Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Star Wars.

Author Note: Okay, so I felt like writing something new for a long time, and this has been in my head for a couple of months so I finally decided to put it down in writing. I've never done a crossover before so please be gentle. Warning, Big assed End Note. Enjoy.

Title: Darth Avarus the Protector

Chapter Word Count: 6,754

Summary: 47years BBY, Uzumaki Naruto is born on an uncharted world in the Outer Rim Territories. Brought up in a technologically inept warrior society, Naruto suffers the fate of most inhabitants on the world; death in battle. Or so his would-be-killer has been left to believe...

Prologue

Despite merely being a child, an orphan child at that, the populous despised Uzumaki Naruto. The elder members of society shunned him, beat him, and openly taunted the child for reasons he had no comprehension of. The younger generations could not understand the hatred towards him either, but the actions of their parents quickly taught them how to act around the blonde haired boy. At 12 years of age, Naruto was a pit of hatred, welled up by years of abuse and neglect. All he wanted was for people to acknowledge him so that he could end this insatiable loneliness that ate him up inside.

Gradually, through his new-found status as a Shinobi of Konoha, friendships formed with his teammates and those around him. Naruto's notoriety around the village drastically increased upon knowledge that he, a Genin, held a pivotal role in the victory over the Invasion led by Orochimaru.

Upon his victory against Gaara - a fellow Jinchuriki - Naruto began to see a positive change in opinions towards himself from the civilians who had previously hated him. Such thoughts of acknowledgement halted when Uzumaki Naruto was left for dead by his own teammate...

"RASENGAN!"

"CHIDORI!"

The screeches of electricity and the overwhelming power coming off the two Shinobi drowned their shrieking cries.

For a moment, the valley fell upon a darkened shroud. An oozing ball of energy encased the two combatants. The blonde smiled gently into the eyes of the dark-haired assailant, despite an arm protruding through his chest. He felt cold. Death was near. Yet, he smiled all the same. All because he knew that he'd proved him wrong. The last sequence of images he saw was his 'brothers' Hitai-ite flying into the air, and the look of utter horror on Sasuke's face. Then darkness came...

The finishing blow from the electrically charged hand of the Uchiha caused Naruto to plummet to the depths of the river they fought on. The current swept up his unconscious body, dragging him downstream. The raven haired Uchiha landed on the river bank, holding his defensive stance, fully expecting his opponent to rise from the murky depths.

His gaze deferred by the clanging of the metal shard that fell to the ground besides him. Sasuke cast his eyes towards the object, quickly realising that it was his Konoha headband, complete with an imperfection scrawled across the metallic emblem. With one last glance into the gloomy depths, he darted off towards the tree line, leaving the symbol of his former life as a Konoha Shinobi behind, along with everything aside from his desire to avenge his clan.

Naruto's unconscious and damaged body followed the current, far away from the Valley of the End. After countless hours, his body finally washed up on the riverbank. Yet he did not awaken from his slumber. Having spent so long unconscious in freezing water, as well as bleeding heavily from a terrible affliction, it was amazing that the boy still lived. Yet, he was no ordinary boy. The child housed one of the most dangerous beings in the known world, one that could to heal its hosts with such ease.

'Come to me, boy...'

Naruto awoke with a start. Something, no someone, had called out to him. At first he thought it was the Kyubi. Then having a few seconds to think about it, he realised that wasn't how the fox inside him operated. He wasn't lying in some dingy dungeon staring blankly at a cage. The damage to the child's body had slowly healed in the days he had remained unconscious, yet it still pained him to sit up from his prone position.

The first conscious thought Naruto had after his startled awakening was the overwhelming desire for ramen. His hunger was quickly dethroned by his inability to fathom his location. If he was still in the Fire country, he had never been here.

Then his memory flooded back to him. His eyes darted around looking for his combatant, causing him to wince in pain as his chest ached at the sudden movement. Uchiha Sasuke had tried to kill him. His best friend...his brother had given in to his desires for revenge. That made him angry. That anger he felt fueled him in this moment of utter dismay. Yet he knew he could do nothing about Sasuke now. He had no idea where he was, or how long had passed since their fateful duel.

The darkness that shrouded him was the first thing he noticed. The floodplain he stood on stretched thirty or so metres, before an embankment. This appeared to slope further, before reaching a steep cliff-face. He turned to see a similar thing on the other bank. The two cliffs seemed to run parallel along the river for two or three hundred metres. It was dark within the valley, yet he could just about see the sun creeping above the summit. The more he became accustomed to his surroundings, the stranger the sensation he could feel became.

