign of second thinking about what he was about to do wouldn't give the same impact on someone like Ventress. Naruto needed to appear absolutely certain and without fear of consequence in order to get his point across. Nothing less would do.

So, as he swallowed the lump in his throat, the whiskered mercenary glared with only his eyes while the rest of his facial features changed to an evil, knowing grin.

"In that case, I'm sorry to say that only one of us is getting what they want today, considering that I have the upper advantage."

Ventress seemed to be taken aback by the statement but quickly regained her composure.

"How do you know that?"

It was then that the grin the Mandalorian had given himself truly reflected what he was feeling inside.

Ventress had taken the bait, now all he had to do was reel her in.

'Moment of truth.' He thought.

"It's simple. You have a lightsaber, which is silent for the most part, and I have a blaster, which makes a very loud bang."

For emphasis on the second part of his sentence, Naruto shook the blaster he had pointed at the underside of Ventress's head from side to side slightly. The components inside the deadly weapon rattled slightly from the movement.

Ventress's eyes narrowed in confusion for a moment before widening in realization.

"You mean…"

The whiskered mercenary saw that Dooku's apprentice had come to the conclusion that he had been hinting at and spoke.

"That's right. One or two little shots from this and our 'friends' downstairs will hear it."

The idea that Naruto had was finally put into words, and it was safe to say that he was using a double-edged sword. Only in this case, the edge of the sword that was supposed to work for him in this analogy had been dulled down to the point to where it was visibly curved, while the edge that would be against him had been sharped to the point that it could cut durasteel.

The reason for that being is because of the effect of what he said would have afterwards.

Mountains upon mountains of variables and scenarios that suggested outcomes the Mandalorian didn't want to happen towered over what he wanted and also seemed more likely to take place in the next few minutes.

It was safe to say that the cards weren't in Naruto's favor. Unfortunately, they were the last ones in the deck, so he had no choice but to move forward.

"I'll kill you before you get the chance to." The Sith assassin growled out, obviously irritated by the whiskered mercenary's threat.

Naruto's grin lessened slightly when he heard that but still remained on his face, nonetheless.

"Doesn't matter whether you kill me or if I kill you, that shot will still go off. The Republic will be up and alert just in time for our reinforcements to show up."

Ventress's mouth turned into a snarl after hearing the Mandalorian's strategy, but before she could retort, said Mandalorian began to speak again.

"Right now, I don't care about anything except that little Hutt's safety. I don't care if I live, die, or do whatever it takes to make sure he survives." He said with conviction.

Ventress was furious.

She was sick and tired of the mercenary's comments about taking the moral high ground and the guilt tripping he was using.

They were here on a mission, to follow orders. Why didn't he see that?

What did it matter what happened to this child? From what she could gather, he had nothing to gain, yet everything to lose by doing this, yet he still had gone through with it. So why?

"Why do you care so much about this one Huttlet? Why are you willing to risk so much just for son of a gangster?" She demanded fiercely.

Anger flared inside the whiskered mercenary's mind as he heard the Sith assassin's description of Rotta in her last sentence.

He had thought that their talk before the stalemate had shown Ventress why what they were doing was wrong, besides for the obvious reasons, but it turns out he was wrong.

"It's because that's all he is!"

To Ventress's surprise, Naruto broke the overhead lock between their sabers and slashed with his orange energy blade. The Sith assassin barely had time to realize what was happening in order to intercept his strike with the saber she had been holding against his neck.

The sabers were locked again, and within seconds, the Mandalorian had his blaster pointed directly in between Ventress's eyes while the woman in question had the tip of her second lightsaber pointed directly at his chest plate, right where his heart was.

With the stalemate beginning anew, Naruto let loose the thoughts and feelings that had been building up inside of him ever since he first heard Dooku's orders above the Trident.

"The only reason that he was taken was because of who his father was! If it wasn't because of that singular detail about him, he would be home right now! He wouldn't be a piece in this dumb, intergalactic chess game and a part of a never-ending cycle where people's loved ones are used as leverage simply because of their relation to someone!"

The whiskered mercenary had to remind himself to keep his voice quiet enough to not be heard by the clones, but it was difficult to do so.

Knowing that, he stopped himself and took a deep breath before saying his next statement.

"Because of that cycle, Rotta may die."

Those words surprised Ventress more than she would've thought they would. She had not known much about the Huttlet's situation beyond the times that she had seen him before being sent to the dungeon and when they saw him in the courtyard.

"What are you talking about?" She asked cautiously in the case that this was another trick.

The Mandalorian felt a small amount of shock when the question was asked, and a small amount of hope started to flicker inside him.

The whiskered mercenary answered her question out of want to keep the feeling alive.

