A/N: I! AM! ALIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE! Alright ladies and gentlemen, good news and bad news. Good news, not dead. Hope you've seen Robot Chicken Star Wars, because I'm havin' some fun with this chapter. As for the bad news, I lost some stories, yes, alas, I've been a victim of the purge. Sorry about that.

I wanted to get word out any way I could, and since for some strange reason the site is being buggy, I wasnt able to work on this anywhere near as much as I would've liked. I suppose I should also say that I DO NOT acknowledge the Force Awakens in this story. At all. Not in the least. In other stories, yes, perhaps I will, but this will remain as it is, without the "House of Mouse" reboot to meddle, thank ye very much!

...and on that note, so I don't get my arse sued, disclaimer time! I own nothing save the idea for this story!

Still...I'm alive. And good news! We got some snow up here! Going outside did wonders for me! Hehehe XD So...

...away we go! I should probably clarify, but this chapter takes place at NIGHT. Hence the reason for no bystanders...

"Just some dude it was!"

~?.

Taint

"ARE YOU FUCKING CRAZY?!"

Naruto simultaneously yelped aloud and backpedaled in one instant; crying out as his attacker's lightsaber swept toward his face. Too fast! Panicking, the blond threw up a force bubble between himself and the violently oncoming blade. Not a moment too soon, either. The searing heat of that blade passed dangerously closed to his visage-nearly searing the tip of his nose-and then the violet bar was sweeping past, scoring an angry red line against the side of a dilapidated building whilst he rolled away.

The deadly thrum of her blade followed him into the night as he retreated deeper into the district; further and further from any hope of aid.

"You know," he began slowly, "If you wanted to get me all to yourself, you just had to ask."

Mara scoffed.

"It just makes it easier to kill you." she called back, swiping at him as he landed. "Catch!"

"Ah, hell!"

"Hmm." his would-be-killer paused, considering when he finally ceased his retreat mere yards away. "That's twice you've evaded me now. You're a nimble little thing, aren't you? Quick, but-!" Her saber rose effortlessly, blurring as a hail of debris mysteriously lifted itself from the ruined street and flung themselves at her. A negligible amount slipped through her defense; a single solitary shard of sharpened steel slicing across her right cheek, drew blood. She barely batted an eyelash.

"Nice trick." she commended him, starting forward. "Got any more?" Green eyes flashed, fierce and determined. "Are you going to hide behind those all day, or are you going to fight?!"

Her last word was punctuated by a lunge, one Naruto barely managed to block. The follow through nearly set him on the back-foot, a smart riposte that seared the jacket of his right shoulder. Pain blossomed in his arm, a thorn of white-hot agony that sent him stumbling forward. An overhand strike with his good arm was easily deflected by his adversary, then redirected into the ground. Nearly losing his grip on the precious hilt, Naruto once more found himself retreating from his opponent.

What the hell was going on here?

Why was he losing?!

He'd trained for seven years!

Seven!

Years!

He shouldn't be beaten this easily, certainly not like this!

'No! More!'

Infuriated, he flung out his good hand.

Not at Mara, where he risked her dodging or worse, deflecting the shove, but at the dusty street beneath her feet. Her baffled expression was the sweetest sight he'd seen all day. He took a mere milisecond to savor her shock, then, with a cry of: "Hope ya don't mind gettin' dirty!", thrust a concussive wave of telekinetic force into the ground below.

Points for free-thinking, if nothing else.

The force push he brought to bear on the road was perhaps one of the strongest and he'd ever attempted and as such, the result was nothing short of spectacular. Not only did the subsequent blast throw up a massive cloud of dust right into the redhead's balking face, but it had the added effect of launching Mara Jade away from him like a slingshot. Her startled yelp was music to his ears. Not enough to stop her-just enough to slow her. If someone didn't see that from here, then he was downright unlucky.

This precious pause in combat bought him crucial seconds to scamper away, catch his breath. Regroup. Alright. Now, to think up a strategy befooooooooh, you have got to be kidding me!"

