The Orange Mando (CH 1) (Patreon)

A/N: This story is rated M for mature content not suitable for children.

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Chapter 1: The Shattered Sky and the Nite Owl

Concordia

The atmosphere of Concordia didn't just break; it screamed.

A jagged rift of violet and gold tore through the clouds above the Mandalorian moon, spitting out a streak of fire that slammed into the dense forest of the lunar surface. The shockwave leveled trees for a kilometer, sending a plume of ionized dust into the air.

Bo-Katan Kryze, leader of the Nite Owls and lieutenant of Death Watch, didn’t wait for a command from Pre Vizsla. She ignited her JT-12 jetpack, the twin blue flames roaring as she dived from the balcony of the hidden fortress. Behind her, four of her elite sisters followed in tight formation.

"Contact point in three mikes," Bo-Katan’s voice crackled through the comms. "Stay sharp. If it’s a Republic probe, we scrap it. If it’s a Separatist gift, we claim it."

When they landed at the edge of the crater, the air was thick with the scent of ozone and burnt pine. In the center of the smoldering glass sat a young man who looked like no species Bo-Katan had ever encountered. He was human, yes, but he radiated a heat that she could feel even through the insulation of her Beskar-reinforced flight suit.

His clothes were orange and black, shredded into rags. Three distinct, whisker-like scars marked each of his cheeks. He was gasping, his lungs laboring against the thin, crisp air of the moon.

"Identify yourself," Bo-Katan commanded, leveling her Westar-35 blaster.

The boy looked up. His eyes were a startling, piercing blue, but as she watched, the pupils bled into a crimson slit, then shifted again into a rippling violet pattern. The ground around him began to hover. Pebbles, shattered glass, and even a fallen tree trunk rose into the air, caught in a localized gravity well.

"The... seal..." he choked out.

"He’s a Jedi," one of the Nite Owls, Koska Reeves, hissed, her hand going to her thermal detonator. "Look at the trickery."

"No," Bo-Katan said, her eyes narrowing behind her T-shaped visor. "He has no saber. And his energy... it’s not the calm, arrogant peace of a Jedi. It’s something else."

The boy collapsed, the floating debris slamming back to earth with a deafening thud. Bo-Katan stepped forward, flipping him onto his back. Even unconscious, his body felt like a coiled spring. She felt a strange, magnetic pull toward him, a curiosity that bypassed her usual cold professionalism.

"Package him up," she ordered. "We take him to the secondary site. Not the main fortress. I don't want Vizsla's scientists carving him up until I know what he is."

Fast Forward

Six months passed. In the hidden training grounds of the Nite Owls, Naruto Uzumaki learned what it meant to be a Mandalorian.

His chakra coils were "glassed"shattered by the interdimensional travel, but the energy hadn't left him. Instead, it had bonded with the ambient Force of the galaxy. He couldn't perform the complex ninjutsu of his home, but he could enhance his body to a degree that terrified the seasoned warriors of Death Watch.

He stood in the center of the sparring ring, shirtless, his tanned skin covered in the faint white lines of new scars earned from Mandalorian bluntheads. His golden hair had grown out, tied back in a short, messy tail.

"You're distracted, Naruto," Bo-Katan’s voice echoed.

She stood across from him, her armor gleaming under the artificial lights. She wasn't wearing her helmet. Her short, crimson hair was damp with sweat, and her green eyes were fixed on him with a predatory intensity.

"Just thinking about the food, Bo," Naruto grinned, though the grin didn't reach his eyes. "Hard to focus on combat when all I've had is protein paste for three days."

"Mandalore is a desert. Concordia is a forest. Neither yields luxury," she snapped, lunging forward.

She was a blur of Beskar and precision. She swung a heavy training staff, aiming for his ribs. Naruto didn't move until the last microsecond. He tapped into the "New Energy", the Force, using a technique he called Body Flicker: Force Edition. To the observers, he simply vanished in a puff of displaced air.

He reappeared behind her, his hand reaching out to grab her waist, intending to throw her. But Bo-Katan was no inexperienced fledgling. She anticipated the move, firing her wrist-mounted grappling line into a nearby pillar and swinging herself around him like a pendulum, her boot catching him square in the chest.

Naruto flew back, skidding across the dirt. He laughed, a low, husky sound that made the hair on Bo-Katan’s neck stand up.

"That's the spirit," Naruto said. He stood up, and the air around him began to vibrate.

He didn't use a weapon. He didn't need one. He sprinted at her, his speed breaking the sound barrier in a small crack. Bo-Katan fired her gauntlet blasters (set to stun), but Naruto flicked his hands, his "Force-Wind" catching the bolts and dissipating them.

He closed the distance and tackled her. They tumbled into the dirt, rolling over one another in a chaotic mess of limbs and armor. Finally, Naruto ended up on top, pinning her wrists over her head. He was breathing hard, his hot breath ghosting over her lips.

"Yield," he whispered.

Bo-Katan looked up at him. The "Star-Fall Boy" was gone. In his place was a man who had survived the end of his world and was ready to conquer this one. The raw, masculine power radiating from him was intoxicating. She felt a surge of heat in her core that had nothing to do with the fight.

"A Mandalorian never yields," she breathed, her eyes darting to his lips.

Naruto didn't hesitate. He leaned down, crushing his mouth against hers. It wasn't a gentle kiss; it was a claim. It tasted of salt, iron, and a desperate, burning hunger. Bo-Katan let out a muffled moan into his mouth, her legs wrapping around his waist, pulling his hips flush against hers. Even through the flight suit, she could feel his hardness, his strength, and the "Force" that seemed to pulse from his skin into hers.