"As you've probably guessed, my feelings about this entire mission have been well known."

Ventress nodded slightly, making her forehead brush against the barrel of Naruto's blaster. You had to be a fool to not pick up on the whiskered mercenary's objections before, and you had to be just braindead to not notice at this point.

"However, despite all of those feelings, I still went along with it because I'm a professional. I don't break deals."

Ventress frowned at the hypocritical statement her partner had made and felt confusion at how he seemingly didn't notice the contradiction of it and his actions.

"What do you call this little adventure?" She inquired with hostility.

Naruto's features hardened at the question.

"The deal between Dooku and I is for the Shadows to help the Separatists win the war, and sometimes in war, battles are lost."

Ventress frowned at the news.

That didn't make sense. Why would Naruto still stay on the Separatists side after being assigned a mission that went against his morals so bad that he would purposefully ensure its failure?

"Now may I continue?" The Mandalorian asked, breaking Dooku's apprentice from her thoughts.

He didn't even wait for her to answer before picking up where he last left off.

"Teth barely has an eighth of the sunlight Tatooine has. Because of that, I've had to almost rely entirely on the pills. By the time the Republic got here, I was almost out. The dungeon only made the situation worse. If I stuck to the plan, it could've killed him."

At this point, Naruto knew he was just giving her more reason to kill him, but he would be damned if the truth wasn't known.

"At that point, the only way that I could make sure he would be alive at the end of this was let the Republic get him. So, after I got my ass handed to me on a silver platter by the Jedi, I made sure they had the last of the medication before escaping."

Ventress's eyes narrowed as the traitorous Mandalorian laid out each and every step of his betrayal. Despite what she knew she was supposed to do, the Sith assassin felt her interest hooked and chose to hear the Mandalorian all the way to the end.

"But in the end, my choice ended up making things worse for him." Naruto's hands tightened around the handles of his weapons as he thought about what happened afterwards.

"For some reason, Skywalker isn't using them, and even though it's slowed down by whatever sunlight's out here, Rotta's condition is getting worse."

There was a pause from the whiskered mercenary looked down at the floor, lamenting over his failure as the Huttlet's protector. Then, he brought his gaze back up and stared into his partner's eyes.

"You look me in the eye and tell me that if you were in my position, you would really be okay with allowing a child to die."

Surprised by the statement, Ventress felt at a loss for words.

She knew that he was referring to if her and Naruto's positions were reversed. Obviously, her first instinct was to say no due to how the question related to their situation.

But the question wasn't 'would she allow Rotta to die.' It was if she would be alright with allowing a child to die.

That question meant in any sort of scenario, not just in theirs. The part of her that was Dooku's apprentice wanted to say no without hesitation, but the rest of her, the Asajj Ventress part of her, the part who she had been trying to suppress for the last few days, felt differently. No matter how much she tried to convince herself, that part of her refused to change its opinion.

She couldn't accept that as her answer. She just couldn't.

The only thing that Ventress even remotely felt comfortable saying to answer the whiskered mercenary's question would be that she didn't know.

That was when she heard Light and Dark speak for the first time since the conflict between Naruto and her began.

'We all know the answer, child. You just do not wish to acknowledge it.' Light stated.

Dark interjected right then.

'But the mercenary's scenario isn't real. It was he who made the choice, not her! Now he must deal with the consequences!'

Their arguing didn't help.

Deep inside her, Ventress knew what Light said was true.

The part of her that refused to obey her will was overpowering compared to what she wanted. If she were forced to make the decision with no choice in between, Dooku's apprentice knew what words would leave her mouth and hated herself for it.

But then a realization came to her mind.

Right now, there was a possible option for both, but it meant doing the unthinkable.

Despite that, the Sith assassin asked the one question that she never would've thought would leave her lips.

"…What's the deal?" She asked.

Ventress expected to feel bitterness and self-hatred after giving into the thought of considering the mercenary's deal, but to her surprise, it felt like a great weight had been lifted off her shoulders.

She didn't have time to wonder about it, for she saw the mercenary's eyes light up in a mixture of shock and surprise.

At first, Naruto didn't know what to say in response to the question.

He honestly didn't expect to make it to that point in their conversation so soon, but here it was right in front of him.

"You're seriously going to hear me out?" The leader of the Shadows asked cautiously.

"Yes, but that offer is about to go out the window if you don't get to the point."

The Sith assassin had the feeling that Naruto's deal would still involve keeping Rotta safe, he wouldn't go through all of that effort only to give up when it didn't work.

However, just because she was willing to listen to the plan didn't mean she was going to go along with it. Ventress wanted to see what the plan would involve. If it were too dangerous to pull off or too risk heavy to discovery, then the assassin would dispose of her partner right then and there.

Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on the viewpoint, the Shadow's leader was also being cautious.

Now, Naruto usually wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth, but in this case, he couldn't afford not to. He needed to ensure that Ventress was being true to her word and not planning to stab him in the back with her laser sword.

"No."

"No?" The Sith assassin asked incredulously.

Here she was, offering him the chance to propose his idea, and the whiskered mercenary refused?

"First, you need to prove it." The Mandalorian stated.

The pieces clicked into place in the assassin's mind.

She had to admit, it was smart. If Ventress was in Naruto's position, she would want to be absolutely certain that it was the truth before letting her guard down.

"How?" She asked, playing along with her partner.

"Lose the sabers."

Now that was a problem. If Ventress put away her weapons, she would have no defense against the blaster aimed at her head and the saber that she was keeping locked with her own.

"And leave me defenseless?" She asked with a tone that indicated she wasn't going to comply.

Naruto cursed to himself when he heard Ventress's rejection.

"Fair point…Alright, can we just stop this then?" He asked, nodding his head towards their interlocked weapons.

Ventress wondered how they seemingly forgot about them before focusing back on the situation.

It was acceptable. The Sith assassin would still be able to defend herself at a moment's notice while still presenting an open atmosphere for negotiation.

Ventress nodded in agreement and took the liberty of taking the first step on the road to not having weapons pointed at each other.

She shut off the saber that was pointed at the mercenary's heart and held it up for Naruto to see. Taking it a step further, she even held it in the way that made it impossible to turn it on and use it.

The whiskered mercenary's eyes quickly darted to the saber and then back to the Sith assassin's face. After he saw that, the Mandalorian took his turn. He raised his blaster off Ventress's forehead to where the barrel was pointed in the air before retracting it from her personal space. Following his partner's example, Naruto took it a step further by hooking his index finger through the trigger guard and letting it dangle in the air.

He then holstered the sidearm before turning his attention to his lightsaber and Ventress did the same with hers.

Simultaneously, the two of them broke the lock between their sabers by pulling them away. They shut the blades off, and Naruto took a couple of steps back.

"Now, what's the deal?" Ventress asked after they successfully put away the life ending objects.

Naruto knew that now was not the time to draw out a long-winded explanation, so he tried to say only what was needed without wasting much time.

"In layman's terms, if the mission is a success despite my sabotage, you don't tell Dooku about any of this. If the mission fails, even with the help of my men, you can tell him."

For a second, Naruto winced at how he had worded his statement. It sounded foolish, like something a child would say. However, he didn't want to push his luck and had tried to put it in the simplest terms possible.

What he was trying to say was that from that point onward, the Mandalorian was going to put all of his effort into helping the Separatists' plot succeed like he was originally supposed to do. If it worked, then Ventress would technically have no reason to tell Dooku, since his betrayal didn't end up hindering anything, and it was a onetime deal due to the circumstances surrounding it.

If he were to fail however, the whiskered mercenary would accept his punishment. But the problem lied within that statement. Naruto forgot to ensure that it was him alone that received the consequences of his actions.

The Mandalorian's men had no idea of what he had been doing, not even Bo knew. He had been completely alone in his endeavors, so it should only be him that was punished.

Unfortunately, the Sith assassin in front of him began to speak before he could correct himself.

"Why should that convince me? My forces could easily crush the clones without the help of a few mercenaries."

A small grin formed internally when Ventress asked the question. That meant she was humoring him and humoring him meant that there was a part of her that was honestly considering his proposal.

"You're right, but that would also involve an unnecessary number of losses in your supplies and attack force." He replied in a 'matter of fact' way.

Dooku's apprentice raised a brow at that response, showing that her interest was caught.

Naruto elaborated for her on what he meant.

"You've forgotten, there's a reason Dooku hired us personally. That's because we can do things that no droids in his army can do."

"Such as?" Ventress asked, gesturing with her hand for the mercenary to get to the point.

"The Nightfall Maneuver."

There it was. That same attack formation that Ventress had been hearing again and again for most of the day and yet, had no idea what it was.

She narrowed her eyes a fraction for a second. It seemed a little too convenient that the mercenary's plan seemed to pop up in his favor when he needed it the most.

"What is it, exactly?" She inquired.

What the Mandalorian said next was surprising.

"I'm not saying."

Ventress's frustration rose when Naruto refused to let her in on his so-called master plan.

However, little did the assassin know, there was a reason for the whiskered mercenary's response.

The fact that Ventress was considering taking his offer was welcomed, but it was slightly suspicious. After all, they were just trying to kill each other a few seconds ago, and split-second decisions were rare for someone like the Sith assassin.

She could've been secretly planning to stab him in the back by pretending to go along with Naruto's plot, and if he revealed what his men were going to do and where they were, then she could order the droids to kill them on sight.