A sudden breeze swept past, banishing the cloud of dust and exposing. With a start, Naruto looked up, just in time to see a flash of red and black in the corner of his vision. Right. The Force. She had it, too. He'd nearly forgotten about that.

"Is that all you were taught?" Mara scoffed, her every feature written in scorn. "How to run and hide like a coward? Really, I expected more from a Jedi."

But he wasn't one, was he? Not yet. Not truly.

Rising on one knee, Naruto quietly gulped.

"Look, c-can't we talk about this?"

Mara's gaze turned flinty.

"No."

The force push, when it came, was so wholly unexpected that it floored him. He felt it as little more than a prickling of danger sense, then he was flat on his back. Even as he rolled to his feet she was on him, lightsaber flashing out for his all-too-vulnderable jugular. He answered in kind; his good arm flying up to deflect her decapitating stroke with his blade. Pain flashed across his temple, informing him of another near miss. Time got funny after that; his entire existence focused solely on beating back the crazed vixen out for his head, with only limited success.

"Soresu." the redhead scoffed, brandishing her blade in an effortless twirl. "The coward's defense." She moved in once again, pressing him, pushing him back. "I should have known. That's all you can do, isn't it? You're afraid to hurt me, really hurt me, so you're not putting any effort into your attacks."

"Come get it then, red!"

Mara did; her next sweep sheered off his padawan braid, sending the knot of hair twirling over his back as it burned into nothingness.

"Damnit!"

Flinging himself away, his bad shoulder still stinging from its injury, Naruto swore.

'Alright, think. Just think. There has to be a way out of this, there just has to-

"Let me in." Kurama's oily voice trickled into his ear as they fought, words like a worm wriggling through dead flesh. "You aren't ready for this. She'll kill you as you are now. But YOU can crush her if you let me in. What are you waiting for? Its just this once...

Yeah, right.

Once turns into twice, then thrice, then four...if he went down such a path, who knew where he'd be able to stop?

Naruto bristled at the thought. He stubbornly reminded himself the fox sounded like a broken record, but even so, he couldn't deny that it words held a nugget of truth. He wasn't a slouch by any means, but at the rate this was going, he was bound to lose more than his pride. Dark or light, neither mattered if he was going to die, right? Yoda wouldn't approve, he knew, but then again, it wasn't his life on the line.

"Let me in."

For a terrifying moment panic seized him and he couldn't bring himself to move. Instead of running, instead of putting some much-needed distance between himself and the crazed redhead, the whiskered warrior stood there. Transfixed. Rooted, unable to move. And how could he? He'd never fought someone like this, before. Not even in practice. Oh, he'd sparred with Yoda in the past, and though the Master's skill far eclipsed that of the assassin advancing toward him, the wizened old jedi had never tried to kill him.

"Let me in."

This one, this girl, wanted to.

"Let me in...

This, this was no friendly spar.

"Let me in...

She wanted his head. Him. Dead. He sensed the Force in her like an angry, writhing thing; hot, yet cold at the same time. The worst part? She was right; on some level, Naruto did want to fight. He wanted to beat this prissy bitch into the ground, ravage her, tear her limb from limb. Make her beg for mercy. But was that the fox, pulling on his darker emotions, amplifying them? Or, deep down, was he really just that twisted? Perhaps he was. But it was fight or die, and if the alternative was death-

"You're wide open!"

-LET! ME! IN!"

(Miles Away, in the Forest...)

Yoda felt it and quietly despaired.

A wet blank of anger and outrage draped itself through the Force; thick, cloying, and full of dark exultance. And there, through it all, he heard the laughter. His fault, this was. He'd tried to be more lenient, less strict in his teachings. The sith had changed, so too he told himself, did the Jedi have to change. He'd known Naruto had the capacity for great evil in him, but so too, did he have the ability to do great good. He could not make the boy choose; the path he'd forge must be of his own volition.

Even so, in that instant, Yoda, the dared to wonder.

Perhaps a mistake, he had made.