He could see no one, yet something was calling out to him. A strange aura penetrated him, moved through his veins as if some power was trying to control him. It felt...dark. Evil. Yet at the same time it felt natural, a part of something bigger.

The plant life around him seemed in a state of decay. An eerie silence blanketed the area. No birds chirping. No animals moved in the line of dead tree trunks and withered branches. The river before him seemed like dark oozing oil ran through it rather than water.

When Naruto reached into it, it had the same consistency as anyone would expect from water. However, when he cupped his hands towards his lips to quench his parched tongue, he instantly spat the fluid back out.

"Blood..." Naruto whispered disgusted that such a thing had passed by his lips. The metallic taste lingered in his mouth, but he had no way of ridding the sickening flavour.

It wasn't a regular occurrence that the loud-mouthed, orange touting, ninja felt fear, but this was an instance he couldn't stop himself from feeling it pang inside him. It felt as though death surrounded him, and he stood at the epicentre. This unknown power was all he could feel. It was as though it was feeding off his fear, his anger, his deep-seated hatred.

It interested him. But it also stirred his prisoner from its slumber. Naruto found himself inside the dingy flooded dungeon once again, face to face with blood-red eyes of the fearsome beast that lurked within.

"Whatever you're doing, do you mind stopping. It's creeping me out, you fox bastard!" Naruto yelled defensively at the creature. He was in a state of discomfort, and it had little to do with his wound.

"Watch your tongue. This has nothing to do with me, boy." The way the Kyubi uttered out the word 'boy' was different to the voice that had startled him from his slumber.

"Then who? I don't feel anyone near me other than you." Naruto moaned as he rubbed his stomach as it gurgled at him desiring some of Teuchi's ramen.

Naruto's grumbles of hunger fell on deaf ears. Kyubi was silent. That was something Naruto knew didn't happen very often in their conversations. If the caged beast had nothing productive to say, he usually filled the silence with taunts and fearful actions. Yet now, the enormous fox sat in silence.

"Hey, hey, baka fox? Do you know something about this?" Naruto asked confusedly. He was by no means the sharpest tool in the box, but even he could pick up on the abnormal behaviour of his symbiotic partner.

Again, the hulking figure of orange fur sat in silence, but the expression on its face had turned from contemplation to a tentative scowl.

"...I have felt this presence before." The Kyubi snarled as he glanced down to Naruto for only the second time in their conversation. "It was a long time ago, but I remember this ravenous desire for power."

"...Well, what is it?" Naruto pried, expecting more of an explanation than that.

"How about we make a deal?" The Kyubi asked with a smirk that masked his current fear.

"Um, what kind of deal?" Naruto always hated it when it came down to these 'deals'. However, it was normally the boy who wanted to make them.

"I will fully heal your wounds, and get rid of your hunger. In return, I want you to find the source of the power."

"What?! Why would you want to find it? This feeling is really creepy." Naruto shuddered as he once again felt the surge of power lingering in his body.

"I must be certain of the source." It was true that the Kyubi had felt this power before, often in fact. Yet the last time was over 40 years ago. And the person whom the same power came from must have been long dead by now...At least, he should have been.

Naruto was about to protest even more, but his stomach growled out once again, forcing him to quickly reconsider his tact. "Fine," he grumbled as he grabbed his stomach.

With that the Kyubi unleashed a wave of crimson chakra. Naruto could feel the aches and pains throughout his body dissipate rapidly. So too, the hunger that almost made him keel over had suddenly vanished. In an instant he found himself on the lifeless river bank once again. Yet, he had no idea where to go.

Almost in reply to Naruto's indecision, Kyubi spoke inside his mind, directing his movements. He crossed the river and began to scale the rock-face, at first running before reaching his limit with his inept chakra control, resorting to the standard approach of movement up a rock face. With each minuscule incline up the rock-face, the insatiable power increased around him. About 150 metres up he noticed a small opening in the rock, big enough for someone to walk at a crouch. Someone as tall as Kakashi would have struggled to squeeze into such a space.

Looking down from the river bank the entrance was just a pin-prick in the rock-face. It was well hidden in the darkened rock. You wouldn't notice it unless you were actually looking for it.

The passageway beyond the entrance was dark. The claustrophobic vibe made him sick, yet he pressed on due to the words of the fox berating his fear in his head. The further into the tunnel the blonde boy went, the more certain he became that this was the source of the dark energy that filled every pore in his body.

He moved in further, pressing his hand against the musky walls as he moved, feeling his way forwards as his eyes were practically useless. A couple of times he banged his head on low-hanging rocks, but the path seemed to arc with no diversions, which made it easier to navigate. Yet, with every step Naruto made forwards, he wanted to take ten back.