Of course, that line of thinking was bordering on conspiracy theory levels of paranoia, but Naruto wouldn't take the risk of endangering his men any more than he had already.

Despite his feelings, the Mandalorian still let his partner know about Nightfall's importance.

"I can promise you that it will end the fight faster, more efficiently, and more quietly than any strategy you can plan with your droids."

Those words didn't lower Ventress's suspicions for a single moment, and she let the Mandalorian know it.

"How do I know that you're telling the truth? For all I know, there is no Nightfall Maneuver, this is all a trick, and that your men are going to help the clones."

Naruto's features hardened at the mention of his men's involvement.

He had acted alone. No one from the Shadows knew of his actions, not even Bo. As much as he would've loved to have their assistance, he would not let them take that kind of risk because of his actions alone.

It was best that they knew nothing about the whiskered mercenary's betrayal so that they had the chance to be spared if he was discovered. After all, real ignorance was much more believable than fake ignorance.

"My men don't have any idea of what's going on here."

Ventress's glare became a little more heated at Naruto's statement. The value of his word gone down significantly just moments ago, so it was a little hard for Dooku's apprentice to just take her partner's statement for what it was.

"So you say." She said, suspicion laced in her voice.

Naruto sighed at her caution. While he understood her thoughts on the matter, it didn't make his efforts any easier.

It was more than likely that no amount of words was going to convince his partner to trust him to the point she had before otherwise.

He had to do something to prove he was telling the truth. Something that she knew would be truthful to his character and who he was. Naruto's mind searched for an answer to his predicament, and then, a lightbulb turned on in his head.

Moving slow enough to where Ventress would see that he wasn't about to attack, the whiskered mercenary raised his left hand up to the various dials and controls located on his right blaster gauntlet and flicked a single switch. Then, he held out his left arm with the palm of his hand facing upward. After that he raised up his right arm and held it out to where Ventress could see it clearly.

The Sith assassin was confused by Naruto's actions. He didn't say anything, leaving her only to guess what was going on.

The Mandalorian looked her dead in the eyes before performing his next action.

Naruto flexed his right forearm, activating a switch located on the interior of the blaster gauntlet wrapped around it.

Not even a second later, a collapsible blade that was the same length of his forearm sprung out from underneath the gauntlet's twin barrels. The whiskered mercenary let it stay there for a moment to so his observer could get over the shock of the weapon's sudden appearance.

Once what Naruto considered an acceptable amount of time passed for Ventress to register the blade's existence, he put it to use by dragging its edge across his open hand. The Mandalorian winced slightly as the blade cut through the glove and split open his palm, allowing for the blood running in his veins to come spilling out.

Once he had finished cutting his hand, the whiskered mercenary flexed his arm again, causing the blade to collapse back into its sheathe.

The blood gathered inside his grip, and once an amount that Naruto was satisfied with was collected, he loosened his hand a fraction.

With an opening to escape from available, the red liquid flowed out from the bottom of the gripped fist and dripped down to floor. A good ten drops splashed the stone floor, painting it in a crimson that would never truly disappear.

Once that happened, Naruto bowed his head towards Ventress as one would do to show respect and spoke.

"Bound by the blood held in my grasp, I swear on my honor as a Mandalorian that my sabotage was only orchestrated by me and me alone. My men had nothing to do with it nor did they know what was going on." (1)

His voice was even, deep, and seemed to carry more weight than anything he had ever said before.

In fact, the Mandalorian's words seemed to reverberate throughout the entire balcony that they stood upon, giving the illusion that something of a supernatural nature was happening.

After speaking the some of the most sacred words his people's warrior past had, the whiskered mercenary

"This is the greatest oath a Mandalorian can make. It means that I swear upon my bloodline that what I say is true." Naruto explained while his partner listened with rapt attention, "To break this oath would mean to throw away my heritage."

The whiskered blond relaxed his stance and dropped his hands back to his sides, seemingly ignoring the still open cut on his palm.

"Now that's out of the way," Naruto began, "You have a choice to make. You can take the deal, or, if you want…"

He reached into his other holster, pulled out the blaster inside, and aimed it directly at the opening of the balcony that led to the outside world with his finger directly on the trigger.

"I could go ahead and get the party started."

Ventress felt the breath in her throat hitch.

If the whiskered mercenary pulled the trigger, then not only would the Republic hear it, but they would also see where the shot originated from, making it so simple to find them that only a malfunctioning battle droid would have trouble.

Even though there was no weapon pointed at her, the Sith assassin still felt trapped in the stalemate if not completely at the mercy of the Mandalorian.

Seconds passed by, building the tension higher than what seemed possible until finally, a choice was made.