"A bad feeling about this, I have...

(Hyuuga Compound...)

The anger hit Hinata all at once, bolting her upright.

It wasn't hers.

Mere moments before, she'd been lying in bed, readying herself for sleep and for the next day, silently dreading/anticipating what was to come. A very large part of her was greatly disquieted at the idea of being on the same team as her twin sister. There was just something...wrong about Hanabi. Always had been. She took what she wanted and loved to intrude, certainly, but when it came to Naruto, her sibling had always seemed to pay extra special attention in making her life a living hell.

Maybe that was just Hanabi; she took perverse joy in taking anything Hinata wanted for herself.

Now, those thoughts were the furthest thing from her mind.

Her body was out the window and vaulting across rooftops before she truly knew what was happening. She knew Naruto was in trouble, that much was more than evident by the vicious pulses in the Force, but the fierce beacon of light she normally recognized as her fellow padawan was gone. Instead there was only...

Darkness.

A void, sucking in her sense of awareness, a black hole, bitter, cold...

...and so very angry.

She'd felt something like this presence before, during training. Naruto had always warred with himself, struggling in the gray area between light and dark. Sometimes, he'd slipped. This was worse. This time, Naruto had actually given in deliberately...idiot! What could have driven him to this? Just the thought of it left her fingers white s-knuckled around the hilt of her saberstaff, silently offering up a prayer. She'd seen him lose control to this degree, only once before.

The thought of seeing it again, of Naruto deliberately giving into his own demons, chilled her to the bone.

"Please, let me be in time!"

"Enough."

Mara felt the change even as she heard him speak, even as she moved for the killing blow. Something was wrong. Different. He'd changed. She felt it in the moment before her blade pierced his defenses; the air around him grew dead and cold, as if all the life, the very warmth itself, had been sucked out if somehow. The force howled at her to retreat, to move, to get out of the WAY-

Too slow.

A red flare of light was all she saw and then, somehow, the blond moved.

Something took hold of the reigns of Uzumaki Naruto's body, and drew upon the Force with all it could muster; in that precise moment that Mara Jade lunged forwards, his saber scythed out to meet her. Amber met indigo. Their owners collided and neither yielded. Vzzzmm! Angry orange sparks crackled between them as they shoved the full weight of their bodies and the Force against each other. Deadlocked. For the first time she'd begun her assault, a flicker of surprise flashed in the emerald eyes of his fierce adversary, the slightest chink in her armor, exposed for him to see.

And then it was gone, replaced by dark, heated amusement.

"That's more like it." sweat beaded on Mara's brow, a grin danced on her lips as he pressed her back. "I might actually have to try."

Naruto barely heard the words.

Her witty banter, once so worrying, so horribly frightening, now served as a mere irritant to him. Like a fly, buzzing in his ear. Easily swatted. She'd been so hard to read, until now. As if he'd been looking at her through a dark glass. A curtain, of sorts. For a moment, that veil fell away, and everything was impossibly, beautifully clear. He saw Mara's fear -her anxiety at this new development- read like an open book to his eyes. She was no master by any means. Her only advantage was that, she'd had more training than him in the ways of the force.

The force.

But the Force wasn't all that Naruto knew. Neither was chakra. He knew how to fight. So too, did Mara.

Not the knock-out, ripping, tearing brawls he'd been exposed to for seven years of his life before Yoda. Not the pain, the anger, the determination he'd experienced in the training since. Seven years had forged him into a weapon of a different sort than she. And with that thought, he reached into that dark, furious part of himself, and opened the cage he'd kept locked for so long.

And in that single, blessed instant of dark clarity, Naruto knew what he had to do.

He deactivated his lightsaber.

Now bereft of anything for her to push back against, Mara lost her balance and stumbled forward. Just a step. But int hat step, Naruto swept her legs, and smashed the hilt of his saber into forehead. Suddenly, Mara no longer had any balance whatsoever. Incredibly, she didn't hit the ground, didn't feel the bite of the burning blade through her chest, as she'd expected. Instead, she simply hung there, suspended by the force, dangling, a puppet without strings before him.