The power pulsated through the walls, entering his body through his hands that helped him amble through the darkened passage. The sheer concentration of the power made him shudder, yet still he pressed on, albeit slowly. The air was thick. Every breath felt like he was inhaling ash, singeing his throat as it passed into his lungs.

However, this mysterious power was somewhat of a paradox. It lingered inside him, devouring his chakra, feeding off him. The power overwhelmed him – it made him more fearful than anything he had come across. Yet, it also empowered him. The force with which the entity entered him was exhilarating. Everything seemed heightened. His senses, his emotions. It felt like using the Kyubi's chakra, except it wasn't a borrowed power. No, it was his. Naruto's power left him, but in return he was given something greater. This feeling, it was...intoxicating.

'Peace is a lie, there is only passion.'

'That voice,' Naruto thought. The Kyubi voiced its agreement inside the boy's mind.

'Through passion, I gain strength.'

'Through strength, I gain power.'

Naruto felt the erratic tendrils of dark influence become more pronounced. The focal point centred where the severe scar had formed on his chest. Were it not for the darkness, Naruto's chest would be visible due to the near fatal wound that Sasuke had given him with the final blow. At first it burned, but then the pain surged through him the likes of which he had never felt before. He had no explanation as to why, but these words that were resonating in his head could tame this unknown power. And what's more, Naruto could swear that he had heard them before. Somewhere, somehow, he had crossed paths with these words before.

'Through power, I gain victory.'

"...Through victory, my chains are broken." Naruto whispered the words as if they were natural to him. "The force shall free me..."

The Kyubi's blood-red eyes shot open in disbelief. He knew it. The words were familiar to him, but it was only until he heard the whole thing he knew for sure what this was. 'The force'. It had been a long time since he had heard that.

"Sith," it growled, taking over Naruto for just an instant as the word echoed through the tunnel. As the word escaped his lips, light encompassed the orange-clad boy. Dozens of minuscule lights fitted into the rock ceiling came alive in response.

In that instant everything became visible. Prehistoric scrawls covered the walls, words and symbols Naruto could not understand nor comprehend. But the illumination also showed him that he had reached the end of the passageway. Roughly fifteen metres in front of him there was another opening into what appeared to be a shrine of some sort.

As Naruto crossed the threshold he realised he was finally able to straighten up. The ceiling was much higher inside the room than in the tunnel. Instinctively, he stretched out his limbs, arching his trunk until he felt the satisfying crack that signified his spine had loosened up after his hunched journey.

"This is kind of creepy," Naruto uttered as he took a full view of the rather large dome he found himself in.

Unlike the tunnel, the illumination in the room was more natural. Seven torches stood lit on top of carved rock obelisks, some five metres high. Yet, Naruto could not fathom how the fire had ignited; much in the same way he couldn't understand who turned on the lights in the tunnel.

Like the passage, unreadable etchings covered the walls. With a greater view of the symbols, even the perplexed boy could see that there was a more organised form to the scrawls than what was first thought. A story? Or perhaps a history? He had no idea.

The only notable decoration in the entire room was found at its centre. A solid platform stood at a slant in the middle of the room, fitted with a hulking stone cover. Carved into the heavy stone lay two figures. The first was a woman. Her face seemed slight and youthful. Her figure portrayed as agile, slender, and beautiful. The second juxtaposition of the first. A brute of a man towered over her. He was bald, aged, not much of a looker, but a wall of knotted muscle nonetheless.

At first Naruto assumed that they were married, but even the logic of 'opposites attract' that he had picked up from his perverted hermit of a master couldn't be put to good use here. No, this shrine was something else entirely.

"It's not him..." The Kyubi's words rattled out between Naruto's ears as the fox appeared to also be examining the couple on the stone.

"Who?" Naruto replied in the open, realising that there was no one else here.

"That is not important anymore, brat." The fox immediately closed the matter, grunting as he returned to silently watching the young boys moves. If Naruto had been more attuned he would've noticed the relief in the demon fox's voice.

Despite there not being much of anything to look at, one thing was still certain; something in this tomb was unleashing the god-forsaken power that had enveloped Naruto since he awoke on the river bed.

He scanned the room once more, trying to see if there was anything else in there. Again, Naruto found nothing of note, except for one thing. On the back wall directly behind the stone ornament hung a steel plaque, with words of his native tongue inscribed on it.

"Peace is a lie, there is only passion." Naruto repeated the words, not fully understanding their pretence. Still, the outcome was the same. The resonating power that overwhelmed him found its centre, yet this time, it surrounded the stone cover.