"…Fine."

It was hard to imagine just how much relief flooded the Mandalorian's mind when that simple word was spoken. A tenseness that had started when he first pulled out the blaster was washed away, allowing him to relax somewhat.

His facial features also reflected this change, for a grateful smile emerged. His shoulders dropped into a relaxed state as he let the arm holding the blaster hang at his side.

"Thank you." He stated with thankfulness in his voice.

The whiskered mercenary released his grip on the blaster's handle and let it dangle off his finger much like he did when they were putting their weapons away during the stalemate.

As Ventress watched her partner holster his weapon, leaving himself completely at her mercy, she felt one question gnawing at her mind.

It had been a question that kept on bugging her ever since she met him. One that she had asked once before and had answered. Only now, with the recent events, the question evolved beyond what she had asked back then, and the answer given had been barely enough for the original.

"I need to ask you something, mercenary." Ventress said.

The mercenary looked up from what he was doing and stared at his partner with slightly inquisitive eyes.

"Go ahead."

The Sith assassin took a moment to find the right words for her question before speaking.

"Why is it that you still working for the Separatists after this? Is whatever reward my master giving you really worth such risks?"

From what the assassin could see, her words did have an effect on him despite her efforts.

Naruto's form stiffened straight and shook slightly with either fury or fear, Ventress couldn't tell due to the Mandalorian's expressionless face. Whatever it was, he was able to get it under control after a second or two by closing his eyes and taking a deep breath.

His fists were clenched, causing the gloved hand with the cut on it to smear his blood all around his palm.

It was almost the same reaction he had given her back on their ride to Christophsis. Back when she had originally asked the questions that plagued her mind now.

Why he was with the Separatists?

Again and again, he had proven that it would have been more beneficial for his group to be with the Republic. His morals, his personality, even his skills would probably have been of more use to them so why? Why did he join the CIS?

Did the mercenary think that he could put all of that aside because of a big paycheck? Was there a paycheck to begin with?

"Reward?"

His voice, too loud to have been a whisper, but too soft to be anything else, grabbed ahold of the assassin's attention again.

He had directed his vision towards his helmet, discarded from when Ventress had done her check on him when he first arrived up there. Funny how long ago that seemed, even though it was a little less than an hour in real time.

"Kidnapping a kid, betraying one of my best employers, exposing the Shadows by having them join the war, do you think that there is some kind of reward out there to make me do that?"

The mercenary continued, his voice getting slightly louder.

"Let's make one thing clear once and for all. I am a Mandalorian first, and a mercenary second. Rewards aren't something that catch my fancy like it does for everyone else. There are only three thing that I value, and money isn't one of them."

A thought then came to Naruto's mind that made him more frustrated.

"Why are you even asking me? I thought that Dooku would've told you my stake in this already."

The confused stare Ventress gave him in response answered his question.

The whiskered mercenary took a small step back while giving her an incredulous look. Did she really not know?

"You don't have any idea, do you?" He asked, voicing his thoughts.

The question seemed to be both an honest yet rhetorical one. Ventress was unable to figure out which it was, for her Mandalorian partner raised his hand in a 'stop' motion.

"This has to wait. We have more important things to worry about."

Before she could ask further to deduce which it was, Naruto had already dropped his arms and moved to grab his discarded helmet.

The assassin followed his movements with a calculated eye.

His answer had both answered and evolved the question she had asked.

The reason why he was with the Separatists was clear, but the specifics weren't. It all seemed so obvious now. Ventress had even suspected it at the beginning when they were headed to Christophsis, but due to the Mandalorian's profession and the attitude he had the first time she had asked, the assassin assumed that Dooku had the location of some vendetta the mercenary was looking for.

That was where her logic went wrong.

All this time, she thought that Naruto was with the CIS to gain something, but it was the exact opposite.

He was with them to prevent loss.

"Naruto."

At the rare occurrence of his name being heard, the mercenary turned to his partner and stared directly into her cerulean eyes.

"Fix this mistake before it's too late, or I will personally make you pay."

The two of them stared each other down for what felt like hours without saying a word.

The both of them knew that they were relying entirely on faith that the other would keep their word. They were quite literally their fate in the hands of each other and the hope that they will honor the deal made just moments ago.

It was the mercenary who moved first.

The Mandalorian brought his helmet up and placed it back on top of his head where it belonged.

"Consider it done."

He didn't say anything else. There was no quick-witted quip, nor was there a tasteless joke. The whiskered mercenary didn't even have his usual joyful/cheery tone of voice. Instead, it was quiet, reserved, and held a seriousness rare for the Mandalorian.

It was only as he was leaving did Naruto give some parting words.