Unmoving.

"You...!"

"No more talking."

Then she couldn't breathe.

Suddenly, and without the slightest inkling of warning, a savage vice locked around her throat, silencing her voice. Invisible fingers squeezed her windpipe, choking off all air. She'd felt something like this once before, when she'd made the mistake of angering Darth Vader. This bore the same sensation, but somehow it felt even more intense; as though a thousand hands were simultaneously working together to wring the life out of her. Green eyes bulged wildly as she clawed at her throat, to no avail. Her hands found only air.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" Naruto's voice reverberated strangely as she struggled for oxygen that simply wasn't there; laughing, almost as if another were speaking with him. Through him. "I couldn't hear you over the sound of your last gasps."

Mara turned and, despite her blurring vision, spat at him.

Naruto twitched his palm and she flew forward.

Into his hand.

Clawed fingers, the digits of his actual hand, latched around her throat and squeezed, bruising her. Biting down with vicious strength, that hand hoisted Mara up with ease, as if she weighed naught but a feather's touch. Stunned as she was, Mara barely had time to react; even as she thought to slam her heel into his neck and escape, Naruto raised her up, denying her the satisfaction she sought. She wasn't expecting him to jump when he did, but he did jump, a mighty leap that carried them up, up...up...and then...

Then he slammed her down.

Hard.

Earth splintered against her back, the street itself rupturing as the padawan crushed her against the road. Even with the Force strengthening her body, she felt three ribs crack under the strain, the sheer impact proved nearly enough to paralyze her on its own and send her saber skittering out of her grasp. Incredibly, Naruto didn't finish her off, then. Instead he lingered, hovering overhead, watching, waiting as she struggled to right herself.

"Is that all?" A clawed hand beckoned as he parroted her own words back at her. "Really, I expected more."

Mara glowered up at him from where she lay, refusing to yield, even as she fought to recover. A muscle jumped in her jaw. Naruto leered back at her, empowered by this sudden reversal. Enraptured in battle as they were, neither noticed the presence of certain Hyuga nearby, alighting upon a nearby rooftop. Neither saw her hesitate, start forward, only to stop again.

Somehow the Emperor's hand found the strength within her to stand.

"Good. You still have some life in you." Naruto, or Dark Naruto as she was beginning to think of him, sneered happily. "I'll enjoy crushing it out of you."

Then her own weapon was up and away, vaulting across the street to her hand.

Beaming, the blond beckoned.

"I'm waiting."

With a fury she didn't know she had, Jade lunged!

Mara pressed the assault in a dizzying blur. Her every blow smooth and flowing, constantly transitioning into a different attack. Never stopping, always moving, always on the attack. Low, high, above, below, she utilized every form she knew, every trick, every strike, feint and parry she'd learned in years of service to the Emperor himself.

But if Mara was water, then Naruto was a rock, weathering each assault as it came.

For each new combination, each form, his sunset-colored saber was there to deflect it. She moved so slowly, now! As if she were shackled! Or was he simply faster? With the full might of the Kurama and the Dark Side flowing through him, burgeoning him with new strength, empowering him, his senses were sharper than ever before. It was intoxicating. There was no struggle between right and wrong to slow him; there was only the fight. Only victory. All his moral quandries about killing, and touching forbidden powers were thrown away like so much chaff in the wind. It was...

...glorious.

"Hold still!"

"Not likely!"

When he finally deigned to counter, a roaring left to right with his good arm, her entire body shuddered just from blocking. The shock of it shot down her arms, leaving them numb. Trembling. With every blow that soon followed, Mara felt her defenses begin to splinter. He'd gone mad! What on earth had gotten into him?! No, she could still win

There!

Finally, she saw it, a moment of inattention, a sloppy underhanded swing that left him wide open. Her body moved before she could think to stop herself; and she dealt him a lucky blow, smote him a smoking canyon across the chest. Naruto blinked, anger and shock draining out of his face. He hung there, for a moment, baffled, confused. Swaying on his feet. Then, in a single moment, he gave a wet gurgle and collapsed with the wind.