The feeling of supremacy that had felt so intoxicating to the young child had all but left him, much to his dismay. Naruto no longer felt empowered by an unprecedented power, but weak, drained, powerless. The power was the purest evil he had felt, yet he didn't care. He wanted it. For lack of better judgement, Naruto crossed his fingers, performing his signature technique.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" With that an identical duplicate of the young blonde appeared besides him beneath a cloud of smoke.

Naruto began to sweat profusely, almost dropping to his knees. The trademark technique that he had used so freely in the past was almost unusable. Creating one clone had almost wiped him out. Forcing himself to his feet, Naruto began to focus what energy he had left in his body into the palm of his outstretched hand. Nothing.

He stared blankly at his open palm. He felt no chakra. Yet clearly he still had chakra in his system; his clone had yet to dissolve into nothingness. Naruto began to focus harder, concentrating fully on a focal point in the centre of his hand. He had done this hundreds of times, yet even the first was not as difficult as this. Once again he could feel his anger rising. An overwhelming self-hatred for his inability to create the technique that had saved him so many times.

The inner part of his psyche that housed the overbearing desire to become stronger began to well up, much as it had done in the face of past adversities. Naruto did not merely wish for power, he craved it. His intentions, albeit infused with honour and selflessness, nonetheless masked a deep-seated hunger to attain a level of power no other being possessed. To have an aspiration of becoming the 'Hokage' – the mantle given to the strongest warrior in his nation – was something that had fuelled the paths of hundreds of beings before him.

Such a profoundly ingrained attribute was what infused Uzumaki Naruto with strength, and this time was no different from the countless preceding occurrences that had caused him to dig deep within himself to find answers to achieve victory.

Despite still not being able to feel the chakra meander throughout his system, Naruto used his mind to acquire the feeling of the technique that the Yondaime Hokage had created, forcing all his power into the palm of his hand. He felt nothing in terms of chakra, yet he could physically feel the ball of energy begin to form in his hand; he created the tumultuous vortex of raw energy, as his clone worked tirelessly to maintain its form.

The youngsters shoulders heaved at the strain, yet the technique was complete. With a primal scream that shook the tonnes of rock that encased him, Naruto leapt at the sarcophagus with the swirling ball of chakra outstretched in his palm.

"Ra-sen-gan!" The strain of the technique caused each syllable to be emphasised.

Upon impact the slab of rock began to shatter. The pressure of the technique overpowered the colossal stone, cutting through it as though it were paper. As it crumbled beneath the power of the orange clad child, the hollowed out room became quickly filled with a fine cloud of dust and debris, causing Naruto to raise his other hand to his mouth to avoid inhaling any of the fine particles.

For a moment, rise of dust and debris blinded Naruto, until the cloud finally settled. Upon regaining the ability to open his eyes, he noted that he was shrouded in darkness. The only discernible light came from the passageway behind him. As he moved slightly to his left to allow more light into the room, he was met with something that he did not expect. The stone casket had been completely opened up by his technique, yet it housed only one set of remains. A tattered black cloak hung loosely from the skeletal remains that resided within. Judging by the size of the figure, she was the female on the cover stone. Yet there were no signs of the behemoth that towered over her...

"I am glad I invited you here, boy. Your power is substantially greater than I had sensed." A voice elicited an unchanging tone from the shadows of the room.

Naruto instantly stopped in his tracks. The words were not in his mind. No, they were tangible. He could feel the sound resonating in his eardrums just like he could hear the low whirring of the minuscule lights in the walkway – the only source of light after the explosion of dust extinguished the flames of the torches.

"Yes, that technique is most intriguing. To have the strength to destroy the cover of my resting place, it must be rather powerful." The unchanging voice spoke out again from the darkened corner of the room.

Naruto was highly confused. The voice was heavy, filled with the gravely texture of a seasoned warrior; and most definitely male. Yet within the dimly lit coffin he could only see the remains of a female. With the cover now gone, Naruto felt his power returning once again and so too his ability to sense those around him. Although it wasn't attuned to the extent of others within his group of friends, he could tell that there was no one else in the room with him. To the growing mind of a twelve-year-old, that could only mean one thing...

"Wh-who are y-you?" Naruto uttered through chattering teeth. He looked around aimlessly before turning inwardly once again. Yet this time the Kyubi had no intention of talking with him.

"Such power, yet overburdened with such impatience. The others that came before you showed a greater initiative, finding the hidden switch on the back of the tomb, as opposed to simply destroying it." The unknown male voice continued to speak, despite the utterances of the child presented before him. "Still, I must admit that you are far younger than your predecessors. You have great potential...yes, very promising indeed."