He stood at the frame of the door, the same one he had used to enter the balcony area and sighed. He looked over his shoulder at Ventress

"Just for the record, I was asking for your help. Not the help of Asajji Ventress, apprentice of Count Dooku, nor the help of Asajji Ventress, agent of the Separatists."

The mercenary waited a moment to let what he said sink in before continuing.

"I was asking for your help, the version of you that I keep seeing pop up. The one that knows that what we're doing is wrong."

It seemed like he wanted to say more, despite his face being hidden behind the orange visor of his helmet, but whatever it was, the Mandalorian didn't feel like continuing.

His departure wasn't noticed by Ventress, for she was too busy processing what her partner has said. However, before the processing could actually form into tangible thought for her to react to, a small beeping started to ring out.

A confusion overtook her as she realized that the repeating sound was coming from her waist, underneath her cloak. That confusion turned to shock and slight fear when the assassin regained her senses and realized what her task was.

As quickly as she could, Ventress holstered the sabers in her grip and replaced it with a handheld holo projector.

The Sith apprentice took a moment to regain her composure and hide the stress that the day had caused her so far. Once everything was to her liking, Ventress activated the holo projector.

The shimmering blue form of her master, now the size of her forearm due to the size of the projector.

"Master." She greeted, bowing her head in respect, honoring Dooku's position in her life.

"Ventress, what is the meaning of your delay?" His question was even, and his tone was bordering the line between annoyance and anger.

Her master wasn't in the mod for formalities, obviously, so she was quick to answer his demand.

"Due to unforeseen circumstances, we were forced to hide from Republic forces up until a few moments ago."

That seemed to take the wind out of Dooku's sails for a moment, but the projection was quick to recompose himself.

"Were you discovered?"

"No."

"Good. Does your droid have the recording?"

"Yes, it will be sent to you shortly."

"Very good. Is there anything else that needs to be known?"

Ventress felt her breath hitch in her throat. This was the moment. She could tell her master everything, reveal the mercenary's treachery and be done with it. However, it wouldn't be without a cost that was paid both by her and the Huttlet.

She gave her most convincing false smile and spoke.

"No. Everything is going according to plan."

Teth-Temple Hallways

"Shit." Naruto muttered to himself as he paced down the barren hallway of the temple.

A million thoughts were rushing through his mind, making it hard to even figure out where to begin.

Every part of his plan, sans the beginning, had gone to the word the Mandalorian had just spoken.

The Republic had Rotta, sure, and they knew he was here and by association, so was Ventress. However, none of it mattered now. Ventress had gotten the recording for the frame up in time, the Jedi refused to give Rotta the medication he provided, and now, Ventress had found out about his betrayal.

She had been his last hope in helping Rotta get back to Tatooine, and if he had to guess based off the results of their conversation, the whiskered mercenary would say that he had failed in that endeavor.

Almost everything that could have gone wrong, did go wrong.

Now the Huttlet was in danger, and it was all his fault.

It was that fact that fury began to rise up in Naruto's chest that he stopped and struck the wall next to him.

Web line fractures formed in the stone his knuckles were pressed against. The Mandalorian breathed deeply to cool down the heated anger that rose in his chest.

'Calm down.' The rational part of Naruto's mind ordered, 'This isn't going to help anyone.'

The Mandalorian sighed as his fist unclenched into an open palm. That palm supported the weight of his body as he leaned against the wall he punched.

He had to focus.

Ventress had given him the chance to fix his screw up. He just hoped that while doing that, he could still get Rotta home safe. That meant that the Mandalorian had to hurry, or else the tactic he had used to try and get the Huttlet out of there as soon as possible was going to bite him in the ass.

The clones wouldn't be an issue, the Nightfall Maneuver would see to that, but the Jedi would be a different story.

Skywalker and his sidekick outmatched the whiskered mercenary in the first round, but that was only because he refused to use anything other than his saber as his main weapon. This time, he would have his full arsenal at his disposal.

However, before he could do any of that, he needed to let someone else know of the situation.

He brought the gauntlet on his right wrist up close enough to see the various controls and buttons located on its face. Pressing a few buttons to start up the built-in communicator, the whiskered mercenary then waited a few seconds before flicking a switch located underneath the dual barrels of the attached blaster.

"Shadow Two, this is Shadow One. Come in." He said.

There was a short pause on the other end of the communicator, but Naruto wasn't worried.

The channel he was using was unknown to the rest of his men. It was a direct line between him and Bo, in case the two ever needed to speak about something in private if they couldn't do it face to face.

The wait was most likely because, according to Ventress, Bo was still with the rest of the men. It was more than likely that she was moving to a place where she wouldn't be overheard by the others.

After a few more seconds, a short burst of white noise came from the communicator and was soon followed by the voice of Naruto's aunt.