They were interrupted by the harsh, metallic clanking of boots on the walkway above. Pre Vizsla stood there, his hand resting on the hilt of the Darksaber.

"Enough flirting," Vizsla barked, his voice dripping with disdain. "The Duchess’s pacifism has weakened our world long enough. Naruto, your 'magic' is needed. We move on Sundari in two days. If you want your own set of Beskar, you’ll earn it in the blood of the New Mandalorians."

Naruto stood up, helping Bo-Katan to her feet. He didn't look at Vizsla; he looked at the woman beside him. He saw the flicker of doubt in her eyes, the conflict between her loyalty to Death Watch and her love for her sister.

"I don't fight for him," Naruto whispered to her as they gathered their gear. "I fight for the one who found me in the dirt."

Fast Forward

The assault on the capital was a whirlwind of blue and red blaster fire.

Naruto was a golden specter on the battlefield. He wore a custom set of Nite Owl armor, painted a deep, burnt orange with black trim. He didn't use a jetpack; he didn't need one. He leaped from building to building, his Force-enhanced jumps covering hundreds of meters.

In his right hand, he wielded a Beskar gladius, a short, heavy blade forged from the scrap of the crater he landed in.

"Naruto! Left flank!" Bo-Katan’s voice screamed over the comms.

A squad of police droids leveled their repeating blasters at her. Naruto dropped from the sky like a meteor. As he landed, he slammed his palm into the ground.

"Force Style: Great Breach!"

A localized telekinetic shockwave erupted, tearing the street apart and tossing the droids like tin cans. He stood in the center of the destruction, his orange cape fluttering in the wind of the domed city.

Bo-Katan landed beside him, her blasters smoking. "You're showing off."

"Just making sure you're looking at me," he joked, parrying a stray bolt with his blade.

But the mood shifted as they reached the Royal Palace. Pre Vizsla was already inside, his Darksaber ignited, the black blade humming with malice. He wasn't just arresting the Duchess; he was preparing an execution.

"He's going too far, Naruto," Bo-Katan whispered, her hand trembling on her blaster. "This isn't the Way. My sister... she’s a fool, but she’s my blood."

Naruto stepped in front of her, shielding her from the view of the burning city. He grabbed her helmeted head with both hands, pressing his forehead against the T-visor.

"Then we change the plan," Naruto said firmly. "You want Mandalore? Take it. But take it as a leader, not a butcher. I’ll handle the Darksaber. You handle the people."

"He'll kill you," she said.

Naruto’s eyes glowed with a faint, swirling violet light. "I’ve died once already to save a world. I think I can handle one man with a fancy flashlight."

The battle that followed was legendary. Naruto entered the throne room just as Vizsla raised the Darksaber over Satine Kryze’s neck.

The clash was a symphony of sparks. The Darksaber met the Beskar gladius, the ancient black energy hissing against the Mandalorian steel. Vizsla was a master of the blade, but Naruto was a master of himself.

Every time Vizsla swung, Naruto wasn't there. He was a shadow, a flicker, a whisper. He used the Force to pull Vizsla’s cape, to trip his heavy boots, to dampen his jetpack thrusters.

Finally, Naruto caught the Darksaber’s hilt in a telekinetic grip, wrenching it from Vizsla’s hand. In one fluid motion, he drove his knee into Vizsla’s stomach and slammed him into the throne.

Naruto caught the Darksaber as it fell. The black blade felt heavy, not with weight, but with history.

He looked at the Duchess, then at Bo-Katan, who stood at the entrance with her Nite Owls. The room was silent.

Naruto didn't claim the throne. Instead, he walked over to Bo-Katan and held out the Darksaber, hilt-first.

"A gift," he said, his voice echoing in the chamber. "From a Foundling to his Commander."

Bo-Katan took the blade, her fingers brushing his. The crowd of Mandalorians knelt, recognizing the change in power. But Bo-Katan wasn't looking at the throne. She was looking at the man who had given her a kingdom when he could have taken it for himself.

Fast Forward

The celebrations in the palace were loud, but the private chambers of the new Regent were quiet.

Bo-Katan stood by the window, looking out over the flickering lights of Sundari. She had removed her armor, wearing only a silk robe that Naruto had "confiscated" from the palace stores.

The door hissed open. Naruto entered, his own orange armor scarred from the day’s combat. He began unbuckling the plates, letting them thud onto the floor.

"You should be at the feast," she said, though she didn't turn around. "They're singing songs about the 'Orange Ghost'."

"I'd rather be here," Naruto said, stepping up behind her. He didn't touch her yet, but his presence was a physical weight. "Besides, I think the Regent owes her champion a reward."

Bo-Katan turned, her eyes burning with a mix of exhaustion and high-octane desire. She reached out, her hands splaying across his bare chest, feeling the frantic rhythm of his heart.

"The Darksaber is mine," she whispered, pulling him closer until their skin met. "But I think I belong to you."

Naruto lifted her, his hands gripping her thighs as she wrapped her legs around his waist. He backed her against the cold glass of the window, his mouth finding the sensitive skin of her neck.

Chapter End

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A/N: I concluded this chapter with a cliffhanger, and the lemon will be featured in the upcoming chapter if there is one. I'll include it in the next Chunin-Tier poll, and if it gets selected, I’ll write the lemon. Alternatively, if anyone is interested in commissioning it, I’m open to that as well. As always, take care, and your support truly means a lot to me.