"S-show yourself...I'm n-not afraid of you," Naruto tried to shake himself from his statuesque posture, but he was as immovable as the cliff-face he found himself bound within. Each word that the hidden assailant spoke sent a shiver from the crux of his spine to the tip of his neck.

"Your emotions betray your words, young one. Your fear is filling the air around you. The dark side of the force is gorging itself on your fear. I can feel it." The voice was no longer echoing, but confined to a point on the far side of the room.

Naruto's instincts were that of a true Shinobi: kunai first, ask questions later. Sliding his hand into the pouch attached to his trouser leg, he whipped out a rusted knife-like blade, instantly throwing it in the direction of the voice. Unfortunately the blade impacted on the blemished rock, missing the target outright. The shard dropped to the floor with a clang, much to the amusement of the deep voiced male.

"You have good instincts to attack me. But such a feat is impossible."

The smouldering torches re-lit themselves as if commanded by nature itself. Naruto's eyes took a moment to readjust, but instantly found the source of the other voice within the room.

The young boy took a step back as the tinted blue figure skulked over the floor. Again, instincts set in, clasping another kunai from his pouch and hurling it directly at the bald cranium of the man. Much to his dismay, the bladed projectile merely phased through the man's skull, harmlessly rebounding off the wall behind him.

"...G-g-ghost-t..." Naruto half stammered, half screamed.

Said 'ghost', a behemoth of a man, some two metres tall, ageing features atop a bulky body, adorned in what Naruto could only assume was a cloak fitted around some form of metallic armour, glided across the dusty floor.

"The fears of a child are amusing, though you're not wrong. Even in death, my connection with the force has remained strong, powerful enough to be granted this non-corporeal form. Very few are favoured enough by the force to attain this power." The man paused as he lowered slightly as if trying to see the boy before him at eye-level. "Despite having a mere percentile of the power I held as a living sentient, I still have the power to destroy you, boy."

Naruto felt a constriction against his throat. He rasped for air, clawing at the invisible vice that choked him, only for the unknown entity to release its hold on him no faster than the act had begun to cause any real damage. He dropped to his knees, heaving greatly to try to flood his lungs with oxygen, coughing throatily as he inhaled some of the dust that littered the cavern floor.

"What is your name, youngling?"

"Naruto," he breathed out unevenly. "Uzumaki Naruto, and one day I'm gunna be Hokage!" A passionate display of determinism to say the least, Naruto looked up at his assailant with a fire in his eyes the likes of which the knotted mass of muscle had not seen in a millennia.

"An ambitious claim," the man paused. "I sense great potential in you. Your future is embroiled in the fabric of the force, I have foreseen it."

"The force?" The boy inquired as he looked up at the ethereal being from his crouched position.

"That is the name of the power that you feel within this place. Your planet is strong in the natural energies of the force. Where there is life, the force resides within."

"Life?" Naruto bemusedly stated. "Have you not been outside? The whole area surrounding this place is dead."

"A mere side effect of the dark side." The male breathed uneasily, growing tiresome of the questions from the child before him. "My resting place has tainted the land around, sapping the life force of nearby creatures to grant me the power needed to reside within."

Confused eyes gazed up at the colossal figure, much to his disappointment. If the blonde haired boy was struggling to understand now, he very much doubted he would be capable of digesting the tomes of knowledge that he could offer him.

"So that's why I felt like my chakra was being eaten up." He said to no one in particular, trying to figure this all out despite his distinct lack of knowledge of this so-called 'force'.

"Chakra. Yes, the bastardised form of the force that this planet seems to have created. You say that is was 'eaten up', yet the truth lies more in terms of your innate abilities coming into contact with the force in its purest form." The gruff reply came from the man, now sliding his way across the stone floor, towards metallic plaque hammered into the stone.

"Peace is a lie; there is only passion. Through passion, I gain strength. Through strength, I gain power. Through power, I gain victory. Through victory, my chains are broken. The force shall free me." The monotonous voice recited the words verbatim; the plaque was not necessary for him, yet he looked at the words to provide his 'guest' with some form of guidance. "This is the Code of the Sith, passed on through the centuries to guide those strong in the force towards greatness."

Naruto could feel it. These words, this code that the apparition spoke of, they centred the power that resonated in the air around them. Where it felt like a maelstrom only moments before, stability ensued, yet its potency had not declined in the slightest. But one more thing stuck out in his mind more so than this overriding feeling: he was certain that he had come across these words before.