"This is Shadow Two. What's going on Shadow One? Is something wrong?"

Internally and almost externally, Naruto chuckled at how ironic that statement was. It was safe to say that things didn't just go wrong, they went in the absolute worst kind of way possible.

Gathering his thoughts together, the Mandalorian answered his aunt's question.

"Yeah, I guess you could say something is wrong."

"What happened?"

"Well, to put it simply. I think I just fucked us…"

Omake-The Fate of Jarko AKA Why You Shouldn't Mess with Naruto's Fighter

Unknown Location-Shadow Base

The sound of banging could be heard on the other side of the six-inch, laser protected, ray shielded door that separated Naruto and Bo from Naruto's unfortunate victim.

"Please, sir! I didn't mean to damage your ship!"

Naruto was in the midst of pressing buttons on the control panel when Jarko's pleading reached his and Bo's ears. The leader of The Shadows chose to ignore the man's begging and continued to type on the controls while Bo crossed her arms.

"Don't you think this is a little much?" Bo asked with a worried expression underneath her helmet.

Naruto didn't even look up at her as he put the finishing touches on whatever he was typing down on the control panel.

"Nope." He finally said, putting emphasis on the 'p.'

Bo scoffed when her nephew dismissed her comment, and with curiosity getting the best of her, she walked over to see what Naruto was inputting into the console.

Looking over Naruto's shoulder and down at the screen his fingers were typing on, Bo gasped in horror when she saw the image that was presented on the screen.

"Naruto, not that one! A Rancor or a Nexu! Hell, even a couple of Ewoks, anything else but that thing!"

Naruto shook his head negative in response to Bo's pleading.

"An example needs to be made, Aunt Bo." Naruto stated coldly.

As if to give an air of finality to the end of the argument, the whiskered pressed a single button on the controls, causing Bo to tense up.

"Just pray to Mandalore that it will be merciful on him."

Inside the room

Jarko was just about to start another fit of pleading and banging his fists against the door when the dark room he was in was then graced with a small amount of light, making his surroundings a little more visible. The gift of sight came from a spotlight at the center of the room, shining its brightness directly down to the center of the floor.

The Shadow shielded his face with his hands due to his eyes not able to react quickly enough to the room's sudden increase in brightness, and as Jarko's ocular vision started to adjust, the faint sound of machinery moving came from the center of the room.

Blinking a few times, Jarko was finally able to look around the room without having to squint. Using his newly reacquired sight, the trapped Mandalorian turned his attention to where he was hearing machinery move. Scanning the room, he cocked an eyebrow when he saw where the sound was coming from.

The noise was coming from the floor directly under the spotlight, but only now Jarko couldn't call it a floor anymore. It turns out that the area of ground that had the spotlight shining on it was a platform, and a really small one at that, and the sound he was hearing was it being lowered down to something underneath the room.

Eventually, the noise stopped, signaling that it had reached whatever floor the thing was programmed to go to, and after a few seconds, the platform had started raising itself back up.

At this point, Jarko remembered that he was in the room for a reason and tensed up, deducing that whatever the platform was bringing up was going to be what Naruto was using for the Shadow's punishment.

Seconds felt like minutes as Jarko kept his vision focused on the empty hole in the ground that was bringing out something that he knew would cause him a great deal of suffering. As the noise grew louder and louder, signing that the platform was getting closer, Jarko began to sweat nervously as his mind imagined all of the possible things that it was bringing up.

The time had finally come, and the platform returned back to the room it had lowered itself from to begin with, this time with a passenger.

Jarko froze when he saw what was to be the cause of his pain finally come into view, and then raised a confused eyebrow when he took a second look at it.

The…thing on the platform was tiny, its height just barely reaching the halfway point of his shin.

The creature stood on two orange, webbed feet that seemed to sink into the thing's body, rather than have any visible joints to connect to. Its back, the only thing that was facing Jarko at the moment, had most of its surface covered by dark brown, almost black feathers, save for two bright orange splotches that wrapped around each side of the creature's head.

The Shadow's observations were interrupted when the creature, who was still not facing his direction, started to move. The thing turned its head left and right, as if searching for something.

After a few seconds of looking, the creature stopped its search and made a sound that Jarko could best describe as frustrated chirping.

As soon as it was done with its noise making, the thing in front of Jarko started to do a three hundred and sixty scan of the room, adjusting the position of its body when it was necessary.

Eventually, the creature's sight finally landed on Jarko, who promptly wet himself at the frontal image of the creature before him.