Mara gazed down at him, and reluctantly deactivated her lightsaber. She almost couldn't believe it-

"Killed him you did!"

She spun about, aghast.

Behind her aways stood the very individual she'd been sent to find. Hunched and bent over a gnarled walking stick, Master Yoda stared back at her, eyes dark and angry with reproach. Old and wizened, the ancient jedi stood his ground and drew himself up, the very picture of righteous indignation. And then, impossibly, he smiled and raised a one-fingered salute.

"Fooled ya."

"Yoda" stuck out his tongue and vanished in a plume of white smoke. No. Not Yoda at all. An illusion of some sort. A distraction! Her gaze cut back to where Naruto should have been; instead she found a sundered log in his place, still smoldering from where she'd made the cut. Which meant Naruto was...! Too late, the Emperor's Hand spun-her every sense screaming danger. Move, move, MOVE! Too slow. Too late, did she turn, realize she'd given her prey precious time to recover, gather his wits, get in close...and strike.

Only then did she see Naruto behind her.

Raise a hand.

A cone of concussive force ripped Mara from her feet and hurled her across the alley. Flattened her against, then through the wall of a collapsing storefront. Gasping, choking in quiet pain, the Emperor's Hand desperately tried to straighten up amidst the. Despite the searing ache in every bone of her body, she ought to at least stand and defend herself, but another blast crunched her deeper into the rotting wood of the once reputable building, bloodying her nose.

Somehow, she managed to hold onto her saber. Somehow, someway, she had just enough strength to raise her head, to see her tormentor step over the ruined beams and, slowly, reach her position. His red eyes were surprisingly blank, utterly devoid of emotion as they fixed on her. No! She refused to be defeated! He wasn't meant to be this strong! She would win! She WOULD triumph!

Red eyes narrowed on her as she dragged herself to one knee.

"Congratulations. You pissed me off." his saber rose, a guillotine come to deliver her final sentence. "I hope that's what you wanted!"

"Naruto, don't!" Odd. Whose voice was that?

"Stay out of this, Hinata!"

Mara's entire body suddenly felt weighed down with that single gesture: her bones turned to lead and her blood condensed into thick, sluggish crude. The situation she was in seemed impossible. Every fibre of her body screamed for her to move, to dodge that sinister saber careening towards her head, but her body was inexplicably frozen in fear.

Vzzzm!

Naruto was suddenly on her, his eyes an angry, eerie red. His lightsaber flashed down at her, once, twice, thrice, and her saber spun away, twirling end over end. But he didn't stop there, continuing his swing, bringing the orange bade scything upward and into Mara's arm. White hot pain flashed through the limb deadened abruptly as the searing blade neatly cauterized the nerves just below her elbow. Distantly, over her own scream she thought she saw the limb twirl away, end over end, fingers still wriggling loosely.

Then the blond made a crushing motion with his fist and the house...

...simply gave way.

The Emperor's Hand scarcely knew what hit her.

That was her last thought before the entire building came crashing down around her head.

A/N: AND THERE WE BE! Imma back, ya'll! Mara poked the bull and she got the horns!

So...in the immortal words of Yoda...

...Review...You Must! So says Yoda! And of course, enjoy the preview! On another note, you can expect an update for Not So Far Away to be not so far away! You'll have to excuse the pun, lol I couldn't help myself. The official novelization of the movie comes out tomorrow, and I can't wait to get my hands on it! Now...

...ze preview!

(Preview) Prepare to laugh! Its meant to be funny =D

"Apologize, you must."

Mara turned her head and spat in Yoda's direction. Even in her restraints, even at the loss of her dominant arm, she remained defiant.

"I have nothing to say to you, old fool."

Yoda frowned. It was...actually a little terrifying.

"See about that, we will!"

"W-Wait a second! What're you doing?!"

R&R! =D