"I know these words..." Naruto trailed off, searching in his mind for the answers that eluded him.

And so he sat on his knees, silenced by his thoughts. To an onlooker it would appear as though he was in meditation, but he was merely conversing with that which resided within him.

"Come on, you must know something that can help me." Naruto pleaded towards the skulking figure inside the dank cage within his mind.

"I know many things. But I have no interest in this situation any longer. The person I thought I felt isn't here. From here the path you take is through your own choice, brat." The Kyubi huffed.

"Look, I'm not asking for much. At least tell me where I know these words from."

The snarl that came in reply was one that shook the very foundations of this virtual world that he found himself in. He hated this place, but not as much as the stubbornness of its sole inhabitant.

"I can answer that for you." Naruto looked over his shoulder to the much more human looking figure standing a few paces behind him. "I thought I felt the presence of another life form within you, how fascinating to see that it is one of the sentient beasts that roam this continent."

To say that the youngster was shocked would have been a drastic understatement.

"W-what the hell are you doing in here?"

"The force grants many talents that even you 'Shinobi' would be incapable of comprehending."

The seemingly flesh-filled apparition stomped across the water-soaked floor, moving beyond Naruto and towards the cage before him. Inspecting the staggeringly large fox for the first time, even the beastly male looked like a mere ant in comparison. The ear shattering growl that erupted from the cage did not slow the approach of the man.

"You are the one they call 'Kyubi'? The fanged beast with nine glorious tails...the so called 'leader' of the pack." The bald male stalked across the confines of the cage. "I have admired you and your brethren from afar for nigh on a century. Yet here you lie, rotting in a cage, bound to this child. Pitiful."

The beast snarled savagely, a claw of bubbling red liquid oozed between the bars aiming directly at the man's throat. He merely stood his ground as the dark chakra crashed into an invisible orb surrounding the figure, unable to penetrate its defences to reach the 'prize' in the middle.

"W-who are you?" Naruto hesitated. "How are you in my mind? How do you know these things? What is this power...?" The frightened boy rifled through question after question, his thoughts were only questions, too many for his mind to handle.

"Who I am is not important." The behemoth paused as he turned towards the shrill voice behind him. "What I am is the key to everything. My form, the power you feel flowing through your veins, my knowledge of this sentient buried deep within your subconscious, your comprehension of scripture older than the civilisation on this primitive world, and most importantly...why you, Uzumaki Naruto, are here with me now."

Naruto cowered more now than when this figure before him appeared as a ghost. He had always feared things that went bump in the night, no different to any other child, except, he had not counted on actually meeting the real thing. Yet now, he feared that the ghost of the man before him was merely an ounce of the terror this hulking beast had caused whilst he still breathed.

For the first time, Naruto looked at him – truly looked at him – body and soul. His corporeal form filled out more so than he had anticipated. He was taller than any Shinobi he had come across, easily towering above himself. His chest was as wide as Naruto was tall, yet the boy had no idea whether his girth was muscle, or due to the heavy black cloak that he adorned. The hood hung loose behind him, though the spiky blonde desperately wished that it was fixed in place to cover the hardened stare of a veteran soldier. Cold dead eyes pigmented with an oddly yellow tint burrowed into his own, bound to a cranium both aged and disfigured. Scars, blemishes, and burns covered the man's face and crown. But those eyes, they may have seemed cold and dead, but there was something behind them. Desire. A yearning for power. Yes, Naruto was certain that this man was a soldier, a warrior, yet he did not have the presence of a Shinobi. In fact he did not have the presence of anyone Naruto had stumbled across in his short life.

It took all of Naruto's strength to stand his ground against this man, friend or foe yet to be determined. "And what exactly are you?"

"Your salvation." His tone was even, smooth almost. He could imagine the words spoken with a sickly smile, but Naruto was unsure whether this man had ever smiled, in life or death. "Become my apprentice, and I shall offer you the power that you crave so dearly. I can teach you things no Shinobi could ever teach you...well, aside from one. No longer will you be weak. Never again will you find yourself defeated on a whim by your so-called 'brother'. With my help you can become what you desire most...acknowledged by your people as the strongest in your domain."

Shock flashed across Naruto's face for a second as he wondered how on earth he knew about Sasuke. But the power, this unmistakable force that empowered him even now, it was so alluring. Yet he was certain of one thing; promises are often hollow, easily broken.

"What do you want in return?" Naruto asked dubiously.

"I have been in this tomb for over nine-hundred years, and only a handful of humans have ever found my place of rest. I ask for nothing other than company in my solitude. In return I can offer you some of the powers that I held at my peak over a millennia ago. Companionship with a ghost of the force in return for unparalleled powers, more than a fair trade, boy."