As if nature had some semblance of balance, symmetry, or whatever word best described what the Shadow was seeing, the front side of the small being was a stark white, furry coat, a clear opposite of the dark coloring of the back. From what he could see, instead of arms, the creature had a set of wings connected to the sides of its body, revealing it to be a member of the Avian family. However, if one were to look at its face, he or she would think differently, for in the place of a beak or a bill, there was a flat snout and a small mouth full of tiny fangs.

None of the things described were the reason for Jarko becoming so scared he involuntarily made a yellow puddle. No, the cause of that was when he saw the creature's eyes.

They were wide, big, and had a vast distance between them. To any other person, they might've been considered adorable, but Jarko knew better. He saw what was in those eyes.

Nothing. There was absolutely nothing in its eyes.

If the saying that eyes were windows to the soul was true, then the thing in front of him never had one to begin with.

They were blank, empty, and held only the color of midnight.

Jarko tensed up when the creature took a step towards him and immediately began banging on the metal entrance again, pleading to his boss to be let free.

"Sir let me out please! Don't leave me alone here with this…this thing!"

The trapped Shadow's pleas went unanswered and as he persisted in his efforts to escape, Jarko heard the creature's webbed feet slap against the cold metal ground, signaling that it had taken another step.

The trapped soldier increased his banging and pleading against the door in response to the noise. His voice had started losing coherency and structure and had started to become more and more like gibberish, most likely due to fear.

Through the increased volume that Jarko had created, another slap against the floor was heard.

And then another.

And another.

Each and every step heard came quicker than the last, and with each and every step, Jarko's demeanor and mentality deteriorated as fear took over more and more of his mind.

When the steps finally started to come one after another without pause, the Shadow was so frightened by the creature behind him that all thought of common sense was thrown out the window, and Jarko had begun trying to break down the door preventing his escape.

He had to get away from them. The eyes. Those soulless, black voids that took residence in the tiny creature's skull.

The steps grew closer and closer and closer!

Then they stopped.

Jarko didn't believe his ears at first, believing that somehow the madness that came with looking into the dark abyss of the small being's eyes was causing his mind to play tricks on him.

The Shadow didn't know what made him do it, but for some reason, he turned around. Maybe it was curiosity about the silence, maybe it was because of fear, or maybe it was because his warrior blood demanded that if he were to perish in the most horrifying, agonizing was possible, then by Mandalore, it was going to happen with him facing it dead on.

Whatever the reason was, Jarko immediately regretted it when he spotted the creature again.

Time seemed to move in slow motion as the Shadow turned his head to face his destiny, and his eyes widened in horror when he saw the creature in mid-air, soaring right at him.

It turns out that the sudden absence of feet hitting the floor was because the steps leading up to it were a part of a running start, and now the creature had launched itself off the ground in a single jump. Now it was closing in on Jarko faster than before and at eye level too.

The soldier was too petrified to move out of the way, and any chance of dodging were thrown out the window when he saw the eyes again.

The eyes, that had been filled with nothing but emptiness, were now narrowed in a death glare towards Jarko, and held nothing but murderous oblivion.

As the creature closed the distance between it and himself, the Shadow had only one thing to say for his possibly final words.

"OH, SWEET MANDALORE!"

Outside the room

"AHHHHHHH!"

Jarko's screams, albeit muffled slightly, could be heard behind the large metal door, loud and unending, and echoed in the hallways leading away from the room's entrance.

While leaning herself against the wall leading left of the door, Bo slightly flinched as the horrified screams reached through the six-inch-thick door and hit her ears. Underneath her helmet, the white armored Mandalorian's face cringed in pity at the sounds of the soldier's suffering.

Getting her bearings back together, The Shadow's second in command stared at the first in command with her arms crossed.

Naruto himself was propped up against the wall right of the door with his eyes closed, and had his hands behind his head, cushioning the mercenary's cranium from the metal surface.

"You know you're a monster, right?"

If the Mandalorian heard his aunt's comment, he didn't react or respond to it at all.

How could he when he was too busy listening to the beautiful music that was composed of Jarko's screams?

1. I'm not sure if there's any official Mandalorian oath type in Star Wars, so I just went with my gut on this.

I'm so sorry for taking so long, but I needed to make sure that every part of this made sense and flowed naturally or else I may end up losing half the fans I have this story.

Could I have written this better? Probably.

Could it have been a lot worse? Hell yes.

The point is, I tried the best I could, and I hope that it makes sense.

Let me know what you think of this chapter. Was it bad? Good? Banana?

Also, I promise that the amount of time until next chapter will be shorter than the amount of time between Chapter 3 and 4.

P.S. Review if you know what creature was with Jarko and earn an internet cookie.

P.P.S. I may end up rewriting Chapters 1 and 2. Nothing serious, just fleshing out some of the stuff I put in since the contrast between the writing levels is so high.

Remember to review and leave constructive criticism, Blades out.