Naruto remained silent after the cloaked man spoke. If that was all he asked in return, who was he to argue. But he knew he could not leave this place without being able to call upon this power in the future. The more it lingered within him, the hungrier Naruto became to consume more of it. It was undeniably dark, but it was also powerful, immensely so. All the past few weeks had told Naruto was that he was weak, a child incapable of saving his friend from the clutches of a madman with a fetish for snakes and children. A Sannin no less, just like his sensei. He had no hopes of defeating such a foe without becoming infinitely stronger...and he vowed to do so, no matter the cost.

"You offer the boy power, but I know the taint of it. I've seen your so-called power before." The Kyubi glanced towards his vessel. "Uzumaki was once a strong clan, Naruto. They had their own village that was feared throughout the world. This 'power' he is offering you destroyed your homeland, just as it has destroyed the wills of some of the greatest Shinobi to have walked the earth."

Homeland? Naruto thought. Konoha was his home. That was all he knew of his past. "Shut up you bastard fox, you destroyed Konoha the day I was born. You!" Anger seeped out of every pore. The toxicity deadened the stale air around him as he snarled at the fox in the feral way that he was used to receiving.

'Yes, anger. I sense much of that in him. Perfect'.

Naruto knew nothing of Uzushiogakure – the Land of Whirlpools – that the Uzumaki Clan birthed from. Nor did the Kyubi suspect any of Naruto's peers had any knowledge of the dead island that was once a strong ally of Konoha. The swirling red crest of the clan adorned every military garb within the village, but only the older generations would know if its significance. "Just don't take the path of the Sith for granted. Be mindful."

The demon fox had little quarrel with this apparition offering Naruto power. Power was something that Naruto needed. But the Ridoukou Sennin had always told him and his brethren to 'be mindful' of the dark side, despite them having no idea who or what the 'dark side' was. The old man had always had an odd streak about him. At times he looked around the countryside as if he was a distant traveller laying eyes on his surroundings for the first time. Yet the man truly did live like a sage, dressed in his light brown robes, using his abundance of chakra to right wrongs and keep peace rather than use his power to enact destruction. Although, he never called it 'chakra', it was always 'the force'.

His nostalgia was interrupted by the cackle from the man who stared at him in bemused fashion. "What strange words to leave the mouth of a so-called 'demon'." He manoeuvred himself to have the demon at his back, solely focussing on the child. "You desire power to defeat your foes, to protect the ones you love, to save the boy who gave you that ugly scar. Bend your knee to me and offer yourself as my apprentice, and the power you crave shall be yours, in good time."

Naruto was hesitant at first. He already had a sensei in Jiraiya, two if he counted Kakashi. Two of the strongest shinobi he had ever met without a doubt, but there was something about this power that proved more potent than anything they could offer him. Whether or not it was evil was undetermined as of yet. Besides, he could always leave this place if he didn't like it...And so, Naruto knelt on one knee as instructed. "I will be your apprentice if you make me stronger, sensei." The boy felt it necessary to bow his head as if part of some tradition, but he stayed in position.

"Good, very good. But do not dare call me sensei. I am not some poxy shinobi. I am Darth Bane, Dark Lord of the Sith. You will address me as Master. You will bend to my will, or I will cast you out like I have dozens before you." The man smirked in approval as his booming words sent a shiver down the spine of the kneeling boy. "Now, you will be reborn with your new name. Cast aside your past when you are with me. No longer are you Uzumaki Naruto."

Naruto didn't like that. Not in the slightest. What was he if he didn't have his name? But that mattered little to him at the minute. What was a name if it held no power? Naruto opened his eyes, after unknowingly shutting them at some point. He was no longer knelt on wet concrete, but dusty stone. A hollow blue cape swayed not a foot away from his eye line, yet he did not move. He dared not move. Ghost or no, this man was not to be messed with.

"Rise, Avarus. Prove to me that you are worthy to wield the title of Darth and I shall grant it to you." Bane declared.

"Yes, Master."

End Note: Well there you have it. I should probably explain myself to readers who have come from my other fics. If you're just interested in this chapter as opposed to my lame excuses for not regularly updating, please proceed to Author note 2. If not, all reviews are welcome. Thank you for taking the time to read my shitty little chapter.

Author note 1: I came back to in September promising to provide regular updates once again, to advance my stories and not leave you hanging for months on end. Sadly, other things have gotten in the way of that. My computer died at one point so I lost my writing. I've had a fuck tonne load of writers block with Shadow, which is disappointing because I have up to chapter 13 planned out. Then I was bedridden for a few weeks with illness.

At that time I had to decide what the hell I'm going to do with my sorry graduated ass...and I came to the conclusion that I'm going to take a punt at being a writer. And I don't mean fanfiction...I mean, if 50 Shades of Shit can become the bestselling novel ever, I'm sure I can write something better. Seriously...that shit is woeful to read. But as you can see by reading this chapter, and my other stuff, I'm not that well versed in fictional literature. I'm a historian, and almost everything I've read has towed the line of my degree...aside from manga.

And so my first call was to start reading some fiction novels. Instantly I shelved my fics and put all my time into reading. I want to write in the field of science fiction or fantasy, as that is what has and always will be my greatest love. So I started reading. 1984 was a start, then I looked at some Star Wars novellas, Bane being the first, then Revan (favourite SWs character), and finally Darth Plagueis. An exceptional book, I'd recommend it to anyone. And since then I've read countless others, but currently my nose is stuck in the second novel in 'A Song of Ice and Fire' series (Game of Thrones to TV watchers). There are 5 books, and it's taken me like 2 weeks to get half way through the second, so I thought I'd at least try and post something now, rather than make you wait another month or two.

Then of course is setting the time aside to plan out my original idea...which is coming along to a decent level. I have a back story, settings, notions of themes, many many more things still to map out, but the first signs of something concrete are starting to form. I might even write a prologue before Christmas, but I'm holding off on that in case the world ends...I'd much rather be chilling with a pizza and reading a good book than slaving over my keyboard. Haha. But yeah, that's basically everything I need to say on those matters. I just hope you lovely awesome people who actually like what I write can forgive me if I don't update that often, who knows, next year or the year after you could actually be paying to read my terrible fiction rather than having it on here for free. Haha!

Author Note 2: So back to this. Firstly, the name I have given Naruto. Firstly, I hate brandishing Naruto with the bog standard that he is associated with...names with 'fox' or synonyms of 'Uzumaki' i.e. Maelstrom etc. I don't really have anything against the names, I just tend to end up reading fic after fic with their own take on a near similar codename or whatever.

So I give you Avarus, taken from the word avarice. I'd like to hope from the way I have written that chapter that the overriding factor of Naruto being in that position to say yes to Bane would be because of his outright desire for power. Think of Greed the Avaricious from FMA. Naruto does not want everything in the world, but he desires to protect his precious people and Konoha above all else. 'The Protector', well...that aspect is something that will come into play with his moral compass...Sith are selfish...Naruto is most definitely not. On the face of it he wants power to protect others, but no doubt he has a deep seated selfish desire for power too. Is moral dilemma and ambiguity to feature in this novel? Objectionable actions that cause him to rethink what he's doing? I think so.

I made it pretty obvious who the Sith would be – at least I hope I did – but I thought I'd save it to the end of the chapter to reveal. I've had this idea in my head since I read the Bane Trilogy a few months ago. The guy is a beast. I would pay handsomely to see a Bane movie...hell, I'd write a screenplay for it. Haha.

**SPOILER ALERT** Yes, I know Bane died when he failed to use the essence transfer on Zannah, but I much preferred to leave the ending with the thought of Zannah's twitching hand as a sign of Bane's victory. I honestly thought that he had won, and when he retorted to Cognus that it was Zannah, Bane was just hiding the fact that he had been successful as to not taint the Rule of Two. But alas, I went onto Google and looked it up and Karpyshyn announced that he had lost. A shame. *SPOILER END*

I don't intend to follow the canon of Naruto with this fic. There will be no 'Naruto reappears 2 years later and saves Gaara from Deidara and Sasori then just falls in line with team seven, secretly holding the powers of the Sith in reserve'. And to that point, I won't be putting Avarus into the Star Wars Galaxy anytime soon...it all depends on how far I get with this story. But the fact I've mentioned him being born in 47BBY allows for me to place him into the Star Wars movie timeline in his mid teens should I see the opportunity.

I have a history for the planet and its chakra wielding inhabitants mapped out, so that will come into play in following chapters. I've also alluded to 'others' who have been to Bane before...some you may expect, others most likely not.

But one thing I wish to say is this (like I've not just said like 50 things): Just because I'm having Naruto train under a Sith Lord does not necessarily mean he will be *evil*. I like Sith lords, they make for a much more interesting read than Jedi's in the most part.

Well, anyway...you deserve a medal if you read all of that. If you didn't, you were probably the wise ones. Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed the first chapter. Feel free to check out my other fics. Peace.